Under the Sky

Here I am…

The new Under the Sky (or rather… the old…)

Join me!

I am now into week whatever with our homeschooling this year and I have to say I am very pleased with Susan Wise Bauer’s, Writing with Ease, Level One Workbook and Writing with Ease, Level Two Workbook as well as First Language Lessons, Level 3. They are exceptional programs that make it terribly easy to teach quality grammar and writing to younger children. I am using it with my two littles, ages 8 and 10. The focus on summarizing a passage via narration as well as the dictation and copywork are the perfect fit for us. The Language Lessons level we are using is working well for my ten year-old and I love that it is in bites easily digestible for her.

Reading was a huge struggle for her and she is coming along so nicely now. I feel so blessed to have been able to teach her at her level in her time without the pressure of meeting some arbitrary state timeline. She is unafraid to read and does not dread it. This is a big big deal to me. To hear her read words that she has to decode on her own and to see her do it – well there is nothing like it.

My “baby” is coming along nicely too. We discovered at the Modesto Homeschool Convention this year, a wonderful little reading curriculum all in one book. http://www.readysetreadnow.com is the website. Emma is doing so well with it and I am seeing some major progress in her reading ability. She has struggled with reading too, but is overcoming it and I am so happy for both of us! The company is changing the name of the program since the name is so similar to one already out there. It is not the same in any way though–and this is a good thing in my mind!

It is a lovely thing when, as a homeschool parent, you discover curriculum that really works. Sometimes it doesn’t matter and you can use anything, but sometimes things just “click” and that is the case here. It is just making our homeschool life that much easier–and I like that!

Are you using anything that just fits for you this year?

It is a lovely delicious fallish kind of day today and I just love it. We are beginning a new year this week and I am glad. It is hard to believe that I have the wide spread of ages and schoolwork I have this year, but we do and it feels almost normal. I have tenth, eighth, sixth, fourth, and second grade children and that means we are all over the educational spectrum. At the moment though, four of them are outside in our court running in the wind with delight. It has been pretty warm here so to have a 74 degree day to play in is just too enticing to miss. I will call them back in soon, but isn’t this one of the gifts of our choice? I think so.

We are doing a different kind of co-op this year with a dear family and sharing the teaching load. Science and history are the subjects as well as gardening and possible animal husbandry. (Or something along those lines anyway!) We started yesterday and I think it is going to be a great year. The beginning of a school year holds a lot of promise and hope. I am grateful I get to live this life and grateful for the relationships it brings.

I wouldn’t want to live any other way. Thank you, Lord!

A new blog site and a new blog look. I am still getting used to it all and will have to reload all the links to favorites I used to have, but it just might be helpful to someone.

That’s all for now! The grocery store is a callin’!

Some Mondays are hard. Today is not! It is a lovely breezy day with spotty sunshine. We have much planned ahead of us and not the least of which is a very exciting day planned to visit the de Young Museum in San Francisco. Bouquets to Art is this week and I am so excited. I studied floral design in college and we visited this event then. It was a spectacular showcase of floral art in combination with the permanent collection housed there. 20 (cough) years ago was the last time I attended and this week I will be going with my children, my mother, my aunt, and my grandmother. Four generations of family!