2016-2017 Getting Ready

Well, 2016-2017 preparation has begun for us! :)  I thought I would share about what our upcoming year will hold! :)  

For Bible this year we are going to be using a curriculum from Praise Hymn

Bible Series. It looks like we are going to have quite a bit of learning and fun! :)

Phonics/Reading will be a big emphasis for us this year.  We are going to be trying a program I have heard amazing things about with special needs children as well as typically developing children!  I am quite excited about this program and that it is multi sensory and moves at our pace.  All about Learning Press really is confident in their All about Reading program and they have a FULL 1 year guarantee if you are not satisfied you can send it back for a refund!  That is better than I have ever heard before.  I am prayerful this is going to be wonderful for Noah :)  It is based on Orton-Gillinham Approach which I have also heard very good things about.  :)

Noah has improved so much with his motor skills and is able to copy letters now :)  He is very much loving that and has spent a good bit of time this summer copying letters and numbers from signs, packages, etc because he is so excited about writing :)  For Handwriting for this coming year I have found a new program that we are excited about :) We will be using Exploring Handwriting through the Scriptures :) 

For Math this year another change :)  We are going with Shiller Math Kit 1.  This is through 3rd grade math all in one Kit.  It is again multi sensory and it is based on the Montessori Method.  I have a friend who uses this program and did a few lessons with Noah and her son and Noah was very responsive to the lessons. I love that it will really help him learn the concepts and not just to know facts.  

For our History/Geography We will be using a wonderful program from Confessions of a Homeschooler! :) Road Trip USA!  We will be learning all kinds of wonderful things about each state :)  We are trying to have people from each state send postcards, trinkets, whatever they can that will scream that state!!  We will be taking more time than is called for in each state so that we can really enjoy the "trip" and so we will be using this program for 2 years :)  If we love it as much as I think we will COH has a World Geography/History as well called Exploration Earth and we will most likely do that after Road Trip USA is complete :) 

We will also be using COH progam for some of our Science this year!! We will be doing the Scientists and Inventors program which uses the book series Getting to Know the World's Greatest Scientists books :)  I love that we will be learning from reading real books :)  We will also be doing some Animal Studies on Animals from each state that we will be learning about as well :)  and a few Lapbook Studies as well.  Should be a really fun time with science this year :)

We are also adding in some Composers and Artists Studies with COH.

Again we will be reading books about each Composer and Artist we study and seeing  or hearing their work! :)  I am so excited about all of these curriculum's from COH :)

In addition to our curriculum we will be as active as we can be in our Christian Family Educators (CFE) Homeschool group again this year! I will be serving on the Field Trip Team this year and I hope to be a part of the yearbook committee again.  We will have field trips, family activities, Moms and Dad's Night outs, Field Day, Spelling Bee, Cookie Swap, Christmas Caroling and the list goes on :)  We are so blessed to be a part of CFE and are looking forward to a wonderful year with our friends :)

Also we will be spending time with our friends in our Lighthouse Homeschool Friends group!  This is a fairly new Christian Prayer Support and Fellowship group with some other Christian Homeschool Moms.  We are hoping to secure a location for a Monthly meeting and fellowship as well as a few field trips and activities throughout the year.  We are so blessed the Lord has put so many wonderful people in our journey of life :)

In addition to all of that it looks like our Challenger Baseball League is going to hold a Fall Ball Challenger Session so we will have some baseball to look forward to :)  and I am hoping to find a good Basketball group for Noah through Upwards in January if I can.  He has not tried that yet and his Daddy loves Basketball so he wants to try that out :)  And we might be involved in a special needs soccer team at some point if that comes about.

I am very excited about this coming school year for both boys :)  Jeremiah will be as involved as he can be and of course will have a lot of fun activities of his own going on that are not a part of our purchased curriculum.  He will also have his Speech, Adaptive PE, Quarterly OT, PT, and a homebound teacher who comes in and does a little reading with him.  We are a little nervous about the homebound teacher because the one he has had and the other teacher for the parish both retired after many years at the end of the year so it will be very different I am sure this year.

I hope to do a much better job of keeping the blog updated for our benefit and for any others who are interested :)  Also for those reading who have or plan to send things for our Road Trip USA State Study this will be a way for you to see how that is going :)  I was reading back over our family blog the other day from during both adoptions and when the boys were each first home and I treasure all of those posts.  I wanted to have them printed but that is not affordable so I will be copying it to a hard drive little by little when I can.  I pray nothing ever happens to blogger but One true media did shut down and I lost quite a few videos and slide shows when it did so I want to make sure to have all the blogs backed up somehow.

So if you are reading along please drop me a comment and let me know :)  I pray for each of you that is preparing your own schooling for the year if you are teaching your own children or in a classroom and for the families whose children go off to school praying for y'all as you gather all the needed items and begin the new year.  Have a great one everyone!

2015-2016 its a wrap

Well I totally bombed at blogging this school year!  I should come back later when I have more time and at least put some pictures from FB on this post to show a bit of the year.  It was a good year and both boys grew in so many ways.  I am so blessed to be able to spend my days with them and I am constantly trying to learn more and more how to do this better.  I really do want to make next year better in so many ways and I so want to blog it.  My plan is to make some posts in the next week or so about planning stages I am in and what we will be doing next year and then to make weekly posts next year.  I pray I can be consistent.  FB has kinda because an online scrapbook of our lives and in alot of ways I miss blogging. I wish I could afford to have the entire family blog printed as well as this school blog.  Anyway lets see how I do at updating and if you are reading let me know :)  Might be nice to think someone will be interested in what we will be doing :)Here are just a few pics I had I can add.  Most are from may, a couple earlier in the year.

