We started school last week. I'm a homeschooler to my seven year-old daughter McKaylah. She is doing Oak Meadow second grade, as well as other curriculum we have picked through. She loves art and history, so we do a bit of that each week as well. She jumped right in her studies, I was so pleasantly surprised.
Ava also wanted to start school. She just turned four so she's doing a very lackadaisical preschool curriculum. I have a couple workbooks she does ABC's and 123's with, but I try to make her "studies" more hands on and playful. She does playdough (homemade and store bought if you were wondering...depends on if we remember to put it away so it doesn't dry out) A's, B's, 0, 1, 2, etc. We also do finger-play and songs. She's also making her own ABC book. After we go over a letter for a few days, we'll draw pictures of things that start with that letter. When we're all done with all 26 letters, we'll bind it for her. I do a lot of imaginative play with her as well.
I think it's important to have kids help out with life stuff, too. School lessons are great, but life lessons are even more vital to someone's abilities and well-roundedness. I encourage both girls help me bake, prepare lunch and dinner, water the plants/garden, pick out food at the grocery store, fold laundry, etc. McKaylah also has 3 kids cookbooks with great illustrations that we use weekly for her to pick one food to make. I help her, but she gets to pick it out (and yes, it's almost always a dessert or baked item-Girl's No Dummy!) and she gets to measure out ingredients, mix the batter or whatnot. I think it's teaching her cooking and baking of course, but also math and science as well.
I'd love to hear from other Homeschooling moms out there!