A true blessing...of curriculum :)

A couple weeks ago I found out at the last minute that a local private school was closing down and they were selling everything they have. I went to the sale and was amazed. I was able to get some great deals on book shelves, library books, learning and "regular toys", wall posters, and CURRICULUM. I mean really really good deals. I was so thrilled. I posted on our local homeschooling message board but with me finding out so last minute and the sale being on a Saturday not many families could attend. Luckily one of the ladies at the sale offered to meet with some of the homeschool ladies another day in the week so others were able to benefit from the sale.
Then came the following Tuesday, the day my husband and I were going back to the school to pick up the bookshelves we had bought. I learned that all the extra curriculum was going to be thrown out because the school had no place to get rid of it. They didn't have the money to ship it overseas or even across the country and offers of donation to public libraries had been turned down. This was good curriculum, Abeka, Bob Jones, BJU and others. This is curriculum that some may struggle to buy, especially someone with multiple children, especially in this area that has been so hard hit by unemployment. Text books, workbooks and even the teacher's guides.  My husband and I thought about it and decided we HAD to take it all, take it all and find homes for it. We spoke to the lady and she agreed to let us have it all. Not being prepared with boxes, we loaded all the books up in our van and MIL's truck, then drove up and unloaded it all into our dining room. I had moments that I thought maybe I made a mistake, all these books piled in my dining room. Was I crazy? Maybe, but today I can say that I am so glad we made that decision. I am not one bit sorry we did.
                                                          

I took a day organizing and sorting all the curriculum by grade and subject and then notified every homeschool message board I could find in the general area and even a state wide one. FREE curriculum for anyone that wanted to come pick it up. I held two open houses and anyone could come between 9-5 to go through and take what they wanted/needed. After that I opened it up by appointment.
I was absolutely amazed with the number of people that came. I met so many homeschool families and heard stories from most of them. Why they homeschool, struggles they have, joys they have, etc. People told their friends and more came. Some came to pick up for themselves as well as for friends that lived even further away. Some came from hours away. My two favorite stories: the lady that told her friend about the offer. Her friend  homeschools 8 children and has fallen upon some hard times and wasn't sure how they were going to do it this year. She literally cried when she heard that we were giving away the curriculum. Then the lady that had just decided to start homeschooling. They had decided for sure to homeschool one child and were unsure on the other two. She told me that after this offer and another for cheap curriculum she didn't feel she could ignore God's call to her to bring the other two home for school as well. WOW...you mean my husband and I were used by God to speak to someone. What a great feeling. What a true blessing this curriculum has been to our family and to many many more families. We still have a small amount left but I will find it a home :)
So there you have it, the story of the surplus of curriculum!
(PS. please forgive my errors in writing today, I'm feeling a little bit of brain fog and didn't put my glasses on when I started and was too lazy to go get them after I did)
                                                           

I would also like to take a moment to wish my amazing husband a Happy Birthday today. He is a loving and supportive husband and a man with a huge heart. He didn't bat an eye about us taking this project on! I love you babe!

Our school room

So, we got all moved in to our new house. We've been here almost 2 months now and I am still in the honeymoon phase. I love this house and know that it is the house meant for us. There are so many things I love about it but tonight I'll just share my FAVORITE room with you. I was happy to have an extra room that we could store our school stuff in, and at first that is how I pictured it, just a room to store stuff in and maybe a computer or tv for the kiddos. As things started going in to the room it became my favorite room and I could sit in there and just design it in my head. I had no problem doing our school work at the kitchen table or in the living room on the couch but that was before I had the room to have a designated space for school. I really believe we all will be comfortable doing our school work in there. I decided to share some pictures with you, especially for those curious homeschoolers that love to see other people's school spaces. There are a few things I still want to add. Some bright colored valances will be nice. I would love to find some bean bags for the kids to sit and read on and a bright colored clock but here is what we have so far.....

The brown shelf has all our leisure reading books, the colored tubs on the bottom have paperback books, chapter books and scholastic books. The blue tubs on top are workbooks and the white basket is full of readers. The shelves up top are filled with textbooks, curriculum, art supplies, basic school supplies, and past years binders. The two posters on the wall on the right are Dr Suess numbers and alphabet. Drawers on the right house craft supplies, legos, and lincoln logs.

 This is the chalkboard we made. We bought a piece of birch plywood ($8), a can on tintable chalkboard paint ($8). We put 2 coats of paint on, hung it on the wall and then just put a bulletin border on it. You can use chalkboard paint directly on the wall, but this wall is paneling and I didn't want the lines. Oh, and I still have 3/4 of a can of chalkboard paint left :)

This is the computer end of the classroom. It isn't quite done yet. I want to hang the sombrero by the maps and put the Japanese dolls(the ones on window) on a shelf as well as add all the other items that Jerry has collected in his travels.

