New Things in the New Year

A new year is nearly upon us! And with the new year there will be some changes at our house in the way that we are homeschooling. Up to now, Miss M has been steadily working through Calvert's First Grade. She started in August 2011 when she was only four and will be finishing up the math in January and the rest in February 2013. We took some long breaks in there, but now that she's a smart-as-a-whip 6-year-old, much of the material is too easy for her. The child is a naturally excellent reader and speller. I love, love, love Calvert and have fond memories of it from when I myself was a homeschool student, but I'm not convinced that it is the right curriculum for our family or for Miss M's learning style. So the first change for us will be to drop Calvert and take up My Father's World for 2nd grade. Or...a 2nd/3rd grade combo to be exact so we'll be working at an appropriate level for Miss M.

I really like the idea of a curriculum that incorporates a Biblical worldview into the various subjects as well as tying together the various disciplines into a central theme. Plus, I've heard wonderful things about Singapore Math, so I'm looking forward to giving that a go. In addition to all that, we're going to start learning a foreign language. Tagalog! The kids are half filipino, after all, and their grandparents still speak Tagalog at home and with Hubby, so it seems appropriate that they learn it first. Needless to say, he's quite excited by the prospect as well!

Another exciting change for us is that I've been chosen to join the review team at Mosaic Reviews! I've never done anything like this before and I'm anxious to jump in and give it a whirl! I really can't tell you what to expect since I hardly know myself, but I'm certain it'll be an adventure and I look forward to sharing it with my readers! They say they're still looking for reviewers, so if you're interested, go read about how you can join the team too!

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Review: Seed Starting by Gary Emmett (an ebook)

As I've already confessed, I am a plant murderer . I have, however, had marginal success with container gardening. The past year or two I started seedlings with my dad, which means the kids and I dropped a few seeds in pots and my dad cared for them. Once they were established outside, I was able to keep them alive long enough to harvest a few peppers and tomatoes and have a pretty pot of flowers on my doorstep. (At least until a horrid heat-wave and drought came along and killed them all; it's hard to keep containers well-watered when it's that hot!) In spite of the 10+ inches of snow on the ground right now, it's time to think about starting seeds again and I figure if I'm ever going to develop a green thumb, I better start educating myself! That is why I jumped at the opportunity to read Gary Emmett's book Seed Starting: The First Step to Gardening . (affiliate link) Available for your Kindle or Kindle app from Amazon. Currently priced at $2...

MFW ECC: What's different this time around?

I am so excited to go through Exploring Countries and Cultures again. The last time my kids were so little -- 3rd grade and Kindergarten. And now they are in 5th and 8th grades! They have grown so much over the past five years. As I began to think about our plan for this year, I realized two things: 1) my gifted eldest child remembers just about everything we covered in ECC the first time, and 2) my younger one hasn't had many of the basics that ECC covers. So I was faced with a dilemma -- how do I adjust ECC to suit the very different needs of both children? How do I shift the focus for my 8th grader to aspects of ECC that she hadn't spent time on before (such as types of governments, imports and exports, etc.) while also taking my younger child through the more foundational information that he missed when he was just a kindergartener? ECC is designed to be parent-led, family learning, with a supplement for 7th and 8th grade. But I came to the conclusion that I need to deco...

No More Quiet Time

I have always thought it sounded trite to speak of “falling in love with Jesus.” But trite or not, isn’t that what I want for my children? To learn to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (Deuteronomy 6:5). With that in mind, and having run across this blog post on Pinterest several months ago, I created a morning devotion basket for the kids and I to use. You see, up till now, I would typically find time to read the Bible and pray away from my children. Away from distraction, away from the demands of dust and dirty dishes, and away from the 437 questions a four-year-old asks every day. Then I realized I was doing them a major disservice by disallowing them to see me in the Word regularly. If I want them to love the Lord God, then I must show them how I love the Lord my God! Our new routine is to wake up in the morning, prepare a simple breakfast — usually cold cereal for the kids, toast and tea for me — and sit d...

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