Switching Gears Mid-track

The reason I haven't blogged in a while is nothing surprising - we have been busy! Life can be that way as you all know, and with 4 little ones at home, it doesn't seem to let up. And then just for fun, after all my hard work lesson planning and getting organized for our homeschool this Fall, we decided to make a major switch 8 weeks into our school year. When things just aren't working, it is time to fix what is broken. Our homeschool year was perfect on paper, but in practice it wasn't working. So make a switch is what we did. My dear 7 year old who is anything from typical, was not being helped with the 3 younger ones' constant interruptions in our school mornings. My well-planned out Classical curriculum and lesson plans were great in my eyes, but they just weren't working for our family at this time. So with much prayer and research into EVERYTHING possible, even putting him back in school this year, we decided to switch gears mid-track. So, what are we doing now? We are using Bob Jones distance learning the remainder of the year. So far, we love it! It is not like being in a classroom as some distance learning programs we have seen. The teacher is speaking directly to the at home student vs. filming a live class of which you are a part as in Abeka DVD. The curriculum is solid - from a Biblical perspective and academic, I believe. The lessons are fun, and for the first few week he even asked to do the lessons over something else - which is pretty remarkable for my reluctant student. The main thing for us is that it allows me to deal with all the "distractions" of my preschoolers and toddler while not disrupting his flow of lessons. And I still get to keep him at home! I am there to help as needed but am not constantly needed. There is a lot of teacher planning despite the online lessons, but the nerd in me loves this aspect. I can spend more time organizing and planning. Inviting an online teacher into our home acts somewhat as a buffer between me and my son as it is not always me telling him what to do in his lessons. He knows there is another authority out there asking him to do this stuff vs. me making up endless requirements (in his mind). I will keep you posted but for now, if you find yourself in a similar situation or with a similar student, I highly recommend BJU Press distance learning.

They have courses K4-12th. K4 - 6th grade come in packaged curriculums, and for 7th-12th, you can purchase individual subject modules. For the younger grades, you can switch out a few subjects depending on their grade level. For example, he is taking 1st grade Phonics and Math but 2nd grade Bible. We did this as I felt he needed some foundational review in Phonics & Math before moving forward. He also has classes in Heritage Studies (their name for History/Geography), Science, and Spelling. I let him choose the order of classes most days and give him plenty of breaks in between so that he still retains a little control. Most classes are short - 15 minutes - before doing the independent work. Math is 30 minutes of class time and Phonics & Reading is 45 minutes to an hour. This does not include the independent work. A 15 minute Bible class can easily extend into 45 minutes in our case, but it doesn't need to. He is actually spending more time doing schoolwork than before, but he is enjoying it more. And it is easier for me to set goals and rewards up b/c there is an objective standard by which I can measure whether he has finished his work. When I was the sole teacher, this was more difficult to do.

Some reasons why we love homeschooling!

Teaching the little ones to do their chores cheerfully!

 

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Taking a break from lessons - playing outside in the morning rain!

 

Enjoying an afternoon tea party while reading Alice in Wonderland. Is that the Mad hatter?

 

Sissy "reading" to her baby Tommy!

 

Playing Indians after reading about Columbus' discovery of the New World

 

Preschool Week 2

We are going through ABC Memory Book with my 4 and almost 3 year old this year. This week was B, and to reinforce the letter we made a B on construction paper and glued dried beans onto it. This helps with small motor skills and letter recognition.

Tot School Week 2

One thing we enjoyed this week in Tot school was to make a "mat man" with the wooden letter pieces that our 4 year old uses to learn her letters. These are sold through Handwriting without Tears to teach letter formation. This activity entertained him for quite some time.

This last activity was intended for the toddler and preschoolers, but how much fun the older kids AND their homeschool friends had. The 5 - 7 year old crowd actually had more fun with this than the younger ones. It is very simple :) Get a tupperware container of water. Put some dish soap in it for bubbles. Get a bunch of kitchen tools out of your cupboards that they can measure, scoop, and pour. And voila! You have instant recreation for at least an hour - who needs expensive toys?!

Tot School Week 1

I haven't posted for a few weeks, so there will be several new posts added. This year for the first time, I decided to be intentional about doing preschool with the younger ones. It is so easy to focus on the "school age" child(ren) that sometimes the little ones can get left out. I realized that all the fun stuff that I did with my firstborn are not always being done with the next two. So, in my lesson planning last month I also planned out a 12 week lesson plan for my toddler and preschooler. Thanks to the Tot School webpage for some great ideas and help in being intentional with this age. It basically looks like this: Daily circle time, craft activity several times a week, daily preschool workbook or handwriting lesson, and short reading lesson for the 4 year old. These pictures are from our first week of school. They had fun with the letter A using painters tape and then painting over the letter only to uncover it later and reveal the letter A. They also enjoyed sponge painting different shapes and animals with washable tempera paints.

"Nature - Deficit Disorder"

I read an interesting article on the cbmw (Council for Biblical Manhood & Womanhood) blog. Clickhere to read. I can remember growing up on a dead-end street with the woods next to me. Most of my free time as a young child, I remember spending riding bikes, climbing trees, and exploring the woods next to our house. It was a world all to its own. Thankfully, my children have a wonderful wooded paradise in our backyard that we like to call "Pooh's Hundred Acre Woods". But I admit that somewhat too frequently I have to send the children outside as opposed to pleading with them to come inside. It is a shame that technology, although a blessing, can also be a curse to steal the innocent delights of childhood from our kids.

Day 3 of 2nd grade

We have completed 3 days of 2nd grade! So far as to be expected. I have had minimal resistance from the student compared to last year, although school is still not his favorite thing. But the alternative is much less appealing to him, so for that I am thankful. Some things I have learned in the past 3 days:
1. Having school with a 2nd grader, preschooler, 2 year old, and 14 month old can be akin to shepherding sheep. There is always someone who needs to be pulled back in the pen.
2. Keeping your sanity while a 14 month old is crying in the background, the 2 year old is grabbing toys from his sister, and the 7 year old who can't sit still is trying to do his copywork is enough for any Mom to consider the benefits of private school (but only for a moment :)
3. Not all babies like to play with baby toys!
4. Classroom management with a class of 30 same-age students must be a piece of cake compared to managing 4 of varying ages and attention spans under the age of 7.
5. 2 months is apparently a long enough time to completely forget all 1st grade Math and handwriting skills.
6. And God must have a sense of humor to have put me in this job!