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Homeschool

Here we go! It’s my 5th year of homeschooling–and I’m super excited to have 1st graders this year as the 1st grade curriculum is one of the most fun and sweetest! We don’t use any one system–so no “school in a box” here. That works for some, but I’ve yet to find a thorough program that does everything well. So we pick the best of each one and piece meal–all for a purpose. I’m a former middle school reading and language arts teacher, so I’m naturally passionate about choosing a strong phonics program with a solid Orton Gillingham base (There isn’t a workbook on the market that does this well, BUT there is a program that rocks it that’s super easy for any homeschool mom to teach in just 15 minutes a day!) If you ever have questions or suggestions–I’m all ears and would love to support, encourage or hear any other momma in our boat or considering homeschooling. One thing I’ve learned is we really need each other. So please never hesitate to reach out to me or another homeschool mom in your community for support!

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Here’s what is on our book shelf for the 2015-2016 school year with a 5th grader, 4th grader, 1st grader and kindergardener by age…but 1st grade ready. You will also notice that some of the grades do the exact same thing! One of our motivations for homeschooling was to be TOGETHER as a family. I tried a hybrid homeschool and with our family having A LOT OF KIDS…I noticed I was asking my kids to learn separately. I was even sending them to separate rooms to learn by themselves! Oh man. That didn’t last long for us. We want to be together as a family–and being together means learning together when possible (history, historical time period read alouds that go with our history, science, and Latin/Greek). For that reason–I’ll just list grade specific things under each grade–and what we do together at the bottom of  with modifications that are made for different levels AT THE BOTTOM OF THE POST:)

My 5th Grader…P-man…

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5th GRADE Curriculum:

ENGLISH – English 5 Writing and Grammar by BJU

WRITING – Writeshop 1 (Another great writing program we have done that I would recommend is IEW. If your child is in the 5th or 4th grade and has never participated in a program like Writeshop or IEW–you may want to begin in Writeshop at the Primary or Junior levels. As a former writing teacher, I always say that you never want to jump up to a level you think your child should be in before establishing a strong foundation to grow on. It’s better to start easy and breeze on through a program than to jump into a program confused with lots of gaps to fill.)

READING COMPREHENSION AND HANDWRITING PRACTICE- The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease Workbook 4  (We do not do this daily. We started this in 4th grade, and we will continue it with 5th. It’s great for reading and comprehension while introducing the reader to a wide variety of different genres of literature.)

MATH – Saxon 6/5 and DIVE into Math – Just like there isn’t ONE program that is well-rounded, this momma certainly can’t be the expert in every subject;). Y’all. I do not love math. I need someone else to teach the bigs math. So…I do what I can–and then I rely on good ole Dr. Shormann. Dive is super cool because it lines up with Saxon starting in 4th grade and goes all the way up! You simply download the app after you buy the program from the Dive Into Math site and Dr. Shormann teaches each lesson clearly to your child (or you;). You can watch the lesson anywhere from a iPhone, iPad or computer.

BIBLE – Bible Truths Grade 5 – We start our day with each child getting to have their own Bible time using these Bible workbooks. I only buy the workbook. We all have our quiet time together and momma starts the day with peace and coffee:) Truly a perfect way to start our day!

SPELLING – Natural Speller (We also LOVE the All About Spelling program offered by All About Learning.) This is one book for all grades!

We also sprinkle in Explode the CodeMind BendersEditor in ChiefSpectrum Test Prep, and Maps: Charts and Graphs to make sure we are learning test taking skills as well as filling any gaps in comprehension and critical thinking skills.

SCIENCE, HISTORY, LATIN/GREEK, PHONICS REVIEW for Grade 5 is done together with younger siblings! One of my favorite quotes I need on a sign in our home: Together is the best place to be:) I know it’s not realistic to do EVERY subject together. But there are definitely some that can be done together–and oh my…does this make it easier on MOM to get to have all her babies together for a few lessons! This I have seen is where some of the sweetest heart connections are made in our homeschool time:) See the bottom post for 5th grade Science, History, Latin/Greek and Phonics!

NEXT UP…4th grade!

My 4th Grader…Loo bear…

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4th Grade Curriculum:

ENGLISH – English 4 Writing and Grammar by BJU

WRITING – Writeshop 1 (Another great writing program we have done that I would recommend is IEW. If your child is in the 4th grade and has never participated in a program like Writeshop or IEW–you should begin in Writeshop at the Primary or Junior levels. Never jump up to a level you think your child should be in before establishing a strong foundation to grow on. It’s better to start easy and breeze on through a program than to jump into a program confused with lots of gaps to fill.)

