Divine Mercy Academy - Year in Progress

At the beginning of the new school year, we instituted a few changes in our homeschooling.  Some little things and some big things.  Here is an update on how it is going thus far.

One of the BIG changes was where we do school in our house.  Up to this year, we did school daily at the kitchen table with schoolbooks stored on the kitchen counter top and some of the couch work in the living room.  This year, we have three school desks in the basement in a little class area.  The school area is working great!  We have utilized our space better for storing books, displaying work, and doing work.  It is nice to have the designated school area and the rest of the house our living space.  The kids and I (contrary to what my mother thinks;) spend a great deal of time in our house.  It's nice to have a space that is not a school space - for the non-school times. Redundant, I know.  Sorry!

Up at 7 AM.  --- Well this lasted for a little while.  Currently week 11, and I haven't gotten up at 7 AM for weeks.  We are usually up between 7:30 and 8 on a normal basis.  This is still giving us enough time to get school started by 9:30ish.

Kid's Daily Devotional --- working out as a good read-aloud for Sophia.

Mom's shoes on ASAP in the morning --- doing this everyday keeps me ON TASK!

Trying to get school started daily at 9, 9:30 at the latest --- depending on what else is going on in our family, we are making this happen.  Some things just can't be avoided: bill paying, grocery shopping.  When these happen, school usually starts at lunch time.

Read Alouds at the couch upstairs, then downstairs for seat-work --- doing most of our work downstairs.  We retreat to the table upstairs if I need to start a video for Alex or Nicholas.  

I've also instituted homework...oops, I mean evening work --- did this for a while, but it just wasn't working for us.  School needs to happen during the day for us.

• Alex --- Boy, he is a shrieker.  When he wants something, cover your ears!  We try to get lots done while he is in a good mood in the morning, then even more done while he is napping.


• Alex...the Desk Dancer --- still working on this one....


• Nicholas --- he has his own desk (that Alex likes to sit at, esp. if Nicholas is already there).  He colors the All About Reading page daily.  Listens in on what everyone is doing.  Occasionally plays independently upstairs, which usually means he is making a mess in the bathroom with water and toothpaste.  He doesn't want to be far away from everyone else.  So, we manage....

Some of the new curriculum we are using this year:

• Blood and Guts AND The Body Book --- Enjoying both of these texts, esp. the Blood & Guts.  I really thought she'd be all over the Body Book as we cut out and paste together different paper body parts, but it can be quite involved at times, which intimidates her. 
•  Story of the World --- Makes this history loving Mother happy that Sophia is really eating this one up.
• Catholic National Readers --- This was a frustrating one. Using these as Daily Read-Alouds for language arts. After getting some advice from my consultant on how to handle her FAST-WORD SKIPPING reading out loud, beginning to see these as a valuable tool now. 
• Miquon Math. A little math enrichment --- working nicely.
• Piano lessons for Sophia --- already into Primer B.  I think she is enjoying this, even though she complains about having to practice.  I've noticed she has started to sing more at Mass also since taking lessons.
• All About Spelling --- Sophia flew through Level 1.  We will be starting Level 2 next week.  I anticipate she'll complete Level 3 by the end of this school year. 

I haven't written much about Will's Kindergarten year, so I'll remedy that now.  Up until this year, he has been very reticent to use a pencil to write with or draw with; forget coloring all together!  He would have rather used a pencil to form an airplane or use as a sword.  Since, school has begun I have seen a great improvement in his abilities.  He'll - mostly willingly - do his handwriting and math.  He colors a new letter page daily.  He's even experimenting some with colors, although he doesn't get over-excited about shades.  He's forever informing me that he wants to color the picture what color it's supposed to be!  No coloring horses green for him!

 

He rhymes very well.  We haven't started on reading proper yet.  I'll start that up after Christmas.  Just working on pre-reading skills so far.

 

In math, he is working on counting and adding, which he is doing extremely well.  I've given him his own addition flash cards to work with. 

 

The kid loves caramel - just like his mom.  So, this week I've been using it as a carrot to help him memorize his prayers.  So far, so good.

 

Will can be a hand-full.  I'm thankful he isn't in a classroom of 20 kids.  He couldn't survive.  He needs to be moving all the time.  I am seriously impressed by his math skills.  He's going to be a smart little guy. 

 

I love all my kids.  Still thankful to be able to homeschool - even when it is a challenge.  Say a prayer for me!