I know it's been awhile....

School started quite traumatically this year. We experienced an unexpected, unavoidable & harsh family crisis.

We are barely into the recovery process.

Life happens.

I bought a Hooked on Phonics puter program for S but it was too advanced for him....
Recently I purchased a reading book called First Reader. So far he LOVES it. The beginning of the book is review for him, he already knows all his short vowel sounds & consonants, but I think it's a boost to his self-confidence to realize that.

He can count money fairly well & multiply & divide IRL, w/o realizing that is what he is actually doing. I am not worried, even if MY natural instinct is to feel like a complete & utter failure as a mother, especially a homeschool mother.

E's first quarter progress report/report card was extremely disturbing. Given the circumstances, it's understandable but still quite disappointing. Good thing they give you 4 years to get through High School.

I have L do pretty much whatever S does. She really enjoys doing copy work of any kind. She loves doing the Draw, Write, Now lessons.

Basically for the littles my big thing is: making books. I LOVE this approach. I search online for all kinds of themed printables, poems, coloring pages, lined papers ect. Then we create a themed book, filled w// poems, copied & original, hand written entries on decorative papers, coloring pages, themed mazes, comprehension worksheets ect.

It's my favorite thing to do & way of schooling.

For math, I mainly stick to counting money & some worksheets. Also counting aloud & counting objects. Both can count to 100 but they've been able to do that for quite some time now. lol

There is a plethora of free printables on every subject, online.

Although E is 'behind' technically, in some subjects, he really loves history. He's working hard to catch up even though he hates the fact that he is behind & it can become discouraging for him. I've discovered that although he can be absent minded w/ subjects, he does have a sense of the written word. He does well on essays, compositions & literary analysis.

He's also had the wonderful opportunity of attending a local University's art class. A friend from church offered to allow him to attend the class that he personally taught, as a 'guest'. I knew this was an opportunity NOT to be missed, even if it required quite a bit of driving on my part. lol

Hopefully he will be taking another class this Spring semester as well.