Next Year's Books

We are back from the homeschool convention in Winston-Salem. I have so much to tell and even more that I need to process in my thinking. What a unique weekend. I spent half of my time moving my teen through another step toward adulthood by way of the ritual of high school graduation and the other part of the weekend drooling shopping for all of next year's books. I will share about my son's fantastic graduation on Friday. I need to let all the thoughts and emotions of the day sink in a bit. Also, I did not get to take a single picture.  However, my Dad the photographer did take many photos. I just have to get him to give them to me in a form I can blog! LOL!

So for today's entry, I am focusing on books. In many ways, books explain the huge change that is taking place in my life. There will be no high school books next year! WOW! WOW!!! wow.... A new chapter in our life with books that is a great relief and a bit of a shock. Next year all of my homeschooled kids will be within a grade level or two of each other. And next year there will only be one severely delayed child to teach ....

Is this stack of crisp books not one of the most exciting things you have ever seen? LOL!  So filled with promise .... my head is thinking, "I made all the right choices in books for this coming year ...  there will be no tears over this or that. School is going to be GREAT!" Oh, how the mind plays tricks. I know there will be tears and that these books do not hold all the answers. However, I do think I have some great finds here!  There are some oldies but goodies, some changes and some additions.


We are sticking with the next year of SOTW. We all loved it last year, and we are looking forward to the Middle Ages. (However, I do need to reopen school to complete the Romans for one week before we can crack the new books.)


I love this series of books!  They will make a great addition to SOTW. I have a few more to buy to cover some of the great people of this time period.


I am really excited about this little book. My ds has been demanding that I teach him Latin for the last few months. He got this notion from playing with other homeschool kids while waiting at his sister's ballet class. That's what I get for letting him hang out with homeschooled children. LOL!  Anyhow, I found this gentle program that just teaches some words and connections of Latin without getting into the grammar. Hopefully, this will satisfy him for another year while he gets older and I get braver.


Next, we have these lovely copy work books from Queens homeschool supply. I love Charlotte Mason's view on copy work but had trouble sticking with it last year. I'm hoping that the easy layout of these books will keep us on task. Also, copying down proper manners can't hurt any either!


We are switching to Horizon Math from Miquon Math. I am really looking forward to the switch. The kids for the most part tested in the middle of grades, and Horizon breaks their workbooks into semesters so you can start in the middle if you wish.


We are sticking with Explode the Code. These books are very popular in my home.


We also will be moving from Spellingcity.com to A Reason for Spelling ....  I really enjoyed this series with my big teen and will be returning to it for the little ones. I just can't keep focused on sending them to the computer. 

A little plug for Rainbow Resource -- I have loved this company for the past 10 years. They are always so helpful and inexpensive. Most recently, they saved me lots of money by figuring out that my teaching manuals from the big teen were not outdated and could be reused with new spelling workbooks. They were more than happy to call over to the warehouse and compare copyright dates and pages. 

We also intend to keep up with Five in a Row (FIAR) this year. I'm planning to start a FIAR field trip group in the fall. This should provide the socialization that my Tom Sawyer craves and be a safe, low-key environment for my two special needs kiddos (of which Tom Sawyer is one). 

Now to think about those Workboxes! Hmm!! Do I really want to add that into my homeschool?  I do want my Tom Sawyer to become independent as soon as he can because I know that he is going to need to separate much of his studies from his slower sisters in the near future. However, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. I like most of the way we homeschool now. Hmm.  I also shy away from trends .... Is this a trendy new way of teaching or the answer to my prayer?  Much to ponder ...

Blessings, Dawn