Freedom!

As I began to think about Veteran's Day and all that our soldiers have sacrificed over the years for the freedoms that we tend to take for granted, I was reminded of the new freedoms we are enjoying in our lives this year. 

Since we began homeschooling in 2007 we have been involved in extra curricular activities, swim, dance, soccer, co-op, etc.  Those things were fun but also kept us rooted to a strict schedule with no room for spontaneity, exploration or relaxation.

So when my Poogie injured  her knee and my kids left the world of dance back in February I was at a loss. I could not grasp the idea of not being involved in an outside activity. What would we do?  We have to do extra curricular activities!  Our world has to be structured!

After 8 months of trying to find something for that extra curricular hole in our schedule we found one.  Nothing.  That's right nothing.  We decided to enjoy life for the first time in 8 years. So we went to concerts, lots of concerts. We took day trips and explored. Took the time to try new activities and sports. But, above all we just took time to chill and enjoy life.

I still worried that our new found freedom was not appropriate. I thought that without those structured activities Poogie would not receive the experiences she needed to grow. Then, something awesome happened on our trip to Arkansas in October.  Poogie told me that these last 8 months were the best ever.  She loved exploring the world.  Learning things first hand, not just out of a book.  Experiencing everyday things like going to concerts, because her dance schedule had never really allowed for time to go or even hang with friends.  Yes, she missed dance at times, but not the lack of freedom. 

During all this time I was worried about loosing something, what we found is Freedom!  It just goes to show that what you think is right for you and your family sometimes can be the exact opposite.  You just need to have the courage to break away and try something new. 

Curriculum Chat, MATH!

We've all been there.  The sometimes dreaded time to choose a new curriculum or your first curriculum.  After homeschooling 8 years I have went through this so many times.  You second guess yourself, wonder if your ruining your child's learning progression. 

Well just take a minute, breathe and re-boot.  There's no perfect child nor perfect curriculum.  One of the reasons to homeschool is to meet the needs of your individual child, not 30 kids in a classroom.

To best meet the needs of your child you must first determine how they learn.  You can read up on all the different learning styles and there are even tests to determine your child's style.  I found I already knew based on how they go about their daily lives.  For example, can your child do a chore by having it explained verbally, by watching someone else do it, or by doing it themselves.  There you have your auditory, visual or kinesthetic learners.  Some children like my own have more than one learning style, however one may be more comfortable for them.  So when looking for curriculum I try to find one that meets more than one style.

That brings me to todays curriculum, Math.  Many new homeschooler's freak out about choosing a math curriculum.  In our case, it hasn't been perfect but I find math to be one of the easiest. 

There are so many new math curricula that address all the learning styles in one way or another.  Plus, most good ones have a placement test to help you place your child at the right level.  Remember, this is individualized instruction so don't get hung up on grade level.  It's better to focus on the skills and whether they have mastered them or not. Math skills build on one another so it's best to make sure they know the basics before moving on.

All that said, I have tried a, cough, cough, few different math curriculums over the years.  I will share my personal pros and cons of those this week, beginning with elementary math.  Please note,  I am not paid, nor do I represent any of these companies. 

Elementary Math:

1.  Math U See - This was our first homeschool math curriculum.  I used it with T when he came home half way through 4th grade and didn't really know his multiplication tables.  Yet, he tested above average in the state skills test, go figure.  This was a perfect fit for him.

 

Pros-

This curriculum is simple, hands on and not overwhelming. We could move at our own pace.  It addressed all learning styles.

The lesson is taught on DVD, by Steve Demme, who is quirky but fun. So if your not comfortable or confident in teaching math is a great solution.

It also offers manipulatives for the kinesthetic or hands on learner.  I hate to admit it but T did not use the blocks much, however he did use the fraction overlays. 

It also offers placement tests to help ease a parent's mind about buying the correct level.

