Friday, October 9, 2009

What are we doing this year in school?

A lot of fun things! I'm too eclectic to use one single curriculum. LOL. It's much more fun to pull the best of the best subjects all together.

Aislinn does most of her core work on Time 4 Learning. This online curriculum can be used as an enrichment program for children preschool through 8th grade, or it can be used as a homeschool curriculum. Aislinn enjoys it and I love it. Since I have other children to take care of and a home to run, this curriculum frees up my time since I can homeschool without having to be the teacher ALL the time. Aislinn enjoys being able to work independently from me, too. When she finishes her assignments for the day we discuss how she did and if she has any questions. Then at night when everyone is in bed I take a few moments to review her progress more carefully. Once a month I print out a report for all her work in all subjects.

In addition to that we are doing lots of reading together, and independently. Right now she is reading Charlotte's Web in her own and we are working on By the Shores of Silver Lake together. This week she also picked up several books on the choosing and care of dogs, so we'll see where this lands us in the future. ;)

For History we are plugging our way through Truth Quest. Aislinn really enjoys history, but we have been held back by what is available in the library. So I finally ordered some spines from Amazon to help us keep more on top of it. Keeping on top of library books is not my specialty. At least the fines are cheap!!!
I'm happy to report that Story of the World volume 2 and 3 are on their way to us as I type.

Aislinn does most of her Math work on Time4 Learning, but we supplement with textbooks and workbooks from Singapore Math and some of the concepts from http://www.livingmath.net/. Did you realize kids can learn math concepts just by reading fun books like Math for all Seasons and Anno's Magic Seeds? I like to read books like this during lunch when everyone is too relaxed to realize they are being fed extra math lessons. =) They eat it up and love every minute!

In addition to all that, Aislinn keeps a Bible journal and History journal where she writes and illustrates what she has read. It helps her to remember without the druggery of taking notes. Plus she is quite the artist. She is always drawing something. Her specialty is writing and illustrating books. The trick is to keep her work out of Gigi's hands.  As for science, Aislinn chose to study fossils. And so we are. =)
We picked up The Fossil Book at the Creation Museum this summer.

Jack.... Ah my little wild man. I AM SO PROUD OF HIM! He loves school time. Sits still, does his lessons, even reminds me when it's his turn. Who would have thought this active little guy would love learning to read?
This is his first year of preschool so we are taking it very light. I have some inexpensive Kindergarten workbooks that he likes to do and we are going through Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I love this book. Highly recommend it. It is simple, has short lessons that you can work at the child's pace, and is effective. If it seems redundant, it is. It's supposed to be. But it will open the world of reading.
Other than that, we do regular craft times and he loves to play on the computer. PBSkids and Starfall.com are his favorites.  Scratch that PBS thing.  I'm no longer impressed with that site.

Activities? They are both in swim practice and gymnastics. Soccer is coming up soon, but I haven't committed to it yet. I don't want the kids to be too busy and right now swimming is the most important. I want my kids to be able to swim well so they are safe near water. And gymanstics? Jack and Aislinn both love it. Aislinn is doing so well and appears to have a natural talent for it.

1 comment:

  1. Mic! I just found you on blogger..thanks to your FB. Your pics are so great - kids so beautiful.

    What an amazing mom you are!

    Hugs!!!!
    L

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