A Typical Week in the Life...

If I had to pick the most important lesson that I've learned thus far in my homeschooling journey it would be this:

THERE ARE NO TYPICAL DAYS IN HOMESCHOOLING.  EVER.

And, that's okay!

I've also learned that even though there are no typical days, having a loosely knit schedule is just what our family has always needed.  Though I highly doubt I will ever have a week that looks exactly like what I have outlined below, our "schedule", if you can call it that, has been the key factor in keeping my sanity over the last few weeks. Another key factor:  remembering to be flexible, and remembering that if things don't go as planned, its perfectly okay!

Sunday is the first day of the week for us.  It's basically reserved for church and family.  At least we try to keep it that way.  It's typically the one day of the week Mr. B doesn't work and gets to sleep in, well, if you call 6:30 sleeping in anyways.  Sunday night starts our weeknight routine of baths, books, and early bedtime. The goal is to have both kids in their rooms with books read and snuggled up in their beds by 7:30.  Our reasoning for this isn't so much that we want them asleep that early, but rather that we believe that to have a strong family, you have to have a strong marriage, and to have a strong marriage, its imperative that you get quality time with your spouse.  The kids are free to read or quietly watch a movie, and typically have fallen asleep by the time Mr. B and I hit the sheets.

Weekdays start out early at our house.  Mr. B and I wake up at 4:30, and while he is getting ready for work I pack his lunch and prepare his breakfast.  He is typically out the door by 5:15, and I start my day after that.

I try to stay out of bed, and most mornings I succeed.  I won't lie and say I do every morning though.  Some nights just aren't long enough and I can't keep my eyes open.  But most mornings, I make a pot of coffee and settle in for my Bible study and prayer time.  By 6 I've finished my morning study, and move on to my "To-Do" folder, which includes things like bills, work I do for our church, lesson planning, meal planning, and the like.  I work on it until about 6:30 and then try to squeeze in a morning workout before getting showered, dressed and ready for the day.  At 7:30, it's time to wake up the kids and they make their beds.

While they are washing up and getting dressed for the day, I start breakfast and throw in a load of laundry. (I've recently became a Flybaby, read all about the Flylady here.)  By 8 we have started eating breakfast and doing our morning devotional.  After breakfast, we all clean up together and I wash dishes and shine my sink while they wash up and pull their workboxes into our dining room for the day.

At 8:30 we start school.  And that's when any sense of time goes out the window.  There are too many variables in learning styles, what's interesting and exciting for the day, and so forth, so instead, we do things in a specific order and take a break for lunch, cleanup and switching laundry over around noon.  Monday's schooling starts at 8:30 and lasts till 9, when we have to leave for my weekly meeting at church.  We are home by noon, eat lunch and resume with school after that.

Mornings start out with calendar and weather review, the pledge, the ABC song, the Days of the Week Song, the Months of the Year song, the Today Is song, and our weekly memorized Bible verse, which goes along with what they are learning at our church's KidZone program.  We then move on to our workboxes.  (I'll post more on our workboxes on a later date.)

After our workboxes are completed, or just whenever we are ready for a break, we do one of our "enrichment" studies.  These are PE, Nature Study, Home Ec, and Shop, for now.

With the exception of Shop, which is a study they do with daddy, we are always done with everything in time to get chores done and have some free play before preparing for dad to come home.  During the kid's free time I get my daily cleaning and Zone cleaning (again, check out the Flylady for details) done and prep for dinner.

With the exception of Wednesday nights, when we head to church for cooking and Kidzone/Adult Bible Study, at 4:30, we start at one end of the house and work our way to the basement, picking up and doing surface cleaning as we go.  (On Wednesdays our cleanup routine just starts earlier.) We fold and put away the laundry that was in the dryer and then I'm off to cook dinner while the kids go play some more, or, if they wish, help me cook.

On all days but Wednesday, Dad comes home to a (hopefully) clean house at 5, and unpacks and settles in.  Dinner is on the table by 5:30.  We do a family devotional over dinner and talk about the day's events.  After dinner we clean up the kitchen and dining room as a family, I shine my sink, and we spend the evening doing whatever projects we each choose. After being with me all day, the kids typically choose to hang out with dad.  A little before 7 (a little before 8 on Wednesdays) the kids start their bedtime routine, and Mr. B and I get our personal time together.  We're generally in bed by 9:30.

