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?

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!

Homeschool Bible Study with Grapevine {a review}

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

This year as part of TOS Review Crew I was ecstatic to see Grapevine Studies on the list! Last year we used and reviewed one of their Bible studies and truly enjoyed it, so I couldn’t wait to try their next study, New Testament Overview Part I: John to the Apostles. We received the Beginner and Beginner Traceable levels.

About The Study

This study is at the beginner level, but there are levels for every student. Each study consists of 22 lessons total; we used these 2-3 times a week to supplement on bible study. We reviewed the digital downloads which we are able to print at home and use for the entire family; Grapevine also offers physical book options.

I like the layout of Grapevine’s teacher book. It is color coded so I know exactly what I am looking at, which is especially great it you are an “open and go” homeschool mom (or dad).

The teacher’s guide also offers

Teachers Goals and Students Goals section (which are broad goals for the study as a whole)
supply list
Lesson Goals and Key Points for each individual lesson

Included in each lesson is (for the teacher) are which passages of the Bible to read for study, some explanations for the teacher, section and review questions to ask the student(s). I like that they include a picture of the student’s page so I don’t have be right next to my children or see exactly what they’re doing.

The difference between the Beginner Student and Beginner Traceable is just that- one student’s book is traceable and one is blank. The traceable is great for those just starting out with Grapevine that need help understanding just how to stick figure.

How We Used The Study

These studies are so great for all types of learners; my children are young so they are still very wiggly and need something to do with their hands while they listen and learn. Drawing through the Bible (Grapevine’s studies) is just perfect for us; they really liven up Bible lessons and keep those hands-on learners minds’ busy! My son is 3, and so far has shown me he is most definitely in need of hands on learning with lots of visual explanation and demonstration. While he traced along the best he could (or wanted, rather) with his older sister, I can most definitely see this being a perfect fit for him when he is really ready for school!

As I mentioned above, we used these lessons 2-3 times a week (usually just 2 because we only school 4 days a week) to go along with our Bible reading from our curriculum. These could be stand alone studies with no additional Bible study needed. The lessons took us a little longer than it probably would take most families; we spent about 25 minutes each day to complete 1-2 lessons. My children ask tons of questions so we re-read some scriptures a few times. My daughter likes to explain back to me what we have read, so that also adds some time to lessons.

What We Think

I love that Grapevine includes their statement of faith (every homeschool should have one, if you don’t a simple google search will take you to some great blogs that can help you nail one down), their inspiration, their mission, and method in their teacher’s books. It really helps set my mind on what I am working towards also, so I say don’t skip reading that part if you use their homeschool Bible study!

Grapevine is a big hit in our home, again! We enjoy these lessons, the discussion they bring into our home, what the kids are really getting out of the Bible, and how simple yet effective they are. You can go as deep or stay as simple as you’d like. My children ask to do “history Bible” which is what they call Grapevine. My son just in the last few weeks has become adamant that he does exactly what big sister does,and with Grapevine that is so easy for ME- because he can sit in while I read the scriptures, then trace the pictures to make those connections concrete for him, although he can’t yet draw detailed pictures. My daughter is enjoying the Beginner Level and I can’t wait to see how she progresses as we continue to use Grapevine.

Check Out Grapevine Studies Online:

Facebook
Twitter
Pinterest
Website

Some Days Are Hard: Getting Out of A Rut {and weekly wrap up for Jan 22, 2016}

by Meghan // February 1, 2016 // Comments off

I love blogging, mainly because I enjoy writing, but also because I get emails and messages asking for help, our experiences etc. I am a transparent person, so I love sharing here!

I usually have encouraging things to say, great review info, or experiences to share. But lately …

Well, I’ve just been in a rut. (Haven’t I written that before?! … oh yes! yes, I have)

I don’t get into school ruts often, though. And I am still not 100% sure this rut I am in is directly school related, because I really feel like it’s a lack of the house being settled the move (some curtains not done, decorations not quite right, the basement isn’t perfectly set up, etc), and winter.

