Curriculum 2007-08

Well, I hate to be a copycat, but Jennifer posted her curriculum choices for next year, and since I have mine mostly worked out, I thought I'd do the same. So, thanks, Jennifer, for the impetus!

For those that might not read regularly here, I have 4 children and work full time on second shift. My kids are David, age 12-1/2 in 7th grade; Emily, age 10 in 5th grade; James, age 7-1/2 in 2nd or 3rd grade; and Suzy, age 5 in kindergarten. (Only homeschoolers could be unsure of their children's grade level! lol)

Bible

All kids - Baker Bible Study Guide for All Ages - Finish Volume 3

and alternate with:

Character Building for Families – Volume 2

Math

David - Math U See – continue with Pre-Algebra, then move to Algebra 1

Emily - Math U See - Gamma and memorize all math facts

James - Math U See – Finish Beta, start Gamma

Suzy – learn the numbers and practice counting

Language Arts

Reading

All will do child-chosen silent reading and mom-chosen instructional reading (some aloud, some silent).

All will listen to Read-alouds, Mom-chosen, of general interest

Literature

David – still deciding (perhaps Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings?)

Phonics

James – Finish Alphabet Island Phonics 2B, Explode the Code 3 & 4, & Phonics Pathways (to supplement when needed

Suzy – Alphabet Island Phonics 1 and Bob Books when ready

Grammar

David – Sonlight Grammar Ace

Spelling

David & Emily - continue with Spelling Power

Penmanship

David Self-Instruction in Handwriting (Zaner-Bloser) Cursive

Emily Self-Instruction in Handwriting (Zaner-Bloser) Neater Printing & Cursive

James Self-Instruction in Handwriting (Zaner-Bloser) Printing

Suzy - Writing the Letters and her name

Writing

All kids will write back and forth to me in their Journals, and write to others via the postal service

Composition for David and Emily will be Institute for Excellence in Writing's course - Student Writing Intensive B.

Science

David – Apologia General Science (or possible Physical Science, if co-op offers this class)

Emily, James, Suzy – Scholastic Science Mini-Journals (9 mini units on various science topics)

Social Studies

Might do From Sea to Shining Sea & Sounding Forth the Trumpet since I already own those, thus continuing our American history study.

Or we may go on to Mystery of History Volume 2....

Physical Education

All kids will play AYSO soccer in the fall & spring.

All kids will have PE at co-op twice a month.

Will include in some form: Music Appreciation, Art, Geography, Typing

May also include Spanish, which I can teach, but I might get Rosetta Stone instead.

Teaching My Own Kids

I have had a very hard time deciding if I should take the job that has been all but offered to me at the Christian school for next year. (Full time teaching 3rd/4th). I prayed like I never have before and I very clearly heard from God that my calling is to teach my own children at home.

So, next year, I will be back home with my kids. Well, actually, starting June 16! lol

Things will be very different for us though, as I will be working full time, just not during the "school day". My job is Monday-Friday from 3:45pm to midnight. I am working in a plastic injection molding factory as a machine operator.

But I will be teaching MY OWN KIDS AGAIN! Praise the Lord!

Finished Mystery of History Volume One - Wonderful!

Friday was our last day of Mystery of History Volume 1! I am so excited that we have finished! We took about a year and a half to complete the curriculum. It was an awesome experience and I recommend MOH to everyone.

We will take a break from World History and do some American history before going on to MOH2, mainly because I cannot afford to purchase it right now.

I already have The Light and the Glory for Children (by Peter Marshall and David Manuel), as well as the 2 continuing volumes, so we will read these and do some corresponding activities before going on to MOH2. This will give us a "quick" survey of American history.

(Note: I am doing all the planning, but my husband Bob is doing almost all of the actual teaching!)

IEW, TWSS, SWI

I wrote: In other news, I've decided to put the IEW curriculum aside until I can afford to buy the SWI. The TWSS is too complicated for Bob to take over and I often don't have time or energy to teach it when I get home from work.

Michele asked about the alphabet soup! Sorry, Michelle, and any of my other confused readers!

IEW is Institute for Excellence in Writing. It is the curriculum written by Andrew Pudewa, who spoke at INCH last year.

