I sometimes forget I have a blog, but wanted to invite you to look us up online and see how our life at home and in schooling is going! Welcome to our blog and please check back as you can. I hope to have weekly updates posted so we can share our journey in education and raising our kids with you across the miles!

I found a curriculum online back in 2003 that is very simple, Bible based, and following ABC order: http://www.creationkids.5u.com/ I thought I would use it for Brian, but ended up relying heavily on workbooks and my other teaching books. With our first born we could be more low key because it was just him in school and the girls were babies playing at our feet. Now that Brian is in the middle of second grade, and those babies are 4 years old (yikes! times passes!) I needed something for the girls to do besides the workbooks pages they easily and quickly complete. I stumbled upon this website again and found it refreshing after some of the more intense preK programs I had researched as options. We are still working out kinks here and there (note to self: when teaching VBS take that week off! Kids and I were exhausted and got colds!) but are currently on day 86 of MFW First grade. I did not want a curriculum that would clash or compete with Brian's either, but topics that could compliment each other. Creation Kids is based upon animals, a Bible verse, a characteristic and so forth. Nice and  simple. Today we officially started with our A week and have begun studying ants. I supplemented the curriculum with worksheets from www.edhelper.com ,  http://www.edhelper.com/kindergarten/Letter_A_Writing1.htm  

 http://www.edhelper.com/kindergarten/Letter_A_Coloring2.htm 

  to create coloring pages, handwriting practice and a story with comprehension questions for that letter. Additionally, we will be doing a science experiment, making a book and doing an art project to further enhance understanding that letter and sound. The longer we homeschool the more excited I get by all our possibilities, and the more permission I give myself to not worry about every new product available, but to really trust God will lead us to the right choices so we continue to love learning!

I laugh at people who wonder how I can do this. I am sure many other homeschool families think the same thoughts: we just do it! Of course there are adaptations, but no more than we have already undergone! We adjust as our kids grow from crawlers to walkers and in a similiar way we adjust to Brian transitioning from non-reader to enthusiastic reader! I do think my house is messier than many public school families since the kids are home all day to make messes after school, but all that means is I have to work harder with them to clean their own messes rather than me doing it while they are away at school. And what a lot of mess three kids can make! So now that we seem to have our school days organized and work is being accomplished, we need to work more on good habits such as "put away as you play".

Oh, and just for the record...all the people who think my kids ought to be exposed to germs and brought sick kids to VBS...please don't next year! I love having your kid in my class, but their noses get quite scary, and we actually are exposed to just as many germs as you are. We go to Target, Walmart, and hubby works in a hospital. I think we get our fair share, and no my kids are not that sheltered! One of our daughters got quite ill due to very sick kids being around her (her immune system is not as strong as her siblings-- who easily bounced back within two days-- due to health concerns and medications). Since it is only VBS no one called the parents to come pick her up and let that poor child be sick at home! I know the three hours go by quick, but please, keep sick kids home!

I have found as we continue through the My Father's World first grade program that giving my twins sheets to color while my son is reading helps us all stay together and focus upon the words we are hearing. Calvary has created a fantastic site to aid us:

http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum.htm .While they offer several pages for each verse (giving word searches and such) you can easily print out just what you need. I can not express how nice this is for us!

Another site   http://akidsheart.com/bible/biblecolor.htm  that  is very helpful has coloring sheets and simplified verses for toddlers and generally nice pages for older kids. While not as comprehensive as Calvary (giving coloring pages rather than whole lesson plans) it is a welcome find!

As we progress through First Grade I realized I was not quite ready to get my girls into the MFW Kinder program just yet. Their birthdays are this month, turning 4, and I wanted a program to warm them up before we jump in. This site: http://creationkids.5u.com/lessons.html is quite fun! They have simple lessons, each one having a characteristic of God that we want to learn and live by, along with Bible verse, craft, skit, or whatever else is offered for that week. It follows the ABC's (which MFW starts at S for Kinder) and I think that will help my girls get more familiar with the program since they are so indoctrinated in the ABC song and the Leap Frog videos/songs/books going in ABC order. Once they have all that down nicely I am happy to play with the letters out of order when we hit Kinder. The only problem with the Creation Kids site is it currently ends at Rhino! I do hope Sandra Harris keeps this going to Zebra (or whatever Z creature)!

