Looking to next year. . . - Page 2

[justthinkn]

Fun thread!  This has been DD's k4 year, and esp. with a new baby in the house, we've had an easy pace, just enjoying books and working on a few skills as we have time/motivation.  But it gives a little bit of an idea of what might work for next year when she's 5.

Reading - Bob books, Progressive phonics, Starfall, whatever works to keep practicing fun

Writing - HWT, moving from K to 1

Math - CSMP, moving from K to 1

Science - keeping it unschooly, following interests, seasons - Click magazine, We Love Dirt, DK Eyewitness DVDs, Magic School Bus, Usborne Children's Encylopedia, field trips, kitchen science experiments, etc.

Social Studies, Lit, Art, Music - Using SOTW audio and activity book to inspire - versus just using D'Aulaire and other literature this year to get basic intro to American and Caliornia history, then prehistory

Lit - using great booklists to guide library visits, lots of read alouds

Arts and Crafts - what would you guys recommend for a 5 year old?

Music - enjoying Classical kids CDs, joining children's choir

Movement - hopefully some low-key community classes like ballet/tap

Bible - Leading Little Ones to God

If we have time/energy/motivation - Rosetta Stone Spanish

[mhaddon]

I am feeling torn lately. I will of course keep homeschooling :)  I have a will be kindergartener and a 1/2 grader (supposed to be 2nd, but was a late bloomer).  I've been doing a more classical approach and it is not working with my oldest and has cause a lot of stress in our relationship. So we dropped down to just math, reading, nature walks, and reading books together. Way better for the two of us, but my "preschooler" started doing math with his brother and started reading so I am going to actually have to do more in K for him than I usually do, lol. 

So I'm looking possibly into Oak meadow, a solid program but seems to fit my oldest better. He is more imaginative, creative/art, and nature individual. I have kept fighting agains that and now I feel horrible :(  But I'm at a loss what to do with my other son. Right now he si working on R&S workbooks and black lines for math (had on hand) and reading lessons from the 100 lessons- oldest hated that book lol. So I have to very different learners it seems. 

For math I have RIght Start A, it was over the place too much for us and we now use Math U See which we love. I also love the video we watch together to make sure I'm explaining it correctly. He still fights for math time, but by the end of the week he solidly has the facts down so that's all that matters lol. We will continue with it for all my kids more than likely.

Anyone use the handbook of nature study blog? Gosh I wish I was as on top of it as her!! Love her pages/studies. We do these when I'm doing well.

[OkiMom]

Originally Posted by AAK 

OkiMom-

We have done the "countries around the world" thing and I must say "DO IT!!!"  We had so much fun with this, I think it is the best way to do social studies for early elementary.  We plan on doing it again as the kids get older, so it might be my favorite for older kids too, but I can't say yet.  If you celebrate Christmas, it is fun to do Christmas around the world during December.  We organized a homeschoolers "Christmas around the world" event--each family did a country.  

About writing, you mentioned that your dd liked the "Draw Write Now" books.  So does my dd.  She also uses them for "composition"-- the pictures prompt many stories, and we have been able to run with that.  Of course, copywork is available within the books too.  

Amy

Awesome! I was a bit worried about doing a around the world thing BUT my girls really seem excited about it. The local library did a summer of "travel" (they read and discussed different countries) but it wasn't enough for my oldest. She wanted to learn more and get more involved. So far Im thinking of doing: a craft from each country, a meal from each country and learn a few simple words like hello and goodbye. Then talk about how we are all alike and how we are different. I don't know what countries to do though. My girls want to do Japan but we lived there for 4 years so I don't know if it will really be benefital to talk about something they already know. It would be easy though since I have a ton of Japanese folk lore and children's books. My husband went to Thailand, Taiwan, Mongoula and another country that slips my mind while we lived there and could tell them about all those. Ive been to Iraq and Kuwait and could somewhat talk about the middle east (although Id love to go back and experience the middle east in a better way since I was out there for Operation Iraqi Freedom so not a good time).. I just don't know which countries we should or shouldn't do.

