Just a little bit about our homeschool which I am currently calling "Woodland Valley Homeschool," or "Woodland Academy" (too snooty?), or just "Woodland Homeschool." Why do we even need a name? Well, we don't. But when you fill out forms for educational discounts, or free stuff for educators they always ask for the school name and I felt left out not having one.
We are eclectic homeschoolers and by that I me we do a "little bit of this and a little bit of that". Why eclectic? Short answer: Because I'm making my own way in this. I'm not trying to do what someone else says I must. It doesn't make sense to be tied to a specific curriculum or method. I like to take what works and throw out the rest.
As I read other homeschool blogs I discover that some people have an outline for the entire year, some have done all their lesson plans for the year. Ahem, that's not me. I have some curricula selected that my 7 year old and I are working through. For the rest I have discovered that I like to fly by the seat of my pants. If I feel like he isn't getting enough of something in particular I find a way to add more in. If something is becoming too much like busy work we ditch it. I think I'd feel like I had wasted a lot of time if I had planned so far in advance. And honestly, I have no idea how to plan an entire school year!
If by chance you wish to contact me or ask a question there are a couple of ways to do that. One is to ask a question using the Formspring widget on the main page. Or you can email me at Woodlandhomeschool at gmail dot com. But please no spam. No one likes spam.
2010 - 2011 Academic Year
Math
Right Start Math Level B - 11/5/2010 - Completed through lesson 44
Tux Math (Fun game for early elementary math practice)
Language Arts
All About Spelling - 11/5/2010 - Completed Level A, Moving on to Level B
Handwriting Without Tears - 11/5/2010 - Completed about half of Printing Power workbook. EJ needed to re-learn how to form many of his letters which was not done well during first grade in public school. Writing is hard for him so I try to keep it to a minimum and focus on effort and neatness rather than quantity.
Creative Writing - No specific materials. We've been working on copy work and illustration of children's poems. He's also beginning to learn the parts of speech and how to create more interesting sentences using "Super Sentences" from TeacherFileBox.com
Reading
If you want to know what we're reading check out my Library Thing profile. Then join and friend me. Library Thing is great!
Science
Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding K-2
Completed Lessons:
- A/B1: Organizing Things into Categories
- A-2: Solids, Liquids, and Gases
- A-2: Air is a Substance
- D-1: Gravity I: The Earth's Gravity
- B-2: Distinguishing Living, Natural Non-living, and Human-Made Things
We also make a point of learning about any sciency topic EJ brings up. To date we've covered the following:
- Monarch Migration, Butterfly/Moth Life cycle
- Lady Bugs
- History of paper. How Paper is made. We're making our own paper!
Teacher File Box - Not inexpensive, but a nice resource for a variety of worksheets and lapbook ideas from Evan-Moor. By subscription only, Homeschoolbuyerscoop.com sometimes has a deal on subscriptions. I like their "pockets" series. History Pockets, Literature Pockets and more. I use them mostly for independent work, social studies, creative writing, critical thinking, logic, and crafts.
Yet to be integrated but coming early next year:
Geography
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