Back to Homeschool Blog Hop Day 2: Curriculum

Welcome to Day 2 of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop!  

Today I get to share with you all the details about our curriculum!

Choosing curriculum is tough.  Well, at least it is for a Type-A personality like me.  We have tried a lot of different things (thanks in part to the TOS Crew) and I am always willing to make changes if we are using something we don't enjoy.

When I first began homeschooling 2 years ago I was so worried about doing it "right" that I chose a boxed curriculum.  Kayley had been going to preschool since she was 2.5 and by the time she was 4  she was completely bored.  She was ready to read, tired of learning colors and shapes.  It was about this time that my heart strings were tugged toward homeschooling so I took that opportunity and at the end of preschool we jumped into homeschooling.  I started Kayley in Kindergarten at the age of 4 and I don't regret it a single bit.  I bought Bob Jones University Press Kindergarten complete with the DVDs.  I was so nervous!  We would sit down, watch the DVDs and do the cooresponding work text pages.  It was, in all honesty, a really good choice for us.  After about 6 months we ditched the DVD portion and finished up the year on our own.  We loved it.  It has a very easy, learn-to-read program and I intend to use it again with Maggie.  In fact, I've even been looking at the K4 program they have as well.

For first grade we used BJU again for Language Arts and Math.  We skipped the DVD portion all together and just did our own thing.  For Science & Social Studies we flew by the seat of our pants and enjoyed whatever came to mind.  That year we took a trip to the Butterfly Palace, Hershey, PA, Virginia and Washington D.C.  We visited the Smithsonian, Discovery Center, and Zoo.  Kayley participated in Zoo-school, Silver Dollar City Homeschool Days, and the D.C. Bookclub.  It was fun and completely unstructured.

This year has seen things change up quite a bit.  As Kayley has gotten older, I keep becoming more and more accountable to the state for the schooling we do.  I'll talk about this more tomorrow in planning but each year we have to "do school" for 1000 hours.  600 from Core Subjects - 400 from Electives.  All documented.  I have found it easiest and natural just to keep a portfolio of completed work and a loose tracking document showing our extra-activities.  Also, as Kayley has been moving into the second grade over the summer I am wanting to fill some of the "seat-of-our-pants" activities with a little more structure so we are filling a few gaps with real curriculum and living books.

Not to mention that Maggie has become very interested in what we are doing and had been anxious to get involved, so this has been my first year homeschooling 2 children.  Yes, believe it, Maggie has started what I call Nursery-school.  She loves it.  She is thrilled to sit with us during reading time and always asks for her own school to do when we are at the table.  She is whip-smart like her big sister and unless something changes I will start Maggie in PreK at 3 and Kindergarten at 4 just like Kayley.

So that leaves us with the ultimate idea behind todays topic and that is:  what curriculum are we using this year?  We are about 2 months into the new school year so I think we finally have it all figured out.  So, here it goes:

Kayley, 2nd Grade

Character Development
The Learning Parent - Character Trails
We Choose Virtues
Devotional Studies from:  Christian Hero Tales and Princess Stories
Scriptures

Language Arts
Phonics - Explode the Code Book 5 & 6
Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000 Book 2 & 3
Grammar - BJU English & Grammar 2
Spelling - A Reason For Spelling Book B
Handwriting - BJU Handwriting 2, Queen Homeschool Copywork for Little Girls and Lessons in Manners Copybook
Creative Writing - WriteShop B
Reading - BJU Booklinks & Sonlight 2nd grade readers (moving into 3rd grade readers mid-year)

Math
Singapore Standards Primary Mathematics 2A and 2B
Math-U-See Beta

History
Sonlight Core B & C  Intro to World History
Discover the Scriptures - Old Testament & New Testament
MapTrek Geography - Ancient World

Science
Sonlight Science B
Apologia Exploring Creation - Astronomy with Jr. Notebook
Christian Liberty Press - Nature Reader Book 1 and 2
Simply Charlotte Mason - Outdoor Secrets & Nature Companion
Burgess Bird Book for Children, James Herriot's Treasure for Children, 1001 Bugs to Spot, and whatever strikes our fancy.

