A Productive Morning

I knew going into this homeschooling thing that I was going to need to wake up earlier than the girls for it to work. I've read plenty of times on other blogs, especially Lillian's, about how important it is to get things rolling in the morning. And I actually DO get up REALLY early, around 5:45am, to make Steven's lunch and see him off to work. BUT then I get back in bed. Sometimes until 8:00 or later.

The first week of September I was hoping to "start school" but our books arrived late and we had a lot going on. Then last week we had our wonderful guests for a few days. So this week I knew I had to get moving early Monday morning to make it work. Thankfully my guardian angel woke me up around 7:30 and the girls slept in, leaving me time for prayer and breakfast prep so that we could start school right after breakfast.

So far Mary Clare is enjoying Handwriting Without Tears the most! She's doing great with writing her letters and numbers, and it's what she wants to do first thing (after prayers, pledge and a patriotic song). For now, I'm taking the idea of a good friend of mine and letting her choose 2 or 3 subjects each day, hoping things will even out as the months go by. Right now she usually chooses handwriting and math. So today at breakfast I read a bible story so we could get back on track with bible dictation. I also recited a poem myself and taught it to Ellie even though Mary Clare wasn't interested. Hopefully she'll find some fun in it soon! And hopefully she'll want to start back up with 100 Easy Lessons, so we can continue her reading progress. But for now, I'm glad that she's at least enjoying handwriting and math!

We were done by 9:15 and made it out to the library and errands and back for naps. I figure if we can have 3 mornings a week getting schoolwork done right after breakfast, we'll get into a good routine...we'll see! Next in line is getting myself out of my pajamas before school ;)

And since the weekend posts were all about bikeriding, here was our other fun activity of the weekend...the pool! Yes folks, we're in Texas where September weather is still in the 90s! Actually it's getting quite pleasant in the mornings and the pool was a little chilly for my liking, but the girls had a fun time!




And finally, a picture of the girls with Aunt Pam, Steven's oldest sister and one of the few who lives out of town but stopped by for a quick lunchtime visit on Sunday. Thanks for coming to see us, Pam!