Archive for Homeschool Hubbub
When Family Business and Homeschooling Come Together
Posted by: | CommentsIt was really all because of Matt. He’s the brilliant one.
After breakfast, Bible, history, and math on Wednesday, Matt picked up several boxes of our Oh, For Real books from the printer and got everyone started on putting them into envelopes as we filled orders. Thanks to my friend Jenny, we had many of the envelopes already addressed and ready to go. By the time I made it out into the living room to help, here is what I found:
If that isn’t the picture of a family business, I don’t know what is. I was thrilled and grateful. But Matt hadn’t just put the kids to work on preparing orders. He had a geography lesson going on at the same time. Impressive, huh?!
You see, one of the many fun parts of printing off invoices as your orders have come in has been seeing where they are coming from. So, Matt had the younger boys get out our big U.S. puzzle to fill in the states as they showed up on each package.
Here’s Malachi, looking to see if the state on his envelope has been put into place yet. In the meantime, I was burning lunch. Yep, I had hastily put a frozen casserole into the oven that morning while we worked, but had the oven turned up too high. Good grief. It seems as if I should get out my Oh, For Real book and read it! I’m pretty sure the instructions in the book tell me to heat the casserole slowly at a low temp. Duh. Be glad you can’t smell our burning noodles as you look at our book packaging process.
By the time we were almost finished with “round one” of book packaging – our map looked like this:
I believe by now, it is completely full. How fun!
I want to say thank you to all of you who have ordered so far. We continue to pray that you will be blessed by Oh, For Real: Real Food, Real Family, Real Easy. For those of you who live outside the U.S., if you are interested in a copy of this book, please email me for details! Then maybe we can get out our World Map Puzzle to see where our book is headed… :)
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Are Home Schooled Kids Socially Awkward? Do They Live in a Bubble?
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I am often asked if I feel that home schooled kids are “socially awkward”. In addition, a few months ago, I received this great question from a reader, Jill:
I’m debating homeschooling. My fiance’s biggest worry is that public school, for all its downsides, allows for something homeschooling does not – ample exposure to people who may not look, think, behave, or live like you. In other words, he sees homeschooling as keeping one’s child in a bubble, away from ideas and people who have a lifestyle the parents don’t agree with.I would love a post/discussion on how true or untrue this perception is. How do homeschooling parents teach their kids to interact with others – other kids, grown-ups, other cultures, other faiths, etc. How do you prepare your child for life in the “real world” where not everyone’s cultures/values/faith/etc. matches what goes on in their own home.
These discussions are so helpful, by the way – I’m gaining great insight!
I love Jill’s thoughts and appreciate that she shared her concern. How wise of her to give such good consideration to parenting her kids, instead of just jumping into what sounds good at the moment.
When we first decided to home school our kids (when our oldest was beginning Kindergarten 11 years ago), many asked us, “But what about their social skills?”
It’s a valid concern. All parents want their kids to be able to grow up to be “normal”, productive adults who know how to handle real world, real life problems and situations.
So first, let me say this, which is my answer to the question, “Are home schooled kids socially awkward?”
I have known some home schooled kids who are socially awkward. I have also known some public school kids who are socially awkward. I have known some private school kids who are socially awkward. I have known grown adults who are socially awkward. I have had coworkers who are socially awkward. I have gone to church with people who are socially awkward. I have stood in line at the grocery store with people who are socially awkward. I have had lovely conversations with people who are socially awkward.
Some people are just socially awkward. Sometimes I am socially awkward. Sometimes all of us are socially awkward.
And after a while, reading the word awkward over and over again just becomes awkward.
So my point is: home school does not create a socially awkward student or adult, any more or less than public school or private school. That statement, in my opinion, is a fact. (Ha, I made myself giggle when I first wrote that sentence, which I have to admit, feels a tad bit…socially awkward.) ;)
What about the question of home schooled kids living in a bubble? I think this is a great question that Jill asks. Home schooling does keep a child from some experiences that they may otherwise have if they were in a school environment. So, is this wise? Is it providing your kids with the ability to get along in the “real world” some day?
