Week 2 in school

    Last year ended up being a hard year for me with school. With having a newborn and a very active 2 year old I confess to getting a little burnt out. It happens to a lot of us. I was reading once on The Well Trained Mind Forum that the 6th or 7th year homeschooling is another bump in the road. Well, for us I guess that bump happened a little earlier :) This is going on my 6th official year as a homeschool mom (not counting all those wonderful preschool years). Last year was just hard I think because the kids weren't too terribly independent and my 3 little ones made things a little more challenging ;) I truthfully considered sending the kids to school but that thought just kills me. I know there are several parents who don't have a problem with public schools, but I just don't want to send my kids there. The other option would be private schooling but sending 3 kids to that would be very expensive and we are on one income so not the greatest idea. So finally after a lot of praying I decided to hop out of my plan for school and try Abeka online. I needed school to be a little more easier on mommy since I tend to gravitate to more literature based programs that involve a lot of mommy reading ;) So, anyway, you have probably already figured out we are using Abeka for K with my beautiful princess Brie (she insists you call her princess Brie Brie lol). Anyway, since I haven't seen a lot of blogs to show what Abeka streaming is like I thought I would post a little throughout the school year of her progress. I am truthfully very impressed with the program so far.
     I have heard several times people not wanting to do school like this because they are spending so much time on the computer. Yes she is probably on the computer watching 1 1/2 or so a day, but truthfully she is learning so much. As you can see it is not strictly on the computer work she is doing. There are several worksheets they do together. Here is her doing the cursive little e. I confess that handwriting is not my strong point in teaching. This program is great at explaining how to hold your pencil and the proper strokes and they repeat it over and over again. I have a feeling that by the end of the year she will have beautiful handwriting. So far she has learned how to write a cursive i, u, and e.  
     Along with learning how to read and write and of course math, there are little fun games and songs she is learning as well. I confess I am not good with memory work but she has already started memorizing several songs, a poem, the Lord's Prayer, the pledge, and another memory verse. She probably has done more but she is getting good at watching and following instrutions so I am not always watching with her and miss some things. I do try to stay close during her lessons to assist her, but there are times when little Nick or Tony Jr need help and I am able to help them without distracting her ;) Thank you Lord for that!!!
     Another plus is they have art time every once in a while and she is learning to draw. I can't draw so it is nice that there is a little instruction on that...if she needs more help there I am thankful that my 2nd DD is a little artist so she can help her there. So finally, I thought I would post a little of her favorite work from these first two weeks that she has put up on the fridge. There is a lot more but she puts those in her room ;)
    So, next week will be my last week with just schooling her so you will get to see what my big kids are up to using My Father's World :)

character building

http://characterfirsteducation.com/c/curriculum.php

Looking for a great character curriculum? This is an awesome resource. They have put a bunch of their stuff online for free so you can either use that or purchase their kids. We just started Availability and it is awesome little chunks of learning for my little ones!!

Awesome low carb muffins!!

http://247lowcarbdiner.blogspot.com/2012/10/cinnamon-roll-muffins.html?m=1 

So Nicholas the baby is now 5 months old so I am trying to do better with my eating. 

 I love the book Trim Healthy Momma and this would be classified under their Smeals. I didn't have any coconut flour so I got out my handy Nutribullet and made my own from unsweetened coconut flakes. Really quick and easy to make.

Didn't care so much for the glaze so I made a cream cheese and butter frosting to top it off. I brought the batch to my dads for his 64th birthday and we ate them before I remembered I wanted a pic of the final product, so I will have to do that next time. They make for a great morning muffin or a sweet treat.

LHTH Unit 2

So I have been a little slacking on my posts, but here is a little of Unit 2 from LHTH. My daughter loves to do school and will ask for it. She likes to do whatever the big ones are doing and she likes a little extra mommy time too. So Unit 2 we are working on our B's and the little ones enjoyed finger painting B's and also we made some play dough this week and shaped B's out of them too. The kids have a blast doing this.

