Declutter With Me: Homeschool Edition

 

For many, it's that time of year. Another homeschool year is ending, and homeschoolers have either purchased or are getting ready to purchase next year's curriculum. And that often comes with assessing the current stash. There is a mass declutter of homeschool books and supplies.

We school year-round here, so there's never a set time of year for this to happen. This year, however, I just happened to have recently finished accumulating my materials for next year. I discussed in previous posts the massive change we are making in our homeschool next year. This means more books and supplies than if I had just stuck with what we were doing. Since our space is limited, this also means I need to go through and make room!

Now, I am a lover of books. And I have to tell you, I despise getting rid of them. I'll bet that there's many homeschool mamas out there that feel the same! But for many of us, there comes a time when you just have to go through and declutter those homeschool shelves. In this post, I will share some of my thought process behind deciding what needs to go. I will also share a few ways that make it easier (for me at least) to let those things go.

What Needs to Go?

Books

As I go through the bookshelves, I start out by asking myself some questions. The first is usually, "How long has this been sitting unused?" If it hasn't been touched the entire school year, or maybe it was shelved in the beginning of the year, it becomes a suspect.

Once a book becomes a suspect, I ask myself, "WHY has it been sitting unused?" If I know I'll use it down the road, because it just didn't go with what we're studying that year, I will probably keep it. However, if it hasn't been used because we tried it and it just didn't work for us, that makes it easier to let go. Sometimes, us mamas want something to work because we love it. And we're frustrated that it's just not clicking for our kids. Seriously, unless it was just over their heads and you're waiting to see if it will work down the road, let it go! There are just some things that we will be excited about, but it won't work for the kiddos. And that's okay!

Another thing I need to do more often, and will definitely be doing this year, is assessing the readers' ages. I know for a fact I have books on my shelves that are way too young for even my youngest kiddo. Now, if there is a book that is beloved by your child or sentimental to them, by all means keep it! There is nothing wrong with having a beloved book below their reading level. When I find "younger" books that my kiddos are adamant in keeping, I give it to them. They have shelves in their bedrooms that they can then keep those books on. Everything else goes!

School Supplies

I know that I'm not alone in the fact that I am also a lover of school supplies. Pens, pencils, erasers, sticky notes, bookmarks, paper clips, markers, colored pencils, notebooks of all kinds, etc. I could go on, but I'll do you all a favor and not.

For homeschool supplies, I tend to obsessively organize rather than declutter. I mean, unless something is broken or I know for a fact we'll never use it, it stays. For instance, my boys are "too big" for crayons and never use them, so I ended up giving our stash to a friend who would. By obsessively organize, I mean I will dump a plastic shoebox of markers all over the table. Then, I will test each one and toss the markers that are dead or almost dead. I will do the same with colored pencils, sharpening each one and tossing the ones too small to fit into the sharpener. Any notebooks that still contain paper are great for scratch paper. Most homeschoolers know, when it comes to school supplies, we will find a way to use it up or wear it out! 😂

By the way, I love those plastic shoe boxes you can buy! They are my favorite way to organize all of our school and craft supplies.

Craft Supplies

Speaking of craft supplies, in this house they pretty much go hand-in-hand with school supplies. I can craft and figure things out if I have to. Or if I become temporarily obsessed with a certain kind of craft. But I am by no means a naturally crafty person. And I'm okay with that!

As I mentioned, plastic shoe boxes are my favorite way to store crafts supplies. Most of our supplies have been obtained because they were needed for school projects. I have quite a bit to go through, because many were used once and then never touched again. The staples we use over and over are paints and brushes of all kinds, sharpie markers of all colors and sizes, wooden dowels, craft sticks, a few different kinds of glue (including a glue gun), glitter, and yarn or twine. When my kiddos were younger, we also had a supply of beads and ironing beads, stickers of all kinds, and pipe cleaners.

In order to declutter these, I will just dump out the shoe boxes one at a time, and anything that my kids will use regularly goes back. The rest will either be tossed or given away. I have a few crafty friends and homeschool friends nearby that I know will use whatever we don't want.

Get it Gone

And that brings us to the point of letting stuff go. How do I declutter the homeschool stuff?

Give it to someone. For me personally, this is always my first preference. My sister-in-law lives close to me and also homeschools her kiddos. So anytime I have a pile of books or supplies I'm getting rid of, she gets first dibs. It always helps to let go of things, when you know they're going somewhere where they will be a blessing and get good use. After that, any non-curriculum books that she doesn't take, I will donate to our church library.

Do a giveaway! On the same line as the point above, give it to someone in the form of a giveaway. If you have a blog or a YouTube channel that discusses homeschooling, why not do a giveaway of curriculum you're not using anymore? I recently saw a YouTuber run a giveaway of curriculum she no longer needed, and I thought that was a genius idea!

Sell it. Sometimes, we tend to keep those curriculum books and let them take up space because we paid good money for them. There are plenty of ways these days to sell those books, especially online. If you don't like the online route, there's always used curriculum fairs! Will you make all of your money back? Of course not! But it will be better than taking up precious space on your bookshelf doing absolutely nothing! Plus, you will be blessing someone who either can't, or doesn't want to, pay for brand new.

Donate it. If you can't give it away, and you can't sell it, you can always drop it off at your local thrift store. Or, see if there's a library nearby that will take it. Another option is to see if there are any charities in your area that could use the books or supplies.

Toss it. Finally, if it's broken supplies, or a book in tattered and poor condition, that's probably a good indication that the best place for it is in the garbage can.

Get Decluttering!

I hoped this post inspired you to declutter your homeschool areas! For many of us homeschoolers, this is a difficult thing to tackle. But I also know from experience, that once our homeschool area has been freshly decluttered and organized, our days go so much smoother! Things are quicker to find because we don't have to dig through a bunch of stuff we never use. And I know that for us personally, our brains are more ready to learn when the area around us is not a distraction.

