Home School Open House!

Welcome to the March edition of Home School Open House!

Today, I thought I'd simply show you a sampling of some of the curriculum we use.

We're kind of eclectic both in our home school methods and curriculum. What does that mean, exactly?

Well, for one thing, I don't go by strict lesson plans laid out by my curriculum...I pretty much decide our own lesson plans and schedule.
I don't even have a huge schedule made out like some of my home school friends, but I do usually have an agenda in my head of the general things I want to accomplish that week. (The exception would be with math, where I've marked the pages they need to do each day several weeks in advance. It's just seems to work best for us for this subject.)

Also, being eclectic in curriculum means that I pick and choose from various curriculum what we like best.

For example, I might love the math workbooks of Horizon, but prefer Bob Jones language arts. (Which exactly happens to be true, in our case!)

As I show you some of our books, keep in mind that I'm only showing a fraction of what we have...(though we certainly don't cover every subject on a daily basis!) However, we usually do consistently do math, language arts or writing every day...so that's what I'll show you first...



I have to say, my six year old loves math quite a bit more than my fourth grader...who use to love math until this year when it got just a wee bit more complicated!

She does, however, like her English book quite a bit...

And today, these arrived from one of my favorite places, Christianbooks.com...

My girls actually get excited when new workbooks or textbooks arrive at our front door!

I'm looking forward to using the first one with both girls...learning about cells and molecules at a very beginning level (for ages 5-10) .
The second one was the same workbook about maps that my oldest used in first grade and loved.
The third book went along with all of the recent Oregon trail field trips we've been on, and at such a bargain price, I couldn't resist it!

And now- in keeping with my eclectic theme- I want to show you something totally different!
On a beautiful day clear back last May, we decided to go for a walk, keeping our eyes and ears out for neighborhood birds.
Then we followed it up by researching other types of birds on the internet...and then I took it even another step further by having them pick out a few of their favorites and drawing and labeling them. Since I knew they always love drawing about something they've just learned about, I try to encourage it from time to time.

Here's what my then just-turned-six year old drew:


In case you're unclear, they are the Violet Green Swallow, the Sapsucker, and the ever popular Northern Pulmar.
(And if you're not that familiar with all of them, don't worry...neither was I! Exploring things with my children is one of the things l love about home schooling!)

I hope you've enjoyed another peek into our home school. Please take a moment to check out any of the other participants, as well!

And since I have a few Irish ancestors in my family tree, I'd be amiss if I didn't end by wishing each of you a warm...


Blessings!