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We are not quite finished with our first year, but I'm currently preparing for next year and evaluating our first year of homeschooling.
What worked?
- An eclectic, Charlotte-Mason leaning homeschooling style. I love everything I've read about the Charlotte Mason method but I incorporate bits and pieces of other methods that work well for us.
- Sonlight. Can I say more? I LOVE Sonlight! We did P3/4 and P4/5. Jonathan loves to be read to so Sonlight is perfect for him. He was engaged in pretty much every book and couldn't get enough some days. We'll be using Core A in the fall.
- Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. This was a great book for determining if Jonathan was ready to read and getting him started. We didn't go very far in the book because Jonathan took off too quickly and was quite bored with the book within a few lessons. Paired with the first set of Bob Books, this is what helped Jonathan start reading. This book will be great for evaluating Jacob's readiness to read in a few years too.
- Spell to Write & Read with Pathway Readers and Workbooks. Again, I cannot say how much I love these curriculum. I introduced the phonograms from SWR and over the course of a month, Jonathan read the 1st Grade Pre-Primer. He was so proud of himself when he finished the book! Since August, he has read all three of the 1st Grade books. He read parts of each of the books over and over again. He has finished the first workbook and is about to finish the second workbook. I love the format and the stories. Jonathan loves reading about siblings Peter and Rachel and their family. We already have the 2nd Grade books in this series. We made with through the first four spelling lists – that's 80 words that Jonathan can easily and quickly spell. He also knows about 3/4 of the phonograms well. Not bad for a four year old! I anticipate using both of these curriculum long-term.
What didn't work?
- Saxon Math. I personally liked Saxon Math as a middle schooler in a public school. As a teacher, I don't like Saxon Math at the elementary level. Jonathan was doing fine but all the scripted lessons were driving me crazy. We switched to Math Mammoth. Much better for me. Much easier for Josh to pick it up to review or test a concept. Math Mammoth is cost-effective too – it's a PDF curriculum. I can reprint pages to do again and I can reuse the curriculum with Jacob.
- Planning Method. I've still not found a planning method that I am completely happy with yet. I've tried Homeschool Tracker. I've tried various printable planners. I tried making my own paper planner. I tried Excel and Google Docs. Currently, I'm using Google Calendar. I'm still not sold on it, but I haven't found anything better yet. I want something that I can access from my computer (a Mac) and my iPad. I also want to be able to easily print paper and/or PDF copies for permanent records. I'm also trying to consider scalability for when I add Jacob to the mix. Any suggestions?
Over all, I'm pleased with our first year and what we accomplished for Pre-K. I'm so proud of Jonathan. He learned and explored so many things. Most importantly, as a direct result of homeschooling, he became a Christ-follower! I'm excited about starting Kindergarten this fall… I think I like learning as much as he does 🙂 I'm so thankful that I get to be home with my boys and homeschool with them.
