Math

We officially started math! Yesterday I realized that there were more math lessons in the math book then there were in my curriculum plan. So I talked with the little man and we decided to start math a couple weeks early so we will do one page of math for a couple weeks in the summer and then one page of math once we start homeschooling.
The sonlight curriculum sent horizons math so that's what we will stick with this year. I know a lot of homeschoolers don't really like the workbook/worksheet method but I actually think it's a perfect transition from going from public to home school.
There so many ways to homeschool it's insane to try and wrap your brain around it. Trying to have this conversation with my husband was so funny. Needless to say it was a long conversation!!!

For the love of learning

I am reading a book called for the love of learning. Giving your children a lolipop education.
I am somewhat conflicted with what she is saying. It might be because I am not completely in the homeschool frame of mind yet. I want to know and make sure my child is at least up to par with the state standards. While I do agree with most of what she is saying I'm just not completely there yet nor I'm not sure if I ever will be.
One thing she says is to let your child learn on his own when he is ready. While I do agree we as a society push our children into learning way to soon. I don't want to be so relaxed that my child is behind. As I read this book I think to myself, well maybe I'm still in the mind frame of public school thinking and as I am teaching my son I will learn and understand more of what she is talking about.
I know I pushed my son when he was little. I taught him his alphabets so early and made sure he was always ahead. I now kind of regret doing that. Looking back I think to myself that I could have/should have been just enjoying him more often. I had the experience of teaching him preschool, which was awesome!! But that is when I should have started to implement those things instead of earlier and as a society/parent we judge ourselves on what other kids know compared to our kids. I will not do this with my girl. I will play learning games with her but I will not force it. I will wait until she is ready to learn. (Preschool/kindergarten)
I also feel like what is going on with sticking our kids in preschool for a couple years before kindergarten. Is it for social reasons? Is it for daycare? Is it because our child HAS to be the first one to know everything? As I'm reading all these books they say that your child's brain isn't even fully mature or ready to learn until 7 or 8 years old. I had no idea about this until I started researching homeschooling. In Nevada we aren't even required to send our kids to kindergarten! So why are we pushing preschool at such an early age and why did I not know this?! Haha!
I guess for now, I will just go with what I feel is best for my son. I think I'm still in the mind frame of half public, half homeschooling the lolipop way :)
That is perfectly ok!!

Support

I knew when I was starting to think about homeschooling I was going to need support. It's like when you move somewhere new you need to find people to talk to or vent to. When I moved to Las Vegas I found a playground. I needed those women to help me get through my day. Not everyday but ya know!  Homeschooling is the same thing, I am going to need lots of advice and a group of women to talk to. I also know that my son will need social interaction. He is a pretty shy kid and it takes him a minute to get comfortable around others. Once he is around others and comfortable he loves that interaction! He needs that interaction and honestly I think if there wasn't a homeschool group this wouldn't work.
I met with a mom and she told me about this group, I have been a couple of times and it seems really great. They hold different classes for the kids so that they can learn but most importantly interact with kids their age.  I will stick to my homeschool schedule and lessons but as a bonus be able send him to theses classes once a week for two hours.
I am very grateful to see how many families homeschool. It really amazes me because honestly I had no idea!!

I'm ready

I am so ready to get started. I'm ready to have the curriculum and get going. I know I need to wait. He just got out of public school. He also is in camp for a week and I need to get everything together and planned. I guess I just want to know how it's going to go. How hard it will be. What I'm going to have to adjust or fine tune. I need to wait till August 1st., so that's what I'm going to do!

Curriculum

I ordered our curriculum!!! I chose a curriculum that plans and sends me everything I need for the whole second grade year. I figured for the first year I'm going to need some help. Once I get the hang of it I think I will be able to branch out or add thing to the lessons. I'm super excited...it arrives in 5 days!!!
The curriculum I decided to go with is Sonlight the 2nd grade full package!

Last day of school!

It's the last day of public school!!  It has been a bittersweet day. My son and I have loved his teacher. She has been so great. She is the reason I decided to leave him in the the rest of the year. It's funny, during the school we can't wait for it to be over but on the last day we are crying. Well I'm trying not to cry and I actually held it in. I was getting teary eyed because my son was bawling. Everyone knows how it goes. If your child is sad then you are. His teacher was so great to give me her personal email address so that I could ask her questions if I was needing direction. Which I SO appreciate and thought was so nice! My son told his teacher last week and I thought oh no, I really don't want to be judged.  She came up to me after class last week and asked me if I was homeschooling my son next year. She asked if  there was anything she could do or if it was something she did. I quickly told her it defiantly wasn't anything she did and that it was just a personal choice. She was so sweet about it.
The plan for now is to start homeschooling the beginning of August and see how it goes!

A moment of doubt.

Today as I was thinking about all the fun things I want to do for next year homeschooling I thought to myself this is going to be great and fun! (Optimistically)
I think how fun it's going to be and then 4pm rolls around and I think how exhausted I am. I even get a 6 hour break from my little man each day and I am still exhausted. How is it going to be when I don't get that daily break. I then realize that our lives will be on a new routine and we will all adjust.

  I go on with my daily routine and bedtime comes around and my son says " mom I need to go to bed so I can enjoy my last day of school tomorrow".  For some reason my heart broke. I felt so bad I am about to pull him away from school. As a mom you always just want what makes your kids happy.
I had to say to myself that he has been complaining everyday about school and how long and boring it is and he is just excited that it's the last day before summer! What kid isn't excited for their last day of school!
Homeschooling is a huge life change and it's scary!