Expedition Earth - South Korea

This week we learned about South Korea. We learned how to say Hello, Thank You and Goodbye in Korean and learned everything we could about the country. We also had some yummy seaweed snacks.

Expedition Earth - China

 This year we are learning about the continents and various countries. This weeks country was China. We learned all about China, watched a documentary about The Great Wall and had some yummy almond cookies.

Saltines, Pretzels and Marshmallows, OH MY!

Sage and Aurora have both struggled with learning math. We try to make learning math as visual and as fun as possible. We broke out the snack food today to help Aurora understand place value to the thousands place.

Book It!

We have been lucky enough to be able to participate in Pizza Hut's Book It! Program. We just received the chart and reading vouchers in the mail today. 

The kids love reading and get rewarded for it just like public school kids. Seriously, who doesn't love FREE PIZZA?!

Let's Get Comfy

One of our favorite things about homeschooling is that we don't have to work at a desk or table if we don't want to. Our favorite place to do our work is in the family room on our big comfy couch. 

The kids love to grab their clipboards and workbooks and cuddle into the couch. It makes school so much more enjoyable. 

First Day

The First Day of School is here! The kids were so excited to start a new year full of new curriculum and on-site classes. I cannot believe that today marks the beginning of our 5th year of this amazing homeschool journey. I never knew it would bless our lives this much! 

2015-2016 Curriculum

The choices have been made and ordered. I cannot wait for everything to come in and get it all sorted into the 6 learning periods. I really do love what we do!

Language Arts

Reading Comprehension - Once again we are using the Literature Units from Confessions of a Homeschooler. These are the 6 books we will read and study together

Spelling - Spelling Power 

This will be done together using separate spelling words for both Sage and Aurora

Grammar -  Wordly Wise 3000 

Aurora will be doing this independently

Science - Evan Moor Daily Science and weekly experiments

Sage and Aurora will do this independently and then we will do the experiments together

 Social Studies - Expedition Earth

This will be done together. We really love Confessions of a Homeschooler Curriculum

Math - Math in Focus

Sage and Aurora will each do this independently with one on one help from me if needed

Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears

Aurora is wanting to learn cursive.

Sage is being homeschooled full time but he will be participating in Occupational Therapy one day a week and in a STEM class twice a week. Aurora will be homeschooled full time this year and participate in fun enrichment classes one day a week.

We are so grateful for an amazing Charter School has helps our family learn in a way that is fun and best allows our children to grow as life long learners.

Where Did You Go?

Wow... life has been crazy busy and has not slowed down enough for me to get my thoughts written down. Homeschooling this last year was crazy and at times I thought it would do me in. I am glad to report that we all survived although, just barely.

The beginning of 2015 brought a switch of job locations for Robert and Sage earning his Arrow of Light in Cub Scouts. We then spent 5 months in hell looking for a house. I don't recommend it if you want to keep your sanity.

Aurora turned 8 in February and was baptized with her friend Keenan in April. She started Girl Scouts and Activity Days.

I am working on overcoming my social anxiety and learning other ways to deal with it besides medication. So far every medication I've tried leaves me feeling like a zombie and takes away my ability to care about things like housework. I've recently discovered an herbal remedy that seems to be helping to relax me.

Lydia finished another semester of college and now has just one class left before she earns her Associates Degree in Deaf Studies.

In May we ended up having to replace my Mom's car with something more reliable. In addition to our Mazda MPV we are now the proud owners of a Honda Pilot.

The kids finished the 2014-2015 School Year and will be going into the 6th and 3rd grades. I can't believe how fast my babies are growing!

Sage will be turning 11 this Friday the 17th and will officially be a Boy Scout. He is so excited and cannot wait until he is 12 so he can spend more time with Robert camping and earn actual Merit Badges.

Fifteen Things

I came up with this list last week and thought I would share.

Fifteen Things All Homeschool Mom's Will Understand

1. Kids who demand your attention before a sufficient amount of caffeinated beverages has been consumed. (In our house it's a small cup of coke and my depression and anxiety meds)

2. When someone suggests that teaching is an easy job.

3. Trying not to laugh when a student says something hilarious but completely inappropriate.

4. When your kids are giggling and you have no idea why.

5. Non-teachers and Public School Teachers telling you how you should be running your homeschool.

6. When your kids find you on Facebook or Instagram.

7. Bidding farewell to your evenings and weekends. They are spend checking your lesson plans and making sure you have everything you need for the week.

