End of School

IT'S OVER, IT'S OVER, IT'S OVER!!!!!

Yes, even homeschooling moms look forward to breaks in school.  It will be a short break but that's okay!  We are officially moving to a year round homeschooling schedule.  The new school year will start after July 4th.  And Cade even wanted to do this.  He has realized that we can take more time off during the year.  We will also be schooling for 5-6 weeks and taking a week off and take atleast 3 weeks off around Christmas.  The summer months will be lighter but still include Math and Reading and probably Writing.

So, this year Cade made the A/B honor roll.  I was very proud of him.  His study habits were pretty much non-existent prior to this year and he has improved quite dramatically in this area.  Actually, when Cade studies just a little his test scores really, really improve.  I was talking to Jeff about this: how little Cade actually has to study to make A's.  I think I'm jealous!  I used to study and study and study to make A's.

This year, after reading another homeschooling mom's blog, I decided to have a meeting with Cade and discuss his strengths, weaknesses and interests.  We will focus on a couple of weaknesses this year.

Weaknesses:  Reading Comprehension is the big one.  Spelling and Vocabulary tie into this also.  Cade has dyslexia and auditory processing disorder (which typically goes with dyslexia).  He hates to read.  Because he has to work so hard to "read", I believe the understanding of what he is reading gets lost along the way.  We will be working on that this upcoming year.

Strengths:  Math and Science.  It's odd that Cade does so well in Math but is dyslexic.  Math is typically not a strong subject for those with dyslexia.  He will begin Pre-Algebra in July.  Crazy kid asked to start this week, but I'm not ready!!  Because he likes Science, I am really going to focus on making it as interesting as possible with experiments, documentaries and field trips.  He seems to be very excited about it!

Interests:  He indicated that he would like to start Art, so I will add an Art class this upcoming year.  This will also include nature journaling as well.  His other interest was basketball.  I'm not sure what I can do with this.  I will look on Netflix for some documentaries and see what I can find on the history of basketball as well.  He will tryout for the Houston Homeschool basketball team-tryouts are in September, I believe.  He plays EVERY DAY!  In the Houston heat.  All of the boys in our neighborhood play basketball-this has been great for Cade.

Jenna is still doing Kindergarten.  She loves to do school every day.  She works on the computer and has worksheets she is still working on.  She has started reading, counts to a hundred, learned to tell time (to a point) and is doing addition/subtraction.  I know there are other things, but I can't think of them at the moment.  She will not get a break like Cade.  I think she is okay with that.

That's it for now.  Next time I will post about our curriculum choices for 2013-2014.