These fellas obviously do not understand the term “social distancing”!
A letter to new homeschooling families,
Dear friends and family…
So, for the near foreseeable future, you are homeschooling.
Some notes from a homeschooling mom…
Breathe!
Be thankful for this time together.
I am not sure what the School staff will be implementing, but I have a few notes you may find helpful…
Use this time to help your kids get caught up on a missed skill… whether that be math facts, decoding words, geography… use this time to their advantage.
When you feel like you are talking to a rock, don’t be afraid to put the books to the side and let the kids take a break. During that time, kick them outside to play, and you should drink a cup of coffee or tea…or a glass of wine- whatever helps you catch your breath. Then, join them outside, listen to the birds sing, soak up some vitamin D, tell them to collect as many different types of insects or leaves as possible in the next 20 minutes and let them observe their findings… or have them plant some seeds and let them start a small garden over the coming weeks. If you feel you need more learning during this free time, then have them research their findings or look up companion planting or square foot gardening on the internet. Nature is good for the soul, and a great way to reset. Incorporating it into your day will make you feel more energized and grateful for this time together. Continue reading “A letter to new homeschooling families,”
5 months back to homeschooling…
There has been a lot of change since we started our “back to homeschooling” journey, and we are at the 5 month mark, so I would like to take this time to look back at where we started and where we are now in terms of academics.
So, we ordered the BJU Press curriculum (Math, Reading, Science, Social Studies, English, Handwriting, and Bible). And, we hit the ground running, with a 5 day school week. We started in October, and the curriculum was for 180 days, so my kids are actually “schooling” year round this year, since they were in public school since August. Since we will not have your traditional long summer break, we dropped to a 4 day school week.
The 4 day school week works perfectly, because they girls do their school work at the grandparent’s once a week, at my office once a week and I am home at the beginning of the school week to get things started on the right foot, and back at home on our last day of the school week (Thursday) so we can finish any loose ends.
As the weeks progressed, it didn’t take long for us to realize that the academic load was too much. So, the first thing we dropped was the formal Bible curriculum, because we often read the Bible as a family anyway.
The next to go was Handwriting, because they write so much in their core subjects already.
Then, though we love Mrs. Walker and History, it was taking too much of our time, and the kids still had questions with the content, so we switched to Notgrass History, and do it as a family. We began by doing it 3x per week, with the activity on the 4th day.
January and February 2020…
It is 2020 already? Wow! So over the last 2 months, I didn’t collect a whole lot of photos of our schooling days, but I did catch some memories with the time spent with family and friends.
A LIST OF RANDOM HAPPENINGS with a video to follow…
- Bug had Flu A and B and ended up in the hospital. That was scary! But he is all good now!
- On top of my real estate career which already keeps me busy, I took on a part-time office manager position at my company. So, needless to say things have been pretty busy.
- However, on top of adjusting to the new work schedule and homeschooling, we have also spent some time with family and friends…
Poetry…
My girls had fun with their latest writing unit. Here is a photo of Iz’s two poems. Roo wrote a persuasive essay about why we should have friends. Being highly dyslexic, writing is super hard for her, but she made me very proud…especially because of her heart and truth put into her work. She stayed true to herself and organized her thoughts well. So impressed with her progress through the writing process.
Now, back to grammar for a couple of weeks.
I can’t wait to see how their writing progresses through the months… years.
December 2019 – Homeschooling in COLORADO!!!
Every other year, since 2015, we have been going to Colorado to visit and hike in Rocky Mountain National Park. This is our home away from home… We stay at the Historic Crags Lodge, and usually we only make it about 6 miles since we have little legs and shorter days…
When we returned home, the kids had choir practice and a Christmas performance, and we enjoyed time with our family for the holidays! The kids were able to spend time with their grandparents and cousins.
Oh, did I mention that the LSU Tigers are Number 1?
November 2019 Homeschooling Highlights…
This was a busy month, we had to finish working on the investment property for a December closing, we had Thanksgiving break, and we completed our book work, but we did manage to get a few photos…
Insect Project
The descriptions!!!
November Garden
I love the garden…
October 2019 Back to Homeschooling Highlights in Photos…
There are varying forms of Dyslexia. Iz has mild dyslexia and scored Advanced in ELA on the LEAP test, Mastery in other subjects, was in the 90s club at school, and 1.5-2 years ahead in math, however she still spells phonetically for the most part and is slower at completing most academic tasks. Roo is highly dyslexic and is pretty far behind in reading. She was also in the 90s club and 1.5 years ahead in Math, but she did not score well on the iLeap.
Roo was able to improve a full grade level in reading Continue reading “October 2019 Back to Homeschooling Highlights in Photos…”
Beyond the Elm 