Family
Homeschool Curriculum
I’ve been asked by several different people lately what I use for homeschool curriculum. As a mom with a business and a full-time job, here are some of the criteria I’m looking for in a homeschool curriculum.
1. It must be easy to use.
2. It must be a challenging & effective.
3. My kids have to like it.
4. It has to be easy to integrate with all three kids.
5. The lessons have to be manageable in my available time–not only during the day, but also within the school year.
With these criteria, here are some of my favorite curriculum choices.
1. All About Spelling. Great curriculum for phonics and reading. AAS is hands-on and provides a variety of learning experiences, from tactile to visual to auditory. Students learn the phonics sounds first and build on their knowledge to both learn how to spell AND how to read. All of my kids were reading within a few weeks of using this program. I love that AAS also has readers that go right along with the lessons–no words that they can’t read! Also, there is a great opportunity for handwriting practice with extra words and sentences for kids to practice. Three subjects in one! We do one lesson (step) a week and can finish a book a year, but the curriculum is designed to go at the learner’s pace.
2. Horizons Math. Horizons and Singapore math are the top two math programs as far as challenging curriculum. Saxon is about a grade level behind. Horizons and Singapore are a bit above grade level. Horizons is colorful, Christian based, and it teaches the concepts, not just drill. I do like to do flashcard practice along with the textbook, though, as knowing the facts makes doing the math a little easier. Doing 5 lessons a week, this curriculum will take a little longer than 26 weeks. Last summer I just had the kids finish up the last lessons at their own pace through the summer.
3. Apologia Science. Fantastic Christian science curriculum. We’ve been doing astronomy this year. You can easily finish the entire book by reading the lesson one week and then doing an experiment the next. This can be done with all three kids, even though they are at different levels. There is a great workbook available, too, for older kids to do additional activities.
4. History–Next year, we’re going to try Apologia History. It’s arranged by continent, so students learn geography and history at the same time–love that! I can’t wait to try it out. I’m hoping that this will be a one lesson a week curriculum, too. It’s definitely one that we can all do together.
5. Grammar–I’ve been using Shurley English. It’s a little intensive if you follow the teacher’s manual. However, I love that my second grader can identify prepositions and possessive pronouns! I recommend getting the workbook. I don’t really even look at the teacher’s manuals. The kids label their sentences each day and sometimes do additional practice. It’s a great foundation.
6. Other:
My kids love Explode the Code for phonics practice. (They do this on their own)
Megan’s new favorite is Daily Paragraph Editing. (She is doing this instead of Explode the Code–she can even check her own answers!)
For art, we’ve been doing the Creatively Fit Painting Marathon this year. We paint a painting a week!
For Bible, we work on the kids’ Awanas verses.
In case you’re wondering…we usually do school from 8:30/9:00 to noon.
Pina-Colada “Poke” Cake…
One of my favorite cakes is a lemon “poke” cake my Mom taught me to make. What is a poke cake? Well, to make a poke cake, bake a regular 8×13″ cake, and then poke holes with a toothpick in the top (hence the “poke”). Then prepare jello and pour over the cake–it will fill the holes. As the cake cools, the jello permeates it, making it really moist. Finally, top the cold cake with prepared pudding and then Cool Whip. My mom’s cake was lemon with lemon jello and lemon pudding. Very yummy!
The other day I ran across a recipe for a “Coke” cake. Essentially, you buy a cake mix and stir in a can of coke instead of the eggs and shortening. It turns out great! Anyway, I thought, “hey, if Coke works, I wonder if a can of sparkling water would, too?”
I had a chance to try it out when I went to Handy Andy with Tristan and noticed the baking mixes on sale. :) Ryan is not a big fan of the lemon cake (or anything lemon except lemons), so I bought a white cake mix. Tristan thought the pineapple jello sounded great. And then I saw the coconut pudding. Hey–I love pina colada (disclaimer–I’ve never had a “real” pina colada, but love the flavor in just about everything! lol), so I thought this would be worth a try.
I’ve stopped using Cool Whip, though, so as I was figuring out what to use as a replacement, I remembered my sister-in-laws pin on pinterest about making whipped cream out of canned coconut milk. Just put a can of coconut milk in the fridge for several hours, scoop out the hardened milk at the top & whip with some vanilla. I added a little powdered sugar, too, just for fun. ;)
So…mixed the cake mix with a can of sparkling water and baked…
It turned out great! Next, I poked a bunch of holes in the top (I did this step while the cake was still hot; you could also wait until it cooled–I think it might stay moister that way???)…
The next step was to make the pineapple Jell0–just follow the directions on the box and pour over the top right after you mix in the cold water. Put the cake in the fridge to let the Jello set.
Once the Jello has set, mix the coconut pudding according to the box instructions. Pour over the top of the cake before it sets and spread. Stick back in the fridge to let it sit, then top with the coconut milk whipped cream. One can was enough to frost the top of the cake, but it was really thick.
I think the lemon version is still my favorite (I’ve had strawberry, too–that wasn’t bad, either), but the pina colada is pretty yummy!
Focus…making a schedule!
Focus on Action Goals
So far, we’ve thought about what our big goals are for our lives in five areas–faith, family, finances, fitness & fun. And we’ve thought about what things in our lives we can cut out to make sure we have room to work on those goals. This week, I want you to create some action goals for each of these five areas.