I can’t speak for all home school families – although I do think I speak for many. In our experience, we have found that while in some ways we are protecting them - in many ways we are actually preparing them. Preparing them for the “real world”. Providing experiences for them that will teach them how to deal with the elderly, the handicapped, the foreign, the younger, the older, those that look different, those that sound different, those who don’t believe in Jesus. Our kids’ experiences just look different than they look for those who are in a schoolroom setting.
Our kids get an incredible amount of rich social interaction with all varieties of people when we go to church; when we participate in various ministries; when we invite people to our home; when they take part in many various home school and community activities and sports; when they do odd jobs for others with their dad; when they go to the bank or store or library or post office…the list is endless really.
Am I afraid my kids don’t get enough social interaction or that they live in a bubble? Absolutely not. On the contrary, I am grateful for the vast opportunities they have to develop social skills while they interact frequently with people of all varieties of ages, abilities, disabilities, and seasons in life. And I’ve gotta say - there are days I wish my kids’ social lives would slow down just a little bit so that we could get something done at home!
The real world involves all kinds of opportunities to learn and grow that a school classroom can’t always provide. And admittedly, the school classroom provides some cool things that we can’t provide at home. But we’re okay with that. No school – home, public, or private can do all and be all and provide all.
But above all, no matter how you school your kids, the main goal should be to teach them to be servants of God. And hey, guess what? I’ve known home schoolers who are wonderful servants. I’ve also known public school kids who are wonderful servants. I’ve known private school kids who are wonderful servants…
They all have great parents. I bet you’re one of them. :)
I am always prayerful and careful when writing a post like this. I would deeply appreciate it if you take the same kind of care as you leave a comment. There will be no kid or parent bashing allowed – whether it is related to home, public, or private school. Keep your comments kind and positive – anything less would just be downright socially awkward. :)
If You Give an Eight Year Old Boy a Math Lesson…
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If you give an eight year old boy a math lesson, he will sit right down without hesitation, work diligently without interruptions, and accurately complete the lesson in record time.
Yeah right.
Maybe that’s how it goes for your kids, but here’s how it occasionally goes at my house:
If you give an eight year old boy a math lesson, he will give you a confused look, then ask you where his math book is. You will tell him that it is (as always) in the basket with all of his other school books and that he needs to run get it quickly.
He will begin to run up the stairs to get the math book, but will see a Nerf bullet on one of the steps on his way up. He will stop, pick up the Nerf bullet, examine it, then fling it toward the glass doors at the top of the stairs. The bullet will miss the door, but will instead hit one of his brothers as he comes around the corner. The bullet will thus be flung back and forth between the brothers until you realize what is happening and remind the eight year old (and his brother) of the jobs they are supposed to be doing.
As the eight year old arrives back in the kitchen with his math book (yay!), you will ask him if he also got a pencil. He will reply by telling you that while he does have his new green pencil sharpener, he has no pencil and that he can not find a pencil anywhere and that we must not have any pencils anymore because they were all, obviously, eaten by aliens.
You will show him where there are (as always) forty two (give or take) pencils ready and waiting to be used. He will proceed to take way too long choosing a pencil and will finally, with much urging from you, find his spot in the kitchen and open his math book (by using “the force”).
He will complete two math problems right away because suddenly he is racing against the clock in true boy “everything is a competition” fashion. But then he will accidentally drop his pencil on the ground, where – look out! – the volcanic lava is about to bubble over. He will warn you to “step back” so that your legs are not engulfed by hot lava, and will then try to dangle from the kitchen stool without touching the floor to retrieve the pencil before anyone or anything is harmed.
Just as he almost rescues the pencil from danger, he will see that there is a bug crawling on the floor. Volcanic lava forgotten, he will grab his green pencil sharpener and work to capture the bug. After three to five attempts at this, he will manage to coax the bug into its new home where it will stay while the eight year old settles down, finds his groove, and finishes his math lesson (while giving his new pet an in-depth explanation of how to “carry the one” while adding double digits).
The end.
