Summer School 2015 (Between 1st & 2nd Grades and Preschool & K4)

I’ve discovered that long breaks aren’t really beneficial for us when it comes to school work. So our strategy for this summer will be a bit different. I don’t want to necessarily do a year-round school schedule – planning a more traditional school year with the breaks we need works for us. Continuing in the summer is going to be helpful for us, but I want to do something besides what we normally do throughout the year.

I don’t want to be a total stick in the mud, and I need a break, too. So we’ll take a few shorter breaks during the summer, and do our “summer school” schedule the rest of the time.

Summer Vacation: I will require a minimum of 30 minutes of reading each weekday, even when we’re on summer vacation. Caedmon will read (hopefully independently a lot) and Honor will either look at books herself or we’ll do read-alouds. Both kids will also be required to draw/color/do something creative each day.

Summer School, Caedmon: The 30 minute/day reading requirement will continue to apply.

We’re also going to begin a vocabulary program called English From the Roots Up. It’s meant for older kids, but Caedmon has an interest in Greek and Latin, and we won’t start formal Latin studies until 3^rd grade. I thought this might be a good way to introduce some Greek and Latin while at the same time, maybe help him with vocabulary and spelling. I’m adapting it for his age and skill, so I’ll let you know how that goes for us.

After reading and vocabulary, Caedmon will have a few things to choose from. He’ll choose one thing from Category 1 and one thing from Category 2.

Category 1: Explode the Code or Building Thinking Skills

Category 2: Kahn Academy (math, online) or Keyboarding Without Tears

I think those options will give us plenty of variety and keep us from getting bogged down in the work. It also won’t take terribly long.

Summer School, Honor: I had originally planned to start “school” with Honor in the fall, which would be her K4 year. So I bought a few things at a curriculum sale this past spring with that in mind. And then she insisted that she needed to start school now. So we did. And she loves it. Her thinking and reasoning skills are outstanding, but her writing skills aren’t quite there yet. (She just turned 4 – so she’s developmentally appropriate with writing.) So we’ll continue adapting the work so she can work at her own pace and worry about writing skills a little later.

Aside from 30 minutes of book time, Honor will have computer/iPad time for phonics and reading type sites/apps. She’ll also continue to work through Building Thinking Skills and Mathematical Reasoning.

Book Study: We will be traveling some this summer, and that’s a great time for a book study. Our library has a great selection of audio books, and we’ll choose something classic that’s age appropriate. (Last year, we did The Wonderful Wizard of Oz and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.) I’ll browse Pinterest to see what study aids I can come up with, and we’ll do some activities to go along with the book and Caedmon will do a Book Report like we do throughout the school year. (It’s a one-page sheet – very simple.)

I’ll evaluate at the end of the summer and let you know how it goes!

1st Grade Homeschool Recap: What Worked and What Didn't

To read about my 1^st Grade prep process, check out this post. I’ll be going down the list item by item for recap purposes. We finished 1^st Grade over two weeks ago! Boom!

First, we ended up doing about five school days worth of “work” over the summer between kindergarten and 1st. It was mostly through field trips and book studies. It was good to have those days under our belt, and we didn’t completely lose our heads, but I think a more consistent summer “program” will be better for us in the future. I’ll talk about my plans for that another time.

Reading: My plan: use library books. How it went: great! I probably was not as consistent with making Caedmon have “book time” on a daily basis as I should’ve been. But he read aloud a lot to me during our lessons. He reads better than he gives himself credit for, he just needs to build confidence. He’s started reading to Honor a bit toward the end of the year, but it’s challenging because she prefers to be the one in charge of the agenda. To sum it up, I think library books along with reading during his other lessons was good for him.

We also did a few “book studies” – usually during a time we were taking a break from other subjects. Spring Break, for example. We took a couple of days off, but since taking an extended break isn’t beneficial for us, we continued the other days with a few light subjects and reading a book (like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory) and did a character study, coloring pages, etc. Pinterest is an awesome place to find resources for book studies!

