Kindergarten Favorites

We are only a few weeks into our Kindergarten curriculum with Heart of Dakota, but I asked Annabelle this evening what she enjoys most.  She actually surprised me with her first choice as I didn't think she was a huge fan of history at first!  These are her selections in order from her most favorite to her least favorite.

1.  History (because she gets to read the Bible)
2.  Reddy Fox (aka Storytime)
3.  Devotionals, particularly Little Visits with God ("because it is like reading the Bible.")
4.  The Reading Lesson
5.  Math
6.  Handwriting

She studies science too, but I think she is lumping that in with the history lesson.  Annabelle loves reading her Bible.  She would read her Bible all day long if I didn't encourage her to read other books for pleasure.  Her love for the Bible began with The Beginner's Bible.  We bought her that first Bible for Easter 2011.  I personally think the characters are a little funny looking, but it is definitely one of her favorites!  Fortunately, the Easter Bunny brought her The Jesus Storybook Bible for Easter this year.  And that is also a new favorite for her!

LHFHG - Unit 2

Today we studied Adam and Eve, sin and their exit from the Garden of Eden.  We discussed that Adam and Eve were separated from God because of their sin.  And that we too can separate ourselves from God if we continue to sin and do not repent and work hard to change our sinful ways.

For our "Thinking Game" today, we masked off a box on the floor to represent our Garden of Eden.  Annabelle helped mask off our Garden of Eden, and it was a great lesson on measurement.  We started to use the yellow markings on the floor to determine the length of our rectangle, but then Annabelle decided she wanted her Garden of Eden to be square.  So we pulled out the ruler to properly design our Garden of Eden.

Annabelle pet her "lion" in the garden.  I wish I could take credit for her grabbing Shadow as a prop, but this was all the imagination of a 5 year old!

And she rocked her favorite (very, very well loved) baby doll, Adie, in the Garden of Eden.

I loved how she chose to rock Adie in the Garden of Eden.  This direction was not included in the guide.  Annabelle thought this one up on her own.  Though she doesn't understand it, I just pictured that one day those mothers who have lost children before birth or even those who have lost babies will once again rock their babies in heaven.  Those babies that they may have never held here on earth.  I also loved how she connected rocking a baby as a happy thing.  Do you see the joy in her eyes?

Though I don't have pictures of some of the activities outside of the Garden of Eden, she did also work hard digging outside of the garden, walked sadly around the edge of the garden and cried outside of the garden.  She learned that life outside of the garden is definitely hard at times, but that one day if we accept Jesus as our Lord and Savior, we will live happily ever after in heaven with God and Jesus.

LHFHG Unit 1 - Continued

I'm posting this entry almost two months later!  It is amazing how much I forget if I don't post something immediately.  And I even had plenty of pictures to help jog my memory!

Annabelle, you are a handful my dear!  It was after today's lesson, Unit 1 - Day 4, that I posted an entry on the Heart of Dakota forum titled "Dawdling Child Drags out Lessons" to seek advice from more experienced homeschooling moms. 

For today's lesson, we pulled out a blue and brown piece of construction paper.  You wrote the number five on the blue piece of paper and the number six on the brown piece of paper.  I called out names of land animals and water animals and you were instructed to hop, crawl, creep, swim, etc. across the blue paper for water animals and the brown paper for land animals.  The numbers written on the papers represented the fifth (blue for the fish and birds) and sixth (brown for the land animals) days of God's creation.

Being the dawdling and creative child that you are, you promptly left the room when I called out "flamingo."  And you came back dressed appropriately as a flamingo!  It is no wonder it takes us 45 minutes to get through a typical 15 minute lesson on many days!

LHFHG Unit 1 - Kindergarten!

We began our official Kindergarten journey almost two weeks ago on Monday, May 14th.  Unfortunately, the stomach bug from Saturday turned into strep throat by Friday.  Our first day of Kindergarten was a huge success, but then the illness got the best of both of us, and I wanted to throw in the towel completely on everything, including being a mom!  It is always a huge relief to realize the exhaustion is a result of an illness because it is during those times that I doubt everything including homeschooling, expanding our family and mommyhood.

Annabelle's favorite part of school is storytime!  There is no question on that one.  My plan is to complete Little Hearts for His Glory half-speed with Annabelle.  I do, however, plan to do the Phonics and Fine Motor Skills full-speed (daily).  And based on Annabelle's interest, I suspect we'll be doing storytime at full-speed as well.  She LOVES the Thornton Burgess books!

This week Annabelle learned that there are seven continents, and she learned the names of all seven continents using the "Rhymes in Motion."  Here the girls are hopping like kangaroos to Australia singing to the tune of "Skip to My Lou."  Annabelle had originally grabbed the two bunnies that Sophia is holding to use as her kangaroo and joey.  She then lovingly shared with her little sister.

We are using the recommended Singapore Earlybird Kindergarten Mathematics 2A and 2B for Annabelle's Kindergarten year.  There are a lot of hands-on activities included in the Little Hearts for His Glory guide to coincide with the Singapore lessons.  This week she traced her numbers and then placed the corresponding number of stickers on each traced number.  This is definitely not new math  to her at all, but I understand that Singapore advances fairly quickly in the next few years, so we are going to follow the guide for now in hopes that we build a solid foundation for math in these early years.

