How Is It Time to Start Again?

I've been spending the past few days getting ready for the upcoming school year and although it feels early to start school, I'm ready.  We've been off for almost two months and have had a good chance to regroup and become somewhat refreshed. 

Luckily, because Luke only requires 2-3 hours to complete most of his work, we won't really lose the rest of summer.  Actually, I am hoping that knowing a beautiful summer day is awaiting him will cause him to be motivated.  It should be a good opportunity to discuss scheduling and time management.  (In later years, the kids will be creating their own schedules each week.)  If we plan well, we can still make it to the pool frequently and schedule fun things to do.

Changes
One of my favorite aspects of homeschooling is being able to adjust to the needs and preferences of our family.  Here are some of the changes we'll make this year:

Doubling Our Class Size
We made the decision to start Benjamin with a (mostly) kindergarten curriculum.  He is only 4.5, but as a second child, he is very, very eager to learn to read.  He's started to blend sounds and read short words, so I'm going to give him a chance.  If things don't work out, we'll just stretch out the material until he can handle everything.  Ben's curriculum will consist of Explode the Code (phonics), Kindergarten Singapore Math, and Handwriting Without Tears.  We also purchased the PreK books through Sonlight.  These books are mainly fairy tales and traditional stories, community helper books, and some basic science.  He is so extremely excited that he has already begun all of his workbooks!  (Luke thinks that is ridiculous.) 

He's cute and he loves to learn!

Having two kids doing "official" schooling is going to be a new challenge.  Our plan (for the moment) will be for me to work with Ben while Luke is doing workbooks that don't require my help.  This will probably be done while Olivia is watching Sesame Street.  If that method doesn't work, I'll try giving each of the boys 30 minutes of "Olivia Duty" (as coined by Luke) while we get in some one-on-one time. 

Our wild card!

Curriculum Changes
I spent some time over the summer evaluating what worked and what was too much of a challenge.  Luke and I sat down and discussed all of his curriculum.  We discussed each subject individually.  The overall consensus was that he loves to be read to, but hates anything that requires too much work.  :)  After explaining that wouldn't convince me to change curriculum, he explained that Spelling is really the subject that has given him the most frustration.  We were using a workbook with activities for each week, but said that the words didn't seem to stick in his brain after the week was over (even on review weeks).  I researched different curriculum and decided to go with Sequential Spelling.  The program is designed to teach students small word parts that can then be built into larger words when you add prefixes, suffixes, and other word parts that you already know (ex: all expands to tall, stall, install, and installment).  In the reviews, many people said their students remembered words longer and understood how to break them apart better.  We'll give it a try this year and see if it works for Luke.

Post meeting picture with Luke

This year, we're also adding a more formal Writing program.  Sonlight's curriculum was a little to loosey-goosey for me and we had difficulty finding motivation to complete the activities.  WriteShop is a little more structured and explains Writing methods to young elementary students pretty well.  I'm hoping the more formal curriculum will help us to make Writing a more consistent part of our schedule.

We're sticking with Sonlight for both boys.  Luke's curriculum this year is titled, "An Introduction to World History - Part 1".  We'll be reading about Ancient Egypt, Ancient Rome, Ancient China, and Ancient Greece.  A main portion of the history is from a book called, "A Child's History of the World" which tells history as a story that is interesting to kids and easy for them to understand.  I told him that we're going to be learning a great deal of the material together.  I remember learning a lot of American History in school, but not much World History.

Our new globe that sits on the piano

Time Management Changes
In an effort to transfer a little more responsibility to Luke, we're going to try to use a workbox system for his workbooks.  Both boys will have a box with their workbooks for the day that is divided into two sections (one for work to do and one for completed work).  Pages that need to be completed will be circled so that he can simply take out a book and complete the assignment.  After finishing, he'll put the book into the completed section.  Benjamin's school plan is different in that we'll work until I can tell that he needs to stop.  He is extremely motivated at this point, so I'm not going to push it. 

Each of the boys will also have their own mini-whiteboard with their daily work.  Both love to erase items off their list, so this has traditionally worked for us.