Math Curriculum

Today I thought I would post about something super exciting - math curriculum!! Seriously though, this topic is much discussed and debated among homeschoolers. There are tons of options out there, so I'll share what we have used (and will be using). So grab some cocoa and pull up a chair - let's talk MATH!

There are two main ways to learn math - mastery and spiral. (At least those were the two main ways back when I started homeschooling - the first time - many years ago.... common core has changed some things, but the basic methods are still the same... I think? 😂) Mastery method has a child completely master (hence the name) a concept before moving on to the next. Spiral method introduces a new concept, and then has the child work on the new concept AND the previously taught concepts each day. 

When Bug did preschool at home, we used some of the Calvert Kindergarten curriculum, which included Math in Focus workbooks. They were cute and straightforward, and we liked them.  The next year, when Bug did half-day kindergarten, we used Oak Meadow first grade curriculum for some afternoon supplements. (Oak Meadow is SOOOO cute, btw! If I had homeschooled Lulu from day one, she would have loved their stuff I think.) Oak Meadow math is nature-based and uses stories to teach the basics. It's adorable and I absolutely loved it.

But, when we started homeschooling again for Bug in second grade, I wanted something a little more hard-core than the Oak Meadow stories (she was showing an aptitude for math and is more of a worksheets/lectures/books kinda girl, rather than stories and artsy nature stuff), so we got the 2nd grade Math in Focus since we had some experience with that. This is a Singapore/mastery approach curriculum - and it was a FLOP. While Kinder had been cute and fun, 2nd grade was not.We both were beyond bored. I did a little research and tried out Horizons. It was love at first sight and that is all we have used at home since.

We we love it:

Algebra 1

• The lessons are straightforward. There is a new concept laid out, a few samples to do with your child, and then they do the rest of the worksheet on their own. The worksheet includes some more of the new concept, as well as hitting on concepts from previous lessons. (I rarely have them do the entire worksheet. There are usually anywhere from 40-60 problems on each one, so I adjust each section's work based on what they need to work on. For example, Lulu is working on division, and still mastering some of those trickier times tables. So on her worksheets I focus more on those right now. For the sections with adding/subtracting money or distributive property stuff, etc. right now, I just have her do a couple of each of those so she can remember how, but not spend a ton of time doing busy work on things she already knows. I don't want them beaten down by things like that. My goal for them with math is mastery and remembering concepts - not just doing pages of the same thing over and over when they already know it!)

Horizons 3

• The lessons look fun. I mean, they aren't always *actually* fun, but the pages are colorful, even in Algebra 1! So that makes math a little more exciting.
• It's challenging. This is more why *I* love it - they are being engaged and challenged as they go. I have complete confidence that they are both above grade level with this curriculum. I have days I obsess about different subjects and whether what we are doing is working, but not math. It's nice to have that peace of mind.

What to be aware of:

• This curriculum assumes that the teacher/parent knows the concepts. I love math. It makes sense, I know what I'm doing, and so I am comfortable teaching it with minimal support from the teacher's manual. If you do not love math and need more support for your teaching, this may not be for you.  There are some other great options out there though. If you want something that is more student-led where you aren't doing the teaching, Teaching Textbooks is supposed to be amazing. The kids watch a lesson and do their work online (most or all of it I think?). I have heard that this program may run a little behind other homeschool programs, so do a placement test first, and maybe go up a grade if necessary. Or - if you want something more advanced that is parent-led with more instruction in the kids and teachers manuals than Horizons provides, Saxon is a great choice too.
• Horizons math stops after Algebra 1. I discovered that this year and I am heartbroken! So I have done some research on high school math options, and we are going to use Saxon for 8th grade and up. Bug had Saxon at one of her schools, and it's also a really good curriculum - similar to Horizons, but different in a few small ways that made it not the *perfect* fit - but will be great going forward I'm sure. Our plan is to do (8th-12th grades): Algebra 2, Geometry, Advanced Math, AP Calc, and then maybe AP Statistics if she wants to do that. If anyone has experience with high school Saxon homeschool curriculum, I'd love input on whether that is a good lineup and progression!!

Extra Resources we use:

• Khan Academy - we used them last year for Pre-Algebra assistance. There was a new concept every day with Horizons (it's fast-paced!), and sometimes my explanations didn't quite cut it. So Bug would watch a Khan Academy video and just hearing someone else lay it out for her, in maybe a different way too, was really helpful.
• Times Tales - Lulu did the trial video a few weeks ago, and liked it a lot. We are going to get it for use over break to nail down the rest of her times tables. If your kid is struggling with having the times tables nailed down, check this out! Try the trial video and see if it works. (Update: I have had this blog post sitting here for a few weeks OOPS - and in the meantime we have gotten and used Times Tales. I am pleased to report that it works! It's fun and Lulu has happily been watching the videos. The stories stick, and she's now able to quickly remember the tougher times tables.)

So there you go - Math! I'll make my next post more exciting, I promise. 😊 

Homeschool Organization

Happy November!

This is a very pic-heavy post, but if you are like me and organization pictures are your jam, welcome and enjoy! Today I'm addressing another common question, and one of the main things I put a lot of thought into when we were considering homeschooling - "How the heck do I set this up and keep it organized and flowing smoothly!?"

Current Room (more info below about what is pictured): each girl has their own side of the room, Lulu on the left and Buggy on the right. The shelves next to each desk holds their supplies, current work bins, books we are or will use for each, and their miscellaneous items/toys that make them happy during the school day. The middle area is random stuff - office supplies, cleaning wipes, crafting things, markers, my little stash of Jolly Ranchers, etc...

This front room is in the shape of a large rectangle, and has been wonderful during the years. This space was originally a playroom when the girls were little:

We were homeschooling when I created the playroom, so we did our schooling in the dining area:

But then, as I often do, I decided to mix things up, and that's when we moved our school room into the playroom:

(SO FREAKIN TINY OMGEEEE. ^^ Buggy about 5 years ago...)

