{Not} Back to School Pics

We are just about to start our 2013 - 2014 school year on Monday/Tuesday, so we just did our {Not} back to school pictures.

This year Dude is in 1st grade:

Strawberry is in Pre-Kindergarten:

Linebacker is just along for the ride:

And we couldn't leave Boy Wonder out:

Then it was time for a group shot....let's just pretend this only took 1 attempt, haha.

The kids all picked their desks, and I have all their individual work setup in them, so they wanted a picture at their desks:

We are planning to start next Monday/Tuesday and I already know of one thing that will put one day on hold. I have only planned a 4-day week, so we should be able to get it accomplished. Did I mention we are away camping this weekend.......



For His Glory!



I am linking up with iHomeschool Network's Not Back To School BlogHop

Our Schoolroom Set-up

This week the {Not} Back to School Bloghop is featuring school rooms, so I have decided to follow suit and showcase our Schoolroom. I have just spent the summer organizing both curriculum and our new Schoolroom (formerly our formal living room which sat untouched). The room we are using is right inside our front door.

It is the first room people see when they enter our house, but I think we can keep it neat and not scare everyone off. Linebacker is snooping out the window as usual. It was important to me that we have lots of natural light and can see outside, but we live on a court so there won't be too much traffic to distract us. It is also separated enough from the rest of the house to eliminate other distractions. Here is a view of the whole room from the entrance of our house:

As soon as you enter our room, we have our Homeschool Vision posted on the wall (and apparently we forgot to put the plate back on the switch).

My husband and I sat down and answered some questions and then came together to compare answers and that is how our vision was put together. I wanted to hang it somewhere to remind us, as we enter/exit the room, of why we are doing this....especially on those challenging days.

In the middle of the room sit our desks. I wanted something where we were all together since my kids aren't readers yet and independent work is a few years off still. At the same time, I went with separate desks so that, down the road when they are working more separately we can move them around to different areas of the room.

. The kids each have their own desk, and until Boy Wonder needs his, I'm using it. We have these desks from Ikea (got them on a sale promotion, woohoo!) The chairs are also from Ikea (again, price reduction FTW!). In the main drawer on their desks is their daily learning binder, Dude's geo binder (didn't fit in the cupboard) and their pencil cases.

In the smaller drawer are their Bibles and handwriting binders:

and in the cupboards are their subject workbooks. Dude's cupboard has his Math U See on the top shelf, Bible colouring book and then dry erase board on the bottom, Strawberry has her Bible colouring book, cookie tray and dry erase board in hers.

Opposite the window is a built in bench my husband made a few years ago. We have made it a reading nook of sorts. We used dog beds from Costco as cushions since it was much cheaper then actually getting the real thing.

In this area I have Strawberry's All About Reading Uppercase Poster, All About Reading progress charts, our World Map, a poster I made for reading comprehension, and the ABC character cards that go with The ABCs of Godly Children.

On the long wall I have 2 big shelving units. One is a Martha Stewart Collection from Home Depot and the other is the Expedit from Ikea. These shelving units store every else we use, or will use, or just have. Our Bible and commentary collection alone take up 2 shelves ;) and that's without the 4 in our desks.

On another shelf is all my teacher's manuals that are currently in use, and beside them are the student books that aren't used everyday but are used quite a bit.

These shelves also store all of our "busy bag" style materials. I found these great containers at Target (again, on sale one week) to store everything in.

On another shelf is more of the All About Reading stuff. This one features our review and cards boxes as well as Ziggy!

These shelves are separated into categories (I'm a bit of an organization junkie) and are the extra and complimentary resources for some of our learning. One shelf is math, another Language, Bible/Preschool, and Science/Geography.

On top of these shelving units is where I have our Betty Luken's Bible in Felt resources (they are big and just don't fit anywhere else).

Beside the shelving is where I have some wall storage, and things we hang up. I have the workbox schedules:

Independent worksheets and activity pages:

I have them stored in file envelopes I picked up at Costco last year and then in a wall file pocket chart I got from Scholar's Choice a few years ago. They are sorted by type: Patterns, Numbers, Math, Counting, Alphabet tracing, etc.

