The End, The Beginning {School}

It was bittersweet to wrap up our first year of homeschooling! I can't believe that we have an entire year's worth of curriculum under our belt! When we made the decision last year to pull the kids out of school and begin this crazy journey the Lord was taking us on - it felt a little like blindly jumping off a cliff. But God is so faithful! More than ever I am convinced that education and discipleship go hand in hand, and I have already seen so much fruit come to bear in our home. Several individuals have questioned whether or not we will continue to home school considering the arrival of Zack this summer; but I am more confident than ever that this is what the Lord has for us. We have chosen this method of education out of joyful obedience, rather than out of convenience or ease. 

There's a lot of freedom in this method of education - we can easily schedule school around and in and through where God is already at work in our lives and in our home. We are eagerly anticipating the start of our next "school year" on Monday {Blane's official Kindergarten year!} and we will work up to Zack's arrival in late July. Then we will take our "summer break" late Summer/early Fall  to allow for us all to enjoy and get to know our new baby! 

Last day of school {2012-2013 Blane's prek year, K curriculum}

First day of school! {Blane's Kindergarten year, MFW 1st curriculum, Gavin's PreK4 year}

I have a kindergartener. He grows too fast. I am soaking up every moment with these three; because they are in my care for such a very, very short time….

Curriculum 2013-2014

I love the rhythm and groove that we've fallen into this year. School fits perfectly into our daily routine and we all look forward to learning together. I love the idea of year-round school (maybe more lax in the summertime). I think it keeps us engaged, focused, and it models what life will be like after formal education. With baby coming in July, we've decided to keep plugging away with school until the end of summer when we will slow things down to accommodate the ample time we will all need to love on a new member of the family. That means that very soon we will be jumping right into our next "school year".

On the agenda for this coming year (insert squeal here): 

Main Curriculum - DIRT and HOLES 

This is the essence of why we homeschool. The majority of our day is spent getting lots of dirt under our nails and we wouldn't be succeeding if there weren't holes in our jeans to show for it. 

Blane - (5 1/2 yrs) My Father's World First Grade, Math Lessons For a Living Education 

I am so blessed to have other homeschool mammas to mentor me. Over this past year they have challenged me to think outside of the box and to be confident in paving the way that fits my family best.  I'm becoming more comfortable with the idea that grade levels are man made, artificial, and varies greatly between curriculums. So I am more prone to group by interest and more importantly by ability/understanding/mastery of subject matter. Once they have mastered one skill level then they will be ready to move onto the next thing. This means that one child might fly through skills and then reach a point where they need to slow down to master a more advanced concept, another child might learn more slowly to begin with. I am excited to identify and meet each need as they arise, to keep  my kids challenged, engaged, and excited about learning. All that being said - we are sticking with MFW this next year. It's a perfect fit for Blane who loves worksheets but also adores hands on artsy things. I love the way the Gospel is infused into every aspect of our school day; and I am impressed with how much freedom and ease there is in a boxed curriculum. Gavin will also participate in art, science, and social studies aspect of MFW as well!

Gavin - (4 years) All About Reading Pre-Reading, Explode the Code Get Ready For the Code

Gavin has so easily kept up with almost all of our kindergarten work with the exception of the advanced phonics and reading. So he will have his very own curriculum this year. I am so excited because it's designed to be super fun and includes the cutest little zebra puppet you've ever seen while still reviewing the basic phonics skills. I am excited to build on the confidence he has gained already this year, and to solidify what he has already learned. We will supplement AAR with the ETC books which will allow him to put his phonics knowledge into practice! He will also utilize the handwriting worksheets, math, and sound discrimination sheets from MFW K. All of this sounds like quite a bit, but really he will be "doing school" 30-45 minutes at the most. I want this little guy playing and getting dirty most of the day : )

Literature - Read Alouds
I am pretty passionate about reading. The statistics are astounding, crediting reading aloud to literacy achievement. Not only does reading AT LEAST 20 minutes per day have an incredible correlation to overall student success, but it is an enjoyable activity that all family members can participate in. Reading expands imagination and it opens eyes to worlds and cultures and ideas that they wouldn't normally relate to on a daily basis. Reading brings the breadth of the world into our home in a very real and relatable way. I've noticed too that my kids' imaginative play is being defined by the literature that we read, which has led to much more creative play verses television reenactment. My kids love to pretend to be Jack and Annie from Magic Tree House, Anthony from Strega Nona, Grandma Georgina from Charlie and the Choc. Factory who loses all of her fake teeth, they love to turn each other into stone like the white witch from Lion, Witch, Wardrobe, and they'll practice running in order to "win the free for all like Henry from Boxcar Children". Most recently they claimed to an innocent sales clerk that they were proud to be orphans (just like the Boxcar Children). For more information on reading check out The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease, a gem of a book handed down to me that I will never let go of!!!

