Week 2

It is interesting to watch how different my boys are. Nikolas colors lightly and slowly. Joshua colors hard and dark. Nikolas is going through about ten pages a day in his math book! He really loves to listen to me read. Joshua, on the other hand, is really hard to work with sometimes. He has a hard time focusing and is still not a fan of workbooks. But he also likes to listen to me read but he has to be playing with trains or something while I'm reading, which is fine by me as long as he is quiet. His reading is always improving and instead of reciting our memory verse he read it today. We are finishing the Core pretty quickly but the language arts seems to drag a bit, I may cut some out because they are a little ahead of the game with phonics and reading. Week 2 has been another success. Whew!

We learned about rainbows and weather this week.

Ready for lunch!

 We also learned about the Egyptians and did some hieroglyphics. 

We also finished The Boxcar Children, early! I have really enjoyed reading it to the boys. They always want to know what happens with the kids next. We finished it a week early! I am enjoying the books that Sonlight has chosen, it is only week 2. We also started reading The Complete Adventures of Curious George. The boys love George! Two other books we read that are not part of our curriculum are The Brave Young Knight by Karen Kingsbury and What Happens When I Talk to God? by Stormie Omartian. These were both great books with vibrant pictures and even better words. I highly recommend them!

What Happens When I Talk to God?: The Power of Prayer for Boys and Girls By Stormie Omartian / Harvest House Publishers It's never too early to assure your children that their prayers really do make a difference! Bestselling author Stormie Omartian helps kids ages 3-7 get to know God better, thank Him for His love and ask for His help in tough times. Bright, contemporary watercolors present a beautiful picture of kids growing closer to God in prayer.

The Brave Young Knight By Karen Kingsbury / Zonderkidz What distinguishes a great leader? Is he faster, stronger, or smarter than everybody else? Not necessarily, as one young knight learns. Join him as he competes with other boys to become prince of the land---and discovers that those who have the courage to fight for what is right and true are the real winners.

A Review of Last Year

I wanted to do a review of some of the books and curriculum we used last year but I'll just do a brief overview. If you have more in depth questions, just let me know.
My Father's World for kindergarten was great for us. It was light and the pace was slow so we added math and phonics to it. We didn't replace those items just did extra. I loved the weekly themes and books they chose. It was well planned and thought out. I will not be using MFW this year mostly because I didn't find a way to teach both boys together and I really want to teach them together. The price is great and MFW has a great community, meaning I find MFW schoolers everywhere I go.
Math was a challenge for us because it turns out that my kid is not fond of workbooks. Might just be a math thing because he likes Explode the Code, hard to say. We started with Math-U-See and I've heard great things about it but math soon became a daily battle so I backed off. Then tried again and as soon as he saw those pages he let me know he was not going to cooperate. I looked around and settled on Horizons math, I ordered it and the manipulatives kit from Sonlight. I thought because it was colorful and mixed up the activities that he might enjoy it but it also did not do the job. He was learning but was over the workbooks so I didn't press them. He rattles off math facts all the time! He just doesn't like the workbooks. One other thing we used was the first Mathtastic video from Sonlight and they both enjoy watching it. This year we are going with something completely different. Mathematical Reasoning from Critical Thinking Company.
Explode the Code was great! He flew through the books and is now reading! We used the online program just as an alternative and he enjoyed that. We will be continuing it this year.
We also used My ABC Bible Verses each week with the corresponding letter and others day we used Gotta Have God devotional. I liked these and they are great books.
I am excited to start the new year! Click the 2012-13 Curriculum button up on top to see what we'll be starting mid-August.

See The Light

I don't know who is more excited to start this, me or the boys! I will be doing this classes with them and I am thrilled! There is a lesson for each school week. We ordered the one year set with 36 lessons for $99! Most of the classes require basic art supplies that you probably already have and some further along may require more. The list of supplies is here. You know the best part? It is Christian and it teaches kids how to use their art to glorify God! They have other great products as well. Click on the big button to visit their site and fall in love with them. I will be posting lots of pictures of our art projects! Did I mention that I am an art major in college, right now? Can't wait!

Final Box Day

Why was the most exciting the box the last one to arrive? It finally got here last night!

Joshua trying to move the box for me. We didn't get it too far.

Pulling out the paper.

Happy for new books!

All organized into piles for labeling and storage. 

Organizing curriculum!

