(Not) Back to School 2016

Now that I have finally finished blogging about our summer activities, I can move on and talk about what we are doing for school this year.  

Every year, we take time to evaluate and reconsider our current system.  What worked well?  What didn't?  What new options are available? The planning aspect of homeschool is one of my favorite pieces!  This school year, I think we've put together a pretty fantastic set-up across the board.

A few thoughts before I get in to the nitty-gritty of curriculum choices...

*This is my first time homeschooling three school-age children, plus one preschooler (and, of course, a baby turning toddler!).  It's definitely been a learning experience.  We are still figuring things out. Some days are smooth, others are miserable.  I suppose that's true in parenting in general.

*It is wonderful not to be at all beholden to the public school schedule and demands! 

First Day of School doughnuts

*Bryce, Aubree, and Thane are all enrolled in a Parent-Partnership-School (same one as the past many years), which essentially means I get a stipend for each kid, in exchange for their school district being allowed to "count" my kids as students.  It also requires us to report our plans and progress in some of our subjects.  It's a good fit for our family and our current situation.  It works for me because I still have total control over the curriculum I choose and use.  

Now, here is what we're doing for each kid:

Aubree - 6th grade -

Aubree spent the last three years in public school, in a contained program that was a perfect fit for her needs and preferences.  She knew all along, however, that when Middle School hit, she was coming back home. 

Years ago, I started talking to friends about a vision of a middle school co-op that functioned a bit more like a full-time classroom.  One that would take the best parts of homeschool and combine them with the best parts of public school, to create a truly exceptional hybrid.  As this school year approached, we gathered a group of outstanding parents and worked to turn that dream into a reality.

The kids named our co-op Homes United.  It deserves it's very own post, where I can go into more details, but in the meantime, trust me when I say it is fabulous and Aubree is loving it! (Can you tell I'm a little excited!!)

Bryce - 3rd grade -

Bryce is a strong student.  He ended last school year, and started this school year, struggling with a willingness to do his work.  We've made slow, steady progress, and at the moment, he's doing quite well.  What a relief!  Here are the subjects/areas he's studying:

Reading: I still love All About Reading, and that is what we are using as our base curriculum.  Bryce is on Level 4, and that's as high as it goes.  He will be finished in just a couple weeks.  After that, we will continue to do a lot of read alouds, audio books, and independent reading.  He also accesses readingeggs.com (the Reading Express side of the program) and MobyMax.com to get a little bit extra reading skills practice.

Spelling:  We are sticking with All About Spelling (AAS).  Bryce is also on Level 4 in AAS, but unlike reading, spelling goes up to Level 8.  He will finish level 4 before Christmas and move on to Level 5.

Writing:  This is uncharted territory for me.  I generally don't introduce a formal writing program until grade 3, and Aubree went to public school in 3rd grade.  I chose to use Writing Strands, Level 3 for Bryce this year.  The jury is definitely still out on this program.  Bryce hated the first few lessons ("lessons" typically spread out over a week or two).  He seems to be warming to the program, but I'm not convinced it's the best choice.  Bryce is also learning cursive, using the Handwriting Without Tears Cursive workbook.  He's a surprisingly good little cursive-writer, and quite enjoys it.

History: We still love Story of the World.  This year we are on Volume 3 - Early Modern Times, and Thane is "officially" doing it as well (last year, he loved to try to answer the review questions before Bryce could, just to make Bryce upset).  Our weekly, mini-history-and-science-co-op with our friends worked out so wonderfully last year, that we made sure to make it happen again this school year.  So, every Thursday, we get together and the moms take turns teaching a science lesson and organizing a history activity.  It works out beautifully!

sumo-wrestling

Science:  We are following along with the REAL Science Odyssey program.  This year is Chemistry.  Thane is also doing this science curriculum.  We were a little worried that it might be too hard for Thane (and Collin, his 1st grade buddy), since it's geared for grades 2-5, but so far it's working out. No joke, I'm learning all kinds of things I didn't know!  I mean, I might have remembered the parts of elements a little better if I'd been able to build them with marshmallows when I was in high school chemisty!

Math: Again, we are sticking with what works, and Math U See has been a winner.  Bryce is currently on Delta level and is zipping right through it.  I appreciate that with this curriculum, the boys can do math pretty independently!

