This week’s theme is about sharing your 2008-09 homeschool agendas and plans. You’ve been preparing your plans for sometime and you’re ready to go. Or you’re still in the planning-stage and need some inspiration or tips on what to use. Because many use different curriculum and methods there is always something new to be gleaned from other homeschoolers. It’s always fun and interesting to see what other’s are using and the WWWWH as Robin Sampson suggests. So this week I hope you will share what you’re doing this year for your homeschool agenda.
Share the different curriculum you’re using. You can also include what age/grade you’re using it for, how long you’ve been using it, and why you like it.
After some years of using the school at home method (Bob Jones, A Beka) I found that style of homeschooling was not working very well for our family anymore. We branched out and chose to do Tapestry of Grace as our main curriculum. It covers history, reading, geography, writing, church history, and art. I enjoy this because we can all explore the same historical times yet each of them having the curriculum tailored to fit their levels. It is somewhat teacher intensive in terms of planning but we are getting our niche down and I am enjoying seeing my kids excited to read some of the books it calls for. We are doing Rosetta Stone for Spanish (great for learning to speak it, not so great if you want to learn the grammar behind it), Easy Grammar (looks great but haven't started it yet), Math U See (love, love LOVE MUS!), Spelling Power (again LOVE this, so much better than list memorization spelling that did NOT work for my kids), as well as supplementing some with Creativity Express for more art instruction(cute and fun, plus they are learning art history), Draw Write Now for how to draw(kids have fun with this and their drawings have improved), Typing Instructor (haven't started yet) and some thinking skills books and games. For science we are going to go through the Moody Science videos along with some hands on books and science kits.
We have lots of games that we play that are educational but fun. Some of our favorites are the 10 Days games for geography, and Zookeepers Nightmare for thinking skills.
Because there are so many different subjects and some are on the computer I have come up with a schedule for each child so they have their time on the computer, time for me to teach them, and time for them to work independently, along with much needed recesses. We don't have this completely set it stone, after all we homeschool for a reason and want some flexibility but our goal is the schedule.
9 comments:
Hi De,
Thank you for being a faithful prayer warrior with all my requests. So many people need our prayers. So much hurting in the world. Even among christians. But we have hope!
And I know what you mean about God sending something your way just when you need it. One night driving home after fighting with my husband I kept singing As The Deer...I looked in someone's yard and there was a deer. Just one. I had never seen deer in that neighborhood before. I cried harder and just said - Thank you Lord. Thank you. I know you are here.
Please let me know if there is anything I can be praying for you this week!
P.S. Glad to have you on Facebook! I love to play the games. Too much I am afraid!
Thank you for sharing your agenda/schedule! I am a new homeschooler so I am gleaning from all the veterans. :D Love how you branched out from ABeka and Bob Jones. Your curriculum looks wonderful!
Sherry
Hope you have a great school year! :)
~Lynn
We are using A-Beka for Seth and a mixture of that plus Mighty Mo for Micah. Then cool classes from charter school on Tues. Micah has CP and is seven. Since he doesn't have the muscle control to write, we are implementing a speech augmentation device called a Mighty Mo. He is in the process of learning to "write" and spell, etc. using this touch-screen device that speaks for him. Ah, technology!!
Anyway, A friend has posted something fun to do with little ones called "lapbooking" on www.rubyslippersschool.blogspot.com
We made a robot themed lapbook centered on math facts and it was fun!! He likes it a lot.
Ahhhhhh!! Zookeeper's Nightmare. I still have nightmares of my own about playing that game at your house.
I love homeschooling because each family can do what is best for them: straight curriculum to winging it, stringent schedule to no schedule, 6 days a week, 4 days a week, year-round, 6 months, whatever. That's the best thing about the idea of homeschooling, I think.
Oh, yeah! Love Spelling Power! Easy Grammar was a bit TOO easy for us, but the Daily Grams review later on worked very well for a 10-minute review each day.
I'm hearing SO MUCH about this Math U See program. Very interested in seeing how it works with my grandson, who will be switching from Saxon to Math U See. If it's that good, I might talk my DD into trying it with the 1 and K boys.
We're TOGgers too! Love it!
I have used some of what you are using this year and have found that Easy Grammar is great and works well if I keep my kids motivated and I check it regularly.
I'm hoping to start both mine in a typing program as well this year but it will probably mean that I have to let them use my desk top to do so as it is the best computer set up we have - as to having a good chair and proper position for typing.
Elaine
We are Abeka users who hope to branch out in the coming years too! Thanks for a great post! Blessings,
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