In which our heroine records her first two weeks of homeschooling

Two weeks have already flown by!  We've been easing in slowly, but I'm been impressed with what Moose has acquired even without any rigorous study.  First of all, we've been emphasizing that school is a bit different, particularly with his tools and books.  He needs to listen carefully and do as instructed, then put his things back where they belong when he's finished.  He may only color the pages I tell him to color, and he needs to do so carefully and neatly.  That is the hardest part for him, but it only applies to his school books.  He's welcome to use his other coloring books as he pleases.  The "A" book of the ABC series covers this, and we're working through it slowly, whenever he wants a bit more.  I figure we'll do more of it during the winter, when spending endless hours outdoors isn't quite as appealing.

He has learned his first Bible verse perfectly, without us even asking him to memorize it (Ephesians 6:1, to go with our first habit, obedience).  He has not only loved the first two stories in his Rod and Staff Bible Storybook, but has begged for more.  He also enjoys looking through one of the Engineer's Bible's, which has pictures and maps.  His ability to learn a simple story, well told, or a song, nicely sung, is beautiful.  Although a different song was scheduled, he's been learning This Train Is Bound for Glory.  After all, it has a train in it.

The habit training?  Well...not so much.  Obedience is hard for a three-year-old, especially when you don't want to break the child's will, which I certainly don't.  It's a work in progress.

Last but certainly not least, our theme for the month, animals.  We haven't been doing anything systematic, but instead have simply been more intentional in our observations and discussions.  Off the top of my head, I can recall talking about animal's homes, their feet (padded feet with claws, talons, hooves, and so on), and their habitats.  We've been classifying them as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians, or fish and discussing what features differentiate each of those groups.  We've talked about what makes an animal an animal, as opposed to a plant or a fungus.  I've been leaving out bacteria and other microscopic organisms for now, since they're harder to explain to a preschooler.  He's been particularly taken with learning about bees.

We did have our first "field trip," to the zoo.  Hopefully we'll be taking another trip to one down in West Virginia later this month, because due to way of our Pittsburgh trip worked out, we didn't really get a chance to discuss much or apply any of our lessons.  At least there are always plenty of animals around home to observe.

Off to prepare dinner and take Moose out to feed the chickens.  There's plenty to learn in that, too, don't you think?