Our School Year 2013

It's back...the NOT Back to School Blog Hop!

As you can see, I haven't posted since LAST fall.  Once school starts and life is full-speed, it's pretty much impossible for me to blog.  I'm going to try to do more this year, but you'll more likely hear from me again NEXT year. :)

We are currently homeschooling our five children...
Sid the Science Kid is 10 and doing 6th grade work.
Princess Pea is 8 and doing 4th grade work.
Angelica Pickles is 7 and doing 2nd grade work. 
Boo Boo is 5 and doing K/1st grade work.
Miracle is almost 4 and has her own 'school' with daily therapies, feeding trials and so on.  If you don't know her story, she had a traumatic birth in 2009 that has resulted in cerebral palsy, hearing and vision impairments, developmental delays and a seizure disorder.  But, she is the LIGHT of our lives and we see God's glory and grace through her every day.  You can read more about Miracle HERE,  HERE and HERE if you care to read more, and her progress is summarized in the right blog panel below the photos of our family.

We completed last school year in early June with success!  As a family, we enjoyed learning ancient and bible history in Tapestry of Grace Year 1, learning about Animals, Plants and the Human Body with God's Design for Life and the Magic School Bus videos and the 7 Cs of History with the Answers for Kids bible curriculum.  Major highlight of our days!  I do as many subjects combined as I can - so history, science, bible study, character and fine arts we all do together in the afternoons. 

This year we will be covering Medieval Times through Early American History with Tapestry of Grace Year 2 (I'm adding in notebooking activities from Story of the World 2 this year because my kids don't care for the Tapestry Lapbooks and I don't like having nothing to show for all we learned last year!), learning about the Earth, Solar System and Weather with God's Design for Heaven and Earth and finishing up Answers for Kids as a family. We also always read lots of character training books over lunch for our "Character Hour." This year I'll be using Our 24 Family Ways devotional as part of our main character study, adding in books and activities to complement the virtues we will be studying.  I love this resource!  I also plan to add in an art day using Harmony Fine Arts at Home Grade 2 Medieval Renaissance, which goes along with our Tapestry history. SO excited to find this study already put together for me.   I've been putting off art for years due to intimidation but I think these plans will make it fun and easy for all of us!  And save me hours of planning myself!

This year Sid the Science Kid will be in 6th grade.  I'm already researching HIGH SCHOOL stuff for this boy!  He's so far ahead in math and reading that I can't keep up.  Trying to keep him young, yet challenge him is always my goal.  Here is his curriculum for this year:

Bible:

• Studying God's Word F - He's been through D and E and EFGH cover the OT, gospels and Acts.
• Personal Devotions - I have lots of short, random devotions I've collected.
• Junior Bible Quiz - This is his 6th year and he only has two years left.  This is a great catechisms-like program of memorizing bible facts and scripture.
• Answers for Kids - The whole family does this together.
• Scripture Memorization
• Our 24 Family Ways 

Language Arts:

• Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA) - This is his core LA but I always add extras. :)
• Easy Grammar 6 - This is only to supplement CQLA since the grammar in CQLA was not challenging for him this past year.
• Inference Jones Level 1 - This is just for fun once a week to work on critical thinking skills.
• Vocabulary from Classic Roots 6 - He learned a TON from VFCR 4/5 last year so we are sticking with this.  He loved finding new words to go with the roots he was learning about.
• Wordly Wise 6 - Sid loves dictionaries and thesauruses, so these kinds of activities are fun for him and I think they are preparing him well for college level reading.  His word skills at the end of his 4th grade year were post-high school and I attribute that to such curriculum as this.
• Progeny Press - This is his core reading curriculum.  This year we will work through Bridge to Terabithia, Tuck Everlasting, Johnny Tremain and Sign of the Beaver.  Though Sid's reading level is late high school, I have saved some of my favorite books until he was old enough to appreciate them.  He read my favorite book last year for his first PP guide, Where the Red Fern Grows.  He adored that book.  I can't wait for him to read Tuck Everlasting and Bridge to Terabithia and have that same love for those books! The other two correlate with our history studies.

 Math:

• Horizons 6 - I will be picking through this book quizzing him and  making sure he understands everything, but this is just a review year.  He already got As on the first 5 tests last year without doing any of the book work and we just put it away to slow him down. Mostly because I needed to research because I had no idea where to go next!  
• Life of Fred Fractions/Decimals and Percents - I've heard great things about this and I think it will be fun for Sid and keep his interest in math as things get more difficult.  I'm debating my high school math choices, so in the mean time, he'll be working through the "pre-Algebra" books with Life of Fred this year until I figure it out.

