Monday, January 13, 2014

some homeschool fav's lately.

random resources I'm loving lately....

A while back I went a 'homeschool resource swap' thing.
We were supposed to share our favorite curriculum and share why it was a favorite.
One lady shared that one of her favorite things she'd ever done with her kids was to copy the entire Bible as a family.
She has grown kids now and it's all their favorite thing to look back over when they come home.

For copy work, each kid picks out one book of the Bible and just makes their way through it.  When they are finished with that book, they move on to another one.  No repeats until it's done.
Some do 3-5 verses a day, some to 3-5 words a day.
Even me.

Her philosophy (which I think she got from someone else too!) was this:
You can drive through Mexico City and say you've been there but if you walk through Mexico City, you being there was a totally different experience.

So, here's to walking through the Bible.
Not that I'm against driving through the Bible either...love that view too.

Here's Sophie bein' all cute in Proverbs:
The girls chose which book I 'get' to copy.
Jude.
I got Jude.
Makes me laugh every day.
Not for any reason other than it's so random.

(I'm sure it's more spiritual and 'better' if they copy straight out of the Bible but that did.not.work.at.all. so I printed what each girl was working on and they can scratch out as they go.  Better.  Much much much better.)


The math/number line game called SPEED.
Fashioned after the regular card game SPEED.
It comes with a deck for each number line 2-9.
Has been a HUGE help in getting those multiplication facts DOWN.
Every single one of the girls (even me!) are loving it.

Lenora bein' all cute getting ready to totally massacre me in the 2's.


More math stuff but XtraMath.org rocks for basic math fact review and memorization.
Yes, my nine year old even still gets on there (can't let her sisters get more 'smiley faces' than her!)


And not pictured but THESE UNIT STUDIES are just so amazing.
If you are in the homeschool community you've probably hear of Amanda but I'm just puttin' in one more plug for her stuff.

Lydia is currently doing a geography series, Lenora and Sophie are re-doing Insects (with a deeper focus on some heavier stuff...can you say "label that anatomy!!!"?) and Samantha is doing a Dog study with a heavy emphasis on the history of breeds and lots of new dog anatomy as well.

They love them, I love all the work that's been done for me!  They are cheap!
It's a beautiful relationship!

Week 2 of the New Year's goals/resolution is going great.
I feel some new permanent habits being built into our day and that feels good.
Feels good to see them learning, feels good to have fun doing it, feels good to JUST DO IT.

4 comments:

Nicole Gross said...

Love it, Holly! Thanks for the HS resources! Saw your mom today while visiting my mom's office. We are here in CO for awhile - let me know if you are in town soon!
Nicole

Missy said...

Thanks for the math link! That will now become something the girls do everyday! Geesh, I feel like my girls are getting a double whammy of school, public/private and homeschool we do everyday to supplement! Glad I can always come on here to find some great resources to help!

Courtney said...

you always have such great resources! thanks for sharing them! (adn i LOVE the copying the Bible idea...hmmm...)

Beccy said...

Have you had any trouble with xtra math crashing? We had a ton of trouble with it and now are using dreambox instead (which is not free, but offers more stuff besides drill.)