For fun: List the TOP 3-5 things that worked well in your homeschool this year...

[HappyGrace]

It can be curricula, ideas, parenting solutions, ANYthing!

 

Here's mine (not in any order):

 

1. CNN Student News and God's World News-these both opened up the world to us through current events-we touched on topics that you just don't cover in other curricula, and it sent us on many great rabbit trails!

 

2. Farming out science for older dd to a co-op

 

3. My Levenger planner (4th year with it and still one of my faves!)-I can customize it any way I want it.

 

4. Doing my grocery shopping for two wks at a time rather than 1, and being really organized about what dinners we will eat on what days, even wrote on my to do list ahead of time what needs to be defrosted when to be ready in time for the meal-saved SO much time.

 

5. Cheerful Cursive-ds9 taught himself cursive with this, painlessly!

 

Looking forward to reading the responses!

[scrapbabe]

1. Online latin class for my oldest.

2. Having my son take classes at our local commonwealth once a week.

3. Signing the kids up for piano.

4. Moving the homeschool "room" out into our living areas (family room/dining room)

[Targhee]

1. daily checklists for everyone

 

2. having DS practice reading

 

3. PE co-op at YMCA

 

4. Singapore (DD loves math again!)

 

5. AAS for DS (for DD is was fun but she's still struggling with spelling)

[ekfk]

1. Spelling Workout helped a lot with spelling without frustration

2. Mr. Q's Free Life Science ebook

3. Math War - a fun way to practice addition and subtraction math facts

4. Brain Pop Jr. - A fun way to reinforce a lot of concepts

5. Good Times Travel Agency - a fun supplement to history

[Amy Jo]

1 - Having the younger 2 boys do dishes while I worked with the eldest (need to start this up again!)

2 - Putting our current read-alouds in the "Red Basket" (bonus - guess what color the basket is!). I wanted to linger over the books more, so we rotate which book we read from.

3 - Using the "Dictation Resource Book" (from Spelling Plus) as typed dictation.

[Alte Veste Academy]

1) instrument lessons

 

2) doing group work with all the kids in the morning and one-on-one with each in the afternoon

 

3) adding Beast Academy and starting MCTLA

 

4) adding conversational Spanish to our day

 

5) moving from AAS to Spelling Power

[Element]

This was our first year of homeschooling so I am kind of overwhelmed by the many wonderful things I have discovered in the past year.

 

1. The library. Our library is the bomb. :hurray: I cannot say enough wonderful things about it. Sure, I knew it was great before, but now that I'm looking for specific titles, I am amazed at how great it actually is.

 

2. Dry-erase everything. Whatever it is, put it in a sheet protector and it becomes a dry-erase whatever. Lists, worksheets, tally sheet for Scrabble... anything.

 

3. SOTW + AG. We don't do most of the activities, but I like the comprehension questions and the recommended reading lists are great.

 

4. Math. Singapore (w/HIG) + this board + xtramath + Maria Miller's videos + an arsenal of manipulatives = math success!

 

5. One thing that never really gets mentioned here that was recommended in TWTM is Discovering Great Artists. This has been a wonderful book. We supplement with an "artist notebook" and other sketching projects, but DGA is more or less our spine.

[Hockey Mom]

Probably the best thing I did this year is actually what I'm going to be doing for NEXT year.

 

I purchased half a dozen Bill Nye the Science Guy DVDs to add to our Science program for next year, and my boys have watched them all a few times each. They LOVE those DVDs!! I really did try to "keep" them for next year, but who can refuse a kid who is begging to watch something educational? LOL

[QuirkyKidAcademy]

1. Teaching Textbooks - I congratulate myself at least once a week on this choice!

 

2. Reading Eggspress

 

3. our mini-geography course

[Elfknitter.#]

We're about half way through our school year...

 

1. My iPad. While I have fun personal games and reads, I've also branched into vintage books for lessons and downloaded PDFs of curricula. Sometimes I have the monkeys fill in worksheets on it vs. printing out paper. Also, there's some great educational apps.

 

2.SOTW Lapbook. Without this, ds would never tolerate Listening to a chapter nor be interested in history.

