Twelve weeks into school and I am just now finding the time to update our school blog about our curriculum choices. Yikes! I wish I had more time to keep this blog updated, but with three children at home this blog just isn't a priority.
That being said, I do want to document some of what we are doing this year.
We have decided to continue to keep Big and Lil' E at home again this year. Below is the plan for this year.
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| First Day of School |
Schedule:
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. We are usually in the school room until about 11:30. But then often have more reading to do in the afternoon, usually after lunch.
Calendar Time: We start each day with Calendar time. We discuss "today, tomorrow, yesterday", count the days of the month, make a note of the weather, and sing a few calendar songs. I plan on starting the children on individualize Calendar Notebooks from Homeschool Creations.
Bible Time: We review our house rules as well as the memory verse for the week (from our curriculum). We then either review all the memory verses learned to date (about 20 or so) or we continue to review and learn additional catechism questions (from "My First Book of Questions and Answers" by Carine MacKenzie). Then we read a story from the Bible and watch a video from Prayercast, which highlights a country in the world and specific prayer requests for that country.
Workbox Time: Next we move onto our workboxes/drawers. The year the children work on completely different activities. Lil E usually has 3-4 activities from her "curriculum" along with 1 or 2 educational toys. Big E's drawers are filled with material from his curriculum.
Reading Time: This continues to be a big bulk of Big E's curriculum. Though I do select one book each day specifically for Lil E. We all go to the living room, snuggle into each other on the couch and read.
Field Trips: One day a week I try to reserve for field trips. So far we have been to Old Sturbridge Village, The Ecotarium, The Minuteman National Park, the Science Museum of Boston, The Roger Williams Zoo, The Wild Center, the Museum of Fine Arts, and Colonial Williamsburg. In addition to the museum field trips, we have completed several nature hikes (and been letterboxing). We have also been attending Park Days with a local homeschooling group and we try to take advantage of various library programs during the week. I'm sure the frequency of our field trips will decline with the winter weather approaching, but I will try my best to get us out and about as much as possible.
Other: Lil E is going to speech therapy twice a week at the local school to help her with her dictation. For some reason she is significantly behind in her articulation. Thankfully we have begun to see improvement. Both Big and Lil E attend a children's bible program at our church on Sunday nights. I think they are learning a lot, having fun, and gaining additional skills by being in that setting.
School with Three: It has certainly become a bit more difficult to complete our school work with the littlest member of our family becoming more mobile and active. D is now 13 months old and into everything. We are still trying different ideas to keep him entertained and out of trouble enough so the Es can complete their school work.
Lil' E's Curriculum:
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| Letter Collage |
I've been very pleased with her participation in school this year. She eagerly opens her drawers each day and is much more engaged and thorough with the activities than I expected her to be. She stills struggles to remember the sounds the letters make and is sometimes still off on identifying them, but she is working on it. Lil E has been much more independent in her schoolwork than I remember Big E being when he was her age. Some of that is probably due to personality and some of it is probably out of necessity.
Preparation for Lil E's school is much easier than it was when Big E was this age. Since I laminated or used sheet protectors with most of the printables I have been able to reuse everything from him. There were a few things I needed to reprint for her, but not much. I keep all the materials in hanging file folders and just pull out what I need when I need it. I have even been able to reuse the spreadsheet I created for Big E which includes suggestions for themed snacks, special books, crafts (sometimes), and fun afternoon activities (if the crazies set in!).
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| An example of Lil E's completed work for a week |
Big E's Curriculum:
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| Taken in celebration of completion of his first reader (not the best picture, I know!) |
We were pleased with the curriculum we chose last year so we continued on with Sonlight's Core A with the Grade 1 Readers. We have continued to enjoy the program. I especially 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 are learning about various ancient and world cultures this year along with missionary stories from around the World and through history. We are reading some fun books including Little House on the Prairie, In Grandma's Attic, and Winnie the Pooh.
For handwriting we continued with Handwriting Without Tears "My Printing Book." We use this book on the days he doesn't have copywork. It is much the same as last year's material and provides an opportunity for him to be extra diligent with his handwriting. (I'm not quite as critical of his copywork as I am with his printing in this book.)
For science, I am loosely following Sonlight's Core A suggestions for topics. We did not purchase their curriculum, but I am checking out various books from the library that correspond with the topics Sonlight covers.
For math, we are still undecided. We purchased a curriculum at the beginning of the year but weren't pleased with it. So for now we are working out of several Kumon Workbooks. For now we are working out of Number Games 1-70, Telling Time, and Simple Addition. We have completed Simple Telling Time and hope to add in Simple Money. We also plan on starting with Math U See in January.
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 seems to be doing great with his school work. He is reading very well but doesn't feel super confident about it yet. He is starting to realize that he can read some of the words on the pages of the books I read to him. And he is starting to read on his own more voluntarily. Often, his reader is the first thing he wants to do in the day.
I've been really impressed with how quickly he picks up on his spelling words each week. I have also noticed a great improvement in his creative abilities this year. The free writing and imaginative assignments have been much easier for him to complete than they were last year. He is beginning to work with greater independence in certain subjects, which has been a great help to me in balancing my time with the other two children. I especially like "Explode the Code", his phonics workbook. It is a great compliment to his readers, copy work, and spelling words.
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| Working on one of his number books. |
Personal Reflection:
In a nutshell, that is our curriculum. Of course we learn about other topics as interest arises. We try to fit in plenty of play time as well. I haven't been as good about setting up Montessori type activities, but maybe we will do more of that sort of thing as winter approaches. It is hard to believe that we are already one third of the way through our school year.
Homeschooling is certainly a challenging endeavor. I often question if we are making all the "right" decisions for our children and if they are learning "enough" or if I'm doing "enough." But I just have to keep my eyes focused the path God has our little family on. Too much comparison to others can lead me in some pretty dark places. I have to trust that God paired me with these children for a reason, and that my strengths and weaknesses are perfectly matched to my children's needs. As one of my friends recently said regarding homeschooling and parenting, "I don't know how my children will turn out, but I know I'm being changed in the process."
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