Curriculum That's Worked For Us

I have had several mother's ask me what we use for homeschooling, so I thought I would share what has worked for us. 
I started in preschool using Horizons.  It is fabulous. 
 
I have posted a link so you can view a sample of the teachers material.  This curriculum has everything including, singing, bible, science, math, P.E. ... etc.  Our kids loved it.  They learned so much and they were far more advanced than some of the first graders in public schools. 
http://media.glnsrv.com/pdf/products/sample_pages/sample_PRT011.pdf

Our learning was not just limited to this curriculum.  For example:  I taught them left and right when we were driving in the van.  I would say we are turning left or as they began to understand I would ask them which direction we were turning.

I have found over the years that most of the homeschool curriculum out there is good, however it is not for every child.  Abeka worked great for our oldest, but didn't work well for our 2nd child.  Video homeschool was great for our second child who was in 5-K, but my first child felt board and hated sitting in front of the TV.

Both children however, seem to do good on Bob Books and All About Spelling. 


http://www.allaboutlearningpress.com/all-about-spelling
Our first child is in second grade but reads on a 6 grade level.  Our second child is entering 1st grade and struggles with reading.  All About Spelling is a unique and fun way to learn phonic with hands on learning.  I want to purchase All About Reading when level two becomes available.  We haven't offically started grammer yet, although I am leaning toward Easy Grammer.

For science and social studies we use BJU (Bob Jones University). 

For math I find Horizons to work best for us along with Hands on Stardard.  Hands on Stardards uses manipulatives and is hands on, while Horizons is more worksheet driven.
 

I also use School House Rock video's to teach American History and multiplication.  Not only is it fun, it is a great way to get younger kids to learn the basics.  The songs are easy to remember and pretty soon your first grader will know the preamble. 
An easy way to teach skip counting is through songs.  I found this great CD that teaches the kids how to skip count using bible stories.  Once they have mastered skip counting, learning to muliply becomes easy cheesey.
I posted two links below for this resource.
http://www.skipcountkid.com/bible_heroes.html

http://www.rainbowresource.com/proddtl.php?id=047985&subject=10&category=9263

Please leave a comment.  We would love to know what has worked for you and  if you have any questions.

Mesh Wreaths

This is an update on my business I told you about several months ago.  I am setting up at the local flea market once a month to try to sell my wreaths and accessories.  I am also hoping to do several booths this holiday season.  I have had so much interest in my wreaths that I am hoping to sell a bunch of football wreaths and Christmas wreaths.  While I like having purses, jewelry, books bags, and other accessories, I really enjoy making wreaths. When making a mesh wreath I try to stay the same price as everyone else, except I want mine to be bigger, fuller, and more plush.  I also try to use metal decals on them instead of cardboard or wooden.  I am hoping business will pick up soon.  I have sold two wreaths so far with a lot of people liking them.  I can custom make wreaths also.  I had a lady see a wreath she liked on Esty and asked if I could do one similar.  Well I got to work and put my own spin on it.  I am very pleased with what I came up with.  I am hoping to soon be able to ship wreaths around the US, so that I can expand my business.  I am attaching pictures of my wreaths so that you can see all I have done.  I am so excited about this part of my business.  I am thankful that God has given me this ability and would love to give Him all the credit.  I am posting pictures below.  If you see something you like, let me know.  I would love feed back.  Don't forget to check out these wreaths on facebook/Annabellies Accessories.

www.facebook.com/annabelliesaccessories

Each wreath is one of a kind.  I typically don't make duplicates.

Soap box about Mental Illness

I am fixing to go on my soap box about mental illness, because I am tired of the inconsiderate and uneducated comments by some religious counselors/therapist and really just people in general. 

First let me start by saying that I believe everyone needs to have a saving faith in Jesus, however when you accept Jesus in your heart it doesn't mean that all your problems go away, all your sickness is alleviated, and you are now financially wealthy.  When you ask Jesus in your heart it does mean that you receieve His saving grace and will go to heaven when you die, it means that you can have love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.  It also means that you can receive guidance, wisdom and knowledge by asking.  It means that you will never go through something alone.  God is always with you and He will give you comfort and peace. 