Did I ever tell you about the time I came home from a well baby check up with one of our boys when he was an infant? He was off the charts when it came to weight and height! I was so proud. However, his head circumference was “only in the 50th percentile”. I worried and worried about that - until I finally had a chance to share what I’d learned with Matt. His response? “Oh, okay. So his head is average. Why exactly does that worry you?”
Huh, good question. Good grief. As if being in the top 95% of his weight class somehow proved that my four month old was outstanding? And since his head was “only at 50″, that somehow meant I had failed him? What in the world do those numbers mean anyway?
After much consideration, and a few more years of mothering experience, I have concluded that chart, schmart – God makes beautiful babies in all shapes and sizes – glory, glory, hallelujah, the end.
And well, isn’t the same true when we talk about all of our capabilities, strengths, and weaknesses?
Whether you home school, public school, or private school your kids, I think it’s easy to let educational pressures and “the norms” get the best of us. Shoot, apparently the pressures to have an over-achiever can begin long before our kids are in school – as is proven by my insecurity that my child’s head was perfectly normal in size. ;)
The books say a child should be doing such and such by a certain age. There are specific standards that judge what is “average”, what is “below average”, and what is “above average”. I appreciate these standards in some ways because they do give us all some great guidelines to reference.
But after having taught in the public school for a few years, and now having taught our four boys at home for over 11 years (well, really 15 years, since technically we started teaching them from birth) - I have come to the conclusion that while a standard is a nice generalized overview, it certainly isn’t something I need to stress out about, lose sleep over, or laminate and put on my refrigerator.
Everyone is unique, with different strengths and weaknesses. (Fore the reccord, I am a teribble speller.) (Obviously.)
These particular “let’s all stop worrying about standards and simply enjoy teaching and learning with our kids” thoughts came to me once again as I was watching our fourth son, now a second grader, do his handwriting lesson last week. I have tried and tried to teach that kid the correct way to form his letters. No matter what I try, he just won’t form his letters following the little arrows as his book directs. He’s not being disobedient, he simply has his own way of doing it. And guess what? His B still looks like a B. Can you even believe it?
Come to think of it, I was also taught a certain style of handwriting, and I also form my letters in a completely different way now. But my handwriting is legible and even kind of pretty if I take my time. (Just don’t look at the shopping lists I typically scrawl onto the back of whatever junk mail envelope that is the closest to me when I remember that we need toilet paper.)
And while I’m on the subject, do you know anyone in the world who makes their cursive Q’s the way they teach in most textbooks? Freakiest letter formation I have ever seen. My apologies to Mr. Zaner-Bloser for bluntly sharing my opinion, which, in my opinion, is correct.
So all of this to say: Lovingly push your kids, enlighten your kids, and challenge your kids. Give them the very best education you can possibly give them.
But if they still make their letter B’s kinda funny, or if they don’t add their math facts the way the book tells them to and they still somehow get the correct answer, or if they aren’t quite meeting the official standards for their grade level in all subjects… Or if your third grader is working really hard but still isn’t reading chapter books, even though your neighbor’s four year old just finished reading the entire Chronicles of Narnia series… Or if your child couldn’t spell the word kat if her life depended on it…
Or, shock upon shock - if you have a child whose head circumference measures perfectly average…
I give us all permission to relax and appreciate that our kids are working hard and learning at the level they are each capable of.
It is a fact that I know a lot of doctors who are really, really brilliant and clearly have fantastic educations…and their handwriting is terrible.
Or maybe it’s just that they are all actually writing their cursive capital Q’s in the funky way I despise and I am really the one with the problem.
What are your thoughts on educational standards? Know or have any kids who are spot on with those guidelines? And what do you think about funky cursive capital Q’s?
2012-2013 Book Lists, Writing Lists, and a Little Bit of Pink (at my house?!)
Posted by: | CommentsYou would think that “Writing” would be on the top of my list of subjects to teach my kids each year, since I absolutely love to write. It seems though, that except for some journaling and small projects here and there, Writing seems to always get pushed to the bottom of our list, trumped by Reading, Math, History, Science, and the like.
This year though: I have a writing plan for the boys, and we will be sticking to it!