Joshua asked to start school tomorrow! I love the sound of that. sigh. I am so excited to read all these books  with my boys. We might not wait until 8/13 like I had planned. We shall see.
This is the link to Our Box Day on Sonlight!

Box Day Part 2

Today we opened three boxes from Christianbook.com! One more from Veritas Press, See The Light and one small item from Sonlight (it was the stuff that was backordered). Hubs said that there was more but he couldn't carry it all! HA! One of the boxes was his birthday present and I'll tell you about that after he opens it.

Lots of books, curriculum, puzzles!

What's In The Bible? DVDs. Super excited to watch these. 

Some curriculum; math, handwriting, ETC.

Art Class Lessons from See the Light! 

DONE

I finally got all our curriculum ordered! I am so excited for it all to get there. Hubs? Not so much. Poor guy has to carry it all home. I have updated the 2012-13 curriculum page for you to check out. But I will list what we chose with bonus items right here, right now. The kids are in bed, hubs is traveling and I should be doing homework but I can procrastinate a bit longer on that!
The majority of schooling will follow Sonlight Core A: Intro to the World: Cultures. It will include Bible, social studies, history, geography, lots and lots of reading, as well as a timeline to keep along this Sonlight journey. I will also be using Sonlight's Science A: Biology, Botany and Physics. Joshua loved Explode the Code last year so he will continue with that and Nikolas will start it. We will be adding in A Reason for Handwriting for a little extra practice. I will be following Sonlight's schedule for language arts. For math I chose Mathematical Reasoning from Critical Thinking. We will be using See the Light for art. I got the Art Class set for one year of lessons. And Joshua will be doing regular lessons on his guitar with Alfred's. I also got the Jesus Calling for Kids devotional. I love mine and I think it will be great to read together.
Some exciting tools that I was able to get are the Staple Better Binders (they are on sale but only until 7/14) and I am so happy that I did! Next I got a new printer because the one I got last year is... junk. And the cherry on top... a laminator! {I forgot to mention new sharpies, pens, pencils and highlighters, they make me so happy!}
Something crazy that happened was me winning a $250 gift certificate to Veritas Press! I used it to purchase quite a few reference books, the In A Flash series for math, lots of books for the boys and a couple for me, too. What a blessing that was. Everyone knows a homeschooler always needs more books!
My poor husband. teehee.

Click on the banner to save $5 when you order from Sonlight!

Items For Sale

I am cleaning out and getting rid of some things. Please let me know if you need any of the items listed. I will give you a good deal. Make an offer that includes shipping. I live outside the US but we use USPS, so it will take a little longer but the cost is the same for shipping. Thanks!
My Father's World-Kindergarten Deluxe Set Sold as set, cannot break up. (does not include student worksheets)
This is what I have...

• Teacher's Manual and Literature Activity Guide (comes with Lit pack) no Literature included
• Lauri Letters
• Cuisenaire Rods and Alphabet Book
• What Really Happened to the Dinosaurs?
• A-Z Cards
• Classical Favorites CD
• Hide 'Em in Your Heart Vol 1 & 2 CDs
• For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay
• Ant Hill and Butterfly Habitat (These are BRAND new, never used but my children opened the packaging and the packaging is not in the best shape)
• These are from the student pack and I will include them rather than just throw them away... ABC Game Cards, Bingo Set and Short Vowel Song Cards

BOOKS-

• Usborne Internet Linked First Thousand Words in Italian (like new)
• Berlitz Kids Italian Picture Dictionary (also like new)
• Ordinary Parents Guide to Teaching Reading (Brand new condition!)
• Bible Crafts & More for Ages 2-4 by Standard Publishing
• More Faith-Building with Preschoolers by Prenzlow & Candreva
• First Picture Playground Games (fun preschool, early childhood games)
• Usborne Preschool Activities Animal Fun (fun preschool age art projects)
• The Usborne Baby and Toddler Treasury (Rhymes, stories and activities to share with little children)

Our First "Semester" and a few Christmas pictures

Technically, the first half of our school year is over even though I'm not quite as far along as I had hoped we'd be. It doesn't help that we took most of November and December off. I've been reading some end of year recaps on other blogs, some are ahead of schedule, some are behind but the most important thing is that everyone is on the same page with learning and working at their ability level, that our kiddos are enjoying learning and thriving. I am not discouraged by not being where I had planned. I am just going to reevaluate and make changes where they are needed.

