Hello! I'm Sara a secular homeschooling mom of two. On this channel, I will be sharing our homeschool adventure, curriculum choices, reviews, flip-throughs, book hauls, and camping trips.
My son wants to learn piano this year since my husband found a Electronic Keyboard at a yard sale for $40. So, I think we will try the Hoffman Academy this year. Thank you for including the link!
I was a bit concerned too and will probably do a video on this topic when I get into it more. I almost didn't purchase the Apologia book. I ended up getting it on Ebay to check it out. I'm not sure how or if I'll use it. I honestly think there is plenty of books, videos and activities in the curriculum that you may not need the Apologia book. I'll keep you update.
Im not that organised!!! We go thru a periodic table book often!!! We have a old book on Issac Newton I got from masterbooks!!! Before we homeschooled I didn’t kno that older picture books existed!!! We are studying agricultural science so the cow to milk book sounds awesome!!! We are still reading the autobiography of Benjamin Franklin!!! We are obsessed with space and my high schoolers are doing Star Wars for literature credit!!! We loved the Thomas Edison who was books and I discussed the light sources with my kids before a light bulb!!! We loved the who was Albert Einstein book!!!
I am usually not this organized but, it backfired for me last year with so many plans going out the window due to me. I'm hoping to make up for it this year. Same with me about the older picture books. I've discovered that a really good picture book can be better and much more engaging compared to a wall of text. I now like a good mixture. Oh, we are huge Star Wars fans here. Living in Florida we've gotten spoiled that we can go to Kennedy Space Center and Star Wars at Disney. My daughter would love to be an astronaut but, hates math. lol. She has always loved the moon. I'm so excited to dig into these book this year.
Health is a subject in our sate and idk if psychology is health or science!!! I have a kid who says she isn’t ture to herself!!! It’s ture that sometimes we have to find another option!!! I feel health books should be read together and discussed!!! Nothing wrong with going slowly!!! Slow and constant is an awesome approach!!! We do bible as I feel it’s needed as a Christian family!!! In our state guidance is a subject so career subjects and preparing for the future but it’s for high school and I don’t see a problem doing it early but when my kids are ready!!!
The Me & My Feelings book has been a huge win for us. I'm always so concerned about mental health with my kids and we talk about things often but, both of my kids open up when I read from this book. Having a dedicated time in our week where we can talk about these things has been really good. I'm hoping that making it this comfortable that as they get older they will talk to us more. Also, give them tools they can fall back on. When I was a kid I was just handed a book on growing up. It made everything seem so scary. I want something different for my kids.
This yr I bought art kits and supplies to see what happens!!! We love Gentle and classical morning virtues especially for looking at art!!! We Travel for sports comps with my work so we find doing ourselves is better!!! We studied the last supper painting recently and spoke about the story telling!!! I prefer self paced courses!!! We haven’t done Shakespeare and I have a jr in Highschool so I doubt my oldest will study Shakespeare!!!
I love art kits! They saved me for so many years and made it possible. I need to check out Gentle and Classical. Their stuff seems really good. We tend to go slower than most curricula are designed as since we like to really get into it. I find if we go too fast we don't remember anything anyway. Shakepeare will be interesting. I never studied it but, I figure since I now have theatre obsessed kids, it might be a good time to try. We will see.
We are doing agricultural science this year and I still have a kid doing chemistry!!! I have a request for astronomy but idk if we’ll get to it this year!!! We love guest hollow and we shelved their botany as we struggled with botany as a subject!!! Rabbit trails are needed!!! We are going thru Ben Franklin‘s autobiography from a audiobook!!! Our agricultural science has a nature stand!!! We have been looking for yellow flowers and we’ve been hearing of a yellow flower that is only in Hawaii so been spotting it as we walk around our area as we are out of the city!!!
Agricultural science sounds like a lot of fun! I've struggled with the idea of doing an entire year on botany. I think I'll do it on the side like our bird study. I do think we will enjoy it but, need a better mix of subjects for an entire year. I have a space lover so Astronomy makes it's way back into our homeschool often. I'm pretty sure it'll make an appearance again in the near future.
