HMJ - Back To School for 2012

In my life week…

We rang in the new year with LOUD horns, games, and movies in our pj's!

Goals were accomplished and we are gearing up for full schedule next week!



In our homeschool this week…


Back to school for 2012!  We moved in slow and I set up an easy schedule so it was a fun and smooth week.


My favorite thing this week was…


Having my husband with us to ring in the new year. He usually has to work the next day!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

This is a new chore system we are trying for the new year.  It has very doable chores listed for each day reminding you of everything you need to get done.  The kids and I are taking turns checking the chores off the list.  So far - we like it!

**post contains affiliate links

Our Choices For Math

During the month of January, Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds is hosting a virtual curriculum fair.  


Week 2 - Discovering Patterns: Mathematics, Logic, and some Science. This theme can include anything to do with mathematics, mathematical thinking, numbers, arithmetic, symbolic logic, critical thinking, and math-y sciences (physics, chemistry, etc.).



Math We Love


Ahhh, Math - a subject that makes my heart sing.  I know that is a crazy statement for some but I LOVE math!  We have tested and tried many types of Math curriculum since I am a member of the crew.  Several of those have been computer programs.  I must say that on many occasions, I went into these programs already biased.  My love of math leads to a love of teaching math. If my children use a computer based program then in my mind - my teaching of something I love would end!  But...


I gave in with my oldest this year and purchased Teaching Textbooks.  The ease of the grading was what finally did me in.  Teaching math - I love, grading math - not so much.  Really, I still get to teach too because if he just can't get a problem, he still comes to me.  And he says he gets it better when I explain it :). 


For the youngest 2, we are using Saxon.  I love Saxon but for ease of our homeschool day and grading, we will be going with Teaching Textbooks for all 3 next year.


Check out these other math ideas...

• Math Lapbooks---Virtual Curriculum Fair Week 2 Angie Wright @ Petra School
• Virtual Curriculum Fair Week Two: Discover Patterns, Mathematics, Logic and Some Science by Leah @ The Courtney Six Homeschool 
• A Magnificent Math Manipulative by Letha Paulk @ justpitchingmytent
• Our Math Choices - Virtual Curriculum Fair by Tristan @ Our Busy Homeschool
• Math Literature?!?! by Christine @ Crunchy Country Catholic
• Learning Math at My House by Jessica @ Modest Mama
• Math Using Hamburger Paper by Debbie @ Debbie's Digest
• Math Facts or Fun? Why Not Both! by Beth @ Ozark Ramblings
• Heart of Dakota- The Fine Details- Part 2 Science by Lynn @ Ladybug Chronicles
• Learning Math Block by Block by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World
• Plugging Along with Math by Cindy Horton @ Fenced in Family
• What's Working and What's Not: Math Edition by Leann @ Montessori Tidbits
• Math Anyone? by Cindy @ For One Another
• Ahh, Math. by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
• Flying Without a Parachute: Math with no Curriculum by Pam @ Everyday Snapshots
• Math in Our Homeschool by Christine T @ Our Homeschool Reviews
• Math, Math, and More Math by Dawn Chandler @ tractors & tire swings
• Thinking Mathematically- How I Choose Math Curriculum by Kristen @ Sunrise to Sunset
• Discovering Patterns: Math, Logic, and Some Science by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy
• The Science of Math by Brenda Emmett @ Garden of Learning
• "Mom, did we do math today?" by Chrissy at Learning is an Adventure
• Math, Math, and More Math by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory

Hello Mornings

I am about to embark on my 3rd session with the Hello Mornings challenge.  If you haven't heard of it, you can check out the details here.  


Last session, I decided I would be an accountability captain for an email group.  Several of us checked in daily or whenever we could and have decided to stay as a group for the winter challenge too.  The registration is actually closed but we have a few openings in our group so if you would like to join our group let me know!  


The official start is January 16th and I can't wait!

3 in 30 - January, Week 1

January 2012 - Week 1 Update
Overall, a great beginning!

My 3 goals for January...

1. Homemaker - make goals for the year and divide them up for each month to work on - try to incorporate a specific plan of attack for each one.  done!
2. Personal - drink water - at least 1 pitcher a day. To help with this goal, I am making a pitcher of lemon water every morning and trying to finish it by mid afternoon.  I have done well with this so far - now to just keep up the momentum!
3.  Spiritual - pray daily for my spouse using 31 Days To Pray For Your Spouse - done and decided I need to pass this book to my husband.  I need the prayer more than he does, lol.  Loving the ease of adding this to my day.  Such a simple but powerful thing!

A quote from Beth Moore in my Daniel Study

"Have you wounded the devil today?" 

You have the most powerful sword to do it with!

Hearts At Home Curriculum

I am trying to win a $50 gift certificate for the curriculum store www.heartsathomestore.com by referring the most new subscribers! If you've never been there before, you should check them out!


All you have to do is go to www.homeschoolgiveaways.com and subscribe to their Giveaway Blast. Be sure to input my email address smjlangley@gmail.com as the referral source so I get credit. You will get notified of all of their giveaways once you subscribe.

