I was surprised on the first day of homeschooling that wasn't a trial- I expected to feel excited and eager to get started, but instead felt like a weight had been pressed down on my chest. I suddenly realized that I am fully responsible for Einstein's education!
I took a deep breath and remembered all the reasons I pulled him, and dove in.
Monday
Monday was all I had imagined for homeschool. Everyone was fresh and happy, we did math and all the English worksheets, used manipulatives to demonstrate time, all that jazz. Einstein even spelled all his spelling words correctly the first time! (maybe setting him words 2 years ahead isn't enough!)
We read the first few chapters of our new reading unit that would carry out over 3 weeks- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and discussed it together. I planned out fun activities and crafts to go along with each day's reading.
I read some of a biography of Christopher Columbus to Einstein while he constructed a ship out of recyclable materials, and we plotted out on a map events in his life, AND reviewed our family ancestry.
We finished the day with our science unit "Sink or Float" which I thought would tie in nicely with the Columbus and his ships history.
That was a good day!
Tuesday
Tuesday was a good day too! We continued our unit on Columbus, making more progress on our ships and discussed why the Queen of Spain agreed to finance Columbus' trip, we had many other things float and sink, and Einstein was eager to do his math, as always. That kid LOVES math!
When I went to read Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Einstein kept saying "I read that already" over and over as I was reading him the next couple chapters. When I asked how that was, he said that he smuggled the book up to his room and had read about half the book before he fell asleep last night.
I was pretty disappointed; I loved that book as a kid, and I had really been looking forward to reading it together and doing fun projects. But that was okay, we would just keep reading from where he left off.
Wednesday
I had meant for Wednesday to be a catch-up day, but we had stayed on top of everything for the first two days, but it all worked out. We went to a story time at a local book shop, then to the park with friends, and then I got a call from someone asking for a ride to the hospital, so that was what we spent usual homeschool time doing.
Which I was totally okay with- one of my reasons for homeschooling Einstein was so that he would be available to help others and develop a heart for service.
I did a little review of Columbus and quizzed him on some math in the car, but we really just worked on helping others that day. We picked tomatoes and gave many to several neighbors, baked cookies, and then went to a splashpad with more friends.
Thursday
I wasn't prepared on Thursday. The baby was awake until midnight the night before, so I hadn't cleaned my house or prepared for homeschool, or anything.
And it showed! The kids fought for a lot of the day while I tried to play catchup on the dishes and laundry, Einstein had a meltdown about not wanting to do any writing or reading comprehension, and had awful behavior most of the day.
I wondered why on earth I would wish this upon myself, and ended up sending him to his room frequently throughout the day, where he finished reading a lot of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by himself because he liked the book. If I had told him to go read it, he would have refused. He was just plain ornery that day!
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| From a different day! |
My poor husband came home to a wife that was frazzled, no dinner, the house a disaster, and fighting kids. Luckily, very little phases him, and he assured me that we just have 3 very difficult kids, and I was up to the challenge.
Friday
Reassured from my husband, I tackled Friday with a vengeance! I made sure to clean the house and prep for homeschool Thursday night, and so Friday turned out to be an excellent day! Einstein begged for more math, and was picking up new concepts at the speed of light.
Einstein was able to give an account of Columbus' life leading up to the discovery of America, showed places he lived on a map of Europe, and we sailed the boats we made this week.
We finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory together and watched the movie. Einstein was enthralled with it, and even though he was shocked that the movie didn't match the book exactly, liked the movie overall.
We finished the science unit of float/ sink and Einstein came to his conclusion about how the amount of air inside something helps with floating. We tested this out by swimming at the pool while holding in a big breath versus expelling our air before swimming.
Einstein studied chess for a few hours, and it was a perfect ending to the week!
We did set up the science experiment that will be for next week, since it takes several days- how fast mold grows!
Now I just need to scramble and plan another reading unit before Monday comes!
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