First, let me share the boys’ Reading Lists with you, such as they are right now. I plan to adapt these through the year and hopefully add to them in January. Seeing their Reading Lists will help make their Writing Assignment List make more sense. I think. At least it makes sense in my head.
Here is our partially filled book shelf. Not all of the books have been filed yet.
I’m still working on it. But doesn’t it look clean and organized? :)
I typically go off of Sonlight Curriculum’s book list for our Reading, History, and Science. Their lists are wonderful, huge, and thorough, so I have found that I need to pare each list down to make Reading/History more attainable for my family. In addition, for Asa, Matt and I hand selected some books we’ve been wanting him to read that will help shape his character and give us an opportunity to discuss topics with him that we feel are important. With each list, some of the books will be read with a parent, and some will be read independently. I didn’t type out our family “Read Aloud” book list because I’m still working on it.
Asa (Grade 10) – Studying 20th Century World History
- I Kissed Dating Goodbye
- Choosing God’s Best
- Do Hard Things
- Crazy Love
- Our Century in Pictures
- Winston Churchhill: Soldier, Statesman, Artist
- All Quiet on the Western Front
- After the War
- When Hitler Stole Pink Rabbit
- China’s Long March
- Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity
- The Hiding Place (most incredible, inspiring book ever!)
- Exploring Creating with Physical Science
Justus (Grade 7) and Elias (Grade 5)
- D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths
- By the Great Horn Spoon
- Old Yeller
- The Call of the Wild
- Henry Reed, Inc.
- Archimedes and the Door of Science
- Aladdin and Other Tales from the Arabian Nights
- Homer Price
- A Gathering of Days
- Adam of the Road
- Star of Light
- Mystery of the Roman Ransom
Malachi (Grade 2)
Malachi is not yet a fluent reader, but is making great strides! We have not pushed him, and at his own pace, reading is finally start to click. He has loved the Frog and Toad Books
I plan to read The Story of the World (Ancient Times, The Middle Ages, and Early Modern Times) to Justus, Elias, and Malachi as we study World History this year. Even though the boys are all at different grade levels, I have found that it works very well for me to study the same History subject matter with them altogether. Each of them catches and learns what they are capable of for their age. It works beautifully.
In addition, the three younger boys will be studying science together, focusing at least first semester on a Human Body unit – all books from Sonlight.
Of course, our entire family will be reading the Bible and some devotional/study books together at breakfast time each day. Asa and Justus will continue to learn Spanish from the incredible Rosetta Stone CDs. Malachi will use Miquon math books, while the other three use Teaching Textbooks at their grade level (5th, 7th, and Algebra 2). We’ll go through grammar books, phonics books, spelling, handwriting, and vocabulary books as is needed and grade level appropriate. And I’m sure I’m forgetting something, but that’s okay. As long as they are learning how to learn, we’re good to go, right?
Now…for writing. Here are the plans I’ve made for each boy. I will assign deadlines for each project.
Asa:
- Write one 3-5 page paper about what you loved about your summer, what you feel God taught you, and how you feel you grew.
- Write one 3-5 page research paper about a subject chosen from something you’re studying in Science.
- Write one 3-5 page research paper about a major event you’re studying in History.
- Write one 3-5 page research paper about a person you’re studying in History.
- Write one fiction story, following the guidelines for LTC.
- Write one poem, following the guidelines for LTC.
- Write one (or more) devotional, which you will present at church when the opportunity arises.
- Write two book reviews, choosing from the first four books on your reading list. Agree? Disagree? Personal thoughts and goals?
- Write letters and emails of encouragement as the need arises.
Justus and Elias:
- Write a one page research paper about something you’re studying in History.
- Write a one page research paper about something you’re studying in Science.
- Write one poem, following the guidelines for LTC.
- Write one fiction story, following the guidelines for LTC.
- Write one song, following the guidelines for LTC.
- Write dictation sentences on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice and learn good sentence structure.
- Journal each Monday, one full page, highlighting events from the previous week.
- Write and send cards of encouragement as the need arises, about one each week.
