Our Bible study tools this year

We will be beginning our first week of school tomorrow. This week will be a simplified version of our schedule and studies, but will be gettting back into the grove of all things schooly. I love this part!

So, here's a peek at our Bible study tools for this year...

The little girls will be read to from The Child's Story Bible by Catherine Vos and the Jesus Storybook Bible by Sally Lloyd-Jones. Even though these books are officially for the small set, it certainly never hurts to have the big kids listen in on these too. So, I will use The Child's Story Bible as part of our family's morning devotions. My two favorite homeschool speakers, Sally Clarkson and Carole Joy Seid, recommend this story Bible. And it really is worth buying and using over and over! There are so many junky story Bibles out there, so it's nice to know which one is worth purchasing.

For the older kids, I've got a lot I want to go through this year. They will be watching the DVD series of Francis Schaeffer's How Should We Then Live. I'm very excited about this, since it's been on my list of things to buy and do for a couple years now. Since Austin is a Junior this year, and Sydney is a Freshman, I think it will be perfect timing for them to watch it together. I'm hoping I can fit in it to watch with them. Good stuff! It comes so highly recommended.

I'm also very excited about going through What Jesus Demands from the World (John Piper) together. The book is laid out in small chapters, each one being a demand of Jesus; from "you must be born again" to "make disciples of all nations, for the mission cannot fail". This will be a lot of fun to go through together and talk about. The chapters are just a few pages each, and Piper gives permission to skip around without reading from front to back. I think we will go in order, but leave room for flexibility if a reason comes up to look at a chapter out of order. I'll probably read this one to the kids while they're eating lunch.

We have our first honest-to-goodness Bible curriculum workbook, Practical Proverbs. I usually shy away from workbooks and packaged homeschool curriculum, especially for Bible, BUT... We met the homeschool mom who put this study together at our local homeschool curriculum fair. She was a wonderful lady, who took seven years to put the study together. I have to say, I have tried, unsuccessfully, to go through Proverbs with the kids so many times over the years. I planned on going through Proverbs, pulling out all the examples of the fool versus the wise man and other things like that. I've also done the "read one chapter of Proverbs for each day of the month" thing. It was OK, but it was hard for me to be content with that. It's better than nothing, for sure! And keeps one reading the Bible on a schedule. But just about each verse is independent, so when you just read a whole chapter through without stopping, you can barely internalize a thought about one verse before the reader has moved on and is halfway through the next verse. That's a little bit frustrating for me. When we have tried that method, we have to keep stopping, because we are a discussion type family. We can't help ourselves, and we stop to discuss a verse at least every three verses. Before you know it, we have spent way too much time talking and are only 1/3 of the way through the chapter.

Keep in mind, I have not used Practical Proverbs yet, and have only looked through it, but I think it will be a really nice change to take a lesson (1-2 pages) on a particular verse, or verses that compliment each other, and pull from other books of the Bible to reinforce the proverb. I'm not yet sure whether I will assign the lessons to be done independently and discuss them together during our morning devotions, or whether I will read the lesson aloud during devotions and discuss it.

We've got a lot ahead of us this year! But because so much of the last two years has been more "hands on" and real life learning, which has it's place, I'm looking forward to spending quite a bit of planned time digging into some structure when it comes to our Bible lessons this year.

Beginning Reading with Phonics

Just about every homeschool curriculum company is going to have a phonics program as part of their package. Since I'm not a big fan of following a certain set of curriculum (school in a box), I like to use a variety of fun ways to learn phonics. Here I will let you in on what I like to use to teach phonics at our house.


If I use any actual curriculum with my children, it is ABeka. If you did not learn to read with the phonics method, or if you just want to make sure you are teaching the phonetic sounds properly, it may be a help to you to get the cd of phonics sounds for yourself. As much as I don't like curriculum and work books, for most of my kids who enjoy getting to do something "schooly" looking when they are little, it turns out to be pretty fun to go through those colorful phonics workbooks in K and 1st grade. You may have to open an account on ABeka's website to see these links. Don't worry, there are no strings attached to do that. Their website is the only place you can purchase their curriculum, unless you are looking for used.