I also filled a Ziplock bag with dishwashing liquid, and she used this to practice writing her numbers as she counted her My Little Ponies.  We were supposed to only practice writing the numbers one through five, but we had twelve ponies to work with, so she counted and formed her numbers up to twelve.  Again, we are just covering the basics for Annabelle, but Heart of Dakota makes learning so much fun that she isn't bored with the activities.  And, yes, she climbed up onto our dining room table to do math because "Grandmama let me do it."

Annabelle (and Mommy too!) also really enjoyed the Artistic Expression box for this week.  We walked our pencils in lines in large motions on white paper, and we then colored each section created by the lines using black and gray colored pencils and/or crayons.  It created the look of a collage.  Then, we drew an outline of a cross on yellow paper and glued it to our collage.  Annabelle added a picture of Jesus dying on the cross.  The key idea for this lesson was that Jesus is at the center of history.  We really had a lot of fun being artistic this week!

For our dramatic play this week, the person holding the flashlight in the middle was pretending to be the sun, and the person circling the "sun" was the "earth."  The third being just had to join in on the fun since whenever Daddy lays down on his back, one of the little people in our house always finds it necessary to jump up and down on his belly!  As the "earth" completed a circle around the "sun," we sang "Happy Birthday Dear Earth...You are now [one, two, three, etc.] years old."  How novel is that?  Heart of Dakota adds the creativity and fun to our daily lessons!  And this lesson coincided with our history lesson for the day.

I love this next picture where Daddy is pointing to himself because he is now "three years old!"  Even Daddy gets to join in on the fun!

Annabelle also enjoyed memorizing her Bible verse for this week.  Since we are doing Heart of Dakota at half-speed, I have added in a daily devotional from Little Visits with God by Allan Hart Jahsmann and Martin P. Simon.  This book was actually mine when I was a young child.  They were dear to my heart as a child, and I actually requested that my mom pass these onto me when Annabelle was a baby.  She has enjoyed them ever since.  We use this devotional on the days that we aren't using Devotions for the Children's Hour by Kenneth N. Taylor.  We are also trying to get Daddy involved in the memory of scripture by including him in the daily scripture memory games.  

Stay tuned...I am going to update this post on our 1st week of Kindergarten over the next few days, so hopefully you'll see some new pictures and text to this blog post.

Box Day!

In the homeschooling world, when new curriculum arrives in the mail, it is known as box day!  It is at this time that the homeschooling parent and child get to sift through all of the new materials.
We celebrated our Box Day today!  I finally decided that Annabelle was placed in a guide a little too young for her.  It pained me to move on up as Little Hands to Heaven is such a sweet guide.  It would have been perfect when Annabelle was 3 or 4 years old, but she needs to be challenged just a little bit more, and I could sense the boredom with her "school Bible."

So I placed my order Tuesday evening, it shipped early Wednesday morning, and we received it today!  Heart of Dakota's customer service is exceptional!

Annabelle has been suffering from a stomach bug today, but she was still so anxious to open the box despite her aching tummy.  She didn't want to wait!

Despite all of the new goodies and new chapter books (and she loves her some chapter books), she was a bit disappointed that her new "school Bible" had not yet arrived.  I ordered the Bible from a different vendor, so it should arrive by Monday or Tuesday.  But, she mentioned that she is more excited about her new Bible than any of the rest of it.  Annabelle loves her some Bible!  If you ask her, it is truly her favorite book.  The girl cannot get enough of it!

Here are pictures of our Box Day for Heart of Dakota's Little Hearts for His Glory.  I am so very anxious to get started with this new curriculum for her official start to Kindergarten.  I really think she is going to like it.

And the placement of the box on top of her head was completely her idea!  But it made for a really cute picture!  Crazy girl! 

LHTH Unit 4 - Isaac and His Sons

I finally feel like we are in a routine! I know, it has only taken me months to figure this out! The peace I feel with this curriculum is absolutely amazing. I had my mind set on using Heart of Dakota for Annabelle's Pre-K year only, and then I planned to switch to My Father's World in the Fall 2012 for her Kindergarten year. I originally wanted to use My Father's World from the beginning for even her Pre-K year, but I truly think God had other plans for us.

When we first started using the Little Hands to Heaven guide back in the Fall, I began every lesson reading the Bible scripture listed from The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes, The Beginner's Bible AND my NIV Life Application Study Bible. And then somewhere along the way I decided to add my new favorite Bible, The Message. But then I realized we were never able to get through the lessons within the 30 minutes or less average time because we had so much to read! It probably took 30 minutes alone to read all of the different versions of the Bible. Of course, she loved reading all of the different versions, and she truly understands so much even from my NIV version. I am actually quite concerned that her favorite story when we first started was Cain and Abel from my NIV Life Application Study Bible.

