2017-18 Spring Semester Homeschool Plan

  Yay! We did it! We are half way through the school year!

*Insert shouts of JOY here!*

  We took a longer Winter break than planned, due to sickness.  That was not fun. We had one good week of school, and then more sickness. My hopes and dreams of being out of school 'on time' are quickly slipping from my grasps. *Dramatic crying*

*Then I remember!*

  That's ok. This happens every year, that's why I used my brain powers for good, way back in August, I padded our schedule with time off for the unexpected. Homeschooling comes with many perks, this is one of them. 

*Gives self pat on back, moves forward with life, coffee in hand.☕*

As with every year, we reevaluate at the half way point.

What's working?

What isn't?

What's behind?

What's ahead?

Who's struggling with a certain subject/curriculum?

Who's not happy with their school?

  Yes, I let my children voice their opinion in their education. I always listen, and take action where genuinely warranted.

  This year has been mostly good, the core subjects have been working fairly well. It took a few years to find the ones that work best for us.

  Only one major change needed to take place with the older two, they hated their reading program.   They stuck it out through the first half of the year, upon my request. They really did give it the good homeschooler try. I have spent many years cultivating a love of reading in my children. If they both voice complaints on an ongoing basis, then I listen. I'm not going to push a curriculum on them that might affect their love of learning. (Yes, there are many times they must just do what is difficult. This went beyond something being difficult.) It quickly came to my attention that this reading curriculum was not going to work for us.

A sample of Alex's reading.

   We decided to go back to the guidelines we were following last year. They are working through a comprehension book and reading from various titles pre-approved by me. After each book is finished, they have to give a written book report, make a project to reflect what they have learned or give a narrative to me in great detail. They both love doing reading this way, and I find they retain a lot more of what they are reading. 

  Alex started back to school reading "The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia)", Emma is reading Little Women.

  Other than the reading changes, the older two are sticking to what we started with at the beginning of this school year. We are still using Saxon Math, Easy Grammar, Sequential Spelling, and a variety of other curriculums, programs and resources. 

  Alex decided that he wanted to pick up a second science curriculum along with the one he was already using. He is using Abeka science(A half year course) and Apologia Anatomy.

  Emma started her Abeka science and is also studying a second science topic. 

A sample of Emma's reading.

 Addison is doing really well with everything we chose for her this year. She finished her last math curriculum, right before winter break. I know which one I would like to switch to next, but I am waiting until she has done a little more of Life of Fred. We do Life of Fred in spurts at our house. The kids tend to get bored with it after a certain amount of time, then we switch back to a more traditional math curriculum.  I do love how much they grow in their problem solving abilities while using LOF.

She is also having fun playing Prodigy Math.

  Addison also switched away from her reading program, she had a huge jump in her reading abilities and surpassed the level we were using. She is now working her way through the entire Magic Tree House series and reading a large variety of books from our personal library, and the public library. 

She is also doing a daily comprehension book, spelling with site words workbook, science nature study, animal study and a few other items.

(If people are interest in a full comprehensive list of how we structure our school, I would be happy to make another post. :) )

A sample of Addison's work.

  Together, we are doing geography, history, bible, art and a read aloud. Our current read aloud is The Long Winter.

  As I mentioned in another post  I have been known to drop the ball with planning our history curriculum. To save money this school year I decided to put together our own history. It's great when I am on the ball with planning. It's not so great when life happens and I fall behind. (The next time I do this I will plan the entire year, before the year begins. I planned the year almost completely with every other subject. I was leaving some wiggle room with the history, it did not work in my favor.) I am sitting down now to finish planning the rest of the year. No more excuses for this Mama getting behind on that.
Although, even when I am not on the ball the older two kids are always reading at least one nonfiction history book, whether it be a broad overview of time, a biography or a specific subject. (They are really enjoying the Who Was Book Series.)

  I typically use Mystery of History and I might switch back to it next school year. It really is easier for me to be able to fall back on a preset plan. Hence the need for me to plan farther in advance. A friend sent me her study guide for history for her kids. She is one of those rock star moms who has her children's entire education plans written out in great detail. I will probably use that as a loose guideline for us to follow the rest of this school year.

  I am becoming aware of the areas that I am lacking as a educator, and trying to remedy them. We all have our strengths and weaknesses, we just have to learn how to improve upon them, or work around them. Plus I really feel like I need all of my ducks in a row, because high school is coming.

   This strikes great fear in me. Mainly because it is the unknown. Thankfully, I have an amazing group of ladies at co-op who have gone before me. They speak of it like it is no big deal. We will be finding out for ourselves in a couple of years.

 Well, that is where we stand for this half of the year. I'm pleased with our progress in most areas. The kids are happy, yet challenged and life is moving forward.

