I am trying to be brutally honest with myself. We have become very lazy with school, and nothing is getting done beyond math and the occasional forced book being read by the kids. No science, history, geography, language arts, or any of the fun things... art, music, etc. I need to get us on track, my plan is to start our 2nd half of the school year super strong and stay that way. I wanted to be pretty well planned by now, including making a planner for myself, and all I have done is printing out the planner! When I try to nail something down as my 1 thing for a subject I start wavering and sometimes have 3 or 10 other things I'm thinking of using. Math is the only thing I have set in stone! I need to decide on Language Arts... I'm thinking of using ReadingA-Z.com (this covers reading comp, grammar, vocab, and a tiny bit of writing) along with Spelling Connections (the free stuff), and something for writing (looking at No More "I'm Done!", have Igniting Your Writing and Writing Strands). Which writing?????, after writing is nailed down does this sound good? I need to decide on Science... My plans for the year were The Complete Book of Science along with living books and videos. This is not happening. I have been lazy about it. I still love the idea. I also have all 3 level 1 REAL Science Odyssey that are out. I hate the black and white-ness of this, but the short reading then hands on sounds good for my kids. I'm not a fan of single strain of science in a year in the elem levels, but I guess it can't be the end of the world. I also have the K-2 level of BFSU. I do like this but when I tried to use it before I was too lazy to plan ahead. I'm looking now at Mr Q... I like the looks of it really, my kids would like the color (I'm not worried about printing and ink, I have a VERY cheap to operate printer), but again, it's single strain.. but I almost think it would get done and it's planned for days a week which would leave the 4th one for us (we are schooling 4 days a week now and plan on doing sci and ss every one of those days) to maybe do an extra experiment from the RSO or watch a video. I want to do US history... we have not done crap here either other than cover Native Americans which I would like to cover more of. I keep going back to looking at Sonlight D for this..... my kids are not big book fans though and that scares me. We have a ton of living books here and they never get touched... I have the Smithsonian Children's Encyclopedia of American History and think that may be my spine and we can go from there? We are going to begin going through the Which Way USA books, this will cover US geography, map skills, some history, and logic. Art is covered, music is covered and so is health/safety/pe.
I'm not familiar with any of that except Writing Strands (which I like), so I can't comment on what to use, but I'll comment on starting strong. I've found that when we start back after a lull or break, that if I give everything at once, we both burn out. If I start at 50 or 75% and then add some each week for a month, we ease into routine much better.
I tried the adding things one at a time when we started our school year... I think that is a big part of why we are so lazy this year. They got used to only having a couple things way too fast and since this is the first year we need to report to the district for Rylee.. which includes her 3rd grade standardized test, our review with our evaluator and turning in a portfolio to the district, we have a LOT of ground to cover before May.
I don't know about the other LA stuff, but I know that my ds who is 10 HATED writing Strands and after about the 3rd lesson I hated it too. We did finish the book but we were both so glad when we were done and we won't go back to using them. We switched to Writeshop and so far my kids are ok with it. Of course, I don't think there is anything out there that we would love though. They are not fans of writing. Science has always been a tricky one for us. I finaly settled on the SRA science labs. I got them for free when my dh worked for the company, otherwise they are way to expensive to buy. I didn't use them for years but this year we have been using them and my kids actually beg to to do science! It is easy for me because they just go get the small book that is assigned for the day (and I mean it is more of a pamphlet), they read it and answer questions and we do the experiments that go with the lessons. Easy Peasy, no teacher prep (other than the experiments) and they are learning! I also have the Mr. Q books and they are good, but I just couldn't stick with them. My kids loved them...I was just lazy. I really needed something that my kids could do mostly independently. Science I find, is the hardest subject to keep up with! For history we are doing SOTW right now and so far my kids love it. I was actually glad that although it does have some religious history it seemed to be neutral on the religious stuff. It just gave facts and left it at that. Of course it's not US history, it's world history. I haven't found anything that is great for US history yet for elementary levels. Actually my younger kids listen to me read the History of US books to my oldest and they enjoy those.