So I changed the scope this week and last, and we only read from her "school Bible" (The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes). Until I realized that she remembered more about the Bible than I did! We were reading "Jacob Lies to His Father," and I was trying to explain the picture to her. This was another one of those cases where Mommy was talking too much. I pointed at the goat skins that had been placed on Jacob's arms and told Annabelle that his arms were probably not that hairy as it was probably just part of his clothing. "I know Mommy," she said as she began to rattle something else off that I dismissed. "I'll show you Mommy. It is in my other Bible. Can I show you?" I agreed. She brought the Bible to me and I learned that Jacob's mother, Rebekah, had tied goatskins around Jacob's arms so that Isaac would think Jacob was Esau. And I just read Genesis back in September in our Disciple I Bible Study! If only I had the memory of a child!

So this morning (Wednesday) we changed things up a bit. Last night (Tuesday), I read through the Bible passage in my NIV Life Application Study Bible first just so I was completely familiar with the lesson again. Then this morning (Wednesday) during breakfast, I read the previous day's lesson from the NIV Life Application Study Bible to her. She listened intently, and she truly seemed to follow what I was reading. And then again on Friday, I tweaked our routine again. I made sure I had my breakfast before the girls, so while they ate, I read the scripture from all 3 Bibles. That really seemed to work the best despite the fact that the little one cannot keep her mouth shut at all while I am reading anything. And she is so loud! Very, very different from Annabelle at this age!

We worked again on our number page that I designed for Annabelle to trace the number for the unit we are studying as well as the written form of the number. This helps not only with number formation (which she really already has down pat), but it also helps her develop some sight words along the way. She already knows how to spell the numbers one, two and now four. Yes, we skipped three as I didn't actually think of encouraging this until I read this suggestion while working on phonics using The Reading Lesson. She is anxious to learn how to spell the number three now.

She also cut out a picture of two women, one man and one boy. The activity in the LHTH guide called for four women, but Annabelle decided to use the aforementioned to resemble Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah.


And wearing her tea party hat during school is yet another joy of homeschooling!


She decided to copy the words from one of the school workbooks used with the K curriculum titled "Do It Carefully." She has loved to write ever since she learned how to form letters at the age of 3 years.

We wrote our names and then tried to hide them as Jacob had done when he pretended to be Esau to get Esau's blessings from their father Isaac. We learned that it is better to just be ourselves! I can already tell who is going to be the better liar of my two girls. As you can see, I never was a good liar at anything! That explains why I kicked the windshield out of my parent's car as a teenager with my mom sitting in the backseat and immediately said, "A rock hit it! But I'll pay for it!"  Believe me, I paid for it alright! My measly savings was depleted, and I do believe I received the silent treatment from my mom for a week! She doesn't remember giving me the silent treatment though. But I forgive her and thank her for a lesson learned!  And just for the record, there is much, much more to that story as I was actually a very, very good teenager.  My parents do not even know how good they really had it!


For one of the math activities this week, we pretended to be Jacob and jumped from our masking tape D's to Rachel (aka Big Girl) to see who could jump the farthest. This activity was written to compare the jumps using words such as shorter, farther, and closest. Key Idea from the LHTH guide: "Jacob traveled a long distance before he met Rachel." She is already very familiar with these words, but she still really enjoyed the activity, and I think it drove home the Bible story even more. We used different colored Legos to mark our jumps. It was Annabelle's idea to use the Legos.



And Sophia joined in on the fun too! And the best part, I just noticed this week that Sophia has actually started jumping with her feet actually leaving the floor! So I was able to capture one of her firsts for this week on camera.




And we pretended to be Jacob and the angel by wrestling an inflated balloon back and forth. We tried it first standing up, and we then tried it sitting down to illustrate how hard it was for Jacob to wrestle with God after his leg had been injured. Oh the joy in her eyes was wonderful!


And she thought it was hilarious that I captured an up close picture of the balloon, so she insisted that I get an even more up close and personal picture. Crazy girl!


And Jacob (aka Raggedy Andy) wrestled with the angel (aka Bunny). Annabelle chose Raggedy Andy to be her Jacob because she needed a boy for Jacob.  Her Raggedy Ann (compliments of Nonnie) and Raggedy Andy (compliments of Grandmama) have become favorites in our household in the last month. We have just recently completed reading Raggedy Ann Stories by Johnny Gruelle and have moved onto Raggedy Andy Stories by Johnny Gruelle to use as our daily read aloud. We read a story from the book a day during Sophia's naptime though she often begs for more. These are truly wonderful classics to be loved by all little girls!


And Sophia got to do the simple joy of ripping up the masking tape D's and C off the carpet. She ripped these up for me on Saturday, and Sissy has yet to notice!

LHTH Unit 3 - God Blesses Abraham

So we are not very far along on our homeschooling journey, but we are (hopefully) getting into the swing of things now. I am feeling completely at peace with the curriculum I have chosen for Annabelle. The guide I chose is a bit simple for her as it is geared for 2-5 year olds, but the Biblical aspect is so very rich that I do not want to skip it! So we are just beefing up the lessons a bit. In my opinion, I think 4-4.5 years old would be the perfect time to teach the lessons in the Little Hands to Heaven guide. Of course, every child is different.

This unit we learned how God blessed Abraham. Above, the girls are acting out the three men from heaven sent to Abraham. Annabelle did not want to be Abraham for some reason, so Sophia received the honorary role. Annabelle is one of the three men from heaven. She told the one acting as Abraham (aka Sophia) that God was going to give him a son. Sarah is right outside her tent (aka sand box) in the background laughing. If you don't remember the story, reread Genesis 18:1-10.

