Homeschool Q & A: A typical day and schooling with a toddler

For the first Q&A post see here.

I started this series to answer some questions for a friend. Since they are questions I get asked often I thought I'd write my answers out here for anyone else interested.


Q: What does a typical day look like for you while homeschooling and what do you do with Jackson during school? 

A: Because of our extra-curriculars everyday looks a little different, but I try to keep some schedule and routine for our actual schooling. 

Although I'd love to run everything Von Trapp style with time lines and whistles, life really just doesn't work that way. (smile) I go by a To-Do list and organize from there. I try to get up before the kids for quiet time, but this can be difficult with kids who still crawl into my bed half-an-hour before I plan to be up. I've learned to be flexible and remember that this is a short season. Abiah is up at 6:30 for Bible reading. The rest of the kids are almost always up before that, but I'm trying to train them to stay in their room until 7 so I have time to finish my devotions and shower.

Our mornings are started with kids getting dressed, chores getting done, piano practice, breakfast, and breakfast clean up. Most days HH is home for breakfast so we get to eat with him. 

I try to get us started with school by 8:30, but it's usually more like 9 or 9:30. First I get Abiah going on the subjects he does on his own. Then I spend about an hour working with Amelia and Jackson. Really this time is to give them some special time with me. Amelia is my main focus scholastically, but Jackson is her tag-a-long so we find things for him as well.

This is just one room. And it looks like this everyday. They have to have it all cleaned up by the end of the day. And then they start over as soon as they wake up. :)

When they get done and I send them off to play I do school with Hazel. Her curriculum takes 1-1&1/2 hours to do. Of course everything takes a bit longer because I'm working with children who have a mind of their own, a will of their own, and a bathroom schedule of their own. There are lots of interruptions, to put it plainly. 

Hazel was upset and refusing to do her math because there was a girl apple that had four worms in it and that was disgusting and unfair to the girl apple. Also, the girl apple should have been at the top of the page. Her least favorite memory verses are the ones that talk about rotting bones. She generally puts up a fight about rehearsing those ones. But, obviously, she's a princess and princesses shouldn't have to talk of such things... Oy vey! Puberty is going to be thrilling.

Though I aim to train my kids to show me and each other respect by allowing me to work with each one individually, really this is just part of being a family. Kids have to pee and poo. They need to express their ideas and thoughts. And they need remind you they have a will of their own every now and again five seconds later. 

After I finish with Hazel we have lunch. I usually make lunch while Hazel finishes up a writing task or puts her books away. Amelia and Jackson are usually cleaning up toys and Abiah is finishing up the subject he is on. After I've eaten I read aloud to the kids. Abiah has scheduled read-aloud books with his curriculum so that's what we read. Afterward we clean up from lunch and I settle Jackson down for a nap. 

While he's napping the girls play quietly-ish and I do school with Abiah. Depending on the day, scheduled lessons, and Abiah's work ethic we can be done anywhere from 1-5. I try not to carry work over to the next day, but sometimes it is unavoidable. 

Abiah is in a music class on Mondays and Hazel is in one on Tuesdays. The class is at 3 so we aim to be done with school in time to leave for class. Wednesday is a rather busy day for us. I only do school with Abiah and Hazel on this day. After school in the morning, we go to our homeschool group at 1:30, come home for dinner, and then leave again for mid-week church by 6:45. Thursday is a quiet day usually, and it is also our last day of school for the week. HH is off for the weekends beginning Friday morning so we spend Friday with him. Our curriculum is mostly scheduled for a four day school week so we just do any Friday work on Thursday.

I've found that our schedule has seasons because we have seasons. Last year looked very different. I like this year way more than last year, but the kids are a little older and are getting the hang of the routine a bit more.