We love covering locations and cultures!!! We cover the place!!! As Christians we also focus on mission, both history and possible mission as idk if my kids will have a future there!!! Next summer we will be on Greece so we will study Greek geography and culture!!! We did us geography last year and we are learning our new local geography and cultures including surf culture!!!
They way you cover topics is so inspiring. There isn't a better way then experiencing. We are finishing up Greece and I want to go there. That will be incredible! Surf culture. I love that. Do you surf? We do not have waves on the west coast of Florida but, we do on the east side. The Atlantic is a monster for waves. I'm from New England and whenever there was a storm the surfers would flock to the ocean. It could be freezing but, there would be a huge group.
@@geekyabode me and my husband met surfing as pre teens and we have kids who surf!!! My 1st grader is starting to learn to surf as she can now swim well enough to be safe surfing!!! I grew up watching a surf family and knew when we had kids we wanted it and we are now doing it!!!
@@RockSimmer-gal4God That is incredible! We met while my husband was racing motocross. We thought our kids would do it but, we ended up feeling differently. With motocross it's not a matter of "if you'll get hurt" it's when, how often, and how bad. The kids never showed interest so we didn't push it. We saw a family who surfed the last time we were at Cape Canaveral. It was amazing to see how talented the kids were.
We dabble with history and love it!!! I see the yr curriculum as a rough history!!! We loved learning about the Roman Empire and Greek empire!!! We loved the Middle Ages!!! We loved learning the Greek and Roman God’s!!! Nothing wrong with rabbit trails!!! We are discussing the election again this year and my older kids say the weather comes from the U.S to the U.K. but voting is over way round!!! They remember that fact from when we lived in the U.K.!!!
I've gotten really interested in mythology and the connections between it and the present. When you are paying attention you see references everyday and I love how something from so long as is still current. Not something I learned in public school. The election is an interesting subject for sure. it's a tug of war between the facts about the government and the show we see unfolding.
We are doing Middle Ages this year too! We will be using Building Your Library, and she uses History Quest this year. Next year she will be using Story of the World. I've never used that curriculum, so I don't know if I will use it or something else.
I've been very tempted by Build your library! Any literature based curriculum grabs my attention. I haven't used either History Quest or Story of The World. Many people like both of them. I went back and forth between CC and History Quest but, I wanted to try the dialogue format with CC. I'm excited for the Middle ages. Lots of good books and stories to enjoy.
In Japan we bought lunches to eat on the beach from the convenience store and it was awesome and easy!!! We try to do the same thing when possible as it was fun!!! We are loving shaved ice but I check it out for dyes!!! We love plain crackers or rice cakes with vegimite!!! We have a international supplement near our house so we get Aussie snacks there!!! We love sea weed!!! Our last dog got obsessed with it as well!!! We love hummus!!! I’m not seeing much healthy bar snacks so far since living in the states but we’ve only been here for a few days!!! My older daughter calls breakfast bars breakfast biscuits and she started calling it that as a toddler!!!
New subscriber here! We love TGTB in my family - this year I’m using it for my preschooler, math and LA for my 3rd and 1st graders, and some science units as well 🤗
Thank you for joining me! Yes, we have really found a love of TGTB. I'm trying the math this year in addition to LA and a bit of science. I'm looking forward to seeing the new History. I love history!
My kids hate language arts but reading they love!!! We love TGTB language arts!!! I pace it differently to each of my kids!!! My older kids are doing research projects for social studies and I count that as writing!!! I work on Greek and Latin roots and my kids understand way more vocabulary!!! Nothing wrong with messy handwriting!!! We have the old TGTB level 3 readers and we love the biographies!!! We read what was the Plage and it was ok!!! We’ve been to Robin Hood county when we lived in the U.K.!!! We love audiobooks!!!
Yes, TBGB has been a huge hit for us! I wish I had learned Greek & Latin roots when I was a kid, it just make sense for learning language and vocabulary. I'm excited to see how my kids do. Oh, Robin Hood County, so amazing. We haven't been to Europe yet but, it's on the bucket list!
We use MWC and Beast Academy (we do use online version bc they have videos for each lesson and the comic books)! Love them both!! We just did a month at a time to try it out, and while challenging my kids absolutely love it! It’s so different (in the best way) from most of the “traditional” programs out there!
