Homeschooling III

(Homeschooling and Homeschooling II are below.)

All three children (when at home in NC) participated in out-of-the-home tutorials/classes this past Sept-Dec. (Unfortunately due to our travel here to SB they were not able to participate in the second semester of the classes. ) Ds took two classes, High School Speech and Government, older dd also took two classes, Middle School Speech and Literature, and younger dd had Science, Literature, and Art classes.

This was a really great experience for them all and I'm grateful for the people who put in so much time and energy into providing these classes for homeschoolers. It gave the children one day out of the home and the opportunity to make new friends & interact with other students and other adults.

Our tradition was to get fast-food lunch after the classes on Fridays and on the way to the drive-thru-of-choice we'd all listen as each child told in detail about their morning. I loved that!

The Speech classes were challenging and provided them with great opportunities to stretch themselves as well as have some fun. Ds learned a lot in Government. And older dd really enjoyed the Literature teacher & class.

So here in SB ds has replaced his Government class with a Beautiful Feet History course: U.S. and World History. Right now he is reading The Jungle. He keeps us somewhat updated on what's happening and has said it's the "most depressing" book he's ever read. Even tops Lord of the Flies, apparently.

Other things ds is doing include writing a screenplay for his second movie project, reading other books & magazines, practicing guitar & learning new songs, ice skating 2x/week, running on the treadmill 2x/week, lifting weights 1x/week.

Older dd works fairly independently for most of the morning, though she's nearby for questions and discussion as needed. For English, she's using Wordly Wise (vocabulary building workbooks), Sequential Spelling, and Simply Grammar (we do 2 lessons each week together). We are continuing the Literature course based on the syllabus & using the textbook provided by the tutorial teacher. Right now she is reading Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice. This year she is not doing any science course, but next year she will take Biology.

Both girls are working through an art & art history course which will probably take them two years to complete: God and the History of Art. They have short daily lessons which usually include some kind of drawing exercise. Later on they will learn about periods in art, artists & well-known works of art. We have visited great art museums in the past (the National Gallery in London was a highlight of our visit there) and plan on going to Chicago's Art Institute this Spring.

(It is important to me and dh that our children are culturally literate and that includes being familiar with classical music periods & important composers. The last two years the older two children and I worked through a BF course entitled History of Classical Music. Along these lines we also greatly encourage our children's interest in music and have discussions on a regular basis about all types of music-ey things.)

Older ds is also working on learning guitar. Dh is teaching her basic chords. If she stays interested when we get back home she'll take lessons. For formal exercise she skates several times a week here in SB (way less than in NC!) and walks on the treadmill too.

Younger dd's history course this year is Story of the World, Bk 1. I used this and Bk 2 with older dd and we liked it a lot. There's a nice student activity book that goes along with the text that includes coloring pages, maps, etc. There are tons and tons of activity suggestions in the manual (along with review questions and suggested extra reading, etc.) We do some of them, if you did them all it'd be too much. Some weeks we don't do any of them! That's ok. But I do think extra hands-on projects help younger children "hang" the book learning somewhere and aids in their remembering what was read to them. Even simple things.

In past years we've happily used the Five in a Row products: Before, regular-old Five in a Row, FIAR for 7&8 year olds, and Beyond. But this year I decided it was time to get more chronological and linear in younger dd's studies. For her and for me! We might go back to FIAR one more time, though, who knows. It's been done before. :-)

Occasionally I'll also order dvds from Netflix or from the library that go along with whatever one or more of the children are currently learning about in their history lessons. In some cases we use dvds as the "spine" for studying a period of history. Last spring, for ex., after the older two were done with several months of the Civil War (older dd stopped there and went back to the ancients...) we all watched Gettysburg and Gods & Generals.

Both girls also keep timeline books that they add to on a regular basis. Stickers are fun, but of course they add people & events even without a sticker.

Later this spring I hope to have younger dd use one of the TOPS science books, Radishes. Actually I have the Corn & Beans one for her too. Maybe we'll start on those when we get back from our trip next week.

In the fall the older two also completed a world geography course, tailor made to each one. Actually now that I think about it ds is still working through his book. Older dd read this one. We also viewed the Planet Earth dvd series together in the fall which was quite memorable.

I realize these posts are heavy on What we Use and not so much on what is behind all these choices and on the evolution of our homeschooling. Maybe I'll get to that sometime soon.