#100Happydays2018: Day 80

#100HappyDays: Day 80
The last of the new-to-us schoolbooks have arrived in the mail! We’ve already completed a full week of school, but we were waiting on this shipment before starting our MFW curriculum.

#100DaysOfSummer
#NewBooks
#HappyMail
#MFWBooks
#Usborne
#100HappyDays2018

— feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

And Just Like That...Another School Year Is In The Books!

Friends, we are done, we are done, we are DONE! Mr. T and Slick have completed their best school year ever as of yesterday and now it's time to let the good times roll. Our 180+ days have been completed, we've MORE than accomplished what we set out to do this school year and they both have grown by leaps and bounds over the past 9 months.

They finished their 3 Rs with "Aunt Jodi Mom" this week and all that's left to complete is a few lingering Teaching Textbooks lessons. They will continue to read and work through DuoLingo over the summer but their formal lessons for the 3 Rs are complete.

As for their MFW curriculum with me, we are switching to "Homeschool Lite" which will be a short lesson or two every other day until we wrap our curriculum, which should be well before Jodi and her boys take their vacation in July. In the afternoons while Jodi is teaching classes at the office, the boys and I will head to the newly created 'teacher's lounge' and do a little work. I'm pretty excited about it.

To the boys, I say, "Well done, sirs! You have worked hard and accomplished much. Enjoy your well earned rest."

As for me, I've already brought all our extra books home, just the MFW core is left at the LFAL office, and the homeschooling shelves in the lounge are looking light and airy.

Best. School. Year. Ever. 

Adventures in Learning with Mr. T and Slick: Week 4

Can you believe we've already completed 4 full weeks of school? As a teacher/mama who generally isn't even starting until now, it's hard to wrap my mind around the fact that we've got a solid month of school under our belts already.

Anyone want to guess what we are studying this week?

You guessed it, we've arrived in Egypt for a few weeks of in depth study. We are learning about the Nile River, the Pharaohs, the pyramids, and which of Noah's descendants migrated to this area after the incident at Tower of Babel.

A reenactment of the battle for the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Over all, we (including me) are learning a bunch and having a good time doing it

Adventures in Learning with Mr. T and Slick: Week 3

During Week 3, Mr. T and Slick's main focus was learning about the Tower of Babel, the Fertile Crescent and starting to learn the books of the Old Testament. The learned how to draw a map of the Bible lands (where all our study of history this year will take place) and a silly sentence to remember the names of the places on the map. I was very proud of their diligence this week because learning to draw a map full of names that make no sense to you is difficult, and they were champs. Also, the books of the Old Testament are some serious tongue-twisters and both of the boys tried really hard to learn to say (and spell) them correctly. It is a work in progress, but that's ok. Our current read-aloud book is The Tanglewoods' Secret about a little boy and girl living with their aunt. It's delightful and the boys are enjoying read-aloud time quite a bit.

Mr. T is working hard on his Bible Lands drawing.

Say the silly sentence with me, "E.T. Purrs in the Red Nile Med."
Ask the boys what that means next time you see them.

Adventures with Mr. T and Slick: Week 2

Week two started off really well with Mr. T and Slick digging into Adam and Eve's original sin. How often we are quick to blame others and try to cover up our own sin. :( And how quickly the whole world went to shambles once sin entered the world.
We started read aloud time this week, music studies (Hello, Vivaldi!) and added a few things to our timelines. The boys love coloring their timeline pieces and them laminating them. We worked on adding a few pages to our history notebooks, and the boys' sentence structure is improving already.
We learned about the four types of energy this week and it was a delight for me to see the understanding dawn in their eyes as we tried different activities and had much dialouge about the differing types.
Circle time continues to be a hit, and the boys are doing so well with their speech ideas and Scripture memorization. Mr. T in particular always has something to share.
Areas of focus this week at circle time are days of the week and months of the year. And remembering to sit still at circle time. LOL!

Follow along with us this year as we learn about His Story from the Creation to the Greeks!

Four types on Energy! I don't know about them, but I'M learning so much :)

Heloooooo, Antonio Vivaldi! It's been lovely listening to the Four Seasons all week long.

