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Committed
Apr. 6, 2006
And so it begins
Ok, here's the plan....
I'm
going to use My Father's World. It seems to have pretty much
everything I want: Charlotte Mason style, classical subjects, hands on
activities...and it's comparitively inexspensive. How cool is a
curriculum that includes a butterfly garden and an ant hill?
We are doing Kindergarten this year. Yes, my 6 yo son, 5 yo
daughter, and 4 yo daughter will all be doing Kindergarten. The
reasoning behind this is my son has been delayed in his language
development, and he is ADD: only now am I convinced he is ready for any
kind of formal schooling. He is very bright and active and has
picked up a lot just through daily activities, so I will add a few
extras to his schooling if this Kindergarten is too "light weight," but
I really think it is just what he needs right now. He may be
ahead in math, but we'll see.
My oldest daughter is only 15
months younger than Jason, and is pretty much on the same level
language-wise, and only a little behind him in math. Many people,
including themselves, think that Jason and Janessa are twins; doing the
same thing with both of them just makes sense.
Anya, right
now, is only 3. She turns 4 in August. She is probably not
ready for Kindergarten. However, she thinks she is as old as both
of her older siblings, and quite frankly, she is far ahead of where
each of them were developmentally at her age. There is no way I
could do school with the oldest two and not include her, and I think it
will be easier for all involved to just let her do Kindergarten with
the others while requiring less of her. She will probably do
Kindergarten two years in a row. I am buying her a few of the
preschool activities MFW.
When reporting school to the accountability association I will say I have two Kindergarteners and 1 pre-K.
How I'm going to do school in 2007 and onward I don't know, when Scott
and Ransom get into it all...Anya can't quite keep up with Jason and
Janessa and shouldn't be held back till Scott can join her....problem
for another time. She may be my only child in a grade all
her own. (I suspect I will keep Scott and Ransom in together as
well.)
I am planning on a year round schedule, starting this June 1st. I need to get on the ball!
I am currently thinking we will do school 6 days a week. My dh
works and goes to school 6 days a week, and I have found having a
regular schedule for all days seems to prevent any one day being
wasted. Plus, according to MFW Kindergarten should only take 90
minutes a day (I will probably add another 30 minutes). So having
school shouldn't keep us from anything else we want to do that
day. The 6 days a week schedule should also let me have more
flexibility when it comes to traveling and our holiday breaks. I
will have to sit down with a calendar today and figure out exactly how
this will all work out.
For our progress reports, portfolio,
daily plans, etc, we are going to do scrapbooks! Each child will
get a small scrapbook and we will work on it every day, as the last
school subject. Nothing too fancy, but it will have pics of us
doing school, their comments, samples of their work, their nature
studies, field trip reports, art work, etc. I'm looking forward
to doing these every year, and having them to look back on.
In
addition to MFW we are going to do God Made Music once a week. My
parents did GMM with me when I was homeschooled and I still think it
was wonderful, so I'm keeping it. We will also make sure to read
several books off of Ambleside Online's reading list. I hope to
sign the kids up for one "outside" activity per quarter, such as soccer
(this fall), drama (next year), art, etc... I'm happy about
soccer this fall...it's for ages 4-6. Which will include all 3 of
my oldest, this year at least.
So. To Buy for this
school year: one more GMM student book (for Anya), the Doorposts
charts I want, HSLDA membership, MFW curriculum, subscription to The
Old Schoolhouse, membership to PHEA, scrapbooking supplies,
and basics such as pencils, erasers, etc. I feel like
I'm forgetting something. All this added up equals .... a
lot of money. LOL I hope I'm not forgetting something.
However! Before school starts I need to get this house into some sort of order. So let's go see about that.
Oops, one more thing. This is a great article about the two types
of education you can get and their purpose's:
http://www.ditext.com/postman/mgs.html
Let's raise Athenians!
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Mar. 4, 2006
Hello
I
am starting this blog as part of my preparation for this, our first
"official" school year. I'm nervous. I'm not sure how to go
about all this, and even more I'm afraid I won't do it...that I'll
never feel that I have everything I need and so keep putting
homeschooling off till the "setup" is perfect....yeah. It's a
tendency I have, and I know I need to get over it.
One might think
that I would have an easier time than many others just starting
homeschooling. After all, I was homeschooled, all 13 years, no
less. My mother was one of the homeschooling pioneers, not quite
one of the first, but close on their heels. All in all I'd say
she did a pretty good job with us (myself and my little sister, both
homeschooled from K through 12th). I'm not sure, though, that
having been homeschooled is much help toward homeschooling my own
children.
My mother only had two kids, 2 1/2 years apart. I
have five kids, ages 6, 4, 3, 1, and 3 weeks. That's so
far. An important difference, don't you think?
Plus, I
remember what I put my mom through. This terrifies me: what if
one of my kids, or *gasp* more than one, does the same to me?? I
know it will happen, after all I have been the frequent recipetent of
the "parents' curse," you know: "I hope your kids are just like
you!" Yeah, that one. I think we've all gotten it.
Also, I don't plan on homeschooling the same way my mom did. She
used an expensive curriculum, with textbooks and tests and already put
together lesson plans and rulers with the curriculums logo on it,
etc. (By the way, if you are thinking of going the curriculum
path with your homeschooling, I do recommend what my mom used.
It's pretty good!) Me, I have to make things difficult by going
the Ambleside Online, living books, nature walks route.
Oh, and
homeschooling being so much bigger and more widespread doesn't
necessarily make things easier. I have to decide by the end of
next month which homeschooling group I want to join.
Which?!!?! My mother was happy if there was ONE in the
area!! There are so many options out there now I've been sorely
tempted to just walk into a homeschooling fair blindfolded and
whichever booth I bump into first will be the one I go with.
'Course with my luck I'll end up bumping the concession stand...
I'm excited about homeschooling. I'm also excited about posting
here about homeschooling, and other going-ons in my life, and meeting
friends who are going through their own homeschooling adventures!
(Please bear with me as I slowly figure out how to work this site. I'll catch on eventually, promise.)
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