Health and Fitness
AOP's Horizons Health 2
Vintage Remedies for Kids
Homeschool Family Fitness

Fine Arts/Elective Studies
Song School Latin
Abeka Art 2
Kinderbach DVD based Piano course
Reading Eggs
Home-economics, Pearables:  Lessons in Responsibility for Girls

Memory Work
Classical Acts and Facts
Articles of Faith

Now!  I know it looks like a LOT but, keep in mind that we do not do all of these things at once and we make a lot of them a family affair.  For example we do Singapore Math daily but Math-U-See only once or twice a week as a supplement.  We will do Sonlight History and reading daily but most often we do the read alouds at bed time as a family so we do not squeeze into our homeschool day.  Same with the devotional studies & Scriptures, we do them as a family at bedtime.  Many of these programs are so bite-sized too that we are done with the entire subject within 10-15 minutes.  Language Arts is so incremental that Kayley can have all of her L.A. subjects completed within 30 minutes.  We really work well with short, short, short lessons daily.  (A Charlotte Mason thing!)  Science will alternate topics.  I'm a little undecided how to do it still.  We may finish one, then start the other or alternate.  We will do nature studies on our short day - but not until it cools off! 

I've also made a few changes this year.  I've dropped nearly all BJU except for Grammar and Handwriting.  It was a good change and cheaper too!  I have also added in Health and Fitness, Lessons in Responsibility, Manners and more Character Development.   (An area sorely needed to be worked on).  You'll notice at the end I have added on Memory Work.  This will coincide with our Co-op...I'll admit, I'm nervous!   Adding Latin should be fun...it is all music based and I also downloaded the Articles of Faith songs (and several other childrens hymnbook favorites) as well and put them on a CD.  Kayley listens to the CD during quiet time and right before bed.  James and I laughed and wondered if we couldn't put subliminal messages in there as well like, "you love to clean bathrooms...."  lololol.

Ok, so next up:

Maggie, Nursery School

Sonlight Core P3/4

Before Five in a Row

Abeka Nursery Products
Nursery Arts & Crafts
Learning Numbers with Button Bear
Letters and Sounds for 3's
Child Art for 2's
Preschool Bible Coloring Sheets

The great thing about the Abeka stuff is it is consumable -I just rip out a page and let Maggie go nuts with crayons.  They are easy - you don't need a teachers guide and it is pretty self explanatory at this age...you know, starting with A and working your way through the book until you get to Z.  They are inexpensive - so when Maggie uses up an entire book I could just buy another one with minimal investment.  The crafts are simple and easy for little hands to do.

Maggie also uses a lot of fun goodies like file folder games, magnetic letters, counting bears, matching cards, puzzles and so on.

So, I think that is about it.  That is our curriculum for 2012-2013!  Thanks for stopping by!  If you want to explore what my crewmates are using this year, have fun clicking through the links!

Schoolhouse Teachers - Schoolhouse Crew Review

It is always a challenge to find a one-stop shop resource for all your homeschooling needs.  It seems that whenever I want to find a printable for this or a download for that I have to weed through several websites before I find exactly what I am looking for.  Not any more!  A new website offered through The Old Schoolhouse Magazine is filling the gap:  SchoolhouseTeachers.com.

What is SchoolhouseTeachers?
An updated version of Teachers Toolbox, SchoolhouseTeachers offers the subscriber, honestly, MORE than I could ever type here, but I'm going to try!  Here it goes:

--Each month teachers in different areas offer insight and lesson ideas in several subjects:
Kim Kautzer - Writing
Diana Waring - History
Terri Johnson - Geography
Adam Andrews - Literature
Hands of a Child Team - Lapbooking
George Escobar - Film making
and many more!

--Teachers offer FREE daily lessons to supplement your homeschool.  Writing prompts from Kim Kautzer of WriteShop, geography & math lessons, and a free...completely FREE downloadable lapbook each month from the Hands of a Child!  This month was Summer Safety.   Wow!

--Each month there is a free e-book just for members!  Not to mention on the Schoolhouse Library you can download inspiration books, homeschool helps, copybooks, reading lists, arts and crafts ideas,and so much more.

--Each month finds Schoolhouse Teachers exploring a different theme.  This month is Summer Olympics where you can enjoy a complete unit study on anything and everything relating to the Olympics.  History, research and Quiz Questions!

--Do you have a special needs learner?  There is an entire page devoted to you!  Hosted by Judi Munday you will have access to articles and tips to help you teach your special learner.

--Like to read?  Enjoy Reading Book lists!

--Little learners are in luck with Schoolhouse Teachers pages that focus on literature and units for PreK Read N' Play complete with recommended literature and downloads.

