Homeschool Planning

I have been busy over the last few days feverishly sipping iced coffee and working on plans for our upcoming school year. Although a few of my students were still finishing up stuff from last year as I worked, that small fact won't deter me from getting started on our plans for a new year. I will have five students in the coming year, and although I will be sending a few of my students to community college for some of their classes, it is still a tremendous amount of planning.

The very first step for me when planning our homeschool year, is to evaluate what went well in the year we just (nearly) finished. If a curriculum was causing a lot of frustration, then it it will probably not be used again. Same thing with classes and activities; because there are so many of us, I have to carefully evaluate what we spend our time and money on.

The homeschool planner by Alicia Hutchinson has been a great resource for me this year, as I work on this process. I usually pull together calendars and lesson plans from various sources on the internet, but when I saw that Alicia had put together a planner that was sold as a download so I could easily fit the pages into my existing binder system, I was really excited to try it.

One of the first pages that I used was the, "More Of This, and Less of This" page. Tools like this, really help me to nail down my thoughts so that my planning makes sense.

Once I had jotted down some thoughts there, I printed one of the lesson plan pages which I used to jot down ideas of which curriculum I would use for each child. This provided a helpful grid for remembering which subjects I needed to cover as I hashed out what resources I would need. As I filled in the squares with book and curriculum ideas, I then made notes at the bottom of the page about which subjects I would need to purchase. As a long time homeschooler, I am blessed to be able to pull from a stash of books that I have collected through the years. This is one of many ways that I am able to homeschool on a budget. 

I also started a comprehensive list of what books we would be reading in the coming school year. I don't want our schooling to be just about getting through a textbook, but I want my children to interact with real ideas from living books, the kind of books that bring history to life. The planner from Alicia also included a helpful resource for book lists. 

If only the work ended there, but unfortunately, the next task usually takes the longest. Before I can get my students baskets filled with their new books, I have to weed through the pictures and pencil stumps and (mostly) finished workbooks to decide what to keep and what to get rid of. I used to keep nearly every bit of work, until a helpful friend recommended just keeping a few samples. You could check with your state, but this article from HSLDA suggests keeping samples of work, attendance records and records of what curriculum you used, among other things, but doesn't say that I have to keep every single workbook page. Sweet relief.

I did find that since we moved away from using so many workbooks, and more towards integrating written and oral narration, our keepers are much more fun. I ended up stapling some of the best ones into a booklet that we could flip through later to remember our happy homeschool year. This amazing post by Jodi Mockabee gives some more clever ideas for saving your children's best work.

Once I had gone through and cleaned out the baskets, they were ready to fill with our new curriculum, which I am slowly compiling. As I filed last years school work, I also averaged out test scores to give grades to my high school and junior high students, and filled in simple report cards for all of them. We don't make a big deal about grades in our house, everyone is expected to give their best effort, but I do start coaching them on the importance of grades as they enter the junior high and high school years. That is when grades start adding up to money for college, if that is the path they choose.

Once all the grades have been logged and last years school work filed, I am left with empty baskets and a happy list of what we will be studying in the coming year. There is plenty more to do, before I officially start school, but I am super happy to have the most difficult jobs behind me so I can get back to reading aloud to my kids.

I was blessed with a review copy of the planner, which is well worth its bargain price tag. It had tons of options for planner pages, and is a great tool for getting your homeschool organized.

Heavenly Mothers Prepare - Day 26

"Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of righteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace;"

Ephesians 6:14-15

It is Sunday night, a new school week is looming ahead, and although I have thought about it a lot, I have not set any plans down on paper.  This is not ideal. 

I have tried many of different methods for homeschool planning. I have tried making plans two weeks ahead of time and handing them out to my children (my favorite). I have also tried planning a day at a time, and then there is my current mode, not planning at all. 

Although, I am not writing things down weekly for us to do, we have had a school routine for many years that keeps us learning, even when we are in a season where the daily planning might not be as detailed. This routine keeps a regular rhythm to our days which provides a healthy amount of structure, with lots of time for creativity.

