Memories and Current Events

 I have been looking back at old pictures and videos. I have been looking back to a time when my day revolved around teaching our 1-3 year olds how to count, learn phonics, read words, and spending days out at parks and having fun. Life was busy but it was fun. I loved every minute of it.

I had forgotten how much we did as we got busy with life and preschools and therapies and activities. I am looking forward to moving, when life can feel simple again and we can get back to working like we use to. I sure do miss those days and can not wait until we can get back to that style of learning/teaching.  (we would start now but due to us moving soon all my things are in storage except what we need for right now)

We are still doing school work, but as I said, life has been busy and most my school learning tools are in storage so I do not have as many things to post. One new thing we are doing is making an art collection. The kids are drawing at least once per week and at the end of the month they are picking their favorite picture and we are putting it into a clear sleeve inside a portfolio so we can look back on it later. I can hardly wait to see how their art skill grows over the years. 

For Earth Day we did a little craft/writing project that we found on Teachers Pay Teachers. I loved everything about it. They had to work on their cutting skills, coloring skills, and writing skills.  

I will help the Earth by recycling.

I will help the Earth by picking up garbage and recycling. 

I will help the Earth by planting trees.

Changes all Around

 If I had to choose which curriculum was my favorite, I would say Abeka hands down. I love the teachers, I love the spiral approach to the curriculum, I love everything about it. Last year, our kids really loved it. The start of this year, they really loved it. Sadly, at this point they are not loving it. The material is going too fast for them to keep up. They need more hands on work. They need more one on one. Because of that, we have been watching the Abeka videos for classes like Bible, Phonics, Combination Practice, and Activity Time (which includes things like History, Science, Health/Safety/Manners, Music, and Art). When it comes to the workbooks that go with the classes, only one of our children is still doing them. For our other kids they are all doing different work until we start our new curriculum in August. 

One of our kids is using the ACE PACE curriculum, another is doing Schoolaid Math and English , and Pathway Reading. one is finishing up the Abeka books, and our other two are working on various worksheets based on their level that covers everything from science, history, math, reading comprehension, and phonics. 

I am looking forward to when we start our new curriculum and everyone doing the same curriculum rather than all different.  

Part of our school days starting in the fall will incorporate a lot of class learning mixed with learning how to play games with one another (things like Connect Four, Guess Who, and other simple games they can learn to play so they will be able to eventually play on their own with each other), life skills - learning how to set a table, sew on their own buttons, cooking, and other things like that. 

Life is going to be changing in a big way for our family soon. We are working to finish fixing up our house so we can sell and leave the urban life. We will be buying land and starting our own homestead. Our dream is to have enough land that our kids who can not live fully independently will be able to have their own little tiny house on our property, if they want to, when they grow up. They will still come to the main house for meals (for safety) but they will have their own fridge, sink, bathroom, bedroom, and small living room where they can enjoy time on their own when they want and can learn how to take care of their own place.  

Two of our girls just turned 21 and while they are not ready at this point to live in their own tiny house, one day they might be, and we want to make sure we can do that for them. 

learning how to clean a sink using a non toxic cleaner and put into an easy to squeeze spray bottle

We were surprised by some spring snow! 

A couple weeks later it was short sleeve weather

so we took to a park to work on gross motor skills and just have some fun

learning to wash dishes

these two beautiful ladies just celebrated their 21st birthday! 

Ever Changing

December 2021: 

With my oldest four kids we were able to stay with the same curriculum from the start to finish. However, with us having five kids with special needs that we are still schooling, what works one year might not work the next. Sometimes it can be a challenge to know what to do so they continue to learn and grow. We are currently in our second year using Abeka and it is by far my favorite to teach. I love everything about it. We do the dvds as well as all the work that comes with it. 

However, they are more advanced than some and while it is great to be able to learn so much, it also means that some of our kids struggle sooner than they would have if it was easier. With that in mind a couple years ago we tried an "easier" curriculum and we were very disappointed and went back to Abeka. As I watch our kids doing their work and watching the videos, I notice that for some, this will be their last time using Abeka. As much as I love it, for some of our kids, they are starting to get lost, the work has gone beyond what they are able to do. A few years ago I would have argued that there is nothing that we can not do without a lot of work, and while I do still think that hard work makes progress, I also understand that instead of continuing on trying to teach someone something for years and years and year we should find the things that they are good at and focus on helping those get better instead trying to get them to continue in work that is too challenging. 

I think as years go on, we will have to just do a reevaluation to see where we are, where we are going, and what we need to do to get there. It certainly keeps me on my toes researching to see which will best suit their needs and the needs of our family. 

For now, they are learning, and doing well with Abeka and we are loving seeing them discover and grow.

 February Update:

Since I started writing this in December, we have continued on in our Abeka books and videos and are now on lesson 102 in Abeka. There are 170 lessons total. We took off time for Christmas and in January we took off time when we all came down with covid. Then one of our kids had surgery, so we took a break for that. However, since we did not take off time for Thanksgiving or New Years, or other holidays, we are still on schedule. 

While we all love the Abeka curriculum and videos and having the teacher and students to learn with we have decided to change curriculum. If all of our kids were keeping up then we would have happily stayed with Abeka, however, as the year progresses our kids are having trouble keeping up. We will finish this school year with Abeka, but this is our last year. We have learned SO much and I will be forever thankful and grateful for the videos and the Abeka program. I will miss having the help of the teacher in the Abeka videos but the best part about homeschooling is that when you see a need you can always change things when you need to. 

We have ordered our new curriculum for the upcoming 2022-2023 school year and are excited with all that this coming year will bring. I can hardly wait to share all that they are learning. 

Most of our books have already come in, but we have several more on the way. We are packing them up for now so nothing is damaged and everything is in a box labeled for easy access when we move. 

We finally got good enough weather to go out to the park. The kids had a great time playing on the playground and then rolling down the hill and running back up. Here are some pictures of our recent outing.