Anything changing at your house for the new year??

[Nakia]

We are only making a few changes, but they're kind of big ones, at least to me.

 

I'm switching my middle dd to Teaching Textbooks. I've got to get myself out of the picture (mostly) with her and math. It's just not going well. She struggles with math so much, and honestly, I don't know how to teach her a subject that comes so easily to me. Sad, but true. We need a little break (may turn in to a long term break).

 

I'm going to start Math Mammoth with my youngest. She's bored silly with R&S math.

 

We're going on with WWS2 with my oldest. She finished WWS1 a couple of months ago, and she's been working through The Creative Writer. I've got the first...I don't know...8-9 weeks of the beta testing for WWS2 in my inbox. She's actually looking forward to that.

 

Also my oldest decided she wants to go ahead and do the dissections in BJU Life Science. She had been adamantly against dissections, so now I need to order the dissection kit. Daddy will be doing those with her. EWWWW!

 

The biggest change is that we are going to add more FUN! We've gotten away from field trips over the last two years because everything has been so darn stressful. I'm also going to make it a point to have a music and art afternoon every week. We used to do this, and the girls loved it. We've got to get back in to that.

 

How about you all? :D

[texasmama]

Adding WWS1 for my oldest. Also adding English from the Roots Up for all three.

[mama25angels]

We are only making a few changes, but they're kind of big ones, at least to me.

 

I'm switching my middle dd to Teaching Textbooks. I've got to get myself out of the picture (mostly) with her and math. It's just not going well. She struggles with math so much, and honestly, I don't know how to teach her a subject that comes so easily to me. Sad, but true. We need a little break (may turn in to a long term break).

 

I'm going to start Math Mammoth with my youngest. She's bored silly with R&S math.

 

We're going on with WWS2 with my oldest. She finished WWS1 a couple of months ago, and she's been working through The Creative Writer. I've got the first...I don't know...8-9 weeks of the beta testing for WWS2 in my inbox. She's actually looking forward to that.

 

Also my oldest decided she wants to go ahead and do the dissections in BJU Life Science. She had been adamantly against dissections, so now I need to order the dissection kit. Daddy will be doing those with her. EWWWW!

 

The biggest change is that we are going to add more FUN! We've gotten away from field trips over the last two years because everything has been so darn stressful. I'm also going to make it a point to have a music and art afternoon every week. We used to do this, and the girls loved it. We've got to get back in to that.

 

How about you all? :D

 

 

Yes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Changing my attitude, CC(at home), going back to LCC using the guidelines from the book, doing lesson plans and getting copies made, actually getting supplies for our science experiments so that we can do them.

[blondeviolin]

The big change here is that the assigned reading list/options changed. Previously, it was her reading whichever chapter book I had picked up. She was getting quality literature for sure. BUT, I recently looked through WTM about which reading books are recommended for ancients and ordered the bulk of them. She should move through those quickly.

 

We might add in Home Art Studio...or we might save it for the start of the year in August. I haven't decided yet.

[stm4him]

We are making a lot of changes in our Language Arts area and we are scheduling Enrichment activities one subject per day (like LCC recommends), which will probably be on a loop schedule. We are going to do one timeline card per day (read the back and discuss/notebook, etc.) instead of two. We are going to adjust how we are doing memory work (AGAIN) but I don't have all of that worked out yet. We are going to try to either drastically shorten phonics/spelling time per kiddo or do several of them together using either Yes Phonics or my own variation of it. We are going to do grammar together with my oldest two in an light, do it on the whiteboard type manner. We are cutting out literature guides and doing short comprehension lessons as a group, written (or oral) narrations relating to literature terms they are learning from Teaching the Classics (as they finish a book, not per chapter), and short comprehension tests daily. They will have reading time with a book basket as well, though I may dictate how many minutes per topic or type of book (fiction vs. nonfiction). I still have to work that out and type up some book lists.

