2016-2017 End of the year review

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The school year has come to a close, and it happened right on time! We are finishing up construction on the parsonage, things were being shoved into corners for the painters, and we are working on our upcoming furlough schedule!  If you missed the curriculum post about what we had planned on using this year, here is the link.

K-5
Mr. Hotwheels was quite the challenge when it came to being motivated to do his work but we made it through! He really loved his BJU math and was excited about learning to read. We worked through about 25 lessons of the Burnz' Pronouncing Print reader and it really helped him to build confidence in reading one-vowel words without relying on picture clues. That in conjunction with the A Beka K-5 phonics program has helped him progress smoothly into two-vowels words and some special sounds. He can now pick up a level one reader and read most of it on his own. He also loved the Handwriting Without Tears Kindergarten book.

2nd
Mr. Bookworm has blown through everything that I place in front of him. On of the last books I downloaded for him was Mr Popper's Penguins. He read it in three hours, and then reread it again a few days later! So throughout the year we have read from several public domain readers and used lists like the one from Ambleside Online.  With math we had to take a step back because the BJU advanced quickly into two-digit arithmetic and we needed to work on memorizing our math facts well before learning new concepts. We used MEP Year 1, a free downloadable program that focuses on building basic addition and subtraction skills along with logic, and now he is confidently advancing with Christian Light Education's math program.

With both boys we switched back and forth between a grade level workbook, Explode the Code phonics, and the ABeka program. I realized that teaching two children with two more on the horizon that I just do not have the time to teach every course individually, and I needed something that would fit our needs as we head into the new school and our first furlough from the mission field at the same time. Stay tuned to see what we have planned for next year!