Highlights From A Year in the Life of Homeschooling

They say there is a three year learning curve to homeschooling.  Despite a pregnancy the first year and a new baby the next, we are finding our groove and figuring out this lifestyle of learning.  I can't believe we have almost made it through another year.

 

Our History Curriculum is "The Story of the World, Ancient Times."  Our study of Egypt included learning about the Pyramids built for the pharaohs.  We had fun learning about how the engineering and work that went into building the Pyramids as well as the mummies and treasures within.  We even made a Pyramid of our own out of Duplos.  There are lots of Pinterest boards that give great ideas and video links for this curriculum.  We also purchased an activity guide that makes teaching lots easier for mom.

A highlight for me this year was returning to my passion, preschool.  Having three very willing little students we are having lots of fun being creative.  We are learning a letter song that uses sign language and teaches the letter sounds.  We are trying to do a letter of the week but sometimes it takes us a few weeks to get through our activities.   When things get really busy, it becomes the letter of the month. 

This winter while we were trapped inside because of the cold, we used the snow as a canvas.

The letter of the week is always more fun to write in shaving cream.

For "D Week" we drove diggers in rice and painted yellow diggers that's parts actually moved by using brads.  We finished them off with their pictures in the cab to make them look like they were driving.

Another highlight for all of us this year was our Olympic Study during the Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia.  We learned about the history of the Olympics, which later tied into our history during our Ancient Greece Study.  We  learned about Russia, the Winter Olympic events, and we tracked medal winners.  We also talked about good and bad character traits of Olympians.  Bentley and Payton especially enjoyed their homework each night, which kept them up past their normal bed times watching the Olympics.
Payton especially enjoyed learning about bobsledding and it prompted him to make numerous really cool lego movies using his legos and the stop motion camera on his 3DS.  He spent hours making lego creations and movies and once again it was fun to see his learning become a part of his play.

Jackson enjoyed hearing his brother's version of his favorite stories.  My little's (and big's) love of books makes my mama and teacher's heart smile.

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With our study of Ancient Africa we learned about making Paper Bead Necklaces out of Magazines and we tried our hand at Fried Plantains.  We learned that no one here is fond of Fried Plantains but it was fun to try something new.



During our study about "The New Kingdom of Egypt," we learned about a Woman who was a Pharaoh and we built Egyptian Chariots.  We later learned about The Israelites leaving Egypt and the Plagues.  This tied into our Bible Road Trip as well.  It is fun to see our subjects overlap and come together.

Payton Enjoyed a Study of Mr. Popper's Penguins.  He learned about Mr. Popper's absent- mindedness and could totally relate!  He also did some research about penguins and was excited to continue his research at our local zoo.

We learned that Vaeh and Gracen are both close in size to an Emperor Penguin.

This is a line drawing inspired by the large Nazca Line Drawings in South America that cover hundreds of feet of earth.  Can you tell that we are discovering that we love history??








We have also enjoyed a new math program this year called Teaching Textbooks but it doesn't make for the greatest pictures.  It is computer based and saves me a ton of teaching a grading time.  Both kiddos are fairly independent and when they get a problem wrong twice, the program shows them how to solve the problem and teaches the concept again.

I had to add this one in.  Conner still attends public school and has had a great year with a wonderful teacher!  He was a musketeer in the school musical and we were so proud of his performance.  I see acting in his future.

The next few weeks will be dedicated to wrapping up our current curriculum.  We will take a few weeks off in June for  vacation and camp and then focus the rest of this summer on just a few subjects. Our musketeer will rejoin us at least for the summer months.  We are planning to cover Apologia's study of Anatomy and Physiology for Elementary students.  We will also take a break from our history series to enjoy a DVD series call Drive Thru History: The Holy Lands.  This series will overlap with some of our history as well as Bible.  For math we are going to play tons of math games to keep it fresh in our minds and have a little fun.  P.E. and nature studies will also be a big part of our summer curriculum.  To meet these requirements we will be in the pool lots and find local nature areas to explore.

" Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.  Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.  Deuteronomy 6:4-9

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