Today we were on the way to a friends soccer game and it was a long ride…(well, not long but when you have a 6 yr old and a 9 year old in the back seat yelling “mom, he’s touching me”… it is long)….   In an effort to “calm” down the natives I asked them a couple of things about states…  How many states are there?  I was met with a blank stare….  “Okay.. There are 50 states, How many can you name….”  Again, the stare… “Common you guys, you have been in at least 15 of them, can’t you just name a few?”  A resounding “No…” from the back seat. 

It was then that my youngest said, “where are we going? Asia?”  My eldest chimmed in, “Asia is a different country and is across the ocean!”….. So, I tried another approach…  “Asia is a continent…  How many Continents are there?”  From the back seat I hear my 6 year old say “7!”  And my 9yr old about fell out of the car with a “How do you know that?”  Very proudly my Ds2 sat up straight and said, “I learned it last week in Time4Learning!”…..

It was then that they started naming places that they wanted to travel to.  I just looked at my husband and smiled…..   I whispered to him, “Time4Learning is doing what we wanted!”

You know, there are things that cross your path sometimes and you just know that it is right…  A new friend, a new group, a new Curriculum!  I had to share that little Tid-Bit because I was so pleased….   I can not tell you one time that either boy discussed school last year.  Once the books were closed, that was it, discussion over…  It is nice to hear them actually discussing things, topics, and ideas that they learned….

After reading Tracy’s post about other “stuff” they are using, it made me think that it would be nice to hear more about this from other parents. )

In our home, Time4Learning is definitely our core curriculum. I have not found an area (other than maybe spelling, which I believe is improved upon in the 3rd grade) where we NEED any supplementing. However, for some reason, my son LOVES the “The Complete Book Of…” workbooks. ) We have Handwriting, Spanish, Science, Our Solar System, US History, Maps and Geography, Travel Games, Arts and Crafts and finally, Bible Activities. Geez…there are a bunch. ) We also have a sign language program that we are hoping to start this year!

Since we follow a more “relaxed” homeschool plan, he doesn’t have a set amount of work that he needs to do. I have went through the lesson plans from Time4Learning, so I know how many lessons need to be done each day, but that was for my own peace of mind. It’s also helpful when we might miss a day, so I know how many he needs to do to “catch up.” We honestly have yet to have a day where he did not want to do the number of lessons I had planned. Yay! )

Many of the workbooks that he has, span more than one grade so there is no pressure for him to finish them. He just kinda sees where his interests are that day, and picks out a workbook. We try to do some in Handwriting every day, but he really does need the practice in that area.

So…that is our “plan” for this year. It will be great to hear from the other parents to see how Time4Learning works into their “plans.” )

Today the boys had to “make up” work. They are now up and doing their work. Although I am sitting across our office, I can see and hear what my youngest child is doing. He was doing his math to get it out of the way. His most favorite expression is “I can’t.”… The whining begins. He HATES math, but he is fine doing it. He is learning how to carry this morning. I was surprised when he clicked off the page by mistake and had to begin the lesson again. He was frustrated but I told him maybe it was best that he go through it again to grasp it better. He whipped through it, remembering the correct answers. I was shocked. Just before that he was aggravated at even doing it. This only reinforces the fact that he remembers most everything he does and does not need to do a million problems to learn the lesson.

I then watched him move on to science. I was shocked when they asked him to click on Africa and he knew it. I was surprised because when we were going over continents he would not pay attention to me and wanted me to speed up and get on with it. Each day that goes by I am happier and happier with them being able to go at their own speed and how much they are really learning.

I enjoy watching when they get done with a quiz or test and they let out a happy yell saying; “I got a 100%”! I know that they have struggled here and there with different things, especially when they are only half heartedly paying attention but they notice right away that maybe they have done well or not done well.

This morning has gone well. They both are doing very well doing their “make up” work and there has been very little complaining about doing schooling at all. It is nice to sit and hear quiet as they complete their lessons and tests.

