Sometimes.....

 Sometimes being a parent means you have to put on a happy face. 

Sometimes being a parent means you have to tell your kids everything will be ok-even if you have no idea if everything will be ok. 

Sometimes being a parent means you get the kids in bed and you collapse into yours, crying, and then crying out to God because you are so scared you have no idea what to do next. 

Sometimes....  

Sometimes you might have to break your kids' hearts because you have to think long term... Or you have to take them away from something that they love. Even though you know it's good for them, but the money isn't there or the time..... or simply, the ability.  

The looming thought of the impending heart break.... 

The scrambling, trying to find a way around it. Trying to find a way to not have to break their hearts... Crying because you know that no matter what-it's not going to work.  

Without a miracle.  

Praying, hoping for a miracle. 

But planning, knowing full well that God's answer may be "no". God's answer may be "not here", "not now".  "BE PATIENT, my child."  

Going forward with a plan,  knowing it will take away one of the few constants they have ever known.  Without knowing where you'll go next.  

I'm utterly terrified. 

I know God has a plan-I just wish I knew what his plan was.  

In the meantime, crying when they are not in the room. Planning for what I can plan for-and knowing that there is probably going to be so many more tears to come and not just from me.  

Psalm 89:1 

I will sing of the mercies of the LORD forever:

With my mouth will I make known

thy faithfulness to all

generations. 

1 Peter 5:6-7

Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty

hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time:

Casting all your care upon him; 

for he careth for you. 

I just read this through and realized the so many different ways it can be taken, so let me assure you (especially since I think it's mostly family that reads this...) Dennis (my handsome hubby) and I are just fine.  No marriage troubles, I promise.  It's everything else. :) 

~Tabitha

Somebody Explain...Because It Doesn't Make Sense

 I don't get it. 

When you leave something because you are unhappy with it, you are looking for something that makes sense, something that works for you, something that makes you happy-whatever the reason you left, you are clearly looking for a change.  You find that change, you like this new way....then you start to make subtle changes that is going to make the new thing like the thing you just left. 

I don't get it. 

If you liked the old that well, then stay there. 

You leave your  home country because the new government system has turned it to a mud hole (to say it nicely)... You go to a new country and expect to get handouts, expect a free ride.  Guess what? Nothing is free.  Not even freedom. 

You leave a church because you don't like the direction the church going-whichever direction, if not all, that may be... Then you find a new church and either complain because it's not like the old one, or try to change everything to make it like the old one.   

My current personal favorite....

You leave the public school system...  

Look, we get it. The public school system is broken. It's flailing and failing.  It's going so far into left field you've lost the ball. 

But do everyone who values homeschooling a favor. We homeschool for the flexibility it gives us for our kids and we don't want to make it look like a public school.  Actual schooling takes 3-4 hours TOPS.. And that depends on the level and how focused the kids are.  

You know you know how a child learns? How much they TALK  about it.  Take a kid to the zoo and they find a favorite animal then talk about it for months on end.  

You don't need somebody else's translation of what happened.  Find an autobiography. Gutenberg press has many of them-for free, Kindle versions, Nook versions, PDF versions you can print. 

Yes, I understand there are state requirements for tests because they are worried more about homeschoolers falling through the cracks than public schooled kids.  But you don't need tests to know they learned.  

I passed most of my tests in public school (except chemistry.... seriously.. why did I even need chemistry?  So I knew how to set the school lab on fire?....).. You know what I remember? Spanish... well, watching The Fast and Furious movies in Spanish Class... American History and Science Fiction Literature Class.. Because those were the only teachers who cared about their students to make sure they understood the lessons.  3 classes-out of 4 years. 3 classes.  Do I remember all the intricate details about how to speak the Spanish language? Nope... But I do remember the inappropriate words in the Fast and Furious Movies (here's a life tip-be careful of the music work crews you hire are listening to... especially if you are living in a parsonage).  

You don't need endless worksheets to drill it into your child. Most textbooks have the repetition worked in.  

YOU DON'T NEED A TEST TO KNOW YOUR CHILD LEARNED! 

Simple can be-and is-quite effective. 

It's even better than complicated. 

I don't need endless hours of worksheets for busy work.  

I certainly don't need "oh I was a public school teacher so my way is best".  

