Last Day of School

Tornado Boy had his last day of school Friday. They had a Christmas party in class, with a book exchange. Afterward, the teacher told the kids to say goodbye to Tornado Boy. I held the tears back at that point, but when I had him go give his teacher a hug, the tears came out. I know this is best for him, and I'm really excited about going through this journey, and he is excited also. Honestly, he seemed to not care at all that he was leaving his friends. Of course, he'll be seeing them in Cub Scouts still. It was still bittersweet for me, but I'm confident in this choice for him.

So it's official... We're homeschoolers now. Scary and exciting, both at the same time! I'm ready though... ready as I'll ever be. I'll spend the next 2 weeks working on the house - decluttering and arranging homeschool stuff. The boys will be getting several things for Christmas that are useful for homeschool - math manipulatives, educational games, toys that work on fine motor skills, etc. The littles have plenty to do while I school Tornado Boy. I will also be printing out some file folder games and such, now that I have the fun laminator!

Looking forward to the start of school... I have finished entering everything for the year in Homeschool Tracker Plus (HST+). I have lesson plans for each subject, and they don't have dates attached to them, so I can go as fast or slow as we want to. At the beginning of a week, I'll assign items from the lesson plan for that week. Each assignment will have library book resources, experiment supplies, etc. included. HST+ will also help me keep track of when books are due and from which library I got them (I'll be using two different library systems). I already have a print out on my desk of the library books I want to check out next week, complete with title, author, and call number. Over the last few weeks, I've searched for every book I'd need from the libraries and determined which libraries have them, putting that info into HST+. I also chose some read-alouds to do that aren't tied to science or history. I mostly pulled from the writing curriculum, as it has several good classics.

Just two more weeks until our first day of homeschool!

New Toy

 

Thank you, Amazon Deal of the Day!

These triangle addition/subtraction flash cards are from donnayoung.org. They also double as martial arts weapons if you have 3 boys...

Starting the Journey

I am just beginning my homeschooling journey. Tornado Boy is 6.5 years old, in first grade, at a private school. The school is good, but the work is very easy for him, and I can see him heading into "coasting" through school. I want to prevent that. I want to develop a love for learning, helping him to achieve all that he is capable of.

The Brute is newly 4 years old. I have been doing a small amount of "formal" preschool type work with him, though it is done at a very age appropriate level - short lessons, not everyday, stop if he looks "done". He has done very well with this and has learned a ton the last several months.

Mischief is 18 months old. He is into everything right now and will certainly give us plenty of challenge while homeschooling. :) He also has mad fine motor skills, which makes me afraid that he'll end up an artist or something.

We will officially start homeschooling January 3, 2011. I have purchased all of the curriculum for the first grade year. Some of it will be relatively easy, so we can fly through it in a semester. Some of it will be stretched out over the 2nd grade year. Here is the lineup:

Math: Math Mammoth 1B (we afterschooled 1A), with a bit of Miquon, MEP, and RightStart games thrown in... will probably start Math Mammoth 2A before the end of the school year

Science: Elemental Science - Intro to Science

Reading: Christian Light Education Reading 100 - "I Wonder"

Grammar: Rod & Staff English 2, stretched out through the second grade year (probably doing some orally at first)

Composition: Writing With Ease 1

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears 1, Copywork

Spelling: Rod & Staff Spelling 2

Phonics: Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

History/Bible: Biblioplan Ancients

Curriculum for the Brute:

Rod & Staff ABC Series preschool workbooks

Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading

RightStart A when he is ready for math