Cons-

It can be boring, and a little dry.  Poogie was bored out of her mind.  She would do a whole lesson in one day. 

It's a mastery curriculum.  You learn each skill and master it before you move on. For example, Delta level focuses on division, where as, Epsilon focuses on fractions. Many students and parents are not comfortable with this type of curriculum and that's ok.  But for your child it may just be what they need.

I have personally used Math U See on and off for both of my children.  Even though, it didn't suit Poogie's learning style in the beginning we are now using it for Pre-Algebra and she is doing well.  

Tomorrow I will talk about Rod & Staff math, Poogie's favorite and T's kryptonite, lol. 

First Week Adventure!

We haven't even completed our first week of homeschooling here and we have already had our first adventure.  The weather has been beautiful all week, so Poogie and I just had to take advantage and head out on the Harley to explore. We rode a familiar route, however we finally took the time to stop and explore some of the awesome sites along the way.

First stop on the Great River Road was the Piasa painting on the side of the cliff.  I always found it to be a little creepy.  After reading the story of the creature, I confirmed its creepiness.  We found that we could link the area and some of the former explorers to Poogie's history lessons, and linked it to science with the mining information. 

We then rode up the River Road to one of our favorite destinations, Grafton, IL.  We took time to look at many of the historical homes, noting the materials used to build with then vs. now.  Explored the river bank and noted the changes from the recent flood and how destructive water can be.  This time we also took a moment to stop by an old barn and home along the road that we have loved but never stopped to explore. 

An added bonus to this trip, which tends to happen a lot in Grafton, was the view of these very cool replicas of Columbus's ships the Nina and the Pinta.  Time and the lack of actual cash on hand did not allow us to explore the replicas, but it was an awesome sight. 

This is what I absolutely love about homeschooling.  Taking knowledge and learning out into the world.  Seeing things with your own eyes, not in a book or on a video. We are having so much fun, can't wait to see what adventures we have next. 

2015 Here We Come!

2015 will be a year of firsts!  And I am so excited about the change.  This will be my first homeschooling year with only one student!  It's a little sad but also very exciting.  My son T has completed high school and moved on to other thing such as  work and hopefully college. 

So that just leaves Poogie and I to carry on with our homeschooling adventure!  And what an adventure this year will be. 

This will be our first year of homeschool without having dance as part of our lives.  What will we do having every afternoon free??  Well, we plan on going on some awesome field trips, taking some music lessons, and longboarding (Poogie's new obsession).  Leaving the dance world was bitter sweet but I must say our lives are better without it.

Of course, I've also made adjustments to our curriculum to suit my girl's learning style.  She moves much faster through material than T did and likes moving along at her own pace.  I will post a whole post later this week on our curriculum choices.  Too much to put in this one post.

I plan on posting more in the upcoming year to share this new chapter in our lives.  Stay tuned :)

Dealing with Non-Homeschoolers

We started homeschooling in 2007.  It would seem by now, 7 years later, that I would not be constantly surprised by the people that do not understand what homeschooling is all about. 

The main problem we have had to deal with over the years is when others compare our education to that of traditional education, aka. brick and mortar schools.  It is almost absurd to compare the two, especially when you are like us and do not do "school at home".  We homeschool.  That is an important distinction between the two.  In our home we do follow lesson plans so that I can make sure we are on track to complete all, yes all our curriculum for the year.  But that is where the comparisons end.  I want my children to love the act of learning, to be life long learners that quest for knowledge.  That said, comparing the life of my homeschool child to one of a child that attends a brick and mortar school is unjust and small-minded. 

My kids do not technically have homework.  The reason being is they complete their lesson when it is given.  They are not limited to a small block of time.  Their lessons are thorough and in depth in each subject.  Glossing over is not really allowed, and the kids don't like it.  However, since we don't technically have homework many assume that we don't have to do school work in the evening, nights and weekends.  This is the farthest thing from the truth.  Since our lessons tend to take much longer than one in a school, we put in double the hours of most institutionalized students.  We also use those nights and weekends to learn through experience. We attend museums, concerts, historical fairs and whatever else we can find that goes along with our curriculum.