I am super excited, and truly grateful for all that lays ahead for my family this year!

Several books I've picked up here and there for us to read this year!

HomeSchool - Z is for Zebra

Read Aloud: finished up Mouse and the Motorcycle and began Dolphin Adventure

Audio Book: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

Addition and subtraction which surprisingly came more easily for Blane than I would have thought : ) Hip hip hooray! He loved it!

Blane has been reading for a while now, but I've always sat next to him looking over his shoulder. This week I decided to change things up a bit. I get cozy sipping my coffee and let him read aloud to me from across the couch. I find this gives him more autonomy….. and now,  when he's stuck on a word he figures it out for himself instead of looking to me for help. Win-win...and his read aloud skills are already improving!

Celebrating 100 Days!

With great anticipation and much excitement, our family began homeschooling exactly 100 days ago! These past 100 days have proved to be some of the hardest, most challenging, yet delightful and fruitful days of my life. The Lord has stretched me, molded me and He has been sanctifying the places I didn't realize needed so much work. What I've come to discover in only 100 days is that working hard at the lot God has given me really does produce such great joy. God was faithful to prepare me for the work He prepared for me. And I really, really love this job of being a teacher to my kiddos! And what's even better is to see them enjoying school time just as much as me! I never would have imagined that the work would come so easily for Blane and that Gavin would participate in almost everything! I love that we can pick up the pace or slow it down, that we can "do school" anywhere we want to (outside, in bed, on the floor, in the fort outside), I love that my kids aren't classified by age but by interest and skill level. I love that we can kick school to the curb on some days in favor of the zoo or the museum or hanging with friends. I love that conversation is free flowing and never ending. And I love that our education can be infused with the Gospel. I am really, really proud of my boys and the way they have persevered and worked so diligently. We have officially committed to continuing this journey into the next year (more on this to come!) and I couldn't be more excited!

Gavin's 100 days worksheet - he has kept up well!

Proud of 100 M&M's

Yup! We ate em' all!!!

Homeschool- K for Kangaroo

Letter- K (God keeps me safe)

Read aloud- Ralph S. Mouse

Audio Book- Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

{Home} School - P for Penguin

Letter : P for Penguin

Scripture: Let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. 1 John 4:7

Vocabulary word: TRUST

Read Aloud: The Boxcar Children, book 1

Audio Book: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe

School - Jan 2013

School continues to be an absolute blast. I have been incredibly surprised at how much I enjoy being a teacher. We have conquered 76 days of school to date and my boys are learning so much. Blane can easily complete his school work independently (which has shocked me because we are using a Kindergarten curriculum) and has recently dominated the first set of Bob books. He has worked incredibly hard this year and his perseverance and diligence is paying off. I looked back at the school goals I outlined for the boys this year. Both Blane and Gavin have met and exceeded everything I had written. Really, really proud of these two!

School outside. 

marsh mellow letter sound bingo!

reading a bob book

Gavin writing his name

Sometimes it's more fun to do schoolwork on the floor

Our mascot for the "cow" unit. Blane wanted to name him Gumdrop - he sounded it out and spelled it himself!

Ashley's "work"

playdough is good for strengthening little hand muscles!

Hard at work!

Candyland with Grammie

{HomeSchool} - D for Dinosaur

With holidays abuzz I have lacked my usual fervor for picture taking. But that doesn't mean we aren't having an absolute blast in school! The kids beg to do school everyday and can't seem to understand why we need rest from learning on the weekends. We just wrapped up our dinosaur unit, which was probably a favorite thus far. My Dad took the boys to the dinosaur museum downtown to bring school to life (while I shopped with mom, wink wink**) We still function best having school time while Ashley naps. We start off with 10-15 minutes of SSR time (sustained silent read time) and then I'll read aloud a book from our book basket associated with our unit. Then we do bible, phonics, math, crafts, handwriting, or whatever is on the agenda for the day. We wrap up with our read-aloud (we are typically doing a new chapter book per week and just completed the My Fathers Dragon 3-bk series) and then we end the day with Blane reading aloud to me from either a Bob book or a book from his reader set. 

Unit - D for dinosaur

Key Theme - Big and Small God Made Them All

Read Aloud - My Fathers Dragon Series

Scripture - "The earth is the Lord's and everything in it; the world and all who live in it." Ps. 24:1