Seeking Inspiration for the fall~

[Blueridge]

Good morning! I've been pondering my curriculum possibilities lately. Maybe it's because I'll be turning *50* this year...maybe because my younger girls are growing up and I see time is fleeting...but as we approach the last 3 official weeks of this school year, I am evaluating. With them, ages 9 and 11, I used HOD this year. Don't get me wrong, I really like many parts of it. I love the ease of use, the organization, the completeness. What I have see, though, is that there are no 'memories' being made. We're just covering the material. I've been homeschooling for 18 years now, and my early days were spent using Konos, so that is where I am coming from. Through the years I have incorporated TWTM readings, CM techniques, SL books, TOG years, lots of unit studies like Learning Adventures and FIAR. My eyes have seen too much. Now I long for it all. I want to make some memories before my little ones are too old to appreciate them. I have already purchased my next level of HOD for the fall, but I am left wondering if I did the right thing. Does anyone else have an inner need for having enjoyable, memorable days? Or am I just having a temporary mid-life crisis? :D What do you do? What do you use? I am not a creative person by nature, but I can follow a good recipe! Please share your thoughts with me~

Ginger

[BearLair]

"My eyes have seen too much"

 

I love that, oh that is how I feel at times - perfect way to put it.

 

Are you sure the memories are not being made? Maybe a time of reflection would reveal otherwise?

 

Perhaps the memories are not in the 'academics', but have been created in other areas of interest with the younger set?

 

Maybe you could create a bi-weekly afternoon activity doing something together that would create the memories you crave with the girls?

 

I hope you do come to peace with this. I've had this thought from time to time and I usually pass it off as my 879th mid-life-crisis moment. ;)

 

BearLair

[Brindee]

What is HOD? You may have to just do something extra to make those memories! Like the previous poster said, do a special activity once a week, or once a month, or once a quarter that the girls will long remember! Take pictures and videos, scrapbook it, talk about it, write about it. Videos are sooo fun to look back on later, and will keep the memories alive!

[Blueridge]

Thank you for the encouragement, ladies. We flew through 5 days of HOD (Heart of Dakota) this morning, so at this point I am 'cherry picking' the better parts and passing by the stuffy things. ;) I did keep a smile on my face as we also flew through a very light R&S grammar lesson of diagramming, predicates, direct objects, and paragraph development. Hey...now that I see what I am doing, I may have discovered my malady. *End of the Year Exhaustion Blues*. Add that to my swiftly-advancing age and it's not very pretty! I did ask my littles this morning if they had any desires for their next school year, and they both suggested the following:

~to study all the countries of the world

~to have fun crafts to make every day

~to cook fun meals from those countries

~to dress up and have plays about what they learn

~to listen to really fun books every day

 

Ladies...I am SUNK. :D

Ginger

Edited April 21, 2009 by Blueridge
to listed?? :)

[M&MsMom]

I know what you mean...if I dared to ask the question, I'm sure I would get the same answer. Which is why I haven't asked...LOL!

 

Mindy

DD8

DD6

[Emmy]

I did ask my littles this morning if they had any desires for their next school year, and they both suggested the following:

~to study all the countries of the world

~to have fun crafts to make every day

~to cook fun meals from those countries

~to dress up and have plays about what they learn

~to listed to really fun books every day

 

Ladies...I am SUNK. :D

Ginger

 

This is exactly what my kids would ask for.....Mommy let's do all of the really time consuming, space encompassing projects that require much planning and lots of supplies....LOL

[coffeefreak]

Thank you for the encouragement, ladies. We flew through 5 days of HOD (Heart of Dakota) this morning, so at this point I am 'cherry picking' the better parts and passing by the stuffy things. ;) I did keep a smile on my face as we also flew through a very light R&S grammar lesson of diagramming, predicates, direct objects, and paragraph development. Hey...now that I see what I am doing, I may have discovered my malady. *End of the Year Exhaustion Blues*. Add that to my swiftly-advancing age and it's not very pretty! I did ask my littles this morning if they had any desires for their next school year, and they both suggested the following:

~to study all the countries of the world

~to have fun crafts to make every day

~to cook fun meals from those countries

~to dress up and have plays about what they learn

~to listed to really fun books every day

 

Ladies...I am SUNK. :D

Ginger

 

Konos has a unit for that:D They even sell it in a BOX now!!!

