I didn't really post a ton about what we did during the year as far as homeschooling goes. However, I have been planning all along to do a series of posts about our experience this year.
Not only do I want to have a record of all the things my firstborn learned his first year of kindergarten and the growth that took place, but I also thought these posts would be a great place for me to look back on when I am working with my other children as they enter the same phase of life. Additionally, I was hoping that maybe something that I write about could potentially help someone else who is just getting started and floundering for where to start like I was. Maybe even a veteran homeschool momma might find something useful that we did a little differently? Anyway, the next couple weeks are going to be a recap of our 2015-2016 school year, starting with where all educational programs should - Biblical instruction.
For my two younger kids, our main go to was the Read Aloud Bible Stories series and other picture books. Dave found the set below a couple years ago and I love them. Hadley owned just one of the books at first, and we enjoyed it so much that we ended up purchasing the rest. Since then, I've even bought several sets of these for the children of some of my closest friends' - they're perfect for birthdays or baby showers! Honestly, I'm not sure there is a better suited set of texts for toddlers. Ella Lindvall designed them beautifully, with simplistic language and wonderful illustrations. Reid likes them so much that often when he gets a chance to choose a bed time story, he will run straight for these books. Even though they are a little "babyish" for Caleb, honestly even he still enjoys them sometimes.
Caleb has been hearing Bible stories since he was a baby though, so he needed something a little different to continue to keep his interest. In some ways it was a challenge to come up with how to present the same material in a fresh way and in a way that challenges him spiritually beyond what he'd experienced before. In some areas I feel I could have done so much better with this than what we did, but hey we are a work in progress and this was a learning year.
One new thing we tried this year to help present God's Word in a new fashion was exploring the Adventures in Odyssey series from Focus on the Family. Before the school year began, I purchased several DVDs and CDs to use for this very purpose. We found early on that the DVDs were kind of over the kids' heads, but the CD sets have become an invaluable resource to us. With homeschooling, you'd think we'd do most of our schooling at home; however, a lot of times that's not the case. Mondays we usually spend the day visiting at Granny's and do our work there, other days we would complete the work while Hadley was at ballet, sometimes we'd be on the road for field trips, etc. The variation in schedules with doctor's appointments, haircuts, and my women's Bible study group among so many other things made it hard to always fit in everything we wanted to get in in a day's time. The CDs gave us a wonderful way to get in those Bible lessons while we were in the car going to and fro. Sometimes I may have over relied on them and next year I'd like to do more personal one-on-one lessons, but I definitely feel these benefited our family in so many ways. My kids were learning, they were entertained and not fighting with one another in the car, I was keeping my sanity, and sometimes the kids' lessons were even speaking to my heart. I would highly recommend them and plan to purchase more in the future myself.
The Adventures in Odyssey materials weren't the only electronic resources we used. Veggie Tales, The Donut Man, and the Auto-B-Good series were among others that were great and very age appropriate for my kids. They also would allow me to sometimes knock out two birds with one stone as I could work on cleaning up from breakfast or prepare other things for the day while the kids were getting in some Biblical teaching. That said, in hindsight, I probably also could have done more to extend what they were learning with this. There were times when I would discuss the videos and lessons with them afterwards, but not always and my goal for next year is to be more purposeful in this area.
Stepping up our Scripture memorization this past year was definitely on the agenda too. A few of our goals with Caleb this year were learning all the books of the Bible, the 23rd Psalm, and the Lord's prayer. I'd already been teaching Caleb the books of the Bible, but in Sunday school and at Awana he was being encouraged to learn them as well with prizes as incentives. I felt pretty impressed with myself years ago when I learned them in mid to late elementary school, so I could hardly believe how quickly he acquired them as a kindergartner! Their minds are sponges! And, I have to say, that even now I am so grateful to the Sunday school teacher who encouraged us to memorize these when I was a kid because it has been such and invaluable resource to me as I have studied God's Word over the years to be able to navigate quickly it and find what I'm looking for with ease. On another note, I knew a local kindergarten teacher at a Christian school who was having her kids do the 23rd Psalm and Lord's prayer, so we tried those as well but never made it all the way through. No worries though...since I'll be his teacher again next year we'll just keep moving...
The local Awana program at New Hope Bible Church has been an incredible resource to us as well and a good motivator for hiding Scripture in my children's hearts. This year, all three of my kids took place in the program - even little Reid who they let start a bit early since he has an October birthday. They all benefited socially as well as spiritually, and it was a good thing for our marriage too as we had a chance to actually talk to each other or go out for an hour and a half on a date a couple times. If we had to get rid of all the kids' extracurricular activities but one, I'd have to say that this one is hands down the one I'd want to keep in our schedules.
First night of the year!
Reid was a Puggle, Hadley moved up to Cubbies, and Caleb was a Spark.
From the age appropriate workbooks and classroom lessons....
They made the cutest crafts in Reid's class each week.
Noelle came up with such creative ideas to teach about creation.
...to game time where they learned obedience and sportsmanship...
...to the Awana Derby that gives the kids a good chance to be creative and learn from their daddy while having quality time...
Caleb getting ready to drill and sand his car while his little brother tags along close behind
They needed a little help from Daddy with the power tools.
Reid decided to paint a little
Hadley made a car too this year!
She was so thrilled to have one of her own.
Reid was still a bit too young to pick his own design and sand, so this year we didn't do a car for him. Instead he got to do another type of painting while the kids finished their cars.
Racing stripes?
This girl knows what she wants...a purple pickup!
RACE DAY! Caleb's is #20
Hadley's #45 (weighted down with some pennies thanks to Daddy's help)
Caleb won two of his heats.
He was definitely in to it!
Hadley ended up winning three times.
...to the friendships they make...
...to the award incentives that keep the kids motivations high, I am so grateful for this program.
Hadley with her brand new Appleseed book after she finished her intro booklet
Proud to have earned and be donning her Cubbies vest
By the end she had earned almost all of her patches
Caleb worked really hard to finish is Hang Glider book and earn his first book ribbon. He also got all of the jewels for his wings since he finished every section in his first book and had good attendance. He started doing the Frequent Flyer booklet as a review and will get his second Sparks book this upcoming fall.
Reid getting his certificate at the end of the year awards ceremony from his wonderful teacher Mrs. Noelle...He'll get to be a Puggle again next year! He was a bit clingy to Mommy and Daddy sometimes but overall he really enjoyed it.
Hadley was excited about Awana every week. Mrs. Tutton had her hands full but she was great with the kids.
Awana was the perfect opportunity for my little introvert to make some friends. He wasn't motivated by getting to see everyone each week the way Hadley was; his motivation came from how many sections in his book he'd finish and which jewels he'd earn.
And, though we had a large variety of resources, some days we would just pick up a Bible story book or Dave would let Caleb pick a passage out of the Bible and we'd read together. It didn't have to be complicated. Sometimes we'd just lay and bed and I'd tell him a story. There were times when I felt guilty for giving God the crumbs of the day and just sliding it in at the end, but God knows what's going on and He continues teaching us how to develop a better balance as we continue this journey.
Stay tuned for what's up next...Apologia Science...
