Friday, June 13, 2008 - Homeschool Plans...

Today Al & I sat down & hashed out our homeschool plans for the next year, and I got my curriculum ordered from Rainbow Resource.  PHEW!!!  Here's what we've got...

Jo- 1st Grade, Meg- 2nd grade, Erin- 3rd grade

MATH: Saxon Math 1, 2, 3

GRAMMAR & WRITING: Write Source Gr. 1, 2, 3, Writing Strands 3

SPELLING: Spelling Power- Level A, B, D

HISTORY: Story of the World, Part 1, The Prairie Primer

SCIENCE: Earth Science & Astronomy

ART: The Handbook of Nature Study, Drawing With Children

READING: a selection of classics, non-fiction, & biographies to work with our history & science studies

We all worked out a schedule, and the girls each have a new weekly planner sheet to make them more personally accountable for their work and time.  HOPEFULLY this will make things flow more smoothly.

Whew!!  At least it took me weeks instead of months to decide what we're doing this year!  LOL!!!

Peace~

Shari

Saturday, April 19, 2008 - Simply Saturday

Well.  12:30 and 2/3 of the girls are crying (over Polly Pocket, no less.) NAP TIME ANYONE???

I've spent the morning working on finding the best prices for our homeschool books for next year.  I can't believe it's time to think about this again already.  We've just about survived our first year of homeschooling.  YAY!!!!

Here's what I plan on using next year...

Math: Saxon (Gr. 1, 2, 3)

History: Story of the World Vol. II & Activity Guide (& I think we're doing Prairie Primer this year as well...)

Geography: Complete Book of Maps & Globes (something like that, WB we're all going to do together)

Science: Usborne 1st Encyc. of Our World & Space (Earth Science & the Universe this year)

Language Arts: Voyages in English (1,2,4)  Writing Strands 3, Spelling Power (A, B, D)

Art: Child Size Masterpeices & Drawing w/ Children

Music: Color the Classics, and maybe Piano Lessons (at least for Miss E)

If I feel really froggy I may start Latin w/ E, using Prima Latina...

I want to keep a timeline, using Book of Centuries, and We'll also be doing tons of reading, but I use individual books, not a text, so it would be silly to list them all here... There's other extras here and there also, but this is most of it.  WHEW!!!  I need a nap just reading the list... lol!

I plan on spending the rest of the day catching up on dishes, baking bread (finally) making sourdough starter (finally) and then, the ladies and I plan to paint.  (after naptime, of course) I'm working on the canvas for the laundry room, and they just love to paint, so it works out ok...  I think I'll go stroll to the mailbox while they're resting.  Have a great afternoon!

Peace~

Shari

Tuesday, March 25, 2008 - Hooray for the little guys!!!!!!

Monday, February 25, 2008 - My Favorite Frugal Homeschool Sources...

I love to look for things on the cheap at Dollar Tree & Drug Stores... Here's some things I've gotten (usually for $1 or less)

school supplies (paper, erasers, pencils, etc)

calculators w/ BIG buttons

phonics posters, handwriting borders, b-board supplies

workbooks, bible stories, magnifying lenses, binoculars, bug boxes, butterfly nets, bug houses

puzzles, sidewalk chalk, play money, stickers

I've also seen at times...

a plastic "dissectable" frog & human body

craft kits, maps, basic books in Spanish, dictionaries

animal figurines, bible story "action" figures

get creative, it doesn't have to cost tons of money to homeschool (especially when they're little)

Monday, February 25, 2008 - Current Homeschool Books

Here's my current list... (J= 5/K, M=6/1st, E=9/3rd)

Golden Childrens Bible (all)

Saxon K, 1, 2 (respectively)

Spelling Power (M & E)

Scott Foresman Grammar (M & E- found through Old Fashioned Education- printable)

The Ordinary Parent's Guide to teaching Reading (J & M)

First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind (M & E)

Phonics w/b's for J I got @ Dollar Tree

Reading Skills W/B I got for M @ Dollar Tree Also

E is reading from an anthology and Little Women

M is reading from a 2nd grade reading book I got free last year from the PS (throwing away older books)

Burgess Bird Book

Golden Guide to Birds

The Story of the World, Part I & Activity Guide

Step into Reading Phonics Readers (J)

Shel Silverstein books for Copywork

The Original Mother Goose

I also occasionally use the "What my___nd grader needs to know" series.

These are the biggies, but we often have 30-40 library books we're using, kids magazines, web sites, TV shows, videos, I just keep an eye out for anything that goes with what we're doing.

