Future Learning

I can't believe my first year of educating my children is coming to a close (I like to believe I've been teaching them since they were born but you know what I mean). I think I have learned more than they have about so many things. I never knew how great it was going to be. Working through challenges with Shannon has been so fulfilling. He went from running away whenever I mentioned picking up a pencil, to writing on his own when I don't even ask him to. And watching Chloe go from toddler to scholar over this year has been incredible. I just can't believe how much she has blossomed. She can read! And count to 20! And she loves to open up random books and make up her own stories. I'm so proud of all of us. We have made some great strides this year, which is why I can't help but get excited for next year.

My hope for the rest of this year:

Language Arts

• Reading: Get through as many of the 100 Easy Lessons as possible and start reading easy/beginning reader books. I'm not too worried about him finishing out all of the lessons this year.
• Handwriting: I think we'll just keep copying lines from stories and maybe finish out the Mead book

Math

• I have pretty much put the book away. The rest of the MCP Kindergarten book covers a basic intro to place value, measurement, addition, and subtraction. We started out this year using the first grade book but there were so many problems on each page that Shannon would just look at it and freak out. It was taking us an entire week to get through one lesson and it was not happy for anyone. So we jumped back to the K book. Basically, it covered the same material but less of it and at a slower pace. So, I will probably pull out a couple of worksheets from each of the remaining chapters and call it good for Kindergarten. Now that Shannon is way more comfortable with writing, the first grade book should be just fine.

Religion

• I have really been slacking in this area. I want to finish reading God's Love Story and finish our lap book that is taking forever because I keep losing focus. At this stage, I really think religious studies should just be who we are what we do. Catholicism is so much more then just another subject to cover. Our faith should be reflected in how we live our lives everyday.

Other

• Soccer will go until mid - May and then we'll probably be starting swim lessons and possibly a soccer camp this summer. 
• Many trips to Green Bluff. We always have a great time picking fruit so I'm excited for Green Bluff season. And we always seem to learn along the way.
• Nature walks, now that the weather is getting nice
• Trips to the library
• Lots of fun in the garden with Daddy

When we made the decision to home school last Spring, I decided to start right away and just take it slow. So we have been doing Kindergarten for almost a full year now, with plenty of breaks along the way. This has worked out so well, I've decided to home school year round on purpose. I think it makes the most sense for flexibility. It has been nice being able to take time off when we have just done an Engaged Encounter weekend or when Stacey is out of town.

So, we could actually start on First Grade whenever I get the materials together and plan out a few weeks of lessons. I am working on a lot of stuff around the house right now and we have a few other things coming up in May but probably around June we'll transition into a tiny bit heavier work load. Another advantage to starting early is I have a feeling that sometime next year, we will be thinking about another baby. During week 8 - 16ish of my last pregnancy left me pretty useless so at least if that happens again I will be ahead of the game.

I have been thinking about next year's curriculum for some time now. I'm pretty excited. I haven't made all of the final decisions but I have decided that I will just buy materials for Shannon and then adapt what I can for Chloe. So far they have done pretty well at the same level. There are a few things that go over Chloe's head but for the most part she's pretty engaged. I can't believe that in the public school system she would still have two more years before starting kindergarten. That's just crazy talk. That girl wants to learn!

So stay tuned for the reveal of next year's learning materials and tools. Oooooooo. You're on the edge of your seat, I know it!