Through the Eyes of the Student

I have been following the ihomeschool network's *Not* Back to School link ups, and this week is Through the Eyes of the Student.  I really didn't know how to come at this post.  I saw some really creative choices, and I decided to give my 10 year old the camera for the day to take pictures of what he was doing.  That did not go well, he did not get any usable photos!  So on to another idea that I came up with and I did video interviews with each of my 3 kids.

I asked them each four questions and video taped their answers.  I hope you enjoy them and get a good laugh out of them, because they are raw and un cut!

My one disclaimer is that with Elijah at the end his answer to what his day looks like is that its friendless.  I was curious about that answer so I asked him about it and he just meant that he is just with his brothers all day and not his friends.  That made me feel better!  I was a little concerned with that answer at first, he does have friends but, yes, unlike traditional school he is not surrounded by them all day long.

I hope you enjoyed my kiddos views of what it looks like to be homeschooled.

Tips for a Great Summer Road Trip with Kids

The last time we went on a road trip was last summer, it went well, but it was also only about a 5 hour trip.  Our last LONG road trip was about 3 and a half years ago, we drove 17 hours to visit my brother and his family over Thanksgiving.  The trip technically was only about 14 hours but you know with kids you have to add another couple hours for stops.  Our kids at that time were 8, 4, and 3 months old.  We drove through the night, and it was a great way to travel.  The one good factor we had going for us is that we had family waiting for us when we arrived to watch the kids for a few hours so my husband and I could get a bit of sleep.

Photo Credit

This summer we are once again going on a pretty long road trip.  This time to Mt. Rushmore!  My kids are beyond excited for this trip!  It's about a 13 hour drive for us, and our kids are now ages 10 (almost 11), 7.5, and 3 (almost 4).

As I was thinking and planning for our trip, I of course did a few Pinterest searches.  You know the web is filled with amazing ideas!  I found a TON of awesome ideas!  I am now excited to share with you the things I found and what I will be using to help keep the hooligans, boys, in line in the car.

First up, are activity packets.  I printed off a ton of games, coloring pages, and a U.S. National Parks and Historic Places packet for Elijah to work on.  I printed off travel bingo, tic tac toe, dots, the license plate game, billboard alphabet game, and some Star Wars coloring pages. They also each have a United States map that they can use to track our route to Mt. Rushmore.  I bought some clip boards that you can store stuff in, and went ahead and had the pages all bound together, that way we don't have papers flying all over the car.  To get them bound at Office Max was about $3 a book, not sure if was worth it, but I think for my sanity over pages flying every where it just might be.

Go to Edventures for Kids to find the printables that I used.

Next, I saw this great idea to have little packages for the kids to open at certain intervals during the trip.  I went to the dollar store and hit up the Target Dollar Spot for cheap items to fill these bags.  I found coloring books, little trinket toys, glow sticks, stickers, and candy.  These will make a great surprise for them along the way. I just bought the plain old brown lunch sacks to put them in because I couldn't find fun colorful bags anywhere!  I'm not sure if I will let them open one an hour, or one at every stop we make.  I am leaning towards every stop we make, like a gas station or rest area.  Each child will have 6 bags to open during our trip there.  Since we will be traveling at night after dark, I got some glow sticks for them, those will be the last bags they open.  One great tip I learned was to not forget the trip home!  So some of these items will be used for our return trip.  I will bring some paper bags with us and fill a few of them before we leave to come home.  They will probably only get about 2-3 bags each on the way home though.

Then, we bought a few travel games.  Some we found at garage sales (travel Battleship and the wooden peg games), another I just bought from Toys R Us (travel Connect 4) and my mom bought us the game travel Spot It.  Even though I printed off some travel Bingo games, I also had these fun Auto Bingo games that I found at Cracker Barrel, so we will be bringing these along as well.

