(no subject)

[mommydama]

We are starting school back up tomorrow after an entire month off. I don't remember when we've ever taken an entire month off of school before. It was nice, but I'm ready to get back into it. A lot of tweaking has been done, some simplifying, due to our circumstances and some decisions for this year's curriculum are still in the air. One of those is a coop. There are two options and I'm not sure which one I will be choosing. One is an Orthodox Christian coop meeting the second and fourth Fridays of the month. The classes offered (art and science) are just what I want, ages are appropriate, and they meet at our parish, but since it is only twice a month, I will have to supplement and build my own curriculum in addition to it. Despite that, I would prefer this one emotionally/sociall as it incorporates weekday liturgies and other services and the parents are directly involved. The other is a Protestant one meeting at a local LARGE Baptist church. It meets once a week, very organized and more like a part time school, the girls would have "homework" and the curriculum would be all laid out for me. It costs a lot though and would not really improve my social life as it is a drop off situation(not that I couldn't volunteer). Both are very Charlotte Mason/Classical in their approach. I'm still trying to decide. I need to figure it out soon.

Here is curriculum for this fall:
Math: Math Mammoth (www.mathmammoth.com)
History/Geography: Ages of Grace (agesofgrace.com)
Literature/Reading: Ages of Grace
Copywork: Paidea Cursive/Ages of Grace (paideaclassics.org)
Grammar: Easy Grammar (www.easygrammar.com/index2.html)
Spelling: Spectrum Spelling
Science: finish Noeo Chemistry/coop
Typing: Dance mat and various online games
Spanish: Rosetta Stone
Music: Piano lessons/Ages of Grace Eight Tones study
Art: Coop/Ages of Grace Picture Study

The girls also have American Heritage Girls starting in a couple of weeks and various sports (Maria-soccer, Zoe-gymnastics, Luci-karate). Luci will still be in Brain Balance for about six more weeks. Between all this and counseling, doctor, dentist, orthodontist appts and moving into our new home, the next few months should be just about...too busy.

Good thing. I need to avoid as much thinking as possible.

Comments

[erikaerin.livejournal.com]

What's American Heritage Girls? Is that related to the American Girls dolls?

I'm curious about the Ages of Grace curriculum....is it basically world history taught from an Orthodox world view?

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

http://www.ahgonline.org/
AHG is not associated with American Girls at all. It is a lot like the Girl Scouts used to be. A group of parents started it when they didn't like the direction GS was going in and wanted the more traditional scouting experience for their girls. Very US history oriented, civic minding kind of thing. Christianity based. I like the organization a lot.

Ages of Grace is indeed history/geograpy/literature from an Orthodox perspective. It is a lot like Ambleside online however, Charlotte Mason to the core reading lots of western literature, "living" books. The book lists would probably be very familiar to you, the majority are not "Orthodox" books.

[erikaerin.livejournal.com]

The AHG sounds really cool. I just saw that there are only two in the state of Vermont and neither one are close to us. After the experience I had with leading the Daisy group when Girly was in kindergarten, I said I would never have anything to do with GS again and we haven't. She's not even interested in it anyway.

[viggorlijah.livejournal.com]

The orthodox one means you'll meet other orthodox parents, which is more valuable if you're going to be rooted in this place for some time. It also sounds more flexible and you could create regular things around the twice-a-month to anchor your calendar. I'm so envious! We're hitting major exam time here, and although my two largely love school, your posts remind me of the joy of homeschooling.

[rowannrose.livejournal.com]

Since I look to you as an experienced homeschooler, do you have any math recommendations for pre-K? I honestly don't remember what my mom did with us when we were that young!

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

Nothing structured. Lots of counting and grouping, classifying and thinking skills work. Most of which is accomplished by playing with legos and counting their goldfish crackers (or whatever, you get the idea). I'm a delayed academics kind of gal, so for pre-k, I go really low key.

If you really want workbook style stuff, I can recommend Kumon without qualms because that is exactly the kind of thing they do. Fun counting games and getting comfy with numbers. As for true curriculum, RightStart Math has a wonderful manipulative/game based program that I think is phenomenal, if labor intensive for the parent (not recommended for the mom teaching lots of kids at different levels). I would not truly recommend it until AT LEAST age five or six though. Hope that helps.

[rowannrose.livejournal.com]

It does, thank you! It is actually kind of what I was thinking... to keep it hands on/manipulative based at this point, moving onto work books in a year or two. I will look up Kumon and RightStart, though, just to get familiar with what they offer...

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Another good choice is Five in A Row. Simple, stresses reading and has some good crafts. The only problem may be getting some of the books as the program has been around a long time, and some of the book may be out of print.

[kizmet-42.livejournal.com]

Whichever you pick sounds good. How nice to have two good choices!

[altarflame.livejournal.com]

I think the Protestant classes are the ones I would pick, just because it's more frequent and involved, which makes it seem more enriching, and I would want the "me time" (this is assuming they aren't going to be teaching many things that directly conflict with Orthodox beliefs). Honestly, woman, when are we ever going to talk again?? That could be telephone hour, I'll schedule it ;) It is really compelling, though, to be involved with Orthodox families - I can imagine the pull there...

Have you guys been using Rosetta Stone consistently? Spanish is one thing that has totally fallen by the wayside here, I just can't make it a part of our regular schooling or feel effective at it without being fluent myself.

[mommydama.livejournal.com]

No we don't use Rosetta Stone consistently. We use it very inconsistently. Heh.

I don't know when we will get to talk again. I'm not very good at that anymore. I don't really talk to much of anyone.