For part 1 click here
For part 2 click here
I still have a few subjects that I need to work on. Science is one of them. As of right now we don’t have a set curriculum for science. I have been introducing Hayzel the basics of the human body. He knows his body parts, legs, shoulder, knees, and toes…and everything in between. He is slowly becoming more and more fascinated with what goes inside the human body. He knows very basic stuff, like the brain, the heart, the skeleton. I have a few ideas and books to research, but I’m hopeful that by September we can incorporate science as core subject.
PE
Physical education is something that comes naturally to this boy. He doesn’t need any intervention from me for him to be physically active. But still….He has swimming lessons every week. He is doing his second stint as a Tadpole. I LOVE our new teacher Ms. Scarlett. She is very good with Hayzel and I feel he is advancing more with her this term. I should be taking him to open swim and practicing a bit more with him, but I cannot swim and I’m terrified of the pool. Unfortunately, Dad’s work and school schedule make him unavailable during open swim, so that is out. But even without the extra lessons, Hayzel is doing fairly well. He still has to be redirected A LOT, but I am noticing he is making progress there too.
Spring is coming and that means we will be starting sports very soon. Soccer is on for sure and I believe T-ball is also going to be in our schedule as well. This upcoming fall we may or may not be doing soccer again, but Dad is very happy to know that Hayzel will be eligible for basketball. We considered football for 1 second but quickly shot that down when I saw that the weight range for Hayzel’s division is 35-75lbs. The idea of my 37lb baby in a field being tackled by 70+ lb monsters doesn’t sit well with me.
Swimming is a year round thing, and I will be fighting very hard to add dance to the lineup for fall. I finally found a tap/hip-hop class that all parties will be happy with
SOCIALIZATION
I’m putting this down as a subject because if there is one apprehension about homeschooling everyone seems to have, it’s socialization. Hayzel is a very social kid. He is not shy. And we socialize, a lot. We belong to a small ( but rapidly growing) homeschooling group with other kids his age. Along with Jayden, Caitlin, and out newest friend Olivia, we’ve always got something going on. I was just going our social calendar for the month of February and we have something lined up every single week. And that doesn’t include trips to the library, Imajine That, and various little excursions around town. I tend to forget my camera at the worst times, and sometime when I do bring it, I forget to snap pictures. But, here are some of this things we did in January.
The first set are pics taken at a field trip to Boston’s Children’s Museum. The daddies got to join us on this one.
Next are some random IT pics, as well as a play date at Olivia’s house, and some fun at my house playing with the Kinect.
Carolyn (OIivia’s mom) is pretty cool and doesn’t mind messes at her house. So anything messy gets done at her house.
ART & MUSIC
Art and Music are a few other subjects that I am slacking on. Music not so much. I always have music playing at home or in the car, so Hayzel is exposed to it all. He really likes Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. He loves to sing and dance. He loves his classical music at night and can tell the difference between the Masterpiece Classical and the Light Classical channel on tv. I sometimes try to switch it up for him but as always, “That’s not channel 5-4-0, mom!”
Art. This needs help. I am working on putting together more arts and crafts projects but ugh! I’m not at all creative. I may be looking at possibly having Hayzel do art classes at IT, but we’ll see.
PENMANSHIP
This subject it pretty easy. Practice, practice, practice. Hayzel has a whiteboard, a chalkboard, and all the pens, pencils, and paper he needs. So writing is something we practice everyday in this house.
So there you go family and friends. Thank you if you read this far. I’d forgotten how much I enjoy writing up these blog entries.