Malachi:
- Journal twice each week, and illustrate.
- Write dictation sentences on Mondays and Wednesdays to practice and learn good sentence structure.
- Create and write fun/silly sentences with Mom, then illustrate.
- Make cards and write notes of encouragement, at least one each week.
This is a very long post, so if you’ve stuck with me this long, you now get to see the pink I was referring to in my post title. When we purchased school supplies for the boys earlier this week, on Malachi’s list was “card making supplies” to go with his writing assignment of making and writing notes to people. (Justus and Elias got to pick out ready made notecards instead.) I already had card-stock, and I let Malachi pick which colors he would like in his “card making kit box”. He chose green and blue, of course. But then he also chose pink “for the grandmas and aunts and ladies at church”. How sweet is he? He also chose some cupcake stickers, deciding that he may need to make treats to take people that he made cards for. I love this idea, and think it is a perfect service idea to follow up on our Learn Your Letters, Learn to Serve Curriculum that we’ve done the past few years.
Phew, so there you go. Hope you survived this post which was about twice as many words as I typically write in one post. I’ll try to make up for it on the next one by writing very little. No promises. Apparently I have lots to share as we prepare for school next week! ;)
Whether you home school or not, I’d love to hear: Are you starting school soon? Are you ready?! :)
School Room Clean-Up, School Supply Shopping, and a Trip Down Memory Lane…
Posted by: | CommentsIt is a tradition we’ve had with our family for years. Each year, after I’ve planned our school curriculum and schedule for the year, I make each boy a list of the supplies he will need. We then head out to do our shopping. This has always helped get the boys excited for the school year to start. And then, to make the day extra special, we go out for lunch together.
Except for the “going out for lunch together” part, I wasn’t really sure how interested they would be this year in our school shopping tradition. Asa is 15, after all. He doesn’t really need crayons anymore. :) And actually, none of the boys really needed much. We’ve purchased so many 20¢ glue sticks in past years that there was no need to add those to any list. So, instead of individual lists, I came up with a general list of what we’d need, and off we went. Sweet boys that they are, they were all super excited about our outing. (That settles it. We are totally keeping this tradition until all of them head to college, and even after that if I can get away with it. Wow, I love these kids. And I refuse to think about them going to college. It’s only three years away for Asa. STOP. I’m not going to think about it.)
Here we were yesterday, taking our traditional “picking out supplies” picture.
And now, would you like to join me for a little tour through the years? I can’t believe how much they’ve grown. I decided to go backwards, so here they are last year, 2011:
2010 (we had and extra friend with us that year) :
2009:
And oh my…2008. Will you just look at these sweet babies:
And now, Asa stands almost six feet tall and speaks with a man voice. It’s unbelievable really. Did I mention that I love these kids? Allow me to wipe my eyes and blow my nose loudly while I move on with the next pictures…
Before heading out yesterday for our outing, we de-cluttered the school room as well as we could. (Some of our upstairs rooms are under construction, so we have extra furniture in the school room for the time being. Therefore, I just took a picture of our very messy, piled high table. All through last year, as we finished with books, instead of being good and putting them where they went, it seems we just continued to pile them on the table. Lovely, huh?
And now…
I’m hoping to do a better job of putting books back on shelves this year. It’s not like it’s hard, you know?
Stay tuned for more updates on what I’m checking off of my Fall Preparation ”to-do” list!
Do You Have Time to Home School?
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How do I find the time to home school my kids?
This is a question I’ve heard quite a bit recently from some who are considering home schooling - or from several who looked at our home school schedule for this year and felt overwhelmed.
Yikes, I sure didn’t mean to overwhelm anyone. Nor did I mean to make you picture me slaving away beside my children all day. I simply shared my schedule because many requested to see it, and because I personally needed to outline my day for the sake of my own organization.
