First Day of School '11-12

Tuesday was our first day of school for the new school year. I had planned to start on Monday but we ended up without power all of Sunday and most of Monday due to Hurricane Irene. So Tuesday it was. Here are our traditional first day of school pictures:

 I tried to get a good picture of all three kids with Bean holding her sign (it says Tot School). It didn't work out but the outtakes are pretty cute :)



A Day in the Life

It's the final week of Heart of the Matter's Not Back to School Blog Hop. This week's topic is A Day in the Life.

 We are taking a break from school this week because it's our church's VBS week so I won't be taking any pictures for this post. And I didn't take any pictures of our daily routine last week because that would have required some foresight, something I do not have much of these days.

We don't follow a schedule so much as a routine around here. Basically we do what we need to do throughout the day and drop everything whenever Bean lays down for a nap so that we can do the things that are hard to get done with a toddler in the house. So this is a general outline but the times can vary greatly:

5:00- Bean wakes up. I grab her out of her crib and bring her to my bed to nurse and hopefully sleep for another hour or two.

6:00- Buzz and Boo wake up. They are to play quietly and not wake up anyone else. Usually they read or listen to an audio book while coloring. I only get up at this time if Bean wakes me up because apparently one year olds can't be left to fend for themselves in the morning the way a 5 and 7 year old can :) Ruben also wakes up around this time to get ready for work.

7:00- Ruben leaves for work. Buzz and Boo are allowed to wake me up. They must be dressed before I serve them breakfast so usually they change out of their pj's as soon as they wake up. I dress, get Bean changed and dressed and head to the kitchen.

Buzz and Boo are both so starving at this point that they are probably going to die if I don't feed them within 3 minutes of my entering the kitchen. It's almost always frozen waffles with Nutella smeared on them. Not exactly gourmet, but well received none the less. I eat a quick bowl of cereal and feed Bean.

7:30- Morning chore time. Buzz unloads the dishwasher every morning and Boo helps start a load of laundry and does general straightening up plus any other chores that I've put on their chore chart for that particular morning.

8:00- I spend some quality time with Bean or at least I try to, she's usually more interested in following the big kids around the house that hanging out with Mom. Whenever Bean gets tired of me I spend time with Buzz and/or Bean

9:00- The big kids get themselves a snack and settle on the couch to watch something on Netflix, usually an episode of The Backyardigans. Until Bean was born the kids never watched TV, but I discovered that it's the best way to keep them quiet while I'm nursing Bean before a nap so I caved.

9:30- The show ends and Bean's asleep so we head to the school table and start plugging away. We always starts with Bible and Language Arts and then Buzz and Boo take turns working with me and working independently.

11:00- Bean wakes up. I make lunch for the kids and they eat while I read a chapter or two (or three or four...) of our current read-aloud.

11:30- Quiet time. Buzz and Boo head to their rooms for 1 hour of any quiet activity of their choosing. Buzz usually listens to an audio book while drawing or playing Legos. Boo usually reads. I eat lunch during this time and get things done around the house while Bean plays or "helps" me.

12:30- Quiet time is over. Buzz and Boo can choose to either play on the computer or watch a show on Netflix.

1:00- Afternoon snack. I spend the rest of the hour playing with the kids.

2:00- Afternoon chores. Buzz and Boo straighten up bedrooms and playroom. They also fold and put away their laundry if it's their laundry day.

Once afternoon chores are done everyone has free time.

4:30- I start making dinner. If Ruben isn't away for work he gets home around 4:45.

5:00- Dinner

5:30- Family time. If Ruben is home this usually involves wrestling of some kind or we go for a family walk. If not, I read aloud or we play a game.

6:30- Start getting ready for bedtime. Showers, jammies, teeth brushed, story, Bible.

7:00- Bedtime for the kids (They wake up at 6 no matter what time they go to bed, so an early bedtime is important)

11:00- Bedtime for me, Ruben usually stays up a bit later.

