The 2018-19 school year is already upon us. How on earth did it happen so fast? Last year’s homeschool evaluation forms have been emailed to the powers that be, and we’ve spent lots of brainpower contemplating how the year ahead will go.
Until now, I’ve homeschooled the girls while Michael (5, little bro) got some lessons here or there; then officially, last school year, he attended our local Montessori preschool. He loved it, but we made the big decision to homeschool him this, his Kindergarten, year.
We kicked around the ideas of private and public school. My husband is a fan of sending the kids to the Catholic school he attended (which is like 5 mins from our house). We decided not this year. But possibly next year for Mary and Mike. I love homeschooling, but it takes a lot of effort — more so with 4 kids I’d wager. Josie (9) requires a lot of one on one. The nice thing is we can play it by ear and see how this year unfolds. I want to spend the year catching Mary (8) up to grade level for reading (she’s a Summer birthday as well as a very reluctant reader due to me pushing her early on — which is not Montessori, and we’re dealing with the consequences of that obviously). Otherwise she’s incredibly bright but leans more toward the creative, unconventional side of things.
This year I’ve picked two goals per kid. The week before we officially start back, I’ll post my massive plan for the school year. But for right now, I just wanted to give an overview of strengths and weaknesses as well as goals so we can look back in May at how far we’ve come / figure out what we need to do better.
Mike (5 1/2):
I am not sure where his skills really are due to his attending preschool last year. I know he has a strength in math and learns extremely quickly. I expect he will be on reading level with Josie by the end of the year. I expect he may have completed the primary math album as well (long division). So my goals for him are reading and math. Pretty straight-forward, we will backtrack some to start and see how far he gets with both.
Goals: 1) Reading 2) Math (both self-paced)
Mary (just turned 8):
As I was saying above, Mary is a reluctant reader who is learning to read despite herself. She is picking it up from subtitles, signs and snippets here and there; whenever I emphasis, “Hey, you just read that sentence!” she denies, recoils and glares. Can’t wait for those future teenage years. I also realized she has not been given a big enough outlet for her creativity, so I am really making that a focus this year. Adding 1-3 Montessori art curriculums for her to pursue depending on how we progress. I’m also adding in required project summaries per unit lesson that she can attack however she wants: backboards, collages, dramatizations, painting etc.
Goals: 1) Reading up to grade level 2) More opportunities for creative expression
Josie (nearly 10):
Josie has her own unique challenges with her 22q11.2 Deletion Syndrome. She has begun reading sight words; we never took a break from them over the Summer and she wants to read — desperately. Math still confuses her. One day she’s almost got it; the next the numbers are all jumbled up in her mind. I have to say, there are more good days than bad though. Josie astonishes me with her love of music. She loves violin, and she is the only kid of mine who will (usually) practice without any prompting. We did music camp, private lessons and orchestra camp over the Summer. We will pick up with lessons and orchestra the week we go back to school. Her speech showed such a huge improvement after her surgery last January — but then we lost our speech therapist we loved; we have been through 4 replacements and now entirely without an SLP for months. Her speech has slipped so much that I cannot understand a thing she says lately. So new SLP or no SLP or whatever the heck the rehab place does, I know enough that I can be doing much daily practice with her. I haven’t been because new baby + my plate is already overflowing. But I’m officially taking matters into my own hands now. Wish me luck there. I know many SLPs to ask for advice too thankfully!
Goals: 1) Violin 2) Speech
So if we make decent progress across the board on only those points per child, I will feel we accomplished quite a lot. So much depends on the child themselves, God bless our teachers in the classrooms. I don’t know how they do it (so funny because I know teachers who say they don’t understand how I can homeschool haha).
Let’s just say educating kids in general takes a lot of patience all around. Right?
The baby has his work cut out for him this year. Hopefully by this time 2019 he’ll be doing lots of cool things like walking and talking etc.
As for me, my goals for myself include weight loss (down 40 lbs* from May *including baby weight). Focusing on a plant-based diet and making things at home from scratch. So far my kids haven’t noticed the burgers are black bean, so off to a good start. Also trying to go waste-free. We won’t ever get totally there, but hoping to make a significant improvement toward minimizing waste.
Lastly (I get 3 goals because I’m the mom), I want to read more. I want to get through many of Maria Montessori’s original writings. Wish me luck.
1) Eating healthy with lots of walks 2) Waste-free 3) Reading often
So yeah, I’m-a finalizin’ my homeschool lesson sequence overview and will post soon.
Can’t wait to start. I have so many cool science and geography / cultural things planned!
