Homeschool Year 12: 11th, 9th, 5th, and 3rd Grade

 

If you had told me in the fall of 2010 that I'd still be homeschooling all of my children 11 years later, I'm not sure that I would have believed you. Yet, by the grace of God and with some fantastic support, here we are about to start our 12th year! 

A big part of why we're still homeschooling is our CC Community. Classical Conversations is such a blessing to our family. We meet once a week and have fellowship and are spurred on to keep on keeping on--in our faith, and our academics. We joined when Jon was 5, and I can't imagine homeschooling without our CC family!

Speaking of family, at home we'll be reading some missionary biographies together and watch World Watch News each morning. Then the older kids will go get to work, and the younger kids and I will continue our morning time by doing some of the following:

• hymn singing
• learning part of the West Minister Shorter Catechism
• reading/memorizing some poetry
• reviewing CC memory work
• reading a chapter book (some of the books we'll read are listed below)
• Little Pilgrim's Progress
• Pages of History
• The Last Battle
• Vanderbeeker's Make a Wish    
• Archer's Cup, A Green Ember story

Here's a quick rundown of what each of our kids will be doing this year individually:

Maggie, 8, 3rd grade:

• Math: Saxon 5/4
• Language Arts: The Good and the Beautiful level 1
• Handwriting: The Good and the Beautiful level 2
• History: Veritas Press Self-Paced Ancient History
• Science: The Good and the Beautiful Animal Kingdoms

My girl will also be continuing to take ballet, and adding jazz and art classes this year. She's pretty excited!

Will, 10, 5th grade:

• Math: Saxon 7/6
• English Grammar: Essentials of English Language
• Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing
• Spelling: Spelling Workout E
• Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears
• History: Veritas Press Self-Paced Ancient History
• Science: The Good and the Beautiful Animal Kingdoms and Marine Biology

Will's excited to be a part of Acting Academy Jr this fall, and to be trying out for a musical in October!

Sam, 14, 9th grade, Challenge 1:

• Math: Shormann Algebra II with Integrated Geometry
• History: American History/Government/Economics
• Logic: Memoria Press Traditional Logic
• Latin: Henle Latin 1
• Science: Apologia Physical Science
• Literature: American Literature novels

Sam will be playing basketball again this year. 

Jon, 16, 11th grade, Challenge 3:

• Math: Shormann Calculus
• History: American History/A Patriot's History of the U.S.
• Music Theory: Math in Motion (dual enrollment)
• Latin: Henle Latin 2
• Exposition: Shakespeare and Poetry (dual enrollment)
• Science: Apologia Chemistry

Jon will be swimming again this year, and leading worship at youth group. 

I'm so thankful for the gift of being able to learn alongside these kids, and I'm praying that this year the Lord will help us all to ask great questions and dig deeper and learn amazing things together!

How and What We're Doing: Homeschooling Year 7

   

     This past summer I read the book Teaching from Rest by Sarah Mackenzie and had several light bulb moments. If you are a homeschooling mom reading this and you have yet to read Sarah's book, stop reading my blog and go get your hands on it STAT. Seriously, I was so encouraged by it and it helped me to narrow my focus as a homeschooling mama. Sarah gives practical ideas and speaks to the heart of the reader, and she does it all succinctly because she knows we all have a million plates we're trying to keep spinning. But since this post was not intended to be a book review I will move on...kind of. One of the biggest take aways for me from Teaching from Rest was thinking through what I want my kids to get or remember from our time homeschooling together. The other, which is closely tied to the first, is that I need to teach in a way that works with my strengths and not the way I've seen other moms teach, otherwise I will end up spinning my wheels and feeling exhausted. In thinking about those two things, how did I want to/need to change what we were doing to make sure that I am spending time on the things that I value the most in a method that works with my personality and strengths. Pretty much figuring out how to work smarter, not harder as a homeschooling mom.

The kids with Miss Elisabeth, a homeschool graduate, now Liberty University student, who used to be my mother's helper.
     All of this came together at just the right time as our family's babysitter extraordinaire, Miss Elisabeth, just left for college and is not coming to help with the little ones while I do school with the older two this year. I was freaking out about how I could possibly handle schooling a sixth grader, a fourth grader, and a kindergartner, with a three year old tagging along. But I'm probably giving more details than you need. The short version is I decided to change up our schedule and do more together. More together meant rearranging our school room. At the same time that I was thinking through all of this, my amazing husband has been growing in his woodworking skills and offered to make me new bookshelves and a school table. 😍 I'll post pictures of the table, please let me know if you have any questions about how Pete built it. I'd be glad to share. (Here's a link to the original plans I found. We did use this Ikea table top x2 instead of making the top)

Our brand new school table! I'm so excited and the kids are loving it, too!
Here's our general* schedule for this year**:

9:00-9:30
~Older two boys (4th and 6th grade) work on their CC Notebooks doing basic copywork of this weeks memory work, trace maps and prepare or practice their presentations
~I get my breakfast shake and my coffee and orally review the memory work with Will (5)
~Maggie (3) usually eats breakfast during this time, she's my late riser
9:30-10:00
~Older two boys do their history class. It's an online self-paced class from Veritas Press. They really enjoy it and it gives me about 30 minutes to work with Will one on one.
~Will and I work through Saxon 1, 2 pages of Handwriting Without Tears, and 2 pages of Explode the Code. Then we read one leveled reader together.
~Maggie usually colors or plays with stickers while we do these things. Sometimes she watches the history lesson with the boys or watches a show on tv.
10:00-10:20/30
~All together we have "Morning Time"
Morning Time starts with singing the Doxology, then learning a hymn together adding one verse at a time until we can sing it without looking at the words. We just finished learning Holy, Holy, Holy. After that we share prayer requests and I write them down in a prayer journal. Then one of us prays. After that we do one or two of a few things: -read a few fun poems; learn about an artist or piece of art; learn about a missionary; read about a Bible verse and how it can help us in our day to day lives; or read a seasonal picture book(s)
This is a piece that we just began adding and it has quickly become a favorite for all of us. The kids are loving the poetry-which I was nervous about adding-and the older kids truly love reading the picture books even though they are older. They have caught on to the hymns and remind me of prayer requests. Really this part of our day has blessed me more than I imagined and I'm so thankful!

10:30-11:00 Read Aloud

Reading Ember Falls together 
~We start this time all together, and if the younger two get bored they are allowed to leave and go play quietly. Initially I had hoped this would be a together time, but coming on the heals of sitting and listening for Morning Time, I have decided to roll with this and make this time more for reading books the older two can enjoy. That said, I still need to work in a more consistent time to read other books with the younger two.
11:00-11:30
~The older two take turns doing math (Saxon) with me for about 15 minutes, then work on their own.
~Will plays Wii U or iPad for 30 minutes
~Maggie either plays with Play-Doh or paints with water or something like that
11:30-11:50
~Will and Maggie play together
~Jon and Sam read non-fiction books that I've gathered from library that coincide with the science and history that we're learning about with Classical Conversations.

Sam and Jon reading in one of the two book nooks they've made recently
11:50-12:00
~Older two do Duolingo to learn a little Spanish for our upcoming trip to Peru!
Noon-1:30
~Lunch

~Break/Recess

On a rainy day, playing keep the balloon off of the floor works for recess!
1:30-1:50
Older two report back to work on Essentials
~Chart copying and sentences
Younger two play together or separately. Maggie often goes to play with her neighbor buddy! :)


My 4th and 6th graders copying charts for Essentials 

1:50-2:20
~Day 1 Write a Key Word Outline
~Day 2 Write a rough draft
~Day 3 Add dress ups and stylistic techniques
~Day 4 Finish final draft
~Day 5 Go to class and read paper and learn about the new chapter
2:30-3:30 Quiet time for ALL

*One of the biggest lessons I'm learning is holding my plans and my schedule loosely. We've had two rounds of viruses run through our family and my plans have had to go right out the window. I just keep coming back to God's plans are better than mine. He knows what these kiddos need and what I need and loves us even better than I could even begin to imagine. More important than covering all the lessons in the math book is being present with my kids and pouring His truths into their precious hearts and souls. I have a feeling that this lesson is going to take a while to get through...like maybe the rest of my life. ❤️
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the LORD God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4

** This is our schedule Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Tuesdays we go to our homeschool community group, Classical Conversations. It's definitely a highlight of our week!

There is a Target right next door to our Classical Conversations location, so we often stop there on the way home. The kids love to pose in the circle. 

Birthday Boys

Jon and Sam had the opportunity to serve alongside the Andy and Jordan Dalton Foundation with Pete and some other local State Farm agents on Jon's birthday. It was an incredible chance for them to give back and see Love in action. 

These oldest two boys of mine get lumped together often, so it's only fitting that their birthdays should be lumped together in this post. It's really more about the time I don't have to be posting, and the fact that they're older so there's not as many cutesy pictures to post. However, since this blog is sort of a digital scrapbook for our family, I do want to post about their latest birthdays, even if it is one post for both birthdays!

Jon with our traditional birthday pancakes in the shape of your new age
Jon turned 11 in August. ELEVEN. For some reason he seems so much older to me lately. I've had other people comment on it, too. He's definitely had a growth spurt, and with that physical growth has come a maturity that is such a blessing to this mama. In general, he has become more patient, more understanding, more compassionate, and less dramatic. All the moms out there know how incredible and encouraging that is to see in your kids. It has given me hope for the other kids, who are still very egocentric. Don't misunderstand, Jon is no saint, but the growth I've seen is tremendous. It's actually driving me to my knees for him and the other kiddos even more. I want to see that growth continue in him and his siblings.