But it's so easy to get an email-"Homeschool Summit!!! Are you doing enough?!?!" and think-oh I'm not doing enough, I need to join-after all it's FREE-and learn what I'm not doing so I can put more on my plate and be more overwhelmed with all the extras that aren't needed. 

It's so easy to justify.. Well, the public school system has entire days of movie days, entire days of checking in and checking out books... Field Trips.. Shoot, in Kindergarten to fifth grade they take a walk around town, spend half the day and call it a school day..  It's so easy to set the bar so low to equate yourself to public school...... 

Teaching cursive, phonics and memorizing the math facts will already put you fields ahead of many in the public school system. Throw in the Bible, apologetics and REAL history. 

Tell me, WHAT was the Civil War about? WHY did we actually fight for freedom in the Revolutionary War? WHY did the founders come so willingly to a country they probably thought they would die in very quickly?  Why were we once known as the Promised Land to so many immigrants? 

Kids used to learn to read with McGuffey's.  Have you ever looked at the first few pages of McGuffey's primer?  It's got the upper case letters and the lower case letters.  That's it.  The end.  That was reading and copy work all in one. 

Kids used to learn maths by copying fact tables until they could say them without looking. That's it. Once they knew fact tables, all four functions up to 20, they sometimes moved on, more often than not they were done... Because that's ALL THEY NEEDED TO KNOW for most of the jobs. 

Anyone who needed more went on to university.  

Kids read the Bible once they could read.  History, math, science, character training all in one text.  

You want more complicated math-convert a recipe, then make it. 

If your child can read and understand Shakespeare, they can read and understand the Bible.  

Do you want to know my theory on why nobody reads blogs anymore? Everyone wants Vlogs? Because from my generation down, reading comprehension has gone out the window. 

I can't tell you how many times I was told IN HIGH SCHOOL "oh you can't understand that, then you get put in the SPED class for English."  

I was told once to pick a book to read to write a report on.  Preferably a classic-but she wasn't picky as long as it wasn't romance. I picked a book by Nathaniel Hawthorne off our shelves.. Now I'd already read and understood this book at least twice.  I took it in to be approved and quickly laughed at and told I was too stupid to understand the Old English in it. Do you know what happens when you tell a child or a teenager they are stupid? They start to believe it. You know what happens when they hear it enough? They DO believe it.  Do you know the ONE THING  I remember from my AP English courses in high school? That I was told repeatedly I was too stupid.  

The biggest takeaway I had from public school? I was too stupid. The teachers didn't care because my family didn't have money. The teachers didn't care because I wasn't a cheerleader or an athlete.  I didn't have the best voice-because there was kids who were being trained in opera so of course they had to get the solos, no one else need not try because no one else was good enough. 

PROTECT YOUR CHILDREN

At all costs, know what is going into their heads.  No human loves your children as you, their parent.  No matter how much they care, you are the parent.  

Now, off my soap box...

I was always worried about teaching English, because I know (or think....) I am not strong in English. 

English, they will learn by reading language-rich books.  Don't know a word? GREAT! Here's a dictionary. 

I am now more scared that they are not learning true history.  

Because now, even the best homeschool curriculums have changed history...

and that-should terrify anyone who knows the real reason why wars were fought. 

~Tabitha

Sometimes..Simple IS Better

 Why do we have to make things so complicated? 

Books can open up a whole world to the reader.  

The Three Musketeers, while fictional, does open the reader up to a little bit of life as a king's guard in the Middle Ages. 

Little Women (and the rest of the series-did you know it's a 4 book series? I didn't...) can show you what life was like for the family left behind during the Civil War and Reconstruction period in the Northeast United States. 

Little House on the Prairie  series shows you what life was like for those brave souls who ventured into Indian territory and unsettled lands to find a new life on the Plains. 

Shakespeare. Just any Shakespeare.  You can use it to help pronounce, to be goofy and act out some scenes.  There's even history, geography and myths thrown in by the Bard of Avon.

The Bible.  A timeless book.  Read it for the literature, for the history, for the poetry at the very least, but as God-given scripture, it is truly an amazing work of God to teach you how to live, and how not live, of the coming days, the days of Christ, and the hope we have if we are God's child. 

