First of all, we have been using McRuffy but because my son puts up such a fight, I don't do it every single day. I try to do other stuff at least one day a week. Because of this, we won't finish everything by the time we have actually finished all required days. I don't know if I should keep working on it in the summer but I do know that with all the other kids out of school, my son will really put up a fight. The big question is, how do you decide where to go next? Mcruffy has been fine and I like having everything ready for each day for the main subjects at least. I also think it would be easier to keep up with what we know and will be starting where we should be. However, I also think my son might need a change. He gets bored with the same things all the time and maybe a different type of curriculum would be better for him. I just don't really know what to do. I'd really love to hear recommendations for different curriculums. My son will be in 2nd grade. I will also have a new baby and a 3 1/2 year old. I like to incorporate my 3 1/2 year old as much as possible into what we're doing although usually it doesn't last long. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I have found that I need to keep my daughters going through the summer with math. They seem to lose what they learned in the summer. So I pretty much homeschool them on math for sure year around. Look at Time4Learning Math and see what you think.
I would keep copies of pages I used with my older child. Then when the younger one wanted to "do school", I would have them on hand to pass out. With science, when you do experiments, tell him he's the "lab assistant". Phillip LOVED being Rachael's Lab Assistant! When you read history out loud, have coloring pages for that time frame on hand. He can color while you read. And it's also OK for him to do LEGOS or something while you read (as long as it doesn't distract is brother, lol!)
Have you thought about doing school year round? That way, he does some in the summer, but gets more time off throughout the year when his friends are in school. That way, he doesn't have three months off to forget everything and then have to have 1-2 months of review like PS. That is how I am planning on doing school. I am using McRuffy Color Math next year and it looks really fun (not at all repetitive since you use so many manipulatives). Which part of McRuffy is he bored with? It sounds to me like maybe he is having a little burnout. Maybe you can take a week off and then get back into things. Best of luck!
Who says you have to finish your curriculum in a year? Who says you can't carry it over and finish it up next year and start the next level in the middle of the year next year? We unschool-we have curriculum and we use it, but we use what we want, when we want and don't worry about finishing it by a set date. That's the beauty of homeschool, you can move at your kids' pace. You don't have to finish it by the end of the year-you finish it once your child masters it. There's also no rule that says you have to use and stick to one curriculum if that isn't what works for you or your child. I'm not familiar with McRuffy-but are you using it for every subject? If it's working but your child is bored-next year can you use it for some subjects and use something different for other subjects? Would that cure his boredom?
I was thinking we would "do school" some through the summer too but not daily. Sonita, I guess you're right. I have to remind myself constantly that things don't have to be done a certain way or by a certain time. I will just finish when we finish. We are using Mcruffy for Math, Spelling/phonics, Handwriting, and LA. We don't do anything formal other than that. Thanks for the input.
