♥ Box Day! ♥

It's a happy day around here when the mail lady arrives with a package, but it's a really happy day around here when the Fed-Ex guy pulls up with our Sonlight books!

It's so exciting to see what reading adventures await us for the year!  For those of you not familiar with Sonlight, it is very literature rich.  We spend a great deal of our school time independently reading and me reading aloud, which is my favorite part of homeschooling by the way.  :)

And this year, there was even more excitement.  Gleaning from the years of excitement watching his sister get a box of books and have a love of reading, Luke was thrilled to get his own box of Sonlight books - his very own Core!

And then today, Luke got another box of  extra goodies....educational games and puzzles to supplement our Sonlight through Timberdoodle, which I also love by the way!  This adds lots of hands-on elements to the reading and writing!  :)

Now we've got all our books......we're ready to get this thing started.  Although we just "eased" into school with a subject or two, our first official day of school will be this Monday!  I think I'm ready......yes, I'm ready!  :)

Thanks for stopping by!  :)

♥ Tammy ♥

Soaking up the Sonlight!

This past Wednesday was like Christmas at our house. Really! That's how much we look forward to our Sonlight Box Day. That's the day our box of living books arrives at our doorstep! The excitement of going through the box and seeing what adventures are in store for our school year is greatly anticipated!







It's always exciting for Joy and me, but this year, I guess Luke could sense the excitement and knew it was really "something great"! :) Joy was saying, "Yes", and "Awesome", and Luke mimicking Joy's every word, was echoing her as he pulled books out of the box. This made me smile because when Luke first came home, he wouldn't sit still very long for a book at all, and just wasn't interested in books much, but we're slowly seeing changes in his attitude toward books. That's very important around this house! He definitely caught the "Sonlight fever"!





This year's books are from Core 5 - Eastern Hemisphere. This will especially have meaning to us since we spent three weeks in China. It's stacks of books related to Asia. We're really exciting about diving into these adventures!

Want to know what Luke pulled out of the box for him to make this face?



It was this book: (He didn't like it all all and said, "Yoo (which is his way of saying Ew) Yucky, yucky". lol! It does look kinda creepy!



The kids didn't make it very far in the foyer and perched themselves on the stairs soaking up the books. Joy was reading hers and Luke, of course, not to be left behind, was right next to Joy and captivated by his own book (and hers). I'm planning on using this well to my advantage. ;) I'm hoping & thinking between our love for books and Sonlight's exciting feast of books, we're creating a book lover in our newest little family member.





We truly are big fans of Sonlight. It is so literature rich and as I've said before, reading together, is our very favorite aspect of homeschooling. Having spent many years (with Colt) pulling together my own curriculum plan and finding appropriate books, I really appreciate that Sonlight has the best book selections already done for me!





After soaking up all the Sonlight, it's now time for us to organize all these stacks of books and then dive into them!

For previous years Sonlight Box Day posts and pics, you can read and see more here and here.

Thanks for stopping by and have a great weekend! :)

A Beautiful "Sonlight" Day (THE BOX)

This past Friday morning, I dropped Joy off at her summer homeschooling Botany co-op class, which has been wonderful by the way! I realized, when I did, that I had forgotten something I needed in order to run an errand, so I had to make a quick run back home. When I pulled in the drive, I saw THE BOX on our front porch. I know it's hard to believe that THE BOX can be so exciting, but I tell you it is! It was our core curriculum for our homeschooling year.....our beloved Sonlight! It's like Christmas when we bring THE BOX into our home. I wouldn't dare open it without Joy. I don't think she would ever forgive me! I did bring it into the house and left it sitting by the front door. I then waited until we got home, pulling in the driveway, to tell her that there was a surprise waiting for her inside! She guessed it before we made it in the back door. I ran to get my camera and by the time I got it out and ready to go, she already had the box opened and books were coming out.....the very first one she pulled out already had her drawn in!



Honestly, it is so fun and exciting to see what adventures we'll take through the pages of these books. This year we are completing our American adventures as we journey through the second half of American History. THE BOX contains so many living books....History, Geography, Literature, Bible and just readers for her mere enjoyment as well. We browsed through the many wonderful books just waiting for us!



