My style of homeschooling could be labeled "eclectic." As I said in my last post, a boxed curriculum would cause me problems. Some interesting topic would come up and I would feel torn about pursuing it since I would feel obligated to meet the curriuculum requirements for that day. Then I'd be grouchy. My family prefers that I stay away from grouchy. So, no boxed curriculum for me.
Actually, I really enjoy putting together my own resources so that I have the freedom to go down any "rabbit trail" that may occur as J gets introduced to and becomes interested in a particular area. I can do this because he already has the two most necessary skills under his belt: reading and writing. Now it's just a matter of increasing information and mastering the two skills with that information.
Here's an example of what I mean:
J watched Wile E. Coyote (poultrius devourius) and the Roadrunner (velocitus delectibus) for the first time last week. He loved it (what child doesn't?). We then looked up roadrunners and he colored a labeled outline drawing of one. We discussed its real height and used a yardstick to give the visual. Then he wrote a story about a Roadrunner. In this assignment, he showed knowledge of punctuation, order of events, conclusion, handwriting skills, spelling, and capitalization. I've scanned it below. (We discussed the proper spelling of "coyote" and what kind of rosebush would be in the dessert.)
He wants to do the coyote next. Oh--did I mention that our "science" for this month is North American animals? We'll be covering 22 of them. Two just happened to be the roadrunner and the coyote. Two down, twenty to go!
(beepus beepus) Perhaps we're getting a head start on Latin?
No comments:
Post a Comment