Week 5~Starting to Jive

So it's taken 5 weeks this year.......5 weeks! to finally feel like things are coming together for us. The beginning of each school year always seems so difficult! It always seems like we are adjusting to a new baby, moving, or this year moving people out! The beginning of a school year is difficult enough. But add in any major change and it seems to throw me completely for a loop.

This year my sister and her family moved out.....

We added Gracia in to our day of learning

TJ remained as a part of our day

We added picking Bella up from the school up the road @2

A few of us got the flu

We added soccer boy scouts and a few other things to our schedule

I almost had a nervous breakdown and gave up entirely (true story)

The charter school the kids attend made some changes, making it a little more challenging for the parents (not entirely bad, just a new adjustment)

I guess in the long run, even though we had a great summer, (and Jonah's permanent tooth survived) but I still wasn't quite ready to head back into school. But I felt pressure from the Charter school, knowing I had only a certain amount of time before the materials would need to be returned. Knowing they were starting face to face classes that we were required to be there for. Knowing that if we didn't start, that would mean we didn't finish .

I had our first 6 weeks planned.....but I was still teetering on changing History, questioning if I should be adding Geography and Art, or that other science. I was plain struggling. I hated my planner and was just over all dissatisfied with many of this year's choices. I have tried to keep reminding myself how young the kids are, how little they truly need at this age. But sometimes the responsibility of homeschooling and doing it well is overwhelming!

I'm thankful that this is the last week of our Quarter. Thankful I'll be able to refocus and make some adjustments to our routine, and possibly tweak both History and Science to make it work for us. After telling Dave about what I was looking for in a Science curriculum, and just not finding it, he actually offered to help write one! I know that sounds insane (it does to me as well considering how little time we actually have to do that!), but we are heavily praying and considering it. And I am still piecing together an Art curriculum for my kids and possibly for sharing one day.

I think that is what makes homeschooling so difficult at times. Because we get to pick and choose what our kids learn, being dissatisfied with something means I have to change it, add to it, supplement, edit.....it's both good and bad! But that is where we are. I am trying to carve out a little more time for myself these days as well. To study God's word, blog, craft.....something other than schooling, diaper changing, cleaning and cooking!

Hope this quarter is finding you well, have you had to make changes so far? 

Curriculum Round Up!

I'm always interested in what curriculum other people have chosen, mainly because I like to see what works in each family with kids of ages similar to mine. I always come across something I haven't heard of and it's fun to peek into the schoolroom of someone else! So this will be what it looks like in our "Learning Lab" this year:


Jonah (2nd grade)

• Sonlight Core C with Grade 3 readers. I know he is only 6, but that kid can read! I am taking the grammar part of it slowly and working on introducing him to concepts, but not overwhelming him.
• SpellWell, Explode the Code, MCP Phonics, Wordly Wise and Hooked on Phonics Master Reader
• Handwriting without Tears and A Reason For Handwriting
• Horizons Math 2
• Story of the World Volume 2
• Apologia Astronomy
• Telling God's Story Bible Study

Ellie(Kindergarten)

• Calvert 1st grade curriculum (we'll be using the reading, Math and Social Studies)
• Explode the Code
• Handwriting without Tears
• Story of the World Vol. 2
• Sonlight Science and Apologia Astronomy with Jonah
• Telling God's Story Bible Study

Gracia(Preschool-age 3)

• Letter of the Week (from confessions of a Homeschooler)
• Kiddsoup activities
• Homeschool Creations activities
• 1+1+1=1 Activities
• 2 Teaching Mommies activities

We like starting the day together in Circle Time. We go over skip counting, days of the week, tell time,
talk about the month or activities we have coming up, and a few other things (that is a whole post in itself!) We do Bible study together and then History or Geography. The kids do separate activities for Language Arts and Math and then come together again to do Science, Art, PE and those subjects. I know with kids of younger ages some of the facts and figures may go over their heads. I do believe being introduced to basic concepts and supplementing activities on their own level helps introduce them to a subject that we can build upon later!

I hope you enjoyed your view into our upcoming year! I would love to answer any questions! Hop on Over to Heart of the Matter and link up your blog!

Cyber Curriculum Carnival

So I've been tossing this idea around for a while now, I figure it's time I let it out of the bag and see what response I get.

You know, being a Homeschooling Mom is a tough job, whether you are new at it or a seasoned pro! I've been asked many times both online and in person about what curriculum I use and how I went about choosing it. Looking at various websites can be so confusing and intimidating for both first time Homeschoolers OR Homeschoolers that just aren't satisfied with their current choices!