So it makes me really aggravated when someone has a mental illness and I hear or read someone say, "You just need Jesus," or "You just need more faith," etc. 

Depression happens if you go through a tragic experience like a death in the family, losing your job, etc.  If you have Jesus in your heart, you can receive comfort through others, reading the bible, praying, singing, going to church, and worshipping God.  He will see you through that tough time and there is light at the end of the tunnel. 

However, if you have a mental illness like Bipolar/manic depression it is not a phase your going through, it is a chemical imbalance in your brain.  You were born with it and more than likely it is genetic.  People who have this illness did not want to be this way, nor did they or their parents do something to cause this.  Without medicine it is extremely difficult on the person with the illness and on the love ones around them.   

I am just going to use this mental illness as an example. 
If you are bipolar, you have very high, highs called mania and very low,  lows depression.  A person whose brain fires more normally gets sad and depressed every now and then, but a bipolar person is beyond depressed and may stay that way for a while. A person may get excited over something and be really happy, but a bipolar person is very excited about everything and thinks their unstoppable.  In a person whose brain fires more normally, they may know what they are sad about and know what they are happy about, most of the time.  However, a bipolar person does not.  Also a bipolar person does things that is out of character and sometimes does dangerous things or immoral things, that they wouldn't normally do if they were on medicine or if they didn't have this illness.  However, they are still responsible for their actions.  For instances if they are depressed they may get really mad an aggravated easily or cry a lot for no reason.  They may not realize they are acting this way and may feel the world is against them.  If they are having a high, they might go spend loads of money and not be able to pay their bills because of it.  And normally when they are not having a high, they are very frugal.  These are just some examples. That is why there is medicine for people with mental illness.  It helps stabilize them, so they don't have such drastic mood swings.  They don't have a really low, low depression or a really high, high mania

So it makes me mad when I hear people say that if you had God in your life you wouldn't be this way.  Just because you have God in your life doesn't mean that we no longer live in a fallen world.  It doesn't mean that nothing bad will happen to you.  It is a lie to think that once you have Jesus everything in your life is perfect!!  I believe the enemy can use this lie to keep you defeat and ineffective spiritually.  Mental illness doesn't mean your crazy, although people with this illness may do crazy things.  It means you have something wrong in your body, just like a person who was diagnosed with RLS, MS, asthma, arthritis, or a child born with down syndrome.

Every person is created in God's image and just because a person has something wrong doesn't mean it's a faith issue.  Remember in the bible, Jesus healing the blind man.  The disciples asked Jesus, "Who sinned him or his parents?"  Jesus replied, "Neither, this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life."  Maybe some people are going through this so that God may be glorified.  God doesn't promise all things are good, but that He will turn all thing together for good. 
 Romans 8:28  "And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose."

My new adventure

I decided to open my own home business and sell high quality purses, jewelry, and accessories.  It is so exciting.  I am able to sell products $10/$20 below retail.  Who doesn't want a bargain!!

A couple of weekends ago I had a yard sale. Several people asked me if my wreaths were for sale. They said they loved them and were much better looking than the ones they had seen at arts and crafts shows. So I decided that I would start making wreaths as well. This is right up my alley. I love making them and being creative. How great is it to do something you love!! I can't wait to do arts and crafts festivals. This would be a great outlet for me since I stay at home with all 4 children and homeschool the 2 oldest. This would also be a great way for me to earn a little extra money.

I am hoping this new business adventure turns out good. I didn't start at the best time, right before Father's Day, but I am hopeful because school shopping is right around the corner. I have great diaper bags and book bags which are monogramable. You can take a look at all my accessories by going to Facebook. www.facebook.com/annabelliesaccessories or just typing in Annabellies Accessories in the FB search field. I hope you will go to my page and click like. Here are just a few of my wreaths and accessories.

Getting organized and creative

I love to organize.  So it is no surprise that I love Pinterest.  Some of my latest projects have come from this website.  I thought I would post some pictures of us getting organized and crafty.  One of my crafty projects has been making a spring wreath for our front door.  I know now why these wreaths sell for $65 and up.  Materials alone are $45 without being on sale or using a coupon.   

