Homeschool Highlights

We are wrapping up our school year.  Preschool, 1st grade, 3rd grade, and 5th grade are almost over.

I actually prefer to finish our school year by the start of May.  It is nice to have the month of May as one of our summer months.  The weather is great for outings.  Plus, most places for outings are not very packed, since the public school kids are still in school for most of the month.  This year, things did not go so well for that schedule.  We had to take quite a few unexpected breaks due to severe disruption to our family, pregnancy complications, and the death, premature delivery, and funeral for our beloved son Titus.  So, this school year, we are still schooling through the month of May.

It isn't so bad.  The kids are learning many things.  

Jersey #4 turned 5 in March and instantly decided it was time to learn to read.  She has been working through her preschool workbook with gusto!  She has so much enthusiasm for learning.  

She also appears to be super smart too.  She is grasping phonics easily, and is reading 3-letter words.  Tonight, she completed this page of her workbook, entirely on her own, reading each of these words by herself.  Even though I have taught her 3 older siblings to read....and I understand the progression in this skill....it always amazes me when they really start to "get" it.

Part-way through our school year, Jersey #2 and Jersey #1 made very convincing arguments as to why I should switch their math from the ABeka workbooks we had been using, to the Teaching Textbooks computer program.  They both found the computer program to be a fun way to learn their math lessons.  They like the instant feedback on their scores, and the cheerful graphics that praise them along the way.  Jersey #2 had such a strong desire to be independent while learning math.  She is a math whiz, but grew frustrated when I had to teach her a new concept.  She wanted to get it on her own.  No amount of discussion from me or The Referee, convinced her that math needed to be learned by having someone else show you how to do it.  Teaching Textbooks has solved that struggle, and now she loves math again.  Since ABeka runs a year (to a year and a half) ahead of the standard school curriculum, I had to order her the 4th grade Teaching Textbooks math program.  (The TT 4th grade program had the same content as the ABeka 3rd grade workbook).  Jersey #2 loves that she is a 3rd-grader, working on 4th grade math.    

I require her to view the lecture for each lesson, work the practice problems, and then work the problem set.  If she scores lower than a 90% on any lesson, she has to come to me and we sit down and go through the missed problems together, so I can see what concept she is lacking understanding.  Regardless of her grade, I have her go through and view the explanation of how to work the problems that she misses.  It took 1 session of me sitting next to her to go over a lesson before she decided that she was going to pay better attention to detail.  She has not scored less than a 90% since.

The Enrichment Studies program we have Jersey #1 enrolled in covers her History, Literature, and Science coursework.  She completes math and language arts (English grammar) at home.  It was a learning curve to figure out how to succeed in that program this first year, but Jersey #1 rose to the challenge.  Her grades improved each quarter.  By the end of the school year, her assignments were becoming a family event.  When she needed to test some household items to see if they were conductors or insulators, her siblings were thrilled to help her find items to test.  

Jersey #3 took time away from the Wii to see if the banana was a conductor.  (It is not.)  His interest in food continues to run strong.  His 1st grade work is mostly workbooks and reading out loud with Mom.  He can't wait until he can do his math on the computer too.

Jersey #5 makes a point to remind me that he does not have to do schoolwork right now, because he is only 3.  We do not push preschool, but have preschool workbooks on hand if the kids show an interest. The girls were eager to work through preschool workbooks.  Jersey #3 was not.  He did not show an interest in schooling until kindergarten.  Jersey #5 started out like his brother, but has come around to the idea of learning his letters and coloring in workbooks.  He still gets to start and stop his studies on his own schedule though.  That is the fun of being "only" 3.