Thursday

School is back in session!

Well, this past week we S-L-O-W-L-Y got back into our Homeschool rhythm...

Thursday (one of the days when Little Wild Man is not at preschool), our schooling went something like this...

Watch a performance from "Hula Honey" (aka Baby Girl)

(Here's Jungle girl helping Baby Girl prepare for her performance...)

(Not only was she the Wardrobe Assistant, she was also the Stage Manager...)
Hula Honey...
Dancing up a storm...
Little Wild Man wanted to get in on the action and take pictures...

(This has to be my most flattering side...)
(He also took a pic of his injured finger...)

FINALLY, when the "show" was over, we got to work!

Making the schooling hours run "smoothly" for everyone DEFINITELY involves planning on my part! After we do our Prayer, Pledge, Bible Story and Calendar Time together, I move the kiddos into their individual assignments.

Most of the assignments my 2nd grader (Jungle Girl) can do independently with a question here or there. But the Kindergartner (Baby Girl) and the Preschooler (Little Wild Man) I MUST be involved with their work more!

I began with generally going over Jungle Girl's assignments with her...
She jumped right into reading the 1st chapter of Beverly Cleary's Ribsy...
I then gave Little Jungle Man a magnet New Year's hat to work from Make Learning Fun and his Advent Book to finish coloring (which we didn't finish since life got crazy the week before Christmas)...
Now that they were busy, I was able to work with Baby Girl on her Reading Folder activities. We focused on reviewing the Sight Word booklets she has already read from Hubbard's Cupboard.
When we finished, I set her to work on her math review pages from Math U See. She is VERY proud to be doing this kind of math now (her older sister has been doing it all year, and now SHE is doing it too- she's so big!).
While the girls were at work, my focus moved to Little Wild Man. We worked on counting backwards from 10 to 1 with the use of a New Year's clothespin clip game from Make Learning Fun. (I REALLY like the clothespin games- the kiddos not only work on some kind of math or alphabet skill, they are alos working out their fine motor skills at the same time- and it's FUN!)
Next, Little Wild Man and Baby Girl finished up their Number 4 Journals.
Finally, Little Wild Man and I (with occasional input from the girls) worked on Letter Skills with this game from Make Learning Fun (hmmmm, can you tell I just ADORE this website?).

Whew! By the time the younger two were done, I sent them off to play in their room so Jungle Girl could finish her spelling, math, and copywork in peace.

Let me just say, a DEFINITE goal of mine in the New Year is to "stay ahead" of my kiddos-

My new mantra...

Planning Makes Peace!