What you need to know is that while we try to hold to this “ideal routine”, there is lots of wiggle room in there. I schedule in thirty minutes each day to read History/Geography to my two middle boys, but sometimes it only takes ten minutes of my time before they take off on their own to finish the lesson. Sprinkled all throughout our routine is plenty of dish washing, cooking, laundry folding and other household chores. I just school my kids around and during our daily life activities. And guess what? They are home to help me with these chores, which means I can actually accomplish more while we home school than if they were away at school!!! Mwoohaha – their laundry folding ability is the real reason I like having them home with me all day. (Not really.) (Except that it really is nice.)
I truly don’t believe that home schooling has created extra work in my life. Yes, it is work. Yes, I have to put forth the effort and spend dedicated time educating my children.
But I’ve been reading to and teaching my kids since they were newborns, and I didn’t consider that “home schooling”. I considered it parenting.
When our oldest son became a home schooled kindergartner, not much changed in our lives. We continued to read together and squeeze in all varieties of lessons and activities during the days, just like we had done before – working around nap times and meal times and play times and grocery store visits and all life activities.
I do have to schedule home schooling into my days, so that we can be more productive. But what I don’t have to schedule in? Getting my kids up and out the door with matching shoes and combed hair each morning by 8:00 (or earlier). Driving my kids to and from school. Preparing and packing lunches. Figuring out how to be a room mom (especially back when I had napping babies at home). And homework. When I hear my friends talk about how much time they spend helping their kids with homework at the end of each school day, I often think, “Wow – we spend the same amount of time (or less) on our entire school day.”
Because we’re so flexible and laid back about our home school routine - I actually consider my life to be quite “cushy” and easy compared to moms who have to get up at the crack of dawn to get their kids off to school, and stay up late with them finishing the reports and projects have to be turned in. I personally consider my home schooling life to be easier than the alternative, simply because I get to run the day the way I want to run the day.
So yes. I have time to home school, and it’s not because I have more hours in my day or more patience with my kids or more energy than any other mom. I am simply doing what I’ve always done with my kids – except for instead of reading books about shapes and gingerbread men and the little engine that could, we’re now reading about the constitution and the way a marsupial feeds its young.
I love it.
P.S. Did you know that you could fit twenty baby opossums onto a teaspoon? That’s how tiny they are when they are born before they crawl into their mama’s pouch to continue their development. We read about that just today. See how smart I’m getting to be?
This post was written in an effort to dispel some of the many misconceptions or fears people might have about taking on the task of home schooling. As with all my home school posts, my intention is to simply share my thoughts and offer encouragement - not to convince everyone that home schooling is the best and only way to educate your kids. You do what you do, and I’ll do what I’ll do and we’ll all do it to the glory of God!
Our 2011-2012 School Year Schedule
Posted by: | CommentsIf you’ve been reading here long, you know that I keep a very loose schedule during our school days. I like to have a general routine in place, but just about every day looks different depending on the needs of the moment.
For instance, this week our family is helping with our local Meals-on-Wheels. Matt’s been taking two boys with him each morning. We’re just rearranging the schedule a little bit to make this happen. We want our boys to understand that serving others comes first (and that they still have to get the school work done later!).
As is our tradition, we hit the store last week to purchase a few school supplies, then went out for lunch.
We’ve had this before-school tradition for at least seven years and we look forward to this treat every year!
Here, without any specific hour of the day assigned to each line item (because it truly is different each day), is what I’ve outlined for our routine this year. (Read the specifics about the curriculum we’ll be using here.)
1. I wake up first in our household. After beginning my morning with prayer and Bible reading, I use this quiet time to check email and do website work. (one hour)
2. The boys wake up and spend time reading their Bibles while I fix breakfast. (20 minutes)
3. We eat breakfast together and during this time, I read the Bible and a devotional book to everyone. (We’re reading through the book of Matthew and More Than a Carpenter, by Josh McDowell right now.) We work together to clean up the kitchen. (one hour)
4. Asa, Justus and Elias begin working through their assigned school lessons – doing what they can do on their own (math, English, etc.). I work with Malachi on reading, phonics and math. (one hour)
5. I read History/Geography to Justus and Elias. Malachi does individual work (if possible) or plays legos. Asa continues to work on his own. (30 minutes)
6. Justus and Elias work together on their History/Geography projects (Eastern Hemisphere Explorer, adapted from Sonlight). I read History with Asa (mostly because I want to learn myself!). Malachi does puzzles or magnetics. (45 minutes)
Malachi had a great time working on these Three-Letter Words Puzzle Cards today.