 I love these. I found them at Wal-Mart today while grocery shopping. They were on clearance for $4 for the set. They are dry erase circles that stick to the wall but can be removed and re-applied. I gave each school age child one for their daily schedule.

Okay last picture. This is our table that we found at a garage sale for $15. I have to give Jerry credit for this one since he is the one that said we should get it for this room. I love it and it fits perfectly in there. It's a great size so that we can work together but not be right on each other either. My white board is essential to me. The posters on the wall are times tables and addition facts. The lower ones on the right are shapes and colors.

Well, that is our school room. We are very proud of it and very grateful to have a special space just for school. 

curriculum time again

Our official home school schedule tends to follow along with the public school schedule in our town give or take a cpl weeks. We of course still learn all summer long, even when the kids aren't aware of it. Our first partial year of homeschooling we did workbooks and online printables, the second year we did workbooks, text books and online printables and games, and this year we did an online program called Time4Learning. We enjoyed T4L but Maria (our oldest) and I believe she did better when we worked in actual books. Connor was indifferent in most areas but his math seemed to slightly lower (usually his strong subject). Becky did amazing with T4L. It is an awesome program and it worked really well with her. She is up for switching back to books regardless, she just loves to learn.



So now comes the fun of researching all new curriculum. I don't really want to go with a boxed set because I like to have flexibility when it comes to determining what is the right level for each subject/child. I am not particular when it comes to a christian or secular program. My two older children do not have a real love for reading. They of course will do it, but a curriculum based on literature wouldn't be beneficial to their desire to learn. They both are very hands on learners. My youngest schooler can pretty much learn in any environment.
Maria will be in 7th grade this year and I would like to do some art program with her as this is her passion, maybe even a photo editing program. Connor will start 4th grade and his strength is math and would like to do something with music. Becky will start 2nd grade, however she works higher than her grade level in everything except math. Electives for Becky are still undecided as she wants to do EVERYTHING :). I think a foreign language is what we are discussing at the moment.

I would love to hear some reviews of your favorite curriculum, suggestions for us or things we should probably steer clear of. Remember I have 5 kiddos at home and I do not have a lot of time for lesson planning,etc., so a program that includes that or helps with that would be great. Feel free to share links with me as well.

Some programs I have looked at are Alpha Omega's Lifepac, Saxon math, and Sonlight. I would love to hear reviews on these and any others you love or loathe.

Here we go...

Finally decided to try out this blogging thing. Let me start by introducing myself. I am a mother of 4(we'll call them M, C, R, and Z) , married almost 13 years. I've spent the last 13 years as a Marine Corps wife, living in 4 different states and dealing with deployments, pregnancy, moving, children, school, jobs, etc.
My husband just got off active duty last October and we have now settled back in our home town. We haven't lived near our families in many years so it's been very nice to be around them again.
My 3 older children( M, C, and R) have all went to public school for a time but they are all now homeschooled. My 4th isn't old enough to be schooled in any way. This is our second year homeschooling and it's still a challenge every day. I struggle with doubt, frustration and time constantly...but I know that this is the right decision for our family.
M is 10 and she is a very bright child. She is very quiet and respectful and very mature for her age. She loves being homeschooled and has no desire to go back to public school. She is very uncomfortable with big groups and we have seen her much happier since homeschooling.
C is 7. He was my main reason for homeschooling. Also very smart, especially in math, but has geniune trouble staying on task. He gets distracted very easy and then has a hard time finding his way back to what he was doing. He wanted to go to public school again until he made new friends in the neighborhood and now he likes homeschooling. He just missed having friends around. Once I explained to him that we just moved here and it takes time to meet people he was okay. And sure enough, mom was right :) He's always made friends with older children anyhow so school wouldn't have brought him too many friends anyway.
R is 5. All my kids are smart but R....well she is very very intelligent. She loves to read and learn all the time. She could take public school or homeschool (however if in public school she'd probably be in trouble for talking all the time:) )
Z is 1 so she's not "schooled" yet. But she loves to sit with us during school time and take the kids papers or pencils and she's starting to color.
My husband is J. He works in a factory as an inspector. He is totally onboard with the homeschooling and helps out when he can. He attends playgroups with us and loves being with me and the children.

So that's us in a nutshell. We'll see how this blogging thing goes.

Until then,
homeschooling momma