I am currently homeschooling five children, ages ranging from 6 years to thirteen. I love being with my kids, the time with them is precious, and I love being there to see the excitement when they master a new skill, that also means I am there for the tears of frustration, all the good days, and all the bad days. Home schooling is not always easy.
We home school on a year round schedule, we start the week after labor day, and we end the beginning of September. We take two week breaks each season, and a short break between the beginning of September, and when we start the next year. This schedule works well for us, it gives us extra time to study subjects the kids really need extra time on, and lets us be flexible with our lesson plans, and vacations. We also no longer have the issue of them forgetting a lot of what was taught over a summer break. Our summer schedule is lighter than the rest of the year.
So right now, we are about half way through our year. This year has brought a lot of growth, along with some struggles, and I would like to share about both.
Alexzander is in eighth grade this year. He is doing great so far in his classes. His favorite class is reading, he is almost done with his required reading list for the year. Once he finishes his list, he is allowed to read whatever he wants, and is no longer required to write papers after finishing the books. I am really impressed with his reading skills, he read far beyond his grade level, and really enjoys reading all kinds of books.
Overall, Alexzander is doing great in school. We have some of the normal moans and groans over doing school, pretty typical behavior for a thirteen year old boy. One struggle he does have seems to be over creative writing and book reports, as much as he loves reading, it does not seem like writing is a strong point for him. We will keep working on it, who knows what the future will bring for his writing skills.
Destiny started seventh grade today. Destiny excels in art, she has talent far beyond her age level. We are extremely proud of her skills, and she works hard to continue to improve. She also really enjoys typing class. She likes reading, but does not always like following the required list I give her. We are trying to find a balance of letting her pick her books, and still making sure she reads the classics we want her to read. Finding that balance is proving to be a bit of a challenge.
She has come leaps and bounds in her reading skills. She has went from dreading reading to finishing a book very fast! This was a huge relief for me, I was pretty worried about her reading skills for awhile. We gave her a smaller reading list for the year, we wanted to make sure she was able to understand the books, not just read them. Boy, did she surprise us! She finished all the books, and passed all the questions for each book by the start of the new year. Since she has finished her required reading list, she is allowed to read what she wants, without having to do papers for the rest of this school year.
She is still struggling with spelling, and handwriting. It is very frustrating for her, and at times leads to tears. She does not enjoy spelling, and I am always looking for ways to make it fun for her. We are seeing slight improvements with her handwriting, but it is still a skill that she needs to work on.
As her mom, it is hard for me to watch her struggle so much with spelling. We have tried many different programs, so far Spelling Power seems to be working the best for her. She is slowly making her way through the levels. I am hoping that with a lot of practice, studying, and hard work, it will eventually click, and she won't feel so frustrated with spelling.
Amelia started third grade this year. She is a very happy, bubbly child, and she is doing well in all her classes. She is really enjoying reading more chapter books and is about to start some creative writing classes as well. Right now she seems to be enjoying reading, and zoology the most. She does not seem to struggle with any certain class or skill.
The only struggle Amelia has is staying on task. Her mind wanders, and she loses focus. I want her to hold on to her day dreams, but I also need to focus. We are working on making sure she gets enough creative time, but still gets her lessons done as needed. So far, it seems to be helping both of us.
Cassandra started Kindergarten this year. She is loving school, she happily gets her work done, loves story time, enjoys time on ABCmouse.com, and over all is a happy girl when it comes to school. She is learning a lot this year, and I love being there for all the little aha moments.
Her biggest area of struggle is with phonics. We are slowing getting there. I have completely changed my approach with her lately. We have moved to less work books, more games, and activities. She is responding so well to this approach. She loves getting out her little chalk board to practice writing. We have a game her that she really loves, and seems to be helping her a lot. Kindergarten is such a fun grade! I really enjoy it.
Our school year is going pretty well. We have had a few ups and down. I do have my days where I feel like I am failing, some days the stress can be overwhelming, and sometimes my children do drive me slightly crazy. I am learning to take these days in stride. When we start feeling burnt out, it means we need to take a break. We recently had a week where we all needed some down time, so we scaled back on lessons, and watched a few movies based on real events, and had discussions on them after. It was very refreshing for us all.
We are getting close to being done with some of our main classes, which means we can switch to our summer schedule soon. Summer schedule includes more unit studies, a lot of time outside, reading challenges, and more.
Overall, the year has been pretty great. We are excited to see what the rest of the year brings.
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