Homeschooling does offer freedom, which we love.  We can work around doctor appointments, funerals, family activities when needed.  The school work still has to be completed, it doesn't just disappear.  Sometimes we get behind due to illness, activities, work, family obligations, or just life in general.  When this happens I focus on the kids getting caught back up as soon as possible.  So when a my homeschoolers say they have to do school work instead of doing X, Y, Z, it is a legitimate reason.  Sometimes that is the only free moment they have. 

Finally, I have be asked over the years if I give my kids the answers to their tests, or if I don't really grade their papers and just give them an A.  Why would any responsible parent or teacher do that?  How would it benefit the child?  If my children score below 90% on any test, which happens very rarely, we look at what they missed, I re-teach the material and then retest.  But unlike the new rules at many schools, where they go into a test knowing they can retake it, they do not go into the test thinking well if I blow it I can always retake it.  If mine really blow a test it usually only happens once.  The reason is that they must work through all the material again along with all their other lessons and then retake a different test on the material.  My focus is mastery of the material. Mastery in my home means that you know the material, and can apply the material, not just regurgitate it back to me. 

I know the comparisons will not end, but I would be nice if the parents of traditionally schooled children would take the time to understand that not all homeschoolers are the same anymore than all families are the same. 

First week hits and misses

First week of school is complete and so far we've only hit a few little bumps.  Those were mostly felt on Monday with all of us trying to adjust to so much new curriculum.  It happens just about every year but it still makes the first few days trying. 

So here is a brief list of our hits and misses...

For T pretty much every thing is a hit except...

DIVE Chemistry. 

Now I won't say that we will quit using it, but it won't be our main source.  I will use the labs to supplement our keeper curriculum which is Apologia.  T is just an Apologia kid.

For Poogie so far NO misses, but a few hits with new curriculum.
Hit #1, for language arts we needed something new.  Something other than Easy Grammar.  Poogie just didn't retain anything from it.  So I found these from JacKris Publishing.  It's called Growing with Grammar.  I, not only purchased GWG, but Soaring with Spelling and Vocabulary, Winning with Writing and Digging up Diagramming.   We love it.  It's simple and easy to use.  I can supplement with lots of things and still not feel overwhelmed.

 

 

 

Hit #2 is science. We went with a new science with a base in classical education.  So far we love it.  It is challenging, but fun.  It's called Elemental Science.  We love it.  The lesson plans are so easy to use and flexible.

 

 

 

Finally, Hit #3 is great because it is secular and it covers history and literature.  I've been wanting to try it for two years but was afraid we wouldn't like it.  Well, so far it has been fun and not stressful at all.   We are using History Odyssey Middle Ages Level 2.  I love the check lists and flexibility of this curriculum so much. 

 

 

If you have any questions about any of these, click the links or ask me.  Lesson plans are already complete for next week, so we will see how it goes.  Here's hoping. 





New School Year!

Well, another school year has begun.  We got off to a rusty start on day one but now it seems we are finding our stride.  The curriculum choices this year are random.   Some things we have stayed with the old faithful, such as math.  Others we have branched out to totally different choices, such as language arts with Poogie.  I hope to post the more often and share the pro's and con's of each as we go.

I would also like to share more of my cooking adventures.  I've enjoyed exploring all types of recipes in the last year and look forward to sharing my accomplishments and failures.

As far as extra curricular activities go we have made a big change.  We moved dance schools to one much closer and smaller.  This gives the kids a chance to actually learn and improve in a less congested environment.  Plus, we get to eat at home more due to the fact this studio is only 5 minutes away.  That, in turn, leads to saving money eating out and being healthier.  YAY!

Off to teach this kiddo's something...

