School!

We are officially in school! We're in our second week and have been having a great time. This is our second year of homeschool and I'm looking forward to it!

Last year, we used a curriculum called Hands On Homeschooling. There were alot of good things about it, but I really felt like it was too slow for Branna and she was getting bored. By the end of the year, our love for school was dwindling.

The curriculum we're using this year is through the creator of the blog Confessions of a Homeschooler. She has lots of good material and I'm really excited about it.

Each day, we have our circle time (reading, reciting Bible verses, singing, identifying patterns, saying the pledge,etc) and then we have our regular lesson. The first 2 weeks have been more of just a letter and number review.

Branna finishing the daily pattern

and then using pattern blocks to make the same pattern

Checking the weather... although it hasn't changed much! I think she had wishful thinking here!

This was such a great creation. Erica, at Confessions of a Homeschooler, made Alphabet Builders. In a nut shell, they are lines and curves that allow for building letters. I printed them off on magnetic paper, and viola!, we had a super-fun hands on activity.

I wish I would have gotten pictures, but when Branna first used these, her imagination when wild. After constructing the alphabet, she also made a boat, a train and a car.

I think Branna's favorite part of the first week was playing the alphabet bean bag toss. We each took turns throwing a bean bag to the letter card that the other person called out. She really got into it!

As part of school, we are also continuing our reading lessons using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons. I'm very happy to say that we're almost done! The lessons have been a great tool and Branna is really starting to read fluently. To give some incentive, I told Branna we would have an "I Can Read!" party when we got to lesson 100. Pictures will hopefully be posted soon!

And lastly, I mentioned in the first part of the post that part of our circle time is reciting Bible verses. From last year, Branna has memorized 9 verses and we're continuing to add to that. Here is one of her favorites:

I looked back to this time last year when she first learned this verse. I cannot believe what a year has done! She was such a little girl. She has grown so much-physically and mentally.

I look forward to sharing our journey again this year.