 

That's it in a nutshell. The curriculum changes aren't that drastic (except for phonics/spelling) but it is just a matter of trying to take less time and working together more to cut my teaching time down. Math, Logic, and Languages (Latin and Greek) will stay the same and our materials for the enrichment subjects are the same except for different living books. We are also changing Classically Cursive for Pre-Scripts Words book when it comes out in January (I think!). By that time my second one should be done with cursive instruction and ready to begin copywork. It has art lessons in there too, which will make me feel better :-)

[mama25angels]

We are making a lot of changes in our Language Arts area and we are scheduling Enrichment activities one subject per day (like LCC recommends), which will probably be on a loop schedule. We are going to do one timeline card per day (read the back and discuss/notebook, etc.) instead of two. We are going to adjust how we are doing memory work (AGAIN) but I don't have all of that worked out yet. We are going to try to either drastically shorten phonics/spelling time per kiddo or do several of them together using either Yes Phonics or my own variation of it. We are going to do grammar together with my oldest two in an light, do it on the whiteboard type manner. We are cutting out literature guides and doing short comprehension lessons as a group, written (or oral) narrations relating to literature terms they are learning from Teaching the Classics (as they finish a book, not per chapter), and short comprehension tests daily. They will have reading time with a book basket as well, though I may dictate how many minutes per topic or type of book (fiction vs. nonfiction). I still have to work that out and type up some book lists.

 

That's it in a nutshell. The curriculum changes aren't that drastic (except for phonics/spelling) but it is just a matter of trying to take less time and working together more to cut my teaching time down. Math, Logic, and Languages (Latin and Greek) will stay the same and our materials for the enrichment subjects are the same except for different living books. We are also changing Classically Cursive for Pre-Scripts Words book when it comes out in January (I think!). By that time my second one should be done with cursive instruction and ready to begin copywork. It has art lessons in there too, which will make me feel better :-)

 

 

What grammar are you using? I've been following your posts and gleaning alot from them.

[StartingOver]

II am ordering MCT and Life of Fred, we will just be adding them in though.

[NicoleMarie]

A whole lot is changing for us.

 

I am home full time now. DH and I worked opposite shifts so we could home school our dd11, but that wasn't working out for a lot of reasons so I resigned from my job in early December. Her math curriculum will stay the same, but I am tweaking a few other areas. Also, her schedule will be more structured. When I worked, I had her use an online program- Acellus. It was an ok suppliment, but I don't reccomend it be used as a core curriculum. I was initially scared she was behind, but her unit 3 assignment just before winter break gave me comfort. She wrote a 3 page "research paper" on pollution in Texas in addition to a 2 page outline.

 

The bolded items are things we are keeping the same from last year. So far, things look like this:

 

Bible: Narrated Bible Reading Plan

Math: Continue Saxon Math 6/7

ELA: Houghton Mifflin 8th grade English

Science: Apologia General Science & outlining KF Encyclopedia of Natural Science

Literature: Literature connected with SOTW 1 using House of Classical Learning Outline

History: SOTW 1 and outlining with KF (I realize she should be in SOTW 2, but prior to this year I was following state curriculum guidelines which has students jumping all over the place. She was having a hard time relating it so I decided to start at the beginning of history. Hopefully she will be done with all 4 volumes by 8th grade. If not, we will keep going until she's done.)

Typing: TypingWeb.com

Logic: Mind Benders B1

 

Our schedule is still year-round with a long winter break. We live in AZ so we usually have a short summer break. It's too hot to go out.

[MinivanMom]

We are only making minor changing. I'm adjusting our schedule slightly to accomodate the changing needs and schedule of the baby. I'm also working hard to eliminate duplicates in our schedule. There is no need for me to design my own artist study when we get art history through Artistic Pursuits. There is no need to use multiple math programs. I'm trying to simplify by using just one well-chosen, rigorous curriculum for each subject area.

[Chrysalis Academy]

We are starting Story of Science/Aristotle leads the way, which we are both excited about. We'll do that 3 days a week, while continuing with entomology & equine science the other two days. DD will be starting horseback riding lessons, which she is over the moon about.

 

I've also gotten a bunch of the Chicago Review Press books, ". . . for kids" - so far we have American Folk Art for Kids, Lewis & Clark for Kids, Mark Twain for Kids. I'm still deciding how to incorporate them, but I think we'll read them together and I'll provide the materials for her to do whichever projects interest her. She has been asking for more hands-on stuff, and these books appeal to both of us.

