It's morning, and that means I'll be getting into it soon, but I figured I'd at least pop on and give a little bit about how everything went yesterday. After all, it was the first day of school!
First Pinkie went back to her high school, which was great. I guess she was in shop for her first day, which meant she didn't have terribly much hard stuff to do, but talk about starting off on the right foot! Shop is her favorite, so that was a perfect way to start the year!
As always, she started off the first day of school late, apparently. I guess she's taken to walking to school, which is good! It's definitely healthier for her than just taking the bus! She didn't really talk about it much, but she was in a good mood the whole day, so I guess that's a sign that her first day went pretty well. At least there were no complaints.
This is going to be a more challenging year for her because she's got her first honors class. It's going to be interesting to see how it goes once everything hits full swing with academics again next week. I have to wonder how much that will change how she feels about school.
As for the rest of them, it was a rough start. Bear fell to pieces somewhere around lunch time. He didn't get much sleep and that resulted in a really rough spot for him. I ended up carrying him to bed and staying with him until he was sleeping, so he didn't finish his work. It was frustrating, but at least he hit the big points. We got through his literature, history, and science, which left us with only the subjects we've been really going hard at to get on track. Having one day off isn't really going to hurt him at this point.
Creeper did great for his first day. He kind of broke down on his reading at the end of it all, but it was a long day. I can't blame him for just being done with the whole thing. It's a longer day than we've had in the past couple of years, so it's going to be a challenge for him. Plus, it's an adjustment with a new routine and a new curriculum. He doesn't love the idea of having to do more work, but we're getting through it. At least he knows some of it is fun because his science had him drawing space yesterday. That was a lot of fun for him. It worked out pretty well!
For Link, I think, it was the hardest. He wasn't even done with his work on the computer until almost five, and then he still had his math, phonics, and science to do, as well as some more reading. As it stood he didn't finish his math. We didn't even start with his science until this morning, and he's finishing his reading now. We're going to see how this is going forward, especially once babysitting starts. He's not going to want to work once there are more kids in the house. I'm hoping we can just start finishing his day by 4:30.
But that's our start to the week. I'm wondering how things will go from here, but I'm thinking now that Bear is more well rested it's going to make all the difference. I have a feeling there's going to be some adjustments we need to make, but one we get it settled out it'll all be just fine.
Tuesday, August 28, 2018
Sunday, August 26, 2018
It's Only Been, I Don't Know, Forever?
We're back! We're moving! And it's about time to start school again. No, I'm not kidding, we start school tomorrow. I already have the stack of books sitting beside my chair for the first two weeks and everything. All we need now is the schedule to be tacked to the wall and we'll be good to go.
So what's coming up for us this year? Well, I'm glad you asked. This year we're going to be starting a whole bunch of things on the homeschool front. We've kind of scrapped our old unschooling ways in favor of more involved pursuits. However, it's going to be a really fun year and I think the kids are going to absolutely love it!
But before we get to that, I'm going to talk about Pinkie. This year is going to be Pinkie's sophomore year in high school. Yes, high school! She's studying landscaping at our local vocational school, and she's in love with it. Part of that was being able to drive a tractor, but most of it is her love of working outdoors and being involved with plants. It's always been a thing of hers, ever since she was pretty little. She's always been into plants and animals.
But what about the homeschooling crew? We're checking out a new program (well, new to us) called Build Your Library. It's a secular literature-based curriculum, so basically everything we need. I found it through a group called Secular, Eclectic, Academic. I don't remember how I encountered them, but I used them to vet out other literature-based programs available. While I have to say I wasn't worried about "truly secular" curriculum by their definition, I think I definitely found my home with Build Your Library.
So, why did I choose this one? I'll be honest, I loved some of the book selections and I got excited that the creator chose things like The Hobbit and some other more modern titles. It also helps that it wasn't a small fortune to purchase the books (though my aunt did do us a huge favor and got most of them for us used!) As I explored the curriculum and learned more about the creator, I got more and more excited. The woman who put it all together is really my kind of person. She loves to read, but she's also into fantasy and science fiction, and we even watch some of the same shows. She reads comic books, too, and goes to the local Comic Con. There's definitely something appealing about a curriculum written by someone that's my kind of people.
Truth be told, I wasn't even looking for a curriculum when I started finding them. People just started referencing them and I got curious. This resulted in me checking them out, and then finally starting to really get drawn into the idea that these kinds of curricula even exist! Next thing you know I was trying to figure out in the budget how I was going to afford to provide one for my kids, and then the whole idea of unschooling went right out the window.
