Year 2 of homeschooling! Whew!
Homeschooling is a constant and ever changing process. Which is okay and good because it means you are adapting and perfecting for your child and this is helping your child grow in the direction they need to. I wanted to document what we are working on right now - for me to look back on when Melanie is at this stage and to just have and remember.
First Grade:
Handwriting - I wasn't crazy about last years handwriting and actually stopped using it. So this year I tried a new one and I like it. Mallory struggles with handwriting. She may not think she does, but she does. She likes to rush and get done so letters end up backwards and squished together and words run together. She doesn't follow the "normal" way of writing letters. She starts from the bottom to form letters instead of starting from the top like they teach. I don't get on her too much about that as long as I can read what she wrote and it is neat.
Math - Again a learning process for us. I did not do math every single day last year. I did it only twice a week. Which means she did not finish her book last year and just finished it this week and will be starting her new "first grade" book. Although I feel like she is still right on point with her math skills and is not behind the norm. I am not crazy about her math, but I am hesitant to switch her now because the math curriculums out there are so varied and different. Going to do my best to keep trucking on this one.
Science - This is the first year with science and I absolutely love it! I did not like science as a kid and took no interest in it. So I was not thrilled about having to do this as an adult and teach my kids. I found a program that is completely scripted!!! Yay! So it tells me EXACTLY what to say and teach. Love it! And! I love the curriculum. Spot on for her age!
History - Going from Kindergarten to First Grade was intimidating to me. Adding a whole lot more subjects and time and responsibilities. So I didn't pick a huge history course this year for her. We are learning about different countries. The kids seem to be enjoying learning about all the different cultures out there and the animals that go with that country. With this course I bit off more than I can chew. I am having to be really selective in what we are able to do because of time.
Reading - When we ended last year I was so frustrated and broken about Mallory's reading. I even just gave up and stopped doing her reading. She was fighting me. She absolutely did not like it. She wasn't getting it. I quit. Not my best moment, but it is what I did. I was even starting to question if she had dyslexia because she was reading and sounding out words completely backwards. So I really worked hard on finding her a better program. A more interactive reading and not just a sit and read program. I even took her to the eye doctor to make sure she could see correctly. (She does have a slight astigmatism, but nothing to correct at this age.) This new reading program is 5 stars! It is by far the best thing of our year! She took off! She is closing in on finishing her first grade level curriculum in the next few weeks and will be starting the second grade level immediately afterwards. Plus she is reading with such confidence and efficiency now. She reads her own assignments and work. This week she had a science test and she just took it and read it and turned it in. I never had to say anything to her! Just incredible to me. Which is where my reward and joy is because I taught her this! I feared teaching our children to read and now she is doing it! She is reading books like crazy and enjoys reading. She is even devouring big kid chapter books! So proud! I do want to give a lot of credit to this reading program! It is wonderful!
Spelling - I started her on spelling a couple months into school because she was ready. It is the same program as her reading and so far I think it is great. Teaching her great concepts.
Bible - We have the kids in AWANA at church and that is what I am using right now. It feels like too much to toss in another Bible curriculum.
Pre-School:
I never did pre-school before. I sent Mallory to public school twice a week for preschool. I didn't do that for Max and so I am having to teach him everything from scratch! Eep! Not going to lie, it has been a rough year. He is such a goof-ball and ham that he doesn't take anything serious so it appears to me that he isn't obtaining anything I have taught him. But he has to be. I hope. I see glimpses of him knowing new things every now and then.
We are just doing a letter a week. I started out hardcore with him and had 4 days of work and piles of stuff each day. As we come to a close on our first semester he is battling headaches. Which we then decided his headaches were from exhaustion. I was pushing him way too hard. He wasn't getting breaks and naps like most 4 year olds did because I needed him to keep working to finish all that I had assigned.
It was a hard lesson to learn for me. I feel so super bad that I was causing him exhaustion and stress to the point of my little 4-year old battling headaches! Feel horrible about it! So I have taken a new approach with him and we are just doing one lesson (3x a week) from
100 Easy Lessons and he does one letter activity (4x a week). Which he loves so much more! He is now more willing to do that one activity than before when he had 4 things to do.
Getting him to rest and be still and quiet is still hard. It helps him so much when I am able to do that. I have made Mally & Max such buddies that they have a hard time doing things without each other. So he doesn't want to have quiet time by himself while Mally still gets to do school. If I get him to rest two days I call it a lucky week.
Extra Activities:
Choir - I found a homeschool choir program for Mallory. It has been so much fun. She goes once a week for a lesson. She gets to be part of a giant homeschool group of kids. We get to meet new families and see that we are not alone in this adventure. There are so many homeschool families in our area - more than we ever imagined. The choir is real! They are teaching techniques and reading notes at first grade! It is not just some kids screaming out a song! They are in-tune! They had a Christmas concert and I was so excited to show it off so I invited both grandparents. I knew it would be hard for them to get to it because it was late at night and a good 1.5 hour drive for them. I prayed it would be worth it and boy was it worth it! They all left blown away! There is a spring choir coming up and I will more than likely signing her up again because it was just so good and Mallory loves to sing.
Phy. Ed - The college puts on a phy. ed. class for homeschoolers with their students who are going to school to be phy. ed teachers. We haven't started yet, but I am very excited about it. Max will be able to participate in this one. He has sat on the side lines long enough while Mally has done ballet and choir and now he gets to do this one. We will participate in this once a week.
Local Co-Op - A local homeschool mom decided that we needed a co-op that was local. Everything else we do we have to drive 45 minutes away for. There is such a big group of us here, why not start something here. So she did! She is amazing at it too! She has a big house and a big yard and we get anywhere from 5-10 families to show up. And homeschoolers tend to have 2-6 kids! You can about imagine how many kids show up! The first trimester we did an outside phy. ed. class. So they did baseball and basketball and obstacle courses and who knows what else. This mom just doesn't say, hey today we are playing basketball. She teaches them the correct terminology and makes them do it correctly. She is awesome! This trimester we are doing lego challenges along with speaking. The third trimester will either be art or more phy. ed depending on the weather.
Story Hour - we still participate in the weekly story hour at our library. Mallory is too old, but they don't get a big turn out and she likes it yet and they have said she can still come. I just remind her every week to let the little kids go first. This week we were the only ones that showed up so my kids got their very own private story hour. Which they loved. Plus we get so many library books for our schooling that we are bring 30-40 books home with us each week. Yes, we do read that many in a week.
Mom's Goup - The same homeschool mom that does our local co-op started a mom's night. Moms only, go to her house once a month to ask questions and talk about our schooling highs/lows. We get a great turn out and it is so encouraging to talk to these more seasoned moms. We even have a few moms with kids that have graduated and are in college! She usually has a theme for us each month to get us going and to guide us back to if we get carried away. : )
That about sums up our schooling right now.
