Homeschool Reflection: Part One

Today, I would like to do a bit of reflecting about our first few weeks of homeschool. This is a brand new year in curriculum, schedule and even students! I think it is so important as a public school teacher or home educator to continually reflect on where you are at, what has been working and what might need to be changed! I will be focusing on different areas over the next few days. First, I will start with what has changed this year from last year. So let's take a peek:

What has changed this year?  This year we have added a new student, Sunshine! She has definitely added a whole new dimension and it takes more effort to keep her occupied during instruction. I have found that she LOVES school so she wants to be a part of the whole morning. This makes it more difficult when I am instructing one of the older girls. To help this, I am constantly keeping my eyes open for activities that will keep her busy and engaged on her own. Sorting sticks, "sewing" projects with thread and patterns, and soft building blocks are all activities that keep her interested. She also has freedom to color if she would like or write on a white board. After instruction with the older girls, I spend time with her by reading books, learning new colors and learning her first few numbers. I also have soft alphabet and number puzzles that she loves to play with that I use as introduction to these concepts. I do not put a lot of pressure on her, I just make sure to give her freedom in exploration as well as times in which I guide the exploration.

Another change has been the schedule. This by far is my favorite change! We have changed to a semester schedule and the pressure of the day has been alleviated. We are no longer rushing to finish! We have the time to "take our time" in our lessons. This has proven to be a very effective move. Our days are filled with many smiles and fewer tears, actually no tears so far this year! It also gives plenty of time in the day for silent reading and art projects.An added bonus is that it means fewer headaches for Mom! It's a win-win! :)

The third change is with our curriculum. I have been a faithful ABeka supporter for the past three years. This year I took the plunge, researched my own curriculum, and bought what I thought would work best with my girls. This has been an amazing move! We still have structure but we also have more freedom. I love the Bob Jones curriculum as it is a bit more colorful and interesting. I also like the progression. The Apologia Science has already been a topic of focus on this blog and I will once again say that I love it!

Tomorrow, I will be talking about some things that we have been successful with as well as areas we need to strengthen. Friday, I will write about what we have accomplished so far this year! I hope to see you there!

As today is Library day, we are about to head out to the van. Our library is BRAND NEW and is about a mile down the road from us. We are loving it! Happy blogging!

Upside Down and Inside Out!

My schoolroom is topsy turvy today but I am beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel. The girls now have their classroom library set up and that is what I am most excited about! I am a book nut! You can throw away just about anything; but never, ever, never throw away books! So, as a result, I have them coming out of my ears!

I am so pleased with how the room is coming together. I still need to finish organizing the paperwork, OH MY! I also need to get all of the cutesy western decorations up but I think it is going to look awesome! I hope to have the room completed by this evening. I would love to have it all up so that I can link with iHomeschool for their classroom pictures... ummmm... that is my goal anyway.

Another goal that I have is to create the girls' lesson plans. Because I am going by a completely different schedule, it will take a bit of thought. I am really excited about the semester scheduling rather than yearly scheduling. But, it still needs to be put into practice successfully. This is what our year will look like:

The first question you may ask is: "Why aren't you doing reading all year?" My answer would be that while they are completing their Language and Writing program as well as their electives, they will be doing plenty of reading. The girls will also be using reading programs to earn points. They will just not have a "reading textbook." For the Spring semester, they will get the opportunity to use what they have learned in Language Arts and Writing from the Fall to complete research papers, book reports, and other projects correlated with their reading.  

Math will be all year long as well as Spelling and Vocabulary which will be built off of their Science or History for that semester. By splitting Science and History into two semesters, I am hoping to streamline their learning and make it a much deeper learning experience. 

Have you ever used a semester schedule? What did you feel were the perks or downsides of it? Share your thoughts below!

BTW, for all of you who read my post from yesterday which you can read here, The CHAIR won! I have it cut shorter than I planned and the cutest highlights. What can I say? I was no match for the power of the CHAIR! :)
Happy Blogging!

Blog Series: Curriculum Walk-through Part 1

Don't Forget!! Today is the last day to enter the $20 Amazon give-away! Click here to enter! I will be announcing the winner in tomorrow's post!

As a homeschool parent, I love researching curriculum and reading about what other homeschool parents have chosen to use. I also like to glimpse into the rationals of WHY they chose what they did. So, I decided to begin a Blog Series that would explain the rationale of WHY I chose my curriculum for my kiddos. I hope it is a help to you as you create your own journey.

First UP: Science!

Okay all! I am going to be honest today: Science is not one of my favorite subjects to teach. I know, I know!!! Why wouldn't I like it with all of the cool experiments and projects?! It has just never been a subject I was excited about, even in school. I would learn what I needed long enough to ace the test and then move on. I think it was the fact that growing up, Science could be very boring... packed with information in HUGE textbooks. Even for a child that loves to read, Science just didn't excite me. This was a problem that I had last year with my girls. There was sooooo much information packed into their books and they had to travel through it so fast, they couldn't retain all of it! So, this year I have decided to change curriculum.

