My Style of Homeschooling

I think the question that most homeschool moms ask the most is “What curriculum are you using?”
I recently had the most fun honor to listen to, meet and chat with Lisa Welchel, most known for her role of Blair on Facts of Life.
However, Lisa has authored the book So Your Thinking About Homeschooling, it is a super fun read that revealed me that my style is “Eclectic”
In other words it means, “a little bit of this and a little bit of that” So when I am ask the question above, I honestly don’t know where to start!
I also know that my child (well all children) learn better when they are actually interested in the subject matter.  Technically called “Interest Based Learning”  and lastly I teach better by “Unit Studies” meaning that I try to make everything we are doing circle around our unit of study.
So…here goes, I bought a Reading Program called All About Learning. I will try to do a full post later about this program, but briefly it is a multi-sensory based phonics program. It is highly successful with dyslexic students. My children are not diagnosed with dyslexia, but some of them having more difficulty that others learning phonics based materials.  I am working on ONE lesson per WEEK at this point out of this curriculum. day So..this past week our word work centered around the words with the short 0 sound.

I review the same lesson for 5 days in a row and in the meantime search for supplemental materials with the correct sound to be used on days 2-5 on the topic of the week.

On top of this curriculum, I find books and poems on Z’s Individual Reading Level that go along with his interest based study of the week…and also some books that correlate with his sight words for the week.

Very fittingly, Zachariah choose to study


Weather the first week of school. (Actually going to take us 2) So, we got to dig into our Science Kits that I have been collecting for 6 months now!


Making a Tornado in a Bottle
We used shaving cream in a jar to illustrate that when the clouds get heavy with water, it makes rain.


I am also using a Writing Program Called
Draw Right Now! It gives the children step by step instruction on how to draw something and also gives a writing assignment to go with each lesson. I am hoping to do one of these lessons per week. This week, both boys completed the “Rain” Lesson.

Another book we read this past week is A Little Cloud by Eric Carle.
After the book, they each had the opportunity to create something in the form of a cloud. Here they all are working hard on their projects.


The finished product

And with a touch of pink….

Lastly, I am incorporating projects and journals into our curriculum as I can. We learned about the Water Cycle and the kids worked together to make this…..
And yes, after teaching them a cute song….they can ALL say the words “goes up as Evaporation” “Forms Clouds of Condensation” and “Comes Down as Precipitation” (Tune of She’ll Be Coming Around the Mountain)
After a group project, they each had to produce the same information into their Science Journals.


So….there you go, that’s our Literacy chunk, I’ll have to do Math another day…because I’m about to grab a nap! I’m pooped!
A Huge THANK YOU to The First Grade Parade for your wonderful blog of inspiration!

Its Official!

Today was our “official” first day of homeschooling. I know….I know…but feeling quite a bit more pressure this year knowing they are legally required to be learning every day! Mama can’t just “not feel like it today” and let them play all day. 
I thought I would share about our First day, but I am not/can not/will not take the time to do this everyday….but I know my mother if no one else likes to read this blog At some point, I will write a post about my curriculum choices for this year, because I do get ask about that quite a bit
This is what their school table looked like when they went into the school room this morning.

They each have a Bible, a tray with supplies, a Book they will author this week, and some activities.
We started the day at 8:15am with brainstorming ways they could be helpers to each other in this journey. Next I went over with the verse that I am claiming for this school year for each of them.

After they wrote the verse,we found the verse in the Bible and highlighted it.

After a prayer time, we dove into “My Book” My book is a book we will be working on all week highlighting different things about each child.

When they were working I read to them my favorite favorite First Day of School Book

After they completed the pages I wanted them to complete today, we did an activity with our phone number. All 3 TripleSmiles know my cel number.
I gave them each a number grid they had to cut apart and then find the numbers that created my cel number.


At 10:00..we took a small snack break! I pulled out a surprise from Trader Joes. (I was really so proud of them for working so hard for almost 2 hours!)

We started our “Math About Me” lesson after snack. and we started by building legos in lots of different combinations for the age of each child. This was HARDER than I thought for them.

They then had to write a Math Sentence for their age. Originally, they were supposed to write 3 Math Sentences, but just weren’t ready for more than one. For instance, I wanted them to figure out
4+2=6  3+3=6 and 2+4=6, but they just didn’t wrap their brain around that yet.
They also wrote the number in their address, number of people in our family
3 boys+2 girls=5 people
This shows our finished product

(Click on the photo to see it up close)

We finished up about noon today and then had lunch. After lunch, we had “Recess on Steroids”

This is a jump place in Plano, that Groupon actually has a deal for now. Super deal 4 kids for $15. Click here to buy one.
This place was truly a physical work out!
After an “extended” recess and PE thrown all in one today We hit the Library to find our books for the rest of the week…..
So whether your name be Zachariah, Ava or Levi….Your off to Great Places…Your Off and Away……and I need to get ready for tomorrow! Whew…….