It is almost May!!!

We are on the home stretch with school. Benjamin has completed his language arts and look at what that entailed.

As I look back over the school year, we have changed our course probably every other week. Our days now look nothing like they did 7 months ago. I have really learned a lot about how he operates best. The math and language program we used did not even have a teaching aspect to it. It was just questions. So, you learned the material by doing, instead of listening to it being explained and then doing. I really think that works best for him. As much as he loves to read, it is very difficult for him to 'school' books. Since we switched to this curriculum later in the school year, it is doubtful we will finish with the math component, which is fine. The great thing about homeschooling, you can pick up where you left off.

One of the things that people recommend when you go from public school to home school, is to take off (unschool) 1 month for each year they have been in school. It takes this long to de-program how you see learning. I get that now, having been through the first year. Some of my friends think I am doing my child such a disservice by not having written grades and tests. However, I know that those two things can really throw him off. I also know that he hates to write. He would rather tell me for 15 minutes what he learned than write a paragraph. I strongly believe in the ability to write well, so still trying to figure that one out. Maybe next fall he will be more apt to learn about writing. He typically writes a letter a week to work on spelling and handwriting. Neither of which seem to be getting better :-). Just this past week we tried something different. He dictated the letter to me and I typed it. Then he wrote it. I finally realized that he can't learn spelling if he is always writing the words wrong (and he is not the type to ask how to spell a word, he would just rather spell phonetically). Plus it gave me a great way to talk with him about different ways to say things and how to put words together so they sound more polished. He really enjoyed writing the letters this week!

I have come across a science curriculum that he loves! It is a huge program put together by a college professor who has also been a NASA scientist. She loves to teach and is very hands on. We were introduced to her through a free online science class she put together. Benjamin has participated in 2 of them and really enjoyed both of them. There are of course different packages she offers, one being a 5 year curriculum that comes with 90% of science experiment materials, videos, tests, you name it. I opted instead to buy some individual CDs that will cover about 3 years worth of stuff. Somewhat spendy, but she has handouts, videos, experiments, shopping lists, etc. They are self guided. I figure since it is something he is really into, never hurts to spend the money. I might not get him to do the worksheets, etc but I know he will absorb every bit of it. With the last online science class she did, I printed off 7 pages of fill in the blanks. He did not use them, yet when she randomly selected a question to ask, he knew the answer. I see him wanting to watch these videos over and over.

Another subject he really enjoys is history. Just the other day I was reading a book to Jacob and asked Benjamin about a certain 'smaller' war and whether it was in the American Revolution or Civil War. He knew the answer and could list some of the smaller battles of both. Just from watching History channel. He even asked me the other night (after school hours) if he could watch history videos.

I have tried to encourage Benjamin to think about some of his passions and if he could earn some money doing them. We talked a little bit about a business plan and why that is important and what that can look like. I think he is leaning toward photography. I told him he needs to get familiar with the camera and all of the different shooting modes. Once that happens, we will contact some friends to see if he could spend 30 minutes shooting their kids, do some basic editing, download pics to a flash drive and then hand it over. They get some pics of the kids and Benjamin can get 15 bucks or so in his pocket. He does not need a lot of money to get him motivated to learn more and more and improve his skills. Plus our neighbors next door are photographers and maybe could teach him a lot.

Just excited to have more of a clue for the fall with homeschooling. There is so much more valuable stuff to be taught outside of the traditional classroom.

We have had some beautiful weather lately and have parked the car and been riding bikes where ever we can! I have also discovered some bike trails not too far from us. One smaller town probably has 10 miles of trails so wanting to get the boys out and riding.

Off to cook dinner! The boys are outside and have been spending 3-4 hours at a time outside!! Yay for them and for me!