Great Adventure Kids: Our Bible Curriculum

I am so excited that we got our new Bible Curriculum today!! It looks FANTASTIC!! I am wowed at the size of the colouring books. The little prayers beads are so cute (they like wearing them actually as a bracelet). I think it is really what I am looking for at this stage. It really will be a Great Adventure going through the Bible this way. I shamefully say that I really don't know as much about the Bible as I really should so we are all going to be on this adventure together.

The same company also has a Great Adventure Bible study for adults as well so I am going to be taking a look at that for myself, depending on how this goes.

My only concern is that the timeline isn't as "teachery" as I thought it was going to be. It really isn't a guide. So I do really need to go through the materials to see how I actually will be going about teaching this. We have been putting in our LA time the last while so in a few days I hope to be prepared to delve into this curriculum.

Here are a few pictures of our new Great Adventure Kids

I ordered the one pack which contained a colouring book, the timeline, 1 prayer beads, one bookmark and then one card game set. I ordered an additional bookmark for Max and 2 more prayers beads for Max and Eve.

It really seems well though out and co-ordinated.

The colouring books looks really nice, the pictures are lovely. I had to hold back the boys from just going to town in them. They sometimes forget that most pages have directions, they like to just do it their way. WHERE on earth did they ever get that idea??

Just for size comparison that is a standard piece of paper in front of it. 

The colouring books are actually quite large. 

Well, a few curriculum pieces accumulated, a few more to go. We are getting there and I am feeling more at ease with how it is going. Next up I am hoping to get math and start chipping away at the Canadian social studies bundles. THOSE will feel like Christmas when they come :)

Assembling Our Curriculum (First Part of Series)

I love getting things in the mail. I love books. Getting books in the mail? TOTALLY AWESOME!! Judging by how my boys ran to the post truck yesterday was an indication that they take after their mother in this regard.

We were about to get in the van when the mail man came up so yes,

 I am that geeky and couldn't wait. We opened it all in the van. 

We were waiting for two packages. One contained some of our new homeschool books. The other contained our new VeggieTales movies. Both boxes contained fantastic resources that would be additions to our homeschool curriculum.

So yes it is that time. When all the homeschool bloggers start ordering, receiving, and talking about their latest finds. I am no exception. So I am going to share with you what we have received so far, what will be ordering shortly, and how our year will be shaping up.

I have been a relaxed homeschooler so far. I feel that exploration of self is important in these early years of learning and education. However now that my eldest is seven and entering grade two territory we will doing some fine tuning. We also have our four year old joining the school ranks. He is chomping at the bit to get his own books and work.

I am also a year round homeschooler. I don't feel that learning and education exist between the confines of September to June, Monday to Friday, 8 am -4 pm. Learning is a constant process that continues 365 days a year, 7 days a week, all waking hours. Children also continue to develop at differing rates so one child's behind is another's advanced.

Because of my relaxed nature I am sure my seven year old would be classified as behind however I know that there are many things where he is excelling. The current plan is to due fine tuning over the summer, expanding come the fall and then after Christmas level up. I try not to get caught up in the grade levels though so we will take each subject and each level and each student one day and one progression at a time.

Sooo, here is our plan for summer and into fall....

Language Arts
Handwriting Without Tears (My First School Book and My Printing Book)
Explode the Code (ABC, 123)
Soaring With Spelling, Soaring With Writing, Soaring with Grammar (all level one and ordering ASAP)
**We will work on all of these and progress as we finish each previous book.

Math
Math U See Alpha (ordering ASAP for seven year old, Beta come January)
Math U See Primer (for September start for the four year old)


Bible
Great Adventure Bible Kit (ordering ASAP)

Social Studies
Canada, My Country Bundle (ordering to start ASAP)
Usborne Internet Linked Children's Encyclopedia (ordering soon)
A Children's History of the World (ordering for September start)
A Children's Geography of the World (ordering for September start)

Science
Elemental Science Intro to Science plus all recommended books and experiment kit (ordering ASAP to start)

Home Economics
My plan here is to get the boys into the kitchen, doing basic recipes. We will also be tackling the soap and bath product making. I would also like to get the boys each doing some very basic knitting. If I can get them to each do a dish cloth in a year I'll be pretty darn happy.

Music/Art
We will do some basic music and art appreciation and history. I have some fun flashcards, we'll take some trips to the art gallery and maybe some symphony presentations. I would love to start teaching Mr. Seven on the piano and guitar very soon, we just need to decide which books will be best.


This is our basic plan. I am sure some things could be subject to change but I feel very confident with all these resources. The Language Arts and Math books will be appropriate levels for the boys' ages. Bible, Social Studies, and Science both boys will work from the same material but I will have different expectations for them (obviously).

Be prepared for me to post on our curriculum as it arrives and we unpack it. So far the books we have received I am very happy with. I am especially excited for our Social Studies and Science books. Heck, I am excited for all of it.

Bath Fizzies, Soaps, and Soaks OH MY

In my last post I spoke about getting healthier through what we put on, in, and around our bodies. Part of this is having to go the DIY route. While in the past we have cleaned up our act a bit by purchasing more environmentally friendly cleaners and body washes and soaps I feel we need to go that one step further.

