Once again, I find myself writing about our homeschooling
curriculum goals well into our school year.
In fact, we are almost two-thirds of the way through our plan. So, I guess this post will serve as more of a
record of what we have done than a plan for what we hope to do.
This year Big E is 6 and in “first grade.” Lil E is 4 and in PreK 4. D is now 2.
We have had a few struggles this year in a few areas, so we
have been tweaking a few things in order to achieve optimal work efficiency
paired with joyful hearts by all.
Thankfully, the beauty of homeschooling is that when things aren’t
working we have the freedom to change them.
One of the biggest things we have
recently tweaked is arrangement of our school room. We have now given the Es their own desk. This provides them with individual space to
work which has enabled less distractions and greater focus. The only problem with this is that D feels a
little left out and often wants to sit in my lap so he can be closer to his
siblings.
Schedule:
Again, I try to have us start by 9:00.
That usually gives us enough time to complete our morning chores and get
ready for the day. Our goal is to finish our desk work before noon,
though that doesn’t always happen for Big E.
We usually spend the hour after lunch or before bed doing our read-alouds.
Group Time:
Group Calendar and Bible time wasn’t working
for us anymore for a couple of reasons. Mostly,
it was just taking up too much time and I didn’t feel that it was super
important. Another factor, is that the
children are at different levels of Spiritual understanding, doing different
memory verses. So making them sit
quietly while the other was reciting their memory verses or while I was reading
separate Bible passages was just a battle I have chosen not to fight. We tried using individualized Calendar
Notebooks but that didn’t work either.
Again, it was taking too much time.
So, basically, I condensed the Calendar aspect of group time onto
individualized one page sheets. Filling
out their calendar is usually the first thing they do when they open their
drawers.
Occasionally, when I can manage to get all children ready
to start school at the same time, we will start with the singing of a hymn (I
found a great hymn teaching plan from simplycharlottemason.com and we are
working our way through 6 this year) and a Prayercast video, which highlights a
country in the world and specific prayer requests for that country. I
really wish we made more time for group devotions and prayers. Maybe I will start trying to incorporate that
in again.
Workbox Time
Next we move onto our workboxes/drawers.
E’s drawers usually contain the following: Math, Science,
Explode the Code (phonics), Creative Expression (some sort of writing or grammar
assignment), Handwriting or Copywork, Bible Devotional, Memory Verse,
Geography, and Lapbook/Notebooking Assignments.
Lil E’s drawers usually contain: Phonics (Get Ready for the Code), Develping
the Early Learner, Math, Handwriting, a language arts activity, Memory Verse, Bible
Devotion, a Kumon workbook (cutting, pasting, mazes, number games), 100 Lessons
to Teach your Child to Read, and an educational game.
Reading Time:
This continues to be a big bulk of our curriculum.
We all go to the living room, snuggle into each other on the couch and
read. This usually happens either
after lunch or before bed. Sometimes it
happens in the afternoon. Sometimes we
are all together, sometimes it is just me with one child.
Field Trips:
One day a week I try to reserve for field trips.
I did great in the fall, but with the warmer weather we have been staying
in a bit more. So far we have been
visited, the Worcester Art Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, the Eric Carle
Museum, the Adirondack Museum, Old Sturbridge Village, Ward’s Berry Farm, the
Museum of Science, the Mystic Aquarium, Fruitlands Museum, Semetic Museum of
Harvard, apple picking at several local farms, Roger Williams Zoo, a Children’s
Chamber Music concert, the American Textile History Museum, Amazement Square,
Ocean Explorium, and a performance of the Nutcracker performed by the
Providence Festival Ballet.
We have two more ballets scheduled and many more field
trips opportunities coming up, including a Lego Race Car Building class at
MIT.
Other: This
year I wanted to incorporate more supplemental enrichment opportunities and
study of the arts. So, I started
following the suggested artist and composer studies by
amblesideonline.org. This year we are
studying the artists John Singleton Copley, Edouard Manet, and The Hudson River
School. The composers we will cover include: Haydn, Tchaikovsky, and Mark O’
Conner and Stravinksy. I have kept it
really simple this year. About once a
week I will listen to a recording of music by the focused composer and listen
during breakfast or lunch. That’s
it. For artists, about once a week (or
less) I will show them one of their pieces of artwork and we will discuss what
we see. I also try to give a little
background about each composer and artist and try to find at least one book from
the library that teaches us a little about the composer or artist.
Big E has also started taking piano lessons from me. Lil E has recently start ballet classes.
They have also been taking America Sign Language classes
from a local high school homeschool student.
These have been great for them, though we don’t practice enough at home.
We also just joined a local homeschool Co-op. So once a week we go spend time with other
homeschoolers learning about various topics.
We have only attended one meeting so we are still waiting to see if this
will be a good fit for our family and schooling long term.
D's Curriculum:
Since he is only 2, I don't demand anything from him. I do set up 5-6 different learning activities for him. Some are
based on the letter of the week that Lil' E is studying. Others are just fun educational toys. Some involved fine motor
skill practice and some are Montessori based ideas. All I attempt to require is that we clean up one activity before he
starts another one. (But that is difficult to do while working simultaneously with the other two.) He is now (as of Jan.
2014) 27 months old and starting to show more interest in participating in these activities. So, that is very exciting.