Jon reading Life of Fred to Will 

On a Mom/Son date, Jon discovered that Steak n' Shake is his new favorite

Jon and his buddy, Josiah, at Classical Conversations
Jon, like all of us, is complex. He loves reading, yet he also likes being with people. He still loves Legos, video games and swimming, but also decided to try out for a musical recently. (We find out tonight what part he got!) My oldest boy is a great helper at church, volunteering to help wipe down tables or vaccuum. He helps out at home, too, but a little more reluctantly-like I said, he's not a saint, and that's okay! He's super sweet with his sister and will gladly read to her or Will. He is still closest with Sam and they can usually be found doing something together. He's over a month into 6th grade here at home and is doing a great job. (I'll post more about that soon and link to it here) Jon continues to love science and history. He's great at creative writing and art, and loves when I read aloud to him. Overall, my first born makes me so proud to be his mom and brings me so much joy! I can't wait to see what God has in store for him this year.


The boys and I get to go visit my brother and his wife in Peru in November, so here they are with their brand new passports!
Sam just turned 9 at the beginning of this month. I have been struck lately by Sam's ability to make friends everywhere we go. On the swim team this summer he made some new friends. In our neighborhood he continually makes friends. At our homeschool group he has several really good friends. I wonder how that is going to serve him in life-his friendliness and the way he is able to develop good friendships so easily. He is laid back yet driven-I'm not sure how that's possible, but if you watch my boy you'll see that it is. He is entering into this pushing back phase of questioning things, which from what I've learned in studying education is pretty normal for his age, but can be frustrating as a parent. I'm trying to teach him how to question respectfully and, thankfully, he is learning how to do that more and more.

Sam with his birthday gift-a Garmin Vivofit to keep track of his steps so that he can try to beat his mama every single day! 

Sam and Jon in one of two of the reading nooks they have created around the house recently 

Sam with three of his buddies from our neighborhood swim team. These four swam in two relays together at our championship meet and placed in both! 
Sam continues to love all things athletic and active. His favorite sports to play are basketball and swimming. He also loves soccer and baseball, and would watch just about any sport with his daddy. His siblings all love spending time with him. Although if I'm honest, he and Will butt heads often. He loves math, and he tolerates reading, yet loves being read to. He would rarely chose to draw, but is a pretty decent little artist when he does attempt to draw. He loves history and learning about animals, his favorite of which continues to be the penguin. Sam has a great sense of humor and loves making people laugh. I'm so thankful to be his mom and can't wait to see how he will grow this coming year!

These two boys are getting so big and are growing in so many ways. It's not an easy job to be their mom, but I wouldn't trade it for the world!

Jon's Broken Arm

Thanks to a recent post by one of my favorite friends in the real world and the blogosphere, I have been inspired to do some catch up blogging. I just looked and it has been over three months since I have blogged. I'm hoping to post a few in the next week or so, but let's just take this one step and at a time. We'll start with my oldest boy and that time when he broke his arm...

        Like most horror stories, it all began on Friday the 13th. Will had been sick all week with a fever and just laying around, very unlike him. Meanwhile, Jon and Sam had been doing some chores and took a break. Sam was sitting in the old glider that used to be in the nursery when the kids were smaller, and Jon was standing on the glider's ottoman. Jon was "surfing" and Sam was gently rocking the ottoman with his feet when they agreed that the rocking should get a little less gentle. I was sitting on the couch with Will and texting Pete about whether or not I should take him to the doctor when I hurt a wail and a thud--or maybe it was a thud and then a wail?--regardless, chaos followed. Sam ran in saying, "Mom! Jon hurt his arm really, really bad!" And then I saw it...his arm hanging in an unnatural way, leaving no question about what we would be doing next.

        After trying to call Pete and getting no answer, I sent a text saying simply, "911-Jon broke his arm." Then I called my neighbor to see if she could stay with my kids while I take Jon to the hospital. Although she was out of the state, she sent her son over immediately. In the meantime, Pete called me and headed straight home, and I took the injured and headed to campus of Children's that is closest to our house. If you ever wondered how to avoid having to wait in the waiting room at a children's hospital, just bring a child with a badly broken limb. They quickly got him a wheelchair and escorted us straight back. One of the nurses even made mention to another of "the deformed child" as we went by. In my frazzled state, that somehow struck me as humorous.

        It was quickly decided that he needed morphine and x-rays. Jon was a champ when they put in the IV. They had a whole team of "life specialist" or some such craziness ready to read him a book and walk him through why they needed to put a needle in his arm. Little did they know that my logical first born, who was in much pain, did not need much convincing. In fact, just the quick run down of the way IV's work while the nurse assembled her team of life specialist was good enough for him. They stood down and he got his drugs and the x-rays, which revealed just what was expected. Both his radius and his ulna in his right arm were broken. The next question was to operate or not. The doctor who had been helping us decided that regardless of the answer to that question, we would need to see an orthopedic specialist at the main campus.