Writing: My plan: use Writing With Ease Level 1. How it worked: great! I like this program – it teaches copywork at this age, as well as listening and narrating. It also gave us a jumping-off point for some of our reading. I’m SO glad I got the workbook. If I hadn’t, I would’ve had to come up with all his copywork on my own. No thank you. Writing is definitely not Caedmon’s favorite subject, but I felt like this gave him great practice and incorporated grammar elements along the way.

Math: My plan: use Saxon1. How it worked: really well. I like the concept behind Saxon – continually working on things you’ve learned while adding new skills. It seems slow to add new things sometimes (and I grow super weary of all the “meeting” stuff), but it has been a good program for us. It has lots of hands-on elements, which Caedmon really enjoys. Honor often participates with us during those exercises, even if it’s just playing with pennies.

The only thing I really don’t like is that on Assessment (test) days, it gives you a written assessment, a fact sheet, and a problem sheet. That’s a LOT of work. So, I usually ditch the fact sheet or problem sheet on those days. I’d save them for a day we needed extra practice. I found the “make your own flash cards” tedious and unnecessary since they include flash cards with the workbooks, so I quit making them about halfway thru the year and we just used the cards that came with it.

During the last few weeks of 1^st Grade, I began incorporating Kahn Academy into our math program. We were going to run out of math lessons before we ran out of school days, so I sprinkled it in to stretch it out a bit and give Caedmon a bit of a change-up. He enjoys computer work, so I thought he would like this. He does, for the most part. There’s a bit of a challenge sometimes because it presents problems in a different way than he’s used to seeing with Saxon. But usually after we work through one of them together, he’s able to continue on without help.

Bible: My plan: use The Gospel Project app. How it worked: great! The kids both love this app and the videos are fun to watch while teaching solid biblical principles. I love that it’s a chronological walk through the Bible. He is still “journaling” by drawing pictures, but he’s learning and enjoying the Bible, and that’s what’s important.

Spelling: My plan: Spelling Workout A. How it worked: meh. Don’t love it, don’t hate it. I think part of the difficulty is that it requires writing and Caedmon doesn’t enjoy writing. He also doesn’t quite see the parts of words yet – like –ing, -ed, or the two words in a compound word. I think we need more phonics work before tackling spelling, honestly. I kind of wish I had skipped spelling this year. I’m not entirely sure it has been beneficial for us. Or maybe a more phonics-focused program would’ve been better for him. We will be trying something different next year.

Language Arts: My plan: First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 1. How it worked: great. Love that the lessons are short and sweet. Most don’t require writing, and the ones that did, I often allowed him to use the white board instead of paper. I do feel like it’s slow to teach a few things, but I like the simplicity.

History: My plan: Story of the World, Volume 1. How it worked: fabulous. Caedmon loves history. I loved the audio book of the textbook! We listened to history in the car while running errands, and it was one less thing I had to read aloud. It was also more “user friendly” because the kids both felt like they were listening to a story instead of a lesson. We used the Activity Book for narration guidelines, activity sheets, and maps. Caedmon has immensely enjoyed the mapwork. Honor loves to color a picture along with us since she’s listening to the “story” too. We supplemented a lot with books from the library, which wasn’t hard to do at all. We tried to use the Usborne and Kingfisher encyclopedias, but they’re a bit cumbersome for a 1^st grader to handle, and they contain so much information, it was kind of an overload for us both. They’re awesome books and I know we’ll use them more in the future, but smaller, more kid-friendly books from the library were better for us. We did not do tests, but will incorporate those next year.

