Today was our first day back to {home}school! Eli and Maddie are in 3rd Grade, and Aiden started 2nd Grade :)
Eli is ready to kick-off 3rd grade!
I have to brag on this sweet girl...her first day of school dress didn't arrive in time, but she had the best attitude about it. She's maturing so much!
Aiden is ready to crush 2nd grade! {We usually start school the day after his birthday, but because we are starting early this year, he's still 6. Which makes me realize how young he still is! But how proud I am of him for all the work he does}
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Year 4! I am so thankful to be starting another homeschool year. The Lord has certainly done a work over the past 4 years. It's funny how something that I wasn't really wanting to do in the beginning is now something that I can't imagine not doing.
We made it through Aiden's first year of proof of progress, and I am really thankful for our evaluator. She offers really great resources and has been an immense help to us. While I still don't have all the answers, I do know that we have found a good rhythm, and I am feeling more confident in my kids' learning styles. I look forward to this new year and all that we have planned!
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Here's a look at what we have in store for third and second grade:
Morning Time: This time will remain fairly consistent from last year and consists of multiple elements:
- Daily hymn- a selected hymn each week from Then Sings My Soul by Robert J. Morgan
- Catechism- we use The New City Catechism for Kids from The Gospel Coalition
- Character Cards- we use the Character Matters Cards from September and Co
- World Prayer- we pray for one country or people group a week from the Window on the World: An Operation World Prayer Resource book
Bible: I actually made a last-minute pivot on our Bible curriculum. We have been using the Bible Road Trip curriculum from Thinking Kids Press for the past few years. And it has been great. But I have felt like we needed more of an actual study curriculum that dives more into the historical context of the Bible. I was really excited when I found Foundations of the Bible by Driven by Grace. We will walk through Volume 1: Creation to Moses this year, and I plan to supplement with the Bible Road Trip {since it covers more actual Biblical text}. So it will be a little bit of a combination effort to get us through a broader scope of the Old Testament. But I am looking forward to it, and I think it will be a good shift for the kids.
Language Arts:
- Spelling- Eli and Maddie will move to Modern Curriculum Press' Spelling Workout C, and Aiden will start with Spelling Workout B.
- Grammar- We will do grammar twice a week, and we will use First Language Lessons- Level Three from the Well Trained Mind. Aiden is still doing great keeping up with Eli and Maddie!
- Writing- We will continue our daily handwriting practice with Zaner-Bloser Handwriting workbooks. Eli and Maddie will continue practicing cursive, and Aiden will start cursive this year. We will also start Writing with Ease Level 3 for literature and writing skills. This is where Aiden splits off more from Eli and Maddie; I just tailor his writing work differently from theirs, though he is still learning the same literature.
- Reading- Eli and Maddie will continue practicing their reading with the appropriate level readers of their choosing, and continued practice in everyday work. This year, I will start them on more timed reading, instead of just counting books. Aiden will continue his lessons in The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading {OPG}, taking breaks to practice with BOB Books and to use the ABC See Hear Do books. He made some great strides over the summer, so we will continued our work into his 2nd grade year.
Family Read Alouds: Over the summer, we started The Wingfeather Saga by Andrew Peterson, and the kids have really enjoyed it! This year, we have some classics lined up:
- The Story of Doctor Dolittle by Hugh Lofting
- A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett
- Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
- The Best Christmas Pageant Ever by Barbara Robinson
- Pollyanna by Eleanor H. Porter
- The Princess and the Goblin by George MacDonald
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
- The Railway Children by E. Nesbit
- The Green Ember by S.D. Smith
This may be more than we can read in a year, so it may bleed into next summer too, but we will see what we can get read! I have started getting the audiobooks to play at lunch time {or on the go for soccer practice!}, which helps ensure that we actually get through them. When I have to sit and read them, it's a bit tougher. But I am hoping that we get through them so that we are teed up to read through the Green Ember series next summer :)
Math: We will stick with our tried and true curriculum. Eli will be moving forward with Kate Snow's Third Grade Math with Confidence, and Maddie and Aiden will complete Second Grade Math with Confidence {which they started last spring}, hopefully starting Third Grade Math with Confidence next spring. Slowing them down last year was the right call, so we will just continue on our current schedule.
