Tag: homeschool
Getting started with homeschooling
Review of Get Ready For The Code
Here is a review of the homeschooling pre k-1 curriculum Get Ready for the Code. One of my favorite supplemental curriculums to add on to any phonics program!
Review of Abeka Homeschooling Curriculum
My personal experiences and thoughts on using the curriculum Abeka.
Review of Moving Beyond The Page Home school Curriculum
Thinking about trying moving beyond the page as your homeschool curriculum? This is my personal take on this curriculum. One of my personal favorites. If you have used or currently using moving beyond the page, let me know your thoughts on this curriculum!
Field trip Friday!
When we started school this year I had decided that on Friday’s we would take field trips, sadly I am like a bear and hibernate in the winter. 😦 So we didn’t really do a lot of field trips first semester. I’m hoping that this semester we will do a lot better as it begins to warm back up! So presenting our first Field trip Friday… we went ice skating for the very first time!! It was so much fun, that my kids have elected we go again this Friday for our field trip.
Everyone was ready to get out there and skate! Don’t you love our school shirts! I love these, my close friend and Sorority sister made these shirts for us!
It’s didn’t take D.j long to learn how to ice skate he was out there in no time skating around!
Bossy was a little nervous at first but soon she had the hang of it, and didn’t want to leave when it was time to go! She loved it!
Bradly started out excited, and ready to get out there skating he fell a few times, and at first thought it was funny. ….
But soon the laughter turned into tears, and he was no longer enjoying skating!
This is my fearless child! She will try anything, and usually jumps into it head first with no fear. Sure enough she fell a few times, but got right back up and after a few laps around the rink she was skating all by herself!
She even tried to go out to the middle of the rink with her big sister! I was to scary to let her go, to many big kids to knock her down!!
Homeschool days
So what do we do in a typical day? That is the question! 🙂 Usually our mornings start around 9 a.m yes for the most part everyone in our house is a late riser with the exception of Bradly and My husband. 😦 We usually eat breakfast and then Jay will do her spelling on the computer, this is the first year we are doing spelling of course with her being in the first grade! We love it we use an online program called wizard spell it’s a great program. Once she finishes spelling my oldest begins his day he does his main core work online. Then he does reading and writing when he is done with his online course work. Me and Jay continue our day with writing, phonics, moving beyond the page, math, and end our day with reading! Our school day usually ends around 1 or so, depending on how Jayden is feeling. LOL After school is done it’s time for lunch and the kids take an afternoon bath! I know that sounds crazy, but my kids love the water and seeing as though it is cold outside and they can’t go out and play let alone go swimming taking a bath is the next best thing! They will spend a good 2 hours in the bath! Once bath time over there is free time to play until daddy gets home! There is usually no t.v during the day in our house unless it is Friday or the weekend, so in most cases they are finding ways to use their imaginations sometimes this good, other times not so much. Here are just a few pictures from one of our school days this week.
By the way if you are wondering what the babies are doing all this time, well it depends on the given day. I have struggle with this area a lot since starting homeschool. Keeping them occupied and holding their attention span during school is a great fete. Someday’s I will put on some preschool videos that are teaching abc and numbers, other days they will color along with their sister if they are in the “mood” We recently bought them a floor puzzle which Sidney LOVES! So that has been her favorite thing to do during school. It keeps her busy for a good 30 to 45 minutes!
Sometimes she will allow Bradly to help her, but on most days that is not the case, which he doesn’t mind, because he really isn’t all that interested in the puzzle thing, we have to make him work on the puzzles. He decided this day he would attempt to try the puzzle thing again, and was being a good little student.
Still here!
I know it has been a very long time since I have written anything on my blog, especially in regards to school, but life has gotten crazy for me, and I am just trying to keep my head above water at this time! School is going good for us, I finally received Bossy new curriculum moving beyond the page which we LOVE!! It is great for her. I am thinking that this will be our choice curriculum from this point on. We are still on our same school schedule of 12 to 4, which I am praying will change in the near future, but right now that is the only time for us. I have currently put the babies “school” time on hold for now, as I wanted to really get into the groove of things with Bossy and D.J. I must say that when life throw you some daggers sometimes you wonder if you are doing the right thing, and you begin to question the things you are doing. I was going threw that with homeschooling my children, but I am going to continue to pray and meditate about it, and continue down the path that is in my heart. I truly believe I am doing the right thing for my family and my children especially Bossy, so I will push through this and know that in the end I will be stronger, wiser, and have a testimony to give.
It’s school time!
