May 30th - June 5th Notes

Saturday was a lot of family time and a few projects. One project was going through the boxes of homeschool books that have arrived for fall. We cleaned out each child's school bin and added in their new books. We did a bit of decluttering and organizing in the attic. 

Sunday we had church at home, per usual. In the afternoon we went to my sister's backyard to celebrate my nephew's graduation. It was perfect weather and kids enjoyed the trampoline while adults enjoyed sitting and visiting. We brought home with us a new game to try: Googly Eyes. It is pretty much Pictionary with a 15, 30, or 45 second timer, three card categories, and glasses with changeable lenses that make it harder to see the paper you are drawing on. 

Monday dawned sunny and 40F - nice and chilly. Makayla is back to working weekdays at the farm for the summer. As the morning warmed up, Joseph mowed the yard. In the afternoon we spent a couple hours outside relaxing in the back yard. Rebekah got two bug bites while we were out there that started swelling into hives and itching. We gave her some Benadryl and it got better. Of course, then she fell asleep for four hours and wasn't at all sleepy at bedtime. She and I got to sleep at midnight. 

Tuesday was hot. Kids were happy to play games and be inside most of the day. 

Wednesday was hot. Nothing notable happened. We're just doing our everyday tasks, playing, reading, and cooking a lot. The kids enjoyed doodling all over some paper we spread down the middle of the table. I published a post about our homeschool plans for the fall on Wednesday, sharing the curriculum we plan to use. You can find that right here.

Thursday Emma decided she wanted to bake and decorate a cake. She had fun and everyone enjoyed eating it after dinner. 

Friday is here. It is humid and stormy today, just like yesterday. Some of the kids are watching the Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug today. Others are upstairs building with Lego. We have no plans the rest of the day other than reading more of our current read aloud, Trapped by James Ponti, so I'm hitting publish on this post. Happy Friday!

Curriculum Plans for 2020-2021: Large Family Style

When the new homeschool year begins this fall I will have children in grades 10, 9, 7, 6, 4, 3, 2, plus a 4yo and a 2yo tagging along and a child off to her sophomore year of college. As of today, most of our curriculum has been planned, purchased, and placed on shelves. 

Group Subjects

History - We're using The Good and the Beautiful History Year 3. Topics we'll study fall under four broad categories: Ancient Mesopotamia and Israel, Ancient Africa and Native North Americans, Westward Expansion and Industrialization, and World War II. 

Science High School - Joseph and Emma will be grouped together for science. This year they chose to study chemistry and astronomy. They will use Exploring the World of Chemistry and Exploring the World of Astronomy, both by John Tiner. They will also use the Chemistry 101 dvd series, do a set of experiments, and spend time with the telescope at night. 

Science Elementary and Middle School - Daniel, Oliver, Caleb, Mason, and Samuel (with tagalong Tobias and Rebekah when they are interested) will be using science units from The Good and the Beautiful. We have a stack of them, and I will generally let the kids choose which unit we start each time. There are also a few more units coming out in the next several months, including geology, which I'm sure the kids will want to do. The units I currently have that we've not used before are: Energy, Chemistry, Space, Water and Our World, Arthropods, Meteorology, The Human Body part 1, and Botany. 

Elective: Culinary Arts and Nutrition - Joseph and Emma both chose this elective, so we'll be in the kitchen together, meal planning, shopping for food, and cooking. 

Elective: Boomerang Book Club - Joseph and Emma will be doing this elective together. Daniel may choose to join in. We will be reading the following ten books and using the Boomerang guides from Brave Writer to go along. 

• Emma by Jane Austen
• A Long Way Home: A Memoir by Saroo Brierley
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
• How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle
• The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum
• Other Words for Home by Jasmine Warga
• Blink by Malcolm Gladwell
• They Called Us Enemy by George Takei
• Our Town by Thornton Wilder
• Refugee by Alan Gratz

Individual Subjects 

Language Arts - All my kids will be using The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts at various levels. For Joseph, Emma, and Daniel this is their third year with TGTB LA, and they will be doing level 7, 7, and 6. Oliver and Mason will be in their second year with TGTB LA, and they will be doing level 4 and 3. Caleb and Samuel will be in their first year with TGTB LA, and they will be doing level 2 and 1. It is a solid program that rotates through a variety of subjects over the course of the year in spelling, reading, writing, grammar, punctuation, geography, poetry, memorization, artist/picture study, and art. 