I would love to see in the comments your tips for how you go about tackling the homeschool clutter issue! Please share, because I know we could all use some help to declutter our homeschool things, especially this time of year.

Thanks for reading, everyone, and have a great day!

Book Review: The Language of Sycamores

 

First, a little story of my own...

Today, I'm excited to share with you a book I read back in May, called The Language of Sycamores. We were on our family vacation, and the first half was camping in our pop-up trailer at a Jellystone campground. One slightly chilly afternoon, Hubby and I were sitting and dozing in our chairs near the campfire, while the kiddos were off playing their umpteenth round of mini golf.

Long story short: Hubby suddenly wanted a book to read, I was shocked but pleased. We needed a few supplies, so we made a trip into town to Walmart. We found said supplies, as well as a couple of paperbacked treasures.

(That was a lot shorter than my original version. You're welcome!)

Hooked!

When we got back to camp, I made it a point to finish A Charlotte Mason Home Companion. Then, I started The Language of Sycamores, by Lisa Wingate. I had never seen this title or heard of the author before. Ms. Wingate did not take long to pull me into the story of Karen Sommerfield. I finished it in a mere few days, before we even headed back home.

The Language of Sycamores

Karen Sommerfield is not in a very good place in her life. She's basically estranged from her extended family, and she and her pilot husband have been drifting apart. 

From the very beginning, you can see Karen had gotten herself to a place where she wrapped up her whole identity in her career. The day she found out the cancer she had previously beaten may be back, is the same day she and her entire department were laid off. For some reason, she keeps all of this to herself that day. She felt that telling her husband would cause undue stress and worry.

Through a series of events, Karen ends up flying to her late grandmother's farm where her sister and family now live. She had spent many childhood vacations at this farm, and has been avoiding it, as well as her family, for most of her adult life. She goes with the intention of saying nothing to anyone (including her husband still) about her job or health. It's just a temporary change of scenery, until she can figure out what to do next about finding another job. All while avoiding the tests she knows need to be done.

Karen's stay ends up being extended again and again. And she ends up finding unexpected answers to questions she'd been avoiding asking even herself for so long. Her short stay turns into a journey to finding life.

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Lisa Wingate's writing is excellent and easy to read. This book was a page turner, for sure. It made me laugh, cry, and ponder. When I entered The Language of Sycamores into my Goodreads account, I found out it is actually book #3 in a series! I will say, this book can definitely be read as a stand-alone just fine. I loved this book so much, that I will definitely read the other 4 books in the series. Recently, I obtained and started reading book #1, Tending Roses. I haven't decided yet if I will review each book, or just review the whole series.

That wraps up my review of The Language of Sycamores, by Lisa Wingate. I highly recommend adding it to your TBR list! If you've read this book, or any others by Lisa Wingate, I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments below. I would also love to hear what you've been reading lately, that you have enjoyed.

Have a great rest of the week!

Digging Into the Word: Proverbs 3:1-2

 

It's the Lord's Day! I realize it's been awhile since I picked up with my Proverbs study. I'm trying to get myself back on a regular blogging schedule around here. What better way to start than by a short and sweet Sunday Proverbs post?

For those just tuning in to my blog, I will link the past posts on this study below in case you want to start at the beginning. This is just me taking a small chunk of the book of Proverbs and journaling my thoughts. As slowly as I'm going through it, I'm determined to stick with it until the end of the book!

Let's dig in, shall we?

My son, do not forget my law,

But let your heart keep my commands;

For length of days and long life

And peace they will add to you.

Proverbs 3:1-2

These verses remind me of the first commandment with a promise: "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the Lord your God is giving you." ~Exodus 20:12

Here, Solomon is talking to his own son. His law, expressed in the book of Proverbs, is God's Word coming through Solomon. There are so many passages in scripture that talk about God's Word, or law. Psalm 19 and Psalm 119 both come to my mind.

We are not to forget the law of our Father. We are to write His words on our heart (Deuteronomy 11:18, Proverbs 6:21). If we do that, we will know the heart of our Father towards us and how we are to live. This does not promise us a perfect life, but it does promise us His peace. And that is a peace we can hang onto, even in the midst of all the turmoil life can throw at us.

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I hope this post inspired you to dig into God's Word and really see what He's telling you! And don't take my word for it...dig into scripture yourself and pray that God will reveal Himself to you through His Word.

1-Proverbs 1:1-7
2-Proverbs 1:8-9
3-Proverbs 1:10-19
4-Proverbs 1:20-27
5-Proverbs 1:28-33
6-Proverbs 2:1-9
7-Proverbs 2:10-22

Stay tuned to the blog this week as I will be sharing a book review or two, decluttering adventures, and our language arts curriculum choices for the 2019-2020 school year. Have a great week!

Homeschooling Choices for 2019-2020: History & Geography

 

Good morning and Happy Friday, everyone! I cannot tell you how excited I have been to share this post with you! This is the first post in a collaboration series that I am co-hosting with 3 other homeschooling mamas. They are YouTubers Ingrid at Mommy & Mia Homeschool Chronicles and Kim at The Homeschooling Grammy; and fellow blogger, Stacy at DyerTyme. Please make sure and check out Ingrid's and Kim's channels, as well as Stacy's blog. They are each wonderful ladies who love the Lord, love their children, and love homeschooling! And I am honored to be co-hosting this collaboration with them. ❤️

What is this series all about you ask? Well, a couple of months ago, some of us shared and reviewed what curriculum we had been using for the past school year in our homeschool. Starting today, we are getting together to share what our curriculum choices are for the upcoming 2019-2020 school year. Today, we will be talking all about homeschool history, social studies, and geography. And I gotta tell you, I'm excited to see everyone's contributions! I will put a playlist at the end of this post, and I will also list other blogger's posts that come my way. So make sure you check that out when you're done here.

