A New School Term

A few posts ago I gave an overview of what we are using etc

This is really an update as we all got a little tired of a lot of what we were using and needed a fresh change for this term.

We have adopted our own version of Charlotte Mason approach to homeschooling this term and as a part of this Ds11 and 9 are doing dictation twice a week and they are actually doing really well which surprised me as they usually profess to hating writing.

We are doing daily read alouds for Science, History, Literature and Bible followed by copywork for ds11 and handwriting for ds9 and dd7. For these subjects we are using "The Story of the World" for History, "Gods Design for Heaven and Earth" For Science and For Literature we are reading "Every Day Graces"

We are hanging on to our word-building but have cut back on the amount we do each day and are now only doing this 3 days a week. We have also held onto our English but this too we have cut back our amount and we are now only doing it twice a week.

For math ds11 and ds9 are using Singapore Math which was their own request as they wanted a change in approach. So far we are liking it but it is very challenging and really makes them think. We are doing math just 4 times a week. However ds9 doing it 3 times with me and once a week he is going to his grandfather to do math and to help his grandmother plan a garden.

We have added in New Zealand Geography using a workbook I picked up at a local book shop and we are working through it together, looking things up in the atlas and guessing the answers when we don't know them for certain then checking the answer section to see how clever we are. It has been a lot of fun doing this together this week and hasn't seemed at all like you typical workbook approach. The kids look forward to these lessons on the days that we have geography scheduled.

On Fridays we are just doing a composition activity and not much else. This week we made treasure maps and then used them as the basis of an adventure story. I originally thought this would be a short story writing activity but it turns out the kids have so many ideas that they couldn't express themselves fully in a short story and so have asked to work on them some more next week on one of the days when we wouldn't usually have composition scheduled.

Saturdays is our housework day and we all chip in and work together so that the house looks immaculate even if it is only for that one day. Actually truth be told it probably only lasts a few hours but I really enjoy those few precious hours LOL

Anyway so far so good it looks like this term will be more enjoyable for all concerned. We will be working up until the end of November but will take all of December and January off all formal schooling and will pretend to be unschoolers for these months (not all that radical mind you.)

This term we have quite a few activities planned despite my original intention of taking it easy and leaving lots of free time for field trips and beach days.

On Monday mornings dd7 will be having swimming lessons and in the evenings all the kids will be doing athletics.

On Tuesday afternoons ds9 and dd7 do Gymnastics (See picture below) and ds11 has his paper run to do. In the evenings ds11 and ds9 play a touch rugby game.


On Wednesday the boys have their touch team training and dd7 has another swimming lesson.

On Thursday ds11 has homeschool basketball training followed by a game in the local schools competition.

And Fridays we were going to attend a homeschool playgroup but I just don't seem to have the time or energy for this as I also grocery shop on Fridays and somwhere in the day i need to get bubs down for a decent nap and I usually try to take one then too even if I only get a 10 minuite catnap, which is usually the case, that is better than nothing.

Add into the mix a sleepless baby and it's no wonder I'm permanently exhausted.