Our routine-

Wake up
Personal Bible Time
Breakfast
Make Beds, Tidy Rooms
Start Laundry
Do Breakfast Clean-up
Feed Animals, Collect Eggs
Circle Time: Worship, Bible Reading and Devotionals, Prayer, Memory Work, Spanish, Timeline, Spelling, History or Science Read Aloud
Independent Work: Math, Science, History, Handwriting, Writing, Grammar, Phonics (This is also when I help younger learners.)
Lunch
Clean-up
Outside Chores or Free Time
Read Aloud
Outside Activities
Dinner Prep

Although I am not doing a stellar job with passing out school plans to the children right now, I do have a two-week at a time  plan that was inspired by this schedule which Ann Voskamp created. On this sheet, I list weekly meal plans, school subjects that I want to highlight and also any projects that we need to accomplish. 

I also have a master list of all the school subjects that my children are supposed to be doing, so I can yell out, "Do your math!", if I see them stealthily pulling up a video game while they are sitting at the computer. 

Having some kind of routine or plan is essential for having a heavenly home. The Bible says in Proverbs 29:18, "Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he." 

Children are happier who have some framework to their days. A routine offers security and direction, and until they are mature enough to create that direction and vision on their own, it is our responsibility to provide it for them. Having a routine, even a loose one, is a good preparation for peaceful days.

Check out some other homeschool schedules here
and here
and a post about routines vs. schedules here

For more on Heavenly Mothering, click here

Parenting From The Bathroom

Yesterday was an interesting school day. I was so excited for a full day at home and started off with a special breakfast with the four youngest children. The older kids were all away at school or work for the morning but when I went to check on my daughter's dog, I could see that she was in labor with her first set of pups. I quickly called my sister who is an expert in these matters and she got me set up with a list of what to do. Although she recommended I move the dog out in the living room, where I could watch her and be a part of the family, the dog had other ideas. What she really wanted was to be on my daughter's bed, but since none of us wanted that kind of mess on our beds, I ended up closeting myself in the bathroom with the laboring dog. 

This meant leaving my four youngest children to manage themselves without my supervision for a few hours until their sister arrived home. Although the oldest of these children is 13, they are the youngest of my children and as such, not as used to being in charge. My oldest daughter at that age could have run the house just as well as me, but my younger ones generally need pretty direct supervision.

However, when I finally was able to leave the birth room, er bathroom at 4:00 pm, I was happily surprised that the house had not caved in around our ears. The kitchen was relatively clean and some of the schoolwork had been done. They had also only watched one movie. This was not as bad as it could have been, in my estimation. We also had a one hour visit from a tutor, during which no fights had broken out and the children had all stayed indoors.

A few things that helped these young children manage themselves without too much destruction were the good habits, chore lists and assignment sheets that they have been taught to use. 

Even though I wasn't out there checking every thing they did, I could at least say, "Do your schoolwork," and then, "Have you done everything on your assignment sheet?" when they came in to tell me that they were done. They also got the awe inspiring treat of seeing tiny puppies just moments after birth when they came to check in with me.

Although this was by no means an ideal day, it did result in the safe birth of two puppies which will hopefully help put my girls through college. It was also an opportunity to develop more self management skills, which although these skills can be hard to give our children the space to learn, they are valuable skills to learn.

Some good resources that we have used for developing good habits and order are:

Managers of Their Homes- Steve and Terri Maxwell
Managers of their homes: A practical guide to daily scheduling for Christian homeschool families br /> Home Education-Charlotte Mason
br />



What are your favorite resources for developing an orderly home?


(This post contains affiliate links)

Linking up with Welcome Home Wednesdays

A Fresh New Year With Fresh New Goals

Photo courtesy, Emelie Pepito

I love Christmas, but as soon as the day is past, I am ready to get organized for the new year. One of my favorite New Year's traditions is getting the decorations put away and the rooms dusted and vacuumed. It is so nice to have everything fresh and clean again. Another of my favorite traditions for the first day of the year is making a whole new set of goals to help define the coming year. 

Although I have read many books on goal setting, one of my favorite systems was well explained by missionary wife Colleen Adams at a women's meeting I went to. Thankfully my creative friend Rebecca, beautifully explains the whole system here, visit her page and you will find a very clear explanation of each area of goal setting. The short story is that, instead of trying to make A, B and C goals, or just a big list of general goals for the year, Colleen's method has you break down your goal setting into eight different areas. Also, instead of making goals for the whole year, these goals are meant to be for a shorter time period, such as three months.