READING COMPREHENSION AND HANDWRITING PRACTICE – The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease Workbook 4  (We do not do this daily. We started this in 4th grade, and we will continue it with 5th. It’s great for reading and comprehension while introducing the reader to a wide variety of different genres of literature.) 

MATH – Saxon 5/4 and DIVE into Math – Just like there isn’t ONE program that is well-rounded, this momma certainly can’t be the expert in every subject;). Y’all. I do not love math. I need someone else to teach the bigs math. So…I do what I can–and then I rely on good ole Dr. Shormann. Dive is super cool because it lines up with Saxon starting in 4th grade and goes all the way up! You simply download the app after you buy the program from the Dive Into Math site and Dr. Shormann teaches each lesson clearly to your child (or you;). You can watch the lesson anywhere from a iPhone, iPad or computer.

BIBLE – Bible Truths Grade 4 – We start our day with each child getting to have their own Bible time using these Bible workbooks. I only buy the workbook. We all have our quiet time together and momma starts the day with peace and coffee:) Truly a perfect way to start our day!

SPELLING – Natural Speller (We also LOVE the All About Spelling program offered by All About Learning.) This is ONE book from all grades!

We also sprinkle in Explode the CodeMind BendersEditor in ChiefSpectrum Test Prep, and Maps: Charts and Graphs to make sure we are learning test taking skills as well as filling any gaps in comprehension and critical thinking skills.

SCIENCE, HISTORY, LATIN/GREEK, PHONICS REVIEW for Grade 4 is done together with younger siblings! 

Next up…1st grade!

My 1st Grader…the Tank…(on the right–pictured with his pirate friend Miss C!)

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And my Pre-1st grader…ITY!

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1st and Pre-1st Grade Curriculum (These two 1st grade birds are really doing the same curriculum. However because of one of their ages–one would technically be in kindergarden in a state school, BUT  with this kindergartner reading on a 3rd grade level–kindergarden curriculum is quite boring for him. I don’t think you move kids up to a different grade if they aren’t fully ready for it in every area so I don’t want to say 1st just yet:) SO…pre-1st it is!)

1st Grade Curriculum:

ENGLISH – First Language Lessons – Level 1

WRITING – The Complete Writer: Level 1 Workbook with Writing with Ease 

HANDWRITING PRACTICE – BJU Handwriting Grade 1 (Another handwriting program that we love is Handwriting Without Tears! We completed Handwriting Without Tears printing in Pre-K and K–and BJU teaches a few letters a little differently:). We are all about learning a little differently for different things! We needed to switch some things up after finishing Handwriting Without Tears–which I would recommend beginning with first:).

MATH –  Singapore Math 1A and 1B and Abeka Artithmetic 1  Math is the other thing I’m passionate about not leaving holes in! We have tried Math-U-See, Saxon and everything else under the sun for elementary math. I LOVE Singapore for 1st-4th grades. Then we move into Saxon simply because that’s what most high schools will be using (thank goodness for Saxon DIVE!) Until then, I want to build strong mathematicians who can do mental math quickly in many different ways. Math-U-See left lots of gaps for our kids and missed some key concepts that they would need later. Saxon ROCKS and doesn’t leave gaps–but for 1st grade it can get boring. So–do Singapore 1A and 1B and then also use Abeka because it’s just fun with lots of fun colors:) If you use both–you will see how Singapore goes much faster and teaches skills in 1st that are foundational for multiplication and division earlier than almost any other program.

BIBLE – Bible Truths Grade 1 – We start our day with each child getting to have their own Bible time using these Bible workbooks. I only buy the workbook. We all have our quiet time together and momma starts the day with peace and coffee:) Truly a perfect way to start our day!

SPELLING – Natural Speller (We also LOVE the All About Spelling program offered by All About Learning.) This is ONE book from all grades!

We also sprinkle in Explode the CodeMind Benders, and Maps: Charts and Graphs to make sure we are learning test taking skills as well as filling any gaps in comprehension and critical thinking skills.

ALL GRADES DO THE SAME THINGS FOR SCIENCE, HISTORY, LATIN/GREEK and PHONICS. I group bigs and littles separately for phonics only but we all participate in each other’s phonics together.

