What we are learning about in 2015

I am beyond excited for this year… really…. I am not sure who is more excited, me or the boys :)

back in 2010 when I was researching all about Homeschooling Curriculum I found Winter Promise Children around the World, and I fell in love with it. I wanted to do it that year but it is for grades 2nd-6th. So I waited, and this year we finally get to do it! The kids are really excited too. We are going to travel the world through books, activities and food. I hope we can travel for real one day, but this will have to do for now. Here is a link to their site, but they have really updated the program I have the old set. It has a lot more books the new one is more ebooks.

 Since we are learning about cultures and people all over the world, for science we are studying anatomy and the human body! The boys are soooo excited. They have been asking for a while now, and I am finally getting my act together and doing it! I used a wonderful blog HERE I used her plan as a skeleton for my plans I created. I also got some of the books she used too. There are a few more but these are the main ones. I am using these plus activities and short videos I found on pinterest.

 For our "Main" focus this year is on world geography and cultures. Here are some of the books we will be using. As we "visit" each place we go to the Library and get extra books just to read and look at to get more info on that place. In this program we will cover some world history, art, music, there is also a study of child labor and more.

 Here are some more books many of these tell history of how things are made, and also our geography books (well some of them)

 Here are some of the read a loud books we will be reading.

 For Language Arts….
K/1st - I am trying Queens Homeschooling program this year instead of Well Trained mind.
K/1st Delightful Reading Program, (from simply Charlotte mason) + reading tons of books : )
3rd Grade - Primary Language Lessons.
5th Intermediate Language Lessons
3rd/5th Drawing into the Heart of Reading program.
3rd/5th Writing - Story starters. - We will use this a little here and there as Ethan wants to be challenged in his creative writing.
Winston grammar - and Grammar tales books
Spelling we use - Modern Speller (free on line) or we also use Spelling Wisdom (not pictured)

 ART! - we have some art build in but I love it so we try to do more if we have time. No schedule we just read and Study what we want to from these books.

 Nature Study- the kids to do this on their own I do not schedule it, they have nature journals and they read these books on there own, and of course we go on nature walks too.

 For Math we continue on with Math-U-See I am totally happy with it.
K/1st -Alpha
3rd - Gamma
5th Epsilon
We also do fun games and activities from pinterest, and I LOVE reading books on the subject I am addicted to these fun math start books they can add up in price though, so I love when I can pick them up at used books sales for a steal! We are also enjoying Life of Fred books

Preschool-
I have no pictures for that but we are just playing games, doing puzzles and activities that I am finding on Pinterest. For the Ryan I did an alphabet Tree and activities to go along with that and I will be starting that sometime this year with him as well.

Other things….

Spanish- The boys really want to learn Spanish, and Will is wanting to head that up this year, and I am excited. We are also going to try to pick up sign language again this year. It fell to the side last year.


Habit Training- Laying Down the Rails and other CM books and activities on Pinterest
We also have some fun charts, and calendars to help keep us organized and developing good habits. More to come later on that.

Stress Free for Kids program HERE is a link- we have done only two lessons so far and I LOVE it!
my kids really enjoy the stores and activities and it is really really important Skill to learn to deal with stress, controlling anger, and other emotional things. I also add my own things to it too. I would LOVE to teach this in a co-op someday, and I called and asked the company if I could and they said yes!

For PE we have a home school group we are playing with. I also got this really fun Yoga game- kids love it Dallin is super cute, and loves doing Yoga, though out the say he will just Strike a pose and say "Mom look I am doing Yoga!" HERE is a link I also got a FREE down load of a home school at home PE program.

We have a whole closet full of there games, activities, poetry books games and more that the kids do as well. But this is our Learning Curriculum for this year.

A house of Order ...

.. a house of order....

A while ago I said on Face Book that I had come up with a new chores system, and this is it people!

"Organize yourselves; prepare every needful thing; and establish a house, even a house of prayer, a house of fasting, a house of faith, a house of learning, a house of glory, a house of order, a house of God." Doctrine and Covenants 88:119

this has been a scripture that has become a goal/ motto for me for years now, and I am still faithfully working on it. And this is a system that I feel for our family is a step in the right direction.

