Book World

 

My little girls discovered the world of books. It always warms my hear when I see that reading clicked in my kids heads. Somehow after all the hard work the words come alive to them and they are drawn into the world of books. It happened with both of the boys and this year it happened to Emma.

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 She loves reading everywhere and to anyone to who will listen (or pretend to listen at least)

Here the girls are traveling with Mr. Fogg around the world.

Tapestry of Grace vs. Sonlight 1st Year

I know, I know. I haven't updated my blog for a while. I do have a few (four) good excuses. This is a busy time of year for our family and I tend to throw a few extra things into our schedule. The boys finished their standardized tests last month. We are SLOWLY finishing up our school year. I am also planning for next year. Yes I do plan WAY ahead. I do have a good reason why I plan so far in advance (well at least I think so). I like to take the summer off so I plan and purchase everything before the end of the school year so I can relax as well and enjoy the summer.

I did receive emails from many of you asking how I am liking TOG (Tapestry of Grace). I will try to put it all into one blog entry and hopefully answer some of your questions.

The past year I used the digital version (DG) of TOG (year 1). There is something appealing about using the DG. You do save tons of paper if you go this route. HOWEVER, I must mention that the DG seems that it needs more development. It is hard to get used to working with it and I ended up printing some of the plans anyway. I have no idea why but the DG does not have a book list. Because of this I miss Sonlight A LOT. I love Sonlight's catalog, you can get everything in one place, and you can see what you are getting.

With TOG you have to order the curriculum first and then you still have a ton of work ahead of you. With TOG you need to go through the curriculum week by week and then pull out the names of books you will need for each week. This is gets even more complicated since TOG does not update their books lists like Sonlight. Some of their books are out of print and you cannot find it anywhere and you are forced to improvise. I have spent MANY HOURS working on the book list for next year. There are few ways you can do this. You can find someone who owns TOG and the needed books for that year and visit them and research (I already had few people come over and anybody who is interested is more than welcome to come:)). The other way is to search through your library system and borrow them. I had books coming from all the libraries around the state. This was a crazy plan since I ended up with 50 books waiting for me in our little library one time. I didn't even take them all home. I just made a spreadsheet and investigated each book and marked which ones I wanted to buy and which ones I did not like. I guess your first question would be why not borrow the books from the library and save money. There are a few problems with using the library. Many times there is only one copy of the book in the entire NH library system and if anyone else has it checked you will need to wait which slows you down (I did it this year and I am not going to that again). In addition there are several families using the same curriculum and we ended up waiting for a long time for some of the books. I also have children who love to read on their own. We encourage them and they have free access to all of our books at all the times. You have no idea how many times I would find them sitting somewhere in the corner with school books on their own reading hungrily. For me these are good reasons to buy books especially if I will use them in the future again.

So that brings me to what is better. Sonlight of TOG?

If you have been homeschooling for a while you know there is no 'YES' or 'NO' answer. Every family is different so is every child in your family. I do miss Sonlight and how easy the curriculum was to use since everything was done for me. However, I do see the long term value with TOG as you reuse the curriculm every four years and just update to age appropriate books. In additon all the kids in the family are studying the same time period just different books that match their level so much easier to plan if you have more kids.

While Sonlight has everything you need for homeschooling TOG does not. You will still need to get readers for your children, Bible, Language Arts, Science, Math etc. I do not use TOG writing program. I fell in love with IEW. But that is another blog entry (hopefully soon).

Please feel free to ask any questions or just come over for a cup of coffee and take a look. :)

O is for Hoctopus

We worked on letter 'O' with the girls last week and did this very easy craft. It is an Octopus but my girls call it hoctopus. The girls love paint. What a mess but it is fun.

When Jo gets her hands on glue you better watch out. That girl will glue everything to anything.

Hocopuses all around

Getting ready for School

It is that time of the year again. Time to get ready for another school year.

I love seeing the kids faces when they get to open all the boxes with new books and workbooks.

Their faces light up with excitement.