We are on day 73 of 1st grade and really getting in our groove now! It has taken awhile after the move, but everyone now enjoys school and we get everything done (and then some certain days) that I hope we can each day. Very rewarding to check things off in my record book. I am humbled enough to know we will still have rough days, but finding little tricks like the coloring sheets helps out ever so much!

As I mentioned before, my girls blaze through worksheets. I know many other families whose little ones enjoy working near older sibs, so was happy to find this: http://www.schoolexpress.com/fws/cat.php?id=2247

They have pages for classifying, mazes and puzzles to print and cut out besides just basic ABC and 123.

We are on Day 57 of My Father's World First Grade. I laugh now, with great relief, over how painless teaching Brian to read turned out to be. At the beginning of our homeschool journey I really stressed over this. I prayed, I worried, I talked to so many moms about this. My husband and I love to read and I want Brian to also, so hoped reading came easily and thus seemed fun right away. Prayers were answered as the boy now reads anything and everything he can! Bigger multi-syllable words he does have to slow down and sound out or get help will still, but otherwise he trucks down that reading road just fine! We are so surprised at his sucess at times, and I realize again why we homeschool: to offer our children all the resources and support they need to learn and grow. This was something Brian had to be ready to do, and once I understood that I relaxed and enjoyed the learning process with him instead of pushing or forcing him to perform. I have moved on to praying that my girls learn how to read just as easily, and this time I have an attitude of excitement rather than fear. I can't wait for them to start reading....yet actually I can wait, and will do so until they are ready!

The girls love worksheets. This happened with Brian was their age as well. It baffles me since I come from the educational philosophy that children learn so much more through play; through doing and touching and moving. So to have my children be content...or actually quite excited...to "do school" and quickly take out their binders with the days pages is shocking. I would have thought them happy to play with Little People for hours like I did as a kid. But there is a great commradery that develops with us all around the table, pencils in right hands, pages held steady with left hands, and eyes scanning the paper for clues as to the assignment as they impatiently wait for me to read them directions. If they finish a page too quick and I am changing laundry over, making lunch, etc. then Brian will help the girls go to the next page, read directions and off they go. Yesterday they did what I considered three days work worth of worksheets. So today I had them play various computer games during school. I can not afford to buy as many workbooks as it would take to keep the girls happy "doing school" each day! They will sit for and hour and a half easy! So you can imagine how thrilled I was to see the featured blog today being about free homeschooling. I checked out some links and they look wonderful! Thank you, thank you, thank you Julie for taking the time and energy to share such great info with everyone!

This summer we will continue to school (if we have to pay for A/C we might as well use it and escape the heat and humidity outside!) and I am looking forward to doing some unit studies with the kids. We have a membership at a local science and history museum and they have a really good dinosaur exhibit. Playhouse Disney made a Stanley movie about Dinosaurs, and that got me thinking about the museum and researching unit studies. All kids seem to love dinosaurs, so I am now trying to figure out where to take a week and add a study in.

We are still working on networking here after our move, making friendships and such, and hope to get back into service projects soon. I realize that I don't make a very good volunteer when I don't know who or what needs help. So maybe this summer will offer up some friendships that will educate us as to ways we can help out our community. And we already have started the prayers that the Gulf Coast stays hurricane free!

After a LONG break from school due to moves and stress, we are at it again. After much concern, we have switched from Sonlight's K program to My Father's World First Grade, and hope our son has more interest in it and I find greater consistency in teaching. Tomorrow will be day three, so we are still ironing the kinks out. We use our Sonlight K books, of course, for supplemental readings, but are not following their schedule. We are, however, participating in a Sonlight Valentines exchange, and the children happily created bookmarks which we will mail tomorrow. We needed something to liven up our day, and exploring Valentines Day and then creating some proved to be a great group bonding for all three children and me.

