Yup, that's what I'm doing this upcoming fall. Our *plan* is to either get Sonlight core D (the first part of a 2 year US history study) using the 9 month time payment plan, OR to create my own thing. Since we can't apply for the payment plan until after April 1st, I am spending this week's free time looking over resources to buy for us to create our own thing. I'm going to just post this as a reminder of what I'm liking as of right now.
History Pockets- love these, we did the grades 1-3 ancient civilizations one alongside our world history studies this last couple years and it was great. I'm going to be purchasing some of the ones that go with US history to do as the starting point for our studies, and we'll lapbook them instead of making the construction paper pockets (how we did the ancient civ. one)
Smithsonian Children's Encyclopedia of American History- I am pretty sure this is the US history reference book we'll be going with, but I'm still exploring the different ones available. It is going to be difficult to find one that doesn't have an obvious political slant (either liberal or conservative) but this one appears so far to be fairly neutral. I need to take this search to the local public library this weekend to see if I can find this one to look at closer, as well as look over some other reference books that they may have. (feel free to comment if you have a suggestion for a good book to fill this spot, it will be one of my big tools for teaching this subject)
library books- an ever-popular resource, I'll be finding a lot of books at the library to add to our studies.
Not too much set up yet, but I'm working on it. In fact, if I get a good feel of what I'm doing before we can try for the payment plan, I may just opt to go this route instead of buying Sonlight. I'm actually having fun trying to come up with something to do on my own like this instead of just buying the next core package in line, although I can 100% guarantee that I will be buying Sonlight's core F in a few years for the girls to do while PJ does a core (either the P cores or core A, depends on how old he is when we buy it)
Monday, March 26, 2012
Tuesday, March 20, 2012
the Kindle
Yes, we finally bought one this month for me. I swore that I'd never own one, as a book lover one of my favorite things about reading a book is the rustling of pages and being able to twiddle the side of the pages as I read to help me focus. However, books are horribly impractical for reading when you are spending hours a day stuck in a chair while the baby is latched on to nurse. A traditional book is a little too heavy and big to hold with one hand and read easily, and turning pages is a chore. So, Scott and I agreed that a Kindle would be the way to go.
We were initially going to get the Kindle Fire because I like gadgets like that, but we decided to go instead with the classic and continue to save up for my iPad that I've been wanting since they first came out. That iPad will come in VERY handy at managing my life with some of the apps I can get, but that's a completely different post for a future date when I actually GET the iPad and can share all the things I will be using it for.
But anyway, the Kindle.......
It was a breeze for me to get set up and charged, and get some books on it. I have about $24 in Amazon gift certificate money loaded to my account still, and I want to spend it on books for me to read. I have many free domain books on the Kindle already, sorted into collections based on who and what they are for (kids' history, kids' read alouds, mom's reading, and such). OK so maybe many isn't the right word here as I only have about 30 books loaded on it. But it feels like a lot of books to me.
So now I must ask for some suggestions. I am in need of some new reading material for me personally. Most of the books I have already on it I've read in the past and enjoyed, or they are the entire 6 volume series by Charlotte Mason (dry as heck). I'm looking for new reading material. I'm especially interested in books that may help me as a parent, wife, and/or homeschool parent, and total fluff (I rather enjoyed the Ann Rice books I've read in the past and plan to get a couple more).
What do YOU like to read on your Kindle?
We were initially going to get the Kindle Fire because I like gadgets like that, but we decided to go instead with the classic and continue to save up for my iPad that I've been wanting since they first came out. That iPad will come in VERY handy at managing my life with some of the apps I can get, but that's a completely different post for a future date when I actually GET the iPad and can share all the things I will be using it for.
But anyway, the Kindle.......
It was a breeze for me to get set up and charged, and get some books on it. I have about $24 in Amazon gift certificate money loaded to my account still, and I want to spend it on books for me to read. I have many free domain books on the Kindle already, sorted into collections based on who and what they are for (kids' history, kids' read alouds, mom's reading, and such). OK so maybe many isn't the right word here as I only have about 30 books loaded on it. But it feels like a lot of books to me.
So now I must ask for some suggestions. I am in need of some new reading material for me personally. Most of the books I have already on it I've read in the past and enjoyed, or they are the entire 6 volume series by Charlotte Mason (dry as heck). I'm looking for new reading material. I'm especially interested in books that may help me as a parent, wife, and/or homeschool parent, and total fluff (I rather enjoyed the Ann Rice books I've read in the past and plan to get a couple more).
What do YOU like to read on your Kindle?
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Planning the new school year
Yes, I know its ONLY March. However, it is that time that I like to look over where we are in each subject and start getting real solid ideas for next fall. We typically call our first day of school officially at the very start of August, and I would *like* to take July off most lessons if possible so that we can enjoy some street fairs and summer weather. July is the month that is usually slowest for Scott at work, so we get to spend more time together as a family before it picks up again in August with all the kids getting glasses for school to start (in case you don't know, Scott makes eyeglasses for a living, a lot of his work is actually for children on Medicaid in a few different states). So, during his hours off work we do field trips on weekends and go on picnics and stuff like that. It is something we always look forward to, even if the paychecks are barely enough to cover our bills during the slower season.