Trash and Keep Pile

As I have done every school year since I began this journey I find myself making changes.  By now I have discovered what works for us as far as homeschool curriculum goes and what doesn't.  I am disappointed to find that some of the things we loved last year did not make the cut this year.  It may be we are just burned out with the daily repetition of some of these books.  It pains me to say that two of these are classical education curriculum's, Writing with Ease and Writing with Skill.  Both of these are great writing curricula, and we haven't ditched them for good.  It's just the day to day repetition of the curriculum has become tedious.  I do not feel that either one of my kids age getting any thing new out of these right now so on the shelf they go. 

Another casualty from the first quarter is the Novel Units literature guides.  Ug,  I have to say I did not like them.  There are so many reasons I won't take up time writing about it.  Let's just say that they were not user friendly.  I still had to do alot of prep on my own and some of the questions in the books did not line up with the novels.  I won't use them again. 

For Poogie history was a big flat failure.  I tried using The Story of the US and The Complete Book of US History.  They just didn't offer enough comprehsion and geography work.  So we are using something I already had, Abeka US history and geography.  I will be adding historical reading to go along with the time peroids. 

So things we are keeping but using as a supplement, such as First Language Lessons.  Great curriculum, but not our daily cup of tea.  We are returning to Easy Grammar for Poogie with FLL added for diagramming and extra practice.   Poogie will be using EG 6 since I had the teacher's edition. 

Poogie is also keeping Rod & Staff Arithmetic 5 but we are supplementing with Math Mammoth on subjects that she doesn't master in the text.  Right now we are doing a MM unit on fractions because she just didn't get it in R&S. 

For Poogie's writing we are going to give Writing Strands a whirl.  I have it already so why not.  For T I have ordered Jensen Format Writing to replace WWS.  We will use WWS but not on a weekly basis. 

I have decided to let T read the novels we have chosen and give him writing assignments and projects to complete for them from free sources on the internet.  The Novel Units just killed his love for the book, and mine. 

Finally, on The Well Trained Mind Forum I found a link to a free PDF of a curriuclum I have been wanting to try for reading for Poogie.  The Reading Detective from The Thinking Co. offers this.  I am going to try a few lesson with Poogie and then I may order the software version.  T has liked the Editor in Chief software so it would be fun for Poogie to have her time at the computer too.

I guess we just need to see how the next 9 weeks go...

ps please forgive the typo's spell check wasn't working and I've run out of time.

Wow, Lots of Changes..

I look at my last post lots of things have changed around here. So I will summarize since I want to get back to blogging about homeschooling. I was inspired after attending a homeschool convention last weekend. I need to share all this great info that I have accumulated after 6+ years of homeschooling. You take for granted when you find a great source that everyone else must know about this but I'm surprised to find out just how many don't. Many like me, most of the time, just don't have the free time to set down and go through all this stuff.

So what's been going on?? Well my hubby just started a new job today. He hasn't worked for over 5 and a half months. He wanted to but his new boss just wouldn't work him. Long, terrible story. But it amounted to a person having it in for a group of hard working men since they make more than him and come from a certain area. He decided to just starve them out. Well he succeeded with almost all of them. It cost us everything. We are starting over like it was when my son was two years old, he is now 15. By the time the "boss" decided to let the guys know that he wasn't going to work them, the job market is dry. My hubby must have put in 60 job apps and resumes. He's either too qualified or has nothing. It has totally changed how I feel about America and how our society is today. You don't get to turn you application into a human everything is on a computer, so you are just a number. Arrr, I could go on for hours. We didn't get unemployment because his employer wouldn't give him a letter for it. So we scraped by on less than 1/4 of our income for the last 5 months. The job he got is local, but it pays about 1/4 of what he is use to making a month. But it is all that is available and even to get a job somewhere else we would have to move, and that takes money.

