nellecv Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 I've been looking at what some full-time homeschoolers have accomplished this year and it just makes me want to pull my daughter out of school so we have more time. So I thought I'd start an after-schoolers accomplishments topic instead. What did you and your kiddos manage to fit in around school, church, activities, and all the other hubub? For my daughter (1st grade) it was: MM1 Sunshine Math 1 (almost) SOTW 1 Mesopotamia and Egypt, with TONS of activities 5 artist studies WWE 1 (it almost killed us, and I'll never do it again, but we did it.) Some kitchen science A ton of great books including reading her The Hobbit and A Wrinkle in Time, two of my favorites! Our biggest accomplishments were moving from forcing our daughter to read to her loving to read, and from hating non-fiction to devouring it. Plans for the summer? Sunshine Math 2 and/or LoF SOTW 1: Greece and Rome Life Science (continuing into next year, curriculum still up for debate) Possibly Song School Latin Writing, focusing on paragraphs and the 6 traits More great reading, moving from early chapter books to regular ones. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SKL Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Our biggest challenge last fall was that my elder dd couldn't seem to understand what was being asked of her on schoolwork. So that was a big focus, including having her do a lot of reading which, at school, is done by the teacher. She still struggles, but I think she's made a lot of progress. ... Another focus was math, as their teacher was not experienced with Singapore Math and my kid (and others) fell by the wayside at some point. I was not able to intervene initially, but eventually began to remediate what she should have learned in KG and 1A. So now her knowledge is above average and she's gained a lot of confidence, though she still has more catching up to do before she is ready for 2A. ... We got some time in at museums and did some travel and other cultural experiences. My sister did a pile of read-alouds with them. Both girls have done a ton of reading themselves. Got into a good rhythm with piano. ... But I think the biggest accomplishment for us was not school work, but therapy for retained primitive reflexes. This has made quite a difference in her overall balance and wellbeing, and I'm kicking myself for letting it take a backseat for several months. ... Summer plans include more of same, plus vision therapy. They will also attend a summer day "camp" focused on international culture/arts. I plan to preview the 2nd grade LA and math materials just before school starts, to ensure a strong start. I also hope to get her doing some regular writing (stories or short essays) since this is another weak point for her. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Afterschooling kindergarten has been harder this spring since baseball (two practices and two games a week) and spring soccer started. Luckily spring soccer just ended so for now my kindergartner just has baseball. I was getting a little dismayed about how little afterschooling we have done in the past month but when I look at how much he has completed since summer, I realize he has accomplished plenty. So including this past summer he has -Finished Singapore Math 1A and all but the last chapter of 1B. I decided to have him take a break while he just works on math facts for the next few months. I don't want to move onto SM2A until he can tell me within a second any of the addition and subtraction facts to 18. -Finished All About Spelling 1 and he is in the last chapter of AAS 2. - As a phonics review, we reviewed the last half of Phonics Pathways, and I ran him through Dancing Bears Fast Track (which really had him work on sounding out multi-syllabic words instead of guessing. Plans for this summer -Math facts!!! -Finish Dancing Bears C. -Go to the library and get as many Caldecott award winning books as they have and read/study the illustrations. -Start AAS 3 -Start First Language Lessons and WWE Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiwik Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Is it the kindergartener who has all the baseball stuff - that seems like an awful lot. We didn't achieve much last year but our years start Feb. This year we are trying MM2 blue books (selected), WWE1, random science stuff, history when I can sneak it in and as much reading as we can manage. Ds has just turned six. My other son turns 4 next week and learns stuff in weird ways so it is just a matter of grabbing the moment and doing reading lessons when the mood strikes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uff Da! Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 nm Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
