Johnson School for Boys

What you are about to see is nothing fancy. It does not "measure-up" whatsoever to the pinterest-y crafty, elegant school lessons that you may see around the blogosphere, but it is real. This is basically what we try to do every day. 

We have a memory verse we memorize and discuss for the week. This is this week's verse (and probably next week's as well). Both Anthony and Lukie do a great job memorizing verses.

Crafts are not something we do every day, but today we used watercolors to paint leaves to go on our "thankful tree". My friend Jess showed me hers that she did last year, and it seemed like such a great idea to help promote attitudes of thankfulness. Paint the leaves, then think of things you are thankful for and write one on each leaf. Luke is thankful for Mickey Mouse, and Anthony is thankful for Mommy, and Sunday's "because of church and Sunday Night Football."

Getting those creative juices flowing!

As we do things like this, I usually like to have instrumental music on. Then I had an idea to use this as an opportunity to introduce a new (to them) composer. 

We listened to Joplin's Rags, and during nap time I created a worksheet about it. I had been looking everywhere for something where we could document what composers/artists we cover, and could not find anything that fit what I was looking for. So I finally just created my own. Not sure why I hadn't thought of doing that before...

Here's what it looks like. Please ignore the mistakes. I'll edit it soon enough. Anthony loved filling it out. Really. He did!

And he loved reading it back to me once he was finished writing! I did help him with spelling the words "Texarkana"(which is apparently a city on the border of Texas and Arkansas...) and "nervous", but everything else he did independently.

I love asking them to listen to a particular song with their eyes closed and ears open, while letting their mind draw pictures. Then I ask them what pictures they imagined, and how the song made them feel. 

This year with Anthony, I make sure we read (independent, read-aloud, and me reading to him), write and do some kind of math every day. We are also learning about our Solar System, telling time on an analogue clock, counting/adding money, world geography and a ton of other stuff. He LOVES doing school at home. I am so thankful for that, and I know it probably won't always be that way but I am glad he loves it as much as I do for now.

So, how does Lukie feel about pre-school? 

If I ask him to "preform" anything, I usually get this face:

BUT if I just give him a little direction and let him explore freely at his own pace, he flourishes! Hey, everyone has their own methods. LOL!

He always goes tribal when he paints. Ever since he saw "The Lion King."

 

 His favorite thing is PBSkids.org. He loves the Curious George games, and so do I. I don't even think he realizes he is learning!

Mostly, we are practicing writing letters, folding washcloths & towels, and getting everyone milk and snack. He loves to serve like this. Also, Lukie has shown an increased interest in learning how to read. He knows all of his phonetics very well, so I have started working with him in putting them together. He is doing great with this!! Allowing him to learn in his own way is the best thing for him, and makes me extra-thankful for the freedom to home-teach. I can only imagine the labels that would be placed on him if he was in a mainstream school. I am considering adding some Montessori-style activities for him. I think he would really love that.

The biggest question I get, and one of the biggest apprehensions I had when starting school was "what am I going to do with Ethan?" Well, here is what Ethan does while we do school.

He is right there, in the thick of it!

  

He has to be in the middle of everything, and will not have it any other way.

Ethan already knows all of his letters by sight, and can count to 14. I really believe it is because he hangs out with us while we do school together. So even though I am not "trying" to teach him, he is learning a ton just the same! 

Love my boys (and pbskids.org)!!