We had a couple other variations that I posted about here at the time, and then took a break from homeschooling. This room just became a craft/fun room, but now we are back! So here, again, is our current setup:

Desks - they are super budget-friendly and from IKEA. (Didn't get a picture of this before school today - obviously it's post-school video-game playing time up in here!) In some of the pictures above, you can see I originally had these 2 desks bracketed together to make one big square where we sat and did all our work together. It was cozy and wonderful, and perfect for a 2nd grader and preschooler. Now that we are middle school and 3rd grade, everyone wants their space. Plus, if the girls shared a big desk, I'm pretty sure most of the school day would be spent fighting about whose side is better or who has more room or who is looking at whom with a "creepy cringey face", etc. You get the picture. 😂

Shelves - those are... just shelves I ordered online maybe? They used to be black before I sanded, primed, and painted those suckers. I think Amazon? I don't know. If you are starting out and don't have shelves yet, I would totally do some Kallax from IKEA. 😍 These would be great for homeschooling organization.

Bins/drawers - we have pretty much always used a variation of the Sue Patrick Workbox System. Currently we are literally doing the most basic version of it: labeled drawers. There are a lot of ways to use this system, and as Lulu gets older I may incorporate it more for her (check out link for how awesome it can be). For now, though, we use these drawers, along with a checklist for the week broken down by day with what they need to do.

The girls just go to the drawer for their subject and pull out what needs to be done. Super basic, super easy. I add in any worksheets or extra materials they need for that day. There are many ways to do this system. You can see in some of my pics above other ways we have done this, with baskets and shelves for 2nd grade, and for preschool we did open trays with the materials laying on each tray. The point is to have the papers and materials ready for each subject so your child (or you!) can easily grab what you need and get it done.

Miscellaneous Storage: Just random crates and bins holding manipulatives, extra supplies, and papers. Nothing too exciting. But there are some pictures of it. You're welcome.