Science: My plan: use DK Animal and Human Body Encyclopedias as a jumping off point, and study gardening. How it worked: pretty well. I have to admit, I’ve been pretty relaxed about science this year. I chose topics from the encyclopedias, we read those pages, and checked out supporting books at the library. After reading our pages together, I gave the library books to Caedmon and told him to “go learn things” and had him report back to me with one thing he learned from each book. I wrote those down on our narration sheet and we discussed the pictures, he asked questions, etc. For gardening, we checked out some books at the library, he’s helped me prep our garden beds, plant seeds, maintain our seedlings, and has chosen to grow a watermelon plant as his “project.” My theory is that we have plenty of time to get into the details of science.  We’ll repeat these subjects again at least twice. At this point, I want to introduce topics and concepts and let his curiosity take over. He conducted an experiment last week to see if you really can’t taste stuff when you hold your nose (we were studying digestion). He thought it was awesome…and I thought it was awesome that it was his idea to try it out.

Enrichment: Caedmon attended an “enrichment” class one day a week from 9am-2pm with other homeschool kids his age. He loved it, and so did I. It was valuable for him to be in a classroom setting, interact with other kids in that setting, and learn from someone who’s not me. He actually learned some things there before we got to them in our books, which I loved. I heard more from him about lunch and recess than anything else, and I’m not sure that’s entirely abnormal.  It was a place I could feel good about sending him, knowing I could trust not only the teachers, but the content.

Sports: We’ve played the sports. Caedmon played baseball last summer, then he and Honor both took swim lessons in the fall. He played basketball in the winter, and we finished up the spring with swim lessons for both kids again. While I think playing sports teaches some great lessons (and gives an outlet for physical activity), the schedule is difficult for all of us when both kids aren’t participating at the same time. So, my favorite has been swim lessons. Both kids can participate at their own level during the same time slot, and we all get the benefits.

What I added:

Keyboarding: In January, I added a keyboarding course from Keyboarding Without Tears. Caedmon has enjoyed having a “school” reason to use the computer, and I love that it’s teaching him how to actually type. I chose 1^st grade level, though they offer kindergarten. It’s all online and I found it very affordable.

Math: As I mentioned above, we added Kahn Academy during the last month of school. We’ll continue using it throughout the summer. Best part? It’s free.

Explode the Code: The best way I can describe ETC is that it’s phonics, but incorporates spelling and reading. I brought it in when we finished our Language Arts book, and we’ll continue with it over the summer.

So, has 1^st Grade been all sunshine and roses? Hardly. There have been days when we didn’t want to school. There have been days when we both had to take a break…from the books and from each other. But there have also been days that were painless. And even fun. And seeing the light come on in those little eyes when the brain finally makes connections has been priceless.

I will also say that having a homeschool support group makes a world of difference. We are part of a small group of families who homeschool and have the same values we do. We do field trips together, have park play dates together, encourage each other, celebrate victories, and support each other when we have rough days. This journey would be so much more difficult without those other Mommas who are in the trenches with me.

Now, on to 2^nd Grade and Pre-K…yes, already.  I’ll talk about those very soon!

It's Been a While

So…it’s been a while, hasn’t it? I have missed blogging. Well, I should say that I’ve missed blogging for myself. I have been blogging regularly over at Real Mom’s Disney, and while I absolutely love it, it’s not the same as sharing thoughts over here in my own little corner of the Internet. Even if nobody reads them anymore. (Or ever?)

I can’t really blame my absence here on busyness. Sure, I’ve been busy. But it’s really been more of a writer’s block, so to speak. I didn’t decide to quit blogging or even forget about it. In fact, I’ve thought about it quite a lot over the past several months. It just seemed like I never had the right words to say.  Or the things I wanted to say would take way too many words. Things have seemed to be much easier 140 characters at a time.

A lot has happened in life since my last post. We managed to make it through almost all of 1st Grade (we finish up next week), and I’ll update on that later. Caedmon is growing in so many ways right before my eyes. He has gotten 2+ inches taller since his birthday. He’s a kind, smart, helpful boy, and he’s a great big brother to Honor. He’s spreading his wings a bit, becoming a little more adventurous in lots of ways…except he still doesn’t like avocado. (I’ll convince him one of these days.)

