Back to School Prep

Homeschooling is an adventure. There are days that I love it (most of the time) and days I want to pull my hair out.

For example, one day this summer I was working with Tyler on order of operations with ( ). The problem was 8 + (4-2)= I asked him to read me the problem. Tyler: "Eight plus parentheses four LINE two parentheses." LINE????? Me: "Try again." Tyler: "Eight plus parentheses four DASH two parentheses." Me: "No Tyler, that means subtract." Tyler:"Oh, I forgot."

See what I mean???? So then Stephen decided to help him. The problem was 1/4 = ____ out of ____. Stephen:"Read what it says." Tyler: "One over four squiggly line thingy." SQUIGGLY LINE THINGY?????? He is 9, how many times has he seen an equal sign???? He was then sent outside to get some fresh air and we tackled it the next day. His response then? Oh, this is easy, I know how to do this. And he did it correctly with no problems. So it did sink in somewhere along the line.

We did a relaxed version of school over the summer. Basically reading, math, and a little writing. On days it was nice outside, the kids knew that if they played outside nicely and were having fun, I would probably "forget" to have them come finish school. But if they started complaining, fighting, or being bored, I would find them something to do. :)

Now as fall is getting close, I've been figuring out the schedule and curriculum for the coming year and reorganizing all their boxes. We will continue using IDEA, the virtual charter school. It involves quite a bit of hoop jumping for me, but gives the kids official school records, money for extra curricular activities, and pays for a good bit of our curriculum. For those who care, here is what we will be using. :)

Ryan will be 6th grade, doing 7th grade work for most subjects and Algebra 1 for high school credit. He will use Life of Fred Beginning Algebra and then move into Advanced Algebra around Christmas. He loves these books and has worked halfway through Beginning Algebra this summer. For science, he is doing Apologia General Science, and for Social Studies he is doing Western Hemisphere. For Language Arts we use a variety of stuff because he is very strong at reading and comprehension, but hates writing and spelling. This year he will use My Access, G.U.M., and 4 square writing along with writing book reports and country reports for geography. I'm still not sure what I will use for his spelling. I like All About Spelling, but it's a bit too mom-intensive for my life right now. I'm trying to figure out a way that the boys can do it with each other. If not, I'll go the workbook route.

Tyler is 4th grade and will be using Singapore math, ALEKS, and possibly Critical Thinking Math. (I've ordered the Life of Fred Elementary series and if those click for him like they did for Ryan, we'll go that route. If he needs more practice, I'll add the Critical Thinking Math.) For science, he'll use DK books and other living books and science kits to study by topic, plus Critical Thinking Science Detective. For social studies he will do Idaho History this year. For Language Arts, he will use GUM, My Access, 4 square writing, Reading Detective, and Handwriting without Tears. He will also be reading stories to the younger kids everyday.

Eli is 2nd grade and Jeanisha is 1st, but the school is working to skip her to 2nd, so they will do many of the same things. They both will do Singapore Math and the new Life of Fred Elementary books or possibly Critical Thinking Math. Science and history will be living books. I'm going to try Story of the World with them and see if they are ready for it. Both of them will finish Explode the Code and Beyond the Code this year and use Reading Eggs online program. For readers I like the Pathway Readers, but we don't use the workbooks that go with them. They'll also do Handwriting without Tears.

It's always a lot of work to put together the new school year, but it's also fun as the new books start coming. It's rewarding to see how far the kids have come, which makes up for the days I wonder if anything is sinking in.