The {worm} ate my homework

A homeschool update!  Finally!

We made it through the school year... Well, almost.

It seems Nator's computer has been infected with an awful worm.  3 weeks shy of completion.  No. joke.  DK has been so busy that he hasn't had time to take her laptop apart and reassemble everything as needed to de-worm the poor thing.  {Well, there was last weekend, but I understand why he didn't want to when he hasn't had much time off... soon though!}  He's confident that her fourth grade year is saved in there,
{pleasejesuspleasejesus}
but the worm is preventing us from retrieving it... for now.

That's a sign of the times, eh?  It's no longer... the DOG ate my homework.  Well, that... and the fact that I'd love to afford them each new laptops for school.  Sigh...

Good thing I happened to take a couple pictures of some important work earlier this year.  I mean I have to document something from Nator's school year!

As you can see from these poems she was required to finish, Nator takes {all of} her work seriously. ;)

There's nothing like a lil' humor to lighten a heavy story, right?

She must envision God with bling!  Hehee... 
{and yes, spelling is a process, right?}

For those of you who have asked about curriculum, we used:

Gracie ~ 2nd Grade year
Language, Letters & Sounds:  ABeka
Grammar:  Growing with Grammar
Math:  Math-U-See {Beta & Gamma}
History:  ABeka
Science:  ABeka
 Health:  ABeka

Nator ~ 4th Grade year
Language: SOS {AOP, Switched on Schoolhouse}
Grammar:  Growing with Grammar {grade 3}
Math: TT {Teaching Textbooks, grade 5}
History:  SOS
Science:  SOS
Bible:  SOS

Add... Lots of trips to the library, dance classes, AHG meetings, and a lil' reinforcement using an elementary learning system {grades 1-5} we bought at Mardel 2 years ago.  The girls really enjoy watching videos of their favorite subjects, and Mama may or may not have made them watch the video on the importance of proper hand-washing {involving a petri dish} more than a few times.  Ewe.  $16 well spent for that alone!  :)

{Yes, I'm teaching my girls to be a lil' OCD in public restrooms. 
I'm okay with that.}

Summer
Gracie:  Teaching Textbooks, grade 3 for review
Nator:  Growing with Grammar, grade 4
{as well as online math drills, library reading club, spelling city, dance lessons, and science classes}

Just a quick overview... I used to be one of those homeschool parents who didn't want to deviate from ABeka.  Would you call that... an ABeka-ite?  However, after some of it no longer worked for my lil' learners, I had to look outside of my lil' box.

Mastering the concept of multiplication, Gracie flourished using a different math this year.  She needed the visual and hands-on material that Math-U-See offered.  Nator really enjoyed staying on task with her laptop using SOS and Teaching Textbooks Math {if TT it's good enough for the Pioneer Woman, it's good enough for us. hehe...}. 

Unfortunately, SOS gets a bit of a bad rap within the homeschool community.  Overall, I really liked it {well, except the whole worm thing}.  Nator is learning the importance of independent learning and the calendar within made sure mommy stayed on task, too.  That's important.  For language, we will be changing it up a bit this year.

I'm really not a fan of curriculum hopping, which is why I can't allow myself to go to homeschool conventions and walk among vendors.  Too overwhelming, and... Curriculum hopping = gaps in learning.

I'll post next year's list as soon as it's all been ordered.  I'm not deviating much, mostly language.  {You know, the whole 'gap' thing.} I'm kind of excited to be taking a different approach this year!  And I can't wait to see what creative, humorous writings those lil' gals come up with.

There may be more subjects added this year as well...  Let's hope the worm doesn't like the taste of those!