Homeschooling Update: what we're using now...

We're about five weeks into our school year, and Big Sister and I are getting into a good groove with the schoolwork. We're really getting a lot covered while Little Brother is away at school for 3 hours each day.

After the computer snafu earlier in the week, I had to reload my Homeschool Tracker Plus (which I had dusted off once I became a little paranoid after the annual filing hassle I'd been through). And unless I *ahem* win the Schoolhouse Planner, I intend to stick with Tracker. Because I like to be able to go with the flow, and I'm never sure exactly how much, and to which subjects we're going to get to, I use the weekly plan feature to load assignments. If you haven't used Tracker, this probably makes no sense to you, but that's okay... just move on down the list. I will say that the Tracker learning curve is pretty steep, but between the tutorials online, and the message boards and tech support, you can usually get your questions answered relatively easily (she says after two years of playing with the program, lol).

If I had to join a homeschooling team, it would be the Eclectic Homeschoolers. I've definitely pieced together a little of this and a little of that.

Handwriting: Handwriting With Tears Edited to say that should read Handwriting Without Tears, LOL! (currently finishing up Printing Power, but will be switching over to Cursive Handwriting in another month or so. Nat's really excited to learn cursive).

Spelling: We just started using Spelling Power. I bought a spic-n-span, used, 3rd Edition at Homeschool Potpourri for $35. New it sells for about $70, which sounds steep for a spelling program, but isn't bad when you consider that it contains spelling instruction up through high school. Theoretically it's the only spelling program we'll ever need. It utilizes placement tests to place the student in the appropriate starting level, and then from their they progress at their own pace. The manual indicates we should spend no more than 15 minutes/day on spelling (5 minutes testing, 5 minute study of missed words, 5 minute daily activity for reinforcement). In actuality, my girl likes the daily activities so much that spelling takes closer to an hour. I really like that the activity suggestions are categorized by learning style because it helps me choose ones that I know will really click with my kid. Her favorite activity this week was writing her review words in shaving cream on the desk (think fingerpainting), but she liked making tactile word cards, too...
(finally a use for all the lentil beans after last year's Lentil Science program)

Math: I'm using a combination of workbooks, games, and activities. We didn't really get into Math-U-See like I'd thought, but mostly that's because it turned out I didn't have all of the materials I needed. I've put it on the back burner for now, but I think my younger one would do well with it next year. We're continuing with Singapore Primary Math which is the big winner in my book, as it's the one and only piece of curriculum that has remained the same since preschool. We've spent the last few weeks doing review of basic math facts, and are finally moving forward again with fresh material. Although we're finishing up 3A, I like to mix things up a bit with Primary Math Challenging Word Problems, Primary 2. I think it gives her the opportunity to put math into practice in a non-threatening way. This way she should be able to focus on the construction and manipulation of the problems, and the calculations she come more readily. For additional drill of multiplication facts, I picked up Flash Skills Grade 3 Multiplication Activities. I really like the Flash Kids/Harcourt Family Learning books because they provide short activities focused on specific skill areas, and the layout of the pages makes it inviting to kids. We actually use a few of their books, and I picked them up at Barnes & Noble. In addition to workbooks and flashcards, we've also been playing a lot of games that reinforce math facts, as well as taking to the driveway with the sidewalk chalk for more math fun (when the weather permits).

Language Arts: Going with a total mishmash of stuff here, too. For grammar and writing, I'm picking and choosing from a couple of units in Grade 2 Language Arts (also from Harcourt Family Learning, like the math one above, but more comprehensive). Reading and writing is where she really struggles, so I'm really trying to get this all cemented this year. She's progressed really rapidly in the past month, and I think this is the year that a lot of this is going to come together for her. I only have a couple of units in the grade 2 book that I wanted to make sure we touched on, and then we'll move on to Grade 3 in the same series. Again, in the remediation realm of things, I'm having her work through 100 Words Kids Need to Read by 1st Grade. Awfully brave of me to tell you that, I think. I'm using it to solidify the spelling of many of the sight words (she consistently relies on spelling words phonetically no matter how many times she reads it written correctly), as well as to provide more reading practice and build fluency. She's flying through it, and it's building her confidence. To test reading comprehension, I'll periodically pull out Flash Kids Grade 2 Reading Comprehension. It contains short reading passages, with a follow-up that varies (fill-in the blank, true or false, create a graph, fill in a venn diagram, etc.) to test comprehension. For practice with the writing process, I'm using an old version of a 2nd grade writing instruction workbook from Teacher Created Resources. It's old enough that it doesn't even have an ISBN on it, so I can't find it on the web to show you. It has 32 different writing prompt-type activities that can be turned into pieces of writing. For example, one page had six pictures of a dog doing doing different things. It said that a boy had taken his dog for a walk, and asked the student to fill-in an action word under each picture. Well from that, N. was inspired to write a paragraph about the walk they went on. Then she decided she wanted to add more detail, so she edited it. After that, she decided she wanted to turn it into a storybook, so she rewrote it a third time, with illustrations for each page. She's done a few of these so far this year.

Social Studies/History: Our state separates these two subjects, but for the sake of discussion I'm combining them under one heading. For history, we're using K12 History2 (finishing up our study of the middle ages from last year), and then we'll head into History3. We're also doing the History of the Horse unit study, which introduces a lot of history, social studies, and life science. Most of our social studies occurs during everyday life. We talk about politics, current events, local government, taxes, community, religion, etc., and I really think that covers things at this stage.

Science: I bought this super cool book called Stomp Rockets, Catapults, and Kaleidoscopes: 30+ Amazing Science Projects You Can Build for Less than $1. It has easy to follow directions for all these projects that will totally appeal to N. because they all look like crafts. At the end of each project description, there's a discussion about the science concepts behind why the thing did what it did. My plan is to have her pick a couple of these each month to work on. We're also using Sow and Grow for plant activities and nature study. And if we run out of science to do, I just ordered Real Science 4 Kids Pre-level 1 Chemistry from Rainbow Resource.

Our homeschool is lacking in Art and Music appreciation, I'm afraid. We appreciate them - we love to sing to songs on the radio, color and draw pictures, but I don't think that's what they have in mind. Big Sister has been begging for fiddle lessons for at least a year now, and it's probably time I did something about that. Maybe we can hit the art museum a few more times this year.

The last subject we're supposed to cover is Occupational Education. I'm not really sure what that means for a 9-yr. old. I'm not sure that my state does either, because I've been unable to locate the learning requirements for this subject area. If they can't figure it out, then I'm not going to worry about it either. I say it's all the other skills she's picking up that can't be classified into the other subject areas. A catch-all category. If we want to get specific about things, my kid is pretty certain she's going to be a veterinarian, and she's constantly getting training in that. In fact, it was with that thought in mind that I filed "cleaning the rat cage" under Occupational Education in Homeschool Tracker!