Curriculum Choices 2014-2015

Although we have been working on our  BIG 1st Grade book during the summer, we have been enjoying our summer to the max! However, summer is coming to an end and we are officially starting school in two weeks!

So I am joining the "Not" Back to School Blog Hop and posting my curriculum choices for this school year. This is only my 2nd year "officially" Homeschooling, before that I had a 4 year old I worked on some pre-K books with. 

This year I will have a 1st grader and a Pre-K student.

See last years curriculum choices here.

With my previous curriculum choice, I felt like I was adding a lot of addition things, So I really wanted to find a more "complete" curriculum this year, After months of searching, researching and reading reviews,  I think I decided on Sonlight.

I mean look at all of this!

Sonlight Curriculum (1st Grade)

We got our curriculum (sonlight 1st grade) and I am so excited! 

I took everything out and I am amazed at the amount of books! 

We have already sat down and looked through most of the text books, a lot of them are so interesting! My first grader said "OK, now I really want to start school, this is going to be so much fun!" I can't help but agree with her, it looks like it is going to be a fun school year. 

We also got our microscope which I ordered on Amazon and some prepared slides.

We have already spent hours looking at the slides and other things we found around the house. 

Have you ever tried looking at a fingernail under a microscope? Ewww... The kids were in awe at how dirty they look. 

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Now I need to organize everything and hopefully start school in a few weeks.

Thanks for visiting,

Is It Time For School Yet?

I love summer! Spending hot days outside, swimming, sunbathing, my small vegetable garden growing, my flowers blooming, playing outside all day long, cooking and eating outside almost everyday....  It is something I dream about on those cold rainy water days. However, I am feeling a fall itch coming on, I am looking forward to the more quiet and relaxed days of the school year, the morning routine of breakfast and schoolwork.  *** Oh, did I tell you that we decided to continue on homeschooling? I went through a bit of rough patch when baby  Will was a newborn, I felt that I just couldn't get "it" all done. But I also didn't feel at peace with sending my kids to public school.

 I have come to realize with God all things are possible and "everything" is never going to get done, that is just the way life is. I have to accept that I have 3 kids and my house will not be spotless for more then 3 minutes, dinner will not always be done in time... and I have to learn that is OK. 

I have noticed that even though the days are "shorter" in the winter, I have more time. I guess I have more free time since we are not outside as often, not working in our yard/garden, not trying to vacuum/wash the sand of the floor for the 100th time that week, not washing the kids 2 times a day because they are so sticky... Plus Baby Will is getting older and likes to play in his stations more, so I am praying that with God's help we will manage. 

  I am really looking forward to new books and new curriculum. I am looking forward to teaching my kids and quite frankly learning alongside with them, because I certainly do not remember everything I learned in school. I was trying to learn a whole new language in elementary school, I couldn't even understand what my teacher was saying in 1st grade having just moved to the US.

I saw all the school supplies out at Target and got very excited. I have always loved to buy new supplies- I remember taking my school supplies out of my backpack a couple times a day leading up to the new school year. Something about crisp folders, clean binders and the smell of new crayons :)

I have finally decided on a curriculum. It took a while but I feel like I made the right choice. 

We are going with Sonlight Complete 1st Grade curriculum. (I just placed my order and can not wait to get it!!) I feel like this curriculum has everything I would need. In other words, it "may" just be complete and I "may" not have to add much to it. I found that with Heart of Dakota with Kindergarten I had to add spelling, geography, additional math, nutrition/health, additional writing, art... But this curriculum seems to have it all. Offcourse I will review it all once I get to use it. 

It is spendy, but my husband said that we should go for it. He said that it costs about $11,000 of our tax dollars to school a child in public school  per year. $893, is just a small percentage of it. Plus I am planning on using this curriculum for the rest of my kids once they reach 1st grade :) 

Speaking of the hubby, he saw me looking at a microscope online, Which I really couldn't justify buying, since my 1st grader probably doesn't "need" one yet. But I kinda wanted one for our family :), in public school, we didn't really get to use a microscope very much, maybe 2-3 times during the year?? I never really got to use it for just exploring and learning what ever I wanted, and creating my own slides. So anyways, Hubby saw that I was looking at one (reading reviews) and he asks me if I am buying it, and I saw "Nah, its to expensive, I am just looking" and he says "You should get it anyways" and "go ahead, buy it" I was so shocked and excited! It doesn't take new shoes or anything fancy to get me happy :) School supplies do the trick. :)

via amazon

I also ordered some specimen slides:

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I can not wait to get everything in the mail. It is going to be an amazing school year!