     

          And so we took our show on the road. The orthopedic specialist at the main campus of Cincinnati Children's decided that contrary to the prior doctor's opinion, Jon would not need to be sedated at all to have his arm set. They simply gave him another dose of morphine, then the doctor gave a quick twist with a horrific crunching sound and a quick x-ray in the room to confirm that his bones were aligned properly, and then they splinted his arm and rewrapped it. At this point the doctor said we would need to keep his arm wrapped in the splint and in a sling 24/7 for a week and then return to get yet more x-rays and then he could get an actual cast. In case you missed it that means his arm, which was close to needing surgery, would be protected by a foam pad and an ace bandage. I kindly requested an actual cast since we have three kids younger than Jon who are quite active, but the doctor said this was for the best. They sent us on our way around 7pm, over 7 hours from when the break took place.

       For Jon's sake, I am going to include a few things that he likes to be sure people find out about his experience. Jon would want it noted that the only food he ate that day was his Cheerios and a mint since the break took place right before lunch. We stopped at Wendy's on the way home, however he couldn't stomach it after all the morphine on an empty stomach. At the hospital they wouldn't let him have food or water in case they ended up needing surgery. The poor kid was super hungry and thirsty for most of the day. Also, the ortho doctor did not tell him when he was going to set his arm. He was feeling around on Jon's arm asking him if certain areas hurt and then just gave his specialized twist and bam! Jon wailed and cried. It was pretty awful.

       Congratulations for making it this far! If you're still reading, I'm going to wrap up with a brief summary of his progress since the day of the incident. His follow up appointments since then have been fairly standard and thankfully all very successful. One of his bones, I believe his radius has healed completely, but the ulna has a fracture that is still healing. He wore casts that went most of the way up his arm for 7+ weeks, and is currently wearing a brace for 6 weeks. Apparently the area of his arm that he injured is an area with low blood circulation, making it heal slowly and prone to being injured again easily in the following year. As of Wednesday he will get to take the brace off unless he is doing anything active through May 13th. They said this includes running and playing outside, riding bikes, wrestling, etc. In case you forgot, he's a ten year old boy with 3 younger siblings...I might be making him wear that brace more than he realizes. The doctor said if the arm gets broken again in the next year, there is a very high chance that he would have to have surgery. But for now he is counting down the days until Wednesday and I am letting him enjoy the idea of wearing it less.
     

     

A Decade of Jon

Jon turned 10 way back in August, but life gets busy and the blog takes the back burner. This boy has grown and matured so much over the past year or so. It has truly blessed me to see him learn to think of others more and to control his temper more. While he still has his moments--don't we all?--Jon is a great kid, and I really enjoy getting to spend my days with him. Speaking of spending our days together, it has been wonderful to see how he has grown as a student, too. He used to HATE math. While he was never terrible at it, he would grumble and complain and it was not a fun part of our day. He has finally come to accept that he will be doing math and has realized that a good attitude helps tremendously. He's also realized that he's pretty good at it, so if he puts his head down and does the work he can breeze right through and get it done somewhat quickly and move onto the next thing. Jon loves science. I would not be at all surprised if he goes on to become an engineer or some sort of scientist. But let's not get too ahead of ourselves, the kid is just turning 10. Jon has a quirky sense of humor and is learning about the right time to be silly and the right time to be quiet. He still enjoys riding his bike, playing in the tree house out back with the neighbors. being on the swim team and is just starting guitar lessons. 

He has asked a few times when we were going to do his birthday interview and I kept putting him off. But alas, the time has come. The interview has taken place. Here are his answers for all to see: 

~What is your name? Jeff, I mean Fred. (silly boy, his name is Jon)
~And how old are you? 10
~Does being 10 make you feel? not much different
~What do you want to learn this year? how to play guitar
~What was the best thing about being 9? getting the Coach's Award for swim team and church camp
~How did you celebrate your birthday? Did cool things with the neighbors, had a birthday party at the pool, and went the museum Center with Dad
~What was your favorite gift that you received? money or legos
~What is your favorite color? Red
~What is your favorite food? Ravioli
~Who is your favorite person? Sam
~What grade are you in? Fifth
~What is your favorite thing to do at school? Reading
~What is your favorite game to play? Mario Bros on the Wii
~What do you like to do with Daddy? Have him chase us around the house
~What do you like to do with Mommy? Snuggle on the couch and read or watch a movie/show
~What do you like to do with Sam? Play video games or play outside with him and the neighbors
~What do you like to do with Will? Wrestle with and chase him
~What do you like to do with Maggie? Play pretend with her and be silly with her to make her laugh
~What’s your favorite thing to do with the whole family? Family Wii night
~What’s your favorite store? Target
~What’s your favorite place to eat? Tie between Marcos and Olive Garden
~What’s your favorite book? The Great Brain
~What’s your favorite song? Indescribable by Chris Tomlin
~What’s your favorite Bible verse or story? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
~What do you want to be when you grow up? An inventor or scientist
I love this kid!

