Day one

The first day of homeschooling got off to a late start. I overslept by half an hour which means The Kid did too. He woke up claiming not to feel well so I left him sleep for another half an hour then woke him up and sent him to the shower. He was singing halfway through it, so I knew all was better. He got dressed, ate breakfast and fed the cat. We are still working out his morning chore routine.

The first thing we did is get his notebooks organized: Math, Science, Social Studies, Reading, and Nature Study. After that we reviewed our plans for the week. Then he took an online state math assessment that would typically be given at the end of 6th grade. I don't really plan to do a lot of testing like that, but I wanted to know where he was in Math. He passed handily and everything he missed was something he hadn't studied yet. It will all be covered in his Life of Fred books, so I'm feeling confident there.

We then hit a glitch with spotty internet, but that didn't stop us for long. He cleaned and organized his desk in his bedroom. He chose his course of study for Science. He has to do an overview of the each branch of Science, he got to choose the order we'll be doing it in. He picked Physics first, which is of course the one I am worst at, so I'll be hitting the library for that.

We are starting Social Studies with some research on the Philippines. We hit the library for that. We'll be looking at some Filipino customs and a history of Filipinos in the US since 1763. None of the Filipino history books were available at our local branch so we put in transfers on them and are waiting.

He also started his blog, which we are both excited about. He'll be doing recaps of what he is learning for family members and anyone else who is interested, he has to write a book review for each book he reads, and he'll have some other assignments on there.

I was feeling full of doubt last night, but my excitement is renewed. I'm trying to not be too rigid in my thinking. We'll see how that goes.

Tomorrow we are going to a local homeschool playgroup and I'll introduce him to the Reading Workshop. Tomorrow nigh he'll be watching Nova with his step-dad and we'll talk about it Wednesday. We also have a trip to a new local museum scheduled for Wednesday along with his first day of LoF lessons. Thursday will be Social Studies and learning the research process.

And we're off!