Every few years I just have a really hard time with winter-I remember specifically the years I was pregnant with Lexie and Max were hard. Not every year is this way; as a matter of fact the last 2 years in Nebraska, where it was OH-MY-GOSH so cold and windy, where I never went outside in winter time and everything was covered in snow until May, I had winters that were just fine. No ruts or frustrations or lack of motivation.

This winter has been really tough though. I don’t know if it is a combo of pregnancy (man, the last 7 weeks were killer), or cabin fever or what, but I haven’t been myself.

And when mama isn’t herself, things seem to fall apart little by little. And the first attack here is on menu planning, attitudes, and school.

SO … all that to say, over the last few weeks we have been reading our Sonlight books and doing those discussions, handwriting, weekly journal writings, and math (all because Lexie asks for them), but that’s it. We haven’t hit science thoroughly, we haven’t done art much, which we all love, and have not been notebooking through our Bible stories.

I do have to say, the kids seem mostly unaffected as far as school goes. They beg for learning time, books, activities, workbooks … it is me that feels *blah* about everything in general right now.

A sweet friend, and wonderful homeschool mama, came over this past week and we had a wonderful visit. She helped me come to the conclusion that I just need to relax.

I can do the assignments Lexie is interested in, and the rest doesn’t matter, because she is 5.
We can sit around and read books all day; they’re learning so much just from that (which is what we used to do, before winter got here and I slowly became consumed with everything in the house around me). It isn’t going to end the world if we leave a mess or two, or don’t get something done. (remind me of this first thing in the morning!)
I NEED to get back to a solid routine

That’s the second part of this post … what has made the last few months inside hard has also been a disruption of routine. We had a SOLID routine in place that was pretty much no-fail this summer and fall. That block of time outside first thing in the morning was heaven for all of us, and just set the tone for school and the rest of our day.

Today, I can’t take the kids outside in 20 degree weather first thing in the morning, and enjoy my coffee while watching them play, or go pick the garden. And it down right sucks.

We also didn’t have a library home. In NE we could just get out and go to the library; have a bunch of books on hold and take them home and read. Since we moved to KS, we haven’t joined a library, so my friend also helped with that! (Isn’t it wonderful who God puts in our lives?)

We went just last week to the library and I put a bunch of books about pioneers on hold. For the next few weeks we are going to read books on pioneers, cowboys, and the west (our current Sonlight topic and a favorite of both Lexie and Max’s), discuss, learn, maybe do some easy projects, and that’s it. I am going to enjoy these days with my babies and try to CHILL OUT. (easier said than done, but I am trying)

I know mamas with older children are thinking, “I can’t just stop everything we are doing and relax” …. But you know, I think you can. Isn’t that one reason why we homeschool?- because we know when we need a change, a break, or to feed our souls. It is hard to change our mentality when our eyes see everything around us and our brain says “I must get it all done.”

But what’s the most important work? That’s what I have to ask myself right now. And the answer is loving and nurturing my kids; building those relationships. It is a balance and it is HARD.

What to Do About Those Struggles

So, if you’re with me- stuck in a winter rut- know that it is okay. I am working on identifying why I am struggling and what I can do to fix that. So far, praying over it, and encouragement from a good, experienced friend has lead me to:

relax
work on a new routine and stick with it!
take it to the Lord
did I mention, relax?
Work on my word of the year, which was Joy. Find Joy in this winter ..

(not in that order….)

So I would say identify why you’re in a rut or struggling, make a plan to change those things, and go from there. That’s what I am trying to do! Trial and error, it is okay to fail. It is okay to apologize to your kids when you’re frustrated and have a bad attitude. Try, try again. =)

Yesterday I noticed the sun set about 6:00pm- WOO HOO! Can I get an Amen?! In 8 or so weeks spring will be here and I will only want to be outside all the time, so now is the time to embrace these days indoors … that is my new outlook!

How do you get out of the winter doldrums?

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!