Friday nights and Saturdays are pretty much open for us to get whatever work we need done in the yard accomplished or to do fun things like family outings or get togethers with friends.  And then on Sunday, it starts all over again.

So there you have it!  Our typical week. If it sounds exhausting, it can be.  But it is filled with fun, excitement, and makes for an organized, less stressful week for our family.  Our house stays clean, we have healthy meals on the table, and we all get along - for the most part!

Check back later this week for my post on how we do workboxes.

Getting in the Homeschool Groove

The last two weeks have honestly been two of the most enjoyable weeks I've had in a long while.  I love to schedule, I love to plan, I love to spend quality time with our kids, and most of all, I love to have fun!

First off, I'd like to introduce you to the newest members of the Out of the Box Learning Academy.  Yep.  You read it!  I even got so creative that I named our homeschool.  Did you know that there are a TON of freebies and rewards out there available to schools and homeschoolers?  I sure didn't.  But I did quickly see that a lot of them require you to have a school "name".  Hence, our Academy was born!

So without further ado, meet our preschooler, Princess M and our 2nd grader, Mr. C!

 Aren't they the cutest? Well, I sure think so.  And they have personalities that are out of this world.  I was really worried about this at first, because, you know, sometimes our personalities don't quite fit into the box that the world deems appropriate for schooling.  But for our school, they fit just fine!  We laugh, we work hard, and we have fun.  We work together in a way that makes everyone happy, because with homeschooling, you can do that!  Now, by that I don't mean that I let them have their way.  What I mean is that they can learn in a way that leaves them with a smile on their face, rather than being forced to do it the same way as the child sitting next to them.

So we've been schooling for almost two weeks now. We've started paper mache globes, because we're just learning what Geography is all about.  It's pretty awesome that this doubles as an art lesson too! The best part?  We sat down one night as a family on the kitchen floor and did it together.  If I tried that last year, Mr. C would have been a complete mess because he had already spent all day at school and was tired of "learning".  Now, its just part of our everyday life!

We've done some science experiments already as well.  We learned what happens when you mummify and apple vs. just letting it sit out.  We've learned how water can magnify words.  And this week, we'll be making an edible cell model to enjoy after dinner one night!

In Mr. C's language arts curriculum, we are reading The Courage of Sarah Noble.  In the first few chapters, we learned about cloaks and talked about the noises of the night and sleeping outside.  The plan was to camp over the holiday weekend and wear our cloaks that we created, but unfortunately it was a tad warm.  So instead, we moved the tent inside!  Are you SEEING how much fun homeschooling is yet!?!  We're having a blast!

We've learned about instruments, and the kids both got to try their music abilities by attempting to play the flute, we've been on nature walks, been swimming for PE, baked cookies for home ec, worked on our hammering abilities for shop, and talked to each other using some of the sign language we are all learning together.  And these are just the super fun things!

You know, its been pretty awesome.  But awesome doesn't even begin to describe the feeling I get when we get up in the morning and before we even make our beds, the kids are asking what we are going to do today.  It doesn't begin to describe the feeling I get when I get to watch as the information they are learning actually clicks in their head.  It doesn't describe the smile that was on my face when I saw M finally trace that letter A for the first time.  And it certainly doesn't describe what its like to have your seven year old and three year old explain to dad over dinner exactly what they learned that day.  All I can say about it is I can't believe I waited this long to start on this journey.

I'm sure we'll have our bad days as well as the good.  I'm sure it won't always be this fun.  But for now, I'm going to eat up every moment of every day and make memories that are going to last a lifetime.

I'll try to continually update my blog for those of you who want to know how our schooling is going, so check back every once in a while.  Keep us in your prayers, too.

Until next time, have a great night everyone!

September Meal Plan

Just last month I started meal planning again.  It was time. For too long I've went to the store with an idea of what sounded good in mind, and just started grabbing things.  Inevitably I would forget things, I'd buy too much of one thing and not enough of another.  It felt like I was having my husband run to the store at least two to three times a week.  Things felt chaotic, and there were many nights where we'd end up at a restaurant just because I didn't have the things I needed to make a particular meal.

I've tried meal planning several times in the past but never been very successful at it.  This time, I saw an awesome editable/printable Menu created by Erica over at Confessions of a Homeschooler and thought I'd give it a try again.  And guess what?  It's working perfectly for our family!