Spring semester 2018 here we come! 
*Reaches for more coffee, and maybe some chocolate too.* 
**Clearly, homeschooling is not always a good influence on my yearly goals.**

Why We Are Using Saxon Math This Year...(Also A Brief CTC Math Review)

 We have tried a few different math curriculums in our homeschool over the years.

 Our children are all very different. They are all over the board with learning types, styles and concepts. It can be a lot to keep up with. I have went back an forth with different curriculums over the years.

 Many factors come into play when picking a curriculum.

- Budget
- Learning styles
- Is it a consumable, do I want a consumable
- Spiral vs Mastery
- Will it fit with our personal schooling style
- How much will everyone hate this. Yes, that is a huge factor. lol

This list goes on and on and is different for each family. We have tried workbooks, online, etc.

Each one has worked and not worked for us for varying reasons.

Our most recent math curriculum was CTC Math and Life of Fred(More on LOF in a later post). It is an online curriculum and fairly cheap if you have more than one child. I actually really like this curriculum. The best part of this course is that it is mostly hands free for the parent. I would step in to assist with learning a difficult concept, but the majority is taught on the site itself. They even send you a weekly progress report! It is pretty darn cool.

 The children's reviews on CTC Math were mixed...

-Alex did ok with it. (He could probably use any curriculum. He hates them all. Math is not his favorite subject. Want to know his favorite subject? Minecraft. Yes, I know that isn't a subject. Hence the reason I do not base all of our Math choices on Alex's opinions.) 

-Emma tried her hardest to like it. She does with everything. However, we have to make a few concessions with Emma's learning style. She struggles with Auditory processing, (something we found out last year.) and the online math..that is visual and described by a man with an Australian accent...was not working for her. 

- Addison prefers workbook page style math..so she barely used CTC. She said it was fun and called it a game when she used it.

So, while CTC is actually a great product...I would be sticking with it if it wasn't causing so much of an issues for Emma...we had to go back to square one for Math this year. 
I asked around. Friends and family have made many suggestions. However, our budget is tighter than normal this year. So I did some praying and decided to go old school with the math. 
Saxon Math has been around a LONG time. I even did it when I homeschooled, many years ago!

 


Reasons why we are using Saxon Math this year include...

-It works. As I said above, Saxon has been around for a long time. It's methodology is sound. I can still remember some of the lessons I learned from my own Saxon Math days.

- It is spiral, but not overly so. It moves forward with each concept, building with each lesson. It has a section for review built into every lesson. While some children may not need the review and repetition...my children actually benefit from it.

-There is lot of memory work built right into the curriculum. The home study packet comes with printable sheets to practice speed drills of addition, subtraction, multiplications and division..

-It is cheap and you can find it EVERYWHERE! Because this curriculum has been around for so long, you can find it all over Ebay, and other resale sites. There is enough of it that the prices are not terribly high. We were even blessed to receive a few pieces for free!

- It is working for the older two.(Addison is using something else this year.) Emma has been slowly working through one of the books this summer(For fun. Yes, I have one of those kids.) and she is really and truly learning! It is so fun to see her curled up with her math and enjoying it. That makes this Mama's heart happy :)


Do I think that Saxon Math is going to solve all of our problems and end with us happily skipping to the table to do math all year long?

Um..no.

I have taught my children long enough to know that every curriculum has it's positives and negatives. It is life. It is education. It is parenting. You do what works, search for something new if it doesn't. Or, take a bit from everything.
Also, there is no perfect math or Perfect *Insert subject here* curriculum for any two people on the planet. It is trial and error. 

Do I hope that Saxon works well enough for everyone, that we will just continue forward with it?

Yes. Math has been the only subject*So far) that I have not quite found what really works for our family. I love our Grammar, Spelling, Reading and most other subjects. They work for the kids' learning styles and with how our homeschool functions. 

However, Since I have been at this for a while, and know better than to not be prepared. I do have a couple other curriculums, that were recommended by friends,..that I have researched...tucked into the back of my mind. (They are also bookmarked in my computer.) 

One last thought...

 I am a person who prays. I do pray over my children and their education. That being said, I was recently speaking to one of my mentors and she gave me a bit of advice..which lit a fire under me with praying for my children and their education. 

 She told me that before she handed them every subject, she prayed over it. Obviously not in some grand way... but that she was continually in prayer their entire school day. That has stuck with me and reminded me. What our children learn and their up bringing and education isn't solely up to me. It is up to God. 

 We as parents just have to do our best, rely on Him to guide us and teach to the best of our ability. 

 But we also need to remember to leave gaps for God to fill in the spaces. 

Why? Because God can do such amazing things with those spaces! 


All your children shall be taught by the Lord, and great shall be the peace of your children. 
Isaiah 54:13

What is the best way to know we are doing our best? 

It is to pray over our children, our school, our walk and our words. He will show us the way and He will also fill in those little gaps that we lay awake worrying about. 
 
 Blessings,

~Lyndsay