Thanks for the heads up about the writing practice in Draw Write Now.. I honestly never looked at the book, I got it and my daughter took off with it. She started bringing me pictures of things shes drawn using the book. Its amazing that a girl with a mom would can barely draw a circle can draw as well as she can.

[zebra15]

Originally Posted by OkiMom 

Awesome! I was a bit worried about doing a around the world thing BUT my girls really seem excited about it. The local library did a summer of "travel" (they read and discussed different countries) but it wasn't enough for my oldest. She wanted to learn more and get more involved. So far Im thinking of doing: a craft from each country, a meal from each country and learn a few simple words like hello and goodbye. Then talk about how we are all alike and how we are different. I don't know what countries to do though. My girls want to do Japan but we lived there for 4 years so I don't know if it will really be benefital to talk about something they already know. It would be easy though since I have a ton of Japanese folk lore and children's books. My husband went to Thailand, Taiwan, Mongoula and another country that slips my mind while we lived there and could tell them about all those. Ive been to Iraq and Kuwait and could somewhat talk about the middle east (although Id love to go back and experience the middle east in a better way since I was out there for Operation Iraqi Freedom so not a good time).. I just don't know which countries we should or shouldn't do.

Thanks for the heads up about the writing practice in Draw Write Now.. I honestly never looked at the book, I got it and my daughter took off with it. She started bringing me pictures of things shes drawn using the book. Its amazing that a girl with a mom would can barely draw a circle can draw as well as she can.

Well, why not let the kids pick?  I'm very child led, esp in the early years but let the kids explore the globe, the library shelves etc and let them decide what looks interesting. If interests fail you can always move on.   The Olympics are coming this summer so that should be a great starting point.

If your girls want to do Japan, go with it.

[iowaorganic]

We are in kindergarten with DD who turned 6 in January.  We have been doing My Father's World- which I think we will stick with for the most part.  Kindergarten has moved at an incredibly slow pace for us.  We have supplemented the reading with 100 Lessons and that has pretty much worked well- but now we are doing both long and short vowels and that is causing a lot of confusion for DD.  So we are taking a break and just focusing on shorts for awhile.  

What has worked:  MFW K curriculum is very family friendly and we have had a lot of fun.  Both DS1 and sometimes DS2 have joined in and had a good time.  Nothing very earth shattering- but still good.  100 Lessons for reading has also helped somewhat.  I think we should have stopped at short vowels though instead of chugging on through....

MFW has some math built in- probably enough- but DD wants more. 

What I want to change: Obviously we will be doing first grade next year- which actually we will be starting right away since we are soooo bored of kindergarten and DD wants challenge.  We are sticking with MFW- but will try to work our own pace instead of following a schedule.  

Math is again built in- but I am going to have singapore 1A/1B on hand for when we need it.  I hate us suffering through a couple of weeks waiting for curriculum :)  DD has been doing worksheets and we do a lot of story problems in real life- and she is bored with all that and I am not really sure what should come next....

Music- we are going to do classical I think and maybe get some tickets to the nutcracker, sleeping beauty, etc.

Art- pretty much built in our curriculum-- but it is a cool approach that I am excited about where it takes the bible lessons and the child makes a scrapbook/portfolio out of them with summaries/pictures/collages/etc.  I am excited  :)

Science- in our curriculum- but we have a farm and there are so many opportunities to learn...

Social Studies- we have a world map on our dining room table that I cover with  clear tablecloth plastic- it is an awesome way to have discussions and questions about everywhere!  I would also like to have a country a week project/meal/etc.

Reading- I have learned that our local library is not ideal for us.  There is no organization and it is really really limited.  At this point in our lives going to a bigger one is just not going to happen.  So I am budgeting a monthly Amazon order to help us out... I think this is a great plan for us :)  5 kids 6 and under is just not conducive to searching at the library :)

Story time- Reading out loud at bedtime is just something that drives DH nuts.  Not really sure why- but me reading to the kids at lunch is really working...  We are doing bible stories now- and once we are back in curriculum with bible we will probably move to little house and whatever we feel like.

