Happy Friday!
School is back in full swing in North Carolina where I live and the Sullivan house has got back into our homeschool routine. Some of y’all have asked what we are using this year, so I figured I would share that today plus some of our favorite supplies/things that my littles love.
My BIG goal this school year is to focus on helping my kids become great readers. We have some readers, but there is a lot of work we need to do.
Being pregnant and having a newborn last year was basically me just hanging on and doing what I could, but I am looking forward to buckling down in a gentle way and making progress this year.
I’m not going to lie, I feel as spread thin as a crêpe these days, homeschooling with 5 kids, but ya know “choose your hard.” And I am grateful God has given me this opportunity to be home with my kids, even if it is challenging!
So here are some Ideas for Intentionality from our school to yours:
Ideas for Intentionality
Reading Program: This year we are going to be using the All About Reading Program. It can be a lot to set up, so I am working on that piece now, but hoping to start the program on Monday.
Morning Time: I am actually going to go back through the Playful Pioneers from Peaceful Press this year. We’ll be doing the cycle 2 with the Little Britches series, which I started today! The book lists are literal gold! I use this curriculum as a jumping off point for the day vs. doing every little thing to check boxes. Her Preschool Curriculum is a great place to start if you want to dip your toe into homeschooling littles.
Math: I loved Good and the Beautiful Math last year, but it does take quite a bit of time per kid, so I am scaling back on math this year and going to focus on drilling math facts with lots of worksheets, math songs, and flash cards to keep it easy.
On Audible: I am also excited to go through the Story of the World on audible since I have heard such good things about it. I am going to start with Volume One and give it a shot.
Kid’s Bible Time: We are going through The Biggest Storybook Bible that our dear friends gifted us. Matt just reads one quick chapter while the kids eat breakfast and that has been sweet!
Bible Memory: I have shared this amazing book a couple of times, but I am doing a verse a week from this book. We have put the verses up on the outside of the kitchen cabinets, which may not be very pretty, but it keeps them top of mind.
Interested in Homeschool? I made a video of what you need to know before you get started! And this is the curriculum I recommend to start with. Worst case, you end up with an amazing start to your kids’ library, but I l truly love the philosophy of homeschooling that Jennifer Pepito lays out in the Peaceful Press materials.
What My Littles are Loving:
While I am working with my BIGS, the Littles enjoy:
1. The Yoto player the kids love it as long as I can remember to charge it 😆 but I see why it sells out every year around Christmas!
2. Magnatiles on repeat, every single day. Their favorite game is to build a tower for the baby to knock down 😆😆😆
3. The Duplo lego blocks for my little girls with characters, they really love the characters!
4. Watercolor paints daily with some watercolor paper.
5. Another amazing tool-just giving them lots of blank paper + color pencils.
Sending love,
Lana
P.S. Finally, got my dad to take this course that helped me get started with YouTube. He is an amazing woodworker, and I am so ready for him to post his first video! If you have ever thought about having a YouTube channel, what is holding you back? I have filmed 1/2 of my videos with my old iPhone (R.I.P. haha). If you really want to do it, throw your excuses away and consider taking this course where she holds your hand on every little detail. I would love to slay every excuse you have, so shoot me an email if you have been thinking about it for a while. 😜
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