 

Also, there's MFW, and WP which both have a year for Countries and Cultures. If you'd rather spend less money, Galloping the Globe is a great investment for $25-$100 (depending on whether you buy their book pack or not). I would go with what your girls want to do and maybe even let them look at these 3 curriculum and pick which one they like the best.

 

HTH!

Dorinda

[MIch elle]

 

I did ask my littles this morning if they had any desires for their next school year, and they both suggested the following:

~to study all the countries of the world

~to have fun crafts to make every day

~to cook fun meals from those countries

~to dress up and have plays about what they learn

~to listed to really fun books every day

 

Ladies...I am SUNK. :D

Ginger

 

You are blessed! My ds says when I ask him what he wants to do, "I don't know."

 

Let those dc of yours loose and work with them to design their own curricula.

 

I just had a talk with my homeschooling friend this morning about how I love Ambleside Online (we follow it VERY loosely). I WILL not let math, English and writing take over ours days.

 

Sing everyday

 

Do nature study every week

 

Study the great masters of art

 

Read Shakespeare (act out too)

 

Memorize poems

 

Sometimes doing the same thing everyday & every year sucks the life out of homeschooling.

 

 

Have FUN!! :D

[Catwoman]

This .....Mommy let's do all of the really time consuming, space encompassing projects that require much planning and lots of supplies....LOL

 

:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

 

Cat

[Blueridge]

Y'all are too funny! Thanks so much for the joy you're sharing with me. I have the support of my dh if the 'need' to change curriculum direction should arise, so I'll be doing some research on the programs you listed this afternoon. Blessings~

Ginger

(whose daughters are currently upstairs filming their action-packed drama based on Green Eggs and Ham...so they will have entertainment for their new kitten! I'm taking my computer into the closet to hide, er, I mean to research...with chocolate.)

[Mom0012]

I go through guilt over this every once in a while. We use Sonlight and I hope there are good memories of us reading together, but we do very little in the way of crafts and hands on activities. I have tried other curriculum that incorporates more hands on stuff, but I found that while the kids do look back on that kind of stuff fondly, it didn't seem like it was that much fun at the time and so little was learned from the activities that I just won't continue to do it.

 

At least for my kids, I believe the hands on activities are really inefficient. I can read a book to my children and they get so much out of it. We can spend an hour doing an activity and they may not even get the point. I also realized that we can do fun things and make memories that have nothing to do with school. So, I can keep the kids inside to do some school related activity or we can go to the playground. That's how it is for me anyway. There is a certain amount of academics that I just can't let go of. If I try to add in the fun school stuff, then there is no free time to just play left.

 

Sometimes I wish I could be different. When I first read your post, my initial instinct was to start my own post asking for hands-on suggestions to go with SL 3.

 

Lisa

[Mommyfaithe]

Good morning! I've been pondering my curriculum possibilities lately. Maybe it's because I'll be turning *50* this year...maybe because my younger girls are growing up and I see time is fleeting...but as we approach the last 3 official weeks of this school year, I am evaluating. With them, ages 9 and 11, I used HOD this year. Don't get me wrong, I really like many parts of it. I love the ease of use, the organization, the completeness. What I have see, though, is that there are no 'memories' being made. We're just covering the material. I've been homeschooling for 18 years now, and my early days were spent using Konos, so that is where I am coming from. Through the years I have incorporated TWTM readings, CM techniques, SL books, TOG years, lots of unit studies like Learning Adventures and FIAR. My eyes have seen too much. Now I long for it all. I want to make some memories before my little ones are too old to appreciate them. I have already purchased my next level of HOD for the fall, but I am left wondering if I did the right thing. Does anyone else have an inner need for having enjoyable, memorable days? Or am I just having a temporary mid-life crisis? :D What do you do? What do you use? I am not a creative person by nature, but I can follow a good recipe! Please share your thoughts with me~

Ginger

 

Oh, I could have written this post. I am watching as my older ones are graduated and moving on with their lives and I still have these 2 little boys here...and my dd who is almost 11 blossoming before my eyes...and I have mid-life crisissed myself paralyzed. I just feel like selling all my curricula and cleaning it all out and going back to my simpler times...cuddle time...lots of good books...etc. But alas...life has changed...and so have I....