I have also been reading the free ebook called Smooth and Easy Days - with Charlotte Mason, (click the title for a link to it) by Sonya Shafer. This is a ebook for Homeschooling parents doing Charlotte Mason style education. Charlotte had a Motto for all parents and this is it ....

Educations is, an atmosphere, a discipline, a life....

There is another book FREE ebook that breaks this all down but basically she talks about the three elements in Educating the whole being, not just gaining knowledge. In "a discipline" part she talks about the importance of developing good habits. In the book I am reading now, she gives great tips and explanations on how to do this as well as a list of Habits to try and develop right along with your kids. You are to pick one and make that your main focus for 1-2 months then work on the next. And so on, I will write more on this later, but for this month we are focusing on Cleanliness and Order; we show gratitude to the Lord by taking care of the things He has given us.

with that.... Here is our Mission Chores!!!

The kids all have chores, they are just part of life, they get up, they have their morning routine chart, and tidy toys time in the afternoon, and then after dinner we have evening clean up from dinner chores. Everyone helps end of story.

BUT what about all that deep cleaning? yep I do it because it is easier that way, and it gets done right... well not any more! 1) because I am home with all the kids all day, so if I am the only one who does them it means they are destroying something else as I work. 2) because they will never learn to do it right unless they are taught. and 3) The earlier you instill the habit of gratitude to the Lord for what we have by taking care of our thing the "less" likely it will be a fight when they get older...so I hope...

How this works- these are chores that need to be done, but not all the time. The boys get to pick the chores they want to do, and they get paid for them.

I made this by sewing the pockets on to the red fabric then I glued the red fabric to a piece of cardboard. I added Dallin because in one short year he will helping out too, if not sooner. (although like Ryan not yet getting paid, because they could careless).

The top pockets have the chores in them, there is one pocket for each room they are to do. Kitchen, bathroom, school room, and Living room. (we do not do all rooms each time usually part of two, or just one it just depends)
At the bottom there is a pocket for each child, and under that is where their "mission badge" hangs. They go through and pick 2-3 chores to do, and put them on their badges, then we all tackle the mission (room) together. It is a bit crazy, and seriously takes 10 times longer then if I did it myself, but "education is a discipline" not just for them but for me.... patience JoAnn...
here is a peek at a handful of chores that are in the pockets. I know I am cheap but the kids are happy with it, and they like to get coins the don't like paper money, sooo funny!
After they are done they put that badge in their pocket then at the end of 1-2 weeks they count up their totals, and put it in their money notebooks, they subtract tithing (their choice) and then add the rest to their money bank!
This has worked well for us. We do "Mission" chores on Monday and Fridays. We do different chores each time, getting it so each thing is done 1-2 times a month. Keeps the house pretty clean really. I bounce around helping each child with their job, and we do this generally when Dallin is sleeping. We usually spent 1-2 hours doing mission chores but not for more then an hour or so stright- we often times will take a break, have a snack or play a game then head back to finish our mission!

Here are some pic's of the kids with their mission chores. Through out I have put some quotes from Charlotte Mason that I just love!!
"Every day, every hour parents are either passively or actively forming those habits in their children upon which, more than upon anything else future character and conduct depend" - Charlotte Mason
"The mother devotes herself to the formation of one habit at a time, doing no more than to keep watch over those already formed" - Charlotte Mason
"The fact is, that the things we do a good many times over leave some sort of impression in the very substance of our brain; and this impression, the more often it is repeated, makes it the easier for us to do the thing the next time" - Charlotte Mason
"The habits of the Child produce the character of the man" - Charlotte Mason
If you have any questions at all about how I do this or made this just ask!!

p.s. the badge supplies and clips I got a good old walmart for I think a total of $8 bucks. Office supply section. YES the boys wear them as they work and take of each chore and put it in the pocket as it gets done. Very hands on, again, instilling those ideas of making a goal working through it, and seeing the results.