I was able to expand on the lesson for this day as I found information online on customary meals and practices during Abraham's time. We enjoyed bread (aka sandwich thins), honey, olive oil, raisins, cheese and milk for our lunch with Abraham and the three visitors under a tree. We did not use any silverware, and we washed our hands after eating. Annabelle reminded me that we forgot to wash our hands before lunch as was customary back then. And now for that matter! Oops! I doubt Abraham had a very cute tea tray and cute serving dishes back in his time though! Not to mention, he lived in a tent, so I doubt any brick houses were in sight!

I plan to update this post within the next week with more pictures from this lesson. It was such a fun and God honoring lesson!

We've also been chugging away on The Reading Lesson. Annabelle is currently studying Lesson 2. There are twenty lessons total, but each lesson is approximately 20 pages long. The recommended pace for a 5 year old is only 2-3 pages per day. I have been so impressed with how well she is doing so far. We started reading short sentences this week with consonant-vowel-consonant words (page 2-9), and she actually comprehended the story that she read without me even asking her to narrate. These are some very exciting and amazing times!

Experience Book

While we played outside this morning and I attempted to insert some of the Bible activities from Little Hands to Heaven into our play, Annabelle got a mind of her own (as usual) and decided she wanted to make an "Experience Book" as she called it.

She ran inside and grabbed two sheets of blank copy paper (though she had requested three but got turned down by her mean mom) and stapled them together using two staples along the vertical edge. She then insisted that I tell her how to write "Experience Book" at the top of the first page. So this was a perfect opportunity for me to correct her letters formation.

After she had written "Experience Book" in blue at the top of the first page, she wanted to go back outside to record her "experiences." First, she glanced across the street at a young tree growing in a neighbor's yard. "Is that the same type of tree that is in our backyard?" she inquired. Ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding, ding! I realized even more at that moment how important it is to just let a young child play without the pressure of reading, writing and arithmetic. She WILL learn the three R's! But if I had pressured her into early reading and such, she would have missed out on so much! Her imagination continues to explode! And I'm astounded by her observation skills at such a young age!

We studied the two trees together, and she noticed so much! And as a result, she learned more than I could ever teach her from a textbook.

While pulling English ivy in our backyard later this afternoon, Annabelle broke down into tears! Her experience book had been pooped on by passing birds. Hubby and I both tried to calm her down by explaining that she could use this opportunity to practice her handwriting by rewriting what she had already written. And I tried to explain that this was just another experience for her. She didn't seem to buy into that one though!

By the way, she insisted that she wanted to record her findings with words. I tried to encourage her to draw pictures, but that wasn't in her plan of attack.

One Big Onion

We studied a one page spread from our November issue of God's World News today. We learned about a man who claimed a place in the Guinness Book of World Records for growing the world's biggest onion.

So this afternoon while we were waiting for Sophia to wake up from her nap, Annabelle and I weighed items using our bathroom scale to find items weighing the same amount as the onion (17 lbs, 15.5 ozs).


Annabelle wanted to see just how much that onion weighed!

We also pulled out a world map to find where the onion had been grown. This was all learning in disguise! She had an absolute blast!

The Reading Lesson

I know, I've appeared from absolutely nowhere! I guess I took a sabbatical from blogging.

I decided that perhaps I should start teaching Annabelle a little more to get her ready for reading. So we started using The Reading Lesson today. It went well, though I'm not sure it was entirely worth the money. We will see.

I have learned that I need to focus more on the short vowel sounds. She has the -a- as in alligator down pat, but she struggles with the other vowels. Vowels are hard to teach! She used to know most of her consonants, but based on discussions with her lately, I can tell she needs a refresher course. Our first lesson in Heart of Dakota's Little Hands to Heaven focuses on A as in -a-a-Adam. Even little Sophia has the -a- sound down pat! She places her hands on her cheeks and says, "A-A-Adam." So cute!

Here is the first stanza of the fingerplay from Heart of Dakota so you'll know what I'm talking about:

A-A-Adam! Hands on cheeks in surprise
Can you believe? Hands out, palms up
God made animals Point out sweeping arm across
And you and me? Point out and then to yourself

I've been questioning whether the Little Hands to Heaven guide is too simple for Annabelle's age, but I am feeling more confident that it is the right fit for her now. Some things are obviously too simple, but I don't think the reinforcement can do any harm, and I LOVE how she's learning to hide God's word in her heart through the lessons. Honestly, I am learning how to hide God's word in my heart alongside her.

I think I am going to switch gears with using The Reading Lesson though. I may pick it up occasionally, but my heart has found another method that I absolutely love. Though I haven't purchased anything to use this particular method yet. I don't plan to start more formal reading lessons until she is 6 years old. My heart is telling me to follow the Charlotte Mason approach and use Delightful Reading. It just makes so much sense to me! In the mean time, I am going to approach reading readiness using the methods explained in these blog posts from Simply Charlotte Mason.

