7/9/2014 0 Comments Counting downThe final days of our summer have come! Yes, you read that right - we're about to begin school once again. July 15th we start our lessons. Why so early? Well, for one, I've been moving to more of a year-round schedule to fit our lifestyle and cycles a bit better. To add to that need, we have a little one due at the end of October, so there will be a couple of months off in the fall! Really, around here, the fall is the better time for getting out and playing than July and August anyway, so it's a win-win situation! =) We have been doing some reviewing, courtesy of 3 Dinosaurs and Royal Baloo's Buildup to Summer series they've put out. I hope it helps to smoothly kick off the new year, without much need of review. Dude and Monkey have enjoyed the different themes quite a bit! So what have we been doing these past few weeks in preparation? Well, unlike usual, it's actually only been this week that I've been laying out lesson plans. I think part of that is more familiarity with the programs we are using - I'm definitely not so anxious as to how to tackle this year with Dude!!! However, I have done a couple of spreadsheets this year, as opposed to fully by hand writing out how I will divide up the lessons for grammar and reading. If you've checked out the third grade page, you'll know we're going with First Language Lessons from Peace Hill Press mixed with Primary Language Lessons for grammar. They are not necessary to use together, however, I do like to have daily grammar lessons, and the change in style seems to help keep interest up! I decided that, since this year has its own workbook for First Language Lessons, I would use a folder, possibly switching to a 3 ring binder, to keep the worksheets in. Because I'll be tearing them out of the workbook and mixing in another book's lessons, I had to change up the recommended schedule for completing the lessons. I opted for choice "C" given in the teacher's manual, mixing the optional lessons in throughout the year, to complete the entire book. Want to take a peek? Here's the first half of our year: For a quick breakdown of my shorthand, "F" is for First Language Lessons, and the number is the lesson number. The "DS" following the F stands for Dictionary Skills - one of the optional groups of lessons, also followed by its corresponding lesson number. "PLL" would be Primary Language lessons, followed by the lesson number. We completed through lesson 48 last year. For reading, I laid out a very similar spreadsheet. We are continuing the Pathways series. Dude says he can't wait to start his new reading program! I had actually wavered on continuing a reading program. He has become so fluent, that I was thinking that reading time and discussion alongside his writing and grammar would fulfill his needs. I may be right in that context, but given his excitement over his new program, I think I'm glad we continued this series. And it certainly won't hurt to get some extra reinforcement in there! =) Here's another peek at our scheduling in this set: (the page numbers are the workbook pages we'll be covering that day) So far, those are the only two with schedules written down. We'll also be continuing in Latina Christiana I, alongside Famous Men of Rome, which we started at the end of second grade. That pattern for teaching has already been established, so I"ll get out last year's planner and continue on from where we left off. Math is always harder to plan out long-term. I never know which chapters Dude will fly through that I thought may present a challenge, or which chapters he may have a harder time with that I thought he'd catch on to with no problem! So, we'll be somewhat playing it by ear with that one. I'll have a rough outline for at least the first few weeks. This is the only subject I'm somewhat anxious about this year - we jump in with both feet to learn multiplication! I know that Math-U-See has provided a wonderful foundation for him, and that he really does know the basics and, without knowing it, he's already been doing some simple multiplication. However, the mental shift into really teaching it has me a good bit nervous. I'll let you know how it goes!! =) Dude picked his Bible curriculum this year. It's the first one that he's picked. He says he likes the others that I've chosen! This year, he liked the looks of Memoria Press' Christian Studies I, and I think he made a good choice! He likes to study more in-depth than just the surface of Bible stories, and this should fulfill that desire, complete with maps, which he loves! Writing with Ease definitely fulfills on the Ease part for this mama! The lessons come pre-planned out for a 36 week school year, 4 days a week. So, no worries there - it's all ready by the time I get it! =) This year in science we dive into Zoology I: Flying Creatures from Apologia. Dude just wants to get to the bats! It is pretty easy to lay out those lessons, so I'm not worried about that. Maybe tonight I"ll sit down and at least get the first few weeks lined up! =) I have already begun to line up history. At least, I have chosen what chapters I will teach each week. Story of the World, Volume 3 holds exciting things for Dude - he already loves the Revolutionary War, and, being a Texan, the Alamo. Both are covered by the end of this year!!!! I foresee many battle scenes reenacted before the year is out. =) Music will now be taught through piano lessons. So, no real curriculum or lining up of lessons there, although I already do have blocked out a bit of each school day to make sure practice happens! That all covered the teaching, but if you've been reading the blog, you'll know that I've been preparing for the big move of switching the study with the nursery. The nursery was located in the biggest extra room of the house, and now it's time to make use of that room, and add in