Anywho, I am still homeschooling. This lack of funds has led me to have to look for every cheap, free or nearly free resource I could find. What I hope to do in the coming weeks is share some of these finds and others that I love with you. If you keep up with me you may notice that the items on my curriculum side bar have changed quite a bit. We are drifting more and more into the classical style of education for the most part. It has changed my views on everything.
So hold on tight and enjoy the ride, I plan on posting more. ;)

School Week Preview!

I decided that I'm going to try to refocus this blog back to its original purpose, our homeschool adventure. So to this I'm going to try, emphasis on try, to do a weekly preview of our upcoming activities. Then I hope to do a refection on the week at the end. This way I hope to see what works, what doesn't and how lazy I am, lol.

So what will happen this week? Well, Poogie will continue her study of pronouns in English, supplemented with writing activities in her history unit. She will also continue with Teaching Textbooks 4 three days a week and Saxon 3 daily. I did this because she loves the TT but needs the Saxon. Math skills will focus on subtraction of larger numbers, finding the square root, making predictions by collecting and analyzing data and adding larger numbers.

In science she will be learning about he life cycle of a frog and the characteristics of amphibians, fish and reptiles. I have supplemented this will some fun activities with the frog life cycle.

Geography will focus on cardinal directions and using a map scale to measure distance between two points.

History will include reading Meet Felicity and doing reading comprehension activities. Reading and doing a famous person activity on George Washington. This unit also includes activities for our newspaper, writing an editorial and friendly letter. The fun part will be writing using our berry ink, which we will make and write using a quill. The week will end with a day of cooking Queen Cakes and sipping some tea!

Poogie's week at the dance studio will be exciting. It's Parents Watch Week!!

T will continue working through his new math Saxon Algebra 1/2. So far it has been challenging but well worth the stress. In literature we are taking a break before we tackle Tom Sawyer. I am letting him read some novels for fun. In language he will be learning about and diagramming gerunds.

In science T will be reading and doing a report on biomes. And finally, in history he will continue reading about the Revolutionary War and watching John Adams.

Extracurricular for T will include dance and voice lessons. His dance will also include parents watch week, and continue rehearsal for the spring production coming up in 3 short weeks.

Change is good...

We are well into the new year and looking forward to thawing out after a very cold and snowy few months. These months have been full of change and surprises. My hubby started a new job, which was a welcome change since it would mean more money and a chance to save a little money too. I continued my part-time job that began last fall. Also a good change, although it does bring some craziness to our daily lives.


The other changes have been small, some personal and some educational. I have found a little time to explore my spiritual path. Wish I had more time for it but alas I will have to make due with late nights and stolen moments.



Homeschooling has offered up its own group of surprises. I, as always, began to plan for next year early. I like to have plenty of time to research all options when it comes to curriculum. This year is even more important since I will be planning for a high schooler. The surprise came along when I began searching math programs. I always look at the scope and sequence of each program and was in shock to find that many of the hs programs were very advanced vs. his programs this year.

He is just now getting into doing some real algebra and it is very basic at that. I sat down and discussed the situation with him since it is he who will be faced with the Algebra 1 next year. T was not surprised but concerned. So we decided to order a stronger pre-algebra curriculum to work through the rest of the year. I will start by testing him through the easy chapters and hitting the new material hard. What was hard to recognize was that the curriculum we were using was failing him. We were using Teaching Textbooks Pre-Algebra. I did a lot of research before I ordered it because it was so expensive. But even the best research will not prepare you for the real deal.

What brought all this to my attention was when Poogie was given TT 4 to try out. We use Saxon 3, so this was new and interesting for her. She loved it of course, it was really easy. I waited and waited for her to be challenged and so far that hasn't happened. Needless to say we did not stop using our Saxon program. But I did begin to look closer at T's TT to see if it too as behind. Not surprising it was.

So here I am mid February ordering new curriculum. I have ordered a few other things and made some more changes but will post that another day. Enjoy this warm weather.

Update!!

