Posted in School
Does anyone else ever feel like they're constantly tweaking to figure out what works? It's so rare that any curriculum "fits" my kids. Of course they love the Usborne books in Sonlight Science, and they'd love to do science experiments every day if their mother could even manage to handle the mess of one such experiment! If they could play outside all day every day and explore nature, picking berries as they are right now - probably dissecting them (maybe running over them with bike tires to see what will happen), they'd probably learn plenty just from that experience. However, I hesitate to send them out to play in freezing temperatures or sweltering weather, or even in rain, and they balk at playing outside when spiderwebs abound. And what then would I do about the other subject areas we need to cover - Language Arts, math, social studies?The great news is that I know my kids are ahead of their peers in most, if not all of these areas. I don't know exactly how it happened. The bulk of our "Language Arts" is spent in reading, and I don't just mean me reading to them, though my nearly-6-year-old son is certainly picking up on tons of new vocabulary as I read novels like Emily's Runaway Imagination to him. My 7-year-old daughter has decided she does not enjoy being read to very much anymore, but she has recently started telling me bits and pieces of what she's read, including most of the Sonlight 2nd grade advanced readers. My son has read all of Sonlight's 2nd grade regular readers, and is constantly begging me for new reading material, and he doesn't mean library books - he wants books he can read and then deposit on his shelf of books to keep rereading. I'm tempted to pull out some of the Pre-K and Kindergarten read-alouds and let him start reading independently through those. Even more than my daughter, he excitedly shares with me whole stories that he read, showing me that he is comprehending the stories quite well. Last week he even begged to read me one of these books, Wagon Wheels, which he read expressively with few mistakes. Options abound for reading material - I could pull out our Robinson Curriculum CDs and print off some books, scour the library for the books on Sonlight's 2nd grade intermediate list of readers (or wait and see if he gets some as Christmas presents), pull out books from previous years... He's become a fluent reader, and I now have the challenge of trying to keep up with my newest bookworm!
I've dropped phonics for him, knowing that he's way ahead of his age-mates in this area, and he's likely to pick up the rest of the phonics rules on his own through reading anyway. We tried spelling for a short time, but he's testing into mid-2nd grade in that area, and I think I'll wait to do anything else formal with him, just as I have with his older sister, who's now testing into 11th grade in that area. He does need to practice handwriting so he'll be completely comfortable using lower-case letters consistently, but his handwriting is actually quite good, much better than that of most 6-year-old boys I've seen.
My daughter has taken the last couple weeks off from all of her Switched-on-schoolhouse. I don't know if it's just not a good fit for her curriculum-wise, if we should just wait a year until she's actually 3rd grade age, or what. Just because she can do 3rd grade work, do I push her ahead, or do I let her follow her interests and learn at her own pace, knowing she'll master parts of speech in her own good time now that she's had a good solid introduction? The one thing I do want is for her to write more - stories, letters, journals, and I need to find ways to quietly encourage her to do so, in a way that doesn't seem like I'm pushing her to do "schoolwork".
Math is her biggest challenge. Yes, I know she's ahead. She's mastered most, if not all, 2nd grade material, though maybe she should drill basic math facts, as if that's any fun! Shiller math was fun for her in the short run, but we've taken a break from it for awhile now. Maybe we'll be able to head back into it after Thanksgiving - I know things will be increasingly hectic after our new babies arrive at the end of the year. My son, on the other hand, loves math and would sit and do 1st grade math worksheets for an hour. Shiller is still fun for him, though we've temporarily set it aside for him as well. Knowing they're ahead in math is comforting, but I'd certainly like for them to be able to maintain and improve their skills.
Social studies is a fun area for the kids. They both love ancient history, and I'm planning to start Story of the World with my son relatively soon, hoping that my daughter will join us for these lessons. She, at the moment, is fascinated with my husband's Asterix comics which all take place at the time of the Roman Empire. She's getting all of her history from these at the moment and keeps begging for more. I'm so glad that my husband was able to find something to sustain her interest in this area.
The one area that is completely covered, though we should be more consistent in keeping up with, is Bible. The kids are both involved in Awana clubs and Community Bible Study. They study the Bible on a daily basis as part of family devotions, and keep up with Bible Study homework and learn verses for Awana when I remember to suggest it (and they choose to comply). The awards in Awana are a strong motivator for my son.
Given all these factors, I've come up with a new plan for the new year, though I'm not sure exactly when I will implement this plan.
For my son (1st grade, part 1):
- Language Arts - practice handwriting, read read read!
- Math - ShillerMath, Bob Jones Math 1, Miquon Orange
- Science - Sonlight Science K
- Social Studies - Story of the World
- Bible - Community Bible Study. Awana
- Language Arts - read, write stories, letters, journals
- Math - Shiller, Silver Burdett, Bob Jones Math 2; practice basic math facts
- Science - read science books from library
- Social Studies - Story of the World
- Bible - Community Bible Study, Awana
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