SCHOOL

I am learning more and more of what homeschool looks like in our home for our family.  It's every day. It's in little things, like chores, bugs & turtles. I am even getting a bit better at keeping track of those little things so I'm not so frustrated with tracking school hours for the state... but still have a long ways to go with that.  Homeschool tracker has helped me with this. I use the basic edition (which is free), and mostly just for "attendance" record and journaling their hours and work.  I use to do this all on a calendar, but this seems to be much easier for me.

Much of our curriculum has stayed the same this year.  We once again will use My Father's World for our Bible/History/Science. We are in our 3rd year of the 5 year cycle, studying Rome to the Reformation.  I am even sticking close to the Language Arts they recommend this year after straying a bit last year.  Myah will use Writing Strands, Intermediate Language Lessons and All in One English.  Both she and Joel will continue with Spelling Power.  Joel will continue with Primary Language Lessons.

Math has been our biggest switch this year.  I have purchased Teaching Textbooks for both Myah and Joel this year. It costs quite a bit more than I have spent in past years, but I am looking forward to having one less subject that I personally have to teach.  Teaching Textbooks does all the teaching and grading for me!  I'm thinking it was worth every penny.... Myah has already done several lessons completely on her own free will and enjoyed it.

We have also added a typing program and some basic Spanish to our list this year.

Kiana started working through the first grade curriculum last year.  I am going to spend lots of time reviewing that and hope to have it finished by Christmas.  She will do Singapore Math and Spelling by Sound and Structure. 

Probably one of the biggest assets to our homeschool is the Children's Life Journal.  It coincides with mine and Evan's daily reading & is a perfect way to teach our children the importance of their own personal time with the Lord.  I have been telling my children that God doesn't have grandchildren... only children.  They need to have their own walk with the Lord and not cling to mine or their dad's.  For those with kids a bit older, they also have a teen version.  The thing I love about this, is that it's all about the Word of God.  Period. What God is teaching them from His Word and His Word alone.

As we endeavor to teach our children the truth of the Word of God, please pray for us to have wisdom and for their precious hearts to be so captivated by Jesus that they fall more and more in love with Him and His Word.  That is why we homeschool.  Their purpose here is the same as mine, to glorify God in every aspect of their lives and to grow up going into all the world preaching the Gospel and making disciples.  God desires to equip them to do just this.  My prayer is that through these years of teaching them at home, is a good foundation for this goal.

SEWING, BAKING & WOODWORKING

 

Days like today I am reminded once again of why I love homeschooling my children.  Not every day is like this (in fact, unfortunately days like this are rare), but we had a fun time.  Once we hit the books and got through decimals, Elisha's greedy servant, and all the rest, we were freed up for some other schooling. 

The kids have been begging me to teach them some things on the sewing machine.  So, all the kids made pillows today (except that my stuffing supply is gone... something about a stuffed horse needing more stuffing in his neck...) so stuffing will have to wait until I get to town. 

Kiana also helped me make some easy sweet cinnamon biscuits. 

And then while mom was away at Bible study, the kids (with a little help from daddy) made the sailboat they have been dreaming about making for a week now and sailed it on the pond.  They named it the "fast flying duckie".  :)  I wasn't around to get pictures of them actually sailing it, but it worked well!  Everyone was excited!

HOMESCHOOL UPDATE

I am absolutely loving our curriculum this year!  My Father's World has never disappointed me yet.  This year our focus has been on Creation to the Greeks.  The foundational text book is the Word of God.  My kids are developing a love for the Word, and that is our greatest desire!  We use the Word of Promise as our method of listening to the daily reading.  The kids love this, and every day ask for more chapters.  Just wanted to pass along something wonderful that has been working very well for us!  I feel like MFW uses the best of and a variety of methods to teach our children.  I have had to make some adjustments in the Language Arts realm, but overall, I give it 5 stars!

NEW SOFT CLAY RECIPE!

I have always had a favorite recipe for homemade soft playdough.  I found a new recipe in a magazine sitting in a waiting room one day.  It was very similar to the one I always use, but had one new ingredient:  koolaide!  It smells good, and does not require food coloring.

Mix:
2 cups flour
1 cup salt
4 tsp. cream of tarter

Mix in sauce pan:
2 cups water
2 Tbsp. oil
1 pkg. koolaide

Mix together and then cook over med. heat till soft ball forms.  Kneed & play!

JUST ANOTHER DAY OF HOMESCHOOLING

Math, English, Spelling, Bible, tangrams (which go along with our current study of China), alphabet rods, Mom getting butted by BillyBob (sorry, no photo of that!), finding Africa on the globe to know where z.z.zebras live, having guests for lunch, and getting held hostage by BillyBob, the billy goat. As Tandra says, some things only happen at the Van Orders........

BillyBob has been feeling his "oats" lately, and keeps breaking out of the pasture. This morning as I tried to lure him in with grain, he got the best of me, so when we saw this outside our window, I was NOT about to deal with him. I almost made our guests stay a few more hours till Evan got home, but our neighbor came to the rescue!! Thanks, Dwight!! :)

RECENT LIFE IN THE VO HOME

Early attempts to potty train (with SOME success, but not much). Also, Aden in his daily choice of boots. Today, it's Kiana's. He wears boots from someone different EVERY day, and they are ALWAYS on the wrong feet!

Kiana and Buttercup are all dressed up for a tea party!! We celebrated two of my friends' birthdays yesterday with a home-made birthday cake and a tea party. I wish I had taken more pictures. We even hauled out the fancy china dishes and white table cloth -- unfortunately a very rare thing around here. The girls loved being "girly" for the day, while Joel and a friend played outside most of the time.... and yes, Buttercup had a dress on and frills in her hair!

The pictures below were taken today of our clay animal creations -- making/baking/painting. We are studying Africa (Kenya to be specific for this week), and after studying about grasslands (prairies, savannahs, pampas and steppes) we made animals that live on the savannah out of clay using the following recipe, which works VERY well for this sort of thing:

4 cups flour
2 cups salt
2 cups water


Mix well. Design creations in extra flour. Bake @ 350* for 25-30 minutes. Cool, and paint!

A HANDFUL OF MY FAVORITE HOMESCHOOL THINGS

For Instructions In Righteousness

I have had this book for a couple years now and have used it on and off. I picked it back up again this year and am once again amazed at the wealth of information in it. I have been trying to do a character lesson with my kids right after lunch once or twice a week, once the two youngest are down for naps. This past week, we talked about how God hates unkind speech. We made a list of what unkind speech looks like, looked up several of the verses given that talk about what God thinks of it, and today we looked up verses of the blessings that come when we resist the urge to use it. We made "apples of gold" badges, to be given out when I see someone using kind speech. I can honestly say, I have already seen a change in my children in this area. One in particular has been fighting the urge to talk back to me, something we have been really starting to struggle with (that was one of the things on our list!) and I can see improvement! Praise God! :)

Abacus

We were given one of these for a gift a few years back, and it has been used ever since. Math manipulatives are the best things ever invented. My only complaint is that sometimes they become dependent on them!







Wildmath.com has been a good website that we have used frequently this year already. Myah and Joel have to spend 10 minutes a day doing drills on addition, subtraction, multiplication and division. This website enables them to do it on their own and at their own level. It corrects their work and times how long it takes them to do it. Though it really isn't anything fancy, it does the job, and I've not heard any complaints from either of them. They just set their own timer and go!



My Father's World curriculum.
I have used this curriculum for 3 years in a row now, and LOVE it. Joel went through Kindergarten and First grade using it and I'm thrilled with where he's at, especially his reading level. He is now joining Myah in the 5 year cycle program that they have, so except for Math and Language Arts, I am teaching them the same thing. Kiana is starting Kindergarten with this program this year. Myah and Joel are taking a "trip around the world "this year visiting many different countries and cultures. Their first task was to apply for a passport. There is a lot of geography in our stuff this year, and the kids are having fun with it. I love how it ties a study of missionaries from the region in as well. This program has fit our family well, and a proceed of what we pay for it goes to help Bible translators.

CURRICULUM!

I always get excited this time of year when I start to look ahead to next year. I spent a lot of time today planning out the rest of this school year. We're going to have to do structured school into the summer a bit more this year, but it's not as long as I thought. We'll take a week off in April, a week off in May, 2 weeks in June, lightening the load up once we come back and work through July. I plan to take all of August off this year before starting up again in September. Though I haven't had the "ok" from Evan to place my orders yet, here is what is hopefully on the agenda for next year!

Myah & Joel:
My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures
This covers Science, Geograpy, Bible, Art & Music. I'm so excited to teach it to both kids together!

Myah:
Primary Language Lessons - Part 2
Singapore Math
Writing Strands Level 3
Spelling Power
Explode the Code 8

My list of books I'd like to purchase for her to read is a mile long. :( I have to decide which ones are worth having in the house and which ones I can get from the library.

Joel:
Primary Language Lessons - Part 1
Singapore Math
Spelling by Sound & Structure
Explode the Code 4

Kiana:
My Father's World Kindergarten
Explode the Code 1
Singapore Math

MYAH'S BREAD-MAKING SKILLS

This is Myah's first attempt at making bread. My goal is to get her to the point where she can do it completely on her own. She thinks that will be a while, but I have confidence in her. :)Isn't this pretty bread???

WHAT WE'VE BEEN STUDYING THE PAST SEVERAL WEEKS

If, as a homeschool mom, you ever get frustrated and don't think you're accomplishing much, I've found it really helps to make a list of things you've studied/accomplished in the past few weeks/months. It really puts things into perspective. Often times I feel like we haven't accomlished much of anything and then I look at the reality and it makes me feel so much better! Having said that, this list is more for me than you, and much of it is still in progress!

Myah:
- 1 character quality per week (with Joel)
- various Proverbs, Psalm 139 (with Joel -- on-going)
- books of the Bible (with Joel)
- stories of the Bible (with Joel)
- adding and subtractin money
- multiplication/division
- commas
- discussion about seeds -- which ones are scattered by wind? carried by birds? have shells? grow in pods? have husks? have pulp? etc.
- state locations/capitals (we need to focus more on this!)
- USA facts
- answering the question "why"
- contractions
- spelling days/months, etc.
- writing stories (my favorite words that I heard for the first time today, "oops, I'm running out of room!" Much better than, "I can't" or "I don't want to!" which I usually hear!
- Why do people look different? Why, if God created everything "very good" do so many animals appear designed to attack other animals, or to defend themselves from attacks?
- 7 C's of History (creation, corruption, catastrophe, confusion, Christ, cross, consummation)
- Reading books about: Anne Frank, Titanic, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, The Race to the Moon
- Studying about how godly Americans impacted our nation
- different geographical stuff

Joel:
-1 character quality per week
- graphing, measuring, adding, subtracting
- books of the Bible
- stories of the Bible (connected with his reading)
- phonics, reading (the bulk of his school this year!)
- Proverbs, Psalm 139 (on-going)
- science with water (floating, boats, cargo, etc.)
- science with things outdoors

Kiana:
- letters/sounds, numbers
- beginning pre-reading stuff
- lots and lots and lots of coloring!

Anyone who has preschoolers may be interested in checking out this website. Kiana has loved it!

Aden:
- I opened up his new potty seat today and he WENT! The first time I put him on it! Yeah! I'm not going to stress about it right now, but my goal is to get him comfortable using it and making it a fun thing.

A FAVORITE PSALM

The kids and I are starting to memorize Psalm 139...

verses 1-2

O Lord you have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off.

FROM TEARS TO ENJOYMENT

Finding a Language Arts curriculum that Myah actually enjoys has been one of the biggest challenges for homeschooling...until now. In the past, we've done more workbook style lessons in this subject area, which did not fit her learning personality well at all to say the least. Though we aren't very far into the book, Primary Language Lessons has been something she has been eager to do and in her own words, "I like it much MUCH better!"

Here is a blurp from the back cover:

"An experienced teacher of the early twentieth centery, Emma Serl recognized the two things necessary for teaching proper English: capture the child's interest and drill, drill, drill. PLL is a drill book, but with a difference. Imaginative lessons and short, jargon-free instructions for teachers make it a pleasure for both student and teacher -- especially when the teacher is a home schooling mom."

"It makes liberal use of writings by the likes of Robert Louis Stevenson and Samuel Taylor Coleridge as well as fables, folklore and maxims. It also uses reproductions of prominent paintings... it helps train children in art appreciation as well... The exercises cover proper English usage, composition, punctuation, memorization, speaking, letter writing, dictation, reading, and etiquette in writing.... The best results in the use of good English come from continued practice on correct forms rather than from the learning of many rules."

Not to mention, this book is full of nature-related material! Lesson 1 included a section of a painting by Landseer titled "PIPER AND NUTCRACKERS". It has 2 squirrels eating nuts in the hollow of a tree with a little bird watching. All she had to do was answer 10 questions about the picture, but I was amazed at how much "language arts" material this assignement covered.

Whew! I think we finally found our fit!

SCHOOL

Well, we have officially started. We did two days last week, and I'm hoping to get 3 days in this week. Next week we are traveling, but I do plan to do some school while we're gone as the kids and I will be in a hotel room quite a bit. Last week was very difficult and I wondered how on earth I was going to get through this year, but today went much better and I was able to see how it just might be possible. The difference? I was organized! I spent yesterday getting caught up on housework and laundry and last night preparing for today. I had all my copies made, read through my lessons and had piles of books organized for each kid on the table this morning when they woke up. If only I could always be that organized! The thought has crossed my mind to take Mondays off from school to get caught up regularly. I think it would make the rest of the week much better, but I'm not sure I can get all our school in 3 days per week and meet the required hours for the state. We already have Fridays off to go to Billings. It is something I am considering, however, or at least keeping that day very light.

One thing that is working VERY WELL this year is that Myah is spending about 30-60 minutes each morning with Kiana. It allows Kiana to feel like she's a part of school and she is really learning a lot from their time together. I have a list all laid out for Myah of what to do with her each day and she just goes through the list. This gives me time to work individually with Joel on his stuff and when he has his math and phonics/reading done, we do Bible and science all together. After that, I have time to work individually with Myah on the rest of her subjects before she does her independent work. When Aden isn't napping, he is usually sitting in his bouncy observing Kiana writing her letters and counting. He's getting a very big head start on this learning thing! :)

It's a crazy schedule, so pray for us when God brings us to your mind!

CHRISTMAS IN MAY

I absolutely love the day that our school curriculum arrives for the next year. It really does feel a little bit like Christmas. The kids' faces always light up and they have to look through everything. I had two separate orders, and they BOTH arrived today. Now comes the work...planning for next year. It's usually not such a chore, except that I'm pulling from many directions for Myah's stuff next year, and want to be really organized with it all before the baby comes. Between the baby and a possible trip to MI the end of the summer, I NEED to plan ahead this year! I am really looking forward to our year next year as I found a lot of things that not only will stretch Myah, but also that I think fits her personality really well. Joel's stuff is very well laid out, which is nice. As I tucked him in tonight, he said to me, "I can't wait to start my new school!" Kiana was pretty excited about her stuff as well. We're sticking with preschool activities, as she is just 3, but she just was thrilled to be in on it all. I actually can't wait to get started on the planning!!! As I get more organized, I'll try to share more of what we're doing next year.

A DAY OF COMPLETED PROJECTS

Today was a fun day as we wrapped up some of our projects. Myah has been working on this timeline since the beginning of the school year. We created it as we read through the book "History for Little Pilgrims" from Christian Liberty Press. We LOVED this book. It gave us a picture of history as "God's Story" from creation, the fall, the promise, and ended with the future coming of Christ. It brought the kids in and explained their role as a servant of Christ. It also did a great job of summarizing world history and how the US was founded and was brought about on Christian principles. We talked about some of the great leaders and Bible teachers that God brought forth over the years. It was a fun walk through history -- a great introduction for kids Myah's age.

Joel also ended his timeline this morning on his study of creation. Each number has a picture of what God created that particular day on it that he had to color.


He also made a creation book where he colored/created a page for each day of creation. He is showing off his favorite page -- day 2, where God separates the water from the sky.