Explode the Code

THIS, my friends, is one of the BEST curriculum decisions I've made since we started homeschooling!!   At the end of last year I told you about the struggle I was having with Josh over language arts and that we were switching to Explode the Code.  I am SO GLAD we did!  Josh has been making strides with his reading and our school day runs so much smoother now!

Explode the Code was actually one of the curriculums I looked into while doing research last year, but after looking through a couple of the books at the convention I figured Josh would find it too boring.  There is nothing exciting about the worksheets themselves, they have no color and some of the pictures are (as you can see from the cover) odd looking.  Since Josh liked all of the colorful, fun pictures in his Horizons books I figured these would not be a hit and decided against them.

Boy, was I wrong!

Horizons math worksheets, as well as the phonics and reading worksheets, are full of vibrant pictures.  Since math is not a problem for him the pictures are not a problem.  Phonics and reading (especially when he doesn't feel like trying) is a different story.  All of the pictures and sentences that he didn't feel he could read were a stressful distraction.  

Explode the Code is repetitive enough to ensure they learn the concepts well but not to the point of boredom and frustration.  It includes phonics, reading, handwriting and spelling... what more could you want from a language arts program?!  (For Kindergarten at least :)  

    

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Dad's Day

The year that Josh attended preschool they had a Dad's day where they got to do special things with their Dad.  We decided last year that we would continue that tradition and Craig set out to find something fun they could do together.  He ended up taking Josh to a monster truck rally and it was all I heard about for months!  Since then Nathan has been anxious to go as well so this year Craig took both Josh and Nathan.

So much fun!  Can't wait to see what they come up with next :)

Travel

Last week my husband and I decided to take advantage of one of the perks of Homeschooling and go on a mini vacation.  We discussed it the week before and headed up to Mammoth the following Monday.  The boys were so excited and we had a great time playing games, enjoying the jacuzzi and (my personal favorite) reading in front of the fire :)

The best part was, we didn't even skip a beat with their school work.  I brought their phonics and math worksheets along as well as some read-alouds and we would set up a space in front of the fire place each morning.  We all enjoyed the change of scenery!

Updates for the New Year

Last year I shared how I had the boys make a list of things they wanted to accomplish in 2013.  They really enjoyed having the visual of things we had done and still wanted to do by the end of the year so the first week after our Christmas and New Years break I had them make these and I think they turned out pretty cute :)

Since Josh started addition, and especially since he started double digit addition, I've slowly introduced him to Touch Math.  His worksheets encourage using the number line but I also want him to be able to stray from the number line since he won't always have one at his disposal.  Since I wasn't going to purchase a full curriculum with this method, I did a search for free printables on pinterest and found this blog with these adorable pages:

Over Christmas break Craig and I discussed having the boys do more chores around the house.  I wanted them to have a visual so I, once again, did a search on pinterest to get ideas and found this printable.  For every approved chore (in other words, they aren't going to get a sticker for EVERYTHING they do) they complete around the house they get a sticker, each sticker is worth 5 cents.  So far this has proven to be very affective :)

I also found a free character reading chart for the boys to fill up as they practice reading.  When I was in elementary school my grandma started a chart with me and once I filled it up she would take me to the Hello Kitty store to choose something.  Since Josh is improving so much with his reading, I really wanted to encourage him to practice more.  I sat him down and showed him the chart and asked him what he would like as an incentive for filling it up, he said he'd love more Legos :)  I had initially just printed one for Josh but only about a week later Nathan started reading more and more of the Bob books himself and requested a chart.

So far I'm loving this new year, hope yours is going just as well!

Support

A mentor friend of mine gave me a lot of wonderful advice while we were discussing the decision to Homeschool last year but one thing in particular was that I have a supportive husband.

Since Craig was the one who told me he'd be behind me all the way when we made the final decision, I knew I had the support I was going to need.  

