Our Homeschool Traditions {5 Days of Homeschool 101}

by Meghan // August 11, 2016 // Comments off

It is that time of year. Everyone is posting their back to school photos on facebook, their first day of school pictures with signs (you know the cute ones I am talking about).

But what about us homeschoolers?

Have no fear! We have traditions also!

BOX DAY

This is our 3rd year homeschooling, but that includes preschool and PreK .. But each year we have done “box day.” This is a great fun way to introduce the kids to their new books (it is something Sonlighters do) and get them excited about the new year.

But this year we aren’t using Sonlight (because we are taking a gap year for age purposes). But, we don’t care- We still have a box day! I have all our books in one box, and all our other supplies/activities in another box (the one they were shipped in). We will actually be having our box day today! We are all very excited. You can see previous box day post HERE and HERE.

PICTURES

We will start our beginning/end of the year pictures this year. I haven’t done them in the past, but I want to see how much they grow! So we are doing that this year.

We will also close out the year with a picture of them with all the books we read aloud this year.

School Clothes

Ok, we don’t actually call them school clothes. But every year when we start the new school year the kids get new clothes for fall/winter. We call them their fall clothes- it is just their basics- blue jeans, t shirts, jackets, shoes, and a dress or two for the girls.

We homeschool and live on a farm, the kids don’t need a lot of expensive, “nice” clothes. They have play/outside clothes, and a few nice things for when we leave the house. It makes it simple and less expensive! (more money for homeschool stuff! YAY!)

Of course there are a few traditions here and there throughout the school year. We have one afternoon a week set aside for poetry tea time, we have a few Christmas traditions, etc. But for the beginning of the school year, this is how we celebrate each year.

What are your family’s back to school traditions?

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Planning Your Homeschool Days {5 Days of Homeschool 101}

by Meghan // August 9, 2016 // Comments off

If you have read this blog any length of time, you probably know I enjoy planning. =)

But planning isn’t always for everyone … but I think it can be a blessing in your homeschool. *deep breath*

I don’t believe planning has to bog us down.

Though I used to “plan” a lot, and not actually implement much of it, I have learned to plan what I enjoy, and then I feel free to do the other things, without dreading them. They don’t have a chance to become the elephant on my list if I don’t put them on there! =P

The same goes for planning homeschool- I enjoy planning out our week by writing in all our options (different books to read, workbooks, lapbooks, activities, field trips), but then I pick and choose what we actually want to do, and add in some things as we go, that I didn’t actually plan to begin with.

If you are a list checker, that can be hard .. but I am a ~~reformed(?)~~ list checker. I love to check things of my list, sometimes I even write in random things I’ve done to feel more productive- (my serious list checkers SO know what I am talking about!) I believe you can still live freely, while planning and being a list checker.

You start by giving yourself grace; after the first week or so of not completing every. single. thing. on the list, you start to realize it is okay, and there are always more days to do more things.

But maybe you aren’t a list checker? Maybe you don’t know how to plan, or you hate planning, or you plan and then never look at it.

I believe planning is just habit; it isn’t something we all wake up able to do. Like anything else in life, if you aren’t a born natural at XYZ, then you practice and make it a habit to practice, focus, and implement. Then it becomes easier.

What Planner to Use?

There are SO many options out there- the homeschool groups and forums are a-buzz with different planners.

I think first you need to decide what type of learner/planner you are.

Paper or Technology? You pick!

Some of us NEED a paper planner. That would be me. I have a google calendar that links my dr. appointments, and big local events (things that are options but not MUST do’s), etc and I do look at it for those things. But for me, to remember I have things planned, and remember to implement them I need a paper planner that I physically write in.

I prefer The Ultimate Homeschool Planner OR Mardel’s Simple Plan planner. I have used both, and love them equally. This year I will be using The Ultimate Homeschool Planner. You can see my review on the UHS HERE.

I believe Mardel’s Simple Plan is sold out online (it usually sells out very quickly in July when it launches! See if you have a Mardel store near you). The Hey Mama! Homeschool Planner by The Old Schoolhouse is very similar to both of the previous mentioned planners and is a great quality planner. See my review for it HERE.

There is also the Erin Condren Teacher’s Planner (though I have no experience with this and am aware it is set up for classrooms). Some people prefer making their own grid style sheets and putting in a notebook. Others prefer to print a planner to personalize, while still yet some prefer to just keep an ongoing list of things to do in an app.

Be Responsible

(haha) How you plan is up to you. But be responsible with your planning- KNOW WHAT WORKS FOR YOU! If you have been planning using an app for the last year and it just isn’t working, try something else. However, once you find what works, stick with it!