@@geekyabode Yes! They don't offer a trial, but if you don't love it you can get a refund in the first 14 days. Figured it was a no brainer to just give it a try....and both my kids love it (I knew my son would bc he's very "mathy" but my I didn't think my daughter would, but she's doing great with it). I also love that you can start and stop whenever you want and all your "data" is saved. I can't justify the cost to just do once or twice a week...so we do a few months of MWC and then do a month or two of BA. Nice to change it up! The parent portal and info you get from beast is also exceptional! The program really is fantastic.
We love hands on math!!! We struggled with math as it wasn’t engaging!!! I encourage my kids to do math in real life as well!!! My older kids love TGTB math videos but my younger kids don’t get the math videos as they start in level 4!!! I love that TGTB teaches different methods as that helped me as a kid and I see it helps my kids as they learn differently!!! We are trying BA!!! Idk how it will work!!! I teach currency in math but no other money topics!!!
That's great news that TGTB math has worked well for you. I forgot about the videos. We love the videos in their language arts. Makes me more excited now. I'm pretty sure I'll pull BA in at some point. I just tend to get excited and overwhelm us. Let me know what you end up thinking of it.
We love biographies!!! My older kids love doing a online class for writing!!! With dyslexic kids we have to go over phonics with my older kids!!! When shopping I use it as a opportunity for math practice!!! We have an international move this yr and will be travel schooling from feb as we will have the 1st 2 comps in our new home next to our house!!! Our geography is thru experience!!! We are looking at bringing in logic and we already do bible!!!
I'm excited to start making my book list for this year. We always toss around the idea of moving to Europe and living in a camper van for a year. it would be a dream. I am thinking of having my daughter tested for dyslexia. Reading has been a challenge and will probably require extra phonics and practice throughout her schooling years. We found Right Brain Phonics this year and it has been a huge help. It seems like being very repetitive helps. Luckily, my son basically woke up one day and could read and spell. They are all so different.
I also have the school nest history timeline book I’m planning to use with my son as we go through world history. That ancient wonders then and now book looks really fun and interesting. From the Child’s Introduction to… series we have the art and orchestra books and we really like them and recommend them.
I'll be picking up the other Child's introduction books. They are so good! This as my first School nest purchase and I am really happy with it. I think keeping track of history this way will be really fun.
We have a lot of eBooks!!! We love the who was books!!! I love that the history ones have a timeline!!! We have a lot a Dinosaur books and I’m going to do a read aloud with my older kids with one but we haven’t got to it yet!!! We love TGTB shared readers!!! I love them for all my kids as I can help them improve their phonics skills!!! The human body theatre looks awesome!!!
I can be a bit book obsessed. I always liked books but, as a homeschool mom it's really created a monster. The incredible thing I've realized is how much kids can learn from just reading good books. It's taken me years to get away from the "text book" mindset of the public school system I grew up in.
We used gentle and classical morning virtues and we just looked at the art prints randomly and I think it’s working for us!!! Music we outsourced and I believe it went well!!! My teenagers do independently and I have to ask!!! We did a lot of art and crafts!!! We’ve seen a lot of cave paintings and when we get home in September I want to go to see our local tribal cave paintings!!! My kids are excited that they are close to where we live!!! Living in Australia means we get to see cave paintings!!!
Gentle and classical looks really good. The cave paintings in incredible. That would be such an amazing experience. Your travels sound like a dream. There is nothing better than seeing and experiencing the world.
I’ve been making sure we have summer supplies from January as we have been at the beach a lot from January!!!! I had a green coffee fruit drink tonight!!! My older kids wanted a normal iced coffee tho!!! I’m obsessed with my fragrance oils and essential oils!!! My gals are obsessed with nail polish, I buy the colours we choose when we buy them!!! I’ve not used it for a while as I couldn’t be bothered!!! I’m also short and my older daughter is taller than me!!! We had a pet tamer brush for our last dog!!! He loved it and he hated being brushed so for our new kitten we will get her the same brush!!!
