English and Phonics

To teach all of the language arts-type classes (phonics, English, writing, handwriting, spelling, and reading,) I’ve decided to use Bob Jones University Press curriculum. I love it. If you know me, you know I tend to be a pretty structured person, so this curriculum fits me great. They provide clear lesson plans for each day and many activities. Their workbook pages and books are colorful and engaging. They teach phonics using word families. Personally, I like that approach, although I’m sure other approaches are also effective. And, since I’ve used Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons, my kids can read okay, but they have a hard time decoding new words. That curriculum doesn’t teach phonics rules very well. BJUP curriculum fills in the holes left by 100 Easy Lesson beautifully.

I also really appreciate the stories in the BJUP Readers. They do a great job at providing a variety of types of literature. They have fiction and non-fiction, historical and modern stories, as well as poetry and Biblical stories. The questions they provide for the teacher really help guide the reader see good and godly character traits in the story characters. They also use a variety of mediums to illustrate each story. For example, one story may have clay animation; others may have cartoon characters, while others still have photographs or sketches. Savannah loves art, so she loves seeing different ways to illustrate stories.

When it comes to independent reading and read-alouds, I lean heavily on SonLight. With Savannah inhaling books right now, I haven’t been able to read everything before she does. But, I trust that if came from a SonLight reading list, it’s probably a “wholesome” book. One time, she brought me a book, and said, “Mommy, I don’t think this is a very good book for me to read. The first grader in this story is selfish and mean to other kids.” It was a book I had purchased (on sale) because it was about a first grader. I had read another book by the same author in my Children’s Lit class in college (almost 15 years ago!) so I figured this one would be OK. After I read it, I realized Savannah was right! It was not a very uplifting book. I definitely would not want my daughter speaking the way the main character did!

We also have fallen in love with BJUP’s Journey Books. They have wholesome stories that are entertaining and uplifting. If you have any good booklists, will you pass them my way? What authors do you let your kids read?

Well, that’s about it for the language arts recap. Obviously, we do handwriting and spelling too. I use BJUP stuff because it goes along with the phonics/English lessons. I haven’t been disappointed with them either!

Check back in a few days to hear what we’re doing for science!! It’s out of this world!

I love school!

So, we’ve completed our second week of our new homeschooling year. It’s been so fun!! I guess it’s a good thing I majored in teaching language arts. Savannah’s favorite part of school is English and the boys love Phonics! (They love math, too, though.) Even on the weekends or family day, the kids often ask if we can do school. The other day we had a trip to the Children’s Museum planned, and Peter and Alex begged to do a phonics lesson before we left. Brad keeps asking when my kids will figure out they’re not supposed to like school. :) (I guess he didn’t like school too much as a kid.)

We plan on heading back to the States in about a year. We’ll take some vacation, see family, and Brad will finish up his degree. Then, we’ll come right back to this side of the world. But, since we know we’ll be heading to the States in a year, we decided it would be best to try to stretch this home school year out and make it last until next March/April. There’s no use in having next year’s curriculum mailed here, just to use it for a couple of months and carry it back to the States.

So, in my opinion, that’s one of the greatest things about this year! I feel free to do projects, watch educational films and do other things that make school extra fun! So, even though we do school five days each week, I we only do four lessons in each subject each week.

So, just in case you’re wondering…. Here’s a glance at our typical week….

Mornings:
Monday, Wednesday, and Friday mornings: Brad and I meet with a tutor while our kids are in local school.

Tuesday is family day.

Thursday: Brad is at work all day and I spend time preparing for an English class I teach in our home on Saturday afternoons.

Homeschooling:
Monday, Wednesday and Thursday look pretty similar. I teach English/phonics, math, and reading to Savannah and the boys separately (Peter and Alex are together.). Each class is about 30 minutes, so that takes from 1pm – 4pm. Then, from 4-5 I teach science (Wed) or history (Mon & Thurs) to all three kids.

(Thankfully Leigh is here to do a lot of my dinner prep!)

On Fridays our homeschooling day is cut short because we get together with other foreigners for worship every Friday late afternoon/evening. So, I teach reading for an hour, then we have Math Fun Day for second hour. For Math Fun Day we may play a game, play with cuisenart rods, base 10 blocks, make a graph, put together a store, etc. Depending on the topic, I may do something with all three kids together, have Savannah teach the boys, or split the time between them. We all look forward to Fridays!

Then, we do school one day on the weekend. Brad works at the English school all day Saturday, then, he tries to do some work at home on Sunday. (That way we don’t have to fight the weekend crowds on family day.) So far I’ve done school once on Saturday and once on Sunday. I think Sunday is better because that keeps us busy and out of Brad’s hair! But at this point, I’m still thinking I’ll take it one weekend at a time…. On the weekend, we do English/phonics, math, and science.

I have to say….. I love homeschooling!! I know it’s not for every family. But, I’m so thankful that it’s the Lord’s plan for our family! Over the next few posts, I’ll share about the curriculum I’m using.