I could go on. So many books.  Classic literature was so rich not only in the words used, but also in morals, stories, history, grammar, language... 

Modern-post 1960-"literature" changed that.  No longer are the books rich in grammar or morals or much else.  In fact, it could be argued they are the opposite.  And then we wonder why it's so hard to teach our children basic grammar and sentence structure.  Science fiction authors thought they were coming up with crazy stories, 40 years later how many of our inventions have come about from science fictions (AI, robots, cell phones, video calling to name a few).  Spoiler alert-it never ended well in the books, it won't end well in the real world.

And a question-why in the world do we need to learn to deconstruct sentences and identify every part of the sentence. Ah yes, the "books" we now read. 

Maths. 

First off-yes, that's how you say it-Maths. or Arithmetic.

Math shouldn't change. 

1+1 should always equal 2.

55-20 will always be a simple 35.  Not the whole Base 10 math where you tick off the 10s until you manipulate it enough to find the answer. 

Math used to be basic accounting principles.  How many bushes of apples at $0.05 a bushel do you need to sell if you need $10 to pay the bills?  Because that's the kind of math kids needed to be able to survive as adults. 

When was the last time you used Calculus? And the high school class doesn't count.  For the most part-calculus isn't used after high school. Now if you can prove me wrong, please do.. But take your average Jo Schmo, working a blue collar job.  Geometry, yeah I can see that.  I could even see some Trigonometry being used.  But it's mostly filler classes.  Because Heaven forbid you let those perfectly capable teenagers get out of a building with their brain being crammed full of things to pass tests and encourage them to work at a job to gain them true life skills.  

Do I personally see the point of higher maths? No I don't.  Will I end up teaching my kids the higher maths?  Probably, because it's expected to go so high in math to succeed. It's expected to fill your head with useless knowledge... Especially after I know they understand and know-without my help-how to budget, how to balance a checkbook, how to make something and then figure out how much to charge to make a profit, how to convert a recipe to bigger or smaller.  How to plan a quilt based on how big you want it versus the size of squares you want to want.  How to take a patch of land and plan out a garden for optimal growth for the plants (tomatoes don't like onion, potatoes don't like peppers but corn and squash are best friends).  

History.

History shouldn't change.  It gets added to, yes.  But you shouldn't look up the same thing in four different resources and get four different answers.  

HISTORY SHOULDN'T CHANGE.  

But it does.  I have spent 7 years trying to find a good history that didn't change *much*.  Just when we thought we had it, we found we were wrong.  

So back to the basics. The best possible way to teach true history is to find autobiographies of the people who lived it.  Project Gutenberg is an awesome resource for that.  I say that as I'm also editing a history course for my kids from 1776-1900.   Why?  Right now, I have no idea why.  Right now, I just want to find the important people presidents, generals, inventors, the founding fathers, the Federalist Papers, the Anti-Federalist papers and read the books with my kids.  Teach them why we came to this new land in the first place and learn how we got so far from the ideals we set out to have.  

We had started using the Robinson Curriculum with our kids.  How I understand it, Dr. Robinson's entire theology behind homeschool was to teach the kids the basics-how to read, math facts-then let them go.  Give them a guideline until they learn enough self-discipline you are comfortable with.  Once they learn to teach themselves, the sky is the limit.  They can teach themselves whatever science they want.  

What in the world is the problem with teaching kids to THINK?!! 

Yes, we need life skills. Yes, we need maths, yes we need to learn to read... When was the last time I broke a sentence down into parts? (I didn't because my public school "teachers" told me I was too dumb to learn.)  But I was blessed with an awesome history teacher who made sure we learned the truth. Who let us ask questions.  Who guided us through civil discussion-even when 9/11 happened.

It's natural when you teach, to teach your ideals.  What ideals do you want your kids learning? 

God instructs us to teach our children his ways in Deuteronomy 11:19 and Proverbs 22:6-and many others.  

As you're planning your school year-no matter what your school year looks like.  Think about it.  Not just the spiritual, not just the morals, not just the academics. Every bit of it.  What do you WANT your children to learn? What ARE your children learning.  How can you change it if it doesn't match? 