I highly recommend them if you have a beginning reader. I think I got them at Walmart,
but linked them to Amazon if that’s easier for you, and so that you could see what I was talking about.
7. Matt does Spelling with Justus and Elias, then works with Asa on Science, Spelling and/or Spanish (depending on the day). Malachi is assigned to work in his Explode the Code books. I check email and take care of any pressing website work, then I work on fixing lunch. (one hour)
8. Lunchtime! Matt leads us through Bible memory work. While we eat, I read a read aloud. (I eat a little faster than my kids, by the way. That’s why I’m able to read while we have meals. Plus, this helps mealtime be a little more…calm.) ;)
9. I read Science to Justus, Elias and Malachi, then they work on their Science Animal Project, with help from me as needed. Asa works on his own. (30 minutes)
10. Justus and Elias have their reading time. Asa works on his own. I read to Malachi. (30 minutes)
11. Everyone finishes their assignments for the day and works together to put away books and tidy up the house. (however long this takes)
12. Downtime, Curious George time, trampoline time, mess the house back up time – for the boys. I try to get some writing done or answer emails. (2-3 hours)
13. Work together to make dinner, then eat together. We visit or read aloud while we eat.
14. Evening times look different every day depending on whether we have company, soccer games, Bible class or a free evening. Bedtime is therefore flexible, but always includes family prayer time and sometimes more reading aloud.
15. After the boys are tucked in, I do more website work while Matt gets any work done that he needs to do.
Here are all of my past home school posts if you’d like to read through them to learn more about how this works for us!
I’ll be sure to let you know if ever a day actually goes exactly according to schedule. Don’t get your hopes up.
Do you like to keep to a strict schedule each day, or do you hold a loose routine like we do?
What We’re Studying This Year (Unless You’re More Interested in Chocolate)
Posted by: | CommentsI realize that some of you won’t be interested in reading about our curriculum choices for this year, but since I continually receive emails from gals asking about what books we like to use in our home school, I’m going to go ahead and share our list. If looking at our book list isn’t exciting to you, perhaps you would like to take a look at our Death By Chocolate recipe? Or maybe many of you will be interested in both? Because chocolate and books – aren’t those just two of the finest creations on the planet?
Once I finally got all of our books organized, I decided to take a picture of our shelf. Enjoy it now – that shelf won’t look so organized after we start digging in. But we can pretend that it stays pretty like this. ;)
The top shelf is Asa’s (grade 9), the middle shelf belongs to Justus and Elias (grades 6 and 4) and the bottom shelf is Malachi’s (grade 1).
We’ve been schooling with Sonlight curriculum for all nine of our home schooling years – yes this begins our tenth! We love that Sonlight is literature based and that we are able to explore and learn without using textbooks. Instead, we read both fiction and non-fiction books as we work our way through History, Science, Geography and Bible. In addition, we choose what Sonlight recommends for Readers (kids reading on their own) as well as Read-Alouds (parents reading to the kids).
Here is a breakdown of our curriculum for this year:
Asa (grade 9)
- Sonlight Core 200, in which we will study Church History (I’m so excited!!!) and read through many literature classics. Shakespeare, Austen, C.S. Lewis – it’s gonna be a great year!
- Apologia Physical Science
- Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1
- Analogies 2
- Vocabulary from Classical Roots A
- Spanish (still haven’t decided – Rosetta Stone maybe?)
- Spelling Power
Justus (grade 6) and Elias (grade 4)
- Sonlight Core F, in which we will study the Eastern Hemisphere and read about many other cultures and missionaries who have lived among these cultures.
