Adventures in Homeschool

I have regrettably been negligent in blogging, but here's to a new start and prayerfully being consistent. This year, 2020, has been a memorable one for everyone on the planet. Sadly, it's not because of wonderful things, but because of a global pandemic that has brought life as we knew it to a screeching halt. Schools were closed in March to aid in slowing the spread of CoVid 19. The virus is still very much present, social distancing is an everyday term, mask wearing has been politicized and no one truly knows what's happening . The schools are reopening with added precautions, but we have decided to continue the education of our children at home. This is not a decision made solely from the pandemic scare, but as an opportunity for more quality family time, more freedom with our schedule, and more freedom with curriculum choice and greater involvement in our children's education.  We have enjoyed having our boys home since the schools closed, and are looking forward to continuing. 

July 1st kicked off the new homeschool year for us as well as a very special birthday for our Isaac. He is six now and starting kindergarten. He knows most of his letters and can recognize numbers to 10 and count to 12 without trouble. In math we are working on those "teens" this month and striving for mastery in counting to 19 over the next few weeks. Our goals will be counting to and writing all numbers to 100 this year, as well as mastery of simple addition and subtraction facts. We are also working on mastery of all upper and lower case letters as well as letter sounds and blending. He will be using math lessons for a living education level 1 and we plan to dive into Sing, Spell, Read, and Write soon. We are currently working through teach your child to reach in 100 easy lessons and doing some work in foundations of phonics from MasterBooks. For handwriting, he is using "A reason for handwriting" as well as simple copy work. We plan to master writing his whole name and copying simple words by the  end of the year. 

Eli is starting 2nd grade and is excited about the idea of not having to get up early and be in "boring school" all day. He was resistant to school work at home initially, but is coming around and progressing well. In math we are using MLFLE level 2 and he's doing very well. He had not yet learned to tell time and did not know the value of money, so we started with those skills. He is doing very well and knows the value of the coins and bills very well and is excelling at telling time to the minute on an analog clock. We are still working on those 'quarter after', 'quarter til', and 'half past' terms, but he is getting it. We have also started on adding double digit numerals and "carrying" with addition and he's doing very well with that also. For reading, he is reading daily using "leveled readers" as well as listening to some classic literature. We recently finished "The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe" and watched the movie to compare/contrast. We will be starting "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" this week. He will also be working on reading 100 books this year and we will have a party upon completion. :) Our LA curriculum is grammar galaxy and he and Noah will be working through those together.  Eli will also be starting "A reason for handwriting" level T to work on transitioning from manuscript to cursive handwriting. In Science, we are planning to work through several unit studies and are currently working on a space unit study. We are doing these studies "family style" and I will adjust their lesson accordingly to their level of learning. We have have several nature walk studies to work through that we are very excited about! Social Studies/History will be early American history using MasterBooks as well some unit studies on American government and the American election system as this is an election year. We will also be working on map skills and beginning work on learning the 50 states.

 Noah is entering the 6th grade. As he missed the second half of 5th grade due to the pandemic and because of his dyslexia, we are starting with intensive review. He is quickly working through MLFLE level 5 and we have already reached lesson 16. He is struggling some as work with fractions is now expanding, so we are slowing our pace a bit to ensure mastery. He is also working on reading daily. He has a personal goal of improving his spelling. The public school system had not served him well in learning spelling rules and reading is still a challenge for him. The beauty of home education is that I get to control the content and method of delivery. Studies have shown for years that an Orton-Gillingham multisensory approach is most effective in teaching those with dyslexia. Why the public school system refuses to acknowledge that is beyond me, but we will start mimicking that multisensory approach now that he completing his learning at home. We are using grammar galaxy, audible books, and will be starting AAR and AAS after I receive it. My sister, Ang, is gifting this curriculum to us and we are SO GRATEFUL to her for the support. Noah will also be working through "A Reason for Handwriting" level D (which is more cursive work). Science and Social Studies will be the same as listed with Eli, but a bit more advanced as he is older and needs the challenge. 

Noah is an early bird, so we often start first with his individual lessons. I treasure that quiet one on one time with my oldest. We drink coffee, do his lessons, and chat. I pray that's as happy a memory for him as it is for me. He's growing up so fast. I regret not starting this homeschooling journey sooner as I feel I could have tailored his education more and helped him master those skills before now, but alas, here we are and we will succeed. To quote a video I watched, "failure is not an option." My new mantra. 

Abel is two and busy. Very very busy. He does make things a bit more challenging, but also so much more fun. He makes us laugh daily and keeps us on our toes. He is working on pre-preschool as he refuses to be left out. 

Our first month of homeschool is in the books and we are jumping in with both feet with this new lifestyle. We are blessed to have amazing support from dear friends who have "paved the way" for us and are continual sources of advice, support, and comfort. Here we go!