Welcome Back!

So this post might be wa wa waaaaa.  Boring.  But, we homeschool and I gotta teach these kids.  So full speed ahead, we have begun this year.  And, I am not complaining, at least out loud, about all the work.  Because my 7 year old hugged me and thanked me for homeschooling her today.  Our first day together for this year.  Ended with a kiss and a hug.  She does this often, and it keeps my heart in check.  SOOO...

Why am I writing this blog entry?  Well, we had an experience last spring.  My oldest was told by a friend who attends public school, "You don't know as much as I do.  You do homeschool.  You aren't as far along as I am.  My parents have more education than your parents."  (The last of which isn't true, might I add. Not that Jesus looks at the educated any differently, just thought I'd set the record straight because they just don't give those degrees away...blood, sweat, tears and student loans can I get an amen?!)

What a smartie, right?  I told my daughter this came from her parents.  No way this child conjured this up on her own.  And, well, I know people wonder what the heck homeschoolers do all day anyway.  Whittle a little stick?  Crochet anyone?  Or just hang out and watch HGTV together?  (Ok, the last one for sure.  But we would partake in our HGTV with public school, too, y'all.) For sure they're all antisocial nerds.  (Whom perhaps colleges are actively pursuing for their work ethic and academic achievements, I might add...)

But I also have folks that read this blog that already homeschool, or want to homeschool, or are just curious what a previous public school teacher with a M.Ed in Literacy is up to, what curriculum we use, or how we spend our days.  The curriculum I mention work.  At least for my crew.  Like Woodcock Johnson scores reflect they work.  I sleep just fine with this curriculum work.  Balanced.  Happy.  Working.  I try to stay several steps ahead of the public school system just in case we enter back in.  You're welcome future teacher of my children.  And I like a good challenge.  Racing is super fun.

I have a 4.5 year old and a 7 year old.  This is what we are up to.  Written as a love letter to each one.  Just the mood I'm in.  Bear with me please.  And no I do not teach everything myself.  Apparently this can be an area of contention for some who homeschool.  As in, do you really homeschool if other people teach your kids?  Again, this is our way we do it, this year, these kids.  I know my limits and my strengths...

For my 7 year old:

Singapore Math:  I love you Singapore Math.  I bought extra items this year:  the Word Problem book and the Test Book.  So we do Math daily.  Unit Tests at the end of each unit.  Word Problems as we progress.  Singapore Math tests the best on Woodcock Johnson, as per our testing administrator last spring.  (FYI:  The Woodcock Johnson is a test administered to children and measures their academic standing in a broad range- math to reading to spelling to writing.  It compares students based on year and month.  We tested our daughter who was 6 years, 10 months.  Her scores compared to others with the same testing year and month.  Yes, a little more expensive than mail order tests, but this is a report card for me and the curriculum we chose.  I don't think it's a reflection on my daughter as much as it is for me.  It gives the child's strengths and weaknesses and we even got confirmation on the choices we made. Worth every penny if you ask me.)

Xtra Math:  Online free math facts taking the student from basic addition to multiplication and division. The child cannot skip and my daughter loves this!  Usually does several "days" work in one sitting.  She's progressed and parents get progress reports via email.  (Did I mention it's free??)

All About Spelling:  I love you AAS.  You rock.  You have a balance of kinesthetic and visual and we stay happy.  This year our's has 27 steps, or 27 weeks.  We do a little each day.  Our review lesson today my 7 year old remembered everything from last year.  Because it has built in review and it exercises so many methods of learning.  Memorizing spelling rules and working with words and dictation.  Mmmm good.  Homeschool yumminess right here.  And, AAS students test really well on The Woodcock Johnson test as per our testing administrator last spring.

First Language Lessons:  Delicious classical education.  Children learn parts of speech from memory and abbreviations and this year my 2nd grader is diagramming sentences.  It works well. Broken into 4 days a week.

