First Day

Today will mark the first official day of our home school journey.

Alejandro woke up at around 7:30, wet his hair, made his bed, and ate a go-gurt. He was very eager to begin the day with what he calls "Morning Meeting". After we ate a more hearty breakfast, changed our clothes, and brushed our teeth we began our day a little more formally.

Before "Morning Meeting" we sat and said our prayers aloud followed by 10 minutes of silent prayer, where Aminah kept walking around me saying God in Arabic and Alejandro laid his head in my lap quietly. It is a nice start to the beginning of the day, and the new year... for knowledge of God is the foundation of education. He is the beginning and the end, and the reason for seeking knowledge. And, as Charlotte Mason once wrote, "Without knowledge Reason carries a man into the wilderness and Rebellion joins company...Fundamental knowledge is the knowledge of God and while we are ignorant of that principal knowledge, Science, Nature, Literature and History, all remain dumb."

It was at this point where we re-located to Alejandro's room for his "Morning Meeting". This consisted of writing our names, Alejandro, Aminah, & Mom on separate pieces of paper, crumpling them up in the middle of the table, wherein we each drew one name and proceeded to greet that person with a "Good morning". 

Ben and I had to remind Alejandro that not everything he did with his teacher Miss Bessette we would do at home. There would be lots of different activities and different ways the schedule would be made. 

After that we practiced "L" & "T" in his Graphics notebook and read aloud from one of Alejandro's storybooks. 

For "Recess" we went on a walk to the post office to mail some packages. Alejandro protested as we walked out the door, but was shut-up when he was able to climb the numerous snow mounds on the way there and back.

It was already 12:00 and time for lunch. Alejandro requested "School lunch". We read the mail, looked at some pictures on the camera and put Aminah down for a nap.

From 12:30-1:07 Alejandro took a rest and listened to the final chapters of Charlotte's Web audio book.

I told him at 1:00 he could play quietly. 

He decided to make his own Dungeons and Dragons game that he called "Dungeon of the Night". He created 8 character sheets with much detail after finding the packet of construction paper Santa left him. 

When Aminah awoke we helped Alejandro correct his spelling mistakes instead of going over some sight words and reading. I underlined the spelling mistakes and wrote them correctly in his 2nd notebook. He then took a new piece of construction paper and copied the correct words onto the sheet, while remembering the rhyme (To the tune of If You're Happy and You Know it) : 

"Where do you start your letters? At the top! Where do you start your letters? At the top!
If you want to start a letter, then you better, better, better, remember to start it at the top!".

Alejandro's handwriting has improved almost 90 percent by remembering this simple rhyme. He even announced that when his brother and sisters see what he has written they will ask "Did your mother write this?". He was very proud. 

It was already 3:30 when we both got tired of this. I told Alejandro "That's it for today!" to which he cried, "No! Now it's time for 1st grade stuff". . I'm glad he is eager! I let him play a math game (which was math addition and subtraction Bingo and way too easy for him). When he was done he wanted to do more! more! I said, I am done! Play whatever you want! And of course I heard "tv? video games". I told him, "You can answer that question yourself." He said, "No? It's no, right?".  So, he pulled out his Dungeons and Dragons work and continued to make his board and write some more character information. (I've never played the game, but Adam brought it over 2 weeks ago and the kids had fun with it.) Alejandro draws a picture of a character on a sheet of paper followed by his "Stats" , I'm guessing, For example: 

Gimlee:  Dwarf
Hit Points- 12
Health- 7
Initiative-- 8

I don't know what the heck any of it means, but it's fascinating to watch him spend a long time on it. 

I won't usually be writing this much detail in this blog, but I figured for the first day it should be special and recorded so I can remember what happened in the beginning, and laugh!