The [boring] life of a SAHM

DH is on board! For the most part....He is okay with the idea of it now but a few other things are bothering him. One being that in Oklahoma you don't have to report to the state, you don't have to tell them you're homeschooling and you don't have to have proof that you're homeschooling (although we probably WILL keep records, just in case.) Joshs boss homeschools his children so he talked to him & got a list of all Oklahomas "laws" or "requirements" for homeschooling. Josh just can't wrap his head around it all.

We plan on purchasing Heart of Dakota: Little hands to Heaven for "Pre-K" this August. Until then he is still kind of HS'ing during the Summer. I was referred to "The letter of the week" program but after looking it over decided he just wasn't ready for it. He would have to know his alphabet since the program focuses on the sounds the letters make and not just learning the letters. But, I looked around on the site and came across a letter of the week prepatory course! It's 26 weeks long and teaches shapes, numbers, colors, the alphabet, vocab words and each week has a theme.

We just started on Monday. The theme was "Cows" Here is a little look into what we did/will be doing:

Monday
-Introduce the cow theme. Talk about cows and the sound they make.
-Print off cow color sheets, color cows, cut them out & paste them to the farm sceneTeac
http://kiddyhouse.com/Farm/Cows/ & http://kiddyhouse.com/Farm/Cows/
-Vocabulary word- Calf: baby cow
-Read a poem about cows (the program gives 3 or 4 different ones.)
-Read a book about cows (again-program gives a list of books about cows)
-This wasnt in the program but we decided to drive around looking for cows and when we found some we let him take pictures of them with his camera.:)

Tuesday
-introduce weekly shape: SQUARE
-gather 3-5 square objects, discuss them with child
-walk through your home looking for squares (Braxton loved doing this! He would get so excited when he would find one!)
-cut squares out of playdough or cookie dough...bake the cookies!
-put a square on your learning poster (pic coming on Friday!)

Wednesday
-Give child a printout of the letter A to color
-Teach your child to trace the letter A using his finger. You can trace in pudding, finger paint or a shallow tray filled with rice, beans, etc.
-Point out the letter A in signs, cereal boxes, etc
-Post the letter A on your learning poster.

Thursday
-Show your child 1 object to count, or eat 1 cracker, 1 cheerio, etc
-Show your child the written symbol (numeral) for 1 and put it on your poster.
-Show matching index card for the number 1 to child.
-Draw 1 square on a piece of paper & count it with your child.
-Walk around the house counting 1 of many different objects

Friday
Nursery Rhyme: Hey diddle diddle
-Build a cow with squares. You will need some white and black paper. Cut out one 4" square of white for the body, one 2" square of white for the head, about nine 1" squares of white to make the legs and tail, three or four 1" squares of black for the cows spots, and three or more 1/2" squares for the eye, ears, etc. in black. Help your child glue the cow together on another sheet of paper (of a different color).

*Each day continue to read books about cows.


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It's been a lot of fun so far & Braxton seems to enjoy it. Hopefully by the end of the summer he will know 1-20, all his shapes, colors, and be able to recognize the letters of the alphabet. He already knows MOST of his colors, and several "simple" shapes, but this program teaches the more difficult ones as well. I think every Friday I will post a pic of his learning poster (which he is SOOO proud of! He has to show it to anyone that comes over!)


I'm very happy with the decision I've made but I'm starting to get tons of negative feedback. Basically no one in my family think I am "smart enough" to do it, or think that homeschooling means the kids will get no socialization. (which is further from the truth) I even had someone tell me the other day that homeschooled children aren't as smart as kids that go to a public school. (Which also isn't true, HS children can be just as smart if not smarter.)

I kind of knew I was going to get a lot of debate/heat over this but I didn't expect it so bad from my family. Then again they have questioned pretty much every choice I have made (cloth diapering, babyled weaning, etc) but once they saw how easy & AWESOME they both were they loved it! Hoping I can prove them wrong this time too!