Homeschool Planning

July 1st. Time for a new school year. Please don't tell anyone. I am only now, figuring out what we will be doing for school this year. sigh.

We did Christian Light Education last year. I liked how thorough it was. I liked what the kids learned. I liked that it was easy for them to work independently. But we did not finish well and EVERY single kid hated school. This is not what I want. Life is not all about fun. But I felt like I took the love of learning from my kids.


I thought maybe the burn out was because of babysitting, foster care, adopton and all the other stress we had. But while that played a big part in the burn out, the real problem was we need something different.


So I bugged people, I asked on facebook. I searched out curriculum and studied learning styles. I had done all this several years ago. But I am much more confident in my teaching abilities and have a better idea of  what my kids need.

My first thought was to pull in something like Abeka. I love, love how they have a path clearly laid out for you. I love that my one son who really wants to go to college could just take their curriculum, follow it, excel and be ready for college.

But reality is, he would HATE it. I want him to desire learning, to have a hunger and thirst for more info. I don't want him to be satisfied with just doing the minimum and floating through life.

Then I have the second son, who hates workbooks, school and has anxiety attacks if I mention math.
He needs something different. Something  more visual and less tedious.

Elizabeth loves to read and learn. She did ok with CLE, but I want to feed that hunger for more knowledge that I see in her.

Fayth, she gave me grief the first 3 years of school. Finally CLE seems to be the best fit for her, but I wanted some more fun learning for her.

So I pulled together a couple different things and made my own curriculum . I love Ask Pauline. She has all the info one needs for homeschooling. I used her outline for what elementary students are required to learn. I put that outline on paper and then listed the subjects/curriculum that I knew worked well.

It was actually fun to put together individual curriculum for each kid. The kids are getting excited for school. We are doing some workbooks, some Charlotte Mason and some online schooling. With a little research and searching, I was able to use library resources and used curriculum to cut my costs drastically!

I still have one more kid that needs his curriculum put together. He is a visual/hands on learner.He is very adhd and really just doesn't think he needs school. I am determined he will have a solid foundation. I have ideas of what i want his schooling to look like.But have not been able to find what I want. So I continue to search.


Now because each kid has their own curriculum and I need to use library resources, I will need to carefully plan out each individual child's schedule. We will also have 3 kids using the computer for almost 1/2 of their work. Currently we have one desktop and one tablet, so I will have to figure out how to best utilize our resources.

The silly thing is... this is my favorite part of homeschooling! Laying out curriculum, making schedules and figuring out how to  make everything run smoothly. I am not good with daily prep, so I try to make sure that most of the kids work is independent. They love having a laminated schedule on the fridge. No daily battles, because it's right there and will stay pretty much the same for the entire school year.

I hope to have another great year.My main goals are for my kids to love learning, to get to know Jesus better and to serve others.

pool fun..

We discovered that pool time is great for both Nesiah and Bubbie. The big kids all love water so they are always up for a fun day at the pool.

                                                     
She LOVES the water. She is able to control her body in the water and is actually safe to move around without me hands on. Obviously I am always right there, but she can get around on her own!

We have been to several different pools this summer... some days it's just easier to sit and enjoy friends and kids instead of taking pictures.

Hospitals and Cabin Fever

We have had quite the rough couple weeks...

It all started one Sunday when we went to church. I gathered all my courage and took the kids to visit a new church. The people were wonderful and amazing. But we came home with a very sick kiddoe.

We did round the clock albuterol treatments for 2.5 weeks.  I did learn that it is now better to use the inhalor with a spacer. Which really makes life easier!!

I have not put him a church nursery in over a year. The first time I do, he gets very ill.

We  ended up in the ER and the Children's hospital. I have a whole separate post for that.

But after the hospitalization we were stuck in the house for 2 weeks. Because EVERYTHING triggered his asthma and neither one of us was sleeping much at night.

So the kids put on a show for Nesiah and I! I enjoyed it more then Nesiah did.

I sewed curtains for the girl's room redo.
 (which was put on hold indefinitely because we can not paint if it is humid or if Bubbie is in flare up)

We had some pretty crazy storms...

We lost internet for a week, until in desperation I flagged down the repairman as he was working down the road. Bless his heart, he came out and did a quick fix for me!