Planning your homeschool days, or simply planning themes for a season, can be a true blessing!

I believe keeping Christ the center of your home and thus homeschool, can alleviate any anxiety with planning. Don’t let planning (or the curriculum, or the books, or the activities, or the co-ops …) become an idol in your homeschool. There in itself can lie anxiety and fret. Keeping Him the center of your home and homeschool will truly bless all parts- including planning. =)

How do you like to plan? What keeps you on track?

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Hierarchy of Choosing Curriculum {5 Days of Homeschool 101}

by Meghan // August 8, 2016 // Comments off

Curriculum can be one of the hardest, or the easiest aspects of homeschool. For us, it is typically very simple. I have a general idea of what I like to use, but it may not be simple for everyone to decide what they like.

How to Choose Curriculum

I think there are three important things to consider when choosing curriculum

Number of students you will be teaching
Your children’s learning style
Your teaching style

All of the above will equal your homeschool style or approach.

Number of Students

The number of students you have is going to help determine what type of curriculum you would like to use- if you have more than one or two students it is probably going to be beneficial to group students close in age together for the “core” of the lessons, and do individual lessons for math/reading/writing on each of their levels. For instance, we use Sonlight, which is literature based. I will group my oldest two together for their history/Bible/read alouds, and my younger two will be grouped together, while each student will get lessons on their own level for reading, math, and writing.

If you only have one or two students to school that are more than 3 years a part in age, you may look into a unit study curriculum where each student learns on their own level, while everyone focuses on the same topics.

Children’s Learning Style

Next you will consider your student’s learning styles. Do you have a student that learns easily, no matter how you teach, while another student needs lots of movement and hands on? Or do you have a student that is an auditory learner but a few others that needs hands on? These things will determine how you choose your math and reading curriculum.

My oldest daughter doesn’t “need” hands on; she can hear or see something once and pretty much have it memorized.. My second born, however, is very hands on and needs lots of movement. It looks like my third is turning out to be like big sister … So for us, I chose All About Reading for reading lesson- I know my oldest can learn with it and enjoy it, while my second child will need the hands on and movement involved in the lessons. For math, we chose Saxon, not to say we will always stick with Saxon, but for now it is simple, basic, includes manipulatives for hands on, and is easy for me to implement. For us, Saxon meets all our needs for everyone in the house, without taking up a bunch of my time with pre planning.

But for you and your family, you may want something that is video based, or literature based (like Life of Fred). You can find information on just about every kind of curriculum by using a simple google search.

Your Teaching Style

What kind of teacher are you? Do you love to read aloud to your students? Do you prefer video based lessons that you do not need to dictate to students? Or maybe you need a nice mix of all the above?

There are so many options for curriculum and there are some very thorough reviews out there- Check out The Old Schoolhouse Reviews and Cathy Duffy Reviews to get an idea of what will fit all your needs.

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Our Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2016/2017

by Meghan // July 28, 2016 // Comments off

Aaaah Every homeschool mama’s dream- getting the new school year’s supplies and curriculum all planned out and organized.

As you all may know, we *love* Sonlight’s curriculum as our core- Bible, history, and read alouds. We also love their readers (books children learn to read on their own).

This past school year (2015/2016) we used Sonlight Core A with the intention of stretching it out over two years- I planned to do that by reading sequels to books, adding in lapbooks and other units, while alternating weeks of SL and these other things, etc.

Yea … so we still flew through it! The kids asked all the time to read our “learning time books,” and did not like me alternating some weeks of all the great read alouds and history books from SL in an attempt to stretch it out.

Because we didn’t stretch Core A over 2 years as planned, this left me with an extra year to fill- a year known in the homeschool world as a “gap year.”

As it turns out, SL revamped their cores for 2016, which means Core A has some new books added and some old ones removed! They also separated their language arts from the core itself. This helped me create a new plan for our next few school years.

Here is what we will do for the next few years:

2016/2017- Gap Year using Beautiful Feet Early American History as core (ages 4 and 6)
2017/2018- Revisit Sonlight Core A (ages 5 and 7)
2018/2017- Begin Sonlight Core B (ages 6 and 8)

Why is this helpful? Because it means I can keep my two oldest in a Core together, and my two youngest (who are toddlers and a soon to be born baby) will core together when they are ready to begin. Inserting a gap year here puts my two oldest at the best possible ages for the Cores; with Sonlight it is generally better to be in the top of the age range than the bottom because book content is heavier as you get to Core D and the farther in cores you go the more chapter books you encounter.