Outside the Box

In my last post, I shared about how I came to make some changes in our homeschool. So, I won't rehash that here. I will say, though, that after 13 years of getting most of what I need all in one box every year, it was a little nerve-wracking for this mama to piece things together, even though I had a guide to help me! But I had a ton of fun, too! Shopping around for the best prices, getting lots of little packages spread out over a period of time, and watching my "next year" book shelf fill up was way more fun than unpacking everything out of one box for a half an hour and then you're done! LOL!

I joke, but seriously. How am I going into my 14th year of homeschooling and I just. JUST! found out about ThriftBooks.com 2 months ago??? Anyways... 😏

Just Get to the Curriculum Already!

Being new to going full-on CM, I appreciate the History/Bible/Geography guides put out by Simply Charlotte Mason. They give you suggested booklists for family-together learning, plus lists for each age group you will be teaching. The guides also help you schedule those books throughout the year. Some books you can order through SCM, others you will have to find on your own; you either buy them, find them online for free, or check them out at the library. Unlike what I'm used to, they don't sell nice, tidy packages of these books. But that's okay, because you can absolutely substitute with other living books of your choice if you want...it's totally customizable for your needs and family! Being this is my first year "on my own," I decided to stick with the suggestions. They all look wonderful! There has been excitement on ALL fronts as the books come in. And that, I love.

Since we are working on finishing up the period of Rome to the Reformation from MFW in history this current year, I ordered the Early Modern & Epistles guide for next year. This covers Early American History (2 days per week), World History going on at that time (2 days per week), as well as North American Geography (1 day per week). They also cover in-depth Bible study 1 day per week, but I will cover that in another post. These guides also break down what to read each day and helps guide you using the CM method. In that aspect, as long as you have collected everything you need, it's still open-and-go. And I really like that, as it makes things less overwhelming for our first year!

Geography

All of the Geography is done together as a family (myself and both of my homeschooled kiddos). Our main spine for this is the book Visits to North America, by Sonya Shafer of SCM. Each child gets their own copy. These books include mapwork, learning the countries, states, and provinces in North America, as well as "visits" with families in different areas of North America as we study them. These visits are done using the books Material World and Hungry Planet: What the World Eats, both by Peter Menzel.

In addition, I purchased the following books to round out our Geography study through the year:
Hey Canada! by Vivien Bowers
Paddle-to-the-Sea, by Holling C. Holling
Minn of the Mississippi, by Holling C. Holling

Plus, there are other suggested books we will be checking out of the library.

*By the way, on the Simply Charlotte Mason site, in the description of each of the guides, book lists are included. So, I'm not violating any copyrights by sharing the books we will be using out of those guides.

History

Below, I will list all of the books that are scheduled and will be read this year for our History studies. Under "Family," are the books we will all read together. Under the separate ages for my sons, are additional books that they will either read on their own or I will read to them, as scheduled, and they will narrate after each episode (reading session).

Family

Stories of America, Volume 1, by Charles Morris and Sonya Shafer of SCM (our main American History spine)
Stories of the Nations, Volume 1, by Charles Morris and Sonya Shafer of SCM (our main World History spine)
The Stuff They Left Behind: From the Days of Early Modern, from SCM. This is a portfolio containing high quality pictures of historical artifacts from the period we will be studying.
Master Skylark, by John Bennett. This is a read aloud we'll be doing on our World History Days. (I found this for free for my Kindle.)

13-Year-Old

My Book of Centuries, by Christie Groff & Sonya Shafer of SCM. This is his own personal timeline book that he will keep for the rest of his homeschool years, and fill in on his own as we study history.
Poor Richard, by James Daugherty (American History)
The World of William Penn, by Genevieve Foster
Amos Fortune, Free Man, by Elizabeth Yates
Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, by Jean Lee Latham (American History)
Diary of an Early American Boy, by Eric Sloane (American History)
Johnny Tremain, by Esther Forbes (American History)
Hearts and Hands, Volume 4: Chronicles of the Awakening Church, by Mindy and Brandon Withrow
The Story of Modern France, by Helene Adeline Guerber
The Year of the Horseless Carriage, by Genevieve Foster

10-Year-Old

Bard of Avon: The Story of William Shakespeare, by Diane Stanley
Good Queen Bess: The Story of Elizabeth I of England, by Diane Stanley (getting this from the library, since we don't need it very long)
Along Came Galileo, by Jeanne Bendick
The Landing of the Pilgrims, by James Daugherty (American History)
The Sign of the Beaver, by Elizabeth George Speare (American History)
The Ocean of Truth: The Story of Sir Isaac Newton, by Joyce McPherson (on my Kindle...it was either free or 99 cents, I can't remember at the moment)
The Story of Napoleon, by H.E. Marshall
A Young Patriot: The American Revolution as Experienced by One Boy, by Jim Murphy (American History)

Extras

By no means, do you need to add anything else for History and Geography. But there are a few things I found that I think will be fun and helpful.

• National Geographic Kids Ultimate Globetrotting World Atlas. It adds another way to study maps, and it contains fun activities as well.
• A small American desk flag to put out on the table for our American History days. It will be a helpful visual reminder, so that we don't confuse American and World history.
• American flag stickers. These are for my 13-year-old, when he makes entries into his Book of Centuries that are specific to American History. Unfortunately for my son, the only flag stickers I could find that would be small enough to work for his book were hearts. 😂 He's not thrilled about that, but he relented, "I love all American flags, so, oh well!"
• U.S.A. floor puzzle. I found this at our church garage sale even before I had any serious thoughts about changing around our curriculum. But, since I knew we'd be studying American History and geography the next 2 years in our sequence, I snatched it up! This will be a fun way to remember where the states are.
• Finally, I bought new maps! Yes, I'm probably a nerd, but I really don't care. I had a world and U.S. map tacked to the wall for quite awhile. I like having the boys point out where we're reading about. But, being the maps weren't laminated, they've ripped and torn and have been re-tacked over the years. So, I decided to splurge and purchase a couple of nice, new, laminated maps for our new adventure.

