Homeschool Ramblings...

In case anyone is interested, I thought I would share what our family is doing for homeschool this quarter. Many of you know how crazy it normally is around here, however with the projects going for the house to get ready for the market....there is so much more than normal going on. I have had to force myself to do the lesson plans and activities so that we are actively learning. With the older two going to school, it has been a good starting point for the rest of us here at home to get into our own schooling zone. We are eclectic homeschoolers which mean we use a variety of resources to create a unique program. My kids love thematic unit studies, as do I. With these it is so easy to tie the acedemic subjects into the theme. This quarter we are doing an under the sea theme. Recently we bought a 55 gallon fish tank. The kids have been very interested in the fish. I've been trying to do more arts and crafts these days. I didn't do too many in the past because 5 small children plus paint or glue made me nervous. 3 little ones is a bit less of a mess. We are making a large wall mural and adding fish, coral, etc. to it as we create them. I also found loads of library books to read to the kids. I believe reading to them when they are little reaaly sets them up well for additional learning as they grow. My kids love wrokbooks as well. They get to do pages in their various books on a daily basis. Math-U-See is what we are using for math (in addition to games, flashcards, and writing practice). This is how we break down our family routine:
6am: kids wake up, get dressed, make beds
6:20: Family scriptures/prayer
6:45: Breakfast
7:05: 2 kids off to the bus stop
7:15-9:00 Chores, mom gets ready, free time, etc.
9-10:30 or 11-Homeschool

So that is the morning routine. After the kids get home around 2:30, we do a snack and the older kids do their homework. The little kids also like to do some workbook or activity page along with the older kids. I am excited to hear that D.J. has the best penminship in his entire class. He is doing great acedemically and has also had 2 praise notes come home in his folder this week. It makes me feel like we were successful in homeschooling him over the past 2 years or so. No I am relaxing and realizing that they are actually learning and keeping up (if not exceeding) school expectations. Well, I need to somehow shampoo the carpets tonight. We have less than 2 days until the house is officially on the market!