One of the things that helped me relax about our daily school routine and my need for it to be perfect was a comment I read in our curriculum. The author was sharing their family's daily schedule and she used the phrase "we've trained our kids to..." a few times. I realized if I want my kids to follow a routine I have to train them to. And because they are still so young I can't just expect them to know on their own. So a lot of what I do is training. This year, thankfully, I don't have to do so much of that with Abiah. It's been a breathe of fresh air especially since I have three others who still need so much of my time in that area.

We have good days where I think we've finally, finally figured it out. And then we have no good very bad days when it feels like we have so far to go. Honestly, most of that depends on my hormones, though. I've learned to be aware and make adjustments in my attitude and our work load, if need be.

I hope this encourages you.

Do you have a question about homeschooling or about ours specifically? Leave me a comment and I'll add it to my list!

Blessings, ya'll!

Schooling with Fred

At the beginning of every school year I give you all a run down of my curriculum plan for the year, but I always fail to update you mid-year on any changes we've made. I'm not one to make changes often in this area because I like to be consistent, but there have been a few times when something is just plain not working. This year we made a change that is too good to forget to share.

While I am desperately in homeschoolmommy LOVE with the MFW curriculum, our math choice was the cause of much division in this Krooked Kastle. HH and I both grew up on Saxon Math so it was an obvious choice for us to fall back on. The thing is, Abiah hated it. Like slow and painful death, hated it. And he wasn't the only one being tortured!

This fall I sent a friend a flare text. One of those "help me now or I'm not gonna make it and I'm gonna take everyone down with me!" kinda texts. In glorious wisdom she told me to stop and take a break. I had exhausted all other ideas so I ran with hers. I spent a week enjoying my kids, namely Abiah. In that week my heart refocused and changed so much.

It's still hard to clarify exactly what changed but I can tell you, I remembered, or maybe understood what exactly I want for our family when it comes to homeschooling. I began reading For the Children's Sake, slowly digesting the gems of wisdom held within. Remembering and rediscovering my own heart for my children. I also reread through Ann Voskamp's post about Why Be Crazy Enough to Homeschool. But I needed help applying this directly to our lives, specifically when it came to Abiah's math.

He and I had a conversation about his school work. "Mom, I like all the things I get to read about, but I don't like to do all of the writing." While I know, and am trying to help Abiah understand, that we often have to do things we don't like or enjoy, I realized this was not an area where I needed to fight that fight. I want my kids to love learning for learning sake. I don't want them to just do school work so they can check it off of their To-Do lists.

Education shouldn't be a chore. It should be an exciting discovery. A treasure hunt. Not the drudgery that it was turning into. Ugh.

In a conversation about this with my above mentioned friend and her husband, he suggested we look into a math curriculum called Life of Fred. I've never been great at writing book summaries so I'll just let you follow that link.

 I will tell you this, I bought the first two books of the elementary series in November. Abiah had them both finished in three weeks. Then we took a Christmas break and he asked me multiple times through our break when we were going to get his new math books. I picked the rest of the elementary series up in the first week of January and he started school the 7th. Since then he has finished five or six more books. There are ten books in the elementary series and Abiah has plans (he made) to finish by the end of February.

"Look at all these books! I can't wait to get started!"

He LOVES math! I always knew he could, but didn't know how to help him. A few times my parents have come to watch our kids in the evening and both times when I tell Abiah he can stay up after the girls and Jackson go to bed he asks if he and Papa (my dad) can do Life of Fred. He used to ask to play video games!

I am beyond elated. As long as we see progress we plan to stick with Fred. I'm not sure how the other kids will take to it, but we're gonna give it a try. Hazel will start the elementary series beginning next year.

I'm so grateful for this recommendation. I know that a big portion of the change has been my approach not only to Abiah's school work but to my children in general, but this part of the change has helped. Listening to his desires and understanding his needs changed our days of fighting each other into an enjoyable experience.  He loves math and I am learning how to help him enjoy learning. Win win.

Have you made changes in your routine (school wise or not) with your kids that has proven beneficial?

