• Aug. 20, 2006
School Days
Tomorrow starts week four of our school year. The last two weeks we have just covered bare minimums since we were busy playing with cousins. It is such a treat for us when we get to see our relatives. That always takes priority.
For those of you who have been praying for my dad - thank you. At our last Mayo Clinic appointment his PSA level had dropped from 989 to 10. Normal is anywhere between one and four. That is a huge improvement. We think his shot is wearing off, so he's a little hormonal. He is scheduled for his next shot mid-September. If all continues to go well, then we are looking at a life expectancy of two years, possibly more. God knows!
Back to school.... We have taken a "less is more" approach to schooling this year. I am teaching a Kindergarten Co-op for Reagan and her cronies and that is our only scheduled co-op. We generally meet twice a month and have been having a total blast. They are all so cute!! Kevin and Rylie are taking an art class on Fridays and Kyla will take writing (IEW), Spanish and art. Since PE falls on Fridays this year we are pretty much sticking to a four day school week.
Here is the long-awaited list for our year. Please keep in mind that we don't do everything everyday!!
- Bible: Treasure Hunters and Picture This! If you are not familiar with either one, they are vastly different. Treasure Hunters is about reaching the heart of your child, while Picture This! is a drawing program where the kids actually trace images as they learn about each book of the Bible. So far both are a big hit, although Picture This! is their number one request. Below is a picture of some silly glasses we made during our last Treasure Hunters session. It was in relation to Saul (a bully) becoming blind. Our theme for the week was: kind people are strong on the inside.
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Math: We are mixing it up this year. I have one working on Math-U-See and for her learning style it has been a perfect fit. For the first time in her life she is excited about math and looks forward to her lessons. For the others we are using Horizons.
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Penmanship: A Reason for Writing for the olders and Handwriting Without Tears for the littles. Handwriting Without Tears is new for us, so we will see how that goes. The biggest pro for us for using A Reason For Writing is that the lessons, if done correctly, don't take much time. Now if one decides to putz around, well then, it is a different story.
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History: We are continuing with Mystery of History. We love the fact that it is written with a Christian worldview in mind. The author continually brings the lessons back to Christ and how everything in history works together to accomplish HIS purpose. The kids each have their own timelines this year and I have high hopes that we will keep up with them. We are using History Through the Ages as well as Wonders Of Old from Knowledge Quest. I truly love history and am feeling like I am learning it for the first time.
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Spelling: We are tackling Spelling to Write and Read again this year. I kinda gave up on it last year and instead of buying something else am going to give it fair shake this year. I think its a great program, not so convinced it fits my personality. We'll see....
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Phonics: The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading. My two second graders are already reading, so I am using the lessons as more of a reinforcement of phonics rules. We are throwing a little Abeka in there too (mainly just the charts).
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Grammar: I don't start grammar until third grade, but after they hit that stage then we use Shurley English and love it! My mom, who is a retired school teacher, convinced me to use her old copy and I was loving how much we were all learning! Since then, I know of several friends who have given it a try and love it too! It is a little pricey, but definitely worth it!
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Geography: This is new for us. After reading a very well written blog from someone I have the highest regard for (S.S.) we purchased Galloping the Globe site unseen. It is fantastic. A huge bonus for me was the fact that I can incorporate some of our Five in a Row books into the study of each country.
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Science: We are studying the human body. We were going to do a study from Apologia, but after I found out that the Body Worlds exhibit is coming to Arizona the first of the year, I decided to switch to the human body (the beauty of home schooling)! So we are doing life size drawing of our bodies and inserting various body parts where they go. It should be interesting! I already have Jim slated to teach the reproductive organs part of the lesson. Yeah, I'm a big wimp!
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Reading: For my kindergartener and preschooler we are doing Before Five in a Row. We did this many moons ago and it is fun to rediscover the beauty (and simplicity) of the program!
Well that about does it. Throw in a little piano, book club reading and Latin and I think that rounds it out. I still wish I could have found a way to squeeze in a KONOS co-op this year. We loved our co-op last year and will be sad to miss out on all the fun they will have this year. I have one who is more disappointed than the others when he found out that they will be studying Indians. Maybe next year bud!!
