How?

How exactly you might ask do we home educate our children? My main teaching method and style is Charlotte Mason with a bit of Classical, and Eclectic thrown in for good measure. I f you want to learn more about Charlotte Mason online here are some good sites; Simply Charlotte Mason, Charlotte Mason Research, A Charlotte Mason Education. As far as reading materials on Charlotte Mason you should be able to easily get your hands on her original works, our library even has them. My all time favorite Charlotte Mason book though is A Charlotte Mason Education by Karen Andreola. Karen is a wonderful Godly women and she also has an excellent and encouraging blog Moments With Mother Culture. One other book on the Charlotte Mason method that I found helpful was For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay.
As far as school goes we try to keep our book learning between the hours of 9-2:30 or so. That is not to say we are doing seat work this entire time but we do exercise, seat work, read alouds, reading, educational games, lunch, educational shows, and pretty much all of our other school work during this time. My husband generally gets off at 2:15, so we try to be done by then. In the afternoon the kids play, and in the evenings we have swimming, or sometimes sports. My husband does some extra school with the older two kids a few evenings a week. He is reading through some of the Apologia Science books with them, and he also does a bit of History readings, sometimes stories, and a bit of guitar lessons. Here is a copy of what the schedule I made for this coming school year looks like. I do not follow a timed schedule and only really use this as a daily guide, so I do not forget things. At times we will skip the extras, but I try to always get our main curriculum done(Heart of Dakota).

This is just a basic idea and is subject to change as the year progresses.

If you want to join in on this weeks blog hop simply post a similar blog, and then come back here and link up with you direct link. Be sure and add a link back to this post so others can join in.

Why?

I did not realize how difficult this post would be until I actually began to think about what I would write. I'm so not one to bring up or talk about something that could be controversial or to stir the pot so to speak. I'm going to give this the best effort I can, so here it goes. Why do we home school? Well here are the reasons as best as I can articulate them over the internet:

1. First in foremost in our decision is the examination of scripture, by which we learn that it is the duty and obligation of parents to teach, instruct, and disciple their children in the ways and the admonition of the Lord.
"4 And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord. Ephesians 6:4"

"6And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. Deuteronomy 6:6-7"

2. Second we believe that it is imperative as parents and guardians of our children for us to be very careful of who we put in authority over our children, since all education is really discipleship. Disciple being derived from the Latin word Discipuli for student.
"A disciple is not above his teacher, but everyone when he is fully trained will be like his teacher. Luke 6:40"
^"1The fool says in his heart,"There is no God."
   They are corrupt, they do abominable deeds,
   there is none who does good. Psalms 14:1"
 3. Number three we need to be aware of who we allow our children to congregate with, and therefore who they are influenced by.
"20Whoever walks with the wise becomes wise,

but the companion of fools will suffer harm.
21 Disaster pursues sinners,
but the righteous are rewarded with good .Proverbs 13:20-21 "
Not to say that everyone in the public schools is a fool, but we also learn from scripture that:
"15 Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child;
The rod of correction will drive it far from him. Proverbs 22:15"
and we all know that discipline and correction in the public school system is sorely lacking today.

4. We desire for our children to receive a high quality and personalized education. How can an education possibly be personalized when you have ratios like 1 to 20 or even 30. Also you do not have to look far to read and find out about how public education is failing our nations children. I just read an article last week about how little 12th graders know about our nations own history.

After much prayer and thought we came to the conclusion that the best way for us to fulfill these commands and goals is by home education. My husband and I are both on the same page about this and 100% behind this decision. Home Education is not something that just occurs between specific hours of our day it is a complete lifestyle for our family. These four reasons are merely the tip of an iceberg for us in our decision.


If you want to join in on this weeks blog hop simply post about Why you home school, and then come back here and add you direct link. Don't forget to link back to this post so others can join in too.

Where is the Why?

I know you are all waiting with baited breath for me to post this weeks blog hop, Why! You will have to wait a bit longer since I'm currently sitting in a hotel room after attending a fantastic home school convention with my family for the last two days. We will be heading home tomorrow and I will be posting the Why post as well as pictures of our vacation.

Where?

Where?

This is the fourth entry of the June Blog Hop I'm doing. Today I'm going to tell you about where in our house we home school. At one point we had a nice little school area in the laundry room, but we have slowly moved into the dining room. The kids do most of their seat work here at the kitchen table. We also have a computer for the kids to use, and a folder full of educational games next to it. One extra thing you might notice is the educational placemats. I'm a geek and think they are super cool.

Right here is our calender. Sweetpea is in charge of marking the days since she is our current K/1st grader.

Here is one of my bookshelf that my husband built me last summer. On this shelf I keep picture books, Dr. Suess books, extra books, easy readers, and some chapter books. On top of it is where I keep paper, art supplies, teacher supplies, pencil sharpener, pencils, scissors, dry erase markers, erasers, hole puncher, stapler, a basket of our school CD's, and DVD's, our All About Spelling board, and a US map. Up above on the wall is a Presidential timeline.

This book shelf is where all of out Heart of Dakota books go(those in use, and those I'm collecting). It also has all of our other school workbooks, art books, music books, science books, state, and president books.
On top of it are all of our math manipulatives, markers, glue sticks, file card boxes, note books, loose worksheets, and my NOOK. Above it is a magnetic dry erase board.

We also use the couch and living room quite a bit especially for read alouds. The little kids, or those who I'm not currently working with tend to play in the living room. It is attached to our dining room.

Other than these two places we use the kids bedroom, and the rest of the wide world as our classroom.