I plan three meals a day and two snacks, and typically make one or two "desserts" a week or keep things like ice cream on hand.  As you can see, I cook a lot and rarely do we eat anything out of a box.  I try to vary things as much as possible because I get bored with the same things every day.  This keeps me wanting to cook!  My husband works 5-6 days a week so I keep lunches pared down to things that can either be kept cold in a lunchbox or hot in a thermos so that he doesn't have to worry about trying to get the microwave at work.  Since we've started meal planning again, he hasn't had to (or wanted to for that matter) eat out at all!

Last month we stuck pretty closely to our plan.  The nice thing about it being a word document is I can edit it if something comes up, so I can push meals further out in the month or reorganize if I have more leftovers than I had planned.  You will notice on the current September version I have attached that there are a few snacks on the 2nd that have a (NS i.e. not served) beside them.  I did this because we were out and about and did not eat them.  This allows me to look back and see what I had planned but haven't yet used.  This also helps with seeing what I had planned when I look back to plan menus for the coming months.

I go shopping every two weeks and use the ultimate grocery list found here.  I love this grocery list because I can edit what is on it and how many I need, and it also provides a great overall list of things, so I can go through it after I've entered everything from my meal plan and add other things that I might have forgotten.  One thing I've learned about creating my list is that it helps to be very detailed.  If I need carrots, I go through and find out exactly how many carrots I need.  If I need milk, I do the same thing.  This way, I don't get to the end of the two weeks and try to fix a meal only to find that I don't have on hand what I need.  It also prevents things from spoiling, and also helps our family not to over eat.

So, are you interested in checking out what are plan for the month looks like?  You can click on the picture above or click here.  If you would like to create an editable version for yourself, or check out some other ideas for meal planning, make sure to visit Erica's blog at confessionsofahomeschooler.com and search for Meal Plans.

If you have any questions or good advice about your meal planning, feel free to leave me a comment below.  I'd love to hear how you do it too!

Total Transformation: Our Dining Room/Homeschool Classroom

I'm joining in on the Not Back to School Blog Hop, hosted by the iHomeschool Network.  Last week was Schoolroom Week, where homeschoolers had a chance to share what their homeschool classrooms look like.  I however, did not have mine set up yet, so I'm a few days late.  But I was too excited about homeschooling to miss out, so I'm posting today.  Check out what other classrooms look like or join the blog hop here.

Two weeks ago, our dining room looked like, well, not a dining room.  Needless to say, the fact that this is where the majority of our homeschooling will take place had me a little nervous.  We had been working on the house for going on three weeks, and the chaos, paint fumes and insane amount of drywall dust were seriously starting to wear on me.

But thankfully, I have an amazing hubby who totally understood that I needed to get our house back in order ASAP.  He worked especially hard to make sure I had our room put together to start schooling today! And, although I still have A LOT of cleaning to do and I will be fighting drywall dust for a long while, I am happy to report I couldn't be happier with the way that things turned out.  

This is the main area that we will be doing schoolwork in.  Mr. C also has his own desk in his room where he'll have the opportunity to work away from the Princess.  It used to belong to his grandma, and he ask to bring it home about a year ago so he could have his own work space.  It was a perfect fit for his room in this corner behind his door.  I also have to mention that the artwork of the Cat in the Hat was done by this very talented young man.  

We will be using a modified version of the work box system so these will also be rolling around the house as we do our work. 

And for those times when we need some reflection, we have our quiet chair.  I wonder how much use this will get as we're attempting to get in the homeschooling groove? 

Of course, our homeschooling won't be limited to our house.  There will be lots of time spent outside, on field trips, and exploring wherever their hearts desire.  

I hope you've enjoyed the tour!

First Year Homeschooling: Curriculum Choices for our Preschool Princess

I know its not till next week...but I have to share my schoolroom as it looks like at this very moment:

Did it make you gasp?  It is about to make me lose my mind!  But alas, my dining room, which will also serve as the main area for our learning, is coming together.  For the last three and a half weeks, different rooms in our house have looked just like this.  And I'm not so sure that I will ever get all of the dust out of my house. But it is getting better by the day!

So why did I share that in this post, you ask?  Because although I have worked diligently to make sure Mr. C's curriculum was all put together, I have kind of let the Princess's slide.  I figured it was much more important to have structure for my seven year old than for my three year old.  And I'm sort of glad I did!

