Sonlight P4/5 Read Alouds and Weekly Wrap Up (MOY 14/15)

by Meghan // March 2, 2015 // Comments off

Well, we are in our 27th week of Sonlight P4/5 and *loving* it. Homeschool this year has been wonderful for all of us. This is a Middle Of Year 2014/2015 Update.

We love Sonlight and have enjoyed most of the read alouds immensely. So far our favorites (and by “our” I mean Max-2yo and Lexie’s-4yo) have been Uncle Wiggly, Milly Molly Mandy, the art book, The Berenstain Bears’ Science Book, and they both love the Bible storybook we are using this year-101 Favorite Stories from the Bible.

I will say I was a little annoyed with the Berenstain Bears book by the time we finished reading it, but the kids loves it! And The Favorite Stories from the Bible book is very honest and straight forward, which I love. I only chose to skip one story, about Cain and Abel, but the rest we have read and discussed openly. Lexie has been able to answer all the questions at the end of each story, and Max has been able to answer a few, too. But they both ask to get it off the shelf often.

Lexie’s Homeschool (4yo)

Lexie is reading so much- she brings me books from downstairs that she has read all by herself, and rereads them to me. She is learning to read th and sh words in All About Reading. We really love this program!

Her handwriting has improved drastically- we began writing on just blank pages (which is developmentally appropriate), moved on to large lined dry erase board, and now practice on both first grade lined dry erase board and on lined paper. Her copywork consists of practicing letters, words, and writing simple sentences at this point. She loves to write and writes letters to everyone about everything, for every occasion. She also enjoys drawing pictures. HWT has definitely helped us accomplish this!

Math is still just number sense; she has been coloring graphs, working on perception, and counting backwards. We have also introduced number lines in a very simple manner, and she understands them. She can do simple addition using manipulatives, but we haven’t worked on number sentences yet. She is still only 4, so while we do things she enjoys & she would probably enjoy that, I don’t think we are ready for that yet. To me, getting a good foundation in number sense is very important before moving on.

Science is random activities, youtube videos, books from our SL core, and anything the kids show an interest in. We will use a science curriculum next year (Elemental Science) as an intro to sciences but we won’t do it very strictly. It will introduce nature studies more formally, and how to keep a science notebook.

Max’s “homeschool” (2yo)

Mister loves joining us for learning time. His favorite things are definitely: sorting by color, glueing, and using scissors.

We are working on reinforcing his letter recognition and learning to identify his numbers. I have started introducing the “little” letters along with their “big letters” when we play around with IDing letters of the alphabet. Lexie was just so visual; You told her what a letter was one time and she knew it. Max doesn’t seem to learn that way, so I am trying to find his learning style.

He listens in on our read alouds and enjoys that time snuggling (or running around, building with blocks ..). I am actually amazed when he is “writing” and coloring, he holds his markers and crayons correctly, naturally. That was not a skill that came naturally to Lexie, I still have to correct the way she holds her pencil at times.

It has been such a mild winter, compared to the previous two years in NE. But, I think January got confused with March, because it has been colder in Feb and march than it was in January and December. So, outside time has been a little limited this winter. We haven’t done any nature walks or nature studies lately. We cannot wait for spring to finally arrive (and stick around..)!

I am planning out our curriculum for next fall. We will continue SL P4/5 through the spring/summer, taking off the month of June for vacation, and then continue with some learning time here and there until fall. In the fall, I plan to start Sonlight Core A with Lexie, Max will sit in while also enjoying BFIAR books. I will use my favorite free online curriculum from ThisReadingMama, for his PreK (OMG how is it possible he will be 3?!). Together we will all do Bible, history, and read alouds, science activities, and some art. Then they will each have their own “work” for reading and math.

That’s it! This is our middle of the year update; I can’t wait to see how we end this year.

How is your school year going so far?

Family Advent Devotional: Good News of Great Joy!

by Meghan // December 3, 2014 // Comments off

My family and I were so blessed to review a wonderful new Advent devotional for Christian families! Good News of Great Joy, ($3.99!) by Rachel Tiemeyer from Thriving Home, is a wonderful way to begin your family’s Christmas season.