Break Down of What We Will Use for 2016/2017

Last year my 3 year old tagged along for Core A, as I have mentioned, and learned to count to 100, ID all his letters and their sounds, and just found a love for learning (slooowly but surely). My oldest, 5 years old, loved every minute of Core A, and began reading anything she could get her hands on, including books on 3rd-4th grade level. She seriously just picks up any book and read it.

They both LOVED the pioneer era, so I thought for our gap year doing an Early American History study would work out well! We chose Beautiful Feet Books Early American Primary Jumbo Literature Pack for our curriculum this year. I am truly 100% excited!

We have done 2 years of other cultures/world history so I thought this year we could take a break from that (though I think I may have a couple of future ap world history students!) while we enjoy a little bit of studying closer to home, before we jump back into world cultures/world history with Core A again.

2017 Curriculum Choices (Kindergarten age 6, Preschool age 4)

Together we will all enjoy:

History/Core– Beautiful Feet E.A. History- this also incorporates copywork and writing
Bible- Reading from Egermeier’s Bible Story Book
Memory work (Bible verses, poems, etc that I have chosen)
Science- Apologia Science Astronomy second edition (oh my goodness we are LOVING this-review to come in September) used with the Jr. Notebooking Journal for Kindergartener, the preschooler will tag along/color pictures as we read
Art– Artistic Pursuits- we love this program, hands down

Kindergarten (age 6)

Reading– AAR Level 2/3- we are about half way through Level 2 now, so we will continue on to Level 3 once we are done
Readers– we will continue using Sonlight’s readers, as well as other first and second grade readers from the library
Spelling– AAS Level 1- we did not being AAS last year as I had planned (mama was just too sick/exhausted with pregnancy to add in anything else at the time) so we will begin it this year. Lexie is very concerned about how to spell her words and because her reading level is so advanced I figured this is a good time to gently introduce spelling.
Math– Saxon 1/2- we will finish Saxon 1 and move on to Saxon 2 this year. Max, the preschooler, will tag along using manipulatives to understand concepts instead of writing
Handwriting– we will use our faithful copywork, as well as A Reason for Handwriting book B
Writing– copywork, journal, and modeling (I plan to introduce more formal grammar/writing at 2nd grade level)

Preschool (age 4)

Reading- All About Reading Level 1 (mixed with some games from the Pre Reading level because he loves them)
Math- tag along using manipulatives to understand concepts instead of writing, learn to write numbers
Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears Preschool or K book (I haven’t decided yet… he is still very much at the pre writing level, but I know Lexie flew through that stage once she got started, so we may just go to the K book first)
I plan to use lots of hands on and games with him; he loves puzzles and mazes, building things, and sports right now so there isn’t a ton of interest in paper and pencil learning just yet. I don’t want to burn him out or push him too young. He is excited about learning to read and write letters, but short of that it will be a lot of play.

Miss Tot (2)

Ila will tag along, get some one on one time with mama, and enjoy independent play during our school time. She is learning her shapes, colors, ABCs, and how to do puzzles right now. Really, she has mastered her puzzles and counting to 10, so we will just continue with songs, finger plays, and other tot-time learning for her. =)

In addition to our curriculum, we will do LOTS of play outside, work on the farm, and learn through nature.

So, as for now, these are our plans for homeschool this year! If things change or I add something (haven’t yet placed my last order..) I will do a part II and let you know.

What will your school year look like for 2016/2017?

Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Hey Mama! Schoolhouse {homeschool} Planner 2016 {a review}

by Meghan // June 2, 2016 // Comments off

If you’re a homeschooling mama, you have looked at, bought, used (or not used…), and drooled over planners in some way shape or form. As homeschooling parents we really like finding a planning system that works. The last few weeks I have had in my possession (for review) a copy of the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017 published by The Old Schoolhouse. With my planner I also received a very awesome, large Old Schoolhouse tote which can be found HERE.

About the Hey Mama! Print Schoolhouse Planner 2016-2017

In a world full of crazy busy planner systems that range from too many “filler” pages, to not enough writing space, you can find planner peace with this planner!

The full sized (9″x11″) planner is wire bound and begins with July of 2016, just in time for purchase today! However, the very nice full page 2016 calendar begins with January and runs through December; there are also full calendar pages for the years 2017 and 2018 at the beginning of the planner.

