Planning for Summer Learning and Beyond

I have been working with 6yo on reading, writing, and math. We have not had “school” every day consistently- but we’re easing into a pattern for next school year. When he was 3, I bought the whole k-4 A Beka curriculum! He was already ahead of most of it- but I wanted to start “school”! It didn’t quite pan out the way I planned. These last 2 or 3 years have been “school” for me. I’ve been learning so many things about homemaking, home schooling, and mothering in general. Anyway, I sold all the curriculum and began a slow journey into the research of others. If you’re thinking of homeshooling, let me just warn you, there is a PLETHERA of choices out there! I can see that there may be many curriculum changes from year to year and child to child.
For now, I have been very pleased with Spell to Write and Read. (It comes from a Writing Road to Reading approach.) At first, I was overwhelmed with how to teach it. But I began to take it a step at a time and it is working out wonderfully. My son could read early on, but this has greatly benefited his writing and reading. We learn all the phonogram (70) and all the spelling “rules”. And he writes his own spelling book. It takes some one on one time. But its worth it. It is designed to be a K-12th grade program all in one. He doesn’t jump up and down when we do it, but once we get started , he enjoys it. 4yo is also learning his phonograms and to write a few letters (I chose to start with cursive).

We are almost done with our first Math-U-See book, the “Primer”. His favorites are the telling time worksheets. I’m not sure if I love Math-U-See, but I will give it some more time. I have no complaints about it- ask again next year. I am open to suggestions.

We will be taking a break from these programs and switching our focus for the summer. I’m hoping to have Bible/prayer/singing, piano (for 6yo), Rod and Staff workbooks (for 4yo), and art projects for the summer. I have a nice piano curriculum called Pianimals I bought used. Its neat, but we got out of the habit. Most of all, though, I want to gear up for the fall! We’ll need to stick to our schedule and be consistent!





I came across a curriculum based on Bible reading called Student of the Word. I was very impressed with its foundation. There is a lot of Bible reading involved, even for the young ones. That is a good thing, but it can also be overwhelming. It is like a unit study with the Bible as its center. So, if you are reading in Genesis about creation, you study creation and evolution for science, for example. I’m not sure if I will use it for all subjects (except English and math), or as a guide for Bible reading, but it is impressive in many ways. I love the concept of unit studies, but - Goodness Sakes! They seem abundantly time consuming for the teacher! We’ll find our happy balance, Lord willing. For now, we'll focus some on playing!