 

3. Utilizing multiple curricula. Both dh and I work with the monkeys during a week. He's more workbooks, open and go while I don't mind teacher intensive planning. Since I'm the household bread winner while dh is a SAHD, I've discovered having two types of curricula for some subjects works well. The monkeys do workbookish things on the days I work (Spelling Workout, MCP Phonics for ds, handwriting for both, MM.) When I'm home or some evenings, we'll do things like MEP, LoF,Primary Math Challenge, PLL, ILL, MCTLA, HTTS, and some read alouds.)

[ALB]

- Doing FIAR with my ds, and not expecting him to "tag along" with SOTW

 

- Not changing math programs mid- year when I was frustrated

 

- Letting go of any schedule for our read alouds!

[Ohmomjacquie]

Fun thread!

1. Aas- my dd now knows how to segment words to spell them! She's writing letters tk friendss and family on her own with confidence in her spelling!

2. Starting a daily chore for the children. Just recently switched it sp they can pick 2 jobs eaçh day. Also made a plan to clean 1 room each day.

3. Having worksheets for each subject in folders each week.

[MissKNG]

1. Doing our core subjects at night when my small girl went to bed.

 

2. Making up weekly assignment packets for big girl to work on during the week.

 

3. Beast Academy (need I say more?!?:D)

 

4. Having a math/science focus for our home school. ( second to Bible, of course)

 

5. Magic School Bus, Magic Treehouse, Cyber Chase, Liberty's Kids

[HootyTooty]

1. Singapore for both kids.

2. Saxon Phonics for my K kid.

3. Checklists

4. Jump In for my gr 5 kid. A great gentle introduction to all forms of writing.

[Kelly1730]

1. Teaching Textbooks for the third year in a row!

 

2. Joining a twice a month co-op which the boys love

 

3. MFW for bible and history

[Karen in CO]

1. Moving my office to the family room and younger dd's desk next to mine. She keeps all of her books in her desk and chooses the order of her work.

2. Group Instrument lessons for older dd. Daily cello practice has been wonderful for her. It challenges her in a way that typical academics never have plus we all get to enjoy more music in the house.

3. Daily, required non-fiction reading for both girls. I've been using nmoira's list on library thing for older dd and a CLP Nature reader for younger.

[Five More Minutes]

1. Daily 1 hour of quiet time for everyone in the house.

2. Singapore Math and Miquon Math

3. Reading, reading, reading

[Hedgehogs4]

1. Tapestry of Grace as our curriculum.

2. fun field trips

3. WWE, as always.

 

I could list so many things. There is hardly anything that did not work. It was a great year.

[1pageatatime]

A Reason For Handwriting-My "all boy" really polished up his penmanship.

 

The Read-Aloud Handbook-LOVE Jim Trelease's wisdom!

 

Ditching SL's reading schedule, allowing ds to 1) read one complete book at a time 2) camp out, reading extra books I wanted to add or replace.

 

Adopting the SIMPLEST planner-a wide ruled, spiral notebook where I wrote daily plans "list-style." No more cramming my plans into litte boxes.:D Lots of room for extra notes, reminders,etc..

 

Math Relief (Keyboarding Enterprise) Algebra.

[musicmommy]

What a fun thread!

 

Here's 3 for me:

1. Setting up a workout schedule and following through. I lost 50 pounds over the past year. It's given me more energy and raised my spirits.

 

2. Formalizing a "mission statement" for a school. If something doesn't support that mission statement, we're ok with not doing it.

 

3. Getting a Keurig with a reusable filter. So easy to make a cup of coffee when I need one and no wasting a half a pot. Plus, the boys know how to make me coffee and occasionally will surprise me with a cup when I'm getting a little edgy. :D

[1pageatatime]

What a fun thread!

 

Here's 3 for me:

1. Setting up a workout schedule and following through. I lost 50 pounds over the past year. It's given me more energy and raised my spirits.

 

2. Formalizing a "mission statement" for a school. If something doesn't support that mission statement, we're ok with not doing it.

 

3. Getting a Keurig with a reusable filter. So easy to make a cup of coffee when I need one and no wasting a half a pot. Plus, the boys know how to make me coffee and occasionally will surprise me with a cup when I'm getting a little edgy. :D

 

 

Congratulations on your weight loss!:001_smile:

[...................]

