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Moving into this next week we won't get a whole lot of course work done. Sam and I will continue to read his BOB books and work on making sure he remembers his words we talked about last time. We will move onto chapter 6 of Winnie the Pooh. Maybe. And lastly, we will work a little bit on his handwriting skills. I have a couple of connect the dot worksheets I made for him that he will do. Homeschooling Samuel is hard. I'm sure a big part of the hard part is that it's new for both of us. And Colson exists. Boy does Colson make it hard to focus on the things. But he is at least super cute while causing chaos, so it works. I love being home with these boys and doing all the things we do. I wouldn't trade a thing. Lori To know God and to make Him known.
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This is homeschool that looks the most like going to “regular” public school. You can use this curriculum the easiest to manage and set your days up in a certain way. Curriculum is characterized by textbooks, standardized tests, and grade levels. *Also, a super important note, we consider traditional to be hands-on curriculum, not on-line. There are great on-line options that follow the traditional method, but that's not what we are talking about here today.* Why homeschool this way? Honestly, this is the way of schooling that most of us are familiar with. You know, being at school with your textbooks and worksheets and tests at the end of every chapter. And for a lot of families there isn’t a need to break away from this tradition. People are going to go with what's familiar and that's cool. I know for me, my sticking point with public school is necessarily the structure of the educational material, it's the content that's being taught. One word of advice if this is the education path for your family. No curriculum is permanent. Meaning, that if you get into that really awesome curriculum you bought and EVERYONE is jiving with it, except for ONE thing. Get rid of that one thing and find something else to fill its spot. For example: You don't have to do that boring science unit. Or you don't HAVE to take all those tests. Or you don't have to follow that days schedule exactly the way they wrote. Make this curriculum fit for your family's rhythm. Ultimately homeschooling is you controlling how you educate your child, not someone else. You get to choose the content your child learns, that's ultimately more important than the style its being delivered in. Check out this webpage here that talks about the traditional curriculums that are out there. Lori To know God and to make Him known  
Are you looking for a history program for your homeschool curriculum?? Notgrass History is definitely one you need to look at!
This is a full-service curriculum. Meaning you don't need to add in any other history supplements. Some other key notes to add about Notgrass:
Click the link below to explore the website now. Also, don't forget to let me know what you think about Notgrass! What do you think about what they offer? 
Lori
To know God and to make Him known These are some of our favorite books over here at our house. Currently Sam and I are working our way through Winnie the Pooh. He is loving it, but only about 3 pages at time. You know, I take the wins I can get! Anyway, here are easy links to get to these great books! Aesop's Fables Hardcover: The Classic Edition by acclaimed illustrator, Charles Santore (Charles Santore Children's Classics) Stuart Little by E. B. White Winnie the Pooh: The Classic Edition (1) by A. A. Milne A Collection of Rudyard Kipling's Just So Stories The Jungle Book (Illustrated): The 1894 Classic Edition with Original Illustrations by Rudyard Kipling All of these are affiliate links, but they do not include any extra cost to you! Lori To Know God and to Make Him Known  Happy Tuesday Friends! Co-op is over for the year but we will continue on with some learning. Because of the laid back approach I take with Samuel we sort of never stop with the school stuff. This week are continuing to work on the sight words at, it, and, has, what, and why. I have to rotate the words out longer for Samuel to help keep his attention. And we have to circle back a lot to help make sure he really has learned something versus just memorized it. The word has has been an exceptionally hard for him to remember. Speech therapy continues on this week. The are continuing to work on eye contact and taking turns and all the speech that goes into that. For reading, we will read the next chapters of our Bible and our read aloud book, Winne the Pooh. For Winnie the Pooh, I'd like to read one chapter a week but that is definitely not what we have been doing. Lastly, we will continue to spend a lot of time just playing. Samuel got over a fear of worms yesterday. He was super proud to show me wormy! Lori To know God and to make Him known  Here are 10 companies that allow you to just go to their website and buy curriculum packages by grade level. This avoids the deep rabbit hole you get into when shopping for curriculum a la carte. It is interesting, though, buying a curriculum this way. Buying a full curriculum this way will not work for everyone. First things first, here's the list!