Burnt Blankies and Random Rashes

I've been a little quiet over here lately on the blogging front. Life has been rushing ahead at it's usual breakneck speed, so I haven't had a chance to sit down and write about it. Here's just a taste of what's been going on in our crazy house!

A few days ago, I was changing Maggie's diaper after her nap and I hear Will say, "Oh, no!" He runs into Maggie's room, in his typical dramatic style, and says, "Mom! My bluey! My bluey is stuck on the big lights! I was just trying to drop it down and it got stuck!" As I finished changing Maggie, a terrible smell wafts into the room. Something was burning. I rush out and find Will's precious blankie, named Bluey, because each of his older brothers has a blue stuffed animal with that name, melting and smoking on the chandelier. Thankfully, I could reach it and managed to peel it away without an actual fire breaking out. Unfortunately, Bluey was burned through in a couple places, and the whole ordeal scared my sweet four year old boy to the point that he was shaking and crying. It was so sad.

The good news is that he has rebounded well. We have always had a back-up Bluey, but since Will could tell them apart, he has always preferred the one that got torched, saying that the back-up looks mean, something about it's smile-he's such a funny kid! I went to Amazon, hoping that if I could order a new one the replacement might have a happy smile, like the original. Sadly, they no longer make the lovey that we have, but the newer version is close, so Will was excited to get it. Now my little guy sleeps with the back-up Bluey and his new "cute little Bluey."

The day that the new Bluey arrived, so did a rash. Saturday, after making a trip to Costco and to the library with the kids, I undressed Maggie for the bath and discovered that her arms were covered with a hive-like rash!

A few moments later I notice that Will's arms look very similar to Maggie's. Yikes. Just like that our two week streak of everyone going to church together on Sunday came to a screeching halt!

Sunday morning, Maggie's rash had spread to her legs and face. Monday morning, Jon got out of the shower and started calling for me. He had something similar on his arms and legs. Before lunch, Sam had it on his face.

Since we had friends who had recently had strep and two of the kids complained of sore throats, I took them in to the doctor on Tuesday.

The strep tests came back negative and the doctor declared it a viral rash. As of today, the boys are almost completely clear of their rashes, and Maggie just has some traces on her legs and face. I thought last winter with the boys thumb infections was weird, but this one might top it...maybe.

A funny thing...

A funny thing has happened.

My boys had gotten out of the routine of keeping their rooms cleaned each day-okay, maybe they never were completely in that routine, but regardless, it had gotten pretty bad. My husband, who is more bothered by mess than me, requested that we try to get more disciplined in this area, and I wholeheartedly agreed. Honestly, one of the hardest parts for me is remembering to enforce that their rooms need to be cleaned before they go play with the neighbors or watch a show. The past couple days I stepped up my game and started asking them to work in their rooms before they played and that's when it happened, after helping Sam and Will in their room, I sent Sam to help Jon. They worked together and next thing I know they've been playing nicely together in Jon's room for over 45 minutes. Both days, the room is clean and they spent over a half an hour playing together without asking for t.v. or iPad, etc. I'm not sure if it's a Christmas miracle or if it will continue, but you can bet I will be reminding them again tomorrow!  

Did I Hear a Niner?

My oldest turned nine yesterday. The funny thing about his birthday being at the end of the summer is that all summer I have told people, "He'll be nine at the end of the summer," when they ask the ages of the kids. Now, the end of the summer is here and it's actually happened. He's nine.

Jon is a fun kid. Sometimes he drives me crazy, but most of the time I count my blessings that I get to be his mom. Here are some of the things I love about this nine year old boy: his sensitive and giving nature, he is a peacemaker, his passion for reading, his honesty, his zeal for life and excitement over new ideas and adventures, his creativity, his unique outlook on things, that he still likes to sit and snuggle with his mama.

We make a big deal about birthdays around here. I think my mom did a good job of making birthdays special for me growing up and I try to do the same with my kids. We don't go overboard with spending tons of money or anything, but we do have a few fun traditions. Some of them are very intentional, and some we have just sort of stumbled into, but all of them are fun in my book. :)

First there's the birthday pancakes in the shape of your new age:

Opening presents from the immediate family before Daddy leaves for work. (I'm pretty sure this one was stumbled into by a birthday that fell on a night Daddy had to work late)

 Jon and Sam hugging after Jon opened his gift from Sam

 Jon's new drum set. Free from friends at church. 

Jon has been asking for drums for about two years now. He has faithfully been taking, and will continue to take, piano lessons, so we are allowing this new addition. We might be crazy, but we are going to get him drum lessons. The drum set will find it's home in a room of the basement, which will get some additional sound proofing SOON. 

