Thursday, August 12, 2010

Back to School

A couple of you have asked what we're doing for school this year ~ I had planned to write an entire post on each of these once we get into the swing of the year. I may still do this - but at this point, just thought I'd get the info posted in a timely fashion instead!

Here are the things we'll be exploring/using in our home educating this year:

* My Father's World - Emily will be officially in Kindergarten this year as we begin the MFW 1st grade. I loved doing this last year and am looking forward to another year in MFW.

* Classical Conversations - Emily and Rachel will both be in the Abecedarians class in this once a week program. We are new to this and I'll also be tutoring Rachel's class. I plan to share more about CC when I get my bearings about me!

* Little Keepers at Home - Emily and Rachel will be doing this with two other little girls (a set of sisters) from church. We plan to meet once a month and work on one spiritual growth project and one homekeeping or craft project. We'll also let the little ladies have a tea party together each time.

* Awana - both girls will be joining the Awana group at church. I've greatly hesitated at adding another outside commitment, but know that the program is very quality and we're willing to try it and see how it goes. I love that they will be memorizing Scripture and learning God's Word!

Not a curriculum note, but with school starting - we'll be packing our lunch for CC days each week. Look at these cute reusable sandwich bags! (HT: The Motherload) They were super easy and I can't wait to try them!!!

Have something you want to share about your plans for school this year?
Please do so in the comments!

23 comments:

Mary Ann said...

Those sandwich bags are really cute. Since they are not lined, you'll have to let us know how you like them and if they keep food fresh.

Amy said...

We've enjoyed Little Keepers at Home.

Jessica said...

This is our first year homeschooling our little girl and she is also in Kindergarten. We plan to switch to Tapestry of Grace or Classical Conversations when she gets a little older. Has it been a good transition from MFW to CC? Thanks!

~katie~ said...

Looks like you have a great year planned!! I can already imagine the wonderful posts to come of this. :-)

Love those adorable lunch bags...and how neat to have a tea party with your Little Keepers meetings.

May God richly bless your family and your school year academically and spiritually!! Thanks for sharing your plans!

Traci Michele said...

Hey girl... stopping over from in courage to tell you I follow your blog and love it!

Keep writing... keeping seeking HIM FIRST. Matthew 6:33

Love,
Traci


I blog over at Ordinary Inspirations. http://www.ordinaryinspirations.blogspot.com

Jennifer said...

I did keepers at home when I was living in Georgia! I loved it so much and was really disappointed when they didn't have that in Pennsylvania.

Also, AWANA is a wonderful program. I believe that it is so crucial to hide God's word in your heart, and AWANA enables kids to do that. It is great to start at a young age too because children have amazing memorization abilities!

Your plan for this year looks great! Have fun, and remember to look to God for his grace to get you through the busy seasons!

angie said...

Sounds like a well-rounded education for your girls. I had never heard of the Little Keepers at Home.
Any chance that you will be selling any of those sandwich bags on your etsy shop?

Chele :-) said...

My boys have done Awana at a local church. They started in Cubbies and then went through Sparks and one year of TnT for the oldest. Even if your girls learn verses easily, get the music cds that go along with their books. While I've known John 3:16 since I was little, whenever I think of it, I sing the song from Awana. I don't think my boys would have learned their verses if they weren't set to music.

Melanie said...

You have a beautiful blog! Love the pics, colors, font... just gorgeous!

I found your blog via inCourage and look forward to reading more of your posts!

have a blessed day,
Melanie
~ melscoffeebreak.blogspot.com ~

Eggplant's Mom said...

The baby is too young for anything really... My big promise to him for the start of the school year is to read to him and introduce bedtime prayers.

rachel@thecupcakesprinklesinlife said...

I too, am gearing up for our homeschool to start, we use Sonlight (love the Charlotte Mason)-

I am looking for an Awanas in my area, I love this!
Also, we have a Keepers group, but I also have them in scouts, gymnastics and children's choir- Not sure how much we can manage?!?

Love the sandwich wraps- Sam is sure to love the tractors!:)

Sounds like you're off to a great start...

Many Blessings for a great school year!

Kristin said...

Hi Monica -

It was fun to see the big-picture plan for your school year. I'm amazed at how similar it looks to ours! But I'm impressed that Rachel will be doing CC along with Emily! I'll be anxious to hear how that goes, and the tutoring as well. I was too intimidated to even do that much! Good job taking it on!

