Another school year is (almost) in the books! Phew. We've got two more weeks left in which to wind down our last few subjects before we head out on vacation. Adding another baby to our family has made it both a difficult and precious year. It’s been hard to stay on top of our “normal” school routine but it’s also been so endearing to watch these kids fall in love with their baby brother. We’ve accomplished less book work than previous years, but we have learned many lessons about caring for babies, helping each other, taking turns, and patience. And by "we," I do mean "we." I am still learning these lessons too!
Daily Routine
This has varied throughout the year but generally the kids will come downstairs when they wake, play, have breakfast, play, get dressed, play a little more, and then we gather in the living room for Morning Time. This Morning Time is short on most days and very short on others. I am frequently interrupted by the baby or the toddler and we don’t get through a lot, but it’s a good way to center our morning together and signal to the children that we are starting school for the day. Then Little Sister does some independent playtime upstairs (she fondly calls it her "alone time" and is quite pleased to have the play room to herself), Big Brother and Middle Brother work on their list of independent school work for the day (generally four items for Big Brother and three for Middle Brother) and I have some focused time with Little Brother. Then we break for snack, play time, maybe some outside time, and I will check through the work the older two did, because if Mom doesn’t check it, it might not actually get done. We are still learning accountability and responsibility!
At this point I would often need to feed the baby, or give Little Sister some attention, or run an errand, or take someone to speech therapy, or all of the above while also finishing my breakfast and trying to brush my hair, so no more school happened until lunch time, which is one of my favorite parts of the day because while their little mouths are stuffed with food (ie QUIET) and their little hands are busy getting more food, I read from a chapter book. No quizzes, no reports, no comprehension questions - just reading for the joy of it. We had some gems this year and it’s been delightful to share these stories together. Then comes that most blessed hour of the day, also known as “Nap Time” if you are younger than three or older than 35; for everyone else it’s “Quiet Rest Time Where You’d Better Not Bother Mom Or Else.” At the end of rest time I tried to fit in some history or science reading but it didn’t always happen which is why they are both on my list to finish over the summer.
Materials We Used
For Big Brother (3rd Grade)
Math: Our biggest struggle this year was finding time for me to work individually with Big Brother and Middle Brother. Anything we could do all together was good, anything they could do on their own without me was fine, but focused time with just them was very hard to come by! It’s a downside to having three needy younger siblings, I guess. Math, history, and science were the subjects he needed help with, and therefore we made the least progress in them this year. For math we have been working through Shiller Math for the past several years, and this year Big Brother did a little work in the Fractions book and also spent time reviewing concepts from Book 3. I was considering buying the next kit (Books 4-6) but we ended up not having enough time to solidify everything from Book 3 and I don’t want to rush on to the next level until he’s truly ready. He also spent time at Classical Conversations reviewing skip counting, which translates well into the multiplication tables, and he completed Math Analogies Level 1 from the Critical Thinking Company.
History & Science: we’ve been reading through The Story of the World Volume 3 this year and we made it through about half of the book - I am hoping to finish it this summer! For science we have been doing Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 which is all about flying creatures, and we got through about half of that book also.
Reading: he read 5 chapter books this year and narrated a few sections to me out of each book. He reads quite well, has a large vocabulary, and is a naturally good speller, so we have not spent much time focusing on any of those areas.
Handwriting: he finished Level 3 from The Good and the Beautiful (cursive).
Other: he completed Maps Charts and Graphs Level D, practiced piano consistently, finished a workbook on telling time and a sweet little journal.
For Middle Brother (1st Grade)
Math: This guy really started to love math this year and started seeing patterns and making connections even without my help. We have sporadically been working through Shiller Math Book 2 but I realized that most of it is too easy for him now, so we have jumped around the lessons and I am just trying to hit the ones that cover concepts he doesn’t yet know well. We will probably start Book 3 next fall. Another fun thing we’ve done this year for all three boys is that I will write two math equations on our dining room chalkboard (usually one for the older two and one for Little Brother) and just leave it there, no comment, until somebody solves it. I started this several months back by writing down an equation and telling them, “I want you guys to solve this sometime this week - whenever you want - and when you do, tell me, and I’ll give you a quarter.” Well, within two minutes it was solved and they were asking me for another one. After a couple days I changed to giving them dimes instead, then nickels, then pennies… and now I am out of coins but they still do it just for the fun of it! The older two can solve lengthy equations with addition, subtraction, division without remainders, or multiplication (or all four); Little Brother does pretty well with three or four small numbers being added or subtracted. I do my best to keep the problems at just the right level so they are challenging but not frustration-inducing.
History and science: same as I listed above for Big Brother, they do these two subjects together.
Reading/phonics: he read 9 short chapter books on his own, finished Logic of English Level C and about a third of Level D. He struggles with spelling, so even when we finish Level D I think we will need to keep practicing that skill.
Handwriting: he really wanted to learn cursive this year, so we started Level 3 from The Good and the Beautiful and got through about half of the book. So far he is enjoying it! We’ll continue on with it next fall.
Other: he completed Math Analogies Book B, practiced piano consistently and worked through a few Pin Maps.
For Little Brother (Kindergarten)
Phonics: he finished Logic of English Level A and about half of Level B; just in the last month I can see that it is beginning to “click” for him, and it’s so exciting! He has suddenly started sounding out words much more easily, and I foresee that he’s going to make a lot of progress over the summer. This is the third time we've had a child on the brink of reading, and it's so interesting to me that it happens at a different point with every one. It appears that the child suddenly reaches an age - no telling when it will be - where they are ready; a switch is flipped in their brain, and all of a sudden, sounding out words becomes easy. This has been at a different point in the curriculum and at a different age with every boy. Moral of the story: don't push it too much, and don't stress, before your child is ready! They will reach a point where their little brain can handle all that tricky decoding of letters and sounds; until then, keep it light and easy so they don't equate reading with struggle or stress.
Math: we began Shiller Math Book 1 but didn’t get very far. As I said before, I had limited one-on-one time with the three older boys, and we spent most of his time focusing on phonics. We will hit the math harder next year!
Handwriting: we did not work on any handwriting until January because I felt like he wasn’t physically ready and didn’t have the coordination. We then started it by using these lovely wooden tracing boards, which has gone well, though he still needs a lot of practice. We will continue to work on this skill next year.
For All Of Us
Bible: memorized 6 passages, read through The Beginner’s Gospel Story Bible and The Children’s Bible; we also learned 6 hymns together.
Read-alouds: we finished 10 (!!) chapter books and the kids listened to the audio book version of Charlotte’s Web two times.
Art: as usual, we burn through a forest’s worth of paper each week. These children are continually drawing or coloring or gluing or cutting and it’s simultaneously amazing and incredibly messy.
Extracurriculars: weekly piano lessons for the older two boys plus a recital in April; monthly nature walks/hikes; 4 trips to the zoo and 2 to the Domes; An Expectant Easter unit study; two road trips to Minnesota to visit family; lots of free play time outdoors; bi-weekly library visits; completed our first year of Classical Conversations; and we added a NEW BABY to our family which is a monumental accomplishment, if I do say so myself.
Another accomplishment: I managed to squeeze in two blog posts this month. Cue the confetti! Perhaps there is hope for the rest of the year after all.
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