lessons I have learned

I have learned a couple lessons over the past few weeks, since I have started our “official” homeschooling.  I say official because Emma would be put into a four year old program this coming fall, if we were to go the public school route.

The first lesson I have learned is – don’t keep to the schedule.  Emma loves some books, doesn’t like others, loves math, isn’t ready for all the writing.  It is amazing to watch her learn, and to work with her on different subjects.

We started with the Singapore Early Bird Math.  We have only done it 3 days – not consecutive days – and she has already completed the first 3 units.  There are 5 units in the first book, and two books in this first program.  I am thinking we will need to buy the next math program by the end of the summer.  I actually have to make her stop the math, or it might be all she does during our homeschool time.

Emma just turned four this past Saturday, and while she can write her name, she isn’t all that interested in writing, or reading herself for that matter.  She knows the letters, upper and lower case; she knows all the sounds, but she would prefer me to read to her.  That is fine with me, I love reading, and as long as she sits still (she does) I will read whatever, and she loves it.

The second lesson I have learned is – don’t expect her to match people her own age.  As her parent, I feel like she is advanced, of course that is probably not completely accurate 🙂  However, I do feel like she is ahead in some things.  My main purpose is for her to enjoy learning.

This is such an amazing age, where she is constantly curious.  She is able to communicate well and tell me what she is looking for or wanting to do.  She knows her interests, and has enough independence to figure out her own opinions (although maybe not entirely accurate).

My school district puts their curriculum online.  Not the actual books and week by week lessons, but it does have the main concepts that are studied, what the child is expected to learn, etc.  I am so happy to have that available to me.  While, I don’t want her to be stuck in a certain program, I do want to make sure that I am hitting on the same things that the public school would teach, while also giving her the chance to explore her own interests.  You may not believe that a four year old is capable of having their own interests, but when given some choices, she usually finds something extremely educational to look at – see math above.

I don’t want to compare her to other children, because I firmly believe that all children learn differently.  However, I do think that keeping an idea of what children her age are learning, and whether or not it is actually in line with how she is, is very important.

What are some of the lessons you learned in your first weeks of a new school year?  What should I be looking out for?!

I am linking up at the Hip Homeschool Hop.