Off To A Great Start

The Brooks Academy (the name I game our homeschool) is under way with a month of schooling under our belts.  Philip is in 2nd grade, Braewyn is in Kindergarten, and Juliet is in the "What can I get into today?" grade.  Our daily schedule is closing in daily on where I want it with just a few tweaks still to work out.  I will say the last two years (being pregnant and having a newborn/infant) were a lot easier than this year with our new and improved fully mobile Juliet.  I'm gaining wisdom and building character.  I'm also praying that Juliet's toddler years will be the hardest part of homeschooling which we'll pass through in this year and the next.  I'm thinking so as a seasoned homeschool dad asked me recently, with a smirk, "So how's homeschooling with a toddler?"  He knows and I replied that I would be asking his wife for suggestions on getting through this season.

All that said, Philip and Braewyn are really the ones doing the school work and doing it pretty well.  We are using My Father's World for our main curriculum (Bible, History, and Reading).  It's a little tough to tie together the components from the MFW Kindergarten curriculum (titled "MFW from A to Z") and the 2nd grade curriculum (titled "Adventures in MFW"), but for the most part it blends well.  Really, I'm teaching Braewyn to read (letter sounds and blends) and a bit of the Kindergarten Bible parts, but she is listening to Philip's 2nd grade history lesson and coloring while he writes summary paragraphs of our lesson.  He knows how to read so I just assign him library books on our history topic for the week. 

For math, we're continuing with Math-U-See.  It's a great program with a short video to introduce each week's lesson so the kids have their own math teacher other than Mom!  Science this year is again from Answers in Genesis and titled God's Design for Life.  Last year we learned all about aminals and now we're learning about plants.  I like this curriculum because it's part text book (I'm learning along with the kids!) and part activities (we made models of plant and animal cells this week).  The best part is that each lesson reminds us of how amazingly God created all things to function exactly according to His plan. 

Philip is also doing spelling and grammar lessons as well as playing Upward Flag Football and participating in our church's Children's Choir.  Braewyn is taking gymnastics lessons (so exciting to start those just following the summer Olympics) and on the Upward cheerleading squad for Philip's football league.  Our days are busy, but I believe it's a good balance.  I just really can't believe how fast they are growing up.  Praise the Lord for healthy children!!