Back to School

We are officially back to homeschooling. I surely had good intentions of keeping up with at least math over the summer for Jacob, but guess what? Didn't happen. I suppose a cultural trip to Thailand will have to suffice for summer school.

We started Monday, and I decided to start slowly. We began with the Bible. Last year we worked out of a devotion book for boys, but I felt like we really skipped all over the Bible, and never got into the books very well. So we're reading through various books of the Bible this year. Proverbs is the first book we're reading. Even though Charlie can't sit still, and Laura and Amarin don't understand it yet, it's good for them to at least be exposed to the routine of reading God's Word. And Proverbs has soooo much to say about obedience! :)

Next, history. Jacob is our history buff (I think he gets that from Papa Miller) and he has the knack for remembering details. He's the child that when he tells a story, I sometimes remind him...OK...long story short, honey. When he was five, he LOVED the Titanic. He even told an artist at a local craft show that he didn't have the correct number of life boats on his replica...and the boy was right! We use Story of the World, and will be covering from the mid-1800s to present day.

Handwriting began for both Jacob and Amarin. Jacob is reviewing cursive, and Amarin is learning how to form our alphabet characters. Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons is the first step in helping Amarin learn to sound letters and put them together in English. He already knows the names of letters, so that will help!

As for Laura and Charlie, they're both off to preschool this year. Laura will go everyday, and Charlie will go twice per week. I think they'll both enjoy having something special to do.

Charlie with a letter from his preschool teacher.

We also started chore charts. Jamie and I waver on whether or not kids should get allowances. In our opinion, kids should help at home without being paid as that's just part of being in a family. However, we also want to teach them how to manage money, and if they don't earn any, how can we teach it? So, we've decided that there are certain chores for which they will earn an allowance. Then, they will tithe it, put some in the bank, and the rest is theirs to choose. I hope this works.