sweet simple things

Okay, for all you who have asked how homeschool works exactly, here's a run down of how it works for us. We follow a classical approach, meaning that we use classic literature, history and language as the basis or foundation. So the girls study history starting with ancient history, are learning Latin and English grammar and are also learning about music and art appreciation. We do all this in a very fun, relaxed way although we do use a complete curriculum that tells us what to do/read every day. In general we prefer hands-on learning and reading real books and stories as opposed to worksheets and text books.

Since Shane is home in the mornings we usually try to do as much as possible together as a family and when Shane or I am working one-on-one with Mira, then the other will do something with Annah. We’re working with Annah on a new letter and number every week to learn the sounds of the letter. I hope to start teaching her to read next year. We also use a pre-school curriculum with Annah and try to do lot’s of hands-on sensory stuff with her.

Basically school work takes up about 3-4 hours of our day. So far everyone is happy and we all like our decision to homeschool. We are very, very busy almost every single afternoon with playdates, Girl Scouts, soccer and other outings so the girls usually have at least 2 hours of time to play with friends every afternoon. We’re also part of a homeschool co-op that meets every Wednesday. In addition to history, science, music and art there they also have PE which both girls love. Here’s a run down on what we’re studying and how we do it.

Math: Mira and her dad work on math every day together for 45 minutes. This year she is using a first grade math curriculum that is great. She loves it and she and Shane have a lot of fun together.

Language Arts: I work with Mira on spelling (weekly spelling lists), grammar and writing daily for about an hour. She seems to grasp the mechanics of writing really quickly and likes to learn the little rules like if a word begins with a vowel then it becomes an "an" instead of an "a" so "an ear" instead of "a ear". Her favorite language arts activity is probably writing in her school journal. She also likes writing stories with lots of dialog between the characters. Our LA program is also part of our curriculum so it isn't like I have to plan too much or think up the things to teach her. I simply open our curriculum binder to the week and day we're working on and it tells me exactly what to do and teach. Mira also likes practicing her spelling words using her body to make the letters. We all have a lot of fun with that!

Reading: Mira loves reading and would read for the entire day if she could. Often that's what she'll be doing on the weekends. She averages one chapter book every 1-2 days so we're going to the library a lot. Right now she's working her way through The Little House series and is on book two, On the Banks of Plum Creek. I'm pretty careful about what she reads and I keep her away from newer, more modern books and have her read the classics or books about “the olden days”. I also make sure to read-a-loud a children's classic to both girls every day and they enjoy that. Right now we're reading Mr. Popper's Penguins.

History: We started history this year at the beginning with Ancient History (Mesopotamia, Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient China). Next year we’ll move on and we’ll end up with American history when Mira is in 4th grade and Annah is in 1st grade. Both girls love history, reading about the ancient civilizations and doing all the crafts and activities that go along with it. As part of it they are memorizing the timeline of all significant events in world history and both girls can recite the order of about 75 major world events. It’s pretty cool to hear them do it and it’s not something I really push them on but they enjoy memorizing it and their minds just soak up the information. Again, we do this according to our schedule in our curriculum.

Science: We started out the year studying about animal kingdoms and are now studying the human body. We’ll finish the year studying about plants and use it as a tie-in with planting our garden in the spring. We do a lot of hands-on stuff and field trips for science.

Latin, music, art, etc: We also work on Latin vocab words daily and the girls are learning to read basic music and are learning to play on the penny whistle. We also do art appreciation, studying the technique or style of famous artists and then doing a project in their style. We also do these things as part of their homeschool co-op class that meets every Wednesday.

So there you have it. I know it sounds like a lot of work for me, but really it isn’t. Thanks to a great curriculum and kids that love to learn, it is pretty easy and they have learned so much in just the 2 ½ months we’ve been doing it. It really suits our family life and I like that I get to be teaching my kids the values and things that I think are important. It has changed my relationship with Mira and also Mira and Annah have grown so close this year.

Last week for my 31st birthday my mom had a little party for me. Here are all the girls....

Annah picks apples from Mimi's tree. My friend Katie also gave us two big buckets of apples and I processed and canned about 15 quarts of apple sauce. I just got another two huge boxes of apples from family in Hood River so we're eating lots of apples around here!

The girls had fun harvesting the last of the peas in Mimi's garden this month.

Mira plays Swedish girl with Kirsten, Mimi's doll. The girls both spend hours at Mimi's house every week playing with her dolls and like to play "Doll Museum".