Lil' E's Curriculum:
I have been pleasantly surprised by how well Lil E
has done this year with her school work.
I wasn’t sure if she was really ready for the program we selected for
her, but she has been rising to the occasion.
We decided to use Sonlight’s Core P4/5 for the bulk of her
reading. She still has a fairly short
attention span, but she has grown in leaps and bounds in her ability to listen
and comprehend what is being read to her.
She loves the Developing the Early Learner books and usually does those
eagerly.
Since she was starting to get a grip on basic letter
awareness and phonics I thought we would take a gamble on trying Sonlight’s K
Language Arts. It is basically a letter
of the week program with phonics practice, beginning reading, hand writing,
copywork, and creative writing assignments.
She has well exceeded my expectations! I thought we would have to abandon our plan
only a month or so into it, but she has done wonderful. She is actually reading simple sentences and
has been able to keep up with the beginning readers according to their
schedule. We have been doing additional phonics/reading work with the
book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Lessons.
She loves math, so I decided to go ahead and start her on
the Math-U-See Primer. At times it has
become too difficult for her. When that
has happened, we have taken a break and used simple K level math books we
purchase at the dollar stores. Then we have pulled out MUS again when she has
shown more interest or capability. We
take it very slowly and rarely even complete one page worth of assignments in a
day. I think she enjoys having a math
book like her big brother, so we are sticking with it, very slowly, for now.
For handwriting we are using Handwriting without Tears, the
K level (orange book).
As part of the Sonlight LA program, we have been utilizing the
optional Get Set for the Code books.
They are the precursor of the Explode the Code series. I thought she could use the additional
letter/phonics practice. She seems to
enjoy these as well.
We continue to work with many of the Kumon books, including mazes, uppercase and lowercase, number games, cutting, pasting, and easy crafts.
I usually try to put one puzzle or fun educational hands on
game in her drawers as well.
Big E's Curriculum:
We have continued to be very happy with
Sonlight’s curriculum. So this year we
chose to use Sonlight’s Core B with Grade 2 Readers. The History focus has been the beginning of
time until the fall of the Roman Empire.
We have especially enjoyed exploring Ancient Egypt and Ancient Greece
and are looking forward to Ancient Rome. I continue appreciate how well laid
out it all is. It doesn't require much preparation from me, but I know he
is receiving a well-balanced and thoughtful curriculum with a literature focus. We have especially enjoyed many of the Read
Alouds, including Charlotte’s Web, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and Mountain Born.
For handwriting we continued with Handwriting Without Tears
"Printing Power." I think this handwriting is coming along pretty good. He
has mostly completed this book so I am focusing more on additional copywork
exercises (memory verses, additional scripture verses, or hymns).
For science, we decided to purchase Sonlight’s Core B
program. Big E loves all things Science
related, so he has read through most of the books already and is often
discussing random facts with me throughout the day. Having him work through the worksheets they
provided has been a good exercise for him to how to read a bit more critically
in order to find the correct answers. My husband has been doing the hands-on
experiments with him on the weekends. It
has been great to have my husband involved in the education process as
well. They really enjoy their time
For Math we have continued to Math-U-See. So far he has completed the Alpha level and
is flying through the Beta level. We
will continue with math over the summer.
We have no specific goals on what he learns but are allowing him to
learn at his pace. We move quickly
through the concepts he understands and slow the pace down when he needs more
practice.
For additional supplementals, Big E is
using several Kumon Workbooks, including cutting, mazes, coloring (neither of my children like to color), and drawing.
Big E has turned in a very advanced
reader. He is often found reading books
in his spare time. He is currently
reading through the Boxcar Children’s Series.
I am trying to convince him there are other great books to be read as
well, but he seems determined to read all 150 or so books in the series (and he’s
about half way there already).
For spelling, we have continued to use Explode
the Code as suggested by Sonlight.
Again, he seems to do really well with this subject. But he still struggles with some words when
he is writing freely. But most of those
words are ones we haven’t discussed yet.
Big E is doing much better with the writing assignments given by
Sonlight. I am pleased with the way he
has grown in this area and is more willing to engage in the activity.
For Geography, we are trying our hand at having him learn
how to draw the continents by memory. The first half of the year we focused on
drawing the great circles, and roughly placing the continents in their correct
locations. From there we have moved on
to drawing Australia. It is still in the
tracing phase of learning. He has
attempted it a few times without tracing it, but I think he needs a bit more
practice.
Personal Reflection:
In a nutshell, that is our curriculum. I
am thankful to see in black and white what we have already accomplished this
year. It gives me confidence to continue
to move forward through this year and begin planning for next year.
At times I continue to debate
if our choices of curriculum are what is best for our family. I think we will stay on this path again for
next year, though I am curious how to handle multiple children in multiple cores. Next year D will be 3 and we will begin to do
more focused educational activities with him as well. But I need to stay
focused on today’s responsibilities, trusting that God will provide a clear
path for us in the days, weeks, months, and years to come.
Homeschooling is a wild, crazy, fun,
challenging, endeavor…. And one I am thankful to be undertaking. I know that I am not capable of doing any of
this on my own strength… but only by His.
So, it is by His grace that we will walk through the rest of today,
tomorrow, and the day after that.
