Homeschool Changes - What Worked, What Didn't!

We are wrapping up our school year (7 days left, who is counting??) and I'm thinking about the differences between this year and last year.  The obvious differences are that instead of a third grader and a kindergartner, I have a third grader, a second grader and two preschoolers.  It's a bit of an increased work load.  So I'm going to do some basic thoughts on changes we have made as far as process but also as far as curriculum choices.

Preschool
We used to use Easy Peasy All-In-One Getting Ready 1 multiple times a week.  This year the four boys went to school two days a week so it would have been challenging fitting all of that into our schedule.  Instead, I went through and chose what I thought would work best for each letter and incorporated a letter craft.  We did it one day a week, built a letter book and called it a wrap for preschool.  They gained valuable letter exposure but we didn't have to sit down every day to make it happen.  They also gained letter exposure at school and practice with writing, tracing, etc.  I plan to do something very similar for Isaac when it is his turn...and we'll see when Timothy and Faith are old enough!

Portfolios
I used to tuck papers into a binder in the hopes that one day they would get sorted correctly and put away well.  This year I am thrilled to say that I stayed disciplined and put papers away each week when I changed out their charts.  By doing it this way their portfolios are neater, in order and complete.  Definitely going to try to keep this up next year!

Dry Erase vs Write On Worksheets
We did dry erase worksheets last year - I put each page inside a page protector so that we could resuse them.  It took a TON of time, was messy and did not encourage good handwriting.  I scrapped that plan not too far into this year and we use worksheets plain instead.  I hate the paper waste, but I need the girls to have better handwriting and I need to be able to quickly swap out their weekly work without a ton of extra effort.  We also have a printer that is very cost effective so re-printing the materials for each kiddo won't be a huge barrier even though it is added cost.

Spirals vs Charts
Their assignments are on charts this year and I did a whole post on that separate.  It just gives us the flexibility to work ahead, slow down and do what is needed without feeling locked in rigidly to assignments.  It also keeps the week's work on one page, easy to adjust and a better "bigger picture" for my brain.

History and Science Curriculum
We were using Easy Peasy All In One Homeschool for Grace for these two subjects the past two years.  They were good, not great for her.  Also as our family expands and more members need to be able to work together, huddling around the computer isn't going to be our best plan of action.  We switched to The Good and the Beautiful for History and will continue with them next year.  It is a family style approach that allows us to learn together but gives assignments and review based on grade level.  Science we switched to Berean Builders which is the same sort of set up and we will continue with that next year as well.  I'm thrilled with both curriculums and would recommend both.  We also do these subjects only twice a week - the days when the boys are at school - which has given us plenty of time to get through the lessons and to get the work done well!

English / Language Arts
We also started using The Good and The Beautiful Language Arts this year.  It incorporates writing, reading, grammer, spelling, etc.  I need to do a better job of sticking with all the components next year (memorization and spelling quickly fell by the wayside).  Overall I really like it although there seem to be a lot of moving pieces and isn't quite as simple to use as I'd like.  (I like more of a Day 1 do this approach rather than do 5 minutes of spelling, 10 minutes of reading, 20 minutes of lessons, etc. 

School Days
Technically school is scheduled 5 days a week but we do very little book work on Thursdays as that is usually our Library / appointment day.  I try to make sure we have a day to do the things we need to do without feeling overwhelmed or behind.  We may switch that day around next year but it works well for us to have a down or catch up day.

That is all I can think of that we have made some major changes on.  It is a different approach but this school year feels so much more relaxed and less dramatic than in the past - even with more kids.  I'm hoping that we can continue this pace next year!