I am a Christian and a wife and mother of three trying to live out God's purpose for my life. Our homeschooling journey was not a typical beginning. My husband and I had attended public school and had planned for our children to attend there as well. My oldest had attended a pre-k program at a Christian school to get him ready. It had been a bumpy start but he finally settled down and got used to it. When time came to tour the elementary school that our son was zoned for (which was known to be the best one in the county) we decided it wasn't for us. I was floored at what they had planned on teaching them in kindergarten and the learning environment was not inviting. We therefore decided to leave him at the private Christian school he was at and that is where he stayed until 3rd grade. By that time my middle child was ready for pre-k and I signed him up that year as well. Things went pretty well for him but my oldest through the years was bored and didn't want to go. He almost always got perfect scores and never studied. I tried talking with the teachers and they said there was nothing they could do until he got into the upper grades just to be happy that he was bright and "didn't need help." I was tired of paying big bucks for my son to sit and not be challenged so that is the year I took the plunge and pulled him out. It has been a learning road and I have spent many hours studying and learning what is best for my children. Everyone has a story and what works for their family. This blog is what has worked for mine. I hope that what I write will help others who are beginning or those who are always looking for things to help deepen their children's learning. Blessings!

Tuesday, April 24, 2018

Morning Time Schedule for 2017-18

Morning Time for 1st, 9th, 12th grades

Monday
8:45-9:00 – Everyone reads on own (1B student w/ Bible with him)
9:00-9:20- Meeting & discussion of Bible & prayer
9:20-9:30 – Go over Question of the day and old Bible verses review old hymns memory work (oldest leaves)
9:30-9:50 - Pilgrim’s Progress
9:50-10:10 – Art appreciation

Tuesday
8:40-9:00 – Everyone reads on own (1B student w/ Bible with him)
9:00-9:20- Meeting & discussion of Bible & prayer
9:20-9:35 – Go over Question of the day and old Bible verses, Recit. Rev.
9:35-9:55 – Read aloud – Robinson Crusoe (IB can do quiet toys) (oldest Leaves)
9:55-10:05 – Singing- Solfa
10:05-10:15 – Music appreciation (while doing one grammar sentence)


Wednesday
8:40-9:00 – Everyone reads on own (1B student w/ Bible with him)
9:00-9:20- Meeting & discussion of Bible & prayer
9:20-9:35 – Go over Question of the day and old Bible verses, Recitations (oldest Leaves)  (Ex. 12)
9:35-10:05 – Read aloud – Plutarch (1B can do handiwork)
10:05-10:15 – American song- Free America


Thursday
8:15-8:30 – Everyone reads on own (1B student w/ Bible with him)
8:30-8:45- Meeting & discussion of Bible & prayer
8:45-8:55 – Go over Question of the day and old Bible verses, Recitation-Ps. 23 + Acts
8:55-9:20 – Read aloud – Ourselves & What Every Christian Ought to Know (IB can do quiet toys) (oldest Leaves)
9:20-9:30 – Singing- Hymn & recite hymn
9:30-9:40 – Music appreciation (while doing one grammar sentence)

Friday
8:40-9:00 – Everyone reads on own (1B student w/ Bible with him)
9:00-9:20- Meeting & discussion of Bible & prayer
9:20-9:35 – Go over Question of the day and old Bible verses, Recitations - Poem
9:35-9:55 – Read aloud – Redeeming the Time (oldest Leaves)
9:55-10:05 – Singing- folk
10:05-10:35- Shakespeare (IB can do handiwork)
10:35-10:45 – Diagram 1 grammar sentence

Our times did start later when we did math first and so my oldest could sleep in but then started at 8am when he was on board again.  Like it much better as a great start in the day.  We then would move on to subjects by themselves.  It worked out great this way this year!  Love our morning time!