Although, some of last year's goals, have found their way back onto this year's list, making goals and working towards them is a useful way of starting to develop the good habits that make up an orderly life and a civilized world.

Photo courtesy, Emelie Pepito

As a starting point for your 2014 goal setting, I have included my goals for the first three months of the year, in each of eight areas.

1. Self Care

Pilates 5 times per week (planning for 5, might help me get at least 2 in!)

Drink 5 glasses of water per day (coffee doesn't count)

2. Spiritual Life

Finish Experiencing God (Henry Blackaby)

Spend first 30 minutes of the day in prayer/Bible study

3. Intellect/Emotions 

(for me right now, these are some homeschool goals)

Finish Algebra with second daughter

Consistent school with youngest children

4. Relationships

Spend friendly time with hubby when he arrives home 

(complaining about the day, or asking him to do a project does not count)

Read aloud to children daily

5. Time Management

No phone/computer until priorities 1, 2 and 3 are done

Up and productive by 7am

6. Nest Management

Keep my room clean

Keep the laundry room clean

(2 hot spots that make me feel better when tidy)

7. Uniquely You

(This might mean weekly pedicures, or more time spent on self care, 

but those aren't my top priorities right now)

Consistent blog upkeep

Keep closet organized

8. Financial Stewardship

Make a list of accounts

Organize household filing system

I hope these give you some ideas for your own goal setting. Be sure and pray through your goals and let God give you inspiration about what you should be doing. Then, once your goals are written down, find a friend to be your accountability partner and enjoy seeing all that you accomplish this year.

The steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord: and he delighteth in his way

Psalm 37:23

Linked up at Welcome Home Wednesdays

Busyness is the Enemy of Loveliness

I recently had an article published in Above Rubies  magazine which described three areas to work on to develop a lovely home environment. I described walking into our home and being greeted by lovely scents, shining windows and a refreshing beverage, and on a bad day merely having to shut the laundry room door to hide the stacks of dirty laundry.

The lovely shelf with toys for little ones.

This was a hard week for my ideals however. We had an out of town wedding over the weekend, several out of town guests over the last few weeks, and the usual round of school, ballet, karate, Awana and music lessons.  By Wednesday night when my posh aunt who inspired my renewed commitment to clean windows was set to arrive, the loveliness meter was a little low. 

You see, if I have a choice between a lovely house, or reading aloud to my children and doing projects with them, I will always choose the children. Usually it all balances out because we can quickly jump in together and polish the windows, put away the clean laundry and wipe the bathrooms. 

By Wednesday night, the main living areas were still living up to the ideal, but the laundry stack in my bathroom had gotten to twice the height of the basket and my closet looked like a bomb had gone off. 

When we are constantly running out the door to a new activity, it is very hard to keep up with basic good habits. Tidy rooms, clean bathrooms, and organized drawers soon become a thing of the past.

This is one reason why I believe so strongly in a family vision. It is an important safeguard against being over committed. 

My bathroom vanity after running out the door too many times.

Sometimes, we cannot avoid busyness and so we must flex in some area. For me, this might mean quickly mopping the floors after the kids are in bed so that school and family time aren't interrupted. It also might mean letting my closet be less than ideal, and keeping the door tightly closed. Our surroundings need constant care, and teaching our children to care for their surroundings is an important way that we care for them. However, in a busy season, my priorities of time with God, family time and then housework remain fixed. There is nothing noble about a messy house, but if the messy house is a result of caring for sick children or helping with a family emergency, it may just be a necessary evil. 

A little tidier.

Now, off to tackle my closet and work on getting the laundry under control. How wonderful to have a full day at home!

Click here for:

A good post on homemaking in busy seasons with some helpful links

Linking up with

Welcome Home Wednesdays

The 2013/2014 Curriculum Plan

I love seeing what other moms are using for curriculum. I can get into a rut of using what we have on hand or have always used. If it is working, it is not worth changing, but it is nice to know what is out there so I can evaluate whether I have the best fit for each child.

