Life on Planet Caddick

We've been plugging along fairly well in our school year. Once we made the science change things have been going pretty smoothly. We've chucked the Sonlight reading schedule. Not the books - just the order. I know it seems rather weird to be reading stuff out of order, but so far it's been working out just fine. Our current read is Operation Yes which is about a school of military kids (Air Force even!) who have parents that deploy to Iraq and Afghanistan. A subject close to our hearts here. This actually ties to the history we're reading about (the Persian Empire). It's easy for him to see that even though the names of players change - things in that region of the world have been pretty much the same for thousands of years. So I'm good with letting him pick our reading schedule. I'm pretty sure he's been playing me for a fool in math for a long time now. He lets little slips happen where I know he understands, then tries to back pedal. Um, the gigs up s...

Wow! I can't believe I've been gone so long. I think about blogging here a lot, but then I realize that honestly, we aren't doing anything that awesome. I guess that's not the point though - the point is to get stuff down as a record mostly for myself. So I will try to be better. It's time to pick curriculum for next year. I don't know why this is so agonizing - and it gets worse as we get closer to high school. I'm planning 8th grade now. 8th grade {insert big 'Home Alone' face here}! I knew it was coming, yet somehow I'm still not completely prepared. I've realized that no matter how it's presented, Zach hates History. That it was always my favorite subject doesn't matter to him at all. So, I'm going to teach the way I want to and he's just going to have to get with the program. I'm going to go with Sonlight (World History Core W) for that and LA (since they come together). We will still do Lifepacs for Science. I'm ...

Our first year of homeschooling we used Sonlight. Obviously we've moved away from that - when I get ready for a new year though I always look at Sonlight. There were so many things I loved about it, but far more that I didn't - so I know not to go down that road again. By far my favorite part of Sonlight was read alouds. We read Charlotte's Web, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and tons of other books that year. Some I'd read and some I'd never heard of before. I always enjoyed that time. This is our first year homeschooling again after my son spent fourth and fifth grade in public school, which is why we are having some adjustment problems this year. A third grader is really different than a sixth grader! Yeah, we'll call that one of my "duh, mom" moments. In our recent revamping I've started reading out loud to my son again. I know, he's almost twelve (12 - oh my goodness!), and probably doesn't need me reading out loud to him. But although he's a...

Obviously the answer to that is 'yes'.  Sadly, I've been meaning to get on here for a while, but just seem to run out of time. So much has been going on; but before I continue with the everyday things (that seem oh so important ~ because they are!) I must say something about my mom. My mom's birthday was March 21.  She would have been 63 if she was still with us.  I still miss her dearly, but have learned to block some of the bad days.  Her birthday is one of them.  So, I changed my background to bees in honor of my mom.  She loved bees - not the real kind, but she amassed a collection of bee stuff, some of which graces my desk and holds my pens.  I don't think she chose  to collect bee items, I think it happened because she was known as "Mrs. B" to my friends, and "Gramma B" to the kids at the school she worked at (shout out to St. Therese in Lansing!).  Over the years they bought her bee themed gifts and as we all know, small groups of things b...

Today the boy turned 8.  I find it hard to believe eight years have passed so quickly.  So tell me, why am I suddenly being subjected to Bear in the Big Blue House and Blue's Clues DVD's again?  Imagine a huge  eye roll here.  I thought we were so past this mess - then he happened on some DVD's I had stashed to take to the Thrift Shop and now he's been watching these silly things all day.  UGH!  Now, don't get me wrong - if not for Bear, Blue, or Dora my son wouldn't know some spanish, and some very educational songs about the solar system, plus how to make magenta and aquamarine - but let's face it - we are not two or three anymore.  UGH again! We do have our curriculum set for next year - mostly.  I'm still struggling in finding a math program that works for us.  It's the hardest subject I've had to deal with this year and we're only in 2nd grade!  I can't imagine how bad it's going to be when he starts doing algebra (which I barely...

As many of you may know, several months ago I had issues with my support group wanting everyone to sign a statement of faith.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm a Christian.  It was more of a principle thing - a group for military homeschoolers, that meets on base, shouldn't have a religious requirement.  One of the reasons I enjoy homeschooling so much is showing CG that there are other views and allowing him to decide for himself. I've noticed in the Christian Homeschooling realm that there are two distinct beliefs about Creation.  The first is Young Earth (YE); from what I can understand (and please correct me if I'm wrong) this is the belief that God created the earth in 6 days (six 24 hour periods).  This is basically the literal interpretation of the Bible.  The second set (now just Christians, of course) is Old Earth (OE).  This is the belief (as I understand it - again correct me if I'm wrong) that while God did indeed create the earth we don't know how l...

