MFW K - Our First Week

After anticipating the start of little Jenna's formal school time for several weeks the morning finally came. She was so excited! The first day was so sweet. It had me thinking of the very first time I started out teaching my oldest kindergarten. With that thought came so many feelings but the greatest one was a feeling of gratitude for what I have learned about homeschooling in the last ten years. You see, my first experience with Jessie was NOTHING like the one with Jenna. To start with I had the program that everyone would mention to me when I was just thinking of homeschooling. It was Abeka and it was HORRIBLE!! I'm sorry, I am sure there are some of you that love it and I will say this Jenna could easily do it. I was just starting out and  THOUGHT that Jessie should just do it. What was wrong? Lots, here are some of my thoughts on that. One, Jessie had not been raised in a homeschool environment. I had not planned on homeschooling from the start. I did not do things on a daily basis that would prepare her to learn....I was leaving that for the professionals. :) Two, I did not know how to gauge her readiness....she was not ready for cursive writing at four years of age, but thinking like this: "If others can do it she can too" caused me and her much tears. We dumped Abeka and went to Sonlight. I learned all about models of education that were totally different from anything I had ever done. Educating the Wholehearted Child became my constant companion. Charlotte Mason became intriguing to me. Books became a passion. Mindless cartoons were replaced with Leap Frog dvd's. Then we got rid of the TV all together. (Now we do Netflix) I would not go back. I treasure what I have learned through the grace of God. I have always loved homeschooling, now it is a way of life. The hearts of my little ones are my first concern. Our relationship with each other, not worksheets, is priority.

So saying all of that MFW K has been the sweetest blessing. Here is a little about what we did this week. As I said, Jenna could do the rigorous stuff so this week's work was completed quickly. I must confess that we finished all 10 days in the Creation Unit in 4. She was just that eager and I did not want to hold her back. I am looking forward to getting to the meat of the program with her, so we moved quickly. She loves reading her creation book to everyone. She tries to teach Janie what she has learned. She demands more school so she has been doing more coloring, cutting and pasting to keep her feeling as busy as the others. This child will not let mom be slack when it comes to doing school. :) (The Lord knows just what we need! I have been praying to get more done during the day) We also spent some time at the library picking up books for ECC and she got her very own library card!

What a fun week.

What has made the biggest difference for me? MFW and that wonderful set of lesson plans!

Now, I cant wait to start ECC!!!