Surviving (and Thriving!) in Our First Year of Homeschooling
With one year under our belts, I’m excited to share what we learned, what we’d change, and what our plans are for the upcoming school year.
Hey everyone! As many of you know, we took the plunge and started homeschooling on our own this past school year. If you’re curious about our initial curriculum choices and the start of our journey, you can read about it here. Now, with one year under our belts, I’m excited to share what we learned, what we’d change, and what our plans are for the upcoming school year. For context, my two boys completed second grade and kindergarten, so that’s what I’ll be discussing.
Last summer, when those curriculum boxes started arriving, we couldn’t wait to dive in! It was over 100 degrees outside in mid-July, our pool was often closed for maintenance, and it seemed like the perfect time to get a head start. So, we began our school year early instead of waiting until August.
Our Morning Routine
After reading several reviews from other homeschool moms, I decided to skip the math meeting books for Saxon. Instead, I used a more illustrated version from Arrows and Applesauce, which the kids really enjoyed. They circled the month, day of the week, wrote the date, temperature, and time. They also noted the weather and the season. This routine helped them understand the passage of time and the seasons better. We kept this up for most of the year before switching to me writing it on the board while they dictated.
Diesel’s Second Grade Curriculum Review
Saxon Math has a lot of worksheets and repetition. While I appreciate the thorough review, it was exhausting. After talking with other homeschool moms from church, I realized we didn’t need to follow the curriculum so strictly. We adjusted our approach, and it went much smoother. Here’s what worked for us:
– Skip some review sheets if your child is confident with the material.
– Only do one side of the lesson and use the other side for reviewing missed concepts. This made math time faster and less daunting for Diesel.
– We started using Nicole the Math Lady, and it’s been amazing. Her teaching is fun, visual, and thorough. This program allows me to focus on Maverick if needed, and Diesel enjoys learning with me. We call it “Diesel and Mommy Math Hangouts,” and we both look forward to it!
Language Arts/Writing: The Yellow Book — Grade 3
While I loved this curriculum, Diesel did not love it as much. It involves a lot of writing — sometimes full passages, which Diesel didn’t enjoy. The literature pieces are classic but didn’t always meet his interests. The curriculum requires using old-school techniques like physical dictionaries and newspaper clippings, which are good skills to have, but sometimes it felt overkill. We skipped some parts or used ChatGPT instead. The grammar coverage was decent, but I felt we needed more in-depth practice. I might use this curriculum in the distant future for Hollyn (the content would delight a second grade girl, I think!) but probably not for Maverick.
Phonics: Explode the Code 5
Diesel breezed through Explode the Code 5 and 6 quickly and found the 7th one more challenging. It’s great for spelling and reading comprehension, though some of the illustrations are poorly drawn.
Penmanship: Italic Handwriting Series Book C: Basic & Cursive
Penmanship was a struggle attitude-wise. Diesel was excited for cursive, but most of the book was print. I chose this because I felt like he still needed help with print. We will use a full cursive book next year, which I think he’ll enjoy more.
Typing: The Good and The Beautiful Typing, Level 1
I initially wanted typing without gamification, but I’ve since become more open to technology in homeschooling. We switched to Typetastic, which is more enjoyable for both my boys. We didn’t practice typing enough this year but plan to pick it up more this summer and fall.
I can’t say enough good things about this program. Diesel has progressed through the first three levels and is able to sight-read the treble clef staff. He’s on bass clef now! We might switch to in-person lessons as he grows, but Hoffman Academy has been fantastic for us.
Maverick’s Kindergarten Curriculum
Maverick has been a sweet and smart learner but gets bored easily. Like his brother, he detests handwriting. I’ve used reward-based learning, visual timers, and oral dictation to help him stay focused.
This math curriculum has been perfect for kindergarten, with concepts building on each other. Maverick has aced every test!
Phonics: Primary Phonics Workbook 1 and Explode the Code 1
We focused on Explode the Code 1 and 2, which helped Maverick tremendously with reading, writing, and spelling. The curriculum is very friendly and approachable to young learners.
Penmanship: Italic Handwriting Series Book A: Basic Italic
Despite his dislike for handwriting, Maverick did well with this book, and we moved on to Book B. However, I’ve decided to switch back to Handwriting Without Tears for next year to fill in some letter formation gaps he’s still not concrete on.
Reading: BOB Books + Early Readers
I’ve switched up reading practice frequently to keep Maverick engaged. We’ve used BOB books, early readers from the library, blend wheels, and sight word flashcards. He’s now a more willing reader and can sit with a book and read silently, which is a huge win!
We didn’t get far with Maverick on this, mostly due to my own fatigue. I very much wanted short home school days, and wanted to give him lots of time to run and play because he was only 5! We might revisit this next school year.
Family Studies
Bible/Morning Time: Brighter Day Press Vol 1
We’ve loved this time, learning hymns, memorizing Bible chapters, and reading aloud. We covered composers and artists but didn’t spend much time on this particular section. Toward the end of the school year, we often skipped the arts parts and opted for more read aloud time. We love story time! I’d also incorporate 2-3 picture books too!
History: Beautiful Feet Around the World with Picture Books Part 1
We shelved this curriculum until summer. We’re currently working through it and enjoying the relaxing learning time. Instead of buying all the recommended picture books, we use YouTube read-aloud videos, which has been a good, leisurely activity that gives my voice a rest from all the other read-alouds we do.
We didn’t finish this curriculum. It was so beautiful and I loved the Brambly Hedge stories woven through the learning. Unfortunately living in suburbia with limited nature access made it challenging. Also, because we live in Texas, we don’t really have “true” seasons. There is no snow or changing of leaves – barely any trees at all! Ha! SO, I plan to outsource science next year!
Hollyn (Preschool)
Hollyn had her moments of struggle (sharing mommy is hard!) but overall enjoyed being “Mommy’s Teacher Helper.” She participated in morning time, memorized Bible books, and worked on preschool activities (princess coloring books, played dollhouse, build lego castles, drew on the big markerboard, made magna-tile castles, preschool workbooks) while I taught the boys.
Extracurriculars
The boys did Upwards Basketball in the winter and loved it, and they plan to do it again this year. They also did karate this past spring, with Diesel continuing through the summer in pursuit of a yellow belt. Hollyn took ballet and gymnastics, loving both. We paused activities for the littles for the summer but will likely resume in the fall.
And there you have it, folks! A whole review of the year wrapped up in one blog post. I hope you enjoyed it and maybe even related to some of it. Homeschooling is not for the faint of heart, but I truly love spending my time with my kids and the homeschooling lifestyle!
The post First Year of Homeschooling Review first appeared on xosydnee.
The post First Year of Homeschooling Review appeared first on xosydnee.