Not Back to School Blog Hop- Day in the Life

This is the last week of the Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by Heart of the Matter. This week is Day-in-the-Life

This is our first week back into schooling, so there is no real normal yet. This is my schedule for Squirt who is using Heart of Dakota's Preparing Hearts for His Glory.

Squirt's Week Day Schedule

 Quiet Time (30 Minutes)

 Independent History Study (30 Minutes)

 History Project (20 Minutes)

Breakfast

 Brush Teeth & Wash Up

 Math (30 minutes)

 Science Exploration (30 Minutes)

 Rod & Staff English (15 Minutes)

 Dictation with Mom (5 Minutes)

 Poetry with Mom (5 Minutes)

Lunch

          During lunch, if possible, Mom will do Reading About History

 Bible Study with Mom (after Bubba is down for nap)

 Reading About History with Mom (if not read at lunch)

 Geography/ Research/ Timeline (15 Minutes)

 DITHOR with Mom/ Poetry Creative Writing/ Project (30 minutes)

 Save one page to read out loud to Mom every day.

If you finish early and have had Mom check everything then you may play.

We are finishing up the 36 week course we started last January. She is an early riser, so I scheduled her day to start when she is fresh on her own (and Mom is NOT). I am not a morning person no matter how many children I have and how early they wake me. Coffee would be my friend IF I drank it, but since I don't, I simply don't speak much until breakfast begins. My kids learn to stay out of the kitchen until Mom has fully woken up, brutally honest as that is.

Squirt works in her room at her desk for independent work and then moves to the school room for work with me.

Buddy is a later riser than the rest of the kiddos. So he is fresher later in the day. I try to work with him in the afternoon while Bubba is napping. We don't have a schedule yet for that. I am trying some things out and still have yet to figure out the best way to do things with him. I probably will do Little Hands to Heaven reading, bible and music with him and Bubba after breakfast while Squirt works independently. Then in the afternoon (while little Bubba sleeps) do the seat work that would have to exclude Bubba.

I work with the boys in Buddy's room or in the school room at the little table or on the futon.

I have also been trying to include more regular chores in our day. I have instituted some of Jessica's ideas of  Our Family For His Glory for having "helpers" doing Mom's chores. Bubba and Buddy have been helping me with the laundry. Each one gets to take a turn for the day. Buddy (5yrs) brings the kids laundry basket to me and separates out the clothes into the laundry bins. Bubba (2 yrs) helps put the clothes in the washing machine and into the dryer. Buddy does a great job folding his and little brothers clothes and putting them away in the drawers. They often help me do the laundry first thing in the morning. I try and get a load in the washer and in the dryer first thing. That way I can keep ahead of it.

The other thing that takes more time from my over sight of homeschooling is meal prep. Right now we are instituting a new special diet for Buddy and it is very time consuming to create meals for him (imagine lots of complicated multi-ingredient dishes, multiple pot dishes, and lots of dirty dishes to then wash). BUT it is worth it because we ARE seeing improvement in his health and that is really what matters!!! (Even though Mom is falling over from fatigue and brain fried)

Special Birthday cake

I made a special Coconut Flour Orange Birthday cake for Buddy this weekend. If you want to know more about it go to my other blog here. Being on a special diet doesn't mean it is impossible to still have special food on those special days!

Buddy has multiple food allergies. We have started him on a new diet protocol called Gut and Psychology Syndrome Diet aka GAPS Diet. You can read further about what we are doing with him here.

Buddy's Doorway Puppet Theater

I just had to post a few more pictures of the kids enjoying the puppet theater. Squirt welcomed her brother into his room with our surprise. She sang Happy Birthday to him as the puppet from behind his new Puppet Theater.

Here is his sweet giggly smile as he watches.

Squirt gave him the sock puppets she made and then they did a show together! Best 20 bucks we spent in a long time. (That is what it costs for the materials for me to make the theater.)

Isn't it great having kids!

