In Feb. 2008, God blessed us with an amazing gift - our daughter. As her parents we are called to do what we think is best for our children, right? The problem is that sometimes what one parent sees as best for their child is totally different from what another parent views as best. This has been a struggle for me ever since I found out I was pregnant.
We never put Lilly in our bedroom. From day one she slept in her room, in her crib. It worked for us. I know many moms who co-slept with their child - it worked for them.
At 5 months, we did the "cry it out" method with Lilly. For about a week, we let her cry herself to sleep. It was hard for that week, but afterwards it was one of the best things ever because we could lay her down in her crib awake and she could put herself to sleep. I know some moms who would never do this and see it as cruel, but like I said - it worked for us.
We do not let our daughter dress up or participate in anything related to halloween. It is a personal conviction of ours - one we feel very strongly about. It is what we feel is best for our family. I know many people who have no problem with it - that works for their family.
We have decided to home school Lilly. I know many parents who feel strongly about sending their child to school so they can be a light to others.
For Christmas, we celebrate Jesus' birth but do not have Santa come to our house. It works for our family and we can focus on serving and giving to others rather than receiving.
Does that mean our way was wrong and their way was right? Or that our way was right and their way was right? I don't believe so, but there still seems to be tension when you have a different method of doing something. On my part, I need to remember that most parents are doing what they see best for their children and just because it is different from the way we do things does not necessarily make it wrong.
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeschool. Show all posts
Monday, October 1, 2012
Friday, September 30, 2011
Learning the ABC's
Lilly knows her ABC's, but like most 3 year olds, she has a few mix ups when she sings it. Today, during our "school" time, we were able to clear those up a little bit. Here are the ABC's how my daughter says it:
ABCDEFGHIJKLNOPQRSTUVWXYNZ
During our lesson, I would dot out each letter on the white board and she would trace the dots. Then, she would sing the alphabet song to tell me which letter came next. I wish I had a camera for the time when she got to N and I said no, "M". It was priceless, I guess she thought I was teasing her or something because she paused for a long time. I finally wrote at the bottom of the white board L M N O P and every time she sang the song to figure out which letter came next, I would point to the letters during that part.
We got to the end of the alphabet and after Y she said N was next. Then, she thought and said, "We already did N." I had to explain to her that it wasn't N it was "and". To which she replied, "what letter is "and"?" So, I went through a long explanation telling her that "and" was a word and not a letter.
In the end, I think she got it, but I do believe she has been saying it that way for so long that it will take some time to retrain her brain. :)
ABCDEFGHIJKLNOPQRSTUVWXYNZ
During our lesson, I would dot out each letter on the white board and she would trace the dots. Then, she would sing the alphabet song to tell me which letter came next. I wish I had a camera for the time when she got to N and I said no, "M". It was priceless, I guess she thought I was teasing her or something because she paused for a long time. I finally wrote at the bottom of the white board L M N O P and every time she sang the song to figure out which letter came next, I would point to the letters during that part.
We got to the end of the alphabet and after Y she said N was next. Then, she thought and said, "We already did N." I had to explain to her that it wasn't N it was "and". To which she replied, "what letter is "and"?" So, I went through a long explanation telling her that "and" was a word and not a letter.
In the end, I think she got it, but I do believe she has been saying it that way for so long that it will take some time to retrain her brain. :)
Friday, August 19, 2011
School Time
For the past 3 weeks now, I have been doing "school time" with Lilly for about an hour a day. I have gotten ideas from various websites and books and she seems to be really enjoying this time each day. In this post, I will share with you some of the websites I use and our schedule.
Right now we are doing a letter a week, so everything we study in each of the subjects begins with the letter we are learning about. For example, this week has been the letter C so we talked about courageous Queen Esther when we did our Bible story, compared groups of objects to decide which had more or less, counted objects, looked at the calendar, and created pictures. Also, we read books about counting and cats.
Schedule:
Bible story and memory verses
Journal to Daddy when he is away - she tells me what to write and then she adds a picture to go with the words
Calendar - date, days of the week, months of year, weather, seasons
Monday - talk about letter of the week, sound it makes, what it looks like, what things begin with the letter, finding things that start with the letter, finding the letter in the house, etc
Learn a nursery rhyme - we've been checking various books out with lots of nursery rhymes in them and so we try to learn one a week. We have also been reading a fable or fairy tale a week.
Tuesday - math day, numbers, practice recognition of them, couting, one-to-one correspondance, patterns, adding, sorting, etc
Wednesday - Science day, experiements, observations, reading books on various topics
Thursday - S.S. day, reading books on various topics and library day
Friday - We usually have one day where we go out in the morning so we don't get to our school work - Friday is our day to "catch up"
Here are some sites I have been using:
https://docs.google.com/View?docID=dwstdgn_447mphsmf8&revision=_latest&pli=1
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
http://www.workboxsystem.com/
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
http://cullensabcs.com/
http://simplycharlottemason.com/
For memory verses, I have been using this system from the Charlotte Mason site:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/
Right now we are doing a letter a week, so everything we study in each of the subjects begins with the letter we are learning about. For example, this week has been the letter C so we talked about courageous Queen Esther when we did our Bible story, compared groups of objects to decide which had more or less, counted objects, looked at the calendar, and created pictures. Also, we read books about counting and cats.