A lot of people like Explode the Code. I've bought it in the past and like the format, but it doesn't seem quite as organized and systematic as ABeka. It is made up of many smaller workbooks, which makes for a lot of repetition and practice for a child who may be starting young (preschool), and needs that. The inside of the workbooks is black and white, so it's also not as colorful as ABeka. But, like I said, if you want to start "workbook" phonics with them before Kindergarten, you will probably need something like ETC, or you may go too fast, which could lead to a frustrated little one. Personally, I recommend using the DVD's and games I will list below with a preschooler.

Apart from actual workbooks and a reading program, the best thing in the world that I have found to teach phonics is a card game. As far as I can tell, the Hooked on Phonics company no longer makes The Phonics Game. But it would be well worth your effort to find one used via amazon or ebay. This is an incredible way to learn to read! I can't say enough good about it, really. If you did not know one thing about phonics or how to teach it, you would learn right along with your child. The game comes with cassettes, VHS tapes, books, and sets of playing cards. The only potential drawback is making a way to watch VHS and listen to cassettes if you don't have the "older" technology to play them on.

Leap Frog has made some phonics DVD's that practically teach your phonics for you. The kids love to watch them, and since all of the letters sounds are easily memorized because of the songs in The Letter Factory, your kids have them memorized in a matter of days! The next step is the Talking Words Factory, where they put the sounds together to make words. I would just make sure that the child has mastered the sounds before trying to put the sounds together to make words, with any program you use. If the child forgets the sounds they learned from the first DVD after taking a break from it for a couple weeks, they have not internalized it enough yet to move on to the next DVD. I bought mine at Walmart, so they can be found just about anywhere.

Bob Books are great first readers. They are easy to find. I got mine at Barnes & Noble. The order each sound is introduced makes sense, and nicely accompanies any of the other phonics tools I've mentioned. The books come in sets, and if you are moving along with your phonics studies, you should only need the first two sets, and then the child will be able to start reading regular books. I have a Bob Books Magic Lite free app on my iPad that the girls play too. That's fun!

From what I've studied, I've come to feel very strongly that sight words should not be introduced until the child has begun to make sense of putting some short vowel sound words together and understanding how to sound out some three letter words, like those that would be introduced in the initial phase of any phonics program. Learning words as a picture verses sounding the word out are two completely different skills, and it makes most sense to me that sight words introduced before an understanding of sounds is present, can lead to confusion down the road.

I do not advocate teaching a child to read too early. In fact, here is an article I've come across lately that explains some of the reasons why. I've read much more than this on the subject, but haven't kept track of the data, so I am referencing the latest thing I've come across. And here is an article that references Dr. Raymond Moore's philosophy on not rushing into learning too much, too early.

Teaching reading can be the most rewarding and most fun part of homeschooling, especially if you have found a good phonics program and watch your child's cues for readiness to avoid frustration. Enjoy those precious "learning to read" moments!

Love of Lit Series

I will be writing a series of posts over the summer about the Love of Literature. So many friends have sent me questions about reading aloud, book lists, and resource ideas on homeschooling with a literature approach. I would like to post some of those resources for you.

Using a literature approach, either partially or exclusively, in your homeschool can be extremely rewarding. The method uses "classics" and other "real" books, written by quality authors. The typical standardized textbooks, lectures, and simplified reading passages are replaced with quality literature to be read by and to the student. There is more to this method than just the reading itself, but I will touch on those ideas in later posts.

The two most highly recommended books about Charlotte Mason's educational style, which is most often the model in a literature-based homeschool, are pictured below...

Susan Schaeffer Macaulay's, For the Children's Sake



Karen Andreola's, A Charlotte Mason Companion

Curriculum we love

Here are some of our curriculum choices this year. If I've listed it here, that means we love it! The kids love it... I love it!




