One of the most satisfying days of the homeschool year takes place about a week after our work is finished.
I go through the kids' bins and put their work away for storage in these cardboard magazine holders which I purchase at Staples.
I started with Miss J. who just finished First Grade.I wanted to mention this almost 300 page binder which took us two years to work through. I bought this Phonics program, ( written by Charlotte F. Lockhart; Char-L) when I started to homeschool Meg and used it to teach her, Tori, Sam, John and Juby who all learned to read using it.. Natalie went to school for 1st and 2nd grades but did not do well with the whole word reading method taught there.She stayed at home and began this program in 3rd and also took two years to get to the end of it. Mary Pride recommended it back in the day because it wasn't flashy but methodical. The student is supposed to use a chalkboard every day but we used a composition book and sat on the couch.It teaches the student to read very big words by the end of it and write them too!
She also used the Little Angel Reader series but finished that up last year.
She used Modern Curriculum Press ( MCP) Math and the "plaid " Phonics series, also. I ordered a second grade phonics book and she handled it well.
Miss J. went through two handwriting workbooks from Catholic Heritage Curricula.She will progress to cursive next year.
The most important part of my record keeping system is storing their "Planners". It was drilled into my head in nursing school that if you didn't write it down- you didn't do it!!!. It is not only a case of Cover Your A..., I mean Bases... This is permanent record of the entire school year's plans which I wrote out every Sunday night for the following week. Each assignment is written down with extras such as books read, soccer practices, field trips and other special happenings.
This also let the kids know when they were "done for the day"- if everything is done and checked off- you're done. If not, you've got homework. I believe in a written plan and it has worked well for us.
For all the loose papers, fun brochures and drawings, I keep a folder in their bin throughout the year and then store it.
All three kids did "States and Capitals" this year because studying geography was one of my main goals. While I read a book that had facts about that State, the kids colored the state's picture with colored pencils.Sam and John had a contest to see whose picture was better every time.
Then they copied the facts from a State flashcard into their composition book and glued it in.
The other subject that they did together was Religion which I kept very simple this year.
Most every morning we started at the table by taking a turn reading the daily Mass readings from The Magnificat.
I figured you couldn't go wrong by hearing The Word of God daily and then we said three simple prayers and that was it. We didn't make it to Masses during the week like I had hoped except for quite a few on Fridays where we could see Grandma and Grandpa! We actually did no catechism type things because that was not one of my priorities for this year.
Sam (7th) and John (5) did all of the same subjects either together or at different grade levels. The Seton Spelling workbooks are great and doubled as a vocabulary book for both of them.
My older homeschooled children have stated that their weakest area is in Geography. I took that to heart and in addition to States and Capitals, we studied and finished this World Geography course. The Internet was invaluable for this and both boys learned, through much trial and error, to narrow a search down and comb through a lot of information to get what you are looking for.
This book talked about continents, countries, cultures, religions, and products imported and exported etc. We looked at lots of images on the 'net of famous tourist attractions in the countries being studied.We also learned about manners, patience and dealing with frustration while sitting at the computer together!
Studying Science was a highlight of the school year thanks to the Exploring Creation Notebooking Journals which just came out in the last year or two.The text was already wonderful to read but now the Notebook with built-in colorful activities like minibooks to fill in, crossword puzzles to do, and special pages to take notes on the info made the information much more memorable.John studied Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day.
Sam studied Human Anatomy and Physiology:
We used these notebooks daily and filled them all in. Reading is one thing but writing is quite another and these books together facilitated both.
I figured that boys can always use some handwriting practice. I was able to separate a workbook that I had ordered for Miss J. but realized it was cursive and too advanced for her. I put every other page into these folders for the boys to do twice a week. They seemed to enjoy it.
Our biggest change this year was switching from Saxon math to Abeka.We found it to be significantly harder.I think Sam's 7th grade book would have given MOST high schoolers a run for the money. It was very tough for me and I really like Math. My sister said that although it was hard, I would notice a difference in their test scores.She was absolutely right! For the last month, after figuring out compound interest and calculating mortgage payments in the Abeka book, Sam switched back to Saxon for a review of the basics before testing.
I have read that many of the well-educated ( and often self-educated) men of the past, like Thomas Jefferson and Abraham Lincoln, kept notebooks of all the things they were learning and doing. This comes back to the idea previously mentioned regarding science, that in order to really "own" knowledge, one has to write it down. With this in mind, each boy had a composition book in which he had to write important facts and ideas that we came across in our read-alouds.
During the last twelve weeks or so, I allowed them to use their books as a journal and they had to write one page per day on any topic they chose.Sometimes they drew small pictures ( big ones wouldn't have counted!) to illustrate their point. This was a successful enterprise because it got them writing daily. Writing requires something to be produced whereas reading is more about consumption. I hope that they will look back someday at these journals and remember these days fondly.
Another one of my main goals for the year which by the Grace of God came to fruition, was regular read-alouds. It is So Much Fun to share a great story together and this is the essence of what homeschooling is about. I didn't want to miss the forest for the trees this year, so I combined History and Literature ( as Our Mother of Divine Grace Curriculum and Sonlight does) and we read aloud almost daily. It was my favorite subject. Above are the books that My daughter and I read together.
Above are the books the boys and I read together.For many of these books, we took turns reading, a page at a time.While taking these pictures, I was inspired to continue our read-alouds throughout the summer which we have done twice this week.There are sooo many books that I would like to share with them and so little time...I want to seize the moments while they will still listen.
After going through each bin and all of their paperwork for the year and filing it away in their individual holders, I bring them downstairs for storage.You are not going to believe this!
Yeah- OCD much?!!!! I know that this is not necessary but for now I have the storage space, so why not?!!!! Both of these shelves are double layered with homeschool work-one holder, per child, per year. A few high school years may have needed two. I store this work for a few reasons.
!) I want to be able to pull it out when I hear one of my children say " I didn't learn anything while I was homeschooling.'" I hear that a lot actually. I don't believe it though.
2) I want to be able to Cover my... Bases. As my nursing instructors used to say "Document, Document, Document!"
3) I might like to look back on it or pass it on to each kid as they leave home so they can see their own work.
4)I like to save this is a visual reminder for me of not only how I've spent my days, but how I've spent my years....and loved every minute it of it, too!
