Thursday, November 13, 2008

I miss my Mimi

We have year round school here in our area, and since we do, the kids take turns having a few weeks off periodically throughout the school year, called going 'off track'. Maya went off track for the first time, and we decided to utilize the time off from school and see what it would be like to homeschool her as well as Reece. I loved that we could have a morning routine that was calm and we could be together as a family. At 7:30, the kids would jump into bed for family snuggle. After some snuggling, giggling, and sometimes whining about lack of space, we would read scriptures. Then the kids would clean their rooms, make their beds and get dressed before we had breakfast together. Chores came next, and everyone had at least 2. School started at 9:00 for everyone. Maya called her school 'Mimi School' since Mimi is her nickname. Maya worked on counting, letter names and sounds, beginning reading, the names of coins, and basic addition.


Mason enrolled in Bubba School, since about 75% of the time he will only respond to the name Bubba. He will yell at us, "Don't call me Mason, call me Bubba." It is Michael's worst nightmare that he is going to be an overweight middle aged man going by the name Bubba.
Mason has continued to go to Bubba School even though Maya has gone back on track.

He loves it and asks each morning when he can start Bubba School.


He has passed off his colors and we are now working on shapes and patterns.

I was so sad to send Maya back to school on Monday, I wanted to hold her in my arms and convince her that she liked being at home with us more than going off to school. But, I want it to be her decision to homeschool, not mine.

So little Miss Mimi, we will miss you until you go off track again.

10 comments:

Jennifer said...

Marisa, you're amazing. How lucky your children are to have you as their mother!

The Panic Room said...

I just found your blog and love the photography your doing. Glad I stumbled onto your blog.

Kevin Pratt said...

Jennifer's comment is so true. I completely agree that there is a better feeling in the home of love and peace when you are not on the "rush them off to school routine." I wish you could home school my children:)

Unknown said...

Thanks Jennifer and Chelsea, but I would have to say you are both way better mothers than I am.

Panic room, thanks for stopping by, I checked out your website, great stuff!

Robyn said...

Hey--You and Reece did so well tonight at the recital. Thanks for playing with him--you are an awesome mom. I was wondering were you get your home school curriculm for Maya and Mason--I would like to use some of it for Ian on the days he doesn't have pre-school.

Unknown said...

Robin, I didn't buy a curriculum for Maya, the school sent home a list of things she needs to know by the end of kindergarten, so we are working on those things. Some examples, she needs to know the names of the coins, so in her Mimi School bucket I put a bag with all the coins and she names them. I bought some barbie flashcards a while back that have numbers on them, in the picture she is just counting beans and putting the number of beans on the number card. I made my own flashcards to help me remember to go over address, phone number etc. I laminated her sight words and started her with a, I, and the once she got those, I added another sight word. Each time she learns the new word, I add another word. We practice counting to 100 by 1's, 5's, and 10's.

For Mason I bought a pre-school workbook from Walmart for like $5. We do one or two pages each day. If he understands the concept, like colors, we move on. If he doesn't understand right away, I've made manipulatives to help him understand. He didn't understand patterns at first, so I made cards with colored dots on them. I lay them out in a pattern red, blue, red, blue, red, blue then he has red and blue cards that he can choose from to finish the pattern. He is understanding it now. He has a hard time with shapes as well so I glued some popsicle sticks together in a square, rectangle, diamond, and triangle. He has his own unglued popsicle sticks that he can put together to make the shapes.

If you need more ideas, give me a call. Use your creativity, and the kids will like it much more.

Holly said...

Marisa - maybe in another life you'd have been a teacher. You really seem to have the knack for coming up with creative ideas to teach!

The Bach 10 said...

Just checking in on you guys. GLad to see you enjoyed some extra family relaxed mornings. How is the moving going?

Kathy said...

i miss hannah when she's at school too :(

Unknown said...

Beautiful photos. How fun that your kids love school so much.

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