I just sat down after this CRAZY wonderful week. I figured even though it is insanely late (I just got the house semi-straightened out and I am waiting on Devin to come home from work while watching the Morning Show on Apple+) that I have a few minutes to write about how our second week of homeschooling went.
Like I said this week was just chaotic, and you know what that is real life. Life is unpredictable and chaotic at times. We have to learn to be flexible and just take life as it throws things at us sometimes, and our girls got to learn a lot about that this week.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t get our school work finished, because that we did. Some days it was just we did school later in the day than usual. Some days we got to use a real life example of how to spend and count dollar bills and coins, and they seem to understand money WAY better now.
This week we had cheerleading and dance that really took ahold of our lives because one of children had their first football game (ever!) and the other one had their first parade (ever!), so there was days we had to run and get the last minute things. Not including our regular scheduled programming and the fact our two older children’s school switched back from hybrid to full time in person.
Our girls learned so much this week, even being able to count 1-20 (and 10- 100 by tens) in the languages they chose. We started the Tuttle Twin series, which they loved and asked so many questions. We did a photo shoot, we went to the library, we visited Ms. Pat at Klassy Kids probably more then she wanted to see us this week, and we did our usual grocery shopping (along with an ice cream trip).
We started Lalilo, which helps with language arts and they responded well to it. They discovered their scientist for their science project. We used our bins for fun and for class.
There has never been a moment that I have not been sure we made the right choice for these girls, but I did have moment this week and I felt like “oh my goodness did we start this at the right time because October is the busiest month of the year for us,” but then it hit me (kind of slapped me in the face) is there truly a right time? The answer is, we did this not being about the right time for Devin or I , but the right time for our children. So, regardless of how chaotic or busy life is; homeschooling was the right choice at the right time for these girls. It’s a big change in our lives, but welcoming it instead of stressing about time has worked out so much better for this momma.
Anyways, as the years go on I hope to look back at this week and say we made it through, and it actually turned into a really great week with a fabulous ending.
As Always,
Brittany K Hodge
The Tuttle Twins and the Creature from Jekyll Island Review.
I want to start this blog post by telling everyone who reads our story and our opinions thank you so much. The support we have received has been absolutely heart warming and kind.
Anyways, you want to know about the Tuttle Twins. We are not going in order with these books ( I know I know there is an order for a reason), we are talking about money in math and money is the topic for social studies for right now. So the Creature from Jekyll Island fits right into our social studies curriculum.
I must say I love this book. It brings money and inflation down to a child like understandable level for our 1st and 2nd graders. I have said this before about that this book series is very conservative, but knowing about our government, money, and law is not something that we consider a political thing, we believe it is something we should be teaching our children about. So conservative or not, to me this book is incredibly important.
My kids have always looked at me crazy when I say things like “woah that is expensive,” or “we are going to have to save awhile for that.” I believe this book will help them understand why I say these things.
If you think this book will teach your kids the differences between coins and dollar bills, it will not. It teaches about the government and banking side of money. It does show the ugly monster side of our government when related to money, but it shows that people can help change that as well. This is definitely a social studies book, please don’t expect it to be any other thing.
We are lucky to live so close to Jekyll Island, and I think we may try to make a trip to the Jekyll Island Club Hotel to see where the creatures once were.
I also can see as my children get older, rereading these books in our history classes because they will fit right in. These books are so well written that your children will understand the book as a total but as they get older they will take more and more pieces and be able to research about those topics. I am just incredibly and excited that we will be able to use these books for years to come. These are worth the investment.
They get a gold star from us,
Brittany
First Week Down
Dear girls,
I cannot express how impressed I am with you girls on a daily basis. I was very nervous about homeschooling. I was afraid it could be too hard, you guys would hate it, and I truly was not good enough to be able to home school you guys. You have proven me wrong day after day this week, and I could not be prouder.
This is all new to all of us and you are doing so wonderful. I have seen growth on Elephant Learning from both of you. I have witnessed the beauty in you guys learning a new language. I have heard you guys express exactly what you would like to learn in the future, and how excited it makes you. This makes me feel excited about the future of our homeschooling journey.
You guys have enjoyed your decorate your pumpkin as your favorite storybook character. You loved Dr. Suess’s One Cent, Two Cent, Old Cent, New Cent and talking all about money in both math and social studies. We learned how Alexander use to be rich last Sunday, and how to identify coins and bills. We also learned what a scientist is, and have been figuring out which science path we want to go on next. Books seem to be falling out of our ears, and your reading skills are increasing. You guys are writing in journals that I cannot wait to bind together at the end of the year and have for you guys as you get older.
Our eclectic form of homeschooling seems to be working for you ladies and I hope that it continues to be such a wonderful thing in your lives.
I hope you girls know how much we love you and how much you are truly teaching us.
Love,
Mom, Brittany
Crawford Family Academy 