Getting ready for the new school year...
Well, as you can tell, I've been slacking with my posts lately. To tell you all the truth, I've been trying to prep and get ready for the new school year, which I'm sure I'm making more difficult for myself than most people would. I did send off my affidavit to the school district...and did receive my daughter's exemption in the compulsory attendance policy...so it IS official that we'll be homeschooling now; I just need to get the rest of my lesson plans finished.
This is the first year that my oldest child would officially be able to start school...so while we've been doing some homeschooling at home over the past year, I haven't been very strict about keeping to the schedule I'd originally set for myself. I do believe that we also tried to do a little too much in the beginning last year. We were providing our newly 5 y/o and almost 4 y/o with 1st grade materials...and while I don't think that was the problem (they were understanding it), they were getting a little bogged down with how long everything would take every day (so long of reading, so long of math, so much writing, history lesson, science lesson, spelling, grammar, etc.). It was just too much for their attention spans to take and often led to breakdowns/tantrums.
This year, I'm hoping to do better. We will still continue with 1st grade materials (again, they were understanding it)...BUT we're not going to be doing as much subject-wise. I'm going to focus mainly on their reading, writing, and arithmetic...and then once they've got those down and seem fine with the amount of time spent on each, I'll add in some history/science/other lessons (which the history/science are generally just me reading a passage to them and them listening/repeating what it was about...then maybe doing a coloring page or fun activity related to the topic)...or maybe I'll set aside 1 day/week solely for history/science (so they still get a little...even if not as much as there would have been on my original schedule).
My husband and I feel the most important things are the 3 R's...and that once they're doing well with those, the others will just come along and fall into place naturally. Our children are naturally curious as well...so they're constantly asking questions about things (What kind of bug/animal is that? What do they eat? etc.) and get a good bit of science just from that type of interaction. My husband's also a history buff...so he likes watching documentaries...which also leads to them asking questions. (Why are they fighting? Why did he (a king or dictator or whoever) do that? etc.) So...basically, I'm not worried about science/history...or particularly spelling or grammar...which often arise somewhat naturally in the course of reading. The curiosity is there and will cover some of the bases even without doing a set program of study (which we will eventually get back to doing).
Another problem I had with last year (and that the children didn't like either) was that the grammar program we were using was VERY repetitive. It spent about 15 weeks just talking about nouns...and not even particularly different types of nouns...but just giving the definition of a noun and then listing lists upon lists of examples. It was VERY boring...and after about the 3rd week of it, I could tell the children just started zoning out (and I can't say I blame them). So...I've been in the process of re-doing the grammar studies (which we may or may not immediately jump in to when we start). I'm hoping my new system will give enough examples and reviews to keep the things they learn fresh and in their memory...but then also move at a decent enough pace so as not to bore them. I am still using some of the materials/ideas from the book I had been using (which was First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise)...but am doing it at a quicker pace and adding other things to, hopefully, keep it somewhat more interesting. ...and, of course, if it ends up going too quickly for them, I can always slow down a bit...or add more review lessons if they're just not understanding a particularly concept.
We will be continuing this year with Saxon Math - Grade 1 (which they were understanding and seemingly doing fine with)...and I've also written/typed their reading/writing exercises...which takes passages from books that we own or that I got from the library and thought they would enjoy. The overall idea is based on the principles from The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Basically, they'll switch daily between me reading them a passage and them telling me what it was about (narration) and doing copywork from books they've already read or lessons we've done previously. They'll also be reading age/reading-level appropriate books from the library on their own to practice and extend their own reading skills.
My 4 y/o is actually well above par in his reading (he soaks everything up like a sponge)...but my 5 y/o (almost 6 now) still has some issues...so, since she's the one who would actually be in school this year, I'm taking a step back to help get her reading level up to his (while at the same time working on his writing...which isn't as great as hers...though he's the better speller (which he usually does orally instead of writing it)). They're both pretty decent at math...so that, as of yet, hasn't been a problem.
We've got family coming to visit in the coming week...so we won't officially start the school year until after they leave (probably around or shortly after Labor Day)...but I've been busy planning for it and am looking forward to, hopefully, having a better/more productive/less tantrum-filled experience than we did when we started last year. So...wish me luck. :)
...and as an added FYI, my daughter would be starting Kindergarten if she were attending regular school. She already knows all that a Kindergartner should know (shapes, letters, letter sounds, sight words (a, an, and, the, etc.), numbers/counting to 100, writing numbers, simple math, pattern recognition, writing her name, address, etc.)...she's just not a particularly confident reader yet...which is why we're wanting to work more on that to begin with instead of jumping into everything at once.