Next up is our food list!  When we travel, we typically like to eat out, but our budget for this trip is very small.  So this time we will be taking food for our lunches, our hotel will provide breakfast, and then we will just eat dinner out.  So in the car I plan to have bread to make sandwiches, peanut butter and jelly,  we will also buy a few lunchables to have just to break up the sandwich monotony, a case of bottled water, some juice boxes, and other snack food.  We will have grapes and apples along with cheese sticks as well.  I like to also bring some goldfish crackers, yogurt tubes, and raisins those things are easy for my kids to grab and eat in the car.

If you are taking a road trip this summer I highly suggest you take a look at Kids Activities Blog she has an amazing list of tips for travel with kids.

I hope this gave you some great ideas for your next road trip!  I will give my review on how this all worked out for us when we return!

Summer Bucket List Item 8

We once again got to do another item off of our summer bucket list!  Today we made a water balloon piñata.  I wasn't quite sure how I was going to pull it off, as the blog I found the idea on suggested using an item that I didn't have.  I decided to just use some twine and tie it between two trees, then hang the water balloons up using a clothes pin.  That worked really well!

Instead of just having my kids hit at the balloons with a stick I got little brave and decided to attach a screw to the end of a stick and let them poke at the balloons that way!  With very careful supervision that went over really well.

In hindsite I think I should have made more of a game out of it rather than just letting them go at it!  It took me about 30 minutes to fill up the balloons, another 10 minutes to set up the twine and less than 10 minutes for them to be done.  I was a little disappointed that it didn't last longer, but they had a great time doing it.

It really was a fun activity if I would have made a game of it, such as blind folding them, timing them, or even putting paint or something in the balloons.  I think I also only had about 30 balloons filled.

I am happy though that we were able to check another item off of our list.  After the week we had weather wise it was nice to get outside and play in the water.  After the water balloon piñata we got out our slip n slides again and they had a good time using those, while I cleaned out our van for our upcoming vacation.  Speaking of vacation, I have a great post coming up about what I do to plan for a long road trip with 3 kids in tow!   I hope you have a great weekend and can get out there and check off some of your summer bucket items!

Our Pre-K 4 Curriculum

This year I will be doing a light version of pre-k with Zach.  He has shown a little interest in school work, and does know most of his letters.  So I think doing a formal curriculum with him will be trial and error at first.  I am hoping that as the year progresses he will pick up on the routine and really enjoy his school time.  This year in Pre-K we will be focusing on letter recognition, letter sounds, number recognition, and scissor skills, along with doing some literature units.

When Noah was in Pre-K a few years ago, I purchased the Letter of the Week curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.  That is the curriculum that I will be using this year with Zach.  I didn't get to use it to the fullest with Noah so I am really excited to get to use it with Zach.

I have planned it out and we will do one letter a week, and we will throw in 5 literature units from Homeschool Creations.  We will also be doing a unit on Thanksgiving and an advent unit around Christmas time.

I chose our literature units around books that we already owned.  We will be doing,  Caps for Sale, The Mitten, The Snowy Day, Blueberries for Sal and Corduroy.  To ease into our school year we will begin with a tot school unit on The Very Hungry Caterpillar, and then we will do a unit on dogs.

Zach will also be joining us for Bible and Science.  In case you missed it, be sure to check out our all together subjects, 5th grade and 2nd grade curriculum choices.

2nd Grade Curriculum Choices

When we began our homeschooling journey four years ago, I was teaching 2nd grade and pre-k 4.  Well, here I am again, teaching 2nd grade and pre-k 4!!  We have come full circle!  I can not believe that the kid I was teaching pre-k to is now my second grader!

This year Noah will be continuing to learn to read, which has been a huge struggle for us.  Reading will really be our main focus this year, everything else will be secondary.  Here is the list of Noah's 2nd grade curriculum.