aly9712 Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Since DD8 started swimming 3X a week, we've slowed down. She still goes to mathnasium several days for an hour. She reads a lot and has her own projects in her room (growing crystals, mold, researching things, etc.). We have not done any formal curriculum except maybe Hands on Equations earlier this school year and finished levels 1-2. DD5 just reads and we do sit down for mommys reading lessons a few nights per week. She also has extra cursive practice via HWOT and some basic addition/subtraction apps. That's about it though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathnerd Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 We started baseball in spring and that in addition to all the other extra curriculars is slowing us down. We have decided to drop a few afterschool activities to keep us all sane. We had some great accomplishments and some small ones this year. When DS entered kindergarten, he was pencil phobic, could write and color but hated it. Now he is able to write paragraphs (neatly too!) using the "Step up to writing" method. That is our biggest achievement, in my mind. He has become a chapter book reader and I get a little peace in the house when he is poring over a chapter book all by himself. Math - We finished Singapore 1A and are halfway through 1B - slowed down to introduce MEP, finished Miquon Orange book, EPGY math grade 2, DreamBox math grade 4. LA - Copywork, Spelling workout A almost done, FLL1 almost done, Songschool Latin 1 almost done Science - Finished the Let's read and learn about ... series History - still on SOTW1 - taking it slowly Geography, arts etc - done various projects as time permits. Extracurriculars: Piano - progress at last after switching teachers Tae Kwon Do - This is DS's first love and he spends as many evenings as possible within his schedule to attend classes! I have a feeling that we may not be able to do this much next year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Mousie Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Wow, all of you have done so much! For us, “afterschooling†is really “beforeschooling once or twice a week for about 15 minutes each.†And we’ve done nothing at all in at least two weeks. [ETA: DS is 12 and finishing up 6th grade.] So, with that said, maybe I won’t feel so bad* admitting that we’ve done about a third of a sentence diagramming workbook, and have continued GrammarTown (just a few chapters). That about covers it for seatwork. Anything else (independent reading, natural history museum, absorbing many hours of various NPR broadcasts) has just come in the normal course of life – I don’t “assign†anything. I am hopeful that, like last summer, I will be allowed to take a vacation day once a week, wherein we will spend the morning on schoolish stuff and then have some sort of outing in the afternoon. We still wouldn’t be able to accomplish anything heroic on that schedule, but it should at least keep his brain from melting into goo. * Nope, didn’t work. I still feel like a slacker. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nart Posted April 23, 2013 Share Posted April 23, 2013 Is it the kindergartener who has all the baseball stuff - that seems like an awful lot. Yes, my 6 year old kindergartener. Last week his schedule was Monday- baseball practice Tuesday- soccer practice Wed. - baseball practice (we skipped soccer practice for little brother) Thursday - baseball game Friday - REST, yeah! Saturday - baseball game (little brother had gymnastics) Sunday - soccer game (little brother had a soccer game too) Luckily little league baseball is only 10 weeks in the spring. The hard part about some sports is that if you don't play when you are young it just gets harder and harder to try and start when you are 9 or 10. On his baseball team, this is the third season for some of the kids (they played two years of T-Ball). I don't think we will sign him up again next year since my husbands goal was for him to learn to catch and throw a ball and to hit a pitch. Even if he skips the next year or so he will at least know what is going on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nellecv Posted April 24, 2013 Author Share Posted April 24, 2013 Wow, all of you have done so much! For us, “afterschooling†is really “beforeschooling once or twice a week for about 15 minutes each.†And we’ve done nothing at all in at least two weeks. [ETA: DS is 12 and finishing up 6th grade.] Don't worry, most of what we accomplished was over last summer. And the rest really depended on the fact that my daughter asks for work! (She's bored out of her mind in school and her brain just needs to think sometimes) Our school-year afterschooling is very haphazard and sometimes gets completely ignored for long periods of time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jennynd Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Yes, my 6 year old kindergartener. Last week his schedule was Monday- baseball practice Tuesday- soccer practice Wed. - baseball practice (we skipped soccer practice for little brother) Thursday - baseball game Friday - REST, yeah! Saturday - baseball game (little brother had gymnastics) Sunday - soccer