Against what everyone recommends, I've decided to do a different level for each of the kids. This is in part because of my own personal discomfort at the idea of having them work off "grade level" and instead having to modify the whole thing to make it appropriate for all of their skill levels. On top of that, there's something nice about being able to give them each the individualized attention of their own plan and assignments. Yes, it's more work, but I think it will result in each one of them getting a little bit more individualized attention.
So this year Bear is going to be in level 1. That means we're going to be studying the ancients in history. This is paired with some great literature, including a couple books that actually tie into the history, something that must have been challenging to find. It's hard to find a book that appeals to that age level and matching that period of history. There isn't a ton of lit written in that period. This is all put together with a nature study, which seems like a really good "introduction to science" kind of thing. Finally, we'll be adding our own math and phonics, sticking with what we're already doing, since it works so well for us.
Creeper gets to study the middle ages, though we're going to be including a little bit of a gloss-over for the ancients. We've done it before, but it's been a little while, so this will be a review. More than anything I wanted to get the timeline figures up there for him so he can have a full timeline when he's finished. He's also got a great lit selection, which I've really been enjoying. Science for him will be broken up into Earth science and space. It should be a fun year. Also, he'll be doing the same math and phonics, just like Bear.
Finally, there's Link. He's doing the first level of American history. I could have had him work on grade level, but as one of the things they learn is the 50 states, half in each year of American history, I thought we should start at the beginning. His books are pretty good too, and they provide the link between his history and science. For science he's doing biology, and it seems like there's a little bit of emphasis on diseases, which should be fun because I'm highly interested in infectious disease. It all just packages together so neatly! This is also going to be his last year in the elementary math books, as next year he's going to be doing pre-algebra. We're also going to be working on finishing out his phonics curriculum, so that should be one thing to mark off the list. I still can't believe he's already in middle school! They grow up so fast!
And we're not homeschooling in isolation during the day either! My aunt is getting some time in with the kids via Skype this year, which is huge. Now, I'm not excited about this because it means I have a little less to worry about every day. Yeah, she's taking some of the burden on history and poetry and almost all of lit. However, this is a chance for her to build a strong relationship with the kids! When they grow up and think back about their family, they're going to remember all those times working on the computer with their aunt. She's a great, engaging reader. She's always ready with funny comments to keep things lively. The help with homescooling is just an added bonus. It's also great to be able to have a resource who used to work in education and knows tips and tricks that I'd never even thought of before. I don't know what we'd do without her insight.
Okay, time for a little nostalgia... Thinking back about my aunt helping me out, I keep going back to the same thought over and over again. Years back, when I was still pretty young, she made me a collection of poems. She illustrated the book and everything. I had that thing for years, and my parents might even still have it in their basement somewhere. It was my favorite thing to pull out to read, and I still have one of the poems, a very short one, memorized. It's one of those things that stuck with me for years. Having my kids work with my aunt, it feels like it's that kind of thing, only less physical and tangible. They may not have had a book to pull out and look at, but they get to see and talk to their aunt daily, which is great. When they grow up they may not have memories of a collection of poems she made, but they'll remember reciting the poems they memorized to her. They'll have memories of the books they read together and all the conversations they had. They're going to be close, and that's wonderful.
But that's basically it for our planning this year. I'm sure I'll have more to write after we've kicked off the year, which is tomorrow! I still have things to do to get ready, like writing up narration cards and getting all of that sorted out, but we're almost there. It's down to the finer details now, and anything that doesn't come along perfectly smoothly will be sorted out as we get rolling. These first couple of weeks are going to be a challenge, but we'll get there, and it's all going to be so much fun!
So what's coming up for us this year? Well, I'm glad you asked. This year we're going to be starting a whole bunch of things on the homeschool front. We've kind of scrapped our old unschooling ways in favor of more involved pursuits. However, it's going to be a really fun year and I think the kids are going to absolutely love it!
But before we get to that, I'm going to talk about Pinkie. This year is going to be Pinkie's sophomore year in high school. Yes, high school! She's studying landscaping at our local vocational school, and she's in love with it. Part of that was being able to drive a tractor, but most of it is her love of working outdoors and being involved with plants. It's always been a thing of hers, ever since she was pretty little. She's always been into plants and animals.
But what about the homeschooling crew? We're checking out a new program (well, new to us) called Build Your Library. It's a secular literature-based curriculum, so basically everything we need. I found it through a group called Secular, Eclectic, Academic. I don't remember how I encountered them, but I used them to vet out other literature-based programs available. While I have to say I wasn't worried about "truly secular" curriculum by their definition, I think I definitely found my home with Build Your Library.