- Reading – Sonlight book lists for grades 4-5 and Readers D
- Science – using multiple science books from Sonlight, as well as others we have on hand, mainly to study animals
- Wordly Wise (book 3 for Elias and book 5 for Justus)
- Sequential Spelling
- Teaching Textbooks 6 for Justus; Saxon 54 Math for Elias
- Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting (grade 6 for J; grade 4 for E)
- Learn to Cook
Malachi (grade 1)
- Some of Sonlight Core B, intro to World History
- Science with Justus and Elias, on a lesser scale, to learn about animals
- Reading – Bob Books
- Getty Dubay Italic Handwriting grade 1
- Miquon Math Red Book
- Explode the Code Books 1-3
- Teaching Your Kids to Cook
Next, I’ll share about our home school schedule for this year – stay tuned!
I’d love to know what your kids will be studying this year (whether you home school or not!). Also, I need to know which you like better: Books or Chocolate?
I know, that is hardly a fair question. (And yes, your answer can be “chocolate with a side of books”).
Our Favorite Books This Year (and what we’re reading this summer)
Posted by: | CommentsI say this every year, so I just wouldn’t dream of let you down by failing to repeat myself. I must say it again: This has been my favorite year of home schooling so far! (Just pretend you’ve never heard me say that before.) Either the books keep getting better or I keep forgetting how good the other books were or I just like one-upping myself. Either way, our family had a great year of reading and learning.
If you’re new here, you may want to go back and read my Homeschool Hubbub posts to learn more about how school happens (or tries to happen) at our house, and to learn about our curriculum of choice.
I want to share with you my favorite pile of books for this year so that if you haven’t read them yet, you can look them up, and if you have read them already you can say, “I KNOW, that IS an awesome book! I’m not posting all the books we read, and that doesn’t mean I didn’t like all of them, these were just my very favorites. Here they are in no particular order (because by the end of our school year, our book shelf is not at all organized!):
The Great Turkey Walk, by Kathleen Karr
We read this book as a family and got a big kick out of this adventure. I love books that crack you up and make you think all at the same time.
Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, by Mildred D. Taylor
We also read this book as a family. Our kids were able to understand better the turmoil in the U.S. that was still going on years after the Civil War. Fantastic book.
The Journeyman, by Elizabeth Yates
Elizabeth Yates is an awesome writer, helping the reader fit right into the shoes of the main character all while teaching important facts of history. I never knew what a journeyman was before this. We learned about that and so much more.
Mountain Born, by Elizabeth Yates
Another great one by Elizabeth Yates! This book was absolutely precious. Our boys could completely relate to the main character in this book, as the story was told through his point of view. This was one of those that I choked up at several times while reading it out loud. My boys love it when I do that {cough}.
Helen Keller, by Margaret Davidson
Justus and Elias declared this to be one of their favorite readers this year. They found it so interesting they could barely put it down. That rarely happens for my boys. (It’s usually pretty easy for them to put a book down and start kicking a ball instead.) I love the understanding they gained and the inspiration they felt by reading Helen Keller’s story.
Indian Captive, by Lois Lenski
Wow, this book still haunts me and I can’t imagine that this “happened in real life”. And yet, what a story of love and courage. You’ve gotta read it. (Our eighth grader read this on his own – I read it too. I wouldn’t recommend it for younger grades. There’s a lot to chew on in this book.)
Out of the Dust, by Karen Hesse
This was another book our eighth grader read this year. I believe he read it in two days…I read it in one. It is incredibly written and heart jolting. And obviously, hard to put down.
The Story of US, by Joy Hakim
Asa (8th grade) and I read through this series during the year as a part of his history program. I’ve mentioned it before, and I’ll say it again: Never did I know that studying history could be so intriguing. Joy Hakim is a fantastic writer. These books were so simple to understand and taught us so much. I recommend this series as a great set of books to have on your shelves to read and re-read through the years.
Books we’ll be reading this summer (this of course is not an exhaustive list, just some I’d really like to read through with the kids):
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Tell Me the Secrets, Treasures for Eternity, by Max Lucado and Ron DiCianni
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Missionary Books by Dave and Neta Jackson
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The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles
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By the Great Horn Spoon, by Sid Fleischman
What have been some of your favorite books you’ve read during the past few months? Are you reading anything exciting this summer that I should add to my list?! :)
