First Grade

Today is our 20th day of homeschooling this year. So far everything has been going pretty well. Miriam is certainly capable of doing everything easily so far and it has mostly been review anyway. I'm questioning my choice to use more workbooks this year. She has always seemed to like workbooks, but I can also see that some days she is bored with them. I have decided to do a project every few weeks that will get us out of the books and more into hands on things. She is reading really well which is a relief. I was worried she might have a hard time since we didn't practice enough this summer and we are using the Abeka readers this year. When she is concentrating, she will fly through a story. When she really doesn't want to read, it can take forever. I can always tell when she is bored or doesn't want to do the work, because she becomes a contortionist. Miriam can get into so many positions and move around so much, it drives me crazy. It doesn't matter if we are at the table, the couch, or in bed. She also likes to stand beside her chair a lot. I just don't know why she won't be still. In school she would be expected to sit at her desk, so I expect the same at home. I'm trying to think of some way to tie her down!
One thing that I really love about homeschooling is that it is easy to see where they need more help or review. We were doing a calendar yesterday and she couldn't tell me the months of the year. While we did this in Kindergarten, it is just something she has forgotten. So that is easily remedied and I am going to start going over the calendar every day and we will review the months of the year until she knows them again. It is great to be able to adjust your lesson plan to fit in something that is needed. This year is going good so far- only 160 more days to go!