Progress Report
We are more than halfway through the school year, and on most days things go fairly smoothly.
We have settled into a workable schedule. I usually leave the house at around 7:15 to take JayP to school. By the time I return at around 8:10, the children have had breakfast and Skoshi A has already begun her school work. Most mornings Wingnut is home helping with getting the morning
started or wrestling with Lil' Lamb. By 8:30, I've got a hot coffee in my hand and we begin our morning prayers. On an off day this may not happen until 9, but for the most part we are off and running by 8:30.
Skoshi A is doing very well and will finish her materials by the end of May. It's wonderful she's learned from older siblings to be a self starter and can do almost all of her school work on her own. We ended up switching science curriculum in January. I never did discover the value of our original curriculum and it required too much of my time. Instead we are using Concepts and Challenges, which is very straight forward, and I have been supplementing with great science experiments and kits from Home Science Tools. Special K and Lil' Wingnut enjoy watching our experiments and Skoshi is truly loving being able to "do" science.
Special K is doing well, but is a bit behind. She hasn't discovered the advantages of being a self starter just yet. We've struggled a touch in math, but she seems to be doing better now that I've allowed her to do only 1/2 the math problems in each lesson. I think she fatigues easily and then she really has trouble focusing. She's a mind and a love for science and has really gotten a lot out of the Behold and See Human Anatomy and Health curriculum. She and Lil' Wingnut especially enjoy the many enrichment resources and activities.
Lil' Wingnut is flourishing. His reading comprehension and vocabulary are extraordinary. He loves math and mapping skills and is flying through his materials. The challenge for him will be finding ways to keep him challenged and engaged in his school work.
Our biggest and loudest obstacle is Lil' Lamb. He is into everything and thinks everything belongs to him. He screams in protest through much of the morning. Most days I have the two girls work independently as much as they can and when one is finished, she will take the baby and feed or play with him so I can work with Lil' Wingnut, correct finished work, and put it all away. A majority of the time, Lil' Lamb is content with this arrangement, and then there are days that he makes completely miserable and I wonder why I even bother trying to homeschool. Thankfully there are enough good days to keep my fighting spirit up.
JayP loves going to school, and to be honest, we love having him at school. He's learned a couple hard lessons in meeting deadlines and anticipating teacher's expectations and he spends most of his time at home doing homework, but to us all it has been worth it so far.
We have settled into a workable schedule. I usually leave the house at around 7:15 to take JayP to school. By the time I return at around 8:10, the children have had breakfast and Skoshi A has already begun her school work. Most mornings Wingnut is home helping with getting the morning
started or wrestling with Lil' Lamb. By 8:30, I've got a hot coffee in my hand and we begin our morning prayers. On an off day this may not happen until 9, but for the most part we are off and running by 8:30.
Skoshi A is doing very well and will finish her materials by the end of May. It's wonderful she's learned from older siblings to be a self starter and can do almost all of her school work on her own. We ended up switching science curriculum in January. I never did discover the value of our original curriculum and it required too much of my time. Instead we are using Concepts and Challenges, which is very straight forward, and I have been supplementing with great science experiments and kits from Home Science Tools. Special K and Lil' Wingnut enjoy watching our experiments and Skoshi is truly loving being able to "do" science.
Special K is doing well, but is a bit behind. She hasn't discovered the advantages of being a self starter just yet. We've struggled a touch in math, but she seems to be doing better now that I've allowed her to do only 1/2 the math problems in each lesson. I think she fatigues easily and then she really has trouble focusing. She's a mind and a love for science and has really gotten a lot out of the Behold and See Human Anatomy and Health curriculum. She and Lil' Wingnut especially enjoy the many enrichment resources and activities.
Lil' Wingnut is flourishing. His reading comprehension and vocabulary are extraordinary. He loves math and mapping skills and is flying through his materials. The challenge for him will be finding ways to keep him challenged and engaged in his school work.
Our biggest and loudest obstacle is Lil' Lamb. He is into everything and thinks everything belongs to him. He screams in protest through much of the morning. Most days I have the two girls work independently as much as they can and when one is finished, she will take the baby and feed or play with him so I can work with Lil' Wingnut, correct finished work, and put it all away. A majority of the time, Lil' Lamb is content with this arrangement, and then there are days that he makes completely miserable and I wonder why I even bother trying to homeschool. Thankfully there are enough good days to keep my fighting spirit up.
JayP loves going to school, and to be honest, we love having him at school. He's learned a couple hard lessons in meeting deadlines and anticipating teacher's expectations and he spends most of his time at home doing homework, but to us all it has been worth it so far.
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