some desks for the munchkins, making it not only our study/office, but a schoolroom as well! So far, progress has been delayed with preparations for and a trip to Florida to attend a very close friend's wedding. Now that we are back and settled, I've begun to tackle the major move. We'll see if we're in our schoolroom by next Tuesday to begin our school year! What's been done, you ask? Well, for starters, there is a loveseat located in the nursery. Odd, I know, but it's where I lie down with a nursing baby in the middle of the night, or just cuddle with a little one as needed. I'm quite attached to that little loveseat! So, it had to go into the big-kid room for the time being, to give space for the other moving around that is going to happen! Once that was out and situated in the kids' room, complete with moving Scoot out of the portacrib and onto a little cot I had bought for the trip at Wal-mart, the Principal was ready to get in on the action, and his desk went into place the very same day! That all occurred on Monday. Tuesday brought the crib being taken apart for the first time in 7 years. It's just too wide to fit through the door assembled! I also unloaded, moved, anchored, and reloaded one set of bookshelves. That was quite a process while also attending to 3 little ones! Today (Wednesday) hopefully brings the start to building the bookshelves that will serve double-duty as desks. A big thank-you to my friend for sending me the idea! I'll post pictures as I go so that you can see what I'm talking about. What about you? Are you about to start schooling again? Are you still carrying over from last year? Or are you just enjoying the summer and will hold off until fall for lessons? Do you have any major changes you're making for this school year?
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Today was our first official day off of school. Mondays are always off, so that wasn't anything new. Today brought the first taste of real freedom. My kiddos were quite happy with a walk to the park and playing with cousins! I was quite happy with naptime following this adventure!!! =) We are still continuing writing, as Dude seems to be having a bit of trouble with his dictation, and that needs to be remedied before we try to move on to the next level in that subject. Thankfully, that means less than 20 minutes a day! Am I the only crazy one that goes a little nuts when summer comes around? All of the sudden, I've jumped on about 5 projects that I've been plotting to do. Quilting has suddenly come alive again in my household, after a roughly 8 month dormancy. Yesterday brought new bookshelves and storage boxes to the kids' room to replace the small set of shelves that was in there. The shelves were bought, assembled, and filled all within the span of the afternoon and evening! Today I started filling a couple of those boxes to help clear out their closet. This summer brings lots of changes in preparation for next school year as well as a new baby! Here's a couple of shots of the project - one showing the old and new bookshelves side-by-side, and the other showing the bookshelves all nicely filled and organized! This change in furniture is only the bare beginning of the preparatory work for moving around the other two extra rooms of the house - the study and nursery, soon to swap places. First up, the kids' room had to be cleaned up and organized, and I needed to see how much was moving out of the current study and how much will move into the new study. I also have to prepare their closet for a third child's clothes to be stored in there. Scoot's already been sleeping in the big kids' room, but I haven't yet moved her clothes out of the nursery. It's time! Ironically, the quilting is also part of the moving process!!! I've had projects piling up that I want to do, with fabric that I want to use for them... and I'm about to have a good bit less space. Time to use it up! Monkey is getting a "big girl bed" quilt that I should have made a couple of years ago. The last of that fabric got cut this evening. I"m also working on a surprise for a friend, which will alleviate an entire large bin's worth when done. Along with this is also a project started last summer, with the intent of a Christmas present for Monkey. Time to finish that up and get it out! Or put away for this coming Christmas or birthday. =) I also have a few quilts for our bed that have been waiting in the wings, so they've come up front and center. Even the Principal has a surprise buried in this mountain of stuff... keep an eye on my other blog for updates on my projects! =) Here's a sneak peak at one of my projects going on: Besides all of this, I finally feel like I'm beginning to get a bit of a handle on the kitchen and laundry, too! Maybe by the time we start back up in July I'll have a good system down, and a much better organization system in place along with that new schoolroom/study!
So, tell me, am I the only one that goes a bit crazy when school is out and lessons no longer are taking up many of the hours of the day? What do you do when school comes to a close? 5/12/2014 0 Comments Last week of homeschooling one.While finishing up our last week this week, the tension and excitement are mounting as I look ahead to our next year of homeschooling.... this time with TWO in formal lessons! Granted, one will be in kindergarten. This will still be a mostly easy-going year for her. We'll be headed into third grade with my oldest. How are we already at third grade!? It doesn't seem possible that my baby boy will be heading into the third year of formal lessons. Yes, you read that right - with him, we never really did a formal kindergarten. With Monkey, she's wanting more school to be like big brother, so I'm actually having to gather things together and piecemeal a kindergarten curriculum to guide our year coming up.