 

It's part of the "relaxed homeschooling" thing I've been working on this year - providing depth & enrichment in interesting subjects, and being willing to stop and park on something for awhile, rather than being married to the schedule and rushing along to finish by some arbitrary deadline. I feel like I'm striking a good balance between must-dos/skill areas, and being very flexible about dropping or changing my ideas about "the next thing" in lit, science, and history, based on what sparks dd's passion & engagement. So, trying to stay that course . . .

[serendipitous journey]

I haven't read through the other posts yet -- am really looking forward to going over them this afternoon, and learning from y'all! -- but I wanted to give a shout-out to the getting organized thread and the book Switch. On the advice of the book, I noticed what was going well and started copying it -- so far, so good! It turns out that Button does very very well with open-and-go type, very direct-instruction work (Winning with Writing, WWE, Evan Moor Spelling, ZB Handwriting, progressive recorder book, SOTW, ...). I applied it to our stickiest subject, math: Button is quite accelerated in math and I've been driving myself crazy keeping him challenged but not frustrated.

 

I realized he doesn't actually NEED to be really challenged, the way he used to. So we're just plugging away with our current Singapore, which is a bit below what he _could_ do, but writing neatly and not making careless errors is challenging enough that he isn't bored; and so far, so good. :) Will be applying this info. to our science and art, using RSO & Elemental Science and Harmony Fine Arts...

[lea1]

We are getting ready to start 2nd grade. For most things we are just moving up a level. Our biggest change is that we are adding Prima Latina. Since I have never had Latin (although I have had Spanish and French), nor have I taught a language to children, I purchased the DVD which makes me feel less anxious about it. My biggest concern/challenge is going to be just fitting it all in. I think I am going to have to start using a timer so we can get everything done in a decent amount of time.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

I haven't read through the other posts yet -- am really looking forward to going over them this afternoon, and learning from y'all! -- but I wanted to give a shout-out to the getting organized thread and the book Switch. On the advice of the book, I noticed what was going well and started copying it -- so far, so good! It turns out that Button does very very well with open-and-go type, very direct-instruction work (Winning with Writing, Evan Moor Spelling, ZB Handwriting, progressive recorder book, SOTW, ...). I applied it to our stickiest subject, math: Button is quite accelerated in math and I've been driving myself crazy keeping him challenged but not frustrated.

 

I realized he doesn't actually NEED to be really challenged, the way he used to. So we're just plugging away with our current Singapore, which is a bit below what he _could_ do, but writing neatly and not making careless errors is challenging enough that he isn't bored; and so far, so good. :) Will be applying this info. to our science and art, using RSO & Elemental Science and Harmony Fine Arts...

 

Thank you so much for showing how you are applying Switch to your homeschooling. I am currently reading the chapter about finding bright spots, so your post is timely. Thanks again!

[Farrar]

We're going to start using a timer on math. I think it's just too nebulous for them how long it's going to take. I think it'll work better this way.

 

Also, I'm thinking of putting out morning assignments for before I get up. Something small every day - a logic page, an art "challenge", a math drill... I think that may help us get the school day moving.

[Woodland Mist Academy]

We'll be using Quizlet more. It's transformed memory work from a somewhat dreaded task to a near addiction. Never before have I had to start making threats if she didn't put her memory work away RIGHT NOW. :banghead:

 

Yes, I did feel silly once I had composed myself. :chillpill:

 

Poor kid. ;)

[Mammy5]

I use a timer with my 2 oldest and it works well Lea.

 

I am making some big changes. I had started MP reading with my 2 ds and am now making a total change after vacation to MP with them, the package. I am happy with the approach.

 

Have a good new year.

[LMV]

We're adding another student :thumbup1:

 

Our eight year old foster daughter will be primarily home educated along with a few learning blocks at a local charter school. This school just went to a full block system this fall so they are still working out some kinks as well. Wish us luck!

[Esse Quam Videri]

We are doing major overhaul, mostly with scheduling. We're going to try out a block type schedule, with grammar/writing/spelling/reading/latin twice a week and math/history/science twice a week. Fridays will be for French, art, music, and logic, or co-op/field-trips.

 

We are also dropping VP from our history and adding Biblioplan. VP is just so so dry to my kids. They are not worksheet lovers, though they do take the SOTW tests.

 

Also, we are dropping (and selling) AAR Pre-1 for dd4, and sticking with The Reading Lesson. She is sounding things out well and moving along, and I think AAS will work out any lacking phonics instruction.

