First week of school is done

Our first week of homeschool is done! We had a mixture of emotions this week and some things went well, other things need to be worked on, but all in all it was a success. I love how many people have been wishing us luck, the love and support I've been getting from family and friends as we start this new adventure. There have been lots of questions so here's a quick look at how our week went.

Trevor started at Leadership Academy this year. It's an online charter school where he logs in to live classes each day and interacts with his teachers and other students. He said one of his teachers is in Scotland, he has classmates in California, Utah, Alaska. He has classes Monday-Thursday for about 75 minutes a day. The rest of the time he is working on assignments for his classes. Math and writing are self-paced classes where he works at his own speed and gets help from his teacher and/or tutors. I am loving this school! I can log on and see all of his assignments in every class for the semester, see what he's finished and what is coming up, check his grades and communicate with his teachers. I'm so glad we found this school. I think it's going to be a great experience this year.

Colin is my sweet, quiet, introvert who has always had a hard time at school because of the distractions and big groups of people. He has done pretty well in school and has never complained, but when I watched him last year in class on a day I substitute taught I knew he needed to come home. He has done so great this week. He is loving homeschool the most and I can see what a great fit it is for him right now. He is focused, motivated, excited and a very hard worker. He tells me every day how much he's loving homeschool. For Colin it's all about strengthening his reading and writing skills. It's breaks my heart to see him struggle at things he wants so much to be good at, but I am looking forward to working with him and watching him progress.

Logan is definitely going to be a challenge this year. He is a smart boy, but he is also very stubborn and likes doing what he wants when he wants. We've had a few bumps this week, but we've also had lots of good moments. The first day was amazing for Logan. He enjoyed the newness of everything and being home and working with his brothers. I learned quickly that he's very bright in math and that the lessons I had planned for the first 2 weeks were too easy. He loves to write and started a story in his journal about two boys named Sam and Wilson. He loves being read to, rather than reading himself, and he enjoys art projects and things he can cut, glue and color. I think he will challenge me to be more creative in my lesson planning and this experience will definitely strengthen our relationship

We have a pretty structured schedule. We start every morning at 8 with the pledge and a prayer. Trevor heads up to his room for his classes and homework and Colin and Logan read and write in their journals. After that are math lessons, writing, grammar or spelling. We take a break at 10 (Colin will have piano lessons every Tuesday at 10) and then it's individual reading lessons and then lunch. Lunch has been so fun! I found these great cafeteria style trays and decided we would do "cafeteria lunch" 3 days a week. The boys have loved it! After lunch we do a social studies or science lesson and then go to the library, or work on an art project or another fun lesson. I've made a few minor adjustments to our schedule and my planning and I'm looking forward to seeing how the next few weeks turn out.

Good luck to all our family and friends who start school on Monday!