A New School Year

We are starting our new school year, and I am so excited. Benjamin is going into 3rd grade and Carter is starting 1st. I started using Ambleside Online last year and have really fallen in love with it. We will be using it again this year.

Here is a condensed plan for each boy for this year.

Benjamin

History:

He is finishing up the middle ages and starting the renaissance which includes the discovery of America. He will be reading biographies on Joan of arc, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Shakespeare. He will also be reading about Marco Polo's journey.

Literature:

His main lit. books are The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle, The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald, Children of the New Forest by Marryat, and American Tall Tales.

Science:

He is using Pagoo by Holling Clancy Holling to learn about the life of a hermit crab and Exploring His Creating through Astronomy.

Math:

He is using Rightstart Level D which continues mastering multiplication and introduces division.

Carter:

History:

He is reading short stories about important people in American history in Stories of Great Americans for Little Americans.

Literature:

His main books are Stories by Beatrix Potter, Among the Pond People, Winnie-the-Pooh, and Fairy Tales.

Science:

His main focus is different bugs that he read books about and then make lapbooks for.

Math:

He is in Rightstart Level B. He is learning about addition, money and time.

Better Late then Early

As I have researched homeschooling, I have found that many people believe in starting their kids formal learning later rather than early. This was a very new idea to a public school kid like me, but the more I learn about the more I like what I hear.

I realize that, kids are institutionalized earlier and earlier. We make this fake world called a classroom and put them into it from the time they are 3 or4 and they stay there until they are in their twenties. We expect them to learn about life, to become working members of society not by being in the world and learning from the example of their parents, but by being in four walls and taking a test on it. To me, something seems a little wrong with this picture.

I listened to this radio broadcast by James Dobson and found it very thought provoking.
http://www.myfamilytalk.com/index.php/2010/09/01/school-can-wait/

I write this not to tell you what to think or believe, but to get you thinking.