Kindergarten is Officially in Session!

Our homeschooling has been very informal up until this point, so I guess it's time for an update!  As I was organizing our "My Father's World" kindergarten curriculum, Reid asked what I was doing.  When I told him, he got totally excited and asked if we could start.  "Sure," I said.  "Right now?" he asked.  "Ok..." I responded.  ("Here goes nothing," is what I was really thinking.)  Probably good that we get a bit of a head start though, to give us some cushion since Baby's due September 1st.

So we've so far completed the introduction, which covers the creation story.  Each day he contributed to one page in his book (pictured below) and one piece of his banner, which is now hanging proudly in our classroom.

When Reid shows people this page, he says, "Do you know why Adam & Eve have a heart stamp in between them?  Because they're in love."

And so did we.

Reid was very excited to use the exclamation point!  :)

Ronin didn't want to miss out on any of the action so I plopped him in his highchair and let him play with whatever medium we were using that day (i.e. glitter paint, rubber stamps, stickers, etc.).  I soon learned he couldn't be trusted with the kid scissors when I caught him trying to cut his own hair and actually cutting a hole in his shirt.  A lot of the material so far seems too easy for Reid, like learning his alphabet, colors, numbers, so instead of skipping it, he and I make games to teach Ronin together.

Reid and I are also getting into chapter books and read a chapter (or two if he could sit through it) of "Mr. Popper's Penguins" each day before nap time.  As a reward for finishing the book, we went and saw the movie together, which was hardly like the book, but he didn't mind.

Once we find our groove with the MFW stuff, I plan to add on "Making Math Meaningful," which utilizes around-the-house items and conceptual conversation to, well, make math meaningful, avoiding flash cards, memorization, etc.  (I'm considering starting at level 1 instead of level K.)  Colby will also be planning a simple science project for each weekend to coincide with the previous week's MFW theme.

Hearing the kids on recess around the corner over the past school year has really piqued Reid's interest in school, so I felt it was time to make more of an effort to plug-in with a homeschool group.  I finally settled on the Cornerstone Homeschool Connection, which had a nice, modern (and very welcoming) feel to it.  We've been joining them for park days and will be joining in on a co-op with.  

Here we go... We're actually doing this!