Homeschooling

Welcome to our homeschooling page! We are a bit of an eclectic homeschooling family! I don't think I fit into one particular box, a little bit of Charlotte Mason, a little bit of unit studies, a little bit of classical, a little bit of relaxed. I'll tell you what most of our days look like: we start the day with devotions, Bible reading and prayer. We go through all the Scriptures and poems we are memorizing. We work on reading, language arts, science, history and math. We read lots of books together. We are learning to sew. We LOVE arts and crafts at our house!! And my kids love playing outside, and do so for hours each day. This is our homeschool. This is our life.  Here is a typical homeschooling day in pictures! 

And lest you think I have it all together, a new series called Real Life Homeschooling!! 

Our Homeschooling and Curriculum Plans 
2012/2013 School Year Plans
2011/2012 - review of the year & curriculum choices
2011/2012 School Year plans
2010/2011 School Year Plans
Updated Curriculum Post 2010/2011 (what we love, what we don't)



Exploring Creation Human Anatomy (our year with Apologia's elementary anatomy, full of experiment and project ideas!) 
Exploring Creation with Astronomy (our year with Apologia's elementary astronomy) 
American History (books, resources, links & group projects) 

Q & A - I answer some questions about our year-round schooling and other homeschooling choices we have made. :) 
Our School Room

Curriculum & Resources we have used and loved
{this is an ongoing list that I will add to as we try new things in our homeschool!}



Easy Grammar - we are doing well with this grammar program and especially love the Daily Grams that you can do in addition to this program
English from the Roots Up, Vol. 1- a gentle introduction to Latin and Greek roots
Five in a Row - this curriculum formed our love for literature based unit studies and snuggling on the couch for school time
Homeschool Share - free literature based unit studies AND lapbooks!
La Clase Divertida - fun Spanish program and the kids are learning a lot! 
Music for Little Mozarts - for beginning piano lessons and music appreciation
Primary Language Lessons - a gentle introduction to language arts studies 
Serendipity - we have used their Around the World ideas, Lively Language Ideas and just love their "way of learning" 
Spelling Wisdom - a simple, Charlotte Mason approach to spelling
Teaching Textbooks - our math curriculum - this is all computer based and I no long have to teach math lessons! yay!! And the girls have done great with it for an entire year now! 




Favorite Unit Studies We Have Done
Around the World (we spent an entire school year learning about the continents and cultures, you can scroll through these entries to find resources for many specific countries.)
Bats (and Stellaluna)
Birthday Unit study
Birthday (scrapbook)
Camels
Christopher Columbus
Creation Unit Study (rough outline)
Election (early elementary)
Election lapbooks 
Frogs (Fun and Lapbook)
Giant Pandas
July 4th Lapbook
Nutcracker
Penguins 
Pirates  (Treasure Maps, Treasure Hunt)
President's Day
Pumpkins
Rainforest (The Great Kapok Tree)
Rainforest Notebooking pages
Rainforest Taste Test
Remembering 9-11 (with lapbook)
Spring Nature Study
Squirrels (Earl the Squirrel, Squirrel Activities)
Summer Olympics (and China study)
Trees & Leaves Nature Study
Turtles (and lapbook)
Winter Nature Study
Winter Olympics Study (along with study of Canada)

Before Five in a Row Favorites
Angus Lost 
Big Green Pocketbook
Going on a Bear Hunt
Katy No Pocket (fun with Katy!) 
Snowy Day


Five in a Row Favorites
Albert (and bird study)
Albert (fun and notebooking pages)
Andy and the Circus
Another Celebrated Dancing Bear
Beatrix Potter & Nature (Peter Rabbit)
Beatrix Potter Tea Time (Peter Rabbit)
Bee Tree (activities)
Bee Tree - re-rowing, 2010
Daniel's Duck
Glorious Flight (fun and lapbook)
Gramma's Walk
How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World (Apple Painting, Apple Tasting, Apple Butter)
Little Nino's Pizzaria ~ 2008
Little Nino's Pizzaria ~ re-rowing, 2010
Mrs. Katz and Tush (passover)
Owl Moon
Pair of Red Clogs (and study of Japan, activities)
Papa Piccolo (lapbook) 
Paul Revere's Ride
Peter Rabbit (and Beatrix Potter author study)
Ping (and study of China)
Ping Lapbook
Pumpkin Runner (with study of Australia)
Roxaboxen (desert crafts and our cactus)
Salamander Room (Nature Scavenger Hunt, Clay salamander)
Snowflake Bentley (and winter nature study)
Truman's Aunt Farm 

Beyond Five in a Row Units
Helen Keller


Favorite Homeschooling Books for Mom