Recap of Homeschool Week 1!

Hi there!  My name is Tisha and Tara is my sister!  I taught kindergarten in public schools for two years and a private school for one year.  When the opportunity arose for me to stay at home and teach my two daughters… I jumped on it! I will be sharing with you our journey as we tackle first grade and pre-k!

Week One DONE!

I almost feel like writing this entire post with my caps lock ON!  🙂  This week was super special, and went even better than I initially imagined it could/would.  So, in my over-the-top- overly-excited teacher voice I want to say “WE HAD A SUCCESSFUL WEEK!  WHOOP WHOOP, YEAH!
Ok, caps are off.  I promise no more shouting excitedly.  I am ready to share with you just what we were up to this week!
First of all check out these two beauties our first morning of school!  I whipped up these simple “First Day of School” coloring pages and the girls came right on into the classroom ready to beak in the new crayons!!  Oh, yeah!
I have SO many favorite moments from this week.  I will say this picture captures my #1.  All of us together at the table.  Each one working.  Simply wonderful.
So…what did we do this week?

I big part of our week was working together on establishing a predictable routine.  That is the “teacher” in me I suppose -but I realized even when my girls were young, that a predictable routine is key to smooth transitions.
From day 1 we started our morning the way I intend to begin each one from here out, and from there we learned how our day would easily unfold.
I plan to post soon about our schedule and what a typical day looks like while we are creating our SPARKS.  

I’ve had a lot of questions about how I manage the two and actually get ANY learning done.  So, stay tuned and I will break it down sometime soon.
This week we focused on nursery rhymes.  It was a great way to start the girls out on common ground.  Nursery Rhymes are something they are both familiar with already and of course there are endless possibilities and teaching points with rhyme!
So, we also did a lot of “hands-on” learning.  Especially for Vaida who is still just 3.  She loved anything that was gluing, cutting, coloring, and even tearing!   

Tear and glue sheets found HERE.

We got up and moved around the room.  We utilize every bit of open in our space!

Rhyming rainbows found HERE.

Also, the girls were real excited to learn they were allowed computer time.  However, it wasn’t Barbie youtube like they are used to watching at Gma’s! 😉  But boy were they ever excited about READING and doing so INDEPENDENTLY!

Vaida was all FIRED up on Friday about creating her “ABC” book.  A cute craft idea made by Miss Kindergarten -you can find here. 
We were also hard at work on 1:1 correspondence as Vaida continues the early stages of beginning to read.  This girl is READY!  You can find those simple 1:1 tracking strips made by Tara here.

And here is a picture of Lolah writing a letter to her fellow homeschool pen-pal!  We incorporate this letter writing into our writing time as she is practicing some great skills while getting to know her new friend!
I’m ready for Monday!  Bring it on!  We have so much to be thankful for and I can’t even put into words yet what this “feels” like.  I’m just so very thankful for this opportunity!
I also want to give a shout out to the homeschoolers and homeschool mommas out there!  Thanks SO much for your inspiration.

5 Comments

Leave a Reply