Thursday, August 02, 2012

School Stuff


Well, it's about that time again already isn't it? Back to school time is nearing and sooner for some than others. I usually love sharing about what we'll be doing at home - but sometimes I'm also hesitant. It can seem like a comparison trap and in some cases can cause us to jump to conclusions about someone else based on what curriculum they're using.

With all that shared, I'm only sharing this for my own reference and in case any of you are curious {someone recently asked in the comments.} I do like to know what others are doing because sometimes I will learn about a great new book or resource that I wasn't aware of before!

Here goes:

Emily: entering 2nd grade
* Classical Conversations: this will be our third year in CC, and it has been such a blessing to our family! I love what our children {and myself} are learning in and through this great program! One great thing about CC is that we don't need to add a whole lot of extras at home unless we want to except for phonics/reading and math.
* Bible: Positive Action for Christ - last year was our first year doing this after I was introduced to it by a dear friend and we loved it! I'm excited to continue!
* Math: Saxon - also our second year.
* Reading and Phonics: The Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading and Pathway Readers
* Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting Transition book
* First Language Lessons: we enjoyed this last year!

Extras as time allows{we mostly do these because these are the areas of interest for our children}
* Mystery of History Volume 1: this will be our first year trying this - last year I tried Story of the World and was looking for something with more of a Biblical perspective. Hoping we really enjoy this one!

* Answers in Genesis Science: this will be our first year on this as well. We tried Apologia last year and it was good but too advanced for our children. We love so many things about Answers in Genesis and this seems like it will be a great fit alongside CC.

Rachel: entering 1st grade
* Basically the same as above. However, for reading, phonics and handwriting - we'll be using My Father's World 1st grade. We already own it and I think it will fit her learning style and level for this year. Emily successfully learned to read using this program also - so we have a good track record with it!

Samuel: age 4 1/2
* Samuel will be in CC this year for the first time and he is looking forward to it! We'll continue in Rod and Staff workbooks with him which introduce cutting/pasting, tracing, tracking, etc... and I'm planning to read through the God's Mighty Warrior Devotional Bible with him {review and giveaway on this coming soon!}


One thing that has worked very well for our family is for me to read aloud at meal times during the day. During Breakfast, I typically read from a chapter book that we are reading together - so far, we've been working through the Little House series and are in the 4th book currently. We also love the Building on the Rock Series and I read that at breakfast as well.

After reading this book, I would like to pursue reading chapters from the Bible to our children perhaps at lunch time. It would be great for my quiet time too as I could preview the chapter for that day.

We're planning on starting school next Monday ~ photos show a couple of projects I made to help as we celebrate the first day! {Wreath tutorial here}

Blessings to your families as well as you get back to whatever school looks like for your family!

7 comments:

Leanne said...

thanks for sharing! I marked the positive action for Christ to look over later! we aren't homeschooling this year, but definitely next year!

Intentional Living Homestead said...

Sounds like a wonderful school year is coming upon you.

Oh how I miss those days of homeschooling. My three have graduated and now Have four adopted younger children...and homeschooling doesn't seem to be an option. So sending three off to high school and one finishing middle school, is scary for this mama. Sure wish we were homeschooling.

Enjoy this special time because it ends very quickly. You have a beautiful family.

Blessings,
Connie

~katie~ said...

Yay for schooltime!!! :) Blessings for another beautiful year together growing in wisdom and stature!

Blessings to you and your students,
Katie

p.s. I just sent Emily a special email! =)

Ami said...

Thanks for sharing! We are almost two weeks into school and it has been the best start ever. Baby due toward the end of September, so we're starting early to compensate for that.

I hope you like Mystery of History! I was considering switching to that after 2 years in SOTW because of the Biblical worldview. Instead we switched to My Father's World (Adventures) and I LOVE it. I think we were doing too much language arts before. Now we have the time and patience left to do all we want to with the MFW extras (like art).

Also, I'm starting to teach my almost 4yo ABC Bible verses and he's so stinking cute. I'm glad I'm doing this with him.

I hope school is this fun in February!!!

Anonymous said...

hi monica.....i just love it when i hear someone is doing the rod & staff preschool workbooks. i used them for my youngest and found them so sweet!
i also started my oldest with apologia in 1st grade and felt there was just so much good info at such a young age that i thought he's be missing something. so we switched to answers in genesis from the middle of 1st thru 4th grade. then i just had him read thru the apologia books in grades 5 & 6. now he's starting 7th with apologia's general science and will just go on from there. it has worked out very well for us and hope it does for you, too.

blessings on your school year!
connie

Brandy said...

So great to see what all you are doing! I'm right with you with a 2nd grader, 1st grader and #3 is 4.5 too. He sits and does so much with the others that we're calling it kindergarten. I didn't realize our kids were the same ages.

I'm checking out Answers in Genesis--thanks. We just started Apologia and it's so much. Somedays, I feel like all we do is science!

Thanks for sharing!

Shannon said...

Monica - We just started Mystery of History and Answers in Genesis, too. We've been working through the summer some, and so far we love both books! I'm doing the Rod and Staff workbooks with my preschooler this year too. They're so sweet!
I hope y'all have a great start to the year. We're "officially" starting tomorrow with our traditional doughnut breakfast and first day of school pictures. I'm excited!