So the other day I was stressing over how I will get the girls lessons going this coming fall. Since we all haven't been feeling 100% this past week. Since my stress blog, I took some time to do some research. I googled and looked on pinterest (my addiction) for ideas. I don't quite have a system in place for this fall and the girls weren't all to fond of last years system. I'm patiently waiting the program my husband is creating me and as he puts it I've asked for the world. I need the program to be versatile as we are not just one style of homeschooling. We are pretty eclectic. We do book work, computer lessons, we will also be in a co-op 1 day a week this year. We will also go on field trips and having life lessons and fun. I need a program to document all of this and do more. Nothing on the market is just perfect I've tried a few. Having hubby create it if it's just not perfect he can redesign it for me or add what I need (got to love having a programmer in teh family). With that said I need a temporary system till he's done.
I think we will go back to using the calendar system till my program is complete and just hand writing all the lessons in and keeping track of what life lessons we encounter. This system worked but was very time consuming. I prefer to type than hand write.
I spent a few hours yesterday really learning how to use Discovery Education http://www.discoveryeducation.com/ . We have used this program for the past 6 years at least and I was not using this website to its full potential. I deleted my complicated system and started working on how the website is meant to work and I'm still learning all the features and they have added a lot since we first started using Discovery Education. If you are interested in signing up for Discovery Education, Homeschoolers buyers co-op is having an amazing sale on it. If enough people sign up we can get it as low as $99.00. I usually pay $199 a year for this. https://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/discovery-education-streaming-plus/?c=1 and it's currently at $187.
The next thing I spent time on was Khan academy https://www.khanacademy.org/. This site is free and is amazing. They have so much to offer but I was so lost using it. I finally found how I can see what my kids have done and if they completed it, struggled with it or excelled at it. This will be helpful. I now feel confident that Khan academy will help them get the math concepts they have been struggling with.
We will also be using spellingcity this year. I've tried in the past to use it but never took the time to really grasp what they have to offer. I'd get frustrated and try something else which also failed. This time I took more time (maybe the thyroid brain isn't as foggy either lately) and I have it figured out and we will use it again. The girls have enjoyed it in the past, I was the one struggling with it.
We may also do one or two live classes on currclick.com or this year we might just take a break. We'll see what they want to do.
Those are a few things I have managed to get figured out for the fall. I still need to create a reading list, learn how to use The Happy Scientist website, work on history and their writing lessons, as well as their interest led learning and I'm sure other things as the year goes on. But this is a good start and stuff the girls really want to do.
No comments:
Post a Comment