4th Grade Curriculum Choices

 Good morning.  Today I'm sharing what we are using for our fourth grader.  He's my little man with an old soul.  He loves to read, learn all about science, play games, and he's obsessed with wrestlers.  We've been back in school for 7 weeks (this week) and he's claimed outlaid last week to love math, language arts, science and history.  I'll claim that as first term success, ha!

We switched to BJU Press Homeschool Math 4 for math this year.  For the past two years, he was using Moffatt Girls Math Made Fun bundle.  But, she hasn't made grade four yet, so we had to switch.  He's loving the switch, as am I!  There has been a few new concepts, but he's picked them up quickly.  Thanks to the awesome teachers manual.  I love how the instructions are laid out for the teacher.  It's a great refresher.  I loved math as a kid, so teaching math has been fun for me.  I'm just glad we haven't had any tears yet!

In language arts, we are using The Good and the Beautiful (TGATB).  He actually used level three for the past six weeks and today he starts level four.  I'm excited because level four is where he becomes a little more independent.  Which is why I wanted to start him with level three before moving onto level four.  This is our first year using TGATB, so I wanted him to get a good grasp on the style of learning before going independent.

We're also using TGATB handwriting.  I've heard a lot of reviews on this subject and knew I had to get it this year.  You guys, it's as good as everyone says.  He's my sloppy writer, which is why I started him with level two.  In the 6 weeks that's been using it, his writing has gotten so much neater.  

We're using Reading Skills grade four to sharpen reading comprehension skills.

We went up to the house this past weekend and I grabbed our spelling books that we started last spring.  We're going to add these back into our days as well.  Being a better speller will strengthen writing skills, so it won't hurt.  My little guy wants to be an author and illustrator, so we'll take the 5 minutes each day to complete one page.

A little critical thinking never hurt anyone.

We started the school year with Marine Biology from TGATB.  We have 3 lessons left and we will all be sad when it's over.  It was a good first science unit, and it was free!

When we finish marine biology, we'll start either apologia astronomy or exploring creation.  We're leaning towards astronomy.  I've also heard great things about apologia science units, so I'm excited to try them out.  I'm just trying to figure out the structure. 

In history we are using TGATB year 1.  It's been a lot of fun so far.  My kids are loving the activities and special treats we enjoy as we do our lessons.  We're studying Ancient Egypt right now and we pulled out Egyptian type foods one day and made Egyptian armbands another day.  

Our third year doing this homeschool gig and it's going really well.  Our new picks this year have been a success, so far.  What is your favorite curriculum set to use?

Have a great day!

Our 3rd Grade Curriculum Choices

 Good morning.  Today I wanted to share what curriculum we are using for our third grader.  Since first grade we had been using Moffatt Girls, which we loved, but since she's not creating fourth grade curriculum sets yet, I decided to switch Sterling a year earlier since her brother had to switch.  So, this year, our curriculum learning style is new to us, but luckily, they have been a great switch!

First up is Sterling's favorite subject.  Math.  She get's it from her mama 😊.  We're using BJU Press Homeschool Math 3.  She's loving it and I'm loving her positive attitude.  We're using the reviews book only when a lesson is taking a little longer to learn.  If she's flying through a lesson, we skip the review. Which is more times than not.

Language Arts we're using The Good and the Beautiful (TGATB).  I started her out on level two because I wasn't sure how much she'd need to know before moving to 'grade level', level three.  But, next week we should be starting level three.  We did about 40 lessons in level two.  Mainly review, writing lessons, and phonics.  The little reader books are sweet stories with good messages.

The first eight phonics cards.  There are 164 cards.

We'll move onto level three next week.

We're using TGATB for handwriting as well.  She's learning cursive this year and is picking it up so easily.  We tried a different cursive book last year and she did not enjoy it.  TGATB make it so much more fun.  It's fun watching her put letters together and writing words in cursive.  The only thing she complains about is having to write manuscript as well.  Ha.  Such is life.

We added in Reading Skills, because it's always good to get in a little extra.  

We started vocabulary this year as well.  None of our programs have seemed to have a good selection of vocabulary, so we finally decided to add our own.  Each lesson has 10 words and 5 exercises.  We're aiming to do one lesson in two weeks.  I also write the words on the white board and if they can properly use the word in a sentence they earn a fuzzy.  They love this part!

I thought it'd be fun to do Mind Benders during group work and I was right.  It's so much fun figuring these puzzles out together.  We're just doing one per week, but it's always a fun 5 minute activity.

We're doing History 1, from TGATB, as a group as well.  The activities are fun too.  Last week we made Egyptian armbands.  The course comes with a game as well and it's pretty fun too.

We started our year with TGATB Marine Biology science unit.  I'm hoping to make a trip to the beach, but with activities 4 days a week and the beach 2 hours away, it's going to take a lot of planning.

After we finish our marine biology unit, we'll either start Apologia Astronomy or Exploring Creation.  We're leaning towards Astronomy because the kids are interested in going to space camp next summer.  We'll see.

Have you tried any of these curriculums?  How'd you like them?  I'll give another update in January to see how we're still liking them.

Have a great day!

Hard Week

 This week has been hard and I'm getting pretty excited that it's almost over.  We don't have any plans for the weekend, just ready to have a new, fresh day.  Today has already started out well.  It's only 9:30, so a lot can change.  Wood, are you there?  I'm knocking on you!  