8. The first Monday after a school break.

9. When your kid asks you a difficult question that you definitely don’t know the answer to.

10. The complete loss of your privacy, and, at times, your dignity.

11. Waking up early in the morning, even on weekends and holidays. It's engrained into your brain and there is no getting rid of it.

12. Trying not to catch the flu from your kids.

13. Getting the flu and teaching that day anyway.

14. Explaining to your friends why you won’t hang out with them in the evenings. I am way too tired from doing my teacher duties on top of wifely/motherly duties.

15. Trying not to cry in front of your kids when your struggling child finally gets their head around the thing you’ve been trying to teach them all year.

Literature Unit's

This year our main focus for Sage in Language Arts is Literature. We are using the Literature Unit Studies form Confessions of a Homeschooler. Sage picked out 6 books, one for each learning period. I am beyond proud of the choices he made. He could have picked easier kiddy books but he chose to read books that most kids don't read until late middle school or even High School.

Living Reference Books

In addition to our Social Studies and Science Curriculum we will be using what we call "Living Books" to help us review and study more about each subject.

 Social Studies

Our Fifty States- National Geographic

United States of America Talking Puzzle- Melissa and Doug

Science

The Incredible Machine- National Geographic

Atlas of the Human Body- Robert's College Anatomy Book

Reference Folders

Since we longer have a dedicated school room and no where to hang anchor charts I had to come up with an idea so the kids could still access them if they had a question or needed a reminder. After a few hours the Reference Folders were born.

 This one holds Math and Language Arts anchor charts.

This one holds our fold out World and U.S. Map and State 

Anchor Charts that we will use with the Road Trip U.S.A 

curriculum from Confessions of a Homeschooler.

2014-2015 Classroom

While I still don't have everything done, I have done all that I can for now. The Homeschool charter that we homeschool through still has the majority of the curriculum and I should be receiving it next week sometime. Thankfully, school doesn't start until after Labor Day.

I have been working very hard to get this part of our home ready for the year and with a severe back problem it has taken me much longer than I would have liked.

We will be using our kitchen/dining room for school this year

This cart hold our supply caddy, Library book basket, math manipulative's, and cubby's for misc. things

This dresser has definitely seen better days but it serves it's purpose well. The middle drawer on the left hold the teacher's manuals, my lesson planner and all of my things. The middle drawer on the right holds construction and art paper.

The top left and right drawers hold Sage and Aurora's mini white boards, writing paper and still have plenty of room for their workbooks for each subject. There is also a basket for them to put their finished work in so I can grade it and log it onto their state required individual learning logs.

The bottom left drawers hold extra crayons, pencils, pens, index cards, notebooks and lined paper. The bottom right holds art supplies.

Thankfully both of the kids are old enough to not need posters and calendars on the walls. my project this week is to make a reference binder for our anchor charts so if they ever forget or just need a reminder they can look it up easily.

I am linking up with the iHomeschool Networks 6th Annual Not Back to School Blog Hop. Click {HERE} to see other great homeschool spaces. 

2014-2015 Curriculum

Sage

Social Studies - Road Trip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler

L. Arts - Literature Units from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Spelling/Grammar - California Excursions grade 5

Science - The Human Body

Math - Primary Mathematics (singapore approach) grade 5

Handwriting - Daily Handwriting Practice

Typing - Typers Island Typing Instructor

Aurora

                                                           

                           

L. Arts - California Excursions grade 2

Handwriting - Daily Handwriting Practice

Typing - Typers Island Typing Instructor

Math - Math in Focus grade 2

Social Studies - Road Trip USA from Confessions of a Homeschooler

Science - The Human Body

For Art we do KellyKits which can be found at KelleyKits.com

That Time of Year

Here it is, the end of the school year. I am so excited that I can hardly stand it. However, in all honesty I know that after a week or maybe two I am going to be ready to get back to school.