I originally planned on being just as structured with Princess M as I am planning to be with Mr. C.  But after a couple weeks of thinking about it, I decided that three seems awful young to make her have to work, especially with her personality.  She is very independent, and prefers to do things her own way.
So instead, I plan to not force much of anything on her.  She does better learning on her own and by absorbing her surroundings. I figure she will probably get more out of watching and listening to what I'm teaching Mr. C than what she would if I forced her to sit down and learn.  I do, however, plan to have a workbox system in place for her as well as Mr. C. so that she feels her learning is just as important as his. In these I plan to put Montessori type activities and simple coloring sheets and activities that go along with what Mr. C will be studying at that time.  I plan to let her learn at her own pace, when she is ready.  I would much rather let her learn when she is ready than force things on her.

The two things that I will like focus on specifically, but will not have a structured curriculum for are letters and numbers.  I plan to introduce them nonchalantly and let her choose what she wants to further explore from that point.  

Sp there you have it, my approach to Princess M's first preschool year.  Have any of you used this approach?  I'd love to hear thoughts from others!

Check out other Not Back to School bloggers who have posted their curriculum choices by clicking here or click on the button on the sidebar.  Your a homeschooler too?  Join in on the fun and link up as well!
 

Our First Year of Homeschooling: Curriculum Choices for a 2nd Grader

As I said in my post earlier this week, My husband and I have been contemplating homeschooling for the past couple of years, so I had done some browsing over curriculum during that time.  But once it became certain to us that we would be homeschooling this year, I started digging deeper into the many choices out there for curriculum.  And let me tell you, it is no easy task!  Overwhelmed doesn't even describe what I felt as I was trying to pick out my first year's curriculum.  For those of you out there who are picking curriculum for the first time, I strongly advise you to do a few things before jumping in.

First, consider your teaching style and your children's learning styles.  I highly recommend picking up 101 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum by Cathy Duffy. It gives a really good overview of the different approaches to homeschooling. Second, consider how much time you are going to be devoting to homeschooling your children.  As you sort through all of the curriculum choices out there, keep in the back of your mind that some of them are very parent intensive and some take a lot of planning.  Others are all planned out for you, and there are those that are more geared for independent learning.  

Early on I discovered that I am more of an eclectic homeschooler. The best approach for our family is to pick and choose what fits each individual child during that particular stage of their life.  I feel that it is well worth the extra effort and time put into fitting the curriculum to our children if it means that they will enjoy it more, which means that they will get more out of it, and that we will be less likely to become burnt out as the school year progresses.  

And so, that being said these are our curriculum choices Mr. C's 2013-14 school year.  Had he been placed back in school, he would have been in second grade.

Math- For math we chose RightStart.  It wasn't an easy choice, because I was so afraid that Mr. C would be completely lost since he has spent the last two years being taught math at a public school.  But after going through some of the lessons myself and playing a few of their games just to gauge his interest in the specific type of learning, I am more than certain it will be a good fit for us.  For those who haven't done this type of approach to math before, the starter kit includes transition lessons to ease into the learning style.  This particular math is very light on worksheets and flashcards aren't really used.  Instead, math games seem to play a huge part in the teaching.  

Language Arts- I've was so worried about giving our children a solid foundation in English basics, that I was totally overwhelmed with this choice.  But thanks to the urging of a good friend, I researched Total Language Plus. The curriculum actually is geared for Third grade and up, but Mr. C is a very strong reader so we have decided to try it.  The program is literature based and covers all the bases, including spelling, vocabulary, grammar, handwriting and writing, bible, critical thinking and communication.  

Geography- My hardest decision with Geography was trying to decide if we were going to try to match it to our history lessons.  We have decided not to, and are instead going to use Galloping the Globe.  I love the set up, and the use of so many books that go with it.  It even has a cookbook that you can purchase with recipes from different countries.  We will incorporate several of the lapbooking ideas from homeschoolshare.com.  Although this is a multifaceted curriculum and actually includes several subjects in one, we will only be using it as a general guide for the countries which we are studying, and for the scripture references to the books that the curriculum suggests to use with each country. Just as a side note, there is also another related curriculum that we will most likely use next year, called Cantering the Country.