SWI is the Student Writing Intensive put out by IEW. It is the beginning curriculum and it comes in 3 levels, depending on the age/grade of the student(s) using it. It is a DVD-based curriculum, with Mr. Pudewa providing instruction to the students via video. There are lesson plans as well, which I have, but they are less useful without the DVDs.

TWSS is Teaching Writing: Structure and Style. It is an informational DVD set for the teacher. I had intended to teach writing with just this information, but am finding it would be easier if I had the SWI.

So, on my curriculum wish list? SWI-B.

Playdough Day and Poetry

Due to Easter, I have three days off work - last Thursday and Friday, as well as today. So, I had lessons with the kids Thursday all day and Friday morning, instead of my husband being the teacher. I had plans to do lessons with the kids today as well.

However, last night I wasn't feeling very well and purposed to sleep late today, which I did. (At least compared to my usual 6:50 alarm.) The kids were encouraged to clean their rooms during that time, and they made some motions like that might be happening.

Right about the time I was hoping to start our lessons, Suzy got out her tiny pot of playdough that came in her Easter basket and asked if she could play with it. I agreed, and this led to James dragging out the playdough drawer. Emily joined in and they've been playing with playdough for over an hour now and don't show signs of stopping!

I find that amazing! If I had PLANNED for them to play playdough, it might have lasted fifteen minutes. So, today is Playdough Day. (or at least Playdough Morning!)

In other news, I've decided to put the IEW curriculum aside until I can afford to buy the SWI. The TWSS is too complicated for Bob to take over and I often don't have time or energy to teach it when I get home from work.

I have a book on writing poetry that I think we'll do for a couple of months. That shouldn't be too taxing for Bob to handle.

I'm a working mom and Bob is the homeschool dad!

I have gone back to work and Bob is the main teacher right now. This is NEVER how I imagined my life.

I currently am in my second week as an instructional aide at a local Christian school from 8:30-1:00 Monday-Friday. I am a teacher in all but job title, since I am the sole math instructor for the 3rd/4th graders, and I have autonomy over my lesson planning and teaching methods.

Bob has been teaching the kids, with lesson plans that I leave for him. We will continue this through the end of this school year and re-evaluate then. I am looking for full time work, but still am not sure where the Lord is leading us.

My heart is still at home with my children, although I do love my job. I would dearly love to be able to remain at home. I don't think I'd ever complain again.

Husbands Can Teach!

My husband has been teaching the lessons on occasion lately, when I've had job interviews or when I am substitute teaching. He has done pretty well, from the evidence! I still do the planning and leave him detailed instructions, but he does the teaching.

He has been here for nearly 5 years watching the teaching and the learning happen, so it stands to reason he'd be pretty aware of how it works. He does often help the kids one-on-one with their math or listen to them read aloud, but other than that he really never taught any lessons.

So, this was a pleasant surprise to me actually!

Monthly Fun Day

Today I decided to have our Monthly Fun Day. We did school every other day this week, so I figured it was a good day to choose.

I got the idea from my friend Jennifer who has Friday Fun Days weekly. Since we have co-op twice a month, I didn't want to dedicate one day a week for Fun Day, but figured that monthly would work for our schedule.

I also was encouraged to do this when I read It's So Much Work to Be Your Friend by Richard Lavoie. This book is about social relationships and children with learning disabilities. The author noted that board games are excellent ways for children to build social skills. Board games encourage things like taking turns, putting others' desires ahead of one's own, handling disappointment, and more, as well as academic skills like counting money and reading.

So, on our Monthly Fun Day, each child picks a board game and we play it for 45 minutes to an hour. That's 4 board games in case you lost count of my children. Today we played:

• Star Wars DVD Trivial Pursuit (choice of James, age 7)
• Go Fish with Barbie cards (choice of Emily, age 9)
• Lord of the Rings Monopoly (choice of David, age 12)
• Tractor Tipping (choice of Suzy, age 4)

I was holding out for the Cranium Kids game, but no one picked it.

