Welcome to Our Classroom

Finally . . . . school is here. When I first started homeschooling I had a homeschool room. At the time I had a baby, a 3-year-old, and Alec. . . it didn't work. It was our bonus room, and I absolutely hated being stranded up there to teach Alec. It lasted about 2 months, then we moved to the kitchen. Although that was in our very first house, when we moved into the house we just moved from (what a mouthful?!?) Alec did his schoolwork in the dining room, Ash in the breakfast room, and Hanna in the living room.

I decided to give having a homeschool room another try. I absolutely LOVE it!!! Although it is not quite finished . . . I have a quote to put on the wall and 2 different time lines to drape across the room . . . it is good enough to show off.

When looking at this wall, you may think this wall looks more like a Sunday School classroom than an actual school room. Don't worry. It is very purposeful. We've always used Christian curriculum so God and His word have always been blended in our subjects. In the past we'd do devotions at the kitchen table at breakfast. I hate to admit it, but there were many days, when we were in a hurry . . .I'd skip the devotion . .. just to get the stuff we were supposed to do done.

Not anymore though. No longer will we try and "fit" God into our school day. He is our school day. I have this amazing Bible curriculum, Firm Foundations, and I've been super-de-dooper excited about it! Our very first day of school I explained to the children how wrong I have been in the past . . . how we'd just "fit" God into our day . . . as long as it was convenient. No longer though. Don't get me wrong my children learning to read, write, add, subtract, and spell are important. However, those things are not THE MOST IMPORTANT. What is is that they know God and God alone. . . that they know His Word . . . that they truly have a "firm foundation" so that when the trials of life hit them, they will be unshakable. Only through knowing God Himself can they do this. Our Bible curriculum takes about an hour to teach, and it truly thrills me to teach it. I am learning so much myself . . . as it has scripture to prepare the teacher to teach. By the end of the year my children will know the Bible chronologically. They will know old testament scripture of prophecy pointing to Jesus as the Messiah.

Our very first day of school, we prayed and I asked God to forgive me for not making Him our day . . . for only fitting Him in when there was time . . . for placing meaningless activities, cleaning the house, chatting on the phone, etc., etc. before Him. We dedicated our school year to Him and to Him alone.

By doing this also, I gave Alec and Ash each a prayer journal. I told them every morning after their shower they are to go into their rooms and have a quiet prayer time . . .just them and God. While I told them I would not read their prayer journals . . . I would be checking to make sure they are writing in them. Ash will have a devotion book of her own to read and have her quiet time. Right now I really felt led to have Alec read and pray over a chapter of Proverbs a day. Today he read Proverbs 3 since it is August 3rd. I ask each of them what they learned from their time with God today. I feel like since Alec is upcoming in the turbulent teenage years, that it is so very important for him to go into these years armored up with some wisdom. I've never done this with my kids before. I've always led them in devotion. However, I must teach my children they cannot live off of my faith. Their relationship with God is exactly that . . . theirs . . . not mine, not Jon's. I think it would be so detrimental to let them think that Jon and I leading them in devotion and/or prayer is acceptable to God. He wants to know them and He very much wants them to know Him . . . personally and intimately.

I painted one of our walls with chalkboard paint. It mainly houses the things we will be memorizing this year. However, I let the kids play and draw on it a little bit.

Alec drew the alien. Hanna and Ash both wrote the "I love you Mom and Dad".

We have 2 "learning nooks" as I call them. They each are complete with charts and floor lamps and bean bag chairs.

This little nook is where Hanna and I do her reading lesson.

Here is our other nook . . . complete with "Pledge of Allegiance" poster . . . .

and map of the USA with the states and their capitals labeled.

I have high hopes and high goals for this year. Notice I say goals . . . I hope that we make. . . here's a quick rundown.

- to memorize several different Psalms

- scripture memory every week

-all of the US Presidents . . . in order.

- Battles of the Civil War, WWI, WWII (mainly for Alec)

-All of the books of the Bible

-All 50 states and their capitals

We also plan to read each and every one of these books . . . rich books . . . classics. We started today with "The Time Machine" by H.G. Wells.

Here is a rundown of how our day is planned.

4:00 AM - Me up and working. Hoping to be finished by 8:00 AM and to have guzzled 4 cups of coffee down (ha!ha!)

7:00 AM -Alec up and at 'em . . . get a shower . . . he is to wake Ashley up after he gets his shower. Then he is to have his quiet time.

7:15 AM - Ash up with a shower, then quiet time and devotion. Hanna is almost always awake by 7:30 AM

8:00 AM - Start our day with independent work. I lay this out for them. Alec will do his Math, if I am finished working (I really hope to be finished by 8:00 AM every morning). His Math is taught by a teacher on the computer . . Saxon DIVE. If I'm still working, he is to work on his Spelling sheet. Ash will work on Spelling worksheet. Hanna will have a word search to do with words that she is learning to read. This will be the time that I do my run and/or weights, depending on which day it is.

9:00 AM - Breakfast

9:30 AM - Bible, then History. I like to follow History with Bible to reemphasize to the children that God planned all of this . . .He already knew it was going to happen. We do History only on Monday and Tuesday. Wednesday and Thursday we do Science.

11:00 AM - Alec to finish Math and start on Literature. Ash to start Math, Hanna to start Math also.

11:30 AM - Handwriting, Latin, and Memory work.

12:30 PM - Shurley English

1:00 PM - Lunch

1:30 PM - Literature for Ash, Reading for Hanna. Alec to finish anything he has left to do.

2:00 PM - Hope to be finished for the day with organized school. As long as summer is here, we will probably go to the pool if the kids do not have ballet, soccer, band, or guitar practice.

2:00-2:30 PM - Independent reading for 30 minutes (they read a book of their choosing)

3:00 -4:00 PM - Rest time (they play in their own room with their toys by themselves.

4:00-5:00 PM - Chores, outside time.

5:00- 6:00 PM - Help me with dinner and listen to "Your Story Hour"

6:00-6:45 PM -Eat dinner and clean up.

7:00 - 8:00 PM - Family time

8:00 PM - Bedtime

I'm not too big of a slave driver to actually keep the schedule. However, I really don't want the kids in front of the TV or computer during the week. . . . so I like to have an outline of the day. The "leisure" activities of watching TV and playing on the computer will be saved for the weekend.

On Fridays we will finish up anything we did not finish during the week. We will also put together puzzles, play educational games, and have more "free" reading time.

I may look at this schedule in a month and bust out laughing at my overambitious self . . . but a girl can dream, can't she?