This e-book devotional is written for children ages 2-11, but is definitely appropriate for all ages. Each devotional is set up for a weekly reading and activity, but you can schedule this out daily if you’d like. This is what I *love* about this particular program- it isn’t a crazy busy craft or activity every. single. day, requiring tons of supplies. It is gentle and simple, just how we like to focus on Christmas in our home!

What’s Inside

There are four (4) devotions; each devotional has a “read,” “pray,” and “discuss and do,” section.

Read: you read the devotional from a Bible of your choice (she has even referenced the particular stories in some of the most popular children’s Bibles- The Jesus Storybook Bible, and The Rhyme Bible Storybook), or several different Bibles.
Pray: Pray about what you have read
Discuss and Do: Here is where you complete an activity. These are fun and simple, but meaningful. You can do one activity, or all of those suggested with your children.

Christmas is one of my favorite times of year- while the world is spinning into utter chaos over material things and sales, we relax, focus on the birth of our savior, and spend time together. We use this time to remember why God sent Jesus to Earth, and thanking Him for that precious gift. This devotional helps us do just that!

So if you are looking for an Advent Devotional (your first, or maybe a new one), head on over to Thriving Home, and get a copy now!

Merry Christmas!

Beginning Sonlight P4/5 Part I: new schedule/routine

by Meghan // June 2, 2014 // Comments off

Monday, May 26th, we began our Sonlight P4/5 curriculum. You can read more about my first impression when we received everything here and why we chose what we did, here.

I wasn’t sure if we would begin in the summer, or closer to the fall when baby #3 arrives. I have been so excited to get started, and in desperate need of a new routine for Lexie’s learning time, that I decided to start now. I am glad we did!

Had we waited until fall, we would probably be all the way through our current math (which is Singapore early bird) and would begin Saxon. But, since we are starting early, we are just continuing on with Singapore. I am not super impressed with their program, and don’t find it challenging for Lexie at all cognitively; but it does keep us in the routine of doing some math thinking skills so we will continue with it for a bit.

We also began our All About Reading Level 1– to say I LOOOOOVE this program is an understatement. Love love love. Honestly, everything she is doing now she has been able to do for months; almost a year, actually. But it is giving her a great foundation and building her confidence in literacy SO much. Lexie has been sounding out CVC words (like “cat” “cup” “pig” etc) at least since her third birthday, but when I would introduce a reader like Bob Books, she would always say, “I can’t read the words. You do it.” So, while we played around with decoding (and reading by sight words), I didn’t push her. (besides, she has many years before she needs to be a fluent reader!) I just follow her lead on what she is comfortable with at this point.

All About Reading has built her confidence so much, and in just the first week. She has been reading any cvc word I put in front of her, loves the short activities that go along with the program, and looks forward to getting everything out of her workboxes each day! (well, we don’t do learning time every day, but when we do do learning time …)

(In addition to AAR, we are still using our little curriculum from ThisReadingMama. I will talk more about how we incorporate it in my following posts in this series.)

Like many children her age (under 4) her writing and fine motor skills are still developing. Her cognitive development is way beyond her writing abilities, so we are practicing fine motor skills and handwriting (just how to form the letters and numbers, not making them perfect). She does not like to color very much (bummer) and prefers to “write,” in her special books daddy brings home to her. She is still enjoying Logic of English, but we are only using the handwriting portion (because we love AAR).

So here is what our schedule looks like now for days we have learning time (it’s a little detailed ..):

7am- wake/brush teeth/milk and snuggles/breakfast/clean kitchen
(we do our memory work and Bible verse during breakfast)
8am- kids clean up any toys they got out. I get our Sonlight read alouds for the day and potty chair for Max, we all go to Lexie’s room and read while Max plays and practices pottying
9am- Max to independent play, Lexie’s learning time, then independent play for a few minutes while I clean up, get laundry changed over, and do other chores
10am- walk to park, play outside, pool time in backyard, play games, chores, run errands
11:15- lunch, clean up, free play, baths if necessary
12:00- nap for max. depending on our morning Lexie will either have a little more independent play here, or she will go down for nap
1:00- Lexie goes down for nap if she had a low key morning
1-2:30/3:00- everyone is napping, including myself if I am super tired (and at this point I usually am)
2:30/3:00- up and go to the pool, park, play outside, or run errands
That’s it until dinner, baths and bed!