Charlotte Mason

My thoughts and readings these days revolve around homeschooling. I constantly question how I am going to be able to homeschool these beautiful and lively girls. I want it so bad for them, but I question whether I have the patience or stamina. Young children are simply exhausting! I have to think that it will only get easier with time and experience. We've accomplished very little since I began this journey after deciding on a curriculum. But I have learned quite a bit in the process, and I have so much more to learn!

Most everyone I have ever spoken with has never even heard of Charlotte Mason. She's an educator from the 1800's who believed that "education is an atmosphere, a discipline, and a life." Since I've studied her beliefs on education, I have completely fallen in love with her beliefs. Now as for implementing them, that will be the true test!

Charlotte Mason does not believe in any type of formal education until age 6. Check! I agree whole heartily with this. Now I don't believe this means you don't educate your children, but simply you don't follow a set schedule every single day for school. Instead, education for young children is just living life and habit forming.

She also believes that young children should spend as much time outdoors as possible. And she doesn't believe that even 1 hour in the winter and 2 hours in the summer is sufficient. She believes that children should spend the better part of the their day (4-6 hours) from April through October outside. And she also believes that the parent should be with the children at this time. I actually agree with this, but I have a very difficult time implementing this for by the time we are dressed for the day, it is yet again time to eat a snack. Then before we know it, it is lunchtime and then naptime for the youngest and then somewhere in there I'm supposed to work in another snack and cook dinner.

Today we went on a "nature walk" which Charlotte is actually not a big fan of either, but what do you do in the city when your yard is covered with distractions (playground set, wagon, Little Tykes car)? Now I realize that these purchases were mere distractions. They could learn so much more from nature alone!

On our nature walk, we found a slug. And together, we learned so much! It was so exciting! I used the Handbook of Nature Study by Anna Botsford Comstock. You can download the Kindle version for free from the website linked above. And if you don't have a Kindle, just get the Kindle for PC for free off Amazon. And when I asked Annabelle what she enjoyed most about today, it was learning about the slug. We learned that slugs draw their eye stalks in when they are fearful. And as I read this fact to Annabelle, she said, "I know! He pulled them in earlier when I tried to touch them." She had already learned this from just being a kid in the outdoors and exploring! And she got pooped on too. But it didn't bother her. We observed the slug and noticed that he has a hole on the side of his body. We aren't completely sure, but we think this is probably where he released his poop.

She was so excited to show her Daddy! Though he wasn't a big fan. I said, "You obviously didn't do much digging for worms or slugs when you were little." Nope! He agreed. "I poured salt on them," he responded. We, instead, released the little guy before bedtime.

So I'm still in prayer mode on this whole homeschooling idea, but I felt so much more at peace after today. And we do have options that we're exploring in case this doesn't work out. I just attended an open house for a private school within a few miles of our house. It is a private Christian school, and their educational philosophy is also Charlotte Mason! And for the Kindergartners, they read some of the books from Five in a Row to the children during the year. Class size is 8-10 students! And the price is very reasonable compared to other private schools in the area, though we still cannot afford private school long-term if I don't go back to work. And then we'll probably have to stop at 2 kids, though we may be doing that anyway!

I do plan to observe a Kindergarten class at this private school, and I am going to check into observing our public school as well as a Classical Conversations class. I want to make sure I am well educated on every option available.

Until then, I'll leave you with a free Charlotte Mason curriculum online. It is very well-known in the Charlotte Mason community, but if you don't read the "Introduction to Ambleside," this website will appear as strictly a booklist and nothing more. It wasn't until just recently that I truly discovered it for its great worth!

It's Spooky to be Hungry

Our church held a food drive this weekend. We distributed the bags last weekend to 50 of our fellow neighbors. We collected any filled bags this weekend. Annabelle had an absolute blast! Though she's still learning to not ask the neighbors if they are planning to participate.


We collected 10 filled bags, and most of them were actually from neighbors we don't even know! That is awesome! Annabelle and hubby have gone to the church this afternoon to work the food drive. This is Annabelle's very first community service project.

This is homeschooling at its best! I enjoyed the service projects I participated in during high school and college more than anything. They both can learn so much from helping others!

Our Pre-K Curriculum

After months of agonizing and much research, I finally decided on and ordered a Pre-K curriculum. Not that a child really needs a curriculum for Pre-K or even Kindergarten for that matter, but I personally need a little more structure and creativity in our day.

Before I ordered anything, I read The Three R's by Ruth Beechick. I would HIGHLY recommend that anyone with small children (even children under the age of 3 years old) read this book. It is a very quick and easy read. And it calmed my nerves on questioning my own beliefs that a child shouldn't be taught to read until later on in life (until 5, 6 or even 7 years old). Today's society is under the assumption that a child is behind if they aren't reading by the time they are 5 years old. And many people believe that early readers are actually ahead of their peers. Ruth Beechick actually notes an experiment on this specific topic. According to Ms. Beechick, "The 'reading' children, by starting earlier, used up a lot of learning time on the skills of reading, while the 'science' children spent the time learning real stuff. And when they did begin reading, they were older and knew more and learned in a fraction of the time that the others took."

And another point from Ruth Beechick's The Three R's, "This research and others like it are compelling. They drive home the fact that each child has only a limited amount of time in his early years. That time can be squandered in trying to teach reading before the "optimum" time for it. Or it can be used wisely in teaching "real stuff" that the child is ready for."