My little nook: I have moved my stuff into the dining area now. I camp out at the dining room table and print things as needed for the girls, grade things, teach new concepts, and answer questions. I have all my teachers manuals and binders easily accessible.


~~~

So there you go - many pictures and links to info about homeschool organization!! I'm sure this will change again; but right now it's working very well for us. As I touch on different subjects, I will get more into what binders and bins I have for each, and how I keep it all organized.

OK time to go inhale carbs and watch election results, who's with me!?? 😵

THE Question....

Hello! Happy almost-Halloween! Grab some candy and settle in - long post ahead...

As I mentioned on Facebook earlier this week, I have received an increasing number of messages from friends about homeschooling. These messages range from "My child hates school, tell me all about homeschooling!" to specific questions about a curriculum we use, how high school would work, what groups we are involved in, ways I have helped my kids conquer their various quirks while we are doing school, how I'm maintaining any semblance of sanity (spoiler: I'm usually not!), and so on. I have been trying to answer people comprehensively (aka in my usual rambling wordy fashion), but I feel like I'm overloading everyone with my responses because there is SO MUCH information. So, I am going to try my best to post once a week highlighting one area of homeschooling, in the hopes that this helps answer questions in a more sane way for everyone.

To start out, I thought I would address the main question I receive:

"WHAT ABOUT SOCIALIZATION?"

I would bet solid money that if you asked all homeschoolers, “What question do you hear the most often?”, this would be it. And keeping it real, this was a hard one for me to get past as well. I wanted my kids to go to dances and sporting events and have the typical schooling experience. I worried that they would become freaky weirdos who couldn't interact in a normal way with their friends. I had to challenge all my preconceived notions of why going to school is the best way for kids to become well-adjusted members of society.

Disclaimer: Everyone who homeschools has to address this topic for themselves and their family personally. My opinions and views expressed here are based on my own thoughts and experiences.

There are many homeschoolers who see "lack of socialization" as a positive thing - they don't want their kids exposed to the society we live in these days. The sex, the drugs, the rock'n'roll (ok not that last part, I don't think...). But seriously, we live in a messed up world. So for some, the answer to "Hey freaky homeschooler, aren't you worried your kids won't be socialized?" is "Heck no, I want that!" And believe me, I get that. There are aspects of that I agree with. I'm happy my kids don't have to do active shooter drills or be exposed to *some* things at too early of an age. (I also think timed math facts testing is the devil and could go on a huge rant about that, but I'll save that for another time. And don't get me started on standardized tests.....)

But, on the whole, I respectfully disagree with that mindset. I do want my children to be exposed to the messier aspects of life that we maybe wouldn't encounter here at home, so we can have the big conversations and use them as teachable moments. I also want them to have experience working with their peers, forming bonds and maintaining friendships - the things a healthy well-run school would provide for them. I want them to be involved in their community, and yes be exposed to society. Not so they can conform to it, but so they can function in it, and be empathetic individuals who are aware of what's going on around them. So, in short (even tho I'm about to follow this up with many words), my answer to "what about socialization?" is: I am extra deliberate in the types of extra classes and activities my girls do, so that they are exposed to the things they are missing from school (and in our case, getting more than school would offer). In other words, we get OUT of the house and into the world as much as possible.

We meet up with friends as frequently as we can, travel, do field trips, volunteer in our community, and I have them signed up for the following classes/activities (after each, I have listed my reasons why, and what they are gaining by each experience):

Sports: different authority figure than MOM, teamwork, group of peers working together, pushing themselves to achieve results and reach goals.
Girl Scouts: problem solving, working with a group of peers towards a common goal, discussions about our world and what we can do to improve it, opportunities to be involved in the community, and again, a different authority figure.
Cub Scouts: Lulu just started this, and again, different authority figure, group of friends, plus a little more hard core in that she is learning survival skills and being challenged in a way she hasn't before. It's outside both of our comfort zones!! (especially those freakin uniforms.....)
Homeschool Group: for obvious reasons!
Online classes: live with a teacher - homework assigned by someone besides MOM, working with other classmates, making new friends. Or pre-recorded lectures - listening to someone else, taking notes, yada yada.
In-person classes*: actual live teacher in a classroom with other students - completely recreating the school classroom; this is a new thing we are trying this year with a local organization, kind of in the "trial" period for us. But it has the potential to provide a lot of what the girls miss in school - even student council and winter formal. The group is Quest for Education and Arts.

Bottom line: If "lack of socialization" is holding you back from homeschooling, please don't let it! While my kids are not in an actual school setting all day and may be missing out on some things because of this, I feel like a whole new world has opened up for us as homeschoolers to get involved in our community more than we would otherwise. They also have each encountered people from different backgrounds and been exposed to scenarios that have jump-started some important conversations about life. But again, everyone needs to think this topic through for themselves and decide whether they are okay with their kids having a different experience than the norm. 💕

Story of the World, Volume 3 - Chapter 1

We survived our first week of a new school year- hurrah!!

One of the new-ish things we are doing is Story of the World (SOTW) together. Bug already did the first 2 volumes last year for 6th grade, but it was within the Sonlight history curriculum. She read the chapters and discussed with me, and also read historical literature that went with each time frame.

This year, I am reading the chapter aloud to both girls and asking questions afterwards. We are also doing mapwork, Lulu is making a lapbook, we are incorporating projects/field trips, and we are making a wall timeline. Oh and Bug is also getting official tests at the end of each chapter. I'm getting hard core yo.

So here is how our first chapter looked this week:

Chapter 1 was basically about how Charles wanted to rule all the things and threw a temper tantrum to the Pope and got his way, and then his son Philip wanted to own all the gold in South America and stole it from the Native South Americans, and forced them to work alongside African slaves. Delightful family!

Bug is reading "I, Juan de Pareja" as her literature to go with this time period. Olivia didn't read a fiction book to go with this history chapter. (But do not fret, next week we have some cool stuff!)

So - in each chapter, I will give the girls a map page like this one below, and have them circle, color, and mark various areas according to my directions. Like this (P on Philip's lands, F on Ferdinand's, etc.)

Our project this week was making gold doubloons from cardboard and gold foil:

We read an amazing story about a man (during the 1960s all the way through the 1980s, after much hard work and loss) who found treasure in the ocean from ships that were taken down by a hurricane while trying to get home to Spain from South America back in the 1600s. 

And here is the first part of the lapbook that Lulu is making. Under each flap, she wrote a sentence with information about what she learned on that topic.

And, last but not least - here is our wall timeline that we started. We are doing this in an unconventional way, and we will see if it works. My vision is that those racks (this was previously a book display wall) will hold books and projects for each section of the timeline, like this -- our book (library tho, so not a permanent fixture), and our bag of treasure! 

And here is the big empty wall, ready to be filled!!

Close-up of the super cool world history timeline poster I got on Amazon:

So there you have it! Chapter 1 done. Week 1 done. Yay!

Thoughts on the end of a school year....

We are starting our new school year tomorrow! 3rd and 7th grade. We are schooling year-round, so it's kinda weird to do "first day of school" celebrations tomorrow, but that's how we're rolling at the Cactus Schoolhouse.

A couple posts ago I reviewed all the curriculum we used this past year and what we will do this year. That is all still mostly accurate, so I'll leave that be for now. 

I want to take a moment to reflect on what *I* learned this school year.... so please indulge me. :)

1. Homeschooling is a 24/7 endeavor. I knew that logically, and have been through this before when we did 2nd grade and preschool @ home, but holy moly people, it's completely different with a middle schooler and a 2nd grader. One of the main reasons we decided to homeschool was so that our kids weren't just sitting in a desk checked out all day long. Now, I'm not saying my kids need to be entertained/engaged all day long (rest assured, they are quite adept at entertaining themselves, thank goodness!) - however, I did need to make sure the curriculum I chose and activities we did were filling their buckets, so to speak. I spent a good long time assessing and re-assessing what we were using - was it engaging enough? challenging enough? were my kids learning what they needed to? was I completely ruining them with my curriculum choices? (kidding on that last one... kinda... )