Monthly Layout

There is a devotional letter page written to you beginning with “Hey Mama,” before each month’s note page. After the inspirational letter comes the full page monthly notes page, then the monthly 2-page spread (beginning with Sundays, ending with Saturdays). The 2-page monthly spread has spacious a notes column and each day’s square has ample room for writing in important events/dates.

You will find ALL the monthly spread together, at the beginning of the planner; after the last monthly spread (which is June 2017) comes your BLANK weekly pages.

Weekly Layout

After those monthly pages you find the blank weekly spreads- these also are 2-page spreads. As you can see the boxes are very spacious. They have been left blank so you can decide what you want to fill in- some like week days across the top, some prefer them down the side, while others prefer students in each space. The nice thing is the spaces are blank so you can decide what you prefer! My brain works one way (haha), so I prefer days of the week across the top, with subjects down the side, and each student’s assignments written in each the horizontal rectangles.

After each fourth weekly spread The Old Schoolhouse has included a Hey Mama inspirational letter, and then a historical tid-bit about an old farm-house item (such as a cast iron skillet, or butter churn). Um .. can I just add that these historical pages are right up this farm girl’s alley?! Do you know how many crocks and cast iron skillets I have?! Sorry- back to the planner! 😉

I really like the inspirational/devotional letters included in the planner; don’t we all need a little boost to our moral as homeschooling parents? There are those weeks that we feel we are in a rut, burned out, or just need a pat on the back that no one, certainly not an administrator, is going to give us!

Other Planner Pages

I am really looking forward to utilizing the 5 Monthly Goal pages, 5 Semester Goal pages, and 5 Yearly Goal pages! Each goals pages includes plenty of space for listing goals in the following areas of your and/or your students’ lives:

Educational
Spiritual
Physical
Personal Talents
Life Skills
Financial
Relational

Man- I can see these being SO helpful when planning ahead and getting ideas for homeschool organized.

There are also 5 full page attendance charts that have numbered boxes for days 1-180 of school. Included you will also have pages for books read this year (can homeschoolers really keep count of all the books we read?! It is worth a try!), curriculum planning sheets, contact list (great for homeschool co-ops, groups, etc), 36 general writing prompts (aaaawesome!), story starters, and SO much more! There is even a small section on how to make a homeschool transcript with examples of transcripts and charts.

If you need more of the calendars/pages/charts/forms for your homeschool, you can easily photocopy them for your family’s use!

And scattered throughout, in true Old Schoolhouse style, you will find special Bible verses.

The entire 196 page planner is simple, easy to use, NO FUSS, and absolutely beautiful. The pages are a nice heavy weight, the metal coil feels dependable, and the overall look of the planner is delightful!

Here’s a quick peak at the Table of Contents so you can get a visual for the layout:

Where to find the Print Hey Mama! Schoolhouse Planner

The planner itself retails for $29 in the US, with free shipping!

However, until July 15, 2016 you can use the coupon code below to get $10 OFF the price of the print planner! This is also good for international buyers as well. How awesome is that?!

This is a beautiful, classy, simple to use but VERY functional homeschool planner that I am going to thoroughly enjoy using this school year!

Connect with The Old Schoolhouse

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Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Online Homeschool Learning with ESA {a review}

by Meghan // May 31, 2016 // Comments off

With our school year coming to a close (we usually would school with a more “year round” approach, but with baby #4 coming this summer, we are taking a break and have pretty much wrapped up our daily school time) we have enjoyed taking it easy with the Complete Home Learning Suite from Essential Skills Advantage. For our review, we are using an online subscription for one or two students, that is good for one year. I chose to only use it with my oldest who is almost 6.

This is an online learning program from Kindergarten to grade 6; we used the Kindergarten and 1st grade levels the most; my daughter will be in kindergarten this fall, but generally works on a higher level so this worked out perfectly for her. The Complete Home Learning Suite includes:

Reading: Grades K-6
Language and Grammar: Grades K-6
Math: Grades K-6
Science: Grades K-3
Geography: Grades 4-6

How We Used ESA, and What We Thought

Mostly, we have enjoyed using the science and reading portions of the program thus far, though I cannot wait to use the rest! I found the reading on grade 1 to be a good review of words she is already able to fluently read. However, what I really liked were the different skills involved; matching, auditory skills, simple but foundational comprehension questions, and of course it gave her some practice on the computer.

I really like this as a supplemental program because it has helped open so many conversations for us! Many of the topics are a nice review, but some we haven’t discussed in depth. My student was also able to practice reading words/spelling in different ways which helps with fluency and comprehension. She thought of each activity as a game and enjoyed adding this to her “school.”

