So many things going through my mind lately. Us switching to a textbook curriculum, getting a schedule down and what textbook to go with.
This year I went ahead and ordered from Rod & Staff because I didn't have a whole lot of money left after deciding to go the textbook route and everything I hear about R&S is great! We are happy with our choice for this year.
As I look into some of the other textbook curriculum (mainly Abeka & Bob Jones) I think I will venture out next year. The other textbook curriculum's are a lot more expensive so we'll see.
I like that Bob Jones Heritage Studies starts with U.S. History, so I might go that route for my students 5th grade and under. From 6th grade -7th grade I like Rod & Staff. I like it's more biblical focus of the ancients.
Science I have looked around and I think we will stick with R&S. I do like how Bob Jones in year 7 & 8 focuses on one topic. One year they are learning all about plants for the whole year and the other year they are learning about space. But after looking at both Rod & Staff and Bob Jones Science, something still draws me toward R&S. I think I like what R&S covers each yr. I have looked at both rigorously. Comparing the topics for 5th-8th grades. I'll continue to look at both of them and decide next year.
English I have looked at Bob Jones, Rod & Staff and Abeka. Abeka is just too expensive. I like what I see but it's price is high. Especially after tax & shipping. I love Rod & Staff, the price, the content, everything but it is pretty teacher intensive and there is no workbook. Because I am trying to school 6 kids I really want my students to be able to work in a workbook and not have to write all their answers on notebook paper. My oldest son takes forever with this using R&S.
I have decided to leave my beloved R&S and use Bob Jones. It's a lot more pricey than R&S. Christianbooks.com gives you free shipping when you purchase a whole subject of Bob Jones and I thought that was a good saving. Looks like we might use Bob Jones English for 5th grade and up. I haven't researched High School level but I like what I see from 5th-8th grade.
As for spelling we are using All About Spelling and I will continue to use it from 1st-5th grade. I plan to switch our spelling over to a more textbook curriculum next year. I am leaning toward Bob Jones. I like R&S but it didn't work for Joshua last year. Annette did fine with it.
Bob Jones has the child play with the words more than R&S and that is what Joshua needs.
Phonics & Reading I plan to continue with R&S. I love their reading program. Annette, prefers more storybooks type program, but I love the Biblical focus that R&S has and she learns so much with it. I will add in some books from Sonlight or Hear of Dakota reading list for her and Josh.
What brings such change in the way we school here at Soaring Heights Academy??? I have really enjoyed our literature rich curriculum's that we have used in the past. Sonlight, WinterPromise & My Father's World. They are all wonderful and my kids and I have really enjoyed them.
As more kids are entering 'school' I am having a hard time staying on schedule and keeping up with this type of schooling. I don't really feel like we are 'done' at the end of the day. I wonder 'what am I missing' or 'did we fit everything in'. With using the textbooks I feel like we have accomplished 'school' for that day. I can't be with each child all the time. With using textbooks I can give Joshua his Science, Reading & History and he is not waiting for me to rally up all the kids so we can sit down and read History all together or Science. By the end of the day we didn't get History or Science done because I never found a time for us all to be together. Sounds crazy I know but it happens here a lot.
I would really like English to be more independent too and I have changed my philosophy on this. I am going to start all my kids doing grammar in 2nd grade. Not Charlotte Mason or Ruth Beechick grammar but a textbook grammar. I think if Josh, would have started with a textbook he would know more grammar by now and be more independent with it.
I am starting Caleb with Climbing to Good English 1. Annette is using First Language Lesson 3 and Climbing to Good English 4. Why two? Climbing to Good English Annette can do on her own when I am busy and First Language Lessons requires me to sit with her. If my day is full she can easily continue with grammar using her CTGE, if we have time we can do FLL 3. She really enjoys both. She is my textbook child.