Honor turned 4 last month. FOUR, people. She’s also growing like a weed, keeping pace with her brother’s 2+ inches since the fall. She’s spunky, loud, and lovable. She also keeps her big brother on his toes. There’s never a dull moment around here, to say the least. She’s loved going to Mother’s Day Out this year, and next year will be her last year before kindergarten. And with our swimming lessons, she might actually be full-on swimming in the pool this summer (score for Mom!).

We’re all looking forward to summer over here. It’s going to be a bit different for us – at least, different than the past two summers. We only have one trip planned. One. Caedmon isn’t playing baseball. We’re doing some “summer school” (I’ll update on that later), and relaxing. After the crazy schedule we’ve had this winter/spring, I’m really looking forward to spending mornings at the pool, evenings in the garden, and straight chillin’ in between. Ok, so there are other things to be done too, but I think you get the idea.

Maybe I’ll even be able to find some words to string together.

1st Grade and Mother’s Day Out

We did actually start 1st Grade and Mother’s Day Out. Our schools start early here, so we were actually in full swing by the second week of August.

When Caedmon started 1st grade, he was about to turn seven, had already lost two teeth, and loves all things Minecraft. And yeah, when you homeschool and it’s still blazing hot outside, you wear shorts and flip flops to school.

Honor is three and a half. She loves pink and purple, but is into superheroes too…thus the hand-me-down Captain America t-shirt she chose for her first day of class. With a bow, of course.

They are both doing well and are enjoying their classes!

1st Grade Prep

Even though I just recapped kindergarten, we’ve already moved on to 1st grade over here. Actually, I’ve been up to my eyeballs in 1st grade for a couple of months now.

I know. I’m an overachiever.

Actually, I just don’t want to spend my entire summer working on school stuff. So I’m motivated.

The way the homeschool year works here, we can actually start in July. So we will be working a few days over the summer, mainly to keep things fresh.

We’re expanding a lot this year. Kindergarten only had four subjects, and this coming year we’ll have eight.

Please excuse me while I go breathe into a paper bag.

Yes, eight subjects. Reading, Writing, Math, and Bible have carried over from last year. We’ll be adding Spelling, Language Arts (Grammar), History, and Science.

Reading: We’ll use library books, and the reading lists from our other subjects will be our starting point. I will read aloud, we’ll read together, and he will read independently. There will be “school” reading, and “fun” reading, where he can choose whatever he likes. We also enjoy audio books, especially in the car. Hopefully we will expand from our Hank the Cowdog repertoire. (I love Hank. But we’re about to exhaust our library’s collection.)

Writing: We’re using Writing with Ease. I bought the hardback book and the workbook. The hardback book covers grades 1-4, and the workbook just covers 1st grade. I mainly chose the workbook because there is lots of copywork involved, and I didn’t want to have to write it all out beforehand. I like the concept behind this method, and it gives you the freedom to choose short or long passages depending on your child’s capabilities.

Math: We’re sticking with Saxon, moving up to Math 1. As opposed to last year, this year will have daily worksheets. Caedmon is already asking to start his new math, so I have a feeling we may be diving into this soon-ish.

Bible: We’re continuing with The Gospel Project for Kids, and we’ll keep the same general format we used last year.

Spelling: I decided to go with Spelling Workout from Modern Curriculum Press. We’re starting with level A. I hadn’t planned to purchase the Teacher’s Edition, but Husband found it at the used bookstore for $2.50. Score! I might be glad I have it – we’ll see! I think Caedmon will like the format – at least, I hope he will!

Language Arts: I chose First Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind, Level 1. It’s scripted – so it tells me exactly what to say/do. Which is awesome. It will use copywork, narration, memorizing poetry, and picture study. I’m an English nerd, so I’m kind of excited about this one.