Playing with new Legos, Christmas morning.

I have plans to speed up the lessons in My Father's World, finishing them in 2-3 days rather than 4-5. Joshua is really enjoying the reading (out-loud and learning to read), writing and anything artistic or crafty. {I wonder where he got that from.} We will be starting Explode the Code Book 1 this week as well as ETC Online. I ordered Learning Palettes for math and reading from Usborne and both boys are enjoying those already. Joshua (and mom, too) have been challenged by Math-U-See and I won't be using it again next year. I am trying to finish it but if the fighting continues I will be looking into other options.

Joshua showing off his "Cars" Christmas shirt.

Nikolas is doing well with preschool activities. He knows all his letters and can count to 20. His "L"s still sound like "W"s but I know that will happen in time. He loves to listen to books and especially likes having Joshua "read" to him. He is my littler gamer nerd. He loves anything Sonic or Mario Brothers. We got them an XBox 360 with Kinect for Christmas with some games to get them active and I'm hoping to work that into school.

Nikolas with his "Crayola Story Studio".

I am starting college next month and have been looking into curriculum for next year that will require less planning time. I have prayed about it and read about and asked questions about it until I went completely cross-eyed. But I have decided to switch to Sonlight. I will be able to use a Core program for both boys and then individual language arts and math. And everything will be planned for me. Normally I am a great planner and organizer but with full-time school also on my plate I figured this would be a good place to trim some time. I love the readers and curriculum that Sonlight offers and I am really looking forward to making the switch in the summer. Only seven months to go. 

Checking out a new monster truck.

Week 7: Nest

We had a short week because hubs has been traveling a lot and had a long weekend off. We read a lot about nests and other animal homes. Math is getting harder, so we are slowing down and doing one full lesson each week. I ordered the next workbooks for Explode the Code, we are almost finished with the first set. I am considering using the Explode the Code online as well. Here are some pictures from this week.

"N" words. Nikolas, naranja (orange in Spanish), nickle and numbers.

Animals on the left and their homes on the right. Fish, cow, dog and bird.

Week 5: Leaf

I have to start off by saying that I am pretty impressed with Joshua. I was actually planning for the worst but he is loving school! Some days are better than others but he almost always wants to do more than I have planned. Praise God! It has been a busy week and I know my posts are dwindling. Something has to suffer, right? I am working on a review and giveaway that will hopefully be up next week!

Joshua drew some "L" words and I highlighted the words so he could trace them. The upper left is Lightning McQueen.

His new favorite things to do are rubbings! After discussing the veins in the leaves I showed him how to use the side of the crayon and he has used this technique each day since!

Some leaf matching from Enchanted Learning.

Handwriting practice.

More handwriting, he is doing really well!

This is from Get Set for the Code, following instructions with his own spin on it (like his mama).

Working on math... hundreds, tens and units.

This is a face I see on a regular basis.

Writing and phonics.

One of the topical books we read this week.

Spanish, reviewing colors. Next week we start shapes.

Reading God's Oak Tree by Allia Zobel Nolan. This book is great for a tree's cycle, seasons, God's creations. We love it. 

Week Three, Lesson 1: Sun

Lesson 1: SUN

Drawing #1 Sun, #2 Spoon

Drawing #3 Skunk, #4 Scissors

Letter "S" Practice

Being silly! And doing some math.

More letter practice.

Math

Extra math worksheets

Letter practice

Here are pictures from this week's lessons. Joshua is getting better at his letters and I can tell he is enjoying it. We finished a full TWO lessons in Get Ready for the Code. In Math-U-See Joshua finished one full lesson (6) plus two extra pages and the first two pages of lesson 7. All in a short week!
We also started our devotional this week, Gotta Have God for ages 2-5. It surprises me how much he remembers while he is drawing and I am reading. I think it is helping him focus by having something to work on while I read aloud. But he always knows the answers to the questions at the end, even if I don't think he is listening. We did some copywork from Mama-Jenn. And Joshua has memorized our daily prayer! All I said was "Lord..." and he finished it. That was exciting!

Copy work from Mama Jenn.

This week hubs is traveling so I'm going to school through the weekend. It helps their behavior for the rest of the day if they start with some structure and therefore, helps my sanity. Homeschooling has been wonderful but it definitely has its challenges as well. Let's just say that we all sleep really good at night!