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OK
I had another blog but it is a mishmash of homeschool thoughts,
preacher's wife thoughts, church issues, personal issues, mom issues,
etc. I decided I want a homeschool blog so that I can explore and
record all the things that we go through and consider. I have been a "textbook" homeschool mom for 2 years, and I am very grateful for the lifepacs that got me through those first 2 years. We used a combination of lifepacs, SOS and Saxon math. (I am also using MFW for Sydney's kindergarten) In the middle of this year when I saw my 11 year old ds cry everytime he had a writing assignment, I decided we needed help with writing. He is a very bright kid and I couldn't figure out how to help him. So I bought Writing Strands Level 3 on ebay (not even sure now where I heard of it) and it was a Godsend. Perfect for him, no more tears, we love it! But in order to incorporate it into an already full school day, something had to give. So I *gasp* started editing his Language Arts lifepac book. At the time we were studying for the spelling bee, so I thought, we can lose the spelling since we are doing other stuff. Also I left out a section on fact/opinion because frankly I thought it was wrong. I like ice cream is not an opinion!!!!! "Ice cream is good" is an opinion; "I like ice cream" is a fact. I think it probably sounds silly, especially to unschoolers and veteran moms of hs who modify/create/weave their own curriculum all the time, but somehow the act of leaving out a section of the Lifepac opened the door to all sorts of possibilities. But it was not without fear and trepidation. I am sure that alot of hs moms are like me-- they live in constant fear of The Gap, and I don't mean the mall store owned by Banana republic or the space between David Letterman's teeth. I mean the persistant nagging fear that I will fail to teach my children something essential, that they will arrive at the end of their hs journey knowing less than their peers, and that perhaps I am not my child's best teacher after all. So it was not lightly that I decided we could skip something in the curriculum. After all, the scope and sequence was surely devised by someone with more experience/knowledge/whatever than me. But I knew that we couldn't continue with weeping and gnashing of teeth everytime there was a writing assignment, and I was willing to forego something else in order to correct that problem. Once we did that and survived, I began to see other things I would like to change. Spenser has been using Lifepacs H&G and next year will study World History. I wanted something more hands-on. I am still debating what to use-- somewhere between SOTW and MOH or something along those lines. And should i continue to buy Reed something else or should they do it together...hmmm. I decided to use Spelling Power because Reed needs help with spelling. She is getting better, but I thought a program like that would help her. Well if I am adding Writing Strands and Spelling Power, I might as well scrap the LA lifepac and build my own LA curriculum. So I am also trying to decide what to do for Lit and grammar. I bought Handwriting Without Tears for Reed and Sydney (eBay) but I am not sure I like it, so I may go with something else. Which brings me to Science. Gee what if I found a science curriculum that they could all do at once... Anyway, I don't feel like I fit in any particular hs mold but I am becoming more influenced by Charlotte Mason's ideas than I would have ever dreamed. My paradigm is definitely shifting. |
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