For our art project we were suppose to make a rainbow and it turned out really well I think :) My 7 year old loves anything to do with art so she had to tag along and maker her own little creation too. We were also working on her name by cutting out the letters and pasting it in order. I am really impressed at how well she is recognizing her letters, but I will confess she has been watching the Leapfrog Letter Factory for years so she is pretty good anyway at all her letter sounds from that :).

School fun plus some

So we have officially gotten started on the "Next School Year" Stuff for Noah and also Brie is starting Little Hands to Heaven so is doing her Pre-K stuff pretty consistently. Kayla is still chugging away at Little Hearts for his Glory so here is a look at the last 2 weeks.
Week 1 LHTH
First off I can't say how much I love this program. It is so sweet and fits my dd personality to a T!! Since we were doing 2 new guides it took us about 2 weeks to get through the first unit, but we would repeat stuff which is fine because at 4 they love repetition. My 2 year old joined in at times, but he isn't quite ready to sit still and pay attention the whole time :)
   Each week there is a Fingerplay section which focuses on sounds and motions for the letter of the week put to a rhyme. This week we were on A and my kids asked to do this over and over.  A is for Adam so we got to spend time in the Bible and moving like different animals. I think their favorite part of the week was me taping a big and little A on the floor of their room. They wouldn't let me take it off either so it is still there. They walked on the A and their cars went on the A. What really surprised me was how Brie was able to pick out A's pretty well on a worksheet that you print off from the guide.
 We are also working on making a counting book for the numbers 1-10 and she got to work on her cutting skills. I am thankful that simple things like cutting are placed in the guide because I can overlook simple things like that with the kids and then you have a 9 year old who struggles to cut because mommy always does it for him ;) Anyway, we are really looking forward to what LHTH has in store for us this year and all the fun and mommy time Brie will get to have.

LHFHG Unit 27
Unfortunately I don't have many pictures of dd from this week. Sometimes I get wrapped up in school with the kids and don't think to take a pic, plus she doesn't like me doing it either ;)
We have had a great week through, we have leaned a lot about Thanksgiving and some of the early leaders from our country. I think dd favorite part was making up a Thanksgiving plate and tracing and coloring the food on it. She learned also how to properly set a dinner setting so we will put that into practice with her. Anything that has to do with coloring she is a fan of.
 Reading is going great also. We are nearing the end of The Reading Lessons. Each day we read at least 2 pages together than we color the picture together. It is such a fun time getting to color with her.
Math is going pretty well too. We have hit telling time and she is good when the clock is on the hour, but when it is not well... We are working on that ;0)
   The kids also took an art class at a local studio so it wasn't really part of school but they did such a great job I thought I would throw a pic in. I know she is going to love the higher guides with all the artwork she will get to do!

PHFHG Unit 1-2

So our first few weeks were long but now we are in a pretty good stride and Noah is doing better with his independent work also. I love that as the kids get older they are becoming more responsible and can do more on their own. I love getting to spend time with them and reading to them, but it is amazing seeing them pour over books that they actually enjoy and absorbing the information. I guess it helps that Noah loves non-fiction books the most :) I also am in love with the selection of books for this guide. I know many homeschool companies are Christian and all, but really the word of God just comes alive through the material that is used and I love what the kids are learning!!
  So anyway, in history these 2 weeks we have been talking about creation, sin, Noah's ark, and now we are spending a lot of time in a book called Life in the great Ice Age which is from the point of view from a boy who lives after the floor and Tower of Babel and it gives you a great illustration of how life was like during that time and especially in the harsh areas of the world where it was freezing!!
  History this year also has an independent portion where Noah has been working through the book Draw and Write Through History. He is really coming along in his drawing skills and cursive.
   On top of me reading to him his history and his independent history time, there is also a weekly history project for him to do. This is really what makes him love HOD!! In the first week he got to design a shield of faith. It really drove him crazy the first week not to finish it all on day 1, but I really think he learned patience and since he wasn't worn out by working on it did a better job than if we had finished it in 1 day.
   Week 2 we spent a lot of time reading about Noah and the flood so it was appropriate that our history project was a painting and we also got to learn the difference between warm colors and cool colors and also how to mix colors to get different ones. My 3 year old was in awe of how this worked so she just stared at Noah as he did his painting.

