Box Day!

 

BOX DAY!

So, Friday turned out to be Box Day!  I had ordered on Monday but didn't know that the curriculum package would come in so quickly.

Sonlight users all over the world usually take photos of their kids diving into their schoolbooks on Box Day- I don't think any other curriculum would be so fun to receive. Read why after the pics...

This year our box was much bigger than last year. I was suprised, even though I had read the book lists. In reality it's a lot of books. I'm excited to dive in... and the kids were too. This year we also received a Language Arts set and a Science set along with the Core package. All this is for Micah for First Grade. Allie's books are already sitting on the shelf for her Pre-school work this year because (I love this part) Sonlight Core's are 90% reusable!

Here is a blog of other posts from people all over the world on their Box Day-

Sonlight Box Day Blog

But on to our pics-

 

Why so many books? Instead of 4 or 5 textbooks or 15 workbooks, we have about 60 great books!

Sonlight provides a rich collection of living books and educational books full of wonderful information and illustrations. 'Living Books' refers to a concept from a style of education founded by Charlotte Mason in the 1900's in England. There is a whole philosophy of education that she embodied and taught. Living Books refer to real books written by one author (not a committee like in textbooks) which provide wonderful learning experiences tucked neatly inside of a book with good characters and interesting story. The 'living books' provide an exciting context for learning about history, science and the Bible as well as character training.

Here are a few other explanations about Living Books-

”

A “living book” is usually written by an author who is very knowledgeable about his subject, many times in an experiential way. The author tends to write from a love of his subject, one that propels him to write with an enthusiasm that excites the imagination of the reader and carries him along as though experiencing the subject first-hand. -HomeHearts Blog

Living books are usually written by one person who has a passion for the subject and writes in conversational or narrative style. The books pull you into the subject and involve your emotions, so it’s easy to remember the events and facts. Living books make the subject “come alive.” They can be contrasted to dry writing, like what is found in most encyclopedias or textbooks, which basically lists informational facts in summary form. - Simply Charlotte Mason.com

"Stories are some of the most powerful and influential things a child will ever encounter. Children should hear good stories, positive stories, and inspiring stories. Stories help children learn what it means to love God and to love your neighbor as yourself. When the stories are true-about real people and real life-children should hear them more than once. They should hear them again and again, reinforcing the positive messages and incorporating them into their own character. I know from experience that the right story, at the right time, can literally change the course of a young child’s life. They’ve changed mine" -Renee Meloche

I will be sharing more about the books we are reading and our other schoolwork and also more about the Charlotte Mason style of Homeschooling.

Thanks for Reading our Story!

Stay Tuned-

Awsome Tim Hawkins Song

I love this...








Have a nice day!

Our School Books Are On The Way!

Well, we placed our order for curriculum for the fall. Sonlight Core B for Micah ( First Grade) plus some Classical Conversations Memory Work resources. We already have almost everything for Allie's Pre-school year, but I ordered some Pre-"Explode The Code" workbooks.

In preparation for the new stuff arriving, I spent this morning cleaning our school book shelves to make room for the new books. I'm excited!

Here is the before shot (actually it's during cleaning)  and then the after shot:

There! I feel better now!

Have a great day!

What we were doing this week-

This week we spent a lot of time with friends which was wonderful. I also spent time looking over the curriculum plans for the year and figuring out our co-op classes for the fall. We will probably be starting school the last week of August since Joey has a week long vacation right before that.





One thing is that we are learning the states and capitals from this song by the Animaniacs. Mostly I am learning it but I figure if I can sing it, that's the first step to everyone else picking it up. After this I hope to learn the Presidents in order song by the Animaniacs and someday even the Nations song by them too, though it looks pretty impossible!

For the record I can now sing 14 states, the first 1/4th of the song.

Also this week we went to Story Hour again. This weeks theme was Fire Safety. We went to this one last year, you meet a fireman and they dress completely out in their fire gear so the kids will know not to be scared of them if they ever come to help. We also got to see the Fire truck up close again and the kids crawled in. I have to remind myself that I should keep doing this every year even though if it gets old to me, because it is still new to my littlest ones.

Photos to follow-

Linus got to practice trying to crawl in an indoor playground...  with an audience

A photo of our home/school while it was clean for a brief time this week-

Caught three in one photo which is hard to do sometimes

Have a great weekend! I will be adding more info soon 

about something I am designing specially for home-schoolers!

More summer Activities

More of Our Summer Activities:

The Museum, Story Hour and an Indoor Playground

As we gear up for the fall. (I'm so excited about the fall!) We continue to seek out learning opportunities and fun things to do for the remaining summer days. Last week was our second year to attend a night-time event at Biedenharn Gardens. They have an annual Coke-Floats under the Stars event. You pay to get in, but then you get a free coke float and you get to enjoy their lovely gardens with fountains that are lit and a free tour of their Bible museum. This year, only me and the two older kids went. We had a great time. It's the only time they are allowed to have caffeine. We loved strolling through the garden at night and though I didn't expect a 6yr old and 4 yr old to enjoy the Bible museum, Micah was quite excited to find a Lego Bible inside. (It wasn't made of Legos but instead had scenes of Bible stories that were made of Legos. Seen below)

Then, this week, we were able to participate in story hour at our library. Our library has the best story hour with the best children's librarian. She is so funny and great with the kids and I'm ashamed that I haven't been taking them until now, but last summer N (the two yr old) threw so many tantrums in that room, that I was a coward this year about coming back with him and a 5 month old too. It actually turned out fine this time, though he did make a lot of noise, it was mainly happy noise. It was packed for some reason that day and there were other disruptive toddlers there which makes me feel better! M and A had a great time, it was a jungle themed day and they got to wear paper safari hats and come home and make elephant puppets.

Another thing we did this week was take little L for his appointment for shots. I dressed everyone in red and after the doc's office, we headed to a place I had just heard about, a local church has an indoor three-story playground open to the public. It has been raining all week (So Thankful for that rain too!) so we went to check it out. The local MOPS group I had been a part of last year was finishing up a play date there so I enjoyed seeing a couple of friends. We all had a great time, and I even got some home-school magazines that were left in a box marked free! How random!

I have begun to dress everyone in like colors when we have a day out. It might seem silly to some, but it really helps me to spot them in a crowd of kids! Not to mention, they love it!

Our Summer Activities

Welcome! This is our new blog to share some of our Homeschooling activities. We are between Kindergarden and First grade right now with M and preparing to begin Pre-K with A in the fall.
During the Summer we have been in the process of reading 100 books! That is our goal and we have completed sixty-seven books! There is a prize for M when we meet the goal. It is a much desired Hero Factory Robot.
On of my goals with the kids is to read a lot and instill a love of reading. (the main reason that I love the Sonlight Curriculum) however, I'm not always great at finding time in our day to sit and read with them. This way, the kids are motivated and they motivate me.
This has also caused us to make better use of the library during the summer months. During the school year we hardly go there because we have plenty of books to read in our schoolwork. I would love to take them for the weekly story hour too but I dread my toddlers tantrums.

The other work we are doing this summer is M's continued work on the Explode the Code workbooks. (We are on book 3) and continuing Horizons Math K: Book 2.

I've spent much of the morning shopping for curriculum for our coming year. I will be posting on that plan soon! Have a great day!