Noah on a horse at the boys Birthday party

Jeremiah at Celeste and Dallas Rehearsal Dinner

Painting Field Trip

Even Bingo is learning. Noah can get him to get on here and stay while Noah walks all the way into the kitchen to get a treat and back.

Both boys are playing Challenger Baseball!  Talk about fun PE :)

Catching up

Well, I have not done as well as I hoped with keeping the school blog, or any of my blogs, up to date as I had hoped but oh well! We had a pretty active fall, and then we left home Nov 30th for Houston for Jeremiah's surgery and recovery which meant school in hospital and Ronald McDonald House.  Noah was needing a break and review so I printed TONS of things to work on during our trip that Daddy or I could do with him. I really should have taken a picture one day when we were in a dr office and he is doing cutting and pasting pages and asks the dr if he knew his sounds! LOL  but I was so embarassed!LOL  The dr is young and no kids so it was interesting! Anyway , here are some pics of alot of learning the past couple months! :) Not alot of pics of actual school papers but their were alot of them done as well :) Hope you enjoy...

Sci port Science Field trip in November with friends

this was learning about Apples. Not sure if I posted this already or not.  He was in such a silly mood :)

This is some pics in Houston. Frames Noah made for him and Jeremiah, A family pic one day after surgery when we escaped the floor and took Jeremiah outside, and Noah learning about bladder ultrasounds and helping give one!

This was the first day out of the hospital painting ornaments!

Noah learning about dogs :) He loves them!  Therapy dogs and of course Mogie the RMH dog :) and learning about cooking!  He asked this chef a TON of questions! Thank God for nice people! :)

This is back home after our trip and after holidays. Noah loves to help Jeremiah have turns too :)

More from this past week of school.

Showing off an ornament he made at class at RMH and learning some nursing skills!

This just blessed my heart!!!  Noah is SOOO curious and he and this news man made friends! So he got a lesson in being a tv newscaster!:) The top left picture is the one the cameraman took of Noah and Tweeted! :) and it was on the news! :) The others were pics I took of them together :)

learning, learning everywhere! :) Noah is doing some online schooling and a little old lady gets involved! too cute :) 

These are just a FEW of the times that Noah was helping others! This boy so blesses me!! He is helping another family who was checking out, he is helping one of the staff after they have just loaded the community fridge with cartons of donated milk together, he is helping love on a baby in a friends family, and after a slew of kids left the playroom he goes back to help the man whose chore it was to clean the playroom.  So proud of this boy! :)

Noah had lots of time to work on social skills, fine and gross motor skills and his chicken dance!!! :)  these were on the night Southwest Airlines came and blessed all the families with gifts in addition to all the fun they bring every month! ;)

Jeremiah working on vision!:) Neuro opthamology appt went very well. Jeremiah will be getting special glasses! :) and the bottom is the boys with Olaf!! They got to MEET OLAF!! :) had to share that! :)

working on letters to Santa and mailing in the special mailbox!

Noah and his letter to Santa

riding a bike instead of trycicle for first time.

Noah giving pull tabs to RMH that we and friends had been saving!

spending time at the hospital together :)  I thank God EVERY day for the blessing of the ipad and ask Him to bless the friend who got it for the boys! :)

Noah at co op in November

Jeremiah at co op in November

Noah at Co-op

more co-op pics :)

our family right before Christmas at RMH

I pray you all had a wonderful Christmas and a very Happy New Year!  Thanks for following along in our journey!  I hope to post more frequently this semester! :)

week 5 Autumn and week 6 Fire Safety

The past 2 weeks have been crazy for our family between commitments, illnesses, Er Visits, Dr. Appts, specialist appts etc that I have been going nuts and do not have as many school pics as I should.  I said I was going to do such a good job of recording school in pictures and then I let life get the best of me!  I do have some pics taken over the last 2 weeks to share and some are super cute as my best friend's daughter got married so we were all gussied up :)  Some are from school activities too.  Hope you enjoy them :)

Noah and I at the library last week.  This past week Daddy had to take him because I was soo sick and Daddy does not have a camera on his phone :(

Noah happy doing scarves at library time

Creation review for school

This was awesome.  Noah spotted a frog under the van while we were outside after Jeremiah was on the bus.  The pics of the frog under the van did not turn out but the ones of him looking at it and talking to me about it did.  At first he totally freaked out then he decided it was interesting :)  heehee gotta love this kid

he is sooo cute!

love that smile :)

working on the ipad we have been blessed with!!!!  I can't even tell you what a HUGE surprise and blessing this was to us.  An online friend came across an amazing deal and got the boys an Ipad II to help with their learning :) It is amazing during school and also to work with Jeremiah.  I know it will be an even huger blessing when we are in Texas for Jeremiah's surgery time.

its blurry but such a sweet smile :)

Waiting room school with our Nannie again :)  

Silly times while waiting for Nannie after we were done.

wish these were not so blurry.  they show my silly boy's personality and how he can make me act a nut!

and sweet smile for mama

All the children of the world puppets we made in art during school

Daddy was off FINALLY on a Saturday!  The only one he has off the entire football season so we rushed to football and then home to get ready for the wedding that day :)

Jeremiah and mommy ready for wedding

Noah and daddy , my sharp dressed men!

Noah and I :)  love that boys laugh :)

Jeremiah with Nannie's shades on at the wedding :)  so cute

I WILL do better to take pics during school this week. I also may take some pics of things he did for our themes the past 2 weeks and come back and put them on this post. Also we missed co op which is ever other week with illness, Daddy came home sick from work one day passed it back to me. what fun.  We did not make art this time either.  oh well its one class.  Next week we have a new class starting that is once a month and we can't wait :)