If you want to join me this week simply post a similar blog about Where you home school, and then come back here and link up! Be sure to use a direct link and add a link back to this blog in your post. This linky will be active for 7 days and you can add to it at any time.

What!

What!

This is the second entry for the blog hop I'm doing called Who, What, When Where, Why, and How! What we our using is definitely my favorite topic as I'm totally into researching and picking curricula. So with out further ado I will tell you what each of my children is using for the 2011-2012 school year:

Buster 3rd grade

Bigger Hearts For His Glory, in its entirety. 

With storytime selections: Ben and Me, Snow Treasure, Farmer Boy, Balto and the Great Race, The Indian in the Cupboard, Concord Cunningham, By the Great Horn Spoon, Esperanza Rising, and The Whipping Boy!  

Including Cheerful cursive, Singapore Math 3a/3b, and Rod and Staff Grammar 2.

He will also be using Latin For Children Primer A

All about Spelling level 2(the last few units), and 3.

Draw and Write Through History Pilgrims, Pirates, and Patriots.

Drawn Into the Heart of Reading Level 2/3

Sweetpea K/1st

She has 8 weeks of Little Hearts Left that she will be finishing when we start back up in July.

In September she will start 

Beyond Little Hearts for His Glory!

With Singapore Math 1a/1b

Storytime Selections: George Washington, The Twenty-One Balloons, Little House in the Big Woods, The Cricket in Time Square, The Railway Children, If You Sailed on the Mayflower, If you Were A Pioneer On the Prairie, The House At Pooh Corner, All of a Kind Family, and A Children's Book of Virtues!

She will also be using Song School Latin,

A Reason For Handwriting A,

Phonics Pathways, Explode the code,

and All About Spelling 1!

When she is ready she will start the Heart of Dakota Emergent Readers.

Buttercup Preschool:

Little hands to Heaven

  and some Rod and Staff workbooks.

With Daddy:

Apologia Zoology 2 Swimming Creatures of the 5th day, and A Child's Story of America!

We also have a bunch of art and music resources we will take advantage of:

Draw Write Now, Come and Look With Me, Meet the Great Composer's, Artistic Pursuits book 2, Great American Artists for Kids, books on impressionists, art cards, Wee Sing America, and Classical Music!

We will be continuing our State and President study when we get to it with these books: Our Country's Presidents, States, Don't Know Much About the 50 States, Don't Know Much About the Presidents, Yo Millard Fillmore, and Yo Sacramento!

The kids all keep a nature journal, but I pretty much leave them up to their own devices on that. I simply bring them with me when we go on nature walks and let them draw what they choose.

As far as educational games and movies go we use all of the Leap Frog DVD's, Singapore Math games, Reader Rabbit Games, Jumpstart Games, School House Rock, Spanish Games, Planet Earth, Talking Fingers, The Reading Kingdom, Big IQ Kids, Wordy Qwerty, and what ever else we get our hands on or strikes our fancy!

PE:
I really do not think of this a s a subject because it is just part of our life.
The kids do swim lessons, soccer, basketball etc.
At home right now we are using GoTrybe Wii Fit, and Nickelodeon Fit!

If you want to join in simply post on your own blog about what you will be using for next school year and then come back here and add your direct link! Please add a link back to my blog so others can join in too.

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Update: I decided to drop Latin for now and we are focusing exclusively on Spanish! We are using Speekee, Salsa Spanish Episodes, and two Spanish Curriculum's that I am reviewing.

Who?

Buster is 7 and will turn 8 in July! He is going into 3rd grade this coming school year. If I could sum him up in a five phrases I would say he is fun, outgoing, inquisitive, active, and thoughtful of others.

Buster's favorites:

School subjects: Reading, and Science. He really enjoys being read to and reading himself especially if it is about history or adventure. He also loves nature and learning about it.

Color: Green

Book: Stone Fox

Sport: Basketball, Soccer, and Swimming

Activity: Playing outside

Game: Chess

TV Show: Swiss Family Robinson(cartoon)

Movie: Star Wars

Sweetpea is 5 and will turn 6 the end of October! Technically she will be in Kindergarten this coming year, but she will be working at a 1st grade level! If I could sum her up in a five phrases I would say she is playful, a deep thinker, energetic, smart, and tender.

Sweetpea's Favorites:

School Subjects: Math, Science, and Projects.

Color: Blue

Book: The Adventure's of Reddy Fox

Sport: Soccer and Swimming

Activity: Playing with her Barbie House

Game: Dominoes

TV Show: Swiss Family Robinson, and Little Women(both cartoons)

Movie: Tangled

Buttercup is 3 and her birthday is at the end of January! She will be doing preschool this coming year! To sum her up in five phrases I would say Buttercup is shy, whimsical, a silly heart, sweet, and sensitive.

Buttercup's Favorites:

School Subject: Drawing and painting.

Color: Purple

Book: Go Dogs Go

Sport: Soccer, Swimming

Activity: Coloring, Swinging.

Game: Candy Land

TV Show: Caillou, Swiss Family Robinson

Movie: Tangled

Buddy is 1 and will be 2 in November! He will be playing this coming school year and I will try my best to get him to do some Tot School things. To get to know Buddy in five phrases I would tell you he is cuddly, ornery, playful, shy, and full of fun.

Buddy's Favorites:

School Subject: Taking books off the shelf, and Playdoh.

Color: Not sure

Book: He seems to have a great fascination for Primary Language lessons, and Anne of Green gables. He is always pulling them off the shelf and carrying them around. Luckily he is quite gentle so far.

Sport: Kicking a ball

Activity: Playing, climbing, running, and swinging.

Game: Making a mess

TV Show: He has no interest in TV

Movie: Same as above

My two sons!

and my two daughters!

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