Homeschooling Alexey

Ever since coming to Houston I have been very unimpressed with the schools. Unimpressed is a mild way of putting. I have to suppress the rage I feel whenever I step foot in the girls school.   I have wanted to pull lexey out of school since about day 3 but I thought I'd give her a little time to adjust, which she did, and also give the other two time to get into their school routine, which they did.

I met with Lexey's teacher a couple of times before pulling her out trying to get a feel for the classroom and how things were going, plus voicing my concerns about they way things are done at school. While her teacher was very sweet and not at all offended even when offense was intended, I got the impression that she wasn't very organized and not moving  along in class like they should be. The homework she sent home was super disorganized and waaaaayyyyy boring, easy and there was too much of it. After 8 hours of school I see no reason to have 25 pages of homework sent home in a week.

I could write a 10 page essay about my complaints with the school but suffice it to say, we have been very unimpressed.

The first week of November I unenrolled Lexey from 1st grade.  She was very excited to do home school this year. She has a very easy going personality, and she is obedient and sweet. She doesn't talk back or argue when I ask her to do something so it isn't hard having her home.

We planned out what we will study this year.
math - 1st grade math (I ordered from Singapore math)
handwriting. zaner bloser - 1 worksheet a day
writing - daily - journal, story or letter
piano- daily
science - Lexey wanted to study lots of animals, starting with mammals and then moving to other classes of animals such as birds, fish, reptiles. We'll also do basic human anatomy and physiology.
reading - chapter books I read and Lexey individual reading time or reading to Jo
Field trips- zoo, museums, parks
Art- weekly at home, monthly at the art museum
exercise - ride bikes or walk + homeschool gymnastics
misc - possibly doing classical conversations for memory work once a week starting in Jan

I think with this curriculum Lexey will be ready to go back to second grade as a great reader and proficient in math, ready for second grade with her peers


As luck would have it, we had lots of sick kids in November so we couldn't do as many field trips as we wanted to, but last week we did finally make it to the zoo and to the health museum.

at the zoo

at the health museum. They have a great human body exhibit showing all the body parts and what they do. When we showed this picture to Dave when he got home he told Lexey this was his brain.

The only con with homeschooling is that I lose a little bit of my freedom. Where I used to get up and exercise and then go to the store or run errands after the kids went to school, now I have to get Lexey's work done before we go out.  I try to go to the gym 2 days a week and then Lexey will ride her bike while I go out walking a couple of days a week. It is also harder to find time to clean. And I miss my quiet time when Jo naps ....often Lex and I use nap time for our reading time.  Overall it is a good experience and having Lexey home makes Jo easier -- lex is a great big sister!