Scriptures: This year both boys are studying the Old Testament.  I'm still using the scripture journals I got from Discover the Scriptures. I keep promising that I will blog about how this process works.  Ack!  I will, I will!

Grammar: Bryce is now on First Language Lessons, Level 3.  Once again, this is new territory for me.  One of the things Bryce is learning is how to diagram a sentence.  It's a concept I certainly never learned previously, but (at least so far) is pretty straight forward.

Piano: Bryce is on his second year of piano and is still taking weekly lessons.  He likes to play, especially if he can play his songs super speedy.

Typing: Bryce has been using typing.com.  It's free, he loves it, and his typing is improving dramatically.  Hurrah!

Art: This is one thing I am LOVING about this school year - Bryce and Thane are taking a weekly art class from our amazingly talented neighbor and friend, Kelly.  It's a legit art class.  They are learning terms and concepts that I (who am admittedly a non-artist) have never before encountered.  The boys think the class it phenomenal. 

Thane - 1st grade - 

 

Thane takes his school work seriously.  He likes to buckle down and get his work done quickly and efficiently.  Partly that's because that's just his personality.  Partly it's because he gets 1/2 hour of iPad time when his school work is finished.

Thane's art, science, scripture study, and history are the same as Bryce.

Reading: Thane is on Level 2 of All About Reading.  He's turned into an excellent reader.  Hurray! He also plays readingeggs.com and uses MobyMax.com fairly regularly during his iPad time.

Spelling: Thane is also on Level 2 of All About Spelling, which works hand-in-hand with All About Reading.  Spelling is his weakest area.  Over the summer we went back and reviewed a lot of AAS Level 1.  That helped, but he's still not a super strong speller.

I guess that's one way to do your spelling...

Writing: Despite not spelling wonderfully, Thane has surprised me this year by deciding he loves writing.  He has a Starfall, Level 2 writing journal and it's usually one of the first subjects he chooses to pursue each day.  He's moving through the journal so quickly, he will finish pretty soon, and I'll have to move on to a different journal type.  He has also asked if he can learn cursive like Bryce (and he's heard the story about how Aubree begged to learn cursive when she was in 1st grade).  We've agreed that if he continues to work hard and has very good printing (which he does), then after Christmas he can try cursive.

Math: Thane's on Math U See - Beta.  He LOVES math and fancies himself quite the mathematician.  I keep waiting for a concept to come along and trip him up, but his brain works in a very intuitively mathematical way.  

Grammar: This is my third time through First Language Lessons, Level 1.  I'm happy to say that I'm pretty solid on the definitions of nouns, verbs, etc.  Thane's also flying through the book because he's heard the definitions repeated regularly for the past 4 years!
Graham - Preschool -

The above picture says "Pre-K," but he really still has two more years before he's officially a kindergartner because of his September birthday.  I think it's a really good thing that we are homeschooling, because all of a sudden he is SUPER interested in academics and skills are clicking for him left and right.  Apparently, he's a kid who can learn things without much teaching (a very nice trait to have for a 4th child!).

Speaking of being a 4th child, I was feeling quite bad for Graham heading into this school year.  When my other kids were Graham's age, I organized a co-op preschool for them.  This year, with all I was doing for the older three, I knew a co-op preschool just wasn't in the cards.  "Poor kid," I thought, "he's just going to get dragged around to all of his siblings activities and have nothing for himself."

After thinking for a while, I decided I could at least arrange a weekly playdate for him with his Sunbeam friends. It's super low-key, just a once a week, 2-hour drop-off at a rotating mom's home.  Graham, Mr. Social, loves it!

In the end, however, it turns out I really didn't need to be worried.  Graham's year has worked out to be fantastic for him.  Mondays and Wednesdays he spends all morning with his new buddy Daylon (more about this when I write about Aubree's co-op).  While there, I work with both boys on a letter of the week, Handwriting Without Tears style. 

Tuesday afternoons he has his Sunbeam playdate.  Thursdays we have our mini-co-op, and when the big kids all run off to art class, he and Clara get their own, Mommy-led arts and craft class.  Fridays we're often off on field trips.

No more feeling sorry for this 4th child!

Phew!  I think that's everything.