Well, it's the end of the school year of 2011. A time when I should be relaxing and taking it easy. NOOO! I am already in the full swing of preparing for 2011-2012 school year.
This past year my 2 children participated in some co-op type classes. My daughter took a writing and a history class, of which she enjoyed. My son took a zoology and a history class, of which he hated! Is it because my daughter loves to learn and read? Or because my son is behind in his reading because of an early speech problem? Not sure. But, it was the worst decision I have made. Well, Erin, learned quite a lot in her writing class which was the whole reason I even decided to go to the classes. Will NOT do that again.
I think I have said this before but I really don't like the "textbook" style learning. Open the book, read, answer some questions, memorize for test, test, forget! That's what I did in school and I don't remember a thing!
I have come to the conclusion that whole book learning is for us. Forget what the government requires for public school graduation as they do not have a graduation requirement of academics for the state of Mississippi. So, that means I can gear my children's education around what they want to learn and what we wish for them to know as adults.
Erin is gifted in English, needs to work on math skills. Caleb is gifted in math, and needs to work on his English skills. Total opposites I have! Boy vs. Girl? Who knows!? What I do know is that I want them to read whole books on the different subjects. Here is my projected plan for this upcoming school year: Bible, English Math, History, and Science.
My plan is to begin our day with Bible. The internet is full of free curriculum (my favorite), I went searching. I found a plan that I will use to go through Church History during our morning Bible time together. Individual Bible study will use the Holy Bible and Balancing the Sword to help with remembering. We might switch it up because I also want my children to know and understand Westminster Catechisms.
For history, we will use a resource book that I wish I had a long time ago entitled, All Through the Ages. In this book, it has the names of history books listed either in chronological order at the front of the book or by region in the back of the book. Great book for those wanting a list of whole books on the subject of history.
For science, I might have to explain a little. In the beginning of our homeschool journey, we started with classical education. While I hated it and didn't like the books out there, I like the idea of learning in chronological order. As you might have guessed with the history book. So, why not chronological for science as well. So, to the internet I begin to search. I found 2 sites that I will utilize. Basically they are science time lines in which I will take either an area of science, invention/inventors, and technology, and have the children read on the subject.
Some one might ask, but what about labs? I am not so concerned with labs. Neither of my children have an interest in attending a college so I am not gearing them in that direction. IF they change their minds, then we will see. They are both young enough that I can get it in before they graduate.
If you are interested, here are the sites in which I plan to utilize for science:
Now, on to English. Here's where I probably differ from most people who homeschool. Because English encompasses reading, writing, spelling, and vocabulary I really see no use in purchasing a separate curriculum. As I see it, the kids can read their history and science books then write about what they read. I see the reading comprehension in their writing, can check for understanding of material and usage of words. Did they spell the words correctly? Did they use the correct word? If I see they are spelling a word incorrectly often or using run-on sentences, then we can stop and teach that. But, if they understand the material and are writing well, there's no sense in spending hours teaching something they already understand.
I do understand that I am weird in my thinking and we might have to rewrite many papers. I guarantee they will remember what they read! At least, that's what I'm hoping will happen!
No comments:
Post a Comment