Starting School

We came back from Legoland and I had one week to make final preparations for school starting.  At the homeschool convention in July Justin and I had put together a plan for this year. We spent many hours talking about the coming school year, making decisions about what was important for them to learn this year and seeking the Lord's wisdom concerning the best curriculum for our family.  Once we made the decisions, placed the orders, and I set about preparing material it started to set in.  

Schooling is not a task for the faint of heart, that much I have learned. I'm aware that I possess some qualities that would require a certain amount of organization and pre-planning that others might be able to glaze over b/c their personalities are much more laid back and require less preparedness.  That is the beauty of homeschooling...there isn't any one right way.  Anyhow, due to my type of personality and liking things to be organized and the end goal to be clear schooling requires much of me. 

I'm actually okay with that, so I'm not complaining, because it is the way I work best.  I have a desire to just be a good mother and a good teacher to my children, teaching them more than just ABC's but also values, a moral compass, training them up to Love Jesus and Obey Authority.  This is a heavy calling.

So, I set about preparing for the coming months and the schooling that will be underway.  I'm thrilled with our schooling curriculum choices and confident they will learn much this year.  Hopefully I can make it fun at the same time.  

I thought it would be or could be helpful to note our resources this year and what we are using.  Maybe I might want to look back on it sometime or pass it along to others.  This is a blog about our family and homeschooling is a big part of our family.

We will be starting with Calendar in the morning going over the Letter of the Week.  I set the schedule for the Letters with our lovely Tutor Alana so we aren't doing them in alphabetical order but we will get through them all.  

I bought the download from Confessions of a Homeschooler to print for the kids. She has TONS of amazing things and I could spend hours of time on her site.  Check it out.

Along with the LOTW we are covering weather, shapes, signs, character traits, Bible verse of the Week, color, and Songs or Days of the week and months of the year.  I will have to come back and link each item to its source I compiled them from different places on the net.

For academic organization I am using the Workbox System.  Since mine are so young we are mostly just introducing the system and getting used to the kids progressing through their day in an orderly fashion. Eventually using this system will help the children become fairly self sufficient in their school work.  To really use the system the children need to be able to read.  Until then the Workbox system will just be a practice of steps.  If you wanna see more and read more about how they work, this is a good place to start. But, if you google it, you will see there are virtually hundreds of ways to execute the system to fit your family.

We incorporate music into our learning when we can and to begin I'd check out Seeds Family Worship.  There are thousands of printables at Bible Story Printables to go along with learning scripture to music.

For Bible, History and Geography we chose Tapestry of Grace.  It utilizes the Classical Method and so far it is wonderful.  Very thorough, so thorough in fact, I have to scale it back for my age kids.  It runs in four year cycles and you can start in any "Year" 1-4.  Once you go through all four years you just cycles back through at their higher grade level. You study the same core material again on a deeper level.  It could carry you through Highschool (if you want).

For math we chose Right Start Mathematics.  It is also very thorough and completely written out for you so the lessons are quick, easy and totally boy.  There are manipulative materials, math games, and so much more to help them learn the math principles. We are taking slow and being thorough.

Science, which is solely an introduction at this point, is Answers in Genesis God's Design.  I am loving it. The lessons are simple, basic and quick....perfect for little guys!  Totally Creation based science, if you know anything about AIG and I LOVE that!! 

For Spelling and Reading we are using All About Spelling and All About Reading, both from the same company.  It is so great. Thorough, easy, clear, concise, Phonics based (but includes the vowel sound of Y, which not all Phonics programs do).  Their process or learning to read has been exactly what Cole needs.

We start our day at 8:30 with prayer and calendar and end by noon for lunch. It's pretty great and although it has offered its fair share of challenges thus far, I couldn't imagine being away from my kids for even 3 hours each day and definitely not 6 or more.  

I know it isn't for everyone and that is just fine.  But, it is for us, even if it requires all of me and all I have to give and it isn't always perfect. I wouldn't rather give myself to anything or any one else.