I'm not a big breakfast eater so a smoothie is perfect. My son who is 9 loves them but, my daughter is crazy picky. I have to work on that. She's your typical fries and pizza kid. The tropical oils smell amazing! I usually get stuck in a rut of ordering the same. Love these. I'm with you, I haven't put on nail polish for years. I'm rough on my hands and it's too much work to keep it looking good. The peel off polish is great for my daughter and I think I like it too. I had to redo one nail yesturday but it was quick, it peeled off in one piece and took a moment to reapply. Oh yes, I'm at the stage where my shoes and clothes are disappearing into my daughters room. She will be bigger than me before I know it. A couple of my dogs are prone to mats even though they are all poms. Of course the one that likes to be brushed doesn't get mats!
We dug into our country and Canada!!! We did mapping!!! When we dug into Australia I felt like we missed out on a lot especially of cultures due to hidden information!!! We discuss seasons and the hemispheres when we travel!!! I work with a guy from South Africa and my kids have learned a lot from taking to him!!! We listen to stories of the holocaust from survivors often!!!
This sounds amazing! I feel like there is so much to explore and learn and not enough time! Learning from people or experiences is one of the best ways to make a real connection.
I got the first Writing & Rhetoric to start with my daughter after tons of research. I also got Share your Story which is then writing their own story with short funny videos
We haven’t finished our history books yet. We started reading a book we couldn’t read in October due to doing so much. I just wrote it in my planner to come back to that book after reading stuff on that part of history!!! We studied art history a couple of years ago and we went to see some cave art!!! We use our student notebook for HBL as a conversation starter!!! We use books of centuries that we’ve been using for a few years!!! We see the times better with our timelines!!! We love our books of centuries and this year we found that we didn’t need to add certain things as we had put it in!!! My older kids hate Greek mythology but I make them learn it!!! My younger kids will do it in middle school!!! Just the way we do it as a family!!! I don’t want them doing it before middle school!!!
Omg! You saw cave paintings. I have to put that on my bucket list if possible. That's incredible. Greek Mythology is an interesting topic. We are currently reading Mary Pope Osbornes version of the Odyssey. I keep attempting to put it down due to graphic topics and thinking my kids aren't ready or into it but, they keep asking for it. My daughter was upset the other day when she thought we were almost done the book. I never know what will grab their attention. We are enjoying the connections we are seeing with Greek mythology and other things like my daughters love of space.
I love adding in writing assignments for different subjects like science or history!!! We haven’t found a good writing curriculum but we use a class that uses writing with numbers!!! The classical one may be a high level!!! We haven’t used night zoo keeper!!!
That's a great idea to add in assignments from science and history. I've heard of writing with numbers but, haven't looked into it. If I remember correctly its and investment. Thank you for the information. I'm all over the place. Who knows where I will end up.
I've heard of science mom but, haven't looked into that one yet. I figure at this point, there will always be flops but, if there is fun, learning, and joy in what we do, we are all good!
I love linking curriculum together!!! We loved TGTB health and physical body!!!! They suggest adding books!!! We love guest hollow but not used their anatomy yet!!! We love our DK human body books!!! We have 2 at different levels!!! We started a weather unit but decided to do natural weather learning thru travel schooling!!! We finished off with science chunks sound!!! Nothing wrong with spending a year on human body!!!
TGTB has become one of our favorites and all the books! We would love to do travelschooling and really shoud've done even more back in 2020-2021. Now my hubby has to work in the and my kids have a lot of activities that we are really loving at this age. I've heard of Science chunks, I need to check them out!
I feel you on the library issues. We’ve had similar thing issues. We are 15-20 minutes away from ours and we don’t often go in that direction. I find we just don’t go unless I’m intentional about it
I am hoping to get better at it or I'll just have to plan better with what I'm using. My hopes would be to go once a month but, be better at ordering the books I need. It was odd, even though we have a big library system and access to the entire systems books, I still came across so many books that they didn't have.