I don't have individual Bible for each child this year. My husband has assigned Bible readings for each day and we copy the verse that stands out to us. We also spend the first hour of our school day in worship and Bible reading. We are finishing Long Story Short which we have loved, reading the daily passages and looking for the next Bible curriculum. My second daughter is also in a Kay Arthur study group on the book of Revelation.

I also haven't listed reading selections. The older three are voracious readers, and with the next 3 I am assigning special books that they have not yet read. I usually assign books that go along with the history curriculum for the year but since this year is a special focus on art history, we are changing that routine a bit by just filling in some of the books that are important to us.

This year's plan for our family,

4 yr old (boy)

Explode The Code- Get Set for The Code

Handwriting Without Tears, Letters and Numbers For Me

Little Giant Steps-a wonderful multi sensory math program for preschool

Lots of good picture books, and listening in on our Bible, science and art studies.

SWR phonogram flash cards

Playing with puzzles, coloring, play dough and other fine motor skill activities

Swimming, going to the park, and other large motor skill activities

Calendar time, crafts and Bible verse memorization

6 yr old  (girl)

Math U See Beta

Explode The Code 41/2

Spelling Power Book A-freebie busywork for days I don't get to spelling

Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive Success

Reading-Rod and Staff Readers only, BJU Heritage Studies 1

Apologia Elementary Science- Swimming Creatures with Jr Notebook

How Great Thou Art-Barry Stebbing

Drawing With Children-Mona Brookes

Mommy It's a Renoir

English For The Thoughtful Child

Spell To Write and Read

10 yr old (boy)

Teaching Textbooks Grade 6 Math

Daily Grams, Grade 6 (We started with Rod and Staff Grammar Grade 5 but it was not working with him)

IEW Writing, Finishing All Things Fun and Fascinating and then picking another book by them.

Handwriting Without Tears, Can Do Cursive

SWR Spelling

Apologia Elementary Science, Swimming Creatures

How Great Thou Art

Abeka World History

Various Literature Selections, He just finished Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis and will start Treasure Island by R.L. Stevenson next.


13 yr old (boy)

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Rod and Staff Grammar (gr. 6)

IEW writing

Apologia General Science

Understanding the Times (Worldview's)

Latin's Not So Tough

15 yr old (boy)

This year he is taking three classes at a local Jr. College. He goes twice a week with an older sister who is graduated.

Algebra 1 (Jr. College)

Elementary Music Theory (Jr. College)

Political Science, Constitution (Jr. College)

Apologia Chemistry (home)

Bob Jones Spanish 2 (home)

18 yr old (girl)

For our second daughter who has learning difficulties we chose to use a charter school this year. She just turned 18 (today) and we wanted to get the testing done and possible diagnosis before she graduates. We have done lots of private testing and therapy but wanted her to have the opportunity to go on to college or get work with the adaptations she may need. There is a lot of pressure in the charter to pass the high school exit exam, because of this, the charter has added lots of work. We are in line for private tutoring and testing for special needs so when that comes through it may prove to have been worth the hassle.

Teaching Textbooks Algebra 1

Holt Grammar 6 (charter, 12th grade grammar)

Holt Literature

ELA workbook (for exit exam)

Math workbook (for exit exam)

Abeka Health


The oldest children go to martial arts twice a week which helps with covering physical education. The 6 year old does ballet, I wanted her to learn to be graceful before she learned how to gouge someones eye out.

We also have the oldest 6 children in piano, voice or guitar lessons. However, I am terrible about enforcing music practice so our progress, until they start practicing on their own is slow.  Thankfully, several of them want to learn, and take the time to practice.

I am sure I have forgotten something, I was up till midnight making a birthday banner, baking a paleo pumpkin breakfast cake, consulting with my daughter on her anthropology homework and washing my husband's jeans. Life with little ones and college students is very busy, but very fun and fulfilling.

Happy Homeschooling!

An Extra Busy School Day

This is the beginning of a completely different school year for us. I have 6 students this year and to my great joy, after nearly a year of being mostly gone with work and Bible School, my oldest daughter is home to go to college as well. Today was a really big day for all my students. My 19 and 15 year old offspring left at 6:15 am for their first day of college. Meanwhile my second daughter was at her volunteer job this morning while I did school with the youngest four. In between reading aloud, checking school work and cajoling the four year old to pick up the Duplos he had scattered throughout the school area, I made a batch of paleo pumpkin bread and tidied the house for our upcoming visit from my daughter's educational specialist.

