Homeschool "Room" 2013-2014

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So we don't actually have a homeschool room. We have one big room that serves as: kitchen, dining room, living room, entryway, and homeschool room. It's not the 'ideal' setup, but we make it work. Instead of schooling at the dining room table this year, my awesome husband built this school desk. Those upper shelves used to stand vertically, stacked on one another and were stained green. I painted them teal, cause it's my new favorite color; and he hung them on the wall for me.

The big tall cabinet is our homeschool supply storage. The top cabinet has stuff like markers, glue, craft supplies, and paper. The bottom cabinet is... a mess. It has extra craft supplies, unused notebooks and binders, and preschool supplies.

 The little desk is for my preschooler. The printer is on a box to the left that has some of his 'curriculum' inside. To the right of his desk is some more of his stuff. I'm planning on organizing all his stuff, at some point in the future, hopefully before he goes to college. :) Also to the right of the big cabinet, slid into the hole, is our whiteboard that we use for All About Spelling and All About Reading.

I'm only going to show you the top of the big cabinet cause it has labels and is pretty (sort-of) (Ok, it actually still needs some work and a few more labels)

And in this corner.....

 we have our 'workboxes' and a big 31 bag that holds all our library books. It just sits on the floor because I have no other place to put it.

 A big view of our room, complete with kids watching Cars. Homeschool area to the right and in the far corner. In the left back corner is where our workboxes are. To the right is the rest of the kitchen area. Also, down the hallway to the left..... is our calendar board. :)

I got stuff for this board from Confessions of a Homeschooler and Mama Jenn and We Choose Virtues. I also made a couple the date on the top and the color and shape of the days, and the daily scripture confession above the 'make the date'. So there's our 'school room'.

Curriculum 2013-2014

It is my 3rd year homeschooling and no I don't have it all figured out. So for our choices for 2013-2014 curriculum are as follows:

4TH Grade:

English: BJU Writing and Grammar
Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears; Cursive Success  and A Reason for Handwriting C
Typing: Typing Instructor for Kids
Science: Earth and Space (a book I found at the thrift store), and Magic School Bus Science Kits
History/Geography: Road Trip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler
Math: Probably Math U See Delta, maybe Teaching Textbooks
Bible: We are just going through a devotional and memorizing verses this year
Spelling: All About Spelling 2

Kindergarten:

All About Reading 1
Math U See Primer
History and Science: listening along with big sister
Bible: same as big sis
We are also doing some of those All in 1 workbooks for Kindergarten and some K4 curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Tot School:
If all goes well, I'm going to do Letter of the Week from Confessions of a Homeschooler. Teaching shapes, colors, and letter names is my main goal for him.

Wanna know my schedule???? It's super exciting! Ok, not really. It's something I put together to make me feel some semblance of control over my school day. HA HA HA! We'll see how it goes.

And that's what I have so far. We will probably have to do some adjustments once school starts. Here's to a good year!

Frustrations

There are one or two subjects every day that have been a source of frustration. It's wearing me out and we are only on our sixth day. There has to be a change. So, I'm going to be the change I want to see. I believe the Word and what it says. I believe I have the things that I say. My children are taught of the Lord and great is their peace. They are wise and recieve correction. I train them up in the way they should go and when they are older they will not depart from it. I'm also going to make a daily confession for them to say. Things about them being trainable and teachable and receptive of that training and teaching. My oldest is a bit of a perfectionist and very very literal. If she does't know EVERYTHING right away, she feels frustrated and stupid. I hate that learning makes her feel that way. I've tried explaining to her that correction is part of learning. It hasn't worked, so I'm turning to something that WORKS, EVERYTIME. I praise God for is Word and that he keeps his promises. I praise God that he has given me the opportunity and ability to homeschool and a husband who completely supports it and the means to do it. (It aint cheap :) What a wonderful opportunity and gift I have in teaching my kiddos.