Curriculum Round-up 2012-13

I can't believe that it is already October! Our summer was a busy one and it just flew by so fast. I've been meaning to get on here and share our curriculum and plan for the year but haven't taken the time. Rachel's link-up gave me good incentive!

This year we changed a few things up. The biggest being that we are schooling year round. I've thought about it for the past few years but wasn't sure I could pull it off. Because the kids and I planned to go with Nathan on his annual September hunting trip I decided this was the year we would give it a try. I didn't want to start only to take a break for camping and I didn't want to start late. 

We began our first quarter on July 9th and went through September 7th when we took a three week vacation for hunting prep, hunting, and hunting recovery. We started our second quarter on October 1st and will go to the 30th of November. Our Christmas/winter break will end on January 7th (That's right! FIVE weeks!) and our third quarter will run until March 15th. We will take a week long spring break and be back for our fourth quarter on the 25th with plans to finish school the 31st of May. If all goes as planned, and we like the schedule, we will then have a month long break before starting school for the next year.

Curriculum wise, I have changed a few things from last year but still LOVE what we are doing. We use My Father's World, Exploring Countries and Cultures (MFW) and it seems to fit perfectly. That doesn't mean that we never have rough days. MFW just meets all the criteria for the type of education HH and I wanted to give our children. 

HH is big on math and science. Math I get. Science I don't. I never was a huge fan and have always been nervous about teaching it. My things are history, literature, language arts, art, and music. And of course we both want a good Bible curriculum. My personal approach to homeschooling has been more along the Charlotte Mason/Montessori curve (hands on, small amounts of time spent on each subject, lots of literature). I'm learning more and more about this approach as I go, but it seems to work for us and I feel like MFW  facilitate this.

The thing I love about MFW is that they take all of these things and bring them together. While we learn about different countries and their locations (geography), we are also learning about different ecosystems around the world (science), the people and missionaries to the different countries (literature and Bible), and cultural practices (music and art). We use Saxon for math. It is a suggestion from MFW for math, but we would have chosen it anyways. 

In the past I've always felt like I needed to add to MFW's language arts choices because they seemed light and I wanted to make sure I didn't leave anything out. What ended up happening is that I would use the stuff I added and not have time for the MFW curriculum. Specifically the Intermediate Language Lessons, which is an approach to language arts that I really love. When I actually READ the catalog I realized that if I stick with what MFW has outlined we will cover all we need to. It will just come at age appropriate levels.

For spelling I use Spell to Write and Read (STWAR). I've been using this for years and really love the program. My main complaint is that it is hard to teach if you've not taken their Teacher's course. I have definitely adjusted the program to work for me so it doesn't seem so heavy a work load. I feel like we get a lot of her "extra" stuff in what we already do. 

Since last year Abiah has been in a Let's Play Music class learning music theory and now the piano. Hazel was able to join this year. We include their practice into our school day as much as possible. If you have an instructor in your area, I strongly recommend this course.

Hazel is not yet five but she is really ready to start school so she is officially in kindergarten. Amelia has declared that she is in "Pretty" school (Pre-school), although she'd rather be in kindergarten with her sister. For Hazel I am doing Horizon's for math, and Bob Books with STWAR for learning to read. Amelia's Pretty school is made up of random activities and About Three pages. She and I are also working through a pre-reader set of Bob Books.

I am trying to include the girls in Abiah's classes as much as possible. They don't necessarily understand everything, but they love to be included. They may not be able to do projects like labeling maps and such but they can color them. Which will at least familiarize them with them for the future.

My plan is to have activities for Amelia and Jackson while I'm schooling the others. Hopefully I will have time to share some of those ideas here. So far this about sums up Jackson's roll in school:

This is either an "I hate school" dance or an "I love school so much I had to get on top of the table and dance" dance.

I would like to think that the posts that I want to write about why we homeschool and what our day typically looks like will happen soon. Chances are it will take awhile. I have so many ideas for the kids to make this year-round schooling work well and be more appealing so I'm pretty busy. I'm also trying to be purposeful about doing the fun part of school. It's so easy to just do what we need to so we can say we did school, but that's a part of why we do this homeschool thing in the first place!

