Summertime, Summertime, Sum Sum Summertime...

                                                                                                                             

July? How is it possibly already July? It seems like we just started summer. We have had a fun, but busy summer up to this point. We just got back from camping (yes, it was hot!) up in Arlington for a few days. We went to Six Flags, the mall (for air conditioning) and to a Texas Rangers game.

I am beginning to gear up and get ready for our next school year. Yeah, I'm a nerd like that. Love to learn and love to teach! Haley will be a S.E.N.I.O.R this year and Cole and Garrett will be freshman. It is hard to fathom that all three of my babies are now in high school with one about to graduate! We finished up with our history last year at the 1740's. Loved the time period that we studied, but I'm REALLY looking forward to this year and the following year. This coming fall we will be studying US/World History from the 1740's-1890's. We will continue using The Mystery of History as Volume IV will be coming out soon! I do not stick to just one curriculum- never did when I was teaching in the public schools so we will also be using Diana Waring's History Revealed: World Empires, World Missions, World Wars. I love how her curriculum incorporates all of the different learning styles and ways we learn! It honors how God created each of us differently and am excited to use that with all three of my kids. Those two curriculum will give us our "world" history and we will also be using BJU's United States History asnd Notgrass' Exploring America for our "American" history reading. In addition, I love Truthquest History and will continue to use her Age of Revolution I, II and III for her commentary. Since my kiddos are not big fans of reading, I don't incorporate much historical literature into their schedule. Haley will be concentrating on Biblical Worldview, Apologetics and Missions for most of her reading. Cole & Garrett love Minecraft so we will be using SKrafty's Mineschool Homeschool Language Arts classes to read some of J.R.R. Tolkien's books like The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings. We will also finish out Bravewriter's Help for High School for Haley and One Year Adventure Novel's Cover Story for the boys.

I have created my own curriculum for Haley for government using Notgrass' Exploring Government as her spine. I found a great website called saylor.org who offers FREE classes online. They offer an Introduction to American Politics course with documents and videos. So, I merged all of that together and created something I think will work for her! She will also be using Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance along with something I create for economics in the spring. Cole and Garrett will be using a curriculum I created for Biology. We are using Biology 101 from the 101 Series along with the text Exploring the World of Biology by Tiner, Apologia's Exploring Creation With Biology and Guesthollow's CK 12 Biology text. I used Guesthollow's Biology curriculum and Marty Sahm's Biology 101 curriculum to create my own! I appreciate all of the work these ladies did in creating some really awesome curriculum! The boys will be finishing up a Minecraft programming course from Youth Digital for their elective. All three kiddos are studying geometry this year. I decided to go with Math Without Borders Geometry curriculum for Cole and Garrett and Haley will be using Math U See for geometry. She is finishing up Math U See Stewardship Math this summer. I am still undecided on what we will be using for Bible this year...




I think we're going to have a super year! Full, but fun!

             

            
          





                           




  

March & Spring Fever

I cannot believe how quickly time is flying! In our learning we have made it to the 1600's and are preparing to hunker down and really begin studying early American history in conjunction with world history happening at the same time. Really excited for my kids to learn & understand the foundation of the country we live in. We are continuing to use a hodgepodge of materials and resources. The resources mentioned in previous posts are continuing to be used. Additionally, we are using Notgrass Exploring America for Haley as she continues to like this series, Drive Thru History American History DVD's and a book called Never Before in History.

I am currently researching, praying and trying to determine what to use for next year. All three kiddos will be learning geometry. I'm leaning toward Math U See for Haley and possibly Math Without Borders for Cole & Garrett. Nothing is finalized yet! Haley will be doing Government along with our study of US history as our government was being founded (makes sense to integrate it that way doesn't it???). We will also be using Dave Ramsey's Foundations in Personal Finance as an elective for her next year. I'm leaning toward Cole & Garrett studying Biology next year and using Guest Hollow's amazing Biology curriculum. As far as English/Language Arts, I'm thinking of using some sort of worldview curriculum such as Starting Points by David Quine or Lightbearers by Summit Ministries for Cole & Garrett. They are not big fans of reading, but reading is really important. So, why not have them learning Biblical Worldview alongside other worldviews using some great literature (C.S. Lewis, The Deadliest Monster, How To Be Your Own Selfish Pig, etc.), including the Bible?? Haley will be using Thinking Like A Christian curriculum along with some other books on Christianity, worldview and of course, her passion... missions!

As a family on Sundays we have a family meeting after our Real Life Group is over. We have decided to incorporate Operation World: The Definitive Prayer Guide For Every Nation & a book titled, Understanding World Religions in 15 Minutes a Day: Learn the basics of: Islam Buddhism Hinduism Mormonism Christianity And many more... by Gary R. Morgan. Excited to use these and I'll update on what we think in a later post!

So, that's where we are. I am so extremely grateful God called us to homeschool our kiddos & grateful for my husband who works so hard to allow me to be home...

Until next time-