Getting Ready to Start School

So we have spent this week preparing to start school next week. And we are all getting excited. This year we are starting a new curriculum that is a huge answer to my prayers. It is called The Weaver Curriculum and it is written specifically for homeschoolers. What I mean by that is, it is written with a multi-grade homeschooling family presentation. Our kindergartner, our third grader, and our fifth grader will all be studying the same topics at their particular level. I am extremely excited and expectant for how this is going to affect and change our family conversations this year.

Another wonderful thing about this curriculum is that it weaves all subjects (excluding math) together. We start with a Bible lesson for the day and our social studies/science (these alternate days) relates to it, then our Language Arts lesson relates to it, and our spelling and vocabulary words are taken from the subjects we are studying. It brings what is presented in the Word to life by applying it to the world around us. And all subjects relate to each other.

I happen to prefer Saxon Math. It's what I know and it works.

These are the math manipulatives that we use. These really make math understandable and fun for the younger ones. It's just like playing.

On Tuesday we went to the Library to stock up on books. Lots of books. And we actually forgot some. By the time this posts we will have rectified that.

One of the topics we are studying in our first unit is map reading/making and cities; the history, the founders, the natural resources, and primary sources of money. So we stopped by the Chamber of Commerce and they gladly gave us lots of freebies.

Our version of the schoolbox. Yes, poor princess. Her's isn't as full as her brothers. She won't even notice. Actually, I'm quite sure she will.

Notebooks and binders. Important stuff.

Our homeschooling closet. Nice and organized. This never seems to last.

And just to toot my own horn I had to show you the sacrifices required to homeschool. My beautiful decorative papers hung in my dining room before...

...the white board and huge map of the United States took over. Function must be chosen over form at this point in my life. Sniffle.

Expecting our best homeschooling year yet,

Bridget