Math - This year we are split on math. The kids doing Math U See, our old standby, are Joseph (Geometry), Emma (Geometry), Daniel (Algebra 1), Oliver (Zeta), and Caleb (Delta). This year we are moving Mason and Samuel to The Good and the Beautiful Math. The reason is pretty simple - TGTB math is full of fun, hands on, and practical day to day math. Mason, especially, needs a change for math. His learning issues stemming from his hydrocephalus and spina bifida seem are small, but beginning to show in math (he has memory issues and executive function issues). Math U See is black and white, basic at these levels, and doesn't address real life math things like time, money, measurement, fractions, etc very well in their early levels. Things are either not addressed until later (fractions) or only addressed once or twice before moving on, so kids lack familiarity. 

Handwriting - For my younger kids who still do handwriting, we use Handwriting Without Tears. 

Literature - Many of our subjects already include books, but we read more than that. In our home children are expected to spend time reading every day. We read a wide variety of books, depending on a child's age and interests. We have a large shelf full of books from The Good and the Beautiful Library. We find books at our library using The Good and the Beautiful's free Book List. We take recommendations from friends and librarians, and use book lists found online. We read, read aloud, or listen to audio books. It all counts! 

Those are the major plans for the coming school year. Everything else is pretty child-led. If someone has an interest, we explore it. We leave room in our days for following passions, playing games, being out in nature, getting together with friends, going to our book club group, and just being a family. We study the scriptures together each day. Kids practice piano regularly. Art materials are right where kids can grab them. We go on field trips. We learn and grow together. 

Two Weeks of Books at My House

I've been jotting down books being read or listened to at my house for the last two weeks. I thought I would share them here. I am not sharing the countless picture books I have read aloud to the younger kids. We usually read a stack of 5 each morning, and often another stack each evening.  

Currently Reading:

Trapped by James Ponti - This is the third and final book in a fun series about two kids who use TOAST (the Theory Of All Small Things) to help the FBI solve some mysteries. I've read these aloud at the lunch or dinner table and can't wait to make it to the end of this final book. 

The Magician's Nephew by C. S. Lewis - Joseph is reading this. He decided that he wants to read/reread the entire Narnia series this summer.  

The Ballad of Snakes and Songbirds by Suzanne Collins - Emma is reading this. My sister dropped it off, and there is a line to read it among my teens and myself. 

Polar Bears Past Breakfast by Mary Pope Osbourne - This is one of the Magic Treehouse Series. Mason has been reading them, and is currently on this book.

Ranger's Apprentice: The Ruins at Gorlan by John Flannagan - Oliver is wading into this series for the first time. It's fantastic, and I can't wait to have conversations about it with him. It is a series I love enough that it has a home on my shelves, instead of just an Kindle book. I also love the related series The Brotherband Chronicles. 

Ben and Me by Robert Lawson - Daniel is currently reading this funny book about Benjamin Franklin.

Calico by Ethel Calvert Phillips - Daniel is also reading this book. It is a fun story about a pony that shows up at a farm, and the adventures the children there have with him.

Fablehaven by Brandon Mull - Caleb is reading/listening to this one. It is the first time he's asked to do a book for fun. I'm trying not to be super obvious about how thrilled that makes me, but he knows. 

The Mysterious Benedict Society and the Perilous Journey by Trenton Lee Stewart - Several of the boys are listening to this currently at bedtime. 

The Heart of the Rebellion by Sian Ann Bessey - This is my current read. It is set in the 1400s in Wales, a time period and place I am not familiar with. So far, I love it!

The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan - Joseph listens to this right now in the afternoon during quiet time. It's an old favorite.

The Red Pyramid by Rick Riordan - Oliver started listening to this book today. He likes the Egyptian mythology themed series and hasn't listened to it in a year or so. 

Recently Read:

The Hound of the Baskervilles and several other Sherlock Holmes stories by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - Emma owns the complete collection of Sherlock stories and has been rereading.

The Magic Treehouse Series by Mary Pope Osbourne - Mason has read a stack of these and is still going.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin - Daniel finished this book and loved it. 

Bunnicula Strikes Again by James Howe - Oliver just finished this book. He likes Bunnicula and felt like it was a bit of mystery without being scary. 

The Lost Kingdom by Chester Bryant - This was Joseph's last read. It's about a boy from India who starts out living in an American foundation. Then he moves out to some ancient ruins that his grandfather owned. The boy wants to learn about his past, and eventually, he does. 

The Mysterious Children of Ashton Place series by Maryrose Wood - The boys have listened to this entire series recently.

The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart - The boys just finished listening to this one. It's an old favorite. 

Heir of the Curse by Deborah Grace White - This is the first book in a series. I read it this week and enjoyed it. 