I have all sorts of fun things planned and cannot wait to spend time with my munchkins while we continue to learn and have tons of fun doing it. 

Here's a link to my last post about the summer blues.  

http://culaparker.blogspot.com/2013/05/is-it-over-yet.html

Excitement and Fear

This time of year I get very excited and very, very scared. Excited that school will soon be starting and i'll have a routine again and scared because I remember that we homeschool our children and they will be home with me 24/7.

Now, while I love my children more than anything in the world, admittedly there are times when I wish that they didn't have special needs and that I could send them off to school like everyone else. It makes me feel like a bad Mother for feeling that way, because what Mom wouldn't want their kids with them all day everyday.

That aside, I really do love all that comes with a new school year. I LOVE buying a new lesson planner and getting all of the curriculum sorted out and divided into what TLC calls LP's(learning periods). I love getting it all written and printed out. I thrive on having it all organized and ready to go. I've got it all ready on my end now i'm just waiting for the call from the school that everything is in and ready to be picked up.

Is It Over Yet???

I am going to be brutally honest with you and most importantly with myself. I keep asking myself "Is it over yet?" Don't get me wrong, I love and I mean LOVE homeschooling my kids.

September through April I am on top of it and always adding in super fun activities and field trips to maximize our learning potential. I fill out learning, reading and lesson plan logs daily. We have all sorts of fun doing school all over the house, the yard and even at the store. For lack of a better phrase I am "Super Mom!".

As soon as May 1st rolls around that all goes out the Window and all I can manage to get done is the bare minimum required. I am beyond grateful that our dance parties, trampoline and walking the dog all count as P.E. or we would be in BIG trouble. We have had a lot of days of what I like to call "The Netflix School of Learning". I have yet to fill out a single log or report and all of the kids work from the last 5 weeks is due by next Friday the 7th. Now, before you judge me for our usage of Netflix on almost a daily basis this last month. Sage and Aurora can tell you all about Egypt, King Tut, Cleopatra, Ramses the Great, The Nile River, Moses, and the Israelite's, The Great Wall of China and why it was built and name all of the Greek and Roman Gods. Seriously... what 3rd grader and Kindergartner could do that????

Sage was supposed to work on a science fair presentation but no matter what I did to bribe motivate him he wasn't having any of it, I gave up so I could keep some part of my sanity and we just did 5 small science experiments. Then last week I found out that Aurora has to prepare a device less than 6x6 inches to keep an uncooked egg from cracking for the Egg Drop on the last day of school. The Hubs is usually in charge of things like this but he's been working a lot and has been super busy with the Scouts at Church, so here I am trying to figure out what kind of device will work best. This is definitely my definition of Hell.

Then I think back to our days of Public School I remember that it could always be worse. The last minute projects and stress that was brought on by making sure Sage had his homework folder, reading log and behavior chart signed and backpack cleaned out daily. He always managed to have a teacher with more OCD than me and to top it off there seemed to be contest between the kids for who brought the perfect handmade gift for his teacher and signing up for enough things so the class could have a decent party since most of the parents never signed up for anything. I am so glad that we have left those days far, far behind.

I've decided that it takes all kinds of Mom's to make the world go round. Public School Mom's are my new hero's!

Back to School

I put these together today with some inspiration from my friend Jenn. 

It's Finally Here

Well... the first day of school finally came. The kids woke up at 7am, ate, brushed their teeth, got dressed, did their morning chores and were ready to go by 8am. 

I can't believe that my Baby Girl is in Kindergarten. She is definitely a very smart girl and I look forward to all the progress she will make this year.

Aurora Janell Isabelle Parker

Kindergarten

9-3-12

5 1/2 years old

My little boy is not so little anymore. He's a big third grader and amazes me everyday at how much he is learning. He may be a little slower to learn things that other kids his age but he makes up for it in other ways. 

 Sage Landon Parker

Third Grade

9-3-12

8 years old

Frustration

I was out running an errand today and had a horrible encounter. Instead of feeding the anger of another person I decided to just ignore them. I think I'm going to make little business cards with the link to this article on it to give out when I encounter someone who is angry about our choice to Homeschool.

{Click on the photo to read the article}