 

And I agree, the biggest change will hopefully be attitude. I want my kids to really enjoy their schooling (and each other :-/).

[amyrobynne]

I'm going to add FLL3 for my 3rd grader. He did plenty of grammar at his private school last year so I figured he could take the fall semester off. My other motivation is that I've been giving him poetry to work on, but we often put it off and FLL will make it more automatic, I hope.

 

We've been using Connecting with History but I'm going to start integrating parts of SOTW 2 as we get to them, with the plan to reverse it next year, using primarily SOTW and adding some CWH 3 books for Catolic sources.

[JudoMom]

I posted about our changes here.

 

The quick summary is that I'm adding Windows to the World for the older 2 (and they're dropping their enrichment program), I'm adding cursive for the younger 2 (New American Cursive), spelling for ds7, and I'm changing writing for ds10 and adding a science for him.

[FairProspects]

I'm going to be moving older ds into writing composition with Verticy. Also adding Multiplication.com materials to work on math facts. The biggest change for him is that he will be working 5-6 days a week instead of 4. He was just losing too much over the 3 day weekend in terms of basic recall.

[serendipitous journey]

We're going to start using a timer on math. I think it's just too nebulous for them how long it's going to take. I think it'll work better this way.

 

Also, I'm thinking of putting out morning assignments for before I get up. Something small every day - a logic page, an art "challenge", a math drill... I think that may help us get the school day moving.

 

These ideas, insofar as we do incorporate them, are so useful here -- you are inspiring me to be sure we are doing this wherever we can. Things go great in the AM when Button starts off either with SOTW audiobook or with a math drill/math assignment; except for timing the drill, it's pretty hands-off for me so I can tidy the kitchen & pay attention to the tot.

 

I skimmed a book on differentiated instruction that had a neat and effective twist to the timer strategy: the author suggested setting a reasonable time for an assignment to be completed, and then when it is completed accurately and well the child gets any remaining time to work on a fun enrichment project (or, at our house, play :) ). It also means I can plan chunks of work -- I know that his handwriting, WWW, and spelling work can be finished altogether w/in about 30 minutes, so once he embarks on his Writing Chunk things flow smoothly: I look over the work, set the timer for expected time to finish + a few minutes, he starts, brings me the finished product to check, then plays until the timer goes off. It isn't as easy as this for our math chunks, because I need to be more involved and the assignments vary more in length. But at the moment this is one of the better-working things in our day.

 

 

Thank you so much for showing how you are applying Switch to your homeschooling. I am currently reading the chapter about finding bright spots, so your post is timely. Thanks again!

 

 

:) :) :) I liked that bright spots chapter so much! Very positive mindset! (though I felt like a bit of a nimwit for not figuring it out myself)

 

We'll be using Quizlet more. ...

 

 

ooh, thanks for that recommendation! It looks wonderful! Perhaps everybody else knows about this already, but if you also hadn't heard of it, Quizlet's an online service with this motto: "We make simple tools that let you study anything, for free." Thank you very much!

[Farrar]

I haven't read through the other posts yet -- am really looking forward to going over them this afternoon, and learning from y'all! -- but I wanted to give a shout-out to the getting organized thread and the book Switch. On the advice of the book, I noticed what was going well and started copying it -- so far, so good! It turns out that Button does very very well with open-and-go type, very direct-instruction work (Winning with Writing, WWE, Evan Moor Spelling, ZB Handwriting, progressive recorder book, SOTW, ...). I applied it to our stickiest subject, math: Button is quite accelerated in math and I've been driving myself crazy keeping him challenged but not frustrated.

 

 

 

I had not heard of the book Switch... but I just downloaded the sample. It looks really interesting. Thanks!

[alisoncooks]

Oh, yeah... lots of changes ahead:

1. switching from Singapore to Math Mammoth
   
2. switching to Phonics Pathways (we've been hodge-podging and curric. hopping = not working)
   
3. starting cursive (LOE)
   
4. starting a new Bible study
   
5. adding in writing (finally)
   
6. finally adding in art
   

 

(So....basically starting over mid-year. :p)

[Izzy]

Pretty much everything! My 7th grader just came home and he'll be doing Sonlight F or G with Teaching Textbooks. My 5.5 year old is ready to start school so I'm debating starting him and my 1st grader on either Core A or Core B. So I'm basically our school year will now be January to December with long breaks in between. I still haven't figured it all out yet.

