I don't post very often about homeschooling on here, which is something I may try to change in the future. And since I had some thoughts on my mind about that subject at the moment I figured now would be a good time to start! :-)
We are almost done with this school year as far as days go, although we do have some more work in a few books that I want to finish up this summer as well so that we can start with some different things for the next year. I'm a little torn over what I want to try for the next grades just to be honest. We did some unit studies at the beginning of this past year but while we liked some things about it there were others that we didn't. We then ended up doing some Abeka and Bob Jones books in a few subjects which is what we are working to finish up now. I'm also still doing some of the upper level Sing, Spell, Read and Write with Delancey and she has caught on so amazingly well with her reading just recently. Due to various reasons it has taken her longer to pick up on stuff than it did with Dathan but knowing that every child is different I wasn't all that concerned about it really. I'm so thankful to have a homeschooling background that I believe enables me to be more easy going with things and willing to just go with the flow while the kids are young. They will get it when they get it and pushing too hard or worrying about it is just pointless I think.
Back to the question of what curriculum to use this next year though. Knowing that we'll be adding a new baby in the mix come August or September makes it even harder to decide what direction would be best to go in for everyone. I'll have a 4th and 2nd grader to teach plus an almost 2 year old and newborn to deal with at the same time! And since my 8 (he'll be turning 9 in August) year old and 7 year old seem to learn in different ways and even like different subjects that makes it a little hard to school together really. Any thoughts, advice, or suggestions would be appreciated in this area!
To be honest, academics isn't really my highest priority when it comes to schooling my kids or the main reason we choose to keep them at home. (gasp!) I'm not saying there's anything wrong with learning or that we will hold them back if they have the desire to advance as far as they are able, but it's just not where I want to put the most importance. Especially while they are little. I'd much rather see them learn how to become Godly young men and women who use their lives for His glory rather than get caught up in a certain career or worry so much about what they know or can accomplish in life in other ways. That being said, I think a certain amount of learning is good and beneficial to everyone, regardless of their goals in life so that is what I want to be able to help them with as they grow up. Not to mention that they both happen to be smart, little boogers who love to learn (about the stuff they're interested in anyway! lol) and I want to encourage them in that the best way I can. :-)
So anyway there's a few thoughts about homeschooling I had at the moment. I'm sure there will be more to come in the future! For now though if you have anything to share with me pertaining to this subject I would love to hear from you. Until next time....
Tyra
p.s. I am linking this post up to The Modest Mom blog but seem to be having trouble with buttons recently so just click on the name above to visit her site! Thanks!
I just want to add a disclaimer that I currently only have one child, and since she's 14 and a half months old I have basically no homeschool experience. I am also in no way connected with Sonlight, just fascinated and (if my husband agrees to it) want to use it when my child(ren) are ready to start formal schooling. Found you via the Modest Mom, and wanted to offer a suggestion.
ReplyDeleteWith that said, have you looked at Sonlight? I'm not sure about what your budget is, and I do think they look a little expensive, but they schedule everything for you. From looking at their forums and their site it's apparently very easy to combine kids that are close in age into one of their cores, and then adding in the appropriate math and language arts for each child. Their core B+C is world history from creation to present and is the right age range for both of your kids. You'd save yourself a lot of the planning which I think would be convenient once your new baby is born, and since a lot of the program is focused on read-alouds could probably be done while nursing. I have no idea if this is helpful and I know that they get a lot of criticism from the far right for being not Christian enough and the far left for being too Christian since they include Bible, come from a Christian perspective, but use a lot of secular books. I'm not sure how you'd personally feel about that, but I just wanted to share. Congratulations on your new little one, and good luck with the rest of this school year. http://www.sonlight.com/homeschool-curriculum.html?grade=2&tab=c