Weekly Wrap Up: October 29

by Meghan // November 6, 2015 // Comments off

writing amounts using the cents sign, reading “I Can Read It: Book2”, Mister coloring blueberries on the letter B

I am so behind on weekly wrap ups, baby updates, etc. I am so sorry y’all! I know many of my readers really look forward to those posts, and I have been seriously slacking since the move…. and the move was over in August, so no excuses.

This is more like a monthly wrap up.

The past month the 5 year old has been working on:

finishing AAR Level 1-learning new sounds for letters, open/closed syllables/
working through Saxon K (which she LOVES, so glad I chose not to skip it!)- telling time to the hour, and writing money using the cents sign, ordering items according to price
Sonlight language arts for supplementing- copywork, select grammar, I Can Read It book
HWOT Kindergarten book-she loves this and asks to do it all the time
Elemental Science (I will be honest, we haven’t been hitting this every week.. but the kids *love* science!)- we recently had a lot of fun learning about diluting using mud!
art lessons from Artistic Pursuits- again, a favorite!
Sonlight Core A- history, Bible, Read alouds, and geography- right now studying medieval times, working through Moses stories, and SL missionary stories. Our read aloud is Here’s a Penny and IT IS SO FUN! We love it so far; we recently finished up My Father’s Dragon which was also a favorite.
supplementing with Grapevine Bible lessons (review coming soon!)- Lexie *loves* history, it is her other favorite part about school
Lots of books- she reads to me a little, and the rest of the time I am just reading to all of the kids.

My 3 year old is working through:

Tagging along with big sister’s books
AAR Pre Reading level (just recognizing letters and their sounds, which he mostly already knows because of our ABC song)
ThisReadingMama’s letter of the week activities-when he feels like it
Before Five in a Row books- the last two weeks we have focused on the letter B and have been rowing Ask Mr. Bear. Mister has had so much fun with this book, and has especially enjoyed the rowing activities. He is at the age where he can listen to books and focus a bit longer on activities (especially if he gets to cut or glue!), and it is truly so much fun for us as a family!
identifying numbers through 10- the boy is obsessed with counting, and subtracting then recounting. I made a number line for the back of our backdoor (where all our learning charts are) and I bet he points to the numbers and counts at least 10 times a day!
Supplementing with Fun Time Phonics- review coming soon
just having fun and learning through play- lots and lots of play for everyone!

We discuss each morning: our manners, character traits, Bible, talking about being a good friend, helping others … The most important of all this, for us, is building faith, relationships, and character. Those are our main goals.

It looks like a lot- and it would be- but we don’t do this every day. We don’t even hit on all of this every week! The kids are young, I am following their lead because we can. They LOVE our Sonlight reading and on days that we don’t have it scheduled they are pretty bummed out about it. Mister some days doesn’t want to do school with us, and I am 100% fine with that- he is learning all day long while he plays, and while we read books.

I don’t want our days to be so consumed by “we have to get this done,” that we forget why we are homeschooling, why we are trying to live simply, why we are trying to not be consumed, or super-consumers. So the list above is like a buffet, we take from it what we need, going slowly and having fun!

Of course Ila is only 13 months old and is just tagging along, while going through her own developments. Those will get their own post in her 1 year update (coming soon, I hope!)

We have acted out parts of stories, built castles with “dungeons,” used compasses, played with play doh, baked, spent tons of time outdoors, gone on nature walks, and read books galore.

I hope November is as much fun and full of learning for all of us as October has been!

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!

The Nutcracker: A Ballet Story Put to Classical Music

by Meghan // October 30, 2015 // Comments off

Maestro Classics produces beautiful stories put to music; we have reviewed some of their Cds before. This time, we reviewed one of their newest additions: The Nutcracker. I received the physical CD, along with the activity book as part of The Crew.

This 1 hour version of the Nutcracker ballet is narrated by Jim Weiss, music is performed by the London Philharmonic Orchestra, and originally composed by Tchaikovsky. Many of you know the story of the Nutcracker, but just incase here is a link to a synopsis of the story. I won’t recount the entire thing here. =)

What We Thought About The Nutcracker

First of all, I can tell you that anything by Maestro is going to be just beautifully done. But the Nutcracker is an absolute favorite! My five year old daughter has asked to listen to this classic story on CD almost every single day since we received it. She loves to look at the activity book pictures while she listens, or dance around to the music. I think at this point she can quote most of the narration … that is how much she enjoys it!

