A Recap of the last school year

What we did last year was more along the lines of "unschooling". It's a good thing Roni is self-motivated, or she and I might have fallen under the influence of my emotional shortcomings this past year.

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About halfway through the school year, I discovered the children's museum has homeschool classes once/month. Since we have a membership there, I was quite surprised that I didn't know of these classes sooner. But, they were great! Science and art and they always gave supplemental materials, so there was plenty to do afterward to build on what they'd done in "class".
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At some point during the year, her reading just took off and she ended the school year reading at about a sixth grade level. When she was tested, her math was on target to begin third grade. Quite an achievement for a five year old.

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Daddy thought she needed more structure, but I was unwilling to put her in a setting that would hold her back - or expose her to some social things I find completely unacceptable for children. So, the hunt was on for an alternative to my laid-back approach that would not only encourage Roni's continued love for learning, but would give her some structure to appease her Daddy.

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We found what we thought was the perfect solution: Florida Virtual Academy, which is a public school, but taught at home. She would have a teacher leading her education, giving lesson plans and reviewing her work periodically. But, she would be at home, taught primarily by me. She would have to maintain all the Sunshine State standards, including standardized tests. This was okay with us. It isn't that we don't want her to be held to a standard, we just don't want her held back to a low/er standard. In spite of the state requiring her to be labeled as a first grader (due to her age - ugh!), they were going to start her with second grade curriculum and let her go at her own pace. I attended an information session and then we all went to another one. We completed the enrollment process, including hours of placement testing.

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Somehow, I'd gotten through a school year without much structure and Roni managed to learn an incredible amount of information that every teacher who evaluated her deemed her ready for second grade. Relax about her handwriting, they said. It will catch up as she gets older - the physical requirements of those fine motor skills don't come based on how quickly she's learning everything else. It's physical. (Wow! What a relief - I was freaking out over nothing. Of course it makes sense, which makes me just feel completely inadequate to teach these girls a thing.)

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So, we made it through the school year. She thrived. She grew. She writes and reads and spells (one thing we really need to work on this year) and computes numbers. She's a bright girl. I'm amazed that she's doing so much at such a young age.

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My methods weren't traditional: we went to the children's museum all the time, focusing on different sections and talking about weather and firefighters and newscasters and theater; we went to the zoo, reading every plaque in the bird sanctuary and then locating each species and watching them; we visited the other children's museums in the area, doing scavenger hunts and learning about the parts of the body; we walked around the lakes in our neighborhood and identified types of snakes and birds; we read books and played games; we painted and played with clay and made crafts; we wrote thank you notes and letters; we baked and cooked and went swimming; we played math table games while we were driving in the car; we prayed rosaries and sang songs; we started learning the basics of some other languages, learning together via compact discs; and a few times per week, we sat down with a workbook and did math drills and talked about sentences.

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Yes, it was "unschooling", but it worked for us. I agree more structure would have benefited all three of us, but this unschedule helped me get through a rough year. And Roni thrived. But I know her sister wouldn't have if it had been a school year for her. So, we have a new plan for this year that I think will be perfect for us for this year. I'll post about it later. It's been requested that I share my reasons for my choice of curriculum this year, so that is next.

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Until next time, God Bless you.