 

I want to make memories...but I am so darn tired...

sigh...

Faithe

[Blueridge]

Sometimes I wish I could be different. When I first read your post, my initial instinct was to start my own post asking for hands-on suggestions to go with SL 3.

Lisa

 

Lisa, you might try this blog for some neat projects to try :D: http://homeschoolproject.blogspot.com/2009/02/sonlight-core-3-supplements.html

 

Ginger

[Blueridge]

Oh, I could have written this post. I am watching as my older ones are graduated and moving on with their lives and I still have these 2 little boys here...and my dd who is almost 11 blossoming before my eyes...and I have mid-life crisissed myself paralyzed. I just feel like selling all my curricula and cleaning it all out and going back to my simpler times...cuddle time...lots of good books...etc. But alas...life has changed...and so have I....

 

I want to make memories...but I am so darn tired...

sigh...

Faithe

 

Bless your heart, I know how you feel. If it weren't for strong coffee, I would really be a mess today! I've been inspired today to go back to simpler times for a respite. I think we'll do some type of fun 'around the world' study this summer. Good literature, a craft or two, and lots of new foods to try. Now, if I can just get this year wrapped up!

Ginger

[ChicoryChick]

Blueridge,

 

I am praying that the Lord will give you guidance for this upcoming year and a refreshed perspective. I am just curious what level of HOD you used this year. We used LHFHG and PHFHG and I feel that we have gotten those memorable moments (more so with LHFHG than Preparing, but we loved the medieval feast and a few of the other activities.).

 

I was thinking one of two things:

 

If you are going into Preparing or Ancients, since you have already purchased the curriculum to use and you seem to like it academically as well as ease of use, then use the Fridays to add in those extra things you are looking for. Have your children pick a country each week or month . We love the Laurie Carlson books forr making costumes, cooking a meal, add some books etc. or ditch HOD and maybe check out MFW ECC. They spend a year on this OR hold on to HOD and skip a year to do the fun things your children want to do and then come back to it.

 

God Bless,

[Blueridge]

Kay, I would love to hear more about your HOD experience. We used Bigger Hearts this year. It seemed to have quite a few nice projects to keep the kiddies involved in the beginning, but as the year progressed, it (or I) became rather plodding and stuffy to me. I think I just get tired this time of year, and want to look back and actually remember some of the things we did and read about, and I have already forgotten! I've purchased Preparing and have been looking through the manual. I really like her organization, but the days aren't appearing to be very *engaging*, either. Is this my imagination? I don't want to judge it unfairly. Please share your thoughts. Also...a disclaimer for those considering HOD, please don't let me discourage you! Their customer service is superb. Their program is well developed. I guess I just have a touch of 'let's make a memory fever' every spring. :D

Ginger

[ChicoryChick]

Ginger,

 

HOD has been great for us this year. It has helped me to accomplish all the things I wanted to do with my children in very doable portions. It is all the things you mentioned with the great CS, open and go guides etc. I must say that I had my daughter do Preparing more independently than it was designed because of the 3 younger students that I needed to spend time with. I won't say it had a lot of memory moments for us, but it had enough and as the years go by I am sure like most of the things we do no matter what we use it will blur together (like all the camping trips, all the times we went to Valley Forge, all the picnics we took etc). I think the good memories come not so much from the actual activities but from the interaction and love fore each other in doing those activities. My children may not remember the specifics of certain things, but they will remember the good times and warm feelings we had reading aloud certain books, singing the memory songs, doing the hand motions to poetry and psalms etc. With the 4 day schedule, Preparing did allow us to add extra fun memorable stuff like making goblets for our medievel dinner (the Laurie Carlson books are great for that sort of thing), nature studies, field trips etc. I am not trying to talk you into staying with HOD if you don't think it is right for your family, but to realize that if it is working with you in just about every other area you can add the fun memorable making things and make a good curriculum even better and more memorable. I hope this making sense. Just my .02 ;)