Like I said in the beginning, I'm linking up to Rachel's homeschool post. Click over and check out the other links!

'Til My Sides Hurt: Because some days I wonder if I'm really qualified

During school one day I was reading from Revelations and trying to keep three wiggly kids sitting in their seats. I started with this: "Then I looked and heard the voice of millions and millions of angels. They surrounded the throne. They surrounded the living creatures and elders."

It was at this point that Amelia got up from her chair. This is what I ended up saying:  "In a loud voice they sang, You sit your butt down right now!"

It was pretty much chaos for a few minutes as Abiah and I tried to control our laughter. We were calmed down for a few minutes when I grabbed our history book and said, "Now. I'm going to read to you and I want you to listen to me. So open your mouths and close your ears."

I was surprised we got anything accomplished that day. Really though, I'm surprised that I get anything accomplished any day. So I guess it was a pretty normal day.

Curriculum Round-up 2011: Preschool and 3rd Grade Curriculum

I wish I could be as excited all year long about school as I am in the month before it starts. I love the planning and choosing curriculum. I also enjoy the teaching part, but find the mothering while teaching to be difficult. I'm sure you who homeschool can relate.

This year one of my main goals is to encourage our lifestyle to become a homeschooling environment. I'm really good at boxing our schooling into a 8-12 package with a pretty pink bow on top. The problem I found this last year is that homeschooling an elementary age student while mothering three under four messes with my pretty packing skills.

Last year I tried to do school with Abiah for an hour and a half and then let him finish the other parts that he didn't "need" me for on his own. Ideally it should have taken him about another hour and a half to two hours to complete his daily tasks. The girls seemed to be good at occupying themselves for that time but Abiah felt rushed and pushed out of the way. And it showed in his work.

I also just finished reading Five Love Languages of Children (not an affiliated link) and found out that Abiah is loved best through acts of service.Which means I've been doing things wrong. For awhile. Hopefully he'll be gracious when he's older and forgive me.

So, here's the book learnin' curriculum we'll be using this year:

2011-12 Curriculum for Preschool

My girls are still young for much schooling but they are interested in school so I try to work with them for about an hour a day. At this level they don't need much scheduled schooling. And they don't have the patience for it anyways! They also tend to enjoy their play time more when I keep them busy with a little schooling and a few "chores".

About Three Set

These lessons in these books are simple practice for motor skills and gradually introduce numbers, shapes, and colors. The activities are simple and, I've found, provide great opportunity for learning to follow simple instructions. I used these a little last year with my girls, photocopying pages as needed.

Circle Time

I use Circle Time as our Bible time together. We read from the kids' Bible, sing a few songs, recite our memory verse and pray together. The kids LOVE Circle Time. I also try to take a few minutes and have the kids practice being silent. Behind the "school work" aspects of what we do, the girls are learning to follow instructions and to sit still.

2011-12 Curriculum for 3rd Grade

Math-Horizons Math
I really like Horizons Math for the repetition and colorful pages. I use their books from k-3rd grade. After 3rd grade we will switch to Saxon Math.

Grammar- Daily Grams, Easy Grammar & Primary Language Lessons

Spelling- Spell to Write and Read
Hazel and Amelia will join Abiah during a portion of this class as an introduction to the phonograms.

Handwriting- StartWrite5.0
This program has been priceless in our schooling. We use it so much. I love that I can print out my own worksheets for all of my kids. We use these in conjunction with our Scripture memorization.

History, Reading, Science and Bible- My Father's World
We will be finishing the second half of the 2nd/3rd grade Adventures curriculum. Because our last school year involved pregnancy and a baby I decided to draw this portion of our schooling out into two years. We LOVE MFW curriculum and HIGHLY recommend it. The prepared lesson plans are simple and yet very informative. I look forward to learning alongside Abiah. I am going to try to include Hazel and Amelia in some of this but am not sure what that will look like right now.