Doorway Puppet Theater

This is Buddy's Birthday Present- a doorway puppet theater!

I used the project idea and instructions from Bend the Rules Sewing by Amy Karol. I loved the ideas, and the projects are super cute. The instructions were horrible and I hate the elementary pencil line drawings that are in this book. This took me way longer than I expected due to the badly written instructions.

I made the case to go with it and that was the only easy part of the project.

But here it is!! I am really pleased with it and can't wait to see Buddy's reaction tonight when we give it to him. Squirt also made some handmade puppets to give him along side it. Happy 5th Birthday Buddy!!!!

Not Back to School Blog Hop- Student Photo Week

It is the 3rd week of the Not Back to School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter. Here is our family:

Squirt our 5th Grader (I can't believe I'm even saying that!! Time flies!)

Buddy the preschooler soon to be Kindergartner

Bubba the effervescent 2 year old.

Not Back to School Blog Hop- School Room Week

This week is School Room Week in the Not Back to School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter. Here are pictures of our School Room.

We are blessed to have an extra bedroom which we use as a School Room. It does also double as our guest room. So we have this futon in there which is lovely for reading together on.

Squirt works at her desk or on her bed in her room. We were given this secretary desk and it works so wonderfully in that little spot. She can close it when she is not working and keep the little guys hands out of her stuff. And when it is open she has lots of space to work.

Buddy and Bubba work at this little table.

All our school books and supplies are kept on the shelves or in the closet.

Of course you never seem to have enough shelf space when you homeschool!

These are the main bulk of Squirt's school books and supplies for 2011-2012

The closet also houses other items for Hubby and I's use such as sewing supplies etc. But we have a visitor so I am not taking a picture of that. Just in vision messy organization (oxymoron that it is).

We have a couple of computers and about three more desks in the school room.

This wooden one was Squirt's since her 1st grade year. It is waiting to be used next by Buddy.

We use every inch of wall space in our school room! Display everything we can and build our timeline.

And there it is in all it's humbleness.

Blessings,

Edie

Not Back to School Blog Hop- Curriculum Week

So it is once again time for the Not Back to School Blog Hop at Heart of the Matter. This week is Curriculum Week, so I get to share with you what we will be using for the 2011-2012 school year.


We will be picking up where we left off in May with the same curriculum. We started a new curriculum midyear last year, so we will continue on with it until finished (probably around January also) and then go to the next Program in their series.

I will be using Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven for my almost five year old and then continue on with their next Program- Little Hearts for His Glory  using the Kindergarten package in the new year of 2012.

You can read about the specifics of Little Hands to Heaven in my post here. 

For this year we will be using Heart of Dakota's Preparing Hearts for His Glory program for Squirt, my 5th grader. It includes everything I need to teach her. Here is my original post with the specs for what is known in Heart of Dakota shorthand as PHFHG.

or Heart of Dakota's Preparing Hearts for His Glory.
This is a program designed for students ages 8-10 with other added books which can extend that up to 11 or 12 (we are doing the expected 8-10 age group books). This year's study will give a broad overview of world history starting with Creation and ending in the late 1900's. (We stopped in May at Christ's Resurrection.)

Preparing Hearts for His Glory Guide (PHFHG)  is not just a Teacher's Manual. It is designed to be shared between the student and the teacher. It has Independent Work instructions written directly to the student as well as instructions to the teacher.

This guide includes History, Poetry, Dictation, Spelling, Literature, Bible Study, & Science. It has schedules for recommended Language and Math which are Rod & Staff English, Heart of Dakota's Drawn Into the Heart of Reading (DITHOR) & Singapore Math.

The full list of all the books that come in the program you can find in my post here. Squirt has completed about 19 weeks already of the 36 week program of PHFHG. She will use Rod and Staff English 2 and 3 this year and Singapore Math 4A & 4B. 

You can read about our experiences with Heart of Dakota in my posts tagged HOD, PHFHG, or LHTH. 

Blessings!

Edie