So, you can see learning time doesn’t take up our whole day, or even a whole hour usually. We are also doing some lapbooking (which is SO fun) , on days we lapbook or do puzzles or something during learning time it takes a little longer to complete. But we have FUN and play a lot. On days we don’t do learning time, the kids play out back, either with me or together while I do chores.

I live by routine and schedule; my kids need the structure and so do I. I don’t do chaos well, however we alway have fun! We are always dancing, playing music, singing songs, etc. But we just do it in a controlled-chaos kinda way! 😉

I like this routine, because Max can be involved with our read alouds; but during the time Lexie needs to focus and have my undivided attention Mr. Rambunctious is having his down time in his room. I would LOVE for him to sit in on learning time, but at this point he is way too hands on wanting to be in the middle of everything she is doing; it just makes it harder for her (and me). So we play and learn with Max later during the day through songs, puzzles, outside, and just good ole conversation!

When the baby comes along, his/her naps and feeding schedule will go right along with everything we already do. I am not worried about that at all. I am actually looking forward to it! =)

(I did the red as an example for her, she did the rest) activity from Reading The Alphabet

My second Beginning Sonlight post will be about how I organize all our materials for everything.
My third Beginning Sonlight post will be more details about our Sonlight curriculum and how exactly we use it as well as along with our other programs. Every Sonlight family uses it differently, but we are really enjoying it this way so far; of course if that changes, I will let you know.
And, look for my post on our workboxes!

Sonlight P4/5: What I think so far

by Meghan // April 7, 2014 // Comments off

After I wrote this post , I did a lot of praying, thinking, re-googling and reading, and a lot more praying.

The next morning I woke up, and began purchasing what we need for Sonlight P4/5 for next year. Between Sonlight, Amazon, and eBay I got everything we need, plus supplemental materials, for less than the package from SL. This is important to our family; we try to live on a budget and I needed homeschool for this year to fit into that budget.

I don’t know if we will go with SL in the future? I don’t know if it will (mostly) fit what I want for my kids as they get older, but I do know after looking in the instructor’s guide for P4/5, it will fit us perfectly this year!

In the Instructor’s Guide, I am excited to see (and wasn’t expecting):

extra activities, cognitive and hands on, that we can add into our lessons and Max can be included
room to write in other activities- like our extra memory work, math lessons, etc
character traits to focus on that go with the week’s memory verse (LOVE character lessons in this house)

I went back and ordered the binder and tabs. The tabs (which are weekly) can’t be found elsewhere up to week 36, and the binders have their own reputation for holding up well. I also bought extra color-coding stickers for our book spines, because I plan to add more books into our reading. (I may get their P3/4 sticker labels for our BFIAR books, so I can organize them as well for Max later.) We read a lot. But what I like about adding in our own selections is that we can read them as quickly or as slowly as we want, and it just adds more great literature.

There are a few titles that I am super excited about; the The Berenstain Bears’ Big Book of Science and Nature is one of them! I think that will fit nicely with our Big Book of Play and Find Out Science Projects we will add in on our own, and nature studies.

Another title I think will be fun is the audio CD of American Tall Tales. We love books on CD, and this looks like a great one. We have the stories that go along with these in our book of Children’s fairytales and fables, A Treasury of Children’s Literature, though Sonlight doesn’t actually call for the physical books for them.