In preparation for next school year, I'll be hosting a Cyber Curriculum Fair Blog Hop and I would love for you to be a part of it!

It's relatively simple. Basically I will be promoting and hosting a Blog Hop around the blogger-sphere where  Homeschooling Bloggers take part in posting about the curriculum they use OR have created! (what talent we have in the Homeschool community!) I would love each blogger participating to create 1 or more posts for a one week period (June 6-10th) about a particular Curriculum they use and love. If you want to create posts for all 5 days highlighting different curriculum, GREAT! But each post should be dedicated to a particular curriculum. If you've already done detailed posts about a particular curriculum and would like to re-post, that is fine too! If there is something you use such as Lapbooking or Unit Studies that aren't a particular curriculum but would like to post about that, please feel welcome! My main goal here is to have a week long event that Homeschooling families can get an inside look at what is out there and how it works in a real homeschool setting! 

So what do I need from you? Email me and let me know if you are interested (keikikuddlerz@earthlink.net), what curriculum (or curricula) you would like to post about. Once I have all the entries, I will email you back with a schedule of which days you need to post on. (That way blogging is spread evenly for our readers) If you can provide links and photographs of your children using the curriculum even better! Your blog posts should also include a button linking back to my blog (that I will provide) where readers can find a directory of curriculum posts, links to your blogs, and various Giveaways. But most importantly, your honest experience with the curriculum and why you choose to use it. Reading reviews from real life Homeschooling Moms can really make a difference between making a good choice for your family and making the RIGHT choice! And you can be a part of that!

I've got some Giveaways lined up to make the week a fun one! If you would like to include a giveaway on your blog please do! 

Please feel free to spread the word along to any blogger you know that you think would be a great addition to the group! The more the merrier! I hope you consider being a part of the Cyber Fair this year and join in the Hoop-La! Thank You!

Favorite Web~Roll

I know everyone has a list of favorite sites you frequent. Anyone who knows I literally have a hundred sites bookmarked on my homepage would laugh, but I wanted to share a few of my absolute favorites with you! Maybe you've heard of these, hopefully you'll find something new as well!

::A Few Freebies::

Funschool

FREE games, activities, crafts and experiments for every subject!

Storytime

FREE online story books for kids

Progressive Phonics

FREE Phonics program with books and printables!

Jelly Telly

FREE Christian shows, movies and episodes from the makers of Veggie Tales

Kids of Integrity 

FREE Bible lessons and activities perfect for homeschooling or family devotions!

Sheppard Software

FREE games in all subjects for all grade levels!

SpellCity

FREE Spelling,vocabulary and writing games and activities! Make your OWN lists and the site creates all activities for your child! {Read: this has revolutionized Jonah's interest in spelling!}

Mr.Donn's Websites

Just about every subject in Power Point presentations! Each subject also has links to great kids websites, videos, activities and more! I use this site ALL the time for History and Science!

::Pennies a Day::

More Starfall 

By now you've heard of Starfall (a free site for reading) They've just opened a new site called morestarfall! And it is FABULOUS! You can verify up to 3 computers (3 users at a time) for only $35 a year. That's a mere .03 a day! And after spending a combined total of hours and hours on this new site, survey says it's worth it! 

ClicknKids

This is a great program I've used with the kids (grades K-3rd/4th). The program cost is around $60 for a lifetime membership. You can purchase additional children and keep a record of their progress (in printable version or online viewing) You can reset lessons and start again with a new student when you need to! And if you used this code CNKSpring you can get $50 off! There is also a 60 day money back guarantee if you buy the program and don't like it!

Evan-Moor

This is a site I use on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis. It has proved to be worth every.single.cent. we've spent on it. This site has every subject you can ever imagine. Printable activities, books, crafts, experiments. And it spans from PreK to 6th grade! It's a bit pricier for either $12.99 per month or $99 for year. You could literally use this site alone for your entire curriculum. The activities are correlated to State Standards and the search engine makes it easy to search for your subject by grades and specific topics. It's worth the money!

I hope you enjoy perusing through these sites! These are ones I know I spends lots of time on and they are kid tested-parent approved! Don't hesitate to ask if you have ANY questions, please comment below or share your own favorites with us! I would love to add to my bookmarks!!!!!!

Reading in Math

One thing (relatively) recently that has been the inclusion of Reading in Math. I love the idea since reading is such an important part of learning in general, why not add a few more books in Math as well! On an impromptu trip to the Library last week we found a book entirely on accident that we fell in love with!