Reading Comprehension- McCall-Crabbs Standard Test Lessons in Reading
I plan to  use these about once a week to supplement with reading comprehension. Abiah really enjoys reading but I want him to learn to pay attention to what he's reading.

Well, that about sums it up. I would love to hear about any supplemental schooling tools you guys use or have heard of. Leave a comment below!

I'm linking up with the Curriculum Round-up over at fiddledeedee.net!

~All links to Exodus Books are now affiliated links. I have used Exodus for many years (as a homeschooling mom and for previous tutoring) and have recommended them even before becoming an affiliate. Though I may receive some compensation, my opinions are always my own.~

The Work Space

While I promised you awhile back that I had made changes to our homeschooling plan for the year and was going to share them with you, this isn't what I had in mind.



Abiah is such a smart kid, but I am finding it hard to keep his attention on his work and not on everything else going on in the house. I know he's only seven. I know that sitting for long periods of time is especially hard for boys. I know that boys develop slower than most girls. But I feel my biggest battle with him is about being lazy.

I give him breaks. I have him run around the house a few times. We have activities we do that aren't so "school" like. When it's time for him to do his independent work (math and writing his spelling words) he will take HOURS.

He knows the work. He could be done with his school by noon everyday. But he sits. And talks to his imaginary friends. He watches everything the girls and I are doing. If the t.v. is on in the other room he listens to hear as much as he can. Even if I have the volume turned WAY down.

I have tried to help him understand that getting his work done quickly is his choice and that choice determines how he will spend the rest of the day, but something isn't clicking.

So my question is, homeschooling failure or homeschooling genius?

What lengths have you gone to just to help your child focus on the task before him/her?

Preschool Curriculum Choices

Hazel is going to be three this fall and since she is so interested in school work I have decided to try a few school projects with her this year. Some I have planned. Others will just happen. I'm generally really organized like that.

I plan to have her sit in on a few of Abiah's courses (phonics, Bible, history, and science).

I am also using About Three. A preschool study set that teaches motor skills and an introduction to numbers. It is a very simple curriculum and will only take a few minutes a day. By following the suggestions by the author, we will use this book multiple times this year. I purchased all four books in the set even though the next three books are for 4 and 5 year old students. I will keep them for next year or use them with her this year if I find that she is ready.

A blog that I recommend any mom of preschool aged children follow is Chasing Cheerios. She has simple Montessori activities that should be easy to incorporate into our school time.

Do you have any fun school activities that you are using with your preschooler?

Second Grade Curriculum Choices

At the end of April, just as I was loosing steam for the school year, I read a blog post about a new-to-me curriculum. And fell in love. And wanted to start school.

Yesterday I received my box of books from My Father's World (MFW). Abiah will be doing the Adventures in My Father's World program for 2nd or 3rd grade students.

I love that the program links science, history, literature, and Bible together for the whole year. The lesson plans are simple and easy to follow. On Mondays we do a phonics class with another family so I usually do school just four days a week which is how MFW curriculum is set up.

I also like that we aren't working through a few big text books. The program is made up of small books that aren't intimidating to get through.

In science we will be exploring the vast world of science: "stars, weather, plants, animals, atoms, energy, gravity, friction, sound, computers, and much more."

The lesson plan for history covers the history of the United States complete with a state-by-state overview.

The literature books recommended all relate to the subjects covered in our history class.

In Bible we will be studying the many facets of Jesus. I LOVE it!

MFW lets you choose your own math and language arts curriculum.

For math we will be using Horizons Grade 2. We've used this curriculum since kindergarten and I really like it. It is colorful and repetitive. Perfect for young students.

Our language arts will be made up of a few different books: Easy Grammar and Primary Language Lessons to build a foundation in language and grammar. We will continue to use Spell to Write and Read which we used last year. Through this program Abiah learned to read with a foundation in phonics which makes spelling and writing easier for him.

