Homeschool Awesomeness!

Most of you may remember we started homeschooling last November.  I was really nervous and scared and afraid I was going to mess up my kids even worse.

But here we are 6 whole months later!!  And loving it!  Here are some of the highlights since we started:

If I Were Trapped inside a Snowglobe writing activity:

 How to draw Christmas stuff pictures:

 Giant snowflakes:

 We made Nativity ornaments for family and neighbors for Christmas:

Nephi drew these Minions… LOVE THEM!

Art Class is an all time favorite!!

These Van Gough’s are my FAVORITE!!!

For Valentine’s Day we did scientific experiments on candy hearts:

 We also started our garden!

World history is also a favorite!!

Here they are making cuneiform tablets from the Mesopotamian times:

Next was ancient Egypt and we mummified dollar store Barbies:

We even made them some death masks… I still can’t look at them without laughing myself silly!

Right now we are learning about ancient Greece and Rome.  Just finishing up these Trojan horses:

Between all the fun stuff, we do math, reading, geography, science, grammar, spelling, etc.

When I took my boys out, they were so behind.  I didn’t know if I could do teach them.  Who am I to a trained, experienced teacher??  How the heck was I going to do this with a 4 year old, a toddler, and a new baby to boot!!! But I am most pleased to report that not only have my boys caught up with the public school kids, they are already well into the math for the next grade level up!  They are reading on a 6th grade level, and above all, they are HAPPY!

I wish I could take credit for their awesomeness, but I know I can’t.  They worked hard all on their own.  I was only there to give them ideas and directions.  I am so proud of them.

We have decided to work through the summer on a shortened schedule.  But we are filling the days with fun stuff.  Our first big summer project is called The 3 Flat Brothers.  We decided to do the whole Flat Stanley project with a homeschool twist.  I took a Flat Stanley I found on pintrest, cropped the head off and sketched each of my boys’s faces on them.  I honestly can’t believe they turned out!! I will post more on this project tomorrow…. I think it deserves it’s own post.

This summer and next school year I will homeschooling my 3 oldest… little Jake is kindergarten age and totally pumped to join in the fun officially.

For those of you who want to know what curriculum I am using, I use many.  I have had to twist and change things to the needs of my boys.  Most of it is now on the computer or iPad.  ADHD kids focus so much better if the stuff is on a screen for some reason.  But we also do lots of hands on things.  For history, I focus on world history and start from the beginning.  I add in some bible teachings and also stories from the Book of Mormon.  One day a week, the boys play a game on the iPad that focuses on geography.  Workbooks didn’t work for them in school, and they didn’t work for them here.  We did try, but it was a bit of a nightmare.  But that’s okay, that’s why we are homeschooling!

For those of you who are thinking of taking the plunge and homeschooling, don’t be afraid.  If you are even thinking of it, chances are, you’ll do just fine.  I love it.  It was the best choice we could have ever made for them!

-Cat