A Homeschool Update

I don't remember when I've done a homeschool update, so I figured I would share one today! 

I get asked a lot if homeschool is going well, and I always answer with a resounding yes! I absolutely love homeschooling and being with the girls. I really never thought it was something that I would enjoy, because I was always stressed, but I found out that once we removed public school, and the running out of the house in the mornings and the rushing around after school and trying to get homework done, the stress of doing it all went away. We get the school work done, and then we're done, so there's no before or after school stress. 

With all that being said, the girls are going back to public school next year. I need to get back to working more, because things are just tight, and we are hoping that the school year will look much more back to normal than it did this year. One big reason we pulled them was because if they were exposed to COVID and had to quarantine, then it would be impossible to do that with our jobs. We can't really take off for 2 weeks, and we don't have anyone that could help and be home with them. The virtual school model was also stressful for two working parents, and we didn't want them off and on the computer all day. 

We also wanted to have some freedom to do a bit more traveling and camping, but knew that we wouldn't be able to do that in the Fall (thanks to football) and while we did go camping to west Texas, and to Arkansas, we ended up not having another one planned until Memorial day, and then we have a big trip planned this Summer- so while we thought we would do some little trips, they've all turned in to big trips. 

Anyway, here's a look at how our day to day homeschool life is going. 

When the weather is warm, you'll find us outside on the trampoline. Adalyn is working her way through her math and doing great. We've mastered 2-3 digit addition, regrouping, subtraction, subtraction with borrowing, and we're beginning to work on simple multiplication and division. She loves math, and says it's her favorite subject she absolutely hates borrowing when she does subtraction. In fact, she often cries or whines she has to borrow. 

DJ's aunt Gina came to town and we spent the morning learning new games like Rummikub. She taught them so well that they enjoy playing it on their own. 

Megan has art once a week, and Adalyn will often join in. One week, they made a Medusa craft, and then we found videos on YouTube to teach them a bit more about Medusa. 

Over Easter weekend, we did Peep science experiments. You can read about that here. 

Not every morning goes as planned, especially if we sleep late or I have to shower to get ready for the day. Those mornings, you'll find one kid in the bathroom with me taking a spelling test, or working on math or reading. 

Each week, the girls have spelling. Megan is doing great with her word lists and almost always makes 100% She's also working on long division, fractions, decimals, and doing a little review on all of the math concepts she's learned so far. Fractions are not a favorite at all. 

The last few Fridays we've dubbed "Fun Friday". Twice I've taken the girls to the park, and once they found a ton of caterpillars! They asked to bring them home, but I think we'll grab this kit and hatch our own butterflies. 

Adalyn's reading progress has grown so much this year! She doesn't love reading like her big sisters do, so one goal we really had was to get her reading more! She will finish with her 4th unit of The Good and the Beautiful Level 1 this week or next, and then we just have one more unit to finish up! We're starting to work through it a little quicker, and working on 1 1/2 days each time we work on it. 

We also figured out that if she can call one of her grandparents and read to them, that she's more excited about reading! It has been the best trick we've had, and it's one we're going to continue! Also, it's kind of relieved me of some time- while she's reading I can help Megan or do some house work. It's kind of taken that one thing off my shoulders and it's very rewarding for her. 

School has been more than math and reading though... this year we've learned about baking bread. We love being in the kitchen and it's really helped math skills. One fun thing about homeschooling is everything is actually school! The girls can hand write our grocery list, read a recipe, and learn really functional life skills that sometimes we just didn't have time for before. I know that non-homeschool kids learn these things too, but before- I felt so guilty having my kids do chores when they were at school all day, then had homework, and activities. So, while it might get done, it was usually grudgingly. 

Adalyn's 1st grade teacher made comprehension notebooks for her class last year, and it came home when school let out last Spring, but it wasn't filled out! We decided this would be part of her curriculum this year, and she just finished it last week! 30 weeks of reading stories and answering questions.... we're now moving on to a 3rd grade reading comprehension book, but I've told her she doesn't have to do it every day ;) 

We have just a few weeks left of our actual school year. I do plan on keeping them engaged this Summer and continuing with a little math, reading, and handwriting- Megan and Adalyn are both learning cursive right now. 

Gretchen is doing great. She does her school work independently, and it takes a few hours in the morning. She's working through two history classes right now, is writing a short story for a contest, and continues to work her way through pre-algebra. I'm not sure if she'll have to take pre-algebra next year, because it's typically an 8th grade course, but if she has to, I expect that she'll have a solid foundation. 

Here's to the next few weeks of our school year!