Next year I will have her continue on with CTGE 5 and FLL 4 if she still is enjoying both. Still trying to figure which route to go with Caleb. FLL 3 or continue with Climbing to Good English. I have the next two grades for CTGE so we'll see.
Writing I'm still not sure what to do. I hear Bob Jones English alternates their chapters. One week it's grammar and the next it's writing. I also like Abeka for writing too. I'm looking into both. This is concerning Joshua. The younger kids will use Writing With Ease from the Well Trained Mind. It has just been released this year so Josh won't be able to use it. This is why I'm looking into either BJ or Abeka.
I feel comfortable with moving away from our literature approach and moving toward textbooks. I have actually been wanting to do this for a few years but kept thinking that textbooks are not the way to go if your homeschooling. There aren't too many textbook homeschoolers it seems. I love the CM, Ruth Beechick & Classical education, but they have always left me feeling exhausted. Switching to textbooks has taken me so long because of all the negative things said about it. How boring it is, how it's all about memorizing and filling in the blanks has left me wondering if it's the right choice for us. The more I have looked and research I see that it is. Our day feels finished, the kids are learning and are enjoying their textbooks.
I think Josh really likes knowing that he is in charge and he knows what to do. With what we were doing before he didn't have that.
It does take some getting use to, I'll admit. I'm use to studying history from the Ancients to modern day. Now Annette is studying about communities, Caleb is studying the continents and Joshua is studying about the people of North America. Different but good 
This is getting long and I need to put dinner away.
Blessings,
Linda<><
Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.
Bible
We read through the 23rd Psalm
David being annointed , slaying Goliath,
Solomon's reign and building the temple
Language Arts
In grammar we studied contractions and replaced copywork with dictation.
We started reading Strawberry Girl. That is a fun read. The story is about a family of Florida crackers. There's nothing more fun then my attempts at a southern accent. LOL The story's pretty good too.
We're plugging along in spelling and handwriting. She still hates handwriting but she has finally learned to do it neatly the first time. Lest she have to erase it all and do it again.
We also finished our literature pocket on The Boy Who Cried Wolf. We're reading Aesop's Fables this year and I found an Aesop's Fable Literature Pocket to add in some craftiness to our studies. It covers 8 fables.
Mackenzie is reading another Third Grade Detective book. She loves those. There is currently a handwritten sign in our front window that reads "Detective Agency." And you'll often find Mackenzie and the baby dressed in "disguises" so I won't notice them "detecting."
A couple more books and we'll be onto the advanced readers. I made a good decision when I decided to buy all the readers that Sonlight offered. Mackenzie reads them double time so we go through a level and 1/2 every year. If I'd just gone with her reading level, we'd have been out of readers by grade 1. ROFL
Social Studies
History: We have officially finished our study on Vikings. It was interesting but we're really excited to start Knights and Castles. We read Eric the Red and Leif the Lucky this week. Mackenzie really enjoyed it. Especially because it was true. We did a little book report on it to help her learn how to pull out facts from what she reads.
I'm going to shy away from SS for a minute and talk about book reports. I don't really think book reports are necessary for a homeschooler. I think they're very useful in a regular classroom setting, where I wouldn't have time to orally evaluate each student. If I want to know if Kenzie understands what she read or what she thought, I can ask her. No book report necessary.
However I found these awesome book called How to Report on Books. It's essentially a bunch of different forms and projects that focus on different skills like setting, main character, real/make believe, identifying problems/solutions, etc. It's been a great teaching tool for me. And they're quick for Mackenzie. She loves them. Plus I bought it as an e-book so I can just print the page I want. LOL
Now back to SS...
In Geography we've been learning about maps and globes by reading Maps and Globes. LOL It's been pretty interesting to learn how maps have evolved over the years. Of course we work with real maps too. ROFL
We're also continuing on with Windows on the World. We still love it. Plus I've been printing out flags from each country that we read about and we're going to make those into a book. We've been writing some reminders of what we need to pray about on the flags.