I'm not a big believer in pushing (or even encouraging) children to do too much too early. We did "pretty school" with Monkey this year at her request - she wanted school, too! Dude learned what he needed for a first grade level just by asking questions and haphazardly working through simple workbooks to learn his letters and numbers. Really, there was no planning in it! It was fully by his request. It wasn't until I started looking into Kindergarten curriculum for him at 5 that I realized I'd "accidentally" already prepared him for a first grade level! With Monkey, I've tried to divert her a little. She's followed and listened, and likely could have done a kindergarten level this year, but this mama wasn't on board with a first grader at 4, so I tried to focus on letters and shapes and patterns and colors instead this year, leaving the letters and beginning of reading for next year. =) With our school year wrapping up, the Principal is on pins and needles, just chomping at the bit as he awaits my signals that I'm ready for our big change-around of rooms. He's ready for the new study and school room to be in place! I, on the other hand, am just not ready yet! I have had to request peace in the moving and changing department until AFTER the end of the school year, for my sanity. The countdown has begun! =) What about you? Are you already done for the year, or drawing things to a close? Or are you still a good bit off from the end? Yep, you guessed it! If you've read our "About Us" post, then you may have noticed in the introductions of Scoot that I said "currently bringing up the rear." There was more to that! I'm about to head into that not-altogether-unknown-territory so many homeschool mamas have gone through - pregnancy and homeschooling! (Followed quickly by a newborn and homeschooling!)
For us, this will be a first! When Scoot was born, we were not yet formally schooling Dude. He was still in his preschool time, with no set schedule or curriculum. Our time was much more free to arrange. Am I nervous? Oh yeah. This is certainly new territory, and homeschooling is a lot of work. So is a newborn. Balancing the two should prove interesting! What are my plans? As of now, we're 4 weeks away from the end of our current school year. The countdown to "summer break" is on!! We'll take a couple of months off, and around July I look to start "next year." Yes, that means we're going to more of a year-round schooling schedule. We've been headed there anyway, since our self-employed household tends to run on a different schedule than the "typical" family schedule. I hope to accomplish around 2 months of school (taking us through August), maybe take a couple of weeks off in there, and then school from mid-September until about the middle of October. Baby #4 is due on the 30th. At that point, we'll see how I'm feeling. Any mama reading this will understand that the end of pregnancy isn't exactly the time you feel like doing a whole lot of intensive work, especially anything that requires a great amount of patience. Homeschooling does. Therefore, I think we'll just take that time off, and resume once the baby is around 6 weeks old and some sense of sanity has been regained in the house! =) That means around the end of November/Middle of December we'll pick back up where we left off, working up until at least mid-December (closer to Christmas if the baby comes around due date), before we break for a couple of weeks around Christmas. I don't want to take too much time off, and lose ground in our studies, or lose discipline in our school habits. Both of those I've seen take place after extended breaks! I've also been playing around with the idea that I've seen of either 4 weeks on/1 week off or 6 weeks on/1 (or 2) weeks off for our scheduling outside of around the baby's arrival time. I'll have to get my new calendar soon and see if either would work out! Of course, I'll work to keep you posted and updated on what actually happens. Pregnancy is unpredictable, and even though I'm (mostly) out of the throes of morning sickness, I'll have to take whatever else gets thrown at me along the way! What do the kids say, you ask? Well, the girls are just excited about a baby. Dude, upon hearing that a new one was coming, said in desperation, "I hope it's a boy!" And then, flinging himself backwards upon the carpet, "I'm surrounded by GIRLS!!!!!!" Well, he obviously has strong feelings on the subject! The Principal? Believe it or not, he's rather hoping for another little girl! As for me, I really don't have a preference one way or the other. Just a warning - don't hold out for a gender announcement in the next couple of months! We have waited until birth with all 3 of ours so far, and plan to do the same with this one. We, of course, now have sets for the baby's room in both girl and boy prints, so we're set either way. We are just praying for a healthy pregnancy and a smooth labor and delivery, with a healthy, happy, baby and mama at the end of things! =) 4/10/2014 0 Comments About Us...It seems the logical place to start is to introduce myself and my family, as that is who this entire section of the website is based upon! We'll go in order of age:
So, there you have our family in a nutshell! We have anything but a quiet, serene household, and I love it. We're bustling and moving all day, and outside as much as we can be, enjoying God's creation. You'll see through the pages of the homeschooling section just what we've been into each year and learning, and I'll try to keep you updated on what we're currently loving and doing!
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Mother of Dude, Monkey, and Scoot... and a new one on the way!I think that about sums it up! :) Before shopping online, be sure to sign up for ebates and earn money back at many, many online stores!
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