The First Day

Okay, so the first day has come and gone and I only wanted to quit once. I only said the bad word (public school) once. In all reality I wouldn't quit homeschooling for anything. I love it. Good days and bad. We got our problem worked out and are ready for a new day tomorrow. I love being in a new routine. Hopefully we can keep it up. Here it is:

6:00 am I wake up and exercise, read my Bible, write out my goals for the day, start breakfast, and shower. My goal is to be out of the shower by 7:00 am. Didn't quite make it this morning, but I'll work on it.
7:00 kids get up and shuffle slowly into the kitchen to eat.
7:20 (ish) we start our morning routine: get dressed, brush teeth, make bed, chores.
8:00am Exercise, this time the kids join in, then Bible Time, then school starts.
10:00am snack time and more school
12noon Lunch.
1:00 School projects (all the 'extras')
After that is done: finish chores, if applicable, and FREE TIME. This is when the kids can watch an episode of TV, or play the Wii for a little bit, and just play.
Toddler takes a nap at 2 and I RELAX.
5:oo clean up time.
Then dinner, free time, showers, and bed at 8:30!
I try to be ASLEEP at 10, or at least in bed.
And now what you've all been waiting for... FIRST DAY PICTURES!

Curriculum 2012-2013

Last year (our first year) I did a box set curriculum. I didn't know what  I was getting myself into homeschooling, and I thought it would be a right fit for me. For me it was: no prep, just workbooks to work through. For my daughter: HORRIBLE. We made it through the year, only having to switch to a different math. But this year I decided to do something different. I have a very eclectic choice of curriculum. No two subjects are from the same publisher. So here it goes:

For My Girl: (8, Grade 3)

Bible: Grapevine Studies (New Testament Overview)

English: BJU English Grade 3

Handwriting: Handwriting Without Tears (cursive)

Spelling: Sequential Spelling

Literature: Charlotte's Web (and other books, not sure which one's yet, study/lapbook from Confessions of a Homeschooler)

Math: Math U See Gamma

History: The Story of the World-Volume 1
.
Science: Apologia's: Exploring Creation with Zoology 3

Geography: Confession's of a Homeschooler's: Expedition Earth

For My Older Son: (4 1/2)

He will be listening and joining in on activities with Grapevine Studies, Science, History, and Geography. I'm going to very lightly introduce 'formal homeschool' to him. I know he's young, but he's interested, so I'm going to take this opportunity to teach him.

Reading/Phonics: Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons

Math: Math U See Primer (I'm probably going to start this about half way through the year, or when he's ready and will continue it next year. He's not quite ready for it, but will be soon.

Handwriting: Letters and Number for Me (Handwriting Without Tears)

I'm also possibly going to add in: Confessions of a Homeschooler's K4 curriculum.

My Younger Son:

Working on Colors and singing the ABC's. Lots of playtime and reading books.

I noticed that CBD has a lot of the above for the cheapest prices I could find. I HIGHLY recommend Confessions of a Homeschooler. I love love love her curriculum and she has been such and encouragement to me especially when I was starting to think about homeschooling. And that's it. For now. I'll let you know how I like them all.

AND... We're done.

We actually got done last Wednesday, but I'm just now getting around to posting about it. The school year is officially over. I have survived my first year of homeschooling and will be doing things a lot differently next year. Mainly, the curriculum. I ended up having a strong dislike for the 'package' we chose for this year. Next year will be filled with a lot more lapbooks and activities like that. That's how my daughter learns best. At least now I know.
 For the little boy: This summer I'm going to be doing Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I will also be reading him lots and lots of books.
For the girl: She is going to do a summer reading program and practice math a few times a week.
For the baby: Teach him the meaning of no. That's my goal.
I am relieved to be done. We've got a lot going on right now, and the stress of everything was wearing on me a little. This Saturday we are having a yard sale. We are thinking of putting our house on the market. It's a lot for me to think about right now, for various reasons. But, there you go. The year is through. Now, I've got to plan an 'end of the year' party for our EKWP group.  Maybe I'll think about that after the yard sale.

Planning

So, I'm not MUCH of a planner, but I've been trying to do it the last few weeks. It has actually helped. I usually just try to keep a mental list, which works, but being able to check things off is so fun. :) So I made myself a weekly planner:
https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B9V8BtcPIlqxMVBVdEZHQW53SEE/edit

Let me know what you think.  I left some lines blank for you to fill out. My laundry schedule I've talked about before. My cleaning schedule: I'm still trying to get that figured out, but at least I've got a plan. And the morning routine: HA! Definitely doesn't always happen like that, but I've got it written down. :)