Science
We are finished with birds and have moved on to reptiles. Neither of us are enjoying the pictures of icky snakes. Ick!!!
We are behind in experiments. We're going to have to have a massive experiment day in the near future.
Math
This week we studied adding with regrouping. I've said it before and I'm going to say it again. Math-u-See is the BEST! The way they teach just makes sense. Mackenzie has had no problems picking up any of the concepts with this program. And I wouldn't say she's got a knack for math. (Clearly judging from how long it took her to master her addition facts, especially the 2s. LOL)
And quite frankly, my math skills have improved GREATLY.
Extras
She has had a busy week this week. For brownies she went horseback riding and to Disney on Ice. Big excitement!
Soccer is going well. Best of all the weather has been cool so we haven't been sitting in the 99 degree hit sweating to death. Yay!
And, like I promised, we got our art lessons done. We worked on contrast, drawing geometric shapes, and "stacking" objects.
Can't believe it's week five.
If you would like to read other's who post a weekly homeschool review, visit Mrs. Cuddles.
With all the kiddos we are continuing our read alouds.
- Summer With the Moody's. We are going to finish this on Sunday and start the next book in the series. This book was picked for my 7yr. old and younger students. Although everyone listens in.
- Grandfather's Box we are slowly working through. This was picked more for the older students. Again, everyone listens in. In fact my 4yr. old prefers to listen in on this book rather than the Moody book.
- For my two youngest students I read books from Sonlight & WinterPromise pre-k packages along with lots of book from our own library. I try to read at least 15 min. a day for them.
Joshua 5th Grade:
- In English Joshua completed two lessons, he also did some outlining from Beginning Outlining. He also reviewed the Parts of Speech, Verbs, subject, predicate and simple sub/pred. He just started diagramming for the first time.
- Reading he completed 2 lessons. He read a poem this week about what is in your heart does not stay hidden but shows itself in your daily life. If you are self seeking than that what shows, if you have a servants heart than people will see that.
- Bible: I and Josh are enjoying Rod & Staff's Bible Study Program. I have to remind Josh that even though he knows the answer that he still needs to look up the verse so he can write it exactly how it's written in the Bible. He completed two lessons. He is also learning verses through church. They have Junction 5/6 every Wed. & Sun.
- Science: He only completed one lesson this week. Hopefully next week he will complete two.
- Social Studies: He is getting ready to take a test on Monday. He finished his first chapter which had 3 lessons and a review. He learned about "The North American Continent".
- Spelling: he finished 3 lessons. I need to be more consistent in this area. If we would do spelling at least 4 times a week he would have finished level 1 already.
- Writing: he is continuing to learn how to outline and he copies stories or rewrites them. I do need to make this more formal though.
- Math: Josh completed 4 lesson in R&S and 1 lesson from MUS. Math-U-See is teaching double digit multiplication. He gets confused with it, so we are taking this lesson a bit slower. R&S Math is review with double/triple digit add. & sub. He has been pretty busy in Math. He does all the problems from both Math curriculum's
We are very pleased with the Rod & Staff material. It is challenging Josh and he likes it. He is learning to have better study habits with using textbooks. He is also learning to be more independent with his school work. I am still available. This morning we went over is Bible Study and with English I explain and go over the lesson. He is more on his own with Social Studies and Science. I sit with him at least once a week to go over those two subjects.
Annette 3rd Grade:
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Math: Annette is working through Singapore 2A and Math-U-See Gamma. In MUS she is a bit confused about double digit multiplication, so we have been going over that. In Singapore she completed Exercise 11, 12, 13 and Practice 2A & 2B.
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Social Studies: Annette finished her first Chapter. It consist of four lessons and review. Monday she will take a test. She learned about her place in the community.
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Science: Annette completed Lesson 4 "Rain Brings Us Water'
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Reading: Annette did lesson 5 and 6. We also went over some from last week.