We took a break from our Sonlight this week and studied the First Thanksgiving.  It was a short week, only three days, but we stayed on track with math, grammar, spelling, and language arts.  Some things just need to be done!  CG enjoyed the unit; mostly because we got to read a Magic School Bus book!  He loves the MSB!   I've been rethinking the whole "stretch this core to last until 4th grade".  First of all, I just don't think I'm creative enough to make it go that far.  Second, since Core 2 is also Intro to World History, I think it would be great if we moved on before CG got burned out!  So, I've finally decided on a schedule that will stretch this year and then I will worry about all the rest later.  See me relax?!  Now that I've decided on something I find it very interesting that I don't spend hours at night pouring over the IG and trying to tweak it.  That's how I know it's the right amount of everything everyday. So, what is the ...

So, I have made my decision about belonging to two groups.  Since it's just really not possible I have opted to stay with the group here on base.  I really loved the Eastover group - but I had to add 45 minutes to an hour to everything we did and I was just losing too much time out of the school day.  So, there it is.  Decision made. I have also decided to use Core 1 for the duration of 2nd and all of 3rd grade.  This does require some stretching and adding on my part - but I worked out the numbers and I think I can make it work.  If my math is faulty I will find out next year and then I can either slow it down some more or speed it back up.  For math, reading, language arts/handwriting, grammar, and spelling we are staying right on track.  Everyday for those subjects.  Then we will alternate history, geography, read-alouds, and science on a 2 day/week or 3 day/week schedule.  This will stretch out what I currently have to 62 weeks - which does leave me about 6 weeks short in third...

Well, things are still moving forward at a pretty good pace.  I finally decided on a complete schedule for All Saints - we are doing 45 days on and 15 days off.  It will be a complete year round schedule; pretty much starting in July and ending in June.  CG doesn't do too well with tons  of time off - so we may knock it down to 45/10 - we'll have to see. We are almost completely done with our All About Spelling Level One.  I ordered Level two and it is ready and waiting for us.  As the only program we have not had to change this year I cannot say enough about this program!  It is awesome.  And as a first time homeschooler it's very easy to use.  CG still says spelling is his favorite time of the day!  A very different view from when he was in school! We still haven't started using Sonlight.  It's a long (very long) story with Core changes - from 1+2 to 1.  I'm expecting the books now on Monday - so we will probably start Sonlight after our first break which is a...

Well things are clipping along at a pretty even pace here at All Saints.  I hoped that we would be able to start our Sonlight and Apologia Science next week - but we haven't quite finished up some of the things we are currently working on.  We have to finish reading Midnight on the Moon and studying Arctic Penguins - two things CG specifically asked to do - so we are now looking at starting our newest new curricula on the week of the 8th. We did get our Sonlight order this week and let me tell you - that was exciting!  They call it Box Day in the Sonlight realm - and it is super cool.  We did an easy day that day so I could go through all the books and set up the library shelves and stuff.  Let's face it - I was way more excited than CG - but his favorite time of the day is reading time (we are reading Midnight on the Moon out loud) so I think that this may really be a good fit for us.  Apologia is also read aloud - so I fear I may lose my voice until I'm used to reading al...

Who would have thought that choosing the right curriculum would be so hard?  But alas, that is the way of homeschooling.  I have been congratulated on a couple of my online groups for being brave enough to change.  Apparently that's something that "newbies" don't do very often. This past week I ordered Apologia Science (Elementary Astronomy) and Sonlight Core 1+2.  The Sonlight is for reading, history, and geography.  Even though CG is not a huge fan of reading we are going to give it a whirl.  He likes to be read to and enjoys the days we curl up on the couch and read together - so this should make school a lot more fun for him.  I also ordered a kit to go with the science - it has all the things you need to do the hands on in the science book.  Science + hands on = extremely happy CG! I also ordered some grade one books on the Lutheran Faith.  I know, he's in second - but lets face it; our church ways have been pretty minimal.  So I figured we could do the grade...