I also have a Spectrum workbook for reading comprehension test-type activities.  It has multiple choice so that she gets some experience with bubbling.  Again, just in case we do public school.  End of Grade Tests, yo.  And, we may not continue down this workbook path long, but I want to see how she does.  The classical readings in FLL and WWE (below) are superior to any literacy in public schools so I am NOT concerned with their content.  Balance is the key.  (Don't be offended public school folks, I am just super duper honest and hold my opinion bound tight with my experience.)

Writing With Ease:  Also delicious classical readings that students read and respond to.  (We have been known to laugh out loud with some of them...today's lesson was on a bean that split in two from laughing!  I will bring this up later in conversation and we'll laugh again.  Good stuff.)  Lexile levels last year for the readings were like 4th-5th grade level.  (I have yet to determine this year's levels.  Spare time at a premium right now.) Broken into 4 days a week.  Including summarizing  main passages, dictations, retelling, and married with First Language Lesson material for that week.  So I believe you should use both FLL and WWE together, same level, to reinforce the material.

And..we also work on a Spectrum workbook for writing that is basically more public school like.  Again, just in case we reenter public school.  Writing With Ease is NOT lacking anything, it just moves towards a slightly different direction than public school.  I still use WWE because this does not bother me and in the long run is amazing, but I want her to be more balanced so this year I added this.

History:  Story of the World.  Awesome.  We will cover Nomads to the Fall of Rome this year.  I found some additional things on Pinterest (Hello my name is Carla and I am a Pinterest addict.  But we all eat and learn better so I embrace it:) to assist me.

Science:  Biology homeschool curriculum I already purchased.  It has 10 chapters, so 10 weeks of learning and experiments.  I don't love it, but I will use it for the next 10 weeks to get it done.  From there I will go with what the girls want to study.  She also goes to an enrichment center for Science which is bonus.  We also go to museums, the planetarium, nature walks, library books, and have a microscope kit we like to pull out from time to time.  We love Science so this isn't difficult to get in.

Social Studies:  Again, the enrichment center she goes to covers Social Studies, but at home we cover the states (and capitals), communities, world, etc.  We discuss children in other countries via missionary friends we have abroad and locally, through readings, art, current events, community events.  My mom got her Time for Kids so we read that as well.  Social Studies is life itself...lived in color...so easy for kids to embrace.  I love this.

Spanish:  My beloved university teaches a class for her age centered on Spanish literacy and oral language development.  Speaking, reading, writing.  Bless them.  Although I'm fluent, so nice for someone to take the reigns this year.  Surely she will cover more geography.  If she doesn't learn the months of the year song from my middle school days I will not deny her this beauty.  Uno de enero, dos de febrero, tres de marzo... She will study her vocabulary daily, as part of this class.  Woot!
My hope is to get us volunteering with Spanish speaking community opportunities so I can marry the beautiful language with a concrete experience and relationships.  Probably will happen on our "field trip"days.  More to come...

My 4.5 Year old (attends preschool three mornings a week, too):

Math: Singapore Kindergarten, baby.  Good stuff.  She loves it.

Reading:  All About Reading- I love you AAR.  So worth the investment.  Uses the same magnet board as big sister so we are rocking and a rolling.  It works.

Games games games, puzzles, FUN!  This girl likes to move so we stay a moving!

And for both...

Bible: Church programs reinforce our love learning, Scripture, morning family quiet times.

Science, History, Social Studies:  I will adapt for little sister, too.

Art and PE:  Your's truly and some additional classes.  Swimming, Crossfit Kids (again, your's truly), dance, soccer in the backyard, archery (hilarious I just blogged about this and big sister wants to try it! Ha!), etc etc.

Critical Thinking Company:  Good fun books for brain development, etc.

Not sure I covered everything.  Reading above sounds daunting even to me, but it's fun and we have a rhythm we dance to.  It all gets done at the end of the week.  We usually do some form of schooling year round. But this year we are "on the grid" as opposed to not being registered last year.  So for this Type A teacher mama, it's all written down and documented.

No funny business.  Well, maybe a little...actually a lot.  But well-documented funny monkey business from our monkey family I love...Bottom line, these girls are getting loved.  And learning about the One who loves them more than anyone.  A God that loves, doesn't force, push, but embraces.  On my knees Lord help me demonstrate your grace and goodness.  You are good.