I figured now would be a good time to check in and focus on what we’d covered in only ONE semester of home schooling. Hint: a lot more than you’d expect!
The “branches of education” required by our state include language arts; mathematics; biological and physical sciences; social sciences; fine arts; and physical development and health. Here’s my attempt at summing up what we’ve done since late December. Their education really never stops, we didn’t have snow days, we learned things on the weekend and at night, and on holidays that everyone else took off, too. We also aren’t taking the summer ‘off’ really, although I promised fewer worksheets!
So if you want to break it down by the ‘rules’:
Language Arts: Reading, spelling, and writing for the 6 year old. Her goal was to read 50 books for 2015. She met that before February was over. Chapter books. At age 6. She also entered a story contest and won a participation prize. She read scripture at church multiple times- out loud in front of the whole church. Phonics, letters, and being read TO for the 3 year old.
Mathematics: Counting up to 20, simple math problems, shapes, etc. for the 3 year old. I’m not even certain how to begin what the 6 year old has learned. Advanced addition, subtraction, measuring, odd and even numbers, beginning multiplication and division, fractions, the list goes on and on.
Biological and Physical Sciences and Health: I don’t think these can be separated–Germs, Cleanliness, Human Body Systems, The Senses, Nutrition, Food Groups, Gardening/Plants and their Life Cycles, plus several science experiments and hands on things like cooking, physically planting and tending a garden…. impromptu lessons on gravity and other physics, chemistry, robotics, engineering, Hour of Code for computer science….
Social Sciences: Again, I’m not sure what this is supposed to mean. The kids already are fairly social. They attended church and club which covers religion and many other things. There was a 911 visit from police and fire during that time. Stop drop and roll, that sort of thing. They go everywhere with me, so they understand how grocery stores, post offices, libraries and other day to day things work from a consumer end. Even the 3 year old knows you have to check a book out before you can take it home. If you were trying to hit college ideas of social science-We discuss psychological and sociological concepts nearly every day– sharing, communication, working out problems, getting things back from the toddler, personal space, only giving a hug if someone wants it, waiting your turn, doing things for yourself, relating to other members of a group, and so on.
Fine Arts: Considering the state of the art programs in schools, this is a bit of a joke, right?, but let’s see. Singing and music appreciation nearly every day, choir at church weekly, painting, using crayons, pencils and etc. They did crafts during their Monday club meetings, as well as at least one per unit study – example: construction paper pizzas.
Physical Development: I’m assuming this is supposed to mean PE. What able bodied kids do not bounce around the house all day long? I know mine do. They are often seen racing each other, chasing butterflies, running screaming away from anything that looks like anything other than a butterfly, the 6 year old learned how to ride her bike. She would still not be able to ride if it wasn’t for staying home. It gave her the time to practice. She’s also in softball with practices a few times a week and games will be around for summer term. The 3 year old often goes along and plays on the playground equipment. They get plenty of exercise.
Here were MY goals for each of them:
B, age 3:
A-Z letters and phonics- you betcha! Recognizing, writing, and sounding things out!
Counting and recognizing numbers up to 20- I think we completely met this goal.
Creating and replicating patterns- this one I didn’t end up focusing on, but she does understand patterns and did a few worksheets that included them.
Color by (number, etc)- It would help if the kid could READ the names of colors… sigh. But if I went through and colored the number 1 in the key pink, she could do all it.
Sign language alphabet and Spanish- We didn’t do much Spanish this year, maybe more next year.
Music appreciation, nursery rhymes, kids choir- check, check, check!
Nonfiction books on topics of the month- you better believe it!
Science- Seasons, weather, health, nutrition— somehow we missed weather, but we’ll catch it up later, we did talk about it in general terms.
K, age 6:
Alphabet blends, vowel pairs and sight word memorization- I’ll admit, we talked about these more than ‘worksheet’ing them.
Coloring, art projects — yup!
Odd and even numbers, categorizing, subtraction, shapes, patterns- yes times 5!
Addition memorization up to 12 + 12 – well these aren’t memorized YET but we made good progress!
Homophones and spelling tricks- yes and yes! I thought these were more important than the blends, etc.
Topical science books and vocabulary- you bet ya!
Card writing and beginning fiction – story contest entry.
Seasons, weather, health, nutrition— somehow we missed weather, but we’ll catch it up later, we did talk about it in general terms.
Independent reading goal 50 books- met by February!
Music appreciation, nursery rhymes, kids choir- check, check, check!
Sign language alphabet and Spanish- We didn’t do much Spanish this year, maybe more next year.
Projects with dad: Engineering and coding- Hour of Code completed!
While I wish we would have gotten to things like blends and actually getting those up to 12+12 memorized, we did a lot of other valuable things. Had we had 8 hours a day to sit in a classroom with zero distractions from a toddler, we would have easily done that and more. But given the amount of time we chose to focus (about 2 hours a day)– we actually did quite a bit. The kids are well rested, they get 3 meals plus snacks instead of barely eating, we’ve been lucky that we’ve only had one illness since December instead of continually being ill, and of course the freedom to just pick up and go to an appointment, the library, and not worry about scheduling around bus times, or being late, and so on is absolutely priceless. Not to mention the amount of play time gained back. When I mention next fall, the kids seem to look forward to it, and they’ll say ‘after home schooling today we can… ‘ and then, they can! They really can. Grocery runs don’t interfere with play time, because they know that they HAVE the time later in the day or the next day, and that getting home at 6:30 and THEN making dinner really isn’t that bad– because they don’t have to be up at 6 a.m. to meet the bus. Now that doesn’t mean there’s not whining, but I expect that. I can’t wait for next fall, either. Although having a whole summer to focus on reading and animals before we delve into- you guessed it, studying the different types of animals next year… should be fun!
