1 day down....how many more to go?!?!

Well, it's the first day day of school with the Stevens Clan. So far, so good!! =) My hubby told me my organization was inspiring -- I reminded him it was only day 1!!! We started KONOS today with our friends. Our best friends are homeschoolers and Nathan and Fionna (you've seen her in a few pics already) are the same age so, when I started homeschooling, we decided we'd get together and co-teach a few days a week. We were worried (still are -- like I said, it's only day 1) about how difficult it would be this year since I'm pregnant and Kisha started baby-sitting again and now has a 2-year-old and baby in tow. But, today went smoothly. I think it might actually work. Won't be as easy as last year and won't be as frequent but life changes, families change, and that's one of the many reasons we homeschool -- FLEXIBILITY!! KONOS, in case you're interested, is a unit study based on Godly characteristics. I probably could explain that but I find it easier to give examples. The first characteristic we studied was Attentiveness. With each characteristic, there are units -- with attentiveness, for example, we studied the ear and hearing (you need that to pay attention!) and did a unit on men like Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone. Last year, we finished up Attentiveness and did Obedience and Orderliness and studied things such as who authority figures are in our lives (including the One to whom we should always be obedient to, God), Kings and Queens (thus the Medieval Feast we did on Saturday), horses, alphabetical order, why it's important to put things in order, creation, etc. This year, we're starting Inquisitiveness and are starting this unit off with Ancient Egypt. If you'd like more info, feel free to email me (Sing2PraiseHim@hotmail.com) or visit www.Konos.com (can't get the link thingy to work!). This is also the first year that I'm working with more than one student. The little ones have always joined in with school activities we did during the morning but then I'd put them down to nap and do the bulk of Nathan's school work during nap time. Caleb will be 5 in December which means he's technically not in kindergarten yet but I wanted to go ahead and get started with some basics for him. He's already proficient in his colors and shapes, of course, so we're working on our ABC's and the letter sounds and some basic handwriting and math skills. I dabbled a bit with him last year and he LOVED it but this year, I hope to go full throttle with him all year. Today went very well. Elizabeth and John are just along for the ride at this point but they like pretending that they're doing something real important!! Don't you just love 'em??

Bottom line - first day went off without a hitch! Stuck to the schedule, got all the work accomplished, and feeling optimistic about day 2!! Happy school year!