The music is of course the classic Nutcracker composed by Tchaikovsky, but Jim Weiss (as many know) in the king of narration! He keeps the music the center of the story, while adding just enough for those young listeners to really be able to visualize what is happening in the story. There are beautiful details in the story.

Just like last time, one my daughter’s favorite things was pointing out the different musical instruments. We read about the harp inside the activity book that was included with the CD. She enjoyed doing the crossword puzzle with me, but is still a big young for the longer words in the word scramble. She really enjoyed learning what different words from the activity book meant, such as overture, and discussing the sugar plum fairies and other details of the story.

Inside the activity book you will find:

The ballet acts broken down
A thorough history of ballet
An overture to The Nutcracker
The history and details of the harp
a short biography of Pytor Ilych Tchaikovsky
A word scramble
Crossword puzzle
It is all surrounded by beautiful illustrations

What I love about this CD is the music and narration are in perfect harmony; neither is too loud or overpowering of the other, they perfectly compliment each other. Both my daughter and my son have enjoyed playing while listening to The Nutcracker. They have turned it into their own pretend play and love acting it out. The music makes the narration so exciting, you cannot help but enjoy it. Lexie just keeps saying, “it is just a beautiful story, mama, isn’t it?” =)

Overall, like all their other productions, the Nutcracker is a beautiful story put to music. Their CDs would make perfect gifts or stocking stuffers for any child that enjoys books on tape and/or classical music. I think we will be giving some as gifts this year!

There are also great curriculum guides to go along with Maestro’s classics! Check them out.

Connect with Maestro Classics

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!

How We Nature Study {Pre-K}

by Meghan // September 22, 2015 // Comments off

Part of our science curriculum this year includes nature studies.

Nature studies are simple, relaxed studies of things in nature (a quick google search will give you all the info you need about them). The best part is you can go as deep as you want

For our nature studies, I decided to begin with a few supplies:

nature study tote (I made ours, but any tote or backpack will do)
Pencil Box
Prismacolor Pencil Sharpener
Ebony Graphite Pencil
Watercolor Pencil Set
Mixed Media Book large
Mixed Media Book small
Magic Rub Eraser

I could have bought cheaper supplies and the kids would have been just as thrilled, but I think Lexie is ready to learn how to be more responsible with nice art supplies so I went ahead and got the good stuff. To begin our nature study we just pick a topic; as of right now we are using the topic that goes along with our lesson from Elemental Science.

First, we read a bit about the topic we will be studying. Then we take our totes full of our supplies and head out for the study. We do a nature walk until we find just what we are looking for, once we find it we begin observing and writing in our nature journals.

In the journal you can write questions you have, things you see, what you like, what is around you, etc. The possibilities are really endless.

You can collect things from your study to add into your journal (leaves, pins from pine trees, flowers to press, petals, pictures, etc). We have only done one real nature study and since it was our first we just drew a picture of what we saw into the mixed media book using the watercolor pencils and the ebony pencil. You can use anything you would like; I am not sure if we will keep our pages in the mixed media book or if we will pull them out and place in a binder so we can add extra pages and more bulky things to the journal as we go.

After exploring outside, we came back in and studied more about the particular tree we had been observing; we would do the same with any bug, flower, etc. I plan to gather info on our nature studies before hand so I can print lapbooks and journal pages that go with the theme; it will take a bit more planning on my end but will be well worth it!

And that was it! As we go more in depth and really get the hang of the nature study I will share more pictures and details.

Elemental Science: Our 2015 Homeschool Science Curriculum

by Meghan // September 17, 2015 // Comments off

I have had so many friends and readers asking about our science curriculum. Well, we finally started it!

This week was our first one back at school full time after our move to the farm. It has been great and everyone fell right into routine.