I didn't get any pictures of ds doing his science experiments these weeks either. Science is also independent this year so it is great that he can read and he is comprehending well what he is reading. This part always makes me a little nervous because I can't see what is going into his head, but he answers his comprehension questions beautifully and narration great also. The 4th day of science is an experiment so week 1 he learned about how layers help to keep heat in on animals in the artic and week 2 had to do with melting ice and trying to get it to melt quicker.
   Also, I just wanted also to say how awesome I think HOD selection for LA is also. We are using Drawn Into the Heart of Reading and I love how Noah is not just reading but really learning more about the characters and also thinking about their Character Traits. Also Rod and Staff I wasn't sure about but it is so thorough and I love how it teaches grammar. It does take a little time, but I think the time is well invested. Also, he is doing great with spelling through dictation. He is good at picking up what he sees and has never really struggled with spelling so this has been a great fit too.
 
   Finally, I thought I would throw in Noah's art work from the studio they went to. The kids had a blast here and I was so thankful that their dad was able to take them and have some good bonding time which they learned something too :)

School 2014

So since I spend so much time with the big kids I thought it would be nice to have something structured to do with my little ones. Therefore, I purchased Little Hands to Heaven to do with them. We have had a busy week so have only done a few days worth of activities, but my 2 little ones are having a blast!
  Kayla, my 1st grader is still finishing up Little Hearts For His Glory so we have about 8 or 9 weeks till she moves up to the next guide so hopefully we can get into a little groove before we move her on up too.

For my rising 4th grader we have started using Preparing Hearts For His Glory from Heart of Dakota. It is a great program so far and is really stretching Noah in many areas. We have used a few of the books from this package before, but truthfully they are worth repeating :) I am loving Grandpa's Box too. I love how HOD chooses some real quality Christian literature to really make history come alive. We have had so much fun learning about creation this first week of school that I can't wait to see what the rest of the week will be like.
   For Language Arts we are using the recommended Rod & Staff 4 along with Drawn Into the Heart of Reading with the boys grade 4/5 pack. Rod & Staff truthfully isn't fluffy and pretty but it is solid and  I love learning grammar along with my little guy. Grammar is the one part of school I never really cared for but now we are both learning so much. We are loving DITHOR also. We tried this program in 2nd grade but he wasn't really ready for it. We had finished phonics, but were still just getting into reading longer books. Now reading and comprehension are going better and he is ready for DITHOR.

Science is real nice this year also. In HOD's guide Bigger Hearts for His Glory science becomes independent. So, this year Noah is doing it independently which is nice. I found some great notebook pages to go along with science and the independent history portions, along with other things that complement the program so we have a nice notebook going and it makes his independent work a little easier and nicer looking overall. Finally, Preparing starts working more towards independence in history and you can purchase the Deluxe Package that contains 12 extra books for independent work that corresponds with the time you are studying in history.
   We have started the first book which is Draw and Write Through History: Creation to Jonah and is amazing. I love that Noah is getting extra practice writing and learning to draw some great pictures at the same time.
   Finally, what is school without some great read alouds. A couple of these books we have read, but it has been a while so I think they will all be hits :) We are so excited to get this new school year started. It is taking a little more time than last, but I think once we get into our groove it will go a lot quicker :)

So I found this cute little craft to do with the littles to work on counting. Actually the whole website has a ton of great ideas to do with preschoolers so I thought I would stick it up. I will have to start baking some cakes so I can get some frosting cans for it ;) I guess consuming sweets is worth the education that will come out of the projects.
http://www.frogsandsnailsandpuppydogtail.com/2014/01/hungry-penguin-learning-game-for-kids.html