Starting the new year, new season of life

[homemommy83]

I used to frequent these boards a lot, but then got busy with life.  This year I have decided to do a major media fast and only allow myself time online to check in with other like minded homeschooling mommas. I chose this board and MFW boards. This is a new season of life for me, but oddly I feel like I am starting all over.  I have homeschooled since my oldest son was 2, and he is 19 now!

 

My oldest son just left for the Navy and is doing well.  I had a few rough pregnancy years and focused heavily on the basics first with the older children reading widely from several different list.  This did work well, but I really missed some of the more group aspects of home educating a large family.

Our children are now the following ages:

Newly 17, a junior

Newly 14, 8th

11, 6th

8, 3rd

6, K

3, preschool

1, exploring

We have done nursery hour in the evenings and this has been a blessing for our young ones plus I have a tutoring time for each child during the day.  However, I have decided to begin doing more group lessons beginning in January and am very excited to get started.

The plan is to do MFW K units with my 1, 3, 6, and 8 year old this semester.  They will still do independent work/ tutoring time using age appropriate resources plus reading periods for the two oldest in this group.

I want to something with my 11 and 14 year olds, but it needs to inexpensive or available through interlibrary loan.  I was thinking of making an afternoon basket for them.  I also considered Beautiful Feet's History of Classical Music.  I think my 8 year old would enjoy that as well.  I could borrow the books and only buy the manual and cds. Any ideas for what to include?  Any favorite programs that are inexpensive for this age range that can be done in 1 hour a day?

I am wanting to wait on ECC until next year so all of children ages 7 and up can do it together.

Thank you ladies for your idea and time😁.  Hope you have been well.

Blessings,

Brenda

 

[Nm.]

I have done the same with media fasting- it helps SO much.  What about a unit from gather round?  She includes a booklist for the library.  You would only need 1 student pdf (middle school or upper elementary would probably work for 8-14), and it comes with teacher guide (20$ for student level + teacher guide PDFs). I haven’t actually used it yet but have seen it in person/ & have a relative who adores it as her main curriculum.  I struggle with group time.

Another option would be to play board games together for that hour of group time.   I just bought trekking the world & trekking the national parks for Christmas.  So much you could do with it (adding books, movies, etc).  We also love Eldorado, Catan, Forbidden Island/Desert/Sky with our middle schooler/upper elementary kids. 

Edited December 27, 2022 by Lovinglife123

[HomeAgain]

For classical music study, we really enjoyed the Classics For Kids website.  You don't have to follow the lesson plans, though they have them. We used the Composer Explorer feature to focus on a specific time period, listening to each radio program in turn.  You can supplement with books and cds from the library if you want to extend, but it's a well done program.

[homemommy83]

Thank you both for such great ideas! I will look into both of them.  I am excited to have the energy back to do some fun books and activities with the middles.

Blessings,

Brenda

[Nichola]

If you’re planning a composer study, have you looked into Opal Wheeler’s biographies of composers? We’ve used a couple of those and enjoyed them. Another book we’ve used is A Child’s Introduction to the Orchestra. It might be young for the 14 year old, but it gives an overview of musical periods and composers as well as information about all the instruments in the orchestra.

[homemommy83]

Nichola,

 

Thank you for the ideas🤗.

 

Blessings,

Brenda