This week we begin the 2nd half of our first year of homeschooling so I thought it would be a great time to share a post reflecting on our first 6 months of homeschooling. (You can read about our routine here.)
I know it sounds cliche but I seriously cannot believe that half the year has vanished already and that we’ve reached our 6 month milestone. It’s been an incredible 6 months of learning (for all of us) and here are some of the highlights:
Reading
My 5 year old is making incredible progress towards being able to confidently read – he’s learned his letter sounds and is working through both the Reading Egg and Teach Your Monster To Read programs. I sit behind him with a pen and paper and write down all his “new” words and then we practice writing them on the white board and putting them into sentences.
We also make regular trips to the library and take out our full allowance of books to read together.
I’ve ordered a couple of fun looking Star Wars Workbooks which I just know he is going to enjoy working through.
Projects
In addition to working through the curriculum, we have also completed projects and activities about Dragons, Robots, Medieval Weapons and countless other subjects that the boys have been interested in.
We’ve also explored England, Australia, South Africa and France – cooking foods of each country, learning the flags, currency and other useful information that they are interested in.
Yoga
I stumbled on the Cosmic Kids Yoga Videos and the boys enjoy working through a routine every other day or so. It’s wonderful to watch them unknowingly perform yoga moves and I have to admit that sometimes I join them too. Here’s one of our favorites:
Art
The boys are incredibly artistic and love to draw, paint and get creative with different mediums. In fact my 5 year old will regularly help himself to paper and his favorite fine-liner pens and set about to create a work of art BEFORE breakfast.
From time to time I set them tasks but they prefer to have free reign over the art supplies and just create. We’re particularly fond of the Zentangle form of art and have been exploring the patterns in the 1st workbook.
Excursions
Over the past 6 months we’ve enjoyed outings to the Melbourne Aquarium, Scienceworks, Art Gallery, City Wanderings, beach and park visits.
Each outing inspires new learning activities which are explored until the next excursion takes place.
Socialization
Whenever I mention to anyone we are homeschooling the number one response is “What about socialization”?!?!
The past 6 months have been more social for us as a family that I ever remember. We catch up with other homeschooled families through the week, attend sports/after school activities – sometimes with other homeschooled children sometimes with schooled children, we catch up with schooled friends on weekends. Plus they spend ALL DAY chatting with each other, me and other family members we see on a regular basis. I am not in the tiniest bit concerned about their social skills.
If anything I’ve noticed that my 5 year old is a lot MORE social with other children than before – confident in chatting with new children, finding common interests and playing together happily. What more could I ask for?!
Going Forward
We’re heading on a family adventure soon where we will travel from our home in Australia all the way to England. We’re going to keep a daily (written) journal and create a scrapbook of our holiday when we return.
My 5 year old has a keen interest in all things to do with Ninjas – he’s told me that’s what he wants to be when he grows up! So, I envisage plenty of ninja-inspired activities to take place in the coming months.
As you can tell, our homeschooling journey to date has been an enriching one all around. The boys have thrived and are constantly requesting to learn MORE. They have an insatiable appetite to learn and follow their passions and I feel blessed that we can do just that.
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