For the love of books: January 2012

Hurray! Hurray! It is box day!!

Well technically speaking - yesterday was box day. We were rather surprised at the arrival of the books on Monday, as we were told it would be here on Wednesday. My house was in turmoil as they were trying to fix the new air conditioner that started leaking last week. It was Monday- that should say it all... weekend dishes and such cluttering the kitchen and the dining room table was packed with anything but the kitchen sink. So, as the books arrived, we had to speed clean at least the dining room, which were also invaded by my living room furniture. In a few minutes everything was ready to be documented. (well, almost!)

So, here is a photo collection of the event.


Dené cannot wait for us to open them up

Ryan awaiting the rest of the boxes


A joy to see!


Yeay! Box day!

A bookcase full of books!!

Now for some more preperation (not too much though) and then start our "formal" homeschooling.

We have been quite the busy bees in the past few weeks. So many changes. While homeschooling was at the top of our list, there were some practical things that needed to get done to make it a more pleasant experience. Firstly we had to fix the lighting in our study - only half of it was lit and it left little king Ryan without light at his workplace. We were also melting away in our "cave" as it has no draft and the opening to the garage left us with more sweltering heat in it than we could tolerate. So, in with the air-conditioning!! We now have a cool (sometimes too cold for the kids, while perfect for the Mommy), well lit un-cavelike working place for the three of us.

We have went to a homeschool/learning styles seminar and personal session profiling the kids and our learning and operating styles, so that homeschooling be more relaxed and that we can have greater understanding for each other. My husband and I both realised that we were unknowingly doing many things right, including having plans in line with our kids strong points. We have changed our own minds on how we saw and approached things in the past few months since deciding to homeschool. While in the beginning I was really very stressed out and fretting about everything that lay ahead, I was now becoming more relaxed and hopeful about the future. These sessions only enforced that feeling and gave us some more perspective and security in our decision.

working

In the meantime we also attempted homeschooling. I say attempted, because we didn't have any curriculum or real plan as we are still awaiting our box day :) We went on outings, picnics and made lapbooks, did maths, reading, spelling, some gardening(also known as nature studies), painting and drawing. We learned, laughed, played and yes, we fought. Sometimes finding ones feet and setting right the "pecking order" so to speak is hard and while it has been fun, these couple of weeks has been trying. Tiring. Frustrating. Hard work.