Extras:

• Choir
• Poetry Memorization - I use IEW's poetry set.  Last year they memorized 20, so we will just keep moving forward with more!
• Swim Lessons
• Soccer 
• Piano/Recorder - We can't afford lessons again this year but I want to encourage him to keep his skills and be working with music. He has figured out songs from the radio on the piano before.  He's got some talent.
• Harmony Fine Arts Lessons

Princess Pea will be entering 4th grade this year.  She is doing great!  I push her like I do Sid because she handles it well.  She still likes school and is my most focused student. 

Bible:

• Studying God's Word D - Princess Pea isn't a big busy-work girl, so I won't continue this if she doesn't care for it.  But, she's supposed to be reading through the gospels for her MPact Girls church class, so I thought it went well with that.
• Personal Devotions - Again, I have lots of short, random devotions I've collected.
• Junior Bible Quiz - This is her 5th year.
• Answers for Kids - With the whole family.
• Scripture Memorization
• MPact Stars- This is a program at church that teaches the bible and to memorizes scripture.  Princess Pea doesn't attend class all year because JBQ interferes, but she works hard to catch up every spring and loves it. 
• Our 24 Family Ways

Language Arts: 

• Character Quality Language Arts (CQLA) - This is her core LA but I added extras!
• Easy Grammar 4 - Just like Sid the Science Kid, this is only to supplement CQLA.  I think she will need more repetition than CQLA provides.
• Inference Jones Beginning - This is just for fun once a week to work on critical thinking skills.
• Vocabulary from Classic Roots 4 - I will do this with Princess Pea.  I'm not sure how she will do with this.  I guess I'm just not sure how much she will remember, though she will likely do find with all the oral activities.
• Wordly Wise 6 - Princess Pea began to not like WW the end of last year.  I honestly think it was because it was one of the only things truly challenging her.  So, she won't get off that easy!  I ended up writing her answers to the story myself, and that seemed to help.  She didn't like the writing.  This year I will wean her from that.  But I won't push too hard. 
• Progeny Press - This is her core reading curriculum, but I haven't decided what books I will have her read.  Now that I know her reading level is higher than I thought, I feel better about challenging her.  She may do Bridge to Terabithia and Tuck Everlasting with Sid.  Just not sure yet...

Math:

• Horizons 4 - Princess Pea does great with Math and since this book has the teaching part in it, she will do great with self-study this year.  
• XtraMath - This is a great online mastery program for math facts. She is currently working on multiplication, but has passed addition and subtraction.  You have to answer all the facts in less than 3 seconds to pass.  I probably couldn't pass it! 
• Life of Fred Elementary series - I'm still tossing this idea around, but I love these books.  They are fun, they use math in every day situations and I really think our whole family would love them.  The question is, can I fit it in?  I'm thinking I'll start at the beginning and just read them aloud, asking the questions to the younger two kids primarily.  That way Princess Pea can get the story line and maybe hop into their Intermediate series next year or the year after?  They would definitely be a supplement.  Still debating this...

Extras:

• Choir
• Poetry Memorization 
• Swim Lessons
• Dance - Restored to Glory dance ministry is an awesome worship dance program!
• Harmony Fine Arts Lessons

Sid the Science Kid and Princess Pea are also working through All About Spelling together.  They just finished AAS 4 last year and will be starting AAS 5 this fall.  Sid is a natural speller but Princess Pea is doing great, too, though it is more challenging for her.

Angelica Pickles will be doing 2nd grade work this year.  My year will be mostly focused on her.  Princess Pea will need me for a few things, but since Angelica isn't reading independently, I will be doing almost everything with her.  She is probably reading at a beginning 2nd grade level, but that still isn't good enough to read instructions and follow her lessons independently like my other two were at this age.  This is her schedule for the year:

Bible: 

• Junior Bible Quiz - Angelica did great this last year, but I'm excited to teach her more about the bible this year as we memorize questions and scripture.
• God's Little Princess Devotional Bible - I bought her this for her Baptism this spring and I'll be reading through it with her.
• Scripture Memorization - Many of these will come from her MPact Prims class at church.
• MPact Prims - Girls class at church for 1st/2nd grade girls.
• Answers for Kids
• 24 Family Ways

