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. 

All You Need Is Love...

Since summer and all it's fun is now officially over. (Boo!) I keep meaning to blog about my incredibly awesome and perfect homeschool plan for this year, but then I realize that I am so far from having it figured out--STILL, after 5 years of homeschooling. So instead, you are going to get a little bit of information about our curricula and "my plan" for the year, but a lot more about what I'm hoping to accomplish personally and as a mom.

This summer, I kept thinking, "I need to get things organized for our school year." And then I would sit down and do a few things and feel like I hit a wall, like I couldn't go on. I could not get into a rhythm or figure out the best way to do things. Don't misunderstand, the teacher in me ordered all of our curricula last spring. It wasn't that I didn't know what we were going to be doing, it was the how. The flow, the methods, the schedules, they just weren't coming together. And to be honest, it's still a work in progress.

This school year brings us a fifth grader (yikes!! I used to teach fifth graders, how do I have one?!?!) a third grader, a pre-Kindergartner, and an almost 3 year old. I could juggle 30 sixth graders, or 24 fifth graders, but each year that my own kids get older, I feel even less confident of my ability to juggle teaching them all well.

However, God is always faithful. Every year I have had something that has caused me to be fearful about homeschooling. Whether its been pregnancy, or a toddler giving up their morning nap, adding a commitment outside of the home, etc...I have been nervous of trying to find the new balance every single year. This year is really no different. And just like previous years, we are slowly finding our rhythms and working things out. It's still not quite as smooth as I would like, and the house is certainly not as clean as Pete would like--hee, hee! But we are making some great progress.

My Hobby Lobby find that now hangs front and center in our school room   

The biggest game changer has been my focus and attitude. The educator in me gets so caught up in the academics and routines, that sometimes I forget why we do this. It's so much more than the books we study, it the heart, the character not only of my kids, but my own heart. I kept coming back to LOVE. I need to model love to my kids. I need to help them figure out how to love each other better. I need to point them back to the best example of love--Jesus Christ. It's really all about love. Remembering that has really helped me to breath more freely.

A few other things that are making the year go smoother than I had anticipated:
~Jon is getting more independent in many areas of his work. This is huge!
~Sam continues to be one of the easiest kids I've ever taught--he is such a people pleaser, which is something that concerns me from time to time, but when it comes to school, it is a huge, I mean HUGE, blessing!
~Will is absolutely LOVING "doing school." He changes the calendar in our school room without me each day and often starts his workbook pages without me, too! It's been a lot more fun and a lot less fighting with him than I had been expecting!
~Miss Elisabeth. What or who is that? Our family's favorite babysitter/mom's helper! Elisabeth started babysitting for us once a week three years ago. Last year she started coming three times a week for just between 2-3 hours each time. She plays with Maggie and Will while I get some solid teaching time in with the older two boys. It is priceless. And thankfully, my tutoring at CC on Tuesdays pays me almost exactly what I pay her. How's that for perfect? She is going off to college next fall, so I am already beginning to mourn. She will be sorely missed.

If you made it this far, that's impressive. So what are we actually doing here?
Well, here's a quick run down for each kiddo:

Jon, Fifth Grade

Math: Saxon
Reading: literature based, novels that coincide with our history and/or science studies.
Spelling: Spelling Workout
Geography: Memoria Press Level 1
History: Classical Conversations (CC) and Veritas Press-Ancient World--Old Testament, Egypt, Greek and Roman History
Science: CC earth science and astronomy
English Grammar: Classical Conversations Essentials of English Language
Writing: Institute for Excellence in Writing
and more

Sam, Third Grade

Math: Saxon
Reading: literature based, novels that coincide with our history and/or science studies.
Spelling: Spelling Workout
Geography: Memoria Press Level 1
History: CC and Veritas Press-Ancient World (see above)
Science: CC earth science and astronomy
English Grammar: Shurley English
Phonics: Explode the Code
and more


Will, Pre-K

Math: Pre-K workbook
Letters: Handwriting Without Tears, Get Ready for School
Phonics: Get Ready for the Code A
Will also attends Classical Conversations (CC) with us this year and is learning about ancient history, earth science and astronomy, and much more. He LOVES it.

Summer Fun

These crazies...they sure add some spice to my life!

Our summer was packed full of the typical summer goodness: pools, parks, picnics, summer camp, VBS, hanging out with friends, trips to the zoo and swim team. Like many, we had a summer bucket list and I'm happy to say that we completed most of it. We did not make it over to the Loveland bike trail yet, but I am hoping to do that on a lovely fall Saturday. Doesn't that sound nice? Honestly, most of the best fun was had doing the simple things that were close to home--hanging out with our neighbors, trips to our neighborhood pool, visiting with cousins and friends, etc... Here's a pictorial walk through of the highlights our summer:

It's the simple things...