History: We will use The Story of the World, Volume 1. Caedmon is going to love it. Remember how he loves all the melee? I predict he will love all of the ancient warfare. I also purchased the audio version so we can listen in the car, and the Activity Book. The Activity Book comes with questions and narration cues for each chapter, as well as extra activity ideas and instructions, coloring pages, and maps. If I had to come up with all that stuff on my own, well…I wouldn’t. We’ll supplement with The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History and The Kingfisher History Encyclopedia.

Science: We will study “biology” this year – animals, people, and plants. We’ll be using the DK First Animal Encyclopedia and the DK First Human Body Encyclopedia. I haven’t decided what we’ll use for plants yet, but by the time we get to that part, it will be time to get going on our garden again, so there will be plenty of hands-on. We will study 20 weeks of animals, 10 weeks of the human body, and about 6 weeks of plants. I plan to let Caedmon choose a new topic each week, and explore from there. We may study reptiles one week and elephants the next, and that will be fine with me.

I purchased all of our stuff thru Amazon.com. After scouring the internet, I found the best prices and availability there. Overall, I spent about half of what I thought I would. I know I could’ve waited until summer to buy more used resources, go to curriculum fairs, etc., but that just wasn’t going to work for me. There was no guarantee I’d find what I was looking for, and I didn’t find that most used prices were that much less than what I could purchase for on Amazon. Plus, I wanted it right now. A few of the resources will be used for multiple years, and we’ll (hope to) be using many things again when Honor follows in about three years.

So there it is…I’ll review all of these things at the end of next year, and let you know how it all worked for us. What are your favorite homeschool resources?

Kindergarten Recap

I guess it’s time to officially recap our first year of homeschooling. It’s actually kind of hard to think back to the beginning of the school year. Maybe that’s because I’ve already ordered our curriculum for next year and have almost finished lesson plans. It’s a never-ending cycle!

Kindergarten went well for us. Caedmon is a smart boy. He has interests far beyond his 6 years, but at the same time, he has no interest in some of the basic things…like handwriting. That’s just part of being in kindergarten. And a boy. And 6.

Caedmon attended a weekly homeschool enrichment class this year, and we both loved it. His teacher was/is fabulous (he’ll have her again next year) and a huge blessing to our family. Caedmon got to go to “school” and learn along with friends. He was challenged by working with a group and independently within a class. He learned some things we didn’t touch on until the end of the year, and a few times I heard, “Mrs. J already taught me that.” That, my friends, was a good thing. After school pick-up, he told me more about lunch and recess than the other 4+ hours of the day. And, each week, he informed me that he ate the Oreos in his Lunchable first…just because he could. Free range lunch is big stuff, y’all.

(And yes, go ahead and judge that I send a Lunchable with my kid every week. I make breakfast, lunch, and dinner every other day of the week. He can enjoy some processed food in a pack once a week.)

At home, we focused on four subjects – I kept things simple on purpose. I didn’t want to push him too much, and I wanted him to have plenty of time to learn to learn. So while we supplemented with field trips, extra learning opportunities, and self-guided study, our four main subjects were: Reading, Writing, Math, and Bible.

Reading: We used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. My Mom used this book to teach my siblings to read, so I knew it was time-tested and effective. It also took zero prep from me. It has scripts for the parent to follow, so you don’t have to “know” anything. It starts very basic, and by the end of the book, the student is reading short stories. It uses a parts to whole method (basically phonics), and only teaches sight words one or two at a time, not as a big list. It has 3-4 lessons that teach a new concept, then a review lesson. It also has a writing aspect, and teaches the child how to write one or two letters at a time.

When we started the year, we were actually picking up from our “K4” year. We got through about 50 lessons last year, so we went through all the review lessons up to lesson 50 when we started this year. Then, we picked up where we left off. The book recommends doing a lesson every day. But we didn’t. (I’m such a rebel.) Caedmon’s favorite thing was not reading, and I didn’t want it to be a chore. At the same time, he needed to learn to read, and was quite capable. So we did 2-3 lessons a week, and on the off days, we either went to the library or I read aloud to him/we read together.