Obviously this would be a day when we don't go anywhere. In reality we go to the library at least once a week, plus grocery shopping and miscellaneous errands, not to mention soccer and dance. Also, this schedule only applies Monday-Thursday because we have co-op all morning on Fridays plus a 40 minute drive each day. So basically every day is different but if there ever were a "normal" day around here, this is what it would probably look like :)

My "Students" 2011-2012

We won't officially start the new school year until after Labor Day but on the first day we will, of course, be taking the customary picture of each child holding up a sign with their grade written on it :)

For now I'll share their birthday photos, taken last month:

Buzz - 7 years old, 2nd grade

Buzz loves anything Toy Story, Transformers or Legos. He's an amazing reader and would rather read than play outside. He's sweet, funny, kind and a great big brother. Basically he's just an all-around awesome kid!

Boo - 5 years old, Kindergarten

Boo loves to dance and has recently developed a love of horses. She reads way above grade level and loves to learn. She's very compassionate and loving but she's also our resident drama queen!

Bean - 1 year old, Tot School

If I had to pick one word to describe Bean it would be JOY. She is almost always happy and has brought so much laughter and love into our home! She spends her days trying to keep up with the big kids and getting into adorable mischief.

Our School Room

Our school room is in what would normally be considered the dining room.

 Our "school table" is where the kids do any seated work.

See my cute little supply organizer? It's a smaller version of this one from See Jamie Blog.

To the left of the table is this storage set-up, with my laminator, label maker, tot trays and other random stuff on the shelves. The cabinet holds items to be used for tot school and math manipulatives.

To the right of the table is an identical storage set-up, only this one is empty right now. When all of this year's curriculum arrives in the mail (some time this week!) This will be it's home.

This is our calendar area. In the blank wall space next to the calendar I'll be hanging our weekly memory verse and whatever else I may feel like displaying.

This is the wall opposite the calendar area. The cube shelves hold workbooks and some of my books as well as construction paper. The little cube shelf with the drawers holds supplies that aren't used as often as the ones in the supply organizer on the table. Velcro dots, stapler, push pins etc. The cabinet is full of art supplies.

 The school room is where most of our supplies are kept and where any seated work is done, but "school" may happen anywhere in the house.

I usually read a chapter or two from our current read-aloud at the kitchen table while the kids are eating lunch.

And of course the couch is the very best place for school, even if your two little sisters are bugging you while you're trying to read ;)

2011-2012 Curriculum

We school year-round here, so we're still finishing up our '10-'11 school year and we'll start the new year after Labor Day. It took me longer than I thought it would to decide this year.

The two biggest deciding factors were the kids' interests (Buzz is very interested in American History right now) and the fact the Ruben will mostly likely be deploying for six months early next year.

 I had originally wanted to plan my own unit study but in the end I decided that something that is planned out for me will work out better for us with Daddy away.

So after much deliberation, our 2011-2012 curriculum:

Buzz - 2nd Grade

 

Bible: Adventures in My Father's World AND Grapevine Studies

History: Adventures in My Father's World

Science: Adventures in My Father's World

Math: Finishing up Mathematical Reasoning through December (undecided after that)

Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1

Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting B

Art: Adventures in My Father's World AND Weekly Art Classes

Music: Adventures in My Father's World

PE: Soccer

Language Arts: First Language Lessons

Reading: Buzz will be reading a variety of chapter books which I have selected based on reading level and interest

Boo - Kindergarten

Boo is 5, which technically makes her of kindergarten age, but all of her coursework is 1st grade. We call her a kindergartner for the purpose of being with kids her own age in Sunday school, dance etc.