We tossed some things and then also brought in some new ones -- and after all is said and done, I'm really pleased with what we ended up with. But I also know that if something stops working, we can tweak it to suit our needs. Coming out the other end of this first year, I am so much more confident in all of this. I'm doing more on my own, to tailor it even more to my kids' needs.  It gets easier after year 1, and I'm guessing/hoping each year after gets a little easier too?

Side note: HOW DID PEOPLE HOMESCHOOL BEFORE THE INTERNET?!?!

2. Before we started, I sat down and came up with all the ways I could streamline our lives so that everything could continue to run smoothly, and also so I could carve out purposeful downtime for myself. Many of you who know me well, know that I am a borderline extrovert/introvert. Meaning, I can "people" with the best of them and have a great time, but if I don't get that downtime (reading, a quiet walk alone, watching Netflix - something where I am not interacting with people), I BURN OUT. Big time. So I knew that having people around me 24/7 every day would be taxing if I didn't practice self-care and make some tiny changes to adapt.

I am happy to report that most of my efforts were successful!! I did some major meal planning, streamlined the grocery shopping (Clicklist had me at hello omg insert heart eye emoji here!), I had a come to Jesus talk with everyone about pitching in more around the house, I was disciplined in getting my workouts done and eating healthy, planned some nights out with my friends, joined a book club, I took an hour or two every afternoon of quiet time for all, blah blah blah. Bottom line: I did lots of work making sure we had a good structure and schedule that helped us all stay sane.

So it went really well until about late November when Girl Scout cookie season started. In case you are not aware --  I lead a wonderful troop that we LOVE. A big troop, with about 20 amazing girls and seriously the best families. We are so lucky. And I knew things could get taxing on that end as well, so I spent a couple weeks before our July 17th homeschool start date planning meetings and events and organizing paperwork, and streamlining GS stuff as much as I could. However. Once cookie season kicked in, I crashed and burned. My plate, which had been so carefully (and sometimes precariously) balanced, flew off and smashed into the wall and yeah, insert all the metaphors to properly illustrate how badly I went down. So I came to the difficult realization that something had to give -- and that despite my careful pre-planning, running a troop was just too much for me right now. I'm super thankful that one of our amazing moms is stepping up to fill in as leader, and the leadership team is being so sweet about letting me be a "drop-off mom" next year so my girls can stay in the troop. I literally cried. I may cry again. Huge tears of gratitude. I waved the white flag, and things didn't fall apart! Life lesson - it's OK to back off from things, even the things you love. 💓 So that will be a HUGE change this coming year for us - leading that troop has been a major part of my life for the past 4.5 years. It's definitely bittersweet!

3. My girls' anxiety has gone down SO MUCH. When we started homeschooling, they both were super anxious - about tests, random things, decision-making, etc. Lulu more than Bug. For example - each week with Lu's writing assignment, she was borderline hysterical at the beginning of our school year about whether it would be "good enough" .... Now, she loves being creative and just putting herself out there without fear.  It was heartbreaking, for both of them. They both still have their delightful quirks and moments of OCD/anxiety/sensory stuff, but they are back to being happy well-adjusted usually-confident kids who aren't getting caught up in their heads on the anxiety train. (Not that I can relate to that at ALL....🤣) We will keep working on tools/ideas to help them each manage anything that comes up. I'm very happy with our progress so far! I've shared with them what I have learned in my many years on this earth, and I've also learned some new things through my research. So we are all growing!

So --  in summary, my advice for anyone who is pondering homeschooling (and I know several of you are!):

1. Curriculum: spend time looking at different ones (I spent literal weeks researching last year - it was fun in a weird way - there is a metric ton of info out there, take your time!), don't freak out if the one you start with isn't the right fit - keep working at it, I know it's exhausting, but in the end you will be so happy that you found the right curriculum for your kid(s). Life is much easier when your curriculum is working for you. Also, if you aren't sure, there are a bunch of used curriculum sales sites!! They saved me from spending too much $$ while figuring all this out.

2. This is a full-time job. And then some. View it that way. Make some hard choices about your commitments. 💕I'm a bit of a control freak (shocking!), but I have learned this year that I can let go of some things, and life will keep chugging along just fine. We are surrounded by surprisingly huge amounts of love and support, ready to lift us up and get us through, and it's truly okay to rely on it sometimes.  We don't have to be perfect and do all the things. I promise.

3. Trust your gut. I knew in my heart of hearts that my girls would thrive with homeschooling. And they are. Listen to your instincts and make the choice that's right for **your** kid. Whether that's leaving them where they are and working within your circumstances to make it doable, trying an alternative school, or homeschooling. You got this.

OK ruminations complete -- time to finish my day of rest to prepare for A NEW SCHOOL YEAR! HOORAY! 🎉

Mystery Science - Rivers

So I discovered this little website called Mystery Science. It had an offer for a "year free!" and I figured why not. I come across that quite a bit in the online homeschool realm. Sometimes it's something pretty lame that normally you couldn't pay me to use, but sometimes I'm pleasantly surprised. This time, it was the latter --- turns out, it's legit and actually costs a bunch of cash money per year. So we got a deal! And bonus - it's actually great, and Lulu is LOVING it.

Here is an example of how the lesson and activity go. She did a lesson on Earth's Surface Processes a couple of weeks ago, about rivers - where they start and where they end up. The format is a video with some questions to ponder, and then an activity at the end. She gets super excited about all of it, which is awesome. Also, it's not too long - perfect for someone with, shall we say, an active brain...

So she watched all about where rivers end and start... and they got her cute little noggin working on it... and then we did this activity:

You are probably wondering "ummm what is happening here?" Well let me tell you! Thank you for asking, amazing reader!

1. She crumpled up paper and taped it down onto a guide page from the website.
2. She drew with marker all along the top ridges of her paper mountain.
3. She sprayed it (maybe too enthusiastically, but hey MONSOON!) with water.
4. We watched where the marker went down the mountain...
5. And Lulu made some observations about where water flows.
6. We also looked at a map (guided by the website) of major rivers, and where they start -- voila! Mountains or higher elevations.
(Plus - 7. AND where do they end? Oceans!)

Super simple, but also super fun. She started the unit on rocks today - so I'm excited about some good volcanic fun coming up soon. :)

Here's a link to the website.

Wow I'm bad at blogging.

I started this cute little blog many moons ago, to keep track of our homeschool adventures. I did it to keep friends and family apprised of this weird outside-the-box journey we had started, and also to have something to look at for myself. And it's so neat to do that, to see all the adventures and projects we did.... back in like 2014!!!! I've been SO BAD about blogging this year. And here we are, with only about 8 weeks left in our "school year". (I put that in quotes because we are schooling year-round so we will take a week or two off and then dive back in, for 3rd and 7th grades.)

But fear not, we have been chugging along with our schooling. This year has been great for laying the foundation and finding out what works. I really want to add more adventures outside the house, and more hands-on projects. I'm gathering resources for both of those as I go, and I am excited about what this year will bring in those areas.

So as we wrap up 2nd and 6th grade, here are some thoughts.

What worked:

• Story of the World. Love. Will keep doing that with Bug for Vol 3 and 4, along with the Activity Book, Recommended Reading, and Tests. I am planning on doing it with Lulu when she starts World History in 4th grade as well. (and will also add in Classical Conversations for her that year too, but that's a whole other post!)
• Growing with Grammar. So simple, so straightforward, and easy to assess progress. 
• Khan Academy - LOOOOVE. So much. It has been great for Computer Programming, and to help reinforce some of the trickier Pre-Algebra concepts for Bug.
• Horizon Math - mostly love. See above, with needing additional clarification/support sometimes.
• Mystery Science - great for Lulu,we got a free subscription for a year - check it out! Videos and activities.
• Code.org - another great one for Lulu for her weekly coding sessions.
• Road Trip USA - been using this for years and it's amazing. 

What kinda worked:

• Sonlight reading lists - great literature.
• Mandarin class - it was nice to find one and be part of a "class", but it wasn't a big class and Bug knew everything they were learning. And then vball practice was a conflict, so we are not doing it again this semester.
• Sonlight LA for Lulu - see below.

What did not work:

• Science - Oak Meadow was too easy; Sonlight had too much anti-evolution in there for Bug, and not very engaging for Lulu. It's very hard to find a comprehensive homeschool science curriculum, as most come from a creationist young earth anti-evolution standpoint. We have been piecing things together and learning cool stuff, but it's a LOT of work for me honestly, and I worry I'm not getting in what needs to be done. Right now Bug is watching Bill Nye videos. ha! As I mentioned above, Mystery Science has been great, and Lulu has gone through units on Plants and Weather so far on there. She enjoys it.
• Sonlight Language Arts - while I LOVED the readers, and the writing portion for Lulu was ok, the writing for Bug was too vague.  She's learning about many different writing styles and mediums, and currently doing her first big research paper (of course, on Jane Goodall). That part is great. There is a rubric for each assignment, to help me assess, which is also good. But. I prefer the approach of Winning with Writing (created by Growing with Grammar company), where it is very straightforward and more easily assessed.  Many say to "trust the process" (and reference Ruth Beechik) and it will work out well in the end, and she will be an amazing writer (which, she is already!)... but if you know me, you know that is HARD. :) I like to see the numbers and make sure I'm doing this whole thing correctly.  It's been OK for Lulu, because she's younger and also LOVES writing, but I'm also going to switch her to a more concrete program.
• Sonlight History - Again, I LOVE the literature (mostly), and I adore Story of the World. But the layout is "Child reads assignment, parent asks discussion questions". And that's it. No tests or assessment of knowledge retained. So I'm going to just use SOTW and their resources, and consult the Sonlight reading list as well. I really like having fiction that goes along with the historical period being learned - that is amazing and enriching. But we can do that on our own, and for a heckuva lot less $$! I also may pull Literature Unit Studies for some of the books to do more reading comprehension/studies along the way.
• Rosetta Stone. Meh. I think I already got into this one on a previous post.
• Wordly Wise - maybe if we had been homeschooling and doing vocab from day 1, but no. This wasn't a good fit for us. Bug is going to complete her book, but I have only done a handful of the lessons with Lulu. We are also switching this to the same publishing company that does Growing with Grammar. (Can you tell we like their approach???)

Our curriculum plans for 2018-19:

• Story of the World (Bug) Vol. 3 and 4
• Road Trip USA (Lulu)- going through a second time and getting more in-depth with regional history and cuisine, more American History, more biographies of important people, President studies, and hopefully traveling for hands-on experiences! Also going to use the Little Prairie Primer in conjunction with the Little House books. Still working on this.
• Growing with Grammar, Winning with Writing, Soaring with Spelling and Vocab (JacKris Publications) - both girls
• Houghton Mifflin/Holt Science for Bug. and maybe Lu. See above re: struggles with science curriculum. This is just straightforward and what they use in public schools, so I think that's what I'm going to do for now, to make sure we are covering all our bases.
• and/or -- Unit Studies for Science for both as well - to add in some creative hands-on projects.
• Outschool - I haven't tried this website yet, but they have classes in various subjects and it seems pretty amazing: as of right now, Bug has picked out Japanese and a Warrior Cats creative writing class. Lulu will also select a language and elective.
• Horizons Math for both - Bug's Pre-Algebra will carry over into 7th grade, and then we will start Algebra during the year when she is ready. Jumping from public school "accelerated" 6th grade math that she took in 5th grade to a pretty rigorous 7th grade homeschool math was a leap. She's holding her own, but we have had to go back and go more in-depth on a few concepts that were difficult. I want to make sure she understands Pre-Algebra, as it lays the foundation for so much coming up. (And this is an example where testing as an assessment tool is SO helpful! I am able to see when she hasn't fully grasped a concept, and go back and re-teach or come at it from a different angle until she gets it.)
• Literature - for both, will be in conjunction with the time periods in history they are studying.
• Coding - will continue with code.org and Khan Computer Programming.

...and anything else I come across that looks interesting! 

That was quite a post. My goal for this coming "school year" is to post weekly to keep track of what we are doing!!! I found a homeschool log to fill out each day that will also help me. The days all kind of bleed together and it helps SO MUCH to look back and see what we've done. I have also started a Fitness Challenge for the girls that will go into next year, and found the website that sells supplies for Milers Club, that Bug did in school and loved. I have also started working on creating Cactus Cash to dole out for awesome grades or behavior, like they do in school. I think this will help motivate the girls even more and help me with "classroom management"..... I'll do a post another day about all the things I've struggled with and learned this school year. That will be another whopper!

If you read this far, thanks for all the support and encouragement you all have given me. This hasn't always been easy, but I can already see the benefits for us and can see how this is going to be the best option in the long run for both Bug and Lulu. 💕

1/3 of the way through the year!

I'm very bad at blogging regularly, apparently.  But we are still here! Still homeschooling, and really getting into the guts of the curriculum for the year. We have gotten through the initial "review and introduce a few new concepts" part of the curriculum that apparently exists even in homeschool. And now it's getting real. I'm loving how the girls are both being challenged in ways they haven't been before. The pace of homeschool curriculum can move quicker and go more in-depth just because it's one-on-one (or one-on-two in my case!). There have been frustrating moments for both the girls, but I'm loving that because it means they are growing and trying things they haven't before. Definitely not a lot of boredom or "phoning it in" happening in this schoolroom. :)

Here's what we are loving:

Weekly writing assignments with different genres. Bug just endured/survived a couple weeks of poetry. She hated it initially (and probably still does) but by the end, wrote a poem that I was super impressed with! It was outside her comfort zone, but she got into it and DID IT. And now we are moving on to other types of writing - this week is about news stories (in weeks past, she has done compare/contrast essays, descriptive paragraphs, etc.). Basically, each week she learns mechanics of that type of writing, analyzes it, learns concepts that relate to it, and then is guided through how to write her own version. In retrospect, I maybe should have gone down a level (she's doing this, and from what I've read we could/should have done F, since she hasn't been doing this curriculum the whole time and our schools weren't super heavy with the ELA work). Hindsight! But, we are powering through and she's catching up and getting it. This and vocab are both really pushing her outside her comfort zone, but I see growth and that makes me happy. Lulu also does weekly writing assignments, on a smaller scale. I'm so happy she is getting a solid foundation in this - by the time she gets to Bug's age, it will be much smoother than it is for Bug right now!!

Khan Academy - LOVING it. Free online courses, and they are good!! Bug does computer programming and is now also doing math - it goes more in-depth than Horizons. Much like the LA above, I forgot how homeschool curriculum is ahead of what the kids learned in school. So even tho she did 6th grade math last year, 7th grade homeschool math (pre-algebra) is a challenge. She is doing very well grade-wise, but we are taking our time with each concept and making sure she understands everything. Horizons is just a brief blurb, classwork, and then assignment. With a new concept every day. She was keeping up, but my math-loving kid was getting pretty run down by it all. Khan has videos that explain the concepts more fully, with follow-up quizzes and tests. So we are doing a combo of Khan and Horizons, and I think that will work really well going forward.  I want her to really GET these concepts so going forward she has a strong foundation.

Sonlight History/Literature - still loving it. I may add in some supplemental materials for the second Story of the World book in the spring. I'm very excited for Lulu to start using Sonlight History/Literature for 3rd grade next year! We are going through the literature lists for previous years that Lulu has missed, and doing them as readalouds. Right now we are doing Charlotte's Web and creating a lapbook to go with it. Sonlight is VERY literature heavy, but we 3 girls love a good story, so it's working well so far.

Here's what we will be changing next year:

Sonlight Science. Eh. The books are Usborne, which I LOVE. But the science worksheets that Sonlight creates to go along with the books have questions that don't always line up. That can be confusing and frustrating. Also, while Sonlight is one of the few (maybe only?) Christian curricula that understands not all homeschoolers are anti-evolution, there is a bit too much of the anti-evolution mindset that seeps into the worksheets for my taste. I believe we will just go with Houghton Mifflin or something straightforward next year. Bug is finishing up her Sonlight (we skipped the 12 weeks called "Origins" and so we will be done by March with the rest), and then we will dive into 7th grade science in the spring.  Lulu is now working on a plants unit, and then moon phases, and probably butterflies after that with the Insect Lore kit... etc etc. I will probably either continue unit studies for 3rd grade or also put her on Houghton Mifflin. Something like this.

