The first day of home school

Whew....I survived. So this day if it did nothing else helped to pinpoint the challenges that lay ahead. A.M.2 was motivated for all of 20 minutes. I knew this was going to be an issue. As a matter of fact, it was a major consideration of the home school process. A.M.2 is such a free spirit and all around California girl. This has me question the mode of teaching, such as do I continue with the Classical format or switch her to more of an unschooling approach? Will she get used to the structure and then crave the consistency that classical provides? Aye yigh yigh, at least I don't have to worry about the highly structured classroom of traditional schools squelching her little free spirit.
What surprised me the most was how my A.M.1 embraced this whole thing! I thought she would totally reject everything I was doing and tell me that I am not qualified to be teaching her great mind. Why did I think this? Well she has spent the last two years being taught by "highly qualified" teachers and so I considered that she wouldn't like this whole being home thing. But perhaps she is saving that for another day.

Here was how the day unfolded.

8:10am Everyone up. I immediately headed for the shower, while the girls got dressed.

8:25am Start making breakfast for the girls. AM1 had cereal and milk. AM2 had a waffle. I get my much needed coffee started....why is it taking so long to brew??

8:45am I clean up breakfast dishes. AM1 wipes the table. Who knows what AM2 is doing....no wait I remember she was brushing her toy horse's hair. AM1 then goes and puts her thermometer outside so we can read it later for math.

9:00am We begin with Bible and prayer. Then the girls color a Bible cartoon for a few minutes.

9:15am I gave AM1 her Spelling Workout book while AM2 and I started on Saxon math.

9:30am AM2's first lesson was short. So she is now handed spelling and Am2 starts on math.

9:45am Am2 complained the whole time while doing spelling. She wanted to play with the math blocks/shapes instead. I think she only said this about a million times!!! So finally I get the blocks down so that I can finish AM2's lesson in peace.

9:55 I announce that it is time for our grammar lesson from First Language Lessons.
It is at this announcement that AM2 starts screaming/crying. Are you kidding me? So I grab the book and sit on the couch. This is what both girls will be doing this year since. I just start reading and the screaming turns into silence.

10:05 Very short first lesson of grammar so we are able to move on to phonics. I am using Abeka for phonics since this is what AM1 has been doing for the past two years, so I didn't want to throw her into a whole new way of learning to read. AM2 floored me here...I ordered the first grade edition although she is technically in kindergarten. She didn't even blink on this. I understand that it is easy in the beginning but this was a total snap. Made me very glad I didn't order the K stuff!

10:20 AM2 finishes first and begins her reading lesson. AM1 continues her phonics or well coloring what it told her to color.

10:30 AM1 finishes her phonics and I tell her to grab a book we got from the library to start reading independently until I could get to her.

10:35 AM1 is unable to read independently....she wants to ask questions. She is having trouble in the Archeology book she chose....why did she have to pick the most book difficult to read?

10:50 AM2 finishes her reading lesson and is so happy to be done. She puts herself in the office chair and spins herself around as fast as she can go. So AM 1 starts her reading lesson. Archeology, seriously????

10:55 So I had enough of the spinning and the frustrating reading......ENOUGH I say. Who wants a snack??? They become very excited. So vanilla wafers and milk are the snack of the day. Then both say how they can't wait until their respective birthdays and then they can have cupcakes for snack. Then I propose...since you are home schooled, you can take the day off. AM1 becomes very excited...the best news she ever heard!!

11:00 They both ask for a rest from school. Ok let's go for a walk. We walk to get the mail and check out the surroundings. On this walk I realize that today is the first. I am supposed to pay bills on the first.

11:10 I sit at the computer and pay bills. The girls play together. It was some game where they were famous or teenagers...what they have been playing all summer.

11:30 The girls want computer time since mommy did. I explain I wasn't playing on the computer but actually doing work. This doesn't appease them. So I cave since it is close to lunch time. While they plan each on a separate laptop, I start laundry.

12:00 I decide to make lunch. AM1 calls Nama. AM2 got kicked off Webkinz and so I sit her down first.

12:05 AM2 is doing really well eating. AM1 is not interested at all. She sits anyway and picks at the apples, chips and sandwich.

12:25 I clean up lunch and bag up the uneaten sandwich of AM1. The girls play together a little more.

12:45 The girls vote to do science instead of History today. I finished cleaning up.

1:00 We start studying our Biology lesson. We are studying invertebrates. AM1 had protested that she didn't want to learn about gross snails, squids, etc. We start anyway. Much to their surprise, the girls loved it. We spent the next hour pouring over books about snails and squids. There was a squid book written on a level that AM 1 could read so we were able to finish our reading lesson.

1:55 Narration of our science. Both girls had to explain what they knew about our new friends. AM2 dictated hers to me and AM1 wrote hers independently.

2:15 We are done. AM1 asks what time it is. I tell her and she does a little dance because it beat when she was done in first grade. People, it was a whole 15 minutes before she is used to getting out when she was at a traditional school. But I guess when you are seven it is an eternity!