[Holly]

We're changing history. I feel like we've been covering American history forever!! We'll be using SCM Genesis through Deuteronomy & Ancient Egypt.

[momto2Cs]

Oh, yeah... lots of changes ahead:

1. switching from Singapore to Math Mammoth
    
   
2. switching to Phonics Pathways (we've been hodge-podging and curric. hopping = not working)
    
   
3. starting cursive (LOE)
    
   
4. starting a new Bible study
    
   
5. adding in writing (finally)
    
   
6. finally adding in art
   

(So....basically starting over mid-year. :p)

 

Yep. Lots changing here too, basically a fresh start!

1. I'm splitting the kids up in history. Ds11 wants to do a more intensive study of ancient Greece and Rome, while dd9 is fascinated by the American Girls books.
   
2. Adding Beyond the Code to dd's phonics line-up
   
3. Switching over to the Brave Writer Lifestyle with a few other resources for the bulk of language arts. Ds will also be working in Igniting Your Writing once a week or so. We'll keep using Unjournaling for free writing prompts.
   
4. We've dropped all math except LOF and a little Zacarro.
   
5. Science will consist of two main sessions a week, and then free exploration at other times. One session will be based off of discovery boxes and a question board, the other on nature studies. The kids get to take turns choosing general topics, or we'll go based off the question board when good questions come up and we decide we want to pursue them. Ds will also be reading good books about science (probably with me, since I like science too!)
   

[Woodland Mist Academy]

:) :) :) I liked that bright spots chapter so much! Very positive mindset! (though I felt like a bit of a nimwit for not figuring it out myself)

 

 

That makes two of us. ;)

 

ooh, thanks for that recommendation! It looks wonderful! Perhaps everybody else knows about this already, but if you also hadn't heard of it, Quizlet's an online service with this motto: "We make simple tools that let you study anything, for free." Thank you very much!

 

 

You're welcome! The more we use it, the more benefits I see over using note cards. Not only does she need to spell everything correctly (one of our focuses), but the actual typing is an added pathway for the info to seep into her brain.

 

We just discovered more ways to use Quizlet this week. At first we were just using the basic flip mode, but we recently tried the study modes. WOW! Even better.

 

Hope it's beneficial for you. And dare I say, maybe even fun! :)

[Esse Quam Videri]

That makes two of us. ;)

 

 

 

You're welcome! The more we use it, the more benefits I see over using note cards. Not only does she need to spell everything correctly (one of our focuses), but the actual typing is an added pathway for the info to seep into her brain.

 

We just discovered more ways to use Quizlet this week. At first we were just using the basic flip mode, but we recently tried the study modes. WOW! Even better.

 

Hope it's beneficial for you. And dare I say, maybe even fun! :)

 

Wow! Just did a quick search and all of our Prima Latina vocab is loaded, as well as our Veritas Press timeline cards and CC memory work! :party: Thank you!

[Woodland Mist Academy]

 

Wow! Just did a quick search and all of our Prima Latina vocab is loaded, as well as our Veritas Press timeline cards and CC memory work! :party: Thank you!

 

 

You're welcome! :)

[boscopup]

Not really any changes in curriculum, as those are all working well. I am planning to change our schedule though. Just got done making a spreadsheet with who is doing what at various times. Basically, I'll have DS1 do independent work while I start with 15 minutes with DS3 (because he *must* "do school"), then about 45 minutes with DS2. Then DS2 and 3 are both done for the day. They'll have one simple cleaning task to do while I start with DS1, and then they can go play. I'll work with DS1 until lunch, and then we only have one subject left after lunch! Woohoo! I'm also going to try doing errands in the afternoon if we need to run them, except speech therapy days which is 10am, but I'm planning play-at-the-park, go walking on the greenway after speech, and then possibly library after that. So I have some subjects we just won't do on Thursdays, and then some subjects will be done after we get back, pushing us a little further out timewise, but not that bad. I also have an hour of "clean with mom" in there, so they can help me with housework, but not on Thursday (since we'll be out so much then). We'll see how this goes.