My kids seem to do better when we start strong, too. If I try to start slow they get grumpy when I try to add things in later. The school my boys went to the last two years used Reading A-Z, it seemed pretty thorough. I know nothing about the writing programs. My boys hate writing so anything in that area is a struggle. I am glad it is very gently incorporated into our curriculum (although I sometimes worry if they are getting enough). It sounds like you need the accountability of a more structured science program this year even if it isn't your first choice. The Mr Q Life Science is free and looks pretty fun. Is there a way that you can work your history around your Which Way USA stuff? Seems like it would make your life easier if the geography and history went together instead of being two separate things. If I was doing it I would probably just focus on the state studies this year and move on to something else next year. My library has books about each state that would add info, but I remember you saying once that you don't have access to a good library so that would make it harder. Good luck! I hope you can figure out a plan that really works for your family.
Ok science is figured out! I have WriteShop primary B.. but I never have been able to even read past the intro section!!! It makes MY brain hurt . I still need writing. I'm open to buying something but can't afford too much and a download would be awesome since I would love to start it Monday.
Oh and I think I have history down... I ordered Liberty's Kids, Jennifer Armstrong's The American Story and The Very First Americans and North American Indians (my kids can't get enough Native Americans, Daddy is part Blackfoot).
There's always the free Scott Foresman grammar and writing. http://www.sfreading.com/resources/ghb.html Your history plans sound really fun. Looks like it is all coming together.
I don't feel there is enough writing instruction in the writing in the free SF thing. The grammar is great then the writing seemed to leave the kids hanging... it is the same way in the Readinga-z lesson plans, which is why I wonder if it's enough. I'm thinking of just going with Writing Strands.
Yep.... now to write everything down in the planner I made. I'm hoping if I write it all out and have boxes to check off it will get done each day. Probably going to be a late night...lol
You still have a few days. When we homeschooled before I liked planning everything myself, but I have to admit that we often only did the basics, reading and math. After a couple years of the kids being in "real school" I decided I wanted something a bit more organized. I miss the creativity of planning my own sometimes, but I am finding that having a list of what we need to do does keep me more accountable. Thankfully Paths of Exploration has been a great fit for us. I still have my moments of wondering if it is enough in some areas. I really shouldn't have looked at Mr Q today, LOL.
It goes on half off sale on like the 12th.... just saying. I can get you the coupon code if you want it...lol
Yep, I will probably spend some time looking at it this weekend. I'm so silly. I love that what we are using isn't so textbooky and everything is connected, but then I worry that it isn't enough and start looking at more traditional stuff.
I have a horrible problem with second guessing... it makes us go in circles and then we get no where when what I choose first was probably "good enough".
My science loving 9 year old came in while I was looking at Mr Q's Life Science and he got all excited about it. I think we may try to work in a few lessons to see what we really think. Not long ago I was considering several different programs for Bible study for my boys. I was talking my husband's ear off about the pros and cons of each one (He is a leader in our church so it was more in his area than my usual school related ramblings). He finally told me, "they're all good programs, just pick one and do it." I think I need to be that way about all of our stuff. But that is easier said than done.
We were slacking before Christmas break also. We start back up Monday. Be at peace, you still have time for a full school year from Jan thru Sep. So if you already got say a couple or a few weeks worth of schooling in even at less than great progress, you can still have some weeks off during summer. Don't worry so much about which program for this or that. Find a road map then use whatever materials to teach an outline of objectives. This way progress is not measured by finishing a certain program or book but instead by accomplishing specific learning goals. You can rely on state curriculum outlines, or world book encyclopedia, or the outlines for a branded homeschooling curriculum, which might be called scope and sequence. Or Just pick something and do it. Either way you will get a reasonable set of learning goals accomplished. For me the largest challenge is getting my days organized around schooling. There are way to many interruptions and appointments etc. I wonder how families that have two working parents get everything done.
Add me to the slacker group I was so burned out with all that's been going on around here that I let everything slip with the exception of Math and Language arts/reading/spelling. Daughter begged for science and history, but I just couldn't get myself together and do it. Part of my issue is that I started staying up late and sleeping in and by the time I got up we only had a few hours before the other kids got out of public school. Going to try to go to bed at a decent time and get up when the others go to school and eat breakfast and then get going with Lyndsey's school. She focuses better first thing in the morning anyway :O) Oh, and if I pick something to use, I use it and don't browse. I'm too wishy washy on my curriculum choices if I look around. Our science that we picked the end of last year will be done then we will start fresh next year with Mr Q. At least that's the plan, but then again, Apologia does have that new book out.. (((sigh)))