Now, I just have to structure out our extra memory work (poems), All About Reading, and Saxon math lessons into our schedule, and we will be ready to go! Well, I also have to decide when we will begin, because with baby #3 coming in September, we will need to start early (probably August); but I also like the idea of just taking the month before baby to do nothing but spend time with the kids outside and hold the structure off until after baby comes. Who know what we will do! =)

Have you used Sonlight P4/5 in your homeschool? Are you using something else? Please share in the comments!

A Tale of Two Kingdoms {a book review}

by Meghan // December 9, 2013 // Comments off

The last few weeks I have been reading two Bible studies I received {in exchange for my honest opinion}- A Tale of Two Kingdoms and God’s Unfolding Story of Salvation, both by Heather A. Kendall.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms
This book outlines the plan God laid out for our salvation, “from its beginning to its triumphant end in the new heaven and new earth;”
the gift of Jesus Christ. So often we read verses, or do studies on just small parts of the Bible- verses, or chapters of God’s glorious Word. But rarely do we see a comprehensive, holistic approach to studying the Bible.

I think this is a fairly basic, not too shallow, not too deep study that most Christians and especially new Chrsitians, will enjoy reading through.

A Tale of Two Kingdoms takes a chronological view of the Bible and puts it into perspective, so we can truly see God’s plan unfold.

“In that day the Root of the Jesse will stand as a banner for the peoples; the nations will rally to him, and his place of rest will be glorious” Isaiah 11:10 {reference on page 161, Kendall}

What I like about it

This book is for older teens to adults
It is more than a devotional or Bible study- it offers history facts, maps, and my favorite- a timeline of people and events
It offers perspective from Satan’s point of view as well
If you like a read-through, chapter book format, this is the book for you

Where you can get it: A Tale of Two Kingdoms

Directly from the author for $23.00 (US), this includes shipping
Purchase on Amazon for $19.17, with free shipping through Prime
{please check prices before purchasing, as they may change from the time of this post}

God’s Unfolding Story of Salvation

This book is more of a breakdown of time periods and characters; it is less of an overview and a bit more specific in its analyzation, because it is meant as a Bible study-with 38 lessons and questions in each section. The author says that this can be used in conjunction with A Tale of Two Kingdoms, but I definitely don’t think it is necessary, and the two don’t line up together, in my opinion.

What I like about it

This book is a “Christ-centered Biblical storyline.” (That is, like A Tale of Two Kingdoms, God’s Unfolding Story of Salvation is not based on applying your life to Christ, or vice versa. It is applying Christ in the storyline of the Bible. Make sense?)
It follows the time from God’s promise of salvation, to Revelations.
It is for older teens to adults
If you like a study format, this is the book for you

Where you can get it: God’s Unfolding Story of Salvation
Directly from the author for $22.00 with free shipping
Purchase on Amazon for $20.70 with free shipping through Prime
—-

Both of these books can add value to your study of the Bible. It is so important to understand the history, and facts of the Bible, not just rely on what we are told. These books can help you begin, or get through your journey of learning more about the Bible as it is written.

I think either {or both} of these books would make great gifts for any of your friends and family!

Read it With Me Wednesday with Wisdom Wednesday Link-up

by Meghan // November 13, 2013 // Comments off

So, yesterday was my birthday. My 28th birthday, to be exact.

It was a pretty terrible day, in terms of day to day things.

photo credit here

To top it all off, I backed into the garage door. Yep. I did.

But during my pity party, I kept reminding myself, (through the tears), that I am so blessed. And this is just one day.

I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. but take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33

He’s got this.

This post may contain affiliate links. November 13th ~

Read it WIth Me Wednesday with Wisdom Wednesday Linkup

by Meghan // September 4, 2013 // Comments off

So teach us to number our days, That we may present to You a heart of wisdom.

Psalm 90:12

Lexie turned 3 on Tuesday. My baby girl is three. *gasp*

Max was 1 on Monday. *whaaat?*

Time flies by. It goes by so quickly. But we can make each and every day count for something.

We can do God’s work. We can do right by other’s, be kind, work hard knowing that our hard work may never be acknowledge by others. Or that maybe they take it for granted.

But time is much too short not to live for Him.

photo credit