Curriculum Switch Up

At the start of the year, I was 100% sure I'd picked the perfect curriculum for Josie.

But after about a month I realized we needed a few changes.  We have found an excellent rhythm and I am so, so thankful for that.  The changes I made were mostly due to things being more advanced then I want to go this year.  Not necessarily that Josie couldn't handle them, but more that I'd rather wait until Gabe can do them with us.  The other reason I switched a few things was that I still feel that having extra time to read for fun, play outside, and just be a kid are just as important (if not more so) then sitting at the table to get ahead.

first night of girl scouts!

We are still using, and loving, Math Mammoth.

We do a few pages a day and she's doing really well with it. Adding was super easy for her. We are in the middle of subtraction right now and it's been tricky but she's getting it. She can memorize math facts pretty quick and I'm thankful for that. Math is not my strong suit.

We also stuck with Lightening Literature, but I'm not using it like I originally planned.

The books have been great, but the worksheets are super easy. I've been having her do two days worth each day so we finish each books work in two days. There is a writing assignment with each book and that is an area she needs a lot of work with so we spend the whole week perfecting that.   She comes up with great stories, but hates that actual writing. She tends to change er story to make it less writing. We are working on doing her best no matter what and Farm Fusion is helping.

king of the jungle

We finished All About Spelling 1 but I didn't buy level 2. 

Instead I got a list of words from a friend with a first grader in public school and we are doing those each week. I have her practice everyday and give her a test on Friday.  I've been using Spelling City online each week and that is a great help.  I also gently correct her spelling when she does creative writing. Once I tell her she usually remembers the correct spelling in future writing.

I'm still super excited to do Story of the World, but decided to hold off until next year. 

I'm doing small unit studies for history when holidays come around and am pumped up to start 123Homeschool4Me's history units this week.  We are starting with early explorers and the activities she has look right up our ally.

edging very, very close to 7

A Childs Geography was a bit over Josie's head so I shelved that too. 

We did the first few chapters and I know that we will love this one.  It's just more on a 3rd grade reading level.

I just ordered Little Passports and can't wait to get our first package!  This s totally my teaching style and will be easy to add to. We will get a box each month focusing on a different country. Once we go through all of those, I'm planning to continue with the US edition.

don't worry, it's a plastic drill that doesn't actually fit in the outlet

So I guess I changed a lot.

That's one of the many beauties of homeschooling.  If something doesn't work, we can modify and move it until we find what we need.

She still does daily journal writing or copy work and she reads for 20 minutes before we start school.  We are averaging 2 field trips a month and have amped up the crafting.  Josie is loving Farm Fusion, ballet, and children's choir.

She also started Girl Scouts last month and instantly earned the Cutest Daisy Badge.

Gabe is plugging along with early preschool.

Lots of art and cutting and coloring.  I'm sporadically using All About Reading - Pre Reading, but decided to go with regular old flash cards to get his letter identification and letter sounds down.  It just felt more to the point then all the extra letter of the week activities.  It's going great so far.  He's pretty much obsessed with Legos and with helping Andrew do man stuff around the house.

I'm still over the top happy about how well this school year is going.  Excited to see what the second half of our year has in store.

random photo dump from the end of 2013