End of July Already?!?!

Well, 'Summer' is flying by. I seem to remember that May took what seemed like forever for us. The month just kept going and going. June went by in a snap and now we are at the end of July. We do not take summer vacation per se. We did go to Colorado for 8 days the beginning of July and that was our vacation. Not really a vacation but that is another story for another time. Now we are getting ready to get fall into full swing!!

I am changing up our curricula this year. When I started this homeschool journey two years ago, I was looking for a great curricula, that I would love, that would come wrapped up in a pretty box that would be delivered to my door. For me, nothing like that exists. So, this year I'm eclectic and I have never been more excited about what I'm going to teach. I will admit, I'm a little overwhelmed with all the teaching manuals and I can't seem to create a spreadsheet that I love, but I still have a couple of weeks to get everything ironed out.

Miss E is starting 2nd grade and Little Man is kindergarten. We've been working a little bit since our trip and things are going to be interesting this year. Miss E yells at Little Man to be quiet while she works on her work. She is easily distracted. We are going to have to overcome that and quick. Little Man usually goes with the flow, but he is starting to become a distraction when his work is done. There is a huge gap in the amount of work they will both be doing, juggling time will be my little dance until everything evens out.

Our Curricula Choices

History (Both Kids): Beautiful Feet Books, Early American History

Science (Both Kids): Sassafras Science, Zoology

Math (Both Kids): Singapore Math, Earlybird and 2

Language Arts (Both Kids): LIFEPAC, K and 2

Supplemental Vocabulary (Both Kids): Wordly Wise 3000, K and 2

Supplemental Phonics (Both Kids): Explode the Code, A B C and 3 4

Supplemental Penmanship (Both Kids): Zaner-Bloser K and 2 

I also have a few online programs to sprinkle in technology

This promises to be a full year. I think it will be fun, too; and very busy!! I hope to update again before we start 1st and 3rd grade but I will not hold my breath.

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Follow me on Facebook. (Until I can find the little button thingy this is the best I can do.)

2013-2014 School Year!

Welcome to the 2013-2014 school year!!

Little Man (4) is in Pre-K and Miss E (6) is in first grade!

Last year Little Man just followed around with Miss E and I. By the spring he was asking to do school like his sister. So, we are going to do a formal program with him. I hope to keep the blog updated and it is my hope that you enjoy following this journey with us. To be completely honest though, I have a full plate. I want so much to keep up with what we do so that the kids have something to look back on but the blog is not a priority in my life. As of right now, I am not an affiliate with any company, so the links are just for your reference. My blog is my journal.

We will continue our journey in reading through the Bible. This will be year 2!! This year we are going to use The One Year Chronological Bible.

This year we are continuing with Epi Kardia and Singapore Math for Miss E.
I am also supplementing with Wordly Wise 3000, Zaner-Bloser, and Explode the Code. Miss E will be doing Bible Study Fellowship with her daddy which will be our Bible curriculum. We will all be studying the book of Matthew.

Little Man will be doing God's Little Explorers with a bunch of other things thrown in as he asks for activities to do. He will also be following Miss E and I as we go though her stuff.

Together the kids will do Family Time Fitness and a calendar notebook. I'm being eclectic with our calendar notebook. I'm using pages from MamaJenn, Mama's Learning Corner, and Mrs. Meacham.

I'm looking forward to this next chapter. Here is to another successful year!

I have a page on facebook, come and follow me, Domicile Lessons.

Blessings,
Elizabeth

Curriculum

Okay, not that I really did this but did you know that if you googled kindergarten curriculum you would be overwhelmed?? Did you know that if you asked anyone who has done any kind of home schooling you would get a wide range of curriculum?? It is amazing how much stuff is out there. You can get curriculum for FREE though downloads and following tons of blogs or you can pay a ton of money and have everything arrive in a pretty box. (Okay maybe the box is not pretty but you have everything you would need for that year.)

I've been doing my research on curriculum for my family for awhile now. I thought I had it all decided and then I felt the Lord telling me to keep looking. So, I've been looking and looking, praying for peace and that God would show me what He wanted us to do.

I ordered the Foundations book from Classical Conversations early in the spring. I'm really excited about the memory work we are going to do. I've decided that we are only going to do the History, English, Math, and Science portions this year. If we continue through the cycles, we will cover this cycle 4 times so what we skip this time around we will catch in three years.

I also decided that we will, together as a family, learn about the Biblical Holidays. "The Biblical holidays were instituted by God as an integral part of the divine worship system of the church. They are, as He intended, a remembrance and memorial in honor of what God has done for His people."

This is what I'm most excited about! I know that as we work through the holidays we are going to learn more about our Lord and Savor and for that I know we will all be rewarded. We are going to start in August by studying about the Sabbath. We will then take a holiday each month. September will be The Feast of Trumpets (Rosh Hashanah); October, Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur); November, Feast of Tabernacles (Sukkoth); December, Hanukkah; January, Purim; February, Passover (Pesach); March, Feast of UnLeavened Bread (Hag HaMatzah); April, Firstfruits (Yom Habikkurim); May, Feast of Weeks, Pentecost (Shavuot).

Our core curriculum will be with Epi Kardia. Epi Kardia is a Christian literature-based unit study curriculum that uses Charlotte Mason methods. I'm excited about the 'living books' that we will be reading along with the fact that history will be chronological. I also love how there will be fine arts woven into each unit.

Lastly we will be using Singapore Math.

I'm excited to get things started. It is going to be an adventure. It would not be honest of me to say that I'm ready. I have a lot of work to do these next few month in getting 'prepared' and getting things organized. It will come. I need to work on a schedule and learn grace. Let the adventure begin.

**The purpose of this blog is to help me keep my thoughts straight as I go through this process. As we start school in the fall, I will update with what we do and what we've learned. I've heard that I will learn more than my kids and for that I'm truly excited!!

Thanks for reading, I hope maybe along this journey I'll be an encouragement to you. Feel free to share any of your ideas or encouragement along the way. If something I say or do brings an 'ah ha' to your mind, please share.

Blessings,

Elizabeth