On pinterest I pinned a website for organizing your medicine cabinet using stuff from the dollar store.  Here is a picture of what mine looks like:

It's not prefect, but it looks a lot better.

Our last project comes from the www.Ana-White.com

My husband built this for me using the plans off of the website above.  We still need to finish painting it, but this will give you an idea of what it looks like.  We have a small laundry room that is a rectangle shape.  So there isn't a bunch of room for laundry baskets.  Now I don't have to bend over to load my washer and drier and my older kids which are 7 and 5 1/2  can still reach it.  That is a big deal since the two older children help with laundry. 

I would love to see how you get organized this spring and also see some of the craft projects you have completed. 

Breakfast Food? (Doritos)

One morning several years ago, I woke up hearing muffled talking through the baby monitor.  (Even though the kids were older, we still used them.)  Normally the kids would get up and play quitely while I struggled to get out of bed.  You see, they would wake up at the crack of dawn and I am not a morning person.  So I taught them to play quitely until I got out of bed, around 7am.  This morning however, I didn't hear playing like normal, so I decided to go check it out. 

I walked into our little girls room and didn't see them either, but did find that the closet door was closed and the light was on.  So I proceeded to open the door. 
I found both children sitting on a little play sofa eating a big bag of Doritos.  My son looks up at me and says, "Hey mom, can we have these?" 
I left the room and laughed my head off.  Midmorning my son asked if he could have a snack and I told him that he already had one at 6:30 this morning.

Kids in "Big Church"

My husband and I are trying to find a church closer to where we live and the search is getting difficult.  Every church seems to have Children's church up to 6th grade.  Some churches may not call it that, but that is in fact what it is.  I am not saying that Children's church is bad, but just not for our family. 

We believe our children should be in worship with us.  They should learn to sit still and listen to what the pastor has to say.  They should see dad and mom worshiping together and reading the bible together.  For us, children's church is another way to separate the family.  If your children go to school, then do a sport after school 3 days a week, then go to Awana's or whatever program on Wednesday night, and then go to their own Sunday School class and now their own church service; when do they have family time with their parents?  I read a book called Socialization Trap.  Rick Boyer states in this book that we outsource our children to learn team work by putting them in sports.  We outsource our children to learn by taking them to public/private school.  We outsource our children to learn about God by putting them in a separate programs at church (Awana's, Sunday School, Children's Church).  Then we wonder why as teenagers they won't listen to us.  It is because they haven't had to listen to us.   

There is something special about going to church with your children and hearing them sing the same songs you sing.  I've heard the argument that children won't like their parent's music.  Well, let me answer this argument by using my own family as an example.  Our daughter who is 5 1/2 loves Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir.  Why?  Because I like it.  She knows the songs and loves to sing them because I do.  Your little kids will like what you like, for the most part.  Then there's my favorite argument about children being bored.  So let me share my thoughts on that.  They are bored, because they are entertained to death.  We can't expect 6th graders and up to like "Big church," if they have been entertained (drama, hand movements to fast songs, etc.) in children's church.

Our kids love going to church with us and opening their own bibles.  They love getting pencils and pens to write with or color.  They are young, but we are teaching them to sit still.  Our oldest just turned 7 not to long ago and we have talked to him about listening more during church instead of coloring.  This past Sunday he didn't color as much and actually paid attention more.  Now he doesn't understand everything, but we help him with the parts he didn't get on the drive home from church.

I guess I'm from the old school that thinks the Bible is interesting on it's own.  A little drama here and there is fine, but are we so media driven that we have to be entertained every Sunday with the T.V.  That's also what I'm finding in our search for a church.  The T.V. is used every Sunday.  You know I'm ok if every now and then a clip is used to emphasize a point, but not every Sunday. 

We believe that if you love church, so will your children.  If you get excited about going, so will your children.  If you love the songs, so will your children.  And if you live out what you believe every day of the week, SO WILL YOUR CHILDREN.  We aren't just teaching our children what to do on Sundays.  We are teaching our children a lifestyle.  We are teaching them reverence.  We are teaching them how to listen.  As we teach our children to sit still and pay attention to a preacher on stage that is seen, we are preparing them to be able to hear God who is unseen.