Update on curriculum

I wanted it to be a great fit!! I kept telling myself it was! I kept telling others it was!! But I was stressed!! But I kept telling myself the curriculum is fantastic I have to make it fit us!! But it didn't fit us :(

The Heart of dakota curriculum is brilliant, but not for my family. I am a disappointed as I was wanting to make it fit into our day, but it didn't! And I couldn't feel relaxed or flexible knowing that we hadn't finished something, as I felt all had to be done. Taking two days is fine, but it just didn't fit! I also missed the choices that I had in their schooling. Yes I am chosen a curriculum that was great, but I wanted to make the choices for my kids, as well as letting them have choices to study what interests them. And I couldn't do this. I also like to organise excursions and hands on experiences for their learning, and I was struggling to do this with HOD.

This is just my experience as a result of my personality and my kids personalities, our timetable and needs. HOD is brilliant and I would advice anyone to take a look and use it if it will suit your families approach to homeschooling.

I am now using what I was in term 1. i using the approach i was using in term 1 before I thought I should be doing more of this and that!! i was wrong! I have now relaxed into homeschooling.

We are doing Ancient Civilisations and the Bible for history (more flexibility and not tightly connected to all other subjects), Exploring creation through zoology for science, nature studies (an informal approach) which includes sketching, collecting, discovering, identifying, reading, journalling, whatever we are interested in doing.

For the staples of education we are doing Drawn Into The Heart Of Reading (HOD), Writing strands, A reason for handwriting and A reason for spelling, Math U see, Rod and Staff english, heart of Dakota dictation for Damon.

We are doing Bible memorisation (HOD, Character Sketches, which is christian character studies based on the Bible and illustrated through the animal kingdom, Adele and I are looking at the Princess and the kiss,Damon and I are looking at the Squire and the scroll. We will be working through Little Keepers at Home and Little contenders for the faith. And the kids are strating a prayer jounal.

We are doing handicrafts like knitting (trying to :)), cross stitch, sewing with Beth, scrapbooking, making cards, general arts and crafts.

We are learning to serve one another and others through home and community -church, playgroup, friends.

We are learning music. Damon is learning drums and guitar. Adele and I are learning piano. And Adele will return to violin at some stage (maybe in a few years!!)

I am going to do a review of each of these curriculum choices with pictures over the next few weeks, so that you can see wat they are and how they work.

I week looks full, but it is flexible and varied. If we miss something, we pick it up next week. We don't do it all in one day, some things are for fun and others fortnightly. We do get out and socialise with other homeschoolers. There is time to play and enjoy each other. We are learning heaps that we wouldn't have except for homeschooling.