Our First Year Homeschooling--how'd it go, cont...

So, after we made the decision to discontinue doing Classical Conversations as our homeschooling program I was a bit at a loss as to how to proceed. Thankfully, my mom is a teacher and especially loves kindergarten and 1st grade! After sharing my concerns with her she assured me that right now, in kindergarten, focusing on reading, writing and math were most important. And, so that's what we focused on, for the most part...

We learned that Cora not only LOVES math, but is quite good at it! She whipped quickly through K math and is now almost done with 1st grade (we're currently using Singapore Math, though will be changing that in the fall--stay tuned for what we do next year...). Geesh! I HATED math as a child, by the way...I have distinct memories of HATING math in 1st grade. Seriously. I mean, really, 1st grade math? However, she HATES handwriting...something I LOVED! As you can imagine this has been interesting. I've had to hold my temper (failing often. Just keepin' it real!) a lot while she fights me to write some letters and words--a 10 minute task she will EASILY turn into a 45 min job! But, math? Oh, we LOVE to do that! We'll whip right on through and get done 20 minutes of math in 10, and then BEG to do more! Sigh...I've had to not allow my dislike for math cloud her excitement for it. Anyway, I digress...

As the year went on I became more and more frustrated with the fact that we just weren't concentrating on reading like we needed to. Cora knows her letters, numbers, can write/copy words I have for her. I got a few lists of sight words, and she was learning those. She has also been doing lessons with an app on the iPad called "Reading Eggs." However, I still didn't/don't think this is enough. So, we bought a reading curriculum. WOW! Why did we not do this in the beginning???? I love it!!! Cora LOVES it!!!!! And, she has started reading, in a few short lessons. It's been amazing!!! I'm so annoyed at myself for not following my gut and doing this in the beginning. But! We have it now, it's working great, and we'll keep going strong throughout the summer.  We'll also finish up her math book, not because she really needs it, but because we don't want her to lose what she's already learned!

I've already starting buying what we need for 1st grade and Cora is SO EXCITED to get started! I love her zeal for learning, and I love that she loves school. I want it to stay that way, whether she's homeschooled, public or private schooled. I want her to always want to learn.

What will our year look like next year? Well...you'll have to come back next week to find out! Hee! Hee! Hee!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Who are We?

Image
I want to introduce you to myself and my family! We're a crazy bunch of people, who love each other fiercely. The couple who started it all: My husband, David, and I, have been married 9 years (just celebrated in Jan!). We met online, back when it was just becoming acceptable to do so and life has been an adventure ever since! We live in Ohio, and he is a pastor of a small urban church. This is our 2nd church, and we've been here now almost 4 1/2 years! We love to go out to eat (ok, we go out to eat TOO much!), but we especially love to try new places that are ethnic, or off the beaten path. Basically, if it's not a chain restaurant we're interested! We especially love middle eastern food, specifically from Turkey! My husband grew up in WV, born and raised, and has just recently graduated with his Doctorate of Ministry!!! I grew up as a missionary kid in the savannas and jungles of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Africa (was called Zaire when I was growing up).
Read more

To Be Thankful: Friends

Friends. They come in all shapes, sizes, and ages. I can look back on my life and see the different key friends the Lord has blessed me with over the years. Being a missionary kid one tends to move a lot. And, if you don't move chances are the people around you are moving. You can become best friends with someone and after 2 years her family moves and doesn't come back. I learned early in life to make friends quickly, and not to waste time with surface, fluff stuff, but to get to the heart of a person quickly. I learned you just never know how long you have with a person before they go. As an adult, I'm finding that not everyone sees life this way. I'm learning not everyone wants to share their heart of hearts with you right away. And, that's OK! I'm seeing it's one of the quirks left over from being an MK. During my childhood my mom always prayed for my sister and I to have a good friend when we would move to a new place. The Lord always answered those
Read more

Another First Day!

Image
Tuesday we had another big day at our house! Ben started Kindergarten and Bekah started preschool! Our church runs a nursery school for ages 2-5. We had enrolled Ben in one of the 4s classes to finish up last year. He loved it, we loved it, it's just great!!! Plus, having David at church during the day helps with transportation. Ben is enrolled in the 5s program. He goes 4 days a week. When he gets home we do lunch and then do our own schoolwork. We opted to keep him out of a traditional K class so that we can focus more on his speech therapy. This seems to be a good combination. We feel the program at the nursery school and then what we do at home will compliment each other, at least that's the idea! He LOVES it, of course! There are 4 kids from his class last year also with him this year so that's been great. I love watching him grow and mature. Also, as we've been working together at home I'm realizing that teaching him will be WAY different than it was with Co
Read more