Modern Homeschool Today

The Christmas break has been an awesome opportunity for me to rest and reflect on what we want to achieve as a homeschool this year. I admit that I love planning for a new year and a few weeks ago I completed our homeschool daily planner for 2013 . So, now I thought I would list the curriculum we are planning to use for Term 1 and beyond. Devotion / Bible Study - 10 days of character studies  Confessions of a homeschooler is one of my favorite non-Australian blogs. It is beautifully written and she offers great insight, tips, curriculum reviews and also free material such as the character study  What I love about this character study is that it's ready to go and includes memory verses (which I print and laminate) as well as cute little apples to stick on the wall for each character trait which include patience, self-control, diligence,  honesty etc. Maths - Singapore Maths   I am a huge fan of Singapore maths. My boys both really love maths wh...

DS6 has a excellent visual memory. He went from phonics to chapter books within six months in his kindy year. Once he sees a word - he can re-call it. He doesn't need repetition which is why mainstream school was often boring for him. I felt that learning to spell may happen just as quickly as learning to read and didn't want to waste time with explanations and excercises that were unnecessary. I also didn't want to spend a lot of money if they were only going to be used for a short time. Learning to spell........... I thought his ability to read would mean that spelling would also be a breeze. I was wrong. Ever since DS6 could hold a crayon he has been writing stories. I never had the heart to discourage his eagerness by correcting his handwriting or spelling. Unfortunately, this is where he developed some bad habits. He continues to spell some words phonetically like he did when he was ...