This year I am starting some light school with Emma. She is showing her workbooks here. She could not wait to start school.

She was running around the house singing and thanking me for a long time.


The boys parked right in the middle of living room and hungerly started browsing all of their books.

I believe Sam read most of his science books already:)

Jo getting into the school spirit.

Emma making sure we have enough pencils for everybody.

How about all of you homeschool families out there? Are you getting ready?

Sonlight vs. Tapestry of Grace Part I.

This is the time of the year when I start getting ready for the next school year. I had it all planed out. I have been using Sonlight for some time (just finished up 4th year). I love this curriculum. There is a lot of reading but that works for our family since all of us love to read.
Then I got a phone call from one of my friends and she invited me to a co-op she goes to.
I had visited another co-op before but was not to crazy about it. For me to lose almost an entire day of school it has to be more then just a craft class.
This is a much smaller co-op then the one I visited before and there is one big requirement. All of the families use Tapestry of Grace as the primary curriculum. Now that would mean a switch in our curriculum. When I visited this co-op I fell in love with the idea spending every Wednesday with other homeschooling families and teaching some of the classes as well. The classes taught would include history, writing, and even a Science class.
Anyway after MUCH research, talking to many people, and praying with our family we will give it a try. Also, as crazy as I am I will stay with Sonlight for at least another year but use Tapestry of Grace as well (yes I am that crazy). I will try my best to write down the differences between these two curriculums. They seem similar yet different. I am looking forward to next year.

Part I.
1/ ordering curriculum (Sonlight vs. Tapestry of Grace)

-You can go to the Sonlight website and order a catalog anytime for free. It might be a little confusing at first but as soon as you figure out what you need it is very helpful. I always look forward to getting the new catalog in the mail (in April). I slowly start planning out the next year once I receive the catalog. You can place an order by mail, phone or web. I have always done it by web without any problems.
You can order everything in one bundle or as little as you want. Everything that is in their curriculum you can order from them. This comes in very handy since some books are out of print and you might not be able to find them in book stores or the library. I personally like having all books at home. This however might create a storage problem and not enough bookshelf space.
When you place an order with Sonlight you will get your packages quickly by FedEx and if you order over a certain dollar amount the shipping is free.

- With Tapestry of Grace (TOG) it is very different. There is no catalog and I have to admit I did not always find what I was looking for on their website. Like Sonlight TOG has a few sample weeks of curriculum you can look at.
TOG curriculum is digital at this point in order to save on printing costs. You can still order their printed version for an extra $50. This way you will save on shipping for sure but you will have to get an extra license (free) for each of your computers you will be using TOG on. We have it installed on the main computer and my laptop. I did run into some technical difficulties when I downloaded it onto my computer and tried to install but the staff was more than helpful. However, one problem is that customer service is only available from 10-4pm Eastern, M-F.
When it comes to storage TOG wins. It is all on my pc and I do not have to search through tons of pages.
TOG has a book store online as well. however, they do not carry all of their book in their curriculum. This is more work on your part and they do not offer discount as Sonlight does when you buy the books from them.

When I try to work on Sonlight I need to remember what box contains what I am looking for and get around the maze of boxes in our bedroom. In comparison I can get to my TOG anytime and anywhere as it is on my laptop and it does not weigh as much.

Next time :
2/ planning for next year (Sonlight vs. Tapestry of Grace)

We are done

Another school year went by.

!!!We are officially done!!!
We read a total of 87 books and learned a ton.
Here are the kids showing their favorite books from this school year.

We are all looking forward to summer break.

School plan for next year

My plan for next year looks a little crazy in theory but we are all looking forward to the challenge. I sticking with Sonlight but trying a new curriculum at the same time. Tapestry of Grace looks very similar to Sonlight but looks simpler with more children in the house. I will be joining a very nice coop next year and everybody uses TOG. The boys are looking forward to spending Wednesday mornings with other homeschooling families doing history, writing and science. Even the girls will have a program so all of my kids will be busy.

