Monday, July 27, 2015

Back to school time!!

We start back to school next Monday, August 3rd!! I can not wait! We will be only going part time for a few weeks, because August is still a busy month for us! Since we will be in Co-op in September and a baby in October, I wanted to start earlier rather than later so we have the luxury of taking more time off thoughout the year.

This next year I will be teaching three grade levels, however I will teach mostly the same lesson to all four kids and then their activities vary depending on how old they are. For example when we do Spanish, the boys (preschool and 1st grade) do not do the same extended activity as the girls since they can't read or write yet. Our first grader is at a basic reading/writing level...but foreign languages sends him into a state of confusion!

The girls are at the same level for everything pretty much, so they have the exact same curriculum as each other. I have a lot of local friends who are just starting out with homeschooling, so I want to stress, that just because I am posting what I am doing, does NOT mean that you need to scramble and do the same exact thing. All kids learn at a different pace and all families do different things when it comes to homeschooling! Friends ask all the time what curriculum we use, so this is a little post that I can send them.

All kids:

As mentioned earlier we do Spanish together. I took 5 years in middle/high school...so teaching Spanish isn't as hard for me as it would be for someone who took a different foreign language. We use this book as a guide and then the girls use a free ipad ap called Duolingo for more practice.

We also do Bible together. We used this book from Bob Jones as a guide, but it is just a guide. We used the Bible (obviously) since that is the source of the subject and we will will watch some "What's in the Bible" this year.

For History we are starting something new called the Story of the World. It is Biblically based and I am really excited to start this!

We are also almost done with our Passport studies. We just have South America to cover!

Science--We are going to start studying the Human Body in detail in November, but I do not have all of marbles together to get that started right away.

For the girls we use:

Bob Jones Math grade 5. I try not to buy new books, so I found a deal on these used ones. We used Bob Jones Math last year and liked it. It seems like 5th grade is a big review of last year, but just a little more complex. I plan on having Math an independent study subject and will provide links to Khan Academy to teach them. Obviously I will be here for questions and grading, but we will see how this goes.

They will be using Writer's Express for writing and grammar. A gal had these at my curriculum sale this past Spring so I got a deal on these!

Spelling Power will be something new for us. Katelyn can spell just about anything, Jocelyn isn't the best speller, but can read just about anything. So the girls will probably be at different levels with this new program. I also bought this used!

Cursive- this was put on the back burner last year. Jocelyn can write in cursive, but would prefer not to. Katelyn was introduced last year and wasn't a fan, so we will see where this goes next year.

Easton: (age 6)

He will be learning multiplication this year. I will use jingles from Math-U-See and this book. I have lots of fun Multiplication acitvities up my sleeve.

I also bought him a Star Wars Math book...however it has magically disappeared....

For writing a grammar we are using this:

He is also still in Hooked on Phonics and we will be moving onto book 4 soon!

Weston- Preschool!

Just still working on reviewing writing letters and numbers. He will sit in on almost everything...but mostly just playing with his big brother!

I have a lot of other things that we will be working on. Hoping to teach Easton all of the states and both boys the books of the Bible!

 

Friday, July 24, 2015

4H fun!

This past school year we signed up for 4H! I have always wanted our kids to do 4H, but I was under the impression you had to join a group...like Girl Scouts and that you had to have farm animals. Neither are true. We joined as an independent family, where we do our own thing and there are hundreds of projects that kids can work on that have nothing to do with animals!

Katelyn and Easton were able to be in Clover Kids this year. Projects are easier and there are no point values placed on their projects. Jocelyn was old enough to be in the older group where her projects could earn different colors of ribbons and there was a $ stipend depending on what color you recieved.

In total the kids completed 32 projects over the year. Yikes! A lot of work for this mama...but the girls are pretty capable of completing most things on their own...I just need to make sure we have proper supplies!

I know Jocelyn wanted to get at least one purple ribbon at our county fair. We discussed that she is young and this is our first year..do not get your hopes too high. We are all learning! I think she understood.

As we walked around the fair to see all of their projects on display I had one thrilled little girl...she earned 6 purple ribbons!

All of the kids were excited to see their projects on display! They are already planning out what they are going to do for next year...and Joc has already made one project so far!

Here is a little sample of our 4H year...with projects! I wish I would have taken more pics!

At the fair!
Joc made dog bones!
Joc sewed an outfit for Maggie
Working on making ice cream
She earned a blue ribbon!
Joc made a few collars for Maggie
She is working on looming Saige--an American Girl keychain
Kate made a blanket for baby Landon
They all made tshirts
Most of the projects!

 

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Katelyn Rose turned 8!

Our Katelyn Rose turned 8! It seems so old!! She had a low key birthday party today with 8 friends. I am thankful she is a kid that does not expect much since I am moving slow these days.

We started our day off with donuts and flowers.

The girls helped me make party food and I made cupcakes.

Once her friends got here they played a sponge water game, balloon toss, and had a water balloon fight.

They danced, ate, and played yard games.

For dinner Kate wanted a steak dinner, with corn, crescents, bernaise sauce, and potatoes...so we whipped that up for her.

She fell in love with a backpack at Walmart, so I surprised her with that and an American Girl cheerleader outfit that I held back for her. Sean and I also picked out some puppy essentials as we are supposed to be getting a new pup in a few weeks!

All in all she had a pretty good birthday!