So, I'm looking now and figuring out fall, mainly to ease the amount of work I have to do when Scott is at work less. If I plan now, then it is ready to go before he's no longer working 70 hour weeks (that's the busier times, during summer he gets 45 hours a week if we're lucky). So here's what we have figured out so far.
This fall I will have an infant still, which I hear that the infant year is easiest to do this. I've never schooled kids with an infant, Missa didn't start K until Jojo was a year old, so this is a new experience for us. I'm learning as we go with it. Anyway, this fall I will also have all 4 girls going formally. Jojo will be of K age by cutoff date, so we will begin K with her and plan to stretch it out over 2 years on paper for maturity. So she will be a Junior K and then her sisters will be in grades 1, 3, and 4. Sounds fun, don't you think? Lots of juggling, and not a lot of independent work with a couple of them.
So, here's what IS working for us this year, which will follow us into next year:
Math-U-See (I will have to get only 2 workbooks, the middle girls went slower than expected this year)
All About Spelling (Missa is working her speed and Liddy will start level 1)
Real Science 4 Kids (not finished with the books we got for this year so we'll finish them up and go into some unit studies)
That right there takes care of half my requirements easily. Now for the fun part. What didn't work so well, or what we're changing out of necessity because it just is a bad fit for our situation with all the kids going at once.
The biggest change for us will be that we are taking a year off Sonlight. I'm feeling a need to spend a year doing geography and some US history and state studies, so I'm working out the kinks in this one now. I already have "Geography Songs" that we are going to do to cover the basic geography stuff, from our Sonlight core (one of the things we got then dropped early on because of the pregnancy when I started lightening my load in teaching back in I think October). I also have some free domain books on my Kindle that we will utilize, as well as 11th grade A Beka US History to refresh my own memory before I start working this out. I will need to use as many free resources as possible to cover this year's history, we just don't have the money to buy all the consumables I need for 4 kids AND the US history program I was originally wanting (I had originally decided on Winter Promise American Story 1 for this fall, then Scott had to get a car and we decided on one about $1500 more than we planned so my homeschool budget went down from $1200 to $300 and I spent part of that on a Kindle).
I also am dropping Handwriting Without Tears, and getting a couple of dry-erase handwriting practice books they have at a store here locally. This year, I simply cannot afford to buy handwriting workbooks for all 4 kids to go through as fast as they do, so they will use the dry-erase variety and take turns practicing. I also am going back to regular copywork instead of the copywork and journaling books we did this year, also because of cost. Thankfully, I only need to buy 2 math workbooks for Missa and Jojo to do this fall, and a friend blessed us with the teaching materials for all the Math-U-See levels we didn't have up to Algebra 1 so I am set there for several years.
And that's about all I figured out so far. I am hoping to make it to the CHEO convention in June this year, but I'm not sure I can do it with the cost for the person we have do our portfolio reviews for reporting.
So, I'm looking now and figuring out fall, mainly to ease the amount of work I have to do when Scott is at work less. If I plan now, then it is ready to go before he's no longer working 70 hour weeks (that's the busier times, during summer he gets 45 hours a week if we're lucky). So here's what we have figured out so far.
This fall I will have an infant still, which I hear that the infant year is easiest to do this. I've never schooled kids with an infant, Missa didn't start K until Jojo was a year old, so this is a new experience for us. I'm learning as we go with it. Anyway, this fall I will also have all 4 girls going formally. Jojo will be of K age by cutoff date, so we will begin K with her and plan to stretch it out over 2 years on paper for maturity. So she will be a Junior K and then her sisters will be in grades 1, 3, and 4. Sounds fun, don't you think? Lots of juggling, and not a lot of independent work with a couple of them.
So, here's what IS working for us this year, which will follow us into next year:
Math-U-See (I will have to get only 2 workbooks, the middle girls went slower than expected this year)
All About Spelling (Missa is working her speed and Liddy will start level 1)
Real Science 4 Kids (not finished with the books we got for this year so we'll finish them up and go into some unit studies)
That right there takes care of half my requirements easily. Now for the fun part. What didn't work so well, or what we're changing out of necessity because it just is a bad fit for our situation with all the kids going at once.
The biggest change for us will be that we are taking a year off Sonlight. I'm feeling a need to spend a year doing geography and some US history and state studies, so I'm working out the kinks in this one now. I already have "Geography Songs" that we are going to do to cover the basic geography stuff, from our Sonlight core (one of the things we got then dropped early on because of the pregnancy when I started lightening my load in teaching back in I think October). I also have some free domain books on my Kindle that we will utilize, as well as 11th grade A Beka US History to refresh my own memory before I start working this out. I will need to use as many free resources as possible to cover this year's history, we just don't have the money to buy all the consumables I need for 4 kids AND the US history program I was originally wanting (I had originally decided on Winter Promise American Story 1 for this fall, then Scott had to get a car and we decided on one about $1500 more than we planned so my homeschool budget went down from $1200 to $300 and I spent part of that on a Kindle).
