Wrapping it up!

Well, this school year is very rapidly coming to an end...and the life of my 4th baby is rapidly coming to a beginning! Mandie got way ahead on school work last semester, which allowed us to sort of take it easy for the last couple of months. As of now, she has 3 worksheets in math left until she has completed her curriculum...yahoo!! Lord willing, we will finish this week. Then, I need to get her notebook for the year organized and looking nice, I need to organize and pack up our kindergarten books and leftover material for Matthew to use in a couple of years, and I need to get the school room set for next year (I don't actually do school in there, I just organize curriculum and display in there). Overall, I was very pleased with the year, I am satisfied with what Ms. Mandie accomplished...I certainly feel she is redy for 1st grade. There are a few things I wish I could have done differently. One is the alphabet scrap book we are working on, I had intended to do a page a week...that didn't happen, so we will continue that through the summer. Also, I had intended to do an entry in our nature journals weekly, that happened more on a monthly basis. We will continue that over the summer as well. Also, this summer Mandie and Matthew will each have there own little plot of land in the back yard to plant and care for. We are all very excited about that! Other than that, the summer will consist of caring for baby and the pool...yay! I am so grateful that we started on this road of homeschooling! I absolutely will continue next year. I feel lucky to spend so much time with my kids...I hope they feel the same way! I am a bit nervous about adding Matthew and a new one into the mix. I'm sure there will be a learning curve...but I bet we will figure it out! My plan is to start next year a few weeks early so we can take a day off here and there without falling behind. That will just depend on how it is going with the new one, though. Ok, more later!

Curriculum Change of Heart

I had put up a post a few months ago about the curriculum I was planning to use for next year, but I logged on to edit that post at one point and blogger freaked out and completely deleted the entire post . . . along with some others. Anyway, it worked out for the best because I have since had a complete change of heart regarding our curriculum for next year. I ordered the complete "My Father's World" 1st grade package, and I believe it was the right choice. There are several reasons I am excited about My Father's World. First of all, it tells me exactly what to do every day and it tells me ahead of time what supplies I will need for future lessons so I can be prepared. The other curriculum choices I had required me to make a lot of my own lesson plans, and I don't really think I will have the brain power for that with a newborn, a 2 year old, a 4 year old, and a six year old. Secondly, some of the curriculum I had picked before was not Bible based, and it seemed like a waist of time to read stories with absolutely no meaning when Mandie could be reading stories that reveal the nature of God. I am so glad to be able to teach her about Jesus and God in the midst of her regular school work. Thirdly, the price difference was unbelievable. I saved over 200 dollars by choosing My Father's World. Also, I ordered the preschool package for Matthew, which he has tinkered with and I'm really excited about that as well! Finally, I love that it's an all inclusive curriculum including math and phonics (which many curriculums leave out). However, next year the math program will have to be ordered seperately, because the 2nd grad MFW program does not include math. I think I'm leaning towards "Math U See" for next year . . . we'll see.

Honestly, my only concern with this is that it may be a bit repetative, because I feel that she has a pretty solid grasp on most of the material that will be covered. However, with a new baby, it will be a relief to know that she knows what she needs to know for next year, and it will be nice not to stress out about introducing a lot of new concepts to her. So, we will see how it goes. For more information about My Father's World and their curriculum, check out their website: www.mfwbooks.com .

Crafty!

Last week we had our homeschooling  buddies, Turner and Tripp, over for some crafting. Even though it was a week past Thanksgiving, we made the pinecone Turkeys we had been meaning to make for a month!



Also, we painted pinecones white and red and turned them into Christmas ornaments.

We also made reindeer antlers for them to wear. The kids put red dots on their noses and pretended they were Rudolph. There were 3 Rudolph's. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of the 3 Rudolph's.

Catching Up

Well so long good intentions of keeping this thing updated! I guess 1st trimesters just take it out of me! Anyway, I have been meaning to blog for a while now, so I'll try to catch up now.

First of all, we just took an entire week off of school for Thanksgiving. It has been wonderful. It is so nice to read non-school books, and have plenty of time for making crafts and doing other things that are not official school work! We have really enjoyed it. This week has also taught me that we really do accomplish a lot in a given school day, although sometimes it doesn't really feel like it. Here's what I'm trying to say: school time itself is not very long, anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour and a half (for my 5 year old and occasionally my 3 year old). Quantity wise, it's not much. However, during that small amount of time every day a LOT of learning goes on, and it was easy for me to feel this week when we did not do any official school work.

Secondly, I have been truly amazed by how much my 3 year old son is picking up just from hanging around during school time. He knows almost all of his letters and their sounds, he can count up to twenty and recognize numbers 1-5 at least. He is really absorbing so much, that is a huge benefit of homeschooling that I really didn't appreciate when we started.