Is that it?

I think I covered everything! Maybe? At any rate, that's all I've got for now. That covers what we'll be using for our 2019-2020 homeschool History and Geography! We are all super excited to be embarking on this new adventure!

Thank you so much for reading! And I hope you enjoyed my tour of next year's homeschool History & Geography choices. Now, I'm off to go check out what my co-hosts and other participating mamas are sharing! Don't forget to check them out as well! I will post the YouTube playlist here below, and as I receive blog post links I will post them below that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

Curriculum Choices 2019-2020

2019-2020 Curriculum Review Part 1: History/Geography/Social Studies-DyerTyme

Homeschool Changes, Plus a Book Review

 

Today, I want to share with you and review a book I recently finished reading. I've been hinting about changes coming to our homeschool in the next school year. I think this book review will give you a big clue as to what's coming! 

I've had A Charlotte Mason Companion, by Karen Andreola on my wish list for quite a few years now. For whatever reason, I never got around to purchasing it, until recently. After reading it, I could kick myself for not getting it sooner! However, I do think the timing worked out just as it was supposed to.

You see, I do love My Father's World. I recommend it enthusiastically to anyone just starting their homeschool journey, as well as to anyone looking for a new curriculum. It is an excellent open-and-go curriculum, and in my opinion, a great value compared to a lot of the box curricula out there.

Feeling the need for a change in our homeschool

However, there are a few factors leading me to make some changes. First, as my teaching style and my childrens' learning styles evolve, some of the curriculum recommendations are just no longer working for our family. We jumped around in our math choices over the last few years. Also, the language arts were just not..."there." Nothing in the curriculum changed. It worked well for my oldest (for the most part), and it works for many others. It's just too far away from my current students' styles.

Second, ever since we started homeschooling, I've been drawn to the Charlotte Mason method. My Father's World incorporates three homeschooling styles into their curriculum: Charlotte Mason, Classical, and Unit Study. From the tidbits I've read over the years about Charlotte Mason and her philosophy, everything about it just resonated with me. Quite a few years back, I found Ambleside Online, and really liked what I saw there. My Father's World absolutely does not need supplementing. But, I would supplement from time to time with some of the reading from that site. A few times, I was tempted to switch over. But ultimately, I knew it would be too overwhelming for me to go that route.

Finally, in planning our next homeschool year, I gazed a little further ahead. When my middle son starts high school, my youngest would be in his final year of the family cycle. For me, that means teaching the cycle for the third time. Even though I wouldn't complete 3 whole cycles, and even though I love the curriculum, I think you can understand how I did not feel the excitement.

Something new for our homeschool

My previous knowledge of Charlotte Mason, along with my search for new language arts curriculum, led me to Simply Charlotte Mason. After much research and prayer, I knew this was the route to go. This meant more decision-making and piecing together than I'm used to, but I was up for the challenge! I'm not going to go into a lot of detail here what I will be doing, as that will be in a few upcoming posts. For now, suffice it to say that I'm super excited and super motivated to finish our current year!

Book Review

Now on to the actual book review. Once I did my research, talked to God, talked to my husband, and made the decision to switch, I decided to finally purchase Karen Andreola's A Charlotte Mason Companion. I needed a more thorough understanding of Charlotte Mason's philosophy and method. And while I do plan to read Mason's own writings, I felt that Karen Andreola's book would give me enough to go on in time for our next year. It did exactly that.

Karen Andreola's gentle, eloquent writing style is both easy and a pleasure to read. She tells about how she discovered the Charlotte Mason method, and the book is filled with her experiences over her many years of teaching the CM way to her own children. The book covers the CM philosophy and method well, and makes it easy to understand. She teaches you how to incorporate that method into each subject you teach in your homeschool. Not only that, but the book covers why Charlotte Mason taught the subjects she taught and how she taught them. It also gives practical applications and examples for teaching each subject today. Karen Andreola does an excellent job of incorporating the CM philosophy as a way of life, rather than just having "homeschool" as something to check off of your list.

Finally, reading A Charlotte Mason Home Companion reminded me of certain aspects of My Father's World that I had become complacent on. Such as narration, nature study, and really just enjoying art and music study. Reading this book has really motivated me to refocus on these aspects, and I feel it has really improved our school days and weeks.

I really enjoyed reading this book and I am so glad that I finally purchased it! A Charlotte Mason Companion will be a staple on my bookshelf, and I know I will reference it often as I embark on this new journey.

Thanks for reading, everyone!

Starting this Friday, I will be co-hosting a collaboration series where myself and other homeschooling moms will be sharing what we will be using in the upcoming school year. We will go subject-by-subject, and first up is history/social studies/geography. That is where I will go into more detail as to what we will be doing in our next school year. So, if you're looking for inspiration or ideas and want to see what myself and other mamas are using, stay tuned to the blog!

Homeschool Subject-by-Subject: What We're Using for Math

 

Hi everyone! It's Friday! And we are on the final post in a collaboration where we share what we've been using for curriculum this past school year in our homeschool, subject-by-subject. This collaboration is hosted by April at The Simple Rugged Path, Michelle at The Brave Homeschooling Mama, and Ashley at Joyful Noise Living. Each of these ladies has wonderful content on their channels about faith, mothering, homeschooling, and more. Be sure to check them out!

Over the last few weeks, many of us mamas have shared what curriculum we use for Science, History/Geography, and Language Arts. Now in our final week, we are sharing what we have been using for Math. Be sure to check out the playlist at the end of this post. You will find a variety of curricula in these 4 areas, and real thoughts from real homeschooling moms!

