first year homeschool curricula-snapshot

We've really had to hone in on what's important for this first year. I've cut out A LOT of what I had planned! I was so worried we'd have tons of time on our hands, but that really isn't the case at all.

Our priority is to: establish a routine and learn about God from the Bible. Math is an essential for us. Reading is essential. Those things are bedrock. For now, everything else is icing.

Now we build on that...
I love MathUSee so that has been going quite smoothly from the start. I LOVE how Steve introduces algebra throughout even the first Alpha book.

We have already gotten SO MUCH from Wisdom and the Millers. The workbook is excellent for my 5th grader. It is a little much for my 2nd grader so we just have her do what she can for each lesson. We do one chapter per week. Rod and Staff along with Christian Light Publishers offer what I consider "wholesome old-fashioned" Christian resources.

We also have the Responsibility series from Pearables. We do this once a week and since I'm a FAILURE at anything domestic, it has been a fun learning tool for ALL of us! We do one lesson from each once a week.

I have purchased a ton of books for history. I bought the HOW Adam through Messiah, then Simply Charlotte Mason's Ancient through Deut...I think we'll get into that after doing one or two weeks on Creation. There's a cool lapbook "Creation vs Evolution" that I really like. I think it is here.

I ordered several books off the Module I for history and I'm excited that we are finally underway as of 10/22! We did lesson 1 in Ancient through Deut from Simply Charlotte Mason.

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today's favorite curriculum-math u see

I asked all my friends what math curriculum they used and MathUSee came up more than anything else. When we attended our first homeschool conference in April, we saw MANY different choices. I had also done a lot of browsing online.

We purchased the Primer as a trial run and never looked back. We made a big deal out of the kids getting the blocks and they have enjoyed BUILDING STUFF with them! Just like playing with Legos!

I love the easy tear-out practice sheets, the cd is easy to navigate and I love how algebra thought is woven into even the earliest book. My 2nd grader is solving for the unknown!

Sometimes with multi-resources, it can be challenging to have what I need at my fingertips. This is how I organize my stuff, CLICK HERE.

teaching the bible

Taking a cue from Heart of Wisdom, we start our day with The Narrated Bible. This has been such a learning time for me, too! I LOVE this part of our day.

When we started bumping along back in June, we started in Genesis. We made it up to Jacob & Esau. Then we "started" school in September I wanted to go back and do a unit study on Creation and I got off track.

So I want to start again with our reading the Bible chronologically at Creation. The kids were bored just listing to me so I thought coloring sheets might help. Daniel went berserkk and insisted he wouldn't color them (SO bizarre since he begs to have a coloring sheet during Sunday School!?!)

I found a tremendous reference in helping me go through The Narrated Bible. It is a Sunday School curriculum for 1st through 6th grade and it is FREE!
http://children.calvarychapel.com/site/curriculum_n.htm

Each Bible lesson is presented in a 7 page pdf. This works perfectly with what I'm doing. The first 2-3 pages are for 1/2 and the last pages are for 3/6. Dan LOVES doing the puzzles while I'm reading.

Ah. We're LEARNING!

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i'm alive!

I've wanted to blog a hundred times since September 1st. Each and every minute is like a drop of precious oil, a golden moment. I've been taken aback at how I can't stay up late like I used to...I MUST have rest. If I don't go to bed by about 11pm, then I'm cranky the next day. When the kids went to school that wasn't a big deal...but now I need every molecule of energy and every minute atom of brain power to make it through the day. You know how when you get a good workout, you can FEEL that you're burning calories. Well, I'm thinking so hard, I can feel myself burning brain cells! More...

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