--Hungry?  Don't worry, there is an entire months worth of menu's (complete with recipes) to take some of the hassle out of your homeschool day!

--Enjoy free downloadable planners!  No really!  The planners are AWESOME!  Download the pages you need and assemble a made-to-order planner.  Choose from 5!

Yes, like I mentioned earlier, there is way more than I could ever mention here.  So much fun awaits you at Schoolhouse Teachers.  Check it out, you won't be sorry!  There is so much more to come including MP3s of the Schoolhouse Expo speakers (I'm waiting anxiously for those!) and I'm antsy waiting for them to update the Nature Studies section as well!
 
Click HERE to go to the Site Tour of Schoolhouse Teachers!

You can also check out a variety of SchoolhouseTeachers.com Sample Pages by clicking HERE.


Ready to join?
Schoolhouse Teachers in only $5.95 per month!Right now pay only 1$ for your first month!  You can cancel at anytime if you are not satisfied.

And, here is a cool deal!
After 12 months of uninterrupted membership, you will receive a $25 gift certificate to the “Totally TOS” section of the Schoolhouse Store.  Wow!

Click HERE to Sign Up!

Would you like to read more reviews about Schoolhouse Teachers?  Check out my crew mates thoughts here:

Back to Homeschool Blog Hop - Day 1: Homeschool Methods

I am so excited to be participating in the Schoolhouse Review Crew's Back to Homeschool Blog Hop! Many of my fellow Crewbies and I will be blogging about Homeschool Topics all week and posting our link-ups to the Schoolhouse Review Crew blog.   We are blogging topics that are near and dear and I think it will be fun!  I can't wait to check out what homeschooling looks like in everyone else's house!  :)

Todays topic is Homeschool Methods...

I know right?  If you are new to homeschooling you may be asking..."What?  There are methods to this madness??"  Believe it or not, there are...and chances are you already subscribe to a certain method without even realizing it!  If you don't, that is ok too...because there is a method for that - knows as the eclectic method of homeschooling.  The eclectic method of homeschooling allows for this n' that and a lot of whatever you want!  In fact I'd say most homeschoolers follow their preferred method with an eclectic twist. 

In our homeschool, our preferred method is the Charlotte Mason Education method.  First, I'll tell you about Charlotte and her method, then that will explain why we like it.

Charlotte Mason was born in 1842 in Wales, England.  She was home-educated by her parents until their death when she was 16.  At that point she enrolled in school, earned a teaching certificate and began teaching.  It was during this time that she began to desire that all children, regardless of social class, should have access to a well-rounded and generous education.  She fulfilled her dreams by writing several books on parenting, character training, education and teaching, and even her own series on geography.  After moving to Ambleside, England in 1891 she established the House of Education that became a training school for governesses, teachers and others who worked with young children.

Some basic tenets of a Charlotte Mason Education include:

1.  Real/Living Books:  Charlotte Mason believed that dry, factual (boring), committee-written textbooks take the joy out of learning for children.  Living books, written by a single author who is passionate about their work, give children the ability to read about history, science, etc by someone who is/was engaging.  Charlotte Mason insisted on "twaddle-free" books, or in other words, books that are dumbed down.

2.  Narration:  Children are expected to be able to verbalize what they read after only one reading.  This requires the child to train their habit of attention.

3.  Habit Training:  Charlotte wanted to instill the value of good habits in everyone so as to make them productive members of society.  I just listened to a great audio by Sonia Schafer called Laying Down the Rails and she talks about all 60 of the good habits Charlotte wants individuals to have. Sixty is a lot!  Whew!  Habits include: honesty, prayer, cleanliness, compassion and so forth.

4.  No Grades, ho homework, short lessons:  Children need to love to learn purely for the LOVE of learning, not for external rewards like grades, stickers, etc.  Homework in the little years is unnecessary and short lessons keep children focused.

5.  Nature Study:  Charlotte wanted children to be children.  Playing outdoors for several hours a day, she felt, was the best way to help children appreciate God's creations, learn about science and enjoy the health benefits of Play.  Encourage children to carry a sketch pad and document what they see and narrate what they discovered are all ways of learning that are fun and engaging.