So, that being said, I have calmed my nerves a bit, and we are going to enjoy the next few years by exploring and experimenting and playing games. Annabelle already knows her letters and most of her letter sounds. I will probably approach this differently with Sophia assuming she doesn't want to keep up with her big sister.

As for Annabelle's Pre-K curriculum, we will be using the following:

Little Hands to Heaven by Heart of Dakota. This is "a fun, complete, hands-on, Bible-based Preschool Program written for 2-5 year olds to enjoy. Little Hands to Heaven is a collection of 33 units based on children's favorite stories from the Bible. Each unit has a theme centered around Bible characters." Heart of Dakota uses a Charlotte Mason approach. If you aren't familiar with a Charlotte Mason education, "her concepts focus on short lessons and readings; selection of 'living books' read purposefully over time; exposure to poetry, music, art, and nature; and her approach to language arts through narration, copywork, dictation, and memorization." Also, she has a "personal belief that knowledge of God and His word is foundational to all learning."

Has anyone ever thought about how well educated and informed we would truly be if we had been taught to read and write using the Bible? The vocabulary used in the Bible is amazing! I need a dictionary beside me when I read it because I wasn't taught to read and write using the Bible since I was government educated, so I obviously didn't score as high on the English portion of the SAT! LOL!

I struggled between using Little Hands To Heaven and the next level up titled Little Hearts For His Glory, but I finally decided on Little Hands To Heaven after reading this blog post from Psalm 127:3. I was already having reservations on using Little Hearts For His Glory based on the depth of history, and she drove home this point in her blog entry. I was on the fence between the two because Annabelle is technically Pre-K based on her October birthday, but she is obviously more on the advanced end of the Pre-K spectrum since she is an older Pre-K. So, I was trying to decide between a Pre-K curriculum versus a Kindergarten curriculum.

Right now I am leaning towards using My Father's World next year for Annabelle's Kindergarten curriculum. It looks super fun, and one of my favorite blogs, Mama Jenn, that I have followed for awhile for homeschool activities uses it with her five children. I almost used it this year, but I changed my mind at the last minute after reading that someone waited to start their younger child on this until they were older because the curriculum was so wonderful and had so many awesome points to drive home with the kids.

Included with the Little Hands To Heaven curriculum is the following:

1. The New Bible in Pictures for Little Eyes by Kenneth N. Taylor - This is an excellent Bible for children!




2. My ABC Bible Verses by Susan Hunt - We haven't reached this portion of the curriculum yet, but I am very excited about the concepts it teaches.




3. The Singing Bible - We've only heard one song, but it is super cute! I am looking forward to using this on a daily basis.

In addition to Little Hands To Heaven, I have opted to add in some of the Kindergarten options from Little Hearts For His Glory as follows.

Rod and Staff Do It Carefully Workbook

Rod and Staff Finding the Answers Workbook

A Reason for Handwriting K - I haven't purchased this yet. I had decided to move forward, but now I am on the fence with this one for the same reason I don't believe that reading should be taught early. On the other hand, Annabelle has excellent fine motor skills, and she is very interested in handwriting. I'm just not sure a formal handwriting program is necessary at this age.

The Reading Lesson - This was recommended by Heart of Dakota, and it has gotten high reviews. I actually purchased the book and the companion CD-ROM because Annabelle enjoyed so much the free activities they have posted online. Though I'm not sure that it is the "optimum" time for teaching her to read. So, I may put this book aside for awhile and enjoy another year of reading to my sweet little girl. If anyone has any insight on this, I welcome your comments!

I also found a magazine titled God's World News through the My Father's World website that I have ordered. Annabelle and I sat down one morning and looked through the most recent issue online. She truly enjoyed it! The God's World News magazine is specific to Pre-K - Kindergarten, but they have magazine editions to take the children through high school! Very cool!

And last, but certainly not least, we are planning to "row" with Five in a Row. This is a "technique of reading the same story for at least five days in a row." During and after reading, the children learn about science, math, and history from discussions and activities recommended in the Five in a Row volumes. They also have a Before Five in a Row that I wish I had known about when Annabelle was younger. I purchased it so I can row those books with Sophia when she gets to be 2-3 years old. Here is an example of rowing with How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World by Marjorie Priceman completed by Delightful Learning with her younger two children. She also has great examples for using Before Five in a Row.

And, if time, interest and the financial budget allows, I may add in a little time for some online piano lessons by KinderBach recommended by Our Family for His Glory.

I am super excited about our endeavor into this homeschool journey, but I am praying for A LOT of patience and endurance!!! I also hope and pray that we will ALL grow spiritually together as a family through this journey.

Also, if you have small children, I would highly recommend looking into the Little Hands To Heaven guide, the Before Five in a Row book, and the Five in a Row volumes. Even if you are not planning to homeschool, these are great resources for just having a bit of fun with your kiddos. And they are especially awesome guides if you want your family's life to revolve around our Heavenly Father.

And I must add that I cannot thank those other homeschoolers I have met along the way enough! These families are truly amazing! These are the type of people I have longed to meet along the way during the early child rearing years. They are so willing and open to providing much needed assistance and advice. If we haven't already met with some of these families to discuss any and all of our questions on homeschooling (as we have already met with some), there have been offers without our even asking. And just for the record, so far, I haven't found these children or families to be weird and unsocialized!