Saturday, August 26, 2017

1st Grade Reading List

1st Grade Reading List

Historical/Fiction

William Penn Founder of Pennsylvania - Syme
The Sign of the Beaver
First Adventure - Coatsworth
John Billington Friend of Squanto- Bulla
A Lion to Guard Us - Bulla
Buttons for General Washington - Roop
The Joke's on George - Tunnell
Pilgrim Courage - Smith & Meredith
George Washington's Mother- Fritz
George Washington's Breakfast - Fritz
Amos Fortune- Elizabeth Yates

Science
A First Look at Rocks - Selsam
Raccoons Scavengers of the Night - Landau (for special studies in library)
Raccoons -Kite (for special studies in library)
The Pumpkin Book - Gibbons
The Pumpkin Patch- Elizabeth King
Squirrels - Murray

Read alouds
Sarah, Plain and Tall - (MacLachlan)
Skylark -(MacLachlan)
Caleb's Story (MacLachlan)
The Miraculous  Journey of Edward Tulane - DiCamillo
Farmer Boy (Wilder)
The Trumpet of the Swan (White)
Strawberry Girl - Lenski
Old Yeller

Holiday Reading 
An Old-Fashioned Thanksgiving - Alcott


Tuesday, May 30, 2017

Summer Reading- Kindergarten

Book List

Betsy and Billy - Haywood
Blue Ridge Billy - Lenski
Nate the Great and the Phony Clue- Sharmat
McBroom's Wonderful One-Acre Farm - Fleischman
Strawberry Girl - Lenski
Burgess Seashore Book
The Railway Children - Nesbit
Tales of Odyssey (audio book)
50 Famous Stories Retold
Magic School Bus books
Homer Price
Pippi Longstocking
George's Marvelous Medicine By Roald Dahl
Virginia's History and Geography
Fantastic Mr. Fox
Uncle Arthur Bedtime Stories
Five Children and It
Charlotte's Web
Mary Poppins (audio)
If I Were Going Alice And Jerry Books 
Cam Jamsen The Joke House Mystery
My Friend Flicka (audio)
Half Magic By Edward Eager
Nate the Great and the Phony Clue
Mcbroom's Wonderful One-acre Farm
& many other picture books

Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Kindergarten Book List 2016-17

Book list by subject

  Literature

Flat Stanley

·         Animal Folk tales of America
      Billy and Blaze series
·         Prairie School
·         Courage of Sarah Noble
·         Little House in the Big Woods
·         Bears on Hemlock Mountain
·         Peter Rabbit, Benjamin Bunny, Tom Kitten, Johnny Town Mouse
·         Boxcar Children #1 & 2
      Ivy and Bean & others
      Betsy Tacy
      Twig
      B is for Betsy
      George and the Marvelous Medicine 
      The Chocolate Touch
      Velveteen Rabbit 
      Pathway Readers:  Busy Times, More Busy Times, Climbing Higher 
      Matilda
·         James and the Giant Peach
·         Lion Witch and the Wardrobe
·         Penderwicks- Spring
      Penderwicks- Garden Street
      Penderwicks - Pt. Mouette
      Little House and the Long Winter
      The Water Horse
      Five Little Peppers and How they Grew
      My Side of the Mountain
      Heidi
      Enormous Crocodile - Dahl  
      Fairy Tales - Anderson  
      Now We are Six - Milne
      When We Were Very Young - Milne
       Pioneer Girl - Story of Laura Ingalls Wilder- Anderson
      The True Story of Peter Rabbit- Johnson
      The Perfect Wizard:  Hans Christian Anderson - Yolen
      Aesop for Children - Winter
      Tales from Odyssey -(6 volumes) Osborne
      Along Came a Dog 
 

      Picture Books    

 

      Stone Soup
      Henny Penny
      Butterfly House
      Ivy Cottage ** 
      Miss Rumphus
      George Shrinks
      Caboose Who Got Loose - Peet
      A Sick Day Amos McGee
      Dogger - Hughes
      Dear Rebecca Winter is Here - George
      Johnny Appleseed - Lindbergh
      The Boy who Drew Birds - Davies
      McElligot's Pool
      The Monkey and the Crocodile -Galdone
      Ant and the Elephant- Peet
      One Morning in Maine- McCloskey
      Amos and Boris
      Cinderella - Brown
      The Emperor's New Clothes - Anderson
      The Big Snow - Hader
      A Picture Book of Amelia Earhart- Adler
      Farewell to Shady Glade - Peet
      Cyrus the Unsinkable Sea Serpent- Peet
      Emily - Bedard
      Sam, Bangs and Moonshine
      Island Boy - Cooney
      Verdi- Cannon
      The Gift of the Tree - Tresselt
       The Gardener- Stewart
       Lucy's Summer- Hall 

 History/Geography 

Missionary Stories with the Millers
 Seven Little Sisters Who Live on the Round Ball That Floats in the Air
 Children's Picture Atlas of the World
Children Like Me
50 Famous Stories Retold

