6 Reasons We Spent More On Curriculum This Year

Having expensive curriculum isn't required to homeschool, but it can make teaching easier. At least when it comes to planning what to do. Earlier this year I posted here about the curriculum we planned to use for the year. The truth is, I've changed it up a lot over the course of the year. This year we felt it necessary to purchase some of the most expensive materials that we have ever bought for teaching. This decision is mainly surrounded by a few facts:

1) Nia started this year as a 7th grader that was working with 1 high school subject. She was so successful with this, we decided to challenge her with another and then another. Now she is working in all high school subjects, and, well good curriculum for this level doesn't come cheep. I want really good curriculum for high school for a few reasons. The next step is college, and we have to put her high school work into a portfolio to help her get into college. I've never taught high school, and I've been a little intimidated about it.

2) Up until now, we really haven't bought much curriculum. With the lower grade levels for Nia, we have focused on manipulates and I felt confident enough with my teaching experience and research skills to cover everything that needed to be covered.

3) Anara's school experience last year (she went to public kindergarten and missed a lot of year because of mono) left her behind her peers and really doubting her abilities. We started the year with Anara convinced she would never learn to read. We tried 4 different reading programs before finding one that she could really shine with.

4) In the past we have mainly focused on paper, hands on, and book work. Anara, however really excels at computer programs, so we have purchased or subscribed to some educational sites for her.

5) After finding their way threw Nia, Anara, and random other children that have been to visit. Much of our preschool material has been lost or used beyond acceptable condition, so we have replaced most of it with new stuff for Cam and our little bun in the oven. Not that preschool materials are generally that expensive  but this has upped the price tag on homeschool this year a little.

6) Purchased curriculum is organized & generally ready to go when you open it up. With our family growing, I've got to make up some time somewhere. Not planning out assignments & search the web for activities is a huge time saver

Bed Rest Changes Things

Surprisingly, I am actually finding stuff to keep me busy while on bed rest. However, I have deep routed desires to get out of the house. I'm not on total bed rest. I am allowed to sit up with my feet up, and probably do so more than I should. I do get out every once in while, mostly to church and occasionally a dinner. I have made 2 very short trips to the craft store, hence the reason I have a few things to keep me busy. There have been many changes in our house hold to accommodate the rest of the family and myself while I spend so much time laying down. We are normally a very green, cloth diapering, healthy food eating type of family. Since a lot of the cooking, cleaning and laundry have fallen onto John and Nia, we have more throw away items and more fast food. We have paper towels for the first time in years and Cameron is in disposables. I have to continuously remind myself that I can't expect my family to do things the way I would do them, Especially with items such as cleaning and cooking.

School in this season of our lives looks a bit different also. I'm focusing on language arts and math (that really hasn't changed). Our multiple times a week field trips are totally gone for a while though, along with play dates, my coffee Mondays with other moms, extra curricular activities and the two homeschool groups we joined this year. I have decided to put science on hold until our new little bundle arrives. History is done mostly through videos right now and we haven't been doing to many projects to go along with them, just worksheets. Instead of using the table to work with manipulatives, Anara uses  a tray on my bed. She actually seems to think this last one is kind of cool. The kids are in charge of what they do for art and P.E. Previously we have always tried to be done with school work by around 4 or 4:30. Now we do it at any time I feel up for it, even if that means we are making fraction pizzas on my bed at 10 p.m.

We have also had to move things around a bit. It was to challenging keeping Cameron out of all the homeschool stuff while it was in our one large main room. It is now all in the master bedroom so little fingers will leave it alone. We also invested in a few more organizational items so I can tell the kids exactly where to get things. Our furniture in the main room has been moved around so I can keep a better eye on Mr. Mischievous when I'm in the living room.

Lately we have started hosting a few more things than usual at our house. The thought is that if I can't get out, then we will just have to have people in. It's been fun. We have one set of friends that is at our house at least once a week and often more. This has been a huge blessing to me. They haven't told me, but I know this is a conscious choice on their part. Since meeting them a couple of years ago, they have always been very busy people.

My children are learning things through this that I would have never even thought threw exactly how to teach them.

They are learning compassion and how to truly be helpful. I need so much help right now and they are the ones providing most of that help. Sania is the main cook for the house right now. Through the week she makes sure everyone has breakfast, lunch, dinner and even snacks. Anara is usually my go get'er. She fetches nearly everything I could possibly need from books to bottles of water. This is on top of keeping up with school work and chasing after Cameron all day.

They are learning the importance of seizing the moment. More and more often lately, I feel like the walking dead. However, sometimes I feel almost normal. At those times we try to do something a little more fun. Within the confines of my bed rest rules that is. Today, John took me out for breakfast then this afternoon he drove us all to the park and I watched the kids play as I sat in car. This may not seem like much, but when doctors orders keep you confined to the only the ground floor of a small townhouse, any excursion, even ones where you don't leave the car, are exciting.

They are learning how to work together. It takes real team work for the girls to keep an eye on Cameron and get a gluten free lunch or dinner ready. It also takes a tremendous amount of effort and teamwork to keep little Cameron entertained while school work gets done.

Hearing Impaired Homeschooling Mishap

Recently Cam got a hold of Nia's hearing aid, ripped it into 2 pieces and lost part of it (luckily it was the cheaper part). The kids were upstairs and I'm not exactly sure how it happened, but it happened. Not having her hearing aid makes life and school a pinch harder for Nia. Without it she must be looking exactly at your lips to really understand what you are saying. Her speech is also difficult to understand when her hearing aid is out. I really didn't realize how difficult her speech was to understand until she began wearing the hearing aid and has now had to do without it. It has made a huge change in how she pronounces words and her spelling ability has improved leaps and bounds. It makes perfect sense; being able to hear how a word is formed is a key part in pronouncing and spelling it properly.

A little about Sania's hearing aid

Nia's hearing aid consists of of 2 main parts the electrical part and a molded part that fits inside her ear. The one shown has an older molding that is now a little to small and has a crack in it. These two pieces each have a tube that extends from them and the two tubes join together (This is where Cam tore it apart). The electrical part can last 3 to 5 years. For the molded part we have a to get a new mold made every few months as she grows as this is the part that goes inside the ear. It's nice that she gets to pick a new color scheme every few months for the ear piece. She gets to pick the colors, but we won't know exactly how it's maker will put those colors together until it arrives in the mail a few weeks later. Her last color choices were black and white. When it arrived, she wasn't as happy with it as she has been previously (which I believe is part of the reason Cameron was able to get his little fingers on it). The colors are usually fairly crisp, but the black and white were mudded together making a lot of gray. It kind of looked like, well, mold.

How we try to prevent this sort of thing

Several places in the house we have tiny bowls perched in high places, well high enough Cameron can't reach them. I think most of the bowls, like the one pictured, would be considered salt bowls. Nia generally takes her hearing aid out if it starts to get a bit itchy, when she is home alone or for an assortment of other reasons. I started grabbing up these bowls because without a designated spot close by for Nia to put her hearing aid, it was being placed anywhere and everywhere. This led to it constantly being lost. We would find it in pockets, amongst dirty dishes, under clothes in the bathroom, in a shoe, I'm sure you get the picture. Although usually very cheap, this bowls can be a little hard to find. Most households just don't use salt bowls anymore. We currently have 4, but my goal is to collect enough to put close by to all of the spots she has a tendency to take off the hearing aid. I think another 4 would cover it.