We will use memory verses from Bible and writing assignments from Primary Language Lessons as handwriting assignments.

We start school next week and I can hardly wait!

Circle Time and a Giveaway!

In an attempt to expose our kids to regular Bible study and prayer time we've been having Circle Time together. It's an idea I learned while reading through some Montessori information.

With my personal twist added in there.

My MIL got this children's devotional for us:





The kids love it. They are learning about Jesus by looking at nature. The lessons are short and sweet and there are questions that help them think about what they've just learned. We try to read a lesson every time we have circle time.

We make time to sing a few songs. The kids love ring-around-the-rosy. Very spiritual. I know. And Father Abraham. Yay! for me. Or not. Because I think my kids are the cutest I recorded them singing Father Abraham. Just for you. Because I'm giving like that.



We also take time to pray together. Being as the kids are 7, almost 3, and one-and-a-half there is usually lots of giggling and silliness. I still feel like they are learning an important discipline.

One thing we've not done, that I plan to soon incorporate, is a time for silence. Listening. Being still.

This will be interesting because of the age thing. I figure we'll start with a few minutes every time and work our way up. We'll see how it goes!

I've never really liked children's Bibles. Call me a terrible parent (and a 12 year old) but I would rather read Captain Underpants all day then sit through the stories in the children's Bibles. I've always felt that they were missing something. Watered down. Simplified. They lack the spark that ignites a passion for the Word of God.

So when my MIL gave this one to our kids for Christmas a few years ago I thought, "Another book to add to the Goodwill pile in a few months."





And then we read it.

Oh my granny, I love this Bible! Every story that's told comes back to the point that the Bible is a story about Jesus and His love for His Bride. How exciting!

I love that the stories from the Old Testament come alive through the parallels being drawn. For me! I love that when my kids are old enough to read a Bible by themselves they will already have this idea firmly planted in their little hearts and the stories won't seem obsolete. They will have a better understanding of what they are reading. I can't recommend this version enough. Perfect for children and adults!

And since I love it so much I'm giving one away to one of you! Here's what you do:

Leave a comment here on this blog post and you'll be entered to win. To earn four more entries you can:

• Facebook about this giveaway
• Twitter about this giveaway
• Blog about this giveaway
• Follow my blog
  

Make sure you come back here and let me know when you've done any of these. Remember to leave a separate comment for each! The giveaway will end Sunday night at 7pm, PST. So get your comments in by then.

One Year Down, Eleven More To Go

(This post was written in May and I forgot about it. It's important to me so I thought I'd share it anyways.)

For this kid anyways.

Yesterday Abiah took his first state assessment test. He scored in the 95%! And then I fainted from relief.

This year has been so trying scholastically, emotionally, and physically. I'm not going to get into all the details. I'm over it. Or I'm in denial. Whatever.

These last few weeks I feel like a veil has been lifted and I'm seeing more clearly. The crazy of having a newborn and a 15 month old while trying to homeschool a 6 year old is wearing off. Abiah is reading, which makes homeschooling so much easier.And Hazel is mostly potty trained, which makes life much easier.

I think what gives me the most relief is the feeling of being settled into this life that I'm leading. Through whatever message I've been soaking up, I've bought into the idea that this job of a SAHHM is less than, simplistic, and invaluable. Maybe even pathetic. Oh how sad! Especially because it's what I WANT!

Since I used to be the Testing Manager in the office where Abiah took his test yesterday it was also a trip down memory lane. As I watched the ladies in the office answering phones, managing and directing I felt a tug of jealousy to return to that time in my life. Oh, to feel like my life had an impact, to know that I am accomplishing something!

And then we came home. And Abiah read a book. Hazel went potty in the toilet. Amelia toddled around singing and laughing. And Nathan was happy.

1st Grade Curriculum Choices

Abiah started 1st grade this year and I am excited and nervous at the same time. We have decided to homeschool for many reasons. Since I get asked often I thought I'd list a few of the main reasons here.

