Our Homeschool Curriculum 2015-2016

For those curious, this is our homeschool curriculum for the 2015-2016 school year.  For us, finding a curriculum that fits with our unique kids and their learning style has been hit and miss.  Luckily, with Nathan we have found courses that seem to fit him well.  We are eager to see how little Michael is going to do with the curriculum we chose for him this year.  We also let them pick an elective~ they picked cooking :)  As you can tell, we don't pick 1 particular curriculum from 1 specific publisher, we are all over the place.  But that is fine, it works for our family and we enjoy it :)

It is hard to believe that we just graduated 1 and now only have 2 this year :)

Nathan- 6th grade

Math U See- Epsilon
Heritage Studies 6
Learning Language Arts through Literature- Tan
Spelling You Can See- E
Apologia Zoology 2
A Reason for Handwriting- C
Reading

Michael- 1st grade

Math U See- Primer
Learning Language Arts through Literature- Blue
Spelling You Can See- A
Apologia Astronomy
Road Trip USA
A Reason for Handwriting- A
Reading

Group Activities

Telling God's Story
Teaching Your Kids to Cook
PE

Our HomeSchool Science Project :)

Nathan has been learning about the sun and how we see color.  We wrapped up this chapter with a pretty neat science experiment. 

Mention the word experiment and the boys sit nice and patient.  They love doing experiments and I love that they are learning while experimenting:)

Anyone can do it and it is pretty cool.  Want to see?  Gather the following supplies to begin your very own science experiment:

Coffee Filter
Black water based marker
small cup of rubbing alcohol
piece of paper for underneath just in case:)

Next follow the pictures and instructions and have fun:)

Fold Coffee Filter in half and draw a rainbow shape with your black marker close to the edge of the coffee filter

Fold Coffee Filter in half again

Place your folded coffee filter in the cup of rubbing alcohol and watch- be patient :)

The end results

 Pretty neat- huh??  All these neat colors from one black magic marker line and some rubbing alcohol.  Once you try it with your kids, let me know what they thought.  My boys, even the 19 year old, thought it was really cool :)  The coffee filter looks neat when it is dry and unfolded.  Yes, we still have ours.

We will have more really neat experiments that I will share with you in the near future:)

Our Homeschool Curriculum

For those who may be interested in our homeschool curriculum, here you go.

Last year was our test run with the whole Homeschooling adventure with Kevin.  Things were rocky at first but smoothed out.  This year, I had in my fantasy mind that I was going to homeschool Kevin in 11th grade, Nathan in 4th grade and little Michael in Pre-K.  LOL:)  What was I thinking??  Things were supposed to go so smoothly- everything was going to be perfect and great.

Nathan and Kevin are doing well this year.  I haven't had the chance to start little Michael with Pre-K.  I don't even know where to fit him into our already jammed packed schedule.  I felt so bad and thought he would feel left out, but he doesn't seem to mind.  He does his own thing and some times joins us at the table.  One of these days, I will plan out the perfect schedule and will be the homeschooling super mom- every one will have their own schedule and will do their work nicely and things will be great-  OK, you can stop laughing now:)  That is how I see it in my head- a mom can dream, right?  I don't think we will ever have a "perfect" schedule.  But what ever works for us is what works for us.

This year, we have a whole new curriculum.  Last year, we went on the advice of someone for our curriculum and things didn't go so well for Kevin.  We didn't like the feel of the curriculum.  That is one of the great things I love about Homeschool.  Not everything works for everyone.  Trail and error sometimes determines your curriculum for that year.  We found out last year that Kevin did NOT do well with classes on the computer or online.  So, this year, we pieced together some things that are all book form, except for typing and that is working a lot better this year- yay:)

Here is what we are using this year:

Nathan- 4th grade
Math U See- Gamma
BJU Heritage Studies 4
Apologia Astronomy
Learning Language Arts through Literature- Orange
All about Spelling 1
Our resources include:  Library, computer, gym, art and learning the recorder (luckily, our neighbors work.  No one has yet complained about the musical noise in our house:))

Kevin- 11th grade
A Patriot's History of the United States
BJU Writing & Grammar 11
Wordly Wise 3000- Book 11
Typing Instructor Platinum
Math U See- Algebra 2
Dave Ramsey's Foundations of Personal Finance
Apologia Chemistry
See the Light- Art Projects- Year 2

We are happy with our curriculum choices this year.  As you can see we pick and choose what curriculum we would like for our children.  This is what works best for our family.  As with any homeschool family, you should do what ever is in the best interest of our child and what works for your family. 

