Homeschool Review (Year 3)...

August 6, 2015
First Day (4th grade and K)

August 1, 2013
First Day (2nd grade and 3 yr. old)

I can't believe it has been 3 years! John Gannon worked on 4th grade objectives (that we jointly created) at home this year while Jackson went to public school (kindergarten). Jackson had a great experience at school but will be homeschooling in first grade. He has been wanting to homeschool since about October but I told him he had to finish the school year. As a matter of fact, the days we have been home in the summer he has insisted he needed to do some school... He has no idea what "summer break" is! Anyway, I am slowly introducing him to the type of work he will be doing. So far, he is loving it and takes the ideas and creates new ways of doing the same thing! I hope he keeps all this motivation :)

As for John this year, he accomplished more than I ever thought. Here is a quick review:

Reading

The beauty of getting to read wherever you want!

One of the reasons I decided to homeschool was due to his battle with reading. His coping skills in the classroom were so good his struggle was going to be easy to mask for several years. This year, he has consumed so many chapter books, I have lost count. He has really grown to appreciate fiction. Prior, he really preferred non-fiction. He likes graphic novels (like Diary of the Wimpy Kid, etc.) and the novella/chapter books based on Minecraft. For his Reading Fair Project this year, he chose to do "Bad Kitty Takes a Bath." He wanted to do this book because when he discovered this series 2 years ago, it made him really want to read. He still reads all the new ones and wants to reread the old ones. He always comments on how quickly he can read one now!

Math

Group Math Class

We finally found a combination in math that seems to work great for us. We use Life of Fred (a math series based on an ongoing story about "Fred.") This year, he completed the first 14 books. We are about 1/3 of the way through the 15th book. The next book...pre-algebra! In addition to LOF, we started Khan. The first semester he completed 3rd grade math for a solid review and then finished 4th grade math by the middle of April. In addition to LOF and Khan, he also practiced multiplication using Xtra Math 3 times a week until about Feb/March. In addition, 3 months we participated in some group math classes with 4 other families. He loved all the classes. As for some of the skills mastered: multiplication using multiple digits, long division, all things fractions (multiple, divide, add/subtract/comparing), order of operations, unit conversion using both metric and U.S.

Science
This year, we tackled basic physics, without the higher maths. He absolutely loved learning the principles and doing experiments based on the concepts. For one of our nursing home visits, he did some of the experiments for the residents. His favorite project was making a video demonstrating the use of simple machines. In the Spring, we just did anything he was interested in. For the most part, it was related to animals and basic survival tactics. For the science fair, he tested several materials to see which would be the best fire starter. He also took all kinds of things apart-coffee makers, scales, remote controls, dvd player, Skylander base, can opener, calculator, small engine, electronic toys...

History, Geography, and Culture

Czech Republic Presentation

We started with Volume 1 with an audio version of Stories of the World. The curriculum is a 4 year world history program. After listening to story he would recreate the story in his history binder. He would draw pictures and write about the highlights. We didn't make it through the entire cd this year. He loved the stories and always wanted to keep listening. I think we will just listen as we travel to/from events this coming year so Jackson can get caught up. I wish I had thought ahead and not started John with it until Jackson was at home... Anytime we heard a reference about a country during the day, we located it on a map and looked up information about the culture and people. We participated in three studies with our homeschool friends on Eastern Europe, the United States, and Eastern Asia (attended only-our original plan didn't work out). We studied the countries and the children did presentations at the library.

Movie About Colorado History

Writing and Spelling
Spelling is still our nemesis! While he has made improvements, it is still a struggle. I am constantly looking for strategies to use, so far, I still (AFTER 3 YEARS) haven't really found a source that connects well with his learning style. As for writing, he wrote lots of stories and collected them in a writing journal. He attended a 4 week writing creative writing class that he really enjoyed. I have noticed that his motor skills seemed to have sharpen this year. His handwriting and control have improved a lot. For those of you who are familiar with dyslexia, this handwriting and spelling is a huge issue. He has tons of ideas and his stories are always action-packed. Editing...well, he will probably just have to hire someone when he his older!

Language
We completed the first 2 books of the Life of Fred Language Series but stopped them and will restart them in a few years. They started off really basic but got to the point it was difficult for him to keep up and understand. He does a Daily Language Practice activity using Daily Grams. He has started improving greatly at paying attention to the mechanics in the isolated practice. But he still struggles when actually applying the mechanics in the writing process. Again, that is what they make editors for! I read a book this year, "The Dylsexic Advantage" that really helped me appreciate his strengths and stop worrying so much about his weaknesses. With all that said, we will continue to try to strengthen them as much as possible!

Logic and Critical Thinking
We did a lesson every other week using "Fallacy Detective." He loves this and always gets excited doing the activities. He has even started pointing out when people use these fallacies in real life! Of course, that doesn't mean he doesn't use them on occasion when he is trying to prove his point :)

Technology
He still continues in a typing training program on occasion. He has made a little progress, but it is a slow go. The biggest accomplishment this year has been learning to edit and create videos. The only problem--I taught him using IMovie on my computer. I should have taught him using his Windows computer! We will work on that! He has also learned how to create flyers and write/save stories. He also started a coding app. to start understanding basic coding. He loved it and got to a place in writing the code he couldn't figure out (and neither could I). We will have to go back to it and see if we can make some more progress.

Health/PE

Gymnastics Class

He attended bi-monthly health and PE classes at Healthworks. He also attended a gymnastics class that he loved. We really home they continue to offer those gymnastic classes this coming school year. And of course, they run around daily getting exercise galore!

Other School Related Activities

Play Days with friends (We had lots of these but I obviously didn't take a lot of pictures!)

Career Quests-we visited local businesses and learned about what and how they do things. We visited a total of 21 businesses

Monthly visits to Avon Lea to talk with and entertain residents

Monthly Challenges with friends: Collaborative Art Challenge, Make A Movie Challenge, Create a New Candy Challenge, Create a Game Challenge a Tallest Tower Challenge