I am a convert
We are simply devouring books here at our house.
I cannot recommend Sonlight high enough. We are doing Core 1&2, and it is a blast. I am learning as much as my kids!
We are using Saxon Math 2 (which has a bunch of review, so we are working fast through the first half of the book….and you were right Chris, the teachers manual is a waste of time…..overly repetitive), Handwriting Without Tears, Explode the Code for spelling and review, and Apologia Science (we are doing the Astronomy)….oh, and Spanish.
Things are pretty relaxed around here, as you can see from my last post. We follow the schedule somewhat…..but not every day. That is the beauty of Sonlight. You can pretty much do your own thing with it.
Even with the relaxing, we are doing so very much.
Quinn reads his chapter book outloud to us in the morning on the way to take the big kids to school, and when we return home, the little ones play for a bit. He is reading a book each day, so we should be finished with the entire year of Grade 2 readers by next Friday, and then we will start on the Grade 3-5 Advanced, which I know will take much longer.
We are pretty much done by 11am and have the rest of the day to play and explore.
Which leaves me to wonder what the heck they do at school with over 7 hours????
Okay, you read my ordeal with the school. On top of that we have 2 kids who hate school with a capital H. They make my mornings absolutely miserable. So can you email me the details of this homeschooling? I don’t think I will keep all the kids home but I do have a few that I think this may be the way to go. Can you tell me all about what you bought and basically what “a day in the life” is like for you?
I have always been for homeschooling but up until recently my husband was totally against it. He is starting to see it may be a good thing too. I appreciate any details you would share with us.
Basically, they waste A LOT of time at “regular” school. Every kid responds differently to each method of instruction, but our home school experience was remarkably similar to what you just described. Keep up the good work, Mrs. Mom (your teacher name)!! 8^)
I am so glad you are enjoying yourselves! Isn’t it great?
Jody says: Yes it is!
I’m glad you’re liking it! With Saxon when we start a new year or level I give the kids the tests until they show struggle, then we begin the lessons there. That way we only do as much review as they need … because sometimes the first 30 lessons are review and can be skipped. Saves them from getting bored and sick of it before they even start learning anything.
I’m glad the homeschooling is going well for you!
But can I say…I still miss Quinn’s curly hair…
Jody says: The return of the curly hair is on its way…he is growing it out again!
We use Sonlight too!
We do Saxon too, and at the start of each year I routinely have kids skip the first 20 lessons, then do half-lessons til lesson 30. Lots of review there.
Mary
I’m not sure we have ever even finished an entire year of Saxon, there is enough review in the first quarter of the next level. We love Sonlight too. I have tried other things, but have always come back.
What Spanish are you using?
Jody says: It is American Education Publishing “The Complete Book of Spanish”….really great for beginners, with lots of worksheets to use daily. We also have a computer program called Jump Start Spanish.
I KWYM wondering what PS does with kids all day. I found that HSing my kids left us with lots of ‘adventure’ time.
I just ordered the Spanish book you reccommended, and am going to check out sonlight.
Thanks forsharing a glimpse into your life.
Hugs
Jody says: Oh cool! You will like the book. It is really basic, which is fine by me as my kids have very, very little knowledge of Spanish.