About our Homeschool
We started homeschooling in January of 2008. Our oldest spent 1.5 years in the local kindergarten (he has a July birthday and I was scared of first grade). We had our fair share of issues with the local school but it had been on my heart to homeschool long before these issues arose. We selected Sonlight Core C as our curriculum our first year but found that it wasn’t the right fit for our family. We planned on finishing up the year with it anyways until I was blessed enough to find Story of the World 1 and the accompanying activity guide for $1 at a garage sale. I’d read The Well Trained Mind and even the first bit of Story of the World but it wasn’t until I saw the activity guide that I was hooked. We made the switch and have been very happy ever since.
In January 2008 we had the challenge of starting homeschooling while I was blessed with my first pregnancy. That was quite the adventure. We didn’t get done nearly as much as I would have liked due to my extreme exhaustion but fortunately Michael hasn’t fallen far behind. Apparently a brief spurt of “unschooling” worked for us. Michael’s reading took off like no other without any pressure or help from me. He also figured out the basics of multiplication and division during this time. The most important thing we learned in our first year though was all about having babies. We read every book we could get our hands on about having babies (at least the ones that didn’t lean too heavily on the “we need a hospital” ideology). Then we were blessed to have both of the older boys there for the birth of their baby brother. It was an awesome experience for all of us and something they would never be able to learn in a traditional school.
Our 2009 academic year went fairly well. Michael finished up the 2nd grade math book and read his first Harry Potter book (The Prisoner of Azkaban for those in the know). He’s a little behind in writing and grammar and his handwriting is atrocious but he’s a boy and that’s fine with me. Joseph did really great getting our kindergarten bases covered. We went really light on the structured learning for the first 6 months of the year but were able to change curriculum in August and still made it through just fine. He’s just starting to read “silent e” words and is doing really well with math. I’ve noticed that he’s doing quite well sounding out words he sees around his world too. We still didn’t hit Science like I would have liked and our arts education still isn’t where I’d like it but the boys are being exposed to the arts so that’s going to have to do for now.
Now we’re starting our 2010 academic year. Michael’s in 3rd grade, Joseph’s in 1st and Zedekiah is starting to come along for the ride. Maybe someday I’ll come back and link this all up but I might not since I hardly ever update anything. In the mean time, here’s our curriculum choices:
Michael and Joseph combined:
Story of the World 2: The Middle Ages (with the activity guide) - This is our history curriculum. It’s based on the classical method and involves lots and lots of extra books and activities.
Real Science 4 Kids Chemistry Pre-Level 1 - We’ll be finishing this up this year. It’s a very short program and I don’t think I’d recommend it now that we’re actually using it. I’m beefing it up with youtube videos and outside reading to solidify it a bit before we move on to another program.
Bible Study Guide For All Ages - I’m loving this but last year we didn’t make the time for it. I’m hoping to set aside more time for it this year.
Michael:
Math U See: Gamma - We’re learning multiplication this year!
Handwriting Without Tears: Cursive - We’re giving this a go even though I’m not sure he’s ready.
Writing With Ease Level 2 - This is our writing program. We’re about a year behind on this but just started it 4 months ago, I’m hoping to make it to the 3rd level sometime this academic year.
First Language Lessons: Level 2 - This is our grammar program. It’s really working for Joseph (who actually hasn’t started it but has learned a lot from Michael using it) but I’m not sure about Michael. I’m going to see where we’re at when we finish this level and go from there.
Wrong Way Jonah! - This is a Kay Arthur bible study that’s part of a series that I bought a lot of the books in thinking Michael would like them. We’re on Day 2. He has mixed feelings. I’ll be interested to see what he retains from it by the end of the book.
Dive into The Dictionary - We started this worbook last year and Michael hated it. We’re having better luck this year.
Explode the Code: Book 8 - We’re going to go ahead and finish up the Explode the Code series. Michael seems to be having trouble sounding out and spelling words and ETC helped a lot with that when he first started reading. We’ll be doing book 4 (which we skipped intentionally but now makes sense to go back and do.)
All About Spelling Level 2 - I really like All About Spelling. At first I thought it was really helping Michael, now I’m not so sure. The problem might be that we weren’t consistent enough with it for the rules to sink in so this year I’m vowing to be more consistent to give it a fair shot.
Modern Curriculum Press’ Maps, Charts and Graphs C - I like that these books help learn basic geography with little help from me.
Joseph (1st Grade)
Ordinary Parent’s Guide to Teaching Reading - We’re on lesson 67 and hope to get about 100 lessons done this year. This program is working out really well for Joseph. I like that it’s completely reusable when Zedekiah gets there.
Math U See: Alpha - Yay Math U See! Yeah, nothing to say about it…..
First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind Level 1 - We’ll be subbing different poetry after looking at what’s included (Michael only memorized one complete poem and is still working on another). Joseph has learned a lot from listening to Michael’s lessons so I’m sure he’ll do well when they’re actually his.
Explode The Code Book 2 - Michael’s reading really took off after doing the first 3 ETC books, I’m having Joseph skip the first one and he’s doing really well with the 2nd one.
Handwriting WIthout Tears - I really like this handwriting program, especially for boys.
We’ll start Joseph’s spelling and writing programs later in the year. I’d like him to be reading better before we start either one.
admin | 
December 31, 2008 9:09 pm
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