Second Semester Arrives

It's second semester and we had a great break. I always try to switch up a few things in the second semester to raise interest and fight boredom for my students and myself! We tried some new workbooks this year and are using some old favorites again too.

We are loving these Language workbooks. They are very much like the Primary Language Lessons series by Emma Serle, which I love, but these are laid out as consumables with colored pictures and space for writing. Both our 3rd grader and our 6th grader enjoy these. It is pretty much self explanatory. They offer poetry, copy work, memorization (if you choose), reading, narration and some basic grammar.

We are also liking these Daily Geography and Daily Math/Word Problem workbooks. The Geography is such a simple, accessible and organized way to cover basic map/geography skills. They are split into such tiny daily lessons that the girls do a page or two a day which equals a week of lessons. They are very simple and quick, but help cover a lot of basic information painlessly. Our 3rd grader is loving the Daily Word Problems. I never could do word problems at her age, so it fascinates me that she seems to intuitively understand what to do for each one.

Explode the Code is a classic phonics program that my girls love. One of my greatest regrets in 21 years of homeschooling is that I did not use this program with the 3 oldest. I never bought it because I did not like the artwork! It is a program that literally teaches itself, is a breeze to correct and that my kids beg to use. Nothing else like it! Sequential Spelling is something new we are trying with our 6th grader. She and I both really like it. I think it is going to be as handy and loved around here as Explode the Code has been. We have tried several other spelling curriculum over the years and none made this much sense, were as easy to administer and were as enjoyable as this one. We usually do two to three daily lessons at a time for our 6th grader.

We are using some Calculadders this year to speed up and brush up on basic math facts. Again, drillwork that is simple to administer, simple to correct and that works great.We have used these for years as needed. Another classic program. I ordered all of these from http://www.timberdoodle.com/