Count down madness!!!

There are exactly 10 days until I'm scheduled to start Maddy's first fall semester of organized home schooling. Needless to say it's a little chaotic in my brain right now. I have 20 weeks of themes and all the plans for it going through my head. I'm actually doing great on organizing it all into a pretty good system. I wanted to get the weekly themes done through the end of the year so I can ease into this routine without stressing about the week to come during the week we are in. Am I making any sense? I feel like I'm talking in circles, lol. Part of my planning is to blog weekly, or more often, about what Maddy is learning. I'm excited, nervous, stressed and freaking out all in the same moment over the responsibility. Praying helps, and so does diving in and seeing tangible accomplishments. Looking forward to starting this journey and watching my little mooshoo learn more.

Catch up and creating stuff

Has it really been over a month since my last post? Well, in my defense May is a crazy month for us, several birthday's, mothers day, and a holiday weekend. Can you blame a girl for being absent minded? But I haven't been slacking off, I've been creating several new learning toys and getting school stuff together and home organizational stuff. This summer is set to be a lot of fun- Maddy is very active in dance class and gymnastics class. We are finishing up her first year of soccer (possibly her last, haha). So here's some stuff I've been working on:
- Home chores/ homeschool prep chart
- Popsicle stick counting
- Phonics matching
- Bead counting in ice cube trays
- Our daily board and Calendar
- Our library area
- New to us pocket activity chart

I will follow up in individual posts for these things so it's not overload.

Basically, we're still alive and thriving, God is so good and we are beyond blessed in our happiness.

sometimes it's the grain of sand keepin you down.

I can't even remember what story I'm referencing, only the basic fact that sometimes it isn't the journey that is difficult, but the grain of sand in your shoe. This has been on my mind today. A Lot. I'm slowly freaking out about all the things I don't know and haven't started yet for our home school journey. The options for curriculum is overwhelming- and I, of course, don't want to make the wrong choice. Then there's all the money that is involved. It is so expensive. Luckily, I spend a lot of time finding great ideas on the internet and ways to make them super cheap. But still- as we get deeper in this process it's gonna get real pricey. I have complete faith that God will provide in these areas, He has already called me to educate Maddy, He is currently equipping me, and surely He will provide in all areas.
So the grain of sand is a lack of support. I feel like I'm on this journey all alone. But God will sustain. He will restore my weariness and renew my spirit. If I just remember that my source of satisfaction is in Him then I'm still on track- and I'm not alone after all.

Some Thursday Activities

Maddy finally got to sit down and work on some of the new lessons I've been planning (for the last 3 months or so). She really enjoyed them and even wanted to do more, more, more. I'm still not sticking to a schedule yet, not sure if that's a good thing or bad thing. We sit down and work when the feel is right and distractions are low. I'm hoping to transition into a more regular routine over the summer so we can start fall like regular school half day PreK. Right now my biggest obstacle is printing. It is just too expensive to print everything at home. I have the use of a black and white printer from several places but no color yet. Looking into options for this. I don't think Staples and the sort offer those services, just copying. So for now I'm printing at home sparingly and buying materials that can be stored in sheet protectors for multiple uses.

Anyway- here's some of what we worked on today.

Counting 1-5 and identifying the corresponding number.

 

Next we worked on 6-10

 this sheet is laminated so we can use all kinds of different things to count the spaces. Today we used foam shapes.

Then we worked on matching 

And some maze work

more matching and we did opposites too (forgot to take a pic).

and learning how to write # 1 and 2.

We also worked on her writing her name better. She can write each letter now we are refining it to smaller scale and in the appropriate size. She has trouble with her spacing on the page so that it can all fit left to right. This will come with time and is not something I'm worried about.

Well that was part of our Thursday, hope your's was great!!