1. Doing my grocery shopping on SATURDAYS (usually alone) instead of Fridays with the kids, fitting it into our errand/visiting day.

 

2. Working alongside my distractible, busy, Sociable Sue

 

3. Having clear rules for personal boundaries.

 

4. So far, we just started our school year but the Timberdoodle Core packages are working out awesome. I tweaked them of course based on the desire to combine, and switched out the maths.

 

5. in Saxon math- Doing every other problem, plus specifically assigned extras in Saxon math. If I am INVOLVED with checking his work, and assinging extra problems, I can tell what kind of problems he needs to practice, and what kinds he can skip. So many problems are so so so so so easy for him that it's ridiculous to make him do all 30 plus the ten LP problems every day.

Edited June 6, 2012 by Calming Tea

[Aurelia]

1. cursive handwriting from Teach Me Joy

2. AAS

3. unchaining literature from history

4. reading aloud more (a lot more!)

[SnMomof7]

All About Spelling

What's in the Bible DVDs

Finally getting a dishwasher (just this week!!)

Moving to a house with grid-based utilities (praise God for this - it sucked up so much time AND money living off grid)

Little Bee Articulation app for my 6-yo with artic delays

[3littlemonkeys]

deleted, sorry :glare:

Edited June 8, 2012 by 3littlemonkeys
oops

[shell0830]

One of my fave things I implemented this year was to create a "warm up" time each day. During this time, my 3rd grader free-wrote or wrote to a prompt in her journal, both my K and 3rd played with learning centers or games, or chose a worksheet with cut/paste, maze, crossword, etc. It was a huge hit. My 3rd grader's writing sky rocketed and they were always more ready for their day.

 

Also

-Reading Eggs

-unit studies were a huge hit

-Writing Tales and MBtP lit units

[MinivanMom]

1. Singapore Math

2. Planning 2 weeks in advance, instead of just one.

3. Making Fridays a lighter schoolwork day.

4. Having dh take the big kids to the library on Saturdays, instead of trying to take everyone by myself during the week.

[Beth in SW WA]

1. Daily checklists to stay on task

2. Outsourced science

3. Online math (Cybershala)

4. Casual yet structured approach on my part

5. Ds driving! (more time for me at home)

[hmschooling]

1. Dropping the school room and using living areas with a couple of those 9cube cubby shelves.

 

2. We Choose Virtues parenting cards, poster, and having the flascards or clue cards handy in my purse at all times.

 

3. Math Mammoth

 

4. Heart of Dakota

 

5. R&S English mosyly orally and never skipping the oral review in the TM

[Zoo Keeper]

1. letting Jim Weiss read SOTW 3 to the older boys; this gave me more time to do work with the younger ones,

 

2. R&S spelling for the older two went very well,

 

3. CLE Learning to Read was exactly what boy #3 needed; wish I'd started him with it sooner...

 

4. letting one of my boys take 3 weeks of doing every single problem in his Singapore books with c-rods. Long division was s l o w and painful for him...but thanks to c-rods, he has it down.

 

5. combining LfC with GSwL (please don't pm me and ask for a schedule...we don't have one...:lol:)

[my2boysteacher]

1. History classes from 'The Great Courses'.

2. Super Charged science kit on electricity and robotics.

3. My iPod, which we always take in the car to listen to MOH or Famous Men of Egypt or Rome stories, Latin vocab, Greek alphabet, etc.

4. Computer Programming classes with daddy.

[SorrelZG]

1. Ensuring character training stays primary

2. Latin Memory Songs ... music is the ticket for us

3. Dropping typical formal math curricula and picking up Life of Fred for my first born

4. Sticking to a focused and simple morning schedule of Bible, Latin, Math, Writing, Spanish and then reading for literature and content.

5. De-cluttering my house and fine tuning my cleaning "schedule" (and my own personal discipline to "git 'r done").

[smgwynn]

At the start of the year the Lord told me to 'structure my homeschool for peace'.