Schooling with Mr. T and Slick: Week 1

     Mr. T and Slick have hit the ground running and are enjoying their first week of school. Jodi is doing some assessments with them this week to be sure of their reading and arithmetic levels before she starts assigning work. Together, the boys and I (Kristy) are slowly working our way up to a full afternoon, so we are starting off slowly with Circle Time, Bible and some history. We are going to be learning about public speaking this year, so it's something we are focusing on in Circle Time. Both of them are NOT shy and aren't afraid to ramble on and on, so making sure we don't overshoot our planned speech time may turn out to be more of a challenge than making sure we talk long enough.
     Week 1 of My Father's World has us studying the days of Creation, reciting 2 Timothy 3:16 and dabbling in art. Mr. T LOVES art, and Slick tolerates art, so it will be a bit of a trick this year to balance the projects out so that they are both pleased. These next few weeks, we will be covering some art basics, like drawing straight lines, working on ellipses and learning about not getting frustrated by not being a perfect artist from day one. First project was to draw with a pencil in their mouth, after learning about Joni Eareckson Tada, who is a very talented artist despite being a quadriplegic. They both loved this project and in fact, have recreated it several times on their own time. They've learned how to work together on something they can't do on their own, like take the cap off of a marker.
     We are also studying The Sabbath, which is a great reminder to the adults as well, since Jodi and I both work many hours, at work and at home. We baked Challah bread and made table coverings. Slick was especially interested in the resting part of Sabbath, although he seems convinced that resting means he can have unlimited time on his tablet for the 24 hours. LOL! I'm working on Slick's schedule to keep it reasonable as he currently practices gymnastics for 12 hours a week and attends youth group activities twice a week.
     We had our first synergy group meeting this week and while we were missing a student, we enjoyed ourselves quite a bit. We did a science experiment, we baked bread, and we had our first official speech opportunity.

     Follow along with us this year as we learn about His Story from the Creation to the Greeks!

SCIENCE!! Whenever I say we are going to do a science lesson, they both shout, "SCIENCE!!"

Slick hard at work coloring the days of creation.

#100HappyDays: Day 74

 

Day 74 of #100HappyDays
Making new school year plans!

#100DaysOfSummer
#Homeschool
#PlannerNerd — feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

#100HappyDays: Day 65

Day 65 of #100HappyDays
BOX DAY!! This is like Christmas for homeschoolers. 😍 And I only needed to order these few things this year, because I already have this year of curriculum from when P did it a few years back PLUS I used my gift certificate from when I worked the homeschool convention in June so this was free! Woot!

#100DaysOfSummer
#BoxDay
#FreeBooks — feeling happy at The Man Crew House.

#100HappyDays: Day 4

Day 4: My first Homeschooling Conference, and I'm representing my favorite curriculum company, My Father's World. I had a blast meeting with all the parents and kids, from the we-haven't-started-yet parents, to the We-are-on-our-20th-year parents. Great curriculum, great parents, great experience!

I want to BUY IT ALL

If you like this challenge, head over to www.100happydays.com to sign up. You can choose a start date, your favorite photo posting platform and even a custom hashtag if you want to be more original. Do it, you might just decide you love it.

Homeschooling 2016-2017

Yes, we're *those* people. The crazy ones that homeschool. On purpose. Because we want to. ;)
If you are interested in what we are using this year, you are in the right place. Here is an overview of what we are doing for the 2016-2017 school year.

David~ DONE for right now

• David is finished with his schooling at this time. He worked his way through High School using Blessed is the Man Curriculum, Progeny Press Literature Guides, Cordura Driving School and his library card.
• He is waiting for me to write him an English curriculum that focuses on composition so that he can get his diploma.

Patrick~ 12th Grade

• Patrick will be using Easy Peasy All in One High School for his last year of formal schooling, found here. We decided the go with it again, since he liked it so much and it offered him freedom from sitting with me all day. He is working their 12th grade recommendations and reading devotional materials provided by the youth pastor. He will need to do the composition class I write for David as well. We are going to work through an American Government online class together. He is also working at the church in the children's department a few times a week, and at the gym 2-3 days a week with David. He recently got his license and is spending many hours working on his 95 Honda Civic. (I can count that as shop class, right?)

