A New Approach

Lately we have been struggling to do our school work.  I started wondering if there was another way to go about it that we would actually be excited to do.  I started researching, thanks to my Homeschoolbar Tool Bar, and found a few new ideas to implement to make school more fun.  So here are the decisions that I have made:

First, we are not going to keep learning everything straight from the text books.  It's just boring and takes away the freedom of homeschooling.  Currently the only subjects we are going to follow the teacher texts is math and phonics.  

Second, I have decided to combine all of the subjects except math, reading and phonics.  Kyle had done his Science at the beginning of the year, and I am not impressed with A Beka Kindergarten Science.  Amanda has only done a little of her Science this year and what Kyle missed will be covered in many other areas, it's general things.  This means they are doing History, Science, Lapbooks/Notebooks and Bible together.  Amanda will do Math, Phonics, Reading, Copywork and pretty soon, Journalling.  Kyle will have Math, Phonics and small amounts of copywork.

Third, as explained above, I have started using lapbooks.  We are doing our first one right now on Ants.  They love it!  It's very hands-on and they can add their own touches.  Using lapbooks combines Science, Language Arts, Reading, Art, History and sometimes Math.  Notebooking is almost the same thing but you use a 3-ring binder for a notebook.  It has more journalling pages in it.  These can also include the Bible lessons.  We are going to be memorizing Proverbs 6:6-8 and Proverbs 30:25 for this lesson. 

Fourth I am also doing copywork instead of following the A Beka Writing plans.  There are so much that they can use as copywork.  Right now Amanda is copying the song All Things Bright and Beautiful.  There are also a couple Bible verses thrown in for a couple lessons.  Copywork is just that, copying what is written already.  It's not tracing. I got a few books free and bought one that teaches good character *wink wink*.  


We are enjoying this much more so far.  Why shouldn't school be fun?  I'm all for fun and learning!