So glad I found your channel! You have truly helped me to focus on the important things during my Homeschool year. My oldest is Kindergarten age and I have 4 children so I was stressing myself out by trying to be so strict. Today I asked her what she wanted to learn, did our bible time and read aloud and they played outside in mud lol. Such a peaceful day. You are such a blessing for sharing your wisdom and how important nature is at this age. Thanks and please keep posting videos 😊
Oh Erika, that is so great to hear! I'm so glad that you were able to enjoy your day with your children. We can be SO HARD on ourselves! Many blessings as you work out what works for you and your sweet family!
Our new routine will be very slow mornings. Enjoying dressing and hearing stories from the littles. Nursing the sweet baby. Reading aloud a morning basket while they simply eat fruit of choice. I will then spend one hour cooking and cleaning- a home blessing hour while listening to hymns...kiddos are free to play inside. Brunch for our large family around the table at ten...I have until 11 to take a walk with littles. Big kiddos will have their one daily chore now after the brunch meal. 11a.m is math hour- I rotate tutoring kiddos. 12 p.m is 2 hour reading period- littles nap or I teach reading lessons. Then 1 hour language seat work and vocabulary.
That has depended on the season. We usually do audio books in the afternoons during rest time when the home is peaceful. I can usually put my feet up while my 5 and 8 year old girls are listening in their bedroom. My boys haven't listened as much as my girls - I think this is more a function of availability. We have a speaker connected to my phone. They can take the speaker into their bedroom. This is best because then they are playing with the million distractions on the screen. I do have friends who buy each child a locked down devise for them to be able to play their own stories in their bedrooms. But just having one and taking turns seems to work for us.
My 6 and 7 year old boys have loved the Bruce Coville Shakespeare retellings. The illustrations are always amazing and I think since Shakespeare is supposed to be something you SEE anyway, they really help them grasp the plot better. I feel like he is faithful to the text also. We have enjoyed them, and it's been a really great intro for Shakespeare to them. Actually our librarian was surprised that we were checking them out and was pretty amazed that they would even sit and listen to them, much less enjoy and engage with them. I wish he had more available. For the plays that he hasn't done we use Beautiful Stories From Shakespeare, and it's okay, but they are never as interested in that as in the Coville retellings.
Thank you SO MUCH for the recommendation! I'm definitely checking those out at the library! They look beautiful! Yes, you have to SEE Shakespeare it really does help!
victoriapilot87 thanks for asking! I am planning to release one on February on Insects and I have another one on Mammals in the queue. My “plan” is to release two each year. But with six kids and being a business of one- we shall see. I was able to release four last year because of the demand and I had extra time🤷🏻♀️
What do you mean? I have videos with the specific grades broken down- is that what you need? Or are you looking at how I organize all the various ages and stages as a whole and split up between their independent work and our family/Morning Time work?
@@joycherrick sorry guess that didn't really make sense . I am trying to figure out how to help pick between my 6 year old and 11 year old for our morning basket where they are both able to be engaged .
Gotcha! The cliffs notes are that I select by topic and whether we’ve read them yet or not ie History, nature study, biography etc. Then our week is broken up into a day where I focus more on the older kids for our readings and excuse the younger ones after we do memory work if needed. Plus I always have younger kid sections going just for them but right now that’s pinned to bedtime- sometimes I’ve put it at them beginning of morning time. If you download my Morning Basket list it may give you a better idea about my layout and how I break up books! I’m hoping to film soon so I can add this to the list!!
So thankful for all you've taken the time to share here.. So wonderful!.. TY! 💕💗 May I please ask you, where did you purchase the Shakespeare sketch book that you're using; and do you just have 1 for everyone or 1 for each child? TY, in advance.. 🙂
shayj337 I have the sketchbook linked up in my Kit- which links to Amazon: kit.co/joycherrick look in my first grade resources- I only use that book for my first graders and they graduate to one with lines at the bottom and a picture on top in second grade:) hope that helps!
Hello! Could you please elaborate on how you determine your History selections? Most appear to be titles from AOY4 (I may have missed titles pulled from other years). I'm curious if your 4th grader has independent reads of their own, in addition to those read as a family, or if you read other AO Year-specific books to the students in younger grades. I'm curious if the Pratt histories replace TCOO? I'm curious if and when at some point you plan to rotate back around to the early AO Years, beginning the cycle again. I'm curious if you also read Literature or Science selections as a family, and if yes, if you ever pull these from various AO Years. I'm curious your plans for the future as your older children age into AOY7 and the book selections increase in difficulty. My curiosity stems from my desire for more togetherness across more subjects. Currently I have a 3rd grader in AOY2 (we came to AO late) and a Kindergartener tagging along with unprompted practice narrations (she can hold her own in Understood Betsy and Parables of Nature, but still shies away from Little Duke, understandably); but already -- and with just two blessings compared to your six -- I worry about the separation, and juggling two AO Years worth of books. I realize in later years more independence will kick in, but in these tender years I long for more simplicity and camaraderie. Any insight is appreciated! P.S. Thank you for your Nature Study Hacks; I've purchased all you've published thus far! ♡
I am working on videos about how I currently handle Y3 and Y4. My 4th grader is following all the AOY4 reads for her list this year - I decided that her year would dictate what history we are studying as a family. That means that I'm currently pulling from AO Y1 for our "Nursery Rhymes Loop" reads - that sometimes has those history selections. I've basically, for my sanity, clump kids together as best as I can. So, when kids are in the same Form (such as my Y1 and Y3) then I try to look at what books they've gotten and which ones they still need - that is why I chose to do Our Island Story this year - those guys need to hear it - For the most part I supplement Y1 with the My Book House books because it has most the the books in there - and of course we have our favorites that we don't miss. I think the key is to group kids together in the same year and know that once they become fluent reader (around 3/4 grade) then they will be able to start getting their readings assigned. That's why I chose to pull some family reads from Y4 - because I wanted to read those books for myself and thought they could also be enjoyable for the most people. I hope this helps for now. My Y4 video should be ready in the next week or two:)
When you say that you do "Morning Time" three days a week, are you skipping Bible, Memory work, Nursery reading and poetry? And just doing the kids individual daily check lists? I think I'm in a similar boat of only being able to do an extended "Morning Time" 2-3 days a week, which I feel really disappointed about :(
Hi Catherine, Yes, I'm skipping the Bible, Memory Work, Nursery Reading and Poetry. BUT we are doing other rich and marvelous things INSTEAD and those life-giving things get to "count" as school too! We do co-op one day per week and on that day we get to do our artist study, composer, Latin, Writing, Speech class, lunch with friends, Folk songs! We usually don't get in extra reading in that day, but it is SO FULL of LIFE! Also, we DO get our Bible reading in each night plus one story with Dad - so EVEN if the day was crazy, we still get that anchor at night before bed. (I'll be sharing a little bit more about our family devotions on Friday!) I think it helps as we plan do "work in" margin and also time to be home. This year has been unique from every other - some years we are just HOME MORE and some years we have opportunities to be in community more. Ebs and flows, I guess. I don't know your personal circumstances, of course, but be encouraged and be brave enough to adjust your course to head in the direction you want to go!
New subscriber! Hello, I also homeschool and have baskets for each kid. They love having their own items. I have my 3rd grader online. I invite you to check out our homeschool video. I’m excited that I came across your page. It can be a lot with a 1 year old running around and running after 😂.