Forme, that meant:

 

1. I stopped running around to all the various prayer meetings, women's morning bible studies and other things I was doing. I focused all that saved time on meaningful devotion time with my kids.

 

2. TOG - 1 history curriculum for all the kids!

 

3. Once a week co-op- our co-op is fabulous. They provide all those wonderful enrichment activities that I would never be able to provide for 5 children...literature discussions, writing classes, science labs, art classes, even kinder music for the littles. Not to mention the love and support that I'm able to give and receive. Can you tell I love my co-op:001_smile:

[Zoo Keeper]

HappyGrace,

 

Which Levenger planner do you use? I'm intrigued...

 

 

Link please? :001_smile:

[redsquirrel]

Top three things?

 

1. WWS1. This has been one of the best, hardest things we have done.

 

2. CPO Science. My elder son really enjoyed a formal science program

 

3. Starting ds2 in WWE1 in his first year. I was going to hold off a year, but decided to try it in first grade. He did great and was very proud of his copywork.

[HappyGrace]

HappyGrace,

 

Which Levenger planner do you use? I'm intrigued...

 

 

Link please? :001_smile:

 

LOVE my Levenger! (swoon:))

 

It is the Levenger Circa. I have the bookcloth one shown if you scroll down:

http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/NAVIGATION/Products.asp?Params=category=326|level=2|pageid=1749

 

I highly, highly recommend getting the starter kit linked below. It is $40 but comes with a BUNCH of stuff AND a $40 gift card to buy what you want after that, so it is like getting the starter kit for FREE!

 

http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=326-339|Level=2-3|PageID=5961

 

If you end up loving it, DEFINITELY get the hole puncher so you can punch your own paper to fit into the Levenger (their paper is $$). I just use regular copy paper that I print up my own customized Excel schedule on, and then punch it with my Levenger hole punch. (I have the heavy duty one but I've heard the cheaper one works fine.)

 

It's like having a three-ring binder that you can take things out and move them around, but better because you can customize it and also fold it over like a spiral notebook for ease of writing.

[ErinD]

1. Teaching Textbooks - love, love, love it. More importantly so do my kids.

2. Discovering Man Vs. Wild on Netflix.

3. Bringing back "Family Game Night".

[ScoutTN]

1. One on one time with DS each morning.

 

2. SOTW - both have loved the stories, the library books, the projects.

 

3. Being very flexible on schedule for history and science. Some weeks we do lots and other weeks we do less or little at all. We all have more fun and enjoy it more when I don't have a fixed schedule in my mind, pressuring me to "get things done" even when they are really too tired or distracted to accomplish anything. We are still working on this years' history and science and will likely only finish just as the next school year begins. But slowing down and adapting our schoolwork to the schedule of seasonal activities has given us time to follow rabbit trails, spend big blocks of time on one or two things and do more hands-on things in addition to bookish things.

[LivingHope]

1. I am using my proclick to make notebooks for most subjects now (especially since I purchased a lot of spines for cheap recently). I paper clip a laminated number to each notebook, and as the children progress through their work, they stick that number onto another laminated chart taped to their personal bin...workboxes modified.

 

2. I paid $50 for the Classical Writing Aesop and Homer in a Month Tutorials and can finally add this to our routine. I really understand the CW process and diagramming much better since watching the six hours of instruction. I am excited now.

 

3. I use early Saturday mornings to plan the upcoming week, check out library books, meal plan, etc....to minimize on the spot decision making.

 

4. I am reading aloud everyday from vintage children's anthologies...My Book House, The Children's Hour, Through Golden Windows, Etc.

 

5. I am reading poetry aloud EVERY day

[Year Round Mom]

1. Filing system: I did all my printing, copying, cutting at the beginning of the year, for the whole year. So easy to have everything in the day's file!

 

2. VP Bible/History and God's Design series (science): First year I got through these subjects!

 

3. Resisted the urge to buy a new phonics curriculum for DD1. Instead I used my trusty Phonics Pathways, but slowed things way down by making flashcards and having DD do copywork. DS could do one page a day when he was going through it; DD does 1/4 a page. But she's learning how to read and I didn't have to shell out more cash! Woo-hoo!