We are planning on starting school in mid august, that way we should be finished in May and still take a few breaks in between. But for now, we will go and enjoy the rest of our summer. 

Thanks for visiting,

Last Day of Kindergarten

Miss Emily has finished her last day of kindergarten today!!

We have finished the curriculum Little Hearts for His Glory from front page to back page! Yippee!!

This year flew by so fast! I can't believe my little girl is now a 1st grader! I am not ready for her to grow up, but she is right before my very eyes. 

She is such a smart little cookie! She learned to read, write sentences, count to 100, do math problems and so much more. She is such a curious child, she will ask questions all day long, and if I don't know the answer she asks me to look it up online or find her a youtube video. Just today she asked me how plastic is made, so we looked it up :)

 I am learning so much just by teaching her.

I will be getting her a 1st grade workbook, which she will work on this summer (just to keep her skills sharp and so she doesn't forget everything) 

But now, bring on Summer!!

People have asked me weather or not I am going to be homeschooling for the next school year. My answer is "I don't know yet". I really enjoyed home schooling her this year and watch her succeed. We got school done in 2 hours or less, and then she was free to enjoy herself. 

It is just much harder now with a baby and I am struggling on getting everything done. 

There are three options for the next school year:

Homeschool 1st grade 

(I will need to figure out which curriculum as well)

Pros: 

I will continue to see my daughter all day long
My daughter wants to continue homeschooling

 I get to teach her at her level, she won't be held back or left behind

No need on waking up early and rushing around to get to the bus or driving her with the rest of the kids in tow. 

Cons: 

I feel stretched to the limit some days

Always wondering how we are doing (academic wise) and if she is doing enough since we are able to finish school so fast. 

Church Private School

Pros: 

It will give me more time with the younger kids. 

Affiliated with our Church 

She will be with her friends from church

She will learn Russian

She will be with children her age and able to attend field trips

Cons:

I won't see her 9am-4pm

Homework after she gets home- which means very limited amount of  family time

It is about 30 min away (no traffic) with traffic it is longer (but there is a carpool)

Monthly Tuition

Packing lunches

Public School

Pros:

It will give me more time with the younger kids. 

She will be around children her own age

I will know at what level she is academically

Cons:

I won't see her 9am-4pm

Homework after school means very little family time

I will need to get all the kids and drive her and pick her up, or have her take the bus (scary for me)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 

As you can see, we have so much to think and pray about this summer. 

Miss Emily also has her strabismus surgery next week and will be healing after wards. 

So that is kind off a priority on my mind right now, I am praying God will bless the doctors hands and everything goes well. After that we will decide on the schooling question, but any input is appreciated. 

Bring on Summer!

Fathers Day Questioner "Card"

Fathers Day is just around the corner, So we have begun working on some Fathers Day gifts. I love the questioner type cards the kids can enter because they are so funny. It's so cute to see the kids honestly answer some questions.

We found this printable at Faithful Provisions 

Homeschooling With a New Baby

Now that baby #3 is here,  I found it a bit harder to homeschool my daughter while juggling the demands of a new baby. However, I have now found a few things that keep our mornings running a lot smoother. 

First off, let me say that we took 2 weeks off Homeschooling when Baby arrived. Shortly after we started school again, and everyone got sick. So we took another week off to get better and rest. 
If you are in the same situation, let me tell you  something. RELAX. Don't try rushing back into it, if you are not ready. I tried and we just all got sick and needed more time off. Your body needs to heal and your family needs to adjust to another family member. 

Once you feel that you are ready, here are a few tips that I found helpful to me. 

1. Have a few baby stations ready. This way, the baby won’t get bored with being in one place for too long. Some examples of “stations” that I have are a crib with mobile, rocker, bouncer, jumper and high chair.

