Longed for and wanted

Done and Approved!!!

This morning I got the email. We are officially an open family. Meaning everything is done and approved, including our homestudy!! Next thing on the list? We wait for them to call us with info about a child! It seemed like this day would never come!! God had it all worked out. I believe it was finished in His timing.

Back to Homeschool Photos

First Grade

 

I cannot believe that my little girl is going to first grade, but she is!!!!

Before I show you the books we are using this year I wanted to tell you a little about this website I have been using. It's called Easy-Peasy All in one homeschool. And it's a great resource for homeschoolers. I have been using it for both of my kids off and on this summer. We use it as practice for the upcoming school year. But it could totally be used as an add on for your every day homeschooling as well.  It has a daily lesson that you go through. It also has all age groups and even a few electives. Feel free to check it out here

Now for Little Miss's curriculum. This year we are once again using Alpha Omega's Horizons. I used this for my sons first grade and it went well. This is also the curriculum she used this past year for Kindergarten. I don't think it's a good idea to switch phonics/reading curriculum's during the first few years unless the one you are using is not working for your child.  She seemed to enjoy it last year so we are sticking with it!

 

This year Horizons will include...

• Phonics and Reading
• Penmanship
• Math
• Spelling and Vocabulary

For science we will be using Abeka 1st grade science called Discovering God's World

As for History and Geography we will be using Abeka My America and My World

If you have any questions about homeschooling feel free to comment below or message me! I will be glad to help!

We have a plan

We official have our homeschool plan for this coming year. We usually start after labor day here. This is one of the benefits of homeschooling, being able to pick when you start. Because of this I am usually really bad about procrastinating on getting the curriculum together.

This year we have a 3rd grader and a 1st grader!! I cannot believe it. It seems like just yesterday we had two toddlers. They are growing up fast! Another reason why I am thankful that we homeschool. My time with them is going by so fast and I don't want to miss any of it.

So here is what I have planned.

3RD GRADE
 
This year we are trying something new for our son. We used Alpha Omega Lifepacs last year and did not like it at all. It  was just not right for him. Alex is not a big fan of reading at all. And Lifepacs are mostly reading. I was sooo glad for the school year to come to an end. After some research on different curriculum's we decided to go with something new. We are doing Alpha Omega's Switched on Schoolhouse.

I have some family members that use this, and have just heard so much good about it. It's even the curriculum used by the reality tv starts The Duggars! It just looks so much more fun and inviting for a boy then those books we were previously using. You can check out it's awesomeness here. This curriculum has Bible, Math, Science, History and Geography, Language Arts, and you can choose between Spanish or French electives.

Alex wants to go with Spanish.

He will also be doing Art for which we have no curriculum, we just have fun!

I also plan on getting him started in cursive writing. Love this book I found on ebay!

So with all of this, trips to the library, and using the internet it looks like we will have a good school year! Getting excited to start again. At the same time I'm not ready to give up my summer days. Tomorrow I will show you our 1st graders curriculum. Come back and check it out!!


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Coming to an end

This past weekend we got recertified in CPI and dropped off our tests and quizzes for our bloodbourne pathogens recertification.. It feels good to be doing something again! Most recent news was that the homestudy should have been finished on Friday and then they were sending it to Charleston for approval. I have been checking my email like crazy waiting on any more news. I have no idea how long it usually takes for approval. Hoping not long!

Besides adoption stuff we have been busy just enjoying the end of summer, cooking out, and getting the schoolroom ready. I'm hoping to do a post soon on this years curriculum. I just need to make the time to get it done! 

And because every blog post could use a few photo's....

Bloglovin

I did it. I joined Bloglovin! I miss my Google reader and have been trying to find a good replacement. So we will see how it goes!! If you would like to follow us on bloglovin I have installed the widget on the sidebar. Don't forget you can also check out our Facebook page  Just Simply Live.

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Update

Thought I would get on here really quick and give you guys an update on how the home visit went.  Everything went great!  And here it is.......Our homestudy will officially be finished on Friday!!! That's tomorrow!!!!!!! Eeeeekkkkkk!!!

During the wait for our homestudy our CPI class expired. So this weekend we will be getting re certified.

Things are moving along!!!!!

Geocaching day

Spending our rainy Saturday geocaching with the family. So much fun!
We found a giant geocache in the shape of a mouse trap. I think it was one of our favorites. And found some more in the local parks.... I think were addicted.

Today

Today has been spent cleaning, cleaning, cleaning. Preparing for our last home visit!  I am just so excited that everything is finally coming together!!! Baby were ready for you!!  After some time spent cleaning we headed out to the park for a play date with a friend. It was a perfect day for park playing. The weather was gorgeous and the kids were ready to get out. Then home to wait on the cable guy to come fix our internet, yoga, and....... finally blogging from my computer!!!! Woohoo! Man I love having real internet instead of cell phone internet!! Anyways... Hope everyone's day was great!