One week down...

Seamus woke up this morning asking what we'd be doing for school today.  As I groggily attempted to explain that it was a Saturday, that we didn't have any school work planned for the weekend, his face fell.  "But I love kindergarten!  I really, really, really want to do some school today!"  Who'd ever expect to hear that from their child on a Saturday morning?!

So...some school work was done.  BOB books and word searches, math manipulatives, more books about our solar system, and an art/science experience - creating Neptune & Uranus with the wet-on-wet watercolor technique.

Adding Neptune to his model of the Solar System.

We're one school week into our homeschooling experience...and so far, so good. We did switch up our phonics curriculum only two days in.  Hooked on Phonics was a bust - Seamus hates it, and I can't say that blame him.  Something about the sing-songy yet frustratingly repetitive narration on the CD had us both bored to tears.  So I've returned that to the library (thankfully it wasn't a curriculum I'd purchased!) and will be going another route.  I have the first set of BOB books, and we'll be using Progressive Phonics as well.  I'm also debating either ordering the Explode the Code workbooks or signing him up for the online version, but ultimately decided to hold off for a bit and see how he does with what we have right now.

Seamus has been interested in learning about outer space, so we focused on learning about the planets this week.  Each day we focused on one or two specific planets.  It's so much fun to listen to your five-year-old explaining the difference between gas giants and terrestrial planets, or how Pluto is now considered a dwarf planet, or that Saturn's rings are made of rocks and ice, that Mars has polar ice caps like Earth, and that Venus has massive active volcanoes.

We've been done with all formal school work well before lunch, so we've had plenty of time for various adventures this week:
A nature hike with friends who are also homeschooling.
A trip to the zoo.
A walk downtown to our local library, followed by a long playground visit.
A lazy afternoon spent collecting, observing, and releasing hermit crabs at a favorite local beach.

Unexpected biology lesson - the behavior and habitat of hermit crabs!

I think we could very quickly get used to this.  In fact...I think we already have!