Homeschool Day 1: I am a NAG

WHOOSH!

That's me letting out my breath and taking another deep one.  I learned a lot about myself and my children during our first day of homeschooling.  But the lasting impression following our three-hour initiation is that I am a nag.  And by that I do not mean an old, worn-out horse.  I am a nag as defined by The Free Dictionary online: one who annoys by "constant scolding, complaining, or urging."

Here are some of my reactions and thoughts on today:

1. Homeschooling a preschooler while nursing a baby is H-A-R-D hard!  This scenario results in lots of long distance (from the rocking chair) cajoling (nagging) on my part and lots of wandering, climbing, and jumping off of things on his part.

2. Homeschooling isn't homeschooling for my preschooler.  It's recess.  Perpetual recess.  And the desk isn't a desk, it's a jungle gym.  And the pencil isn't a pencil, it's a projectile.  And the books aren't books, they're ramps for projectiles.  Etc, etc, etc.  I think you get the point.

3. Expecting too much from children on a brand new schedule will give you a double hernia.

4. Actually, having ANY expectations when your life changes so drastically from one day to the next will give you a double hernia, a mild myocardial infarction, and a brain aneurysm.  *Though I obviously lived to tell the tale*  (Thank goodness for modern medicine!)  j/k

5. When you describe your first day of homeschooling as "life changing so drastically from one day to the next," you've definitely done something wrong.

6. There has to be a learning curve.  There just has to be.  If not, I think I'll be bald in three weeks.

7. When your preschooler is learning to count numbers with Do-A-Dots, setting up pattern blocks, and playing alphabet games, you can't put a black and white worksheet in front of your kindergartner and expect him to be okay with it.

8. Reading to my kids is my favorite part of homeschooling.  Right now we're cruising through Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.

9. Little boys love to dress up as Continental soldiers (see pics below).

10. Tomorrow we're going to the zoo (Update: nevermind, we'll go on Monday when it's supposed to be 20 degrees cooler!).  I've got to recapture the magic and fun of learning and remind myself that I'm dealing with a preschooler and a kindergartner here, for cryin' out loud (neither of which "grades" is mandatory in California); we should be learning through play!!

School pictures. One kindergartner. One preschooler.

Mr. Grumpy Pants

Oh, oh!  We're good now.

Writing in their daily journals.  (Buddha writes, Bugga traces the words he tells me to write.)

Do-A-Dot with numbers!

How.  I am soldier.  Hear me roar.

The Continental soldier hats were part of our lesson on the flag of the United States of America and Betsy Ross.

Bugga decorated Pip's swing with the pom-pom magnets we made.  Lucky Pip.