Tuesday, May 1, 2012

Wrapping it up!

Well, this school year is very rapidly coming to an end...and the life of my 4th baby is rapidly coming to a beginning! Mandie got way ahead on school work last semester, which allowed us to sort of take it easy for the last couple of months. As of now, she has 3 worksheets in math left until she has completed her curriculum...yahoo!! Lord willing, we will finish this week. Then, I need to get her notebook for the year organized and looking nice, I need to organize and pack up our kindergarten books and leftover material for Matthew to use in a couple of years, and I need to get the school room set for next year (I don't actually do school in there, I just organize curriculum and display in there). Overall, I was very pleased with the year, I am satisfied with what Ms. Mandie accomplished...I certainly feel she is redy for 1st grade. There are a few things I wish I could have done differently. One is the alphabet scrap book we are working on, I had intended to do a page a week...that didn't happen, so we will continue that through the summer. Also, I had intended to do an entry in our nature journals weekly, that happened more on a monthly basis. We will continue that over the summer as well. Also, this summer Mandie and Matthew will each have there own little plot of land in the back yard to plant and care for. We are all very excited about that! Other than that, the summer will consist of caring for baby and the pool...yay! I am so grateful that we started on this road of homeschooling! I absolutely will continue next year. I feel lucky to spend so much time with my kids...I hope they feel the same way! I am a bit nervous about adding Matthew and a new one into the mix. I'm sure there will be a learning curve...but I bet we will figure it out! My plan is to start next year a few weeks early so we can take a day off here and there without falling behind. That will just depend on how it is going with the new one, though. Ok, more later!

Wednesday, February 22, 2012

Curriculum Change of Heart

I had put up a post a few months ago about the curriculum I was planning to use for next year, but I logged on to edit that post at one point and blogger freaked out and completely deleted the entire post . . . along with some others. Anyway, it worked out for the best because I have since had a complete change of heart regarding our curriculum for next year. I ordered the complete "My Father's World" 1st grade package, and I believe it was the right choice. There are several reasons I am excited about My Father's World. First of all, it tells me exactly what to do every day and it tells me ahead of time what supplies I will need for future lessons so I can be prepared. The other curriculum choices I had required me to make a lot of my own lesson plans, and I don't really think I will have the brain power for that with a newborn, a 2 year old, a 4 year old, and a six year old. Secondly, some of the curriculum I had picked before was not Bible based, and it seemed like a waist of time to read stories with absolutely no meaning when Mandie could be reading stories that reveal the nature of God. I am so glad to be able to teach her about Jesus and God in the midst of her regular school work. Thirdly, the price difference was unbelievable. I saved over 200 dollars by choosing My Father's World. Also, I ordered the preschool package for Matthew, which he has tinkered with and I'm really excited about that as well! Finally, I love that it's an all inclusive curriculum including math and phonics (which many curriculums leave out). However, next year the math program will have to be ordered seperately, because the 2nd grad MFW program does not include math. I think I'm leaning towards "Math U See" for next year . . . we'll see.

Honestly, my only concern with this is that it may be a bit repetative, because I feel that she has a pretty solid grasp on most of the material that will be covered. However, with a new baby, it will be a relief to know that she knows what she needs to know for next year, and it will be nice not to stress out about introducing a lot of new concepts to her. So, we will see how it goes. For more information about My Father's World and their curriculum, check out their website: www.mfwbooks.com .