1st Day of School!

Welcome to Harper's Academy!

Monday; July 18, 2011 was our 1st day of school!

Ian is entering the 3rd grade age level this year. As a homeschooler it is hard to pin-point the exact grade he's in as he's on different levels academically in different subjects. That's one thing I really like about homeschooling- I can teach to his level! If he's struggling in an area we can take the time until he gets it or run full force through an easy for him subject.

This year I'll be teaching Ian all the required subjects (language arts, reading, math, science, and social studies) plus a few extras (Bible, sewing, typing, & paper folding). He was very excited to get started and could care less that he only got 4 weeks of summer vacation. He was getting bored and, well, when he gets bored he's very ornery. ;) I really like our year-round school schedule!

Here's a run down of the subjects we'll be learning this year for those who are interested:

Language Arts

• Explode the Code Books 4 thru 6- teaches phonics. These books we are using range from 2nd to 3rd grades but this is a tougher subject for Ian so he's a little behind
• Writing Strands Level 2- teaches creative writing. This is technically at a 2nd grade level but Ian struggles with this subject so I'm giving him extra time to 'get it' at his own pace
• Handwriting- Ian still needs practice printing so we'll be doing that again. I decided to push cursive off to next year 

Reading

• I'll finish reading the last 3 books of the Chronicles of Narnia to the boys. After that we'll just find whatever we want at the library but I was thinking of reading the Boxcar Children or the Hardy Boys next.
• Ian enjoys non-fiction books which he finds at the library. He also enjoys the Nate the Great Series, the Black Lagoon series and all of the Diary of a Whimpy Kid books.

Math
Math-U-See- we really like this as it's a hands-on approach (great for Ian!)

• Beta- double digit addition and subtraction- he will complete this whole book this year
• Gamma- Multiplication- he will do only the beginning part of this at the end of the year then the rest of it next school year

Science

• Apoligia's Exploring Creation through Botany- comprehensive whole approach to science, doesn't dumb it down for the age and is creation/biblical oriented (Thanks, Sis, for letting us borrow your textbook. I also go the notebooking journal which is very much worth it!)

Social Studies

• Maps, Charts, Graphs B and C- for geography
• Middle Ages, Level 1- for history

Bible- I haven't taught Bible yet and have no idea how to go about doing it and these lessons seem very simple and easy to follow

Sewing- Level 3- (first half of the year) we are looking forward to this plus a quilt we plan to create

Paper Folding- (second half of the year) very neat and fun to create projects, we'll be doing the 2nd level this year

Typing- I wanted to teach Ian to type this year since he seems to have so many troubles with his handwriting
So that's all for now. Another day I'll probably tell you about our daily schedule and how a day goes in our house! :)

And here are a few more pictures with an uncooperative toddler!