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Grammar: She completed 3 lessons from First Language Lessons 3 and 3 lessons from Climbing to Good English 4. She really enjoys her grammar lessons.
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Bible: She has been learning 5 verses from her AWANA handbook a week, plus reviewing 5 verses. We also use her Reading Lessons for Bible study.
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Spelling: She completed 2 lessons. I should probably stayed with R&S Spelling since she could easily do this on her own, but I didn't. Again like with Josh, if I would do spelling every school day she would be done with level 1. Praying to be more consistent.
Annette, seems to really do well with textbooks. And it has shown me areas which we need to work on. When she gets an answer wrong, I show her or tell her that she needs to go back to the text and find the correct answer.
Caleb 2nd Grade:
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Reading: He is more than half way through The Reading Lesson. He also reads a few pages from his Abeka Reader a day (still need to do that today) Hopefully he will be done by Jan. so we can start him with R&S Reading. Most likely I'll start him were he left off last year using Year 1.
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Math: He is on Exercise 16. He completes about 3 lessons a week but it's too easy for him right now. I should have him complete 5, that way he will be more challenged. He reviews his add. & sub. which he know pretty well. Addition he knows by heart ;) sub. he is good at but can improve.
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Science: he did one lesson. He learned about Weeds & Wildflowers. If I had more time I would draw the lessons out. For example his first lesson was on the Seasons. It would have been nice if I would have gave him coloring pgs. or played a few games, but I didn't
. He is fine with the way we are doing it so I should just leave it at that. -
Social Studies: I read him his lesson on Hill Country and I need to go back and reread it again so we can do the crossword puzzle.
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Grammar: He did three lessons from Climbing to Good English. He likes that book, thank goodness.
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Writing: His Writing With Ease from The Well Trained Mind is finally here. We will start next week.
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Explode the Code: Caleb does about 9 or more pages a week. I should probably drop it, since it's extra work, but I like that it gives him more reading practice.
Caleb is doing very well. I need to make sure that he stays on task. I'm trying to teach him to pick up his own book (ETC or CTGE) and start those on his own. Or maybe practice reading his reading book before I sit with him.
Brent 1st Grade:
Because everything is tied into My Father's World curriculum there is not much to really report. He does about four lessons a week and they consist of Bible, Phonics, Reading, Writing & Science. He also does a lesson in Math-U-See Alpha and about three pgs. a day in his Explode the Cod Book 2 & 2 1/2.
Ethan Kindergarten:
I have added some sight words to his school. He is learning his letter sounds. Can sound out 'at'. He can count to 10 and we will continue to learn to count up to 20. He does a lesson in his MUS Primer workbook and really likes it. He does a section a week in his Before the Code book A. He does a few pages in his R&S workbook.
Lance Pre-k:
He likes to do school. We don't really do much, maybe a page in his R&S pre-k book. He is learning how to control when he cuts. I bought him a Kumon workbook that has him practice cutting. The pages are nice and colorful.
The kiddos are also working on cleaning the kitchen without me having to tell them. They do a great job, but I have to remind them. Another area they are working on his not asking me the same thing over and over. For instance if we are having dessert, they will ask 'when' we are having it. They all only ask once, but that is six times for me. I have told them that if we get dessert I'll serve it to them at the proper time and they don't have to ask me.
That's our week. It's been busy but good. I can hear. My ears popped yesterday.
Blessings,
Linda<><
Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.
The good news is that my 4 year olds arm is not broken! LOL
Yesterday we were at the Mall doing some shopping and then the littles wanted to play at the play land near the food court. My four year old managed to fall off the climbing structure and landed on his left arm. The poor baby was is agony!
It seemed like 100 miles to walk him to the car! I couldn't carry him because he couldn't stand to have his arm touched. Anyway, there was no swelling or protruding bone so I took him home and put ice on it. But 5 hours later he was still in pain, so off we went to Urgent Care. After hanging out at Urgent Care and getting x-rays (My four year old says "I saw my own skeleton!" LOL) it was determined that he has a bad sprain. No break, no fracture....YAY!!!