Language Arts:

• First Language Lessons - We will be finishing the 100 2nd grade lessons this year.
• Language Smarts C - Big, colorful Critical Thinking book that helps us review concepts from FLL and cover extra grammar topics it doesn't cover.  A favorite of my kids!
• Explode the Code 5 - She is flying through these books and ahead for her grade level.  They are nice short lessons she can do to foster independence in schooling and practice her reading.
• All About Spelling 3 - Brynnan is doing great with this program and looks forward to writing on the dry erase board.  This year we will work slowly because I know this book is pretty full.
• All About Reading 2/3 - I'm not overly impressed with this curriculum for my kids but I'm still using it as a base and using it's rules so AAS goes smoothly.  We don't do the hands on activities, but will use the lessons, fluency charts and stories for practicing.  At this point Angelica Pickles just needs practice and to start loving reading and she will take off!
• Copywork - Angelica Pickles actually does great with print and cursive, but Princess Pea got lazy around this age, so I'm going to keep it going with Angelica. Princess Pea still does copywork in her CQLA.

Math:

• Horizons 2 - Angelica Pickles does great with math but my two older kids found this first book difficult because they hadn't memorized all the math facts needed to allow them to quickly work through long problems.  I hope I have remedied this by using flash cards and XtraMath with Angelica Pickles last year.
• XtraMath
• Life of Fred Elementary series - Still debating this supplement...

Extras:

• Choir
• Poetry Memorization 
• Swim Lessons
• Dance
• Harmony Fine Arts Lessons

Boo Boo will be doing K/1st grade work this year.  He's technically completed all he's needed to for K, but I'm not sure he's ready for a full 1st grade curriculum. He turned 5 in April.  He's reading pretty good already.  This is his line up:

Bible:

• Leading Little Ones to God - We will read this with Angelica Pickles since she was little when I went through it the first time with the older two.
• Answer for Kids
• Junior Bible Quiz - I didn't have a lot of time last year for this, but I'm going to do as much teaching as I can.
• Bible Memorization - This will be his first year to memorize his own scriptures outside of JBQ and our Family Rules verses!
• 24 Family Ways

Langauge Arts:

• Handwriting 
• Bob Books - Boo Boo is on the 3rd set of books and I plan to finish 3 & 4 this year.
• All About Reading 2 - Again, I'm not super fond of this but it's my base to work through.
• All About Spelling 1 - I think he's ready for this.  Put it off last year.
• Explode the Code 2/3 - He loved ETC 1, so I'm sure he will fly through these.  Sometimes the writing was too much, but I didn't mind writing for him on occasion.
• First Language Lessons - I'm not completely sure he's ready for this, so I'm going to put if off until January.  It's only 100 lessons for 1st and 100 for 2nd.
• Language Smarts B - I'll be jumping around in this and we will only work on things he's ready for.
• Five in a Row - I'm still not sold on this package but I'm going to start with their book selections and go from there.  So far I've already thrown out at least three selections from Vol.1.  I have all three Volumes to choose from, though.  Many of the suggestions are conversation based, so it should work for me.  I just need something to MAKE me read to him.  If it's not scheduled, it won't happen!  Sad, but true.  Last year we started with Before Five in a Row and I didn't care for the books.  We just read whatever.  This year I want more structure and better selections.

Math:

• Horizons K/1 - Boo Boo didn't finish his K book but not one of my other kids did either!  So much repetition at the end.  So, I'll look at it, but we may just jump into the 1st grade book and not go back to the K book.  He's pretty quick with math.
• Life of Fred Elementary series

Extras:

• Choir - His first year!
• Swim Lessons
• Poetry Memorization
• Soccer
• Harmony Fine Arts Lessons

I also have lots of book lists for read alouds, for each child and for Character studies that I'm still working on.

It's gonna be a full year, for sure!  My schedule is packed full until 4pm every day.  Thankfully each kid gets plenty of breaks in there, I'M the one schooling all day!  I wish I didn't have to rely so much on curriculum, but I need the guidance for four kids schooling!  I hardly ever following curriculum word-for-word and alter and change things to my liking.  So far my kids still love school, and if I've maintained that, then I'm doing my job well! 

Check out other homeschool curriculum choices at the Not Back to School Blog Hop!