What Worked/What Did Not

I am inspired by an art teacher who posted not only what worked, but what did not. Very brave! I was comforted to know that even for an experienced teacher, miscalculations can be made on how well a project is going to work for a class.

ONE THAT WORKED AND DID NOT WORK:

Beautiful Feet Geography-

I have used two of the books, Paddle to the Sea and Tree in the Trail, that are included in this study years ago with my daughter. This time I repeated Paddle to the Sea and also did Minn of the Mississippi.

There was so much information packed into each page of Minn of the Mississippi that it made it difficult to use in a co op setting. If I were to read this book with just my own children, I would read one page at a time. I would also try to read every day so that the previous information was still fresh. Meeting once a week (sometimes less), I read as many as six pages in a sitting.

Paddle to the Sea was more manageable. It also packed a lot of information in each page, but it did not touch on the multitude of subjects that Minn did. I would still recommend using this book in a home setting.

Overall, used in a more intimate setting, this is a great way to learn geography. If I were to use it in a co op setting again, I would have to rethink my format.

Some important things to note:

*This curriculum was written for a homeschool setting. Sitting next to your child and savoring each page of amazingly detailed illustrations and diagrams adds a lot to the experience. A co op does not lend itself to that.

*Not being Mrs. Duggar (whom I have the utmost respect for), I am not experienced in teaching more than 4 children the same subject at the same time.  The "not working" part of this experience was can also be attributed to my inexperience.

*In spite of my critique, I had so much fun doing this! The kids were great and it was a privilege getting to know them better through this experience. I look forward to doing more (other things) with them next year. That is the "worked" part of this venture. It really was the highlight of my week to work with these children.

THREE THAT WORKED:

Beginning Drawing With Barry Stebbing

The age level on this DVD set states "6 and up". If you want your children to work on their own, I suggest 8 and up. We keep our art boxes reading to go in the living room next to the TV. When we get a chance, we watch the art videos and draw. We do this as a family (I love drawing too!), so all of us are enjoying it. The product description from the web site states that "Barry Stebbing walks the beginner step by step through the fundamentals of drawing". It does not sound very exciting, but that is exactly what he does. I am not posting any pictures of my drawings, but I have advanced beyond previous stick figure abilities (and even my stick figures were not very good).

This kitty below was drawn a while ago. It may not seem impressive to some,
but James was so insecure with his drawing when we first began this program
 that his drawings were too tiny to tell what they were.

 He jumps right in now and is willing to give it his best.



James 7yo


Download 'N Go-
(Astonishing Animals/Handsome Horses)

I am exhausted just writing the words "Download 'N Go". Those few who read my blog know that I use words like "passionate" and "obsessed" a lot when it comes to describing my boys. They are their dad's sons. I admire this in my boys and hubby, yet at the same time occasionally wish they came at life in a more relaxed manner. To give you an example- Last week Mark, in complete frustration, told me "mom, we just need to get down to work on our horse studies today!". Really? I was hoping for a "mom is really tired, let's just veg day!".

As I type this, Mark is sitting with his horse encyclopedia making notes. He has not told me what they are for, but there is lots of information on horse breeds, how many hands the horses are, where they came from...

I am happy to have found something that not only helped me teach about a subject, but that inspired my boys to want to continue to learn even more about it. So, in spite of my exhaustion, I am going to give Download 'N Go a thumbs up.

When we get our lapbooks assembled, I am going to try to post how we worked with Download 'N Go studies in our homeschool.

Thank you, Jennifer (my sister and fellow homeschool mom) for introducing us to these studies.


All About Spelling-

I have done so many posts on this, I won't continue on. If you are interested, here is what I have to say about it. My boys are not going to pester me to do this, but they are learning and don't put up a huge amount of resistance to doing it.

Fortunately, we did not have too many "don't works" this year. Although I may touch on a few in a scheduling/organization post. I would love to hear (see) what has worked/not worked for others. Let me know if you share yours!

Linking to: No Ordinary Blog Hop