I also know that they are retaining what they learned and using it during the day. The other night I was tucking them in and we were discussing a situation that was going on. When I asked them how they felt my 6 year old said “I am 1/4 sad”. The older son said, “Yea, I agree and I’m 3/4 okay with it”! I can’t tell you how I struggled this past summer with fractions with them both. I was shocked and gave them each a big (imaginary) star! As I was heading out the door I turned and asked, “Where did you learn your fractions? Has grandpa been working with you both again?” My youngest told me honestly, “I learned from Time4Learning….” YAY…. it is worth every penny!

Part of it was my fault but I was still mad. Friday we were in a rush for time. Life was calling and I could not focus on my kids in the morning. When they signed on to do school work they got the msg that their accounts were inactive. Of course my youngest one got the msg because he is always the first to sign on and do his schooling and get it over with. I told him quickly as I was flying around cleaning my house, getting ready for company, that I knew there was a problem and I would take care of it later in the day but now we were out of time anyway.

We got through company and then had some fun. I managed the call at 4:45pm. Of course, nothing can work out like I plan and on Sunday night when my oldest tried to sign on to do his work, the account was still inactive. I told him that I was sorry but he would have to double up on Monday and he seemed fine with that.

Because I am getting a house ready for sale for a friend, my boys stayed at their grandmother’s house. Me giving instructions that they needed to do their school work before their father picked them up. My oldest child got up late on Monday and tried to sign on again but I had not emailed T4L at that point so told him to try back in an hour. I emailed and everything was fixed and fine and we were good to go.

Here is where it all fell apart. It seems that my children “just forgot” that they needed to do anything. By the time I was done with the house for the day, home and trucking them all over the county for Soccer, eating and Karate, I found out that they both had lost their minds. DS1 burst out crying in the car saying that he felt bad enough about not doing his school work and they both said they would triple up on Tuesday.

I guess that I can give them the benefit of the doubt in that they honestly tried to do it on a couple occasions but I was pretty mad at them for “forgetting” all day on Monday! Life is not all peaches and cream, sometimes they loose their minds…. Hopefully when I get this house done and ready for sale, things will calm down and get back to somewhat normal.

We shall see how this morning goes. I won’t have any problems with my youngest getting him to triple up on work but the oldest will try to get out of it…. I’m sure of it.. it is just who he is…

The happy point to this email that It is much easier for them to “triple” up on the T4L curriculum than it would be for them to do so in traditional book work. It is just one more benefit to an on-line, point and click curriculum. I will have to get back into routine with their writing program and spelling but at least I know that they will do their schooling and “catch up” with out much fuss. Or at least I hope not to much fuss!

John asked so I thought I would sit down and kind of explain our “methods”.  We are a very eclectic family when it comes from home schooling.  We believe in hands on, life learning lessons for the most part.  Being from a family that “does for themselves” and does not “hire out”, our boys know that they have years to look forward to very hard physical work.    They have both been involved in many of our remodeling projects and are about to take on a small addition to their room.  They both cook and bake so they get plenty of reading with that and they are both into an online game so they type to their friends on that.

Time4Learning has helped me be a little more organized and focused on keeping everything together.  We worked out of Modern Curriculum Press for the last several years and love them for traditional book work but because of issues with both boys, T4L is a much better program for us right now.

Our family uses a lot of School Zone products for different things and have been able to incorporate so much into learning maps, states and areas using the Highlights Which Way USA books that my parents got for them.  I struggle with spelling lists and would be Oh’-so-grateful to see spelling added to T4L.  For some of our writing projects we use McDonald Creative Thinking “Write-Abouts”.  McDonald also puts out “Silly Starters” and “Story Starters” which we have used.

For the most part we have our oldest draw his own comics and add story lines to that when he gets really frustrated.  They also have a program that their godfather has them on which requires writing every week.   Boy Scouts has helped them with some writing projects.

Like I said though, we are kind of all over the place and take one day at a time.  At least now there is one part that they don’t complain about so it makes all the rest so much easier.