I reviewed the sweetest portfolios from my friend Jaime! She is an inspiration to me. I found her introduction to her portfolios to be honest, funny, and truthful. I asked her to allow me to graciously share this with others so they can see what it is like to homeschool - the thoughts and feelings included. She agreed: I hope you enjoy it as much as I did!
As with every year when I portfolio my children, I am seeing the areas that we have excelled in this year as well as the areas in which we are lacking. At the beginning of the school year, there are so many high hopes and fresh curriculum. All is planned and ready. Then life happens. Toddlers need to be played with or read to and cuddled. Preschoolers find a Japanese beetle that must be drawn and colored. No need to mention the meltdowns and tears, because that is just part of it. Sometimes, the kids cry too! Life is busy and unpredictable. It is so easy for me to pick things apart and dissect our year. It isn’t always easy for me to see the big picture of their lives. I am going to as briefly as possible give you an overview of some of the basics of where I believe we are at right now, what we like, and what do well compared to what we don’t and need to work on.Mathematics:Math has been amazing! This has been an area in which I have been so concerned but the kids are getting it. They are understanding it and enjoying it! Well, enjoying may be a stretch. I will go with, they are not hating it! Teaching Textbooks has been great for us! It covers more than Math-U-See as far as the review, but isn’t as rigorous as Abeka (which we hated). This one is a keeper!Language Arts/:Grammar: Winston Grammar is WONDERFUL! This program sticks with quick lessons. We do a couple sentences together, then I assign a few sentences to work on every day for the rest of the week. They are remembering it, understanding it and they love to do it. This is what they want to start with, which gives us a happy note when school starts. I do like the review that Daily Grams allows. I also like that if there is an area that we have missed with something, we can go over it at that point. They will see it again and are doing well like this. I however would like to find something a little more simple or even an in context type book that would allow them to make corrections while reading and thinking. (Editor and Chief?) I’m looking into options for that.Reading: That brings us to reading…. I have been very lax on what I require them to read. They are required to read two-three chapters a day. Most usually it is leisurely style book for entertainment. I would like to switch this over to a history based or science based list to go along with what they are doing in other subjects, also allowing for leisure reading, possibly at night. My thoughts are maybe I will allow them to choose every third book. ?? My boys do not particularly enjoy reading, although they are doing very well with it based on oral narration.Spelling: I have not completed a formal spelling curriculum with my boys. I plan to begin that with Nate this year as he will be 12 in June. I don’t always agree with everything in any particular style of homeschooling. I do, however, agree with Charlotte Mason in this area.
Writing:Handwriting: Where is the brick wall on which I can beat my head? Both of my boys struggle with neatness. I have seen them sit and be brought to tears at the mere thought of having to write something out on paper. This is a lacking area. Looking back over the year, I realize how little they have actually been required to write. I’m not sure exactly what my game plan will be in this area, suggestions?Composition: I purchased IEW at the beginning of the year. I do really like it! My intentions were not to use it with the boys yet, however, I plan to beginning next year. My goal is to incorporate this with the science and history as well.History/Science: Because I chose a program with history and science combined this year, I will go over them together. We very much enjoyed Winter Promise. We chose to work through it more slowly than the program suggests. This program is very rich in content. It is a great deal of information and a lot of discussion opportunities. This part the boys liked. It also requires a lot of reading on my part, Nate and Caleb weren’t as happy with that. There were many science experiments allowing hands-on learning that we were able to complete, after which time I thought, “I should have recorded that.”Extras: There were many field trips that were blessed to be able to attend this year. I have done my best to be able to capture them for portfolio purposes but never will I be able to capture the knowledge and the memories made. Caleb continued with his guitar lessons, and Nate with his piano. Both boys participated in the Christmas play and are active in the youth group at church. They were also able to participate in the Center Shot archery program during the fall session.Nate and Caleb are two very happy, healthy, loving, caring, helpful and thoughtful young men. I am very proud of who they are and who they are becoming. They have grown and matured physically, spiritually, and intellectually in spite of their mama’s shortcomings. I cherish these days with them and as always will strive to make our next year homeschooling the best year yet.Thank you for your service with the portfolio’s and for your encouragement as a friend!Sincerely,Jaime
I love and look forward to seeing and hearing from Jaime Ward each year!
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