After you sign up, you can also enter to win by referring others! You can even copy and paste this text, just replace my email address with your own.

Oh, the best part....Hearts at Home will start their HUGE sale for 30% off thousands of popular products on 1-9-12 so your gift certificate will go far!  Savings for the New Year and new curriculum - woohoo!

K5 Learning

K5 Learning has an online reading and math program for kindergarten to grade 5 students. I've been given a 6 week free trial to test and write a review of their program. If you are a blogger, you may want to check out their open invitation to write an online learning review of their program.

Check back and I'll let you know what we think!

Language Arts Curriculum That Works For Us

During the month of January, Susan at Homeschooling Hearts & Minds is hosting a virtual curriculum fair.  Basically, several homeschools have volunteered to show and discuss what is working for them.  I have decided to join up and show some of the curriculum we love and what is working for us.

Grammar
Our favorite homeschool curriculum that we love in grammar is Classical Conversations Foundations & Essentials programs.

In Foundations, you memorize English Grammar facts for 24 weeks for three different cycles. Most facts are memorized to catchy tunes and it amazes me how the kids can recall facts learned last year in week 1 without any review! Although, I have recently come up with a memory work binder to begin more review.  Currently, we are in Cycle 3 - week 12. Each year is a different cycle so next year we start over with Cycle 1.

Here is a sample video of Cycle 3 - Week 1 English Grammar memory work.  It is so simple but it really works!

The Essentials program is where you apply the facts that you've memorized by diagramming sentences and seeing how the facts you've memorized actually apply in a sentence and that leads to writing.  

Typically, the Essentials program doesn't begin until 4th grade so for grades 3rd and under we love First Language Lessons.  This program falls pretty much in line with what is taught in Classical Conversations. The definitions of terms may be a little different but overall, the skill is the same.

We have used Abeka, Primary Language Lessons, and Intermediate Language Lessons and none of those really worked well for our family.

Spelling
We have also tried different spelling curriculum including Abeka, All About Spelling, and Spelling Power without success.  So, we just go over spelling in writing assignments as they come up and learn to spell our new vocabulary words in our IEW writing course (see below).

Reading
Our all time favorite reading curriculum is definitely Sonlight! The kids love their books and I love the questions in the Instructor's Guide (IG).  I also love the schedule that is laid out for me in the IG.  To save in cost, I try to buy used and combine the levels.  For instance, this year in Classical Conversations we are studying American History.  So, I chose Level D readers - Introduction to American History for both Stephen (5th) and Sarah (3rd).  Stephen follows the advanced reading schedule and Sarah follows the regular reading schedule included in the IG.  Many of the books are the same - it just has Stephen reading them at a faster pace than Sarah.

Latin
I must tell you that our favorite curriculum for Latin would be the Latin for Children series.  We have tried just about all the Latin curriculum choices there are and this is still our favorite go to along with the memory work that we learn in Foundations during Classical Conversations as well.

Writing
Our favorite here would definitely be Intitute of Excellence in Writing (IEW).  Both of my boys struggle with writing and IEW has broken writing down step by step so it is not so intimidating for them.  You can read my review here for more information.  

There are so many great choices out there but these are our favorites!  As you can tell, we are very eclectic in our curriculum choices.

Be sure to check out what other homeschoolers choices are for Language Arts by clicking the links below.

• Reading on Time by Cindy Horton @ Fenced in Family
• Playing with Words: the Language Arts by Christa Darr @ Fairfield Corner Academy
• Reading and Beyond: Language Arts in Our Homeschool by Laura O in AK @ Day by Day in Our World
• Learning Language at Our House by Jessica @ Modest Mama
• Virtual Curriculum Fair: Language Arts by Christine T. @ Our Homeschool Reviews
• The Learning of Language by Dawn @ tractors & tire swings
• Reading and Spelling: Modifying the Magic by Pam @ Pam and Everyday Snapshots
• An In Depth Look at All About Spelling by Missouri Mama @ Ozark Ramblings
• Virtual Curriculum Fair: Let's Talk About Words by Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
• Why We Love Classical Conversations Essentials (and how I know that is not a complete sentence!) by Nicole @ Schooling in the Sun
• Virtual Curriculum Fair---Playing with Words: the Language Arts by Angie @ Petra School
• Whole Language vs. Phonics by Christine @ Crunchy Country Catholic
• It's All About the Art of Language by Brenda Emmett @ Garden of Learning
• Watching Movies for Language Arts Class by Debbie @ Debbie's Digest
• Only 5 Spelling Tests a Year! (Can we do that?) by LP @ justpitchingmytent
• Playing with Words by Chrissy @ Learning is an Adventure
• Playing with Words, the Language Arts by Cindy @ For One Another
• Language Art at Our House by Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
• Virtual Curriculum Fair Week One Playing with Words: the Language Arts by Leah Courtney @ The Courtney Six Homeschool Blog