2013/2014 Year End Report

We’re Done!

I love the end of the school year.  We finally have warm weather and sunshine.  I also get to plan for next school year, but before I begin telling you my plans for next year-I thought that I would give you the final list for this year (if you are new to the blog, my hubby likes the list format.  He can look at it and see what we did during the year.) Thus, this may not be the most exciting blog post.  Below is what each kiddo covered-roughly- over the past school year!

Parks-Grade 1

• Folk tales and fairy tales
• IEW’s Primary Arts of Language
• Sound Foundation’s Apples and Pears level A lessons 1-28 (we started this in January.  He only did one page at a time due to the amount of writing that each lesson required).  He will continue this over the summer. (Spelling program)
• Sound Foundation’s Dancing Bears A completed and started B.  He will continue this over the summer as well. (reading fluency/decoding)
• Singapore Math 1 A and 1B completed
• Citizenship Block
• Various unit studies on whales, cheetahs, cats, the titanic, etc.

Sawyer-Grade 3

• Apples and Pears Level B (spelling)
• Judaism
• Israel
• Shelters
• Old Testament
• US Government
• Teaching Textbooks Level 3
• More books than I could ever list!  She reads all the time. I find her to be the easiest homeschooler as she loves to read.  When I have a subject that I want to cover, I try to find a historical fiction book for her to read based on the material.

Sims-Grade 5

• USA
• African history
• Indian history
• Egyptian history
• Greek history and Greek myths
• Apples and Pears levels A and B (spelling)
• Dancing Bears Fastrack AB and beginning of C (we will continue this through the summer)
• Geometry
• Outdoor Leadership
• Teaching Textbooks 5

As a group or everyone (difficulty was varied based on the grade level)

• Unit on textiles
• Biography paper
• Geology
• Book report on fiction book
• Persuasive Letter
• Poetry
• Chemistry
• Introduction to Botany

We also do a lot of nature study and try to get outdoors as much as possible.  This year, we spent way more time inside than I would like.  We also went on several trips this year including skiing, Tugaloo State Park, Florida, Blowing Rock and LEAF.  My goals for this school year included using a monthly workplan, documenting work and individual planning meetings.  Overall, we did use the work plan for most of the year.  I had to alter it several times, but overall it kept everyone on track throughout the year.  I will most likely continue with the work plans but I may alter them slightly.  I am still pondering this.  The second goal did not happen (which is why I am thinking over my workplan idea).  The kids did not write in their planners at all past the third week.  The final goal was wonderful.  Meeting with each kiddo allowed them to have more input on their plans.  When the kids get the feeling of ownership over something, then they are much more likely to complete it.  I think the year went well.  We finished up earlier than I had planned due to the lack of getting outside so much.  As I plan for next year, I am going to plan for more outside time and then I have to stick to it!

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How did your year go?  Did you meet your goals?