This is the first year that my oldest child would officially be able to start school...so while we've been doing some homeschooling at home over the past year, I haven't been very strict about keeping to the schedule I'd originally set for myself. I do believe that we also tried to do a little too much in the beginning last year. We were providing our newly 5 y/o and almost 4 y/o with 1st grade materials...and while I don't think that was the problem (they were understanding it), they were getting a little bogged down with how long everything would take every day (so long of reading, so long of math, so much writing, history lesson, science lesson, spelling, grammar, etc.). It was just too much for their attention spans to take and often led to breakdowns/tantrums.
This year, I'm hoping to do better. We will still continue with 1st grade materials (again, they were understanding it)...BUT we're not going to be doing as much subject-wise. I'm going to focus mainly on their reading, writing, and arithmetic...and then once they've got those down and seem fine with the amount of time spent on each, I'll add in some history/science/other lessons (which the history/science are generally just me reading a passage to them and them listening/repeating what it was about...then maybe doing a coloring page or fun activity related to the topic)...or maybe I'll set aside 1 day/week solely for history/science (so they still get a little...even if not as much as there would have been on my original schedule).
My husband and I feel the most important things are the 3 R's...and that once they're doing well with those, the others will just come along and fall into place naturally. Our children are naturally curious as well...so they're constantly asking questions about things (What kind of bug/animal is that? What do they eat? etc.) and get a good bit of science just from that type of interaction. My husband's also a history buff...so he likes watching documentaries...which also leads to them asking questions. (Why are they fighting? Why did he (a king or dictator or whoever) do that? etc.) So...basically, I'm not worried about science/history...or particularly spelling or grammar...which often arise somewhat naturally in the course of reading. The curiosity is there and will cover some of the bases even without doing a set program of study (which we will eventually get back to doing).
Another problem I had with last year (and that the children didn't like either) was that the grammar program we were using was VERY repetitive. It spent about 15 weeks just talking about nouns...and not even particularly different types of nouns...but just giving the definition of a noun and then listing lists upon lists of examples. It was VERY boring...and after about the 3rd week of it, I could tell the children just started zoning out (and I can't say I blame them). So...I've been in the process of re-doing the grammar studies (which we may or may not immediately jump in to when we start). I'm hoping my new system will give enough examples and reviews to keep the things they learn fresh and in their memory...but then also move at a decent enough pace so as not to bore them. I am still using some of the materials/ideas from the book I had been using (which was First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind by Jessie Wise)...but am doing it at a quicker pace and adding other things to, hopefully, keep it somewhat more interesting. ...and, of course, if it ends up going too quickly for them, I can always slow down a bit...or add more review lessons if they're just not understanding a particularly concept.
We will be continuing this year with Saxon Math - Grade 1 (which they were understanding and seemingly doing fine with)...and I've also written/typed their reading/writing exercises...which takes passages from books that we own or that I got from the library and thought they would enjoy. The overall idea is based on the principles from The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education by Susan Wise Bauer and Jessie Wise. Basically, they'll switch daily between me reading them a passage and them telling me what it was about (narration) and doing copywork from books they've already read or lessons we've done previously. They'll also be reading age/reading-level appropriate books from the library on their own to practice and extend their own reading skills.
My 4 y/o is actually well above par in his reading (he soaks everything up like a sponge)...but my 5 y/o (almost 6 now) still has some issues...so, since she's the one who would actually be in school this year, I'm taking a step back to help get her reading level up to his (while at the same time working on his writing...which isn't as great as hers...though he's the better speller (which he usually does orally instead of writing it)). They're both pretty decent at math...so that, as of yet, hasn't been a problem.
We've got family coming to visit in the coming week...so we won't officially start the school year until after they leave (probably around or shortly after Labor Day)...but I've been busy planning for it and am looking forward to, hopefully, having a better/more productive/less tantrum-filled experience than we did when we started last year. So...wish me luck. :)
...and as an added FYI, my daughter would be starting Kindergarten if she were attending regular school. She already knows all that a Kindergartner should know (shapes, letters, letter sounds, sight words (a, an, and, the, etc.), numbers/counting to 100, writing numbers, simple math, pattern recognition, writing her name, address, etc.)...she's just not a particularly confident reader yet...which is why we're wanting to work more on that to begin with instead of jumping into everything at once.
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