We have had a busy, unusual and exciting start to the school year. We are not only a Ballet Arts family, but my son T is this years Nutcracker Prince!! I can't believe that he has come so far in less than a year. He is so excited. Of course this means that we will have even more rehearsals and time at the studio than we already do but it will so be worth it. T loves dancing. His favorite classes are ballet, jazz and tap. He takes too many for me to count, lol. He is also taking hip hop, which is not his favorite class but he keeps working at it. It is awesome how your children can surprise you. We haven't found out yet if Poogie is a Bon Bon this year or not. Hate the waiting.

As far as school goes we have had a wild year. We started out okay, but Poogie wasn't being the most cooperative child. Everyday she wanted to go to school. Several of the kids she knows returned to school this year and she thought it would be fun. I told her no, I knew it would be hard on her with her stomach issues. Then my hubby didn't work for almost 2 months and I thought I was going to have to return to work at least as a substitute. So I gave in and enrolled her in school. Biggest mistake we ever made. By the second day she was back on her stomach medicine, crying all the time and stressed to the max. What is funny the stress didn't come from her knowing how to do the school work or not, it was from the other stuff. What did the teacher want her to do, what was the homework assignment. She wasn't given a buddy, or anyone to help her. She couldn't' hear the teacher most of the time over the talking of the other students. And every lesson was rushed through where she couldn't tell me what it was about. It was like going back in time 3 years ago to T being in school. Needless to say she is so much happier and appreciates being at home so much more. I will not be returning to work, end of story. My kids and I are happy homeschooling and that is what we will keep doing

The few days that Poogie was in school I was so shocked at what little time I got to spend with her. A few minutes here, another few minutes there. I missed being with her. Heck, I miss them even when I do get away for a few hours to myself. I like being with my kids and they like being with me and my hubby. I cannot imagine spending just a few minutes a day with them and those few doing homework or whatever. I hope I have to never return to work until at least T is graduated from high school and even then I want to have that time with Poogie. You only get these few short years with them at home, I want to cherish every moment. No regrets.

What's going on?

We have been one busy family the last few weeks. We made it through recital as you can see by the beautiful pictures above. Maddie was a little heartbroken that my hubby wasn't here, but she went through it lie a trooper. When her daddy finally did make it home she received a pool as a present. Not too shabby. She helped my hubby put it up yesterday while I took T to his first summer intensive dance class. He was invited to work with one of the dancer from the Joffrey Ballet. The gentleman was very nice, but he pushed them really hard. T was so sore today, lol. But he can't wait to go back tomorrow, so it must we worth it.

I also have been in the process of ordering our curriculum for next year. It's like X-Mas around here with all the packages coming in. This is a small list of the things I have planned.

For Both Poogie and T I will be doing a literature based History curriculum of Early American History based on The Otter curriculum. I put the link on here in an earlier post and I have it posted on my side bar. For it I have purchased tons of books. Most of them have been used but the consumable ones are new. T will also be doing SOS Tennessee History.

Science: I am also following The Otter Science curriculum for the first semester. It is a study of the human body. I am using the chapters in Apologia General Science for T and literature books for Poogie. During second semester T will be doing Real Science for Kids Chemistry. And Poogie will do Life Science and Landforms by REAL science.

Math: For Poogie I will be using Saxon 3. She loves it and if it isn't broke I'm not gonna fix it. T will be using Teaching Textbooks again.

English: Poogie will be using BJU Spelling and English 3. I wanted to use a secular curriculum, but I find BJU a well written curriculum and we can leave out what we don't want to use. She will be using an Evan Moore book I purchased for handwriting. T is using Easy Grammar Ultimate 8, Write Shop, Word Wise 3000, and Editor in Chief. That is what works for him so we are keeping it.

