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Rod & Staff
Bible Nurture Reader Series
Grade 2 readers
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Goodbye to another book
Even though 10yo has been sick today, she was able to finish another book. : )
Monday, June 11, 2012
Plug - The Book Samaritan
I would like to put in a plug for The Book Samaritan. Here's a previous blog post and here is an article explaining how their ministry works.
Simply:
Simply:
- you box up your curriculum that you no longer need
- ship it to The Book Samaritan ministry
- they redistribute the curriculum to homeschoolers in need.
Monday, June 4, 2012
Free at last!
Programs and classes are winding down for the summer and I'm feeling FREE!
My teens attended a Shakespeare Conquest class during the school year. The last six weeks were spent preparing to perform "Much Ado About Nothing." In April they were practicing two days/six hours a week and in May that increased to three days/nine hours a week. I felt like we were living in the car. The last performance was May 21st.
On to the next biggie. Since January 16yo has been attending weekly practices for the local children's choir. She performs with the high school age singers. Their big end-of-the-year concert was yesterday. No more practices until autumn.
And THE biggie? This is the last week of early morning seminary (public school schedule 6:45-7:45am). I've been the driver for three school years. In May I was about to lose my mind, so Dad offered to drive the first half of the week. He has continued to do so which has been a huge relief for me.
: ) : ) : )
My teens attended a Shakespeare Conquest class during the school year. The last six weeks were spent preparing to perform "Much Ado About Nothing." In April they were practicing two days/six hours a week and in May that increased to three days/nine hours a week. I felt like we were living in the car. The last performance was May 21st.
On to the next biggie. Since January 16yo has been attending weekly practices for the local children's choir. She performs with the high school age singers. Their big end-of-the-year concert was yesterday. No more practices until autumn.
And THE biggie? This is the last week of early morning seminary (public school schedule 6:45-7:45am). I've been the driver for three school years. In May I was about to lose my mind, so Dad offered to drive the first half of the week. He has continued to do so which has been a huge relief for me.
: ) : ) : )
Friday, June 1, 2012
Reality
I have visions of grandeur. I want my kids to love Latin and the classics. And then, there is reality. 14yo has expressed a desire to focus on English (writing, grammar, spelling, etc.) this summer. While math is non-negotiable I have reluctantly agreed to drop Latin, French, and Christian Studies. I am seriously sad to let go of my dream - Latin. I was so enjoying our discussions during Christian Studies, so I am disappointed about that one too.
There is another type of reality that goes with homeschool. Your child isn't always going to be working at the average grade level. The older girls (14 and 16) were involved in a co-op this year. It was only a few hours each week, but it ended up cutting our school down to four days a week. Play rehearsals started in earnest in April (two days/week) and then became very time consuming in May (three days/week). A few hours a week seems like a small sacrifice, but it ended up being much more time consuming than that. We went from being "behind" to being really behind in our textbooks. 14yo feels so behind that she has asked that we start over from the beginning of her math textbook (Math 7) and grammar (English 5). I dislike backing up so far, but this really needs to be about mastery instead of box checking. The textbook may be titled grade 5 but if that is where she feels she needs to be, so be it. I want her to know math and grammar rather than merely having visited them.
There is another type of reality that goes with homeschool. Your child isn't always going to be working at the average grade level. The older girls (14 and 16) were involved in a co-op this year. It was only a few hours each week, but it ended up cutting our school down to four days a week. Play rehearsals started in earnest in April (two days/week) and then became very time consuming in May (three days/week). A few hours a week seems like a small sacrifice, but it ended up being much more time consuming than that. We went from being "behind" to being really behind in our textbooks. 14yo feels so behind that she has asked that we start over from the beginning of her math textbook (Math 7) and grammar (English 5). I dislike backing up so far, but this really needs to be about mastery instead of box checking. The textbook may be titled grade 5 but if that is where she feels she needs to be, so be it. I want her to know math and grammar rather than merely having visited them.
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