How High can a Dinosaur Count? By Valorie Fisher

 

 

 

This book is an absolute treasure to have! It is geared towards grades 1-4 and is filled with fun and silly Math-word problems. The book covers topics such as Time, Addition Subtraction, Multiplication, Money and Odd and Even numbers.

The illustrations are fun and original, the problems include silly named characters and things like Pickle Ice Cream! The back of the book has even more problems for each pages as well as an answer key!

Another great series of books we've found is by Mathstart! The books cover just about every Math subject you could imagine! Our recent favorite is:

More or Less By Stuart J. Murphy

A great number story about a boy trying to guess the ages of contestants using his knowledge of numbers!

So if you are looking for a way to spice up your Math with a little fun a reading along the way, check these out at your local library! You won't be sorry!

Looking Back as we look ahead

I've been absent, I've been blog-delinquent, I know. Life has totally taken all my free time and like a magic trick (POOF) it's gone. My days are literally full of kids, and crying and needs. While taking on 2 more kids daily (by myself) hasn't been horrible, it's been busy! So far we've made it through each day with everyone alive! And learning has happened! But it has been hard to adjust to not having any free time, or being so tired I don't even want to do anything  besides sleep. But just like adding a new baby or a new schedule, I'm sure this too will pass.

So looking ahead at a new school year, new curriculum, new levels.....it's exciting isn't it? And a wee bit stressful! I've been looking at a few new things including My Father's World, Galloping the Globe, Apologia Science......Trying to decide if I should stay with some programs like Sonlight for Language Arts and Calvert for Ellie, or if I should scrap it all and start anew!

In all the looking (and being frustrated and confused about which path to choose) I've been trying to focus on the immense positive that there is in choosing your child's math, science, history, _________. Having a degree and some experience in Special Education, I realize my children each get their own IEP's! I am literally able to look at science and ask, "Hey Jonah, do you want to learn about animals next year or Astronomy?" How amazing is that? In all the stress and worry about what to order and who to order from, I can turn around and look at my child and decide, is this a right fit? Ellie would really enjoy that, Jonah would think that is totally boring. A perfectly tailored education to each individual child!

Now I realize that is a complete obvious advantage to homeschooling, and you may be rolling your eyes. But sometimes the weight of taking on my child's education is heavy. I worry I'm not doing enough, giving each one enough attention, maybe their learning style isn't being matched by what we are doing......and then I feel the freedom. The true freedom we have been given to learn and grow in our own way, in our own time, of our own choosing .

And while I peruse websites, read up on different programs, I actually look forward to a new year. Even now while wrapping up this year is near and we are all in need of summer. Ending the year on a good note, even though we are in the middle of great changes. I welcome the chance to do it all again. Where once change terrified me, now, it looks brilliant and beautiful and exciting.

Each year we homeschool it gets better, we get better at it. I can't wait to start it all again, even though we aren't quite done with this year.

So looking ahead, are you making changes? Big ones or little ones? Adding a new student? Going with a new curriculum? What's next year looking like in your home school?

Telling God's Story

Recently I was sent the new curriculum by Olive Branch Books, Telling God's Story By Peter Enns to review! After reading through the Parent's Manual, I was encouraged and excited to get started! I have used and reviewed so many Bible curricula, and after a while they begin to sound and look a lot alike. This one stood out above the rest for several reasons.

Right away, I loved that this curriculum started with the New Testament, my kids have already heard many of the stories told from the Old Testament but we've never really covered the most important part of the Bible!

As the parents manual says,

"In this introductory volume to studying the Bible, I propose focusing on what the Bible as a whole is about, rather than zeroing in on individual Bible stories or snippets of moral teaching taken out of context. This approach introduces young students to the big picture, encouraging them to understand the entire biblical story—as, I believe, it is intended to be understood."

That is so true! So many times we only teach stories of the Bible, but not the Bible as a whole. And so many times I've started in Genesis (which can be a great place to start, just not STAY!) The Bible seems fragmented and difficult to understand. This is the first time personally, I was able to teach the kids about the Parables of Jesus!

"The New Testament is the climax of a grand story, one that begins in the Old Testament, and it echoes back to the Old Testament many, many times."

