The Bug Has hit....

...the homeschooling curriculum bug that is! Oh my it bit hard recently. So much so that I have decided to change the entire feel of our school next year! This is a bit scarey to me because this last year went the best yet.....this situation reminds me of that saying...."If It Ain't Broke Don't Fix it."

I forsee a few challenges if I don't make changes now though. Spud Man will need something of more interest and inspiration as he gets older. He is not a workbook type kid. I am thinking more of a Charlotte Mason/Classic method might be for us. At first I was a believer in simply bringing school home....then I read A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola (excellent book BTW) and it changed how I look at the end goal.

All this time I have been feverishly trying to make sure I am doing everything public school is doing......why would I do this when I have not been particularly impressed with the products of that system? There are some downfalls to that style in OUR home, it puts a lot of pressure on me to stay with a certain timeline that has nothing to do with my children's needs, aren't I homeschooling to provide the best education I can?



Part of the book mentions workbooks and text methods (what we were using almost 100%) and how it can sometimes lead to a gallon of teaching and an ounce of learning. She states that if I child can develop some kind of relationship with a subject (reading something they enjoy, exploring nature and something catches their attention, etc) that they are much more likely to absorb info revolving around it. It makes sense. I want them to be able to remember what I teach, because let's face it, teaching is hard sometimes, and it is not as rewarding as I'd like at times. There just seems to be a flow about this Charlotte Mason style and a peacefulness in the family/school.



Another seriously lacking area in our homeschool was literature. The classics specifically. We were covering all the subjects right down to science and art but it was all curriculum and a few free reading library books of interest here and there. I read very few books aloud to the kids, after school I was kinda done with all that. I felt like they got read to tons in school, little stories there and there, lessons etc.



Recently we started adding in read aloud time before school starts and it is making a nice difference, it is like it prepares their minds for learning somehow. I am really getting excited about a new method next year.



One thing I was starting to notice with the workbook method for everything is that sometimes I kept asking myself "Do they really need to learn that right now?" I felt like I needed to do it all and it was getting tiresome for everyone. Granted great curriculum but we are finding we need more flexibility. I am gaining enough confidence after 3 years to start doing a little more creatively.



One of my personal favorites from the Charlotte Mason style is they use copywork or dictation, you have the kids copy a passage and then you correct it for grammar, handwriting, punctuation, spelling, etc...it takes care of a lot of skills all in one. I love that streamlined idea, right now they have handwriting, grammar, spelling, punctuation practice, etc.



Also I love the idea of narration, where you read aloud something or they have free reading and you ask them to narrate what they read/heard. It helps you know how much they are absorbing, not to mention they develop public speaking skills, articulating thoughts and ordering facts etc. I wish I were stronger in that skill myself.



Lately I am also trying to plan my own lesson planner, I used one last year and it was a HUGE help in me staying on track and goal oriented. So this year I want to make a few tweaks and make my own planner pages (I have a lot of work to do, I have about 5 samples so far and I want to try them all to see what works best....am I obsessing? Ya I might be). I thought it would be fun to have areas for notes from friends and family members for encouragement thru the year (Jan/Feb can be hard for me when SAD sets in). Mr Wonderful for Christmas last year gave me a calendar with 3 months worth of special comments, he went thru and every few spaces in the calendar he'd write little things like "You are doing a great job with the kids." "Date Soon?" "You need a back rub huh?" or "I Love you!" It was precious and I LOVE it, so I thought it would be neat to have him do the same thing, or to have my dear friends write something funny or special if they will. Something to encourage me to keep going on this wild ride!



So far I am planning to stick with Christian Light Education for math again next year because it is working great and we love it! We also want to try some different grammar and English topics (we are thinking of trying Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons), we are adding a family read aloud time with lots of great literature, History from living books (many of our selections in history, literature, reading etc are taken from lists at both http://www.amblesideonline.com/ and some from http://www.tanglewoodeducation.com/) , spelling we will simply take mispelled words from their written work or vocabulary words and use those as our lists, Science will be nature walks with a nature journal along with Christian Kids Explore Earth & Space. For Spud Man's phonics I continue to use Scaredy Cat Reading System. That is about all I have any remote idea on. I am positive it will change over the summer but it sure is fun trying to see if I can formulate a plan early.



School has been going so well this past couple weeks! We have only a few weeks left. Our last day of school for this year is May 9th! Testing is on the 13th of May and we will be able to relax into a fun summer program....my goal for summer is to read to the kids more and keep all their facts fresh. I learned the hard way last year NOT to forget school completely over summer with Sunshine....beginning of this year we had to take 3 weeks and relearn her multiplication facts! That was frustrating, but since then she is doing so great with all her facts so no complaints.



Anyway I am having fun diving into all the catalogs, websites, and friends materials looking for that just right fit for our school next year. I will keep you posted on all the fun....