I need to work on some end-of-year tasks over the next couple of weeks. I think we will continue working, unless we feel like we want to stop. Everything we do is fairly enjoyable, so I don't think we'll take a big break.
At the end of each calendar year, I update and print out homeschool records for each kid. In the printout, I include:
- Field trips
- Sports
- Activities
- Everything we did in each subject - books we read, curriculum used, labs, hands-on activities, videos
- Math
- English
- Bible
- History
- Literature
- Science
- Fine Arts
- Physical Education
- Anything extra
I keep these records throughout the year, so when I finalize them, they're pretty much finished already. I update, save, print and put one copy in each kid's school binder.
I also need to go through each kid's book bins and clean out resources we're not using.
Curriculum Changes
I usually switch gears over the winter and add/drop resources that we're finished with or don't like.
10th Grader
At some point this fall, I realized that the 10th grader is actually doing something called unschooling. She will continue unschooling and choosing what she wants to learn about. She is spending a couple of years on biology and astronomy and we will continue that through 2023. The only curriculum I'm buying for her is Mathusee Algebra 2. She'll need that for summer 2023 (when she finishes Geometry).
I am still using my "book bin method" (rolling my eyes, because I don't know what else to call it). I have a row of plastic magazine holders/book bins and they are labeled with different subjects: Bible, science, math, history & literature, grammar & writing, fine arts, etc. We fill up the bins with books or resources that she thinks look interesting. Every morning, she just picks things from the bins to work on and reads/works until she wants to stop. We've been doing this over the fall and it's worked out so well. No more stress about schedules or keeping up with the pace of a curriculum. She's been very happy with it. She even added her own subjects: Korean, typing, classical guitar, ukulele, etc. We originally started with Bookshark over the summer, but followed rabbit trails until we ended up at this point.
2nd Grader
He is still in the middle of Sonlight HBL B (world history 1). This seems to be the perfect curriculum for him and he really enjoys it, so we will continue it. I'm going to buy HBL C this spring (world history 2). He absolutely loves the Hands-on History Box. From now on, when I order Sonlight, I'm going to order all the little extra things, like the history box, coloring books, etc.
I am switching to Sonlight's Reading/Language Arts 1st Grade, because he is just not making progress with reading or writing and he's starting to have anxiety when he sees our current reading/language arts curriculum. So, we are going to stop, back up and start fresh. He seems to do well with Sonlight, so I am going to try their language arts.
Changes for 2023
Besides using Sonlight's Bible curriculum and reading through the Bible, I sometimes do specific Lutheran or topical Bible studies with the kids. I'm going to start doing that again this winter.
