The short story: We have had a wonderful week of school. The kids are all eager to learn (yes, I am wondering where my children from last year went...Hmmmm:) We have developed a schedule (now just to stick with it!). We also had dentist appointments this week (no cavities!!) and eye appointments (no glasses either...yay!!!)
The LOOOOONG story:)
This year we started a high schooler, middle schooler, and 3 kindergartners. I fretted a lot this summer and talked over my plan with friends as I was so nervous about starting the 3 little ones when they have such varying skill levels. I think we have a plan and, just for fun, I thought I'd share our curriculum and plan with you! (of course, if you don't want to read you don't have to;)
Beautiful: She is a Freshman! First, I am having to get over the shock of her being so old already (meaning that I am getting old!!) We are working on her being more independent in her coursework and she is really rising to the occasion. I have informed her what she needs to have done between 9 a.m. and 12 p.m. (and what the consequence would be for not finishing;)
Buddy: He is a 6th grader. We are working on some specific skills with him that I will discuss below.
Superman: Kindergarten! He has made huge strides over the summer in learning and we have decided to not have him attend any classes at the public school. We will trust our understanding of his issues based on the testing we have had done (I did learning disability testing in graduate school and worked on IEP's with high schoolers) and focus on attachment issues and the things I am learning from the TCU training. We will reassess at the end of the year where his needs are. For now, he finally knows his alphabet (if he doesn't know the name of the letter he does know the sound) and is even reading short vowel 3 letter words!!!
Grace: Spitfire that she is she LOVES to sit down and work on school. She asked all summer "when can we do school mom!?" She is very artsy and loves to sit and create. She is developing about where I would expect...given that she doesn't attend to one thing very long lol!
Faith: She is doing great. Loves kindergarten. She was reading at age 4 and is very bright.
Coursework:
Apologetics (all 5 kids in school) - most important class! We are doing Creation or Evolution by Mike Snavely. We also bought the DVD's that go with it as they were highly recommended by friends and we look forward to what we will learn this year:)
Devotions (all 5 kids) - Character Building For Families vol 1 and 2 by Lee Ann Rubsam. We believe that home school has as much or more to do with teaching character development as academics.
Math U See (all 5 kids) - obviously they are at different levels but we have LOVED Math U See! It is great to have the DVD teach the lesson and then the kids work in the workbook until the skill is mastered. No endless workbook pages "just because." Once it is learned, move on to the next lesson.
English: Obviously with the little ones I am doing phonics. I have/will continue to use the computer program for "How to Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons." However, with some learning issues present we are also using Dianne Craft's material for teaching spelling/reading to the right brained learner. This is going well.
For Buddy I started using Shurley English. I had a friend recommend it to me 2 years ago. I decided against it last year as I was intimidated by the book. This year I bit the bullet and just decided to start it as opposed to using Bob Jones English as I have done for the past 5 years. Let me tell you just how sad that I am that I did not start to use this curriculum earlier!!!! It is wonderful! It explains things SOO much better! It is much more user friendly that I had thought (now that I am actually diving into the lessons). I will certainly start the little ones in this curriculum next year!
Beautiful has the fun experience of taking 2 English classes this year!! She is doing the Queen Secondary English program for her grammar needs. I am so excited about Home Scholar books. The author of this curriculum uses a popular book series like the Little House in the Prairie books (we are using the Lord of the Rings curriculum) to teach literary skills. Beautiful has to read a chapter, answer workbook pages on content of what she read, learn 10 "old English" vocabulary words from each chapter, and answer comprehension questions. There are sections learning about J.R.R. Tolkien, all kinds of literary terms, and some excerpts from Beowolf and other "old" stories and poems. The best part is that she gets to learn all of these important things while reading books she actually likes!
Spelling: For Beautiful we used several curriculums and settled on Sequential Spelling. For Buddy we have tried lots of options. Right now we are using Andrew Pudewa's Spelling Zoo combined with Dianne Craft's tips to improve spelling by focusing on the visual part of it (you know, trying to learn to spell based on "rules" doesn't work well in the English language lol!). So when there is a word he struggles with we turn the word into a picture somehow to help him "see" it when he is trying to spell it. He also does the "phonics tutor" on CD-ROM.
Spanish: Rosetta Stone - the newest version is a great improvement over the older one!!!!
For Science we are using the Answers in Genesis recommended "God's Design for Science." This year we are doing Biology, last year we did Chemistry (that was tough I'll tell you!!) I love, love, love this curriculum! I also really love the elementary versions of Apologia and we have used 4 of them in the past.
For History we love the approach by My Father's World. We are studying ancient history this year - from Creation until the time of the Greeks. When we started home schooling we used all My Father's World and then adapted based on each child's needs - that is part of the beauty of home schooling!!!
For Art we are in a home school co-op. I really, really, (REALLY) am not artsy so this is so great for our kids!
Beautiful will be on a home school Basketball league this year for PE. Otherwise she helps to teach a PE class for younger kids in our co-op.
We are also learning Greek/Latin root words - very helpful for vocabulary in the English language!
Reading - I require that the kids read age appropriate books daily but let them choose what they are interested in from the hundreds of books on our bookshelves.
We like Quarter Mile Math on the computer to solidify math skills in a fun way:)
I think that covers it. I may be forgetting something.
Structure:
We start the day with Dianne Craft's Brain Integration training. Her book is filled with exercises to help people "cross the midline" and have information become what she calls "unblocked." I have several of her DVD's and CD's (including 1 on biological needs (such as supplements) for kids who struggle with learning) and have gone to 6 of her seminars. The information/exercises that she talks about is also discussed in the TCU training that I am taking on helping kids with attachment/fear issues. I have seen significant improvement in my kids who participate in this.
In the morning I have the big kids work at their pace from 9 - 12 in self-study. I am available if they need help with anything like correcting a lesson or giving a spelling test. However, by this stage they are mostly self-studying. I have the little ones do 30 minute "stations" during this time. Superman and Faith each have 2 30 minutes stations during this time to play with Jonathan since he is absolutely and totally unwilling to ever be alone (in fact, he is on my lap right now!) Superman and Faith LOVE to have this time alone with their brother. Where is Grace you ask? She is kept at the table with me and the older kids doing art projects, practicing her reading, numbers, etc. I keep her in my sights at all times lol! When Superman or Faith are not with Jonathan they are engaged in other quiet activities that they enjoy but are "learning" tasks. I keep the 3 in separate rooms all morning and, wow, it sure is quieter and no one is hurting anyone else lol! Seriously though, they do have trouble occupying themselves since they are used to our "little CEO" constantly telling them what to do and them always needing to be on guard for her. This time allows them to have the freedom to look through books or whatever they choose and have self-directed time.
Once the big kids finish their subjects we all do science and history together. (we do eat in here... I promise!!) Then it is time for kindergarten. I am using the word lists and concepts from the Dianne Craft right brain learner book to teach letter identification, letter sounds, and reading. I am using My Father's World with the rest of what I am teaching them. Since MFW is not "workbook" heavy I also am using the Answers in Genesis Preschool curriculum workbooks to solidify concepts as a review (and some new material) from what I taught them in preschool last year. I find that with 3 of them I have to find something for 2 to do while I do 1:1 work with another one. They LOVE the workbooks - go figure:)
I'm sure I have forgotten something. I hope that if you are considering home school you have been encouraged about how many options there are and how it is very doable...even with several kids! If you are a home school parent and have any suggestions for me, please let me know!! If you have read this far...wow!!!
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