It's been a while since I've posted, as our lives over the past few months have been incredibly busy. The military has sent us back, as they consider it, "overseas". This time, we are now stationed in Canada! Our new home is on several acres of land, with woods all around. We purchased a trampoline, and between that and the woods, fires all the time, we are in heaven in our new home. It will get really cold here, colder than this Floridian is prepared for. But we have a wood-burning stove that is suppose to be amazing. I have visions of fires going, everyone at the dining room table, doing school, Little House on the Prairie style. I doubt it'll really be like that, but it's my vision. ;-)
Speaking of school. When we moved here, I learned that the Catholic schools were publicly funded, so we could actually send our kids to Catholic school and not be concerned about the financial costs. However, after prayer and discernment, we realized that we have been on this homeschool road for many year (This will be year 9!) and that the door to brick and mortar school is basically closed, unless God makes it the only option for some reason. I've got to say, realizing that we're in this the long-haul finally, has been pretty relieving in some ways.
So with that said, many people ask me "What curriculum do you use?" and I always have to laugh, because I use such a hodge-podge, of what works for us. So, below is a quick summary.
Z in 7th, H in 6th, and A in 4th:
- they will do everything the same, with the exception of math. H and A will continue using Teaching Textbooks, but Z has been bored, and will be trying Saxon this year.
- We are attempting Apologia again this year, doing Anatomy and Physiology. (I attempted Apologia before, the year Max was born, and it just got completely neglected)
- We are again using Bravewriter for all of our Language Arts. (I briefly posted about it before.) This year the older two are moving on to the Boomerang level, while A will stick with the Arrow. The first books will be
- We will stick with Seton Religion for all of them, and the older three will be doing Seton's Reading thinking skills and reading comprehension workbooks as well, just because I think they need some extra practice.
- Z and H are also doing two courses through Homeschool Connections online this year- Civics and Essentials in Writing 1&2.
- And my dear husband is planning to teach Latin during his lunch break/in the evenings.
B is starting Kindergarten this year! It's hard to believe, but she is so incredibly excited. Like her siblings before her, she will use MCP Math, and Little Angel Readers to learn to read. I have bought her Seton's science and some "Young Scientists Club" lab experiments to do as well. She will use Who Am I? by CHC for religion.
Then there's how i plan. I'll be honest, I've felt pretty confident in my homeschooling the past few years, but this year I'm adding an extra child (Plus an active toddler haha!) and more courses than the past. So I try to be organized. First, I use an excel spreadsheet. Each kid gets a tab and I basically plan out the entire year. After they've finished an assignment, such as lesson 1 of math, I color it blue so I know it's completed. This way, if we get a bit ahead in one subject, and behind in another, I can still stay on track and not get lost. I keep these for every year, and I've found it very helpful when another child comes along. For example, I was able to grab the year Z&H were in 4th grade, and paste some of it in to A's assignments. And it's a good reminder of what I used for each kid.
Then each kid gets an assignment sheet. I paste the stuff from above in to this assignment sheet and they use that to stay on track and know what they're suppose to be doing through the week.
The bottom includes the passage we are working on in Bravewriter and their spelling words. "Other" always includes things like soccer practices, Bible study, swim practice, etc. Anything that's not our normal but good for them to know for the week.
And the final part of my planning is I needed a way to keep on track of what I need to actually teach (verses independent work). I bought a Happy Planner at walmart, and it's perfect because it has multiple columns, one for each kid. I write down what I need to specifically teach each kid during week. This is a new addition, so hopefully it works.
I hope sharing what I use, and how I organize our school days may help someone! I'm hoping to blog more in the near future, but we all know how life works. Here's hoping!