~~~~~

So that's where the girls are at. For me, personally, I'm bit by bit finding my groove. We are all relaxing a bit, and getting out of the "recreate public school @ home" mentality. Meaning -- it's not about the grades or tests, it's about mastering concepts and spending time learning; it's not about getting school out of the way so we can get on with our day, it's about enjoying the process of learning, and letting it seep into every aspect of our day; it's not about scheduling every moment of the day like I did at the beginning of this year; it's about the content.  yada yada yada... you get the point (hopefully). :)

I will try to update more frequently!!!!!!!! Thanks for all the support and encouragement from everyone!! xoxo

To break or not to break....and a rambling update.

OH MY GOODNESS this school year is zooming by already. We did our first 6-week session and then had our week off. I pictured a glorious week where I revamped schooling organization, deep cleaned the house, sorted all the toys & clothes, took the kids to the pool for a couple hours every day, and amazing field trips every day. Ummm yeah. That was a lot of expectation!!!

So my thoughts on a whole week off every 6 weeks. In theory, great idea - especially if we want to travel somewhere. In reality, we ladies in this house like our structure. And balance. And that was a lot of stuff I had planned, without much balance. So the reality of our first week off was a lot of pajamas and video games, some very successful but time-consuming house organization projects with several trips to the Goodwill and (finally!) selling some big toys at a secondhand store, 3 pretty good field trips, and a reorg of how I have all the school stuff laid out. OK typing that out makes it actually sound like a good and productive week! LOL it was... I just think a whole week is a long time for a break when nobody else is off, the weather is still in the triple digits so playing outside is short-lived, and we were hitting a great school groove. Lesson learned!

So - the aforementioned school groove!! Everyone is really falling into a rhythm and it's wonderful. We start each day around 9, and finish up around 2 or 3, with a snack/recess break in the morning and a lunch break.  I took a Facebook quiz the other day (as I love to do) about what type of homeschoolers we are. I loved the results - they actually reflected where I feel like we are headed. The top 4 results were (in no particular order) Waldorf & Montessori (of course - these two have been my jam since we started homeschooling when Bug was 2), and also Charlotte Mason and Classical. Those last two have intrigued me as we have been working our way through Sonlight, with its rich classical literature. So I'm reading up on ways to incorporate more of those concepts into our school. I don't know enough yet to speak wisely about the various aspects of Charlotte Mason especially, but what I have read so far intrigues me.  I'm also going to add some recitation to our mix - I'm not sure where that falls - classical? I'm also enjoying the copywork and dictation in Sonlight - which again, classical? I don't know. Clearly I have much to learn! Anyway, that's where we are at.

We still love Sonlight History/LA/Readers. I'm coming around on the ELA aspect of it and feeling more love towards it. It's very enriching and creative and the girls have been enjoying it. There is a LOT of reading, and we are a tiny bit behind on Bug's current read-aloud book (Trojan War, oh MY that's a story), but we do enjoy the time spent with me reading to the girls.

I do think we will switch math programs next year, but Horizons is fine for now.

We are trying Sonlight science for both girls, and so far everyone likes it.  (That was a late switch from the Oak Meadow I had previously planned- searched online and bought used just in case we didn't love it - and just received the packages a few weeks ago.)  Lulu has done studies about animals and bodies. Bug has been learning about all sorts of things in a more in-depth "middle school" way that she loves. It's actually new material for her, which is exciting :) My girl loves her science! We are going to try our first Sonlight experiments this week. I'll have a more informed opinion on these science programs later this year.

We settled on using CNN10 for "current events" - Bug has been enjoying those. I recommend them for any kids, homeschooled or not - they are just a quick snapshot of what is happening in the world. I struggled with what to use for this (Sonlight recommends that kids become part of the conversation about what's going on by reading or watching the news for a bit every day) because quite frankly times are stressful. We have many household discussions about the state of the world, but in a (hopefully) non-anxiety-inducing way. I wasn't sure what media to use for this, as I feel a lot of the networks like to speculate about all the ways things COULD go, and that can be scary. Anyway - CNN10 for the win. :)

Bug is checking out an in-person Mandarin class this week at a local private school. It's an after-school program there, and it's open to homeschoolers. Hoping that's a good fit.

Also sports start up again in the next couple of weeks, so our schedules will be hoppin!

I think that's it - that was just an emptying of my brain!! Thanks to everyone for all the support, especially after my last post. I'm so thankful and fortunate to have a great network of friends and family who understand our decision and support us on this journey!

I hope everyone had a wonderful 3-day weekend, and for those friends/family whose kids are going back to school tomorrow, I can't wait to see the pics!! I hope everyone has a great first day back. :)

Keeping it real!

In the spirit of "keeping it real" and not being a roses and sunshine only kinda social media gal (don't want to be boring like that!! LOL) -- here are some truths from our first 3 weeks of school:

**I made both girls cry the first day of school. Yep, Lulu having to write two sentences did her in and she ended up in her room crying her heart out for about 30 minutes over the stress of having to write TWO. SENTENCES. Bug kept interrupting me during Science and I snapped, and she went and cried. (And then I made stuffed peppers for dinner, which just about made the hubs cry, too - 3/3!!)

**I have been plagued by self doubt about this decision. It's lessening as time goes on, but there are still nights I lay awake worrying that my kids will miss out on some important thing that I have forgotten. Or have dreams where I realize that I've made a horrible mistake and I run in and re-enroll them at school. For those who know me well, this isn't too different than other big parenting decisions I have made. But I think because I've made a "weird" and different decision for my kids, it feels scarier somehow.

