Back to school

We created a clay Desert Shadowbox this week, complete with camels, snakes, lizards and an oasis!

The Larson Family is getting back to their school routine. We are starting a month or so earlier so that we can take a month (or so) off after the baby is born. Last year, we started a combined curriculum for geography, science and history called My Father's World www.mfwbooks.com. This particular curriculum fits our family well because all the different ages are learning the same thing. It's sort of like teaching a "one-room schoolhouse". The older kids get a bit more detailed worksheets and the younger ones stick to the fun stuff like coloring sheets. We are working our way through the different continents (we just finished North America and starting on South America next week). As a group, we read and learn about the different cultures, landscapes, plants, animals and other interesting points of the larger countries on the continent. There are regional craft projects and recipes for food that we incorporate into our learning. We also read a book about a missionary from the same region. The kids especially enjoy getting their realistic passports "stamped" when they enter each country, and are becoming "world travelers" without leaving the living room. :)

Seth and Caleb are doing Rod and Staff (www.rodandstaffbooks.com) for English, which I was pleased with last year. It is put out by a Mennenite company and is very conservative. They are taught grammar and reading comprehension skills through Bible passages and stories with valuable lessons (yay!). For Math, they are working through Singapore Math (www.singaporemath.com) . I've tried several Math curriculums in the past and found that many of them have too much repeat work before they move on to the next lesson. Both Seth and Caleb catch on quickly and tire of problem after problem of the same thing. Singapore has solved the problem. As it's name suggests, it's based on the math program that is used in Singapore and was brought to American schools and homeschools by a couple that lived in Singapore. After arriving back in the states, they were dissapointed by the math programs and supplemented their daughter's schooling with the math program that she was already following. It moves a bit faster than most programs and the boys (and I) like it much better than the other ones we've tried.

All of the kids are excited to get back onto our schooling routine. Grace has been begging me to do school with her for a month now, so she'll be joining in with the rest of us. Both of the girls are doing well with their letters, so I'll be starting some basic reading skills with them. We'll see how far we get. Noah, on the other hand, has decided that he just "CAN'T" read. If asked to read something, he'll claim that he doesn't know how, but if it's his turn to read during devotions, he can sound out most of the words. Noah would not fit well in that public school "box", and, as his teacher, I don't mind him learning at his own rate. As I think through each of my children and their personalities, I realize there are different reasons for each one that makes me glad I am homeschooling them.