Week 5-Scratch That!

We took this week pretty easy. We got the basics done, but not much else. This week I spent a lot of time in prayer and research regarding curriculum. I've read many times that the first few years of homeschooling you really figure yourself, your kids, and your curriculum out. I'm definitely no exception. Bottom line is, some things weren't working for us, and so they had to change. I decided to change MK over to Switched on Schoolhouse. I think (hope) I will love it. I really felt like Easy Peasy was not a great fit for MK. It was difficult for me to monitor her work, and ensure that she was really learning. With SOS I can see all her assignments, when they were completed, and the grade she got on them. It is automatically graded 90% of the time with the exception of essay questions. MK really prefers to work indepently on the computer, and it works well for her to do so. I searched and prayed all week for a curriculum that would fit both her needs and mine and THINK I've finally found it. We'll see. I'm hopeful.

I really wanted geography and cultures to work this year with H and T. I started off with My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures, and then switched to Easy Peasy Geography and Cultures. After 5 weeks I finally admitted that this is just not working for us. I needed to do something else. My main focus with H and T this year is actually the Three R's, but I don't want to throw history out completely. However, it needs to meet certain criteria. It needs to require minimal, if any, research from me (so I can use my time for the core subjects). It needs to be able to be used with both girls, in different grade levels, and it needs to have worksheets/activities already planned out. So, after debating all week on what to do, I finally decided to just go with The Story of the World Volume 3. I chose volume 3 because it's recommend for grades 3-6 (perfect, right?) and because to be perfectly honest, I've never really liked Ancient History, so my first year homeschooling I would prefer to avoid it (Volume 3 is early modern history). We'll get to Ancient History later when I've got this whole homeschooling thing down. Since SOTW is read like a book, we can all sit on the couch to enjoy it, and on the busier weeks we can skip activities from the accompanying activity book if needed. What I'm saying is, there's no pressure to do it all. I needed the pressure off for history, because reading, writing, and arithmetic are my focus with these girls this year. Those come first. History is an added bonus right now.

Now, on the bright side, I am super-de-duper loving Pathway Publishers reading for T. Her reading is improving greatly. It's absolutely the perfect program for her/us. Finding this program didn't come easily though. I first bought Abeka, sold that, and bought Rod and Staff. We got the R&S over summer and T absolutely hated it. So, I went down a grade level in R&S thinking that might help. It didn't. We had been reading one of Pathway Publishers books over summer for review/practice, and I thought (lightbulb moment) why not just go with the entire Pathway Publishers program since she seems to be doing so well with it (ding-ding-ding)!

I've also been around the block with reading curriculum for H. I originally bought Bob Jones Reading 6. I scratched that and got Rod and Staff's A Time to Plant. We used that for a few weeks and we were both extremely bored. My friend told me about Circle C Adventures. It's a series about a 12 year old girl who loves horses and is figuring out her place in the world. The author has free lesson plans and worksheets on her website. We both absolutely love the first book in the series, The Long Ride Home. H actually said said this week that she couldn't wait to find out what happens next. That, my friends, shows me that this series is the right choice for her.

So, onto a new week. I'm loving this homeschooling thing. I know with full certainty that this is exactly where my children and I are supposed to be. I thank God every day.

Oh, we need some pictures, don't we? I don't have too many, but we did go on a field trip to the ice skating rink. 

And check out this awesome art!

See ya next week!

Our week NOT using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures

 Yes, you read that right! We are no longer using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. Now, let me say that there is NOTHING wrong with this program. It is a very solid program. However, at the end of the day (well 3 weeks) I had to go with what is going to work for my family during this season. You can read more about what we are now doing here. We are still doing geography and cultures, just a little differently.

So, we have jumped right in and stamped our passports for the United Kingdom this week! As always, I've found some great resources on TPT, including this research project on England and this England PowerPoint presentation.

The girls did a country fact sheet on England, mapped the UK, read about the culture using all the wonderful links on Easy Peasy's website, and got a general overview of the continent of Europe. I picked up a few different atlas' at Goodwill, and I am SO glad I did because each girl can use their own. Plus, different ones have information that other ones don't, so having a few makes it pretty well rounded. Buy all the atlas'!

 Easy Peasy has Around the World in 80 Days scheduled into their daily lessons. We read the first two chapters and got over it very quickly. I couldn't get into it, and neither could the girls, so we scratched that off the list. We are also not doing the online games that Easy Peasy has linked. However, the links to many different websites for each country is great! So we are "loosely" following Easy Peasy, but as always, I do my own thing as well. It must be the teacher in me.

They also created this awesome art at their art class. 

 It was a short week due to the holiday (only 3 days of actual school plus our co-op day), but we somehow managed to get everything squeezed in. Next week we are off to Greece and Norway!