As you can tell, I'm struggling right now.  I'm having a hard time reconciling teaching my kids useless dribble that they need to get a GED to show "they can study to pass a test".  While knowing Galileo invented the first flying machine is an awesome little factoid.. Unless you're a mechanic-why? What purpose has that served me other than being able to answer random trivia questions? No purpose. At All. None. 

~Tabitha 

Trying To Be Intentional

 My goodness, it's been a hot minute. 

Things got a little crazy...... and then a little more crazy.  

When we started our homeschool journey I always said I would love to have a chance to send the kids to Christian school.  

We started school with Abeka, moved to ACE... Couldn't really afford either because consumable products are EXPENSIVE... so I started writing what curriculum we were missing to make sure our kids were learning the truth, because Creation science at any level is either hard to find or extremely expensive... or all video lessons that aren't reusable.  The history... Don't even get me started on the history.. And Base 10 in math?? How in the world does that even work?   No longer can you just add say 33+23... You have to take away the ones places round up, round down. Add subtract, whozits and whatitz galore.

Then while cleaning up my home library I found a gem in the Robinson Curriculum.  Robinson very much uses a "Charlotte Mason" approach with Saxon as math.  Affordable for big families especially-the hardest part is finding first or second edition Saxon books.  

Then we had the opportunity to send our 4 oldest to our church's Christian School.  It's been a challenging year.  I miss my kids at home. I miss not having to worry about blizzards-and last winter was a doozy. 

Last summer was a doozy in itself.  Derecho and tornado in May... We lost two whole trees (40 year old evergreens).  Thankfully we were aided by a group who came to town to help clean up after the storm, though we still have a stump..

 Another set of tornadoes in July, we lost one whole tree-made a mess of itself we are still trying to clean up, and a few others are still sitting perilously because we don't have the money for cleanup ($10K for a tree?!!?). Three days after that storm the newest baby joined us.  :) I was stuck in the hospital.. 

It's been a whirlwind, but I know God is taking care of us.  

This summer is going crazy already... Trying to cut and burn the tree, I've learned how to use a chain saw (STAND BACK lol).  Trying to fix up what needs fixed for functionality INSIDE the house-that hasn't happened... maybe I'm dreaming too much?  Trying to teach kids life skills, take care of toddlers and a baby, learning life skills myself.... and just....surviving. 

Post-partum anxiety hit me hard this time... it's a huge struggle and I suspect it will be for awhile.  

So... Being intentional.  

We are counting pennies and cutting corners wherever we can.  

I hate meal planning... Oh with a passion do I hate it.  But here we are.  It's a necessity.

 I've been hearing about a method of meal planning and I finally dove in.  

You create your meal plan-breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacks.  Then you go through this meal plan and write out your shopping list for the whole week.  

Then you put it all together and you have a shopping list, meal plan and recipes all in one place. 

Shop your pantry first, then go to the store and use sales whenever possible.

I started off with a 4 week rotation, with a pantry staple list (let's face it, Basic Sam's Club list) and a non-grocery list.  Now I'm sure I missed things, but we can tweak it here and there.  I laminated what I knew wouldn't change-mostly certain recipes I cook all the time.  The rest I put in page protectors so I can alter as needed.  Now all I have to do is get to town to be able to find affordable groceries. That's the trick. 

I'll add on more weeks as we go, but it's a start.  

Our basic rotation is tacos, salad, soup, Chinese-ish, something easy, Italian, pizza.   

We'll get through it.  We can do this-with God.

~Tabitha

All The Updates

 Well.... There's good news, and bad news. 

So let's start with the bad news.  We killed our tomatoes our 5 year old named Bob.  We forgot to water them.  

And our elderberries are apparently infested with some sort of worm....  So we'll be trimming those back once winter hits and watch them carefully next spring. 

That's all the bad news. 

So now for the fun part-the good news. 

We had some awesome help from people at church getting a lot of the yard cleaned up.  It was a huge blessing and I am grateful for all the help we received.  

The kids and I started taking the fence apart to make shelves.. Then the heat hit and we haven't been able to do much outside.  I just don't do well in the heat.   Thankfully it's been fairly easy to take apart the fence as the screws aren't stripped-just rusted.  So we can just use the drill to take most of the screws out.  