I think I'll do a video on this, showing hoe I plan out Ancient Rome for the beginning of the school year. it's been great but, was a challenge for me to stumble through and figure out how I wanted to do it. I use CC as the starting point and add in elements from LOL. CC can bounce around a bit, you'll be doing Ancient Egypt then you'll have chapter of Stonhenge, back to Egypt and then China, back to Egypt again ... I understand why it's done that way but, my kids got lost jumping around. Halfway through the year, I broke the chapters into regions and started doing it that way. We are now finishing up Ancient Greece. I wanted to do too many of the things in LOL. I've scaled back a bit. I plan an entire unit at once (like Ancient Greece for example). Each week will focus on one the CC chapters. I look at the extras in CC and LOL and see if anything sticks out right away as a must do and pencil that it first. Then I look at books and videos I want to add. I like some spine books like Usborne History Encyclopedia. I also look for biographies and historical fiction to read. If there are any virtual museum tours or historical site tours online I like to add them in. Then I look at the activities and note which ones I like. I no longer stress if we don't get to everything I plan since we really enjoy it and learn a lot regardless. We do history everyday but, it's in little chunks that just build on each other. it's sounds overwhelming but, really is what you make it.
@@geekyabode would love to see that! I planned to use CC as my spine and include LoL explorations as they pair up....but my 7 year old kids won't do well with skipping around. Might have to reevaluation the situation! So helpful! Thank you!!
It sounds like you having personality issues especially as your kids are now pre teens!!! Don’t worry about writing as your kids are younger so it doesn’t matter if they don’t do formal writing yet!!! We started guest hollow botany and loved it even tho we did it slowly and really researched foods and the plants that we eat especially chocolate!!!
We prefer language arts at different levels!!! We love guest hollow but not used their language arts!!! We are doing both a early American history curriculum and a science history curriculum so we are reading a book together that aligns with both!!! We love read alouds for other subjects mainly!!! I found I can do writing a family with our family subjects!!! We’ve been loving a classical reading program!!! Idk why they aren’t updating level 4!!!
Language Arts is a tricky one for us. My daughter who is 11 has struggle with reading which then trickles down to other aspects of Language Arts. My son who is 9 can easily work though a level and advance at a faster pace. I've realized even using some of the same levels that I'm pacing them very differently for each kiddo and need to really embrace that for them. I think i'll do a video on how I'm using TGTB with both of them because of course I'm not doing exactly as shown. The level 4 was updated in 2020 and seems to a bit different when compared to level 3. I love Guest Hollow, I plan on using their Actions & reactions as Well as the new American History. We really enjoy all of the books!! What reading program are you using?
@@RockSimmer-gal4God I just took a quick peek at that today! I'm searching for a writing curriculum to use on a daily basis. I'm currently eyeing Writing With Ease & Writing & Rhetoric. Have you used either of these?
Thank you so much for your nice comment. It means a lot to me. I'll be posting those videos really soon. They are some of my favorites to make and watch!
We are still n a long term plan for science and history so if we don’t get it done then We do it the next year!!! We are year round homeschoolers but we officially finish our year at easter!!! I love it wen I hear things back!!! You sound like ur pure classical homeschoolers!!! We are classical but not purely!!! We love hands on activities but when we go them varies!!! We’ve been busy travelling and our geography has been exploring!!!
I've learned to make a great plan but, also go with the flow. If I rush things along my kids get less out of it. If we are interested and take our time we learn so much more. I'm always "trying to figure out" what type of homeschoolers we are. We are classical in some ways but, also a bit Charlotte mason in the sense that we love just reading books too. I also am drawn to Waldorf. I connect to so many methods. I used to think I had to do all of the hand on things in order for my kids to have fun and learn. I've learned this year that it isn't true and I can relax on that and not force it. I love geography (and history). I really want to teach the kids about thinks and travel to experience them. Before the graduate I am hoping to go to some major US landmarks and some European countries. I would so love to go to Egypt but, I'm not sure if that's in the cards for us. Traveling is amazing!
I love art supplies so much. I love acrylics because they are quick drying, but my kids have accidentally dropped paint on the floor and it will not come out. Are you tying in the artist Wassily Kandinsky and concentric circles? I’d love to see what you make if you would like to share. My favorite current art supply is alcohol markers. I am experimenting with using them for sketching. Thanks for sharing your haul.
I love art supplies and school supplies, lol. I need to find a cover to protect our dining table. Luckily, we have tiles floors making that pretty easy to clean up. I've done the concentric circles piece before but, this one is different where each persons tile will fit together. I think I"ll do a video of it since it'll be easy for anyone to do. I need to find some great markers. We have the classic Crayola thin markers but, my kids are ready for a better variety.
