Our First week...

This week marks the beginning of Michael's second grade year!  As I said in a previous post I decided to hold off on school until the weather cooled a bit. I find the summer heat exhausting and starting school in the middle of that did not sound fun to me.  So we waited for our Autumn creativity burst and though it's still quite warm outside, Autumn is in the air. 

For our first day Michael found a welcome to second grade card on the nature table.  Michael was also thrilled to spy a few new surprise supplies on our home school shelf.  We made our favorite pumpkin, clove & chocolate chip muffins to start the day.

We began a new circle time, including lots of fun Michaelmas verses for Michael & Owen. Owen is especially enjoying our journey in verse to find the dragon! 

We started with a review of our letters, both capital and lower case.  I was impressed to see Michael flying through our lesson, thrilled to be back to the business of letters and reading.  We played this matching game on our second day.  I made the cards from some thick, textured paper &  crayons.

We learned about Saint George & the dragon.  Michael didn't care for the dragon's head being chopped off.

Here is Michael's dragon drawing.

Mommy's dragon, which came out much more sweetly then I had at first imagined.

In the afternoon Michael was gifted his new handwork basket and was very excited to begin his castle knitting.  He picked it up so fast and finished his rainbow snake by the end of the day.  We spoke often about patience and learning to set his work down when he grew frustrated.  It was a fantastic will building experience for him.  Michael just seems ready this year. 

I can't imagine a better first week.  My only complaint is that we're having sibling issues.  My 3 year old Owen is pushing to get equal attention at lesson time. No more does he wander of content to play, he barely did that last year but this year there's a whole new dynamic going on and it's taken me by surprise, oddly enough.  I thought having a circle time & story geared mostly to his age might fill him up and give us time to work on main lesson, however, he's having none of that. I try to include him as much as possible but main lesson is a challenge. Michael is growing resentful of his time being encroached upon and it's hard for him to concentrate with a talkative Owen by our side.  Next week I will try making some play dough for him and see how we fair.  Sage advice is very much appreciated. 

Until next time...