My kids are sorely in need of practice in handling disappointment. lol

Interest in Falconry

David has recently read My Side of the Mountain, which is about Sam, a young teen boy who runs away from home and lives on his own in the Catskill Mountains of New York. Sam owns a hawk called Frightful. David was so impressed by this that he has begun to investigate the idea of owning and training a bird of prey. His preference at this point in time is a red-tailed hawk.

We got a falconry book from the library and he has been reading it. He would have to be 14 to train as a falconer and it takes 7 years to complete the training. So, it would be 2 years before he can even begin. However, I am hoping to schedule a presentation from a local falconer and/or a local artist who draws birds of prey.

How We Home-Educate, Part 3A

I started this post months ago and left it as a draft. Sorry! Just realized that I never finished it. So, it's on to a discussion of Language Arts!

Language Arts has been a sticking point for me for years now. I have a BA degree in English and I am a voracious reader. I like to think I am a competent writer as well. So, it stands to reason that I would want an above-average language arts curriculum, doesn't it?

However, despite lots of looking, I could not find an effective curriculum that would accomplish my goals, meet my children's needs, and not be a drag at the same time. Every now and then, I'd find something that looked promising, but upon closer inspection, I'd find something about it that wasn't what I wanted.

So, I've basically pulled together my own curriculum using different components instead of an integrated curriculum. I'll give you a list of the materials and then discuss how we use them.

• Spelling Power, beginning around age 8-9
• Grammar workbooks from no particular series, starting in about 5th grade
• English From the Roots Up, beginning around the same time
• Rummy Roots, to go with English from the Roots Up
  
• Institute for Excellence in Writing (IEW) for composition, just discovered it, but using as soon as a child's language skills allow them to read comfortably and write 2-3 sentences
  
• Handwriting, plain old Zaner-Bloser
  
• Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
• Journal Writing
• Reading real books
• A Beka reading comprehension speed drills
• Copywork
• Writing letters to real people

Spelling - When I taught school, I saw way too many of my students get A's on the Friday spelling tests and then misspell the very same words in assignments the following week. I wanted my children to avoid the trap of learning the words just for the test. My goal for spelling is practical application. What good are 100% scores if one cannot spell words when needed? Spelling Power is just what I was looking for. There are no weekly word lists, no weekly tests. Instead students are tested to see where to begin and then work through lists grouped by phonics rule. They are "tested" daily to see which words need to be learned, and then those words are practiced. Rarely does one of my children have a word for more than 2-3 days; usually words are learned by the next day. Review tests and delayed recall tests are periodically scheduled to make sure words are retained. The real strength of Spelling Power, other than the absence of the "weekly spelling list" is the method for studying the words. A step-by-step process is used, and this could be used with any program. I no longer purchase the blank Spelling Power books to test and study in. Now I use a sheet I found on the internet that I feel has improved on the original. (It's HERE on Paula's page; click on Modified Study Sheet.) Of course, Spelling Power isn't perfect - some of the rules are not grouped according to my preference, but we can adapt.

Grammar - I don't think early grammar instruction is useful or beneficial at all, unless the child specifically requests it. I think all the grammar that is generally taught (and retaught and reviewed and retaught) in the elementary grades can easily and more effectively be taught in one junior high school year. In this opinion, I am referring to the mechanics of writing more specifically known as parts of speech, sentence structure, and punctuation. I think all of these concepts are better learned in the elementary years by modeling and practice during actual REAL writing instead of endless boring worksheets and drills. (Sorry, Easy Grammar users!)

So, even though I have an twelve-year-old son, his first study of grammar was last year when we did a short workbook from the teacher store. (Frank Schaffer, I believe) It was a basic introduction, and generally worthless, if I am being truthful. He was in fifth grade. This year, in sixth grade, he is doing another cheap basic workbook, probably because I feel a little insecure in my convictions about this, having never actually used this method all the way through before. He does a page a couple times a week or so, so it's not a major component of our language arts curriculum. We do Mad Libs from time to time also, so this helps with identification and understanding of parts of speech.

I would really like to peruse Analytical Grammar to see if it is workable for us. The philosophy behind the program seems to fit with mine. Anyone have it that I can look at? It's pricy or I would have ordered it by now. Probably next year will be David's Grammar Year.

Ok, this takes forever! lol I'll work on the other components another time. Stay tuned!