Ok, I want to put in a plug for PCHEA right now. PCHEA is the area's Christian homeschool association, and we are so so so so so so so lucky to have PCHEA! The cost to join is around $30 for the year. The benefits are countless!! By joining PCHEA we recieve emails about interesting things going on around town that we would otherwise be totoally clueless about! We get discounted rates on field trips, theatrical performances, etc . . . Also, it has plugged us in to our weekly co-op, and it has introduced us to other homeschooling families. Honestly I can't say enought about it. I am so grateful for it! By far, the most beneficial thing for my regarding PCHEA has been attending the monthly Mentor Meetings in which homeschooling mom's get together to discuss a topic, and the monthly Mom's With a Purpose meetings which pretty much to the same thing. They have beenn so helpful!

There was a meeting this past Monday, the topic was curriculum for language arts (spelling, grammer, writing, etc  .. . ). It really got me thinking about what we will do when we finish up the curriculum we are using now. I know our current curriculum will not last us the rest of the year, we are over half way through curriculum, and we are only 1/3 of the way through the school year. So I guess we will simply start our 1st grade curriculum at that time. I have a running list in my mind of what I'd like to use. When I get it nailed down I'll post about it.

Ok, now I want to take a moment to say how proud I am of my daughter, Mandie, for her effort and progress in school. She is reading so well! She is counting, adding, subtracting, problem solving. I am so grateful for how hard she works and how well she is progressing!! Praise the Lord. Although she does sometimes feel like she's missing out on something because she's not in public school, I think she has glamourized public school in her mind somehow. I am always praying that the Lord would help her to be satisfied with her homeschooling, I know he has not called us to send her off to school, and I am looking forward to the time when she is grateful for that choice as well. I know it may be a while before she feels that way.

OK, blog, consider yourself updated!!

Coming soon, a blog about our school room!!

Pumpkin Patch

There is a little patch of pumpkin growing in our back yard. We didn't plant it, it arose out of the compost that we put down in late spring. For a long time I thought it was a watermelon plant, then it turned orange. Now the little harvest from this little pumpkin patch graces our front porch. Here are some pictures:

A few weeks ago we joined our other homeschool counterparts for a trip to the Amazingly Fun Family Farm for Homeschool Day. About 30 minutes into this trip I lost my camera in the corn maze. Thankfully someone found it and turned it in and I collected it on my way out, but pictures are sparse.

This was the hay maze.

The tire tower.

The Hay Slide

This is where I lost my camera. We also did the corn maze (that was exhausting!) Picked pumpkins from the pumpkin patch. The hay ride. A homemade jungle gym kind of thing. Petting the farm animals. Ummmm, I think that's it. The kids had a great time!

Thank the Lord I found my camera eventually!!!!!

Field Trip

Today we went to view Go Dog Go at the Texas Academy of Performing Arts (TAPA) with a group of homeschoolers. I liked the show. We have been reading the book since the kids were tiny (we read my old book from when I was a kid!) The kids really enjoyed it as well. Mandie told me she wished she was in it. I see acting classes in her future! Just before the show started, Matthew decided to watch from my lap so his seat was open. We were on the front row and several of the 'dogs' ended up sitting in his seat during various acts of the show. That was pretty cool. Over all it was a good little field trip!

How It's Going

Wow. So tomorrow marks 3 weeks. The days are flying! It's hard to recap the time in words because at this point there is not a lot of consistency to the way things are going. We are still sort of finding our way. A few days in particular have been pretty rough. However, several have been ideal . . . those are obviously my favorite days. Every day is at least productive. The inconsistency comes from our weekly schedule. At first I tried to do school every day, on top of whatever else we had planned. I have now learned that some days have to have less formal school time because of the activities on our weekly schedule. This is necessary for our sanity! Even though the week is full, I do not want to change cut anything out because it's very important to me that my kids like there life. I want them to have lots of opportunity to play and make friends.

Mondays are exclusively school days. I try to get a lot of really good work in on these days. Usually we work for about 2 hours in the morning.

Tuesdays are also heavy school days. Very similar to Mondays, except on Tuesdays we go to a homeschool playdate in Canyon at 1. That's one of the highlights of the week!

On Wednesday mornings we go to Bible study from 10-12. The kids study their Bible lesson, do a craft, and have time to play with the other kids at the study. Many of the children at this study are homeschooled kids. Mandie and I complete the rest of her school day in the afternoon when the boys go down for their nap.

Every Thursday from 12:40-4 we participate in our homeschool Co-op, called "Seekers". We do not do any additional schooling on Thursdays, but I do like to get some housework done on Thursday mornings. After Seekers we head to Paramount Church for ballet, then we go home to eat leftovers, because Thursdays make me way to tired to cook!!

Friday is another solid school day. I try to get to anything that may have gotten pushed aside during the week for whatever reason, When we finish school on Friday everything gets packed up and put in the school room, not to be thought about again until Monday morning! M and M have gymnastics on Friday mornings around 11.

School time at home is very productive. It's really amazing how much learning can be accomplished in such a small moment of time. I try to require absolute attention, and an optomistic attitude when I sit with Mandie for a lesson. If I don't have one or the other, the lesson ends and we start again when both of those objectives have been met.

Hoping and praying for more good days!!!