So what do I mean by full package curriculum? I mean a curriculum that offers all the subjects in one package. You should only need to make one purchase per child per grade level. Some of these companies even offer packages beyond just the basic subjects. They also offer packages with all the extras that give you all the tools they require to effectively deliver the education they are selling. What are some of the pros and cons to buying curriculum this way? Full package curriculums create efficiency for busy families. They also work well for parents who are teaching children in multiple grades and want consistency in their children's learning. A downside to full package curriculums are you could feel stuck with everything if you find the curriculum is not a good fit for your family due to the high investment cost. Another downside is that you may still find yourself shopping subjects a la carte if one isn't working well from your package. Have you tried any of these curriculums yet? What did you think of them? Any I missed? Lori To Know God and to make Him know. If you ended up here from Instagram where I was talking about Apologias science fair, sign your children up! It really looks super neat! Sams not doing it but if he were I already have several ideas of what he could do. Guys, Samuel loves doing sink or float experiments. Although I think he actually likes the water play more but he still goes along with our sink or float guesses. Another idea would be having him talk about the human body. Like all the veins or the skeleton system. Ok so a third idea would be something with wind. Like how kites fly or something like that. Anyways... Apologia is a Christian based curriculum company specializing in science, math, bible, and worldview curriculums. They are a solid, award-winning business that has taken the time and care to create a curriculum that provides a well-rounded education, one that you can trust. One super important thing about Apologia is it is adaptable to the teaching methods within your homeschool. You can either teach from books that you can buy from Amazon or you can sign up for one of their on-line programs. For the on-line programs, btw, there is a self-paced option, or your child can actually sign up for a live class. Go over and check out Apologia now. Get signed up for that science fair too. Just fill out their form and follow the rest of the instructions. It'll be a fun opportunity for you guys. Lori To Know God and To Make Him Known *This post has affiliate links BUT they do not pass on an extra cost to you!*  We made it!! It’s the last week of co-op for our family and I am stinking excited! This was our first year and it was really super hard. I talked about it before, we are doing Classical Conversations. Going into it, I wasn’t super sure what my goals for Samuel should be for this first year. Now at the end, I realized our goal throughout the year was just teaching Sam that this is how co-op works. And I think he gets it. Samuel flourished with giving presentations but super struggled the WHOLE time with sitting for each session. Waiting for snack time was very, very hard as well but that's because we rarely wait for snack time at home. With a one-year-old, I’m not going to try and change that. I started co-op in the fall with a nursing baby and Sam not being potty trained yet. That went about as well as you could imagine. 4 year olds in diapers are no fun and it was such a relief when he FINALLY learned to sit on a toilet. And now, I’m convinced that Colson just thinks he is a part of the group. Which to me is just a sweet image of the beauty of the classical tradition of education being so helpful for strengthening the family dynamic. On deck for school this week: Monday: Eclipse Tuesday: Co-op Wednesday: Field Trip. I don't remember what we signed up for. But it's at the Childrens Museum up in Dayton, OH Thursday: Speech therapy Friday: Play Play Play Lori To know God and to make Him Known
Quite frankly, you will probably have several responses to this question. And the answers can vary depending by child. It sure does in my house. These answers can also maybe feel inconsequential.
But it is an important question. Because depending on how much you want your children on electronics or not WILL dictate which type of curriculum you decide on. Like, if you dont want your child watching a ton of television for fun, then you may not want a curriculum that requires a lot of teaching videos. It could send a super confusing and contradictory message. However, I know that there are some of you that don't have the same concerns with electronics and those forms of media. Or have a family dynamic that necessitates using an online curriculum. In my home, we do rely heavily on tv time, especially in the mornings. Especially when I worked full time, it was the best way to manage our mornings. Full stop, it just was. We still do tv time every morning... Check out this page on my website. You will find a list of dedicated online programs. Keep in mind though, there are a whole lot of additional companies that offer online options. Like Memoria Press. They offer plenty of curriculums that are hands on, non electronic, but now offer an online option. 
Compass Classroom offers a different way of adding video and online education. They offer videos by subject. It's a little bit more like a unit study education versus what you think of as a traditional curriculum, whether it's online or not.
Take a look around Journey2Homeschool, see what you can find!
Lori *This page contains affiliate links but do not cost you anything extra! Check out these books! Every one of these authors also have done interviews about their books over at the 1000 Hours Outside Podcast. I HIGHLY recommend going and listening to what they and Ginny have to say! Book 1 Simplicity Parenting: Using the Extraordinary Power of Less to Raise Calmer, Happier, and more Secure Kids by Kim John Payne Book 2 Free to Learn: Why Unleashing the Instinct to Play Will Make Our Children Happier, More Sef-Reliant, and Better Students for Life by Peter Gray Book 3 Barefoot and Balanced: How Unrestricted Play Makes for Strong, Confident, and Capable Children by Angela Hanscom Book 4 Hunt, Gather, Parent: What Ancient Cultures Can Teach Us About the Lost Art of Raising Happy, Helpful Little Humans by Michaeleen Doucleff Have you read any of these books yet?? **This post contains affiliate links. They send you straight to Amazon though so there is NO extra cost to you!** Lori |
AuthorLori Lacey is the owner and creator of Journey2Homeschool. Archives
July 2025
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