I thought I’d blog a few of my random thoughts this morning!

As we’re winding down the school year, I’m having a hard time concentrating.  I keep planning next year in my head!

I have to decide who will use T4L.  You know, it would be great if you could do T4L ala carte….   My older son does great on his own, actually he does better on his own,  in everything but Math.  I have yet to hit the right combination for him for Math.   Since our budget is so very limited, it would be great if I could have two kids in the full program and just have Math for one….

Going dormant…..anyone?  We decided to go dormant for June and July and start back with T4L in August.  It looks like our 2 year old may be headed for open heart surgery this summer… (A personal note and prayer request here!)

I’m planning on some nature study, art classes (putting it together myself) and some light phonics and math drills using flashcards and fun workbooks.  It’ll be fun for a while, then we’ll be back on T4L!

We’ve been doing yard work and gardening.  I hope to plant a couple of tomato plants, some green beans, jalapeno peppers, etc. this week.  My boys love to see things growing.

Oh, and I know it’s late but…. HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!  I hope you all were treated like queens!

I haven’t posted anything for awhile! We’ve been doing a lot of hands-on activities and little field trips here and there, so I haven’t been on the computer too much. It was really nice, because Tim hadn’t been on T4L for about two weeks, and we hadn’t really done a lot of ’school’ work, which includes reading. He went on today, and one of the sections he did on language arts was where he had to read a story. I wasn’t sure if he’d be able to, usually is memory doesn’t hold anything unless we hammer it EVERY day. But he was able to read along and only needed a little help! It feels so good to see his accomplishments, the little ways in which he’s progressed, and see him really enjoy learning!

I honestly could not ever see sending him to school, and missing out on all of this! I’m very selfish in that area, I want to watch every step of his development and have a part in his reaching his milestones. It would really be depressing for me for him to bring something home that he did, and know that someone else taught him to do it and not me! The day will come soon enough where he will go out into the world and I won’t be as big a part of his life, but I’m not going to allow that to come any sooner by sending him to school now. Somedays, it is VERY tempting, but when I wake up the next morning I’m ready to do it all over again.

I just realized today that it’s been quite awhile since any of the activities have frozen up on us, warranting going back through them. Has anyone else noticed this? I’m wondering if whatever was causing it, has been fixed.  Oh! I came up with an idea for using the social studies that is too advanced for Tim! I couldn’t stand the idea of just using T4L for the language arts and math, it seemed like such a waste of what is offered. So, I go on the social studies, read it myself, and make a lesson on it breaking it down where he can understand it. Then, it gives me a point of reference to look up other sites that gears it down a little more to his level.

Ok, true confession time.

I don’t use the lesson plans. I just don’t get it. I printed a whole bunch out, started highlighting lessons completed and just fizzled out. I don’t see the point. Since my husband’s injury, I am hardly able to even print off records, so maybe it isn’t all my fault, but I still don’t think I would have kept up w/ printing off all those plans for 5 kids!

This next confession probably means I am a bad homeschool mom, a bad t4l homeschool mom! I don’t use the playground! Which is ironic because it is something that drew me to the program. The games are great and the kids loved the idea of it.

But I dropped that thing like a hot potato pretty quickly after we started.

The timer for the lessons was a distraction. Maybe if it let you go to the playground after so many lessons, it would have worked better for us? So I set the timer to zero and they could have playground time after their lessons. However, letting all 5 kids do lessons and playground time was hard. 15 min of playground time wasn’t enough(according to the kids) so we tried 30 min and that was too long.

They do sometimes do the playground after everyone is finished for the day.

I wonder if you can still do the playground when your account is on hold?

It’s something I would like to work on(letting them have their playground time), but sometimes you just have to get it done!

What do you all do when a child has gone beyond what T4L has for their level? Tim is almost done with 2nd grade science, and he finished 2nd grade social studies a few months ago. Third grade social studies was just out of league, it wasn’t interactive enough to hold his attention, and I’m pretty sure science would probably be the same way. The LA extensions aren’t really helpful, either. They need a science extensions!
The LA extensions is good for the first section of it, but after that it loses his attention too much. We use other sites as well, so I’m not worried about his not getting the material he needs, but after today he’s only going to be on T4L for language arts and math. Now, Josh is just getting started with T4L, so I’ll still be using it for him. But, only the math and language arts, again, because the science is too hard for a preschooler.

Using an online based curriculum has it’s down sides. Computer problems or internet issues, for example. But it sure beats hunting down books, paper, pencils, etc!!! Besides, T4L’s tech support is SO FAST!

I don’t know how I would have made it this semester w/ out T4L, especially these last few weeks.  I have had a dear friend come in and help me(actually I help her!) do some decluttering and organizing around the house.  I don’t know how school would have gotten done on those days she came(and even on days she didn’t!) were it not for T4L. There were many days when my dh oversaw everyone’s work.

T4L has really saved the day for me, but I have always wanted to go back to using Sonlight. T4L has given me the break and the boost that I have needed. I have done a few of the History readings. And I can actually picture myself cracking open more of the Sonlight books and reading them to the kids. Until then, I am still depending mostly on t4l for everything. And I do believe I will still do t4l for some subjects for at least 3 of my 5 students this upcoming school year.

My plan is to pay the few bucks to have our accounts held, so we don’t lose the records. I will take off at least a month.

I have been meaning to make the comment that I don’t feel a bunch of computers are needed to school more than one child as I like to oversee everyone’s lessons.My thoughts are that I might like to have one more computer, but I am definitely ok having just one computer for the 5 students that I have.