 

Oh, and I'm adding in piano with DS1 and maybe DS2. DS1 will do piano with me before lunch.

[Wheres Toto]

I am taking next week to rearrange, undo Christmas, and make plans.

 

-I am setting up two tables in our living room that will be dedicated school desks. This is to avoid having to clean off the kitchen table to do school, which results in not as much getting done.

-Being in the living room will also allow one child to work on computer stuff (I let my son type for creative-type writing, daughter does Starfall) while I work with the other, and allow me to monitor both (computers are in the living room).

-Being in the living room will also give more space for posters, charts, etc. to go along with whatever we are currently working on.

-Being in the living room will also allow me to get back to doing active games with dd - we did hopscotch type games for words, white board activities, etc. - while still keeping an eye on ds.

 

I read a bunch about project-based homeschooling and like the idea, but not as an exclusive thing. I do want to have more time for projects, more time for history, more time for science, etc. We had too many days/weeks where we just go through the basics and the extras were put aside. So, I'm setting up a more structured schedule for a weeks, but breaking it up differently.

 

Monday, Wednesday and Friday - we will do all our core subjects (math and language arts). Monday we will also do Spanish and Literature. Wednesday we will also do Spanish and Art, and Friday we will also do Spanish and Music. Neither kid is "behind" in any way and I'm in a non-reporting state so I feel comfortable with this, plus 3 days is about what we accomplish most weeks now.

 

Tuesdays and Thursday we will do History and Geography OR Science OR have a project day OR have a game day OR have a field trip day (Tuesday is our 4-H day twice a month). Whether both days are the same or different will depend on the specific topic we have planned and how long I expect it to take.

[Maela]

We've switched from Singapore to Math Mammoth Blue Series. That was a couple of weeks ago; M loves it!

 

We've also recently changed our schedule, which I described in a blog post last night. This was another great change.

[Χά�ων]

We are working to add more fun as well!

 

I am adding in grammar and increasing math back to where we were a few months ago. I am struggling with Science. DS breezes through everything so fast.

[Alexigail]

BIG changes for us: We're pulling our 5 year old out of ps and starting to teach him at home. I'm really excited to get started. I hope it will mean a better routine for all of us since this fall was kind of a whirlwind with very little structure.

[Hockey Mom]

Our physical address is changing. It's been 6 weeks of mayhem here (traveling to look at houses, packing, etc), and unfortunately, the house we put an offer on probably won't be available for at least another 3 months, so we're staying at a rental house (month to month).

 

What I'm shooting for in 2013 is just to get our lessons done. I feel like we are so far behind the 8-ball at this point that it's going to be mach 5 with our hair on fire to finish out the year.

 

Sigh

 

I'm tired.

[SFM]

I am changing some things and I suppose finally purging and really honing in on what is working for us and ditching what doesn't.

 

Giving the Spalding method a fair shot (after reading the WRTR) I am going to attempt to make this work, it makes sense to me.

 

Switched to R&S grammar because frankly no other grammar was getting accomplished. I was trying to find the "perfect" one for his learning style and just realized that sometimes it's just going to not be the most exciting subject and that's okay. So, I feel like R&S is thorough and will be accomplished each day.

[ccolopy]

We'll have more outside activities starting up, so we'll start a little earlier and finish by mid-afternoon.

 

Definitely:

DS: dropping online math/science classes, starting AoPS Geometry

DD: finished handwriting (finally!), adding MCT Sentence Island and Music of the Hemispheres

 

Possibly:

DS: making time to study some psychology and/or physics, tackling the research paper

DD: switching to or adding WP Equine Science, dropping spelling, dropping geography

[violamama]

I am going to try actually keeping track of what we do each day. A daily checklist a la Scholaric software seems about my speed.

 

I ordered Switch, 7 Habits and Getting Things Done from Amazon yesterday. Mid-January through July will be unhappily busy for me and there's not a lot I can do about it right now. After that, I'm going to quit a couple of my commitments and start doing this life how I really want to be doing it.

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

My entire family has a stomach virus, but after we get through that my dd will be starting flute lessons.

[CyndiLJ]

We actually are in a very good place this year, and won't be changing much. It's only taken me 3 years to get there!! Finally hit our groove :hurray: . We are doing block learning this year for social studies and science, so we finished social studies and a very in depth study of Westward Expasion before Christmas (we started in July), so now we will focus on science for the next 3-4 months. I have 4 of the 5 kids who will finish their math (Teaching Textbooks) for the year in about 2 weeks, and we will all move on to the next level.