For our second daughter I am using a charter school this year, which is a big leap in a different direction for me. I have consistently resisted government oversight in my schoolroom. I don't want to burden my kids with tests when they could be designing amazing projects or immersing themselves in quality literature, but with my second daughter nearly 18 and nearly out of school, I decided it was finally time to seek a label for her learning difficulties, mainly so she could get some extra help if she chooses to go to college.

Busy Students

We spent an hour with the E.S., going over forms and talking about the tests, yes, tests that my lovely girl would have to pass to get a diploma, while the younger four quietly played with Lego's. We then rushed out the door to speech therapy where we sat for an hour reading books and playing games until big sister was done. After a quick stop at Trader Joe's we hurried to relieve a friend of her children for a special night out and then home to get the lowdown on the older students' first day at school. I perused the stacks of assignments my children would be required to hand in this month, put away the groceries and then headed to the park with a combined total of 6 children under 12.

The Baby

It was a day that highlighted lots of changes. The biggest change is the realization that my older children are not going to be quite as available to work on family projects and help with little ones while they are busy working to finish their education. These older ones have been a big help, and for a few years now I have had built in babysitters for doctor's appointments, quick shopping trips and even the occasional pedicure. Having to adjust back to an earlier time when I only had young children and had to take them on every appointment and errand I was doing is a good way of also realizing that I need to develop some better sitting skills in the young ones.  Raising children who can both manage a home and handle a challenging class is a manageable feat, but it may have to happen in separate seasons.

A List Of Favorite Resources

We have read a few important books on homeschooling which have helped to develop our philosophy of education. We also have some favorite books and publishers that help us to reinforce our educational goals. Although we don't agree with every word in these books, and we hope you use your brain and the wisdom of the Holy Spirit as you apply what you learn, they have been helpful to us.

Parent Education

A Charlotte Mason Companion

Homeschooling Methods

Loving The Little Years

You Can Teach Your Child Successfully-Ruth Beechick

Montessori From The Start and Montessori in the Classroom-Lillard, Jessen

Endangered Minds-Jane Healy

Teaching The Trivium

Shepherding a Child's Heart-Tripp

Managers of Their Homes-Maxwell

Families Where Grace is in Place

Underground History of American Education-John Taylor Gatto

Audio teaching by Norm Wakefield, S.M. Davis

No Greater Joy, Vol. 1-3, Michael and Debbie Pearl

Giving an oral presentation.

Curriculum

Slow and Steady, Get Me Ready-Oberlander

Handwriting Without Tears

Spell To Write and Read

Apologia Science

Mommy It's a Renoir

Mystery of History

Five in a Row

Math U See

Teaching Textbooks Math

Our schooling has encouraged a love for other countries and cultures.

Developing a Family Vision

Conference season has shifted into high gear and as I prepare to speak this year I can see that one of the recurring themes of my sessions is having a family vision that is written down.

Enjoying the fruit of our land.

With so many choices as homeschool families it is essential that you know what the driving values of your family are. Having written down a vision statement way back before the turn of this century, we have been able to resist the temptation to jump into every available activity and focus on the ones that work towards the fulfillment of our goals as a family.

One of our friends at Niños De Fe orphanage in Mexico.

 For us, that involves projects that promote simple living, time with family, and Isaiah 58 ministry.  Although some of our implementation has changed through the years, the core values have remained consistent and have been essential in keeping us focused, even when it meant missing out on the fun of following the vision of another family.

Simple family fun.

Although our overriding goal as a family is knowing God and reflecting Him to others, having specific ways to accomplish that and writing them down has been a big blessing to our family.

Below I have included a PDF of a document that we used to build vision as a family. If you would like some ideas on filling it out, feel free to comment and I will try to answer your questions.

Click here for a Family Vision Document

Swim Lessons for Little Ones

Having a backyard pool has been a huge blessing to our family. Aside from saving us money on summer outings and air conditioning, it has also added lots of good physical activity for my children.
Although my youngest son spent so much time in the pool last summer that at three, he was swimming across the pool, we still wanted to see him refine his budding skills this year.

