We just started our second semester of kindergarten and what a crazy school year it has been so far. I definitely wasn't expecting to spend essentially the whole fall semester living at my parents' house, but that was the way it played out!
Now that we are back in our own home, and in the same city as Gigi's learning center, we are sliding into a routine. That is helping immensely but to be honest, I feel like we need even more structure.
Learning Center Days
Gigi is doing pretty well at school (although does seem to get tired in the afternoons) and after a few mishaps we decided Tae Kwon Do was not for her so she will now go to school an hour later on Thursdays.
At the learning center she takes classes that are meant to be for enrichment, on top of what we do at home. On Tuesdays she takes reading, language arts, art and chess. She does really well on those days, despite how long of a day it is. On Thursdays she takes math, science, drama and Spanish. Thursdays have more challenging but this semester they switched math/science to the morning and also changed the teacher and I'm hoping it works out better for Gigi.
Home Days
At home (MWF), we are still doing Handwriting without Tears, Five in a Row (although we are hitting on less of the activities these days), The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading, and Singapore Math. We've been slacking on the math book, but doing more applied math, and using her new unifix cubes and Tangrams (I LOVE this set-- it's magnetic so she doesn't get frustrated from them get messed up, so far she is just making her own designs but she really enjoys them).
We haven't been using the devotional we started with but she got one for Christmas, God and Me 3, that she really likes so far that we are doing now. Anything that will get her excited about learning about Jesus is fine for now. I'm currently reading her Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder (I love our color-picture edition from B & N). She's not crazy about it yet, but I think she will get more into it as we get farther in.
She's really excelling in handwriting, although she needs more endurance. I'm trying to get her to do more copywork now that she's basically finished her HWT book (and I hope to get the next book soon). And oh, did I mention? She's reading!! It's been amazing to watch her learn to sound out words and recognize sight words, and I just can't wait until she's devouring pages like her mama.
Some days are so hard it's like pulling teeth. I want to drive her to whatever nearest school I can find. It's refining me in ways I didn't know possible. Despite all of my "I will never homeschool" protests in my younger years, God knew this was what my family and I would need at this time.
But of course there are super sweet moments, like relaxing on the couch listening to audiobooks and the rain falling, and watching her run around with her siblings after meeting Daddy for lunch, where I am beyond thankful that I get to have her home with me most days.
The hybrid balance is a sweet system for now. I get excited researching more academic classical education ideas for later on, but for now I am enjoying the simplicity of it all.