Gonna Be Slow Around Here

We went to Roswell last weekend to visit my Honey's grandparents and to tour NMMI. Our two oldest sons are in the admissions process. They are excited to become NMMI cadets in January. I'm excited for them and trying not to think about how much I will miss them.


I have a lot to do to prepare them for their new school. I will be losing my two main workers and need to get the younger ones ready to take over for them. I will try to write a few posts each week as I find the time. I'm sure after a few weeks things will smooth out and I'll have more free time. See ya soon!

Resources To Help You Teach Younger Students

Phonics
I used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons for some of my students. The children get to a point where they hate the book so I started looking for something else. This site has some good free resources. I use Blend Phonics along with Stairway to Reading. Stairway to reading is a free program. You can download a lesson book, reader, bingo game cards, flashcards and card games as part of the program. It is very thorough. Go to this site and click on remedial programs then stairway to reading to get to the download page. You have to register and then you can get the resources.


Spelling
I wasn't teaching this as a formal class. My students were not picking up spelling naturally so I decided to look for something to help them learn. I do not have the discipline or time to do spelling lists and test with six different students so I found a computer program.

Math
We use Saxon math. They start with 5/4 after they have learned their math facts. Actually none of my students have mastered the flashcards before I have them start math lessons. I found a math facts application for my itouch and that is how they have been doing math facts lately.


History, Science, Social Studies, Bible
I read good books to them and they narrate back to me. I have found Ambleside Online and Old Fashioned Education to be good resources for great books.


Handwriting
I write something in a notebook for my student to copy.

Reading
They read aloud to a family member or pet from a reader, Bible or other book.

I have them do two 30 minute sessions of quiet reading. They choose a book, find a quiet spot, set the timer and read. My children from two years and up have quiet reading time.

I think that's it. One thing I have found helpful is going for a walk with them before we start schoolwork. We do a shovelglove(weights) workout when we get home and then we start our lessons. We have all been more focused and gotten better work done since we started exercising first.

Future Pumpkin Pie

This pumpkin has not been harmed in any way....yet!

Before and After Or We Got Gas!

Sorry about that title. I thought it was too funny not to use it.

Out with the old electric stove top. It's difficult to use cast iron pans on electric burners.


My husband found this gas cooktop for $50.00 used on craigslist. He and our older boys hooked it up. Caleb tried out the griddle this morning when he cooked up some birthday pancakes. Then he fried some bacon and eggs on it for me.



It works great and cooking is easier and faster. Now to find some counters in another color. Nah, we will stick with these until we redo the kitchen. Still haven't figured out a design.

Uh-Oh!

Happy Birthday

My oldest is 17 today!


I don't feel like I have been a mom for that long. I have been a mother for almost half of my life. So that is a looooong time. But it has gone by quickly and has been mostly fun.

September First Garden

Mandivilla and morning glories growing up the dead tree.




Compost pile. The pumpkin plants look nice but aren't growing any pumpkins.







The neglected front garden beds.

Our Homeschool Curriculum

We are using the Robinson Curriculum(RC) for our homeschool. We have used it for about five years now. My three oldest students do almost all of their work independently. My youngest three students are still working with me. I will do a separate post for each phase that they pass through on the way to independent study. I will also list some of the resources that we use.


Here is a little history of how we ended up using RC. Our children have always been homeschooled. We started out using a text book approach. After our second year of school I heard about Charlotte Mason and began to implement it the next year. I made up my own curriculum using library books. We all enjoyed school much more that year and the next two. By then I had a toddler and a little baby and it took a lot of time to do school each day. I had heard about unschooling and began to look into it. We started unschooling after my fifth baby was born. We did still read aloud, do some math activities, and a few other things each day so we were really more eclectic learners than unschoolers.

We continued this for about two years and then I found Ambleside Online(AO). We had always kept some of Charlotte Mason's ideas in our homeschool and I still loved her philosophy. So I printed out a bunch of the AO books and we got to work. I had three students and three little ones at that time and it took us all day to get schoolwork done. I stumbled onto the RC site one day and was fascinated with it and read everything there over the next few days. I told my husband about it and he said "Sounds great, let's do it." I didn't want to at first because I thought it was harsh to just dump my students and their books at a desk and tell them to get to work. My hubby and I kept talking about it and I decided to try the self-teaching idea out before we bought the curriculum with the materials we already had. It worked and my children were happier. So we bought the program and have been using it since. We have run into a few obstacles here and there but we have been able to find solutions to them and my students are doing well.