It is amazing to admit, but homeschooling, year #5, has begun! I can hardly believe that I have been at it this long. So much has changed in the way we school, what I teach, how many diapers require changing right in the middle of math . . . you get the picture! After the first year, several things have remained the same, and that is our love of Sonlight Homeschool Curriculum, my $15 book to teach reading called, "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons," our use of Saxon Math and of course, our schedule of organized chaos! 
This year, Sarah is in 4th grade, Daniel in 3rd and Lizzy is a K/1st grader-though she just knows she is in Kindergarten, but she does mostly 1st grade work. Jacob is 3 and Leah almost 2, so they still get to play all day and take great naps! Their world rotates between Duplos, Lincoln 
Logs, puzzles, play-doh, preschool music and coloring.
We pretty much still did school 2-3 days a week during the summer trying to finish up last years' math and history. We were able to do 3 days of the new school year before Papa and Grammy came for a visit. While they were here we took the kids to The River Center in Burt Reynold's Park off of the Loxahatchee River (sounds important, right? It is actually a very tiny place here in Jupiter, but it has a fun touch tank!) There the willing kids and Papa were able to hold a Pencil Urchin(see top pic), a sea cucumber, a very large hermit crab and see regular sea urchins and how they "stick" shells to themselves as camouflage!
Logs, puzzles, play-doh, preschool music and coloring.We pretty much still did school 2-3 days a week during the summer trying to finish up last years' math and history. We were able to do 3 days of the new school year before Papa and Grammy came for a visit. While they were here we took the kids to The River Center in Burt Reynold's Park off of the Loxahatchee River (sounds important, right? It is actually a very tiny place here in Jupiter, but it has a fun touch tank!) There the willing kids and Papa were able to hold a Pencil Urchin(see top pic), a sea cucumber, a very large hermit crab and see regular sea urchins and how they "stick" shells to themselves as camouflage!
Sarah has appointed herself mommy #2 as well as teacher #2 around here! She is teaching Lizzy her Kindergarten math and we'll see if she can keep it up when we start Lizzy on the 1st grade math in November. Sarah is doing her own 4th level math with a CD-ROM "teacher" and all I do is correct it now-this saves me a whole hour a day! On top of this she does a creative writing journal, a writing copywork program, Easy Grammar and Daily 
Grams, Latin, piano, spelling level 5 and readers that are mostly non-fiction early American History. She can read many books in just one day and is DEVOURING books!
Grams, Latin, piano, spelling level 5 and readers that are mostly non-fiction early American History. She can read many books in just one day and is DEVOURING books! Daniel puts up with his required schoolwork in between building Legos and wrestling with Jacob. He is working on learning cursive, copywork, creative writing journal, spelling level 4, Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, readers, Latin, piano and Saxon Math level 4 as well.
I teach Sarah and Dan Science before lunch and we have been studying the classification order in science (Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, Species) and how the cell works. After my nap and while the little ones are still sleeping, we are finishing up Ancient History from Level 2 and are getting ready to start modern history in South and North America beginning with the Aztecs, Incas and Mayans. At night, from 8-8:30 when the littler ones are in bed we do a read-aloud book. They are hand-picked from Sonlight and are at a higher reading level than the kids, but at their listening level. This summer we have read, "A Cricket in Times Square," 
"The Twenty-One Balloons," "And the Word Came with Power." 3 VERY different books! One is from animal perspectives, one is based on a true story about early 1900's hydrogen balloon travel and the explosion of the island of Krakatoa, and the last one was about a Wycliffe Bible translator in the north end of the Philippeans! The kids were transfixed on each one and Marc and I had to admit to craving to "hear what happens next!"
"The Twenty-One Balloons," "And the Word Came with Power." 3 VERY different books! One is from animal perspectives, one is based on a true story about early 1900's hydrogen balloon travel and the explosion of the island of Krakatoa, and the last one was about a Wycliffe Bible translator in the north end of the Philippeans! The kids were transfixed on each one and Marc and I had to admit to craving to "hear what happens next!"
Lizzy's K/1st day is pretty simple. She reads to me from the Beginner's Bible and then tells me what to write for her in her Kindergarten level journal. After I print in it for her she draws a picture of what I wrote. She is doing early sounds grammer in a series of workbooks called Explode the Code and learning her lower case letters in her handwriting book. I also read aloud to her and Jake after lunch. We are currently reading "The House at Pooh Corner," and "Hero Tales" about missionaries.
In two weeks we are expecting Gabriel Marc to join us and I know that will make our already scheduled life tested. Hopefully having the practice of schedule and schoolwork will make the transition easier. I want to take this moment to say that I really have 5 wonderful children that fill up my days to the bursting point, but I wouldn't have it any other way. I can't imagine even one of them away at school all day, despite the noise, chaos and discipline of having 5-almost 6-kids in this small house 24/7.
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