So much to do so little time! Our school year will officially begin this week! Our major curriculum change will be going to moving beyond the page from Abeka. My son will continue with alpha and omega. We will start slow and ease our way back into the swing of things. So we will probably not be full speed ahead until the second week in august which is when me and bossy will start moving beyond the page. I am still up in the air on what I will do with the babies this year. They will be three so I feel like they should be able to sit for 30 min and do something, what I have no clue! These first two weeks will be review for Bossy, I am sure she has forgotten a lot of what she learned this previous year, so we will need at least two to three weeks to review. I am trying to prepare myself as much as possible for this school year. I feel like it’s going to be a busy and hectic year for me, so my goal is to stay organized and not stress out! YIKES! This is part of the reason I decided to switch to moving beyond the page for our curriculum. Hopefully I will like it and it will last us throughout the year. We all know I am addicted to curriculums! LOL! So there is my quick update on homeschooling! I am sure that once the school year has begun and in full swing I have lots more homeschool post. This summer has been jam packed with photography!
Homeschool money woes…
This past weekend was the MTHEA homeschool curriculum fair! This was my first year going, and I must say this was probably not a good idea for someone like myself who is a curriculum “addict.” I was in heaven and at the same time miserable. What I learned from this experience is that there are soooo many curriculums to choose from, and it is not cheap to homeschool your children. There is public school, homeschool, and private school. None of them are free, but I tell you what the cost goes up with each one. I found so many curriculum’s that I felt both of my children, along with myself would LOVE. I originally only attended on going one day, but ended up going back a second day and taking my son to look for a history curriculum. This past year we used Abeka and a little bit of My fathers World> We also used explode the code as a supplement she loves those books. When I pulled my son out we started using alpha and omega for math and L.A. We did not focus on science or history. He has been reading a lot of books for history.
So because we will school all year long. I have decided to use My fathers world for our summer enrichment program for my daughter and finish up Alpha and Omega for my son. For the 09-10 school year I am leaning toward a program called beyond the page for my daughter! I am really excited about this program because what I have learned this year from Jayden is she is a creative learner. She is very hands on and likes to ask a lot of questions. Her strong point is math, and she it comes natural to her because she can visualize math in her head! So I want this to be the same for her for reading and all her other subjects! Depending on how this summer goes with MFW we may use that as well. We will continue with Abeka math and cursive. As for my son, because I am holding him back a year he will continue to use Alpha and Omega for L.A and Math. We will be studying American History for history. We found this awesome history music C.D, a time through history, that we will be using also for history. This C.D covers American history from the indians to present day President Obama. It is music song by several different music artist. IT covers Katrina, 911, and so on! We are very excited about this program! As for art, this year I have found an art teacher that I will be using they will go to her once a week. We will be having p.e at our local community center for home schoolers, along with their monthly activities.
I was not happy about the cost for these curriculums, but I know and understand to educate my children there is a price to pay. I want to make sure they are getting the best education for THEM that they can get. I know that every child learns differently and that is why I love the joy of homeschooling because I can cater to each one of my children’s learning styles. I want to take this time to learn more about what Jayden likes and does not like. I want to use this last year before my son enters into high school to try and spark a love for learning in him, so that he will enjoy high school, and truly love learning and not feel bad about it. I want to nurture their loves. For Jayden that is animals and for D.j that is history. I am learning how to be more economically smart about choosing curriculums. I was going to buy my son this 30.00 time line program, but decided we can make our own timeline notebook! I was going to use Sonlight for his history, but decided we can put together our own list of readers for our American history program, and go to the library and check out books. I will post a list of our readers once we compile it! It is these small short cuts that will help me save money, and spend money where it matters most! For science we will use our world wide web! And find science projects to do. I am thinking we will focus on the anatomy of a male for science and use this year to talk about his body, sex, and becoming an adult! Hey that is science!
So here is a run down of the upcoming school year. This is still tentative!
Jayden-Summer Enrichment- My fathers World K
D.J- Summer Enrichment-Alpha and omega math level 4,5, and 6. L.A level 6, and 7
Jayden-Fall school year- Moving beyond the page for L.A, science, and history. Abeka for math and cursive, Bible Old Testament and the seven laws of Noah. Supplement Explode the Code
D.j-Fall school year- Alpha and Omega Math level 7 and 8, L.A level 8. History American History, Science Anatomy and physical science, Bible Old Testament and seven laws of Noah.
I am excited that I have come this far, this far in advance! I am trying to be more organized and well prepared. I am in the process of putting together Jayden’s summer binder, and D.j time line notebook for the fall. I think by being prepared, I will not spend as much money, because I will have a clear plan, as to what I am doing and what I need to get it done. I hope I will not run into to many stumbling blocks! My goal is a penny saved is a penny earned!
Tanyell Cole 