Springs of Joy Homeschooling

First Day of Kindergarten


Well, we got through our very first day of school. Elizabeth was so excited and had lots of fun, although she definately has a very short attention span (all the more reason to homeschool!!).

We started off the day with morning mass (which we've been trying to get to each day at 8am... somedays are easier than others), and then came home and said our morning prayers.

Elizabeth set up her little table like a real 'school desk' and took away zach's chair because she said that school desks should only have one chair. :-)
Then we did religion (learned the sign of the cross and read a story... and then she instructed me on the mystery of the trinity: " Mommy, did you know that Jesus and God are the same person, even though they have different colored beards?".

For Language Arts: we learned the letter 's' which she already knows, but had fun feeling 'smart' because school was easy for her :-) However throughout the rest of the day she was noticing the letter S everywhere and telling me what words started with it... that was neat to see her really learning. She also learned her Left and Right (which i was surprised to see she already knew!!) and we played a little game.

The two of them made a Snake on a paper with yarn and sequins and glue. We also read another chapter in Little House in the Big Woods. Later in the day we did a short phonics lesson. I definately have to keep her lessons to under 10 min each, or she loses concentration easily.

Before lunch we made a trip to someone's house to pick up an old set of encyclopedias that I acquired through freecycle (what a fun website that is! i'm not sure where i'm going to keep these new set of books, but they look like all sorts of fun to look through even though they are old). Elizabeth didn't want to take a nap, so I let her sit on the couch and read books to herself quietly. Of course she fell asleep, but when i moved the book off her face she immediately woke up and declared she wanted to do more 'school' and learn her math. :-) I wonder if this excitement will keep up through grade 12?

For math she really had fun. Math-u-see is a great curriculum and she loved to play with the blocks. I gave her a sticker on each page she did right (all of them because it was so easy for her) and had her practice writing her name at the top. I think she will really like this curriculum.

Oh, and we did a bit of FIAR and read How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World. She enjoyed that book a lot.

We had fun! Her little brother was sure grumpy though and wanted her to play with him so we took lots and lots of breaks. About an hour and half of school spread over 5 hours was pretty good, although I didn't get my laundry finished. That will always be there waiting for me.