This post will be boring to most of you. But since the main purpose of this blog is to document our lives, I wanted to have a recap of our school year. I won't mind if you want to quickly click off at this point. Actually, I'll never know, so click away!
We started the year late due to our move. We didn't actually start any school work until the middle of September. We started off having a 5 day week so that we could catch up a little, but that didn't last very long. When Daddy has Fridays off it is very hard to expect Mom or the children to want to do school work! But we did do 5 day weeks through the end of November.
Our Christmas break was a little weird this year because two of the girls at a time went up to stay with my parents for two weeks. So we kind of did a tandem break where I did school with the ones that were here and the ones at the grandparents got extra time off. It worked out well for the girls, but I didn't get as long of a break as I usually like around the holidays. It was OK though.
We started back up a little later in January because of sick kids, but once we started we went strong until we took a week of at the end of February/beginning of March for my sister's wedding. Because we took a week off at that time I decided not to take a spring break. That was fine until about the middle of April and I really started to notice a lack of desire on my part to do anything school related. I think in the future a break around the end of March or beginning of April is going to be necessary to make sure we can finish the end of the year strong.
We took some days off to go visit friends the first part of May, but we were actually slightly ahead of schedule on Math and Language Arts so I knew we could afford the days off. Once we got home from our friend's house we had one week left of school. We finished up all the odds and ends we needed to and ended on May 16th.
We spent the first part of the year trying to find homeschool groups and connecting with people here, but we didn't have a lot of luck at first. So there weren't too many field trips or outings before our Christmas break. After we started back up we finally started going to a few field trips, met some friends and started to find our groove in the new groups.
I switched #1's math curriculum this year from Math-U-See to Saxon. I really thought we were going to have to spend the first part of the year going back to Saxon's 4th grade book to review because MUS does no fractions and very little decimals before 5th grade. We actually did spend the first 6 weeks or so in the 4th grade book. However, we I looked at the actual lessons in the 5th grade book I realized that there was enough review in it that we didn't actually need to spend anymore time in the 4th grade book. And because MUS goes so much farther with multiplication and division than Saxon in the lower grades we were able skip enough lessons that #1 was able to finish the 5th grade book by the end of the year. Math is still not her strongest subject and I found that asking her to do all 30 problems in each lesson completely overwhelmed her. However, when she did half of the problems she seemed to be able to do it just fine. She still has to learn how to take her time so she doesn't make silly mistakes that end up getting the problem wrong for her, but towards the end of the year she was getting that down better.
We also continued with IEW this year, although I started out with one of the simpler books so that #2 could use the same one as #1. I've been very impressed with #1's writing. She remembers what she has learned in the previous years and continues to write papers that are actually interesting for me to read. After the first couple of papers, I had her write her rough draft completely on her own and I just helped with the revisions before the final draft. I was very happy with the fact that she was able to write rough drafts that needed very little revision when I helped her. This just solidifies my love of IEW. Besides "Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons" IEW is the curriculum I am the most passionate about!
I purchased a typing program for #1 on the recommendation of a friend. #1's handwriting is beautiful and she didn't need any practice for handwriting this year. So we installed the program and I just told her to do it whenever she wanted to. She has done it so much that she is already typing at 30 words a minute. And typing correctly, which is the main reason I wanted her to have an actual typing program instead of just learning on her own. In fact, for the last paper she wrote I let her type the final draft, which she was very excited about! Now I just need to find a program that will teach her how to use all the Office applications so I don't have to teach her!
For all the other subjects #1 did just fine. I didn't purchase a geography curriculum this year because of lack of funds, so they ended up just checking books out of the library and finding information on their own. They learned a lot, but it was SO boring! We won't be doing that again, but it was sufficient for this year.
I also switched #2 to Saxon math this year for the main fact that I thought we were going to be playing catch up for a good two years by waiting to switch until we hit 5th grade. #2 is stronger in math so I thought she would do well with a switch this year. And she did fine, but I did not like the way that Saxon taught multiplication at all! It was the most non-nonsensical way of teaching that I've ever seen. Their 3rd grade book also has a lot of busy work in it that was a complete waste of time that we didn't do. #2 did just fine with it, but we are going back to MUS for 4th grade. We'll switch back to Saxon for 5th again because I really do feel like Saxon is the best program for the higher grades, but for the two girls still to come I know that I will stay with MUS through 4th before switching. Honestly, every year I think I have all my curriculum choices squared away, but I change my mind about something by the end of the year!
