Homeschooling Update :) :)

Maryn

Homeschooling/Kindergarten:  Maryn turned five at the end of September and we really started our homeschooling adventure around that time, although we have been unofficially "homeschooling" of course, since she was born.

Homeschooling is quite the experience.  It's a lot harder than I expected but also more rewarding than I expected, and though it is very hard (and kindergarten is EASY...I know it's going to just get harder), our choice to homeschool is confirmed all the time.  There are many things Maryn does or experiences each day and I think to myself, "I am so glad we're home schooling her."  There are also times at church when I see her interact with her peers when I think the same thing.  She does just fine socially, but she has unique talents and interests, and I think a school setting with squash these.  For example, two of her favorite things are building things and being outside (gardening, building, climbing, digging, collecting, playing) and in schools these days, there is very little opportunity for those things.

Reading/Spelling/Writing:  We have been practicing the first 55 phonograms and we are doing Spalding/Writing Road to Reading/Spell to Write and Read for our Spelling and phonograms.  She loves spelling and is pulling all the elements of reading together.  If you're into scores, she knows 86 sight words and is reading at a 6 year old level, according to Reading Eggs, a computer program we bought for her.

We are enjoying the Narnia series right now.

Math:  We are doing Life of Fred and other hands on math activities, plus memorizing addition facts.  Maryn loves Math, loves flash cards, and asks to do time tests every day.  She just did her second time test the other day and did 38 problems in 3 minutes!  Not bad!  Probably better than I could do when I was eight.  :)

Some hands on Math and other things we've been doing:  Calendar, measuring things around the house, estimation, tens and ones/cuisinaire rods, counting by tens and fives, finding patterns in the hundred chart, weighing things on a balance, telling time, etc.  Many of these things just happen naturally in play or while the kids help me around the house.  Or when John built Josiah's bed.

Science:  We learned about the human body, and Maryn wasn't crazy about that. Josiah is far more interested in our inner bodies than Maryn, who thinks it's gross. :)  We did an experiment when it was really cold outside to see what would freeze the fastest.  I think we may read some books on the water cycle or states of matter soon.

History:  We are reading the book 10 Girls Who Changed the World and will be reading about Martin Luther King Jr. this week in honor of his birthday.  We also get a lot of history in when we do our Social Studies/Geography stuff below...  We have been working through our book "The Pioneer Sampler" all year as well and of course watch the occasional Little House on the Prairie.

Social Studies/Geography:  We just started learning about the 50 States and the last few days have just been doing our states puzzle, states BINGO, state songs, USA songs, etc.  Today or tomorrow we will begin learning more about Florida and this week we'll be eating some Florida foods.  My goal in this is not to have Maryn memorize Florida facts and such, but to get an idea of how areas of our country are so different and why that may be so.  Florida has unique animals such as manatees and alligators, who like a certain habitat and certain kinds of water. Florida has unique native peoples, the Seminole Tribe--when many other Native Americans were pushed or forced west, why weren't the Seminoles?  These are the types of questions we'll research and hopefully answer.

Bible:  We are reading through the Bible this year as a family.  At least we're going to try!  It's pretty fast, but we're trying to at least hit on most of the main Bible stories in Genesis right now and are covering more stories and topics than ever before, including lots of the sin that book.  Maryn is learning a lot more about sex, polygamy, circumcision and reproduction from the Bible than I ever thought I'd teach a five year old!  But the kids are all really enjoying the Bible, and this morning while John and I read our Bibles, the kids all had to grab their own Bibles (Owen too) and read at the table with us.  Very, very sweet.

She's also memorizing tons of verses for Awana/Sparks.  And we try to do a hymn each month, learning the words, learning some of the background, etc.  And we try to pray for a specific thing each day of the week (we pray for Missionaries on Mondays, Family on Fridays, etc.)

I'd like to be continuing doing our catechism with them but I keep losing the little book.  Argh!

That's my schpeel about homeschooling for now.  I had lots of updates for Owen and Josiah too but will have to get back to the blog later.  :)