Sunday, January 24, 2010

Saxon, schedules and a letter to Disney

We currently use Saxon 1 for math and it takes so much time that I am contemplating doing Singapore next year instead. It just seems that after the meeting book and lesson it is really hard to get her to do the fact drills, worksheet and then the homework later. Even if I break it into segments it still takes a huge portion of our daily lesson times. I find that we can never complete it all and it is pushed to the weekends in an endless cycle of catch up. She is learning and retaining but she cringes when I pull out the math stuff and so do I. I have heard a lot of positive things about Singapore and I think it may be a good decision for us. I am holding onto  hope.

So Roo really wants to go to Disney Land. I'm not so eager but dh seems excited to take her. The obvious problem is money. We aren't the type of people that can vacation every year. We have to plan well and save over an extended period of time (think years). I really want my next vacation to be European though, filled with history and culture. I figure we can hit two birds with one stone to go to Euro Disney if we get the opportunity to travel to Europe. I know that Euro Disney isn't comparable to Florida Disney, but I think that would satisfy her. Plus we would get do do so much more than just see a theme park. I just need to convince the other two. Friday a Disney advertisement came in the mail and my dd assumed it was mail sent to her. She decided to send Disney a letter back which I took a photo of. On one hand I find it funny, the other hand it makes me feel guilty.


The letter says "Help,
Yes Us
Tom, Sara, Roo
Disney Land"

Now onward to schedules. I have read WTM 4 times and skim it quite frequently for reference, but I recently read LCC as well (2 times) and find it very, very appealing. What to do? I have been spending endless amounts of time trying to figure out what I am going to do schedule wise next year for Grade 1. This year being K, I can dip my toes in various ponds and take it as learning. Next year I really want something more schedule based. I really do well with a schedule laid out for me and gain immense satisfaction when I can cross stuff off as I go. I also like the illusion that I am somewhat organized;) I know you can combine WTM and LCC but my question is how. I wish there was a schedule generator that I could input information and it will provide me with the most time efficient and beneficial schedule to follow. I don't want to tackle too much but I also am scared of not enough stuff. Now I am off to look at LCC once again to see if all becomes clear. (wishful thinking)

2 comments:

Melissa said...

ISnt its SO crazy this whole homeschooling thing, This is the BEST year to dip your feet in and play. thats what im doing, althouh this is really a prek year since DD is 4, next year is typically K but im considering this K and next 1st.

what singapore were you looking at? i had the EArly bird (older editions) and it was too easy for her, at 3.75, so we are going through Horizon K now and its perfect. it started addition ar lesson like 24....

check it out.

Sara said...

It really is crazy. I'm glad I was able to start in her K year. It gives me time to move into it slowly and figure things out for us.
I'm considering Singapore 1A and 1B for next year. It just seems like it may be a better fit for us. Saxon 1 is giving her her addition, subtraction, time and money exercises but there is just always so much stuff to do. I'm scared to skip something because of all the warning posts about doing every Saxon question. I think math is extremely important but I think we should be able to accomplish what we need in shorter time.