Switching Gears

I haven't written in so long, I want to switch gears with my blog and try to keep a record of our homeschooling days here.

So far things are going along pleasantly enough. I have finally clued in that my younger 5 children are "concrete" thinkers and that is why I have been so unsuccessful using unit studies (my preference) with them. They are just not interested. So we are doing things quite a bit different than I am used to, but it appears to be much, much more effective!

Our routine still runs the same; clean bedrooms, breakfast, morning chores, table time, reading, etc. During table time we are journaling everyday, and then choosing either to work in math, handwriting or Explode the Code (phonics). Purely the children's choice. They are pretty even about using each book. I work alternately one on one, or two on one. After table work, and sometimes just after lunch, we are alternately reading the Bible (finishing up Leading Little Ones to God), our current fiction (Peanut Butter Friends, with various other books on Taiwan), Prudence and the Millers (health, Bible), and Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Astronomy. I am also finding that if they fold laundry while listening to me read they pay better attention.

Today I took all the children for a nature walk up the hills behind our neighborhood. We had a gorgeous view of the far off mountains, the hills and trees and Silver Lake. It was too windy to sketch in their notebooks, so we headed back home to draw. The littles collected various leaves and plants to look at under the magnifying glass, we really need to invest in a microscope! They did a great job drawing in their books, Trey especially seems to really grasp sketching.

As for the older kids:

Hayden is working on his Civil Air Patrol studies still, getting lots of driving in (his road test is this Saturday!!), studying for CLEP exams, reading through birding books and science texts, and working through his math curricula.

Kristianna and Kori are pretty much on their own this year. Although we are all working through Easy Grammar Plus together. They are Bible reading and journaling daily, using Teaching Textbooks for math, Christian Light Units for home economics, various 4-H projects, reading books on history and economics and sitting in on our astronomy lessons.

It's working.