At the time I didn't know how vital he would be in this road we are traveling.  He is my backbone.  Not a day goes by that he doesn't encourage what I'm doing with the boys.  He doesn't even get upset or frustrated when I tell him I think we need to switch a bit of our curriculum!  (Do I have a keeper or what?!?!) 

He will come home on random days during the week and tell me I have the night off to do what I want/need to do.

I have spent half of my life with this man and I wouldn't know what to do without him!  The Lord has blessed me with him and I will be eternally grateful for the husband he is to me and the father he is to our boys.   

One Word

Trust

There it is, the word I'm going to apply to my life in the coming year.  I've seen and heard a lot of people talking about doing this and I thought it would be good for me to write this down because it's something I've struggled with recently.  Even though God has always provided for me and my family, I have had some anxiety lately over what ifs.  So many things have gone through my mind including economic failures and natural disasters.  

The weekly Bible study that the boys and I attend has been wonderful since we've been studying the book of Isaiah.  Even though we may face struggles in this life we have evidence that God is faithful and has always fulfilled his promises.  He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow.  

Every time I start to get a nervous about something that might happen I try to remember this verse: 

Philippians 4:6

New International Version (NIV)

⁶ Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.

My New Years resolution also includes being more of a yes Mom for the boys.  I'm going to try to stop saying, "maybe later" all the time.  Because, let's face it, unless we do it when they ask we all forget and it never gets done.  The laundry and dirty dishes will be there when I get to them.

I also need to start dating my husband again.  This might sound strange but I really do need to make more of an attempt to spend more quality time with my husband, including intentionally getting a baby sitter and going out once in awhile.

Finally, I'm going to carve out time in my day to read.  I LOVE reading and was able to do a lot of it over this Christmas break.  It's something that I can never seem to find the time to do now except when I lie in bed at night, but when I do that I don't get very far before falling asleep.  So, I have added D.E.A.R. (Drop Everything And Read) time to our schedule.  It will most likely be while David is napping and it might not be for very long but the boys and I are going to have a bit of our own quiet time in the afternoon with our books.

So there you have it.  My New Years resolutions.  What are some of yours?  

Changes for the New Year

A couple of weeks before we were going to break for Christmas, Josh's school work had become torture.

Torture!

I realized we had fallen into the black hole of worksheets again and Josh was suddenly hating every minute of our school day that didn't involve our "living" books that he loves so much.

It's true what they say, you can take the girl out of school but you can't take the school out of the girl.  I unknowingly was making our day look more and more like a typical school day again instead of focusing on learning as a part of life.

I began searching through a few of my favorite blogs for some fun printables and came across these Lego math activities.  

I also did a search on pinterest and Teachers pay Teachers for some Christmas activities that we could do together. 

We had a MUCH better week after that and once again we started to enjoy that time together.

While we've been on break I've done some analyzing of our curriculum and decided he needs a change in the phonics department (we were using Horizons Phonics and Reading).  We've hit this slump before.  Last year when this happened I purchased All About Reading level one for him.  For the most part I love this program for him, there's no writing required and it involves a lot of reading games that he enjoys.  We've continued using it this year at a slower pace as reading practice.  The only thing Josh does not like about the program is the reading review pages at the end of each lesson, some of them are 3 pages long so I spread it out over the course of two or three days.  I also try to make it more fun by stamping (either on regular paper or play dough) the words or using the chalk board/ white board. 

After weighing my options I decided to have him try Explode the Code.  It's a bit of slower pace than what we've been using and I'm hoping it will give him more confidence before moving on.  The first book (which is what I ordered) will be review but I have a feeling it will be good for him.  

He's only in Kindergarten, after all, and I want him to enjoy the learning process!!  More than anything, I want all of our boys to become life long learners.  

We are continuing with Horizons Math since Josh is doing wonderful with that program and our Sonlight books for History/ Geography, Bible and Science which the boys LOVE!  

Wishing you all a blessed New Year!