We Have a History with Math Curricula!

Ah, Math! While for the most part in the past, we have stuck with My Father's World recommendations, math is one we have bounced around a bit with. Math is built into the main curriculum and everyday activities up through 1st grade. From 2nd-6th grades, they recommend Singapore. After that, their recommendation is Saxon. With the exception of Jacob's Geometry. 

My oldest (now an adult and no longer in our homeschool) loved math! With the exception of Geometry (he hated it, no matter what curriculum we tried), he was a rock star in math. For him, we stuck with the MFW recommendations and he did really well.

Enter my middle son. He is more the creative, artistic type. And he does not love math! He was struggling before the end of his first year of Singapore. After researching different math curricula, I settled on Life of Fred for him. Learning math through the life story of a 5-year-old university math professor? Right up this kid's alley! I switched him to LOF and never looked back.

Now, my youngest son, who is 2 years younger, was just starting Singapore when I switched my middle to LOF. When his big brother got the package with the nice, shiny, hardcover LOF books, he wanted to do it, too! All LOF books are non-consumable, so I tried it with both of them. We ended up deciding to scrap Singapore altogether. We went through the LOF elementary series and intermediate series within a couple of years. My middle has insisted on sticking with it. My math-minded youngest recently decided he likes the structure of Singapore better, so we switched him back to that. He is also an up-and-coming math rock star.

Our Mixed Bag of Math Curricula

Singapore

Singapore Primary Mathematics U.S. Edition. As I mentioned, my youngest loves this curriculum, and so do I! The lessons are short and gentle, yet effective. It does a great job of teaching mental math. Through My Father's World, we get a booklet with lesson plans and answer keys for each level. There is a placement test (click on "Required Placement Test") to see where your child should start. If you're moving your child to Singapore from another curriculum, it is perfectly normal for your child to test a level or two below their grade level. Singapore is considered a more advanced curriculum, so don't let yourself or your child be discouraged with that! My youngest is in 5th grade, but tested to level 3A, as he had not learned fractions yet with LOF. He's speeding through the stuff he knows, and then we slow down when he's learning something new. So it all works out.

Life of Fred

Life of Fred. As I mentioned earlier, this teaches math through a story. A story about a 5-year-old math professor at Kittens University. Read as Fred takes all the math concepts you’re learning about and applies them to his life situations. The elementary series starts off gentle. There is no drill & kill. You just read a chapter of the story. At the end of each chapter is a section called “Your Turn to Play,” with only a few questions about the math part of the lesson. With younger kiddos, you can have them answer these orally. As you progress into the older grades, it gets progressively more rigorous. But, you still get all the fun and learning of the story. The story line is silly and fun, and yet, even I’ve learned how to understand certain math concepts that seemed complicated to me before. Plus, there’s all kinds of other little facts from other subjects and life sprinkled into the stories. I can’t say enough about this curriculum! Seriously. If you’re looking for something fun, gentle, and effective, go check out LOF!

Khan Academy Online

For my middle, who is using Life of Fred, I also supplement him with Khan Academy's Pre-algebra course. He's been getting more of his questions wrong than in the past, so I decided to give him a more instructional boost with Khan. So far, it's working great! Khan is a great supplement for many courses, not just math! Sign up for a free account, and you have access to a well organized course site, complete with easy-to-follow instructional videos, exercises, and quizzes & tests. Plus, they have a point and "level up" system. Pretty much everything you do as you go through a course earns you points, and eventually "trophies." My son is super motivated by this!

That's all, folks!

That concludes this collaboration of sharing curriculum we've been using this year! I hope you were helped or inspired not only by my posts, but by the other moms who put this together as well. Be sure to check out the playlist below to see what all the other participants are using!

Playlist: Homeschool Curriculum Review 2019

Thanks for reading, and have a great weekend everyone!

Homeschool Subject-by-Subject: What We're Using For Language Arts

 

It's Friday! And it's time for another review on curriculum we've been using this year. This collaboration is hosted by April at The Simple Rugged Path, Michelle at The Brave Homeschooling Mama, and Ashley at Joyful Noise Living. Each of these ladies have wonderful content on their channels about faith, mothering, homeschooling, and more. Be sure to check them out!

So far, we've talked about the curriculum we use for Science and History. Now, it's time to discuss Language Arts. As always, there will be a playlist at the end of this post. I'm looking forward to see what everyone else is using!

What We Use for Spelling

Spelling Power, by Beverly L. Adams-Gordon. I've been using this for years, as you can tell! The book started falling apart, so I have it in a 3-ring binder. Because of the reading you have to do to get started, many people don't like this program. But, seriously, the reading to learn how to do it, at least to me, is worth it! You only have to read it once, or at least until you get it.

The lists in Spelling Power are arranged according to phonetic rules, and then in increasing levels of difficulty.

How our actual lessons look like is this: test for 5 minutes or until the student gets 3 words wrong, whichever comes sooner; then, they study the words according to the procedure in to Spelling Power. With 3 words or less to study, this should take them about 5 minutes. Finally, they have to write sentences using each of the words they had to study.

Total time for spelling for each student should take roughly 15 minutes per day, once you get the procedure down. That's why I say, it's totally worth it to read and figure out how to do it! We do this 3 days per week, and then on Day 4, I follow the same procedure, but with all the words they've gotten wrong that week. This is laid out in Spelling Power, and it really helps reinforce those words.

What We Use for Grammar

For grammar lessons, we use the books put out by My Father's World, according to grade level. Language Lessons for Today are modified by My Father's World, based on Emma Serl's books, Primary Language Lessons and Intermediate Language Lessons. These books were originally published in 1911, and My Father's World obtained permission to update the lessons as needed. These lessons for the elementary and middle school years are simple. However, they are effective in teaching elementary grammar naturally through good literature, poetry, dictation, narration, picture study, and brief, informative lessons.

