Home schooling is going well. CP (7) tickles me though. He thinks that because he is not forced to sit in a seat all day to do multiple worksheets that he is not having school. I think that everything they/we do is a learning experience. Example: They can all add, subtract, multiply, divide, and do fractions not only because of our text but from helping to cook and grocery shop. History is a never ending subject. They all play a couple of different historical computer and board games so they are not only having fun but they are learning too. They will encounter a new city, country, or battle and then we research it. School is not all games though; we do use a curriculum:
BIBLE - Foundations http://www.homeschoolingbible.com/
MATH - Rays Arithmetic’s and workbooks, as well as verbal exercises. http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=rays
SPELLING - McGuffey Progressive Speller and Dolch sight words. http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=mcguffey
READING - McGuffey Readers plus they all have to read a chapter a day in a challenging chapter book and answer questions about the characters, the main idea, etc... http://www.mottmedia.com/pages/publications.asp?Pub=mcguffey
LITERATURE - Combines with reading of the chapter books. These are not puff chapter books either. They've read Pearl S. Buck, Hemingway, Bunyan and others. Just last night CP (7) read from ‘The Old Man and the Sea’
In addition to their assigned chapter book and I read a chapter or so every day from classic books like C. S. Lewis, Shakespeare (Lamb - adapted for children), John Bunyan, R. L. Stevenson, Kipling, etc...
WRITING - Zaner-Bloser handwriting workbooks and self-led creative writing which will be compiled and published. http://www.zaner-bloser.com/educator/products/handwriting/index.aspx?id=106
GRAMMAR - We're reading ‘Grammar Land’ which is a fabulous introduction to grammar in storybook format. They also have to answer questions about what we are reading and have read to test their knowledge. http://books.google.com/books?id=iXgSAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=grammar+land&ei=sthkSZ6BBJeOMqSJneMI
SCIENCE - We're reading living learning books which are entertaining as well as educational. Currently we're reading ‘Seed Babies’, next we'll read Christian Liberty Press ‘Nature Reader 5’ which is on the Human Body. We also do activities related to what we read. http://books.google.com/books?id=gjgZAAAAYAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=seed+babies&ei=1dhkSbGJF5T4NcCY8dQO
HISTORY - More living learning books. We have just started reading ‘The Story of The Chosen People’ It is the first in a series of books that combines biblical history with textbook history. Previously we studied the history of Halloween (good and bad, and what it means for us as Christian family); a thanksgiving theme covering its origins, pilgrims, mayflower, colonization, Indians, they built a pilgrim house...; Christmas using Dickens’ ‘A Christmas Carol’ http://books.google.com/books?id=YDQXAAAAIAAJ&printsec=frontcover&dq=inauthor:%22H%C3%A9l%C3%A8ne+Adeline+Guerber%22&lr=&as_brr=1&ei=9tlkSb3kEZW6NtWluIEJ
ART – In addition to various planned and spontaneous crafts we are studying art in a sequential historical order while using ‘A Child’s History of Art’
They all learn differently which makes it interesting and one of the reasons I home school. GQ (10) is easy. Tell him what his assignments are and leave him to it. If he has a question or needs help he asks for it, otherwise he prefers to be left alone. NBC (9) has a form of dyslexia which inhibits him being able to put words and math problems on paper. He can spell and do higher math verbally all day long but struggles with putting it on paper. This requires the use of various manipulatives to help overcome the struggle. He is getting better thanks to the incorporation of the suggested tools at http://www.dyslexia.com/ CP (7) is somewhere between GQ (10) and NBC (9). He has a short attention span so he works for 15 minutes and takes a break, works 15 minutes and takes a break until all is done.
