Homeschool
We've started doing school full time this week. Remember, we started 5th grade back in March, and got about 1/4 of the way through. We took time off with the move and now that we are starting back up again, many subjects are doing their quarterly review. How perfect is that! Thank you, God, I know that was you. Also remember, we basically took two months off to move. I do not like taking summer vacations, but it couldn't be helped. I'd much rather do school all year and just take a week off here and there. SO MUCH of the first month or two of school is review because kids lost so much over summer. If you start right in with the next school year's curriculum, you can skip a month or two of work! Well, we spent a week reviewing, then moved right on. (You'll especially see this in math. When you go from long division and fractions to the next year and start with place values, you can review quickly and easily.)
Bible:
We are still working in her daily devotions for girls. She reads about jealousy, gossip, self esteem, and other things girls deal with. She is immature for her age and isn't in a classroom setting with a bunch of girls, so this stuff is only happening on small levels for her, but as it's happening, we talk about what she read about in the Bible.
I plan to add whatever she is doing at church Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights as soon as the summer is over and the church starts all that up again. I think it'll mean more to her to reinforce the lessons she is already learning than to do yet another curriculum.
Spelling:
We are still using 4th grade Abeka spelling. We started this last year and are just making our way through at her own pace. When we get a new spelling list (20-30 words), I run through the list with her and see what she knows how to spell already. Then the list she doesn't know (usually around 6-12) we use as a spelling list. BUT, even though she is an amazing speller, this method doesn't work so well for her. She'd rather have one word assigned to that day, then we test those 5 words on Friday. That works for her! No problem.
Grammar:
We completed grammar for the year. We got it out of the way early on and finished the whole book. The homeschool reviewer in Maryland said we don't have to do grammar anymore after this - after 5th grade. (I mean, just parts of speech and diagramming sentences. We will still work on the grammar necessary for her to be a good writer.)
Writing:
We are still using the same writing curriculum we started in March. I love it. The Growing with Grammar curriculum we used for three years wrote this one - Winning with Writing. I really liked how the grammar curriculum broke everything down and the writing one is even better. It's even less dry and each little step is broken down at her level. We just finished the personal narrative section - this week was reviewing what we learned before. Since she loves to write, this was a breeze. Next week we start talking about using descriptive language. She will LOVE that!
Reading:
Kara always wants more of this. We use Rod and Staff 5th grade reading. She hates worksheets, so she reads the story for the day and we discuss the teachers version of the workbook. (Usually she doesn't look at the answers, she says them out loud, but sometimes I have her just review it on her own.) The workbook talks about the advanced vocabulary (seriously - these were my SAT words in high school), most of which she knows from the books she reads, and reading comprehension. Her comprehension is off the charts and I am so happy for her that this is so. This will help her in life so much. The stories in this curriculum all are very moral and Biblical based stories and poems. I love that this is what we read for school.
Cursive:
If you have been reading my blog since we started homeschooling, you'll remember that Kara absolutely hates cursive. I tried curriculum after curriculum, eventually I ended up putting it away for a while. Then we picked it back up and I had her tracing one letter at a time on my tablet. I had to make it fun for her again. We did that for a long time until it was fun again. Now I have her tracing my cursive. I have her trace a letter at a time, then a whole word. Just teeny tiny baby steps, but if she doesn't hate it, if she can do it, if she can read it, I consider that a huge success.
Math:
We are still using Teaching Textbooks. The hilarious part about this is it comes with disks and is a computer based curriculum. That's why we bought it. Kara felt like it was a game. (And it was great for me to walk away and let her do a subject individually!) After a SHORT while, she didn't like the computer anymore and really just wanted me to teach it. It's very hard for me to teach math because it's the subject that comes easiest to me. It's hard for me to explain something that just makes sense. "I don't know, it just is." I really have to try and break down step by step for her. But, I use the book anyway, so that helps. Kara just had her quiz (we are on lesson 48 of 116, so that's a little more than a third of the way through. Huh. Well, we'll just keep going and start the next book when we're ready.) Anyway, I am really pleased to see this week that she remembered what we were doing and has been challenging herself to not need my help walking her through the problems. What a difference in her maturity.
Health:
We use Abeka's health. We have since the very beginning. I like the presentation, the short sections with questions we can do aloud, the images, etc. We reviewed the circulatory system last week and this week we are working on vitamins and minerals.