These lessons can also be done in about 10-15 minutes a day. Some require the student to write, but many can be done orally if you wish. We do these lessons 3 days a week, and one book lasts us for the year.

What We Use for Reading

At my kiddos' ages, 10 and 13, reading is done very simply. We will go through my book lists and together pick out a book for them to read for a few weeks. We check it out from the library. Then, each day, they spend 30 minutes reading in it. After the 30 minutes are up, they each tell me about what they read that day. Then, the book gets put away until the next day. If they are really into it, they are welcome to read further during their free time.

What We Use for Vocabulary

This year for vocabulary, we are studying Latin root words using English From the Roots Up, by Joegil K. Lundquist. Each week, we do 2 roots, making our own flashcards for each. On the flashcards, we include the definition of the root, plus common words that use that root and their definitions. With those common words, the kids have to write out sentences using them. At the end of the week, I give them an oral test on the meanings of the roots we learned that week, as well as all the past roots we have learned.

What We Use for Writing

Once again, we use books put out by My Father's World for our writing. In 3rd or 4th grade (depending on if they're ready), they start Writing Skills for Today. These books are based off of Writing Strands, by Master Books. My Father's World obtained permission from Master Books to modify the books for their homeschool families, in order to break down the lessons more simply.

The length of each lesson varies. Some are just preemptive reading, some require some research and writing drafts for papers. I would say, average, we spend 30 minutes per day. We only do writing from these books 2 days per week.

Changes are in the making

That's it for our Language Arts choices for this past year. I hope this post was helpful! I will throw out a teaser and say, as much as I've loved My Father's World and for as long as I have used it with my kids, there will be some changes coming for our next school year. Partially because I would be going back through the family cycle for the 3rd time, and partially because not all kids are the same, and I've been having to consider changes with my younger 2 that were not an issue with my oldest.

But that's for another post! Starting next month, I will be cohosting a collaboration where we share what curriculum choices we are making for our next school year. I am so excited to share with you the changes we will be making, so definitely stay tuned for that!

Playlist: Homeschool Curriculum Review 2019

Don't forget to check out the playlist! You will be able to see reviews for what other curriculum is out there for Language Arts!

Thank you for reading, and have a great weekend!

Books We've Read April 2019

 

It's the beginning of May, which means it's time to share the books we've read in April! I have to be totally honest. My personal reading was sorely lacking this past month. I even had three books from the library that I had to return without reading because they sat and became overdue. With all the planning and activity swirling around in my home and family, I just haven't found a lot of extra time! And that's okay. Life will settle down again soon. Right? Ahem. Anyway, moving on...

This is a collaboration hosted by Ingrid from Mommy & Mia Homeschool Chronicles, April from The Simple Rugged Path, and Lee from Creative 2X Mom. Be sure to check out the playlist for this collaboration at the end of this post, to see what books other moms have read in April with their families.

Unfortunately, I don't have pictures for every book, as some I had to return to the library before I could get them in the shots. But that's okay! Let's dive in to what we did read in the month of April.

Family Devotionals

I'll bet these are starting to look familiar!

Daily Light on the Daily Path, compiled by the Samuel Bagster Family. Our morning and evening family devotional that contains only selected scriptures and nothing else. This one will last all year long. I can count on one hand how many we've missed all this year so far. By now, the kids are really weirded out when we miss a reading!

Leading Little Ones to God, by Marian M. Schoolland. This is our bedtime devotional to read with the kiddos. They've really gotten into answering the simple questions after the reading, and they ask to read the Bible passage at the end instead of myself. I love that they're enjoying this so much! We will be done with this by the end of May.

Morning Reading with the Kiddos

We are continuing to read through The Book of Virtues, by William J. Bennett. The kiddos (and Mom!) are really enjoying all the different kinds of literature, as well as the character lessons that come along with the readings. I often get asked for "one more!"

We finished You Come, Too, by Robert Frost, in April. Both of my boys wanted more poetry, so we checked out this one by Scott Elledge, called Wider Than the Sky. This is an amazing collection of all different kind of poems from many different poets. I think this is our favorite book of poetry yet! Unfortunately, since it's an interlibrary loan, we don't get to renew it, so we will have to return it long before we finish it. I would love to buy it, but I will have to look around. There is a copy on Amazon for a little over $40, and I just can't justify it at the moment. I'm hoping to find something for a little bit of a better price than that!

How God Fix Jonah, by Lorenz Graham. This is a collection of Bible stories as they were orally passed down in Liberia. It is written so that when you read it aloud, you would say it how the storytellers in Liberia would actually speak it. This is probably our favorite book of the month! I love books that give us a glimpse into other peoples and cultures and how their perspective can be so different and yet so familiar at the same time.

We finally finished The Blue Fairy Book! Myself and the kiddos all enjoyed this collection of fairy tales edited by Andrew Lang. We also started The Red Fairy Book in the month of April.

Personal Reading

Personal reading? Not so much in April! I am in a year-long process of monthly readings out of The Life-giving Home, by Sally & Sarah Clarkson. But, I'm going to need to catch up in May. I'm sad to say, I didn't even touch this book in April.

School Reading

This is a book I did read in April, as pre-reading for my son. Black Hearts in Battersea, by Joan Aiken. This is the second book in The Wolves Chronicles. The book follows Simon, who we met in The Wolves of Willoughby Chase, to London to study art. He finds himself wrapped up in a strange and dangerous mystery. This one really hooked my 13-year-old into wanting to read the rest of The Wolves Chronicles! I really enjoyed this one, too, it was hard to put down!

The Return of the Indian, by Lynne Reid Banks. This is the first sequel to The Indian in the Cupboard. After winning an award for writing about his adventures in the first book, Omri gets a hankering to see Little Bear again. So he gets out the key to the magic cupboard. My 10-year-old is really loving this series and going through it as quick as we can get the next book from the library!