This was the first year for #2 to do IEW. I had to remind myself that #1 was in 4th when she first started, and that a lot of the initial teaching was done at the co-op we were part of at the time. I ended up having #2 narrate to me what to write, I would type it and then we would go over it together to revise it. I think that is a difficult way to do it because you can't see what you've written when you're narrating it, but it was also too difficult for her to think of a sentence and then write it down and then keep her thought process in order. She progressed enough through the year though that next year I'll expect her to write down her rough draft by herself. I'll be there to help her, but she'll do the writing herself. Overall, her papers were pretty rough, but by the end she was also able to put adjectives and adverbs into her sentences without any prompting, which is one of the things I love about the curriculum. I'm happy with where she ended in her writing.
#2 also did well in all the other subjects as well. While #1 is focused on getting her school work done, #2 needs to be prompted to get everything done. Once she remembers she is supposed to do something, she gets it done as soon as possible, she just needs more reminding than #1.
And #3. This was my first year teaching all three formally and with a set curriculum. I was very apprehensive about how it would all work, but now that we've made it through the year I'm confident about the coming years. #3 was very eager to learn and so excited to be doing "real" school. So much so that even when I was working with her sisters and didn't have anything for her to do she would still sit at the school table with us, sometimes for an hour before I got to her. That had tapered off by the end of the year, but she still loved doing school. She is going to be like #2 when it comes to math. Which is a good thing since #2 is like me with math. It seems to come more naturally to them. She loved zooming through her math sheets and surprising me when she got done quickly. But it kills her to get a wrong answer too, so she made sure she got all the answers right. She does not like having to do handwriting at all, but I'm hoping that having actual phrases and sentences to do next year will make it more interesting for her.
#3's biggest accomplishment this year was learning to read. Because we started the year so late she didn't finish her reading book until we finished school. She can read, but she lacks the confidence to read a "real" book, something that #1 and #2 both struggled with as well. We're going to library tomorrow and I'll be checking out some of the beginner readers for her. I have a feeling once she realizes that she really does know how to read those real books all by herself she'll take off and be reading everything in sight. I love when that happens. #1 and #2 both love to read as much as I do, and I think that the same will be true for #3 as well.
And #4 spent a lot of time at the school table with us this year. Mainly coloring randomly in her very own "school book". But by the end of the year she was telling me she was writing letters. It is so true that schooling younger children is easier than your first ones because all they've ever known is their older siblings doing school. #4 has been at the school table with us since she was a couple of weeks old. She wants to do school with us. I love that enthusiasm for learning that comes from the example of watching her big sisters. I don't have anything planned for her for a couple of years still, but I'm sure that she'll be sitting right there with us until then!
Now my own review. I am happy with the fact that I found our groove for schooling three instead of two. It took a while, but now that I have it figured out I can look forward to next year instead of looking at it with trepidation like I did last year. I was a little lax on science and geography this year because of the move, but again, I feel like next year will be better just because we are more settled here. I still have a tendency to get frustrated when #1 doesn't understand what I'm teaching her in math. We look at math so differently, and I constantly have to remind myself that I need to explain it several different ways before she understands it. I need to learn to keep my cool with her on that subject. I also need to watch myself with expecting too much of #2. Even though #1 and #2 are only 18 months apart, they are two years apart in school. I need to remind myself that #2 is going to do less than #1 and plan accordingly. I think I did a pretty good job this year, but I will need to make sure that I spend enough time with #3 and not give her the short stick just because her sisters require more time and attention.
Overall, I think this school year counts as a success for all of us. Now that #4 is 3 it finally feels like our school life is back to normal after having the disruptions of pregnancy and an infant and then a toddler in the house. I continue to be completely convinced that this is the path God wants us on and am so thankful for the knowledge that He is right there beside me every day! And that His grace covers all the mistakes that I make. I am extremely proud of all of our girls and can only look forward to the coming year with joy and anticipation!
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