Rosetta Stone Spanish: The easiest way to learn a language... for the student AND for Mom! Believe the commercials.

Truthquest History: The ultimate living history book list! If you enjoy learning history through literature, this is an incredible resource. Michelle Miller's commentaries through the guides are extremely helpful.

Teaching Textbooks: Everyone I know who is using this curriculum for math is ecstatic. The teaching DVDs are easy to navigate and lessons are taught very well. My kids rarely need any additional help. And they love the graded lessons and quizzes and the grade book feature.

A Reason for Handwriting: This is great for practicing handwriting for any elementary grade (beginners through cursive). Where other handwriting books may give sample sentences to practice, A Reason gives scripture verses as the copy.

Institute for Excellence in Writing: This is a big hit with many homeschool families I know. This is our first year to use it, so I'm still in the learning process. I am very excited about it! I've tried teaching writing on my own without any curriculum at all because English is my favorite subject, and it's time to call in some reinforcements. Gotta love the DVD teacher when things get tricky!

Good reminders in a bad economy

We read Smart Money by Jerry & Ramona Tuma years ago. It's the best book I've ever seen on how our personalities and marriage dynamics relate to our views on money, saving, and spending. My husband pulled out the book to look for a quote for one of his school papers, and we ended up going for a stroll down memory lane. It's amazing what a difference a decade or so makes in your understanding. It was definitely worth going through again, under new, completely different circumstances than when we first read it.

While we were in smart money mode, I pulled one of those "someday Ill go through this with the kids" books off of my bookshelf. Money Matter for Kids by Larry Burkett seems like it's going to be a great find to go through with the kiddos. I've been talking with the kids a lot about using wisdom in finance lately because of the current financial mess that's on the news every day lately. Kurt is reading to us, since we didn't want to miss out on his perspective on the topic. So far, the book is extremely biblical and really speaks to the heart of the matter. In just the first chapter, the kids learned that everything is God's, what stewardship means, to trust God, spend time with Him, and give Him our hearts, about procrastination, how money gets its' value, responsibility, and the rewards of an obedient life. There are breaks in the lesson for jokes and trivia to keep the kids' attention.

Kids' classes this year...

3rd Grade:
Ten Things to Do with Your Child Before Age Ten from Teaching the Trivium by the Bluedorns http://www.triviumpursuit.com/articles/ten_to_do_before_ten.php
Horizons Math
Truthquest History
Worldview by Brannon Howse
Bible
Character and Manners (Everyday Graces, Little Book of Manners for Boys, Tiger and Tom Character Classics, A Hive of Busy Bees, Ten Boys Who Made a Difference)
Rosetta Stone Spanish (maybe, we'll see how it goes)
Art Appreciation (various books and Dover art print cards)
Choir at Ecclesia Prep School
Suzuki Piano lessons
Guitar lessons
First Tee golf program

6th Grade:
Math (Teaching Textbooks)
Truthquest History
Worldview by Brannon Howse
Bible
A Reason for Handwriting
Language/English (Warriners)
Observing God's World Science (ABeka)
Creative Writing
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Manners and Character (Everyday Graces, How to Be a Lady)
Art Appreciation (various books and Dover art print cards)
Choir at Ecclesia Prep School
Suzuki Piano lessons

8th Grade:
Algebra (Teaching Textbooks)
Truthquest History and Ominbus I
Worldview by Brannon Howse
Bible
Language/English (Warriners)
Rosetta Stone Spanish
Apologia Physical Science
Into and Intermediate Logic (Nance)
More Logic (The Fallacy Detective, The Thinking Toolbox, The Art of Argument)
Character (Thoughts for Young Men by J.C. Ryle, Boyhood and Beyond by Bob Schultz)
Consumer Math/Stewardship (Money Matters for Teens by Larry Burkett)
Art Appreciation (various books)
Choir at Ecclesia Prep School
Guitar lessons
First Tee golf