Our Homeschool Field Trip to Mount Vernon

At the beginning of November, we were given the awesome opportunity to go on a Homeschool field trip to Mount Vernon with a bunch of other homeschoolers.  It was great.  We had a lot of fun.  Here are some pictures of our field trip:

Washington's Tomb- little Michael got to lay a carnation at the tomb

Tulip Poplar Circa 1766

Making candles

Beautiful stain glass

Washington's 7 year crop rotation

Washington's 2 story 16 sided barn



Horses would tread wheat and the seeds would fall through the cracks in the floors and would be collected below

Cutie on the bridge

Started out by playing games from that time period- ended up sword fighting:)

Kevin

Front of Washington's mansion

Back of Washington's mansion

We learned so much information.  Little Michael got to lay a rose at the gate of Washington's tomb- did you know that there are 57 family members buried behind the black door in the photo above?  George and Martha Washington had no kids together.  Interestingly, Robert E. Lee married Mary Anna Randolph Custis, who was step great grand daughter to George Washington.  I thought that was pretty neat as my family has ties to Robert E. Lee.  Also, did you know that George Washington's owned about 8 sets of dentures?  All of them believed to be strictly cosmetic and not to use to eat.  I could spend hours telling you all the interesting stuff we learned.  If you haven't made a trip to Mount Vernon- I strongly urge to go- so much information to learn.

Since our trip to Mount Vernon, I have become increasingly interested in researching my family history.

There is so much to do and see, we want to go back and take everyone with us next time:)

Our 2nd Homeschool field trip:)

Kevin is taking Biology for his Science this year.  We had to go to a lake or pond as part of his Biology experiment.  Instead of just Kevin, little Michael and myself going, we made it a family picnic event and had a blast. 

Nathan and little Michael played on the playground after lunch with daddy while Kevin and I did his Biology experiment and art assignment.  I was watching Kevin doing his work and just had to take a picture.  What a beautiful classroom:

Kevin finished his work and we decided to go for a hike and see if we could find any geocaching boxes.  I had gotten the clues before we left.  The trail was so beautiful.  We had a great time and learned some history about Twin Lakes State Park.

We also found this little guy sneaking across the trail.  I almost stepped on him.  Since it was chilly the day we went, this lizard was moving very slow, which made it easier to get a good picture of him:

To make our trip complete, we had to get a family picture in front of the water:

We had so much fun and look forward to many more homeschool field trips:)

Free 8 week art class

One of Kevin's homeschool classes is art.  I am not an artist at all.  Michael's drawings are amazing but due to his traveling work schedule, he is not available to teach Kevin art.  Kevin has tried to learn to draw from books from the library and it didn't go so well. 

When Kevin and I sat down to make his homeschool schedule for this year, he told me that he really, really wanted to take art as 1 of his electives.  I researched and researched and found See the Light art class which is taught by DVD.  The whole set contains 9 dvd's that consist of 36 step by step art lessons by Master Artist Pat Knepley.  We decided to give it a shot and see what happened.

Kevin surprised himself by drawing a perfect apple by the second lesson.  We knew See the Light art class was the right decision for us.  I love the fact that you don't need a whole bunch of art supplies, most the items you need, you already have at home.  We have been able to pick up 1 item each week on sale using a 40% off coupon at Hobby Lobby and we now have all his supplies needed for all the lessons. 

If you can't afford the whole 9 dvd set, you can just purchase each dvd by itself for $15 with free shipping:)  I was so very blessed to be able to get the whole dvd set for $23 through Amazon by cashing out my Swagbucks for Amazon gift cards and using them to pay for the set.

If you want to try See the Light art class, simply go here and sign up for a free 8 week class.  That way you get a way to try it out and see if this is the class for you and your kid(s).

Let me know what you think:)

Our very first Homeschool Field trip

We drove 2 hours to Hampton, VA to attend a Homeschool Appreciation event at the Air & Space museum yesterday.  This was our very first homeschool field trip.

