New Curriculum Shopping

In the past year we have used Oak Meadow for the kids homeschool curriculum. It worked on many levels and on some levels it did not. I found the First Grade level completely bored Tae. Morgan liked the 6th grade math but that was about it. I don't think it challenged either one of them.

So this year, we bit the bullet and ordered a very expensive curriculum. I know, expensive doesn't always mean better but they have a refund policy if we don't like it. But I want the kids to be challenged. Tae is already half way through his second grade year and Morgan needs much more help with her writing. She has such difficulty organizing thoughts and writing them down.

Patrick did very well with Oak Meadow 9th grade. Except the Math-we found Saxon Math just awful so for him this year we are switching to Teaching Textbooks Geometry.

Morgan and Tae will try Calvert. The way I look at it is this: we spend money on groceries, vacation, electronics so why not our kids education? We'll see how it goes. I have to admit that I had a bit of chest pain when I ordered.

Stay tuned for a review when the box comes in.

First Week of Homeschool

My camera is cranky and I haven't posted in so long. Actually, the camera is fine. I'm having trouble transferring the pictures to my computer hence the delays in posting.

We're now on our second week of homeschool, unlike the title says. We are doing well. Morgan who is in sixth grade, wants all of her assignments on Monday so she can stay organized for the week. Patrick, now a 9th grader, has been working very, very hard on his studies.

Tae is working on his word wall words. He loves these.

This year we have moved on to letter families.

Homeschooling 3 kids is difficult mostly for organizational purposes. Remembering what each child has covered from year to year is sometimes cumbersome. I've always had difficulty planning the week ahead but this year we've switched to Oak Meadow. I put all of their 36 week themes or assignments in an excel spreadsheet so I can see at a glance what we are studying for each of the weeks. As the week is finished, I highlight the whole line. This helps the kids to know where we are and also what lessons they are on. They each asked for a copy of this to keep with their books so they can look ahead and plan out which books they want at the library.

Tae has been reading alot with Larry. He reads as much as he can and we help with the rest. He's reading like a champ and is devouring all sorts of books. He's really beyond the first grade Oak Meadow that we bought but it's easy enough to supplement.

All of his work goes into a main lesson book. He loves, loves, loves this. Especially since he can show his Daddy when he comes home from work.

Morgan seems to work everywhere. Living room, kitchen, office.

Where ever she can find a soft spot to curl up with her books.

We went on a short nature walk (they walked, I sat and watched).

Tae collected all sorts of things.

They found acorns, and leaves and sticks and some cool rocks.

They love the woods.

Some kind of bird didn't make it. It still had bones attached. The best we can figure is that some one's Rooster had become a late night snack.

We're not sure what else would have pure white feathers.

We passed by the old cemetery and paid our respects to Johnathan Rouse.

And his lovely wife Betsey.

There was a woodpecker in this tree.

He flew off as I was snapping the picture.

An old fort in the woods.

The kids thought this pile of brambles was shaped like an igloo.

Tae saw some cool bugs.

This beauty was in my garden eating the Fennel.

Tae took his nature finds and pressed them in a book.

We don't have space for a nature table but made a nature basket. We found some large pieces of paper wasp nest material, some birch bark and pinecones.

Morgan found some items for her science comparison work.

Homeschool by candlelight.

And I've gone back to using Homeschool Tracker.

www.homeschooltracker.com

I can keep track of all of their work, lesson plans and it automatically creates a transcript for Patrick because he would like to take some classes at the Community College. I can't say enough about Homeschool Tracker. The kids like having their assignments for the entire week so they can move ahead if they want. I don't grade Morgan and Tae at all-I don't feel a need since we review their work and spend much time together. If they don't get a concept we spend more time on it and if they've mastered it, we move on.

Tae is learning about Math Processes with the four Gnomes.

He listens to the story and then recreates his own picture.

Don't you love their drawings at this age?

Love the big feet and beards.

Such cute body shapes.

Spelling will eventually come.

I don't correct the misspellings yet.

Love the phonetic spelling.

And the backwards letters.

Deep in thought about Math Gnomes.

The King is a good and kind King.

We practiced some Capital and lower case letters.

Tae thought this leaf looked like a ghost.

The leaves are already starting to change color here in Rhode Island.

Once all of his leaves pressed and layed flat for a few days, Tae glued them into his main lesson book. Then we spent some time looking through books identifying the leaves.

It was so pretty when it was done.

After the school work was done, I went to empty the hamper. Our beautiful part Siamese cat named Kiwi thought it was the perfect spot to nap.

Our homeschool schedule has been crazy and honestly the first week drove us all a little insane.

We have a dry erase board in our kitchen to keep schedules straight.....and one in our classroom and one in my pocketbook.

Sunday is church time, children's RE and Senior Youth Group at church for Patrick.

Mondays and Tuesdays are mostly bookwork.

One Tuesday a Month I have our homeschool group Board meeting in the afternoon.

Wednesdays is Book club in the Morning, Lego Robotics in the afternoon and then Morgan and Tae have soccer practice in the evening which Larry takes them

to because I'm too tired by then.

Thursday is homeschool co-op.

Friday is book work in the morning and our homeschool group ENRICH'd Fridays. This year the kids will be doing the History series, 4H, Art Show, Project Fair and a few other things.

Saturdays, we have two soccer games at two different times and Patrick usually has friends over. Throw in some field trips, housework, animal care, cooking, playdates and church work and I'm downright exhausted. Thankfully, I have a lot of help and support.

I couldn't do it without some help from my friends or help from Larry and the kids.

More posts coming up on my Epiphany, life changes, lyme disease and homeschool.

How is your homeschool year going?

How do you stay organized?

Homeschool Lego Robotics

Morgan had her first class today in Lego Robotics. The kids had a blast and I was so impressed by the team and homeschool leaders. All of these kids were enthusiastic and

gave their full energy to the project.

Over the summer the kids will research and come up with some examples of “biomedical engineering” – which is the topic for the Fall Lego research project for 2010. The goal is just to get them familiarized with the topic and excited about what is can be used for… and eventually, for the Fall Lego League season using their own idea for the future. The RI FLL will be having an event in October to allow the children to meet folks in the BioMedical field. If they are familiar with the topic beforehand, excited about examples… it will fuel their excitement and understanding of folks they meet at the event. This is a very exciting project!

The kids started out by introducing themselves and exploring the Official Lego table.

It was amazing to watch them figure out all the different parts.

While the bigger kids were making robots,
the little ones played downstairs with.....legos.
Lots and lots of legos.

The team was divided into two groups and each had a robot that they had to put together following the directions provided and working as a team.

The kids worked on team building skills.

It led to a lot of laughter.

Then the two teams got to work following directions and learning all the parts of robots like wheels, geers and cogs....or something like that.

Sometimes they were confused.

They even went on the Lego Robotics team website to program their Robot.

Team one built this beauty today.

The directions aren't always easy to follow.

Team two built this magnificent robot today.

Their directions weren't much easier.

Cool, isn't it?

Ultra Cool.

I was so impressed with this program and we look forward to next weeks class. The kids need to decide on a team name and each week a different child presents something on Biomedical Engineering. I can't wait to see how this unfolds.

Happy Robot Building!