Science, History, Latin/Greek and Phonics for ALL GRADES together: 

SCIENCE (We love Apologia for science!)- Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology  . ALL of the children use the same book but just use age appropriate Apologia Anatomy Notebook Journal to study along. My 4th and 5th graders use: Anatomy Notebooking Journal. I love how the lesson plans are all ready for you in the front of each child’s journal. You will complete this entire book and journal in just 28 weeks if you follow the lesson plan and each week just study science 2 days a week! If you want to start another when you are completed you can! I’m already eyeing the Botany program to do next:)

HISTORY – We are study U.S. History this year! History is TOO rich to stick to just one curriculum if you ask me–and I’ve yet to find one that is light enough that allows you to add lots to it! (We do our history each year in a rotation–so next year they would start with ancients, the next middle ages, and so on!) So…here are some components of our history program:

1. We are incorporating History Pockets for the 1700’s as BJU misses these years in U.S. History. This year we will be making folders with these History Pockets: Native AmericansColonial AmericaThe American Revolution, and The Civil War.

2. We will be adding a little Veritas to our history program with their history flashcards and Pages of History read alouds. The flashcards: Explorers to 1815 and 1815 to Present. Veritas Press’s read alouds for all ages: Pages of History Set which also line up with the history flashcards.

3. I also made a timeline of historic novels to use for book reports and before bedtime read alouds. How sweet is that when you can read aloud at bedtime to everyone what ties into their history program?! I love weaving in learning to all parts of our day and night routine together:)

4. We were GOING to try BJU U.S. History this year–but I don’t love how it jumps around on the time line. We love you BJU for Bible and English…but we need our history to be chronological from beginning to end just like history happened–and as simple as possible. So–we will use the text and workbooks we purchased for comprehension and review when it lines up with our chronological lessons. BJU is grade specific–and because history is really something you can do together–we choose together on this one:). We had planned to meet in the middle and using grade 4 as a base so 1st and 5th grade can follow along. SO–we will just use this when it lines up with our timeline.

LATIN/GREEKEnglish from the Roots Up and Greek and Latin Flash Cards

PHONICSAll About Reading Levels 1-4 Here’s my All About Learning plug;) No matter the age, we start at Level 1 and finish at Level 4. So many schools do not teach phonics–or if they do they use phonic workbooks instead of a hands on approach. They often do not teach phonic rules–and the children begin to memorize words rather than learn to read phonically. This works great up until the 2nd or 3rd grade when memorizing lots of big words gets really tough. If you have a 2nd or 3rd grader than just started to really struggle as a reader, it’s likely they have been memorizing rather than learning how to read phonetically. The great news is that it’s never to late to go back and retrain your brain to learn differently! We LOVE All About Learning for phonics and spelling! We have done everything from Saxon to Abeka for phonics, but we have parked ourselves right here on this amazing Orton Gillingham hands-on based program! As a former reading teacher for middle school, I really believe READING WELL should always be our focus for our kids in elementary stages. If they can read well and comprehend well because they aren’t having to work really hard to read–then they will succeed in EVERY subject. Struggling readers will struggle with every subject–and having a child with a sensory processing disorder–I have seen All About Reading take the struggle out of reading making our need for a weekly tutor no longer a need! This is a GREAT program for all levels of readers beginning in kindergarden until they complete the program:)

THAT’S ALL FOR THIS YEAR FOLKS!

OH…the PRESCHOOLER! I almost forgot! How could I ever forget THIS package of yummy?! Meet the preschooler…ZEKE!

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Zeke is a wild one…and he is going to go to preschool in the morning some during the week–and the rest of the time we will be having fun with The Homegrown Preschooler curriculum. You might be surprised to see his picture along with ITY’s throughout that curriculum if you buy it! We are so thankful to have the author as a dear friend–and love this sweet program for preschoolers!

Whew!

So while that sounds like a lot, we are usually start our school day around 8:30 or 9am…and we usually end around 1pm! We only do 4 day school weeks at home–with a day set aside for extracurricular classes the children take at a homeschool program where 700 other homeschool kids attend. They take art, cooking, STEM classes, computer and music!

We also co-op with other families on Monday—honestly for the ACCOUNTABILITY and the extra fun:) It took us a LONG TIME to find the right fit of curriculum and co-op families–so if you are hoping for these…HANG IN THERE…trust the Lord to provide and don’t give up!!! Change things around when they aren’t working–and take lots of field trips and fun days when you need it!

And field trips! We take at least a couple every month!

I started homeschool with the intention to try it ONE YEAR…and 5 years later–here we are! I’m so thankful we tried it and took the leap! Yes, I’ve seen the benefits from an educational perspective–but most of all…it’s the shaping of their hearts. This is the hardest and best thing that I’ve ever done as a mom. SO WORTH IT!

Blessings from our home to  yours!

Andrea