We had the privilege of having my two nephews and niece stay with us for a few days in June. Nerf wars were held, Wii was played, there was swimming and playing in the treehouse. The days flew by and the kids truly loved spending time together! Such a blessing!

They loved cousin time! 

We are so thankful to be members of a pool that is less than a mile from our house. All three boys took swim lessons, and Jon and Sam were on the swim team. Will has more or less learned to swim and Maggie loves to leisurely float, which is miles from the top step where she hung out all of last summer! All of us made new friends and reconnected with old ones this summer. The pool is definitely one of the highlights of our summer!

Miss Maggie, the bathing beauty at our neighborhood pool

Many nights were spent eating pizza at the pool :)

Swim team brothers

The younger half, not quite ready to participate in the swim meets, snacked instead. ;)

So proud of Jon, who received the Coach's Award for his age group on the swim team.

We got zoo passes in the winter, and plan to use them more and more this fall. We did take one trip as a family last month. It was fun to hear the kids talk about their favorite animals and tell us why they love them.

Our four crazy animals at the zoo 

Pete and I got to sneak in a few date nights this summer. Several double dates, and one night we snuck away and went to a Reds game together. This guy is so much fun. I'm so thankful that I get to do life with him.

Reds game with my favorite guy

Other highlights of the summer were more about the company than the events, park days with friends, hanging out with friends at their houses or ours, and of course the times just hanging out with our neighbors, who have become friends, here on the cul de sac. 

Park day with friends

Fun with our favorite Markie girls!

One of our zucchini from our garden!

Silly girl at the library

We have so much fun with our neighbors! 

Snacks and a turtle with our friends, what could be better?

Maggie just adores sweet Emily

One of many trips to Target

I won't pretend there weren't moments of chaos or summer colds or strep throat, or even that everything was sun-kissed and sweet. When you get rid of the usual routines, order, and normal bedtimes, you end up with a little more arguing, a little more laziness, and in general a lack of direction and purpose...at least we did! I am glad to be reflecting on the lazy, hazy summer days because now our days have more structure and purpose and order. I could still use a maid and a cook, but I am really enjoying our school days. All that said, summer will always be my favorite season! 

Merry Messy

Does anyone else find places like this scattered around their house during the holiday season?

I stick things on top of the dryer to get them out of the way until we need them. 

Some of the containers that I keep the Christmas presents in are still out until I can finish getting everything where I want it.

Presents are stashed up on top of a bookshelf to keep out of reach of little hands. This one is a first for me. I usually just throw things in my closet, but with my daughter, who is known to get into everything all.the.time, I figured I should keep gifts out of her reach.

Things that need mailed or delivered or put away piled on the counter.

This time of year is so busy that I could really use some magical elves to clean up around here or do the mundane tasks--laundry, dishes, cooking--so that I could just enjoy the fun projects and crafts with the kiddos. However, since the elves are busy working up at the North Pole, I guess I'll just keep looking past the piles! ;)

How do you keep things organized during this time if year? Or do you have messy stashes, too?

A Work in Progress

My husband and my oldest, Jon, recently went to church time where the focus was on making your life count. Ironically, while they were gone I was incredibly lazy and watched more t.v. than I'm willing to admit. Towards the end of the week, God grabbed my heart and reminded me that my moments make up my days which make up my life...is this the life I want to live? One of watching this series on Netflix followed by that series on Amazon Prime? I was reading a blog that talked about reading quality books with our kids and how we model for them with our actions. I was reminded that I will never be the kind of woman that I hope to be unless I start making better decisions now. Most of the summer I have spent my kids' nap times watching television. Meanwhile, I have a list of books that I want to read. I have a list of projects I want to complete. I have a list of things I want to do with my kids. We're over half way through July...time to get going.

This week, I determined to use nap time for working on projects or reading books. It was great. Honestly, I did not miss that time in front of the t.v. at all. I read two books in a series that I have been wanting to read and can't wait to start the last one. I accomplished several projects for school in the fall, and I even took the older boys to Kings Island one afternoon while my mom graciously watched the littler two. I still have many projects left on my list, but the feeling of progress is priceless.

I'm realizing the truth in sayings I've heard millions of times before: If you don't have goals, what are you working toward? I am thinking and praying through specific goals for our home and my life. Friends of mine have shared that they talk through family goals with their spouse. I like that idea. I'd also love to sit down with my older two boys individually and set some goals for the school year-not just academic goals but all aspects.