My children have not had much exposure to the computer; they’re all still young and I don’t find it a necessity as of yet. ESA, however, has been fun for me to implement in our homeschool. It is simple to use, offers help, and guides students pretty smoothly through the different levels and subjects. While I did have to help my daughter often, because she is not used to operating a computer, I felt like it was a good program to have her learn more about using the computer (we have only used a few online programs). Students that have experience on a computer will have no problem using this supplemental program independently.

The instructions on the program are clear and concise, very easy to understand, especially for young children that need simple instructions (at least this applies to the levels we used, so I imagine all levels are equally clear). It is also easy enough for the parent to check and view progress.

Below is a screen shot from Grade 1 Reading Sentence Punctuation lesson. The “rule” for the lesson is shown by clicking the small purple hammer icon in the bottom right corner. The Rule will appear and can be read by the student, or aloud by the parent and discussed, depending on ability level.

This is an example of the questions included in the lesson, after reading the Lesson Rule.

The program offers different subscription services, from a monthly fee for one or more students to an annual subscription for 1 or more students. See their pricing break down HERE.

We will continue using and enjoying Essential Skills Advantage!

Connect with ESA

Developing Young Learners’ Skills through Poetry Memorization {a review with IEW}

by Meghan // May 17, 2016 // Comments off

We have used products from Institute for Excellence in Writing before, and have always enjoyed them. The past few weeks we have been using their program: Lin guistic Development through Poetry Memorization.

Our family received everything listed on the product’s site which includes:

Teacher’s Book with 96 poems and speeches-spiral bound
5 physical CDs with the poems and speeches read aloud (which we LOVE and my children ask to listen to frequently) in a high quality CD case
a complimentary student’s e-book (printable for as many students as you have!)
a bonus DVD of Andrew Pudewa’s conference Nurturing Competent Communicators– this is a wonderful support to homeschool parents to help you better nurture your growing student!
there are also 7 audio MP3s available for download in your IEW website account (instructions for downloading can be found in the front of the teacher’s book):
- Nurturing Competent Communicators
- Mastery Learning, Ability Development, and Individualized Education
- Ten Thousand Times and Then Begins Understanding
- On Listening
- On speaking
- On reading
- On Writing

As part of our review, we also received a physical spiral bound student’s book, which is not included in the set, but can be purchased separately.

How We used Liguistic Development through Poetry Memorization and What We Think

This product includes so many wonderful items, & has SO much educational value; we have had a lot of fun with it! My children are 5.5 and 3.5 years old. We have been working on “memory work” since my oldest was 3- she loves poems, memorizing, and reciting. Little brother has also enjoyed joining in on our memorization for quite some time now. All this to say, using IEW’s poetry memorization program naturally flowed right into our homeschool!

On Wednesday afternoons, we try to have a poetry tea time- we have tea, kombucha, and a special snack. I usually light candles, or we may even move it outside if the weather permits.

So it seemed only natural that this is where I should introduce this program to my children- and it flowed perfectly!

Each Wednesday we begin the next poem from our current level; we are working in Level 1. Throughout the week we recite the poem at our breakfast “morning basket” time. My daughter has almost all of the poems memorized already, simply from listening to the CDs! She pretty much teaches it to my son at breakfast, while I prop up the student book (I feel like the poem illustrations help him) and read along. I cannot believe how well they are memorizing and reciting poetry! They especially enjoy reciting it for their daddy when he comes home in the evenings.

As you may know, poetry and memorization are important for building the foundational skills of reading and language development (the DVD, teacher’s book, and MP3s do a great job explaining the importance and benefits). We also enjoy using the poems as part of our copy work- this is a wonderful way to build writing skills and make this a multi-use program. My daughter likes writing the poetry into her journal. =)

Although I haven’t, I think it would be a great idea to print the student pages (especially for the younger ones) to color while working through the poems. Hanging up the pages as a reminder would also be fun- (we have just been using our gifted spiral bound student book, because the kids enjoy flipping through it).

We have listened to the first 2 CDs so far, simply because the kids ask to listen all the time, though we aren’t that far into the program. There are five levels (you can see samples from each level HERE), each progressing in difficulty. This can truly be used for any age and ability level!

If you want to implement memorization and/or poetry into your homeschool but aren’t sure just where to start, or maybe you need help with the whys and hows, this program can line ALL that out for you! The MP3s are especially helpful and supportive. The teacher’s book does a wonderful job explaining the importance and ease of memorization for children. As I was reading the first section of it, I kept thinking to myself, “Yes! Yes! Yes!” Memorization is natural, important, and most definitely has a place in education and life!

