batter, batter, batter...

SWING!!!

We started our school year out with a lesson on baseball! I created some activities and printables for SH#2 to go along with our theme and he LOVED "doing school" like his big brother. This activity was designed to reinforce that -at word family. I have shared this activity for free on my teacher pay teachers site. 

But before things got too involved, we decided to decorate our notebooks with some fun stickers! 



























Even LP got into the mood with her very own school work. She loved putting Lala Fish on her special notebook. And, inside she has her very own "work"

Caiden worked so hard on memorizing his bible verse and the first 5 sight words. I love watching him write!

 





Tyler's science curriculum is very hands on. Even though the first chapter is on the history of science, which obviously isn't that interesting, the author made it fun, but sprinkling a few experiments to entice their love of science. Tyler and Caiden both enjoyed this experiment.

SH#1 wasn't so thrilled about "school" but he sure enjoyed the end of the week treat! We went to a Baybears baseball game to celebrate our first week back at school! I love having something for everyone to look forward to after finishing up a hard week of school. I'm not sure who was more exhausted at the end of the day, me or the kids?

Even though, the days were long and we were all exhausted in the end, I know without a doubt that I wouldn't trade this for anything. I am so blessed to be able to share this learning process with my beautiful children. I love watching their eyes light up as they learn new things. Nothing makes my heart smile more than seeing the love my children have for each other. 

Eeny, Meny Miney Moe....

Choosing curriculum is a very daunting task for a first time HSing mom. But it doesn't have to be that difficult. The key is to not worry about what others use. Just determine your child's unique learning style, then select a curriculum that is designed for your learner. This will save you a lot of time, money, and stress! When I first started HSing, I heard so many wonderful things about sonlight that I jumped right in and purchased it. As it turns out, there was a lot of reading. And, while my son was a great reader, his comprehension was not so great and he got bored with it easily. We were very stressed and wasted $$ on something that I should have known would never work. lesson learned. 

So how do you determine a child's learning style? There are many online assessment tools that can help. Here are a few that I've found helpful.

Vark's assesment
Abiator's assessment
Abiator assessment 2


Once you have determined the learning style of your child(ren), the rest is easy. Just match curriculum with learning style and determine which ones are within your budget. Once you have narrowed your choices down to a few curricula, I suggest looking at a few reviews. Or even better, see if your HS friends have that curriculum that you could look through. 

For us, we homeschool on a limited budget so I don't buy a whole lot of curriculum. The ones that I do purchase are math and science. We love math u see and the apologia science textbooks. We use the knowledge box central lapbooks along with the apologia science books to make a more hands on learning experience  I have created our own American history study and Bible lessons based on the websites linked.  Our grammar, composition, spelling, and vocabulary are from the glencoe McGraw-Hill series. For geography, SH #1 is doing an in-depth study of the 50 states and SH #2 is working on mapping and other kindergarten skills. SH #2 is also working through Hooked on phonics and the dolch site words. Mrs. Perkins dolch site word's website is a great resource. She provides sight words as well as flash cards and worksheets to help children master them.

Our school day {Homeschooling adventures of mommy of 3 blessings}

Having three means I need to have some mad time management skills. (Don't tell anyone, but I seriously LACK those) But, in an effort to retain a little sanity by the end of the day, and also get our school work completed, I have come up with our school day schedule. It is of course flexible, as some days littlest princess doesn't go to nap on time. But, this is more or less what our days look like. I am posting our schedule in hopes that maybe it will help others. I know when I first started homeschool, I was totally lost and really enjoyed seeing others schedule. But, please make it your own. Teach what you think your child needs to learn. This is what we decided was best for our family for this year, but there is no law saying that we can't change our mind. :)

Time	Super hero #1	Super hero #2	Littlest princess	mommy
7:30				Workout
8:00				Make breakfast
8:30	breakfast	breakfast	breakfast	breakfast
9:00	Circle time 9:15 student news	Circle time	Circle time	Circle time
9:30	Science	9:45 Center	Center	9:45 SH #1-science
10:00	Math	Center time	Games	SH # 1-math
10:30	Math	Seat work	art	SH #2-seat work LP art
11:00	Free	Free	free	Make lunch
11:30	Lunch	Lunch	lunch	lunch
12:00	Spanish/typing	Science	science	SH #2-science 12:20 SH #1 language
12:30	12:20 grammar/composition	Center/art	Nap	LP nap
1:00	Vocab/spelling 1:15 US history	Math	Nap	1:00 SH #2 math 1:15 SH #1 history
1:30	1:45 Bible	Reading/HOP/BOB 1:45 Bible	nap	1:30 SH #2 Bible 1:45 SH #1 Bible
2:00	50 states	Independent reading 2:15 center	center	SH #1 2:15 center LP&SH #2
2:30	Reading	Center	Center	Play with SH #2 and LP
2:30	Clean up	Clean up	Clean up	Clean up

I have also printed up a schedule for each child to put into their daily calendar notebook. I am sharing this with you all. 

mommy to 3 blessings schedule

I will do another post on the curriculum I have chosen and the subject I have created on my own. Here's to the start of another great school year!

Mommy to three blessings

Hi everyone and thank you for stopping by. I am a homeschooling mommy to three beautiful blessings. I started out as a kindergarten teacher, but after watching my oldest struggle in public school, I decided to give him the gift of a home education. It was the best decision we have ever made. It isn't always easy, and living on one income is beyond difficult. But, I know at the end of the day, the real riches are stored in our hearts. 

We now have three beautiful blessing, superhero #1 is 12 year old boy who loves to draw and play with legos. He is really into Star Wars and enjoys watching Adventure time as well. He wants to be an adventurer when he grows up.

Superhero #2 is a 5 year old boy who loves to play ninja and always chooses the bad guy (darth vader and Gormodon). He also loves diggers, trucks, and all sorts of tractors. He wants to be a driver when he grows up, but he can't decide which one b/c there are just too many. 

The littlest princess is 2 years old and loves all things girly, especially shoes, nail polish, and baby dolls. Although she is super girly, she is also very good at standing her ground. A little sister of two boys has to be able to take care of herself!

I plan to not only share our personal homeschool journey, but to also share a few free printables as well. I do hope you'll follow along and enjoy!