For the writing program we will be using the Excellence in writing program

and for science we will be doing Apologia (with some Sonlight) and Math U See for math.
I have a ton of boxes in my bedroom full of books. I still haven't had time to go through all of them and the boys are waiting for our annual treasure hunt.

We still have few weeks of school left for this school year.

The standardized test results came in and the boys passed with flying colors.

Testing

I promised I would let you know about testing. Just remember that every state is different so look into your state laws what is required from you. We registered the boys with the school district at the beginning of the year. You will get a confirmation letter from the district hold on to it. Not only it is a very important document but it also gives you teachers discounts in stores. Books stores give you around 20% off etc. I just learn the other day that Jo-Anns fabrics will give me 10% off of everything.

Last year, since Sam started first grade, we had to register him with the school district. We also had to have him tested by the end of the year. This was a first for me. I did not grow up in United States and I never went through the American school system. After talking to other homeschooling families we knew there were two options for us. First one was go through the public school and have Sam tested there or have one of us get certified and test Sam by ourselves. I do go to our small public school quite often since Nate goes there for Speech therapy. I asked the principal last winter about the testing options. He told me he never did anything like this with homeschooling families and that they do not do much testing of first graders anyway. He told me they would maybe test him in math. After talking with him we decided we would do the testing ourselves. We went with the IOWA test that was recommended to us by another homeschooling family. Fil is the one who is the certified tester since he is the one with an American college degree (and I wanted someone else then me to do it since I am the one teaching the boys all the time).

I really wanted to know what Sam learned this year so I did not prepare him for the test (like they do in public schools for many weeks before testing). We order the test a few weeks after we got back from Ethiopia and Fil gave the test to Sam after a 3 week break from school. They worked on it together every night after Fil got home from work for 5 days. I believe the total was around 4 hours (I do not remember doing that much testing in first grade when I went to school). There was stuff I knew Samuel knew but was not paying attention and then there was stuff we did not cover yet but he logically came to the right answer. I was very proud of him.
Now for those outside of United States this was all new to me. When I went to school and took a test at the end of the year, the test covered only what we learned up to that point. So if you got 100% you got A ...etc. Not here. The test Sam took focuses on what level he is at. So there were questions all the way up to second grade level. It was not expected he would know all the answers. They want to know what level he is at. This is where it got very confusing for me. I didn't care where he placed nationally. I wanted to know if he knows what he is supposed to know. After a few weeks we got his results and it was whole bunch of graphs and numbers. We were very happy with the results and very proud of Sam. I was glad he did not complain that he did not know all the answers but tried his best to logically to answer. We are moving ahead and the boys are learning everyday.

Homeschooling multiple grades

Jen had a good question about how to handle school with all the children in the family. I will try to explain how I do it and what plans I have for next year.

Sam and Nate are only year apart in age and they would normally be in two different grades (Sam second grade and Nate first grade). Emma just turned three so I am not so worried about her. I have always done the same grade with both of my boys. I know families who's children are three grades apart and still they do same curriculum for all of them.

Bible, History, Geography, Read Alouds and Science are same grade (second) for both of my boys. I highly recommend this so you do not get overwhelmed with too much work. Nate has no problems. However, Language arts and Math I keep Nate at his age level. It works out great for them and for me. (Anything extra the boys do they do together at a same level like typing on the PC, or crafts etc.)(This year I put a puzzle piece on the wall for each book we read during our school time.)

For next year I am planing to start with Emma as well. I will keep her at her level (but keep in mind that Jordan will be with Emma in the same grade like Sam and Nate are at some point) The girls are two years apart and again I am planing to separate Language Arts and Math. Anything else they will do the same. Since Sam and Nate are doing great reading I am planing on keeping them involved with the girls. They already read to the girls on their own so the girls reading will become part of Sam and Nate school work (under my watchful eye).