Schedule- that needs improvement.  I have not been able to get us on a schedule and we do really need something- not strict- because we love our freedom- but something more than school sometime in the day or evening.    Something like school in the morning would be a huge improvement :)

When I have more time I am going to google a lot of your ideas!

eta-  I haven't decided what we are going to do about my DS1.  He will be five in March and I know we aren't going to do any reporting on him- since he isn't compulsory age yet- but I don't know if I am going to really push anything more than being an enterprising little boy at this time.  I might do something child-led for him.  Or maybe more building/lego/magnet stuff.  We have spent this year working on his speech and that has been huge and honestly been exhausting.  Or picture journalling.  But more unschool at this point I guess.

Edited by iowaorganic - 3/9/12 at 2:39pm

[chrissy]

This is the time of year when I am soooo ready to be done with whatever we've got going on and start fresh.

In the fall I'll have a 5th grader, 2nd grader, young Kindy boy, 3yo and a gigantic belly.  So, I really want to simplify things for myself, while still making sure the kids are getting enough, especially the 5th grader.

So, we are going to try Oak Meadow for 2nd and 5th grades. 

Rowan will be 5 at the end of May, and he is really starting to want to learn to write and read and "do school."  I wasn't planning to do Kindy with him until he was 6, but I think we'll do it this fall and possibly do another year as well.  Or, if he seems ready, we could move on.

[tankgirl73]

Originally Posted by chrissy 

This is the time of year when I am soooo ready to be done with whatever we've got going on and start fresh

Heehee!  This is one of the reasons I like "doing school" year-round (taking breaks whenever we feel the need rather than by any arbitrary school-district-dictated holidays)... and take each course at our own pace too.  The result of this, for us, is that we don't start all the new stuff at the same time, but it's staggered.  Whenever we finish one thing, we start the next, whether it's February or July or October.  Sometimes that means the next level of the same course, sometimes it means the next phase in the same subject, sometimes it means we're "done" with that subject for now completely and start a different subject.

It's less "neat and tidy" in terms of if we had to do up a report card or something, but it keeps things fresh.  

For instance, this week is March Break here, but my son finished up his Physics course this week and has started Chemistry -- as I mentioned above would be happening "soon".  :)  We did Physics at double-pace -- he enjoyed it a lot and always wanted to read more than what was assigned, so we did 2 days at a time.  And he did most of the experiments right out of the box just for fun lol, so he just had to review and refresh them when they came up in the course.  It was kind of easy for him too.  But for Chemistry, we're going to slow it down to the 'usual' speed -- we expect the experiments to be slightly more time-consuming, and I'd like him to practice doing more detailed summaries now too, so we'll just do one day at a time.  

He also just finished the IEW SWI-B a couple of weeks ago.  We've started the Teaching the Essay mini course, but I'm also experimenting with Writing With Skill and Advanced Language Lessons -- trying out the 'sample pages' and see if it will be appropriate for him.  

Good time of year to be starting new stuff, I think!  :)
 

[marimara]

I have a 5yo dd, we consider ourselves to be "eclectic".  

What worked well this year:

Handwriting without tears, really helped her fully grasp how to make letters properly, though she still rates handwriting as her least favorite thing to do.   However, she will make endless cards, letters, and handwritten stories all the time 

Unit Studies for Science:  We did Prehistory and Dinosaurs, Animal Classification, Human Body & Health, and Plants (mish mashed together from Mr. Q Science and a Childcraft encyclopedia set).  We put together lapbooks for these units and it was really fun and a great review of all the thing she's learned.

Miquon Math Orange, went well in the beginning then fizzled out in the end.

Smithsonian's Ultimate Visual Guide to Natural History

Ultimate Visual Guide Timelines History.  These two book are the cornerstone of our living room.  They spark so much dialog about everything under the sun.

The Library.  We go to the library at least 2x a week and she checks out on average 10-12 books each time and reads them all (usually on her current interests: doctors, health, infectious diseases, emergency and survival strategies, dinosaurs, sharks).   

