Ho Gung

I was Gung-ho with all my ideas for Home School with Nickole. Since some relatives are 'uncomfortable' with the whole idea of home education, I had thought that something like Alpha &Omega 's Monarch Academy would be just wonderful. The work is assigned and, for the most part graded by computer. You can log in anywhere, no excess stacks of workbooks. Most kids LOVE being on the computer. The learning segments have bona fide teachers who present the material. I could show that Nickole really is enrolled in a school.

As it turned out, Monarch Academy is NOT a good fit for us at this time. Monarch Academy starts on a third grade level. Third grade assumes you have learned the basics you need to add and subtract, to read and at least print. I enjoyed our one-month free trial, but I have to find something that will work on Nickole's levels.

We have to go back and cover some basic necessities. We almost have basic addition conquered, and subtraction is coming right along. Yesterday, I discovered we need to cover Roman Numerals, consonants & vowels. Since we haven't entered into the payment portion of Monarch, I am OK with letting Monarch Academy go for now.

I hate to think of it as 'flying by the seat of my pants', but that is kind of where I am at. I hate to purchase a curriculum that's going to be gone through at a rapid pace. I'm sure that she will quickly assimilate the missing blocks of information once it is presented to her.

So, I am outlining a plan. I am using free and low cost options from a number of sources. We have Khan Academy available for math and a few other subjects. I have access to Scholastic "Teachables" through our public library. I have free "Common Core" worksheet generators I can use in Geography, spelling, and Math. I have YouTube! (Is there ANYTHING you can't learn from watching a video online?)

We will be going back and laying the basic foundation stones in math, and the mechanics of language. We will learn what cardinal and ordinal numbers are. We will learn about Roman Numerals, as well as Hindi-Arabic numerals.

We have begun "Atlas Adventures", based off a sticker book kids atlas from Aldi. (3.99). I decided we will start at the beginning of the sticker book. Nickole chooses one sticker from the shadowed outlines in the book, and puts it into place. Then, we come to the computer and look up more information about the item depicted by the sticker. So far, we have learned about Día de los Muertos, The Day of The Dead celebration; and The Golden Gate Bridge.
I choose several videos about the subject, as well as a basic search engine information spread. We watch the videos and read about the subject.
Next, Nickole goes into a blank Word document, and summarizes what she has learned about the topic. EDIT: I realized we need to print the original, unedited draft. This is attached to the final copy. This proves her progress. I follow up with checking her spelling, punctuation, and paragraph structure. I highlight words that need to be corrected, suggest edits, and mark punctuation points. Using the Word program eases the frustration of having to recopy the paper repeatedly as we edit.
Once the paragraph corrections are made, we print out a copy, and Nickole draws a picture to go with it. (It just occurred to me, I need to be printing out the raw documents as well, not just the finished product, so we can demonstrate progress.)
We look at the globe, and at the atlas to get the idea of where on the planet our topic is located.

This has been more of  theme of study than any particular "subject". Nickole is not only learning about the topic of the sticker, and where it is geographically located, but also grasping the main ideas of the materials, organizing thoughts into sentences, and sentences into a paragraph. She is learning computer skills. She will be gaining research skills. She will learn to spell correctly and soon move from paragraphs to essays.
In my opinion, learning HOW to learn is a vital step she needs to take in gaining an education. That hasn't been happening for her in the school system.

So maybe I'm not quite as gung-ho as I was a few weeks back. I have been frustrated and upset. This new direction has taken me from trying to force a quick paced catch-up, to more of a "start completely over" with the basics.
As advised by many, I am documenting, documenting, documenting. From the failures to the fantastics, the good, bad, and ugly all along the way. We are documenting the books Nickole has read, and the curriculum sources we have tapped as we struggle along.

Please pray for us in this journey.