Posted in Homeschool Memoirs
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This weeks theme is to share something new we are using this year. To see what others are sharing click here. We are doing a few new things this year. Some of what we have started already others have not yet been worked into our schedule. Last year I started using Five in a Row. But I found it to much to do it and all the other add ons I wanted. So we did 4 or 5 units from FIAR. But oh how we missed it! So this year FIAR is our main focus as it was made to be It is such a rich program yet so laid back and easy to use! Any extras we want to do are done once a week for fun. Another change this year is our spelling program. Last year we used Spelling Work Out A for dd6 (5 at the time) and she was so board by it! This year we are using Christian Liberty Press Building Spelling Skills . So far it's working much better for us. There is less busy work and dd likes that a lot. One other thing we are doing this year is adding in nature, art and composer studies. But these are laid back and done using mostly materials I already have around the house or free on the internet.
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Posted in Homeschool Memoirs
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This weeks theme is to share out homeschool routines. To read about others routines and schedules click here. While I love schedules and order a strict and fixed schedule just will not work in this house. LOL I need to be flexible to work around dh shifts, a 2 year old and a baby and soon to be another newborn. I do try to keep a flow to our work though. We typically start our lessons after breakfast. We start with our Bible lessons then phonics for dd4. After that we do our Five in a Row story and activities. I like to do this in the morning because I can easily included dd2 in it. Then we take a break until lunch time after lunch when dd2 and baby girl are napping we try to do math, spelling and our weekly "extras" such as world history, Canadian social studies etc. Fridays are our lighter day. We do our artist and composer studies in the morning and shopping in the afternoon. Often we stop at different conservation parks for nature walks before shopping.
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Posted in Homeschool Memoirs
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As far as homeschooling our family is eclectic in nature. I combine unit studies, classical and Charlotte Mason methods to suit us. We love notebooking, lapbooking and getting outside for nature time! Our main curriculum is Five in a Row (FIAR) and Before Five in a Row. I really can't say enough good things about their programs. It is an excellent literature based unit study. Each unit is based on a quality picture book that is read each day. Then each day you do activities based on it. They have suggestions for daily subjects or you can do your own. This program covers social studies, literature, art, history, science and applied math. Adding in your favorite phonics and math program would give you a full and rich curriculum. Even though FIAR is plenty for learning my girls have lots of different interests. So I've picked out some other good multi year books to fill their interests. History Social Studies/Geography Language Arts Math We LOVE this program! It fits very well with visual and hands on learners. DD6 is almost done Alpha and will start Beta in a few weeks. DD4 might also start on the Primer this year to. French Bible Studies We keep lessons short and do a lot of reading together. "Extra" subjects beyond the 3 R's and FIAR are done 1 or 2 each day. This gives us time to fit in everything we enjoy with out the stress of a long day. A break down grade by grade: Preschool, 2 year old (3 this fall) PreK, 4 year old Grade 1, 6 year old |
Posted in Homeschool Memoirs
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This Weeks Assignment: This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too! I'm Kim married to my sweet heart for nine years this Saturday! We have been blessed with 4 sweet girls age 6, 4, 2, 1 and a baby due mid Nov. My husband and I are both homesteaders at heart. Although we've lived in a range of places from old homesteads with out hydro and water to apartments. Currently we live in the house we bought 4 years ago, renovating it to sell one day. Our house is 158 years old! Quite old for this area. We both really like our home here and it would be perfect if it just had more acreage! Before our first child was born I knew I wanted to homeschool. Thankfully dh was in full agreement. We both were raised in the public school system and saw it's many down falls. While we both love learning the schools we went to did a very good job of trying to squelch that. Thankfully while growing up I lived nearby a homeschooling family. When I was in my mid teens I took myself out of the public system and finished my schooling with a combination of correspondence and home (self) schooling. Our children love learning with history, science and art being their favorite subjects. Our basic curriculum can be seen here. While I believe that learning starts at birth, we've been officially homeschooling for 2 years. Other interests of mine are gardening, canning/cooking, hiking, reading, crochet, different handcrafts and generally anything that falls into a homestead/homemaking category.
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