(This is my basket with school stuff for the next day. I get ready for each day after we are done with school work. I do look over the whole curriculum in the beginning of the year to get the idea but I do get ready every day for the next day.)
As for Jordan and Emma during our school time right now it is their free time to play (just remember to close ALL bathroom doors and keep all pens and pencils and crayons and markers out of the reach of little fingers unless you would like to have drawings all over your walls). I do have a basket just for the girls with stuff for them to do. They are allowed to use it only during school time and it is fun for them (mostly for Emma at this age). There are plenty of web sites and blogs with ideas for little children. I have to admit that at this point it just looks too much extra work for me.
I hope this helps some of you. As you can see I am planing on doing two different grades for my kids (boys and girls). Then again the word 'flexible' keeps popping in my head so keep that in mind as well :)
On another note we are in full swing with ski lessons. The boys are doing so great this year. Both Sam and Nate are having fun on the big hill and they cannot wait to go with Dad during the week. Jo is not interested at all and she doesn't like the cold weather. On the other hand Emma keeps shouting every day that she wants to ski as well. She will get a taste later with Fil and then we will see (it has been a long time since I skied. Looks like I will have to wait until Jordan gets interested and then we can all go).



Poor Jordan. It got cold this Monday during ski lessons and her eyes were so watery. She just wanted to stay inside and eat snacks the whole time (and climb up and down the stairs).

School Schedule

I am going to try to write down how I schedule our school year. First let me tell you that every family is different and every year is different as well.

*I start by looking into a calender as a whole year. I just spread my day timer on a big table and cross out weeks I know we will take time off (for us it was the week of Thanksgiving, two weeks at Christmas time and a week sometime in the spring).

*Then I look at what time of the year I want to finish school (we do take time off in the summer) and start counting back. Our school year is 36 weeks in total so that gives me idea when to start school.

*Now I like to think ahead so I always start few weeks early just to be sure and have some room just in case somebody gets sick or we just decide to take a family trip.

*And finally I like to have some kind of school routine by the time fall activities start (soccer, dance etc.)

(Some of our school books for this year)

It takes us a good three to four weeks to get into a good rhythm with school every day. I start slowly and add something every week (our math program is for 30 weeks so that gives me plenty of room to work with).

Since school in NH starts early in September I like to start in the middle of August. By that time the boys are done with summer activities. That way we are done with school in middle of May. It may seem too early to you but by that time weather in New England is gorgeous and the beaches are so much more fun with less people on them.

Now for the school curriculum. I use mainly Sonlight but I am now adding some extras along the way. Here are some pictures from my 3" binder. I had to take pictures from next week since I write all over every page to remember and to know what we did that day. Sonlight does an amazing job in this way and I know it saves me tons of time planing ( it also works as a portfolio just in case someone would like to see what we are doing in school). You can look at their product Samples here.

When I first started looking into homeschooling I ordered every single catalog I could get my hands on and went to a local homeschooling conference (very overwhelming by the way).

(Bible, History/Geography, Read Alouds etc.)

This may sound crazy to some of you but now is the time when I start looking into the next year. I like to warn Fil ahead of time how much I will be spending for school stuff. I know you can order everything from Sonlight but I like to shop around. While I do get all of the Instructor's Guides from them (the second time you order one it is half off so there is no reason for me to copy anything) most of the books I buy at various sites (I do save some money that way).

(Sam's Language arts)
I hope some of this will help some of you. It can be very overwhelming at first. Most people ask me how I will home school and I have to say we take one year at a time. We have nothing against public or private schools this is just what works for our family.

The boys do get tested at the end of each year but I will try to write about that separately.

(Sam's extra Readers.)

(Nate's Language Arts)

(Science)

I will just add that we are having a blast with the boys. Their love for learning is amazing to me I do not want to take that from them. I know they would feel different if they were in school. So far we are surviving and I did not loose it completely yet. Even thought it is a lot of work it is very rewarding in the end.

educational freebie sites

Who doesn't like Free stuff?

Today the Heart of the Matter Friday Meme is:

"What great educational freebie sites do you frequently visit?"

here is my list of few

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