We've been doing a lot of cleaning and sorting inside.  I need to go back to Dollar Tree and get more containers.  I was able to get about halfway through the kitchen cupboards before I ran out-but that part of the kitchen is much more functional now.  I'm also putting fresh shelf liner down as I go through cupboards, that's a nice addition to appeal to the "pretty part"... especially since I'm missing a lot of doors. 😂

We are 3 weeks into our school year.. We've tweaked a few things, but are loving our modified Robinson Curriculum method.   I took out the Grammar and Writing-and just put the older two kids into older Grammar books so we can learn the basics... Then as they read more they will learn the writing, a long with practicing writing.   The Write Bonnie Rose history is a little more involved that I thought it would be-but then I looked on her website and realized she wrote it for teenagers-not elementary.  Oops.  But the kids are *mostly* having fun with it..  It requires me to stay close by and monitor computer usage as our encyclopedias are too old to answer the questions.  We also have to use Google Earth for the geography as we don't have paper maps or a globe that is detailed enough.  I took Eva out of the homemade math books and put her in Everyday Number Stories.. It's an old math book that was used in conjunction with the McGuffey readers.  She is excelling at that and when she gets through the book we'll start her on Saxon.   We'll just use my homemade books for extra review or practice as needed.  

I was extremely excited to find the Robinson Phonics Flashcards on the CDs.  I'm horrible at phonics, these cards (to me, at least) are worth their weight in gold.   They have the letter or blend on one side, then all the sounds that makes on the other.  They are now printed and laminated.  Andrew told me we need a bookshelf just for flashcards.  😂

On the shopping front.. Things are getting interesting again.. Our local stores are having problems getting shipments in.. The city stores are starting to enact mask policies again... Now, I can do many things.... But I CANNOT breath in a mask, I CANNOT get my grocery list taken care of and make sure the kids are not only behaving by staying near me, but are also keeping masks on "correctly".   I just can't do it all.    Not to mention-where are all the tortillas going?!?!?!   

Dennis ordered me a tortilla press.  I learned to make tortillas last year, and am getting back into it.  We love homemade tortillas but I struggle to keep them round when using just a rolling pin.   

I'm also making homemade noodles again.. Homemade are so much better than store bought.  We started making bread again-I pulled down my bread maker and put it back in action yesterday.  The kids loved the homemade bread with almond butter and strawberry jelly.  

We go shopping again Thursday, so I guess we'll see how things go.  

~Tabitha

Simplifying Homeschool... Step... 3?

So this is the first true step we have in our simplifying (and making sustainable) our homeschool. 

Now, if you haven't been reading my blog, you should go back and read at least the past one.  

Do I have you back now?  Ok.  

So honestly, this journey started when I realized what price we would have to pay for 3 kids in the ACE PACE Program..  I love the PACEs, they are so simple for me as mom and the kid LOVE them.. but it's simply not sustainable for a big family on a very limited income.  

So we sort of looked into making our homeschool more sustainable last year, but really hadn't found great solutions.  When I did the figuring for how much things would cost for the coming school year, it just wasn't going to happen.  So we looked for different solutions.  

Now, I knew it was possible to homeschool for free-and not use the public school books and curricula to do so.   But I didn't want every class online, I didn't want my kids sitting in front of a screen for hours on end to do their school.  I know they will have to learn the computer, but I do think it's a skill they can master once they are older.   

My original plans had me caving on that for more classes than I wanted.. Now, I'm still caving on that a bit, but not as much.

As I mentioned in my last post, I'm learning how to do the Robinson Curriculum correctly.  It's not just reading and Saxon math, there's a method and it's a very sustainable and affordable way to homeschool.  

But, since I spent 4 months searching, printing and binding, then we're going to use most of what I did.  

So let's start with the oldest...and work our way down. Settle in with some coffee, this is going to be a long post. 

My biggest worry with piecing together was grammar..  I can write well, but don't ask me to identify parts of speech.  I've also come to the realization...  WHEN have I EVER used parts of speech in real life?  Now, honestly.  Somebody tell me when, because I haven't.    The next obstacle was math..  We were just going to put the oldest in Khan Academy, but since learning about Robinson, we're going back to Saxon.  

Ok.. So onto Andrew's school.  Andrew is going into 5th grade and like any boy his age is extremely interested in how things work.  