I also am dropping Handwriting Without Tears, and getting a couple of dry-erase handwriting practice books they have at a store here locally. This year, I simply cannot afford to buy handwriting workbooks for all 4 kids to go through as fast as they do, so they will use the dry-erase variety and take turns practicing. I also am going back to regular copywork instead of the copywork and journaling books we did this year, also because of cost. Thankfully, I only need to buy 2 math workbooks for Missa and Jojo to do this fall, and a friend blessed us with the teaching materials for all the Math-U-See levels we didn't have up to Algebra 1 so I am set there for several years.
And that's about all I figured out so far. I am hoping to make it to the CHEO convention in June this year, but I'm not sure I can do it with the cost for the person we have do our portfolio reviews for reporting.
Friday, March 09, 2012
Pictures!!!!!
I mentioned EARLY this morning that we had pictures today, and here are a couple from that session. PJ was not in the mood to cooperate too much, that child has a one-track mind and only wants to be feeding if he's awake still. But we got some great shots I think. :)
I am definitely enjoying having a little boy too much obviously. I loved getting to pick out his first little man outfit for today, and I do think he looks amazingly handsome in it. Even Scott had to agree that he looked good for pictures. I just wish I had been able to get his outfit in a newborn size instead of 0-3 month, it was a little big on him. Oh well, just means he can wear it a little longer before he outgrows it.
what a busy week!
I'm waiting for the van to warm up now so I can make a run to pick up some clothes for the kids for today, so this will be short. I hope. lol
Monday was supposed to be my due date, and instead I had a 2 1/2 week old baby boy in my arms. Loving it by the way, he is bringing a whole new level of joy to our home, one that only a new baby can bring. For the first time, I don't feel like there's someone missing here. Yes, I do have moments where I think that a few more babies would be nice, but that is something that we're not even considering right now. We are too busy enjoying this little man.
Tuesday, PJ had his 2 week checkup AND it was our wedding anniversary. Yup, 8 years married now, and this July we'll have been together officially for 10 years. What an amazing feeling THAT is. Anyway, PJ was 2 ounces below his birth weight and a full inch bigger. That puts him in the 50th for height and the 25th for weight and his head measurement. Looks like he's got my build. He goes back in uhhhh mid April I think, I have to look and see first.
Wednesday I saw the midwife about my blood pressure issues I had. I'm still on the meds to control it, and its at the higher end of the normal range now. She and I had a nice long discussion about how those last weeks of my pregnancy went and what the future could hold for me if we have another baby. She also made it clear that my long term recovery will be a better indicator of the blood pressure issues and that at this point she won't say whether or not it would be a good/bad idea to have more because its not that long after birth. I go back to her again in April for my official 6 week checkup and to re-evaluate the pre-eclampsia.
Then Thursday we hung out at home and I prepped diapers. I forgot how much work prefolds can be to get ready for use. :) But they are all washed and ready to go now.
And today, we have PJs first pictures. Which means, I need to leave now to get 4 girls dresses and a boy a little outfit. I'll share pictures later when we have them.
Monday was supposed to be my due date, and instead I had a 2 1/2 week old baby boy in my arms. Loving it by the way, he is bringing a whole new level of joy to our home, one that only a new baby can bring. For the first time, I don't feel like there's someone missing here. Yes, I do have moments where I think that a few more babies would be nice, but that is something that we're not even considering right now. We are too busy enjoying this little man.
Tuesday, PJ had his 2 week checkup AND it was our wedding anniversary. Yup, 8 years married now, and this July we'll have been together officially for 10 years. What an amazing feeling THAT is. Anyway, PJ was 2 ounces below his birth weight and a full inch bigger. That puts him in the 50th for height and the 25th for weight and his head measurement. Looks like he's got my build. He goes back in uhhhh mid April I think, I have to look and see first.
Wednesday I saw the midwife about my blood pressure issues I had. I'm still on the meds to control it, and its at the higher end of the normal range now. She and I had a nice long discussion about how those last weeks of my pregnancy went and what the future could hold for me if we have another baby. She also made it clear that my long term recovery will be a better indicator of the blood pressure issues and that at this point she won't say whether or not it would be a good/bad idea to have more because its not that long after birth. I go back to her again in April for my official 6 week checkup and to re-evaluate the pre-eclampsia.
Then Thursday we hung out at home and I prepped diapers. I forgot how much work prefolds can be to get ready for use. :) But they are all washed and ready to go now.
And today, we have PJs first pictures. Which means, I need to leave now to get 4 girls dresses and a boy a little outfit. I'll share pictures later when we have them.
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