Good thing this blog isn't a pet!

I haven't been very attentive to it! Today I am forcing myself to just throw out any old words. ;)

We are easing back into homeschooling.Slowly, but surely.

I am looking ahead to next year as we purchase our curriculum in Feb(w/ our income tax refund).

For those of you fellow curriculum junkies, I am no longer using Time 4 Learning. I still feel comfortable recommending it, though. It totally saved my life and helped me not to lose my mind last year. Now I am able to continue on w/ Sonlight.

For those who really love specifics, here are the specific reasons we stopped doing T4L:

The oldest(13) liked T4L, but didn't really retain the info. He did like the lessons, but for whatever reason(learning style, maybe?), it just didn't sink in.So we decided to stop it for him, but continue on w/ a few of the others.

JD,(10 at the time), has dyslexia and some other learning disabilities. No curriculum could be fun enough for him. But he did like not having to read or write and he liked having choices for the answers. Eventually, I decided if he was just going to fight me on it, we could fight about something that wasn't costing us $20 a month! ;)

My nine year old, Jr. liked T4L just fine, but she also liked Sonlight LA and the math program that we use. So after a time, I felt I was able to let her go on back to SL LA and our math book and keep some of the others on T4L.

My youngest(a 7 year old girl) would actually still like to be doing T4L!! And if I had the $20, I probably would let her. I think this is a GREAT program to allow the youngest child to "play on". Sometimes she gets left behind. I am sure she is still learning, but w/ T4L, she could be independent and it was "grade level". It made me feel good. But since she was the only child still needing/wanting to do it, I made a deal w/ her to buy her a work book she wanted. She was ok w/ me cancelling after that. :)

As for N, my extra student, he was the main reason I switched from SL to T4L in the first place. Before I knew better, I thought all learning problems were the same. Let me assure you THEY ARE NOT. ;) T4L was great for him because he had choices for the answer. Then if he got the answer wrong, it would explain why it was wrong and what the right answer was. It helped improve his comprehension skills and his reading level. But the higher up he went, the information just got to be over his head. By that time, I felt more comfortable doing things on my own.

Right now, all 4 younger students are using a workbook from WalMart that cost just under $8. It covers basic skill for a grade level.

JD works one page from each section w/ me every day. Jr. does it all on her own, several pages at a time. I only bought her one because she wanted one too.N does one page from each section w/ me everyday and then one page(from each section) for homework everyday. JJ just started and for now we are doing one page from each section. That is where each child is able to work comfortably. I cannot tell you what joy and peace this brings to me!!!!!

From here, it is my plan to add on other subjects now that these basic subjects are being covered.

These last 2 years I did not finish my SL Core 1+2. But we have accomplished so much learning.

I am just going to move on and purchase Core 100 American History for my oldest who is a few months away from 14. He is going to go ahead and start 9th grade.

The 3 younger ones will all move on to Core 3 American History part 1.

I am just going to teach what my kids need, on the level that they need it. If it takes one or two of them more than 4 years to get ready for college, then so be it. A wise woman told me recently, that if the kid can't do high school work, then he certainly isn't ready for college, and did it really matter if the kid started college at 19 instead of 18?