Before I began a search, I sat down to consider what I wanted it to look like. I knew that I wanted to find a curriculum that focuses on one area for an extended period of time. This would help enforce and promote retention. It would also create an opportunity to "dig" into the topic. I also knew that I wanted something that would be hands-on as well as textbook oriented. I like a combination. Lastly, I wanted there to be some writing involved to reinforce their language art skills. I plan to pull words from their Science to help create their spelling lists.

After figuring out what I wanted, I started to look for what was available. I am one that loves structure in the classroom. Chalk this up to the schoolroom teacher in me but I don't want my child's education to be hit and miss. I researched Christian curriculum and secular curriculum.

The curriculum that I chose is written by Apologia Educational Ministries.  (Disclaimer: I have not been compensated for any of this. I am just writing about personal experience.) They offer great resources for other subjects as well but I am starting with their Science curriculum this year. I am so excited! For the elementary age, there are six topics: Astronomy, Anatomy, Botany,  Flying Creatures, Land Creatures, and Swimming Creatures. I decided to let my children choose what they wanted to learn about first and they chose Astronomy! They will have a textbook and Journal dedicated to Astronomy. I love that we can do this together and my girls will each have their own journal for projects. I have heard many wonderful reviews about it and look forward to using it this year!

I have also decided to split the school year into two "semesters" kind of like what you would see in College. For the Fall Semester, or from August till December, my kiddos will work through Science. For the Spring Semester, January through May, my girls will work through their History curriculum. This is a new approach and I will let you know how it goes!

So let me ask... Have you ever used Apologia? What did you think?

I have linked up with an Apologia Blogroll at My Joy-Filled Life! I am excited to meet others using this curriculum!

Amazon Giveaway & a Blog Hop!

Hi everyone!! I can't believe that I am coming up on my 1 month bloggiversary on Friday! It seems that I have learned so much and met so many wonderful new people in Bloggieland!  Anyhoo, in honor of this special day, I will be giving away a $20 gift card to Amazon! Perhaps you have had some great resources, books or supplies sitting in your cart just WAITING to get out! Well, let me help! You can enter the Rafflecopter below to join in for your chance to win and there are many different ways you can increase your chances. Remember, it starts today and will end on Friday! "And may the odds be ever in your favor!"  (teehehehe- so dramatic!)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

In other exciting news, I have decided to link up with iHomeschool Network on their Not Back to School Blog Hop! Here is the schedule:

So, today I am going to talk about the curriculum we will be doing this year! As I have been doing ABeka for the past few years, I am excited about doing a bit of integration this year! In addition to these resources, the girls will also be a part of our church dance team and will be learning music. My 6th grader will be working on piano, drums and guitar (she already plays all three) and my 3rd grader will be beginning piano. They will also be working on voice as they both continue to grow in their harmony. So, here we go!

This is shaping up to be an exciting year! I am working on organizing resources and setting up the classroom this week. Thanks to iHomeschool Network, I now have to get it done by Monday! Nothing like throwing in a deadline to get me in gear! LOL

Happy Blogging and good luck on the Giveaway!

Fun in the Sun and Curriculum Planning!

So, this week my husband has a conference in Central Florida, Orlando to be exact! Since my brother-in-law and my father have to attend this same conference (we are surrounded by preachers! LOL) my family has rented a house close-by with a game room, pool, etc... While the men are making serious decisions and taking part in all day meetings, the ladies and children have an entire week to relax in the pool, eat, shop a bit, eat a little more, and play a few games. Yes, it is a tough job but someone has to do it! We can't very well take children into those all-important meetings! ;)  And... yes, I brought my stretchy pants! The gym will be there when I get back!

We arrived yesterday and the house is FANTASTIC! Five bedrooms and four bathrooms so there is plenty of room to stretch out. The best part is it is cheaper to go together on this big house than on a tiny box of a hotel room! It's a win-win!

This is our last hoorah before getting school back into gear. For homeschoolers, it is a bit different than traditional schools. For a homeschool teacher, we must choose curriculum for the year, plan out the calendars, create the lesson plans, and set up the space. So, there is really a lot to do but totally worth it! I love the fact that I have control over the curriculum rather than having to use what someone else thinks is effective. Over the past few years, we have used the A Beka curriculum with the videos. I loved watching some of the great techniques these teachers offered. This school also keeps the girls' records and they receive progress reports as well as report cards throughout the year. As a new homeschooling family, this was great for us. However, I am looking to do a few changes this year. While we will use some of the curriculum from A Beka, I will be branching out to use a few different things. I am really seeking to match curriculum with my girls' learning styles. With the growth of homeschooling, many of the main curriculum distributors that are used in the classroom offer homeschool packets. :) So, while we are having some fun in the sun, I will be finishing up my research on the books for next year. I will be sure to share when I get it figured out. There are a lot of great options! Do you know of any you would like to share? Comment below!

Hope you are having a fantastic day!