Math-Saxon 5/4 and flashcards.. Part of the Robinson Curriculum is having ALL math facts memorized before they started Saxon 5/4... Now, I have been a horrible teacher and haven't required them to memorize math facts-so we're fixing that.  Andrew is going to do both simultaneously because for some reason he's great at division and subtraction (somebody explain that to me).  You don't see Saxon 5/4 because as of right now, I cannot afford the physical textbook, but I was able to get a PDF file for free, I do plan on buying the physical edition as soon as I'm financially able. 

Grammar-this will come from a Scott Foresman Grammar book and reading. 

Spelling-again, reading.  Whatever words he doesn't know along with whatever words are the in the vocabulary list for the book he is currently on.. He will not only learn spelling, but how to use it and what it means.

Modern History (1900 to 2020)- This is coming from Write Bonnie Rose.  She put some awesome work into her workbooks and I am grateful she puts the entire thing on freebies for her subscribers.   

Geography- Again, coming from Write Bonnie Rose... It looks like fun.  lol

Science- I made a workbook from the Institute For Creation Research books we purchased last year.  These are great books, full of great information-but I would not recommend them for elementary science.   But.... it's information Andrew needs and since we couldn't replace them as I wanted, he is using them. 

Reading- Tuttle Twins, Rifles for Watie and Robinson Curriculum.   My husband found the Tuttle Twins Books and purchased them.  They came with a study guide.. I have yet to look through them, though I need to.   They teach government through fun stories for children.  Rifles for Watie is a book I read many times throughout my youth, it's about the Civil War so I thought Andrew would enjoy it.  After he's done with these, he will start on the Robinson book list.  

Writing- copy work, vocabulary, and essay writing.  The essay writing we'll start with a paragraph, teach him sentence structure, then move onto paragraph structure and we'll move on from there...  The topic? It's going to depend on the day.. Anything from what we learned during service at church....to something they see out the window or something from their imagination.  The purpose is to get them writing to teach them HOW to write correctly. 

One day out of the week he will do typing, one day he will do Spanish.  Both of these are done online. 

That's my plans, then I'm starting to incorporate Robinson Curriculum.  2 hours of math, then move on to everything else..  The end goal is going to be 2 hours of reading per day of school books.  We'll work up to that.  

Second oldest, Eva, is going into 4th.  She struggles a bit with the English language, but we'll work on it. 

Math-work pages and flashcards.. I had already printed off at least a semester worth of math for Eva, so we might as well use it.  Other than that, it's flashcards.  Once she's done with the worksheets, she goes into Saxon 5/4.  

Grammar- another Scott Foreman book

World Geography-the same one Andrew has from Write Bonnie Rose.

Modern History-again, the same one Andrew has from Write Bonnie Rose. 

History-state history... This is the one I wrote last year for Andrew, I tweaked a few things so it should be a bit better this year. 

Anatomy-Eva REALLY wants to learn how the human body works, so I found I had a coloring book on my shelf-but it was partly colored... So then I found it online (sorry I went to find the link for you and it's gone). But it's close to this one.  There's a simple explanation of what a few certain parts do, then you color the part. I took out the sections she's not old enough for. 

Writing-copy work, essay and spelling words. 

Spelling-just like Andrew, vocabulary words from books.

Reading- Eva is actually going to start with the Robinson list and then move on to the Tuttle Books once Andrew is done. 

Eva also gets typing and Spanish on the computer

Grace-the third oldest, she is going into 2nd. Grace is still trying to find her place.  I am starting Grace more in the Robinson than anyone else, simply because I didn't gather so much for her yet. 

Math-I did print off a full year of math worksheets-though I wasn't too happy with what I did have.  But she will do worksheets and flashcards. 

Grammar-again, a Scott Foresman book

History-I believe my husband found the website called Miniature Masterminds, it has A LOT of great things on there.  One of my friends has been using it to keep her 5 year old's mind busy while he anxiously awaits school this fall.   But they had a history on there that was already planned out (day 1, day 2 etc).  So I printed that off and that's what Grace is getting. 

Geography-This is from Write Bonnie Rose, it's more of a copy work kind of book, but I think she'll have some fun with it. 

