My homeschooling the boys has been somewhat smoother than my experience with A. They are still at the stage where most of the time, they are excited to learn and impress their Mumma. I’ve had a few obstacles with them, still.

Of all of the 3 kids, Ty has had the most work to do and I have spent the most time working with him. Unfortunately, the past year I had him enrolled at the JCC was a complete waste, if not detrimental to his attitude towards school. My biggest challenge with him is his low self esteem. This past year he went from thinking he was the coolest kid alive to thinking he can’t do anything right and nobody likes him. Thankfully we have started to turn the tides this summer. Working with me, having positive encouragement from other caring adults, and working hard at TKD has really helped to lift his view of himself a bit. I am hoping this will continue when he starts Pre-K in the fall. If I don’t see that happening, I will not hesitate to pull him out of the school in a flash and keep up with the homeschooling. With him, I could totally picture teaching him on a continuous basis. I think he needs time apart from us to be himself as he is overly attached to Toby and I. He really does thrive in a traditional school setting, so this is my first choice.

With Ty, I have been doing a few Kumon books. We started with the books about 6 months ago and both mom and kids are happy with them. We have been using the My First Book Of Cutting , Let’s Fold! (with both Toby and Ty), My First Book Of Uppercase Letters , and My Book of Coloring (this one is for Toby and Ty, too). We have been doing worksheets off of several sites and lots of the fun projects from one of my new favorite sites, Family Education. Another main staple book I have been using is a workbook I literally found in a desk drawer (that I had no idea I had) is More Everything for Early Learning, Preschool. I really like this book for Ty and Toby because it has a little of everything in it. It is thick and inexpensive and I highly recommend it.

At the beginning of the summer we started out with playing memory matching letters and now have moved up to words. I also purchased the first set of the Bob Books. Ty has read the first one and is ready for the next. He is kind of “on again off again” with the reading and I am trying to not push it. Being only four, I figure there is plenty of time.

With both of the boys, I have been reading through a few list of books. We have already completed the Summer Bridge Activities list for K-1. We are now working through this list. This has been my favorite part of this summer so far. To me, nothing beats the feeling of snuggling up with the boys and reading a few books.

Toby has really surprised me and I look forward to working more one on one with him this year, as he will be the only one not going to school. I simply expected him to do a little bit of coloring and listen to the books as I read stories. He was determined to get involved in the learning so I ended up having him work in this book, My First Book Of Tracing , among the other books I previously mentioned. He also is picking up on the letters and words as I work with Ty and I would not be surprised in the least if he was only a few steps behind his brother the entire way in the next few years.

I have really enjoyed working with the boys and would have no problem continuing school at home. The shine in their eyes when they learn something is priceless. At this time, the plan is still for them to continue on to traditional school. While I love teaching them at home, I just am not sure I am ready to continue this forever. I think I may get burnt out. I also think there are other aspects of traditional school that may be good for them. I am going to continue working with them at home, regardless if they go to school or not. If it ever comes down to the best thing for us, I am positive that I can teach them at home and didn’t have this confidence before the summer started. The time we have spent together learning, the obstacles we have overcome, and the confidence we have all gained has been nothing but a positive experience.

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