Gearing up for homeschool '09/'10

This is our first year officially homeschooling our oldest, Tex. He turned 7 a couple months back and now must be registered with the state as being in someone's care during the school day, and I am happy to claim him! Of course the other two kids will tag along for the ride and who know, they might just learn something. Noodle is heading towards 5 as fast as he can, and is very interested these days in spelling and reading. He can type in his own username and password on Hotwheels.com from memory, the little genius! And of course the Monkeygirl, almost 2, will watch every move we make while I have my back turned and try to use them against me later.

In short I'm going to use this blog as my personal teaching planner, because it will be a lot faster to type out the long stories about what my adorable children do than it will be to write them in a notebook, and I'm all about saving some time. I'm doing it publicly because, well, other people like my kids, too, and there's no doubt that there are lots of other families out there who might have some words of wisdom to share as they read (I know you exist, I read YOUR blogs!).

Now to the matter at hand: our homeschooling plans for the year. We're going to continue Unschooling for the most part, which just (to me) means that I let the kids lead the way, and I use their interests to try and expose them to a wide variety of topics for the sake of "well-roundedness". The one structured thing I think we'll be adding this year is to have some Table Time each day. What they do there is up to them, be it crafts, math play, maze workbooks, playdough, or some reading practice. Tex's reading lightbulb has started to shine in the last few weeks, and I'm hopeful that that will make this year a little easier on me than last year was. Having been an early reader myself (I can remember reading some words at 5) it's been hard to watch Tex struggle with this skill, but I can see how proud he is now when he successfully reads something, and I'm glad I allowed him to get there in his own time.

One of my next stops will be the library for a copy of What Your Second Grader Needs to Know. It's purely for my own sake, so that I can see what kids are learning during this time in public schools and do my best to be sure that my kids are exposed to many of the same concepts. This may be as simple as the hours Tex spent last year playing Zoo Tycoon on his PC, during which he clearly demonstrated an understanding of different animals' habitats, a key concept on the First Grade science curriculum. So I like to have an understanding of what we're working towards so that I know what areas need a little boost and which ones are taking care of themselves and then some.

Check back soon for this year's list of goals. Thanks for reading!

Browniegirl