Homeschooling lately…

It’s been ages since I updated anything about our homeschooling, so let’s remedy that. Consider this a condensed, multi-week (ok, multi-month!) wrap-up.

We love books. And library days.

We’ve finally successfully implemented library days, and I’m quite tickled about it. Though we’ve homeschooled for years, I’ve never made it a habit ’til now. The library system here is smaller, and they’re closed on weekends, but we’ve found plenty of goodies. We’ve been going about every other week, almost always on Fridays, but only when the weather is good. That way, we can also walk around the cute little town, stroll the waterfront and hunt for sea glass, climb the ancient oak nearby, stop by the park, and maybe even treat ourselves to tea/coffee.

Having all those great library books means oodles of reading for me and Kathryn, and a steady supply of read-alouds for Jem. He’s enjoying it and while we’re sticking mostly to picture books, I’m gradually adding in longer stories and chapter books as well. The ultimate goal is instilling a love of books and reading, no matter how long it takes to get there.

Highschooling:

Kathryn recently completed Apologia’s Physical Science (expect a review coming soon) but she’s not “done” with science. The rest of the year will be interest-led, informal studies. Astronomy, marine biology (including this summer’s sea turtle volunteering, etc.), and more.

She’s still doing Latin, Algebra 1, Literature, and Government. We work with a loose schedule but if she’s on a roll and gets ahead, or if life gets wacky and she gets a bit off, it’s no big deal. She’ll end up completing those subjects at different points in the school year. We’re definitely more laid back than we were in the early years of homeschooling.

Elementary learning:

Can we take just a second to appreciate Captain America?

Soon-to-be 8 year old Jem still spends a large portion of the day building ridiculously awesome LEGO creations. If he sees it, he can build it. Everything is “free building,” out of his imagination, not from set instructions. The construction of the new house next door gave him plenty of ideas, and we’ve seen a number of real-life machines come to life in LEGO form.

He’s doing great with math, which doesn’t surprise me given his engineer tendencies. He’s making big progress with reading. He had a meltdown one day about not being able to read the bajillion-syllable names of dinosaurs in a book, but other than that incident, I’ve managed to convince him it’s okay that he’s not reading ALL THE THINGS just yet. I don’t care about grade level as long as there’s forward progress.

I’m planning to ease into more intentional nature study, with plans to start a nature journal next year. I’m working on scheduling a few field trips, too, because it’s been a few months since our last.

Scout continues to do well in school, with good grades and good behavior reports. I’ve had several questions about this decision and how it’s going for her at home now, and I intend to write about that soon, too.

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I’ll be linking with Kris’s weekly wrap-up; come join the fun!

Jamie

Wife, mama, homeschooler, dog-wrangler. Introvert who finds joy in good books, sunshine, and authentic conversation. Fitness enthusiast and certified coach. Often seen with a steaming mug of tea in hand.