I just love homeschoolers. Moms who homeschool, dads who do, kids who are homeschooled. Especially since they are so horribly unsocialized and weird in every sense of the word…(can you hear the sarcasm??) I was homeschooled by my amazing mother until sophomore year. I’ve known and now know kids to be homeschooled all of high school, but at the time of my sophomore, going to a small private school was a good choice for me (looking back…I should have just stayed at home, but I learned many valuable lessons  in that private school, some so valuable that I quickly blocked out of my memory ;) )

We are a homeschooling family. Abby stayed at home last year for kindergarten, and Zach is here with me for preschool. I will be sending Zach to the wonderful small private school that Abby attends right now (the school we call “homeschool on steroids!”) But every year we will reevaluate to see if it is the right decision for our kids.  I plan on keeping Lily at home for as long as she needs it.

I thought I would share some of my homeschooling activities with you. I am by no means a super homeschooler, I only have a preschooler at home, but I do feel I have a wealth of information on the theories of how to homeschool since I was taught at home for so long. I will be implementing those with Zach and with all my kids as we are always in a state of home schooling.

As far as I am concerned, it is called HOMEschooling…not having school at home. That means we do not sit for 6+ hours at the table and do worksheet after worksheet, nor will we ever, even if we homeschool in high school. The fun of homeschooling is the flexibility of being at home, of being in our own environment and taking advantage of all that we have at our fingertips.

We do projects, play playdough, paint, color, grow a garden (well, we will try to!), plant flowers, make dinner together, and complete chores. School is not just busy work, we learn by example and by using our hands. I want to raise children who know how to cook and cook well. I want them to know how to sew, how to write beautifully and how to type fast.  Homeschool is more about teaching life than about teaching letters and numbers. Letters and numbers are integrated into everything we do! How many eggs do we put in the pancakes? How do we spell egg? What color is the egg? Let’s see what happens when we drop and egg on the floor, on the cement, on a soft towel? and on and on and on…..

I use Ann Ward’s “Learning at Home” curriculum (this book was written in the 80’s and I LOVE the Character Building lessons) and then multiple online sites for preschool print outs. My favorites are Totally Tots (which is really pre-prek but I feel that I can integrate what they do in Tot school quite well with Zach and will be starting some activities with Lily soon) and Confessions of a Homeschooler.  I have so many more sites that I use and will be recommending in the future. But if you are just starting out, those two sites and literally give you everything you need to start on the right foot with your preschooler or elementary school student.

This week we are focusing on the letter J and number 8. On the left he’s putting together his “counting book of 8″, on the right he is putting together our memory verse for the week. No, he can’t read the cards, but he is learning sight recognition and can read the number card.

A simple activity I have him do is go to his room and collect 8 (or the other number we are working on) of one object. This can also be done with colors, shapes, etc. On the right this simple activity is placing the correct number of clips on a paper plate.

{I hope to have more shares about our homeschooling experience! I will be filing them under category “Homeschool”.}

Day 22/28:  One of my favorite rooms in the house. In the summer we eat dinner in there, do schoolwork and my desk is there. I don’t spend nearly enough time in the sunroom. But the kids do, a lot. It is their favorite place to color, paint and create.

Day 21/28: It was one of those days where absolutely nothing could console her except for a bath. That is my go-to option when she is having a bad day. A warm bubble bath does a soul good, even for 2 year olds.

Please take a moment to vote for my photo on Me Ra Koh’s photography blog! You have until tomorrow (Monday the 22nd) to vote. My photo is #4 titled “Grandbaby”. A random voter will win a Sony camera!

Day 20/28: We have many names for her…Abs/Sweet Abs/Little Abs/Labs/Abba Labby…my favorite is Abbalicious. I saw this shirt at Old Navy (on clearance of course!!) and I knew it would be in the picture of the day.

I couldn’t resist showing some color images. In case you were wondering, this is how a session with Abbalicious goes…

…to finally end up with this:

…the 2 year old is up to something.

