This year, my hope is that Benjamin will become a bit more independent in some of his studies. I bought him a student planner and will be filling it in with his assistance each Sunday evening for the upcoming week. He wanted some more structure this year as last year we were relatively "structure-less" for the second half of the year. I think the planner will give him the overview that he desires. It will also help me to look to the week ahead and get materials ready for crafts and other projects.
I was surprised and really amazed from just this first week of lessons that he took on the new structure and responsibility so willingly, even enthusiastically. He decided against taking the breaks I offered him and wanted to "go straight through" to complete his work. This is the boy who, every year prior to this, has asked for long breaks to run and play. At first, I was worried that he was doing this simply to get it done, not caring about the material itself or the quality of his work. I always hope that my children will love learning for its own sake. Ben has shown me that he wants to work hard because he loves the subject matter rather than to "just get it done". For that I am grateful.
He is ten this year and according to our school district, in the fifth grade. He is responsible for three or four subjects a day and the rest we will do together. Now, granted, this was only our first week or so but it went much more smoothly than in the past.
Here is a list of his subjects and texts:
Math: Reviewing Long Division, Fractions with Math-U-See
Religion and Catechism:
- St. Joseph's Baltimore Catechism
- Catholic Mosaic
- Various Saint Books by Mary Fabyan Windeatt and others
I decided to skip the Faith and Life this year that we usually use as we both needed a break from it and I am not as pleased with the fifth grade text as I have been with other years. We will be keeping a liturgical year notebook using Catholic Mosaic and some Catechesis of the Good Shepherd presentations.
Writing: Writing Strands book 3
While studying Ancient History (Egypt, Greece and Rome) we are using The Story of the World as a spine as well as the Kingfisher History Encyclopedia. History will be done with Lionheart as well. We own various picture books and chapter books that will round out Ancient History and make it come alive. (I have linked them in the sidebar.)
For Science this year (Biology) we will be reading How the Body Works and How Nature Works. Our family also does nature study every Wednesday afternoon. We record our findings in our nature journals. We are listening to (and watching) Science Rock and viewing many Bill Nye the Science Guy videos from the library. Ben also collects insects in his insect tray. The boys currently have a monarch butterfly living in their bedroom and are trying to talk me into a Preying Mantis Egg Case from Insectlore. (Did I ever tell you about my dear friend Barb who accidently hatched all 300 babies in her living room by mistake?? :/ )
I have always wanted to put together some Montessori materials for Geography. Kim, at Starry Sky Ranch, had a wonderful post with some great links for geography. We are using "Everything You Need to Know about Geography Homework" as well as a "Geography Grab Jar". In it I have placed command cards that I printed from Montessori Materials. We have plastalina clay and landform pans to use for the hands on activities.
I am using the same approach for Language, having made a jar with language activities in it to choose from each day. He really enjoys this type of learning.
Spelling has been a struggle for him. I have not taken the right approach in the past. He is a tactile learner but all the programs I have used are visual with a bit of auditory learning thrown in. We are using MCP Spelling for its list of words but will be painting them and writing them, not only on paper but tracing them in the sand, chalking them on the sidewalk and writing them on cookie trays covered with pudding! (I hope to make spelling his favorite subject!)
We are using Latina Christiana I for Latin this year, as we did last year. Last year we memorized vocabulary and learned some conjugations. This year I hope to cover the Latin prayers and hymns as well. Somehow, I am not that fond of LC but I cannot seem to find anything that looks like fun. Any suggestions? Anyone used Minimus?
We are studying Spanish using the First Hundred Words in Spanish book as well as utilizing my (very rusty) three years of college Spanish. So far we have learned the numbers up to ten and how to say "My name is Benjamin" en Espanol :).
Ben is excited to work hard and learn a whole lot. We will have a great time learning together this year, making memories that last a lifetime and growing a little smarter to boot!