Homeschooling

Prior to growing our family, I never imagined we would be homeschoolers.  I had just always thought our kids would attend a traditional school like we had.  However, it was clear to us after a year home with Caleb, that he had some separation anxiety and sending him off to preschool or VPK would not benefit him emotionally.  Being that he was 4.5 years old, I knew that some type of instruction should begin at home.  With the support of my dear friend and China travel buddy, Lisa, I took the plunge and ordered a boxed Kindergarten curriculum.

I thought to myself, "It's kindergarten.  How can I mess it up?"  I knew I would need tremendous hand holding, so going with a box curriculum from Abeka was perfect.  And at the end of the year, we found ourselves hooting and hollering over our first successful year of homeschooling.

The next school year, we found that although we were okay with Abeka for language arts, we needed a change for math.  I decided I was confident enough to mix things up.  And I'm so glad I did.  Caleb soared with his new math program, Singapore Math.

After a second successful school year (and this with a newly adopted toddler at home), we knew we were sticking with it.  However, our third year found us going in a different direction.  I found myself inspired by Charlotte Mason's philosophy.  I loved the idea of using "living books" and building godly character.  By the end of our third year, we found ourselves immersed in Ambleside Online.  Not only is Caleb learning so much this way, but so is Madeline and so am I!

We currently school year round, with a much lighter load in the summer. I believe it's important that our children see that learning can take place all year long, including the summer.

I've been working in a small way with Madeline since she's only 4 years old.  For phonics, I'm having her work through the syllabary of Daniel Webster's 1824 Blueback Speller.  I'm also using WRTR.  She enjoys working in her Explode the Code workbooks when she wants some type of seatwork to do.  I'm also using Essential Math A/B from Singapore but really just doing lots of hands on work with her and keeping it simple.  She loves to write and will do copywork all the time.  I just need to keep a better eye on her so she doesn't develop any poor habits.

For this school year, here is our lineup for "3rd grade".

Math:
Singapore 4A/4B
Beast Academy 3A/3B/3C/3D

Literature:
Tales From Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb
Dangerous Journey by Oliver Hunkin
Little Pilgrim's Progress by Helen Taylor
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield Fisher
The Wind and the Willows by Ernest Grahame
The Merry Adventures of Robinhood by Howard Pyle

Science:
The Burgess Animal Book for Children by Thorton Burgess
The Burgess Seashore Book for Children by Thorton Burgess
The Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock
Building Foundations for Scientific Understanding: K-2

History:
An Island Story by H. E. Marshall
This Country of Ours by H. E. Marshall
A Child's History of the World by Virgil Hillyer

Biographies:
The Little Duke by Charlotte Younge
Joan of Arc by Diane Stanley

Geography:
Tree in the Trail by Holling C. Holling
Seabird by Holling C. Holling

Bible

Foreign Language:
Spanish - Getting Started with Spanish

Poetry:
Walter De La Mare
Eugene Field
James Whitcombe Riley
Christina Rosetti

Art:
Drawing with Children by Mona Brookes

As a family, we also enjoy all the Ambleside Online selections for artists, composer study, folksong, and hymns.

Other books we'll read for pleasure:

Heidi by Joanna Spyri
Five Children and It by Edith Nesbit- done
Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Adventures of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting- done
Along Came a Dog by Meindert De Jong- done
Mary Poppings by P.L. Travers
The Door in the Wall by Marguerite De' Angeli- done
Brighty of the Grand Canyon by Marguerite Henry
Abraham Lincoln by Ingri D'Aulaire- done
The Pied Piper of Hamelin by Robert Browning
Chanticleer and the Fox version by Barbara Cooney

And if there's still time, we'll get to a few others.