Okay, so as I stated in my initial post, I can be a VERY on-again off-again blogger, which is probably pretty evident when you look at the dates of my entries. Consider yourself warned :) Anyhow, today marked the beginning of year THREE of our homeschooling journey!!! I can't believe that we now have a second grader and one doing Kindergarten Prep. Last year E really excelled at her reading and mathematics, yet O struggled greatly with her curriculum. I attribute this partially to the fact that we didn't get good control over her seizures until January or February (using a new medication), and also partially to her perhaps just not having been ready cognitively/developmentally. She made great strides in her motor skills, both gross and fine, thanks to Occupational Therapy and her wonderful therapist! Today O showed much progress in her attention span, pencil control, and perseverance compared to last year. I am hopeful that this will be a good year in preparation for Kindergarten next year.
E did very well today, also. I need to make some tweaks to the order in which we tackle the subjects in order to streamline our days a bit and so that they don't take as long. I also plan to go back to our previous reading curriculum "Little Angel Readers", as the one we began today from Catholic Heritage Curricula entitled "Bigger Stories for Little Folks" just seems way off of where we left off of our curriculum last year. For example, I probably had to help her with 60% of the words as they were unknown, longer words, or contained diagraphs we haven't learned yet. We tried CHC's 1st grade reading curriculum last year and had to switch back to Little Angel Readers after a few weeks, so I can't say I'm surprised.
Something different this year is that we have decided to join a homeschool co-op that meets on Fridays from September 7th until November 16th. E is really excited, O doesn't quite understand, and I, quite honestly, am dreading it. Not because of the interacting with other parents (although I'm much more comfortable at home, being the introvert I am), but because I am afraid we will be overwhelmed here at home because we will be giving up a day that we usually "do school" on and so will have to incorporate that work into our schedule throughout each week. Frankly, I'm afraid of getting burned out and being exhausted come Friday night. Therefore, I have told the girls that we will do it this semester as a sort of trial run, and see how we are all feeling about it at the end of November, then reassess if need be. I want it all to work out well because they are excited, which makes it hard to argue against :) I hope to be more consistent in my blogging this year if, for no other reason, to be able to look back through and see what worked, what didn't, and to remind myself on the hardest of days, that this is what God called me to and if he brought me to it, he will bring me through it. Godbless!!
