Homeschool Routine, Part 2
In a previous post, I wrote about how elements of our family worship formed our first homeschool routine. Later on, we added poetry, a bit of nature study, a devotional and then Art to this structure.
I’ve been told not to write your homeschool routine in stone because you will inevitably keep changing it! And now I believe that’s so true. Since that last post, we have modified our routine several more times, and I am still in the process of changing it further as we begin Classical Conversations in the next few weeks.
At present, though this is what our routine looks like:
I want to start by saying that this is still very much a work-in-progress for me. Since my last post and after research (reading and watching reviews of other parents, etc), we added the following:
Teach your Child to Read in 100 Easy lessons by Siegfried Engelmann: this is a phonics program that I am currently using with my 5 and 4-year-old. I will post my review on this program soon, so watch this space.
Biff, Chip and Kipper (Level 1-3): I use these books with my 5-year-old to practise his reading along with the above phonics program. He is progressing fast as the books are quite fun and interesting. Also, I think he was at Level 2 or 3 when we took him out of school. I plan to use them with my 4-year-old as soon as I think she’s ready.
Prescripts Cursive Handwriting by Classical Conversations: This is a series of cursive handwriting books that have a lot of good reviews on the internet. There are lots of articles about cursive handwriting and why it is important in child development, especially at a young age, but I haven’t had the chance to do much research on it. When I made my book and resource order with Classical Conversations, I bought a couple of these books too (some were on a sale). While I work on phonics with each child, the others work on their handwriting.
First Language Lessons and Writing with Ease (both Level 1) by Susan Wise Bauer: This is the Language Arts program I use for my 6-year-old. It covers grammar, copywork, poetry and narration.
All About Spelling (Level 1): spelling program for my six-year-old.
Saxon Maths 1: We decided we wanted to go the Saxon route with our kids. It’s a solid Maths program with lots of review and repetition, plus Classical Conversations endorses it. Currently, only my six-year-old is doing Maths, and although I think he should be doing Level 2 at his age, I decided to start him on Level 1 so that I could see if he had any gaps in his understanding of basic maths concepts. He is zooming past the lessons in Level 1 and enjoying them. Doing a lower level has many benefits I believe:
- It helps me see if there are any gaps.
- It builds my confidence as I tackle this subject with him as a newbie homeschool mum.
- It builds his confidence because the lessons are easy, and he’s able to go through them quickly.
I do Language Arts, Spelling and Maths with my eldest in the afternoon while the younger two are having their quiet time. It gives me time alone with him to focus on these subjects. Each subject takes about 15 minutes or so, and usually, we are done with all in less than an hour.
That’s our current routine! I’m in the process of modifying this further by adding a couple of other subjects into a “loop”. I will write about that in another post 😊