And the advice from complete strangers through curriculum forums and homeschool websites is also completely amazing! They also find the time to homeschool their children and respond to your questions as they have such strong beliefs in homeschooling and want this to work for others. I am astounded by the support from fellow homeschooling families! Praise God!

Busy

I feel like a stranger to my own blog! I almost forgot my own login and password since it has been so long since I posted.

We've been blessed with a busy life, though I often think I have overextended myself. And there is a tiny piece of me that still wants more kids. Though I'm not sure why as I often finish the day thinking I'm not made for this job. Maybe I'm hoping I can get it "right" the third or even fourth time around!

I'm blogging this evening because I finally couldn't take any more and decided it was time to let Sophia cry it out. My sweet Sophia! I love that girl! She is truly my sunshine! Annabelle is my joy! But, Sophia, she is my sunshine!

Annabelle and I are like two peas in a pod. But Sophia and I are like night and day. Neither Annabelle nor I really dig the mornings. But that Sophia is ready to hit the ground running first thing in the morning if anyone else is willing. Of my two children, Annabelle is the least affectionate (much like myself). But not my Sophia. She loves to snuggle. She will snuggle with me in bed in the morning until she hears her sister's bedroom door open. Then she immediately wants to jump down to find Annabelle. Annabelle completely ignores her. I know that feeling of not wanting to talk to anyone in the morning. Annabelle asked me just yesterday why Sophia always cries when Annabelle shuts her bedroom door behind her in the morning after Annabelle has used the restroom first thing in the morning and goes back to her bedroom to make her bed. I told her it was because she didn't even say "Good morning Sophia!" Annabelle said, "Why is she so happy in the morning?" I don't understand it myself, Annabelle. But, she's about the only cheery person I've ever been able to stand in the morning. Annabelle has never been cheery in the morning! Just this morning Annabelle changed her tune and sweetly said, "Good morning Sophia!" as she hugged her sister. They are so sweet to each other. Strike that! Annabelle is so sweet to Sophia! Sophia is a bit of an affectionate trouble maker. Hence the fact that she threw sand at her sister several times today after being instructed not to do so. Hubby and I had to turn our heads and giggle a bit. Annabelle just takes the beatings with stride!

So, I'm rambling. Letting Sophia cry was not nearly as hard as letting Annabelle cry when she was 18 months old. Though I have really been lacking in the sleep department with Sophia. She has pretty much always woken up every 3-4 hours. It is as if we have had a newborn baby for 17 months straight! She feels the need to nurse 2 or 3 times during the night as well. (Yes, I'm still nursing). I am sure the nighttime wakings are not going to stop immediately either, but we're going to take it in stride. Unlike Annabelle, Sophia cried for a good 45 minutes straight this evening, and I didn't hear her last whimper until around 9:55 p.m. Strike that! She just started crying again at 10:34 p.m. I left her room at 8:35 p.m. Though her cries so far are strictly cries and not screams, so that is definitely comforting.

Besides the lack of sleep, here is what we've been up to lately.

1. We started teaching Annabelle's Sunday School Class back in August. Though we've only taught one Sunday so far. We teach again this coming Sunday.

2. Annabelle started ballet at the Decatur School of Ballet on Wednesday, September 7. She seems to be enjoying herself after only two classes. Though I am having a hard time adjusting to a new schedule. She is currently learning to spin and skip. Who knew skipping could be so hard? Not that we haven't practiced ourselves before, but skipping is a hard gross motor skill to master. I've actually read somewhere that a child isn't ready to read until they can sway their arms in an opposite direction from the leg skipping forward. Or something like that.

3. Hubby and I started a pretty intense Bible Study on Wednesday evenings for 2.5 hours. It is a 34 week commitment. I need prayers that the girls can tough through these long days and stay healthy. Perhaps I can convince my sweet parents to watch them on Wednesday nights so they can stay free and clear of hand, foot and mouth disease! Yuck! Apparently it has been making its way through the daycare center run by our church.

4. I agreed to work one day a weekend through October 15 at the public accounting firm I have been working at since I graduated from college. The extra cash is definitely a plus, especially during these economic times, but it definitely adds a bit of stress to our household.

5. Annabelle started her second year of choir on Wednesday, September 14. Hubby and I were attending the Bible Study during this hour, so my parents picked her up from choir and took the girls home for a normal bedtime. But the next day she was already singing several of the songs to me. She really seems to enjoy choir too.

6. We officially started our first day of Homeschool Pre-K yesterday. The curriculum I chose is centered completely around God. I doubt myself constantly in this role as teacher that I feel God has chosen us to take on in the coming years (if it works for us), so I need prayers that we are truly following God's will. And I especially need prayers that God will provide me with the patience I need to educate this strong-willed, must do it her way, child. I can see that after only one day she is going to be a challenge!!!

I hope you all haven't given up on me yet since I haven't posted since July! If you haven't, please feel free to leave a comment!

