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By the Book
4.24.2009
Update and Sneak Peek
We have been doing fairly well at sticking with our schedule lately. We have implemented the 10:00-12:00 schedule, and that seems to work well for us. We take a short recess from 11:00 to 11:15, and just try to get in as much schoolwork as we can in that time frame.
We had to put the desert lapbook aside for a while, due to an interest in wanting to learn the skeleton. We are using Nonfiction Read & Write Booklets by Scholastic for our human body study. This is the perfect idea for K, and I wish I could find them for many more subjects. She also decided, all on her own, to do some copywork from our human body encyclopedia for her science notebook.
I am finally starting to notice a breakthrough with H's reading. Every night before bed she wants to practice out of her "yellow book." (It's the yellow book from Hooked on Phonics Kindergarten.) Last night she did really good at reading some new short /i/ words and reading a new story. She even asked me if she was reading.
I think we have made our final decisions for next year's curriculum. The things that are going to remain the same are K's McRuffy Phonics and Reading program (although she wants to learn cursive next year) and Alpha Omega Bible; Story of the World for history for both girls; a nice mix of HOP and McRuffy Kindergarten for H (or whatever else is working at the time!), and Saxon math for H.
K will be switching from Saxon math to Math Mammoth, although we still have the 2nd grade Saxon that we can pull lessons out of for reinforcement if we need to. We will also be using the Saxon meeting book still. We will also be using a new science program. We are going to use R.E.A.L. Science Odyssey by Pandia Press and cover Life science again. We have covered a lot this year just by reading books, coloring, copywork, and making minibooks. However, the R.E.A.L. program is very hands-on and will give us a new way to approach science. Since the girls are so young (and I'm not sure what H has really gotten out of it lately) we decided it would not do any harm to cover the material again. They will get to work with thermometers, binoculars, and bugs. They will begin to get a feel for the scientific method. R.E.A.L. covers animals in a different way than we did this year, too, so it won't just be more of the same. They will learn the difference between vertebrates and invertebrates next year. This year, we learned them grouped by biome, and just discussed whether they were amphibian, mammal, bird, etc. I think they will really enjoy being out in the world doing fun stuff and getting dirty.
So, there's an update on this year and a preview of what we've decided to do for next year.
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