So I was thinking that if I write it here, then I will have something more concrete and then maybe - just maybe I will stop changing my mind! HA HA HA!! It is worth a shot right?? So here goes...
Bubba (7th grade - 12 year old Bibliophile)
Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra
Apologia General Science
Tapestry of Grace Year 1
First Form Latin
Rosetta Stone - Spanish
Traditional Logic (Memoria Press)
Christian Studies (Memoria Press)
Roots of English (Memoria Press)
All About Spelling (level 7)
Striker Jones Economics
Road Map USA - State Study
** Following Narnia - this was my original choice BUT I received an email about a NEW program called Cover Story by the One Year Adventure Novel people!!! I am really excited about this and I may switch to this for this year!!!
Princess (5th grade - 10 year old)
Teaching Textbooks level 5
Apologia Zoology 1 (fall)
Apologia Zoology 2 (spring)
Writing with Ease
All About Spelling level 5
Tapestry of Grace Year 1
Christian Studies (Memoria Press)
First Form Latin
Striker Jones Economics
Rosetta Stone - Spanish
Road Map USA - State Study
Noodle (5th grade - 10 year old, ASD, with some sensory issues, and disgraphia)
Teaching Textbooks level 5
Apologia Zoology 1 (fall)
Apologia Zoology 2 (spring)
Writing with Ease
All About Spelling level 5
Tapestry of Grace Year 1
Christian Studies (Memoria Press)
First Form Latin
Striker Jones Economics
Rosetta Stone - German
Road Map USA - State Study
Sweet Pea (4th grade - 9 year old Bibliophile)
Teaching Textbooks level 4
Apology Zoology 1 (fall)
Apologia Zoology 2 (spring)
Write with Ease
All About Spelling level 4
Tapestry of Grace Year 1
Christian Studies (Memoria Press)
Striker Jones Economics
Rosetta Stone - French
Road Map USA - State Study
I am still lacking a solid choice for Grammar. I really love the Idea of The Phonics Road and The Latin Road I mean I LOVE it!! It looks like it will fit right in with my desires for a classical education for my kiddos. But it is costly, and considering I have 4 that would be beginning it I am apprehensive.
So there you have it... thats my plan... atleast for this week :-)
Thursday, May 16, 2013
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
The year is coming to an end....
But the work is just beginning.
We spent the majority of this year stumbling and trying to find our way through this journey of homeschooling. You would think that this being our 3rd year that we would be good to go... yeah not so much! The first 2 years we didn't really homeschool, we were living life with the illusion of homeschooling while still adhering to all the rules and regulations of the public school system. So in essence, this was it... I took the plunge and we began our homeschooling journey.
Now since I was such a novice at this, uhm... new found freedom, yes that is what we will call it, I was eager to get advice form EVERYONE that was currently homeschooling and especially those that had been doing it for a while. I got sucked into the whole concept of "you can homeschool for free". I can assure you now that homeschooling for free is NOT POSSIBLE! You will always have some sort of expense, there are ways to cut costs, so homeschooling on the cheap is possible - just not free!
We started our year with grand delusions of having all this enrichment time for hands on learning as well as the book lessons. Uhm, whoops I didn't purchase the right books for my kids. So we had a number of meltdowns and well most of them were by me... and the "school" days went from fighting for 2-3 hours a day just to get through the monotonous lesson that I had gotten for free (which wasn't really free, because I had to print it out - and ink ain't cheap!) to me finally just being satisfied if the kids finished 1 10 minute lesson in math.
I know... right now you are freaking out thinking - THOSE KIDS HAVE LEARNED NOTHING ALL YEAR!!!!!
Not true! While I don't really subscribe to the "unschool" style of homeschooling, that kinda is what we had going on from September 2012 until February 2013. Because that is when I found my groove! I spent countless hours scouring curriculum websites and asking questions and downloading samples and and and, well you get the point. What we did learn is something that no one could ever put a price on.
1. If it looks too good to be true - oh good golly, it is!
2. Sometimes too much advice is a bad thing.
3. Cooking, cleaning, and household chores teaches A TON OF STUFF!!! Like fractions, multiplication, spelling, life skills. All my children aged 8-13 know how to wash their clothes in the washing machine and how to fix themselves a meal :-)
4. Watching historical movies is a great way to get kids excited about history.
5. Baking is science!
6. Love fixes most things, even crappy attitudes.
7. When all else fails - fall to your knees and pray, because God will always light the way for you.
So instead of freaking out while putting my kids portfolios together for our end of the year review (my first EVER!) I am placing my faith in God - because this crazy road we traveled this year, sometimes he was the co-pilot, but alot of the time he was in the drivers seat.
So that's it... it's the end of the school year, but I have so much work still ahead of me! I have picked out all the marvelous things we will be using next year, and I am vowing now to write something about each and every one of them :-)
We spent the majority of this year stumbling and trying to find our way through this journey of homeschooling. You would think that this being our 3rd year that we would be good to go... yeah not so much! The first 2 years we didn't really homeschool, we were living life with the illusion of homeschooling while still adhering to all the rules and regulations of the public school system. So in essence, this was it... I took the plunge and we began our homeschooling journey.
Now since I was such a novice at this, uhm... new found freedom, yes that is what we will call it, I was eager to get advice form EVERYONE that was currently homeschooling and especially those that had been doing it for a while. I got sucked into the whole concept of "you can homeschool for free". I can assure you now that homeschooling for free is NOT POSSIBLE! You will always have some sort of expense, there are ways to cut costs, so homeschooling on the cheap is possible - just not free!
We started our year with grand delusions of having all this enrichment time for hands on learning as well as the book lessons. Uhm, whoops I didn't purchase the right books for my kids. So we had a number of meltdowns and well most of them were by me... and the "school" days went from fighting for 2-3 hours a day just to get through the monotonous lesson that I had gotten for free (which wasn't really free, because I had to print it out - and ink ain't cheap!) to me finally just being satisfied if the kids finished 1 10 minute lesson in math.
I know... right now you are freaking out thinking - THOSE KIDS HAVE LEARNED NOTHING ALL YEAR!!!!!
Not true! While I don't really subscribe to the "unschool" style of homeschooling, that kinda is what we had going on from September 2012 until February 2013. Because that is when I found my groove! I spent countless hours scouring curriculum websites and asking questions and downloading samples and and and, well you get the point. What we did learn is something that no one could ever put a price on.
1. If it looks too good to be true - oh good golly, it is!
2. Sometimes too much advice is a bad thing.
3. Cooking, cleaning, and household chores teaches A TON OF STUFF!!! Like fractions, multiplication, spelling, life skills. All my children aged 8-13 know how to wash their clothes in the washing machine and how to fix themselves a meal :-)
4. Watching historical movies is a great way to get kids excited about history.
5. Baking is science!
6. Love fixes most things, even crappy attitudes.
7. When all else fails - fall to your knees and pray, because God will always light the way for you.
So instead of freaking out while putting my kids portfolios together for our end of the year review (my first EVER!) I am placing my faith in God - because this crazy road we traveled this year, sometimes he was the co-pilot, but alot of the time he was in the drivers seat.
So that's it... it's the end of the school year, but I have so much work still ahead of me! I have picked out all the marvelous things we will be using next year, and I am vowing now to write something about each and every one of them :-)
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