The First Girl Child by Amy Harmon - I finished this book at the beginning of the week. I really wasn't sure I would like this one, but I did. 

The Firethorn Chronicles series by Lea Doue - I read this series last week. I'm looking forward to when the rest of the books release. 

May 23rd - May 29th: Tie Dye and Gingerbread and Lego

This is a tiny part of the Legos we own.

We are having fun sorting them out. 

The giant bins of mixed Legos are in the attic,

we pour out part of a bin each time we sort.

Saturday was lots of family time. We did get out of the house in the late afternoon for a fun drive. Many of the families with graduating seniors from church had set up tables 10-15 feet apart along one family's yard. We were able to stop at each table and visit through the open window/doors with each family.

Sunday was a quiet day with church at home as usual for quarantine. We sang, prayed, had the sacrament, and then did a fun jeopardy-style scripture game. It had these categories:

1.  People
2. Visions and Dreams
3. Who Said That?
4. Doctrines and Principles
5. Anything Goes!

 In the afternoon we worked on sorting more Legos for our big project. It is slow going, we have only finished two of the five giant tubs of Lego we have. 

In the evening we chose the two tie dye styles we each wanted to do. Then we labeled bags with each person's name and the style, and rubber banded shirts. Between the twelve of us that was 24 shirts! We also bagged the 24 playsilk blanks I bought from Dharma Trading Co and labeled which color or colors we planned to dye each one. 

Monday morning after breakfast and chores we headed outside to tie dye. It is quite a production to work through 48 items. It took 2 1/2 hours from beginning to end. We did run out of a few colors by the time we got to our playsilks, but we just picked different color combinations for those few. Now we wait until tomorrow morning to rinse out each item. That should be interesting! 

Tuesday there was a lot of rinsing and washing shirts and silks. The shirts all turned out great and now everyone has two new shirts for their summer wardrobe. A few of the kids were willing to model shirts today.

The kids decided to watch Inspector Gadget the movie and got a lot of laughs out of it. We've watched all the cartoons before, and it was fun to see it made into a live action movie.

Emma and I baked gingerbread cookies and added cream cheese frosting today. It was a new recipe, we've never really made gingerbread cookies before and I wasn't sure if any of the kids would like them. Surprisingly, most of them loved the cookies!

Wednesday morning my mom came to watch the kids and my sister picked up Makayla to take her to work at the farm, while Mason and I headed to his yearly check up with his eye surgeon. Everything looks good and he ordered new glasses. We came home, and then I ran to pick Makayla up from the farm. We spent the afternoon and evening just playing and doing family things. Oliver lost a tooth. I think that is the 6th or 7th tooth a kid has lost in the last three months. In the evening my three youth had a fireside online.

A peek at all the playsilks we dyed.

It has been probably 10 years since we made playsilks.

The middle and younger kids are thrilled.

Thursday kicked off with Emma's orthodontist appointment. They finally removed the appliance that has been in the roof of her mouth for 17 months. Depending on how the rest of braces treatment goes, she will get her braces off around January of next year. 

I baked chocolate chip banana muffins for lunch, but dumped the batter into a couple of bread pans instead of muffin tins. It was yummy, but doesn't slice well. Next time I'll use the muffin tins. While everyone was eating I watched Julie Bogart's live reveal of the 2020-2021 book picks for the Dart, Arrow, and Boomerang programs. Each month you read a book and have activities, discussion questions, grammar, spelling, and mechanics practice, dictation, literary devices to learn about - everything centered around the book of the month. I'm considering many of the Boomerang titles for my middle and high schoolers. 

Friday morning is here. Kids have been working on their summer charts. I thought I would explain how summers work here, in case anyone is looking for ideas. We try to keep a bit of a routine going, even in summer. For this year we print a one page chart out for each child each week. They have tasks to do each day, including a chore that changes every few weeks, daily reading, math practice twice a week, and writing once a week. They are free to play a lot, and they do. One thing I've loved about quarantine is that their play has become even more creative. 

Rebekah watched my braid Makayla's hair this morning as she prepared to head to the farm to work. She usually refuses anything beyond brushing her hair, but today she wanted braids like her big sister. She still has really thin hair, and wiggles a lot, but here is a peek at the final braids. 

The kids are calling me to come read a chapter of Trapped to them, so that's all for this week!

May 16th to May 22nd

Mason and Samuel using Pokémon cards for a battle.

It is a great way to get them doing math and

problem solving. 

As I was preparing this post, I realized that it basically is a repeat of rain, family time, play, and food. Over and over and over. Such is life sometimes!