So, why did I choose this one? I'll be honest, I loved some of the book selections and I got excited that the creator chose things like The Hobbit and some other more modern titles. It also helps that it wasn't a small fortune to purchase the books (though my aunt did do us a huge favor and got most of them for us used!) As I explored the curriculum and learned more about the creator, I got more and more excited. The woman who put it all together is really my kind of person. She loves to read, but she's also into fantasy and science fiction, and we even watch some of the same shows. She reads comic books, too, and goes to the local Comic Con. There's definitely something appealing about a curriculum written by someone that's my kind of people.
Truth be told, I wasn't even looking for a curriculum when I started finding them. People just started referencing them and I got curious. This resulted in me checking them out, and then finally starting to really get drawn into the idea that these kinds of curricula even exist! Next thing you know I was trying to figure out in the budget how I was going to afford to provide one for my kids, and then the whole idea of unschooling went right out the window.
Against what everyone recommends, I've decided to do a different level for each of the kids. This is in part because of my own personal discomfort at the idea of having them work off "grade level" and instead having to modify the whole thing to make it appropriate for all of their skill levels. On top of that, there's something nice about being able to give them each the individualized attention of their own plan and assignments. Yes, it's more work, but I think it will result in each one of them getting a little bit more individualized attention.
So this year Bear is going to be in level 1. That means we're going to be studying the ancients in history. This is paired with some great literature, including a couple books that actually tie into the history, something that must have been challenging to find. It's hard to find a book that appeals to that age level and matching that period of history. There isn't a ton of lit written in that period. This is all put together with a nature study, which seems like a really good "introduction to science" kind of thing. Finally, we'll be adding our own math and phonics, sticking with what we're already doing, since it works so well for us.
Creeper gets to study the middle ages, though we're going to be including a little bit of a gloss-over for the ancients. We've done it before, but it's been a little while, so this will be a review. More than anything I wanted to get the timeline figures up there for him so he can have a full timeline when he's finished. He's also got a great lit selection, which I've really been enjoying. Science for him will be broken up into Earth science and space. It should be a fun year. Also, he'll be doing the same math and phonics, just like Bear.
Finally, there's Link. He's doing the first level of American history. I could have had him work on grade level, but as one of the things they learn is the 50 states, half in each year of American history, I thought we should start at the beginning. His books are pretty good too, and they provide the link between his history and science. For science he's doing biology, and it seems like there's a little bit of emphasis on diseases, which should be fun because I'm highly interested in infectious disease. It all just packages together so neatly! This is also going to be his last year in the elementary math books, as next year he's going to be doing pre-algebra. We're also going to be working on finishing out his phonics curriculum, so that should be one thing to mark off the list. I still can't believe he's already in middle school! They grow up so fast!
And we're not homeschooling in isolation during the day either! My aunt is getting some time in with the kids via Skype this year, which is huge. Now, I'm not excited about this because it means I have a little less to worry about every day. Yeah, she's taking some of the burden on history and poetry and almost all of lit. However, this is a chance for her to build a strong relationship with the kids! When they grow up and think back about their family, they're going to remember all those times working on the computer with their aunt. She's a great, engaging reader. She's always ready with funny comments to keep things lively. The help with homescooling is just an added bonus. It's also great to be able to have a resource who used to work in education and knows tips and tricks that I'd never even thought of before. I don't know what we'd do without her insight.
Okay, time for a little nostalgia... Thinking back about my aunt helping me out, I keep going back to the same thought over and over again. Years back, when I was still pretty young, she made me a collection of poems. She illustrated the book and everything. I had that thing for years, and my parents might even still have it in their basement somewhere. It was my favorite thing to pull out to read, and I still have one of the poems, a very short one, memorized. It's one of those things that stuck with me for years. Having my kids work with my aunt, it feels like it's that kind of thing, only less physical and tangible. They may not have had a book to pull out and look at, but they get to see and talk to their aunt daily, which is great. When they grow up they may not have memories of a collection of poems she made, but they'll remember reciting the poems they memorized to her. They'll have memories of the books they read together and all the conversations they had. They're going to be close, and that's wonderful.
But that's basically it for our planning this year. I'm sure I'll have more to write after we've kicked off the year, which is tomorrow! I still have things to do to get ready, like writing up narration cards and getting all of that sorted out, but we're almost there. It's down to the finer details now, and anything that doesn't come along perfectly smoothly will be sorted out as we get rolling. These first couple of weeks are going to be a challenge, but we'll get there, and it's all going to be so much fun!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)