I'm finally back with a name change

mamato4andc · #1 July 12th, 2012, 04:42 PM

Hi everyone. My old name was israelsofiaplusone. This site didn't let me in so I gave up. Since I was last here, I had a baby girl who we named Lily Abigail. She was born on November 12th after 4 major contractions, at my house. Took us completely by surprise since the one before her was almost 19 hours of labor lol.
The kids are doing good. We decided to start school in July so we can have the winter months when it's cool outside off. We live in the desert in southern California so we don't get out much in the summer.
Israel(7) will be doing 3rd? grade math,4th grade everything else.
Sofia(5) will probably be doing first although she is already doing multiplication.
I'll be starting Malachi in preschool but he barely started talking where we could understand a few months lol. What a difference from the first two.
How's everyone doing?

BensMom · #2 July 12th, 2012, 08:52 PM

Yay!! You're back!! I wondered about you! Congrats on the new baby!

All's well here. Gonna start back to a full school schedule in mid-August. We're only doing Bible and a little bit of ancient Rome right now. Ben (turning 7 in the Fall) will be doing "4th grade" next year (which is a range of 3rd math to 6th English & Latin to 8th reading & Bible... kid's all over the place), and Daniel (turning 4 in the Fall) will be doing mostly 1st, although he might jump into a little 2nd in Spring. He seems to really take the learning spurts to a new level compared to Ben. Sometimes Daniel is insisting on learning something new everyday, and learning at a crazy fast pace, and sometimes he wants nothing at all to do with anything academic... which is totally fine at his age anyway. He's also not nearly as asynchronous as Ben. Daniel is pretty much at a 1st grade level across the board (although his reading may be a little higher than that, but not much). I've gotten used to Ben's subject matter being so far spread in level that it's a nice change of pace to have Daniel be so simple!

HS&Fsmom · #3 July 14th, 2012, 09:16 AM

Good to have you back! I have homeschool envy! Wish I could devote full time to having mine on the grade level they really should be. However I can't quit my job, so sending my 2 to regular preschool. Sergio is 2.5 and Hugo is 4. Hugo is very much beyond the preschool curriculum but I'm hoping his new teacher this fall will stress handwriting (we heard she does) since he could use more practice with his. He loves the social time if nothing else and has a ton of friends. He is also up for the blue belt in karate next week. Sergio is into trying to boss his brother around, and almost equals Hugo physically and verbally. He finally made the switch to underwear... what a relief... no more diapers in our house.

Congrats on the new baby! Were you planning a home birth or did it just happen that way since it went so fast?

mamato4andc · #4 July 18th, 2012, 01:47 PM

We were actually planning a birth center birth but it was a 2 hour drive. As soon as I seen that the contractions were coming so close we decided to go to the hospital. But before we could even get downstairs to leave, she came. After seeing how easily it went, my husband FINALLY agreed with me to have any other kids we have at home!

In fact, he's the one who mentioned it after we had her. I literally had NO pain as soon as she came out!

Thanks for the welcomes! What do you use for Bible Bensmom? Everything I find is the same ol jonah,daniel,adam and eve stuff that they've known since they were two!

BensMom · #5 July 18th, 2012, 03:55 PM

Other than Britnell, Waldron, and Rod & Staff products, these are all free resources:

For toddler/preschool, I like "Rainbow Lessons" by Jane Britnell. There are two books, a year each, for OT and NT. I like Britnell, but I don't actually use it. I create a storybook of the Bible at the preschool level using construction paper and markers in a binder. I draw the stories (stick figures) and write the text, along with a memory verse for each lesson. It takes about 2 years to get through the Bible that way. I also like reading aloud from the Rod & Staff story books (meant to be a reading curriculum for 2nd-4th grades). For late preschool through elementary, I like this and this, as well as the R&S readers I mentioned earlier. For middle school, I like R&S Bible (all of it... the books don't increase in difficulty as the grade level goes up... they just take you through the Bible, so all are appropriate for middle school), and this. For high school and adult, I like this used in conjunction with the Waldrons' nine volume series.

These are all curricula that take you through the Bible at an age-appropriate level/pace. I also have topical studies planned, but I'm pulling them from various other sources (some written by friends, some I'll create, etc.). We'll be doing an evidential history of the Bible (editions, printings, contridictions with other texts, proofs of authenticity, etc.), a financial stewardship course, a godly men course, a geography/history course, etc. But those will be late middle school through high school. We're working through the R&S books right now... finishing #6.