Wow!
It's been exactly six months since I've posted on this
blog. My youngest daughter is now two weeks into home school fourth grade. I've been home schooling for 25 years with up to 7 of my 10 kids at a time. She is the only one home with me this year, as she was last year, which makes my job things much less complicated. We were involved in co-ops for many years, but in this crazy season of life, I prefer to be at home with her every day and do what I have planned instead of what a class is doing.
This
year we're working on basic skills - especially math and writing - as
well as a heavy concentration on world history. She also has
plenty of science, literature, grammar, spelling, vocabulary, and art
to work on. Added to that, we have speech therapy twice a week.
Our history and geography unit studies this year include Early Civilizations (including Old Testament), Ancient Egypt, Asia, Ancient Greece, Winter Holidays Around the World, Africa, Ancient Rome, New Testament Stories, Dark & Middle Ages, and Latin America. Next year we'll pick up with the Renaissance & Reformation era up through modern times, as well as the continents of Europe, Australia, and Antarctica.
I did a huge book purge a few days before school started. Our dining room used to be lined with several bookcases of home school materials, but we're down to this small one with her books for this semester. It's right next to her desk. The others have all been moved to another room. You can see our dining room transformation here. (I am so proud of it! Yay me!)
Here
are just some of the materials we've used so far.
Math and language skills:
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| Multi-subject workbook - we are only doing math and language arts sections now |
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| One set with answers marked and one set with just the problems - as recommended by our evaluators |
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| Poster for her bedroom - I like the format better than the typical multiplication grid. This is easy for her to recite by fact group. |
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| She uses this CD-ROM for both math and language arts - all sorts of fun lesson! We also use a phone app called Math Fact Master |
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| We didn't finish it last year and it's about the same as the 4th grade workbook, so it's good enough for now. |
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| Articulation Station app recommended by her speech therapist |
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| Excellent core text for ancient history which I bought at our local used book store. It's a little advanced (probably middle school level?), so I read it with her. |
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| Art appreciation with Bible! |
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| Her daddy had oral surgery, so while we waited to pick him up, we went to the Ten Thousand Villages fair trade store to see handcrafts from around the world. She listened to international music, too. |
Science:
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| This has reading comprehension activities for several science units. We are working on the human body unit right now. |
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| This is Internet linked, so you can see videos and other cool stuff at the web sites listed on the pages. |
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| This is one of the web pages - with a video of a bug being caught by a venus flytrap. |
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| Our first day of school, we made three tie dye t-shirts for her in the afternoon! You can see all of the photos at my blog post Tie Dye Radiance. |
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| We made healthy snack balls with oatmeal, peanut butter, honey, flax, crushed almonds, coconut, cocoa powder, chia seeds, and dried cranberries - then used them for multiplication practice (How many snack balls? 3x5 = 15 How many cranberries? 15 x 3 = 45) |
Daily
School Schedule
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| 9:00 | math drill |
| 9:30 | math work books |
| 10:00 | world history and geography unit study |
| 10:30 | literature |
| 11:00 | language work books |
| 11:30 | writing skills & prompt |
| 12:00 | lunch |
| 12:30 | speech therapy appointment on two days, practice on other days |
| 1:00 | drive time from speech therapy OR interpersonal communication, health, home skills |
| 1:30 | science workbook or textbooks |
| 2:00 | finish work or do project |
| 2:30 | as necessary: finish work or do project |
She
is starting to work more independently, which is a very good thing for both of us,
but she still wants and needs a lot of personal input from me. She
generally gets started with her math drill on her own, though I try
to stay near by in case she has a question. Her desk is in the dining room, so I can putter in the kitchen or use my laptop at the table. I work with her on the
rest of math, all of world history, some of the language arts skills and literature, and some of
the science. When she writes, we come up with a creative topic and she writes up to a few paragraphs. Then we make basic corrections to her work. I sometimes write
on the same topic and we share and compare.
We generally follow the daily schedule, but there is some flexibility if we have interruptions or one of us isn't feeling well. I had an extended neurologist's appointment yesterday, so I told her that it was "student's choice day." She could do anything while I was gone as long as it was at least somewhat educational. I think she used her time well with workbooks, web sites, reading, and videos.
We have a lot of old educational VHS videos, but did not have a working VCR anymore. I found a small TV with a built-in VCR at a thrift store for $20, which is now in her bedroom so she can watch the NEST Bible and history videos and some assorted science videos. These are great for times when I can't work with her.
She says she can't wait to start our next unit on Ancient Egypt, because she wants to learn about pyramids and mummies. We already have a whole bunch of books waiting on her shelf, and I know we'll grab a lot more at the library.
That's about it for now, but here are some related posts from earlier school years:
- Eclectic Home Schooling: Gathering Up Bits of the World
- A Week of Home School Third Grade
- A Home School Day with Just One Child
- Synthesizing Your Own Style - and - Duty and Delight
- Math Skills Checklist 3rd-5th Grades
- Oral Language Learning for Young Children
- How to Plan a Unit Study
- What is the Charlotte Mason Approach to Education?
- The Beauty of Reading Aloud
- How to Read Aloud and Enjoy It
Blessings,
Virginia Knowles
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