2013-2014 School Year

Yesterday I got most of our books in the mail for this coming school year and I am so excited!  I thought I'd share them here for my homeschooling sisters and friends, and anyone else who may be interested.  I am always excited to see what my sisters are doing in school with their kids; and I hope they share too so I can get ideas from them!

Note: I have used Rainbow Resources to purchase most of our school items for this year.  Their prices are good and they offer free freight for purchases over $50.  I ordered their catalogue and it was a wonderful resource to have as I searched for new curricula and supplies, as the catalogue has very detailed reviews for almost every item.  Once I found items I was interested in, I entered the merchandise code into the website to see more pictures and get more ideas.

Math

Alex has previously done A Beka math, and this year I'm switching her over to Saxon 54.  I know from personal experience that Saxon Math is a wonderful prep curriculum for university-level math.  I'm hoping Alex will not mind the change this year.

History and Geography

This year we are studying Early Modern Times.  We love using The Story of the World



I purchased the text as well as the audio MP3.  Sometimes I read it to my children, and sometimes (as I'll have a nursing infant and a jealous toddler) we'll be listening to the MP3.  We love the activity book, learning about geography and maps, and the supplemental historical and literature reading lists.

Last year, I made our own timeline binders.  It was a lot of fun.  But this year I'm very excited to try the Timeline Book and the Timeline Figures.  The Timeline Figures come on quality sticker paper and can be colored, cut and placed in the timeline book.  I had to get each girl her very own set because I know these will be treasured.   We will transfer our timeline from last year over to this nicer one.  We'll also continue to paste in scriptural events, and genealogical info, as well as photos of books we've read to supplement.

Genealogy (as part of our history study)

My mind has frequently been occupied with genealogy and how I can start NOW, even while homeschooling, having a busy toddler, and a newborn, nursing infant.   

Have you visited Familysearch.org?  If not, you need to right now!  A couple years ago, I went to a little genealogy seminar taught by a genealogical genius!  She showed us so many different ways to find family, what work has been done, and many tips.  She's a master genealogist (has been doing it for over 50 years since she was a teen) and a missionary over at the Provo Family History Center.  I've wanted to take this week-long course from her ever since that little seminar over two years ago.  I've also wanted to learn how she made her family tree website, as I feel I really need a great way to organize my family to keep from being overwhelmed.  But for a mother of very young children, who also home schools, among other things, being able to leave children to attend a week-long class is impossible.   Well lately I've been exploring Familysearch.org and I cannot believe the improvements and tools made available that were not there two years ago.  That website I wanted to learn about?... right there on familysearch.org.  There's your family tree, or view it in fan chart, and you click on any person and from there you have the option to look at photos (or upload any you may have), documents, stories, etc!  And of course you can see what temple work has been done.  I've already spotted a mistake that I can have remedied so my family tree is accurate.  

When Alexandria was baptized this year, my wonderful sister, Mandy, got Alex' church member number from me and had this beautiful family fan chart professionally printed and boarded.  When she brought it out at the baptism, and explained 

to Alex that these are her family members and many of them were there right then, it was undeniable that what she was saying was true.  It was an exciting and touching event.  I had Alex' fan chart framed, and have made it the focal point of our front living room.  I love taking on genealogy from my children's viewpoint, so that they can get to know their family from both sides, not just mine.  We now have a real family wall.  The center is this beautiful fan chart, and in little frames all around are pictures I've procured for as many ancestors as I can find... They're not all up.  In fact, we only have a couple up so far, but that's not for lack of photos.  It's because as we study and learn what we can about each family member, we celebrate by putting that individual's picture up in a frame.  [Hobby Lobby sells teeny little frames that are beautiful!  I hang them with a little push pin].  Think how exciting it will be to learn about these family members in their respective time frames with our world history, church history, and geography lessons!!  YEEEE-HAAAAAWWW!!!!  So this is one way I can start genealogy NOW, with my children.

Science

This year we wanted to study biology and be about in nature.  I have had so much fun putting together our nature kits.  I chose a very simple backbone for this year's study, because for this age range of children, it's all the supplemental, hands-on stuff that gets them excited about science.   We are going to be using REAL Science 4 Kids: Focus On Elementary Biology as our spine.  It looks simple enough to allow us time for all our scientific adventures, yet it still teaches the scientific method, is unbiased (extremely important for me); it just teaches scientific fact and none of that other silly nonsense, and we'll be doing some fun experiments like collecting pond water and watching tadpoles grow, butterflies chrysalis, growing plants, learning about plants and insects, and learning to use a microscope to learn about protists.

I have a nature backpack for each child, and one for myself.  Each backpack (excepting items that we can easily share) will carry the following:

-First and foremost: a beautiful, hardbound, unlined nature journal, with all the art supplies needed to go with it.  I'm using Barry Stebbing's Step-by-Step Lessons in journaling and drawing as my guide.  My girls are going to be in 7th Heaven with this!  To have their very own beautiful nature journal, and nice colored pencils, drawing pen, and lessons that require us to go outside and explore with it all...  I can't wait.

-The Young Birder's Guide to Birds of North America

- A more specific field guide for our area, Birds of Utah Field Guide

-On my iPhone, I have the iBird Explorer app.  It is AMAZING!  You can list your favorites, hear (and even call other birds with) real recorded bird songs, see pictures and photos, and learn facts about every bird.  AMAZING!

- binoculars.  I recommend getting one with no greater than 7x magnification so it's easy enough for children to use.  I'm considering this one from Amazon.
- Jumbo magnifier for my toddler
- X-Scope: 7 Function Optical Tool.  My girls are going to FLIP over this.
- Flower (and leaf) press & Nature Cards- oh yeah, my girlies are in for a HUGE treat this year.  They both get their very own kit.  This will be awesome for their nature journals, too, not just making cards.
- Leaf Collection Album.  leaf and tree guide, and lots of interesting information.  Comes with plastic envelope for carrying leaves home (and keeping moist) so they can be pressed (and of course, entered into their nature journals.
- I LOVE horticulture.  We will study horticulture of everything on our land, put it in our journals, and move on from there.  What a neat journal, huh!

Language Arts

I LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE The Phonics Road to Spelling & Reading!!!

See this review at Rainbow Resources to learn more.

Well, that's our core.  We are doing lots of extra-curricular, mostly via outside sources, but perhaps that's a post for another time.