Monday, February 25, 2008 - How we Homeschool...

I was reading over at Sara's blog, and she wondered how we homeschool w/ more than one child/ grade level.  I thought I'd post how WE do it to give her ideas, and that way family can see what we're up to as well... if you homeschool more than one, and post your schedule, leave a linked comment here so we can all compare notes!  Thanks & Enjoy...

Who: J- Gr K, M- Gr. 1, E- Gr-3.

Challenges: J- stubborn about everything, M- HATES writing, E- reads on 10th grade level w/ 2nd gr. math.  (she's 9 and a bit "immature" for her age which makes content an issue also...)

My solutions: J- make it fun- she loves workbooks & games

      M- teaching her "fancy writing" (cursive) is helping, as she enjoys it more (cool notebook too...)

     E- Classic lit selections (tend to be more age appropriate) and backed up to Saxon 2 in math.

We try to do school M, W, TH, F, SA from about 9-1 w/ 1/2 hr break in middle. (J is 1/2 day for K)

(keep in mind this is an ideal day, history or science get scrapped if basics need more work)

We start by reading a selection from"The Golden Children's Bible" together & working on our memory verses.  Then M & E work on Saxon Math w/b, reading, writing, quizzing each other in spelling, and grammar while I do phonics, reading, handwriting,and Saxon Math w/ J. (we all sit together, ask questions, share things, and help each other)  As I finish things w/ J, I fit in our daily lesson work for saxon w/ the other two.  I try to give one an independant activity while I help the other, and keep close tabs on Jo the whole time.  (for J, a puzzle, dot-to-dot, or pattern blocks gains me time w/ other girls)

After our snack break J usually goes to hang out w/ dad, and the rest of us tackle History.  (If we're doing science that day, J sticks around, as we're using "The Burgess Bird Book for Children" right now as science and a read-aloud for her, along w/ some bird coloring pages  (more here) (bigger 2 answer questions about each bird, and look them up in the "Golden Guide to Birds."   This is when I finish up any other work w/ M & E and review work they did in the morning by themselves.  I hope to begin to add spanish instruction during this 2nd "block" as well. 

To keep track of it all, I made myself a checklist/ planner that I keep in a binder, and I highlight each subject for each child as it's completed each day.  I also note which lesson they're on or what they read, spelling test grades, etc, so I have some record of who's doing what.  I hope to soon post a 2nd copy of this chart on a BBoard for the girls so E can work more independantly.  This little bit of work w/ Excel has saved me TONS of time, and I feel like I'm not forgetting things as much.  It tells me on M- E & M do Copy Work, write new spelling words, math, history, reading etc.  W- they do Cursive, each have a different spelling practice activity (M- abc order, E- write sentences using words.), math, science, reading, etc.

When I need ideas I look to these sources:

The Well-Trained Mind

Ambleside Online

Old Fashioned Education

DTLK

Enchanted Learning

Homeschool E-store

Sorry this is so long.  I'll post another list with who uses which books if that might help also.

Peace~

Shari

Saturday, November 24, 2007 - How I did it...

Here's a basic idea of how I laid out my HS to-do...

1. On notebook paper I wrote each DD w/ each subject we do EVERY DAY listed underneath... and the days of the week across the top in columns (think ROUGH draft here)

2. Then I repeated this step with the stuff that we do weekly, putting an * in each day's column that I wanted to get that subject done.

3. Then I was able to group some subjects together.  EX: Each day I'll be doing either Ancient Hist, Science, OR US Hist., but never more than one per day.  (I also have a Lang. Arts group, (phonics, grammar, etc) a writing group, (copywork, journaling, letter writing) and a fine arts group (picture study, composer study, handicrafts, art projects, and nature walk)

4. At this point I used Excel (don't worry it frustrates me too, but keep it simple..think list with lines drawn for you) and made an easier to read version of the rough draft I had.  (girls & subjects down side, days of week across top) Each day I now have a list of each subject I want to cover for each DD that I can just check off as we do it.  THIS IS JUST AN IDEA OF WHAT I'D LIKE TO DO ON A "PERFECT" HS DAY.  Everything is subject to change!    I printed one of these for each of the next six weeks (with a good sized note section at the bottom) and then used Word to make a more detailed list of what SPECIFIC work I'd like to get done in each subject.  EX: Ch 8 in Story of the World.  Listen to Handel's Messiah.  Etc.

I figure the two together should keep me fairly organized.  I'll keep you posted how it works.  Happy Organizing! ~ Peace~ Shari