Mommy Octopus

We are most definitely homeschooling again this year.  I had some thoughts before all the craziness happened of sending a couple to school, but we are back to homeschool now.  I plan to start some of our school next week and ease back into it.  It’s been so hot lately so it’s time to go ahead and get started.

If you care to look back, you can see what we used in the 2015-2016 year here or in the 2016-2017 school year here. 2017-2018 can be found here. 2018-2019 can be found here. Last year 2019-2020 can be found here.

This upcoming school year, I will have an 11th/12th grader, 8th grader, 5th grader, 4th grader and a pre-K/Kindergartener.  When I mention half grades, it’s because they are smack dab in the middle of the two.  That is the joy of homeschooling.  We can speed up or slow down as needed depending on schedules, learning styles, etc.  My oldest has an early August birthday so if she were in public school, she could be either the oldest or youngest of her grade, depending on how we moved forward.  I think we aim to graduate her in December of 2021 so she will be 18 at graduation.

My youngest has an early September birthday.  Many pre-K things are too young for him, but some Kindergarten things are too advanced.  He’s right smack in the middle.  We are going to proceed forward with him but will back off as needed throughout the year.

Math:

All 3 middle kids are going to use an online program, Teaching Textbooks this year.  Honestly, it’s not one of my favorite curriculums, but it’s needed this year since I will have my hands full teaching my youngest to read.  This program automatically teaches math skills and grades instantly.  I will be supplementing them with a program called Prodigy.  They absolutely love this game. They complete math questions in order to gain items and fight evil in the imaginary world.

My youngest will probably start Horizons Math later this year depending on how school is going for him.  All of my kids have started off using Horizons Math.

We are also continuing with XtraMath.org for the 4th and 5th graders.  I can’t say enough great things about this website!  It’s a completely free way to make sure your kids understand all of their math facts.  As a mom, I can login and see how they are doing as well and what needs improvement.

For my oldest, we will continue with Math-U-See to finish Algebra 2 and then she will be moving on to Stewardship.  That is a consumer math program.

Language Arts:

We are continuing Building Spelling Skills for the middle 3 to work on spelling.

My youngest will continue with Explode the Code.

My youngest will also continue Reading Kingdom about 2-3 times a week.  You can get a FREE month here. We tried it out for a review and several of my other kids have completed this program in previous years.

We will be using A Reason For Handwriting (various levels) with the younger three kids as well.

Easy Grammar will be used with most of the kids to cover Grammar topics.

Bible:

As a family, we are going to be working through Who is My Neighbor? from Apologia.  My middle 3 will have workbooks to go along with the program.  From the website, this textbook focuses on the questions:

• Does Anyone Really Need Me?
• How Can I make a Difference?
• Who is my Neighbor?
• Why did God Make Families?
• What Can I Do for my Country?
• Why Can’t we all just Get Along?
• Who is God’s Family?
• Why Does the Church Need Me?

I felt that this year was a great year to cover loving our neighbors.

Social Studies:

We will continue to pull from Allinonehomeschool.com for the middle three and of course the vast variety of books at the library.

Science:

I will be using Apologia’s Anatomy with the middle three.  I really like Apologia’s sciences!  We had a lot of fun with their Zoology last year.

Electives and Extracurriculars:

My 8th grader is going to get a jump start on his high school courses by starting Apologia’s Health and Nutrition course.  We used this with my oldest and we liked how it flowed.

Other than that we are going to work on some online drawing classes and develop some hobbies this year instead of doing a lot of activities outside the house.  It will be a little bit crazy around here now that we will have FIVE students this year!!

Final Thoughts:  

If you are new to homeschooling this year, know that it is doable!  If cost is prohibitive for your family, consider Allinonehomeschool.com, which is a completely FREE homeschool curriculum!  Have a great year!

OldNavy.com is now offering a 5 pack of masks for only $12.50!  That seems like a good deal so you can wash one and still have some available.  Be sure to also shop around as OldNavy.com is having a big sale with up to 60% off sitewide.  Of course it’s also time to buy your yearly Old Navy flag shirts, too.  Shipping is free on orders over $50!

We received this product in exchange for a review.  All opinions are our own.  

We had the great pleasure of reviewing another great product for Timberdoodle. This product hit a home run with our family!   Laser Chess from Thinkfun is another fun strategy game in the Thinkfun line.  We own several of their games and I think this is a new favorite.

Laser Chess was actually really easy to learn, and is geared toward ages 8 and up.  My husband and my 8th grader had the most fun with this game.  The goal is to set your mirrors on the board to send your laser to hit the opponent’s king.  Throughout the game, your opponent can also use their laser and remove your mirrors, leaving you with fewer to deflect your laser.

We even took Laser Chess with us to the cousin’s house and the boys played it there as well.  We found this game much more fun to play in the evening when it was a little darker.  When it’s darker you can see the laser better.  Below you can see my son pressing his laser to see where it ends up.  If he hits certain pieces of his opponent’s team, those pieces are then removed.

We definitely recommend this game to others.  For more information, please visit Laser Chess on Timberdoodle.  Timberdoodle also puts together curriculum kits for homeschoolers and  Laser Chess is included in their Seventh Grade Curriculum Kit.

Did you know that Amazon offers Subscription Boxes?  There is something that will fit everyone!

With more than 250 subscription boxes to choose from, Amazon Subscription Boxes has a perfect box of monthly, curated goodness for you (or as a treat for someone else). Amazon Subscription Boxes offers a wide range of options, including beauty boxes, snack boxes, lifestyle boxes, toy boxes for the kids and even monthly boxes for the pets. Don’t forget the pets! All of the boxes include free shipping, and a lot of them include discounts on the first box.

Head on over to see what all is offered for your needs.

Plushible.com is offering face masks for children and adults for only $2.50 SHIPPED each (normally $5) when you use code 50MASK at checkout!    These masks have such fun prints including unicorns!  They are dual layer and breathable and geared toward kids ages 7 and up.  Machine washable, too!

Great for the emergency kit, you can snag a 3 piece Instant Tent Set for only $17.99, down from $54.95!  I’m going to grab one for my 13 year old son for his birthday.  Great item for when he’s hiking with his friends and his scout troop.  Order 2 or more and shipping is FREE!

In this box:
Roll Up Portable Blanket
Inflatable Camping Pillow
Portable A-Frame Tent

Target is now offering cloth face masks and they are only $4 for a 2 pack!  They have both Adult Face Masks and Cat & Jack Printed Kids Face Masks.  Great prices since many places including Disney World and Dollywood are requiring masks to enter and our city of Athens is now requiring them as well.

Wow!! Tervis.com has a sale right now for 50% Off clearance!!  Prices are as marked, but there are some great deals with your favorite characters!  I saw Snoopy, Mickey Mouse, and more!  Stainless steel and regular tumblers both are included in the options.

Shipping is free on orders over $50.