A Year in Review

Homeschooling "seems" to be an easier way to school. There are times I could flog myself for saying that! But for the most part hanging out on the couches reading a good book together doesn't seem all that hard. Of course, it's not all couch-work. We do have our share of desk-work, but when I consider that there are no couches in traditional classrooms I have one good reason to count my homeschooling blessings. Or at least the kids do. ;)

There is also the issue of time spent. No homeschooling family has escaped the question of how we can get by with so few hours compared to traditional schooling. The simple answer is that it takes less time to teach a couple of children to their precise level of learning, than it does to teach 25 children to one or two levels.

However, at the end of the school year I am always torn between feeling like throwing a party for the freedom of summer!!!! and stressing, because I hope we have accomplished enough this particular year.

Friday was our last day of school, and in light of my fear - did we get enough done? - I decided make a list this year. What did we accomplish anyway? I keep a record book for each of our 180 days, but I've never gone back and made one complete list at the end.

So here goes - my list for our little homeschool for the 2008-2009 school year:

BIBLE
Old Testament - Genesis, Daniel Ch 1-6
New Testament - Acts, John

HISTORY
This Country of Ours by HE Marshall, Chapters 29 - 63 (1636 to 1782)
George Washington's World by Genevieve Foster
Poor Richard by James Daugherty
Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober
Phoebe the Spy by Judith Berry Griffin
Corresponded history readings with a time line
Current Events Daily

GEOGRAPHY
Minn of the Mississippi by Holling C. Holling
Pictures of the Day
Weekly Map Drills

SCIENCE
Exploring Creation With Swimming Creatures of the 5th Day by Jeannie Fulbright
Nature Study

MATH
Horizons

LANGUAGE ARTS

Poetry
Various Poetry readings daily

Literature
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe
Kidnapped by Robert Louis Stevenson
short works:
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Paul Revere's Ride by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving
Tales from Shakespeare by Charles and Mary Lamb

Grammar
Lizzie: Simply Grammar

Writing
Understanding Writing, Level 4 and 5 (Descriptive writing, narrative writing, summaries, outlines.)

Memorization
The Kind Moon by Sarah Teasdale
Preamble to the Constitution
Paul Revere's Ride (first 3 stanzas)
Psalm 1
Little Things by Julie Fletcher Carney
Psalm 23

Copywork / Handwriting
Daily Copywork
Lizzie and Mary: Cursive Instruction

Phonics
Mitchell: TATRAS, Explode the Code
Mary: HeadSprout
Gracie: started Learn to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, Explode the Code

Dictation
Weekly From Copywork

FINE ARTS

Art Appreciation
Sandro Botticelli (1445-1510) Florentine Renaissance
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) German Romantic
Vincent Van Gogh (1853-1890) Dutch Post-Impressionist

Composer Study
Johann Sebastain Bach (1730) (Baroque)
Franz Liszt (1855) (Early Romantic)
Gustav Mahler (1895) (Late Romantic)

Handicrafts
Wire Sculpture
Basket Weaving
Knitting
Mini Scrapbook
Soap Making
Homemade Bows and Arrows
Cooking: Cheese Making, dough making
Marshmallow Guns

Folksong
The Drinking Gourd
My Grandfather's Clock
The Old Oaken Bucket

Hymns
Shout to the North
All the Way My Savior Leads Me (Fanny Crosby)
Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring (by Bach)
Jesus Shall Reign (Isaac Watts)
A Mighty Fortress is our God (by Martin Luther) Day by Day (Karolina W. Sandell-Berg)
Immortal, Invisible, God Only Wise

PE
120 minutes/week Mitchell: Baseball
Ronnie, Lizzie and Britany: Soccer

FIELD TRIPS
Western NC Nature Reserve
Williamsburg, VA
Yorktown, VA
Jamestown, VA
WCQR 88.3 Christian Radio Station
Hands On Museum Squid Dissection and Hissing Cockroach Program
Appalachian Caverns
Tri-Cities Airport
Intercity Ballet presentation of the Nutcracker
National Gingerbread House Competition
Production of "The Best Christmas Pageant Ever"
Symphony
McCain Presidential Campaign Rally
Food City Grocery Store
Rocky Mount Living History Museum
Appalachian museum
Blueberry Picking
Bays Mountain Nature Preserve
Lizzie and Ronnie: Niagara Falls

EXTRA READING

Ronnie:
Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O'Dell
Harriet the Spy by Louise Fitzhugh
Where the Red Fern Grows by Wilson Rawls
Indian in the Cupboard by Lynne Reid Banks
The Return of the Indian by Lynne Reid Banks
The Secret of the Indian by Lynne Reid Banks

Lizzie:
Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie
The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
Cricket in Times Square by George Selden
Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois
Sarah Whitcher's story by Elizabeth Yates
Understood Betsy by Dorothy Canfield
And Then What Happened, Paul Revere? by Jean Fritz and Margot Tomes

Britany:
Little House in the Big Woods by Laura Ingalls Wilder
The Chronicles of Narnia series by C.S. Lewis:
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia
The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
The Silver Chair
The Horse and His Boy
The Magician's Nephew
The Last Battle
The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale

Mitchell:
Little Britches series by Ralph Moody:
Little Britches
Man of the Family
Mary Emma & Company
The Fields of Home
Shaking the Nickel Bush
Dry Divide
The Home Ranch
Horse of a Different Color
The Railway Children by Edith Nesbit
Flushed by by Carl Hiaasen
Thimble Summer by Elizabeth Enright
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale


...it turns out, we accomplish a lot! :) Big Smiles! Now I can celebrate freely!