 

Bible: Adventures in My Father's World AND Grapevine Studies

History: Adventures in My Father's World

Science: Adventures in My Father's World

Math: Finishing up Mathematical Reasoning  through December (undecided after that)

Spelling: All About Spelling Level 1

Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting A

Art: Adventures in My Father's World

Music: Adventures in My Father's World

PE: Dance

Language Arts: First Language Lessons

Reading: Boo will be reading one story from The Beginner's Bible each day. She will also be reading the Circle C Beginnings series along with the activity pages from the Circle C Beginnings website. Subsequent readers TBD

2010-2011 School Year in Review

I know that most of you have been on summer vacation for a while now but 1. we don't technically end our school year until August because we school year-round and 2. public school just let out two weeks ago here. So let's agree that this review isn't really all that late, ok?
We'll start with Buzz-

Phonics and Language Arts: Buzz started off the school year in September being in lesson 12 of The Reading Lesson. He was able read some simple books (like Bob Books) but reading still wasn't coming easily to him yet. In October when he reached around lesson 15, his reading just took off! All of a sudden he flew through the rest of the lessons left in the book and could read just about anything that we put in front of him. He went from reading Bob Books and easy readers to reading The Chronicles of Narnia in a matter of weeks, pretty amazing!

Halfway through the year he started Explode the Code as an add-on for phonics. I ordered him books 2 and 2 1/2. To be honest they are too easy for him, but I didn't know that they would be quite so easy when I ordered them and they serve as a good review regardless. He finished Book 2 and is about 3/4 of the way through Book 2 1/2.

Around the same time that he started Explode the Code we also started First Language Lessons. I really like this book! It's a gentle approach to grammar and includes poetry and narration as well. While I wouldn't say Buzz loves it, he doesn't complain about it either. The book lasts for two years. We made it though the first half of the first year and will keep going next year.

For creative writing I cut a hole in a shoe box and filled the box with slips of paper with random words written on them such as helmet, cow and castle. Buzz (and Boo) would draw a slip of paper from the box and dictate a story to me that contains the word on the paper.

Spelling: Buzz didn't use a formal spelling curriculum this year. Each week I made a list of ten spelling words. The first day of the week he would practice writing the words. The second day he would write sentences for each of the first five words on the list. The third day he would write sentences for the last five words and on the fourth day he would take a spelling test.

Math: He also didn't use a math curriculum for most of this year. We did a lot of math games and activities and I made worksheets with word problems to go along with our read-alouds. A couple of months ago he started Mathematical Reasoning. He'll be working on it through the summer and will finished early in the next school year.

Bible: I don't consider Bible a "school subject" so a lot of our bible time is separate from school but we did read a section from Day by Day Devotions most days at the beginning of our school time.

Social Studies and Science: At the beginning of the year we rowed a title from Five in a Row almost every week so our social studies and science lessons were built in to that. About halfway through the year we started focusing on other things and stopped doing FIAR. For the rest of the year both our social studies and science were mostly interest led or based around themed units that we were doing.

Boo tagged along with just about everything that Buzz did except for doing her own phonics and math.

Phonics: Boo showed interest in learning to read around Christmas so we started The Reading Lesson in January. She is currently in Lesson 15 and her reading has taken off much in the same way as Buzz. She is currently reading every American Girl book that she gets her hands on as well as The Doll People trilogy.

Boo started Explode the Code at the same time that Buzz did. She finished Book 1 and is working through Book 1 1/2.

Math: We started the year with Boo working through Skill Sharpeners Math for grade K. When she finished that book she started Mathematical Reasoning for kindergarten.

Read-Alouds: Our read-alouds this year were:

A Bear Called Paddington

Because of Winn-Dixie

Elmer and the Dragon

Encyclopedia Brown

How to Train your Dragon

Mr. Popper's Penguins

Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle

My Father's Dragon

Nim's Island

Owls in the Family

Paddington at Large

Prince Caspian

The Borrowers

The Doll People

The Dragon in the Sock Drawer

The Dragons of Blueland

The Meanest Doll in the World

The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane

The Mouse and the Motorcycle

The Runaway Dolls

The Tale of Despereaux

Toy Dance Party

Toys Go Out

Zoo School

 We also read many Magic Tree House, Judy Moody, Stink, A to Z Mysteries and American Girl books aloud but since they are such quick reads I didn't include them in the list.

