The new school year is underway in the Ritchie house. We’ve made a few changes this year including adding some schooling on the computer. We’ve added typing, science, and language arts on the computer for the kiddos. The typing program is a simple Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing
So far both computer components are working well for the kiddos and adds some balance and independent work to their school day. The typing is a little dry, but still gets the job done. We were using a Disney typing program the kids really liked, but the program started having trouble on our computer so Mavis Beacon is the replacement.
As for the Switched On Schoolhouse, the kids really seem to enjoy it. Figuring out how everything works was a little bit of a challenge, but once everyone got the hang of it they were enjoying it. They even have a teacher-only section that lets me see how they are doing and tracks their progress. The program lets me assign each lesson, but instead I just let the kiddos move at their own pace and desire. This pacing is working well for now. Stay tuned to see if it continues…
Other than our new computer programs, the school year looks much the same as last year. We’re reading the Core 3 from Sonlight. The kiddos individual reading is also following Sonlight. For math, we’re enjoying Horizons. To be honest, the math lessons are a little too long which wears on the kids some days, but I like the comprehensiveness of the lessons too. They balance many math concepts into each lesson. It seems to be the best math program for our family that we’ve seen.
We are about 4 or 5 weeks into the new school year and things are going well. Dylan continues to add more to his schoolwork and he really is enjoying being a “big kid”. Well… I have two little ones staring at me to grade their work… Gotta run!
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