Family Schooling Summary

Family friends (Nancy and Valerie) visited last week and gave me some new homeschooling ideas for the future. As I was looking into their suggestions I discovered that a well known LDS school (the American Heritage School) has been working on creating a homeschooling curriculum for grades k-8. 

I have been reviewing the sample lessons for each topic area and their are a lot of appealing things about it:

1. The one room school house approach - means that I can teach all the kids together on these core subjects. 
2. It is similar to BYU - a serious curriculum, but with gospel references intermixed
3. I think geography and art lessons are seriously lacking in public schools - so I am glad to see those given equal representation. 
4. There is a network of other LDS homeschoolers (organized by state) that we could tap into. 

My concern is that math and foreign languages have to be added separately (because it is age specific) -- so we would have to divide into groups for that and buy separate materials. 

Also I am not sure whether it makes the most sense to start this in September? or further along in daughter A's studies. 

 Musical learning about the Banjo is already underway with daddy to serenade and assist. 

The cousins visited us and had a sleepover this week.  Everyone wanted to help with the smoothie making. 

 While I worked in the garden the children played (and ate) sand.

They also chased the chickens around and held them on their laps.

 Reading Magic School Bus Beginning readers is a great way to get science and reading in one lesson. We have a 5 pack of those that I got from the Scholastic Reading club. We have been alternating every other sentence with our little reader. She gets frustrated otherwise.

We have also been using these Get Ready for First Grade workbooks to make sure that we have covered everything for Kindergarten and can start first grade materials in September.