Oct 20 2019

Fourth Grade Curriculum Choices

Posted on October 20, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

One of my readers wanted to know our curriculum choices. As I browsed through my blog, I realized I have not actually spelled out much for 4th grade. Before I give you the list, let me just say this is what I am using this year with my 4th grader. It is slightly different from what I used with my son, who was in 4th grade two years ago. Here we go.

Reading – Mensa for Kids, 4-6 book list Also, the National Spelling Bee Bookshelf titles. They change from year to year. User discretion is advised. We have had to skip some titles because of their political or occult content.

Spelling and grammar – Logic Of English Essentials – Level A

Story of the World Volume 2

Writing – Writing with Ease, Level 1 – if your child is not yet writing well, do some more copywork. Alternatively, you can make your own sheets online. I had a book for cursive copywork with nature facts and Bible verses, titled Cursive Copywork. Continue reading »

Oct 12 2019

Lessons from the Tenth Week

Posted on October 12, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

Time flies when you are having fun. Indeed, it applies to us this school year. Some days fun eludes us, but, overall, we can say with certainty this year has turned out better than the last.

Ijams trails

Just last week, my son exclaimed, “I love this new way of doing math!” He was referring to how we skip around the page, not doing every single problem in the chapter. I observe him solve the first few exercises to make sure he got the concept, and then I assign certain problems or exercises as I see fit. Continue reading »

Aug 31 2019

Lessons from the Fourth Week

Posted on August 31, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

The fourth week went by smoothly. The children had auditions for Knoxville Youth Symphony Orchestras on Monday. The results came in on Wednesday and, sure enough, they reached their goals. Our daughter wanted to stay in the same orchestra, but move from Second Violin to the First Violin section. She did. She instinctively knew the next orchestra would be too hard. Well, not just instinctively. She also knew from experience.

Clingmans Dome, Observation Tower

Last summer, during string camp, she tried the next orchestra level up. She kept up, but barely. She prefers a more relaxed environment and we respect that. In fact, her violin teacher said this shows a rare form of insight for a nine-year-old, and also recommended we let our daughter go at her own pace. Continue reading »

Aug 25 2019

Lessons from the Third Week

Posted on August 25, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

Last week was nothing short of revolutionary. Have you heard of The Wild and Free community? We joined a local group. Also, we had our first outing with them – at the Knoxville Botanical Garden. I have been praying and hoping for more time outside.

Botanical Garden, Knoxville

The answer came in the form of this group. Another homeschooling mom introduced me to them. This means that I will only get four days of instruction at home with the children. We spend the fifth day exploring nature in our area, at local gardens, hiking trails, zoos, and parks. Continue reading »

Aug 7 2019

Lessons from the First Week

Posted on August 7, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

We started on August 5 this year because we needed to have 150 school days before their nationally standardized test in March 2020. That is how I know when to start. I give myself 150 days of instruction not because I have to, but because I want to.

Why send them to this test unprepared? It would only demoralize them. As I have written here before, we do not think the standardized test represents the benchmark of our success in homeschooling. However, it is a strong indicator of our level right now. Continue reading »

Aug 3 2019

Our Son’s Second Book

Posted on August 3, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

Our son continued writing after he published The Knight of Asper. He came up with a second book in the series: Battle with Herobrine. The series title is “The Adventures of Stickgamer135” and it is an unofficial Minecraft novel series for children age 9 and older. You can purchase it on Amazon in either paperback or Kindle format.

Batle with Herobine, our son’s second book, another unofficial Minecraft novel

So many things have happened in the last two months, I have not had a chance to even blog about his second book. For your information, my children do not play Minecraft with other players, and we limit their time on the computer drastically.

Aug 1 2019

101 Tips for Second Grade Homeschooling

Posted on August 1, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

It’s finally here, the book I wrote about homeschooling second grade: 101 Tips for Second Grade Homeschooling. I dedicate it to my husband and children, without whom this book would have been published 15 months ago. Yes, I got this funny saying from The Language Nerds.

There are two formats available, paperback and Kindle. This is volume 4 in my series titled How to Homeschool. After writing books about Preschool, Kindergarten, and First Grade, I took some time to put on paper 101 ideas or tips for how to teach second grade.

101 Tips for Second Grade Homeschooling is now available.

The format is the same: 10 chapters with 10 ideas or tips in each, followed by chapter 11, with Tip #101. I have a son and a daughter, 28 months apart from each other. They are very different learners. They have taught me a thing or two about second grade. Continue reading »

Jul 31 2019

Third Grade Curriculum

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

You have asked, so I will answer. Which curriculum did we have actually use in third grade? Without further ado, here it is:

Reading – Mensa for Kids, K-3 book list Also, the National Spelling Bee Bookshelf titles. They change from year to year. User discretion is advised. We have had to skip some titles because of their political or occult content.

Spelling and grammar – Logic of English Foundations, C and D; once finished, we started LOE Essentials – Level A

Story of the World Volume 2

Jul 31 2019

Second Grade Curriculum

Posted on July 31, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

“What curriculum are you using?” That is one of my favorite questions from homeschooling parents. I love talking about the great curriculum available to the homeschool community. Since several of you have asked, I will take some time and share our choices, grade by grade, in several posts.

Latin and French are totally optional in second grade.

As a rule of thumb, I go with The Well Trained Mind recommendations, but not every single thing. I have not started teaching my children Greek, for example. Besides, her recommendations for spelling have not worked for us. Continue reading »

Jul 9 2019

Back to Homeschool, 1 of 3

Posted on July 9, 2019 by Adriana Zoder

For the next three weeks, I will be blogging about going back to homeschool. Research indicates that writing goals down dramatically increases your chance of reaching them, so all of us need to spend some time planning for success. If you prefer to fly by the seat of your pants, you go right ahead. We will not judge. However, the rest of us must organize our chaos at least a little bit.

You are a professional. Plan accordingly. Color code your planner if you prefer.

In this first post, we will focus on looking back at this past year. First, what has worked for you? Secondly, what has not worked? Thirdly, how could you improve? Above all, did you experience burnout? Do you know how that happened? We all know our strengths and growth areas. If we do not, this is the time to sit down and spend five minutes writing down what comes to mind, under two columns called Strengths and Growth Areas. Continue reading »

Homeschool Ways

Tips for a Thriving Homeschool

Category Archives: homeschooling