Beginnings

I have started and stopped various blogs over the years, so here we go again! I have blogged on life, crocheting and homeschooling. I had a great blog before titled "June Cleaver in a Brittney Spears World". (Well, I thought the title was great, not so sure about the blog!) But, alas, I cannot remember my id or password, so here I am.


We will soon begin our 3rd year of homeschooling. I have a philosophical issue with school beginning before Labor Day and ending after Memorial Day, so we "do school" between those dates. Katie prefers to start when her friends do, so I give her some work until the official start date. She does not mind, however, ending before her friends!

I have settled on our curriculum and am working on getting it all in the next couple of weeks. Here is what we are using this year:

For Katie:

I decided to go with Switched on Schoolhouse 7th grade, for several reasons. One is Katie loves using the computer. I like the completeness of this curriculum, including Bible and additional reading. I like having the ability to set up her assignments and let her work at her own pace. I am hoping this will be a better fit this year.

I am anxious to get this so I can start looking through it and see where we are going. I think that since Katie was in PS for 5 years, she needs a more "school like" curriculum. We tried Rod & Staff last year, but it didn't work very well.We had WAY too many fights over math!

For Amanda:

Our biggest challenge is working on reading and working with her visual disability. We'll be spending a lot of time at the library picking out books and reading them with a patch on one eye.

I chose a more eclectic approach to Amanda's curriculum. Since I want to work on Language Arts, I chose AOP LifePac 3rd grade. Amanda likes workbooks, and likes to gauge how much she has left in a book. It gives her incentive to work through her assignments when she sees less pages left to do.

We are also doing Handwriting Without Tears. I saw this at the NC Homeschool Convention book fair and really liked it. Amanda is chomping at the bit to learn cursive, and this takes a step by step approach.

We are using Christian Liberty Press for Bible and for science. If I ever receive the copy of Exploring God's Creation that I ordered from a private seller on Amazon, I'll quit stressing. I hate to reorder if it was sent media mail and it just taking the scenic route to get here. At least it is not expensive!

I chose BJU Press Heritage Studies for History. I am just not up to tackling world history at this stage of the game. I also feel like, given the current state of our nation, that learning about our founding fathers and their belief in God is timely. I was blessed to find the student book and teacher book for sale on a message board for $15!

We are trying Math-U-See for math this year. Everyone I have talked to who has/is using this really likes it. Amanda is struggling to grasp the fact families, and I think having the manipulatives will help. Tactile and visual together might be the ticket.

For Me!

I still need to get my teacher planner and a regular daily planner so I can keep things straight this year and not pull my hair out!

Katie will be participating in the NCHE Middle School girls basketball league. We will have 2 practices a week - in Denver! (not CO) - and games on Sat. The season runs Nov. through Feb. We have travel games to Thomasville, Asheville, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and High Point.

I would like for Amanda to have an opportunity to take gymnastics, but I have to see when Katie's practices are first. Amanda wants to take an archery class offered by the local Parks & Rec, we'll see how that works.

There is also a homeschool swim team. While Amanda swims like a fish, she swims underwater and really needs to learn proper strokes.

We will also participate in Morning Grace at Grace Covenant again this year. This time I will be teaching Amanda's class - Fruit of the Spirit. Katie will once again work on apologetics. I am waiting for info on an art class that will be offered as well.

We also are going to be part of a weekly co-op group. There are some fun things offered, and I think it will give the girls a chance to make more homeschool friends.

The biggest thing is having John's support and prayers, and seeking God's direction.