game (little brother had a soccer game too) Luckily little league baseball is only 10 weeks in the spring. The hard part about some sports is that if you don't play when you are young it just gets harder and harder to try and start when you are 9 or 10. On his baseball team, this is the third season for some of the kids (they played two years of T-Ball). I don't think we will sign him up again next year since my husbands goal was for him to learn to catch and throw a ball and to hit a pitch. Even if he skips the next year or so he will at least know what is going on. I know,,, that is crazy. Now the weather getting better, DS has 2 soccer games and 1 practice a week. tennis and violin. Adding DD's violin, gymnastic and soccer. It is getting hard to do anything... Sigh,... Not to mention 2 weeks standardized tests... So far DS finished AOPS algebra 1 part. We should be.. Hoping to also finish SM NEM 2. Mr Q physics and RS4k are on track to finish. Wordly wide 4 are also on track to finish are we are adding MCP... Somehow... Do Not know yet.. DD finished SM 2a/b. we are going to use the rest school year just on the facts. RSO life is only half way through She does read every night also. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 Both my kids improved a lot on their german thanks to their saturday 2.5hr class. Younger finish SM4 while older finish SM6. We also found a nice once a week drop in art class for them. I end up learning a lot of Biology alongside my older as I didn't study that in depth for biology. We also pick up programming the Lego Mindstorm. It is also standardized testing season now for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2lydia Posted April 24, 2013 Share Posted April 24, 2013 We have accomplished a lot but the biggest thing for us has been getting dd to not be so shy. I know that doesn't sound like a lot to some people but for us it is HUGE. DD is almost 8 and in 2nd grade and in addition to being advanced she has sensory processing disorder so for her to learn to talk to someone she doesn't know has been huge. It may be nothing more than saying hi and then nothing else but she is at least saying something to them. She is also finally learning to move slightly outside her comfort zone in general. We are trying 1 new fruit/veggie a week and everyone has to try it some she likes some she doesn't but she is trying something new. She is beginning to filter through her surroundings instead of becoming overwhelmed by sounds and touches of things. These have been my biggest focus for afterschooling in addition to reading everyday and math a few times a week. Also she has learned how to do research online on her own(supervised for content that may be found but she is doing the research). It has been a very successful year and we look forward to summer as we work on 4-h projects that is the bulk of our summer learning and a little other stuff but mostly learning for her 4-h projects. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MistyMountain Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 DD6 went from struggling through reading and having no fluency to decoding at the 4th grade level and being able to read easier chapter books. We worked through reading bear and reading pathways and did a lot of reading of books once she got to the 1st grade level. We are working though Signapore Kindergarten B and almost finished. I am doing a little with cuisenaire rods. I helped her learn skip counting by 2s 5s, 10s and 25s and we are currently working on backwards counting. This summer I plan on working on WWE with dd and doing other stuff to help her reading comprehension. I will work on math facts and keep working with cuisenaire rods. We will start Signpore 1A. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EKS Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Half of Hake 8 Human Odyssey volume 1 Some classic lit Also every day after school I had to teach the lesson that wasn't taught for his Algebra I class at school, which took up quite a bit of time. Recently that teacher was replaced by a more competent one and not having to teach math has really freed things up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spy Car Posted April 29, 2013 Share Posted April 29, 2013 Third Grade Son: Finished Primary Mathematics Standard Edition 3A/B. Started PM 4A. Finished Primary Mathematics Intensive Practice 3A/B. Finished Challenging Word Problems 3. Finished Beast Academy 3A, 3B, 3C (and almost done with 3D). Finished Primary Grade Challenge Math (will start Real World Algebra this summer). Started Michael Clay Thompson Language Arts (MCT) and will finish over the summer. Bill Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquakiwi Posted April 30, 2013 Share Posted April 30, 2013 Ds6 Singapore math 2a and 2b Lots of reading Random science Dd9 Singapore Math 4a and 4b Lots of reading A lot of random science Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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