We were fortunate to have a local connection who could give swimming lessons. She is a coach for the young swimmers on our local swim team and has been training as a swimmer for several years. She really knew how to pass her skills on to my young children without any pressure, they had fun and learned better skills at the same time.

Even my older children were excited about the lessons. She was able to give them some valuable tips for becoming faster, more efficient swimmers. This was a great five day stint of P.E. for our family, and since that class is not my strong point I really get excited when I can find valid things to write down for P.E. Weeding the garden, sadly, does not look that great on a high school transcript for Physical Education Class. Swimming in the family pool is one option that we have found to work well for our family at the present time.

Family Vacation with a Purpose

For over 12 years now we have been combining family vacations with family mission trips. When I was pregnant with our 4th, we took a week to go to Mexico and help some missionaries there and our life was forever changed. Since that trip, we have made an effort to be either living in or visiting Mexico for mission work.

some of my guys

 About 8 years ago, we moved to Mexico and lived there for nearly 4 years, helping an orphanage and doing building projects to help local churches and friends. Now when we go on our biannual trips to Mexico, instead of feeling like a mission trip, it is more like an exciting vacation to see our friends.

We recently made the big drive down, making sure to stop at one of the beautiful 

 Southern California beaches on our way down.

the beach!

As we drove through the border into Mexico our 12 passenger van was flagged and we were given a semi thorough search. At one time, being pulled over to try and maneuver the laws of  Mexico might have made us nervous, but now it is just an expected annoyance.

After crossing the border we made the long trip down a dirt road to the home we lived in during our last few years there. We were warmly greeted by our friends who are living there now, a family who lives off the grid with very little in the way of modern conveniences, such as water and electricity.

The view from the east road, over the hill is the ocean.

Our time in Mexico is always busy. Visiting the orphanage and trying to remember the names of all the children, feeling sad about the ones who have left and trying to meet the new little ones, is always a highlight of our time in Mexico. 

some of our friends at the orphanage

Our other favorite part is seeing dear friends and trying to communicate with them in our fading Spanish. We have been so blessed by our times in Mexico. Something that seemed so frightening back when we first started going down is now like a visit to see family. There are some inconveniences to be sure (we stay off the grid and not at the Marriott), but we are blessed to have the privilege of being in relationship with Christians south of the border.

Visiting with friends over Pollo Asada

Children Like Helping! (Really)

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                        

   Small children love being helpful. Even my littlest enjoys doing dishes, here he is  busily scrubbing at his sister's kitchen sink. A little water may hit the floor, but he is in training to relieve me of the relentless stacks of dishes and I am happy to have his help.

 

As we give our young ones useful work and then encourage them for their efforts, however imperfect they may be, they are building skills and confidence.

 

If however, we shoo them out of the kitchen and criticize their every effort, they learn to both avoid work and avoid us.

 

Teaching them while they are young how to do a job and then encouraging them as they do it is a sure way to build a team that can win.

 

Do you want to know how to start? First welcome them into whatever work you are doing, hand over the spoon or the dishrag and let them help. When you have crossed that bridge, start making a list of chores they can do and teaching them how to do them.

 

 

Here is a link to an ehow article on teaching responsibility to young children.

Here is a link to free printable chore charts.

 

 

Naughty or Neglected?

My seventh child has been a dream baby. He laughs and giggles freely, he has only drawn on the walls a few times and at 3 years old will sit on my lap and listen to me read several story books at a time. Granted, my perception is partly tainted because there is not a younger child to coo over, so things that may have bothered me if he was not the youngest, just don't. Things like his whining at me this morning to draw him an electric eel while I was trying to do Bible time, or getting off his chair when he is supposed to be eating his dinner.
                             

     








There was a day this week though that didn't go so well. I had to leave early in the morning and was gone for most of the day. My son was also a little sick with a cold and I am sure it affected how happy he felt.

Later that afternoon I was astonished by his behavior. He was pulling down the folded clothes his sister was working on and pulling out the hair of his older brother. Jumpy, obnoxious and irritating were words that could be used to describe this normally very nice little guy.

