Why we homeschool

During my last seven years of homeschooling I have been fortunate enough not to encounter any major discouragement from non-homeschoolers. Most people are interested when they find out, and many ask questions out of genuine curiosity. I always enjoy talking about homeschooling, and it doesn't at all offend me when people want to know why or how we do it.

Ninjaschool homeschool

Preparing for another school year

We're all geared up to begin our 7th year of homeschool next week! I know it's early by most public school standards, but we like to start early in order to have more flexibility to take time off throughout the school year without falling behind in our schedule. It's important to me that we completely finish our grade level by the time we take a summer break.

So I've finished my planning and organizing in preparation for school on Monday. We will again employ a 6 week on/ 1 week off schedule this year after having great success with it last year. So, the first thing I did before I even started my subject planning was print out a 2015-2016 school calendar and figure out, roughly, when we would take our breaks over the course of the next 10 months.

First week of 2nd grade is in the books

We started school a little bit early this year. Last year we made an international move in early September, so we didn't begin 1st grade until well after Labor Day. Throughout the year we squeezed in a couple trips to Bermuda and Disney World, so by the end I was a little stressed about finishing on time.

Not this year. This year we started an entire month early to enable us to take more holidays throughout the school year for vacations, sick days, and those days we just need a break. Basically, I wanted enough cushion for flexibility.

We were both ready to get back into the swing of things the first week of August. I missed the routine of the school day, and even though he would probably say otherwise, I think Asher did, too.

So on Monday, August 5, we started 2nd grade.

Summer school challenge

First grade is over!

But we're still going to do some school work over the summer.

First Grade

Now that we're more than halfway finished with kindergarten, I've ordered all of Asher's books for first grade (in Bermuda it's called P2). We're switching curricula from Sonlight to classical education based on the Well-Trained Mind.

I am excited. And a little intimidated.

We'll be past the cutesy stuff of Kindergarten. We'll be digging deeper into subjects. The work will be more consistent with "real" schoolwork, not just coloring pictures. And it's going to take us much of the day instead of simply a few hours every morning.

But it's going to be fantastic!

Here's what we'll be doing (I'll make a more firm schedule as we near our start date):

Spelling: 10-15 minutes daily
Language lessons: 15-20 minutes daily
Reading: 30 minutes daily
Reading "fun" books: 30 minutes daily
Writing: 5-20 minutes 2-3 times per week
Math: 30-40 minutes daily
History: 3 hours per week
Science: 60 minutes twice per week
Bible: 30 minutes daily
Art: 1-2 times per week
Music: 1 hour per week
German: 2-3 times per week

We will also have a regular Library Day so Asher can choose his own "fun books" to read, as well as homeschooling events such as classes at the Bermuda Aquarium, Kindermusik, and sports.

The rhythm, the rhythm, the rhythm of my day*

We have a daily routine and stick to it. Asher thrives on routine and planning, and he absolutely must know exactly what's to come. In fact, he often asks me, "What's the plan?"

I have a schedule made up, printed, and posted on our kindergarten wall. It goes like this:

Morning Exercises: On our first day of school, I told Asher it was time to begin with our morning exercises. He, of course, automatically thought this meant physical exercises. So, we begin with a few jumping jacks and stretches, then make our way into the hallway where I keep all the kindergarten display boards. Asher says the Pledge of Allegiance. Then we investigate the weather outside and move the dial on our weather board so that it's pointing to the weather we're having that day.

He then marks the weather graph. (So far the partly cloudy days are "winning".)

We look at our monthly calendar and Asher tells me the date, the day of the week, and then places the correct days on the daily board (This includes: "Today is... Tomorrow will be... Yesterday was...")

We go over the week and days around us to talk about various occasions that are coming up.

He also recites his memory verse for the week.

Bible: We read and discuss a Bible story.

Phonics & Reading: We go through a phonics book of word blends that Asher must sound out. Then we either learn a new concept or review what we've already gone over. Asher also completes 2 or 3 worksheet pages in the Letters and Sounds book from Abeka. Once he's reading well, he'll be required to read age-appropriate books on his own. Included as a language arts skill, we learn skills such as memorizing our address and phone number, using the telephone, knowing the names of his parents, etc. We're using a book called Language and Thinking for Young Children as a guide. We also use a vocabulary book in the Vocabulary Power series each day. It stands up on its own, and we keep it on our kitchen table. I picked this up on a whim, knowing nothing about it, and now it's one of Asher's favorite parts of our school day. He loves it! We often go through several pages a day simply because he asks to.