2. Wear your baby. This is the BEST way for me to get anything done. Including school, chores and even cooking and shopping! If we are doing art or anything else hands on, I like to put him in a sling, so I can have my hand free to help the kids. Plus he almost always falls asleep in the sling. 

3. Use nursing or feeding your baby to homeschool! I use nursing time to read our story book or have my daughter do her reading time. We like to cuddle up on the sofa for this. 

4. Do the core subjects first. I try to get history, spelling, handwriting, math, reading done first, and then if everything goes smoothly we do song time, art, science and so forth. 

5. Plan ahead. When I got pregnant, I knew I would need some time off when the baby came. So we started school early (August) and we did not have any Thanksgiving or winter breaks. This way even with the time off we took with the baby, We are still going to be done with school in June!

I hope this was helpful. 

100th day of school!

We recently celebrated our 100th day of school!

I truly can not believe that I have taught my kids for 100 days already!

For someone who was very skeptical about homeschooling (maybe one day I will do a whole post on that), I am truly so grateful to God for putting me on this path. I love teaching my kids and watching them learn! I can see so much growth in each of them in these 100 days!

I am very proud of them both!

To start out this special day, the kids chose to have their favorite: French Toast for breakfast. They are such little helpers, Nico scrambles the eggs for me and Em helps dice the strawberries and set the table. 

We made paper crowns to mark this occasion, and the kids had to bring 100 of something to class, then create 10 groups of 10 to get 100. Em brought some beads and Nico brought blocks, off course Em helped him count. 

We also counted and glued 100 noodles to paper stock, which we later painted and glitteralized :)

Give kids glue and paint and they are busy for hours. OK maybe not hours, but for along time. :)

The kids have wanted to go bowling for a while, now. We decided and surprise them for the 100th day of school, they were thrilled! And Em beat me! Hubby got the highest score and Em was in second place. Lets just say I am a bit rusty when it comes to bowling. 

We have about 65 days of school left (according to the curriculum) 

Which means we will finish school in June. 

I am planning on taking a summer break and resume back in the fall with a new curriculum. 

Here are a ton of ideas on how you can celebrate your 100th day of school. 

Thanks for visiting,

Work Box Wednesday KINDERGARTEN #3

Welcome to another work box wednesday!

My daughter is  6, and she is in Kindergarten. We use the curriculum from Heart of Dakota (Little hearts for his glory) But I also add a lot of extras. 

As usual, we start out our day with calendar time, weather chart, a sticker on my daughter 100 days of school chart and prayers. 

Her new packet is on top of her work boxes. 

I make a new packet for her each week, which she works on her own time. 

Then she brings me the packet the following Monday, we go through it together. Then she gets $1.

I was thinking of a way to give my daughter an allowance so she can learn about money management, but I did not want to give her money for chores, which she is expected to do anyways. 

This way she can do extra homework/reading that week, learn how to time manage (find the time to do her packet on her own time) and she learns how to manage her money. 

She just used her $10 recently for a tinker bell fairy and accessories, and is excited to get another fairy when she saves up more money. 

Here is the teacher manual with everything that needs to be done that day. 

Work box#1

Right now we are working on memorizing our address and phone number. 

Work box#2

We do bible time. We read the bible stories, sing the song from the lesson plan, work on memorizing the memory verse and recite the rhyme. 

All of this is part of the lesson plan for little hearts for his glory. 

Work Box Wednesday KINDERGARTEN #2

Welcome to another work box wednesday!

Lesson plan from Heart of Dakota:

We start with prayers, calendar time, and do the weather chart. 

Then we go on to the "bible" lesson plan of the Curriculum:

Bible story about how Jesus healed the sick, a chapter in Devotions for the Childrens hour about the Miracles of Jesus, we recite that weeks rhyme and work on memorizing the verse for that lesson plan, and we sing the song that is part of the lesson plan. 

This takes us about 20 minutes. 

Next we do spelling. 

This is NOT part of the curriculum, instead it is something I like to add. 

This is the book we use right now. I copy the pages and glue them into this spelling journal for her. 

That way I can reuse the book for my son, when he is ready for this. 