How fun to do Keepers of the Home with some other friends. That will be easier for accountability I'm sure. I'm not sure how much we'll end up using that, but MFW, CC and Awana are all on our radar as well! It will be fun to compare notes as we go!

Thanks for sharing!
Kristin

LynnMarie said...

Nice idea, I will make some for Christmas Presents for our grand daughter. Thanks for everything.

Anonymous said...

We have the (older) Keepers at Home manual. It is a beautiful, very thorough program. And throwing a tea party each time makes it even better.

You'll have to let us know how MFW 1st goes for you. It really through me for a loop (but we managed to finish).

TJ has just started MFW K, and I'm loving it...just as much as the first time around!

Happy Back to School Monica!

Ami said...

Thanks for the tip on Little Keepers at Home! I have glanced at Keepers at Home and thought it would be nice later, but I didn't know there's a younger version!

Have fun at CC. I went to a brief informational meeting about it but it seemed too much for us in several ways right now, so we aren't joining any co-op. I have, however, made field trip plans for the entire year with another mom so I'm really happy to have someone who will depend on me to stick to the plan and actually do the field trips!

We have had 4 days of school so far this year (K & 1st) and I feel like I learned so much myself this summer, and have been able to buy so much nice curriculum, that the year can be much better for us. I'm excited to be starting more regular history and science study. We're doing Story of the World and the first activity (wich I'm ACTUALLY doing - big change from last year!) is to make a little family history book by interviewing grandparents and great-grandparents. What a sweet project this has been!

I may be most excited about the way we'll scrapbook the year. I think this is a great idea, but I am so slow that I was worried I wouldn't be able to keep up with documenting our year. I found Smilebox and I cannot believe how easy it is to use! I'm confident I will be able to document the year now and it will be easy for my kids to help. I only have to figure out what format I'll keep it in - print it, make a DVD, or what. But I think we can definitely work with it!

So, can you tell I'm excited about school? I'm looking forward to seeing other ladies' comments, too!

Bessers said...

Hi Monica. I did MFW-K last year for Pre-K with my 4yo son and we LOVED it! He was not quite ready yet for all the handwriting though, so we decided this year to do some other K curriculum while letting his handwriting catch up, then go back to MFW. I am looking foward to doing MFW-1 next year though. Enjoy it!

The Caffeinated Librarian said...

Love these bags!

Stopping by from InCourage! Your blog is just lovely. Blessings to you!

Pioneer Beauty said...

I did keepers at home with my daughter last year..We had a fairly large group 16 girls I made the aprons for the group...It was made out of a solid pink and I sewed on the Keepers at home Patch...It also had pokets for the girls to put there project supplies in..it also was a place for them to display there pins awarded..I could send you a picture if you would like..so you could make something similiar...

Have a blessed school year..
IN Christ,

Wendi said...

Love the sandwich bags! Megan will be attending preschool three mornings a week at a local Christian school. I need to send in a snack and those bags would be perfect to hold some pretzels or half a peanut butter sandwich. Thanks for sharing!

Michelle said...

We do AWANA at church and my girls love it. I have seriously been thinking about starting a keepers at home group. I would love to see some of what you do with that program and anything else you can share about it!

Have a fun school year!!!

Amy Wagner said...

I love back-to-school time. We have a very special back-to-school nite at our house the night before we start with an alphabet supper, Daddy Blessings and school cones. We make a big deal out of it!
We use WinterPromise and QueenHomeschool plus some extras. I’d say we’re an eclectic mix of Charlotte Mason. We belong to a homeschool co-op that meets every other Friday during the school year with classes for all ages and the children are all involved in bible quizzing. We also use Keepers at Home but have modified it somewhat to work better for us.

Monica Wilkinson said...

Jessica!

We haven't actually started CC yet - but my initial impression is that MFW and CC aren't going to merge much at all. I think it is going to feel like two separate entities and I don't know yet how that is going to work.

MFW is not following the Classical model of learning whereas CC is - they are just very different presentations of material.

We'll see how it goes!!

Monica

Allison said...

I have read your blog on and off for a while now and I love it. We are starting Classical this year also and I am a little nervous. Enjoy it and I will be praying for you on this journey.