Each week, we chose a library book for a “book report.” He could choose any book we brought home from the library. It wasn’t always my favorite book, but I wanted to make sure it was something he was excited about. I read the book aloud to him, and then he did a book report. I made a template that we used for these, and I’m so thankful I did. It made life so much easier. We’d write the author and illustrator, if applicable. Then, I’d ask him for a sentence about the book  - what he learned, what he liked, etc. I’d write down his sentence, then he’d draw a picture about the book. Then he’d write his name and the date on the report.

Reading finally “clicked” for Caedmon about a month before we finished kindergarten. He realized that he could actually read things outside of his reading book. (I was right! Gasp!) Now he reads all kinds of things in all sorts of places. Signs, license plates…it amazes me where he sees all the words now. He can read things like The Cat in the Hat and Green Eggs and Ham without help. He’s started trying to spell things on his own, and it sometimes ends up quite comical. I love it. He’s still a bit timid – mainly because he doesn’t want to be wrong. But we’ll continue reading over the summer, and I’m confident that he’ll follow in the footsteps of a long line of great readers from both sides of the family.

Writing: For the first semester, we used the writing part of 100 Easy Lessons. I’d write sample letters on his writing paper, and he’d trace, then write his own letters. I also had him write his name, family members’ names, and numbers. Toward the end of the semester, he wrote well enough that I’d give him an extra line at the bottom to write “something for fun.” He really enjoyed having a line to just write something he came up with.

For the second semester, I used the Zaner Bloser Handwriting Grade K workbook. It goes over each letter individually, followed by numbers and some copywork. We got most of the way through it, and will finish the last few pages over the summer. I didn’t have the teacher’s book, so I just went with one letter (one page front and back) per lesson.

Caedmon has always had good fine motor skills, and his writing is pretty decent – when he wants it to be. We do kind of butt heads over the proper way to make some letters, though. He tends to want to write them in the most complicated way possible. He doesn’t understand that even though there may be seven ways to write the letter, only one is considered correct as far as his school work is concerned. I made a deal with him that he could write them however he wants when he draws/writes anything on his own, but he has to write them the proper way for his school work. He didn’t like that until I explained that it’s important to write letters properly so he can more easily learn to write cursive. He’s dying to write in cursive.  I’m not dying to teach cursive.

Math: We used Saxon Math K with the manipulatives kit. (The manipulatives kit is used K-3rd grade.) I’d heard that some just started with Math 1, and was tempted to do so, but I’m actually glad we started with K. It was very simple at first – way more simple than he (or I) thought it should be. There were lots of concepts he already knew and understood well. But I knew that he didn’t know the things toward the end of the book. He loved using the manipulatives – counting bears, tangrams, shape pieces, geo board, etc. We spent a lot of time learning patterns, and honestly, I was kind of worn out on patterns by the end of the year. I was even more tired of making pictographs. The only worksheets with Math K are optional and begin in the last half of the lessons. They are geared toward writing numbers and coloring in a certain number of shapes, not working problems.

It did require prep on my part – not a ton, but some. I actually made a lot of the things on my computer and saved them so I can just print them again when Honor uses this in about three years. It was a pain to open up the lesson and see that I was supposed to cut out a bunch of construction paper shapes for that lesson, so I spent some time going through the entire book and made a list of what prep was needed when. I will say, however, that this is a great math program and we did enjoy it overall. Caedmon learned a lot, and absolutely loved doing math lessons.

There are 112 lessons in Math K, and it was designed for three lessons/week, and one day for review. We did math three days/week, sometimes doing just three lessons, sometimes up to five, especially during the beginning of the year. We skipped the review day – we just didn’t find it necessary.