Child Rearing

I have abandoned my old thoughts on child rearing. Attachment parenting. I never really had any basis for parenting in that manner anyway. I did not read any books on it. It just felt right at the time. But as Annabelle has entered the little girl stage, I've realized it just isn't working for us! I've spent more days in the past year questioning what I've done wrong to raise such a disrespectful and self-centered child. And I think perhaps I may just have found the answer.

Attachment parenting equates to a child-centered family. Everything revolves around the children. And as a result, the children think they rule the roost. Why should they respect you and listen to you? In their little eyes, you should respect and listen to them before respect is ever earned. I know that there are many, many theories on child rearing, so if attachment parenting is your thing and it is working for you, go for it! I am not judging! But after much thought and reading, I am changing my parenting style.

If you aren't familiar with John Rosemond, I would highly recommend reading "Making the 'Terrible' Twos Terrific!" and "New Parent Power!" Next on my reading list is "The Well-Behaved Child." Warning: He is very old school! Even more old school than my own parents, and they are pretty old! After e-mailing my mom to let her know I would be implementing his ticket system immediately, she responded with the following: "You are soooo mean!" I'm beginning to think she was just lucky that my brother and I turned out alright.

I changed my thoughts on parenting after Annabelle embarrassed me twice in one week amongst friends during scheduled playdates and dinners. She was doped up on anti-itch medicine the first incident, but that is still no excuse for her disrespectful behavior. Well honestly, I've been trying to figure out how to correct her appropriately for awhile now as even 15 minute time outs just do not work!

After the last straw, I joined John Rosemond's membership website to gain access to parenting questions answered by John Rosemond or one of his Certified Leadership Parenting Coaches. I've already read "Making the 'Terrible' Twos Terrific!" and I was already in the midst of reading "New Parent Power!" I've gained so much by reading the parenting questions and responses already, and I truly believe his thoughts on child-rearing and discipline.

This will be a shocker to many of you, but I am strongly considering homeschooling our girls. I never even dreamed that mere thought would cross my mind 5 years ago, but something keeps telling me that this is something I need to consider. I have begun actively researching our options. We've discussed private school as well, but that would probably nip in the bud the thought of any more children, and I would need to enter the workforce again on a pretty full-time basis as soon as Sophia would be school age to even afford this option. But I'm not even sure that private school will calm the reservations that I am having about sending them to public schools. The next year will be filled with a lot of research, but mostly prayer!

So on the thought of child-rearing and homeschooling, I will leave you with a quote from John Rosemond's May 3, 2011 newspaper column titled "My 'Needs.'"

"I propose that yesterday's parents had it right. The only proper end goal of child rearing in America is to strengthen America. It is not all about the child. It is about one's responsibility to this country. It's not about raising a child who makes straight A's, earns a scholarship to a top-tier college, is the best center-forward in the NCAA, etcetera. It's about raising an adult who will be a good neighbor, someone who will be helpful and courteous and respectful and compassionate and charitable and responsible and so on. Most of all, it's about raising a child who will pass the baton of good citizenship properly to his or her kids.

When that's the goal, everything else will fall into its proper place.

The child may not make the best grades, but he will respect adults and do his best. As an adult, he may not wear an Italian silk tie to work or make a lot of money, but he will be a good neighbor.

In short, it's not about the child's supposed needs; it's about what America needs."

Howard Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park

Aunt Mary and Uncle Bill met us at our hotel this morning to spend the day with us exploring St. Marys, Georgia. St. Marys is the ferry departure point for Cumberland Island.

During our visit to St. Marys, we visited Howard Gilman Memorial Waterfront Park. It was opened in 2001, and it is a beautiful park.

Annabelle spotted the playground instantly, so she spent most of the time playing on the playground. Go figure!

Here is one of my favorite pictures from the day. She has recently (over the past few months) learned to swing like a monkey, so here she is at her best.

The little girl in the background is actually home schooled. Aunt Mary and I spent some time talking to her mother while we were at the playground, and we learned that they have been traveling on a catamaran for the past 6 months. Her husband and her are retired police officers. They had worked for the police department for 20 years, and they are now both retired. They were very young too (probably in their early forties)! They have three kids (ages 4, 10 and 17), and she home schools them all. She said that the girls were very easy to home school, but the boy was apparently a challenge for her. It sounded like he had a hard time staying focused. I've always heard that is pretty typical of boys though.

But, anyhow, it was so very neat to hear their story and how she did it. She used the Calvert School for her 10 year old son, and something different for her 17 year old daughter. For the 4 year old, she said she just made stuff up since her studies are very basic right now.

Some of you may know that thoughts of homeschooling have crossed my mind for Annabelle (and any future siblings). However, I just don't know if I have it in me. I know it has got to be a lot of work! And, I just don't know if I have it in me.

The argument (for most) against homeschooling is that home schooled children are "weird" and don't receive the socialization skills that government educated children receive. I'm not so sure I buy that at all! There are other ways for children to learn to be social, and much is learned from just watching their parents. Those children today were very interactive!

So, I'm off on a tangent now, but their lifestyle just seemed so neat to me. How cool would that be for both parents to be retired at such a young age to enjoy their children and travel wherever they like? I would LOVE to be able to travel with Annabelle all the time, but at a much more leisurely pace! However, I would prefer to travel in an RV versus a boat.