Buzz's favorite read-alouds of the year were Mr. Popper's Penguins and Zoo School.
Boo's favorites were Nim's Island and all three books in The Doll People series.

This year was a big one for both Buzz and Boo in that they both learned to read (really well!) this year. We started the year rowing a Five in a Row title almost every week. We all really enjoyed rowing but when we moved to our new house in January we stepped back from FIAR and transitioned to a more workbook centered approach. This probably would be misery for a lot of kids but mine both love workbooks and worksheets and I think we all really enjoyed the second half of the year even more than the first. I didn't (and still don't) dislike anything about FIAR, I just felt like a change. I plan to get back to rowing next year, just not every week, all year long. We found some great pieces of curriculum that we plan to continue with. Check back latter this summer to see my plans for next year!

Being a Homeschool Parent

I've been thinking a lot lately about the misconceptions about homeschooling. While there are definitely some about homeschooled children (hello annoying socialization question!) I think that there are also a lot about homeschool parents. I wanted to write a post about the misconceptions that public school parents may have about homeschool parents but never seemed to get around to it. The other day I came across this post by Kris at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers and it says just about everything that I wanted to say, better than I would have said it :)

Why We Homeschool

I get asked quite frequently why Ruben and I have chosen to homeschool our children. It's really a combination of multiple reasons that all boil down to the fact that it's just the right choice for our family. But if you are curious about our reasons here they are:

1. God: We have known since Buzz was a baby that we are called by God to be a homeschooling family. It was one of those things where God just put it in my mind and heart out of nowhere and we have always felt incredible peace that this is what God has chosen for our family.

2. Logistics: Ruben is in the military which means we won't be staying in one place for our children's entire school "career". Homeschooling means that they don't have to worry about being ahead of or behind their classmates when we move.

3. Family Time: Homeschooling gives us an amazing amount of freedom to spend as much quality time as a family as possible. Ruben travels frequently for work and then usually gets a few weekdays off when he returns home. Because we homeschool we can plug away while Daddy's gone and take time off to spend with him when he gets home. (Yes, we school year-round and it's not usual to do school on Saturdays as well if Ruben's away) We also want our kids to be each other's best friends and being away from each other for 8 hours each day just isn't a great way to cultivate those relationships.

4. Socialization: The question we get asked most often when someone finds out that we homeschool is- Aren't you worried about socialization? The answer? Of course we are, it's one of the reasons why we homeschool ;) Seriously though, people tend to think that having a child spend most of his waking hours in a room with thirty other children his age is the best way to learn social skills. We just don't agree. Our kids have dance friends, karate friends, church friends, neighborhood friends and friends through our homeschool group, so they have no shortage of chances to interact with other kids. They get a chance to spend time with kids and adults of all ages every day and this has made them equally comfortable around just about anyone. Just ask any my girlfriends, Boo will talk your ear off!

5: Academic: What school classroom can beat our student-teacher ratio? Homeschooling allows our kinds to learn at their own pace without have to be dragged along with classmates even if they don't yet understand a concept or having to sit and be bored if they are ahead of their peers. I can tailor lessons to meet each of my kids right where they're at.

6. Love of learning: William Butler Yeats said "education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire". We want our kids to love to explore the world around them and to be excited by the discoveries they make each day. I can teach the kids what they need to do by reading great books, playing fun learning games and exploring deeper the things that interest them, no busy work or teaching to standardized tests.

7. Enjoying Childhood: We want our children to just enjoy being kids without having to worry about what their peers think is "cool". They like what they like and they are who they are.

8. Selfishness: I genuinely enjoy being with my kids! They're neat little people and spending a few hours in the evening trying to throw together dinner and rush through homework before bed just doesn't cut it for me.

I fully acknowledge that homeschooling isn't the right choice for every family. The important thing is to pray about the school situation that is right for your family and following the path that God has chosen for you. We are proud to be a homeschooling family and we wouldn't have it any other way.