We did finish the book a couple of weeks early, so we moved on to a Grade 1 math workbook I picked up in the Target $1 Spot. We got about half way thru it by the time we officially finished school, and we’ll complete the book over the summer.

Bible: We used The Gospel Project for Kids. It’s published by LifeWay and is written as a Sunday School curriculum, meant to go through the entire Bible in three years. This was our second year to use it. I simplified a lot this year. (Last year, I ordered the teacher’s books and activity pages. Caedmon wasn’t interested in the activity pages, and I found that with the app, I didn’t need the book.) We downloaded the iPad and/or iPhone app each quarter. The app has lesson videos, discussion starter videos, parent guides, memory verses, songs, and games. I found it super easy to use and it worked well for us. We also added The Big Picture Interactive Bible Storybook this spring. The stories correspond with the lessons, and it gave us another way to experience the lesson.

We did 1-2 lessons a week. My goal right now is to familiarize him with the Bible and follow the thread of God’s plan throughout the Scripture, not necessarily go deep on each lesson. That time will come. If you know anything about my boy, you know he loves battle. So he adored all the fighting and general mayhem in the Old Testament.  Kings and wars…right up his alley.

Generally, we would watch the lesson video on the first day. The next day, we’d read the story either from the Bible or the Bible Storybook. The third day, we’d watch the lesson video again and do a journal page. I made a journal page for each lesson – the lesson title, scripture reference, the “Big Picture” question and answer, and the unit memory verse. His task was to draw a picture about the lesson. (Since we were in the Old Testament much of this year, there were lots of stick men holding swords and shields. Just the way he likes it.)

We did lots of other things in between, but that’s the biggest part of what we did this year. Reading, writing, and math…the rest will follow!

Lately

We’ve been busy bees lately. Here’s a little of what we’ve been up to.

We dyed Easter eggs.  (Yes, it’s been that long since my last post.)

I made a “smoked”  brisket in the crock pot for Easter, using Rudy’s Rub Husband brought back from a business trip to Texas. Because that’s what you bring home from Texas, and this is what you do with it.

We discovered that Caedmon is allergic to wasp stings, and joined the EpiPen club.

We ran a couple of drive-thru errands one day, and took Oz with us. He enjoyed the trip.

We got our garden started.

We spent some time getting our “safe place” ready for spring storms. We haven’t had to sit in there yet, but Honor has her spot all picked out.

Caedmon’s homeschool enrichment class had Field Day, and he brought home these awesome ribbons.

Our homeschool group visited a diary farm. We went on a hay ride, got to meet a dairy cow, pet her, see how cows are milked, and pet a new calf. We also ate some of their freshly made ice cream and played on the playground.

Caedmon’s end of the year ceremony with his sweet teacher, Mrs. J.

Caedmon received the “Detailed Historian Award” from Mrs. J. It was appropriate that when we got back in the car, this was sitting on the front seat.

We bring home a bag full of books just like this every time we go to the library.

Honor got some new goggles.

We went to pick strawberries. (She’s teaching the kids how to find the “grown up” berries.)

The pool opened the day we went to pick berries, so we had to go! (Caedmon got a new mask & snorkel!)

And then that afternoon, I made strawberry jam.

It didn’t quite set up, but it tastes so good, I don’t really care.

We had errands to run while Honor was at MDO one day, so Caedmon got to do math while we took a break at Starbucks. He’s quickly learning that “school” can be anywhere…and he kind of likes the idea.

Today is Honor’s last MDO for the school year. It’s about to officially be summer at our house, y’all! I don’t know when we’re going to find time to relax!

Big Concepts, Deep Thoughts

Part of our reading each week involves Caedmon choosing a book we brought home from the library for me to read aloud. (We bring home about 20, so there’s never a shortage of options.) He then does a “book report.” I made a form, and it gives us a place to list the title, author, (illustrator, if applicable), and a note about the book.  He tells me what he would like to remember about the book, and I write it down. At the bottom of the page is a place for him to draw a picture about the story. It’s not fancy, but it has been a great thing for us. We’ve read a lot of books this year, and it’s a great way to not only keep track of them, but to help Caedmon learn how to transfer what he hears/learns to the page.

