It’s hard to believe that it’s already almost the end of the calendar year. We’re getting ready to pause our homeschooling for the holidays, so I’m taking a little time to assess what worked and what didn’t so that we can tweak what we need to for the New Year. So here’s our homeschool update on how G’s year has been going.
Routine
The routine we have in the morning has been working great for G. When the kids wake up, G takes her meds, has breakfast, and helps with morning chores. Then the kids are free to play while I have my morning prayer and breakfast. After I’m finished, we start classroom time. Routine has definitely helped lessen the arguments about getting to work.
In general we get all of our academic work done in the morning, but occasionally, if the kids are productively engaged, I’ll push school stuff to the afternoon.
Starting with Math
Math is the least interesting of all the subjects to G, so this is the one that we always start with. I write all of the problem she is expected to do (usually 10 addition, 5 subtraction, and 2 “big math”) on a whiteboard. The fact that she can see all of them at once and can choose what order to do them in has been hugely helpful for motivating her to tackle them.
My aim for the New Year is to slowly increase the number of problems G is doing, just by one or two every so often, and to help her work towards memorizing those addition facts.
Switching Reading Programs
We started G off reading with the Bob Books, which are great, but I found that as we progressed, she got really good at guessing the text from the pictures. So we switched to Animal Antics, a more creative and engaging reading program. The stories are funny, the pictures are in color, and the text is difficult to guess. G has been really enjoying them and moving faster through them because of it. I had hesitations about switching programs, mostly because we already had Bob Books, but I’m really glad I didn’t lock us in for that reason.
An area of reading that has been a challenge is sight words. We started off strong practicing them, but the novelty wore off for G, and I haven’t done a good job of sitting down with her with them. It’s something I want and need to get back to with her as it will make reading easier as we get further along.
Grammar
G is proving to a pretty advanced learner, so we jumped into grammar and writing this year. I wasn’t expecting it, and am oh so grateful for the Montessori training and years of experience that made it possible for me to wing this year’s curriculum in those subjects!
I love Montessori grammar, and G has really taken to it. She is enjoying learning about the parts of speech and how to identify them in sentences. I’m keeping it pretty simple for now- We’ve covered nouns, verbs, articles, and adjectives so far. About once a week I take some sentences from whatever Animal Antics book she’s currently reading and put them on the whiteboard. Then G reads them and draws the grammar symbol above them.
We’ve also been reading lots of books by Brian P. Cleary, who makes grammar lots of fun, and Ruth Heller, whose books are just stunningly beautiful. G (and this is true of most kids her age) learns a tremendous amount from being read to. She also loves the extra cuddle times our grammar lessons give her!
Writing
I’ve learned enough about teaching a child with ADHD to know that motivation is everything, so when G declared one day this fall she was ready to start writing, I jumped at the chance to introduce the skill. We had started basic penmanship, so she knows how to make each letter, which meant she had the skills to be able to write.
We started with the basic Montessori 4 Square lesson, with me writing on the whiteboard and her dictating. This method is helpful for G, because she has perfectionist tendencies, and an imperfectly made letter can make her feel completely defeated.
We do a writing lesson about once every two weeks, more if she asks for it, and we vary the topic.
G does a lot of writing on her own as well- she fills journals with stories and poems, and she is currently writing her own version of The Fellowship of the Rings as she learns about sequence of events.
When we do practice penmanship, we use Aleesa McCarthy’s Preschool Practice Book. I have the pages laminated, so G can use a white board marker and erase the mistakes or letters she doesn’t like. It’s a huge help. It’s such a beautiful book, with faith-filled examples and lots of practice for little hands.
History
This is G’s favorite subject. I have been beyond impressed by the curriculum from Beautiful Feet Books. Learning through literature works so well for G, and I’ve appreciated the flexibility of curriculum- there’s enough in the way of clear lesson plans without making me feel like we can’t take detours following G’s interest.
The Early American History curriculum is designed to be finished in one or two years, and I had originally intended to go slow and take two, but I think we will definitely finish by spring. History is the subject she asks most for, and it’s the reward when she’s finished everything else.
Geography
We spent a substantial amount of time studying North America this fall, and G especially loved learning about the animals and saints of North America. It was great to be able to connect geography to both religion and history.
After North America we sort of petered out on geography, and I need to get my butt and printer back in gear to finish making the South America continent box that comes next.
Religion
I haven’t found a preschool religion curriculum that fits our family yet (send me a message if you have one you love!), so we’ve mostly focused on building a culture of faith in our home this year. We do a lot of liturgically based arts and crafts, because it’s something G loves, and we read a lot of books on the saints. So far, this is most of what our religion lessons look like, and I’m pretty content with it.
On the whole, I’d say our first semester of homeschooling has gone pretty well. I’m looking forward to continuing to tweak and adjust and work with G as she dives deeper into academics.
If you’re looking for more homeschooling tools, check out my Favorite Homeschooling Resources Online.
What’s your homeschool update? How is the year going for you?