Derek~ 5th Grade

• Derek is using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures. You can find it here. It covers Bible, Art, History, Science, Geography and Music. Since it does not cover Language Arts and Math skills specifically, I am using the MFW suggested materials to cover Language Arts. They can be found here. We've added Reading Eggs after a free month long trial brought surprising results. For math, he is using Life of Fred.  He is taking online piano lessons at Hoffman Academy. We also have an educational video a few times a week. We've purchased all the episodes of Liberty Kids, all the Magic School Bus episodes, and have many  from Drive Thru History and Learn Our History DVDs. We enjoy the Video (and Quiz) of the Week from the BrainPop app on my Kindle. I also have a few DVDs from Izzit. That way, we can redeem some of the hours we spend in the car that day, and he can have a some extra education disguised as fun. We also enjoy a board/card/dice game each day to have some fun, work on sportsmanship, strategy, situational awareness and to take a break from book work. Current favorites include Ticket to Ride, King of Tokyo, Exploding Kittens, 7 Wonders, and One Night Ultimate Werewolf. We work hard 4 days a week and then have a light day to catch up on anything we missed, some life skills and perhaps even be social for a while.

ALL OF US

• We're all enjoying field trips, park days and other fun activities this school year. We head to the park once in a while on a Friday after a week of hitting the books to relax and enjoy some food and fellowship with other homeschoolers. On the other Fridays, we rotate between field trips, life lesson days and catch up days.
• We re-assumed a normal school schedule this year with A in 1st at the local Christian school, and G's online homeschooling schedule not being as flexible as we'd hoped. Hooray for US having the flexibility to adapt to their needed routines. (Please keep in mind that NORMAL is just a setting on your dryer and we don't do normal very well at the Man Crew House. LOL)
• We are working hard to not be controlled by the school calendar, the curriculum or other people's expectations of us. It's nice to put down the weight of other people's expectations of us and just do what works for us. It's been a much different school year. When Mama K isn't worrying about what other people think of her (*ahem*), it's been very freeing. 

I wish I'd thought to do this every year when I updated for the coming school year, but better late than never, right? 

Homeschooling Update *Copied from Homeschooled Hooligans*

Back to School, Back to Posting, Back to
Something....or at least I Hope!
Hi everyone. It's been a long break, a long winter, and a long travelling season for gymnastics. Add in a last minute move (so that my parents can live with us) and it's no wonder I've lost my mind, my computer's flash drive, and my lesson planner. HA! At any rate, all is not lost. David (the gymnast) has been kicking some heiny at the competitions. Patrick is finding his groove again after the move (this normally takes MUCH longer then 2 weeks) and I think I found my lesson planner today. I do, however, make no promises about ever finding my sanity again ; ) As for school, we managed to get several weeks worth of school done between the middle of January and mid-March. Then we did 2 weeks of "inde" schooling while I packed like crazy and then got a week of almost spring break the week of the move while David's best friend spent the week with us while he was on spring break. In case you are wondering, inde school is what I call all lessons/activities that do not need adult help. So, things like CD Rom math lessons with the lectures pre-recorded, online videos about the Constitution, quiet reading time each day, educational videos, lots of games and lots of outdoor play. Also things like "how many boxes fit in the truck?" - "Where did Mama put her purse?" - "If I fill this box to the top, can I still
pick it up?" These all count as life skills, quite useful in the 'real' world after school. ; )We are now back to school, David is REALLY loving his math studies this year and is doing quite well in his pre-algebra class and has even already asked if he finishes it early, would I order him another. Why YES, yes I will! Patrick still struggles with 'wanting' to do school, but is putting forth
a good effort most days. I do still need to find his math disc, and then get back to curriculum studies. We've been doing some random worksheets I've found in the move, so all is not lost : ) Derek is getting back to his studies as well, although he's got Grma snowed into believing that if he says he doesn't want to do school, he doesn't have to do anything. Oops. I haven't brought his curriculum back out yet either, just so he and Patrick can stay together in their lessons, but I have enough K-1st grade workbooks, manipulatives, games and such to fill at least one whole 5 shelf bookshelf, so he is moving right along. I'm almost worried that he will be ahead once we get back to actual My Father's World studies. But a nice little repeat never hurt anyone anyway, right? Overall, all is well again in the MeYeR Man Crew Homeschool. I love, love, love homeschooling, even on the tough days. And hopefully, those are over for this year. Travelling is nearly over for the year, the move is over, and we are settled. Life is good.