Our 11th Year of Homeschooling

This was our 11th year to homeschool! The days were often difficult, but it is wonderful to see that our effort is producing progress in each of my children. I do cherish these fleeting years that I have to invest in my kids. 

I have five children. I homeschooled all of them until my oldest son started public school in 9th grade. We miss having him home but, for the most part, public school has been a good fit for him.

4th grade

I’ll start by going over what my youngest daughter did for her 4th grade year.

Spelling

For spelling, we used “Spelling Power”. I have used Spelling Power for all of my kids since 3rd grade. I love the simplicity of the spelling lists and that it covers every grade. 

Math

“Teaching Textbooks” is another staple to our homeschool years. We have used it since my oldest son was in 3rd grade. It has been a huge help in getting the kids to work independently.

Grammar

For Grammar, I found this amazing resource. It was a free pdf of worksheets that I found online that had more than enough material for the entire school year. Here is a link to the pdf.

https://www.mheducation.com/unitas/school/explore/sites/california/samples/wonders/wonders-grammar-reproducibles-grade-4.pdf

Science

We loved Abeka’s “Understanding God’s World” for science. This was my daughter’s favorite subject. It is an overview of many different areas of science. I highly recommend it.

History

We started the year learning about Alabama’s History. I’m not a huge fan of the layout of this curriculum. It was hard to navigate.

The main portion of our year was spent learning about US history. Again, I loved Abeka’s approach. We throughly enjoyed learning together.

 

9th grade

All three of my oldest homeschoolers were in 9th grade. 

Physical Education

One of their electives was “Foundations of Personal Fitness”. This was our PE credit. My oldest and youngest daughters were so blessed to be given adaptive trykes and we were able to take “walks” all together for exercise. We also participated in the homeschool swimming and a PE group that was led by physical education students at JSU.

Spanish

Spanish was another elective for my high-schoolers. Rosetta Stone isn’t perfect, but it works for our family. I like that it is one price for life and you can switch to any of the other language at any time. It is quite a bit of work, so it will take one more year to complete it. I want to learn Russian next.

Art History & Computer

For two more electives, we used Kahn Academy. We took their “Art History” course during the first semester and their “Computer and the Internet” during the second semester. Kahn Academy is a free resource.

Math

Like I mentioned before, we love Teaching Textbooks! I love the fact that the math problems are auto-graded. I have a rule at our house that everyone has to get 80% of their lesson correct or I have to go over the missed problems with them individually.

English

I found this grammar curriculum and it was a great fit for this year.

Science

Biology was challenging, but we made it through it. To make the reading easier, I purchased the audio version and the kids followed along in their textbooks. I really enjoyed the lab portion. Next year, in science, I’ll purchase the supply kit to make gathering the supplies easier. 

History

We have really enjoyed “The Mystery of History” curriculum these last couple of years. We finished up our World History this year. I plan to use these with Mila in the coming years.

 

Field Trips

Our first field trip of the year was Russell Cave National Monument. It is a Native American cave dwelling in north Alabama. I didn’t even know that this existed.

Early in the school year, we went with a local homeschool group to Columbus, GA to visit two separate museums. 

The first one was Oxbow Meadows Environmental Park. We started with a hands-on workshop, where we built structures to withstand an earthquake and we learned about how the environment affects everything. There was a museum, nature paths and also a live animal show where the kids were able to touch different animals.

The second museum was the National Infantry Museum. We started with a presentation about the Revolutionary War. It was very interesting. Then, we walked through the museum where it had information about all the wars that the U. S. has been in.

In the fall, we went to a local pumpkin patch with another homeschool group. It has been years since we’ve gone to a pumpkin patch. It was very fun.

In December, we went to the Cullman Christkindlmarkt. This has become a annual tradition.

In January, we were able to visit the Discovery Park of America in Union City, TN. It was extremely cold so we didn’t get to spend much time outside, but the inside was very impressive.