Science:
We use BJU (Bob Jones University) for science. I LOVE their books and workbooks. We used them last year. I got ahold of a free set of 5th grade books, all we had to do was buy the workbook. Sweet! Last week we reviewed geology and fossils. This week we reviewed the third chapter - mass & matter. She really loves science, but only as long as we are reading the books together and not doing too many worksheets. Believe it or not, she'd rather not do very many experiments either! I learned a while ago that she learns best by reading, which is why I picked the curriculum I picked.
History:
We haven't started this back up again yet. We started American History in the spring. We learned about Leif Ericsson and some explorers when moving took over and we had to take a break already. I bought two books specifically laid out to use library books for teaching history through historical fiction. It's how I learn history the most and she loves reading so much. And for some reason history textbooks are all horribly boring. Names and dates. Who remembers that? Let's get the general story of history laid out there with the order it all goes in and we'll get to the specifics later. I am going to work this weekend on exploring our town library (which is significantly smaller than the whole county's resources in Maryland I used to have access to), to see what I can piece together. I will buy the rest. Kara loves learning about native americans and how they taught the Europeans how to live off the land. Any and all books about growing food, running a farm, keeping animals, are fascinating to her. I think this will be a fun year.
P.E.:
We used to have horse lessons and swimming on our list, but it's been a while since we've done either one! I just got the key to the pool here yesterday and it's been rainy. I hope to take her soon, but Kara's exercising has been seriously minimal these days. Except for the occasional hike in our woods. Occasional meaning once.
Art:
Kara is an artist. She is always drawing and sculpting and creating something on the computer. I don't need a set curriculum for her - every time I look to buy one, they all look dumb compared to what she already does on her own. I do plan to investigate teaching her famous painters/artists. Maybe after the new year.
Music:
We are working our way through a list of composers and a list of instruments. I need to continue through next week.
Programming:
Kara isn't only an author of books, she loves to write code too. She uses Scratch and Alice3, which help her write the code. Every time she plays a new video game, reads a new book, anything, she writes a game that goes with it, complete with drawing all her own graphics. She is amazing and might even be a prodigy. I am so proud of her.
I love homeschool more than I can express. It's something I always said I would never do, until God called me to it. It is the joy of my life to spend my days with Kara, 100% in charge of her education. I always say, it's not for everyone, but it is perfect for our family! It really helps Kara thrive and I will continue to do it until God says to stop. For now, I believe He is telling me to continue on through high school graduation. I'm up for the challenge! God is using it in more ways than one (as He usually does) - it is helping my anxiety, it is helping me chill and not be a perfectionist, and it's helping me bond with Kara. I thank you, Lord, for giving me this gift!
Bible:
We are still working in her daily devotions for girls. She reads about jealousy, gossip, self esteem, and other things girls deal with. She is immature for her age and isn't in a classroom setting with a bunch of girls, so this stuff is only happening on small levels for her, but as it's happening, we talk about what she read about in the Bible.
I plan to add whatever she is doing at church Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights as soon as the summer is over and the church starts all that up again. I think it'll mean more to her to reinforce the lessons she is already learning than to do yet another curriculum.
Spelling:
We are still using 4th grade Abeka spelling. We started this last year and are just making our way through at her own pace. When we get a new spelling list (20-30 words), I run through the list with her and see what she knows how to spell already. Then the list she doesn't know (usually around 6-12) we use as a spelling list. BUT, even though she is an amazing speller, this method doesn't work so well for her. She'd rather have one word assigned to that day, then we test those 5 words on Friday. That works for her! No problem.
Grammar:
We completed grammar for the year. We got it out of the way early on and finished the whole book. The homeschool reviewer in Maryland said we don't have to do grammar anymore after this - after 5th grade. (I mean, just parts of speech and diagramming sentences. We will still work on the grammar necessary for her to be a good writer.)
Writing:
We are still using the same writing curriculum we started in March. I love it. The Growing with Grammar curriculum we used for three years wrote this one - Winning with Writing. I really liked how the grammar curriculum broke everything down and the writing one is even better. It's even less dry and each little step is broken down at her level. We just finished the personal narrative section - this week was reviewing what we learned before. Since she loves to write, this was a breeze. Next week we start talking about using descriptive language. She will LOVE that!
Reading:
Kara always wants more of this. We use Rod and Staff 5th grade reading. She hates worksheets, so she reads the story for the day and we discuss the teachers version of the workbook. (Usually she doesn't look at the answers, she says them out loud, but sometimes I have her just review it on her own.) The workbook talks about the advanced vocabulary (seriously - these were my SAT words in high school), most of which she knows from the books she reads, and reading comprehension. Her comprehension is off the charts and I am so happy for her that this is so. This will help her in life so much. The stories in this curriculum all are very moral and Biblical based stories and poems. I love that this is what we read for school.
