You HOMESCHOOL?

Yes, I homeschool. I never ever thought I would homeschool but as my life has ended up it has been a huge blessing to me and our family. I tried to put cat in preschool when I was working (on call 24-7) but it just didn't work out. I had three kids all under the age of 4.5 and a overloaded "full-time" job. I would get "called" at midnight, or 4 in the morning.. who knew .. so a schedule for us was OUT. So after a while in preschool I soon figured out it wouldn't work for us. .. SO.. I started the journey.. with a few friends who were already schooling at home I was encouraged to see how it worked for their families. And here we are four years later. Three kids of my own, ages 8,6, and 4, and three sweet kids who I have known since they were born, ages? You guest it.. 8,6, and 4. I am very blessed this year to be schooling in my home 6 precious children! WOW could life get anymore FUN! ..

OK.. so you are wondering.. How in the world will she do this? Well first of all.. I don't EDUCATE the kids. The kids educate themselves. They learn through hard work of their own. I am only here to be a tour guide and to learn along with them. But I do have resources to help us as we examine all the many things that are there to find. Below is a list of the resources I will be using this year.

Bible: .. DUH.. THE BIBLE.
I will also use "Your Story Hour-The Bible Comes Alive" Series. We will begin with Esther and work out way through the series which ends with Peter walking on the water.
We will also do a Verse for the Week-relating to a letter in the Alphabet.

History: The Story of our World
We will begin this week with the Medes and the Persian. (Cyrus the Great)

Science: Exploring Gods Creation with Astronomy. (Apologia)
I am so excited to have a science series I like. This week we will study: What is Astronomy?, Why did God Create the Universe?, The calendar, ect.. Our project for next week will be to build a model of the solar system to hand from the ceiling.

Handwriting: Handwriting without Tears
Love this series, its cheap and the kids like it!

English: Rod and Staff English
I really like this English because it is Christian based. The kids put things in ABC order.. why shouldn't it be the books of the Bible? Cool huh?

Spelling: Spelling Workout.
This is a great little spelling workbook, using the spelling words in crossword puzzles, word finds, and paragraph writing.

Math: Math U See:
Not much to look at .. not fancy or full of color.. but oh it gets the ideas across. They also have a drill page on their website the kids will practice everyday trying to improve on their time.

Reading: Library, Phonics Computer Programs, Bob Books, Read Read Read.

Greek and Latin: English from the Roots Up.
We will have a Greek or Latin Root word of the week. This weeks word "Photo" its Greek for light. The kids will try to find words throughout the week that have "photo" in it. (Photograph, photosynthesis, telephoto.. Etc)

Spanish: University House Channel Spanish
This is a satellite program that starts in Sept. We will have two twenty min. sessions of spanish a week. I love the man that teaches this program,, he has a little Mr Rogers in him.

Art.. Duh.. will do that like without thinking about it.. That's just me..

All this really looks like alot but when we get down to it.. We will finish all the things in just a couple of hours. I plan on "doing school" four days a week with Friday being our Library, Park, and Zoo Day.

My Goals.. For them to LOVE learning. (if there is anything I have learned through my homeschooling journey is that although I graduated from highschool and college, I was not very well educated). ,

For them to LOVE reading. ( I didn't grow up loving books, infact the first book I actually read from cover to cover was after I was married!, I have developed a LOVE for books because I get to read all the things I missed as a kid)

Most importantly to LOVE each other. (When it is all said and done, if they have each other, they have an amazing gift.).

So there a little peek inside our Knowledge Box!