Q is for Quail, Quilt and Quarter

This week seemed to fly by. I am not sure if it's because we are finally hitting a routine that hasn't been interrupted by travel or if the boys were just extra pleasant or both. Maybe one is the byproduct of the other :)

At first I thought Q would be such a hard letter. It ended up being fine. Not having a bunch of projects to want to work on with Justus seemed to open up some great time to work on his numbers and to let him play out side quite a bit (it has been in the 60s here! crazy).

For Bible this week we worked on James 1:19. This was particularly fun for me as I am currently personally studying James. James 1:19 says, "Let every person be Quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry." Our God is Faithful board said, "God is Faithful, You can be Kind." We talked a lot about storing up anger in your heart and how it is a breeding ground for sin. This is obviously something that comes up A LOT having two boys who love to play hard. I wouldn't say they fight constantly but we are definitely at the phase where both boys are having to give and take. (and by 'having' I mean we are making them, *ahem* , I mean trying to teach them to be kind to each other) So this was great verse to reiterate the things we are trying to teach them in relationship to each other and with others.

Books with Q titles were pretty sparse around our house but books were still read. We read about a Queen and about ducks that Quack. Sometimes you gotta stretch :)

For Justus' Pre-School we watched some YouTubes about Quails. Once he got over the fact that they are NOT turkeys, we were in business. We made our Letter project into a Quail.

We talked a little bit about money and introduced him to a Quarter. Then we did a Quarter toss. He loved it! (although he was kinda confused in these pictures. I didn't capture any when he finally got the hang of it and loved it)

With his Letter Color Pages my friend made (the ones we use every week), we made a Quilted Q. We talked about Quilts but I am not sure he understood the difference between a quilt and a blanket but he still enjoyed gluing the squares and later told Dad that he had made a quilt. So who knows :)

I mentioned before that we worked a lot on his numbers this week. We have these great Number Cards that are Thomas the Train. He really enjoys this activity everyday. I don't have a picture of them but here is a link to look at them :: Click HERE

And of course, the Fridge DJ never gets old for counting. 1, 2, 3 Leap frogs, 4, 5, 6 Leap Frogs....

Hope your schooling is going well! Have a great week!

Happy Schooling.

P is for Painting, Play-doh, Pattington Bear & Penguins

We had a great first week back to school. The boys actually did so well with the transition back from two weeks off around the house! (maybe I just had low expectations! ha!) Everything went smoothly.

Our Bible Verse for the Letter P was 1 Thessalonians 5:17, " Pray constantly. Give thanks in everything, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus." Our God is Faithful board said, "God is Faithful, you can have a relationship with Him." Titus and I had a couple great talks about what it means to have a relationship with God. It was a sweet week. In our morning Bible time we were reading out of The Gospel Story Bible in the section on Romans. This led to some great talks about sharing our faith with others and having boldness to do so because of God being faithful.

As for the pre-school activities I did with Justus, P was a very easy letter to find fun things to do. Of course we Painted::

Justus LOVES this little fishing pole we have so we used his Pole to fish out the Ps. This was a HUGE hit. In fact, I bet he did it for a total of 2 hours one of the days. He loved it.

For our letter project we made a Penguin::

I let Justus use real glue for the first time as opposed to a glue stick. He did great and felt like he was so grown up :)

Every time we are finished with a project Justus runs and shows Vernon. Then he wants to hang it up on the board all by himself::


We have a few books about Pattington the Bear and I knew it was a European cartoon so I searched and found a few episodes. Justus has his very own Pattington Bear (that is actually from Pattington Station!) so he held him as he watched.

For Christmas Justus got some new Play-doh cutters that are Letters. So here he was cutting out the letter P::

And as for me, P was for The Passion Conference. I stayed up way too late each night watching all the sessions. I am still amazed at all that God did in and through all who attended. AMEN!

I hope yall had a great first week back....or if this coming week is your first week:: enjoy it!

Happy Schooling!

What We Are Doing for 2nd Grade and More

So many of y'all have asked the dreaded curriculum question. Many of you I have emailed or sent a super long text or send a ridiculously long facebook message. I thought that I was getting the question enough, that I might as well put it out there on a blog so I can send my friends a link in answer to their questions instead of a super long, overwhelming message. :)

While this blog post will only cover 2nd grade (as I am just making up the Pre-K stuff as I go) my hope is that the links provided will get you to the grade level you need and you will find some great things for your kiddos:: homeschooling or not!

We have to cover a variety of subject in 2nd Grade so I am going to break this post down by subject. This way if you only want information for one subject you don't have to wade through the entire thing. We have been through (and around) a variety of curriculum so PLEASE don't hesitate to ask me if you want advice starting a younger child in a curriculum. I would love to do my best to help you on your way and tell you pros and cons of whatever you are interested...if I know anything about it :)

Okay, here are the subject we are attempting to cover this school year:: Reading, Writing, Spelling & Grammar, Math, History, Science, Geography, Latin, Bible and Art. So here we go!

Here is a quick link list. Then below that is the explanations and more info about how/what we do::

Reading:: Veritas Press & Sonlight

Writing:: IWE

Grammar:: Shurley

Spelling:: IWE Phonics Zoo

Math:: Saxon

History:: Mystery of History & Story of The World

Science:: Apologia

Geography:: Veritas (last year)

Latin:: Song School Latin

To get started each year I check out what Veritas Press suggests we cover in that grade year, which curriculum they recommend (which is typically close to what we follow) and then I start searching around to see if anything better suits our boys for any particular subject. Then I wait for the sales :) (for sale finding I recommend:: CBD, Rainbow, Amazon, Barnes & Noble)

Reading::

We started the year with Veritas Press's More Favorites which included Mouse Soup, Danny the Dinosaur, Sarah Plain and Tall and My Father's Dragon. Between some of these I let him pick his own chapter books like The Magic Tree House. I am finding great comprehension guides for free online along with project ideas for The Magic Tree House books. (here) I haven't exactly mapped out what he will be finishing the year with, I am just making sure his reading is at grade level, comprehending well and that he is developing a love of reading. I will continue to follow Veritas Press's suggested reading or pull from Sonlight's suggested grade level readers to make sure he is on level. This will include all kinds of fun classics. He reads at minimum one chapter a day from a chapter book but often he will do 2-3.

Writing::

Titus has had a lot of hand writing issues because we transferred schools in Kindergarten and the school he moved to already did cursive. This has caused a bit of a set back in writing but he is doing great working on it. As for the subject of writing (as in NOT handwriting but actual composition) we use The Institute for Writing Excellence. (the DVDs that come with it were so good, old school, but good. They are for the parent or teacher and are very insightful) It is recommended by VP to begin in second grade while the actual IWE suggests more like 4th. So we are going very slowly and honestly he doesn't even know there is a curriculum. He just thinks I think of things for him to outline. When we are not doing IWE stuff, I let him "write " a story by him telling me it and we make correct sentences together. Then I write it out then he copies it. Again, trying to not make him hate writing while keeping him at grade level. I sometimes give him writing prompts that are silly and let him make "book" out of them. He really likes this as he can also illustrate it. We simply sit together and outline his story then he makes sentences that complete the story.

Handwriting::

Man, this subject has been quite a deal. Like I mentioned above, Titus transferred Kindergarten mid-semester when we moved to St. Louis. We put him in a school that used Abeka and his previous school did not. So he spent most of Kinder catching up on CURSIVE...I know, crazy, but they were already doing cursive. So being the perfectionist he is, he caught up quickly, but hated writing. :( So when we started homeschooling, I needed to go back and teach him print, as he did not fully learn it. We used A Reason for Handwriting. He really enjoyed it, surprisingly. I have recently been wooed by Handwriting without Tears and plan to start Justus on it this semester and Titus as well when we move into the cursive one next year.

Grammar & Spelling::

We use Shurley Grammar and have LOVED it. It is song driven. Shurley calls them "jingles." Each jingle teaches the child a part of speech or an english rule. He has a little book work each day, which Titus doesn't mind at all. My lovely sister-in-law got annoyed with having to write out the sentences they are to outline each day so she took some time to type them out and shared that document with us. It has made Grammar time go MUCH faster and a lot less "teacher heavy." I would suggest it for anyone to do and I will do it for next year as soon as I have the next book!

As for spelling, we do the Institute for Writing Excellence program called Phonics Zoo but are not very strict about it. We will start strong with it in 3rd grade but wanted to intro Titus to it this year. Titus did Abeka in Kindergarden and some of 1st grade so he has a bit of a bad taste in his mouth for spelling. So this year has been about rebuilding his confidence in writing and spelling.

Math::

We do Saxon. We have loved it. He is in Saxon 3 now. He is not good with timed things (by not good I mean he has total meltdowns) but we have learned our own way of using Saxon, completing the work and getting around all the timed sheets while still incorporating them when needed. He is doing well and way above level on Math. As his teacher I have really appreciated the way the Saxon teachers book is laid out:: easy and efficient. We don't do all the recommended daily activities but we always cover the lesson in one way or another :)

History::

We use Mystery of History. We really loved last year (Volume 1) but have found this year a bit harder. Its easier to get through, better laid out curriculum wise, but the material is heavier because of the nature of the dark ages. I really like MofH because it covers all of history including but not limited to the Christian movement. It is all over the globe not just middle eastern/western History. I have found this year that it is better for me to read the chapter first then teach it to Titus instead of how we did last year where he just listened to me read it. He really likes interacting with History lessons and MofH has great ideas after each lesson of thing to do. We usually do one a week. We have a timeline going and plan to make a binder but haven't got around to it yet :) As a supplement we use Story of the World. In retrospect I probably would have gone completely through Story of the World for the first 4-5 years of school then started Mystery of History but doing them together has worked. Titus LOVES listening to the Story of the World CDs. He has no idea it is school...no idea.

Science::

Curriculum wise we use Apologia. We have done the astronomy one and are now on an animal one. But Titus just loves science. He loves it so much that it often is what we skip because I am very confident that he is already learning this stuff. :) As he gets older we will crack down and follow stricter to the books but for now I love that he makes it up as we go. I sorta teach him some and let him come up with experiments to do.

Geography::

This year we are learning the United States and all of their capitals.

We don't use a curriculum. I have big flash cards (these) and small flash cards I got in the dollar bin at Target. As well as 2 workbooks we also found in the dollar bin of Target. We have a states puzzle that twice a week he has to take out all the ones I call out and then put them back in saying the capital. I bought some songs online to help him memorize the capitals and we have yet to listen to them because he is doing great with out them. Last year we did Veritas Press's Legends & Leagues Geography and WE LOVED IT. I highly recommend it to younger students K-2! We have also done some fun projects about where we live (like this one).

Latin::

We use Song School Latin. It is a very fun work book and a great intro to Latin. I also HIGHLY recommend it. It is song based and has a super fun, not time consuming, workbook.

Bible::

This year we haven't followed anything in particular for Bible. Since Justus (our 3yr old) is doing some preK now, we have been doing a verse a week that starts with the letter we are studying. For Titus the verse we cover is his weekly memory verse. We often use it for his handwriting. This year we are focusing on God being Faithful. We have a board in our home that says "God is Faithful. You can be/have _______" and each week we have a different character trait that we can have as believers because of God's faithfulness. We try to line this trait up with the message of the verse he is memorizing. For example, "God is Faithful, You can have Confidence" to go along with Romans 8:39

We hope to start a catechism next year or with both boys when Justus is a bit more attentive.

Art::

We don't have a "curriculum" per se but I try to at least have us "make" one thing a day. Draw a picture, paint, model clay, play-doh, build something that goes along with History, photograph, sing, etc. I really hope to do some Art History soon along with Titus doing corresponding art. I have some fun books ( Discovering Great Artists & Drawing With Children) I've bought along the way but just haven't done them yet.

**disclaimer:: after re-reading this post, I feel I should say that we had a good experience with Abeka's Homeschooling curriculum as it helped us start with something Titus was familiar with from his previous school. I think my post sounded like we totally did not like it and that is not the case. It is great curriculum! We have just, since then, decided to move on to others.**

If you have hung with me this long, I hope this has been resourceful! Feel free to pass it along to anyone. I remember the overwhelming feeling as we began the journey of homeschooling. There are so many options and so many opinions!

Happy Schooling!

O is for Orange, Octopus, Obedience & school is OUT for Christmas Break!

Hey! We made it through our Christmas break! I hope y'all did as well and are refreshed and ready for a new semester. I am hesitant to start this semester because we have LOVED the relaxed feel of break but I know I will be SO glad come March that we started back up and are way ahead so the boys can have lots of little breaks to play during the amazing spring days.

We did the 'O' week the week between our returned from Missouri and the start of our break here at the house. Needless to say, after being off 2 weeks, I am pulling from the back of my brain as to what all we did. I remember thinking the week was going very fast and that we didn't get to do all that I wanted. But here is what I caught on camera (well on my iphone...sorry, again, for the poor quality!)

For the O week our bible verse was, "Children, Obey your parents in the Lord; for this is right." Ephesians 6:1 I knew our mind would be leaning toward break and want a verse that was VERY familiar to the boys. This one they know a bunch of songs that are this verse. So it was not hard to memorize because, well, Titus already had it memorizes. Our God is Faithful board stated :: God is Faithful, You can be Obedient! We talked about how through out your life God will ask you to be obedient to him. How, like when they are to obey us, it should be immediate and with a happy heart. We talked about how since God is Faithful, we can obey with happy hearts knowing He will never fail us.

O was a letter we did NOT have trouble finding things. Especially pre-school things. Orange, Oval, October, Octagon....the list goes on and on. We majored on the color Orange and the shape Oval. He already knows these but it was fun for him to color the O Orange and that it looks like and Oval. :)

O was for Octopus and this was soo fun for Justus. He loves animals so we looked up photos online of Octopuses and we looked at an Ocean book we have that has an Octopus in it, so it made since for us to do his letter project as an Octopus. He thought it was very fun.

That is all I have for O. I am excited to start the new semester. I am hopeful that you are as well! Thanks for following along and for all the encouragement. My hope is that you are encouraged to be yourself in your schooling and love those kiddos as best as you possibly can throughout the day as you both learn together.

Happy Schooling!

ps...I know a lot of you are asking if I will ever post what curriculum we use for Titus (2nd grade) and I do, I really do plan to do that soon. Thanks for hanging with me!

N is for Noses, Nails and Narwhals

We took the last week off to travel north, so this blog is my attempt to document our schooling from two weeks ago. (we have been traveling for 2 days & just got home tonight so...no promises but I will try my best)

N week marked our last "official" week of the semester although we plan to school this following week, take one week off then continue right along through the end of December & early January with the hopes of a spring ending for school OR a much slower pace during the spring so there can be LOTS of outside play!

If you have been following all semester you know we have been doing a "God is Faithful" board to go along with our memory verse in hopes of adding a practical level to verse memory application. Our verse for N week was Romans 8:39, "No height, nor depth, nor any created thing will have the power to separate us from the Love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord!" We talked about the profound comfort found in this verse. This verse opened a great conversation about Salvation as Titus asked about the end of the verse saying "in Christ our Lord." Our board said, "God is Faithful, You can have confidence." We talked about how knowing the depth of God's love for us and the power it has over all created things gives us confidence to be who God made us to be.

Here is our board and the books we had out for N::

In case I haven't mentioned this enough, I have very creative friends who help me when I get stumped with what to do for certain letters. Here is one example. I really wanted Justus to draw or pin noses on faces but had zero brain power to draw up people. So our friend Robin was over and drew these beauties::

We, as adults, thought this was way more fun than Justus did. I will definitely REdo this next year when he is old enough to think its funny or potentially funny. He liked it but it was more "to the point" rather than "funny" like I hoped. :)

For Justus' Letter project I was extremely stumped for N. The only thing I could think of was a Narwhal. It turned out hilarious!! It looks like a random Greek myth character. hahaha!!

Hilariously, he LOVED it. We looked at Narwhal pictures and talked about them a lot. Friday night, to celebrate the end of semester, we went to see the movie Arthur Christmas. (which we loved and recommend) One of the scenes has Narwhals jumping in and out of the icy water and Justus went crazy! He started screaming, "It's a Narwhal, Mom!!!"

Through out N week I kept saying, "N is for Nothing." We did a lot of nothing and that looked sort of like this::

By far Justus' favorite N activity was Nails & Nailing. This was a bit of a risk on my part, as I chose to teach my three year old how to use a hammer. :) I pressed nails into a box then showed him how to hammer the nails. I attempted to make the nails in the shape of an N. It didn't really end up looking like an N...but hey...he loved it!

I had lofty plans of doing N is for Nativity but sadly, we never really did that. We have been talking about advent and the Christmas story but haven't really used the word Nativity with him. Maybe next year :)

If you are doing the ABC's through the year and you are on N week :: CONGRATS! You are halfway done with the year! I hope you all are having such a great year. We are loving it but are for sure ready for a week off to regroup :) ... I am sure you understand.

Thanks for hanging in and for all the feed back!

Happy Schooling!