Language Arts:

All About Reading Level 2 and All About Spelling Level 1

   Noah did a wonderful job with AAR Level 1, so I am excited to see how Level 2 goes.  He has been asking to begin level 2 since it came in the mail about 2 months ago.  That makes my mommy heart really happy to hear my kid who struggles with reading say he is super excited about continuing on!
   I am not too sure when I will began AAS Level 1 with him.  I will have to wait and see how the first few weeks of school progress.  I am thinking about beginning it about the 7th week of school or so.  It will not be a big pressure to me if he doesn't get it right away, I will probably take it really slow and see what happens.

Math:

Math U See Beta

 
 Last year, about half way through the year, we began Math U See Alpha, we didn't quite get to finish the whole book but I think Noah has a strong enough grasp on math that beginning in Beta will be a good fit for him.

Handwriting:

A Reason For Handwriting B

 
I love this program!  We have used different programs in the past and this is the one that has worked the best for both of my boys.  We didn't use a formal program last year for Noah because it was integrated into his curriculum using copywork.  What I realized a few weeks into the year was that Noah did not like copywork, he preferred the handwriting book.  I had some left over pages from a book that Elijah had worked through so that is what we used for the remainder of the year with him.

Typing/Coding:

Typing Instructor and various free kids coding websites

    Noah will be working through Typing Instructor for the first time this year.  He has never had a formal typing program and he is happy to begin learning how to type.
    I shared in my 5th grade curriculum post what coding websites we will be using this year, be sure to check them out.

Don't forget to go back to see what we are doing for our all together subjects and 5th grade.  I will be sharing our Pre-K 4 curriculum choices later this week.

5th Grade Curriculum Choices

I can not believe that I will be teaching 5th grade this year!  How did he get so big!??  When we began homeschooling 4 years ago he was just a little 2nd grader.  I am realizing that I really need to step up my game this year.  Last year was a pretty big transition year for us, and I feel that there will be a lot more independent work happening this year.  I plan to use a few new tools to help move him towards independent work.

Almost every subject this year for Elijah will be new.  Here is a run down of what we will be using this year for 5th grade.

Language Arts:  

Learning Language Arts Through Literature Purple Book and Wordly Wise 3000

 I have never used this book before, so I am not too sure how it will all work.  I liked the idea that it integrates spelling, vocabulary, writing, reading, and comprehension.  In the past we have used All About Spelling, and I realized last year that it just wasn't working for us anymore.  The books that he will be reading to go along with this are Farmer Boy, The Trumpet of the Swan, and Caddie Woodlawn.
   I decided at the last minute to add in Wordly Wise 3000 the 5th grade book.  Vocabulary is a weak point with him, and I really haven't emphasized it in the past.  This year I felt that it would be necessary to add in an extra program to really ramp up his vocabulary.  Even though he reads constantly and well above grade level, I feel that he doesn't have a strong grasp on the meanings of words.

Math:

Teaching Textbooks 5

  I am really excited about moving into Teaching Textbooks this year.  We have used Math U See for the past 3 years and I just felt like it also was not working for us anymore.  Elijah is happy to have a chance at a new curriculum as well.  I like that he will be getting a bit of a review as well as learning new concepts this year.

Typing/ Coding:

Typing Instrutor and Various free coding websites

    We purchased Typing Instructor as a download and Elijah will be working through that this year.  We will also be adding in some computer coding practice.  I found a bunch of free kids coding websites that we will be using.  If you are interested, here is the list that we will be using this year:

• Code.org
• Kahn Academy Hour of Code
• Turtle Academy
• Botlogic
• Scratch

  Some iPad apps that we will most likely use are:

• Hopscotch
• Scratch Jr.
• Kodable
• Lightbot and Lightbot Jr.

Don't forget that we will also be doing History, Science and Bible as all together subjects.  You can see that list here.

I will be sharing our 2nd grade and Pre-K 4 choices later on, along with some ways that I am going to be changing up our learning this coming year.  

