Tag: End of the Year

Homeschool, My Thoughts

End of the Year Thoughts

Dae-dae

I just realized I’m going to have a 8th grader, 6th grader and two 3rd graders in Public School terms.

The levels these kiddos are scattered across the board. I had to learn this lesson the hard way. When I wanted so badly to “bring them up to grade.” I tried pushing and using different techniques. Nothing worked.

When they finally had grasped several pieces of the puzzle through lots of work at home….. then and only then did I notice their knowledge begin to blossom. I had to let go of my ideals of what a grade level consisted of. For them now, we just finished up what would be 7th, 5th, and 2nd grade in public school, they are doing math at a 5th/6th and 2nd/3rd grade level, history at a 7/8th grade, geography at a 7/8th grade, science at a 7/8th grade, reading at a 8th, 2nd/3rd and 1st/2nd grade, and spelling/Language Arts at a 6th, 2nd, and 1st grade.

And it’s all perfectly okay.

Because what this shows me is that they are neither behind nor ahead; they are precisely where they need to be. Their educational needs are being met in ways that access their strengths and support their weaknesses.

That’s exactly what education is supposed to be.

I suck at fractions and geometry. You won’t hear anyone one say to me, as an 39-year-old woman, that I am “behind” because I didn’t understand these concepts in high school. So why are we pressuring our kids to conform to such arbitrary rules?

If your kiddo struggles with a subject, they aren’t behind. They have a weakness.

We all have weaknesses.
Weaknesses are normal.

Your kiddo is absolutely normal.

Charlotte Mason Method, Curriculum, Homeschool, My Thoughts, New Homeschool Year, Planning Next Year, Secular Homeschool, Update

Coming to a close…

Dae-dae

Well this is our last week for the 2022-2023 homeschool year. Five whole days left! Then it will be summer break until July 10th when we once again begin. It seems like such a long time ago when we first started this journey, and now it seems to be just a blink of an eye some days.

I’ve been stressing myself out over next year’s curriculum and have come to the conclusion. That I need to branch out and take control by creating what my kiddos need instead of trying to bend curriculum schedules and materials for the boys. So in June I am doing a full overhaul of the curriculum and schedule.

Not only will I be rearranging our curriculum, well the only curriculum technically being used for next year will be for language arts and math. For the rest of the subjects, I will be using a mixture of old or vintage educational books along with newer up to date books as well to give the boys more well rounded lessons. I’ve done a lot of research working all this out. One thing I plan on implementing more of is the Charlotte Mason method of notebooking. We did it for a short time about a year ago. I’m hoping this coming year will be different as we use it for more than one subject.

Anyways look forward to the next post about what I will be using and some alternatives I have for backup.

Homeschool, Planning Next Year

Almost done…

Dae-dae

Six more wonderful challenging days to go! Then planning for next school year… We are planning to school from July 2021 to May 2022 for next school year. Got their new curriculum workbooks, planner, waiting for their new desks, my new dry erase board, some additional workbooks and books. I have to add a few things and get more of a few items because my eldest would like to learn Spanish, my next kiddo wants to learn cursive, the second youngest would like to learn more math, and my youngest wants more art projects. It’s going to be interesting to plan how next school year will look like. All that matters is they’re learning, understanding, and reaching for their dreams.