I believe I started last year's post by saying "This was the most difficult school year to date." While overall it was a good year, it was different kind of difficult. A deployment and chronic mastitis were replaced with starting a new Co-Op and writing a book.
While I don't know that I would recommend writing a book in 10 months while homeschooling, during one of the busiest seasons of your husband's job, I am thankful for the year we had. The past year brought more personal growth for me than any other year. Homeschooling truly is a refining fire and I am thankful for the lessons we all learn in the process.
Here’s a roundup of what we used this year and how it worked for us:
Addison – 5th Grade
Bible, History, Literature, Geography & Writing – Tapestry of Grace, Year 2, Dialectic
Addison started an online Co-Op this year structured around our history curriculum, Tapestry of Grace. She had 4 classes: history, literature, writing and art history. (Typically, students don't begin this Co-Op until 6th grade, but occasionally 5th graders are invited to attend.) It was a significant increase in the length of her reading assignments, which proved challenging for both of us at the beginning. By the end of the year I had finally learned to accept that we just couldn't do it all and helped her pick the important topics. I loved the accountability of the writing class (even though I was still her teacher) and she made significant improvements throughout the year. One thing I learned about myself - despite being a writer, I am not a great writing teacher! The other moms and students were gracious to me in throughout the year! Addison loved the social side of the Co-Op and her favorite class was art history.
Language Arts and Cursive - Abeka
We used Abeka again this year for Language Arts. While I love the grammar content, we did skip a few units, like the research paper and book reports. These assignments overlapped too much with what she was already doing in Co-Op.
Spelling – Learn that Word (online)
I am so happy spelling online. The girls love it and it takes 10-15 minutes each day. If you homeschool and want to join our classroom, just let me know! It is about $9/kid/year.
Math – Abeka
Every year I evaluate Abeka’s math, but so far I have been happy with it. I have heard that Abeka Math is fine in the early years, but then drops in quality. I haven’t seen that transition yet. I also think a huge part of math is the teacher, not necessarily the curriculum. Manipulatives and extra things have (so far) confused Addison more than helped, so Abeka works well for us. One thing I have learned is to have her do it early in the day. Math at 3:00PM is a nightmare for everyone. I also do not do the full written lesson with her each day. Normally twice a week I sit down with her and go over the new concepts for the week. I always keep in mind that Abeka is really written for a classroom. The full lessons (that are written out in the teacher’s curriculum guide) each day would be incredibly painful for both of us and needless repetition. Abeka is renown for repetition, so I normally have her do every other problem in her workbook, except for new skill problems, word problems or problems for a skill that she has been struggling with. Even though she says she doesn’t like math, she really never struggles with math other than careless errors.
Science – Apologia Zoology Swimming Creatures, with Notebooking Journal
I cannot say enough good things about Apologia’s Elementary Science books. We love them. This year we chose Swimming Creatures in preparation of our trip to Hawaii in March. The year long project was an ocean box. We wrapped half of a cardboard box in blue paper and each week they used modeling clay to designed the animals we learned about that week.
Art – Kiwi Crates
We didn't do kiwi boxes as often this year, but they are still the kids' favorite when they show up in the mail!
Music – Piano
One of the highlights of our year was the girls' new piano teacher. Ms. Bibby is 80, but you would never know it! My only regret is that we didn't find her sooner. Both girls made significant improvements this year under her teaching.
PE – Homeschool PE Class with CYSS, Gymnastics, Volleyball
Drama - Community Theater
There are many amazing things about homeschooling, but there are some things I just can't replicate at home. In January, our local community theater had an drama camp that culminated with a performance at the end of the week. My girls have never met a spotlight they didn't like, so drama is completely in their wheelhouse. After the week long camp, they asked (begged) to be in the spring play. Probably against my better judgement, given our schedule and my book deadline, I signed them up. They thoroughly enjoyed it!
Mya – 2nd Grade
Bible, History and Reading – Tapestry of Grace, Year 1, Lower Grammar
Even though Mya’s reading skills are excellent, we still read her Lower Grammar History books together in order to review the history concepts. She read most of her literature books on her own. During the height of my writing, she read even more on her own!
Language Arts and Cursive – Abeka
Abeka still reviews phonics concepts in 2nd grade. I assigned very little of those pages to her and would probably skip the phonics book entirely for her if I did it again. I am striving to be more consistent with writing and journaling assignments than I was with Addison at this
Spelling – Learn that Word
Math – Abeka
Science –
Music – Piano Lessons
Art – Kiwi Crates
PE – Homeschool PE with CYSS, Gymnastics and Dance
Lucy – Preschool, Letter of the Week and K-4
We kept school at Lucy's pace this year. Somedays she was excited to do the work in her folder and some days she wasn't. I am far enough in this journey to know that she's not going to be little forever and just to roll with the attention span.
Art – Kiwi Crates
PE – Homeschool PE with CYSS, Gymnastics and Dance
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