I can't believe we are halfway through our homeschool year already! We have been so busy that it has just flown by. We just completed Week 18 out of 35. I thought I would give a mid-year review on our curriculum choices and how they are working for us this year.
Silas and Titus (grades 6 and 4)
I thought I would begin with these boys because they are using the same core curriculum, Heart of Dakota Preparing Hearts for His Glory. This is a year-long overview of world history. We have used Heart of Dakota in the past, but have never finished an entire year. Thankfully I can say, we will definitely finish this year!
We are enjoying so many things about Preparing Hearts for His Glory. The history lessons are really great - the book spines are "A Child's History of the World" and "Grandpa's Box." There are plenty of great books that flesh these out, like "Tirzah" and "Fountain of Life." I really like the way each week is laid out in a predictable routine - Mondays we have a research topic that introduces our week-long history project; Tuesdays we have vocabulary words; Wednesdays are for hands-on geography lessons; and Thursdays are for timeline entries. The history projects have, for the most part, been pretty neat. They have made Roman coins with a drawstring pouch, maps, perfume, and a flip-book.
Here they are making perfume from rubbing alcohol and cinnamon sticks.
An air-dry clay map of the Fertile Crescent and Mediterranean area.
We read from one of the history spines each day along with a go-along literature book. The readings are not too long or too short; I find they're the perfect length to hold the boy's attention. They do oral and written narrations along with guided discussion questions each week.
Titus made Roman coins for his drawstring pouch made from a coffee filter and twine.
The notebooking pages are beautiful! They're full-color with plenty of room for writing narrations, defining vocabulary words, and timeline entries. Silas is on the older end of the age suggestions, so I ordered him the Extension Package. He has an additional independent reading along with notebook entries each day. He enjoys the books he reads!
The science portion is on the light side, but we have just gone with it instead of trying to add to it, like I normally would. I just don't have the time or desire to add more to our days right now! Now even though I said it was light, I do still think it's a great gentle science. We read living books like the "One Small Square" books. Right now we are reading "Find the Constellations." They have really enjoyed the hands-on activities each week. The science also follows a predictable routine - Mondays they add to their notebook; Tuesdays are for oral narration; Wednesdays they answer questions in their notebook; Thursdays are for hands-on exploration. We have done some really neat activities, like making a star "twinkle" on our ceiling and made constellations from glass beads and toothpicks.
We don't follow the math and language arts suggestions, and we have actually quit the Bible lessons as well. The Bible lessons are mainly memorization, and the boys are both participating in Bible Drill at our church. They already have so much memory work with Bible Drill that I'm not adding to that.
Our math curriculum for the boys is Math Lessons for a Living Education. We've pretty much used this since the beginning and really like it. Next year Silas will move on to something different since he's in the last level of this, but Titus will continue with the 5th grade book. I like the short lessons, although they do get longer in length with each grade level. Silas is 6th grade and his math takes around 30 minutes a day. Titus is in 4th grade and his takes around 15 minutes. I like the large font and the ample space to work out problems. My boys skip the stories each week and haven't missed out on much of the actual math instruction for doing so. They weren't interesting to the boys and they were long! I told them to skip it.
Titus is making a fraction flip book. There are several hands-on projects in these math books.
We have skipped around in language arts a bit - we started with Rod and Staff, swapped to simple workbooks while I researched different options, and finally settled on Abeka language arts - the worktext only. So far I like the simple and straight-forward lessons. There isn't so much writing and it doesn't move as fast as Rod and Staff. Titus has retained more from the three weeks we've been using this than the entire time we used Rod and Staff. I think we will stick with this for the remainder of the year and then evaluate this summer.
The boys are also both using A Reason for Handwriting, levels T and F. They don't like cursive, but it's an important skill for them to learn and have so I continue to make them do it. It takes around 5 minutes a day - not that big of a sacrifice for them!
They also have independent reading that goes along with Drawn into the Heart of Reading, but we don't use all of the worksheets in the book. We pick and choose, skipping some and completing some. The worksheets were making the boys hate reading time, so I decided it wasn't worth it!
We also just started Titus with A Reason for Spelling because he needed some extra practice. We're only on our third week, so I can't really speak much about it other than we really like the gentle approach!
They also have plenty of real-life experiences every day doing farm chores like feeding and taking care of animals and collecting eggs. Titus just started Tae-Kwon-Do and is enjoying it so far! Silas plans to play junior high football this year at our local school (he is allowed to play as a homeschooler). I'm glad they are pursuing their own interests. Sometimes it seems like they're the same person as far as hobbies and interests, and although I want them to be best frineds (and they are), I also want them to be their individual self. It's going to be good for them to have separate activities.
I'm really thankful that they have plenty of time to be outdoors. We're done with school by lunchtime, so they have the rest of the day to go outside for chores and free time.
When did your kids start pursuing separate interests, or have they always?
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