|
Schoolin' On the Road
Jun. 1, 2007
Let's see...it's been about 2 and a half months since I posted. Things school wise are going about the same. We are still working through Switched on Schoolhouse for Math, Language Arts and Science. DS is doing reasonably well...he's got high B's according to the grading scale that AOP puts out for use with Switched on Schoolhouse. I thought about changing to a more lenient grading scale when I set up the program, but I decided that an 8 point scale is good. It makes him reach a little more, when he cares about grades, and may give me a more accurate picture of his standings. Not that I really care about that, but I do want him to do well.
I think for next year, we are going to change the math program toTeaching Textbooks. They guys who put this together are way smarter in math than I am, and I like the way that they have the tutorials and the teaching. The only drawback to this program, is that it doesn't start until 5th grade math. That's okay for me, cuz ds tested at math 6. I am okay with remembering the simple stuff, but I sometimes have to look at the answer for a problem for me to figure out how to work some of the problems, and I am not stupid in math. Another reason for changing, and I really hate this, but the SOS program that we are using has some stupid errors in it. It's stuff like transposed numbers so that the student can never get the answer right or just plain bad math. I would have thought that a program as well used and available as SOS would have corrected those things, but I guess not everything is perfect.
I am staying with Story of the World for a history program. DS loves it and now that we have the tests and the activity book, he seems to learn a lot and loves learning the chronology of history. I also may try to get some of the advanced reading books for next year so that he can learn a little more in depth.
This summer is going to be spent reviewing the math that he seems to get lazy on and "forget". He knows how to do it, but he hates having to use paper and pencil to figure things out, so this summer he is going to be doing a lot of paper and pencil work in fractions, decimals, division and multiplication. I think that drill is a good thing and he will get a couple of months of practice before we start the new school year.
I think, cuz I haven't looked in the last couple of days, that we are within a couple of weeks of finishing SOS. I am going to add some writing, at least more than SOS has next year, starting with simple paragraphs. I have a highly creative son, and he likes to write, but the structure just isn't there. We are going to remedy that. We are also going to continue with handwriting practice. I was sent a new program for copy work in my email, and I think that I am going to download several of those and use them this summer and through the next year. You can find them at Happy Scribe Copybooks. I have used some of Westvon Publishing things before and they are high quality and something that are affordable and make homeschooling just a little easier. They are also the publishers of The History Scribe, RockHound Kids, and Study Starters. They put out some good stuff.
I am still on the fence about using SOS again next year for Language arts and Science. The science program works for us quite well because it teaches the science that he needs and it fits our lifestyle right now. We may add a better more indepth program when we get our house built, but for now it is good.
Language Arts is a tough one. I feel he needs more spelling and a better writing program, so do I stay with SOS and add spelling and writing, or try and find something that has more spelling and writing?
I have started a new hobby, I think that I have written about before, but I am knitting...a lot. I am working on socks, and dishcloths, and garments for other people. Helps to pass the time on the truck...yay.
In May, my husbands middle son got married in Virginia Beach. We were able to go to the wedding, although it was a little dicey there for a bit and it was a lovely ceremony held at a country club in the club house in Chesapeake, VA. Now if we could just get the other two married off.....
If you want to check out what else we have been doing, check out My Other Blog, my knitting and traveling blog.
|
| • Post A Comment! • Send to a Friend!
|
Comments
|
|
|
|
