I can hardly believe we are 1/2 through Feb 2019.  Wow, our school year will be finishing up before we know it! A favorite verse I read and looked over recently was Psalm 32:8 The Lord says, “I will guide you along the best pathway for your life. I will advise you and watch over you”.   

It’s a good reminder to me, that God is going to guide me along the best pathway.  Then today I stumbled upon this verse:

He will LEAD us!

I feel so strongly that He has done just that with this new (new to me) peaceful approach to homeschooling.  I feel like I’m not digging in and trying to do things MY WAY but more allowing Him to guide me, which in turn has just felt more peaceful.

Before I let go of so much control it felt like our days were a bit more stressful and listy and I didn’t like having that feeling.

Gideon (7) and Titus(51/2) 

Writing:

We go through DRAW WRITE NOW or Draw then Write

sometimes they tell me a story and then copy it after I write it out.  We kinda work together to choose what they like.

Printing: they do a page from their printing book (Handwriting without tears) a couple times a week

Math lesson (we are using The Good and Beautiful K book and will finish this year) 3-4 times a week with Dad.

We also read lots of good books and sometimes follow some activities from FIVE IN A ROW and use some of those books they suggest. I don’t do all the activities.  Sometimes we will just read the book a few times a week!  We read chapter books in the morning and the evening all together as well.

For READING both are reading through the pathway readers (Titus LOVES these) and they are doing amazing.  They pick up other readers too and often read!

Bible/Character: We read through several different devotions and Bible books on Character as well.

Luke (3rd grade)

Language Arts: we switched from the Good and the Beautiful because we felt there was a bit too much “busy work”.  We are loving Learning Language Arts through Literature right now.  seems like a nice fit! It was recommended for us to start this in 3rd grade, which is why our younger ones aren’t doing this yet.

Math: Teaching Textbooks has been amazing for both Luke and Adam!

Spelling: He has words each week and a test Friday.  He writes his words daily using a very simple method we learned from Spelling Plus and Friday a little quiz.  Any words he misses goes on the next week.

Free Write: He gets to write daily in a journal. Sometimes he gets to expand on those and write more of a story or page.

Copy Work: 100 Easy Bible Verses.  A verse a day to copy down.

Reading: Luke is reading through the Christian Liberty Nature readers 30 min a day, and various other chapter books as he complete one.

Science is very low key and once a week (although Luke gets a lot of science in through the books he likes and nature).. We are using and will probably finish the WATER science from the Good and The Beautiful.  This never seems to be ONCE a week, but we strive for that!

History is very low key and we will delve in as interest arises.  We started off the year with the family style history for Luke and Adam but Adam is really the only one continuing through.  We scaled back from making that be something I HAVE to do weekly with Luke.

Adam (9th grade)

Since we are under a charter school (mainly doing this just for the school funds, which has been a huge blessing), they like to see work from each subject and he gets credits as you would in public High School.  We are only using this charter because it is very laid back in what they ask of you! High School seems a bit more but still hasn’t “crossed the line” in my opinion.

Math: Teaching Textbooks Algebra

Reading: 30 min of reading a book of choice.  He’s been enjoying some books on sports players.  Currently reading one on Tim Tebow.

Writing: He writes a summary after each 30 min of reading.  He’s also going through a Writing Course which has been very helpful.

Copy Work: He’s currently copying through the book of James.  He works on copy work for 10-15 min a day

Science: He’s going through Physical Science

Electives: Dave Ramsey Financial Peace (He’s going through this with Brian and Gregory).  Auto (he goes through this with a friend and his Dad on Monday nights) and he does help with cooking (learning a few skills).

Annie Mae is a little sponge and is learning all the time.  She’s a smart little cookie but is really just picking it all up as we do stuff with everyone else! So fun!

They spend lots of time outside playing and doing sport stuff.  I love that we can finish up our “school” part of the days pretty quickly and get on with life learning.  Hoping for more hikes after the rains and some fun outings!

All together we normally have a read aloud going (with Daddy in the evenings or Mommy during the morning time).

Morning Time

We strive to get started all together after breakfast :

Prayer, read aloud, devotion or Bible Character study

Then quick chores (everyone has things they do, and they all know what their “jobs” are).  Sometimes this isn’t as QUICK as I’d like but we are working on it!

After chores we move on to getting the “school” things done or mostly done.  If they need a break in between things we do that.  Most of the time they work diligently and finish quickly.  Sometimes Adam helps with the littles if I’m working with one or another.