After spelling, we do geography. 

This is NOT part of the curriculum, instead it is something I like to add. 

This is the book we use. I copy the pages and put them into a binder for my daughter. 

She truly loves geography and gets so excited when she sees this binder in her work box. 

Work Box Wednesday KINDERGARTEN #1

Welcome to Workbox Wednesday! I have decided to start (*trying) to do this every Wednesday. 

I will show you a day of my daughter's lessons for that week. 

My daughter is 5 (turning 6 this week) She is in Kindergarten. We use the curriculum from Heart of Dakota (Little hearts for his glory) But I also add a lot of extras. 

Lets get Started:

First we do our prayers,

Then we do calendar/weather. 

Next we do bible time. 

We read that days bible story, sing that weeks song, recite that weeks rhyme and then work on memorizing that weeks bible verse. (All of this is in that days lesson plan for Heart of Dakota)

Next we do spelling. Emily has 7-9 spelling worlds each week. 

We use this book now, It is a 1st grade book, we already finished the kindergarten one. 

This is NOT in the heart of Dakota Lesson plan, but something I add to my daughters lessons. 

Homeschooling- How I get our lessons ready for the next day

Hello my beautiful friends.

I got a few requests to do more homeschooling videos, however, I am not really sure what you guys want to see. Please leave your suggestions in the comments. 

Today I decided to film how I get my lessons ready for the next day.

Hope you guys enjoy it!

Back to School Pictures!

Today was the first day of school!

Look at my cute little students. 

Little Em is 5 (Going to be 6 in December)

Nico is 2 (Going to be 3 in December)

Home Office AKA: Home School Room

I am joining the Not Back to School Blog Hop. 

It is time for the school room tour!

This is the "bonus room" in the house   (no closet)

I love this room because it is so bright during the day with the huge window. 

We use this room as our home office and Hubby's business office, but mostly, it is used for homeschooling. 

Come on in:

This room is more function, then style, I am happy with it for now. 

But you know me, I can start changing things again next week ;)

Most of the posters and maps are from Amazon. Gotta love Amazon Prime :)

Our Homeschool Curriculum 2013-2014

I am joining the "Not" Back to School Blog Hop.

This week I am sharing the curriculum choices this year. 

My daughter is 5 (Going to be 6 in December) We did some Kindergarten work last year, this year I got her a whole curriculum from Heart of Dakota (Little Hearts of His Glory) as well a few other things. 

I downloaded the Daily Learning Notebook from Confessions of a Homeschooler:

Little Hearts of His Glory from Heart of Dakota:

Little Hearts for his Glory

History for Little Pilgrims

History Stories for Children

1st grade-going on eagerly, Hearing and Helping

Homeschooling

School is out for almost all the kids now. I am not sure if I want to stop. LOL. 
I think we will continue a few lessons a week during summer, I am afraid If we completely stop for the summer, my child will forget everything she learned, anyone else feel that way?

I can not wait till the new school year, I will have a new curriculum for my daughter and my son will be closer to 3, and will start doing preschool worksheets. 

Right now he is playing with puzzles, building train tracks or coloring. 

If Little Em was in Public School, she would start Kindergarten this year (birthday in December) But since she is already reading (simple words), adding, subtracting and more I have decided to test the waters with 1st grade. I am perfectly willing to stop if it becomes to difficult for her and go back to Kindergarten work. 

I think I will oder a curriculum soon(As soon as I decide on one I want) and go through it and see what  else she needs to catch up on and work on it during the summer. 

By September, I hope to transform our office to be a homeschool room. I want to get a giant map, globes, books, charts, posters, giant calendar... We will also shop for school supplies in August and stock the classroom with pencils, markers, glue, paint and so on. 

I get this happy feeling when I am schooling my kids, because I get so excited when I see them learn something new. I love it. I actually sit down and give them my undivided attention. Lessons only take around 2 hours a day. 
We do School right after breakfast. We are done right before lunch and Little man's nap time. 

After lunch we do chores, I prep for dinner, go to any stores we need and I get to catch up on some blogging. It works out lovely. 

Here is what today looked like:

Little Em's completed worksheets from today: