Homeschool update

I realized that I haven't given an update about homeschcool in quite awhile so here we go...

We seem to become more relaxed as time goes on, not in a way that excludes learning or order by any means. But we have learned not to live by a schedule, LOVE books and the wonder and learning they hold, and also that if we work hard for a few hours, we can have a whole lot of fun for the rest of the day.

What has excited me most is how all three of my blessings are learning to see the world with wonder and excitement as they discover it's beauty and in that, discover their Creator.

We start our day around 8:30 with Devotionals with Dad. From his devo, we choose our memory verse for the week, with prizes on Friday for all who know the verse, even mom and dad! We also have daily copywork based on his devotional.

Then we do our daily reading form the book we are reading as well as work on our reading comprehension. Sometimes, we have a science lesson directly after our daily reading, depending on the information we've learned in the chapter. We just finished reading Charlotte's Web. We had several science lessons while reading Charlotte's Web about spiders and their webs. It was very interesting (until I found out we had tarantulas living in our backyard!!!). Most of our grammar, spelling and English lessons come from our daily readings. It is a wonderful way that we have discovered to quickly learn the meaning and correct usage of words.

We are currently studying the United States and so after our reading time, we have our state study and copywork that goes along with it.


Then we have about a 10 minute break and sometimes a small snack. After snack, we start in with Math. The girls are both working on their respective age levels of Math U See. Ethan right now is going through the tests of the previous level as a review, We hit a wall about a month ago where he could not figure out how to move forward, which signaled to me that he has missed something important along the way. I am now trying to figure what it is that he missed. We had used another curriculum up until this point and I can see now that through it, he learned how to do solve for the right answer but he did not learn the reasons why you do what you do to get the right answer nor did he understand how to check your work to make sure you have the right answer. (The following is unashamedly a plug for math U see) We LOVE Math U See! I do not know how it rates academically, if others like it or hate it, nor who recommends it or bashes it.

What I do know is that my kids are learning math, loving it, and understanding it.

They are learning to build it (with the blocks), say it, write it and then in Audrey's case, color it. All of that works together to seal it in their minds and they are just getting it! I love this curriculum and would recommend it to anyone!

That is the biggest and most important things I am learning this year of homeschooling: do what works best for us!!! It may look strange to everyone else, make not look like traditional learning looks like, but if you see your children learning- keep it up.

Each afternoon, I read to Audrey before her nap and Isabelle an Ethan have silent reading while she is sleeping and do their seatwork (which consists of their book reports, finishing up any math or copywork, and also working on their "books" they are writing/illustrating.

The day always begins with their morning chores and devotionals. In the afternoon, they usually play at least one board game with each other- this is one of my favorite things to watch them do- so much is learned from time spent with each other like that.

You may have noticed that I didn't mention anything about a specific curriculum. That is because I took the plunge this year and went curriculum free! We have gone to unit studies for our history and science and it is working wonderfully. I use a website called CurrClick.com where I find almost everything I use. Every week there is a free product to download and I find all of our unit studies there. It is an awesome resource to use for us because we have no public library, book store, or ability to easily receive internet purchased items or curriculum. So, it has become my resource for curriculum and it is great because everything is downloadable and therefore easily stored on my external hard drive, ready and available to print when I need it!

I love Charlotte Mason. If you've never read her philosophy, I would highly encourage you to Google her and or click here check her out. Basically, it is all about getting back to the basics of education: reading, writing and arithmetic. I have chosen to make these three areas my every day focus, as well as learning straight from God's word. I am trusting Him to guide me and provide for the rest. that is what has been the coolest part of traveling along the road of the relaxed homeschooler: watching the learning happen when they least expect it. Allowing the natural discovery information and the natural processing of said information. Seeing budding writers and artists emerging from these little people God chose to create and bless us with. And through it all, seeing all of this learning lead them to discover more about their God, their Jesus, their Counselor, the Holy Spirit.

It is amazingly freeing to chuck the schedule and slavery of a curriculum and allow your life to give way to natural learning opportunities. Along this way, I've met so many who have encouraged me in this path. And heard some awesome stories of those who've traveled this road and now have grown children = products of this philosophy of learning. You'd be amazed how much you can learn through a well written story and how much more you can learn by getting outside of the house/classroom and into Creation. I've 'met' many through the blogging world as well whose sound advice and blogs encourage me beyond words and have proven to be great resources for me on this journey.

Here is a link to one of them: Bring The Rain and here is another: Generation Cedar