Welcome to Day 1 of the 2011-2012 Homeschooling Year! This year we have an official teenager (it happened over the summer…as we school year-round, BTW
), entering 8th grade; a 10 year-old (also a summer birthday) entering 5th, and my youngest, Mr. Capoeira, who is eight (and a half!), who is in 3rd grade this year!
I have created a calendar to share with you, because if I didn’t see it myself, I wouldn’t believe me capable of it….and it’s not even finished!! A couple of outside classes are still in the air, as well as the dates of the monthly 4-H projects.
We’ve always sorta hung out at the “unschooling” end of the continuum**, but this year we are really peeking our toes over the line!
Today found The Girl ramping up for her foray into The Diary of Anne Frank….a book we wanted to get to last year, but didn’t. For some reason we could not get her online language program to load (may have been something on the provider’s end??), so we called a friend from church who is fluent in Spanish and the two had a chat…a great way to reinforce what she’s learning! She also did an amazing job at swim team today!! To round out the learning, we played some Math video games. She’s really starting to embrace some other disciplines that formerly she wasn’t very enthused about.
The Teen has a crazy schedule this year, but tends to manage it all, and do it pretty graciously. He’s a very hands-on involved learner, and really takes charge of his schooling. Today he played some guitar, did some Math with our new Thinkwell program (purchased via the Homeschool Buyers Co-op…with a savings of over 60%!!!), and while watching his sister’s swim team practice, he checked out his Biblical Greek on his iPod. He also did a bit of research for his History project (a stop-motion movie of the American Revolution…..done in Lego!).
While still waiting on the local school district to call us regarding our petition for a full evaluation for our youngest, we are using very non-traditional methods to help him acquire the skills he can without having to read. He loves puzzles, so he has puzzles of the first ladies of the US (a gift from a friend), puzzles of the US map, games on the Leapster, lots of music, and his favorite thing: 2 minute animal videos on Mama’s iPad courtesy of “How Stuff Works” (an absolutely free app via the iTunes store!). He’s also loving Capoeira, and his fellow Capoeiristas love him, too! He got moved up to the adult class, and he is being challenged, yet he’s really progressing, too. He’s learning the music of Capoeira, the history and the language. It’s been a game-changer for his self-esteem and we couldn’t be more thankful to have found it!
Now I need to run 0ut to the office store, and gas up for the trek up to choir tomorrow (35 minute schlepp each way). If the rest of the year plays out as today did, we are in for one fantabulous year!!!
**There are many definitions of unschooling, ours follows more along the line of the thoughts expressed here.