National Geographic.com and Discovery.  We do lots of online videos and on the television for science and nature studies.  Sometimes I invite her to watch something or sometimes we chase bunny trails that she goes down.

Magic School Bus and Magic Tree House Series

For next year:

Brainpop subscription

Discovery Streaming subscription

Miquon Red and I have some Saxon Math 2 that I found at a thrift store we'll go thru for practice

Bird Unit Study, using Burgess Bird Book Companion and other bird and nature guides.

American History biographies

Ultimate Visual Guide to natural history and Timelines History

Some other Unit Studies (Inventors and Great discoveries, Countries, life in Plymouth Colony, Modern Art, etc.)

Games (scrabble, checkers, card games)

Zoo annual pass and enrollement in their homeschool science classes

Science class at the community center

Possibly a class in Performing Arts/acting/dancing

continue with Magic School Bus and I may get some of those MSB science kits

Dover Nature Coloring books

Fujikawa's gorgeous books:  A Child's Garden of Verses, Fairy Tales and Fables, A Child's Book of Poems

Literature Pockets, Caldecott winners

Legos

Homeschool Book Club

[Grace and Granola]

Thank you for this thread!!  We do our school year 3 months on and 1 month off, so our official year is coming to an end this month (yay!) and we will start a new year in May, so I need to get on the ball and figure out what to buy some time in April.  I have two boys ages 6 1/2 and 5.  My 5yo ds has been in preschool this year, which has done wonders for him, but I'll be happy to have him home so we can have a more regular routine with him included.  This year we did My Father's World Kindergarten and both of my boys really enjoyed it, though we did not use the math/language arts portion because my ds1 was beyond it. So, we used Singapore Math 1a/b for ds1 and progressive phonics for both boys.  DS1 also loves Draw Write Now, though I wasn't very diligent in using it for handwriting, he enjoys it for the drawing.

In two weeks there is a Homeschool Expo in my area where I can get my hands on some new curricula and see what we'll be using for next year.  I love My Father's World, though I'm torn between getting 1st or 2nd grade.  I think DS1 could easily move up to 2nd grade and would be more challenged, but that would leave DS2 possibly in the dust.  I may just get the 1st grade curriculum to use for both of them and add Apologia science to add some more meat.  We are a science-y family, so we would all enjoy that. 

I am a  Charlotte Mason fan at heart, so I would love to learn how to optimize nature walks and figure out how in the world to do handicrafts with boys! 

Does anyone have recommendations for handwriting/fine motor activities for my 5yo ds who hates to do anything involving a pen/pencil/crayon/marker?

[LuxPerpetua]

Originally Posted by Grace and Granola 

Does anyone have recommendations for handwriting/fine motor activities for my 5yo ds who hates to do anything involving a pen/pencil/crayon/marker?

Clay modeling, stickers, Legos, beadwork (beads string great on pipe cleaners), embroidery ... Will he do art/crafts if you are doing it together?  I ask because dd always does better when I craft/draw with her.  What if you got him bathtub crayons and let him draw/write on your bathroom mirrors or windows?  I've done this with dd and the steam from a shower is all I need to moisten it to wipe it off.  Also, what about shaving cream in the bathtub for drawing pictures?

[ammumom]

Great thread. Glad to find all these great ideas. We use K12 curriculum for my 9 yo dd, as a base, but supplement it with a lot of other stuff. Some of the things that worked for her last year:

1]Life of Fred (Fractions)

2]Khan Academy (for understanding some of the math concepts)

3]IXL.com (Got a membership through a group that costed only $20 for the entire year. She got lots and lots of practice with this one)

4] Math Olympiad Contest Problems for Elementary and Middle Schools, Vol. 1 by Dr.George Lenchner(for her math club and contests)

Wow, we are math heavy

5]Discovery Education for Science and Social Studies and a whole lot of other stuff (GA homeschoolers get this for free)

Though we try to homeschool the whole year, we are going to try new ones like:

1] Art of problem solving pre-algebra (videos are free online)

2] Some kind of experiment-based science curriculum (looking for ideas)

3] Institute for excellence in writing course (dd9 is a gifted writer)

4] Still looking for grammar curriculum supplement

5]Story of the world vol.2 (may be cds with the workbooks)

For dd4 , it is going to be more starfall, ixl,explode the code and lots and lots and lots of reading by mama

[SandyBeachBums]

I really want to use the simply charlotte mason online planner. I wantto keep up with whateveryone is doing. We tried planners but everyone keeps loosing them:o

Oak Meadow didn't work for any of the boys. I was really bummed about it.