As always, IEW doesn’t disappoint- their Liguistic Development through Poetry Memorization is a valuable addition to our homeschool. Their included parent/teacher support resources are wonderful and of course, the program is effective. We love it, and will continue using it!

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Disclaimer: Some links on this blog are affiliate links; when you use those links you help support my family, at no additional cost to you. Thank you!

Accomplish ALL The Things {Simple Woman’s Daybook 23}

by Meghan // April 20, 2016 // Comments off

Outside my Window …
It is gray, cloudy, and the sun isn’t up. We have had rain for 3 days now! YAY

I am thinking…
About all the things I need to start fitting into my day: more floor time with Ila, more violin practice with Lexie, more ironing of J.Tom’s clothes (one day I will be able to afford the cleaners!), more walking, more pregnancy exercises … oh. And more menu planning (really not doing good menu planning), and more blog planning.

How’s that for thinking 😉

I am thankful…
That my husband woke up before me to make coffee and feed the baby cows. =) We have started weaning them from their milk (a little late), and boy are they pushy! We don’t let them boss us, but the taller brown one sure tries.

In the kitchen…
There is bone broth that needs to be jarred up and put in the freezer.

And coffee!

I am wearing…
A maternity dress- it is one of the really old ones from my pregnancy with Lexie. It doesn’t really fit well, but they make great house dresses now, and are comfy to sleep in. Old Navy, $10 6 years ago.

I am creating…
probably a mess of everything. I have so much to do; today is cleaning day, but I also have to work in the basement (ugh) and get ironing done. I have dresses to finish sewing before baby comes, I want to put together a small unit study for the kids on Little house in the Big Woods, because we are about to finish that, and then we are going to grow crystals. That’s creating stuff, right? =/

I am going…
I need to go to Costco this afternoon; if the Mister takes a good nap we will go get groceries and then meet the daddy for dinner out.

Did I mention I have done a really bad job about menu planning lately?

I am wondering…
If it will continue to rain and fill the pond up. We thought we had a leak … thankfully the hubby had access to a few tons of kitty litter so we spread that out where we thought the leak may be. However, it may in fact just be that we didn’t have a wet winter and our runoff is blocked a bit, and there is a huge pond next door that has to fill before ours will.

Hoping the hard heavy rain we got last night started the process. We have had slow, steady rain for 2-3 days now. It has been wonderful!
I am reading…
Oh gosh! Okay, so I have a few books on my shelf, but have only really started one. The first two are homemaking books from the library, though I think I would like to own both. and the rest are books about raising boys. Cause … my little Mister is the only Mister and I am a girl. Therefore I really know very little about raising boys.

The Hands-On Home
Little House Living
Wild Things: The Art of Nurturing young Boys
Shepherding a Child’s Heart
I have a few more specifically on boys, but haven’t started them yet and am unsure of the titles.

I am hoping…
really more like praying God helps me find me the patience and energy today to accomplish all the things!

I am looking forward to…
Not having a mile long to do list! It seems to come in phases, sometimes I feel like I have it all done and everything is great (obviously, it probably really isn’t). And then sometimes I am SO. Far. Behind. Like now. =)

I am learning…
That my Mister needs freedoms, and boundaries, and more reinforcement of consequences when he breaks those boundaries.

Also, that I have let a LOT of time get by me before this baby gets here! I am 27.5 weeks already, and we have a TON of rather big things to do.

Around the house…
dusting. vacuuming. switching season clothes, packing kids clothes that are too small to save for baby, and I am always decluttering. Which right now I think we are in a pretty good place with that. Minus all these girl clothes I have to hold on to! I know I should throw them away, but I just can’t do it. We’re throwing enough away though, leaving us with a lot of space now. If anyone else needs to declutter their home, it might be worth contacting a company like 1300 Rubbish to make sure they can take the rubbish away from your home. That always makes the job easier.

A favorite quote for today…

One of my favorite things…
that Ila has FINALLY this week, started saying more words: red car, Lexie, mister, bear, more animal sounds, hair bow, and she pretends to read the words in books by speaking her own little baby Japanese. It is really cute.

I also LOVE that Lexie begs to take Ila outside while I am prepping meals, switching out laundry, etc. I do let her take her on the porch or to the back concrete and Lexie just loves it. So does mister- he drives Ila around in the back of his little pick up truck. She is so loved.