Feelin' the Love!

by Amy

In the last month, we have received quite a few boxes (a real treat in our world)! My dear friend Krista handles all my home school materials. I make all my purchases online and have them mailed to her house. She opens all the boxes up, checks the condition of all the books, gets rid of packing materials and unnecessary stuff, repacks it and mails it to me. Krista is AMAZING! The US post office has some flat-rate global priority boxes. They allow you to pack whatever you want in that box, up to 20lbs, and pay $56 to mail it overseas. But, the box is not big! It's difficult to fill one of those boxes and get it over 8 lbs. Well, it's difficult for a normal person.... Not Krista! All of the boxes were 18-20lbs! If we had paid $6/lb (the normal rate) it would have cost us twice as much to get the books we need. And, if we would have had them mailed directly from the curriculum companies, it would have been almost three times as much! Thank you, Krista, thank you! Your time and energies saved us tons!

One reason Krista's able to get the boxes so heavy is because she maximizes every square inch of space! She fills corners and extra spaces with treasures (stickers, tissue paper, ring pops, etc.). What a blessing!

This picture was taken on the morning the boxes were delivered. Clearly there are smiles all around!

Other boxes that came were from some sweet friends that live in Houston, the Browns. We actually just met them when we were back in the States this past fall. Ashley and I found that we have many things in common and quickly hit it off! So, they wanted to bless our family by sending lots of clothes for my kids and fun snacks for us all to enjoy! What generosity:

I mentioned to her that my boys love baseball, so she sent these precious jerseys! They wear them every chance they get! Aren't they cute!

While we were in America in October, one thing I couldn't find for Savannah was a bathing suit. (Even in Houston, people don't swim in October!) So, Ashely mailed a couple of suits to us. Savannah looks so cute in them!

What a blessing these two families are to ours!

Saturday Morning Fun

by Amy

This month Brad started teaching English at our training center every Saturday. So, that means Saturdays the kids and I are on our own. I'll probably home school on Saturdays in the future, but that hasn't started yet. So, this morning, feeling inspired by being low on milk, I decided to make pancakes for breakfast. (Plus, Brad doesn't really like pancakes, so I like to make them when he's gone.)

And, being inspired by my friend Rachel and her love for chocolate, I decided to make chocolate chip pancakes. Then, I busted out some whipping cream and strawberries to create a happy happy face for each kiddo. Needless to say, there were smiles all around.

I forgot to take pictures, of my creation, but when they started creating, I pulled out the camera. Savannah decorated her second pancake on her own....

(Yes, she opted for Hershey's syrup instead of maple syrup. ....Thanks Uncle Kevin....)

Alex was too fast. I just caught him taking his last bite.

Clearly, fun was had by all!

Puzzle Fun

by Amy

This week we're not homeschooling. I'm trying to get everything ready and organized to begin teaching second grade and kindergarten next week. So, that means my kids have been left alone to play together more than usual. Thankfully, my kids get along really well, so this has been a treat, not a burden to them!

Two days in a row, Peter and Alex have have spent several hours putting together puzzles. (Savannah helped them when she wasn't busy reading.)

They were so proud of their work, they wanted me to snap a few shots before they had to put them away. So, here you go....

Truth be told, I think it's a little funny that they put all of these puzzles together, took them all apart to put away, then put them all together again the next day! But, it kept them entertained and busy, so I was happy too!

Our Graduate!

by Amy

Last Friday, my precious girl finished her first grade home school curriculum! (I can't believe she's growing up so fast!) So, we had a family celebration! That afternoon, Savannah requested that we go play at an indoor play area. Think: Big McDonald's Play Place times six. It's not huge, but big enough to spend an hour or two running around it. (And small enough for them to hear me when I call them!) So, that afternoon, that's where we went. Then, we came home to eat hot dogs and Cheetos (thanks to the Browns!) for dinner. Then, we topped it off with a mint cheesecake pie. Finally, we each gave Savannah a homemade card expressing our congratulations.

Little did we know.... while I was helping the boys make Savannah's cards, she was in her room making thank you cards for her brothers.



I am really proud of Savannah. As I look back over the last 9 months of first grade, I see so much growth! Obviously, she knows more than she did when we began, but she has also really grown in diligence and perseverance. She's not as easily distracted as she once was. She has also learned how to manage her own time. Each Monday I would give her a list of things that needed to be completed by the end of the week. She was faithful to work hard, especially at the beginning of the week, to make sure she'd get it all done. She also has fallen in love with books! For some reason, it just blesses my heart to see my daughter wrapped up in reading! At the beginning of first grade, she liked to read, but she didn't love it. Now, a good book is right up there with Adventures in Odyssey on her list of favorite things to do.

First grade was fun.... Second grade, here we come!

The Best Purchase I've Ever Made

(at least that's what my kids think!)

by Amy

When we hit the big city up north last month, I went to IKEA. (I never went to IKEA when I lived in the States, but I love going there now!) While I was there, I found some trays. They were about $5 each. Not, bad.... I thought my kids might think it was fun to set them up occasionally for dinner and a movie; or, when they all need/want to be separated for school, they could take their trays to their beds to work. I had no idea that these trays would be used every single day! My kids LOVE them -- especially the boys. They read books on their trays; they color on their trays; they do water colors and playdough on their trays. And, they love to eat dinner on their trays (which has happened a few times, since they think it's soooo fun!) When I was in IKEA I went back and forth... Did I really want to drag these trays back home on a train? Would my kids ever use them? Would I ever want them to all be separated for school anyway? Thankfully, since they were relatively inexpensive, I made the plunge, and I'm so glad I did! I have some happy kiddos! And happy kiddos make this mama's heart happy!