Monday, August 16, 2010

Homeschool Times Volume 5:1

  This will be my first official homeschool post of the year. I call it version 5.1 because my daughter will be in 5th grade, and this is the first installment. Clever, huh? lol.
    Last Year was probably our most difficult year. There was lots of home remodeling going on(Idsay for at least 10 weeks). Try doing school with all the knock knock knock and tap tap tap. It just wasnt really happening. I had to do alot of reflection as to why I was doing what I was doing, what I needed to change,etc. Truth be told I can be a bit too uptight sometimes. I like to make lists, and lists of lists that I need to make. I like to check things off of those lists, and when they dont get checked off soon enough, I feel as if i have failed somehow and am going to lag behind. I used the same approach for homeschooling,always focusing on what needed to get done that day, instead of just kicking back and enjoying the journey and the learning process. My daughter is a dreamer and gets distracted very easily. Therefore something that would take a normal person abut 10 minutes can sometimes take her an hour or more.This has always been an issue, but this year I am determined to not let it be...........
   When we first started this journey, I was determined to  school her all the way through high school. That has changed the past year or two however, and now I just kindve take it year by year. This was the first year I actually considered putting her in public school(which, for the record, i have nothing against).So, I have decided to take the "treat this year as if it were your last year to homeschool" approach. Even though, I know it wont be,what if it were?Its definately something to think about.I got to thinking about this, and if it were, i would want to use the best curriculum out there,take a more simplistic, fun approach, and find something where my lessonplans are written out.
   That being said, for the past several years, I have pretty much just used what was affordable and whatever I could get my hands on to use, and make it work.Top notch curriculum was never an option for our family. Money has always been an issue, and homeschool is not cheap.There are some rare, inexpensive gems out there, but for the most part I have found that you get what you pay for.
   That being said, I have been drawn to the sonlight  curriculum for years. It has always just been too expensive. It is one of the best out there.It has everything written out for you,you dont have to come up with your own lesson plans. I decided a few weeks ago to go ahead and take the plunge.A pretty crazy thing to do, especially since we already had all of our curriculum and the year was almost planned.I also chose rather than to buy all of the items at once,to find them online seperately.Talk about a headache.....lol. I am praying that it pays off.If all goes well I should have it ordered by the end of the week. I hope.
     Heres the real kicker, and you are going to love this.....lol. My daughter absoloutely hates to read, and sonlight is a literature based curriculum. The core program we are using this year has over 40 books,and they range from 50 pages to like 300. Some of them we will read aloud together, and some she will read on her own.I am hoping that she will come to love to read.It may be the stupidest move I have ever made, or the best, only time will tell.............
    So, with all of that being said, here is what we will be doing for the tear: For history and LA we will be using sonlight, Teaching Textbooks 5 for math,apologia human anatomy and physiology for science(which i am super excited about), along with wordly wise/daily grams, and a reason for spelling and handwriting.
   Wow, that was rather long winded, but with the new school year quickly approaching, I figured I better write a blog about it......lol.
   Wishing everyone who reads this a blessed school year!!!

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