Well...I have to say that having a school room set aside is a great addition to our learning experience. We all seem to be enjoying school so much morer. Daddy is even more involved since he is teaching the morning class first thing each day. We all make sure we are up and dress for school to start on-time!
Our schedule is really working well also. We have our set aside times for each subject as well as our breaks, and we ALWAYS follow the break schedule. The kids make sure of that! J
We have changed/added a few different school books since the beginning of the school year. For JJ, we added the Pathway Reading Series. While he was enjoying the Harcourt reading book, I decided to get him a reading series with a corresponding workbook that would allow me to better check his writing and comprehension. This way I have a pre-designed set of questions (and answers) that I can use and be able to have him answer instead of having to make up everything. It is a real time saver for me. Also, the Pathway series was the series that I used with my daughter when she was in 2nd grade. The series is put out by the Amish. J.J. had already completed one of the books last year, and my husband and I like the series and decided we did not want to miss the opportunity for J.J. to use the rest of the set, too.
We also added the Abeka Language book. We were doing the Emma Serl Primary Language Lessons, but we had reached the half-way point in the book which is where 3rd grade begins. The writing/reading portion of the remaining lessons are in cursive which we are just beginning. Instead of having a daily language session that was extra taxing as far as the amount of writing required and having to decipher cursive, we decided to begin the Abeka Language for 2nd grade. The Abeka Language focuses more on grammar and will give him extra practice on sentence structure and the parts of a sentence. This will be a great addition to his curriculum (and he really likes it!).
Savannah also has had a couple of changes. We decided to go ahead and get her going on a reading curriculum. She wanted to continue in the Pathway Readers series as well, so we purchased the 5th grade reader and accompanying workbook. She really enjoys this series. The book she is currently using is Book 5: Living Together. I guess one of the things that my husband and I have always liked about this series is that they are "simple" (not as in easy, but as in the simple life) stories that teach little lessons along the way. The stories are based on Amish farms, schools, and communities. Savannah has always liked the vast amount of stories dealing with animals.
We also went to a sale this weekend and found an Abeka Language Book B (5th Grade) for Savannah. I was able to purchase the teacher's answer book as well as the student workbook for only $10.88. She will be using this book in addition to her Emma Serl Intermediate Language Lesson book. The Abeka workbooks once again have more of a grammar study base. She will be learning more sentence structure and basics. She will even learn diagraming sentences which I have to say she will probably actually enjoy!
We have also decided to put Saxon math aside for the time being. We switched to Saxon math because Savannah absolutely hated Abeka. However, I have found that Saxon is set up much along the same lines as Abeka. The main difference is that Abeka is much more advanced than Saxon grade level wise. I will talk more about what we are now using for math in a later post.
That about sums it up. I think we are set for the rest of the year. We are all settled into our daily routine, and we are all satisfied with our current curriculum choices. And....there are only 2 weeks left in 1st quarter! Only 3 more to go! J
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