Under the window is Dude's All About Reading/Spelling tile board:

Under the other side of the window is our workbox carts, I'm not sure exactly how we will use these yet, but I think I'll be putting in the daily supplies for activities and books they need to work on that are not in their desks already.

On the last half wall we have our morning learning book activities and the whiteboard and chalkboard for copywork.

Well, that's our schoolroom. I can't wait to get in here in a couple short weeks and get going, the kids are eager to start to. I just have a few last minute details to organize and we will be ready to go!


For His Glory!

I am linking up with the {Not} Back to School BlogHop, check it out!

Curriculum 2013 - 2014

The 2013-2014 school year is approaching quickly, and I have been very busy over the last couple months researching, ordering, and assembling curriculum to use this year. I now have everything we are going to use and have written up my lesson plans and am working on my weekly prep lists now to help gather supplies for each week and get the library books we will need.

I was going to wait and do this curriculum post closer to September but the iHomeschool Network is doing their annual Not back to school blog hop and this week the link-up is for curriculum, so I figured I would do the post sooner and join in the fun.

This year Dude will be a 1st grader and Strawberry will be in JK (here in Ontario). I will start with what they will be learning together...

One Room Schoolhouse (together learning):
They each will be doing their learning notebooks, I got the printables from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler.

They will be doing the same Bible Curriculum. We are still using Children Desiring God curriculum. We are in the Old Testament and will move into the New Testament Curriculum once we are finished, should be around Jan/Feb. We will be using this curriculum daily. I ordered the teacher's manual, verse pack, resource packet, and 2 colouring books.

To compliment our Bible curriculum, we invested in Betty Luken's Bible in felt. It has been great in helping the kids visualize the stories we are covering. Just be prepared it is a LOT of cutting out to get all the pieces ready. However, it was worth it because the set is just stunning and we will be using it for many years to come.

They will also be working together on The ABCs of Godly Children Curriculum. I got this curriculum when it was part of a Homemakng e-bundle earlier this year. They will be working on this 2x per week, one day the lesson and an application and the second day a craft that goes with the character quality. They will do it together when the traits are the same for girls and boys, and separately when they are different.

We will be working on handwriting daily also. I am forgoing curriculum for this and just put binders together with real handwriting paper. Dude will copy a Bible verse daily and Strawberry will start with tracing her name and we will go from there

Dude and Strawberry will be in the same Sunday class this fall, and they have a Bible verse to memorize weekly for class, so that will be included in our prayer time each morning.

Dude's First Grade Curriculum:

Reading: He will be doing All About Reading - level 1. We ordered the full package for this and it includes Teacher's manual, Student Activity book, 3 readers, progress chart, learning cards and storage box, and a phonograms CD. We also ordered the letter tiles set, and Adventures in Reading with ZigZag zebra lapbook games.

Spelling: He will be using All About Spelling - level 1. The letter tile kit goes with both programs, so we just ordered the spelling kit which included the Teacher's manual, student packet and card storage box. We will be using this with the reading curriculum daily, but the way it works is he will do one or the other everyday.

Math: He will finish up Math U See Primer level and move on to Alpha around Nov/Dec. We ordered this last year and got The teacher's guide, instructional DVD, student work book, song CD, and Decimal street poster (with clock on back) and block manipulatives.

Science: We are going to use Alpha Omega's Lifepac Science this year. I got the Teacher's manuals and the 10 workbooks. It covers colours, body, senses, animals, plants and more. It is set up workbook style, but since Dude isn't reading yet I will have to be more hands on. It is very colourful and looks like a lot of his interests and questions will be covered

Geography: We are going to *try* Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler's Expedition Earth. I say try because it may be too much at his age, but he has a definite interest in places, and the way countries are set up and about people around the world, so it may be alright. I got this curriculum included in the iHomeschool omnibus last year. I also ordered A Trip around the World, Another Trip around the World and Usborne's Encylopedia of Geography to compliment it. I also bought a book to look into Canada more in-depth when we do that country

Strawberry's JK Curriculum:

Reading: She will also be using All About Reading, but the Pre-Reading level. We ordered the teacher's manual, student craft book, student learning cards and storage box, alphabet CD, 2 readers and Ziggy the Zebra puppet (who they are already in love with). My lesson plans have her going through 1 letter in 3 days. She will start by doing the entire uppercase alphabet, then go back over it using the lowercase alphabet. That will take us almost to the end of the year, so we will likely start next fall still doing the pre-reading level and covering the sounds of the letters

Other: I got a limited time free curriculum tip through Motherhood on a dime for a pre-school alphabet based curriculum called God's Little Explorer's. I have gone through and picked a few of their lesson plans to compliment the letters we will be doing. I also got some math ideas out of here as well. I plan to do one number/math related activity with her each day. I printed the curriculum and just put it in a binder.