Summer Bucket List Item 7

Today we made bird feeders!  It was super fun and easy!  We are still having a lot of rain here in the midwest and this mamma is about to go crazy!  

I needed something fun and easy to do inside.  I found this recipe for the bird feeders at Pink Pistachio.  The recipe calls for gelatin which the author assures is safe for birds.  I was a little worried but I'll trust her, she says she spoke with a "bird lady".  It's a super easy and quick recipe to follow, and Elijah was even able to help mix it all up.

Luckily, I already had the 2 packets of gelatin and the 2 cups of bird seed needed.  Basically you dilute the gelatin in water over medium heat stirring until it simmers, then stir in the bird seed.  Let that cool a few minutes.  While the bird seed is cooling, line cookie sheets with wax paper and spray your cookie cutters with cooking spray.

Once the seed mixture is cool to touch, it only took about 3 minutes, you can spoon it into the cookie cutters. Put a straw through the bird seed mixture to make a hole for the twine. Place in the refrigerator to let cool completely for about one hour.

The author says that it makes two feeders but we were able to get five.

I checked ours after an hour and it was still a bit mushy, so I left them in the refrigerator for the rest of the afternoon.  Once they are ready tie some twine through the hole made by the straw and then hang outside for the birdies to enjoy!

Now to just find the right spot to hang these outside and for it to stop raining long enough for the birds to enjoy them!

Our All Together Curriculum Choices

Its curriculum choice time!  This year we will be doing a few subjects all together.  We will also be branching out from our previous curriculum that we have used for the past few years.  I am excited about these new choices and have high hopes that it will be a great fit for our family.

Along with the changes this year we will also be doing a co-op that my kids are really excited about.  Our co-op classes will be Science, Art, Music, Spanish, and a Lego Club.  Zach will also get to participate in this co-op, and he will be doing Science, Art, and a general preschool readiness class.

For History this year we will be using The Mystery of History.  I had considered this for last year but decided to stick with My Fathers World.  But since we are doing a co-op this year that includes Science I really wanted to branch out.   I love the way The Mystery of History teaches history in a chronological order.  When I was a kid I did not make the connection that the history that I was learning in school was happening at the same time that the Bible was being written!  How amazing that I get to teach this to my kids!  My hope is that they can make that connection a lot sooner than I did!  I am also hoping that I will learn a bit this year as well. I purchased the textbook, the audio CD's, timeline figures, and the reproducible download for use along with Volume 1.

Science this year will be Apologia's Astronomy.  For co-op we were able to pick which one we wanted to do, and they will all three be working through this one.  Since we had studied animals the past few years we chose to do space this year.  We have never used Apologia before but it has been on my radar for a few years and I am so excited to actually get to use it this year.






We also chose to do Apologia's Worldview curriculum for our Bible studies this year.  We will be using Who is God?  I bought the textbook, note booking journal, the Jr. Journal and the coloring book to use this year.  The coloring book will be for Zach, not sure how he will like it but I thought that he would need something to work in along with the older boys.




I will also be sharing our 5th Grade, 2nd Grade and Pre-K 4 homeschooling choices, so stay tuned to see what we will be using for those.

UPDATE:

Sorry I forgot to add what our read aloud books would be!  Whoops!!

We will be doing a reading list to go along with our Mystery of History Volume 1 studies.  Those will include:

• The Golden Goblet
• The Cat of Bubastes
• Hittite Warrior
• The Children's Homer
• God King
• Aesop's Fables
• Victory on the Walls
• The Young Carthaginian
• The Bronze Bow

Most of these we own, some will be checked out from the library, and the others I have on my Kindle.

We also really enjoyed reading the Christian Hero's Then and Now books last year, so I picked some that I thought we would enjoy reading this year.  These are the ones that we will be reading this year:

• Jim Elliot
• C.S. Lewis
• Dietrich Bonhoeffer
• Eric Liddell
• Francis Asbury
• Brother Andrew
• Hudson Taylor

I might be a bit ambitious that we can finish all of these, but with some planning I have the schedule all made out and hopefully we will accomplish it!