Saturday was grocery day, cleaning day, and family day. Wait - every day is family day, right? Oh well, Daddy is home on Saturday, so that makes it special for us.

Sunday we started the great Lego sort. I really don't know what I was thinking. Maybe it was looking at the solid week of rain in the forecast? We are sorting our Lego collection by color, with two bins that are not colors (Minifigures and Bionicle/Hero Factory). I expect this project to take us well into June, and will share photos later on.

Monday it rained. The kids did their summer learning and played.

Tuesday it rained. A lot. We were surprised by friends from church dropping off a box of Lego their now adult son no longer used. It had a lot of pieces from the old Lego Kingdoms series of knights and castles, which made my kids' day. They played all afternoon with the new to them Legos.

There was also a lot of Pokémon battling.

Wednesday it rained some more. The kids started the day playing Pokémon. I started the day baking cinnamon scones with maple glaze. We crafted, played, read, and watched some shows on BYU-TV. There was a lot of Lego building.

Thursday it was still raining. We decided it might be a good idea to start making a boat. It was another day full of family time, and I will be honest, I had to remind myself to be grateful for the continual messes, requests for help, and cooking.

Friday Caleb requested that we pull the rainbow looms out of the attic. It has been months, possibly a year, since anyone has used the looms. Various kids have used them over the last 10 years. Mason asked to learn how to make a bracelet when he saw Caleb working, so he made his first bracelet. I suspect the afternoon will include a mix of rainbow looms, Lego, and Pokémon. I'm hoping to sneak in a few chapters of my newest book!

Curricula We Used This Year: My Thoughts

Phew! Another homeschool year is finished at my house. I thought it would be fun to share my thoughts on some of the curricula we used this year. I know many people are beginning to plan for next fall's homeschooling. Hopefully this will help! I will share another post in the future with our curriculum plans for next year. I will sort by subject area.

Math

We used Math U See for everyone. The specific levels we used this year were Alpha, Beta, Gamma, Epsilon, Pre-Algebra, and Algebra 1. We like MUS. It is solid. The only thing I don't like about it is the early levels don't include what I would call 'real life math topics' very well. Things like using a calendar, learning shapes beyond basic circle, square, triangle, rectangle, using money, measuring with cups/spoons/rulers/yardstick, and telling time, are taught in very spread apart lessons with no hands on elements, which means for some kids, they are not memorable or functional.

History

Joseph was our outlier this year. He wanted to study the history of scientists and scientific discoveries beginning around Einstein. This meant he had a textbook we chose as well as living books to read. It went well, he liked it, but missed being a part of the family history studies. He will rejoin us next year for history.

Everyone else did history as a family using The Good and the Beautiful History 2. We love this because it is flexible. The basic program itself has a mix of reading from the lesson manual, an ongoing audio adventure, photographs, maps, a timeline, and read alouds, along with student explorers (notebooks) for different ages. The older grades explorers include more articles to read on more history topics, writing assignments, book lists to read from, etc. TGTB History covers the span of history from Creation to modern times in each of the 4 years, stopping at different topics, events, and people each year, and helping you put into perspective the people and events you've learned about in prior years. We love it! For those who prefer a much heavier reading list, it is easy to add extra books using the read aloud suggestions.

Science

Joseph and Emma used Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology this year, along with a dissection kit from Home Science Tools, our microscope, prepared slides, and other experiment materials. They don't love this curricula, but they don't hate it either. It is a textbook based course, and I don't really know many teens who love those. However, it is a solid course and they learned a lot from it. I used it for Makayla, my graduated child, and will continue to use it for each child when they are in 8th or 9th grade.

The rest of the kids did science as a group. This year we did a mix of unit studies based on topics we were interested in, with books and materials I gathered from the library or our shelves, and purchased science units from The Good and the Beautiful. They enjoyed it all, and especially loved our most recent unit from TGTB, Mammals.

Learning to Read

Caleb and Samuel continued using All About Reading this year. This 4 level course is our family's favorite for teaching reading. Caleb started the year in level 3 and is now in level 4. Samuel started the year in level 2 and is now in level 3. They will continue using it during the summer, because we don't take a break from reading. Kids learn to read at different ages and times. I'm comfortable with that. We don't use AAR exactly as written. There is a letter tile component, flashcards, activity pages (games!), reading pages, and then chapter book readers. We skip the letter tiles and flashcards completely. None of my kids have liked using them for long. They love using the games and reading from the readers.

Language Arts

Once my kids can read decently well we move out of All About Reading and into The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. This year I had five kids using various levels. (Levels do not correspond to grade levels.) This language arts curriculum covers reading, writing, grammar, spelling, dictation, poetry, geography, picture study, and art. I'll talk about each level we used this year next.