Literature: Our list of literature for this year is long. Some examples of read alouds are: The Birchbark House, Calico Captive, and The Witch of Blackbird Pond. Poogie will also be reading chapter books and readers on our history and science subjects. T will be reading the books I read aloud to Poogie along with Across Five Aprils, To Kill a Mockingbird, Summer of My German Soldier and Out of the Dust.

I still have lots of planning to do but I am looking forward to it. I will keep posting as I keep planning. Till then.

Summer Break is here!!

We made it through recital! And now we have at least a few weeks of no dance for summer break! What will I do with all that time? So far I have spent it getting school stuff ready for next year. Working on Poogie and T's literature based history curriculum. The main time sucker with that is finding all the books I need at the library on online really cheap. I've had really good luck so far.
We are all excited about this new approach to learning. T is especially happy since he loves to learn about a history subject in greater depth than the textbooks allow. So we will see. I will post more when I get it all together.

Summer plans

I said we would have a lazy summer. Maybe some art classes for Poogie, and some dance for T. Well that just went out the window, lol. We got the summer dance class schedule and they are both wanting to take some classes in July. It would be good for T to prepare for next year and Poogie wants to work on one specific thing.

I did make T choose between boy scout camp and dance, he choose dance. I just don't let them do everything, it's too much. They need down time to be kids. Poogie loves to play with her American Girl dolls, play basketball and ride her 4 wheeler and T likes to video game it. At least we have June to kind of chill out. And I don't plan on starting back to school until the second or third week of August. We will have a summer!!

We survived!

We officially made it through the flood of 2010! Wow. I have been living here for 15 years and I have never seen so much water. It pretty much shut down the whole area. Roads were closed due to flooding, damage or the road was completely gone. We spent two sleepless nights of one tornado warning after another. Rain that just never stopped. And way too much time stuck inside a house with 2 bored, exhausted kids and a very restless American Bulldog.

But we made it and now I am ready for things to get back to normal. Don't know when everything will be back to normal since several of the main roads are still closed, but at least we don't have to hear the weather radio going off every 5 minutes.

On a good note I was able to spend the days searching and researching for our curriculum for next year. I have to say it is irritating trying to find anything other than Christian curriculum. Now, don't misunderstand, we have enjoyed some of the BJU curriculum. It is excellent. But I want my children to be able to read a science, history or reading lesson without the influence of Christian views. I believe and have always believed that religion does not belong in the classroom. I think the great thing about going to school and learning is to gather the information about the world, all the information, not just what someone wants you to learn, and to make your own choices based on that information. You need to know both sides of the issues, not just one. And that you are a better person for understanding the way other people live or believe, why they live or believe that way and not whether it is right or wrong but just different.

That being said I was so excited to find some great curriculum this year. For T and Poogie I finally found a secular science, Holt Science. I found it along with the all the supporting material including teachers manuals. From Holt publishers I also choose the history curriculum I will base their studies around. I plan on basing our literature read alouds and independent reading to go along with the time periods we will be learning about. I also want to purchase A History of the US from Sonlight since they will both be studying US history this year.

For T I only need a health book and maybe something extra for language arts. He already has most of the other subjects thankfully.

Poogie will be using Holt for science, definitely, and maybe history. I am debating between Holt and Sonlight. She will be using Sonlight for reading and read alouds. We will be using Saxon for math again, she loves it. And as of right now we will use Bob Jones for English, Spelling and Handwriting. We are comfortable using those and the content is very good.

Now all I have to do is finish out this school year, lol. We may be going way into the summer to complete everything, which I dread. Hopefully next year without having the YMCA cutting into two of our days a week we won't get so far behind in the fall. I hope:) Well I must go and surf the web for more curriculum. It's almost addictive!

School and sickness

Poogie is still sick. After another night of vomiting, dry heaves and muscle spasms we went to the doctor. Tested her for H1M1 and strep, negative. The doctor thinks it may just be a stomach bug. But she said that if it goes into next week we need to come back to test for other things including Salmonella. Ug. She did give her some meds for the cramps and pain. It seems to be working thank goodness. She has had a horrible few days. She is not much of a crier or whiner but she has really broken down with this pain.