I am trying to establish myself with local homeschool groups, and still greatly miss my old one. I no longer have the luxury of a veteran homeschool mom three doors down, and so as we continue with our first year homeschooling I am missing that reassurance she so generously gave.  I am hoping to keep myself more accountable here, try and meet some people with similar ages and cur. choices, and would love to know any people in or near South Texas!

I have found that with the age of my kids right now, just starting school up after a summer break is hard! So instead I take a few weeks and add in a couple subjects at a time. Last week was Handwriting and some math and a lot of going through K workbooks verbally to check on areas I was not sure if Brian needed help in or not. This week we have added our full math program (Singapore and McGraw Hill), our language arts and dictation. I look forward to our new core arriving, Sonlight K (remember, they are one year ahead of public school, so core K requires some first grader maturity) as that will include our science and readers. Brian loves to be read to and this core has more chapter books. Yay!

The girls are both demonstrating good use of scissors for their age. I worked with them the other day and Katie can say almost every letter's sound! Olivia was a bit fiesty at that time (late in the day) so I did not push her. Katie is so quick with letter sounds that I might need to separate them and talk with Olivia alone to determine where she is. I hope to get the girls settled into the Touch Math readiness program.

At the science center this week we are studying frogs! We did not know that when they swallow their food, their eyes go inside their head helping change the pressure and thus get things swallowed down better. Amazing to watch! We LOVE that place!!!

Yesterday I enrolled the kids for our local homeschool co-op. I am so excited!

Brian is taking a health and safety class first hour, then American History from Colonial to Revolution second hour. I am loving that since that is a favorite time period for our family. We have a relative, John Hanson, who was the first president of Continental Congress to finish a term, signed the Declaration of Independence, etc. This was also fun since my dad has been skeptical about our homeschooling, and he was amazed that Brian will already be learning these things. Hopefully it will help him see the good in our homeschooling adventure.

The girls will be taking preschool with me (I teach first hour) and ballet second hour. I can hardly wait to see how cute they look!

We have a new science discovery center here and the kids are loving it. That is our bonus these days. Also I was blessed with a used cur. give-away and picked up many first grade items for Brian.

We have just a few weeks to hammer through the rest of K since I enrolled Brian in 1st grade classes at co-op. He needs to work on handwriting and reading skills. I hope to post weekly progress reports.

Every four weeks I try and get our curriculum ready for the next month. Each week has it's own hanging file. Within the hanging file each child has their own color coded file. So for one month's work I put it all into their files, then put those files into the proper hanging file. That makes Monday mornings easier since I simply take out the hanging file for the week, separate each child's file into their binder, and get the week started!

I am fairly visual in my approach to life. I appreciate colors and the organizational benefits they bestow. So I took colored hanging files and regular files and put them in an order than made sense to me:

Orange: Life in general, my file for teacher inspiration/ideas, each child's art, life skills

Yellow: Language arts, Handwriting, Stationary, Electives, Social Studies and History

Green: Bible, Math, Science, Critical Thinking, Preschool

Blue: Info on scope and sequence for each year and state standards, Scrap papers from old assignments, Scholastic orders, Seasonal fun.

Red: Each child's records, catalogs and orders

My file box was purchased because it fit under our easel and I needed more storage space for papers. It has worked out great!

Inside each kids' binder I have five plastic divider pockets. Within each pocket is that day's assignments. This helps me get organized for the week very simply. Each Monday I take out that week's folder from my file box, separate out the pages into everyone's binders, and we are good to go! Completed work goes back into the pocket, and we can then easily show off the finished pages to Daddy!