Writing: We're using Handwriting Without Tears for penmanship practice. I also have incorporated journal writing to help Asher hone his writing skills as well as get his creative juices flowing. He writes on the lines I provide and then illustrates it in an allotted space.

-----SNACK BREAK-----

Math: We're using Horizons this year.

Science: We either do a lesson from a science book or Usborne Children's Encyclopedia, and on Fridays complete a science experiment.

History:  We read a historical story or from Usborne Children's Encyclopedia. I include whatever activity I come up with. We also fill in our timeline when covering important dates and people.

-----BREAK------

Read-Alouds: Asher listens as I read aloud a chapter from a chapter book (right now we're reading through the first book in The Boxcar Children series), a poem from a poetry book, and a Mother Goose nursery rhyme.

I also assign homework every day, which for now is simply that Asher must read aloud from material I have pre-selected to an adult other than me. Usually he reads to his daddy. 

*The title of this post was quoted from The Rhythm of My Day by Angela R. Yates

Starting preschool

Viewing last year as a sort of test-run, I'm starting homeschool again in full-force now that Asher has had his 4th birthday. We're in preschool now! That means a few changes. Last year was extremely casual. We had no set schedule (other than simply getting everything done) and read when Asher wanted to.

This year, however, we've got a schedule. I decided to use Sonlight's preschool program, so I have a set, organized curriculum. I love it. I ordered most of the books used from Amazon to save money, and I added in some things myself. For instance, Asher is interested in letters and sounds, so we're doing phonics this year even though Sonlight does not include it in their set curriculum. I also am incorporating some great activity books to get ideas for things we can do (crafts, rhymes, songs, etc.) that go along with things we are reading about.

I also try to plan field trips according to what we're reading about each week. For example, this week we are reading about fish and oceans, so I've made that our specific theme this week. We will visit the Aquarium and the Bermuda Underwater Exploration Institute. Also in social studies we read about fishermen, so we visited some friends of mine who are fishermen. They showed us the fish and lobsters they had caught.

I will go into more detail about what we're doing and how we're doing it as we go along. I'm still learning myself! In the meantime, here are a few pictures.




We don't have any extra space in our little 2-bedroom apartment, so I've had to be creative. We have a homeschool hallway as a result :) It's literally a hallway (and the only space we have that's not being used!) that I've put 2 bookshelves in to hold all the homeschool books and supplies. My husband has also kindly put up some magnetic dry-erase boards for us.


This is the view of the hallway facing the living room.








And here's the view going in the other direction, toward the back of the apartment.









Here's one shelf. On top of the shelf I keep my binder with the weekly curriculum guide on top. Notice my American flag because, just as if we were in regular American public school, we say the Pledge of Allegiance every morning.

I keep a folder beside the current week's planner. Inside I keep all the papers and worksheets we're doing that week. Once a paper is complete, I three-hole punch it and file it behind that week's schedule.


Here are the magnetic dry-erase boards. I keep the Bible verses we're learning up there as well as cards showing the letters we're focusing on. Asher also enjoys putting some of his worksheets and coloring pages on display there after he completes them. I also have letter and number magnets that Asher can play with. He can also practice writing his letters on here, but I keep the marker put away so that he never uses it unsupervised (I could imagine the effect that might have on our white walls!)




This is a trick I learned. I use a square of discarded carpet (thanks to my friend Kristina for donating it!) as a fun learning board. Velcro sticks to it beautifully! So I found a set of alphabet flashcards in the $1 bins at Target and bought two of them. On one set I put velcro (the peel-and-stick kind available at craft stores) on the letter side, and on the other set I put velcro on the picture side. Now we are able to play games. I put several pictures and letters up and then allow Asher to match them correctly. He enjoys that they stick up there like magic!









This is what we call our ABC Jar. I borrowed this idea (and others you'll find in my homeschool activities) from Counting Coconuts (a local Bermuda blog done by a homeschooling mom who is totally brilliant). I found lots of small toys and placed them in a jar. I tell Asher a letter, and he is to find a toy that begins with that letter (he might bring me a zebra toy if I tell him "Z", etc.). Or we'll dump all the toys out, and as he places them back in one-by-one, he must tell me the letter that each toy begins with. He loves this game!




This is the "creative area" of Asher's room. We've got the Lego table in the middle, flanked by a box of play food and a bin of dress-up clothes. He has alone-time almost every day in which he must play by himself in his room for a set amount of time.








Here is one of the windchimes we made from seashells we have collected around Bermuda. We strung them together with fishing line and a napkin ring at the top. We used this as a special activity to go along with the week we read about fish and oceans.
Here's the other windchime. They sound so pretty and islandy!