My last post was in June! We had a busy summer. We spent a lot of time at the pool, had a lot of play dates, and went to Branson for the weekend with my parents, brother and niece. Lexi played softball and both girls did some camps, swimming lessons and VBSs (what's the plural of VBS?). We celebrated Lydia's 4th birthday and my 29th and it rained. A lot. Overall, it was a good summer. I had intended to keep some school going during the summer but we really didn't do much other than read a lot. I haven't decided if I want to keep taking traditional summers off or if we are going to do a more year round approach with breaks off as needed. We shall see.
The girls started school at the beginning of August. I started with just math and writing the first week, then added reading the next week, and this week I added science, social studies and spelling. And then last night they begged to do art so we did that too. It was a rough transition back to school at first since we pretty much did whatever we wanted this summer, but 3 weeks in, we are getting used to our routine again and moving right along.
What are we doing in school this fall?
I always enjoy reading what other homeschooling families are doing and what curriculum they use, so here's what we are using and doing this fall. Lexi is in 1st grade and Lydia is in preschool. I linked to most of our curriculum in case you wanted to know more.
Lexi
Reading- Learning Language Arts Through Literature Red Book (2nd grade). She left off halfway through this in May and that's where we are picking up.
Math- Singapore Math, book 1B (halfway through 1st grade). I think we will finish this book in a couple of months and move on to book 2A. We are also using a cool program I found on Teachers Pay Teachers called Kicking It that helps kids learn their basic facts. It is karate themed and she likes that.
Science - Noeo Science, Biology 1. We started this in the spring and the girls love it. Right now we are learning about desert life, and we will move through different biomes, the human body, plants, and more. This will take us most of the school year.
Spelling - All About Spelling Level 1. We will be done with this about moving on to Level 2 in a few weeks.
Social Studies - Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times. We did several months of this last fall and while she enjoyed it, I felt she would get more out of it if we waited til she was older. So we are starting over from the beginning. We are also reading tons of American Girl books.
Writing - Essentials in Writing Level 1.One of my main goals for Lexi this year is to build her writing skills so she is able to write longer and more independently, so I picked this up. It has videos that teach a component of writing and then practice pages. It's nice to be able to set her up with that so she can work independently for a while. I am going to mix it in with Draw Right Now books and just free journal writing. She enjoys telling stories a lot so I am wanting to help her have the skills to write more on her own.
Art - Artistic Pursuits K-3 Vol 1. I picked this up at a sale and we're going to just throw it in and see how it goes. Both girls absolutely love art. I was planning to wait until next year when Lydia has more skills, but they were begging to start so we did our first lessons last night and they enjoyed it.
Music - Piano lessons with my mom once per week. Thanks Grandma Diane! She is also learning sewing from my mom.
This looks like a lot when I see it all typed out like this, but we don't do every subject every day and most days we are done before lunch.
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| The cats are always very helpful |
Lydia
In January, Lydia started showing interest in doing her own school and she worked 2/3 of the way through All About Reading Pre-Reading. She was begging to do school every day, even on weekends, and loved this curriculum. We got through 2/3 of it and then stopped for summer. When we picked it back up, she wasn't super interested and it had gotten kind of repetitive. So I picked up Level 1 from a friend and sat down with her, but she was NOT having any of that. She could do it but was very against it. So I have decided to wait on that for a while until she is interested. I don't want her to hate learning and she is just 4 so we have time. We might try Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons (which I used with Lexi) finish the Pre-Reading curriculum, or try Level 1 again after a while. Or maybe we will keep waiting!
This past week, I set up some activities for her on ABC Mouse just to see how it would go and she is really enjoying that! It's an online preschool program that has little books, games, puzzles, coloring activities and songs. I set her up on my Chromebook with her headphones on and she just goes. It's adorable to hear her singing to herself. It's kept her interest for a bit while Lexi and I are working on subjects that require my complete focus. I think we will keep using it as long as she enjoys it.
I also purchased Spielgaben (in short, a giant box of loose parts for building with) and she has been playing with that every day. She's a super creative, hands-on girl and I can see her using this for quite a while. I've printed out some of the curriculum that came along with the set, but right now she is just playing with it on her own and having fun. I'm going to keep things pretty laid back for her this year since she is young.
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| I believe this is a fairy wedding. |
Other Stuff
We do venture out of the house now and then. ;) Lydia just started gymnastics and appears to love it. We go to my mom's every week for piano, sewing and some grandma time. Every Thursday afternoon we attend Park Day with our homeschooling friends and have several hours of play time. Lexi wants to start karate. We've checked out one place and are going to look at another soon to see which would be the best fit. We read from our devotionals most mornings and are excited that Awanas will start up in September! Tim and I are excited for since it means we'll get alone time every week without finding a sitter. We have play dates with friends and hit up the library about every week. (We read a lot. My voice is tired.) Honestly, I find that socializing tends to get in the way of school more than the reverse. We're blessed to have awesome friends and family on this journey with us
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| Back to School Pool Party with friends! |
So now you know what we are doing in school this fall. I need to take more pictures. Hope everyone's school years are off to a great start!
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