So we were sent home to "RICE" his arm. (R=Rest, I=Ice, C=Compression, E=Elevation.) Hopefully tomorrow he will feel a little better. He just breaks my heart with his little arm dangling at his side. :^(
So, since I normally write the next days post in the afternoon I have NOTHING for you today! LOL I do have several question people have posted or sent me I need to answer on my blog. So stay tuned, this blog will resume tomorrow. (If all goes well!)
LOL
Happy Homeschooling,
Jamin
It's good to be home. I had fun in CA but missed my little one. I could feel a cold coming on Tue. and by Wed. I new I was getting sick. Thur. I rested as much as I could. The kiddos where great. As soon as they could tell I wasn't feeling good, they right away started getting table trays, water and anything else that would make be comfy. Brent, would come in to my room and ask if I wanted anything.
I asked Annette & Josh to please make lunch for the rest of the kiddos. Annette asked if I wanted a sandwich, but I didn't feel like eating. Brent asked if I wanted some grapes, but the juice in the grapes would hurt my throat, so I passed it up. I let him know that water would be just fine.
They made sure I was comfortable. Brent covered me with his favorite blanket. He is so sweet. I'm so glad he is home this year with us. We missed him and felt he missed out on a lot last year when he went to school.
Eventually I had to get up. I needed to get packing and finish getting the house ready for our friend who was going to watch our children. Once on the plane I felt miserable. I had a head cold and a soar throat. Once we were up in the air my ears became plugged and are still plugged today. My poor kids, I can't hear very well.
By Friday my head hurt, I was tired, my head cold was full blown. I wasn't going to let it get me though. My Dear Hubby and I both woke up by 8:00am. I called my sister MaryEllen and we all went to eat at my Sweets favorite burrito stand Corallas. Mmmmm, very good. We took our brunch to the beach and it was beautiful. My sister, hubby and I sat on some rocks and chatted. Once done we picked up my niece Manda Girl and went to visit my Grandma Tanny. I was sick so I didn't want to stay too long. My grandma is over 80 years and becoming fragile. We stayed for a while and headed to the cemetary to visit my mom and Grandpa Harold. We cleaned the stones, trimmed the grass and put flowers in the little pots. My mom was buried close to my grandfather. They are neighbors 
. We took pictures and my sister found some other relatives to visit.
My Dear Hubby was walking around the cemetery deep in thought. I was just staring at him walking from one grave to another. (He look so cute by the way) Then he came to where I was at my mom's grave and said, almost everyone of the couples graves the husband passed away first. Very interesting we thought. A lot where young some in their 70's which we think is young. We started talking about things that have been on our mind concerning time left here on earth with our children (but that's another days post)
When we were done at the cemetery we split up. I went with my sister and niece and Lupe went to visit some college friends.
Our next stop was the coffee shop. My sister, niece and I were going to meet some cousins at The Coffee Bean. It was so nice to see them. We talked about so many things. By 6:30 p.m. we had to leave. It was Lupe's birthday and my mother-in-law was having a family dinner for him at the house.
At the house I met up with another friend Rasetra. We have been friends for about 13yrs. now. We met at work and she just has been a dear friend since. At the house was all my nieces and nephews from my husbands side of the family. My sister-in-law Veronica has 4 kiddos and Hannah has 6 kiddos and it was good to see them all as well as the grown-ups too.
My sister, niece and I stayed for a little while than we left to drop off Manda. By 9:30 p.m. we were at my sister's apartment and we enjoyed a frozen pizza with juice and did a lot of catching up. I spent the night at her house. It was really fun to be with her. We only get to see each other once or twice a year. I was really happy to spend the night.
