October update

Well, after much trying of the kids and being pregnant with the thought of another little one in the mix I have kinda revamped the curriculum. For some reason I found myself looking at a more self directed approach in education. So, I found the Robinson Curriculum and really like the idea of it. I haven't bought anything, but with the book list they provide and the yahoo groups I have already started and it has been a lot less stressful. They stress working on the 3R's...Reading, Writing, and Arithmatic. Science and history comes through the reading so it isn't a separate subject.

For math they recommend working on memorizing the addition/sub/mult/division facts. We had already finished our addition and are working on subtration right now. I also have some MUS workbook and Miquon pages we are using to reinforce and help with handwriting. They suggest using Saxon math, but Noah really wants to do it on the computer so we will probably start Teaching textbooks next year :)

Kayla is learning her numbers still and we are using the Singapore Early Bird books with her. She is half way through book A and doing well learning to write 1-10. I think she just likes it because it is colorful.

For reading I don't have the Altemus' Wee books so I am using The Real Mother Goose book and somewhat following the Nodwell Course of Study with it found at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/RobinsonUsers4Christ/. They have added in some extra reading and seems a little advanced for grade level, so we are probably on their K work while looking at RC is more on 1st grade stuff.

Anyway, we are also using the McGuffey's 1st reader. It is really easy for Noah but I thought better easy than too hard. Kayla is going through the primer and learning to read and write with copywork from that.

For writing I have had Noah do some copywork from his McGuffey reader, but we also have Handwriting Without Tears grade 1 he is working through. That is going well and his handwriting is improving a lot.

I still throw in some All about spelling which we are about half way done with. I pretty much have dropped Sonlight schedule. I am still doing some of the read alouds and readers for him, but our focus is on the 3R's right now. I think this will be really great too since not only do we have Brie but also a baby soon to take care of. So for now, we are happy and doing well and learning :)