1. Because of Nathan's work schedule (swing shift) he would only see Abiah on the weekends.
2. Because "we" hunt it gives us the flexibility to start school when it works best for our family.
3. We want to protect Abiah from being exposed to "mature" information before it is time.
4. I used to homeschool other people's children for a living and so I have lots of experience and very little reason not to.

Because of our recent hunting trip we started school this week. At the beginning of the week I felt like I was trying to find my footing. I was not as prepared as I hoped to be, but by the end of the week I felt more sure about my daily plan.

I get all my curriculum from Exodus Books (see link to the right). Aside from the fact that I know the owner, I like the variety and prices as well as the honesty and eagerness to help homeschooling families. Exodus Books also has a great website with helpful tips and tools. Check it out! (I am not getting paid to say this. I just like their store.) So, here's my choices for 1st grade curriculum.

Math:

Horizon's Math Book 1&2 Grade 1
I chose this math book for it's colorful pictures, repetitive content and easy teaching. I don't purchase the teacher's guide because of the skill level and because right now Abiah still needs me to sit with him and help him stay on task. So I am correcting as we go. We used this curriculum for his kindergarten math and it seemed to challenge him and keep his attention (as well as a five year old's attention span can be kept). I plan to use this math curriculum through third grade. At fourth grade we will switch to Saxon.

Grammar:

Grammar Practice
I am usually an Easy Grammar and Daily Grams kinda gal but they don't have books until 2nd grade. After looking through Grammar Practice I decided it is a book that is easy to use without a teacher's manual (and an answer key is in the back) and it should only take us about 10 minutes every day to work through a section. There are 22 lessons that contain 5 sections each. We can do one lesson a week and be right on track with our other school work. I feel like it will give Abiah a good exposure to grammar in preparation for the books I plan to use next year.

Bible

Bible Truth's: A Father's Care Grade 1 BJU
Abiah has been asking for more information about the Bible and his interest moved me to choose a Bible curriculum for our schooling. Although there are many activities available to go with this curriculum I am just using the basics. I did need the teacher's manual for this subject but because Exodus Books carries used books I was able to get one in good but used condition for a lower price. One of the drawing points for me was that it teaches the Catechism. Now, I wasn't raised in churches that taught the Catechism but I have always wanted to know it and I figured I can teach it to myself while I teach it to my kids.

Handwriting:

Startwrite 5.0
I LOVE this program! Startwrite 5.0 is a computer software that allows you to create your own handwriting worksheets. You choose from multiple fonts, letter sizes, character guides and much more. I have used this program since last year to teach Abiah to write his name and alphabet. This year we are incorporating it with his Bible course. I created a worksheet for his weekly Bible memory verse and he uses it for handwriting practice and memorization.

Science:
Science 1 BJU
History:
My America and My World A Beka Book

I enjoy both Bob Jones and A Beka for science and history curriculum. For this year we are just slowly reading through the books and I ask Abiah a few questions about what we have read. My goal is exposure to science and history without the weight of tests and experiments. This is not to say that we won't do any experiments but I am trying to keep our school time at the table to a minimum. So we talk about and included what we read about into our daily lives. Another plus for this choice is that I found used books in great condition for three and four dollars. At Exodus Books of course.

Reading/Spelling:

Spell to Write and Read BHI

I am a huge fan of Spell to Write and Read. The program can feel weighty and really involved but I think that every family that uses it can find what works for them and make it their own. I used this program when I was tutoring ESL students and I had great results. The repetition and flash cards make memorizing the rules for phonics easy and fun. We also read together every night and I am hoping that Abiah will be reading to me by the end of the year.

Well, that's it. Even with choosing to do 8 different subjects we are done with school in 2-3 hours. I love it! What are some of your favorite curriculum choices. And if you don't homeschool, what are some of your favorite books to read with your kids. I'm always looking for new ideas.