What I really loved:

• All the hands on activities! Children learn and work best when they have something concrete to hold onto as we learn! The activities are well planned, creative, and (possibly best of all) easy to get together and do!
• The infusion of science, cooking, art, reading, etc in each lesson! This helps integrate the Bible and lessons through every area of life naturally with ease.
• The list of materials and supplies in the beginning give you a first look at what you'll need for all the crafts
• It can be used in a church or class setting as well. I tried it out and used the daily activities as different activities to do in one class. It worked fabulously and the kids loved it!
• The Parent's manual was encouraging as well as down to earth! It was a a great way to start preparing your heart for teaching and instructing and learning along with your children!
• The language and vocabulary were perfectly written for 4-7 years, and it sounded current! I've read through so many Bible curricula which sounded about as old as the Bible in examples and lessons!

I think the addition of some review questions for each lesson would be nice, but not necessary. If you've used Story of the World, you know how to ask the questions and get some conversation going about what they are learning! Also adding some Scripture Memorization would have been nice, but it is certainly easy to add if that is something you are interested in doing with your kids! They do learn the books of the Bible and that is Memory work.

We've been using the lessons for a few weeks now, and I can honestly say, I love this curriculum. I love it so much I've stopped using our other Bible curriculum and started using this full time. The kids are excited and more importantly they have brought up what we learn throughout the week, not just once a day. Each day I am just as excited about getting into the lesson as the kids. No more sitting, listening, worksheets. It's always new and exciting, and relevant.

~The first lesson we Read the Bible passage and the short lesson explanation, and color the coloring sheet. It's always worked out to have the kids coloring when I read, some how the kinesthetic coloring, the visual picture and the listening all come together and they remember the passage remarkably well! I'll often post the colored sheets or show them the visual a few more days throughout the week, to help remind them what we are learning about.

~The next days (3-4) we will do a different activity. Before we start I ask some questions and get them talking about what we are learning. Then we do the activity! Sometimes I re-read the Bible Passage.
 

A melted crayon activity to remind us to keep praying!

Feel free to email me or comment and ask me anything about the curriculum! And please visit the links above for even more encouraging information about Telling God's Story! Keep checking back for a post on one of the coolest projects, making a Roman Helmet out of a milk jug.......

Arctic Unit

We recently did a mini Unit on Arctic/Antarctic Regions~ learning about the animals and the Inuit People who live in these regions! I'll include some fun links and activities I found for this unit.

My goal for organizing these units is to keep the learning hands on and interactive. My kids love coloring and crafts, they love videos and games. They even love some worksheets. You can really personalize each Unit folder based on your child's level. Even Gracie gets her own folder with activities for her to color and cut and play!

Videos:: (my kids love the addition of videos in our learning)
Nat Geo has great links, photos and activities. This one was short and great for some basic info:

Answers in Genesis has one of the Ice Age which talks a little about how the Ice got there (from a creationist view point: 

What to know How to Build an Igloo??? This 10 minute video shows you.....seriously I never knew.....

Fun Links:: (photos, games, slide shows)

Critter Cam Arctic Game 

Explore this Website for Great info on the Tundra and other regions!

Photo Slide show with info about How Arctic Animals Camouflage themselves!

FREE Powerpoint presentations on the Inuit Tribes plus this site has all sorts of activities and links! 

Hands On Activities:: (this makes every lesson more fun!)

• Making a sugar igloo

Drying our walls halfway through

• Make your own Inuksuk
• Polar Bear Painting: Blue Construction paper, Bear shape, cotton balls, white paint. Place the Polar Bear cut out on the Blue Construction paper (tape the back to the paper) and dab the entire blue paper with white paint. Remove the Polar Bear cutout when you are done and ta-da! Snowy Polar Bear!

Resources and Activities::

A variety of books for the kids to look through and enjoy

FREE Lesson Plans! Look around this site and download all sorts of free activities and games!

Kidssoup This is a really great resource and SO affordable at $2.15 a month. I use it all the time! There are Activities, Games (printable file folder), Activites AND Resources for Bulletin Boards, felt stories etc. New units are added every month!

SeaWorld FREE downloadable lesson

ABCteach tons of freebies, you can become a member, but I just use what is free!

Worksheets included in their Unit Folders:

• Sonlight curriculum
• Map of the Arctic Tundra (color and lable)
• Color the Igloo
• “My Book about the Inuit People”
• Polar Bear Crossword puzzle (Jonah)
• AA writing practice (Ellie)
• AA Coloring page
• Arctic Report, KWL Chart (Jonah)

New Zealand Relief Bundle

If you are looking for a great way to donate money to the relief efforts in New Zealand visit Currclick for an amazing deal!

They are offering a Bundle of downloads worth $254.23 for only $20! All to be donated to the Red Cross!