Is That It???

I think that's it for the books we read in April! I really, really feel like I'm missing something. But I think it's just because for me, there's really not a lot there! I hope to be reading more in May!

Playlist: What We Read in 2019

Don't forget to check out the playlist! You will get some great ideas on books to read. Thank you for reading, everyone!

Homeschool Subject-by-Subject: What We're Using for History

 

Happy Friday, everyone! It's time for another installment in the collaboration I'm participating in, where we share and review the curriculum we've used in each subject this past year. This collaboration is hosted by April at The Simple Rugged Path, Michelle at The Brave Homeschooling Mama, and Ashley at Joyful Noise Living. Each of these ladies have wonderful content on their channels about faith, mothering, homeschooling, and more. Be sure to check them out!

Last week, we shared what we are using for science. This week, we will review History/Geography curriculum. Again, I will have a link with the playlist at the end of this post. So if you're looking for ideas for curriculum for next year, check out that playlist and you will see a variety of curriculum!

What We're Using for History

For the record, I will just be sharing our History curriculum and resources today. We did a whole year of just geography, cultures, and ecosystems before we started our History cycle. That will be a review for another day in the future. So for now, let's just jump in to what we're using this year!

Again, we do use My Father's World. The current year in the History cycle we are using is called Rome to the Reformation. The constant spine throughout this year is Streams of Civilization Volume One, by Albert Hyma and Mary Stanton. We started this book last year in Creation to the Greeks, and this year we just continued where we left off. This is probably the most "textbook-y" of our spines, although we don't use it as such. We just read the section that we are learning about that day. We don't bother with review questions or anything like that at the end of the units. The boys have chances to show what they have learned through discussion, notebook pages, and games we add. Also, we did not read from this book every single day.

Ancient Rome

During the first part of our school year, we studied Ancient Rome. So, along with Streams, we used the above books with our history reading.

Augustus Caesar's World, by Genevieve Foster. This book we pretty much read like a read-aloud, almost every day until we finished it. It flows really well and reads like a story. And we really did enjoy it. However, I would caution Christian parents who are trying to teach a Biblical worldview to their children. There were a few blurbs in this book where the author discusses the Bible in a way that didn't quite sit right with me. So you may want to skim through the chapter ahead, and be prepared to discuss with your child if they're mature enough, or just skip the blurbs altogether. I've seen Genevieve Foster's books labeled as "secular, but Christian-friendly."

Make it Work! The Roman Empire, by Peter Chrisp. This was a fun book that contained both information as well as fun craft activities. If there was information about a topic we were learning that day, we would read it. Most topics have a two-page spread with fun and informational pictures. Many topics have a relevant craft you can do with your child, such as make your own knucklebones game, a face pot, or armored shoes. We enjoyed this book, although I wish we would have done more of the crafts!

The Usborne Internet-Linked Ancient World, by Fiona Chandler. Again, we only read out of this as was relevant to what we were learning. Good info without the reading being too long. Lots of good pictures. And we love the internet-linked Usborne books! There were lots of fun, informational videos and activities.

Middle Ages

Once we were done with Ancient Rome, we moved on to the Middle Ages. While we still use Streams, The Story of the World Volume 2, by Susan Wise Bauer, became our main spine. This also kind of reads like a story, but it's also very informational. We have really been enjoying this.

My Father's World did not include The Story of the World Activity Book, but I added that in. I wanted to have the resources to add in more activities or notebooking pages as we were able, and the activity book has been perfect for that! It really solidifies and enriches what we're learning about. I do the review questions orally with my boys. There are narration suggestions, but I just use those to do dictation with my boys as we have time. This reinforces what they've learned while they study the summary, and again while I say it out loud and they write it down. In addition, there are cooking and crafting activities, as well as maps, coloring, and other notebooking pages in this activity book.

The Usborne Internet-Linked Medieval World, by Jane Bingham. We integrate this the same way as I described with Ancient World above.

Bible

I just love how My Father's World weaves the Bible and History together! While we studied Ancient Rome, we read in the Bible each day along with that time in history. Now that we're studying the Middle Ages, we're going back into the New Testament to study the life of Jesus more closely. We use The Victor Journey Through the Bible, by V. Gilbert Beers along with our Bible reading. This book is kind of like a mini Bible study about key events throughout the Bible. We really enjoy the background info, as well as many readings feature modern-day pictures of the area we're talking about. 

As we have entered the Middle Ages, we have started Trial and Triumph, by Richard Hannula. We don't read this every day, but as we come to a time where a biography takes place, we read about that person then. As hard as it sometimes is to read about what happened to that particular person (many martyrs in this book), this has been a good, faith-strengthening book to read. This is another book where I would caution parents to read ahead, as some details can be frightening to young or sensitive children.

Other Integrated Subjects

I won't go into detail on these subjects, since we're discussing History today. But again, I love how My Father's World weaves so many of it's subjects together! Both art techniques and art appreciation are studied according to the period of History we are in, with God and the History of Art.

Book basket is something My Father World incorporates that I think is wonderful. They have book lists in the teacher's manual for each week of the school year, with suggestions of books that go with our history and science for that week. I'll put books and any relevant DVD's on hold at the library and fill our book basket. Book basket time at our house is 30 minutes. They don't have to read a certain amount. They take that 30 minutes to read, just look at the books, watch a DVD, or play a relevant game.

For part of our science, we read Galen and the Gateway to Medicine, by Jeanne Bendick, when Galen's period of time came up in our History studies.

Finally, our year's read-alouds take place during the time that we are studying.
The Bronze Bow, by Elizabeth George Speare
Twice Freed, by Patricia St. John
The Door in the Wall, by Marguerite de Angeli
Dangerous Journey, based on The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

Fun Extras

I try to bring in and incorporate fun extras and activities that have to do with the time period we're studying. My Father's World provided the chess book and castle set above. My boys have already learned to play chess, and they love playing one-on-one with Hubby. Later in the year, they will use the card stock set to make their own castle.

