How are things going!?
We’ve been home for a few weeks now and things are going well. I love that we have the flexibility to be eclectic leaners! Lucas is happy and thriving. He has a best friend that lives 2 doors down and they also homeschool. We don’t see them much during the day but it’s so fun to have them close.
We are also doing our best to plan playdates with his public school friends. So far we’ve only had one, but it’s still January!
If you are curious about our day, here is a little insight to what we might cover. We probably spend 2-4 hours a day on work. We usually work for 2 hours in the morning and an hour in the afternoon.
I keep a backwards schedule. I write down everything we did instead of everything we should do. It feels incredibly to see everything you have accomplished!
Of course, if I am ever sick and daddy has to take over for the day I will have to write out a lesson plan for the day but that should be quick and easy. I just look back at what we did the day before to see where we are for the current day. Does that make any sense!?
Home Ec.
Lucas helps with chores like unloading the dishwasher, putting groceries away and switching laundry. He makes his own lunch and sometimes helps get lunch or snacks for his brother.
We take breaks throughout the day for him to play and be a kid. Nathan craves his attention and we have plenty of hours in the day to get in all done in a gentle and fun manner. Lucas is only 7 so playtime is incredibly important at this age.
Math
We almost always start with some form of math. We are listening to our Classical Conversations (CC) skip counting when in the car running errands. We wanted to finish up some of our first grade math leftover from last year. Lucas was bored to tears but I wanted to mark it completed. Silly, I know. I have decided we will NOT continue with the second half of first grade, but instead jump straight into our Saxon math 2. When prepping for that I found a book called Math: Right in your own backyard. We are going to do that before the Saxon book. I think it could be a a fun break from regular math.
To be honest we do quite a bit of fun math. We are on the butterflies book in the Life of Fred series. I know many families use it as their entire curriculum, for now it’s just extra fun for us. I just pulled out our flash cards. My friend Stephanie reminded me that is really all they need at this age. We also do Math Seeds when I need to give Nathan attention. We usually do 2 of these things. We never do all of them. I let Lucas be my guide. What is he most interested in today. He really LOVES math.
ELA (reading/literature/handwriting)
Our Language arts is all over the place as well! I’m relieved to say that his reading is finally clicking. Lucas can read ANY and ALL CVC words and he is picking up on his sight words more easily. We are using the Fry 1000 list his Public School teacher gave us and we are almost perfectly fluent with the first 100. He does far better when he realizes that some of his sight words can be phonetic, too. We skipped ahead a bit in his All about Reading book, so he doesn’t get annoyed at the “easy” stuff. I’m just about close to tears of joy that there is actually “easy” stuff for him now!
We also started on All About Spelling level 1. It’s a very gentle introduction to spelling that REALLY truly, makes sense. I was annoyed with the lists he brought home from public school. They seemed to be all over the board and made no sense what so ever.
We ar also doing Language Lessons for the elementary child. I think we may order IEW for next year. I really loved how things flowed for William when we were on a CC campus.
We are also doing mix of Reading for grade 2 on Easy Peasy All in one Homeschool. We are currently reading and discussing poetry. We may start memorizing some poetry. I’m not sure yet ….
We are trying to cover as many exciting books as we have the time and patience to read. Lucas does his best to read any new words we come across, but for now I am still reading to him most of the time. We are about to start The Tale of Despereaux, and I found some discussion questions to go along with it.
We are just finishing up the handwriting book he was using in public school but we are going to order a cursive workbook soon.
Science/P.E.
Our science “spine” is Mr. Q’s Life Science. It’s very simple and to the point and includes very hands on experiments. The best part?! It was FREE! I’m not 100% sure if I will use Mr. Q next year or not. I have plenty of time to think about that. We also watch a lot of YouTube videos because those are fun and are great for those times Nathan needs my attention (are you seeing a pattern here?!).
I plan to pull out 201 awesome, magical ….. experiments book I have. Would you be surprised if I said this was also leftover from when we were in Classical Conversations? (CC)
We take regular nature walks/bike rides around our neighborhood. This can also count as P.E.!
Lucas takes 2-3 45 minute Tae Kwon Do classes/week.
History
We are using Story of the World Volume 1., which covers ancient times. I’ve been wasting a ton of time looking for free activity ideas to go with it and finally bit the bullet and ordered the activity book meant to go with it. Lucas LOVES to hear the stories. We are trying to find books from the library that coordinate with the dates. We may pull out our classical conversations timeline cards and start listening to the song again. This way he can start seeing that these dates are REAL and just where everything he is learning fits. It will be a GREAT visual.
Art
Our art is very sporadic. Our history projects include art and we have a Draw. Write. Now book on the Polar/Arctic/Antarctic that he really seems to enjoy. I have our Drawing with Children and Classical music for dummies books leftover from CC, we will get to those later.
William has a water colors book he didn’t finish a few years ago. I need to see if he wants to complete it or if we can pick up where he left off. I think Lucas would enjoy it. I’m trying to get him to listen to a variety of music but for some strange reason my kids don’t like music. This makes me incredibly sad.
Some children don’t like music. Some people blame society’s obsession with TV and video games. Have you tried having all sorts of different music playing at a low volume some/all day? Some kids tend to start humming music they hear and that might get them interested.
I’m not sure if you are homeschooling your kids right now or they are in public school, I’m having a hard time figuring out the timeline of the homeschool posts.
My question is why did you decide to home school in the first place. I am just curious. Was the school not meeting the kids needs? Did you just want to be in charge of what they learned? You seem to be doing an amazing job, but it is not something most people are willing to take on.
Thanks!
My older son was bored out of his mind. His needs were not being met.
Other than the one playdate, is he getting enough socialization with other children his age? When he gets to an age where he can’t be home-schooled, will he have the necessary skills to be able to interact with others? I know from personal experience that a lot of students in my first year of university washed-out because they didn’t understand how to deal with the wide diversity of other students. I’m assuming that you have that in mind. Sounds like home-schooling is a lot of fun.
You’re joking right?? This is a rather insulting question to ask a homeschool parent. Of course I socialize my child. He’s far better socialized than kids that sit in a classroom, sometimes not allowed to move or even speak to their peers for 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Homeschooling allows him to PLAY and interact with kids his age and kids older in REAL life settings. Do research on modern homeschooling before you ask a question like this.
Who says he will reach an age where he can’t homeschooled? I can homeschool all the way through high school if we so choose. He will likely start taking college classes as a high school freshman for duel credit.
That “one” playdate was a public school friend. I don’t mention every social interaction. As far as dealing with other students my children probably know far more about diversity most adults. He plays with kids HIS age, can entertain his little brother and friends, he can fight to hang with the big kids and carry intelligent conversations with adults. THAT is socialization.