[Alice]

1. Every other week cleaners

2. Weekly co-op

3. MCT

4. Being more relaxed about everything, including just reading through SOTW together.

5. Giving ds a weekly checklist and letting him choose how much to do when.

[Zoo Keeper]

LOVE my Levenger! (swoon:))

 

It is the Levenger Circa. I have the bookcloth one shown if you scroll down:

http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/NAVIGATION/Products.asp?Params=category=326|level=2|pageid=1749

 

I highly, highly recommend getting the starter kit linked below. It is $40 but comes with a BUNCH of stuff AND a $40 gift card to buy what you want after that, so it is like getting the starter kit for FREE!

 

http://www.levenger.com/PAGETEMPLATES/PRODUCT/Product.asp?Params=Category=326-339|Level=2-3|PageID=5961

 

If you end up loving it, DEFINITELY get the hole puncher so you can punch your own paper to fit into the Levenger (their paper is $$). I just use regular copy paper that I print up my own customized Excel schedule on, and then punch it with my Levenger hole punch. (I have the heavy duty one but I've heard the cheaper one works fine.)

 

It's like having a three-ring binder that you can take things out and move them around, but better because you can customize it and also fold it over like a spiral notebook for ease of writing.

 

 

Ohhh, that is lovely. Very, very, lovely. I am a paper planner type, so that would be right up my alley. Maybe that stater kit could show up on my birthday/Christmas list.

 

I have a three ring binder that holds all of my various papers about the current year's schoolish thoughts and ideas for upcoming projects/books/etc. It is overflowing and held together with duct tape. One of my boys calls it "Mom's brain". I think my brain needs an upgrade...:001_smile:

[HappyGrace]

I think my brain needs an upgrade...:001_smile:

 

DEFINITELY!!! You will love it so much-I still get a thrill out of it all these years later. :001_wub:

[LittleIzumi]

1. Adderall for my ADD girl. We got more done in that last month of the school year than in... a LONG time. *insert hallelujiah chorus here* It's been an amazing help, and she's still *her*--but now she can pay attention long enough to understand and do and finish. She's been on a huge art & writing & science kick in her spare time now that she can think.

 

2. MEP, esp for The Drama. It's given her very strong number sense and understanding.

 

3. Miquon for The Sponge. She really "gets" the concepts quickly with it.

 

4. AAS! You can tell what we've learned by what words she spells correctly in her everyday writing.

 

5. Quiet time before lunch, and not pushing skills work after lunch. Aaaaaaah.

[serendipitous journey]

oooh, the Levenger planner seems so nice. I {heart} paper!

 

1. The Modern Speller. No more spelling meltdowns!

2. Signing up with a charter school. I am so fortunate, it is truly minimal oversight and we get money for supplies. On the down side, they won't buy "equipment" so a really good pair of binoculars -- the main reason I signed up! -- was moot. On the up side, our contact person is lovely and the extra bit of accountability keeps me motivated.

3. We Charlotte-Masoned our school. It is still WTM-ish at core, but with heaps of mandatory outside time, CM readings, poetry, &c. Am in process of getting a full HUFI/AO/Milestones (mainly HUFI) going for next year, with history from MontessoriRD to replace CHOW, math as suits, WWE, &c ...

4. Focusing on one challenge at a time. For a while it was long division and also just writing things down at all, so handwriting suffered. Now it is handwriting so math is holding evenish ... this lets me use my small amount of good one-on-one time to nice effect, and is preventing burnout.

[blessed2five]

At the start of the year the Lord told me to 'structure my homeschool for peace'.

Forme, that meant:

 

1. I stopped running around to all the various prayer meetings, women's morning bible studies and other things I was doing. I focused all that saved time on meaningful devotion time with my kids.

 

2. TOG - 1 history curriculum for all the kids!

 

3. Once a week co-op- our co-op is fabulous. They provide all those wonderful enrichment activities that I would never be able to provide for 5 children...literature discussions, writing classes, science labs, art classes, even kinder music for the littles. Not to mention the love and support that I'm able to give and receive. Can you tell I love my co-op:001_smile:

 

Amen to #1!! This was one of my biggest problems. I really wanted to be at these things, but God reminded me my children are my most important ministry at this season of my life!