Cursive:
If you have been reading my blog since we started homeschooling, you'll remember that Kara absolutely hates cursive. I tried curriculum after curriculum, eventually I ended up putting it away for a while. Then we picked it back up and I had her tracing one letter at a time on my tablet. I had to make it fun for her again. We did that for a long time until it was fun again. Now I have her tracing my cursive. I have her trace a letter at a time, then a whole word. Just teeny tiny baby steps, but if she doesn't hate it, if she can do it, if she can read it, I consider that a huge success.
Math:
We are still using Teaching Textbooks. The hilarious part about this is it comes with disks and is a computer based curriculum. That's why we bought it. Kara felt like it was a game. (And it was great for me to walk away and let her do a subject individually!) After a SHORT while, she didn't like the computer anymore and really just wanted me to teach it. It's very hard for me to teach math because it's the subject that comes easiest to me. It's hard for me to explain something that just makes sense. "I don't know, it just is." I really have to try and break down step by step for her. But, I use the book anyway, so that helps. Kara just had her quiz (we are on lesson 48 of 116, so that's a little more than a third of the way through. Huh. Well, we'll just keep going and start the next book when we're ready.) Anyway, I am really pleased to see this week that she remembered what we were doing and has been challenging herself to not need my help walking her through the problems. What a difference in her maturity.
Health:
We use Abeka's health. We have since the very beginning. I like the presentation, the short sections with questions we can do aloud, the images, etc. We reviewed the circulatory system last week and this week we are working on vitamins and minerals.
Science:
We use BJU (Bob Jones University) for science. I LOVE their books and workbooks. We used them last year. I got ahold of a free set of 5th grade books, all we had to do was buy the workbook. Sweet! Last week we reviewed geology and fossils. This week we reviewed the third chapter - mass & matter. She really loves science, but only as long as we are reading the books together and not doing too many worksheets. Believe it or not, she'd rather not do very many experiments either! I learned a while ago that she learns best by reading, which is why I picked the curriculum I picked.
History:
We haven't started this back up again yet. We started American History in the spring. We learned about Leif Ericsson and some explorers when moving took over and we had to take a break already. I bought two books specifically laid out to use library books for teaching history through historical fiction. It's how I learn history the most and she loves reading so much. And for some reason history textbooks are all horribly boring. Names and dates. Who remembers that? Let's get the general story of history laid out there with the order it all goes in and we'll get to the specifics later. I am going to work this weekend on exploring our town library (which is significantly smaller than the whole county's resources in Maryland I used to have access to), to see what I can piece together. I will buy the rest. Kara loves learning about native americans and how they taught the Europeans how to live off the land. Any and all books about growing food, running a farm, keeping animals, are fascinating to her. I think this will be a fun year.
P.E.:
We used to have horse lessons and swimming on our list, but it's been a while since we've done either one! I just got the key to the pool here yesterday and it's been rainy. I hope to take her soon, but Kara's exercising has been seriously minimal these days. Except for the occasional hike in our woods. Occasional meaning once.
Art:
Kara is an artist. She is always drawing and sculpting and creating something on the computer. I don't need a set curriculum for her - every time I look to buy one, they all look dumb compared to what she already does on her own. I do plan to investigate teaching her famous painters/artists. Maybe after the new year.
Music:
We are working our way through a list of composers and a list of instruments. I need to continue through next week.
Programming:
Kara isn't only an author of books, she loves to write code too. She uses Scratch and Alice3, which help her write the code. Every time she plays a new video game, reads a new book, anything, she writes a game that goes with it, complete with drawing all her own graphics. She is amazing and might even be a prodigy. I am so proud of her.
I love homeschool more than I can express. It's something I always said I would never do, until God called me to it. It is the joy of my life to spend my days with Kara, 100% in charge of her education. I always say, it's not for everyone, but it is perfect for our family! It really helps Kara thrive and I will continue to do it until God says to stop. For now, I believe He is telling me to continue on through high school graduation. I'm up for the challenge! God is using it in more ways than one (as He usually does) - it is helping my anxiety, it is helping me chill and not be a perfectionist, and it's helping me bond with Kara. I thank you, Lord, for giving me this gift!
Comments
I sure love writing about it. Not only because this is my journal and I always will want to look back at the memories, but because school is such a big part of our lives. Such a great part!