Well folks, we.are.crazy.
Yep, I said crazy. At least that’s what people keep asking us, “are you guys crazy?”
We’ve got 3 kids ages; 10, 6, and 9 months. And we’ve decided to homeschool both of the big kids this year! *warm smile*. I’m not one of those moms who can’t wait to get her kids back in school each August.
In fact, I’m the mom who is always thanking God for one more day with my kids. A few years ago I had some unexplained health problems and thought I was dying. I had funeral plans and everything, pretty dramatic, right? Well ever since then I’ve vowed to live each day as if it were my last. And on my last days, I want to be spending them with my family.
I feel so blessed that I have a husband who provides for our family so I am able to stay home and raise our children. We prayed that we’d be able to afford homeschooling, because it is more expensive than public school initially. God has come through for us on this one in so many random ways. I’ll do a post on that another time. 🙂
I have spent literally years researching what to use for books & doing online training and research for teaching my dyslexic daughter. I have just been too chicken to commit to doing it full time. I’m very appreciative that in the mean time she has had a kind-hearted teacher at the public school who has taken my baby girl under her wing and educated her.
God has gently nudged me for 3 years, and now I hear him telling me that it’s time. Each time I tell Him “No God, I can’t do this” or “Please God, let me be at peace with sending them to school and see what I’ll do with all of my free time” (oh, can you just imagine how quiet my days would be), I hear him saying back “quit making excuses, I’ve got your back”. Well, He hasn’t let me down before, and I don’t believe that He will now.
I was blessed to meet with two friends this week, who gave me incredible insight on different curriculum options.
So, here’s the plan, Stan!
our Thankful Journals. Just jotting down
a few things that we’re thankful for.
(I cannot say enough about this book, very low distraction, and the lessons are simple and clear), Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, 1986 Fireside Edition, ISBN 0671631985
(sometimes we use this one too, just to reinforce a little).
. This boy is great at math! The reason I’m starting with the Kindergarten
B is that I want to review with him, before
pushing him on to 1st grade math.
I am confident that he could go right to the first grade level and do
just fine, but math is nothing to mess around with.
although we may give it a try for fun.
Grade
& First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind: Level 4 Instructor Guide (First Language Lessons) By Jessie Wise, Sara Buffington
You do need both the workbook and instructor text, but don’t fret, the cost is worth it (and not too high, in my opinion). It is very detailed and no additional planning is required, just open the text and go!
her writing will be in the First Language Lessons as well, but this is one more way to encourage her to write and have fun doing it).
Tears Level 5. This girl loves cursive
so she will be doing both the print and the cursive this year.
Language Lessons as well. But I highly encourage more reading than just what is required in the book. We will be
supplementing her reading curriculum with books from the library, magazines, & really
anything I can get her to read. Right
now she’s really into the American Girl books.
We will do unit studies as well as read books that also have a movie we
can watch afterwards, because that’s pretty fun momma-daughter stuff!
way up. I don’t want to start too high,
in case there are things that she has missed.
It never hurts to review anyway.
She will just progress at a much quicker rate than her younger brother
with this subject.
Learning isn’t about being at some certain level, but about making
progress and gaining knowledge. Because of her dyslexia spelling is more difficult, but certainly not impossible by any means.
will supplement with Xtramath.com, Learning Wrap-Ups Introductory Math Kit
, flash cards, Math War Multiplication Game Cards
, and practical real-life math any time we can.
family. Each child has their own Bible
that they will be held accountable for reading (the best they can). They do weekly Promiseland at church and we
will do activities that relate to what they have talked about at church, as
well as online Bible games.
sure. This year we will be focusing on
studying the United states, as well as
the presidents.
will be covered at the homeschool co-op that we joined as well. I believe
science will also be covered there. We
are going to still look for something to do at home, since we like experiments around this house!
I know we will get a rhythm and things will fall into place. I am a super organized person, so feeling uncertain in this area is tough. But, I wont let it get me down. We will figure out what works for us and go with it!
[…] times we just do what we can with the hours that are left in the day and move on. You can look at THIS POST to see what we are using for curriculum. I love that with most of our subjects once we finish […]