The 2nd Grader and the Kindergartener

Well, officially the school year is upon us homeschooler of Missouri. The go date is July 1st around here. And no we haven't started. Last year I started very soon after the 1st and plugged along at it little by little all year long.

This year I would have chosen to do the same, but right now our school stuff is still all boxed up or it's en route to our house because I finally got around to ordering everything last week.

Here's the line up for this year...

Huston - the Kindergartener - He will be focusing on basic stuff of course. Reading and numbers primarily. Isaiah will be building upon what he started last year as well as trying a few things differently.

I ordered from Math U See this year for both of the boys. I've heard great reviews from a number of moms (ha, that's punny) that it's a good program. Hands down, Isaiah and I went head-to-head in math the most often of any subject. Our brains think differently with it I guess, I really don't know what caused the strife. With this program they will watch their lesson on dvd and then apply it through manipulatives and worksheets. I'm hopeful.

We will use Teach Your Child to Read with Huston for the obvious. I think I am going to experiment with adding Avery into these lessons - just to see how he does. He gives signs that he could really be open to instruction at this time, but I'm not going to push him. One of the major reasons we are home schooling is so that our kids are able to be simply kids without the pressures of academics so early or so often.

We will continue with Story of the World, Vol. 2 - the fall of Rome to the Renaissance. Isaiah is very excited about this. I will also introduce him to American history through learning about each state using Highlights Which Way USA. I've been collecting them for the past year and I am hoping that the kids will have a lot of fun with all of the puzzles and maps provided in these kits.

Science will come through exploring our backyard I think. We have a pond and started gardening and have a lot of critters that pass through - so I think we will just let the findings lead us where they may. I will also throw in a couple of units involving electricity, weather and magnets.

I also ordered a unit of curriculum from YWAM following the biography of a famous missionary - I believe I settled on Eric Liddell, but to tell you the truth I can't remember! It will be a surprise to all of us when we receive it in the mail, I guess. Anyway it looked like a unique way of building faith within the boys.

So I guess that's it (and that's plenty for me thank you!) We'll see how it all ends up - I'm praying that they love it all and beg to do their lessons and we're done by March... hey, it's worth hopin'.