Our first week of homeschooling was a major success in my eyes. No calls from the school. No emails from exasperated teachers. One happy kid with no bullies. In fact, more than once this week he has hugged me and thanked me for homeschooling him. No matter what happens financially, I know that we are doing the right thing for him.
What we did this first week of homeschooling
Because we were still waiting on R’s core curriculum, Switched On Schoolhouse, to arrive, I created school from off the cuff this first week of our homeschooling experience.
Bible
We’ve started really simply with a devotional called Keys for Kids. They are short and meaningful.
Reading
We went to the library and got several books. Most of them where Magic Schoolbus ones which are too easy but I wanted to ease into the whole homeschool thing. He did have a Transformers chapter book that he is also reading. It’s more on his level.
Math
I’ve been doing a review this week with IXL.com. What an awesome site!
Typing
Because of R’s dysgraphia, we are using mostly a computer based curriculum so he needs to learn to type. We are using Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum. Our son really enjoys it.
Spelling
For spelling, we are using another great free program online at BigIQKids.com
Handwriting
We separate out handwriting from other schoolwork as I mentioned before. I am teaching him cursive in an effort to see if the fluid motion of it helps his speed and legibility. The book we are using is called Handwriting Skills simplified Learning Cursive Writing.
Spanish
I won a year’s curriculum from Discover Spanish. It is a very nice beginner program that is best used for a child’s first exposure to Spanish. R and I have been enjoying it together and practicing the conversations he is learning. It helps that I know a good bit of Spanish, so I can help him with pronunciation when the computer voice is a little hard to understand.
Science
This is R’s favorite thing. We have watched animal videos from the library which he has been quizzed on. He was amazed that I could make up a test. 
P.E.
This week we went skating with the Cub Scouts and we hope to do that soon on a regular basis with the local homeschool group. We will be swimming with them once a week until that program stops.
Fun Stuff
We began a lapbook on the Air Force that I got a couple of years ago when I thought we might homeschool then. It’s from Hands of a Child. I can’t wait to do a post on it when we have finished it.
Next week we’ll add the art and music along with his core curriculum. That is, provided that Mom and Dad can figure out how to network it. I think another PC is in our future to act as server. More on that later. Pray for us.
