again with another year of homeschooling! We are now headed into our fourth year and to say it gets easier with each year would not be a complete truth. But I do think the more experienced I get and the more they get used to things (which in our world are ever-changing) the more we come into our own, so to speak.
I spent practically the entire summer writing curriculum for this year. I just never seem to be satisfied trying to follow someone else's lead completely when it comes to teaching. I can follow their guidelines somewhat but I always end up tweaking at least a little bit so I figured why not give this a shot on my own? Especially in the areas of History/Social Studies and Language Arts.
I am SO completely pleased with the lesson plans I developed for both girls in English/Spelling/Grammar/ etc. I did borrow some ideas here and there but the bulk of it is all my own.
Kayti decided to take Greek and Roman History through CORE (she said she was sick of American History, which is my specialty! ha ha) so I only had to worry about Brooke for History and again, we are basing our entire curriculum off American Girls. There simply isn't anything better to use as a springboard for teaching girls history, for sparking their interest in the past. That's my opinion anyway.
I also developed a Spiritual Studies course. I really wanted my girls to get into a better habit of spending daily time with the Lord and really making it a priority to align our hearts and minds with His. But I also wanted to explore the areas of choosing to be noble and modest young women. Having been raised by a headstrong, women's libber and thus pretty much being one myself, sometimes it's hard to reconcile the two. But I don't believe it's impossible. At least not according to Proverbs 31. It's all about context and perception.
And then I wanted the girls to learn about other cultures and other beliefs so they would know WHY we believe what we believe. I think to explore other faiths makes YOUR faith stronger. I'm better able to defend my faith knowing how certain doctrine came to be and knowing the FACTS about what other faiths believe instead of just taking someone else's word for it blindly.
Then I had to turn my attention to Art. I was hoping to find a dvd or cd/rom self-instruction since we so could not afford a class just now but I couldn't. But I did find a book in my boss' office of projects so I had the girls pick out what interested them. I then decided to expand on that by finding the history of those mediums and creating small assignments to go along with the projects. So I kind of backed into that one.
One area I decided to NOT write my own thing for was Science. I'm so not a science person. Not on this level. Preschool science, I can handle! But at the CHEF convention, Donna and I both liked Real Science 4 Kids and decided to go with that. We plan on doing some of our labs/experiments together but we have not gotten that far yet. We've only just begun reading our text.
And it is indeed challenging to homeschool now that I'm back in a preschool classroom for part of the day. But I also find it inspiring and the girls seem to be adjusting well and developing good study habits being responsible for doing more things on their own with me there just to 'oversee'. They also love being at work with me around all the kids. It's become a ministry for them as well. I even believe Brooke may have the call to teach!
We are opting not to do Children's Theatre this year and instead are going to check out other venues and our other field trips will be primarily with our closest friends or just family trips. It's not that we are trying to be anti-social. It's just the way things are for now.
We've also slacked off some of our extra-curriculars and are only doing dance right now. I would eventually like to add riding back into our schedule and maybe a sport but right now our plate is full. I am teaching Brooke piano and Kayti has decided she is just not a musical person. I wish she would give it another shot. Music education is so important. Maybe once we settle into our routine a bit more, I can coax her into it.
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