Our First Homeschool Year 2005-2006

We moved from Georgia to Texas during the summer of 2005.

I was pregnant with Victoria.

I couldn’t find a job. I didn’t even get a single phone call or email after I submitted applications and résumés.

Elizabeth has an October birthday.

She had just completed 4K at a private Christian school.

Texas public school rules wouldn’t allow her to enter Kindergarten for another year. She could repeat public 4K – reserved for ESL, special needs, and military dependents.

No, thanks.

We began our homeschool journey.

I have an M.Ed. in secondary English education.

I had taught high school, middle school, and college for almost 10 years.

Everyone in Aaron’s family is a teacher.

I was in no way qualified nor did I feel confident teaching my 5-year-old daughter.

I acquired some old workbooks from Aaron’s mom. She had taught Kindergarten and 2nd grade for 32 years.

My daughter completed Kindergarten in one month.

I discovered The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home.

I followed it like a script.

I discovered Yahoo groups.

San Antonio, Texas, is a great place to begin homeschooling.

So much support. There are oodles of groups for homeschool support.

We “did school” every morning with the recommendations from The Well-Trained Mind.

We did lots of notebooking.

Our Curriculum for Our First Homeschool Year:

• First Language Lessons
• Spelling Workout
• Singapore Math
• Notebooking though an animal encyclopedia
• The Story of the World

We had a park day every Friday. We didn’t do any book work on Fridays.

We went on lots of field trips.

We explored the San Antonio Missions.

We really liked The Alamo.

We loved being so close to SeaWorld. There were frequent free days for military members and family.

We explored dinosaurs and plants at the San Antonio Botanical Garden.

We dug for roadside fossils. Check out the Fossil Forum for digs!

Liz took weekly art classes at ArtWorks. She learned about artists and different media and produced lovely art.

Liz was very involved at church, singing, and performing in the Christmas pageant.

We kept an herb garden, and eventually planted some fruits and vegetables. We did projects in the Green Thumbs book.

This is the garden in fall:

This is the garden in late spring:

I knew I was doing something right when Liz would spontaneously write and draw and recite facts she’d learned.

Elizabeth became a big sister in March when Victoria was born!

Liz was a big helper.

We took a vacation to Destin and Houston over the summer.

The Houston Museum of Natural Science had an Egyptian exhibit!

We didn’t anticipate continuing to homeschool beyond a year or two. Ha!

Aaron’s mom’s coworker tested Liz’s progress in April and she was reading above a 3rd grade level with great comprehension. So we got no more complaints from family members.

Our first homeschool year was exciting. It was so easy with just one child!

It was a great beginning to our homeschool adventures!

Now we have four kids homeschooling!