I love the fact that we have REAL living books to read, share, and discuss, and I still have my schedule to use as a guideline to keep us on track....although we read ahead many times because we just can't stop when we get into a good book.

And I tell you that if our cat, Bambi, could talk, she could probably tell you so much. She is always very curious and as usual she checked out the books too! Everyday when we read and are engrossed in our books, Bambi comes and lies at our feet or beside Joy or in her lap and listens and looks so interested! She just might be the smartest cat around when it comes to History, Geography, Bible, and Literature......! Hmmm...I wonder!



As far as the rest of our school books, we will use Math-U-See (Epsilon), Easy Grammar/Daily Grams, and Elementary Apologia (Science), Rosetta Stone Spanish, Handwriting Without Tears, and Sequential Spelling. This makes for a full schedule, but we're looking forward to getting started next week (hopefully) after my parents' 50th Wedding Anniversary celebration.

Sharing the bond of a great book and the many adventures on which it takes us, is a beautiful way to spend time with my family, so it really is a beautiful Sonlight Day when our new books arrive and everyday that we share these stories together! Reading aloud or reading together as a family is my single most favorite part of homeschooling. If you don't do this on a regular basis, give it a try! You'll love it!



And if you've never looked at a Sonlight catalog, you don't know what you're missing. I LOVE when my new catalog arrives! (And there was a new one tucked inside with all of our books)! Yay! Thank you, Sonlight!

And if you'd like to read last year's Sonlight arrival day post, click here for O Happy Sonlight Day! Those books from last year became dear friends to us. They have a new home this year with Mandy of A Mayberry State of Mind . She will be enjoying those wonderful books with her precious children, Zach and Leah Kate. I hope you all love them just as much as we did, Mandy! We enjoyed remembering each one as we packed them up to send them your way! Enjoy!

Blessings,
~ Tammy ~

Home School Open House

For today's Homeschool Open House, I thought I'd share some of our curriculum with you.



If you want to peek in at other Homeschool Open Houses, visit Tammy's blog for the links to the others!

Our core curriculum that we use for Bible, literature, history and reading is Sonlight. I can't say enough good thngs about Sonlight! It is literature rich. Since we LOVE books, living books in particular, or books that make learning come alive, Sonlight is just wonderful! We ALWAYS look forward to our reading! This is the way I wish I could have learned. You've saw this picture on what we call our box day (the day our Sonlight books arrive at our door), but I thought I'd show you again. These are the books that we will read by the end of this school year.





This is our schedule book. It serves as a guideline for us as to what we will read and do everyday in the above subjects. Since it's very common to hear, "Mom don't stop....keep reading!", I often read two or three days worth at a time. That allows us to do the same thing in say, the history readings the next day. That's what I love about the instructors guide...it's a guide and I use it to my advantage. But I do love having the guide! It keeps us on schedule! If we go out of town, we can read ahead a few days, and accomodate our long weekend, or we just take it along and do the readings there.



For Math, we use Math-U-See. We used this with Colt when he was schooling, and we just love it! It's exactly as it claims, it uses blocks to SHOW the kids WHY we do what we do in math, and it has the teacher on DVD, so Joy and I watch it together. I especially like this in math, because although Jason is a math whiz, it's probably one of my LEAST favorite things to do! (I'd rather be reading or doing something creative).



For Handwriting, we use Handwriting Without Tears. She also gets practice on her handwriting with any copywork she does or letters she sends to friends.



For Spelling, we use Sequential Spelling. This is not set up by grades. You begin in book 1 regardless of what grade you begin and just work your way through it. We will be ready for book 3 in a few days. We do ours orally. It really is a simple, but effective way to teach spelling. It starts with shorter words and builds upon word patterns.



For Grammar, we are using Daily Grams, along with daily practice in writing. This book has short lessons focusing daily on the different categories of grammar such as sentence structure and combining, punctuation, capitalization, alphabetizing, parts of the speech, verb agreement and more...very painless grammar lessons. She also has a couple of penpals, including Tammy's daughter, Allyson. This is a natural way to learn the mechanics of writing, spelling and grammar. Besides that, it's fun!



For Science, we use the God's Design for Science Series. The book we are presently using is the God's Design for the Universe. However, we also love the Magic School Bus books and experiment books. I really like the looks of the Elementary Apologia too. We might add the Astronomy one to this to enhance our study on the universe. We used Apologia with Colt from 7th grade up.