Day 19/28: She’s in love with this new tea set that she got for her birthday (thanks Grandma!). Her little hands are so dainty and she holds the tiny tea cups as if they were fragile. She pours her tea, sips, feeds her dolls and hands it to the nearest person to enjoy an afternoon cup with her. Today’s photo is one of my favorites, quite different but when I saw it I knew that it had to be the one. Because although it isn’t perfect, that is what I like about it. It captures the movement of her little hands, constantly touching the tiny cups and placing the saucers side by side. She is in her own little world when she is having tea…kind of like I am when I’m having my morning coffee :)

First day so far I haven’t posted on time. Its almost 1am on the 19th…I should be in bed. Its been an interesting day to say the least (well, I guess I should say yesterday?).  I’m praying about how to blog about it, how to share my heart and what goes on in my mind every now and then.  But some things are so personal, I’m not sure if the blogging world can handle it :) Let’s just say focusing on JOY today was not my strong suit, but that is why I am so very thankful that tomorrow is another day and the slate gets wiped clean. I serve a great God, forgiving, loving and full of joy when I am not.

Day 18/28:  I still believe that 4 year olds need naps. Especially my high energy boy. He naps everyday from 1:30 to about 2:45/3pm. It isn’t a long nap, just enough to help him get through the rest of the day. I love my boy dearly, but when he is tired, he tends to whine jussstttt a bit more than the next kid :) bless his heart, he needs his naps. He woke up today all sleepy and hungry. He ate some chips (yes…chips) and soon became as contrary as ever. By the end of our mini session, the only photo I could really muster was of his stinky man feet. Oh how I love them!!

P.S. Thank you to everyone who has already voted for my photo in the Me Ra Koh contest! I truly appreciate it. If you haven’t voted yet, you have until Monday the 22nd. Visit this post to see the details. Thanks!

P.S.S:  Happy Birthday to my good friend Jeanette!! You’re an awesome photographer and friend!! Jeanette is also doing the photo-a-day challenge, so go leave some blog love for her!!

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Oh my goodness I am just walking on air right now! I submitted a photo to be judged on Me Ra Koh’s photography blog. The photos were supposed to center around “Comfort” and tell a story in the background. Just to be featured is such an honor! I am blown away. Me Ra Koh has long been one of my favorite photographers, she is able to capture real life like no one I know.

Please take a moment to comment on her blog and vote for photo #4 titled “Grandbaby” by Amy Schuff. (This photo was taken the day my nephew was born, with the new Grammy looking on and the proud Daddy & Grandpa in the background.)

By commenting you are also in the running to win a Cyber Shot Camera from Sony. How cool would that be??

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Day 17/28: It was an absolute gorgeous day today. It didn’t feel like February at all, which if you know me, you know I LOVE that. So multiple times today I sent the kids outside to play and I even had some time to garden. After Abby got home from school, outside again they went and I tried my best to take some shots of all three. The best way to that is to lure them into the perfect light and wait for them to interact. Unless I’m ready to deal with bribing and maybe some tears, I don’t try to get those perfectly posed photos of them all looking straight into the camera. I would *love* a photo like that…maybe in the next few days I can try! I’ve got some left over Valentines Day candy I can use for bribing :)

I think this photo looks a bit better in color, but in keeping my theme of black & white photos…here it is. I really do love the subtle haze in this scene. The sun is my Friend!! Oh, and I seem to be taking my photos at the about the same time the past few days?!

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Day 16/28:  I think I’m going to set up a studio in my sunroom. Not a working one, (my county says I can’t hold sessions in my home) but a natural light studio for my personal photos. Hang some seamless paper from the ceiling…wow that would be fun!

This was taken in my living room, large window to her right, curtains as a background and husband holding the fan to blow her beautiful hair. We had never used the fan before, I will definitely be using it again!

She’s got the smile down :)