Year 2 of homeschool has begun!

Well, if you scroll down a couple of entries, you'll see that I had great intentions of blogging about our first official year as a homeschooling family - and you'll also notice that I wrote ONE entry! There are oh so many reasons why I didn't post more, but most likely, the main reason was simply because I was a newbie to the homeschooling world and found it to be WAY MORE challenging than I think most non-homeschooling parents will ever understand. There are certainly great benefits that come with it, but if you think for one second that it is "easier" than sending your child through the public school system, I beg to differ. But, I'm not here to argue the politics behind our decision to teach our kids at home. Lord knows we've had enough of that over the past 12 months. ;) I am here to say that year one was hard but incredibly rewarding, so for now, we are still a homeschooling family and year two has officially begun!!!

Last Monday, August 10th, was Ella's first day of 3rd Grade, Eden's first day of 1st Grade and David's first day of 4's Pre-K.

These crazy kids are ALL mine and I love them oh so very much!!! Because of that love, I want the very best for them - and that means choosing the very best curriculum for them. I actually enjoy researching curriculum so I spent the summer reading other mom blogs and making a list of my "would like to's" for this year. What I landed on is Saxon Math 2 and 3, Horizons Spelling and Vocabulary for Eden, BJU English 3 and BJU Reading 3 for Ella, The Story of the World and Heritage Studies 3 for both girls, The Life of Fred series for Eden and David and then weekly Art and Science activities that I create. 

Cuties with their new binders! 

He is SO excited to have his own binder this year!

Already annoyed with my camera :) 

Ella working on her first spelling list for the year

Eden working on her first spelling lesson for the year

One of the subjects that we didn't focus on much last year was Science. My kids LOVE Science, but I really wanted to push Math and Language Arts last year so I left the Science teaching up to the co-op that they attend on Thursdays. However, this year I have added it into our weekly curriculum and they are already loving it! We jumped right in on day 1 with the human body - so we're kind of combining Science and Health. :) I bought a squishy human body set that is super cool! We took it apart, discussed all of the organs, muscles and bones...and then put it back together again. I have to admit, it was really fun! 

We took some time to talk about our lungs...pretty cool, right mom?? :) 

Like I said, it was really cool! We are all excited about learning more about the human body this year!

Week 1 was quite a success! Ivy Noel (now 20 months old) tried to test my patience a few times, but I assume figuring out our school time in regards to her nap schedule will be my biggest challenge this year. :) We tried to amuse her by bringing her toys into the dining room, but that lasted all of ten minutes and then I found her digging through one of our computer desk drawers. Stinker!!! 

I welcome week 2!!!