Keaton Academy

When we returned from the mainland in July, I started working with Keaton in the mornings on some fine motor and handwriting activities in an effort to give us some structure to our mornings until our normal activities started back up in September.  I didn't really intend to start homeschooling him, but before I knew it, we had a schedule, a whole notebook of activities, and I was ordering curriculum online! 

I am so surprised and delighted at how much Keaton and I both are enjoying "doing school" in the mornings!  We usually start around 8:30 and finish around 10:00. We do Calendar, Bible, Handwriting, Reading, Math and Fine Motor. If we miss a day, no big deal. If we only do a couple of things in the morning, no big deal. I'm trying to keep it very low-key and fun.

Here's our board: 

Every week we have a Bible Verse, Catechism, Letter, Sight Word, Number, and Shape that we learn. We also pick one member of our family to pray for, and we put their picture on our board to help us remember - last week was Aunt Jenny! 

I guess I'm still waiting on the "new" of this to wear off, but I am so so proud of this boy and his eagerness to learn. Keaton is usually begging me to start before I'm even ready in the mornings. I'm also so impressed with how much he has learned in the past 6 weeks! His cutting, handwriting and coloring skills have improved drastically in such a short time. As his mama, this is so fun and encouraging for me to see how he's really learning stuff!  

We're using the Handwriting Without Tears curriculum for writing and we love it! 

My mom sent me How to Teach Your Child to Read... a couple of weeks ago, so we've been doing a lesson a day. I'm amazed that he's already reading short words and phrases!

Our biggest challenge right now is little brother who does anything...

he can do

to distract us from school! 

And he gets pretty hot when we try to ignore him... he he

His latest stunt is self-initiating potty training, because he's learned that the one thing that will get me out of my chair and at his full attention is when he says "Mama, poo poo!" 

I have no idea if this homeschooling thing is something we will continue for years or only for a short time, but right now we are really enjoying learning together and having fun "doing school!" 

One of the greatest perks of Keaton Academy (as you can see from the pictures) - shorts/shirts are optional! :-)