The Homeschool Journey of the Neal Family http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:58:00 -0500 Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:58:00 -0500 Today was our first day "Back to Homeschool" and it went very well. We are going to ease into our school year with just doing the basics and some review this week. Last year we did a lot of "basic and life learning" and didn't stick to the curriculum very well. I also broke my arm in late March and that really put a damper on things. My middle guy who was at Kindergarten level last year, I have discovered is a "struggling learner". So due to all those situations we are repeating some of our curriculum choices from last year. Our Curriculum Choices are: Joshua Age 7  2nd Grade: Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory  Lessons PathWays Year 2 Math  and also  Lessons PathWays Year 3 Math Getty Dubay Italic Level A (review) and also Getty Dubay Italic Level B  Pathway Readers Spelling City Joshua is a very independent learner and really enjoys writing and drawing. We are having him blog this year for his writing practice. Nathan Age 6  1st Grade: Little Hearts for His Glory Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Progressive Phonics Lesson Pathways Year K Math   (because he was such a struggling learner, we didn't do much math last year) I will also utilize 24 Board Getty Dubay Italic Level A  Nathan is a struggling learner. I learned a lot about Stuggling Learners and how to help them back in June at our Homeschool Convention.   I am going to do lots of lapbooks with him because he loves hands on learning.  (What is Lapbooking?) Daniel Age 4  Kindergarten Little Hearts for His Glory Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Daniel will be 5 in November and  is very ready for Kindergarten right now. I figured why wait a year, when he is very ready right now. For All: Character Training: Character Studies  Character Lapbooks Fruit of the Spirit Lessons Bible Memorization:  AWANA  Scripture Memory System Arts and Crafts:   Little Hands Art Books  I will also be using products and ideas from Homeschooling With Index Cards with Nathan and Daniel. We will be adding Lapbooking and Notebooking into our Homeschool daily this year. We are very eclectic and use a variety of learning materials.  I will also supplement all the above with Ebooks and other materials I have found online. One of my favorite spots to get FREE Ebooks is Scribd  It is actually a Document sharing site that has lots of fabulous Homeschool Material on there! We are looking forward to a wonderful school year!! May God bless all the homeschoolers with a wonderful school year!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/725162/ Tue, 8 Sep 2009 18:58:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/725162/ I just recently found out that on the first Saturday of each month Home Depot has a FREE Workshop for kids. The boys went to their first event with Daddy on the 4th of July and made a picnic caddy. We all went as a family on August 1st where the boys made a Message Center. Here are the pics of them making their message centers: They are looking forward to the Sept. event already. Here is the dates and projects for Sept. and Oct: These workshops are lots of fun for the kids, they are FREE and they are educational!! We are going to try to go to each one!! The boys gave one of their message centers to my mom yesterday for her B-Day!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/716356/ Tue, 11 Aug 2009 09:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/716356/ I wanted to pass along some Holiday Freebies I have been pointed to in the past couple of days. A link to a wonderful Thanksgiving lapbook by Live and Learn Press was posted on a message board I visit. You can gain access to their freebies by joining their Yahoo Group. For more info go here: Live and Learn Press Someone also posted a link on my Twitter account for a wonderful Advent Devotioinal. Our family has been using this devotional for the past 3 Advent seasons and will use it again this year. It is updated each year. To download a great copy of this study go to: Inductive Advent Study. Both of these freebies are really great and both are suitable for all ages! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/620843/ Tue, 18 Nov 2008 07:47:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/620843/ We had a great first day of school! Daddy was off of work today so he was here and "opened" up school with a prayer. He also made breakfast of Eggs, Sausage and Biscuits. Yummy!! Joshua, our 1st grader, was very independent and loves his new curriculum. He is really enjoying spelling once again this year. Nathan, our kindergartner, has no patience at all, no patience at all. He doesn't want to do school, just wants to play. This is a personality issue and a discipline issue that I think we will have "fight" on our hands for a while with him. He really needs to be able to settle down and learn. I will be pulling out the lapbooks soon for him. I have pics to upload, but PhotoBucket and other methods aren't working for me right now. Going to go to bed, it has been a long day today. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/584247/ Tue, 2 Sep 2008 22:01:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/584247/ It is time to begin our HomeSchool Year tomorrow! This will be our 2nd official school year and we are so excited. We will have a 1st grader and a Kindergartener.  Our Curriculum Choices are: Joshua Age 6  1st Grade: Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory  Critical Thinking Mathematical Reasoning Getty Dubay Italic Level A  Pathway Readers Joshua is a very independent learner and really enjoys writing and drawing. He is also above level in many areas and a very quick learner. The only thing he has a hard time grasping is Handwriting. We are keeping him in Getty Dubay Level A again this year because he is still having issues with Handwriting. Nathan Age 5  Kindergarten: Little Hearts for His Glory Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons Modern Press Curriculum Math  Modern Press Curriculum Phonics Getty Dubay Italic Level A  Nathan is a hands-on and visual learner and I may have to tweak things along the way with him.  I am going to do lots of lapbooks with him because he loves hands on learning.  (What is Lapbooking?) Daniel Age 3 "Learning the Basics" Hubbards Cupboard Bible and Rhyme  and Letter of the Week  For All: Character Training: Character Studies  Character Lapbooks Fruit of the Spirit Lessons State by State Study: Star Spangled State Book  50 State Geography Resources                                  State Unit Studies   School Express States Bible Memorization:  AWANA  Scripture Memory System Arts and Crafts:   Little Hands Art Books  We will also be doing Lapbooking and Notebooking on various topics and subjects. We will utilize the Forest Preserves and Park Districts for Nature Studies. I have collected many free ebooks and resources over the past 4 months and we will be supplementing our main core curriculum with other studies, especially for holidays and such. We plan on doing a unit study and lapbooking on the Election. We are looking forward to a wonderful school year. One that honors God and as we honor God in our School, we pray that he will bless our family. Stay Tuned tomorrow for "First Day of Homeschool" pics and report!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/583277/ Mon, 1 Sep 2008 07:22:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/583277/ Don't we all love FREEBIES? I know I do! The Erskine family, owners of the great homeschool resource Homeschool Radio Shows now have a brand new website called Homeschool Freebie of the Day. I joined about a week ago and have already downloaded very nice freebies. They are going to have lots of different freebies: Unit Studies, E-books, games, samples, lessons plans and much more. Check them out at Homeschool Freebie of the Day. You will be very satisfied with the freebies!!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/542407/ Tue, 3 Jun 2008 15:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/542407/ Our Homeschool Support Group had Show and Tell night last night. Our oldest who will just be 6 at the end of this month, loves writing and drawing. 2 months ago he independently began drawing a picture and then writing 2 sentences about that picture. He would do about 4 pages like this to create a "book".  Last week he wrote a few short stories around just one picture and he shared 2 of those with the group last night. Here is a video of him reading one of those stories He obviously is into fiction, because we don't own a dog. LOL!! We also have to work on his writing, as he was having trouble reading his own writing. He started writing these short stories on his own and has  really done well. He was very excited last night and voluteered to go first. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/511728/ Sun, 6 Apr 2008 21:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/511728/ My DH got an email from Americans for Truth this morning about a suburban Chicago HS that is using Angels in America in their AP Literature Class. (this link takes you to the Americans for Truth website). Everyone wonders why the youth in america are in so much trouble, well take a look at the curriculum in the schools. I have made several phone calls to those listed on the AFT website letting them know they need to be more responible for what is being taught in the schools and not allowing books like this to be used as teaching material. The teacher himself, the school principal, the school district and the regional office of education and so far no one seems to think this isn't a problem. So glad I am a homeschooler in IL. This is the 3rd such case this past year or unexceptable reading material in Chicago area schools. It frightens me to know that I have a niece entering public HS next year and another niece the following year. (not Deerfield, but local suburban Chicago HS) Praying their HS's won't subject them to such reading material. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/493820/ Thu, 6 Mar 2008 16:41:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/493820/ I have a book recommendation for Arts and Crafts time with the kids. We found a really neat series at our local library and we love them so much we are looking to buy a few of the titles. Little Hands Art Books is an excellent series for kids as young as 2. There are many different titles and the link above is only a few of them. They are published by Williamson Publishing Company and have various authors, only of the most popular authors is Judy Press. Here are some of the titles:                   There are so many more titles!! My boys are loving these books and we are looking to acquire a few via half price books, paperbackswap, ebay and other book sales. They really are so much fun!! To find more titles do a google search or a library search for "Williamson Publishing Company" or "Little Hands Art Book". Have fun!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/469747/ Mon, 28 Jan 2008 14:03:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/469747/ UGH!! It seems since Jan 7th we have really only done 2 days of official school. We have had some life interupptions(my dad needing rides to and from Drs. over the past couple of weeks), a couple of sick children(right now Joshua himself is sick with Strep Throat) and the winter blues have set in for me. We aren't doing "book work" but I know as we go through our day we are doing learning activities. For instance, the one day I had to drive my dad to the hospital for an outpatient surgery, I took Joshua with me. My dad ended up not getting the surgery due to having bronchositis on that day, so we picked him up early and he wanted to eat. We went to a restaurant. The kids menu had a fill in the blanks with the animal names. Joshua took his menu and filled in all the words(entire spelling needed) all by himself. My parents were quite impressed. We have been doing some baking lately with the kids help so they have been learning about measurements and such while baking. I still have a bit of guilt though that we haven't been able to do "book work" but only 2 days in the past 12 days. I know he is only in Kindergarten, but sometimes I get to wondering if I'm failing him by not doing more book work with him. Please pray that life interupptions will come to a halt and we can get more focused on our school work. Have a blessed day!! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/466151/ Tue, 22 Jan 2008 12:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/familymgrkendra/466151/