As far as school goes, Poogie isn't doing any. T is back to his regular pace. We have added some new subjects and made some changes. First, he was moving through Easy Grammar Plus so fast I decided to add something more challenging. I purchased a used set of Rod and Staff English for him. I love R & S, him not so much. But it is challenging and I know he needs more challenge. I also purchased Word Wise 3000 for him. We were working on vocabulary with his reading but I felt he needed more.

We are also working through all the Key to... Percentages, Fractions and Decimals in a certain order to hopefully get the most from the series. After hitting a wall in a few chapters of Teaching Textbooks I decided to step back and make sure he has a real grasp of the material before moving on.

After 3 nights of almost no sleep I need to rest while Poogie is finally resting, so bye till later.

True Bliss

I am experiencing something that has eluded me for quite some time, time alone. Not only time alone, but time alone at home no less. Being a stay at home, homeschooling mom time alone at home is almost unheard of. But thanks to my wonderful hubby I am sitting in front of my computer with a chocolate bar and diet coke. Funny how such small things can make one so happy.

I best take this moment for all it can offer because it will be quite a while before I can even glimpse another day at home with no place to go or time alone. I am focused on getting through the next few weeks till the Nutcracker and then enjoying the rest afterwards.

With all that said we are still plugging away at school. We have missed a few days here and there due to my hubby being home, but all in all we are staying on task.

I am looking forward to beginning my Christmas shopping and decorations. I usually try to be almost done by Thanksgiving but that will not happen this year. I hope to start in the next week or so and finish up in early December.

I taught my last class for the year at the YMCA yesterday. It was such a relief to have that monkey off my back. The program is okay, but my youngest isn't very happy with it so it has become a have to go situation since I have to teach. Now that it is over I'm not sure if we will return in January. When we started the program 2 years ago it was our only social outlet. Now the kids are involved in so much that the Y tends to be more of a hassle than its worth. So that is one that I am just going to have to wait and see what will happen.

But for now I will take my leave and enjoy my few moments of quite left.

Accomplishments

Today was a day of one great accomplishment. TT finally took his test for his Apologia General Science Module #1. I was wondering if this day would ever come. For those of you who know about his curriculum and this first chapter in particular you know it is a tough one to get through. But, low and behold we did it. He took the test this morning and made a 100%!! I felt like to doing the happy dance, still do! Most of it was due to those wonderful study cards I printed off from the yahoo group. What a wonderful resource that has been.

Learning as we go

Beginning the school year with new curriculum is always a learning experience. After 2 and a half years of homeschooling I am still amazed at how long it takes me to learn all the ins and outs of a new curriculum.

Take for example TT's new science curriculum. Apologia General Science. I never thought I was an Apologia person. I had looked at it several times, but since I'm not a fan most Christian science curriculums I always passed on it. Well that was until this year. I finally gave up hope of finding a: 1) inexpensive and decent secular curriculum and 2) a good Christian curriculum that I could afford and liked. I have to say I am so glad we gave Apologia a try.

The first Module has been tough to say the least. Poor TT has been very understanding through all my trial and error. "Write out the summary." "No, write out the study guide." He just smiled and took it. I ended up joining a Yahoo group for Apologia users and it has been so wonderful. First, I found a fill in the blank for the summary. Now, I know it says in the book that the student should write out the summary to help with studying and memory. But to my son it was horrible. The fill in the blank worked wonderful for us. Then I found some great flash cards that followed the study guide. He answers the questions on the cards and then can use them to study. Those were just what we needed. He is flying through the cards. I have to admit the first mod is overwhelming, but he seems to be taking it in stride. Today while discussing some of the answers on the study guide I was amazed at how much he could recall from memory. Now just to get through the test and then we can move on, finally!