Homeschooling Benjamin

This year I am homeschooling Benjamin for First Grade.  We have been going for almost a month now, and, for the most part, we are having a lot of fun.  We have set up shop in our dining room area, where we usually work together at the table, but Benjamin also has his own desk area, which he loves to use.

We have been using Five in a Row materials which consist of reading a picture book for five days in a row, and doing all kinds of other curricular activities that piggyback off of the book.  Additionally, we use Horizons math from Alpha and Omega, and Benjamin's Word of Life Quiet Time and memory verses for Bible.  I throw in a lot of odds and ends from my years of teaching, too, so it is quite eclectic.  This is the map we hung on the dining room wall to use of geography and also to map the settings of the stories that we read.

I have also been doing some little workbooks on basic skills with Nathaniel each day, as he never wants to be left out!  He enjoys listening to our stories, too, and is gaining a lot by just being around when I work with Benjamin.  Sophia usually occupies herself, but when she gets bored, she makes enough noise to let us know!  All in all, it has been a good experience thus far.  Benjamin is a little sponge right now, so when he gets interested in something we touch on, we can take the time to investigate it further.  Last week it was electricity, and the week before was Paris, France.  Who knows what it will be this week!  That's the fun of homeschooling!!