 

We will be taking a big field trip in April, to St.Louis to see the Pioneer Museum there, then up to South and North Dakota to follow up on Westward Expansion. Little field trips, not so much this year I think. We may have 2 testing for black belt by the end of the year. We also began volunteering one morning a week at our local food bank right before winter break, so we will be adding that in as well.

 

Mainly, just enjoying learning together and spending time with one another!! Feeling extra blessed to homeschool these days, enjoying the last of middle school with our oldest.

[Dmmetler]

The biggest one is that DD will be responsible for setting her own alarm clock and waking up at a set time in the morning. She's been drifting to staying up later and later, and as a result, has been sleeping later and/or dragging through school if I try to wake her up, so I've put that on her. If that actually works, it should make our school days MUCH more pleasant!

 

DD is dropping SL literature in favor of an online Jr. Great Books class. She did an online NME prep class this fall, and loved it, and SL core 6 has never really "clicked" with her-she's just not into the historical fiction the way I am, even though she loves the history. So we're divorcing SL and letting her do the literature online where she'll have others to discuss the books and stories with, and continuing the history study-and meanwhile, I'LL read all those nice historical fiction books, because I like them, even if DD doesn't! (And maybe she'll discover them later).

 

She's moving on into the 2nd LoF Pre-Algebra book, too, and trying out the Elements of Mathematics online class.

 

She's discovered Mango Spanish and at this point, I'm content to let her work through that at her own pace and read books in Spanish. At least the conversational focus is a little different than the typical "Same vocabulary every year" of most elementary school Spanish curricula, and isn't as overwhelming as Spanish for Children's "Let's teach Spanish like it's Latin", which worked for DD for Latin, but failed for Spanish.

 

She'll be taking the NME and ELE early this Spring, so those are still a big part of our life, especially the ELE Vocab. Cambridge has kind of slid a bit because we've been focusing on vocabulary.

 

 

Science was supposed to be Earth/Space this year, and I think we did OK with Space the first half of the year, but DD has really focused more on "Applied Zoology"-her pet snake and everything reptiles in her independent reading and writing. So, my thought is that I'll let her dive into "Applied Zoology" quite seriously in the Spring, and really look at the animal husbandry side, the reports and financial work breeders and keepers have to go into, and just generally continue what she's doing. I have a group of snake breeders online who are all for this, plus a herpetology professor who is helping me put together materials and sharing many of his resources (I think he might be overshooting my 8 yr old a bit-he mostly teaches graduate level classes). We'll be going to at least one reptile trade show this Spring, and will be visiting a reptile research facility that focuses on medical uses of snake venom and therefore has the largest collection of venomous snakes in the USA. I figure rocks and minerals will keep ;). DD says she can still read the Earth Science book, though-her reason for wanting to do Earth/Space this year was that last year, on the World Ed Games science day, she kept hitting "Dumb rock questions"-so she wanted to make sure that didn't happen again. :).

 

 

 

The funny thing is that I really didn't think we were changing much-the last two years, I've felt like I was completely starting over in Jan because DD had whipped through everything I'd intended for the year. As it turns out, I guess we are changing a lot, but the change has happened more organically over time, and mostly has been DD following her interests and diving deeper, not moving faster.

[Jennifer]

We are only making a few changes, but they're kind of big ones, at least to me.

 

I'm switching my middle dd to Teaching Textbooks. I've got to get myself out of the picture (mostly) with her and math. It's just not going well. She struggles with math so much, and honestly, I don't know how to teach her a subject that comes so easily to me. Sad, but true. We need a little break (may turn in to a long term break).

 

I'm going to start Math Mammoth with my youngest. She's bored silly with R&S math.

 

We're going on with WWS2 with my oldest. She finished WWS1 a couple of months ago, and she's been working through The Creative Writer. I've got the first...I don't know...8-9 weeks of the beta testing for WWS2 in my inbox. She's actually looking forward to that.

 

Also my oldest decided she wants to go ahead and do the dissections in BJU Life Science. She had been adamantly against dissections, so now I need to order the dissection kit. Daddy will be doing those with her. EWWWW!

