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Wednesday, June 6, 2018

Wrap Up for the 2017-2018 school year



So I posted back in September our curriculum choices for the current school year.  I wanted to do a follow up for that post before I post our new plan for next school year.

I find we are often making changes to things here and there as time goes one, and this year was not an exception to that.

So for 6th grade, we finished one book of diagramming sentences through critical thinking, and started on book 2.... but it just was not sticking.  Grammar has been a real struggle for him, not sure why.  But we ended up trying MCT Grammar, and while we do like it, it still does not seem to be sticking!  So we are trying something new next year. 

For copywork we used some stuff I had saved from online sometime ago, but when those ran out I remembered we had Brookdale review for cursive in the Middle Ages and picked it back up.

We also ended up dropping Piano last month, it became a huge frustration for us both, and while I don't like 'quitting' things, I also don't like wasting my money on something that he isn't enjoying any longer.  His teacher also agreed it was a good time to move on to something else.

We picked up several classes throughout the year with Outschool also which have been great, classes included Medieval Engineering, Lego Engineering, Organization class, Healthy eating class.  All of my school age kids have taken at least one class, and we have been happy with all of them.  My 3rd grader too a Harry Potter class, and my 1st grader a Lego class.

For 3rd grade, Dyslexia Gold has been very successful, I have recommended it to many people asking for Dyslexia help.  He also started OT for Dysgraphia, and went back to HWT for first graders.  The copywork was just too painful (for both of us).  We also did not start IEW as planned, but hope to next year.  He opted not to participate in the History Odyssey lessons, which is fine since he does Veritas Press online.   For science we picked up Mystery Science and A to Z Science, b/c the REAL Science Odyssey was not working for him.  We've determined that he is one of my kids that needs mostly hands of from me, because we bump heads too much.  I have found that with his OT and some other counseling though the frustrations have been greatly minimized, and I'm so grateful!
In an attempt to save money for the pending adoption, I also cancelled monthly subscription boxes and we picked up Visualize Geography (an online program), which the kids love.  We have been pretty laxed with the readers this year, but plan to be a bit more structured next year.

For 1st grade, he loved the looks of the science that his brother was doing, so he also picked up Mystery Science and A to Z Science and is also doing Visualize Geography.  These are the only changes we have made to his program this year.

One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that we can change things up as we see the need, my 2nd son (3rd grader) has by far been the one who gets the most mid year changes, but this year has been very successful, we are happy with his course load and he has improved by leaps and bounds this year!


Wednesday, September 6, 2017

New School Year 2017-2018–Our curriculum

It’s been a long time since I’ve blogged, I’m still happily working for VIPKID, but I often refer to my “Our curriculum” posts from previous  years, so I thought I would go ahead and make one for this year too! 
We ended that last school year with some ice cream at Menchies
2 last day of school
and then kicked off the new year with a trip to Assateague Island!
1 not back to school
We don’t have a lot of ‘school’ planned this month, we have a LOT of field trips and other funning learning adventures though.  We will dive into the ‘books’ next month.
3 workboxes
This is what we are using this coming school year:

6th grade

History – Pandia Press History Odyssey Middle Ages 2
Grammar – we are taking a short break from IEW Fix-It Grammar, but plan to circle back around to it.  We are currently doing sentence diagramming from The Critical Thinking Company.  I felt that sentence diagramming will give my son more of a visual to better identify the parts of speech. 
Writing – IEW themed based writing – Medieval History
Science – Real Science 4 Kids – Geology and Astronomy
Spelling – Phonetic Zoo, still trucking along at level A
Handwriting – Cursive copywork
Math – CTC Math and Life of Fred (for review)
Chinese – LingoBus
Critical Thinking from The Critical Thinking Company
Art – variety
Music – piano and church choir

3rd Grade

Geography – Highlights Top Secret Adventures
Spelling/Phonics – Dyslexia Gold and Explode the Code online
Writing – copywork and we will start IEW this year
Reading – Readers from the Sonlight list at my sons level (about 2nd grade)
Math – CTC Math
History – Pandia Press History Odyssey Middle Ages I  and Veritas Press (finish New Testament and Rome, then start Middle Ages)
Science – Pandia Press REAL Science Odyssey Earth Science/Astronomy
Critical Thinking from The Critical Thinking Company
Art – variety
Music – church choir and music appreciation

1st Grade

Geography – Little Passports
Handwriting – Handwriting without Tears
Critical Thinking from The Critical Thinking Company
Math – CTC Math
Reading – Readers from Sonlight list at my sons grade level (Kindergarten)
History – Pandia Press History Odyssey Middle Ages I
Science – Pandia Press REAL Science Odyssey Earth Science/Astronomy
Art – variety
Music – church choir and music appreciation

Circle Time

Scripture study
The Friend magazine
Sassafras Science
The Etiquette Factory
What Would You Do?  Moral Dilemmas
and Red Herring Mysteries (both from The Critical Thinking Co)
IEW Poetry Memorization
I wish you all an awesome school year! 

Monday, January 2, 2017

The End of an Era and What’s New with Me! #Vipkid #ESLteacher #workfromhomeonline

So you may have noticed that I have not been blogging the last month or so.  I resigned from the TOS crew and have decided to put away my blogging days, at least for the time being.  We are still homeschooling, and will continue to do so.  However, I have decided to go a different way in regards to my own personal time. 

I recently applied at VIPKID, and have started working for them, teaching English online to kids in China.  I have been working just a month at this point, and am LOVING this gig! 

It does require a minimum of a Bachelor’s degree and teaching experience.  If you think this might interest you, check it out!  I will be happy to coach you through the process!

In the meantime, you can still find me on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.  I have also done a few YouTube videos in reference to my new teaching position!

2016-12-24 (11)

2016-12-23 18.27.08

I may still blog every now and then, but I’m loving this new gig and am about to start a TESOL course to get certified!  So, not much time left for blogging!

To everything there is a season and time, and blogging is not in the now.

Happy Homeschooling to all of you!

If you are interested in VIPKID, feel free to email or message me on Facebook!  I will happily help you out!  (The link provided is a referral link and I do receive a small bonus for referrals that complete the process and begin working for VIPKID).

Happy New Year!!

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