Getting Into The Routine

For two weeks our schedule has gone like this:

Wake up and get dressed early - this is for me - not Parker. The morning is MUCH smoother if I don't have to break for a shower or something.

Eat breakfast and morning chores. Clutter really bothers me - so we clean up from breakfast, make beds and pick up the morning toys before we start school.

9:00 Table Time (this includes prayer, doing his weather journal, calendar, and his "I Wonder" question. I started the "I Wonder" question because he always has these really hard questions and I need to look up answers (think: how do fish sleep? Why can bees fly with little wings but ostriches can't fly with big wings?). These are never on topic but they are important so I want to have time set aside for these.

After Table Time we do math. We've always played games - maybe a worksheet or two. He really likes math and has a harder time gettingexcited about reading so I am thinking about doing Reading first next week.

After math, we get a snack, go outside or play a body game like freeze dance or "how many pillows can you jump over". Cooper likes these too!

After that he can play playdough, paint, cut things out or do some project alone. You can not imagine how messy my house is at this point...This is the hardest part for me so far!

We eat lunch around 12 and then Cooper takes a nap.

I've tried to do Silent Reading Time this week...just for 15 minutes. I like the quiet time and after that we do reading and phonics. We read 5 books and then he's done for the day.

Tuesday mornings we have play group so this schedule does not work on Tuesdays. On mornings when we have something - I've just picked a few of things to do in the afternoon when Cooper sleeps.

I'm really happy with how things are going. Parker has not asked me about his preschool class - I was really worried leaving in the middle of the year would make him really sad, but he has not said anything about it.

In just two weeks I have noticed a tremendous improvement in the way he speaks to Jon and I. He was struggling on days when he had school with being disrespectful and short fused. It's not perfect - but it is a lot better! He has also really started playing alone more. I thought that homeschooling would force us to be together 24 hours a day and thats not how it is turning out at all. When he is not doing school - he is thrilled to be as far away from me as he can be out of fear that I'll make him read something else. He plays in his room (he has never been good at playing in rooms that I am not in), he plays outside and in the playroom - it's really nice and quiet actually. I am really pleased with the day!

Here are our Valentine math activities - graphing and greater than/less than with candy hearts.

During Silent Reading Time, he's made his own pallet and place to sit and be. I would like him to just look at books - but he gets bored easily so towards the end of the week, I gave him some stationary and he made cards for people.

It was cold and rainy and he really wanted to go outside - so he took out a plastic bag and droppers and collected rain from different parts of the yard and put them into different bags. This was all fun until I opened my freezer and found about 6 bags of frozen muddy water.

Trip to the pet store! Cooper loves birds!

What does Cooper do all day? He's just around :-) He is such an easy baby. He's pretty busy but he's always so happy. I have some toys put in the closet that I only pull out when Parker is doing school stuff. Most of the projects he can do too so for most of the day, we all play together.