In Addition:
The last part of our school year plan is a couple of complimentary books to our curriculum. A few passed-down curriculum's Discovering God's World to add to our Science, and Before Five in a Row to pull some activities for Strawberry from. A bunch of Usborne math books, sticker addition and subtraction and See Inside Math (a suggestion I got from my BFF). Another Usborne book Flip-Flap body book to go with Science. A character book for Dude God's Wisdom for Little Boys. Prayer cards I printed from my favourite Canadian blogger Time Warp Wife, we will be using these for our prayer time each day.

Lastly, I have worksheets, busy bag activities and an ipad full of apps to fill some time while I am working with the other child.

Phew...that was long, but I feel really good about our plan for the year and ready to go come September when we start.


For His Glory!


I am linking up with the {Not} Back To School Blog Hop.

Looking ahead

I have spent the last few weeks getting things planned and in order for the fall. I am really excited to do more formal schooling with Strawberry in addition to Dude and have 2 kids to work with everyday. I have a lot of thoughts for this coming school year, and I think we will have a lot more intensity this year. This year kind of worked as our prep year to get the kids used to doing some formal activities and to start some scheduled times during our day.

I have laid out all my plans and here they are:


I have laid out a plan of action for each child. Daddy and I have to have, what I hope will become, our annual goal setting meeting. We will sit down and make a plan for each child as to what we hope they will accomplish in the coming school year and set some goals for each.

Our plans:

* Contiue using our Children Desiring God curriculum with Dude and Strawberry and include Linebacker informally.

* Continue using Math U See Primer with Dude

* Teach Strawberry to recognize and write her numbers, if accomplished start her on MUS Primer

* I took the plunge and ordered All About Learning Press curriculum last night (already got the shipping notice this morning!!!). Dude will be using All About Reading level 1 and All About Spelling level 1. Strawberry will be using All About Reading pre-reading level. Now, I just have to wait patiently for it to arrive....and check the tracking obsessively.

* I plan to use The ABCs for Godly Children (which was included in one of the e-bundles I've purchased) for Dude and Strawberry.

* I am going to use Expedition Earth (all included in the e-bundle) to help teach some geography

* I want to work through a book list with the kids and have some comprehension questions to go with them.

* There was a good resource in an e-bundle I have about notebooking, and so that is in the plan as well.

* I am going to work in some LOTW and RRSP activities for Strawberry.

* I want to prep some lapbook games and busy bags for their workboxes as well. That way I can plan one child doing a game/activity independantly while I work more intensely with the other one.

* I am also going to try to have a bit of a totschool routine with Linebacker

* I want to include Darlene's prayer cards for children into our morning prayer time. I have them printed and 1/2 cutout, just need to laminate and put on a ring for each child.


I can't wait! I have a lot to do to prep for the year, but I am an organizing junkie who loved school, so that shouldn't be hard for me. I am so excited to get in our new schoolroom with all our new plans and start....Hopefully the kids will be excited, too.


For His Glory!

We're getting a Schoolroom!!!!!

Can you tell I'm a little excited? Over the last 2 years I have tried different setups for our schooling and even though they worked, they weren't exactly right or convenient.

We started out with a schoolroom/playroom joint room, you can probably figure out how well that went. The other reason this setup failed was because the playroom used to be the formal dining room (which is fine) but there are no windows in there. I was going stir-crazy, secluded from the outside world.

Next we tried the kitchen table. This worked okay, but it didn't have storage for school stuff nearby, so I was bringing all our supplies back and forth and having to interrupt lessons because I forgot something we needed, also having to clear off all the time for eating. It just wasn't practical.