We had so much fun and learned interesting facts.  Did you know that there is only 1/16th gravity on the moon?  Neat.  You know it is a good field trip when parents end of learning as much as the kids do:)

Both little Michael and Kevin had a blast.  They were able to fly a plane and a spaceship thanks to a simulator.  We were able to actually go in and sit down on an airplane and see all the flight controls.  It was a great field trip and tired everyone out.

Little Michael woke up the next day and informed me that he wanted to go on more field trips.  When I asked him where he would like the next field trip to be, he replied~ Space.  He is planning all the details- LOL:)

I took pictures and planned on sharing them but my camera cord has seemed to disappear.  As soon, as it resurfaces, I will post all the pictures of our very first homeschool field trip.

Ya~ Chris found my card reader- so here you go, pictures from our homeschool trip:

View from the observation deck

Flight simulator

Kevin learning about planets

Space shuttle simulator

Homeschool Help

We are in the process of considering homeschooling 3 of our 4 children.  Christopher, our oldest wishes to remain and graduate from public school next year.  That is fine- we want whatever makes our kids happy.

Kevin was the first to come and ask if he could be homeschooled.  We had been having some issues with the school.  I have been online researching, researching and researching.  It was then that I discovered the HEAV conference.  I had talked it over with Michael and we decided to attend the free how to workshops first before investing in the conference.

The how to workshops were amazing.  They were very informative and contained alot of useful information.  I met several families also considering homeschooling their kids and wondering where in the world to begin.  After the workshops, we were able to go into the exhibit hall for free- YEA!!!!  It was huge.  Luckily, we got a lay out, so Michael and I circled the booths we definitely wanted to check out.  It was great being surrounded by other families who all share the same goal~ to educate our children.

I was so excited when I came across Crystal from moneysavingmom at her booth.  She was so nice and down to earth.  She chatted with us about our decision to homeschool and gave us some great information.  I was so excited just to meet her, let alone talk to her:)  I was floating on cloud 9- Michael laughed at me- but oh well:)  I was so happy to talk to her that I totally forgot to ask her if we could get a picture together and I forgot to bring her book to see if she would sign it- maybe next year.  I love her book so far- haven't finished it yet- still working through the decluttering part:)

Nathan seemed genuinely interested in being homeschooled.  We have talked with him about what this would mean.  He wants to give it a shot.  So, we are doing a summer homeschool to see how they would do in a homeschool setting. 

We are in day 2 and so far so good.  Even little Michael requests some cayons (as he calls them) and some paper so he can do his work- it is so cute seeing all my boys at the table doing their work.

For our summer homeschool we are utilizing the library for most of our books.  We are doing Bible study together.  Nathan is doing 2 pages from a 2nd to 3rd grade workbook I bought at Barnes and Noble.  Nathan is researching an animal for science for our vacation/field trip to the zoo in Washington DC.  He is doing math worksheets that I printed out using placement tests and an vocabulary activity each day.  He reads me a book we checked out from the library and we are learning about the Constitution- also perfect for our trip to DC.

Kevin is reading about Juneteenth and the American Patriots for history.  He is researching an animal for Science and doing math worksheets.  He is reading The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn for English and is learning how to play guitar for music.  He is also learning about the Constitution:)

Chris, who has no interest in homeschool wanted to be included in the summer homeschool, so we is reading and researching Egyptians and tombs for history.  He also does a math worksheet and is learning to play guitar.  He is doing Independent Reading and is enjoying learning about the Constitution with the rest of us:)

So far so good and we are trying to figure out exactly when the boys want to start homeschool for real if this is something they truly want to do.  I have done a great deal of research and have come up with a curriculum that I love for Nathan and Kevin.  When I add up the prices, I about fell on the floor.  Much like I was told, homeschooling definitely costs more than public school but way less than private school.  It makes it harder that I don't know anyone here that homeschools so I feel like I am on my own- which is kind of scary.  I do have a friend who homeschools her children but she is far away.  She has been a great resource and a wealth of information:)

So, I am reaching out to you~ if you homeschool and have some friendly advice that you wish to share, I am all ears:)