School Fun

Well, I ordered all of our upcoming school curriculum for this next year!!   Thanks to my friend, Jill, I got a lot of good ideas and was able to do a lot of research before buying.    Last year I used Abeka with my kids.  I started off with the DVD program but it was just not our thing.  So, I taught them traditionally but the kids just did not thrive with this curriculum.   Samuel was bored.  Sarah became lost in math and reading.  Because I started off with the DVD program, I did not have the teaching aides.   ANYWAY, I decided to ask some homeschooling moms who have been schooling their children for years, what they use.  I also read homeschooling blogs and researched for weeks and weeks.    We had everything shipped to Bob’s parents house and then at my brother-in-law’s wedding last week, Bob met up with his parents and was able to bring almost all of our homeschooling back with him!   What a blessing that we did not have to pay hundreds and hundreds of dollars to ship every thing here to Estonia.   It was like Christmas morning when Bob arrived home Saturday night!   I thought I would share what we are using for this school year.  We are starting back up with school July 13th.

We went to the Strawberry Festival so the kids had strawberries painted on their faces – it is not makeup he is wearing.   Bob brought back a gift for each of the kids.  Samuel got a new game …

A new puppy for Sarah.  She named him Cuddly-Snuggley.

Sophie got a Dora doll with silky hair.  My little angel-face loves to do hair.  ( She likes to put my hair in pigtails and she is learning how to braid. )  So, she has been brushing and doing Dora’s hair a lot … which saves me the pain of her tearing my hair out.  : )

We are going to study the Civil War and then I got the CD of Story of the World along with the workbook.  Samuel already listened to a couple of chapters.   He will also learn some geography since there are map activities in the workbook.  I was never a history person – thought it was really boring but I guess that had to do with boring teachers in school.   I am intrigued by this history curriculum.

I am using Sing, Spell, Read and Write for Sarah and Samuel.  Sarah’s curriculum is the only thing I have not received yet.  I also ordered these nice little reading books from the Christian book store for Sarah, too.

And for Sophie I got Horizons Preschool Mulitmedia.  I am so impressed by it!  She has her own computer CD-Roms and this package came with many, many DVD’s on character building and Bible stories and also many CD’s.  The kids listened to a nice story CD last night as they fell asleep.  There are a lot of hands-on-things for her do with this curriculum.   This has it’s own Bible curriculum, too.

The kids are begging for us to begin this science book.  It is really a beautiful book with so many interesting facts.  My kids all love learning about animals and so this is right down their alley.   I like these Reason for Handwriting books, too.  It is all Scripture based.   I love that they will be spelling and writing Bible verses and such instead of just trivial things.

For 2nd grade math, we are using Saxon.  I ordered the manipulatives that go along with the lessons.  It is a lot of hands-on learning.  For Sarah we are using Developmental Math.  Since math does not come easily for her, this will give her a great foundation.  She will be able to use Samuel’s manipulatives, too.

And last but not least, we are using Bob Jones Bible.  The workbooks are beautifully colored and really done well.   All three of the kiddos will be learning a lot of Scripture verses.

Thought I would include what I have been reading, too.   A year ago, my friend, Debbie, sent me one of her favorite series.  It is An Emerald Ballad Series by B.J. Hoff.  I am not a historical fiction type of gal and I have been saving these books for some spare time.  I started the first one and could NOT put it down.  I think I finished it in less than two days.  My husband was so glad when I finished it because  when I am into a good book, I tend to ignore him, the kids, the house, the dog … well, you get the picture.  : )   So, you can imagine his face when I told him “Honey, there are 4 more books in this series!”.    I am nearly done with the 4th book now …  such a great series!!!             The middle book is the one that I am using for our monthly ladies Bible study.   The last book is Evidence Not Seen.  It is a missionary story of a woman that was held in a prison camp for years.   I just love missionary stories.   If any of you are reading a good book right now, let me know and I will add it to my wish list!

Have a wonderful day!!!