Monarch Way Academy is back in session and I am so very excited about this 2014-2015 school year. Especially after the struggle of last years school year...maybe one day I'll elaborate?
This is our 3rd year of "official" school and I am finally feeling really confident in choosing curriculum and knowing what is going to work for our family.
I have recently read some great books that have re-energized and re-motivated me in my homeschool efforts:
Beyond Survival: A Guide to Abundant Life Homeschooling by Diana Waring
Once I got past the terribly cheesy covered wagon cover art, then this book has given me new eyes and new hope in which I view this great privilege I have to educate my children. I especially enjoyed the chapters on the different learning styles and learning modalities. Its a great mix of personal stories, resource recommendations, and inspiration.
Mitten Strings for God: Reflections for Mothers in a Hurry by Katrina Kenison
Man, I needed this book. Because I am with my children all.the.stinking.time, and especially coming off this season of not having Jeremiah around I tend to get caught up in all that needs to get done and forget to cherish these fleeting moments with my kids. This book did that for me. I think I'll keep it handy for those times when I need to be reminded of how great is this unique calling of motherhood in this time and in this place.
They Way They Learn by Cynthia Ulrich Tobias
As I am making a huge effort to figure out what I can do to help Eli learn I have been knee deep in learning style research. I like the humor in this book, the simple explanations of the 4 different styles and the information on the 7 different intelligences.Very informational while not being boring.
Below is the jist of what my homeschool planning looks like while I'm attempting to create an overview of the year for us:
Each child has a workbook for Math and English, but our science, history, and geography is all unit studies incorporating reading biographies, field trips, and projects/experiments. I have found this gives us the structure to make sure that we don't miss any foundational requirements while allowing the flexibility for individualizing our days for each of my very different children. Oh yeah, and the fact that we are technically nomads right now and our life can and will change makes staying flexible a necessity!
We pick an artist/composer/author of the month to study and read about as well, and this year we have added a person of the month...scientist, president, bible character, etc.
Beyond that we have 1 goal for every school day...read something every day and write something every day. Each child has their own school journal and they have to make some kind of entry in it every day...whether its a picture, a story, a sentence (I hate writing in this book.)...but there has to be something!
We are two weeks in and so far everyone is loving it. I'm sure there will be some tweaking and changes as the year goes on, but right now I am completely overwhelmed in the best possible way with all the resources at my fingertips. We don't even know how good we have it here in America in regards to all the helps and resources and information available to us. I am not taking it for granted.
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| Of course, the zooble gets some "cool" time in as well. |
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