ASIA
Twin Books- Japanese (Perkins)
The Girl Who Wore Too Much
Peeps at Many Lands - Japan
Hok-Hwa of the Waterfront (The Children's Hour)
Monkey Spirit (The Children's Hour)
Bim's Gift from the Forest (The Children's Hour)
Rikki Tiki Tavi
Fairy Tales from Russia (Junior Classics)
Fairy Tales from India (Junior Classics)
Monsoon by Akib
Same, Same, but Different - Kostecki
The Five Chinese Brothers- Bishop
Tigers - Marsh
Living in India - Perkins
How My Parents Learned to Eat - Freedman
The Crow Boy- Yashima
What Comes from China - Harvey
Count Your Way Through China & India - Hastins
Ming Lo Moves the Mountain - Lobel
Earthquakes - Simon
Thailand - Freedman
Pet Dragon - Nieonom
Thailand- MinOrgtto
Little Pear
Balarama - Lewin
Asia- Fowler
Count Your Way through Israel- Haskins
Christmas Around the World - Kelley

ANTARTICA/ARCTIC
Dinty (Children's Hour)
Twin Seals (Children's Hour)
Snowflake (Bentley)
North - Amazing Story Arctic Migration- Dowson
Antarctica- Fowler
Building an Igloo - Steltzer
Lost and Found - Jeffers
Kumak's Fish - Bania
MTH Polar Bears and the Arctic- Osborne
MSB Arctic Adventures
A Mother's Journey - Markle
Arctic Son- George
Bravest Dog Story of Balto - Standiford

EUROPE
Twin Series - Dutch, French, Italian & Swiss
Children of the Noisy Village
 Boxes for Katje
Adele and Simon
Anatole
The Cat Who Walked Across France- Banks
This is Venice - Lasek

AUSTRALIA

Audrey of Outback
Boiling the Billy Book ( The Children's Hour)
Koalo Lou- Fox
Are We there Yet
Diary of a Wombat
Biggest Frog in Australia

AFRICA
Anna Hibiscus
Jambi and the Tiger (Children's Hour)
Monkey Crocodile
Jambo Means Hello 
My Rows and Piles of Coins- Lewis
Africa- Fowler
Where Are You Going Manyoni
Galimoto- Williams
My Painted House Friendly Chicken and Me
I Lost My Tooth in Africa
Gift of Sun - Stewart
African Critters - Haas
For You are a Kenyan Child - Cunnane
Uncommon Traveler- Mary Kingsley in Africa- Brown
Rain School- Rumford


SOUTH AMERICA

South America - Fowler

Abuela's Weave- Castaneda
Biblioburro - Winter
The Great Kapok Tree- Cherry
The Umbrella - Brett
Magic Tree House Research- Rain Forests- Osborne
The Rainforest Grew All Around - Mitchell
National Geographic Kids- Wild Animal Atlas (for all countries studied)

Science (not integrated in the geography)

 

See Through the Forest - Selsam
Among the Forest People
Backyard Birds
Frozen Wild - Arnosky
It's Snowing - Gibbons
Apples- Gibbons
How to Draw Birds- Green
Follow the Water From Brook to Ocean
Water Dance
Wish for a Fish
Ant Cities
Clam I Am
Is a Camel a Mammal
Let's Go Rock Collecting
Rocks and Minerals
Oceans - Simon
Lungs - Simon
From Seed to Plant - Gibbons
Oh Say Can You Seed?
How People Learned to Fly
Snakes - Gibbons
A Snake's Year - Gove
Where they Go in Winter - Buck


Community Helpers/Holidays

Flying Firefighters
Pumpkin Pumpkin
 Four Friends in Autumn DePaola
Life in a Farming Community - Flatt
Farming - Gibbons
Apples and Pumpkins- Rockwell
Let's Visit a Dairy Farm - Sweeney
Milk Makers- Gibbons
Scarecrow's Dance
Fletcher and Falling Leaves
Earl the Squirrel
Surrounded by Sea
Amelia Earnhart
My Friend Doctor - Cole
Ben Franklin Magic Squares- Murphy
Anasi and the Moss Covered Rock
Mushroom in the Rain - Ginsburg
The Thanksgiving Story - Dalgiesh
Lucy's Christmas - Hall
The Christmas Miracle of Jonathan Toomey
Saint Valentine- Sabuda
The Easter Egg- Brett