Reflections on teaching my first homeschool week

So I have completed my first "lesson" in homeschool kindergarten. Here's the breakdown.

Better than I expected:

- Optimus LOVES school. He even wants it on the weekend! However, see below...

- It's more fun than I thought! Thinking up creative ways to teach a lesson has meant spending time in closets with flashlights, fingerpainting, making marshmallow snacks - and I'm hoping to make moon craters next week complete with an acting out of the first man on the moon!

- Every since school started, the kids don't ask for TV first thing in the morning, they ask for school! They also play more together, and independently and creatively.

- Every random thing has now become an opportunity to learn. I've always kind of been that way, but even moreso now. For example, when we were playing with play-doh the other day, we opened up a container and found the red playdoh had grown crystals! Optimus went into science mode to investigate and journal it - then we googled to find out what it was. I will post on that later. He just seems to be more aware of his surroundings.

Harder than I expected:

- Milli is only 2.5, but she wants to participate in everything I am showing Optimus. This means making two copies of everything and letting her participate in things that would be MUCH easier with a capable 5 year old.

- I didn't expect Optimus to want school all day, every day. When I have exhausted all of my ideas and materials from my planning times, he still wants MORE. This is really cool, I know, but it definitely takes more time.

- The schedule. I had the idea in my mind: Mon, Wed, Fri at 10:00 am. Well, with my homeschool co-op every other Monday morning, my time volunteering at church on various Wednesday mornings, and carving time out for the gym - this has not been as easy as I thought! Thankfully it's homeschool, and my kids love school, so Sunday afternoon school is welcomed and so is after lunch school when Milli goes down for her nap :) I'm learning how to loosen my grip on "plans" - which I'm sure my husband will appreciate and will be good for me all around!

- Figuring out the "right" way to do some things, like handwriting. I'm using Handwriting without Tears but haven't figured out if I should go in the order it recommends or just go with MFW. I had a bit of a internal meltdown about this issue and realized I need to just give myself some time to work out the kinks and not stress!

That's just what I got so far, will post some pics later!