Welcome to Our Hive - Homeschool Open House

Aug. 1, 2007

Homeschool Open House

I am so glad that you have chosen to visit our Open House. We run things around here a little on the relaxed side, definately on the Eclectic side. I am homeschooling my son who is 9 years old and going into the 5th grade, and my daughter who is 13 years old and going into the 9th grade. This is our 5th year homeschooling. My first year homeschooling a highschooler.

We love learning things together. I never want a house where everyone must retreat to there corners of the house for school. I love when it is 5 or 6 o'clock and my husband is walking through the door only to find us lost in some school project or game. I don't believe school has to be drudgery, not when there are sooo many different resources available to us.

So here is a typical day of school for us:

After we wake up and have breakfast we usually start our day in the family room. We pick a spot to sit with blankets and all the books we will need and get comfortable.

This is my absolute favorite time of the day. We do some reading from the bible and then have some great discussions about what we just read and how it applies to our lives today. Sometimes I print a worksheet to go along with the reading from Here. After they finish their worksheet together they move on to doing their daily devotion from their Keys For Kids book which are sent to us every 2 months for free.

Once they are done I come back and start history with them. I have mentioned before that we use Truthquest History. We also add in a lot of books, including Story of the World. So it works like this. I look at the Truthquest Guide to see which books go along with the lesson for the day. Then I sit in my chair and read the Truthquest commentary out loud. If there is a Story of the World correlating chapter I read that next and do any of the activities from the activity book which is usually mapwork and maybe an additional activity sheet or game. We always have a book that I am reading aloud that goes with the time period, so I'll read a chapter or two, or three. Then I choose a couple of easier picture type books to read a out loud. The point is to give them a look at history from as many perspectives as possible. If a book turns out to be a little dry or boring we can stop and choose another because Truthquest has sooo many great recommendations available on any given lesson. Besides all of this I also Have each of my children reading a historical fiction book on their own too.

After we have finished all of this together it is usually close to lunch so we take a break for that. Then it is time for individual studies. Kalene and Richie are free to do their school in any order and time that they want to. However they must finish or there are consequences. Also there is no extras such as Computer, TV, music, video games, going outside to play until all work is completed. Richie likes to start on his school as soon as he wakes up so he usually has half of it done by the time we start bible study together. Kalene on the other hand needs time to slowly wake up before she is ready for academics, so she usually is ready to start after history and lunch. I don't really mind how it gets done as long as it does and they are really getting what they are learning.

This is what we have chosen to use this year:

RICHIE

Writing - Italics

Math - Math Mammoth

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000

Science - Discover Science and Christian Kids explore Biology ( I am using this as a Coop with my nephews once a week)

Foreign Language - Speedy Spanish

Phonics - Explode the Code (Although he doesn't really need it he says it helps him with reading so I got it for him anyways.)

Spelling - Spelling Workout E

Language Arts - How to use a Thesarus Workbook and a free printable grammer program.

Extras - Piano, basketball,

KALENE

Health - Fearfully and Wonderfully Made & Lifepac General Health set

Writing - Writer's INC Skillbook

Economics - Money Matters for Teens

Math - Saxon Algebra & Key to Algebra books

Vocabulary - Wordly Wise 3000

Science - Apologia Biology

Foreign Language -Speedy Spanish and Spanish classes.

Critical Thinking - Building Thinking Skills

Literature :

Ivanhoe

A Taste of Chaucer

Pilgrims Progress

To Kill A Mocking bird w/ Progeny Guide.

Extras - Volleyball(hopefully) or soccer, Piano, Spanish

*These plans are not set in stone. I reserve the right to make changes at any time. I also reserve the right to add to this outline of what we "plan" to do this year.

This is a typical day of school at our house. However I must add that we have very few typical days at our house. School just fits in where it can. We love to do projects, so any time we have the time we will be doing a project. We also love to watch movies together, so we try to find as many movies to go along with what we are studying. It is also a great way to get dad involved since he isn't always able to be there during the day.

Thank you for visiting our homeschool. I hope you enjoyed yourself. I am off to see how everyone else does school at their house. I love new ideas. I hope you all have a blessed year of learning in the Lord.

*Kristie*

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Comments

Aug. 1, 2007 - Cool!

Posted by joyfulhome

Lots of great ideas here! Thanks for sharing :)

Love,

Joy

http://ajoyfulkeeper.com/my-blog/