Joshua Homeschool Progress

Joshua has just about completed all his schooling for the year.

Bible we used the Bible. We read daily for 15 min., and Josh read his early reader Bible five times before we graduated to a Bible for his age. We discussed what we read and talked about how God wants us to use what we read daily. We also did a daily devotion. And wrote a verse weekly (5 times a week we write the same verse.) Josh has about 10 verses memorized that he didn't know before.

Math we use Math U See and he has completed 24 out of 30 lessons in his book. He will continue to do math 15 min. a day until the book is completed.

Language Arts we used First Language Lessons For the Well Trained Mind. He has completed this book. We also used Handwriting Without Tears Cursive, which he is about 85% done with the book (he will continue to do one page daily until book is complete.)

Spelling we were using Sequential Spelling 1, but it ended up being a bit challenging for him, so we discontinued and have started Spelling Workout B. Also while journaling daily I would underline the incorrectly spelled words and Josh would rewrite them spelled correctly. The daily journaling was good for not only spelling, but handwriting as well as creative writing.

Reading I read a lot to Josh as well as had him read aloud and silently. He read 15 min. daily of his Bible (we started out with an easy reader Bible and graduated to a more age appropriate Bible.) I read about 100 books to him, he read about 50 himself, in addition to the time spent reading the Bible. Some of the books were super easy to build his confidence, but many were longer, even including some chapter books (that he read himself.) We also listened to about 10 audio books.

History we did Famous Americans Calvert School, as we studied famous people from the revolution to present day we also talked about events that happened during their lives. We also reenacted a few of these events, such as the Boston Tea Party, and Civil War. In addition we built models of Lincoln's log cabin, the Lincoln Memorial, and more. We did monthly reports on famous Americans.

Geography we learned the names and location of all 50 states. We also learned how to look at a map, use the map keys, and how to read basic maps.

Science we did about 9 months on the Human Body, utilizing about 20 books and even some 3d models. Then we did Life Cycles on: Sunflower, Lily Pad, Caterpillar's, and Frogs. We had live models for all the units, but our frogs are still only tadpoles, so we had to read to see what they will become (instead of experience it.) For each life cycle unit, we kept daily journals and drew/wrote our observations, we discussed our findings weekly.

Art we did painting, sculpting, and drawing with pencils, crayons, chalk, and markers. We did silhouette art, spin art, free drawing and copy work. We created 3d models with clay. We viewed famous American art and discussed how it made us feel and how art was done and by whom.

Physical Education we did about 60 min. three times a week. We utilized bikes, scooters, skateboards, as well as our trampoline along with walks, runs, and swimming. Joshua participated on a soccer team. He was also on a basketball league.

I am very pleased with Joshua's academic progress. For the rest of the summer he will do:
Math 15 min. daily
1 page in cursive book
daily Bible reading
daily devotion
daily journal
daily reading

-Becky