Weaved in among these is also the use of many living books. Joy learned to type from the computer software program, Kids Typing Instructor. After she learned the basics and built a little speed, I allowed her free time to email friends and "use" what she learned. It's amazing how quickly they pick up things when it's useful and fun for them! She now wants her own blog. I think it might be a great avenue (if closely...very closely monitored by mom) for some of her creative writing assignments. We'll see.

And speaking of creative writing assignemnts, I love this little book, If You're Trying to Teach Kids How to Write, You've Got to Have This Book. It's packed with tips and ideas for kids to write. This was one of my favorite books to use when I taught a small co-op class when Colt was younger, and it's still one I pull out for fun writing assignments for Joy too.



As far as what we're working on now...Let's see....Our main read-aloud is Toliver's Secret (we're studying the American Revolution) and Joy is reading Martha Washington independently. We're preparing for our homeschool group's geography fair in early March. Joy chose India as her country to study and exhibit. We're presently in the read and research stage. Maybe at the next open house, her exhibit will possibly be completed or far enough along to share.



And one last thing I'll leave you with is a writing assignment Joy wrote yesterday. I gave her the words "I know" and asked her list things that would follow behind those words....as few or as many as she would like. This is what she came up with.

I know...

1) I know multiplication.
2) I know God is real.
3) I know that nobody's perfect.
4) I know that we are in tough times.
5) I know that we wouldn't be in as much hard times if McCain had been elected.
6) I know God loves me.
7) I know that my parents love me.
8) I know taekwondo.
9) I know dance.
10) I know that I love my parents and family.
11) I know alot about reading.

Thanks for stopping by! And for those of you that aren't homeschooling your children, and you're STILL with me reading this...thank you for hanging in there! Homeschooling is another part of our daily lives that just comes natural for us and from time to time, I like to share what we're doing in that department!

Please remember to pray for our new President, all of our leaders in Congress and the Senate and for the American people in the times ahead. I urge everyone to be alert and active in the issues that lie ahead. The future of our country is at stake and we are going to have be involved and sometimes be ready to fight for our freedoms!

Have a great day! :)

O Happy Sonlight Day

When the Fed-Ex guy brings THIS box to our house, it's truly a happy day! I don't know who gets more excited....Joy or me. Judging by the picture further below, you would probably say Joy (my excitement came when we started unpacking the box)!

Somehow last week, we missed seeing or hearing the Fed-Ex guy leave this treasure on our front porch. I just happened to look out there and find it waiting for us. I hurriedly opened the front door and brought it in. I called Joy and showed her the box sitting there and this is the reaction I got:



She was saying, "Oh......my Sonlight books!", as she affectionately hugged her box of treasures. No kiddin'! She loves them that much!

Sonlight is the core curriculum we use in our homeschooling. It's not just workbooks....it's history, geography, literature, and Bible come to life! It's living books.....literature rich.....and it makes learning fun! Everyday is an adventure with Sonlight. Their motto is "The way you wish you'd been taught....guaranteed."



Here are the books that we'll be reading this school term....read alouds and independent reading combined. As we checked the packing list to make sure we had everything here, I remembered reading so many of these books with Colt when he was younger and oh...the memories they brought back (this is the part where my excitement came in)! We didn't find Sonlight until Colt's high school years. Before then, I had always put together our own curriculum, spending much time in research, following a Charlotte Mason method of lifestyle learning. I really don't know how I had missed Sonlight all those years! I was so excited to discover Sonlight....exactly what I would do if I had put my own together....except all the work was done for me...all the books chosen and scheduling to fit our lifestyle! Sonlight is a perfect fit for us! The last two years, Joy and I have studied World History. This year begins part one of American History.



This picture above is Joy after coming in from dance class last night. She went immediately to her room, changed clothes (into her winter robe), grabbed her book, A Lion to Guard Us, and started reading (way ahead of schedule). Sonlight sure does make learning fun! She could have chosen toys or TV, but her activity of choice was a book! And I'm having just as much fun learning and taking adventures right along beside her. It really is a happy day when books bring THIS much joy to MY JOY (and me).