A Look Back at Term 1

We finished Term 1 yesterday! I feel like we need to have balloons and confetti! :) It was a long term, for a variety of reasons but looking back, I can see that we accomplished SO much! 

Highlights of the term have been (i.e. what really worked):

    *Dad taking over Math in the early hours of morning with both older girls.

    *Small amounts of reading and copywork each day adding up to Julia reading now! 

    *Science labs and experiments on Fridays.

    *Detailed checklists with clear expectations for older girls.

Challenges this term have been (i.e. what brought stress and tears):

    *Covid fatigue.

    *Math before Dad took over.

    *Me pressed for time with a third non-reading student.

    *Unplanned road trip for family funeral to Florida.

    *Twins dropping their afternoon nap.

These things look so easy and workable when typed up like this, but this has been our homeschooling life the past 12 weeks and some of these things took much thought and effort to work through and figure out. However, we are in a much better spot now and are looking forward to an entire week off for Thanksgiving! 

Of course, as I look at my original plans, some things had to be dropped or changed and I will make a note here of that....

For Julia (Year 0 Kindergarten):

    *switched from Charlotte Mason Elementary Arithmetic to MEP Reception Year. MEP goes at a much slower rate and touches on other things that the CM book did not. I can see us picking it back up in 1st grade but for now, we are happy to work through the MEP Reception Year.

    *Picked up McGuffey's Eclectic Primer and have been reading through that a page or two a day. This gave me some direction and hand holding, which is what I like. :)

For Louisa (Year 7): 

    *We didn't change anything for her! She has done a great job of adjusting to 7th grade and completing her checklist every day. 

For Kailyn (Year 9):

    *Math was changed to a morning routine with Dad and a cup of tea. This seems to have helped the stress level and comprehension. Thank the Lord.

    *The last few weeks, I removed the Nature Study book, simply because I was trying to lighten the reading load, and she already is naturally interested in nature study and reads on her own. 

    *I stretched out the Napoleon biography a little more because it ended up being a lot of reading each week. Washington and Napoleon bios are a ton of reading but well worth it and must reads in my mind.

    *A few weeks ago, I also moved The Vicar of Wakefield to free reading and she finished that right up, which also lightened her reading load. 

    *I also decreased her written narration load from 4/wk to 3/wk... We'll see how this goes.  

We will do Exams next week in a nice leisurely manner, since we have the whole week of Thanksgiving off; and Advent is just around the corner!