I Think We Are Ready!

Lesson plans are made.  Bags are packed.  I think we are ready for our first day of school tomorrow!

Declan's bag has been ordered, but it not here yet.  His is dark grey with red lettering though.  These bags are so handy for their schoolwork!  It's a great size for all their books and they can easily pick them up and take them to wherever they want to do their schoolwork with everything they need.  

Declan's bag:

He's just doing some preschool work to keep him entertained while everyone is working.  We have crayons, coloring book, and notebook, stickers, flashcards of insects and puzzles.

Fiona's bag:  

Fiona is starting some Pre-K work this year.  We have Language Lessons for Little Ones, Building Thinking Skills, and coloring book and notebook.

Chandler's bag:

Second grade!  We have a notebook for journaling, Language Lessons for Little Ones 3 and Horizons Math.  He will also be doing Xtramath online.

Claire's bag:

Fourth grade!  She has a notebook for journaling, Language Lessons for the Very Young 2, Editor in Chief, Horizons Math and Life of Fred Apples.  She will also be doing some Xtramath online and has a Orton-Gillingham tutor that she will see twice a week. 

Everyone will also be doing Apologia Zoology Flying Creatures and Mystery of History III along with our homeschool co-op.  Fiona and Chandler will also be doing Spanish. 

It's going to be a busy year!

The Homeschool Plan 2015-2016

We have a plan!  And as my husband always adds - but we aren't Cylons.  Yes, the nerding is strong in this house.

This year we are continuing some things, but changing some things out.

 Last year I used this to plan/record our school year from Mardel and it worked great so I ordered a new one for this year.  It has everything I need for our schoolwork and it's pretty!  :)

For English we have started journaling everyday and we are using Queen Homeschooling's Language Lessons for Little Ones 3 and Language Lessons for the Very Young.  We have also added All About Spelling Level 1 for both kids. 

When the kids journal they write the entire date (i.e. Monday, September 7, 2015) and "I am thankful for ___________." and "My favorite part of yesterday was ____________."  I noticed a bit too much of focusing on the negative with my children and I am hopeful that making them think of the good things will help that.  Plus, handwriting practice! 

We have really liked Queen Homeschooling's Language Lessons.  It is Charlotte Mason based and very gentle.  Each lesson usually only takes 5 minutes max and there is a lot of poetry and beautiful paintings mixed in.  We are beginning All About Spelling this year.  I am starting both of them at Level 1 and they both say it's one of their favorite subjects this year. 

We are doing Apologia Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics this year with our homeschool co-op and really, really like it so far.  I think all the experiments will make this a very memorable year! 

Our homeschool co-op is also doing Mystery of History Volume 2.  This book focuses on the Early Church and the Middle Ages.  Some of the weeks look really great, some we have already covered, but I still think it will be valuable.  Repetition is helpful when it comes to history.

We will be continuing with Horizons Math.  Chandler (1st grade) is starting Math 1.  Claire (3rd grade) is a little behind, but we will be doubling up some lessons until she gets caught up.  Math is a strong point for her even though we haven't gotten through the lessons so I don't worry about her picking it all up.  We will slow down if she needs more work on a concept.

Fiona has a school bag too like the big kids.  (I'll tell more about those another day!)  Her bag is full of a notebook, pencil bag, stickers, a coloring book, washable crayons, and some magnet games, etc.  We are going to start some gentle preschool stuff with her this year, like colors and shapes, but she os still 2 so I will not be pushing it.  She likes "doing school" like her brother and sister though.

I'm looking forward to this school year.  I think it will be a great one!

First Day of School 2014

It's here! First Day of School!

I'm tired!  Declan nurses constantly and Fiona is sweet and loving with him, but is definitely a little needy nowadays.  But the show must go on and the big kids have been restless and Chandler is so eager to start Kindergarten! 

Claire is finishing up 2nd grade and will be moving to 3rd by the end of the year.

Chandler is now a Kindergartener! 

Group picture including Fiona!

 Notice the 1st day of school crowns they made yesterday?  Yeah, that's homeschoolers for you!  ;)  We started at the table and Fiona had colored pencils and a notepad to entertain her.  She loves drawing and to take the pencils in and out of the box.  It almost made her through all the schoolwork!

The gang hard at work!  Minus the sleeping baby boy in the next room. 

 I never did get a chance to share our homeschool plan this year!  I have a 2nd/3rd grader and a Kindergarten student plus Fiona is 20 months old and Declan will turn 1 month on Wednesday.  Obviously I will need to get my ducks in a row and need to make a plan.

 So this wonderful book comes into play.  This is "A Simple Plan" from Mardel.  This is what I have at the end of our first day:

In the planning section I figured how many lessons I want done in a week.  This is the current week and I wrote what we actually completed today.  The post-it notes are where I broke down what I actually want to read, etc in History and Science each day.