It’s really important, especially for women, to create action goals. Many women tend to see themselves as failures when we don’t meet a goal. Feeling like a failure is certainly not conducive to continuing on our path! So, creating action goals–things we can do each day to take action–rather than on the final destination helps us to move forward.
I’ve already mentioned briefly an action goal for faith–reading your Bible each day. You can print out my planner pages for a great M-F plan, purchase a read the bible in one year Bible, or even find an online plan that gets sent to your cell phone or e-mail. That daily Bible reading becomes something on your to-do list, something that you can finish and feel great about. And if you get a little behind, you know exactly what you need to do to catch up. The key is consistency!
How about a goal for your family? It could be simple, like eating together each evening, or spending 30 minutes together. Think about something that you can take action on TODAY, and make that your action goal for your Family area.
Here are some ideas for finances, fitness, and fun…
Finances: Call 5 people each day to set up an appointment to share your business with them. If you stick with this, you’ll be calling 100 people each month! Imagine what will happen as you start making appointments and following through with sharing your business opportunity!
Fitness: It is vital that you find a way to integrate fitness into your life. Whether your goal is to walk 30 minutes each morning or do a quick 10 minute workout video, creating that action goal and sticking to it will make a difference in your life!
Fun: My fun action goal for this year is to do something creative at least once a week. Sew a skirt, make a project with the kids, etc. Allowing myself to be creative helps me to be more focused on the other areas of my life.
Have a great week!
Karen
Focus on Family
A few months ago on the way home from a company event, I was thinking about what it means to be a soccer mom. The image of the mom in workout clothes with the mini-van full of kids comes to mind. She’s the super-mom–the one who works full time, is in great shape, runs the PTA, participates in every school event, runs kids all over the place, etc. Somehow this image, which actually started out as a pejorative term, has become the goal of many moms.
Unfortunately, when we focus on all the extra activities and accomplishments and outward appearances, we miss out on what is most important–the hearts of our kids. With all the extra things we cram into our lives–and our kids’ lives–so they can be the best and have the best, it’s no wonder that kids today are feeling so disjointed.
As moms, it’s our job to bring our family together. And sometimes that means making tough decisions and saying no to some activities. Just like any other mom, I want my kids to have the opportunities I didn’t. I want them to be able to do the things they love and excel in them. HOWEVER, I also know that they don’t NEED to be in 20 different activities to be happy. What they need is time with their family.
It’s really important to choose carefully the things your kids are involved in, not only for their sakes, but for the sake of the family as a whole. It doesn’t do any of us any good to be running around here and there and everywhere.
In our family, each of the kids gets to pick one thing every year to do outside the home. And we try to make it so that only one of the three kids is in an activity at a time. (or they share an activity) This year, for example, Tristan played football in the fall. Over the next 6 weeks or so, Megan is in a play. And we’ll be signing Josyan up for a spring sport here in a few weeks. Next year, the boys will play football together on the same team, etc.
The key is to allow kids to choose something they love, but also teach them that they don’t have to do everything. You’ll all benefit from the rest from frantic activity and the time to spend with each other.
Karen
PS This looks like an interesting resource on this topic: http://www.hyper-parenting.com/
Focus on Family
Hello, 2012!
Twelve Days of Christmas
Kids can help with dinner!
Last weekend, we brought home a nice big 5 pound chicken from the New Braunfels Farmer’s Market. Tonight, we’re cooking it up with this recipe: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/juicy-roasted-chicken/.
Megan was super excited to be able to help me make a real chicken. What could a 9 year old do to help? She sprinkled the salt, pepper, and onion powder on the outside (I rubbed the seasonings on the inside), stuffed the celery in, and put the butter on. We also added some carrots and potatoes to the pan so we would have a full dinner.
After dinner, we’ll pull off as much meat as we can and freeze for another dinner and cook the carcass tomorrow to make some yummy chicken & dumplins. Three dinners from one $10 bird–NICE!
I don’t know why I have always been intimidated by cooking a whole chicken. Really, cooking a chicken is so easy…a 9 year old could do it! :)
Countdown to Christmas continues!
We are really enjoying our little countdown to Christmas! The past few days, we’ve been enjoying being crafty together–making and wrapping gifts.
Here are some of the things we’ve made…
Fleece Hat, scarf, & mittens. The kids helped me sew & cut the fringe. Find info HERE. The scarves aren’t pictured, but are super easy–just sew three scarf-sized pieces of fleece together straight down the middle length-wise, then cut fringe on both sides and fluff. Directions & pictures HERE.
Crazy ornaments. I made some baby bibs a few weeks ago, and the piece that is left from the neck hole looks like an ornament. Josyan has been begging for weeks to let him sew an ornament. These are the results…
We just sewed them together…
stuffed them…
& added a ribbon and a button.
Kind of silly, but cute. :)
Then we made some headbands…out of old T-shirts! For detailed instructions, click HERE. First, you cut off 2 inch strips from old t-shirts. Sew 5 strips together, then pull down on each strip until it rolls up on itself. Separate like this:
Braid the strands, always starting with the outside strand–first the left, then the right and back and forth. Sew the ends together, add some pretties and you get:
It’s been fun finding projects that the kids can help with or do on their own. I’m a recovering perfectionist, so letting them do their own thing without helping can be hard for me, but it’s so worth it!
