Somehow we trudged on through and completed our 4th year of homeschooling! I'm so proud of Bryan! He has done an excellent job this year. This year has been quite different from the previous year seeing how that Patrick was mobile and very active! I'm not sure how we survived most days, but we did!
Bryan's favorite subject was literature. I will have to agree that it is my favorite to teach, too. This year we read To Kill A Mockingbird, Guns for General Washington, Call of the Wild and The Three Musketeers. Each selection was an excellent choice and we were very much wrapped up in the stories. Mockingbird has always been my favorite book but Musketeers is now probably a very close 2nd!
Math was...well it was Math! We used Bob Jones for Pre-Algebra as well as Life of Fred by Stanley Schmidt. I cannot say enough good things about both programs. Bob Jones is straight-forward and explains mathematical concepts extremely well. Life of Fred is an excellent program that will help any student that prefers literature over Math. Fred is a self-teaching program that is literature based but somehow in the process of reading the adventures of 5 year old professor Fred, you also learn math. I thank God everyday for the Life of Fred series. It has been a life-saver for us lovers of Literature!
The best Grammar program, in my opinion, is Giggly Grammar. We enjoyed this program because it kept us in stitches! Grammar doesn't change--a noun will always been a noun...well you know in most cases, it will be ;) Grammar doesn't change almost overnight like Science does. If you are struggling or just need a change of scenery where Grammar is concerned I highly recommend Giggly Grammar. It's for grades 1-8.
This year for History we chose a dvd program. With Patrick being mobile and up more during the day I wanted Bryan to be able to keep on schooling without too much interruption. I ordered American History from The Great Courses. This worked out well. Bryan enjoyed the lecture style learning and it helped with his note taking skills. I bought this program on sale. I'm hoping to purchase more in the future. You really have to watch for the sales because it is a very pricey program!
Another noteworthy product is One Year Novel Adventure. I would only recommend this if your child loves to write. It is also marketed for reluctant writers so if you have a reluctant writer you may want to try this one out, too. But my honest opinion after seeing the demo and the work that has to be done, I would only choose this for a student that loves to write. Bryan has enjoyed this program immensely. He finished his book but I told him to take a break on the revision. It is a long process. He will be using this program again next year using the Science Fiction/Fantasy curriculum. He loves to write and even as biased as I am he is an excellent writer. I can't wait to see what kind of stories he will turn out as his writing skills mature.
The one subject that I did not like our choice of curriculum was Science. I have already given the books away and cannot remember the name of them. The company is based in California and they have Science trilogy program--Physical, Earth and Life Science. I taught Earth Science this year. I supplemented with a lot of outside books and videos from youtube, how stuff works and netflix. Thankfully, Rory is an astronomy buff and helped with filling in the gaps from the text. Science is always the difficult subject because so many homeschool companies cater to a young earth, non-evolutionary brand of Science. Trust me though, there are homeschoolers out there who love God and Jesus but we want to teach our children Science. We save religious matters for when we study the Bible :)
We also dabbled in some Spanish and will be picking up the pace on that for high school credit. Logic, Music and Art made the occasional rounds, too. Bryan was involved in the local teen homeschool group and 4-H Rifle club.
Overall, I call the year a success. It was very different from the previous years but we covered the basics and then some. I am elated that we get to homeschool our children. I cannot think of a better environment for my children to learn and be nurtured until it is time for them to spread their wings. As far as all the nay-sayers...who think homeschoolers are denim wearing, socially awkward, religious nutjobs, I ask you to reconsider your ideas of homeschooling. We are parents that are raising our children the best way as we see it. We do not ask for your blessings and we do not offer advice or dismiss your thoughts on how you school your child. We know our children best and as parents it is our job to do the best we can to prepare them for the future. You can disagree all you wish, but do us all a favor and keep the negativity and judgmental attitudes to yourself--well unless you want me to start barking at you about your parental decisions...Happy Schooling!
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