By Rosanna Ward
Monday was the first day of our new school year. Even though I don’t believe that learning should be limited to “school” — and decidedly believe that much real learning takes place outside “school” hours — I do so love new beginnings. I love New Year’s Day, because it is like a fresh start. I also like Mondays, because it is like a new beginning. And I love the beginning of a new school year! I plan for it for months. I have fun buying books, curriculum, and supplies, and I lay awake at night planning fun ways to teach this year’s goals.
This year, it is just my 7-year-old Joel, and he is now a reader — so I plan to have lots of fun learning with him.
After that we moved to math: Joel did about 15 minutes of addition facts practice — he is working at getting his addition and subtraction facts memorized. After that he did a lesson from his Horizons Math 2 book. Since he finished that rather quickly, he spent some time playing a math game on the iPad.
Next we read out of our Abeka Science 2 Book. We skipped to the chapter about rocks and minerals, and we started an experiment — trying to grow salt crystals. We started school at 9am and by 10:30am, we were done with Bible, math and science.
The boys had a quick snack, then Joel sat down with his Horizons Phonics workbook and reading book. His is reading out of the Phonics book, and the McGuffey 2nd Reader, and he did a lesson in the workbook. After this, he took a break and I made lunch.
After lunch, we started writing, spelling and vocabulary. This is new for him, and we are using Horizons 2. It was hard for him, so it took quite a while to accomplish this. When we finished, I set the boys up with painting at the table, and I read to them out of “The Story of the World, Volume 1: Ancient Times.”
By 2pm, we were totally finished with school for the day. Joel did his chores and counted up the points he had earned for the day — 3 points. Overall, a great day and a great start to the year.
— Rosanna Ward is a devoted wife of 19 years and mother of four children, two of which are homeschool graduates. She currently homeschools her 7-year-old son Joel and her youngest son is a toddler. Rosanna is a homeschool graduate and has been homeschooling for seven years. Rosanna loves to study History and Genealogy: Her genealogy blog is called “Rosanna’s Genealogical Thoughts.” She and her family reside in Sand Springs, Oklahoma.
I hope you have a wonderful new year! Good luck!
Here from the hop.