Science-honestly, Grace's science is what I'm excited for (I'm a geek).  Through a giveaway at one point, I received the workbook for Science Shepherd's Introductory Science.   After looking through it, I realized it was not only young earth creation based, but I also needed the DVDs to be able to do it. This is the one thing  we spent money on this year.  So this is Grace's one class on the computer, she needs to get a bit older for typing and Spanish. 

Reading-Grace is starting at the beginning of the Robinson list, will she blow through some of the books? I'm sure.  But that's ok. 

Spelling-again, anything she has to look up the meaning to and words from the Robinson books.

Writing-she's going to improve her cursive with copy work from books and from the Bible. 

Hannah. Hannah is in Kindergarten.  The original plan was Abeka-because we have Abeka...   Then I realized how abysmal the Abeka phonics was...  They teach the spelling....and that's it.  So we're using the Abeka math, the Abeka phonics ladders.  She's going to read using McGuffeys then take off on the Robinson list.  Hannah is also learning cursive this year.   Once Hannah gets going on her math, we'll start the flashcards with her. 

Elijah has some "coloring books" to keep him busy, along with a box of fun toys that he only gets during school.  His coloring books are the collection of misprinted papers I gathered.  Somebody might as well use them.  

The baby, Dinah.. She's the wild card.  We'll see what happens with Dinah. lol 

Well, are you still awake?  Told ya it was long!! Thanks for sticking with me, let me know if you have any questions.

~Tabitha

 

Simplifying HomeSchool Even More

 I realized this week that I have been very foolish with my curriculum choices for next year. 

You see, I have spent the last 4 months planning and scouring looking for what I think we need.... when I have an entire curriculum-I just have no idea how to use it.

Let me rewind. 

When I was homeschooled (back in the day😂😂), my mom tried the Robinson Curriculum. 

This is very much a self teaching curriculum.. In the ideal setting, you teach your child to read, the math facts.... and then pretty much let them loose within given boundaries.  When you buy the CDs (or, apparently now, they have an online version), you get the how tos, and this HUGE book list.  The idea is that the child learns by simply reading.   Instead of reading the very much flawed, rewritten history books, they are reading about the life of the person or the event by people who lived through it-or told their story to somebody else.  You are also encouraged to use Saxon Math (not newer than 2nd edition ideally).. The website explains it all-I'm still learning.  The child does math first, a set number of problems a day and then moves on to reading.  Once they get past the basics of learning math facts and learning to read, they are essentially on their own. 

I've been watching videos on YouTube from Our House.  She does an awesome job at explaining exactly what to do with the curriculum.  

Now, since I've spent SO MUCH time getting curriculum together for next year-and I'm mostly done with it... we're are going to go ahead with my plans-next time I get a chance, I'll give you a run down and the plans.   A few things I'm going to implement is the reading list from Robinson and the method of doing math... We do not have the Saxon but we can use basically the same way... Give them the tools to learn it and let them figure it out.. As long they have the basic tools, they are good to go-let their minds figure it out.. They can do this!!! And, quite frankly, I'm going a bit insane with the messy house and having to repeat a math word problem 10 times until it "clicks".  I love my kids, I love homeschooling, but there's only so many different ways you can explain something, sometimes they just have to work through it. 

Now, Robinson is very much a reading-heavy curriculum.  All of the books on the list are open source, meaning their copyright is expired so they are public domain... Meaning you can print them (explained on RC website and Our House linked above), or if you are lucky you can find them at a thrift store in good condition.  Or if you are ok with your kids using Kindles, Amazon has a lot of classics as free Kindle books.  I pulled out my Robinson set when I realized I didn't have reading comprehension for Grace...  Now, they do have some books with reading comprehension and end of book test questions, but really the easiest way to know they learned is to have them write a book report.. So we're learning that next year as well.  

I can easily say right now we can't do everything as Dr. Robinson created his curriculum (no TV, no sugar, school 6 days a week)...  BUT I can say we'll do most of it.  Winter might be different...but we'll see... Next year will be sort of our transition year...  Getting the older kids especially used to doing everything on their own.  I grade papers for grammar, spelling and grade math.   They learn grammar and spelling through reading because they will be reading the classics, which have correct grammar and spelling.  RC does have spelling list and vocab words-I'm still learning... 

Well... That's everything for now.. 

~Tabitha