So, I made up my proposal, prepared all my arguments and got ready to talk to my Husband.
Me: "Honey, can we turn the living room into a full-fledged homeschool room? You see, the ......."
Husband: "Sure."
Me: ".....and we have to clear.....wait, pardon???"
Husband: "Sure. That's a good idea"
Me: "wait, really?"

The before:


Before it was a sitting room of sorts and doesn't everyone have their washing machine in their living room? The great thing about having a handy husband is that when something breaks he can fix it, it just takes a bit longer and he doesn't have a shop so, living room it is! This room looks out onto our street, big windows, lots of natural light, and I will feel part of the outside world. Our street leads into a dead end, so it won't be so busy that it distracts us either.

I moved some of our shelving that we had spread out around the house in there and organized it all.

After pictures:

I have organized all our books and supplies along this wall. I hung up our maps and another poster we had. Now, just to keep it neat.

I left the desk in there for me to use. The kids workboxes are under the window and I have since added one for Linebacker to do some totschool/keep him busy stuff. I Moved the chalkboard and whiteboard in there and all of our morning circle time stuff.

All we need now is our homeschool desk. I absolutely love Erica's desk. I vaguely described it to my husband and he drew up plans and is going to build us something similar, I am most excited about that! I can't wait to get the room up and running in the fall!

Now, I have a schoolroom plan and our study/curriculum plan for the fall is taking shape (more on that tomorrow). I love homeschooling!


For His Glory!

Homeschool Schedule mid-year changes.

After an extended Christmas break....okay, okay, November until the middle of January type extended break, we are back at it! I took the week before we started up again to re-evaluate our plans and the things we were doing and decided we needed to change things up a little.

We started the year out with this schedule that I blogged about back in September: Our Homeschool Learning, but are now on a new schedule and it seems to be going great so far!

The 1st change I made was to scrap the calendar binders, honestly they got boring and old quick. We now just start by putting the date up on our calendar

Each day we just add the date, and then say the day and month. This is what we are using as our calendar. I just created and laminated the month cards and the number cards myself, and did a different theme for every month.

After we do the date, we pray. This is something I didn't think to add to our schedule in September. The kids each take a turn thanking Jesus for things, usually for Daddy's work, his safety at work, and hoping for a good time with school today.

After our prayer time we sing a song. I try to find it on YouTube to play and we sing along. Today we did "Our God is an Awesome God". They are just learning these songs and are not able to sing a long very well right now but they love it and I think they will know the songs soon enough!

Next we do our Bible memory verse. KDude (age 5) memorizes the verse he is supposed to for Sunday School each week and Strawberry (age 3) is memorizing the verses that I ordered with our Bible curriculum. They are both excellent at doing this and Strawberry surprises a lot of people when she recites a verse complete with correct reference at 3 years old. We do 1 verse a week and it seems to be exactly the right pace for both of them. Once they are readers there is so much more we could do during this time.

After we do our memory work it is on to what they call "Bible Time".

We are still using the same curriculum we started with, which was Children Desiring God's "He Established a Testimony". The only change we have made in the Bible teaching time is that I have complimented this curriculum with Betty Luken's Bible in Felt. It is a little pricey but will be used for so long that it is completely worth it. Just get ready to cut! The 600+ pieces it advertises.....you cut each one of them out. This has really helped engage the kids during the story, instead of trying to picture it for themselves they remember because of the visuals. This week's lesson is about Abraham and Sarah and the birth of Isaac.

The next subject we move on to is Math. We are still using Math-U-See's Primer. On Monday's we watch the video of Steve instructing the week's lesson

Then there are 6 worksheets pages per lesson and we just divide those up through the week. Dude did the first one for this week today, we are doing the first lesson on addition!

We finish off everyday with our Language lessons. Dude has now mastered his letters upper and lowercase. He knows which upper goes with which lowercase letter. He can write them all, and he can find them if I call them out. So, we have moved on to the sounds they make in preparation for reading. I found an amazing site to help with this (and more advanced stuff too). It is Starfall. We have just started with 3 letters per day, and he works through them himself and checks them off on his list as he completes each one. We will likely repeat this cycle a few times until he really gets it.

There you have it. Our new homeschool day. This is the reason I love homeschool, we can just change anything at anytime to make it suit us. This schedule is going really well and we are really learning a lot with it. YAY! So, we will continue like this....until its time to freshen it up again, that is.


For His Glory!