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!