We started our ninth official year of homeschooling with gusto.  I quickly learned that even if I claimed some normal pencils…that they would disappear…and had to resort to this.

This was Ceili Rain’s artwork on her assignment book. I giggled.  Public school kids probably have the same misconceived pictures of homeschool kids too…right?

Here’s the lowdown on what everyone is working on.  I try to buy all of my non-consummables used to keep costs down.  But, I’m including links that will have new curriculum.  Our Bible curriculum this year is PictureSmart Bible New Testament.

Emmie’s main “work” is to color, cut, and explore.  She’s doing a great job with it.  She’s also designated her self, on most days, as Malachi’s cheerleader.

Malachi is all set on learning to read. He started out in All About Reading Pre-Level but when I realized that he knew what all of his letters were (capital and lower case), I skipped over that and the past few weeks have been focused on letter sounds.  He loves it.

Bryant is working hard in Math Mammoth Grade 2, All About Reading and All About Spelling Levels 2.  In fact, he has worked so hard with his reading and spelling, he is about to move on to the third level in both!  I like the All About series because it works at the child’s pace.  When I feel they are ready to move on after mastering a skill, they can.  But sometimes, I can tell they aren’t, and we back up and work some more on it.  We weren’t getting that with any other curriculum we worked in and it’s really something that Bryant (and Silas) have both needed.

From Bryant to Liam, we are going through Apologia Land Animals on the Sixth Day, Zoology 3.  They love learning about all the different animals!

From Bryant to Ace, we backtracked from our history last year (Mystery of History Volume 4) and are doing Mystery of History Volume 3.

Handwriting goes from Bryant to Josiah and we use A Reason for Handwriting.

Ceili Rain is using Veritas Comprehension Guides for Reading.

Silas started out finishing up All About Reading and All About Spelling Levels 1.  He finished those in September and is now working through Level 2.  Some days are fast and some days are really, really slow.  It depends on moods and motivations.

Both Ceili Rain and Silas are working through Math Mammoth Grade 3.  They are doing an excellent job too!  Silas started out last year with pretty big delays in addition and subtraction and had to back track into some first and second grade things to catch up but now, he’s doing really good picking up on the third grade concepts.  Ceili Rain continues to tell us that she loves math!

Josiah is in Veritas for reading, IEW Continuation Course Level B for Writing, Math  Mammoth Grade 5 and all the other things mentioned earlier.  He’s doing a great job keeping up with his work!

Liam has turned a giant corner and for the first time in six years is not fighting me on school…most of the time.  He has a joyful attitude and, most of the time, works hard to finish his tasks.  He’s doing Math Mammoth Grade 6, Veritas reading and IEW with Josiah.

Ace’s last year before high school!  He’s in Apologia Physical Science, IEW Continuation Course C (with Zoe), Windows to the World and Introduction to Literary Analysis.  He finished up Saxon Math 8/7 and is now plunging into Saxon Algebra 1.

Ace is showing a big interest in architecture and graphic design.  We’re working on finding some introductory courses for him to take online over the next year that will help him see what direction God is leading him.

Our first high schooler!  Goodness ya’ll.  The time is going by so fast with our first born.  She is an amazing kid.  Most everyone knows that she has a gift and a passion for languages.  Which ones?  You name it.  I think I saw that she has recently taught herself the Korean alphabet.  She uses several websites like Duolingo and Memrise.  The past few years she has shown a bigger interest in learning Sign Language.  Last year, she took an online course but we were excited for this year when a local homeschool mom organized a class with an ASL interpreter.  Our pastor, also put up an offer to teach a class on New Testament Greek.  Zoe, of course, jumped at that chance.  It’s safe to say those are her two favorite courses this year.

She is also getting to experience the joys of high school in Saxon Algebra 2, English and Composition, and Apologia Biology (must get the dissection out of the way…neither of us are looking forward to that).  She took the SAT and PSAT this year and will take the ACE at some point before the year is over.

For her English and Composition, I’m combining English 1 and 2 from Excellence in Literature.  It’s been a good fit and she is learning even more about how to develop a thesis statement and support it.  Plus, she is reading some quality literature which is exciting for us both.

It’s been interesting as I jump from high school teacher to elementary teacher and then back to guidance counselor and career counselor.  I do feel quite teacher schizophrenic on some days.  The kids are doing great.  It’s always exciting when we see where God is leading their hearts to serve Him.