**This post does contain my Amazon affiliate link.**

Summer Bucket List Item Number 6

In the midwest we had almost the wettest June on record!  We would have about 3-4 days a week that were all rain!  Our yard was and still is a bit of a mud pit!  Thankfully its looking like July might be a bit better.  Our temperatures today are up to 90*!  Whoo hoo!!!  I love the hot weather.

Today we did a few more items on our bucket list.  We dug for dinosaur fossils and played with our slip and slide.  They boys were so excited about both of these activities.


The dinosaur fossils were a huge hit!  They loved using the hammers to chisel away each individual little dino.  This activity was super easy to put together, but it did take some prep work.  Last week I put some little dinosaurs and other little creatures that we had laying around in some tubs with water and stuck them in our freezer.  Then this morning I took them out and dumped them into bigger containers to use for chiseling them away.

The boys also got lucky that my husband and I cleaned out the garage this weekend and found our slip and slide.

Homeschool Room Tour

When we moved into our home last fall, I was pretty anxious to just get things set up and ready to go so we could begin school as soon as possible.  With that being said, not much thought went into setting it up, and as the school year progressed I was able to see the areas I wanted to change.

I was pretty excited when our school year ended for more than one reason!   I was ready to get decluttering and reorganizing!  I began this project way back at the end of May, yes you heard that right,  MAY!  It took a few weeks just to get everything cleaned out, I was able to participate in a used curriculum sale.  Through that sale I got rid of a bunch of unused books and other things.  I also made a good chunk of change.  I cleared out so much stuff that I went from 10 boxes of stuff down to just 4!

Once I got all of the clutter moved out, I then began to rearrange our school room.  This took another few weeks, well, because, you know life happens!  I had a hard time finding a long period of time to just work on this room.  It stayed a mess for quite a while.

In the middle of decluttering, this is what it looked like for about two weeks!

I am so happy though that I took my time and got it just the way I wanted it!  I am thrilled with how it turned it.  With the money from the book sale, and selling a few other big things, I had enough to buy some more furniture for our room.  I bought a Trofast storage shelf to use with Zach's preschool this year.  I also bought another Trofast to use for toy storage in our family room.

Here is a photo tour of our new space!  I hope you enjoy it!

View from standing in the hallway.

I have moved the boys desks into our the little room just off of our school room.  This is Noah's desk.

Here is Elijah's desk, its on the other side of the room from Noah.

Zach's preschool corner, this view is looking from the little room off our schoolroom.

The new Trofast shelf with the green bins, and our new calendar board.
The Trofast shelf will hold Zach's workboxes for his preschool.

The beloved Expedit shelving.  This is still a work in progress,
but it has come a long way.

My desk.  

Our white board that we use for All About Spelling and All About Reading.
I also added the color word cards here just for fun.

There it is, our new set up!  Now to get all of our subjects together and organized!  Later I will be sharing our curriculum choices for this next school year.

Sidewalk Chalk Paint: Summer Bucket List Item Number 5

After a long break, I think I can breath again!  Life got super busy, and when life gets super busy, the house gets super messy!  Then I spend a good week trying to get it back in order.

Today we were finally able to get to another item on our summer bucket list!  Yay!  We did the sidewalk chalk paint.  The kids had a great time!  It was also super easy to put together!  You can find the recipe that I used here. 

We used sponge paint brushes, but towards the end we decided to try some different things.  We tried sticks, leaves both dead and alive ones, and 'helicopters'.   One thing I liked about this chalk paint is that the colors were really bright!  We also used quite a few more drops of food coloring than suggested, because I let the kids do that part!

We aslo had fun mixing colors.  We tried blue paint on top of green paint, yellow paint on top of orange.  They were all really intent on making brown, so they were seeing what colors it took to do that.