Note: Since writing this post, we have been blessed to join Classical Conversations. Our CC classes will begin on August 21. Also, my youngest (almost 4) has been adamant that she gets to “start school” with her sisters this year, so we are working on a Pre-K-ish plan for her! In edition, I have finally shared a few reasons on why we homeschool.
As I mentioned earlier this year, I have moved to a year-long homeschool. We will no longer follow the public school schedule. Not only does this give us more freedom, but it allows us to have more days for school… which is not as bad as it sounds! We will also continue Reading, Math, and Handwriting throughout the summer. We may also continue Latin and History, as these are two major favorites with the girls.
Even though we have changed our calendar year, the girls are actually wrapping up most of their work from our old schedule and will be beginning new reading, phonics, and math programs.
Abby Grace, age 8
Reading/Phonics: Rod & Staff and Mighty Books, Jr.
Math: Math-U-See.
Science: Sonlight Science B: Animals, Astronomy, and Physics (4-day schedule)
History: The Story of the World.
Language: First Language Lessons.
Writing: {finish} Handwriting without Tears Cursive 3, and then Handwriting without Tears Cursive 4.
Foreign Language: Song School Latin.
Typing: Dance Mat Typing.
Reese, age 6
Reading/Phonics: Teach Your Child to Read, Funnix Reading Program, and Rod and Staff 1.
Math: Math-U-See.
Science: Sonlight Science B: Animals, Astronomy, and Physics (4-day schedule)
History: The Story of the World.
Language: First Language Lessons.
Writing: {finish} Handwriting without Tears K, and then Handwriting Without Tears 1.
Foreign Language: Song School Latin.
I’m linking up to:
I’m so glad that you found out about All About Spelling, my daughter still loves it and still views it as fun! She loves doing the tiles the most.
Thanks! I am SO excited about it!
Your girls are beautiful! i also have 3 girls. It sounds like you have some great stuff in the works. May God bless your efforts!!! 🙂
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Thanks so much, Tacy! 🙂
Hi Amy,
I love love love Handwriting Without Tears! Have you used it before? Which Story of the World are you reading? We just finished a year in Middle Ages–a favorite!
Looks like a great time of discovery ahead for y’all. Thanks for sharing and congrats on your new dot-com. Looks great!
~Allison
@Allison,
Duh, I just realized that you’ve been at your dot com for quite a while! ;p Silly Me! I need to read more carefully.
Still….love the site.
Haha, no worries 😉
Oh. My. Neither I nor my girls would have survived handwriting without HWOT. My oldest daughter’s handwriting was atrocious and nothing I did worked (my handwriting is pretty bad, too, lol, so that did not help!). This has been the one thing that has worked AND made both of my girls want to write. Abby Grace even skipped one of the printing books because she was so eager for cursive. Her handwriting is SO much better now!
As for Story of the World, we are still on Ancient Times. We do not do history every day, so we are still working our way through the first book. But we really love it!
Thanks for visiting, Allison!
-Amy
@Amy Norton,
The only reason my left handed child can write is because of HWOT. It was a life saver here too.
It’s good to hear that you had success using it with a lefty… my 3 year old is a lefty and I’ve been panicking (for three years, lol) about how I was going to teach her to write!
Great choices. Cute kids.
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Thank you, April!
Sounds like a great line up! Part of me loves the idea of year round, more flexibly scheduling school and part of me can’t get over not having a “full” summer vacation- lol. Kudos to you for choosing what is best for your family, rather than following along with what “everyone else” is doing!
Hi Natalie 🙂 Thank you for your kind words! I totally get the “full” summer vacation thing! My husband is a youth pastor and we are constantly busy during the summer, so on paper it looks almost ridiculous for us to even attempt it. But we just do it when we can (which is pretty much every day), and for some reason it works! Thanks for visiting! -Amy
I’ve been toying with year round homeschool. It may take some convincing on my husband’s part, though. I love what all you’ve chosen for the upcoming school year. You will certainly have plenty to do!
Oh, and I read on another one of your posts where you mentioned you weren’t against public school or public school teachers. We feel the same way, which sometimes I feel makes us very different from other homeschoolers. Having been an elementary teacher is also what helped lead me to homeschooling!
Thank you for stopping by my blog.
Hi Brandy! Thank you for your comment and encouragement! I have found that year-round homeschool allows us to have more frequent, shorter breaks, rather than a big long break in the summer. For our family, it works, because we need that structure. That being said, we have done practically nothing the entire month of July because we were gone so much, and it has really shown in the girls’ attitudes. We will get back to it next Monday, and all of us are beyond ready for that structure again!
– Amy
We homeschool year round too and some of my friends thought I was nuts because they all needed “breaks from homeschooling”, but I find it works out well for us and when we want to do activities, it’s no big deal if we take a day or two off. I like your myths, so many people are uneducated and don’t realize homeschooling is Growing really fast, the public schools here are not good and that is one reason why I homeschool, but I don’t hate them or against them. I have friends that are public school teachers and told me what goes on and I just wanted to give my child the attention they deserve 🙂 I love being able to choose what is best for my family!
Thank you so much for your comment! 🙂 Year-round homeschool is working so well for us. Well… we ended up doing pretty much nothing the entire month of July because we were gone so much, but other than that, it has been great. For us, we simply need the structure. Our day goes SO much better. I can’t do two-three months of a break. I would go crazy, lol! Thanks for visiting!
– Amy