we started home school this week and i have to say that i am loving it. i get to spend the entire day with my kids and it's such a neat thing getting to teach them and to see first hand how they learn, what they are most interested in and what they are not so interested in. the kids love creative writing and math most at the moment. each morning they take out their composition books and do creative writing. this week we are working on creating stories based on their favorite collection of little foods with faces. it's really fun to see the adventures that they come up with. tomorrow we start their first french lesson. i took french for five years in school and am so excited to teach them and to brush up on the language myself. i think that my favorite part so far is julian's willingness to help milla. when she has a problem with anything, mostly math, he wants to pause what he is doing and help her out. he's so patient with her and really great at explaining things carefully so that she will understand. it's really cool.
so far we have found that it is best to break up our school day into two parts. an hour or so in the morning and another couple of hours after lunch while gemma is napping. we are still new at this whole thing but i am excited to share our trials, errors and progress with you all. i found an awesome curriculum store near our house with new and used books that i will frequent and i've also found many wonderful resources online that i am using. we are only just starting out, but i am really pleased with how well the kids are adjusting to being taught at home. the kids are starting their outside activities next week. guitar and flute lessons to start and then sports and dance to follow. i am so excited about this new chapter in our lives.