Homeschooling for His Glory

Fridays seem to come so quickly and end so quickly. So, here I am again, doing my random 5 on a Saturday. Past 2 weeks in review: 1 . Last week we had a profitable time on a field trip exploring the great outdoors. The boys did rock climbing, canoeing and orienteering. 2. This week we learned a new board game: Ticket to Ride . We are board games lovers here, and a friend owned that one so we were able to learned it. It is a fun game! 3. I am in full mode planning, which is going to be a couple months process, between finalizing next year's curriculum, and planning them out. Yesterday I came up with a new planning sheet, which hopefully I will get to share with you all. I am trying it out with our remaining 6 weeks of school work to do. 4. My parents are visiting from the Caribbean. It is nice to have them on the same continent. 5 . Johann's baking from yesterday: Banana Chocolate Muffins. Fridays are his baking nights.

It is the end of May and time for another round up of posts over at the Canadian Homeschooler . This month the Canadian Homeschool Blogging Team is talking about Choosing Curriculum. Grab your coffee and make sure to visit them all. When it comes to curriculum the homeschool market is saturated. There is way too much to choose from. On top of that, I am a curriculum junkie (defined as having a hard time staying away from curriculum), so I struggle. I love checking out new curriculum, which is one of the main reasons why I am part of the Schoolhouse Review Crew. So, how do I manage and navigate this abundance of curriculum choices? Here are my  top three guidelines: Our style of Homeschooling We are classical in style and philosophy. Though we are also relaxed in practice, our pedagogy follows a classical bent. So when choosing and perusing curriculum I seem to always gravitates toward classical oriented companies and enjoy their products. This year it seems that I have hi...

The middle school years are on us. My oldest is going to be grade seven next year. As I think about our curriculum line up for next year, I cannot but think I need to look ahead to the High School years which will be upon us sooner that we think. My son does not quite know yet what he wants to do, but he has a deep love for History and logic, (and for everything Marvel and DC connected), so I am thinking he is probably gonna end up in the humanities. With that in mind I am cogitating a course of study that will hopefully prepare him to that end, while still working on some general subjects that are kind of basics. Math: We have been using and enjoying a review product from last year: CTC Math . Though the subscription ended a few months ago, I was blessed to be chosen for this year's review of it again. You can read my review from last year here. Earlier this year, I got a good deal on the Life of Fed Before High School series , and we are enjoying going through that....

My Soul Longs for the Lord My soul longs for the Lord in a weary land  Wells are dry and I am empty, only dust in my hands How I yearn for streams of mercy where my soul can be restored “Come and drink” Jesus calls me, and you will thirst no more” Oh the fullness of Christ, Word of God. Living Word you walked among us, our Emmanuel And you spoke into the darkness, broke the powers of hell Grace and mercy flowed from Calvary, to the valley of our need It is done, “It is finished,” From every sin set free Oh the victory of Christ, Word of God, Word of life  How often in the stillness have I heard your voice  Every whisper, every promise calls my heart to rejoice  In the quiet of the morning, through the watches of the night  In the fire of my struggles, there’s courage for the fight  Oh the power of Christ, Word of God, Word of life  My soul longs to walk closer with the Lord I serve  More than riches, more than favour I delight...

It's been another month since my last update on what is going on here at our house. It's time for a Random 5. 1.  I am trying my hand at gardening, and balcony gardening at that, since we live in an apartment. This will be  a first for me, and so far so good. I have planted two types of tomatoes, lettuce, Zucchini, thyme and yellow peppers. I just did a transplant today. 2. On the school front we are nowhere close to wounding down. We still have: 9 weeks to go with our Tapestry of Grace. 6 weeks in our Writing program, Writing and Rhetoric. We just started  Life of Fred Decimals and Percents a couple of weeks ago, and there are 32 chapters, at one a day. Latin is getting there. We started a new program for vocabulary for the crew: WorldBuildOnline. French for Joho is almost done. Zach's duolingo still has a few lessons to go. We finished Psalm 121 in our copywork. Next week we will start Philippians 2. Grammar will still be going for a few weeks. We are ...

Finding a Bible or devotional curriculum for kids can be really hard in my experience. Most of what is out there I find very shallow and/or do not use the Bible properly. A lot of it tends to be moralistic as opposed to Theo-centric and Gospel oriented.. As a member of the Schoolhouse review crew, I was offered the opportunity to review a Bible study curriculum put out by Real Life Press , called Firmly Planted . I am happy to tell you that this one gets a wholehearted yes from me. I specifically got the Family Study Guide  Books of Moses Part II  and its accompanying  workbook . What is Real Life Press? Real Life Press is a company founded by Jay and Heidi St John, both writers and speakers, with the purpose of spreading God's Truth through His Word, and to encourage people to live life the way it was supposed to be lived, under God's authority and through a relationship with Christ.   Real Life Press seeks to accomplish their purpose ...

Math is a subject that threatens many parents and students alike. Many of us fear not being able to teach ur kids Math and/or that our kids suffer from Learning gaps. I really love it when we get Math curriculum to try on the schoolhouse review crew. The latest of these is from A+ Interactive  Math . Some got the Family Math Package, others, like me, got the Adaptive Placement Test and Individualized Lesson Plan . A Plus interactive Math is an online Math Curriculum that offers you a full Math Curriculum for grade 1 to 12 as well as an adaptive Placement Test with individualized Lessons Plans. A + Interactive is online, so you will need a computer with internet access and log ins for each students. We encountered quite a few difficulties logging in at the beginning of the review period, but in the end we found that the program worked best for us using the Internet Explorer browser. We got to review the Adaptive Placement Test w/Lesson plan. How does it work?...