Flannel Board and Learning Room!

One of the tools I will need this year (strongly suggested) would be a flannel board. I checked online and at hobby lobby and unless I want to spend $80.00 for a stand alone flannel board I would have to make it myself. SO- as some of you know {or those who don't} I am pretty crafty when it comes to creating things such as this because I just have the tools and talent to do so! {er--most of the time}

I purchased a thick poster board and glued two large black (adhesive) felt sheets on to it. 

While at Hobby Lobby I also tried to locate some bulk letters/numbers/shapes in felt that I wouldn't have to cut out myself. Everything had adhesive though, which I wouldn't be able to use. I was quite disappointed that I could not locate any felt items that had NO adhesive! 

I used my Cricut to cut out 30 shapes of circles, triangles, squares, hearts and stars on card stock to use for the counting part of the Numbers/Phonics Curriculum. Then I glued a small piece of felt on the back of them and it works great. I dreaded the thought of cutting numbers and letters out - sounds a bit time consuming! But- I finally searched further and found that the A Beka website had felt numbers and letters and ordered for $22.50. YAY!! 

I have officially turned our breakfast room into our learning room. Here are a couple photo's of what we have set up so far.

As for my 3 year old, here is where he learns and plays while we are working on school work. Along with a Leap Frog/Blue's Clues/Super Why Netflix video! YAY! This photo was actually taken a few days ago, so he has certainly been grouping/counting/learning through play all along! ;)

First Day of School 2012!

Here we are! Another year. Seems like summer went by so fast and now I have a tall handsome sophomore in high school and a sweet boy starting kindergarten! I am truly blessed! 

Here is my Jeremy who was not thrilled about the photo, but I gently reminded him that the photos are for me. They are my right, by bragging rights and for my own use copyright via stretch marks! I did promise him though that I would not post the photo on Facebook! Keeping my promise! 

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Here is my Kieney Bean! I love my child so much! He was SO ready to start home school Kindergarten! He stated, "Mom, we are a team and we are going to teach each other!" How sweet is that?! AND-- how true it is as well!

I am so thankful for the opportunity to home school my youngest children. This is definitely an adventure that is exciting yet terrifying at the same time. If God brings us to it, he will equip us for it! That is the very saying I am holding on to with this adventure! Happy School 2012 Year!

YAY!!!! My curriculum has arrived!!!! WOOT! WOOT!
So very exciting! Now, off to figure out the method works and what all I need to put together! AND-- A BIG thanks to all you seasoned homeschooling mom's who have helped me so far get through the in's and out's of choosing a curriculum and your experiences! Much love!

A Beka Book Curriculum Is Ordered!!

I decided that instead of trying to put together my own curriculum for Kindergarten (books here and there I picked up from various stores) I was just going to ask my fellow home school friends in our Facebook H.O.P.E page { https://www.facebook.com/groups/308673932547008/ } what would be the best curriculum to use for Phonics. Then it came to me. It was brought back to my remembrance that I absolutely loved the curriculum I helped teach when I was a 1st grade teacher's aid. So, I did some research {including seeking prayer and wisdom} and it was final! Friday, August 10, 2012 was the official ordering day.

I ordered the whole parent/child K5 kit including a Science and Social Studies book to incorporate into the curriculum as well. It is a Christian-God based curriculum, and they did have for another couple hundred dollars the whole Bible Program, but I decided that since this was my 1st year homeschooling, I wouldn't over do it. Not to say that I shouldn't have a biblical subject included, but the boys are BOTH in the Awana's club at church that goes on during the whole school year. They will have a memory scripture every week (sometimes two scriptures) and homework that I will use as their Bible class.

Trying to patiently await the order, I finally received the parent kit yesterday (and yes, I squealed). Today the  child kit will arrive!

I sat down last night and went over the parent guides and made the copies I needed. I have pretty much everything I need except for a flannel board with some visual aids. I will be visiting hobby lobby this week. :)

Once my kit arrives today, I will spend this week preparing. Home school starts August 27th!

Our Venture to Homeschool

I have always wanted to home school. I started working with my older two before Kindergarten thinking I wanted to see if it was for me. We moved right at the time where we only had a couple months to decide before my eldest child was about to start Kindergarten. We ended up going to a church that had a private school as well and in the remote area there were no home school support groups. So, both my eldest children  (now 18 and 15) started their first couple years in a private Christian school.

Fast forward to now and I have one graduated, a sophomore, one entering kindergarten and a 3 year old who will be on his 3rd year of Mother's Day Out. So here we are doing it all over again, except we ARE choosing to home school. 

I am quite excited about this because one, it IS on my heart and I feel as if this is what God has called me to do. That is first and foremost. Secondly, my husband is on board as well. Having him in agreement is very important to me because he was very skeptical at first. I am excited for him to see what a wonderful choice this is for our family. Thirdly, we have had some pretty big changes going on in our lives that God has laid in front of us an AMA--ZIIIING group of families who also home school their multiple children. I can do this, and I know this is what God wants me to do. 

So with all that being said, I have to say that I was VERY overwhelmed with all the curriculum out there. I was planning on attending multiple classes available at the curriculum fair held in Arlington this last May, but I was encouraged NOT to go because it would just bring to a place of more frustration. So, I heeded the advice and did some research on my own. I decided at this point that I was going to dedicate some time to putting some lessons together for the first part of the year until I could find different types of curriculum for each individual subjects I would need. I sat down for about an hour doing so and became even MORE frustrated because it was so time consuming, and from what I read, it doesn't have to be THAT time consuming especially for KINDERGARTEN! In sharing that with my sweet friend Angela (who also home schools her daughters) she told me that I was SO over thinking it! She was VERY right. 

So, bringing back to my remembrance of being a 1st grade teacher's aid for a year, I remember that they used the A Beka Book curriculum and I actually LOVED IT! I was able to prepare the days lessons for the teacher and even on days she was out, I was able to teach the lessons. I certainly was NOT as good as she was, but she was a great mentor and even let me learn how to assist one on one with the students. 

So, I decided to ask some seasoned home school mom's what they thought of the A Beka Book curriculum and there was not ONE negative review. So, guess what?! I ORDERED! YAY! 

Funny side note, I had made my order on a Friday from the A Beka Book website. Completing my order I had an order number and it stated that I would receive an email confirming my order shortly. Well, all of Friday I was watching for it to ensure there were no bumps in the order. Saturday, Sunday, Monday came and still no email confirmation. I decided to call later Monday afternoon to see what the hold up was and the customer service lady had a hard time at first locating my order. She explained that when they receive and order they have to manually add me as a new user to the website and it takes a couple of business days to process the order information. My order was in, it just wasn't processed. Then, FINALLY patiently waiting, I received my confirmation email YESTERDAY!! WOOT! The email suggested that my order will be shipped in 1-2 weeks.

Happy Homeschooling! 

Introduction

Welcome to our blog that is designated to share our homeschooling experience. I am an avid believer that we can all help one another with the wisdom that come through our experiences in every aspect of our lives. Including homeschooling our children. Whether we are 1 or 100 we are forever learners and will never arrive into full knowing until we sit at the feet of Jesus. Let's Learn!