By 11:30 I took some medicine and we went to bed. It was a full day and we really enjoyed every minute of it. The next morning MaryEllen and I went to a little coffee shop and had breakfast, stopped a book store, met my Sweets for lunch and then got ready to go to Rachel's wedding. Rachel, use to be in our youth group when my Dear Hubby was a Youth Pastor their. I have known Rachel since was 2yrs. old.
As we were watching the Brides Maids and Grooms Men walk down the isle we were amazed that our kids (meaning our youth kids) were young adults. They have grown up. They are beautiful young ladies and handsome young men. Lupe and I just looked at them in amazement and remembered when we were that young. Hee.hee. My Sweets and I have been married for 12 yrs. now. WOW! I still look at my husband and love him more every day. Marriage is wonderful!!! Okay, back to the wedding. It was beautiful.
We went to the reception and then after we met Lupe's sister Hannah and her husband for a snack at T.G.I Friday's. It was fun catching up with them. We went back to my MIL's and watched the news before going to bed. Next morning we were back on the plane and headed home.
Happy to be home,
Linda<><
Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.
Bookmarks are one of those little things that can become a BIG annoyance in our homeschool. When I assign a book to be read I put a bookmark in it. But, inevitably in a couple days I find bookmarks on the floor and no one knows where they are supposed to be reading in their book! Over time it becomes annoying. ("Mom, what page am I on? Mom, where is my bookmark? Mom, can you look and see what pages I am supposed to read today?" LOL)
So here is how I have resolved it...
Instead of using bookmarks now I put little post-it note flag markers in their books. These STICK, so they are MUCH less likely to fall out of the book and get lost! I like to buy the ones that come in a pen or highlighter, then they are handy in my teachers notebooks and I can always find them. The ones we are currently using say "Sign Here" on them because they were 2 for $1.00 at the Dollar Tree and no one here cares what they say! LOLSo, that is one of the little things that make my life easier. It works for me!
Happy Homeschooling,
Jamin
P.S. Have you seen the great bookmarks Jimmie has over at her blog to remind mom to have the kids do narration? These are AWESOME!!! I am using these with the American Girl books I am reading to my daughter this year.
WOW! I love all the questions I have been getting lately! It makes it so easy for me to come up with a daily topic. Here is the latest question:
Posted by DragonflyWoods
In your blog today you said you used the Magic Treehouse books with you son in the 1st grade. My son is in 1st grade, we are new to homeschooling and I am trying to find something interesting to use for History. Can you tell me what you were doing in addition to reading the books to him? When we have read them in the past they definitely have been a conversation starter so I know they can be expounded upon but were you doing more than that?
With my older son we used the Magic Treehouse books as a jumping off point for a weekly Unit Study. Each week we would read one of the books and then we would also read all the books on the same topic we could find at the library. We also incorporated any field trips that related into the week. So say we were reading the Dinaosaur one we would read the book, read other books we could find on Dinosaurs, do dinosaur crafts and go to the Natural History Museum.
Now that we know about lapbooks I would totally incorporate a lapbook for any or all of the topics. We have done a few lapbooks based on MTH books. (Dinosaurs, Civil War, and Middle Ages were all based around MTH books.) So, since there is a good chance I will be doing these books again in a couple years with my youngest I plan on doing some lapbooks with him too. (As a matter of fact I have been working on some MTH templates for lapbooks like the ones for the American Girl books. But, I haven't gotten them done because I don't need them for a few years yet.)
Another thing you could do is have a Magic Treehouse Club. A friend of ours in Las Vegas has her son in a book club based on the books. I haven't heard all the details, but I am thinking it is probably similar to the American Girl Club I am starting for my daughter. I think this is something I might have to do in a couple years with my youngest. We could discuss the book, do crafts on the topic, do worksheets, etc. It sounds like a lot of fun!
So is how I would teach with this series. Hopefully others will leave some great comments with even more ideas for both of us!
Happy Homeschooling,
Jamin