6.  Fine Arts:  Picture study, composer study and poetry get children in touch with history.

There is much more to a Charlotte Mason Education that what I have listed here, but the above are the top 6 reasons I homeschool this way.  I love how a Charlotte Mason Education is a discipline and lifestyle.  We love reading real and living books to help us learn about people and history.  I think, when history is presented in this manner, it is so much easier to remember because you learned about someone's story and not just factual material.  Narration has been a hard skill to learn but I can see why it is so important for your child to listen for information and be able to verbalize it back to you - when they can tell you about it - then they understand it! Working on habit training has been eye-opening as I've come to realize how many bad habits I have!  I need to improve greatly in order to be a better example to my girls!

So, you may be wondering what the Charlotte Mason Method looks like in our homeschool?  Well, we've made it super easy on ourselves and use Sonlight.

 

Sonlight is a literature-based homeschool curriculum that is very Charlotte-Mason-like in its approach.  Using living books to teach history and science, Sonlight offers an easy-to-follow, but super-flexible schedule.  Do a little or do a lot.  The books we have read this year are all wonderful, classic stories that are twaddle-free.  For example:  The House at Pooh Corner,  James Herriot's Treasury for Children, Curious George, Mary on Horseback, Here's a Penny, The Boxcar Children, The Wizard of Oz, Mother Goose and a whole lot more!  It has been the best homeschool decision I have made and both my girls are loving it!  We snuggle up on the couch to read and it is "school."  We find ourselves discussing what we read over dinner and if we forget to read a chapter, Maggie is the one bringing me the books!  I am thrilled to instill a love of learning and reading in my girls.

This is my first year using Charlotte Mason and Sonlight so I am still early in my learning.  In fact, as we speak I have the Classical Education classic, The Well-Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer waiting to be read.   We will be incorporating many of her ideas into our homeschool this year as well (which probably has Charlotte turning over in her grave - lol) but that is a blog post for later in the week when we discuss co-ops!

If you'd like to learn more about the Charlotte Mason approach to learning, here are a few links for you to check out and a few books I'd recommend.  Thanks for stopping by!  Come back tomorrow if you want to read Day 2:  Homeschool Curriculum.  I'll be talking about a lot more than Sonlight!

Find out more about Homeschool Methods by browsing the links from my fellow crewmates!

Coming to Know Christ - Deseret Book Review

Becoming more like our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ—spiritually more attentive, personally more sensitive, more tender, more gracious—ought to be the desire of every Latter-day Saint. But how can we accomplish that?

In this thoughtful volume and with his warm, accessible style, author Robert L. Millet shares poignant stories and fresh scriptural and doctrinal insights to help us feel our Savior's love and realize that He stands ready to assist us in coming to know Him.
Brother Millet's heartwarming reflections on what it means to worship Christ and to trust in Him and in His grace renew in us a desire to stay focused on our Savior through all the ups and downs of daily life. Insights into how much Christ loves us and how He can lift us up to where He is strengthen our commitments to Him.

Throughout, Brother Millet conveys his deep witness of the essential truth that eternal life consists of knowing God and His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ.
Coming to Know Christ invites us to experience what it means to know our Lord—not just know about Him but how to come to know Him, our Savior and our Redeemer.

In his book, Coming to Know Christ, Robert L. Millet addresses the concerns of how to be closer to the Savior by feeling of his love for us and by, literally, getting to know Him better.  Millet is a professor of ancient scripture at BYU and his book is full of stories, quotes and gospel principles that point us toward a stronger relationship with Christ.  This book is full of his testimony and I could feel Millet's love for the Savior, his love of the gospel & scripture and the love that he put into this book.  I deeply appreciate his insight and because of the depth of the subject this book is not an easy read.  I struggled through this book, often re-reading paragraphs several times to really grasp what Millet was trying to convey to me.  The material is heavy and relevant and someone more academic and scholarly than I will enjoy this book and glean more from its pages.  With that being said, I was still moved by his stories, the quotes were inspiring and I could truly feel his testimony flowing through each chapter.

Coming to Know Christ can be purchased at Deseret Book for $18.99 in a hardback edition.

Disclaimer:  Thank you to Deseret Book for providing me with a copy of Coming to Know Christ free of charge in exchange for an honest review.  The opinions expressed herein are my own.

Back to Homeschool Blog Hop!

I'm excited that next week I will be participating in the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop link up with the Schoolhouse Review Crew!  I hope you get a chance to stop by!

We will be blogging Monday through Friday on homeschool topics including what homeschool method I use, what curriculum is in our lineup for this year, how I plan our school day, pics of our "classroom" and...drum roll...our co-op activities for this year!  Yes!  We did find a co-op!  I'm totally excited to tell you about it too, so stop by next week!  :)