I share all of the fun stuff that Joe and Jack do through my Five in a Row posts, but I don’t get to document any of what Hanna does in those posts. Even though Hanna has moved to mainly independent work and doesn’t get to do a lot of the ‘fun’ stuff anymore, I still want to record what she is working on and her progress throughout the school year. I also want to remember what Joe is doing in his core subjects outside of FIAR.
The following is a brief picture walk through of highlights from weeks 3-6 in our homeschool.
Hanna is fast tracking Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. I’m finding this course is mostly review and doesn’t pick up real Pre-Algebra until around chapter 10. My plan is for her to finish it by February—that is when she will resume Life of Fred Pre-Algebra Part 1, and also begin TT Algebra. (LOF was proving to be too hard for her without any background in Algebra.) 
Joe has been working through Singapore 1A. He will finish it this week and we will begin 1B. I decided against LOF Math for him. I just wasn’t confident in it as stand alone for a firm foundation after looking through the first two books—maybe later, we’ll see. He has worked on adding, subtracting, measurement, weight, patterns and simple word problems. We are having a review with hands-on activities this week before beginning 1B.
Hanna has completed the first 3 modules in Apologia General Science. I was worried about this course—this is a huge book with lots of info to cover and remember in one school year and moves at a fast pace. I am relieved to say that so far Hanna is doing really well and scored 90-100% on each of her chapter tests. We are behind a couple science experiments though and are taking a couple days this week to catch them up.
In history, I scrapped Story of the World for Hanna and decided to focus on US History alone through History of US (what she was doing integrated with SOTW). I thought it was confusing to combine the two after watching her do this for several weeks.
Presently she just finished reading Sign of the Beaver and is working on a report and book cover project due this coming Friday.
I was a bit reluctant as to whether English From the Roots Up was a good choice in lieu of Wordly Wise this school year. I am confident now though that it is working and I know Hanna is remembering all that she is supposed to for this course. She completes about three cards/roots per week.
Joe is learning simple rules of capitalization, subjects and verbs in Language Lessons.
In Writing Traits Grade 1 he has learned about the parts of a story, details and also touched on capitalization rules. He is doing really well with writing this year. I see so much improvement just from the end of last year to the beginning of this school year and it is exciting.
He is about halfway through book 4 of Explode the Code. He has learned a lot about dividing words between syllables and syllable patterns such as VCCV and so forth. ETC is definitely more challenging this school year than the two previous ones—this is a good thing!
I am learning a lot this year in history and science. I read each night all of Hanna’s reading assignments for history and science so I can make sure I am able to discuss things with her throughout the week. School is a lot harder for me this year and requires much more of my time—I didn’t think that could be possible, but I am finding the time I need, challenging as this can be some weeks. I can honestly say I spend almost every spare minute on some sort of school prep, planning or activity most days of the week in my time alone and my time with the kids. It is so true that homeschool is a way of life. As a homeschool teacher you are constantly thinking of ways that you can tie in your daily activities and outings with schooling and learning--lots of times without even realizing it. As hard as, as much of a commitment that it is, and even though some days I long for ‘me’ time—I wouldn’t change homeschooling my kids for anything in the whole world. I can’t put into words how much I truly love it. I would be devastated to have this precious time taken away from me. Homeschooling my kids is one of the biggest and most rewarding blessings I have in my life. It has changed who I am as a person and as a mother, and has helped me see things in a whole new light that I wouldn’t have otherwise. It has helped me become selfless and understand even more what is most important—my family, my role as a homemaker and mother, and of course, my Heavenly Father who makes all things in this life possible through His unconditional love and forgiveness.