On birthdays, our typical rules about screen time and video game time are thrown out the window. Jon got the WipeOut Create and Crash game for Wii and spent several hours creating and playing courses with Sam. 

The birthday kid gets to pick, within reason, what we do for the day and what we eat for dinner. Jon recently realized that you can play WiiU at Target and asked to there on his birthday about a week ago. It cracked me up that playing a game a Target made his list of most fun things to do, but hey, easy enough! He also requested getting a icee/slushy at Target and I decided we could all get them. Funny side note, I specifically remember telling the nurse at Jon's 2 year check up that he had not had lollipops yet, we'd prefer a sticker...and yet here we are with Maggie, not 2 until November, getting to split a slushy with Mom. Funny how things have changed...and the things you will do to keep a little one happy while the bigger ones do their thing. 

 Maggie sipping her slushy at Target

 Jon playing WiiU at Target

We came home for naptime and the bigger boys played Wii at their friend/our neighbor's house for about an hour, then we headed to the pool. Pete met us their with Jon's requested dinner: pizza AND cheesy bread. The cheesy bread was the kicker. We rarely get it, so it was a special treat! :) It turned out to be a pretty nice night, a little cool, but not too bad. My brother, Matt, met us there and we had a lot of fun-so much fun, that I forgot to take any pictures. Speaking of forgetting, I also forgot to bring candles to the pool, so we sang Happy Birthday and ate cupcakes and are going to try to do the candle part tonight.

All in all, it was a pretty fun day for my birthday boy. We ended it with the birthday survey. Last year, I forgot to do it, but we both remembered this year. I love his idea for the last question. Here are his answers:

~What is your name? Jon
~And how old are you? 9
~Does being 9 make you feel? Really, really awesome! (said to the tune of the Lego Movie Song)
~What do you want to learn this year? To play the drums
~What was the best thing about being 8? Riding the Banshee and going to church camp
~What did you do today? Opened presents, played with presents, went to Target, went to the pool and had pizza, cheesy bread and cupcakes
~What was your favorite gift that you received? Drum Set!!
~What is your favorite color? Scarlet Red
~What is your favorite food? Pizza and Ravioli
~Who is your favorite person? Sam
~What grade are you in? Fourth
~What is your favorite thing to do at school? Cursive Handwriting
~What is your favorite game to play? Wipeout on the Wii
~What do you like to do with Daddy? Play with him in the pool
~What do you like to do with Mommy? Snuggle on the couch and read or watch a movie/show
~What do you like to do with Sam? Play Wii
~What do you like to do with Will? Play the game where he chases me and Sam
~What do you like to do with Maggie? Try to get her to smile and carry her around and throw her on the couch
~What’s your favorite thing to do with the whole family? Have a movie night
~What’s your favorite store? Target
~What’s your favorite place to eat? Olive Garden
~What’s your favorite book? hard to narrow it down, Time Warp Trio books
~What’s your favorite song? Speak Life by Toby Mac
~What’s your favorite Bible verse or story? John 3:16 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.”
~What do you want to be when you grow up? A website creator who can work from a mobile home and travel all over the country
I love this kid!

Summer, Summer, Summertime

We finished up our school year last week with shouts of joy! I was just getting over a nasty sinus infection, so I was just as glad as the kids to be done with the normal routines and tasks. Here's a glimpse at what we're planning  to spend our summer days doing:

~Splashing at our neighborhood pool, both for fun and swim lessons for all three boys

~Going on a Faith Expedition with our church's Vacation Bible School

~Enjoying thrills and fun at Kings Island

~Participating in our local library's summer reading program

~Cheering on our favorite swimmer and his team, the Windwood Warriors

~Church Camp will be a first for our oldest, and his dad is going along to be a counselor

~Learning about US History with Veritas Press' self-paced online class (this wasn't my initial plan, but the kids love it and wanted to get started. Now they are eager to do each days lesson right after breakfast. Who am I to argue?)

~Watching Pete's cousin and his beautiful fiance get hitched in Indiana (Sam will be the ring bearer)

~Switching rooms around. Jon switched with Will. The school room is moving from the basement to the formal living room.

~Cheering on two baseball players on a Y league team for June and July

Somewhere in there, we'll be doing read alouds, playing board games, having water balloon fights, some math workbooks, and finish building a tree house, etc. We're going to enjoy all of those things listed above and soak up some less structured time together.

Our Plan for Implementing CC Review at Home

This fall, we will be starting our fifth year of homeschooling. My oldest is going to be starting fourth grade, my second will be in second grade, and my little ones will be turning 4 and 2 in November. We've had some rocky times along the way, but all in all, homeschooling has been such a joyful experience for our family. Last year, my oldest wanted to be a memory master (you can read more about what that is here) which meant being intentional about how we would review our CC information each week. This coming year, I know he wants to achieve that goal again. Here's a bit of how we will be going about doing Classical Conversations review here at home. Please note, this is just our plan...every family has it's own dynamics that come into play and it's own rhythm to take into account.

