As our school year is beginning to wind down -- we’re on the home stretch, and everyone knows it! -- the teacher in me begins planning for next year.
I take a look back at what worked and what didn’t, and I tweak things here and there, striving toward perfection -- something that truly ceases to exist. I know this, yet I strive for it anyway because I want the very best edu for my child.
Something that really worked this year, something we will be coming back to next year because it really was a homerun with my Big... Classical Conversations Foundations. I knew as soon as I came across this curriculum last summer that it would be a hit! My big loves the memory work and the activities I plan to go along with each subject and topic for the week. (Not to mention, the in-awe expressions and attention he gets from people and peers when he dazzles them with all of the things he is learning each week. It is truly amazing what this kid absorbs...he’s my sponge, after all.) I use a lot of visual aids and hands-on activities to make things more concrete, and we use the audio CD a little each day to help us with our memory work -- if you have a MERLD kiddo or a visual or auditory learner, I can not recommend this curriculum enough. It is awesome! (*I am not a spokesperson for CC, just a pleased parent and homeschool mom.*)
We supplemented the math portion of CC with a sustained math curriculum (Abeka), and it has worked just fine. Though, I’m still on-the-fence if we will continue it or switch to another curriculum for next year. No concerns about it really, just depends on Big’s likes/dislikes. My teacher heart can’t help but to come up with and implement cross curriculum supplemental activities, all geared toward top goals and standards. And it seemed he got more out of the activities than the workbook lessons. Again, nothing negative, just going with the kiddo’s vibe.
For English/Grammar, we used Shurley English. Again, it worked just fine. Though, I’m not sure we’ll be continuing this next year either. Still weighing options, and picking Big’s brain. He really liked the jingles, but I could tell that the monotonous delivery of each week’s activities (sentences, vocab, etc) began to bore him. Though, he still gets excited every time we break out the English journal (almost daily now) to journal creatively and for writing assignments. That brings me to what I plan to hone in on more next year -- writing. He is extremely good at all things English (grammar, vocab, structure, etc.), but he really loves creative writing.
Literature, we’re still exploring...always exploring. I have an extreme love for literature. Always have a book in my hand (or at least within reach). And I have tried to impress that upon my kiddos as well. Though we read all year long -- winter, spring, summer, fall -- I like to choose a few that we read aloud together during the “school year” to discuss more thoroughly for teaching/education purposes. I really like classics, but I also try to include a variety and more popular reads as well. We take our time with these, and really utilize them. This year we have explored Tuck Everlasting and Tom Sawyer (two of my personal childhood favorites), Wonder, Treasure Island, and we will be winding down the year with Bridge to Terabithia and Indian in the Cupboard (two more of my personal childhood favorites). During the year, we have also explored poetry, and plan to next year as well.
History has been easy peasy this year. We have used Story of the World. It is fabulous. Especially great for auditory learners, as they have an audio CD as well. They also have an activity book that provides discussion questions, ideas and hands-on activities to further concrete each story in the history timeline it follows.
Science is super easy for us because I am definitely a science girl. We supplement the science portion of CC with visuals, videos, hands-on activities and nature study.
For Fine Arts, we take Art and Music lessons. Big’s choice of music has been piano -- he’s my easy-listening, classical dude. He plays very well by ear, and is working hard to master all things chords (major and minor). He is doing fantastic, and really loves it! He spends a lot of his free time rearranging songs and composing from memory. And as for art, we plan to dive more in depth next year, as he really enjoys this creative outlet -- he’s always been my creative kiddo!
We are looking to find a physical activity or sport to get involved in. We haven’t decided on that as of yet, so next year’s activity schedule is still a little up in the air. Though, we have talked about trying out some options this summer as sort of a trial run. So, we shall see...
Something I have yet to touch on is the preschool stuff we’ve been doing with my (now) Middle. My two year old is a little sponge just like his older brother. I am very much a ‘let kids be kids’ momma! I let my kiddos explore and learn. We are in a constant state of play, learn, and grow. We color, we play, we build, we dance, we sing, we learn. Sometimes for visual fun, we pop in a Preschool Prep DVD (Colors, Shapes, Letters, etc), or break out the super fun and colorful flash cards and play games. This method seems to be working, because my Middle knows/recognizes all of his letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. Family and friends are quite amazed by this little guy as well (as they should be!). We plan to continue our play, learn, grow fun next year as well.
Though I’m still exploring options and doing my research (always the research girl), I think I have a good idea of what next year will look like...and it certainly looks fabulous from here!