Each kid has a bucket and inside is found their binder, their school box of basic supplies, and an empty spiral notebook. The notebook is for them to do whatever they want inside. After getting really frustrated with school supplies every where but where we needed them and thus many delays with school starting, these items now must stay in their bucket, be on the kitchen table, or else! :)

My husband attached hook eyes to the easle in such a way that our painting paper still loops through it, yet I can also attach posters now! Through big rings that you see on top, I strung posters with rivets (easy to do, and keeps them from tearing with wear) upon them and now I can toss them all over the back when we want to paint or play with magnets. I can also flip over one poster at a time and the kids have it easily available and nearly at eye level.

We love the store IKEA, and no, there is not one close to us. One is found at a favorite vacation spot, however, and we have been known to pack less luggage just to leave room for purchases! I love this set up between our kitchen and our family room. The two sides are free standing, and so I tucked our easle in between. We all have a drawer, plus a few extras that house other things we need, and it keeps our school supplies in one easy spot. The kids get things out of their "bucket" and bring it over to the kitchen table.

It has been some time since we have sat down and done school consistently. Job relocation challenges have caused a stir of business in our home, and Paul is helping me get school back on track. Brian is working through his HWT program, and is up to number 5 today. We also are introducing Touch Math to compliment our Singapore Earlybird program. I hope to build a book with the kids this week, and need to see what type. I find I have so many teaching resources and not enough time to use them all, so get frustrated and simply frozen. Thus, I have decided, come what may from life, the children and I will build a book a week. We love to read and this will motivate us to blend schooling and hobbies.

I am amazed at how well the children have played during our difficult times. They have all worked together on share games and imaginings, and I am really proud of them. This is one of the main reasons we homeschool: I want my children to all be buddies both in childhood and into adulthood.

Our next task is to aclimate Brian to using his daily planner. Made in partnership with FranklinCovey (who makes my beloved planner), this one seems perfect for us. It has a companion website at www.discoverzone.com and I want to have him write something in it for each day and also write on the monthly calendar how many pages he read each day.

Off to get the day back on track!

We go on a trip in a few days, and are looking forward to "education" stops along the way. Our family took a break schooling this spring when Olivia was diagnoised with epilepsy. It was so overwhelming to care for her at first, all the medication side effects, then med changes, weekly visits to ped and neurologist, etc. so we are schooling through the summer to try and make up for so long a break.

Brian can read three word sentences fairly well. Sight words need working on. Handwriting needs attention, and clarity on how to write numbers above 12. He spends a lot of time in his room creating with Legos or drawing and cutting out maps, space ships, and many other marvelous things!

Katie and Olivia can easily make matches on worksheets. They have been doing this via games like Memory for months, and so the worksheets were the next step up. Both love to cut with scissors and so worksheets are quickly turned into scissor scrap paper once finished. The girls have spent a lot of time playing with their dollhouse lately, and playing quite well! They will fight over certain people, and since we have about ten now, I try and mediate trades and compromises.

I am trying to get the house under control, and realize we simply have TOO MUCH of everything! I need to stop being so connected to every toy! A friend convicted me of that again today, and suggested a system of every two weeks going through the children's room with paper bags. Anything they have not played with goes in. The bags then go in my closet for two weeks. If a child misses a toy, I get it from the bag (they do not know about this process) and it is their's again. If they do not miss it, then it goes into the garage or attic for another month. If missed, it is retrieved, if not then donated. I am up to my eyeballs in toys and clothing, and need to really put a system such as that to use.

Also want to get my scrapbook area more organized. Need to chose one project at a time and focus on it until completed. When I give myself time limits I usually work quite well, and so will be instituting that again. In the meantime, laundry calls, and this is floor cleaning day. I was blessed with a wonderful break during Bible study today at an exceptionally clean house, and motivates me to get mine in better shape!

Current favorite Psalm is 112. I love that I am supposed to "delight" in His commands. Much easier said than done, yet possible with the gifts God gives us. He will provide the necessary resources to delight in doing His will. Also, the idea that bad news will not scare me is very comforting. God is in total control, and since we are experiencing problems larger than we can possibly handle, it is wonderful He is in control of it all! I am grateful!