But, they are happy with what we are doing now. our biggest change is leaving our VA. It will be nice to loosen up a bit. The kids need some freedom to focus on a subject without having a looming requirement for History even though science is what they really want to do right now.

My fourth child is really into reading. So, we have been playing with letters. That is such a surprise after the first three. They just were not interested and my third child is just now reading after some struggles with speech delays.

I will be busy for sure. I will be solo parenting for a year, too. And moving...it is going to be a whirlwhind...again.

[3littlelambs]

I have really enjoyed reading this thread! thanks to everyone who's posted...esp. the Kers for all the great ideas as I've got a 3 and 4 yo, so I've been looking at things for that level in particular. 

Mine being so young and not having a very structured school day at this point, we mostly read....but, there is lots of learning taking place and it happens year round. This past year, their favorites:

phonics on starfall

BOB books

lots of trips to the library and reading great children's books from book lists I've found such as Before Five in a Row

The Jane Belk Moncure "first steps to reading" and math books

Bible stories and crafts, fingerplays, fine/gross motor skills and reading lists found on this site: http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/

picking fruit from local farms

baking

nature walks

lots of crafts and pretend play

pre-ballet/tap for 4yo

we're moving into using:

HWT Pre-K "my first school book" CD, magnetic board and play dough with letter cards for handwriting

Happy Phonics games for phonics

Family Math for math games

pattern blocks

continuing with Bible reading from http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/ and memorizing scriptures from this cd (great songs for kids): http://www.amazon.com/Hide-Em-Your-Heart-Vol/dp/B001EJH4SW/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1331805261&sr=1-1

Leapfrog videos for numbers and letters

lots and lots of books from the library and great children's books lists

more "field trips" to local farms once the strawberries, blueberries and later apples and pumpkins are in season

getting outside to run around, play 

probably continue ballet for 4yo

Edited by 3littlelambs - 3/15/12 at 3:37am

[3littlelambs]

Originally Posted by Grace and Granola 

Does anyone have recommendations for handwriting/fine motor activities for my 5yo ds who hates to do anything involving a pen/pencil/crayon/marker?

http://www.abcjesuslovesme.com/gross-motor-skills/207Z3mommy-tip

these should work for a 5yo as well....she will be updating her site with a curriculum for 5yos this summer too if you want to check back.

[trailmom]

I'm sooo new here but will add what we are/will be using...I'm looking for some company! I find it difficult to find many others using Oak Meadow.

I have a 2nd grader and a K'er now.  I am just getting going with Oak Meadow K and 2nd.

My K'er is/will be using:

OM K

All About Reading 1

Rightstart Math A

My 2nd grader is/will be using:

OM 2

SL Readers 

BJU Math

BJU English

WWE

All About Spelling

[elizawill]

i think i've narrowed our choices down...  all subject to change of course.

5th GRADE
Science - Apologia Zoology & Journal Notebook
History - Veritas Press online class
Math - CLE grade 5
Spelling - Apples and Pears or Dictation
Writing - IEW Level SWI A or Essentials in Writing Grade 5
Grammar -  No idea??

Latin - Prima Latina?

3rd GRADE
Science - Apologia Zoology and Junior Notebook
History - Veritas Press online class
Math - CLE Grade 3
Spelling - Apples and Pears
Writing - IEW SWI A or Essentials in Writing Grade 3
Cursive - Handwriting Without Tears
Phonics - HOP Master Reader (he's working on this now, so if we finish it, I'll just focus on spelling only)
Grammar - ??

We'll also incorporate some art and extracurricular stuff through our co-op and local sports.