And on that note, our curriculum for this year:

Math is Horizons.  Chandler is starting the Kindergarten book and Claire is actually finishing up the 1st grade book and then will move on to 2nd.  Horizons tends to be a little "ahead" grade level wise so I'm not worried about it.  I would prefer for her to have a good, sturdy math foundation instead of rushing her. 

Language Arts:  Claire is finishing up The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Chandler is starting it.  Chandler is doing Language Lessons for Little Ones and Claire will be doing Language Lessons for the Very Young.  So far they both really like it. 

 Handwriting is Handwriting Without Tears for Chandler and New American Cursive for Claire. 

 We will be doing Science and History through our homeschool co-op.  We do the reading at home and meet once a week for two hours with 29 other families to do the activities and experiments.  I love that my children get to see their friends every week and it's a wonderful group of families! 

 Science is Apologia Astronomy and Claire will be adding the Junior Astronomy Notebook as well.

History is the Mystery of History Volume 1.  So far it looks great! 

Well, that's a rundown of our curriculum, plus in the moment learning of course!  We also have monthly P.E. class, Claire is signed up for an art class and they both have a one time Horsekeeping class!  I am also planning on a having a once a week sign language class at home with them.  As long as I can keep Fiona and Declan entertained we should have a great year!

And a super cute picture to end us off with:

My littles on the first day of school! 

First Day of School 2013!

Claire - 7 years old and starting 2nd Grade!

Chandler - 4 years old and starting Pre-K!

Our plan for the next year:

Bible:  Leading Little Ones to God by Marian M. Schoolland and Bible stories

Math:  Claire will be working quickly through her Horizons Math books (we are a grade behind at the moment).  Chandler will be learning his numbers and doing simple addition with me.

Language Arts:  Claire will be finishing Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading and Daily Phonics by Evan-Moor.  If she progresses well I may get Growing with Grammar towards the end of the year.  Chandler will be working on his alphabet.

Handwriting:  Claire will finish her Memoria Press Copybook that she started this summer and then will start New American Cursive.  Chandler's main schoolbook is his Handwriting Without Tears - Get Set for School "My First School Book".

Science:  Apologia Exploring Creation Zoology 3:  Land Animals of the 6th Day with our homeschool co-op.

History:  We will finish Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times and we will also be doing Story of the World Volume 2: The Middle Ages with our homeschool co-op. 

Geography:  Beginning Geography by Evan-Moor and mapping from our science and history combined with World Map Skills with our homeschool co-op. 

Oh, and add in numerous books of course.  Claire will also be taking an art elective through the co-op and plans on a cooking class through 4-H.  Not to mention working on our Home Ec skills and Animal Husbandry - i.e. Chores!  :) 

Looks like a full year!

We have a PLAN!

Why do I feel like an evil Mwhahaha needs to go with that?

We have all of Claire's Kindergarten materials together! This is the plan for the year:

Language Arts

We have "The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching", Handwriting Without Tears - Kindergarten and Explode the Code 1. We've been working with OPG since around April and Claire really enjoys it. We also got the Pre-Kindergarten level of Handwriting Without Tears at the same time and she's already finished it! She loves her handwriting books! After 2 days of working with the Kindy level one we were already at page 15! We haven't started Explode the Code yet, I'm waiting until we get a little further with OPG. We started using a slate and chalk for Claire to practice her letters on, but we found it was difficult for her to write, so I picked up a small whiteboard and it's working great.



Mathematics

We have RightStart Mathematics, Level A. We haven't gotten very far on it, but I liked that it was manipulative heavy.



Bible

Umm, yeah. That's pretty much it.

Science

Since it's just Kindergarten we will be doing experiments. Once we get into the school year swing of things it will probably be one a week. We got "Stepping into Science" from Timberdoodle to start us off. I also have two Science project books give me ideas. "Bubbles, Rainbows and Worms" is science experiments for preschool, but I figure her brother can enjoy it as well that way.



Social Studies

We have "Beginning Geography" to start us off and I will add in from the many books we have lining our house for History, etc.



Extras

I guess I would call this Critical Thinking? I got the set of "Developing the Early Learner" from Timberdoodle. Claire LOVES this. It's very simple for her in the beginning, but it's nice to have things that are easy every once and a while. :)



Of course all of this is supplemented by many, many books! Claire and I are reading "The All-of -a-Kind Family" by Sydney Taylor right now. I also have the "Chronicles of Narnia" and "The Little House on the Prairie" books that I hope to read this year. Some days I think it all sounds ambitious and some days I don't think it will be enough! But the first year of homeschooling is all about learning for the child and the parent!