It made me reflect a bit on some of the other 3 and 4 year olds I know. How much of our children's behavior is personality and how much is a response to their environment? Reading books like Montessori From The Start and the Bible have made me very motivated to keep our home environment calm, but we certainly don't succeed all the time. Still, could it be possible that those children of ours who act up could possibly be looking for attention or some hugs (sensory input) or guidance.

I do realize that some children have special needs that go beyond attention and hugs. I have a child who, when small, could melt down over an itchy tag in her shirt so I am not suggesting that badly behaving children are always the result of parental inattention. Just putting the idea out there that some of these adorable little three year olds are getting a bad rap, when what they are really looking for is a mom who will sit down with them for a few minutes (and make them sit down) and tell them a story or better yet, listen to their stories. Something that, on this particular day, I had failed to do.

A New School Year

I have spent many hours today preparing paperwork for the private cover school that we use instead of filing our own private school affidavit. Part of this paperwork is a Course of Study for each student.

My oldest student who has struggled with a learning and communication disorder will be in 11th grade (I graduated my first in 2011).  She does have an interest in college though, so I am careful to follow the advice of American Christian Academy to have her subjects line up with state requirements for high school graduates.
As you can see, we are very budget minded in our curriculum choices.

Bible-Studying God's Word, Christian Liberty Press (from a friend)
Math- Pre-Algebra, Teaching Textbooks (borrowed from my sister)
English- American Literature, Abeka Book (I got these from a friend or a used book sale)
English Composition- Institute for Excellence in Writing, Fairy Tales, Myths and Fables. (purchased, composition and math are my daughter's biggest struggles, but I.E.W. has helped a lot.)
History- U.S. History, Carson, A Basic History of the United States (from a friend)
Science- Biology (Apologia, purchased at a used book sale)
P.E.- Running, Pilates
Music- Piano
Electives-Fine Art (beginner drawing at 4H
                Sewing (4H also)


Second student, 10th grade is doing all of the same curriculum as my 11th grader except that he is in Teaching Textbooks Algebra , Bob Jones Spanish 2,IEW Bible Based Writing Lessons, and Martial Arts for P.E. Also, for him, no sewing but he does have a drawing class at 4H.

7th Grade Boy

Bible- Long Story Short, A devotion which I purchased and do with all the children for morning Bible. I love this devotional. He is also copying the book of Proverbs.
Math- Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. I am doing it with students 1 and 3 so that when they get to Algebra I can actually help them!
English Grammar- Rod and Staff 5
Writing- All Things Fun and Fascinating, (purchased from IEW).
Science-Botany (Apologia, from a friend)
Keyboarding-Mavis Beacon
History- America Land I Love (Abeka Book, used book sale)
Latin- Latin's Not So Tough (borrowed from my sister) I would usually do Spanish instead of Latin because of our ministry in Mexico but this child is interested in a career in science so it makes sense to me to give him some Latin.
P.E. Martial Arts

5th Grade Boy

Pretty much the same as the 7th grade boy except that after re-reading The Trivium Pursuit's information about math and realizing that he is after all, only 9, I am letting him finish Teaching Textbooks Math 5 which he started last year. I am also doing Story of the World Volume 4 with the younger three, and he will supplement with some time-period reading.  My readers don't need to be asked to read, the 9 year old is reading The Lord of the Rings, so although I try to make a book list of books I want them to read, I am not worried about them reading enough.
We will do co-op activities for both our science and history to make those studies more interesting for the children, and to get science experiments done. I find it easier to do projects when I am doing it with another family.

1st Grade Girl

Her history and science are the same as the 7th and 5th graders, tailored to her level.
Math- Miquon, I like Math U See better, but Miquon is cheaper so we did that this year. We do a lot of counting as part of our day.
English- Spell to Write and Read, owned it for years
               Explode the Code, book 1 and 2 (purchased new)
               Classically Cursive- book 1 (purchased new)
               Bob Books, owned for years
My favorite thing I am doing with her this year is reading The Little House on the Prairie series aloud. It has been a happy memory to read these to my children every few years.
She and her younger brother also play dress up and listen to stories, play with play dough and paint. I believe very strongly in young children having enough time to develop their imagination and learn motor skills, subjects not well served with work books.

So far, school is going well, using the I.E.W. writing curriculum and Teaching Textbooks have made a big difference for us.