Our Classical Conversations community meets on Tuesdays, therefore our reviewing starts on Wednesday and goes through Monday.

Wednesday is a day that we do the most "work" in our review. My kids seem to retain information better if they have had to write it out, so I LOVE the Classical Conversations Connected (C3) at home sharing center. I print off copywork in History, Science, English Grammar, and sometimes Latin, and put the copy work in a notebook for each child. (I will share the names of what I have chosen to print below, should you want to look them up on C3) On Wednesdays, the kids do this copywork in the place of their handwriting, and to make it more fun, I let them use colored pencils or pens just on this day. After they complete their copywork, we go through the memory work together orally at least 3 times, usually 7. We usually spend at least 45 minutes reviewing on the first day.
Thursdays are a busy day for us, so we typically make Thursday a lighter review day. Sometimes I pick one of the boys and he gets to "teach" the information to his brother. Other times, I have the information on our dry erase board and I erase words and see if they can say it to me without words, erasing each word until they're all gone. We usually spend about 20 minutes reviewing on Thursdays.
Fridays we usually play a review game-one that they've done in their class at CC. But I often have them tell me each of the facts before I will let them play, just to see how they are retaining, or finish up any of the notebook pages they didn't complete on Wednesday. If they are weak in a subject, we might all write it out together or sing it together before we play the review game. We usually spend about 30 minutes reviewing on Friday.
Mondays I often give them a blank sheet of paper and have them fold it in half and then in half again. They I ask them to write the key words for each subject. If they are struggling at all with figuring that out, I write them on the board while discussing what makes them key words. After that, we quickly review orally each subject and see if there are any areas of weakness. And depending on the day, we might play another review game. Mondays, we typically spend about 15-25 minutes reviewing.

Mixed into our week, we listen to the CD in the car often and listen to the timeline song every night while they load the dishwasher. Often the kids will tell their dad each of the new facts during dinner. We read lots of books from the library that go a long with what we are learning through CC, and we do fun games, puzzles, and DVDs that help reinforce things as well.

Listed below are the resources that I have printed that I downloaded from C3. You have to have a subscription to download them, but this should help anyone searching for copywork.
Subject/person who submitted the file/title of the file
Geography/Wenderbell/Geography Copywork with Maps all weeks pdf
English Grammar/Wenderbell/English Grammar Copywork all weeks pdf
Science/Wenderbell/Science Copywork All weeks pdf
             Tara504/Cut, Paste and Label all weeks
Latin/suzannemosley/Shares Latin.cycle.3 copywork pdf
          Knox Family/C3 wk01-24 bookmarks
          brandyfarrell/John 1 copywork print Latin pdf
History/kamoore1/C3Week1History.pdf, etc
Bible/brandyfarrell/John 1 copywork print pdf
Bibke/suzannemosely/Biblememorywork
Math: I couldn't find the sheets that we really like using, but I had saved them to my computer, so I uploaded them and you can find them under Math/heatherg/skip counting daily practice
 Another helpful C3 resource that won't be for copywork, but for reviewing possibly: knox family/Math mini office pdf
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you found this helpful, you might enjoy reading Getting Started with Classical Conversations, Why We Choose to Homeschool or a post about our schedule, What This Homeschooling Thing Looks Like for our Family. Also, I created match-ups for Apologia Anatomy and CC Cycle 3 Science weeks 1-12 and posted them here.

Getting Started with Classical Conversations

Currently, I know at least five families who are starting with Classical Conversations in the fall. I am so excited for them since, as I have mentioned before, our family has been so blessed by our involvement with CC. Each of those moms I mentioned before have asked me for advice about starting out with CC. I definitely don't have all the answers, but we have been in CC for four years, so I can give my opinions on what has been helpful for our family, and what I would recommend for a first year CC family.

What do you need to buy:

1. The Foundations Guide: We use this weekly, and sometimes daily. You will use it each week when your community meets. I bring a pencil along and jot down notes next to each subject. For example, if the tutor shares a clever tip, trick, or song to help my kids remember a certain subject, I scribble a little something to help remind me when I'm home and reviewing with them later. Besides the weekly facts that (you and) your kids will be learning, there is also fabulous information from Leah Bortins, the founder of CC throughout the book. This is a must for every CC family.

Sam and his buddy, Luke, playing the tin whistle in their class

2. A tin whistle: Each child will use one for six weeks each year, so this is another must. I am tutoring this coming year, so we now have three tin whistles in our home. Since we've been at this for a few years now, the practicing isn't so painful anymore...except when the little ones get their teeny hands and mouths on the whistles! 