Part of our new routine includes our first real science curriculum: Elemental Science Intro to Science (which is on a Kindergarten level).

So far this curriculum is right up our family’s alley! It is based on the Classical and Charlotte Mason models of education; as you may know I LOVE teaching using those models and so far they fit my children’s learning styles well. It requires 2 books, 1)The Usborne Internet-Linked First Encyclopedia of Science and 2)More Mudpies to Magnets: Science for Young Children. The third book that is recommended, and I LOVE IT, is Handbook of Nature Study.

The Lessons:

Each week you have options for 2 or 5 day lessons; we do a combo depending on how much time we have (it worked out to 3 days this week). You will have your lesson intro, experiment, student notebooking sheets that go with that experiment, and a nature study! (see a sample HERE). There are also short reading assignments for most lesson from the required supplement books above.

The lessons each have an experiment, which for me is awesome because A) it is all set up for me and I have the books I need for it and B) I am not good with hands on … so it is good that it tells me I need to do it! (plus my kids love hands on stuff). I did buy the experiment kit because of the move and everything, I just didn’t want one more thing to do. But everything in it is pretty easy to come by so you could easily set up your own kit to pull from throughout the year. It was about $42, and I wasn’t disappointed.

This week we studied how matter can states; from a solid state to liquid and back again using old crayons for our experiment (via the curriculum). We also did a little experiment that was in the science encyclopedia creating gas!

Then we took our science outside to do our very first nature study which was about pine trees. I did not do a lapbook for this nature study since it was our first week- we just drew/wrote in our nature study book. (look for another post about our nature study notebook soon!)

We are starting all of this very slowly and I don’t want to overwhelm Lexie with too much at once as she is still young, but she is soaking up every single thing we do. I will plan more in depth nature studies when appropriate. 🙂 Mister loves tagging along and wants to do all the same things we are doing, so of course he joins us.

Another thing that turned me on to ES is that in the later years they have tests included as part of the curriculum, along with everything else. Now, I do NOT believe in testing everything all the time. I do however think science is a great area to use test for assessment (and as a tool for learning to take tests when older). So there’s that …

Elemental Science so far has been a delight, and something both the kids (5 and 3yo) look forward to! I would definitely recommend it if you are interested in a Charlotte Mason, gently hands-on, Classical science curriculum.

Sonlight Box Day Core A {2015/2016}

by Meghan // July 11, 2015 // Comments off

Last week we began our official 2015/2016 homeschool year.

By most standards ~~but we don’t go by most standards, now do we?~~ this is early, even for year round schooling. However, with all the chaos of moving and the uncertainty of living in a rent house, the kids needed more structure and routine than we had going.
Lexie kept telling us she didn’t like this home (I don’t blame her, it doesn’t feel like home), and wanted to go back where all our books and things were (most everything is still boxed since we will be moving again in about 36 days, with the exception of our necessities and a few toys/books).
So I felt like we needed something to make the next 2 months feel more secure and emotionally safe for the kids- so what better way than to break out Homeschool Box Day! 🙂 (you can read about our very first Box Day HERE)

They were over the moon excited while unboxing everything. (Please excuse the rather sloppy photo editing, it was mostly done from my phone, since we have very limited internet usage in the rent house.)

They are most excited about Curious George! We aren’t even reading that during our homeschool time; it has just become an ever.single. day. “Can we read Curious George?” time. They especially love listening to the stories on CD.

We will take it slowly; right now we are focusing on AAR, SL LA, math, doing our daily Sonlight reading from Core A, and the Mister’s BFIAR story. He is listening along for most of the books, but the Before Five in a Row book is specifically for him. Because I don’t have my printer, laminator, etc unboxed, he isn’t exactly “rowing” the books right now. We can always come back and do that later.

Aside from George, Boxcar Chldren is their other favorite, along with our timeline book and the big map.

Anyway, Box Day was a success and getting back to school time has completely changed the feeling of our home! The kids are happier; you can just feel the intention in our day and it is wonderful!