In the bottom picture, are a few things I purchased on my own. The two books are like Choose Your Own Adventure books, but they incorporate historical fiction in their scenarios. My boys have really enjoyed these! Also, I purchased Professor Noggins Medieval Times Trivia Card Game. We all really love Professor Noggins games, and hope to purchase more in the future! These games really help us all remember information about what we've been studying.

Whew!

That's it! I think I remembered everything! I hope you enjoyed my brief walk-through of what we've been using for History this year. If you have any questions, please comment below. Also, if you use or have used anything I talked about here, I would love to hear your thoughts!

Playlist: Homeschool Curriculum Review 2019

Don't forget to check out the playlist above and see what others have been using in History/Geography this past school year!

Have a great day, everyone!

THM Recipe Roundup: Make-Ahead Breakfasts

 

They say breakfast is the most important meal of the day. And I have to agree with that. A good, healthy breakfast just lays the groundwork for how you eat for the rest of the day. When I'm not prepared in this area, I definitely feel it!

Breakfast is that meal I either rock, or fail miserably at. There really is no in-between for me. I am blessed and thankful that Hubby has joined me in eating the Trim Healthy Mama way. But, since he wakes up early in the morning for work, that means early mornings for me as well. Most mornings, we have little time before he has to be out the door. If I'm not on my breakfast game, he either goes without, or he grabs something not-so-optimal. Then, I end up just having coffee, starting my day, and not eating until lunch. So in order for us to be off to a good start, I have to be able to make something quick, or have things already prepared.

Be Prepared!

When I have a couple of breakfasts all ready to eat made ahead of time, that's when my week seems to go the smoothest. However, this doesn't always happen. Lately, I've been struggling. I know I'm not the only one who struggles with breakfast, so I asked for help from some Trim Healthy Mama recipe bloggers for this roundup. They were very generous and shared many of their favorite make-ahead breakfast recipes to have prepared for those busy mornings. In this post, I am excited to share with you what they came up with. Some I have made before and enjoyed, many are new to me and I'm excited to try!

As I said in my one and only recipe post, I am not by nature a recipe creator. So, I am so thankful for all of these creative bloggers who share their yummy, healthy recipes with the rest of us! Make sure to check out their blogs for all of the other recipes they have created as well.

Let's dive right in to what they came up with for make-ahead breakfasts!

S Breakfasts

5-Ingredient Waffles & Pancakes-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Briana shares, "I love to put waffles in the freezer to pull out and reheat!"
Coconut Mocha Breakfast Cookies-Unconformed Kitchen
Meat Crust Quiche-Yellow Glass Dish
Josi of Yellow Glass Dish shares that this quiche holds up well in the fridge, but she wouldn't suggest freezing it.
Freezer Breakfast Burritos-The Well Planned Kitchen
Sticky Bun Cake-My Healthy Journey For Life
Strawberry Bread Two Ways-My Healthy Journey For Life
This Strawberry Bread can be made as either S or E!
Orange (or Orange Cranberry) Scones-My Healthy Journey For Life
Carrot Cheesecake Muffins-My Healthy Journey For Life
Raspberry Almond Coffee Cake-Wonderfully Made and Dearly Loved

E Breakfasts

No Sugar Added Baked Georgia Peach Oatmeal-Protecting Your Pennies
Overnight Oatmeal Survival Packets-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Blueberry Baked Oatmeal-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Apple Pie Baked Oatmeal-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Pineapple Rightside-Up Baked Oatmeal-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Pumpkin Chip Baked Oatmeal-Briana Thomas Burkholder
Briana shares, "Baked oatmeal is basically my favorite make-ahead breakfast." And I have to admit, I love that it is so easy to put together, and that there are so many different ways to make it so that it's never boring!
Authentic English Muffins-Unconformed Kitchen
Pumpkin Bam Cake-Unconformed Kitchen
Homemade Breakfast Museli-Unconformed Kitchen
Air Fryer Apple Fritters-My Healthy Journey For Life
These fritters can be made either E or FP!
Strawberry Bread Two Ways-My Healthy Journey For Life
This Strawberry Bread can be made as either S or E, so I included it in both categories.
Cereal Recipes to Find Your Healthy Trim-Wonderfully Made and Dearly Loved
This is a roundup Judy at Wonderfully Made and Dearly Loved put together of cereals that can be made and eaten on plan!
Overnight Stuffed French Toast-Early to Bed, Early to Rise
Easy, Delicious Pumpkin Baked Oatmeal-Early to Bed, Early to Rise
Cinnamon Apple Overnight Oats-Nana's Little Kitchen
Cinnamon Apple Cheesecakes-Nana's Little Kitchen

FP and XO Breakfasts

Sometimes, we need to throw in an occasional Fuel Pull or Crossover for breakfasts. Here's a couple of recipes to help you out!

Four Vanilla Waffles-Briana Thomas Burkholder THM FP
Easy Dragon Fruit Chia Breakfast Pudding Cups-Graceful Abandon THM XO

Get Prepping!

There you have it! With 26 recipes here, there is no excuse to not be prepared for breakfast! As for me, I am definitely working my way through this list starting today! If you're new to food prep, pick just one or two of these recipes to make. Then see how much easier the next few mornings go when you have your first meal of the day all ready to grab or heat up quickly. If you're a prepping veteran, you know what to do, and I hope you found some new recipe inspiration here!

Talk to me in the comments! If you've tried any of these recipes, I would love to hear what you thought. Also, if there are any other recipes you use, or even super-quick things you do for breakfast in the morning, I would love to hear from you. And those of you who are already doing it, let me know how prepping has changed your mornings!

Have a great week, everyone!