A few plans for the rest of the week:
I think ALL the lists above should cover this one. =)

A peek into my day…
This was the other day

Pre K and Preschool Weekly Wrap Up {April 1, 2016}

by Meghan // April 8, 2016 // Comments off

This is a Weekly Wrap up from April 1-this past week. I am a bit behind =)

It has been a very long time since I wrote a Weekly Wrap Up Post. Wow.

Well, I can say towards the end of winter we finally found our homeschool groove, as I came out of the first trimester nausea and exhaustion. Now we have a simple, and effective routine just like we had before, which means we are back to much smoother days! *thank goodness*

You may remember me posting about struggling with a rut, which I don’t think was school related, but certainly affected our school time. We (I) came out of that and whew, life is better!

What a School Day Looks like

As we finish the school year (we will be schooling until about July 1st I think, maybe not that long if I can really bust out some chapter books!), we are finishing strong. We have recently stopped driving 35 minutes every Tuesday for gymnastics, so that has freed up an entire morning, and makes our lives less hectic. We will continue extra curricular activities with swim lessons, but they will be closer to us!

All that to say, we don’t have specific days we are doing school right now, with this new change. But I think we are mostly back to Wednesdays being cleaning/no school day, and schooling 3-4 days a week.

On days we school it looks something like this:

7am wake/breakfast/morning basket- morning basket includes: prayer, Bible, pledge, calendar, songs and finger plays (my son loves them), memory work verses and poems, possibly reading part of a read aloud depending on time
8 Begin morning chores- Lexie empties dishwasher, Mister helps with laundry, I load dishwasher
8:30-9:30 Depending on the weather the kids usually go outside for fresh air here, and then we begin school after that. Sometimes it we go straight into school and they play outside afterward. School begins with our Sonlight read alouds and history.
9:30-10:30 Toddler joins us for as long as she can be relatively quiet, but usually goes to IP during this time so Lexie can read aloud and focus on harder material
11:15 lunch
12:00 toddler down for nap
12:00-12:30 Lexie, Max and I wind down for nap with books
12:30-3:00 everyone is resting/napping (this actually is more like 1-3 by the time everyone has had their nap time books read)
3:00 up for the afternoon/nature walks/play in the woods/cook dinner/run errands
- This is also when we go on nature walks specifically to support our science topic, read science books, cook and bake together, and

That’s a typical school day.

What we “do” During School Right Now (3.5, 5.5)

Right now school has been such a pleasure! Lexie suddenly just started wanting to read everything. EV * ER * Y * THING! She picks up books and reads them-doesn’t matter the level; she asks for help when she needs it. She reads words off the Netflix screen, she reads words off magazine covers, she asks Mister and Ila several times a day if they would like her to read them a book, and of course they do, so she does.

Our daily activities for school include:

Morning Basket for everyone (see above)

Lexie (5.5 yo)

Lexie’s All About Reading Level 1- either a lesson, reading from her readers, or reviewing fluency pages
Lexie’s Copywork/HWOT/Journaling-
- To make her copy work, I simply write it out on a lined dry erase board like this one while I am sitting at the table. Copywork usually comes from one of the books she is reading and includes lots of quotes, commas, etc. In the future, (read: after baby comes) I am planning a bit different set up for her to do more work independently, so I will probably have copywork printed out for her to copy from.
- Handwriting Without Tears is really just her doing the pages on her own. I tell her what page, she completes it and I make sure it is nice and neat. Again, my plan for fall is that this will turn into her independently working on the next page from an assignment sheet without my help.
- Journaling is me simply giving her a topic, which she writes on freely in her own style. I try to remind her of capitalization, punctuation, and spacing, but otherwise it is her own thoughts, spelling, etc.
- She loves doing ALL of these things
Lexie’s Math- Saxon 1. We pretty much just stopped doing the K book because it was too easy and although she still enjoyed it, I was bored (ha). She really likes the Level 1, there are lots more sheets for her to do (which she LOVES) and she reads the directions to herself. I check them and have her fix any mistakes or fill in any places she skipped on accident. I feel like it is a great way for her to work independently, feel successful, and also learn about double checking work, etc. We like it!

Max (3.5yo)

Max is doing All About Reading Pre Reading, mostly because he always asks to do school and he wants to have activities like Lexie. This is a PERFECT fit for us because it isn’t time consuming, and he really enjoys the games, they’re developmentally appropriate for him (mostly rhyming and logic right now), and did I mention he enjoys it? We only do this like 1-2 times a week, depending on what he is in the mood for.

