Mom's Little Athlete

Esme is staring soccer and gym and swim this week!! I'm so glad she'll have the opportunity to play a team sport - we're on the hunt for cleats and shin guards now. She is especially interested in gymnastics - I'm sure she'll be tumbling all over the place soon.

I'm on vacation - Esme isn't!

Although she doesn't have a book of the week, Esme is working hard. She's doing her phonics lessons, learning math tables, and playing the the envelope games I've set up for her.

I went through the MA Standards, which is what we've been using as a guide this year, and am happy to say that we have hit almost all of them! I thought I'd be overwhelmed by what we have left but I was pleasantly surprised to learn the only thing we haven't touched on is measuring. We got a balance and weights this week and she'll be using them next week!

Week of April 6th

Esme has been learning a lot about plants the last couple weeks. She has her own houseplant now and is learning to check it once a day. She and Ethan have also been working in the yard a lot - getting rid of all those leaves that fell after the snow started. She and I have been reseeding our lawn and hoping that it will get a bit greener as the weather warms up.

Right now she's learning about how weather is measured, and her words of the week are go and see.

Our Little Daisy

I love being a Girl Scout leader. Girl Scouts was such a positive experience for me growing up, and I'm so glad I can share this with Esme. Our troop finally started meeting in January and we've done some great activities. We've fit in a lot of activities so far - we had a guest come in and teach us folk dancing, we've made Valentines for police officers and fire fighters, we've gone a Spring event with a bunch of other troops, we've planned and held a party for dolls, etc. Today we had someone from the Department of Public Works come in and talk to the girls about recycling, and we have two more events coming up this month. Before summer comes we might even go CAMPING!

Remember this book?

This was always a favorite of mine, and now it is a favorite of Esme's. Studying weather gives us the perfect reason to make it book of the week! Even though the snow is gone and the temperatures are getting higher, we're enjoying Peter's adventures.

We're continuing our phonics lessons and words of the week are out and was.

We're thinking about having an open house later this Spring, so that we can invite our friends and family to come and see what Esme's learned, and look at all her projects.

First Day of Spring at the Sugar Shack

Esme and I went on a tour of a local sugar shack today to celebrate the first day of Spring. We learned how maple syrup is made, from the tree to the bottle. We got a try a sample and oh my goodness was it sweet and delicious! Have a pancake was Esme's favorite part! My favorite part was meeting and talking to other homeschooling moms. It's amazing how each family's process is so completely different.

We've been spending a lot of time at the library lately. We've been meeting up with other homeschoolers to share books, do crafts, and last time we had a singing circle. We're hoping to get involved with more families as time goes on and do more cooperative events.

changing it up

I've been reading so much about how other people homeschool and it's been incredibly interesting. Because of my job, it's so easy for me to fall into teaching Esme in the most traditional ways. But she's not in school and I want to make her education as flexible as possible and open to many different kinds of learning as possible. So we're switching some things up a bit.

The most successful homeschoolers I've read about let their children take the lead. We'll still do our daily lesson plans, but we're trying to move in a direction that is more child-led. I'm developing several learning centers and she'll have more opportunities to work in them, and choose what she works on. We're going to continue to focus on themes of her choice and let her have choices within the themes too.

Another change is we're going to be moving into some pretty intense phonics. For a while we've felt that Esme is right on the cusp of reading on her own. But in our lessons we've focused on a lot of literary elements and a few sights words, with only a little bit of phonics thrown in. Another homeschooler recommended a phonics curriculum to us and we're starting to use it this week. It's called The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. All three of us are excited about Esme really reading on her own. We'll continue the literary elements parts because we love them so much, and of course they help her comprehension as well.

The last change is that all of a sudden Esme is BUSY! She is officially a Girl Scout and is attending regular meetings, we've started meeting weekly with other homeschoolers, she has Sunday School, and in a few short weeks she'll be starting soccer. We've joined a local homeschooling group that has all kinds of activities, and we're starting to take part in those too.

We are a busy, happy, learning family! It's hard to express what an incredible experience this has been for us, even in this short time!

P.S. Book of the week is ABC Weather.