If you are working with a tight budget, this is absolutely all that you will NEED to do Classical Conversations as a part of your homeschool journey. If you intend to follow the model set forth by CC, they recommend you supplement what you are learning each week with your community with a math curriculum, a language arts program (this usually includes: spelling, phonics, grammar, and handwriting), and lots of reading. The first year it is vitally important that you take a deep breath and try to just soak up the information with your kiddo(s). Don't give in to the pressure to do everything out there. Start simply and if you feel led to add in some way, maybe dive deeper into some of the memory work. I have found going deeper to be more rewarding than trying to go "wider" and cover more things in a more shallow way. 

Reading the best book, his Bible

That said, our family has used the following curriculum at one point or another:

Math: Saxon Math

Phonics: Explode the Code, Phonics Museum (Veritas Press)

English Grammar: Shurley English

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears, and more recently CC's Prescripts

We've supplemented with many books from the library that correlate with our science and history and the time period that we're studying. 

If you can invest a little more, and it is important to realize that it is an investment, here are a few more of my favorites for doing CC at home. Each year that we have been involved, I have taken the plunge a little more and bought a few more CC products to help us here at home. I have listed them below in the order of their value to me. In my opinion, if you start at the top of this list and add on towards the bottom, as your budget allows, you will be better off for it.

~The Audio CD's: these are SO helpful. We listen in the van all the time. Also, the timeline song is played each night while the kids load the dishwasher. :) They are worth every penny in my opinion!

~CC Connected (or C3): this is a subscription to the online file sharing part of the CC website. So many talented and creative CC parents have shared worksheets, songs, lapbooks, review games and more. For $6 a month, you have access to all of it. We use the worksheets and songs weekly! A word of warning, it can be overwhelming...somewhat like pinterest, more ideas than you could possibly use in one household. However, it is very helpful if you take the time to sort through and find what will work for you. I am considering posting what I am planning on having my kiddos do this coming year in another blog post, and I will list the specific files that we hope to use there. (so subscribe or come back later for that!)

Reviewing CC by playing Trivial Pursuit Family Edition and substituting CC facts for the questions

~Geography Trivium Tables: These were invaluable for us last year in reviewing the geography facts. I bought one for each of my boys that were doing CC. (If you're joining me here and don't actually know me, welcome! I have four kiddos: three boys ages 8, 6, and 3, and one little girl who is 18 months old.) These maps are laminated and very durable. We use these several times a week in various ways-label things with dry erase markers, tape a piece of tracing paper on top and trace things, ask a child to point to a place, etc. I have bought other maps, but these are made specifically to coincide with the geography for Classical Conversations and are such a great addition to our review time. 

~Memory Flashcards: When we first started with CC, I thought to myself, "Why would I pay $30 for those when I could make them myself?" Then I started writing the information on index cards and laminating them...I didn't get very far before I decided to buy the CC cards. They are smaller, neater and to me, worth the money if you can spare it. I stick them in my purse or bag and we can review on the go. Now that both of my older boys can read, they can quiz each other, too. We love these, and use them several times a week.

Jon and Sam organizing the History Cards (aka Timeline cards)

~Classical Acts and Facts History Cards: These cards will be used every year. We use them to review the timeline information at home and to go a step further with learning the information. If you are starting with CC and have only younger students, you might wait on these if money is tight. I highly recommend them, but my younger ones have little interest in them. As my boys have repeated the timeline, different facts have caught their attention and peaked their interest, and by just flipping the card, we can dig a little deeper and extend our learning. We've used these cards in many different ways in the past: hung them in the school room; sorted them and put them in order; kept them in a binder to flip through; and kept them in a basket for easy use.  We use these almost daily.

~Prescripts: Copy work is encouraged in the classical model for many reasons. I love that CC has come out with their Prescripts series that combines handwriting practice, copy work and CC memory work review all in one! Both of my boys have used Prescripts and enjoy it more than I expected--they are boys and it is writing! ;)

Additionally, I do own and use the Classical Acts and Facts Science Cards, and they are used weekly for review. And I will probably purchase the new Classical Acts and Facts Artists and Composers Cards to help me with tutoring and reviewing at home. While not necessary, these can be great to assist you in reviewing at home if you want something that your kids can actually hold onto and use on their own or with your assistance. 

Honestly, I have yet to buy a product from CC that has not helped me here at home. Any product that you can find in their store will be worthwhile, in my opinion. I hope that my compilation here will help someone out there to understand better what might be helpful when you are just starting out. I'd love to hear feedback from you and welcome any questions either in the comments section or on Facebook. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you found this helpful, you might enjoy reading Why We Choose to Homeschool or a post about our schedule, What This Homeschooling Thing Looks Like for our Family. Also, I have a post about copywork and how we review for CC here.

There are some great CC blogs: A Stick and Sand, And Here We Go, Classical Conversations at Home, Half-a-hundred Acre Wood, Homegrown Learners, Mt. Hope Chronicles, and Running with Team Hogan are the ones that I have bookmarked at home, but there are many more. In fact, if you blog about CC, please let me know! I'd love to glean wisdom from others on this journey!