**The first week I was delirious with exhaustion. Each week has gotten easier, but wow this is tiring!!!! My patience is very low some days and I'll admit it, I have yelled at the girls when they frustrate me in those moments. I'm working on it, and as they get into their grooves and know what is expected, it's getting calmer. (Classical music and lavender oil mists help us all a ton!!! ;) )

And to go along with that, here are a couple amazing heart-warming things that have also been happening:

**Bug is returning to her happier and more relaxed self day by day. Lulu still struggles with anxiety, but that is also lessening as we go (anxiety was brought on by a math placement test @ school last year) -- that was the "2 sentence" meltdown on day 1. "What if it's not okay?? What if you don't like what I write!!??" I'm working to help her realize that her best effort is more than enough - and if she makes a mistake, that's how we learn.

**The girls have bonded and are so much nicer to each other (usually). As someone said, they have no choice - they are stuck together so much!! LOL, so true -- but seriously a couple weeks before we started our school year, I was wondering if I was insane because SO MUCH FIGHTING ALL THE TIME OMG!! So truly, it could have gone either way with these two. It's wonderful watching them grow closer and become friends.


OK back to it!!! Halfway through Session 1! Most schools around us are back to school now, so it feels more exciting to be home.... I am still glad we started during the summer but yeah there were days where the girls were like "WHYYYYY!! It's SUMMER!!" :)

Week 2 already ?!

Oh. My. Goodness. Homeschooling a middle schooler and second grader is SO DIFFERENT than homeschooling a second grader and preschooler!!!! I know, add that to the list of obvious statements, right? I am exhausted, people. But I have to say - this is kinda amazing. It's a good exhausted. Mostly. LOL :)

So far - we have ditched Oak Meadow science and I will save that for Lulu when she gets older. It was over her head and too basic for Bug. I did get 5th grade instead of 6th because I thought I could meet the 2 girls in the middle and do it with both... and yeah not so much! Bug is doing Chemistry on Khan Academy for now, and then I'll have her do Biology and Physics, and we'll go from there and see what we want to do next. I may get Oak Meadow 7th grade, or a textbook, or get the Sonlight science.... I don't know yet.

Khan Academy is kinda awesome, btw. Bug is also doing Computer Programming through them, and I'm going to have her do Personal Finance as well.

Lulu is doing unit studies for science - this week we are studying birds, since that's what we started with Oak Meadow last week. She is learning the parts of a bird, the life cycle of birds, and writing down observations about birds she sees. I think we will do frogs next. Maybe. I don't know. Lots of I don't know!! At one point there will be a unit about apples and then we will go apple picking. I have random thoughts like that about her and science...

We also ditched Rosetta Stone. They don't tell you what the words mean in English. You have to just kinda figure it out from the picture. Bug was okay-ish with it because she had 2 years of Mandarin in school already, but she didn't love it. They have a 30 day money back guarantee, so we are going to use that and check out the Tucson Cultural Center again. I am teaching Lulu Spanish for the moment. We have learned 1-10, the alphabet, and working on days of the week this week. My 8 years of Spanish classes junior high through college are coming in handy!!! I am kinda amazed at how much I remember.... thankful for it now. And also thankful for the Internet with all the cute worksheets and resources.

So those are the things that DIDN'T work... everything else? AWESOME. We loooooooooooove love love love the Sonlight World History Year 1. LOVE. The literature and lessons are all about ancient Egypt - so I read aloud the Golden Goblet, while Bug is reading another book on her own (Mara, Daughter of the Nile I think?), and I am also reading aloud an Usborne book and Story of the World Vol 1 --- and they all have same locations, language, and feel. It's amazing. Lulu has joined in the Usborne and SOTW lessons. I'm going to add in some activities I find online that correlate with SOTW. And because I'm this way, I got the test book for SOTW and am giving Bug a test every time we finish a chapter.

Also loving how Lulu's readers go right along with our American History that we are doing with Road Trip USA. It really helps hammer home the concepts of that time period when they are immersed in it like that! It was just a happy accident really, I didn't plan that for her -- just got the grade level she was at for readers.

Horizons Math is still pretty good. They are doing their worksheets and we are addressing anything they don't know, and practicing and learning.

Growing with Grammar is great -- I don't know if I will get Sonlight Language Arts again. It's OK but I think we would be ok with Growing with Grammar and Winning with Writing. There is some overlap with the grammar program and Sonlight, but I'm ok with that. Just reinforces the concepts. We'll see tho - the jury is still out on Sonlight LA.

I think that's about it so far!! This is a total "brain dump" post - helps to put it all down somewhere :)  OK back to prepping for tomorrow!!! xoxo

2017-2018 Session 1

We kick off our school year in 10 days!!!! We are doing the 6 week session format we did last time we homeschooled. Our first session goes from July 17 - August 25.

This is our planned daily schedule. I'm sure some subjects will go more quickly than I expect, and others we will want to spend more time on. So this is tentative, and subject to change. :) One of the perks of school at home!

8:30 a.m.: AM Yoga
8:45 a.m.: ELA
9:30 a.m.: Math
10:00 a.m.: Science
10:45 a.m.: History/Geography/Literature (Bug) and Specials* for Lulu
11:30 a.m.: PE & Lunch
12:30 p.m.: American History & Geography (Lulu) and Specials* for Bug
1:15 p.m.: Art
1:45 p.m.: Crafting/Home Ec
2:15 p.m.: Girls clean up schoolroom, K set out schoolwork for tomorrow
2:30 p.m.: PM Yoga
2:45 p.m.: Go swimming! :)

*Specials: Spanish, Mandarin, Coding, Typing, Music

And, here is what curriculum we are using for each:

Yoga and PE
Beachbody on Demand

ELA - Lulu
Language Arts 3 - Sonlight (including Wordly Wise for Vocab)
Grade 3 Readers - Sonlight
Growing with Grammar Level 2

ELA - Bug
Language Arts G - Sonlight (including Wordly Wise for Vocab)
Growing with Grammar Level 6
Readers - included with Sonlight History/Geography/Literature package below
Spelling: Grade 6 www.homespellingwords.com

Math
Horizons 2 (Lulu)
Horizons Pre-Algebra (Bug)

