ihomeschool

Recently, my husband and I were eligible to renew our cell phone contract, which of course means a phone upgrade. I had been steadfastly against getting a smart phone. "I don't need to check my email from the mall," I said. "I don't want to pay for a data plan," I said. "I just need to be able to talk and text," I said.

My husband had already decided to take the plunge and get a Droid 4, so we waited a few days until they came on the market to go renew our plan. And in those fateful few days, something very important happened...

My friend Kim got an iphone.

She came over for dinner one night and let me fiddle around with it, and I admit it grew on me pretty quickly. So I announce to my husband that, "I want an iphone!" Being the wonderful man he is, he took my complete opinion reversal in stride, and off we went to Verizon. And quickly we were in possession of phones that (I'm convinced!) are smarter than we are...

I have to admit, after the first few days of not knowing how to do anything, and wondering why in the world I really needed a phone with a flashlight app...I had some buyers remorse. But the more I learned about the phone, the more I liked it.

I have my Bible on my phone.
I can listen to Christian music on Pandora.
Bella loooooves playing Angry Birds.

But this morning was the clencher. During homeschool, our Bible lesson was on "David and Goliath". We read about David wearing Kind Saul's heavy armor, and her activity was to put "armor" stickers on a picture of David. While she was doing this, I used my phone to look up Ephesians 6:14-17 and read it, as it pertained to the lesson: " Stand therefore, having your loins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of rightousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel of peace; above all, taking the shield of faith..." And when she asked why he had armor on his legs, I explained what greaves were, then looked it right up on wikipedia to show her a real pair....

I'm sold. I may create an entire K-12 homeschool curriculum that can be done using a pencil ,a notebook, a and an iphone....

See Me Read!

I am very proud to announce that we have a beginning reader in our home! In my last post I detailed how we had to discontinue our Explode the Code workbook, as it was frustrating both of us! I purchased the "Teach your Child to Read" book by S. Engelmann and we started again... and again (at first) I was disappointed, and Bella was frustrated. I ended up breaking one lesson into two days, and that seemed to work better. Doing very short lessons -about 5 minutes- was about all she could focus on. In the meantime, we read lots of books! That's one thing I try to always, always have time for. I try to stop whatever I am doing and read. Many times we have plopped right down in the kitchen floor to read while something bubbles away on the stove!

Then, several days ago, something just clicked, and Bella "got it"! I had purchased the "Bob Books" readers, and also had a few scholastic readers my cousin Michelle (a fellow homeschooler!) had mailed me. One day after reading another book aloud to her, I casually handed her one of Michelle's readers and held my breath as she opened it and began to sound out the words! I was thrilled! She read two pages with very little assistance.

We are continuing our "Teach Your Child to Read" lessons...which leads me to my next quandry. (...because isn't there always another quandry?!) I've (almost) decided to use the Abeka curriculum for Bella's kindergarten. Although using a "box " curriculum - a complete grade level from one publisher- is exactly what I intended not do to, the reason being a more eclectic approach is likely more customizable to your child's interests / abililty. So why did I change my mind (for now!) ? One reason is that I really like Abeka publishing. It is academically advanced and faith based. And as I work three days a week, Bella's education is going to be a group effort! My husband and I will be her primary teachers, with my mother also helping. So having everything layed out for me will be a big help, as I won't have as much time as a stay at home mom would have to use a more customized curriculum. And I still intend to use supplemental materials as much as possible.

Bella's learning to read has been a big confidence booster for both of us. She is so proud of herself, and I am so relieved that we are over that first-of-many hurdles!

I am also very excited that my mother and I will be attending the Great Homeschool Convention in Greeneville, SC next month! There will be 200+ vendors of homeschool curriculum and materials, as well as many workshops to attend. I hope to make a final decision about kindergarted curriculum while we are there and I can physically look over different systems... and who knows, if I make my mind of fast enough, we may squeeze in a trip to the mall!