More phonics- Mister knows his letter sounds, so sometimes we work on beginning letter sounds. Yesterday, after we did a hands on activity and while Lexie worked on a few math sheets, Max sat in my lap and I drew pictures. Beneath each picture I wrote letters- I asked him: what each picture was, what each letter was and its sound. Then I asked what letter he heard at the beginning of the picture word (ex: what sound do you hear at the beginning of “flower?”) He then gave me his answer and circled the letter. He got every single one correct without any prompting from me!

Math- Mister is tagging along with Lexie’s Math and so far he is doing great! He loves it, they take turns answering questions, and he loves the hands on activities. This week he helped create a vehicle graph and answered questions about it. While he is doing really well with his letter sounds and literacy development, math is really his thing right now!
Other Activities- While I am working with Lexie on a reading lesson or giving instruction for her work, Mister really enjoys doing the Kumon workbooks and a Big Preschool activity book. He has a book of all mazes and will literally sit there the entire time we do school and just do mazes. Some days he just goes and plays trucks or looks at books, or plays independently with something else, and I am totally fine with that.
Writing- some days I will write letters on a piece of paper and he traces them; other times he just doodles and tells me about his pictures.

They both love art, listening to read alouds, talking about history, and learning about the Bible. This spring homeschool has become such a blessing again! Somehow, we just found our groove for now … Yes, it is surely to change, but there is a season for everything. =)

What is best is that it’s all relaxed. My word for the year began as joy. And it definitely continues to be my word of the year. 😉 However, my mantra has become relax. I can’t find the joy, or rather feel and see it in front of me, if I can’t relax. And that’s just what we have done.

I don’t dread any part of our school time; I don’t wish that we were doing something different. There is a peace about it, a joy in it, and we all love it! Even Mister tells me, “Mama, I love learning time!” And that’s just how it should be. I can’t tell you how thankful I am for the friend that encouraged me to step back from everything, that introduced me to podcasts (I will do a WHOLE ‘nother post on those!), for my husband encouraging me to wake early in the mornings to start my day with coffee and Jesus … it has all just played into a perfect part of our day, of which the morning is school.

So. until July when we are done with school and a newborn is in the house, I think this is going to continue working.

What does your homeschool with your littles look like?

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Homeschool Science with Rainforest Journey {a review} by EdTechLens

by Meghan // March 17, 2016 // Comments off

For our science the past few months we have chosen to read lots of books about whatever the kids are interested in, listen to science podcasts, and do nature studies and nature walks. To supplement those things, we have also been using a one year subscription to Rainforest Journey by EdTechLens; we have used the Kindergarten level for one student.

This came along at just the right time, because Lexie has been obsessed with learning about volcanoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc. So of course it was easy to blend the topic of rainforest right into that.

About Rainforest Journey

In this Journey, you will have 34 lessons covering life sciences for grades K-5. Each lesson has an End of Lesson Review which is printable. We did a few printed reviews, and a few we just did orally. For young children like mine, it is easy to do these orally. There are also hands-on activities that can be done in home, or outside. One thing that I think sets this program apart, are the included videos, interviews, and beautiful interactive images used in the lessons. There are even enrichment activities, of which we did a few, that includes incredible educational illustrations of how things work (think graphic organizers on steroids).

How We Used Rainforest Journey & What We Think

We used Rainforest Journey as a supplement to what we have been reading about and studying in science. After visiting Hawaii last year, both my 5 year old and 3 year old have been obsessed with volcanoes, rocks, earthquakes, and all things science. We easily added in the topic of rainforests to include a more life science study, if that makes sense. We have done a lot of earth science, but now we have learned how that earth science pretty much has its own life. The study of the different kinds of rainforests, the animals you find in each layer, emphasizing how life requires light and water, especially in the rainforest, etc. has enriched our homeschool science so much!

Because it is computer based, I allowed Lexie to interact on the computer for the first time. You can also very easily use it on an ipad, which we just haven’t done but probably will for future lessons. She wanted to “learn to click on the computer” so I let her mess with it a little, but mostly I helped navigate the lessons. She did enjoy clicking on the button that reads the text to you. Many of the enrichment features included a question that was perfect for opening a deeper discussion, or prompting the creation of a story.

The assessments at the end of each unit can be either printed and completed independently, or completed online with immediate results. I found these to be very simple, straight forward quizzes/assessments that were perfect for a kindergarten student.

As we continue through Rainforest Journey I plan to print the visual aids, along with the review sheets we complete (whether she dictates and I write, or she writes on them), and make a rainforest notebook for both her and little brother to look at when we are done. It will be a great item to add to their portfolio for the year as well.

This is a beautiful, well organized and easy to navigate online program to supplement homeschool science!