Computers- Anything electronic and my son is hooked!  So we will probably be doing a lot of educational games on the computer.  We will also be using Typing Instructor.  I intend to have him spend 15-20 minutes a day typing; however, I haven't really cracked into it yet myself, so I'm not sure how this will work.  But it is a learn-to-type game, so I'm assuming he'll really enjoy it as he attempts to learn to type and maneuver through the multiple levels. 

Science- Apologia won us over hands down for a science curriculum.  I let Mr. C pick out which book he wanted to start with and he chose Anatomy & Physiology. We will be using the Junior Notebooking Journal with it. I loved that I could order a science kit through Rainbow Resources and it came with most everything I needed for all of this years experiments. It was a must that our science be biblically based as well.  

History- Mr. C will be using Mystery of History: From Creation to Christ this year, but in a very light manner. We will listen to or read the lessons, and maybe do a few of the assignments here and there.  My goal this year is just to familiarize him with the biblical timeline, from Creation to Christ. I guess this will also serve as the background to our Bible studies as well.  I want him to understand from an early age that the world view and biblical view do co-exist.  I think one of the hardest things for me to understand when I was younger was how the history I was being taught in school intermingled with the history taught in the bible.  From what I can tell, this curriculum does a pretty good job of explaining just that.   

Music- I played the saxaphone and the flute when I was younger, and Mr. C has shown interest in playing the sax as well.  I want to start him as soon as possible, but thought some music theory before I do might be helpful.  We will be using Theory for Young Musicians as a backbone for this and I will throw in my own knowledge as we go.  

Art- Our art curricula will be a hodge podge of things.  We will be pulling ideas from our Galloping the Globe studies, our Total Language Plus, and Mystery of History.  We will supplement with Discovering Great Artists, which not only is an artist study but gives a lesson on how to create like each artist as well.  

Forgien Language- We will be learning sign language!  I have no particular curriculum for this, but will instead be pulling from different websites/books/videos as we go along.  I hope this works!

Life Skills- Because we have no real set reward system in place and have yet to stress the importance of giving and saving and why we do it, we've decided to start with Dave Ramsey's Financial Peace Jr. Kit.  

Nature Study-We live on a mini farm and love to be outside, so we are going to wing it for the most part and keep a nature journal one day a week.  I've also picked up the book I Love Dirt for some directed ideas on things to explore.

Home Economics- Again, we will pull ideas for this from several of the above studies.  We will be doing one intentional project a week.  For example, our first week we will be reading the book How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, so we will be baking an apple pie.  Our second week we will be studying The Courage of Sarah Noble, the first book our Total Language Plus is based on, so we will be making cloaks like the one Sarah's mother gave to her.

Shop-  My husband is eager to get Mr. C out in the shop with him, and I am just as eager to have a few hours to myself to do our grocery shopping every Thursday night!  I'll post pictures of their adventures as the come along.

Physical Education- Our plan is to spend a dedicated amount of time (30 minutes) each day exercising together.  I'm not sure if this is more for his educational benefit or to benefit me.  We are considering also joining a homeschool PE class held once a week at our local Y, as well as joining either gymnastics or martial arts.

So there you have it!  We're excited to see how all of this works together for us. I have to admit that I'm also slightly nervous!  But I know with a whole lot of God and His amazing grace thrown in the mix it will all work out beautifully.   I've also been blessed with some amazing friends who are fellow homeschooling moms who can serve as a shoulder to lean on when I think its all falling apart.  So wish me luck as we embark on this new journey!  And check back tomorrow to see what I have planned for our 3 year old, Princess M.

Check out other Not Back to School bloggers who have posted their curriculum choices by clicking here or click on the button on the sidebar.  Your a homeschooler too?  Join in on the fun and link up as well!

And So it Begins...

For the last two years, our family has debated time and time again on whether or not it was right for us.  We've prayed many prayers, we've consulted with others, and we have read too many blogs to count.  But this summer, we finally decided that no matter how hard it may be, or the sacrifices that it may take, we have to follow where we feel God is leading our family.  Thus, starting in two weeks, we will be taking the plunge and beginning our first year of homeschooling.

And I couldn't be MORE EXCITED!!

After several weeks of preparation, I finally feel like we are ready to begin this journey.  We have curriculum picked out and our first lessons planned.  We're on our last leg of remodeling our house, so I will be spending next week doing my final bit of organizing and saying a lot of prayers!