Science
Oak Meadows Grade 5 for both**
**I feel that Bug has had some gaps in her science education (hello 21 year old science packets last year!), so we are backing up a year and laying a solid foundation for both girls. We are going to focus a lot during this session on scientific method, observations, and gathering facts. There will be a lot of field trips - outdoor hands-on activities and observing - so Lulu will be joining in the fun. I will give her some unit studies to go along with what Bug is doing, so she can take part at her level in a fun and engaging way.**

History/Geography/Literature (Bug)
Sonlight - World History 1

Spanish and Mandarin
Rosetta Stone Homeschool Edition

Coding
Hour of Code with Code.org

Typing
Typing Instructor for Kids Platinum

Music
Piano, Recorder, Unit Studies
World's Greatest Composers

Art
How to Teach Art to Children**
**Another subject where there are gaps - we are going to focus on the basics and lay a solid foundation in art knowledge during the first part of our school year.**

American History & Geography (Lulu)
Road Trip USA

Crafting/Home Ec
Supplemental activities that tie in with Geography/History lessons.

Afterschool Homeschool!

We're baaaack! The last two years were fun - many amazing things were learned, many amazing experiences were had. For several reasons (maybe a future blog post on all this), the girls are both attending our neighborhood public school now. They started almost 3 weeks ago, and Bug is now asking for "those fun boxes of activities you used to set out for us"! At the charter school, we weren't home until about 4:00 on regular days, later on days with after school activities. The days were long and PACKED - so we all just vegged out at night. Now - the girls are off the bus by 2:15 and full of energy!

Here's what we will be doing:

Expedition Earth

Scientists and Inventors

I'll post more about our activities as we go! :) Starting the week of Sept. 5th.

Back to School-School!

So a nationally-recognized school opened up K-4 here, right by us!! Bug got in off the waiting list 2 days before they started!! So she is now in 3rd grade at a school. I miss her during the day, but the stuff they are doing?? I would be very hard-pressed to recreate at home. They have Mandarin every day, Kenpo 3x/week and regular PE the other 2 days, Humanities, Performing & Visual Arts, Music, Engineering & Technology (in addition to Math & Science), a cool class called Connections.... so many amazing things to learn and do. It's a challenging school, but I think as long as it's interesting-challenging, Bug will have a blast. Her first week was a success. She made friends and had fun. YAY! :)

Looking ahead, Lulu will be in Kinder there next year, so she has entered a preschool program 3 mornings a week. She is in love with it and wants to go every day. :)

So I won't be posting much on this blog... but I'll leave it here for now. :)  Thanks for reading!

School Year = DONE ???

We are on our little break between sessions, and I just realized something.... Bug is totally done with 2nd grade!!!!!!!!! We are finished with our school year, basically. Huh.

And 3rd grade is more involved than 2nd... right? Social studies and Science get bumped up a notch. Things get more in-depth..... So I am spending much time researching curriculum to add into the mix. And figuring out how to proceed from here. :) With my third grader. !!! It's a little daunting. I want to make sure we don't miss anything. Pre-K through 2nd grade is so simple and fun.  Learning about the states, our community, the basics of science, reading lots of interesting books, adding/subtracting/multiplying, spelling, grammar (nouns/verbs/etc).... but now, things are about to get real. :)

Also, the tiny one will be starting K4 (4 yr old Kindergarten) when we resume...

So we are in essence about to start a new school year.  Yikes!!

This will be a big planning week around here. :)

Session 2

Wow! This year is zooming by already!!! We are finishing up our second session over the next week or so.  We took a mini-break when Bug's friends were on spring break so we are going to go through Wednesday next week and just take a nice long weekend up in Phoenix.

Bug is loving her 3rd grade Language Arts books - Winning with Writing, Growing with Grammar, and Soaring with Spelling.  I am also a fan because they are about 99% self-guided. She reads the lesson and then does the work. I grade it, we discuss any issues, and that's that.

She is almost done with her 2nd grade Horizons Math book.  We will start the 3rd grade book during Session 3.  I am very impressed with this program!! Bug has learned way more than I would have expected for 2nd grade, and we are both excited to see what 3rd grade brings. :)

We also started a reading program with chapter books. Bug's goal is 50 books and then there will be a prize of some sort... no idea what yet :) I guess I should figure that out!! For each book, she writes a few sentences about it, or draws a picture -- I am using the Summer Reading Program we did last summer because I like the little banners and reward cards.

And, our big science project was --- a butterfly garden!!!  Bug wrote a report about the different stages after they were all released.  It was a fun hands-on adventure for a few weeks. :)  Here are a ton (probably way too many!) pictures of how it all went down.

Up next -- Rootvue farm, owl pellets, and Aquafarm. :)  We also joined the Desert Museum, so we will take some educational trips there.

Session 1

We are wrapping up our first 6-week session of the year.  It went really well. I love the 6-week time frame.  It's just long enough to really get some stuff done, and not so long that we got burned out.

During Session 1, we finished:

Growing with Grammar Level 1 - we will jump to level 3 for Session 2.*
All About Spelling Level 1 - we will jump to level 3* of a new program, called  Soaring with Spelling and Vocab.
Road Trip USA - we finished up the Midwest. We have now done the West, Southwest, and Midwest of the USA.  We are going to take a break before we start the East coast, and really nail down the few capitals that aren't sticking and spend some time exploring our neck of the woods and really learning more about the whole area.
Houghton Mifflin - Poetry unit.  We are going to switch to level 3* of Winning with Writing -- combined with the grammar and spelling/vocab, this should be a great Language Arts combo.

During Session 2, we will:

Do the above LA programs
Start Five in a Row -- I'm so excited about this one! I have heard great things, and I love that we can all do it together.  Lulu is now almost 4 (end of March) so she is participating more in school. She also loves to listen to books (finally! this is an energetic kid :) ) -- I think the timing is right for FiaR :)
Finish the letter of the week program for Lulu
Start planting our garden in the backyard - veggies!
Start using our Aqua farm fish tank we got for Christmas

We are loving Horizons Math, and should finish up the 2nd grade book during this next session.

*-the level 3 jumps above are because those programs said to start out with level 1.  So, we did.  And while it was good stuff, it was really easy, nothing new for Buggy.  After looking through the scope and sequence of the Level 2 programs, I chose to jump her up to #3. :)

This week, we are doing Math and a unit about the Olympics :) Then off on another road trip!!