Let's rewind:

Monday:  To start, we didn't get up early.  I didn't even hear my alarm.  I'd signed Xander up for a painting class.  I thought it was at 10, so we all got ready to be on time and it was closed when we got there.  Either I looked at the time wrong when I scheduled it or it was changed.  Either way, it wasn't at 10.  So, we ran to the store to grab our non-grocery items for the week since we were already out.  Came home, at lunch, played games and then took Xander back to the painting place right before 2.  It all worked out.  Around dinner prep, every night, Xander still has a witching hour so dealing with his attitude and making dinner is never fun.  After dinner cleanup, Nick played with the kids and then he got ready to leave for a sleep study.

Tuesday: I slept horrible the night before, as did Nick.   He came home around 5 that morning and slept for a few hours.  I had a dentist appointment.  I was sure i'd have a cavity, but I didn't.  I'm a night grinding and I'm wearing down my back teeth so I need to go back and get another night guard made.  That visit is worse than getting a cavity filled!  We had lunch, worked on school work and played games until it was time to make dinner.  After dinner, Nick basically fell asleep from a horrible night the night before.  Lulu also threw up during our outside playtime.  We decided to take her with us to run around.  We're thinking the heat was too much for her.  It was over 100 degrees.

Wednesday:  I was able to get 3 hours of sleep.  Three measly hours.  Surprising I wasn't a monster all day.  But, I didn't get up early, 7 o'clock was early enough.  I knew I'd need to stay busy from not getting much sleep, so I took the kids to the pool for two hours.  We had a good time, came home, took showers, had lunch and then started school.  Lulu threw up again, but not as bad as Tuesday, so we tried keeping her calm.  Which, is basically impossible.  She's a firecracker!  We all went to bed around 8:30. I was finally tired.

Today...has been off to a great start.  We were all up at 5:30 and at the track at 6.  We did family sprints for 30 minutes.  We all grabbed showers after getting home.  I made omelets for breakfast and I had everything cleaned back up by 8.  Sterling has her clothes in the washer, and I folded towels from yesterday.  Tonight I won't sleep much.  Nick has to go back to get another sleep study.  I hate sleeping when he's not home.

This week sleep has not been my friend and I've been mentally dragging.  If I can't start the week great, I can at least try to end it great.  We're not perfect, every day has a different bump in our way, but everyday we'll push through and start fresh the next day.  Even if it's at the end of the week.  As we were walking/sprinting around the track this morning, we all commented on the sky.  The sun hadn't risen yet, but the pink hues from the expecting rise was beautiful to see.  I wished I had my phone so we could snap a picture, but I left it in the car.  Maybe next time.

Everyday you get a chance to make it better than the last, take that chance and run.   Don't let your hard days get in the way making a great day or new memories.

You've got this mama's!

Our Homeschool Schedule

Good morning, good morning!  Finding our rhythm each school year can be difficult.  Our first year took probably two or three months to get into, last year and this year took about a month to find our rhythm.  Last year I feel was our easiest year to find something work for us.  It was just the kids and I while Nick was in Afghanistan.  This year has been a challenge figuring out our rhythm with Nick being home, living in a small apartment, and going back to our home every weekend.  But, we finally found what's working this year.  It's such a relief.  

The previous two years, we did school four full days.  I had a schedule on a Day 1, 2, 3, and 4 routine because we didn't ever complete school on the same four days.  It worked perfectly for us.  I thought we could do that again this year, but, it just was not working out.  We are gone on the weekends, so I don't get much lesson prepping time, and then I feel rushed.  There's not much to prep this year, thank goodness, but I still need to sit down and review the weeks work before Monday.

The kids are loving this schedule!  As am I.  What schedule is working for your homeschool this year?

3 Things

Good morning, good morning.  Today I thought I'd try something new and share three things going on right now.  

{One} We are struggling to find our rhythm this school year.  I don't know why it's so hard this year compared to the last two, but I have some suspicions.  Maybe since we started the year 7 weeks earlier than our normal, our minds just can't focus?  I know I had too much slotted for one day within the first week, so that's been changed and is going better, but I'm already making a new schedule.  Tuesday-Thursday have been going great, but fitting in our 4th day has not been working.  We're up at our weekend home every weekend, so Friday's haven't been happening.  Then Monday's don't happen because that weeks work hasn't been reviewed.  I like to review the weeks work before we start our week so things are easier to teach.  This will be our new schedule, we'll start it today, and see how it goes.

{Two} I took away gadgets last week and it was marvelous.  We're going to continue no gadget time during the week and limited on the weekends.  I was finding one of my kids turned into a zombie and would be a monster after getting off a gadget.  So, away they went for both kids and we've had so much more creativity in the home.  And our zombie monster has been so talkative.  I think it's safe to say that we're all enjoying the change.

Even Lulu.  We've had our Lulu back for almost a month now and it's been so good.  I mean look at her, she never got to ride a horse at Opa's.

{Three} Meal planning sucks.  There I said it.  I'm tired of making food, nothing sounds good, and everything is boring.  Man, that felt good to say, ha!  Why though?!  Why is meal planning so dreadful?  How do you do it?  I go to Pinterest for inspiration, but find nothing most of the time.  Finding a dinner meal that everyone will eat is my struggle.  I don't enjoy red meats, Nick doesn't enjoy white meats and always wants a hot meal, Sterling hates everything except chicken and turkey (no sides), and Xander, well, he's my easy one.  He'll eat everything.  Why can't we all be like Xander!

Help a girl out and share your tips, please!