Homeschooling

Here's a great page I follow on facebook.  It has lots of resources posted.  Most can be found in the photo albums, so you don't have to scroll through all of the posts!

https://www.facebook.com/ThisHomeschoolMom


There is also a great group of homeschool parents (mostly moms) that I associate with on facebook.  If you are local, you can join the group too!  Skagit Christian Homeschoolers




Interested in our homeschool story?  You can read about it below!  Enjoy!

 When Tristan was younger... maybe even before he was born LOL... Kaleb has been adamant about homeschooling our son.  This was NOT something I wanted to do.  Not only am I not a teacher... I do not have any desire or drive to teach school.

Tristan has been advanced from the day he was born!  He was holding his head up hours after being born (which freaked the nurses out).  I should have known then...
A short list of milestones- He was crawling right before 6 months old, walking by 9 months old.
He started talking early... including his alphabet and counting to ten... was saying sentences a week after his 2nd birthday.  At 2 1/2, he taught himself how to write all the letters of the alphabet!
It seems like he's always been on the run.  I've never forced him to do anything... except eat his dinner :P lol

He has always loved learning.  So, I've provided him with information and he's learned it...

When Tristan turned 4 in 2014, Kaleb and I started talking about school in a serious fashion.  I was still strongly against homeschooling and he was still pushing for it.  He would talk to homeschooling friends, then when I was around, they would share all this stuff and push as to why wouldn't I want to homeschool, etc, etc.  It was a rough few months.  I felt stuck and my voice was not being heard at all.

Over that summer, I decided that I should look into what I could be giving Tristan to learn... since he wanted to.  I mentioned to Kaleb that I was looking for stuff for Tristan to do.. and he told me that he was going to back off and stop pushing me to homeschool - that it's my decision and he needs to be respectful of that.
That was much appreciated.. but didn't make me feel any better.

I started asking around about what I could give Tristan.  Since he's only 4, he didn't qualify for any sort of school program other than preschool.  A mom from our church recommended looking up the WA State benchmarks for 4 year olds (preschool/pre-K) and using those to help.

It was here that I discovered some startling news.  I read through what the goals are for the end of the year, and he was already doing everything.  And had been for a while!  So, I read on... and on... and on...
Tristan, at 4 years old, is sitting between Kindergarten and 1st grade on almost everything!  AND between 1st and 2nd in math!!  It wouldn't be fair to him if he was put in public school.  He would be so bored... and would probably get in trouble (just like Kaleb did!).



So, in August of 2014, I officially decided to homeschool our 4 year old son.  I have no idea what I am doing... I don't feel adequate to do this at all...  But I know that it will be best for him.  Me on the other hand, I'm not so convinced...

I wasn't sure where to have Tristan start.  Here are a couple things I did:

- I had him write his letters.  Since he already knew how to write them all, I had him write them on the proper lines, with correct proportions.  After we went through the whole alphabet, we did the numbers.

- I had him do addition and subtraction problems. 
A little background info-- I've always provided Tristan with information when I had his attention.  For example, when we were in the car or during his meals, we would sit and talk and I would ask him different things - like what's 2+3 or 5 take away 3.  Then I increased to bigger numbers but would always keep the second number under 10 (15+8 or 12-7 or 45+10).  One day, he asked me about really big numbers.  I told him that he can already add them together, he'd just have to break them down into small steps and do it on paper.  So, I showed him how...
Which leads into the math problems.  I would make addition and subtraction papers for him to do.  Around a dozen problems or so.

- He also reads books.  I got a great deal on books at Value Village to add to his collection.  He has "beginner reading" books of level 1 and 2.  I also put a handful in the car, so that he always has some there too.  Depending on what's going on in our schedule, he reads at least 3 books a week.  Sometimes more if we are in the car a lot.

- Since he finished writing letters pretty quickly, I had him then move to copy work.  I put his Learn to Read Bible out, and had him copy down the two open pages (which range from 6-10 lines).

- I also made a little paper clock (and bought a magnetic clock too), to help him learn to tell time.  He caught on really quickly.  Of course, he's been fascinated with the digital clock in the bathroom... and has been reading that... since he learned numbers! lol

It's mid October 2014, and this is what we have been doing so far...



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