School Time

I do not take it lightly that I get to stay home with my girls. I know that many women can't do what I do every day and I count myself blessed.

I was fortunate enough to get a teaching certificate post grad and I really believe part of the reason I was presented with that opportunity (and the opportunity to be a teacher) was because I would feel led to home school my own children. Another blessing I do not take lightly.

I do love home schooling. It presents me with the unique opportunity to first hand witness my daughters learning to read, write, etc. I love that I am the one teaching them. Yes, we are together more, but the more I talk to veteran moms the more I realize that time goes by too fast.

I am slowly introducing Mayah to 'semi-structured' school time. She has had a lot of fun the last two days. I have had fun.....we really celebrate her success and I love how excited she is to tell Daddy what she has learned. It also shows her Mommy that she has good recall!!! Yesterday we sang the letter sound song, reviewed colors, shapes, and numbers with flashcards, and went over how to spell her name. I did not know she knew all her colors, every shape but a rectangle, her numbers 1-10 and she spelled her name MAYH...not bad at all!!! I have not formally taught her so I am excited to see how she is just picking things up from her surroundings.
Today she made letters with play dough. She loved this because she could use her hands it since it is play dough she thinks she is playing. Fun. I am excited to start preschool with her come August (she will be 3 months shy of 4 years old when we start).





I am continually blown away with Chiara and how she just "gets it". I have come to the realization that she is probably going to be a lot smarter than her Mom!!! I have been looking at her differently these past few weeks as we quickly approach her 5th birthday. FIVE!!! I can still feel her as a newborn in my arms, how can she be turning 5 next week?

We are working our way through this Kindergarten curriculum. I am adding a bit here and there to ensure I know that Chiara is mastering the ideas she needs to move on. We go at our own pace. Math she seems to zip through and reading is right on track. I am 'nervous' to move on to long vowel sounds, but in 2 weeks we do. She is excited to read and write more words without asking.

This week in math we introduced addition. I just sit and watch her in amazement. I loved math growing up, David is good at math, and her Grampy is a math whiz. It's in her genes! I know that is why I am already looking at curriculum for next school year-I need one that better suits our needs.

Today we found that one of the princess workbooks she has contains addition and she wanted to do that after she finished her other work.