One of the things I've found I love about homeschooling is the fact that it feels so natural and normal. I was concerned that we'd have a major struggle with it feeling forced and artificial, that we'd feel like pretenders. So far, to our delight, that has not been the case.
We've been studying the difference between common nouns and proper nouns. We've covered the common nouns of family members (mother, father, aunt, uncle) and their proper names (Amanda, James, Christy, Russell). That discussion turned into the diagramming of our family tree and a long discussion about various family members, which turned into a discussion about those family member who are no longer living, which turned into what the Bible says happens after we die.
After that, we discussed more environmental common nouns (city, state, park, river) and their proper names (insert the name of our city here [or not -- hello stalkers!], Texas, LaFortune Park, the Mississippi River). That topic turned into magnifying glasses searching the atlas and the globe, followed by a discussion about geography and historical events.
I'm happy to say that while we've had some family challenges of late [alluded to here], homeschooling has not been a part of that. It's taking off far better than I ever expected, and while I had a feeling I would enjoy it, I had no idea just how much.
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
On Proper Nouns and Progression
Posted by Amanda at 10:51 AM
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That's so great, Amanda! It sounds like you're really taking advantage of opportunities to teach ... I love that. Sometimes it's easy to get so "on task" that you forget to take those roads of opportunity ... sounds like you're doing great.
I am so glad that things are going well for you. Of course it seems right and ok because you are just being obedient. Yeah! Still call if you ever need anything.
That's awesome. If that were me I'd be dusting out the cobwebs in my brain trying to remember all that stuff. How fun to get to experience elementary school with your children all over again!
Wow, you must have blown apart every one of your kids' stereotypes and connotations when it comes to the common noun of "teacher". Faciliator, instructor - not even good enough. "Fun mommy who lets us do super fun activities and talks with us about really cool stuff" is more like it!
I think it's awesome that you're committed to homeschooling your kids. If I had the patience and the knowledge (I don't know how good I'd be at teaching my kids math and science), I'd consider it myself.