 

The biggest change is that we are going to add more FUN! We've gotten away from field trips over the last two years because everything has been so darn stressful. I'm also going to make it a point to have a music and art afternoon every week. We used to do this, and the girls loved it. We've got to get back in to that.

 

How about you all? :D

 

 

How old/what grades are your kids?

Thanks!

Jennifer

[Nakia]

I have three girls: 12 yr old/7th grade, 9 yr old/4th grade, and 7 yr old/1st grade.

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

Also:

 

Progeny Press Guide for my 5th grader

Life of Fred as supplement to Saxon

And I'll be looking at my 5th grader up with Home2Teach

 

I basically am just realizing my 5th grader needed more challenge and depth in LA, and since he's way ahead of schedule in Saxon I thought trying LOF as a supplement would be a good idea.

[elizsharp]

Everything! We purchased Singapore Math and MM but after working with both for a few days my son wanted to go with SM. Then we dumped McRuffy first grade everything and went to LLATL and so far we are loving it! I also purchased some BJU books, Plaid Phonics, and Spelling Workout to review but I might just stick with the two above for a while and table the rest.

[boscopup]

Ok, it turns out that I am changing something. On a whim yesterday, I bought Ellen McHenry's "The Brain", so we'll study that for science the next several weeks. :D We'll also be doing Magic Schoolbus once a week, since DS2 got that series for Christmas. ;)

[FairProspects]

Ok, it turns out that I am changing something. On a whim yesterday, I bought Ellen McHenry's "The Brain", so we'll study that for science the next several weeks. :D We'll also be doing Magic Schoolbus once a week, since DS2 got that series for Christmas. ;)

 

Haha, ds 2 got that for Christmas too!

 

[acsnmama]

I think we're going to pretty much start over.

 

I have read such various reviews on HOD, but the more I check out their website, the more I feel like God is saying, YES, this will suit you and your family!

 

I have never wanted a literature based program. I've always been turned off by Sonlight and still am, not only the price, but I'm not fond of their history options. Still, with 3 kids, I was steering clear of a lot of reading anyway, as I have 3 children, I feel overwhelmed with having to read aloud to them (with the youngest being under 2 and quite the little spitfire).

 

What I've realized is, my oldest is a year ahead in all subjects, and he's great at reading, however, A) He has no set reading schedule, and actually reads very little, and I haven't been "dedicated" to reading aloud to him (bad mommy!) and B) Now that my youngest is nearly 2, he has been a little easier to deal with as a participant in homeschooling, rather than a hindrance!

 

We're currently already using Singapore Math, R&S English, so these both are part of HOD. I want to add more Bible to our overall curriculum, and I'm tired to piecing things together. We like what we're using, but I have no "plan" so to speak, and I easily get "behind." I know, I know, it's not really the fact of being behind, as the kids learn all the time, but I want to be able to stick to a better schedule and have a game-plan. Rather than, ok, 1 page in this, 2 pages in that, so on and so forth. By the end of the day, I realize I totally forgot this, or that.

 

What I have no decided yet is whether or not I want to switch to HOD Science, or continue with the Apologia we're currently using. We love the Apologia, but I see that the Science offered with HOD seems great in and of itself, and again, it's right in the manual, all done for me.

 

I am so nervous about the switch though. I don't know if it's the fact of losing money if we don't like it, or what. I want to try their science, but I feel like it's too hard to let go of Apologia!

 

I feel nuts for even considering the switch and starting over, but this has been a rough year, with a lot of stress, so we haven't really gotten a ton done this first "semester" of school anyhow. So we can start HOD, go through the summer, then take a break, and see where we're at!

[boscopup]

I have never wanted a literature based program. I've always been turned off by Sonlight and still am, not only the price, but I'm not fond of their history options. Still, with 3 kids, I was steering clear of a lot of reading anyway, as I have 3 children, I feel overwhelmed with having to read aloud to them (with the youngest being under 2 and quite the little spitfire).

 

I felt that way when my youngest was 2 and under also! Don't worry. The kids didn't suffer. Now we're doing Sonlight Core D and P4/5 and loving both, and I'm having no problem reading aloud those cores AND an extra read-aloud at bedtime. Amazing what changes when your youngest is 3.5! :D