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Tuesday, August 4, 2015

Getting Back Into Gear.

I admit this year has been tough. Not only in our homeschool life but our life in general. Sometimes taking a step back and seeing things for what they are is needed. Now moving forward toward a new school year I find myself getting excited.

This excitement comes not only from our new curriculum slowly trickling in . It also comes from our life here. The kids have both reached middle school age this year. With that I find the old schooling methodology giving way to new more advanced paths of learning. It had been overwhelming a little me frankly. The idea that the kids were no longer just small. The idea that life is moving on it's course maybe faster than I was anticipating or prepared for, if one is or can be prepared. It was a bittersweet realization that that phase of little kids has passed by so quickly. It has been even more daunting to realize that I may be homeschooling through highschool in the years to come.

So where am I going with all of this? Well forward I guess. I am looking forward for school to begin even though our classroom is being renovated and has to get done first. I think in part because I feel confident that the curriculum choices I have made thus far for this year will inspire my kids to greater learning.

Our first curriculum conundrum was what were we going to use for English this year. Now I know there are many homeschoolers with far more experience who would say stick with a program for the whole school career of the student. I think that would be failing my kids and their individual needs. We used Shirley English this last year because that's what they needed a grammar heavy curriculum that taught them the technicalities of writing. The jingles for the grammar will stick with them for a long time and aid in their further learning. My goal now is to see them writing with feeling not because it's required by me. How was I going to achieve this? Research and lots of it. Looking each programme over for it's pro's and con's, reading review after review, and then happily stumbling upon what looked like a complete fit for our needs.

Enter "Cover Story". Put out by the same people who make the older One Year Adventure Novel. I first have to say it's not a cheap programme for more than one student and even less so with the exchange rate and shipping. But having cracked open the teachers manual I am so excited to see the kids writing this year. The variety, the methodology, and creativeness to this course make it very exciting. So follow along with us throughout the year I may just have more to say about this unique programme.

What's next? Waiting on the arrival our our Geography programme. I also want to plug here for what's been keeping me busy and what's still keeping me busy in spare moments and that is our local groups website. Well that in itself isn't that interesting I am sure...but the curriculum section is. I have pulled almost every curriculum maker, supplier, resource I have found and made it easy to browse on one site.  So grab a coffee and browse away folks you may just find the hidden gem of curriculum you have been searching for!

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