Level 3 - Mason and Oliver used level 3 this year. It was their first time doing TGTB LA. In the end, it was a great fit for Oliver, but challenging for Mason, who has some fine motor disabilities that made the writing overwhelming at times. This level is actually one of the oldest levels by TGTB, and just this month has been released in a completely overhauled and redone edition. While Oliver will move on to level 4 next fall, Mason is going to do this new version of level 3, which looks lovely.

Level 5 - Daniel did this level, having done level 4 the previous year. It was a great fit. The reading, geography, and often the art related to one another. The sentence dictation is a solid way to improve spelling and grammar, alongside the rest of the grammar work. Daniel will move into level 6 in the fall.

Level 6 - Joseph and Emma did this level, having done level 5 the previous year. I feel like this level really improved their writing skills, with great work on essays. The liked the level well enough, and chose to continue with level 7 next fall.

* Next fall I will also have kids using level 1 (Samuel) and level 2 (Caleb). We have not used these levels before, but both are reading well enough to move out of All About Reading by the end of the summer. Level 7 for Joseph and Emma is also new to us.

That sums up the main materials we used this year. Feel free to ask questions if you have any!

May 9th - May 15th: Summer Break Begins

Saturday and Sunday were a quiet Mother's Day weekend spent as a family, still quarantined due to COVID-19. It was peaceful and a blessing.

Mason and I wearing masks at the 

surgeon's office. 

Monday Mason and I headed to the city to see one specialist, get x-rays, and discuss upcoming surgeries. At this point Mason's scoliosis is stable, which is my favorite word to hear from a surgeon. We don't need to do anything for his spine right now, which is a giant blessing. His right leg currently has a growth restrictor plate on the femur correcting a valgus (leg bone is growing angled instead of straight). He has had the plate in for over a year and we are finally getting close to removal. Mason's growth is slower than average, and the plate needs a certain amount of growth to do its job. We go back in 3 months to evaluate and see if we are ready for surgery to remove the plate. At the same time, we will reevaluate three other potential surgeries. The right knee is contracted, and will need a muscle and tendon release in the future as it worsens. The left leg has begun to have a valgus and will at some point need it's own growth restrictor plate placed, but isn't quite severe enough for surgery yet. And the left foot has a contracture that will also need muscle and tendon releases at a future date. What may happen is that all three of those issues will be severe enough to do in the same surgery as the removal of the current plate in the right leg. Yes, that would be four surgery sites at once. Currently, Mason has had 23 surgeries. We know he has quite a few ahead as he grows up. The task now is to manage when is the appropriate time for each surgery, trying to wait as long as possible before addressing issues that are likely to reoccur as he goes through his growing years, so we don't have to repeat the same surgeries over and over. At the same time, if we wait too long, some things can't be corrected as well.

Today my husband also was able to see a surgeon. He has some vein surgeries that it has taken nearly a year to get through the doctor process to schedule, and we still can't schedule yet, as his surgeon isn't allowed to do these semi-elective surgeries. Unless a blood clot worsens a lot, it is a waiting game for surgery. The doctor has signed off on surgeries, which is good. Now we wait for restrictions to lift in our state.

Tuesday we woke to frost at nearly the middle of May. Brr. The morning and afternoon were spent playing. In the evening we turned on a movie - National Treasure. The older kids mostly remembered it, but it was new to the rest of the kids. It was so fun!

Wednesday the weather was beautiful, so outside we went. The kids play a ridiculous number of rounds of hide and seek in our backyard. We are so thankful that so far there are no mosquitos out. I have a couple kids who are allergic to mosquitos - every bite swells up into giant hives.

Thursday the kids were deep in play with the toy food, pokemon cards, and art materials. I got to work on my summer reading list. The rain kept us mostly indoors. We did get outside for a bit in the morning when Caleb dragged us out. He had been taking trash cans around from the curb and found a young bird in the backyard, hopping around but not flying away.

Friday different people worked on projects for current interests. There were art creations (Star Trek theme for one teen, robots for a younger boy). There were Lego builds and photography for a few boys. Rebekah is still loving the play kitchen and toy food, so she and Tobias spend large chunks of time cooking for people. We are still reading aloud Trapped! by James Ponti, the third book in a series. Dinner was homemade pizza. As I type this at nearly 10pm one teen is baking white chocolate lime scones. Tomorrow we have a list of cleaning projects to do, and some sorting/organizing/decluttering I hope to get to as well.