By going the more DIY way I am hoping that it will save us some money down the road as well. I currently don't have the items I need to go about making my own body and household cleaners so I am going to have to do some investing. If there is one thing that I have discovered so far about doing things yourself is that you must invest at the start to reap the rewards later.

Luckily I have found a company online (located in BC) that specializes in selling exactly what I need. I have an order made up and hopefully can push the buy button in the next few days. I am really really excited.

Here is what I plan to order so far:
Essential Oils (eucalyptus, peppermint, grapefruit)
Fragrance Oils (muscle and joint blend, island tropics sampler pack, green tea)
Shea Butter Rebatch Soap
Calendula Petals
Calendula Oil
Jojoba Oil
Citric Acid
Epsom Salts
Dead Sea Salts
Goat Milk Powder
Surfactant Powder
Love/Faith/Hope Soap Mold
Witch Hazel Spray

I really had to reign myself in because the web site has so many fabulous ideas. I really wanted the pink rose petals and buds, and some herbs, and some clay powders, and, and, and.... But only so much at once. If all things work out well I will definitely place another order to play around with colours and herbals and such. It would be interesting to see how far I can go with this. I could make lotions, bubble bars, even candles.

Using all these ingredients my project horizon is:
Shea Butter Soap with Calendula and Jojoba oils (for Max's poor eczema)
Soothing Muscle Soak (for Daddy, he works so hard, he deserves a special relaxing treat)
Bath Fizzies (a variety, some with calendula added, some with essential oils added)

The essential oils I will also be able to use randomly for cleaning, for diffusing, putting on dryer balls, and many other things I am sure I can come up with. I am just getting started with learning about all the wonderful properties of essential oils.

All together with shipping my order *should* come to roughly $100. However I am hoping that this investment will last us a while. Especially considering that dropping $100 at Lush (one of my fav places) would only yeild a few bath bombs and soaps. Each thing I am ordering is in a small quantity (so I can test it out without buying a massive amount) but even those small quantities seem to be able to be broken down and used in several projects or in several batches of the same thing.

It seems my childhood fascination with playing with soaps and lotions (lotions and potions my family called them) may just serve me well.

The excitement of going down this path has me simply giddy. I can't wait to order and to receive and to make, and then of course, tell you all about it :)

Homeschool Fess Up

So it seems as though this past year has been a big derailment from what I envisioned. I hear on the homeschool grapevine that that happens a lot. Each year is a new year to learn about your children and yourself. Each year presents different challenges, different goals, different gains and losses.

One big thing I discovered about myself is...I HATE CURRICULUM PLANNING. While I love the idea and the practice of using "real books" it is the tying everything together that really really bogs me down. On a yearly overview I can plan it out, even on a monthly overview I can plan it out. But when it comes to the day to day I get so overwhelmed.

Spring is around the corner (I'll keep telling myself that) which means that homeschool convention time is nearing. That means that talk and planning of curriculum comes up. Sometimes I think homeschoolers spend as much time deliberating and debating as they do actually teaching the dang stuff. I know that is true in my case. I have read my guide books, I've done so much online research.

I feel like I sit between wanting to be the perfect planned daily homeschooling mother and wanting my children to learn an all encompassing and self guided approach as is unschooling. Rock meet hard place.

Truth be told we have been doing a lot of unschooling. I don't like to admit this because I fear the fall out from it. What will others think?? Am I failing my kids?? How are they possibly learning?? Those are some of the guilty thoughts that pop in my brain. But all I have to do is really observe them to see that they ARE learning. They are absorbing so much. Sitting back and allowing them to gravitate to their interests and learn various concepts seems both lazy and gratifying to me at the same time.

Nonetheless I don't feel 100% confident in unschooling so it is not a path I can take. Not to mention what *gasp* others will think. I care to much about what others think really. I have to work on that.

So where does that leave me? It leaves me waffling between curriculums. Where do we go from here? Thankfully I have never made a massive financial investment into resources (thank you internets) so I can shove any guilt there. And as a homeschooler I have the flexibility to shift gears whenever I think we need to.

Who says curriculum starts fresh and book spines cracked for the first time in September. I can rock and roll this thing anyway I want.

In going forward here are a few random thoughts:
-I can't stand the daily curriculum planning
-I know what I would like to approach subject wise
-I don't like printing. Free resources are great...until you are on your 10th ream of paper and millionth ink cartridge
-While my boys are rambunctious they do seem to enjoy sitting down and doing worksheets, go figure.
-I really need to separate my homeschool pinboard into different areas.
-With three kids already and a very busy husband I don't have time to spend fretting about daily lesson plans
-I like knowing what I *should* be doing and then doing my own thing based on that

With some of these points and other in mind here are some less random thoughts:
-We need a core curriculum to guide us through each day
-The free resources will make great supplemental material
-We need flexibility to take days off
-We need flexibility to delve deeper into areas of greater interest
-I need to use both curriculum and my children as my guide
-Most of all I want learning to be fun and exciting for my children

Over next while I am going to be working on creating more balance where all of this is concerned. Say a little prayer for me. Imma gonna need it.