Choo choo! All about the learning express! Feeling fairly settled in after our move, today the kids and I began our official journey into 2nd and 5th grade. We kept a bit of schooling going all summer to keep brain atrophy from setting in. But today we took a swing at all 4 subjects for both kids. With this being our 5th year of homeschool, I’ve learned (the hard way) to keep expectations low and to-do lists lower. I’m hopeful that several of the things we’ll be doing this year will lead to simplification and a more productive and peaceful year. First, we’re sticking with our favorite math curriculum - Math-U-See. Some how we lucked out that the same curriculum works well for both our kids - even though they’re of differing genders. I’ve heard this is not always the case. Second, I’ll be teaching them together in the subjects of science (as we did last year) and history. With a three year spread between them and both of them reading well beyond their grade level, this works nicely for the two of them and is a huge time-saver for me.
Lastly, we’re taking a new approach to language arts by switching to Shirley English, digital edition. For as much as I looooove to read and write, I have also discovered that I looooooooath teaching language arts. Loathe. It. What we were using before (good stuff from Peacehill press…great curriculum, nothing inherently wrong with it) was making us want to pluck our eyelashes out, slash our wrists, and beat ourselves with chains. Okay, maybe that’s a little over-dramatized. But we were not loving life in the language arts arena. I longed for a (free) tutor that would whisk my children away to pour into them the finer points of English and language arts. But then I woke up. Shirley English, digital edition, seems like the next best thing. We’ll trial it out and I’ll let you know. :-)
This first day was full of fun and surprises. Our son was able to articulate his long term goals for his life. And they were hilarious. To me. Our daughter, bless her heart, had a rumbly tummy all day which made for some interesting sounds and smells. And she still managed to ace her math test. As we rounded the corner to close out our day, nearly at dinner time, I was reminded of what a privilege it is to stay at home and prepare my children for their place in the kingdom of God on earth.
Here are a few other things we’re excited for this year:
Overdrive access through our local library district - so many titles to choose, books available in print and audiobook formats, for a variety of platforms!
Weekly Homeschool Academy - a public school district in our area offers a one-day-a-week program for homeschoolers to enrich and enhance what they’re already learning at home. 8:15am - 3:15pm…we’ll see if these 2 homeschoolers can hack it!
Zoo membership - with a zoo merely 20 minutes from our home, why not take advantage! We’ll use these field trips to further our science curriculum for the year, Apologia’s Zoology 3 (land animals)
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