Caedmon is in love with battle. Of all kinds. I know some find it disconcerting that a 6 year-old is completely obsessed with weapons, war, and battle strategy. But God made boys to be interested in battle. Boys grow up to be our warriors. So, we are allowing Caedmon to pursue this in what we feel is an appropriate way. Lately, that’s included finding the war section in juvenile non-fiction at the library and bringing home as many books as I’ll let him have.

War is a tough thing to talk about with anybody, but especially a 6 year-old. And it’s even more difficult when your 6 year-old is a deep thinker. He’s not into dates and facts. He wants to know why and how and because. Realities are harsh things, and the other day, I found myself explaining not just the reality of war, but of another difficult topic.

We read “The Tuskegee Airmen: African-American Pilots of World War II.” And I quickly found myself trying to adequately and appropriately explain segregation and discrimination (the book doesn’t give much background on the topic). Yes, Caedmon was asking questions about it, but I also wanted him to grasp just how big a deal it was for these men to become fighter pilots, and how much they sacrificed in order to do so. And even how much they dealt with as they were fighting for and alongside men who didn’t necessarily believe in them. And when they came home to America, they were not considered the war heroes they should’ve been. I’m not sure all of that “stuck,” but Caedmon was super impressed that not one bomber was shot down while be escorted by the Red Tails (the 332nd Fighter Group’s nickname), and that no other escort group’s record was as good. 

Yes, it was kind of a hard discussion to have. Lots of questions were asked, and I answered to the best of my ability, which is less than perfect. But this is one reason that I’m so thankful we homeschool. As Caedmon is learning about war and history, we can also talk about how we were all made by God. A God who doesn’t make mistakes, and doesn’t make people with different colored skin, hair, eyes, or size by accident. We all look different, and He made us just the way we are on purpose. And no, I don’t really understand why everyone doesn’t see that. People make mistakes and they sometimes think and act in a way that’s not right. And it doesn’t excuse their actions or make them ok, but God still loves us, and He loves them.

Those little conversations have been sneaking in more and more lately. Bigger concepts. Deeper thoughts. Conversations that are made sweet by having them in the moment, with the heart, instead of after-the-fact with the head (if at all).

Homeschooling can be hard. I’m the first one to admit that. But moments like these make the hard and so much more worth every second.

School Days

A couple of weeks ago, the kids started going to class once a week.

Honor is going to our church’s Mother’s Day Out program. At “Meet the Teacher,” Mrs. D told us to expect the kids to be upset when we dropped off the first day. That was not a problem for Honor. She was more upset when I picked her up!

Her second week, she walked right in and barely even told me bye. She came home with the cutest bumblebee she’d “made” out of two letter B’s. She was so proud of herself.

Caedmon is going to a Homeschool Enrichment class. He’s attending with other homeschooling Kindergarten/1st graders. The first day of class, I walked him in and helped him find his spot at the table. It took him approximately 3 seconds to settle in. This was right before I got the, “You can go now, Mom.”

The second week, he tried to get me to leave while we were in the hall. I think it’s safe to say that he is enjoying himself. And I’m sure he will accidentally learn something in the process.

And me? I’m enjoying having a little time to myself during the day once a week. So far, I’ve been crazy busy during those days. But in the next couple of weeks, I’m planning a day to just…sit. It makes it even better knowing that the kids are enjoying themselves and learning something at the same time.

First Day of Kindergarten

Caedmon’s first day of kindergarten was Monday!

Yes, schools start super early here. And though we’re homeschooling, we decided to keep the same schedule for simplicity’s sake.

Wow…a lot has changed since his first day of K4 last year! We are looking forward to what this year has for us!