School Speed Ahead

Did you know the first plunger was invented before Jesus was born? Did you know that Greek men exercised together buck naked?

Home School started for Madalynn, Justis and Dawson on Monday! Travis asked the kids what their favorite part of school was Tuesday, and they answered the above. He! He! Who knew science could be SO impressive and entertaining?

Madalynn is a second-grader this year and Justis is a first-grader. Dawson does pre-K activities lying in bed with me before nap time. Both Jillian and Dawson will learn by listening and watching as well.

We are an unconventional family, so what better to serve our home school needs than an unconventional home school "curriculum?" An "all-in-one" curriculum would just not do for my curious, hands-on little learners. I built this year's curriculum around what piques their interests.

We use Sing, Spell, Read and Write for reading, writing and spelling and Math-U-See for math. We used both of these curriculums last year and they fit us perfectly. I added Early Language Lessons for the Well-Trained Mind for grammar, The Story of the World, Vol.1: The Ancient Times for social studies, history and geography, and A History of Science: A Literature Based Introduction to Scientific Principles and their Discoveries for science.

We still round out the whole curriculum with the Five In a Row curriculum based on classic children's literature. Reading is such an important part of our schooling. We focus on the art, culture and literary elements of the stories. I will be teaching two classes of "Exploring America with Five in a Row" for this fall's home school co-op. The kids will be taking that same class at home!

Madalynn and Justis will be participating in a Tangipahoa Parish soccer league this fall, which is new to ALL of us. We've got to go get cleats and shin guards. Madalynn's eyes got really big when we explained what shin guards were for! She's a little apprehensive about soccer now, but I think she'll like it!

I cannot express the joy and fun home schooling brings me. It takes work, don't get me wrong, but to watch the kids learn, grow, explore what they love and thrive is all worth it!