Frog and Toad Field Trip

We recently got to go on a field trip to our local college. They are doing a production of Frog and Toad. We got to go see how the play was made. L got to go on stage, play with some of the props, see where the costumes are made and kept, and he got to learn what it takes to put a show together. The director even took a few minutes to talk to the kids. It was great.

This was our very patient, gracious host, Steven. He was great with the kids. He didn't mind all the questions from the kids and he really took his time showing them everything.

Getting to try on the very cool, special, extremely heavy shell. As you can see, Steven had to hold it so L didn't tip over.

We had a lot of fun!

Homeschool Update

So, we have been homeschooling for about 2 months now. Overall, it is going great! L is still happy to be home which makes me happy and sad. Happy because I know it's the right thing and sad because school must have been really hard emotionally for him. I know it's not the academics because he is doing great.

We are still using the Saxon Math program. We had to skip about 1/2 the program because it was way too easy for him. I wonder if the homeschool version is slower or at a different level than the school version he was in. I ordered the same level he was in at school and this one was really too easy.

We are somewhat using the Shirley English. There are some things we are doing in it, but not much. I ended up going to Barnes and Nobles and picking up a couple of English workbooks. One for vocabulary and one for reading comprehension. These have been great and he enjoys doing them.

He is currently making a State Box. Each week he picks a new state. He takes a 3x5 notecard and writes information about the state on it and draws the state. We then put it in a notecard box. He really likes doing this. We then eat a food that is special to that area. I think we will do this with country's when the states are all done.

Harry Potter is our current book. He is trying really hard to read the first one by himself. It's a struggle, but he is working on it and that is all that counts. He really wants to read like his big brother and sisters.

He is really hands on and creative! He is constantly trying to make weird things out of weird items. He collects cereal boxes because he likes to try and make things with them. I love watching him create. He especially loves going to The Home Depot and Lowe's kid's clinics.

We go lots of places and try to take every opportunity we can to teach him proper people behavior. We are having a little bit of a problem with how we treat people and what's right and wrong. I'm glad I can help him correct these behaviors now, but what a pain! I just hope we can change them. His ADHD doesn't help and when I forget to medicate him, we pay for it.

The doctor thinks we should up his dose. She is probably right, but I can handle him as long as he takes the dose he is on. When he doesn't take it, the melt downs start immediately and I have started to notice he talks more meanly to everyone. When he takes it, all these things stop. He is still bouncing all over, but this is a small thing to me.

We will get through all this and hopefully, by summer, I will be telling you how wonderful he is the majority of the time.

The New Curriculum

This will be our first week using our new curriculum. I ordered the same curriculum L was using at school so the transition would be easy and he would already know what is expected. Hopefully, this won't backfire.

For math we are using Saxon Math. Saxon is a great program if you start with it from the beginning, or at least at a younger age. They teach things a little differently and use strange wording, which makes it hard helping the older kids because I don't have the saxon knowledge to help them. The teacher's manual is GREAT! It explains things very well, so far. I ordered the kit from Rainbow Resource. They had a great price and it came with the basics you need for the year. If you homeschool, you need to order the Rainbow Resource bible catalog. It's GIGANTIC and full of such wonderful information.

The teacher's manual is on the right. As you can see, they are both a good size.

For English we are going to give Shurley English a try. I have heard it is hard to use, which worries me and I know absolutely nothing about it. Luckily, even if I don't know how to use it, my eight year old does. He will be able to tell me how to do it, I hope.

Anybody else think it's weird the Teacher's Manual is 3 times the size of the

student workbook?!?

For everything else we are using Core Knowledge. I love Core Knowledge. I did order the teacher's books and worksheets from the company. With both the Hubby and I in school, I need this to be as easy as possible.

I will check back in soon and let you all know how it's going and what my thoughts are on the curriculum choices. Right now, the kid is still very excited to be home and that breaks my heart because it means school was not a good experience for him and I left him there for 2 years. He has not once asked to go back.