History: Since the kids love it so much, we will continue with the same spine, The Story of the World. They didn't love the Middle Ages as much as Ancient Times, so we will see what they think of Modern Times :)
This year we will use The Story of the World Volume 3: Early Modern Times, but we will also be using Our Star-Spangled Story from Notgrass History. I wanted a more robust American History covering, so we will be running these two concurrently.
As always, we will be supplementing with the following:
- Usborne Book of World History
- The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia
- The Kingfisher Illustrated History of the World
- Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History
- Relevant library books
We will also have a mixture of read alouds and narration, maps/coloring pages, and activities/crafts.
Geography: Last year, the kids really wanted to add some geography, so we ended up adding a workbook in the spring semester, and it was perfect! It was a great introduction to reading/learning maps and geography.
This year, I wanted them to have something more robust {and planned}. So we will be focusing on U.S. Geography {since we will be learning American history}, and we use:
- The Complete Book of Maps and Geography, Grades 3-6 - we will be able to use this beyond this year
- States and Capitals Worksheets from Arrows & Applesauce
- State coloring pages from 123 Homeschool 4 Me
Science: This year we will be learning Chemistry! Which basically means we will be doing a whole bunch of experiments. The experiments will come from Adventures with Atoms and Molecules Book I and Book II. For each experiment, we will have an Experiment Page, where we answer questions like "what did we use?" "what did we do?" "what happened?" and "what did we learn?"
We will also use the following texts to look up and write definitions for relevant definitions for each experiment:
- Usborne First Encyclopedia of Science- more for Aiden
- The Usborne Science Encyclopedia- more for Eli and Maddie
And as always, when applicable, we will check out books at the library, based on the topics we are covering that week.
This year will require a little more work from the kids {more than just verbally give me some facts about what you learned and draw a picture}, so I will be curious to see how they do with it. But I'm hoping that the fun experiments will outweigh the "work" part of it and motivate them to dig in and learn.
Foreign Language- Latin: So we went from begging for Spanish, having fun with it, to absolutely hating it haha. I think part of it was the curriculum that I chose. It was no longer fun when it was less singing and dancing and more actual book work. But really, the curriculum was not laid out well {in my opinion}. And to actually learn the language, you have to actually speak it, not write words in a book.
All that to say...we will be taking a break from Spanish. We will come back to it {I hope}. I'm not sure I am making the right move here switching them over to Latin, but I do want the kids to have some language. And since I have no background in French {Maddie's choice}, and everyone is burnt out on Spanish...we're forging ahead on Latin. Do I have background in Latin? Nope. Haha. But it is something I regret not taking in school. A ton of my friends did, and I know there is benefit in knowing the Latin words to understand the roots of English words {and even have a foundation for other languages....ahem, French, my dear Maddie!} So this could be a colossal failure, and I'm pretty sure my kids are going to hate it. But we're going to try it anyway!
So... we will be using Prima Latina from Memoria Press. Wish us luck! :)
Typing: This year, I will start Eli and Maddie on a typing program through Typing.com. They haven't had any exposure to a computer or typing {or really any kind of device}, so it will be a brand new thing for them. They watch movies and shows on our TV/phones, and we zoom with grandparents all the time, but we barely let them use the remote haha. The most exposure to technology they have had is using their Yoto players {which has simple buttons} or using the touchscreen to check out their own library books at the library. So this should be entertaining :)
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Every year that we have homeschooled has been a step of faith. Whether it was the initial step of faith to even start, or the steps of faith to balance homeschooling, work, and ministry, it has been a true walk of surrender to the Lord. This year has been no different.
When I lost my job in January, we weren't sure if we would be able to finish out the school year. But the Lord was faithful to provide, and we closed out the year. But we have been praying since January about this new year, and whether we would be able to continue homeschooling. We have depended on my income, so I wasn't sure if I would need to go back to work full time.
I had hoped that I would find another part time time and that we would continue as is. But that hasn't happened, and all this time, I keep hearing wait and trust Me. Which was easier to do in May, but much harder come July/August when final decisions had to be made.
So here we are, taking another step of faith, trusting that the Lord is going to provide, just as He always has. And while I know that homeschooling is the right choice for our kids, I am still working on the wait and trust Me part when it comes to a job/income. He has been faithful, and I know He will continue to be faithful.
From the beginning, we have decided to take our homeschooling journey year by year. Right now, I am just thankful that we are starting another year. It's an immense privilege, one that I don't take for granted. I'm thankful for a supportive husband and family.
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