Also, as I realize that I am far from perfect and will most likely stumble again as I travel this path, I love the saying that, "God doesn't call us to perfection, he calls us to obedience." We will fail. Our children will also fail. Am I modeling how to fail graciously? I am I sharing with them my mistakes and how I am trying to overcome them in His strength? Or do I hide those mistakes from them and try to act like I've got it all together? Hopefully, we can graciously grow together as we walk through our days in His grace, mercy and love.

Great, Not Great

My crazy three year old, Will, is constantly cracking me up. One of the things he says when I'm smiling and talking about something enthusiastically is, "Is it great, Mom?" And, on the other side, when he knows that I am upset, he'll say, "Is it not great?" Cracks me up. I wish you could hear him. Anyway, in the past I had a post or two about things that work for us, and things that don't. Many of you chimed in and shared great ideas or testimonials that helped me out a ton. So, I thought we'd try again, but this time I've renamed it, a la Will. :)

What's Great:

A system for drying our wet stuff after the pool:

My oldest is on the swim team this year, which is wonderful, but that means daily wet suits and towels. Plus, we go to our neighborhood pool often, and with a family of six that means more wet swimsuits and towels. I saw this idea on Pinterest and implemented it almost immediately. It is simple-a tension shower rod, and some S hooks. I bought the shower rod at Walmart and the hooks from Amazon. In total, it cost me $16, but it was worth every penny. The kids, with the exception of my daughter, who is one, know to hang their stuff up right away, and we sort and put them away whenever we need to use the shower. Typically, I fold the towels (if they've only been used a time or two) and hand the swimsuits to their owners to put back in their drawers. Maybe next summer I will get the boys to fold the towels and distribute the suits on their own. For now, I am just thrilled that I am not finding wet bathing suits on the floor of their rooms! 

~Doing laundry on one day from start to finish.

        In the morning, or sometimes the night before, I have the older two boys bring down their laundry. I gather the rest, and Pete and I bring it downstairs. If I am on top of changing the loads around, I can have most of the laundry ready to fold by our nap/quiet time. Then I sit and turn on a show on Netflix, currently Call the Midwife, and fold, fold, fold. Typically, I can have it all folded by the time the little ones are up. The putting away part is sometimes tricky. Jon and Sam are responsible for putting their own away now. I usually put away Will and Maggie's clothes as soon as I can after they wake up. That just leaves the grown up clothes...sadly, this is a NOT GREAT. Often I stick our basket in our room, and get back to the kiddos or dinner, etc. and plan to put ours away before bed. It continually gets pushed off. Even as I type, a basket sits in our bedroom waiting. I spend so little time in our room, besides the obvious sleeping time, that it is the farthest thing from my mind. Does anyone have a tried and true method of getting all the laundry put away? Or do I just need to be more disciplined...

~The Treehouse 

My amazing hubby decided to build our kids a treehouse. It has been quite the project. Many of the kids, our own and several neighborhood friends, have gotten in on the action of building it. Overall, it has been really fun to see it come together. My only complaint is that it has taken many Saturdays to build. All in all though, it has been worth the time and effort to see them playing up there! :)

What's NOT Great:

~Remembering to have my kids practice piano

This picture is from the spring...back when I would remember to tell my kids to practice piano. The consistency of our schedule during the school year made it much easier to remember to have the kids practice daily. Thankfully, our piano teacher is gracious and says as long as they play even once or twice a week during the summer they can just tread water and not lose ground over these summer months. 

~My ability to put things on the wall and get them to stay

My attempts at hanging our dry erase board in our school room! Much to my husband's dismay, I tried to hang our huge dry erase board on the wall without drywall screws. It fell right off. Yikes. I have am now waiting for him to help me find the studs or something like that...apparently I need an education on hanging heavy items. 

Those holes above are where our curtains used to hang in our living room. Ignore the lower set, they were supposed to be covered by the curtains I hung up on the higher set. Then one of my kiddos wrapped himself if the curtains and fell over, pulling the whole thing out of the wall. :( Anyone want to come help me patch the drywall and rehang them? For now we are enjoying the extra sunlight?!?

~Conserving Water

Conserving water is great, but my kids apparently are not great at doing it. They had been playing in the sprinkler with a neighbor, I went in to put my littler two down for naps, they came in and went off to read. THIRTY minutes later I realized the sprinkler was still on in our backyard! *shaking my head* 

So, what's great and not great in your corner of the world?

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.