Well, I had intended to write more each month, but it appears that month 1 has disappeared, and I haven't written at all. But, there's been not too much exciting to report, which I suppose is a good thing. The kids are enjoying school time each day, and learning is taking place. They seem to learn the most from the white board in the dining room, where they can review whatever I have up there (Bible memory verse, addition memorization, new words to learn, etc) while they are eating.
I am however, going to do less book work. In my reading about homeschooling, children under 8 should not do more than 20 minutes per day of "close work", as their eyes cannot handle more than that. I've noticed that Luke has been squinting and blinking alot lately, so am thinking we need to keep on the learning, but do so in a more distant/verbal/hands on manner. This happened before when he used his Doodle Pad too much and then I noticed the same thing. After laying off for a while (actually I had to ban it!), his eyes were fine again. We really only do 10-15 minutes of "book work", but obviously that is too much for his eyes right now. The boys do alot of playing cars & trains, which also is close up, so persuading them to do more active activities will have to be in the agenda.
So, that's all I can think of for now. We try to do our school time first thing in the morning (even before breakfast), when concentration is at it's best. The focus dwindles as the day progresses, so I've already noticed what works and doesn't work. Sometimes we work on stuff in the afternoon if the morning stuff took longer than anticipated, but that is rare. We also have been watching some Discovery science videos that are fascinating, as well as another trip to the zoo to see what we could learn about there.
I am however, going to do less book work. In my reading about homeschooling, children under 8 should not do more than 20 minutes per day of "close work", as their eyes cannot handle more than that. I've noticed that Luke has been squinting and blinking alot lately, so am thinking we need to keep on the learning, but do so in a more distant/verbal/hands on manner. This happened before when he used his Doodle Pad too much and then I noticed the same thing. After laying off for a while (actually I had to ban it!), his eyes were fine again. We really only do 10-15 minutes of "book work", but obviously that is too much for his eyes right now. The boys do alot of playing cars & trains, which also is close up, so persuading them to do more active activities will have to be in the agenda.
So, that's all I can think of for now. We try to do our school time first thing in the morning (even before breakfast), when concentration is at it's best. The focus dwindles as the day progresses, so I've already noticed what works and doesn't work. Sometimes we work on stuff in the afternoon if the morning stuff took longer than anticipated, but that is rare. We also have been watching some Discovery science videos that are fascinating, as well as another trip to the zoo to see what we could learn about there.
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