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Because I tend to plan one month at a time, I thought it would be a good idea to record here what we’ve accomplished in a month and what we’re planning to do in the upcoming one. I can also clearly see what’s working and what’s not, what needs tweaking and what needs to stay the same.
So, what did we accomplish in our first month of the new year? Overall, I’m pretty pleased with our homeschool accomplishments for January.
Progress, not perfection…
Math
What We Accomplished…
In math, we started the month/semester by switching two of the kids to Teaching Textbooks. They are both working better independently, and they are understanding the material. It is much less parent/teacher intensive, so Mom is happy to have a bit of relief, even if only in one subject area.
One continues to do well with Math U See, and the little one is doing okay with Christian Light Education.
What we Plan to Accomplish…
I don’t plan to make any changes to anyone’s curriculum. I’m adding practice on xtramath.com for a couple of the kids that haven’t quite mastered (or need to be reminded) all their addition, subtraction, and multiplication facts. Other than that, we’ll continue to press on with what we’re doing.
Morning Meetings
What We Accomplished…
We definitely need improvement here. I’m sad to say that we’ve been very hit-or-miss with my most favorite part of our homeschool day.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
We’re doing a much better job in the last week or so of getting up and getting our morning routine done on time, so I hope to get more disciplined with our Morning Meetings. This week, we’re trying to get back into the swing of things with our daily Bible reading and prayer time together. We’ve also added a few Latin & Greek flashcards via English from the Roots Up–another curriculum I’ve had on my shelf for years but never made full use of… Anyway, our co-op director spends all of TWO MINUTES a week introducing two new Latin & Greek words and reviewing the ones she’s taught before, and the kids are loving it! So I thought, Why not?!
Our goal for February Morning Meetings is to spend 20-30 minutes each morning covering some quick academics.
Grammar
What We Accomplished…
We’re still using Easy Grammar for practice, and all of the kids are enjoying Mad Libs for fun and reinforcement once a week.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
Right now, we’re only doing formal grammar lessons once or twice a week. I’d like to increase that to at least three times a week. And add in some writing instruction and assignments.
Bible
What We Accomplished…
We read through the entire gospel of John, and the kids recorded 21 verses (1 from each chapter) in their copywork notebooks.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
For February, we are reading through the book of Acts. It’s 28 chapters and there are 28 days in February. Unfortunately my kids don’t follow this reading schedule on the weekends, so we won’t be finishing the book this month.
Science
What We Accomplished…
We’ve been using Considering God’s Creation, which has been sitting unused on my bookshelf for years. We’ve learned (reviewed mostly) about Creation, the Solar System, and the Milky Way galaxy. I’ve also added in a few Ken Ham videos, and a great You Tube video from Louis Giglio to expand our learning.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
We’ll continue to use this curriculum. I like that the lessons are kept short, I can teach all my kids at once, and all of the notebooking pages are ready. All I have to do is make enough copies for everyone.
In February, we’ll have more in-depth lessons about the earth, and we’ll study the rock cycle and geology. We’ll also cover some of the early scientists and astronomers–Ptolemy, Galileo, and others.
History
What We Accomplished…
We completed the first unit of George Washington’s World. We’ve read about Ben Franklin, James Watt, Voltaire, King George II, Frederick of Prussia, and James Cook. I love the way the book intertwines these stories, and we get a clearer picture of history. We’ve been working on a timeline, and we’ve added notebook pages where we felt it was appropriate–not too many yet since we’re still reading mostly about Washington’s and his contemporaries’ childhoods.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
In February, we’ll work on the next unit in the book–“When George Washington was a Soldier”. We’ll continue to add to our timeline and notebooks as is appropriate. I can’t wait to see the completion of these projects when the book (or semester, whichever comes first) is finished.
Artist Study
What We Accomplished…
We studied Monet this month, and I was pleasantly surprised to find that the boy (our nephew) enjoyed this study as well as the girls. He especially enjoyed the day that they were allowed (and encouraged) to take the painting supplies outside to do their own outdoor painting, like Monet enjoyed.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
This month, we’ll spend a week or two more learning more about Monet since I’ve found some great resources that I don’t want the kids to miss out on.
Our next artist will be John James Audubon. I love when one subject carries into another. I’ve been wanting to incorporate more Nature Study, and since John James Audubon sketched wildlife, there’s no way to study him without spending more time outside in nature.
I also love that I can download art samples for our studies from Notebookingpages.com. I purchased a Lifetime Membership at the beginning of the school year as part of our curriculum budget, and I have NOT regretted that decision even once. This membership has made my homeschooling life so much simpler and my kids’ notebooks SO much richer!
Composer Study
What We Accomplished…
We learned that Bach was a contemporary of George Washington’s, albeit an adult while Washington was just a boy, but still quite interesting to know that they were alive during the same time period. We listened to several of his compositions on YouTube, and we completed our first SQUILT: Super Quiet UnInterrupted Listening Time.
You can read more about SQUILT and how to incorporate it into your homeschool over at Homegrown Learners. You can also print off a free SQUILT page for your notebook too.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
I think we’re done with Bach. We’ll continue our composer study this month with Beethoven.
We’re also spending about five minutes each morning listening to solos performed by different instruments. I wanted to isolate the instruments, so that my kiddos can better recognize those individual instruments when they’re listening to an orchestra performance. So far, we’ve listened to the violin and organ. Tomorrow we’ll listen to the flute.
Shakespeare Study
What We Accomplished…
We’ve been reading from Charles and Mary Lamb’s book, Ten Tales from Shakespeare. The book gives a much shortened, child-friendly, and plainer English version of the original plays. So far, we’ve read As You Like It, The Tempest, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The kids have enjoyed it and have talked about how fun it would be to actually act out the stories.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
While the stories are fun, they’re also kinda long and are taking a little bit for us to digest. I think we’ll take a break in February and spend some time on a sonnet. I’m thinking about Sonnet 18, “Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?” But that’s not set in stone yet. Maybe we’ll memorize some of it, or maybe we won’t. I’d also like to take a little time to learn more about William Shakespeare himself, Elizabethan England, and the Globe Theater.
Read-Aloud
What We Accomplished…
We completed Trumpet of the Swan by E.B. White. We all enjoyed it, and we learned about swans (specifically trumpeter swans) and other migratory birds. These videos about birds on the Red Rock Lakes added greatly to our understanding of what we were reading. We learned a lot about North American geography and ecosystems.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
We haven’t started a read-aloud for February yet, but the boy requested we read Robinson Crusoe. I see no reason why I shouldn’t indulge him. 😉 That link is for a FREE Kindle copy at Amazon.
Book Basket
What We Accomplished…
I’m loving my kids’ daily time in Book Basket. They’re learning to take responsibility for their own learning and to pursue their own interests. I also love gathering books that are somehow linked to our regular group studies.
What We Plan to Accomplish…
I’ll continue to require half an hour daily to be spent with a book from the Book Basket. I may begin to have them fill out notebook pages, book reviews, or book summaries of what they’re reading. This will help me keep up with what they’re reading, and this will help me with the writing goal I mentioned in the Grammar section of this post.
Overall, I think we did pretty well. I’m still slacking in doing individual lessons with individual kids. AG7 still needs reading instruction and AC10 needs spelling instruction and AJ13 (dyslexic) needs both. I’m still working on it. I’m refusing to beat myself up about my short-comings, but rather, I’m celebrating our successes.
As Walt Disney once said, “Keep moving forward.”
What about you? Did you reach your homeschooling goals for January? Did you accomplish all the things? What will you do differently this month? Let me know in the comments. I’d love to hear from you.