 

My Top 5:

 

1. HOD

2. Having my 3 and 4 year old dc attend preschool 2-4 half days per week.

3. Outsourcing my ds math!! No more Algebra wars!!

4. Realizing and accepting my children aren't academic geniuses.

5. Joining a science co-op..a lot of work, but a lot of fun for the kids!

[kandty]

Thank you for this thread! It is great to see what works great for others. Our homschool has been going down hill for a few years. I have some how sucked the joy of learning out of my boys (and myself). When I first saw this thread I couldn't come up with anything, but I felt encourage with all the responses. Trying really hard to be positive and came up with two things.

 

1. Spelling Power! Been looking for over a year for the right spelling program for my oldest and we finally found it.

 

2. Rightstart math (I think) is the math program I decided on after I realized (way too late for my oldest) that our current program was the wrong fit. We just started it for a few weeks before we stopped school and we are looking forward to this. I now have a a game plan for math until high school.

[serendipitous journey]

Thank you for this thread! It is great to see what works great for others. Our homschool has been going down hill for a few years. I have some how sucked the joy of learning out of my boys (and myself). When I first saw this thread I couldn't come up with anything, but I felt encourage with all the responses. Trying really hard to be positive and came up with two things.

 

1. Spelling Power! Been looking for over a year for the right spelling program for my oldest and we finally found it.

 

2. Rightstart math (I think) is the math program I decided on after I realized (way too late for my oldest) that our current program was the wrong fit. We just started it for a few weeks before we stopped school and we are looking forward to this. I now have a a game plan for math until high school.

 

:grouphug: and thank you for adding your Good Things! This has been a hard year for us: 1st grade kicks, well, you know :D. If the previous seven years hadn't been harder I don't know how I'd have felt! I am so grateful for the thread, last month I think, about bringing peace and joy to homeschool that prompted me to make a few changes that seem to have helped ... this homeschool is a lot of hard work, and it's not always clear what we should be doing or changing. More :grouphug: ...

[Mommyfaithe]

1. No screens until after dinner.

 

2. Less outside activity (I fired all of my friends except my 2 closest and pulled everyone off swim team.)

 

3. Having all school work ready and in folders with checklists for each day by Sunday night. No folders...no checklists...no school. That is just how it worked this year.

[Ummto4]

1. Go back to FIAR products for content subjects for both kids. Then enrich the framework w/ materials already in my home and in the internet.

This makes our day much more fun. Kids are happy and enjoy the lessons. They also retain (a biggie !)and understand the materials. I manage to work on children's skills (research, making list, summarizing, etc) via FIAR and they're happy to do it.

 

2. Unplanned delight-directed social studies/science. I never plan this. Whenever this occurs, I promptly get to the internet and we search on that particular topics together. We also look at the books in our shelves and most of the time, we can get the information we're looking for. I don't make any unit studies out of my children's curiosity (unless it persists, then I'll think about that) - we just read whatever we can find and sometimes stretches that topics for 2-3 days, even when we're 'supposed to do FIAR' (in this case, I put FIAR on hold for 2-3 days). That's it. It invigorates our homeschool and fosters love of learning and curiosity.

 

3. Not planning ..:). Well almost ! Our curricula (LA, math, foreign language) are do the next thing kind of things; I just need to keep up w/ the printing (math mammoth, L'art de Lire, KISS grammar, and ILL).

 

For FIAR (beyond and FIAR ), I ask both kids what they'd like to do for the next two weeks, and then plan. My planning is simple - I just put different colors of stickies on the manual, write in the manuals what kind of lesson I want my kids to do (e.g. make a diagram of this process, summarize, list of facts, search the answer for this question, draw a map, etc) and pull appropriate books/encyclopedias from my shelves (no trip to the library - it's too exhausting for me to plan, put the go-along books on hold, pick the books up, make a back-up plan just in case the books don't arrive, etc).

 

Also, since #1&2 are bigger, they don't need templates anymore, so I don't print much for their content notebooks. I let them decorate and make flip books, etc themselves if they want to.

 

That's it. Simple, fun, effective (for our household, that is).