Schedule:
Bible story and memory verses
Journal to Daddy when he is away - she tells me what to write and then she adds a picture to go with the words
Calendar - date, days of the week, months of year, weather, seasons
Monday - talk about letter of the week, sound it makes, what it looks like, what things begin with the letter, finding things that start with the letter, finding the letter in the house, etc
Learn a nursery rhyme - we've been checking various books out with lots of nursery rhymes in them and so we try to learn one a week. We have also been reading a fable or fairy tale a week.
Tuesday - math day, numbers, practice recognition of them, couting, one-to-one correspondance, patterns, adding, sorting, etc
Wednesday - Science day, experiements, observations, reading books on various topics
Thursday - S.S. day, reading books on various topics and library day
Friday - We usually have one day where we go out in the morning so we don't get to our school work - Friday is our day to "catch up"
Here are some sites I have been using:
https://docs.google.com/View?docID=dwstdgn_447mphsmf8&revision=_latest&pli=1
http://www.letteroftheweek.com/index.html
http://www.workboxsystem.com/
http://www.preschoolexpress.com/
http://www.first-school.ws/INDEX.HTM
http://cullensabcs.com/
http://simplycharlottemason.com/
For memory verses, I have been using this system from the Charlotte Mason site:
http://simplycharlottemason.com/timesavers/memorysys/
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Why I'm Thinking Homeschool
Lately, I have been thinking a lot about what I will do when Lilly is "school" age. I am very seriously considering homeschooling her and I have already started a preschool schedule with her - which she loves. There are many reasons for this decision, here are a few:
1) I really only have 18 years to be an influence in my daughter's life and if she goes to school for 6-8 hours a day, then I lose a lot of that and her teachers and peers become more of an influence.
2) I don't want to "protect" her in a sense that I don't want her to hear about certain topics, but I want her to hear about those topics from me - evolution, sex, etc.
3) I have realized that she is a kinesthetic learner and she likes to figure things out on her own (if at all possible), so sitting in a classroom having to be quiet and doing worksheets may not be the best way for her to learn.
4) In real life, we do not only interact with people our own age. I think my daughter needs to learn how to treat others all the way around - older and younger.
5) In real life, we do not go from spelling to math to reading, etc. I think learning in themes where everything is related makes much more sense to me. Yes, some things probably need to be taught in isolation, but not to the extent they are in schools.
6) I have the training and I don't necessarily want to go back into the classroom, so why not use the knowledge and skills God has allowed me to have in bringing up and educating my own daughter - the most precious gift the Lord has given me.
I know there have already been a few people to say, "Well, what about socialization?" I know Lilly is an only child, but she interacts with others quite often. In fact, for a while we were going so many places that we had a take a step back and reevaluate which ones were really important. She goes to various church programs about 3 times a week where she interacts with others around her same age, she has play dates with friends about once a week, and she always finds a buddy to play with when we go to the park, pool, or wherever.
Like I said, it isn't definite decision yet but it is one that my husband and I are very strongly considering.
1) I really only have 18 years to be an influence in my daughter's life and if she goes to school for 6-8 hours a day, then I lose a lot of that and her teachers and peers become more of an influence.
2) I don't want to "protect" her in a sense that I don't want her to hear about certain topics, but I want her to hear about those topics from me - evolution, sex, etc.
3) I have realized that she is a kinesthetic learner and she likes to figure things out on her own (if at all possible), so sitting in a classroom having to be quiet and doing worksheets may not be the best way for her to learn.
4) In real life, we do not only interact with people our own age. I think my daughter needs to learn how to treat others all the way around - older and younger.
5) In real life, we do not go from spelling to math to reading, etc. I think learning in themes where everything is related makes much more sense to me. Yes, some things probably need to be taught in isolation, but not to the extent they are in schools.
6) I have the training and I don't necessarily want to go back into the classroom, so why not use the knowledge and skills God has allowed me to have in bringing up and educating my own daughter - the most precious gift the Lord has given me.
I know there have already been a few people to say, "Well, what about socialization?" I know Lilly is an only child, but she interacts with others quite often. In fact, for a while we were going so many places that we had a take a step back and reevaluate which ones were really important. She goes to various church programs about 3 times a week where she interacts with others around her same age, she has play dates with friends about once a week, and she always finds a buddy to play with when we go to the park, pool, or wherever.
Like I said, it isn't definite decision yet but it is one that my husband and I are very strongly considering.
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