Category: homeschooling

In Our Homeschool: September/October

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling10 Comments

Hello everyone!! Wyatt and I have been keeping busy the past two months! I am extremely excited about the year I have planned for him, and so far we have really enjoyed it.

We kicked off the school year with a field trip to the Henry Ford Museum to see their dinosaur exhibit that they had. It was all created with metal and steel and welding, and I loved the industrial feel of it. The dinosaurs were all interactive, with different ways to manipulate them into motion, whether by a pulley system or through controls on a computer system. It was a great way to start the school year and introduce our first science unit, which is all about prehistory.

We have slogged our way through all those single celled organisms that just keep evolving. They are not super interesting right away, are they? I did like learning that the first trees were giant mushroom trees! I didn’t learn that in school so that was a new thing for me too! We are starting with dinosaurs this very week, thank goodness! Wyatt is very excited. The Detroit Science Center just opened an exhibit with dinosaurs as well so we will be taking a field trip there soon too.

In history, but not prehistory, we have been studying the Anishinabe tribe of Michigan. We are focusing on Michigan history this year and the curriculum I bought is very open, with eras and prompts to guide me but the actual material is up to me. I decided we were going to read The Birchbark House and focus on the Anishinabe in particular. I tried to do this in as culturally sensitive a manner as I could. We spent time learning about what they ate, about their beliefs, what resources they used, what their homes were like, and so on. We spent about a week or so on each different aspect of their life. We built a wigwam, painted a winter cabin, and filled out a tissue box information cube, which Wyatt loved adding to every week. Every side covered a different topic, like a very short report in cube form. I also loved adding to the area of our table where we displayed his History materials. I added a pretend black crow that we named Andeg after the crow in Birchbark House, a bit of birchbark, his cabin and wigwam that he made. It started to take over! We are starting the fur trade next and we won’t linger long on that topic – and we aren’t going to keep trap or skin or keep pelts around either. Lol.

We both enjoyed The Birchbark House, but dang, I cried so much near the end! Poor Wyatt felt so bad that I was crying. It dealt with very real challenges and issues that Native Americans in that time would have faced, and Wyatt and I had some good discussions about these things, even though they made me cry.

In literature, we read Alice in Wonderland, which I have to tell you guys, I really didn’t enjoy it. I don’t think I am into absurdist lit very much! Wyatt however really enjoyed it, all the nonsensical of it, so maybe it is a hit with kids and that is why it is in the curriculum. I was happy when we were done. We started The Phantom Tollbooth next, which fits into that same sort of absurdist genre, but I am liking it so much better than Alice. Wyatt loves it too. We just started it this past week and had fun with the first project, which was creating a peg doll Milo and a clay Tock. I ended up making Tock since Wyatt had a challenging time manipulating the clay. He has limited use of his right hand and arm so sometimes things like that are a stretch. I usually make him try but it was so small that I ended up doing it. He painted Milo though, and I helped with the hair and face.

Wyatt is still working really hard on practicing and learning reading. We had two years where he was really heavily medicated, overmedicated actually, and it really slowed down his progress. Now that he is appropriately medicated for his seizures, things are so different and have returned to the way he was acting and learning before taking that particular medication. The past year it has been so great to see him really get back to the Wyatt he was, to be curious and energetic and lively again. He never really lost that but it was sort of cushioned by the sedative they gave him for his seizures. So we are going over basics again and he is on fire with it. We are using a program called Prenda Treasure Hunt Learning in addition to The Good and the Beautiful Language Arts. We really spend a good chunk of our day working on these skills. He will get there in his own time – he loves reading and books and picks it up so quickly now, plus he is so motivated.

In art, we studied Charley Harper! We had so much fun. We studied him in September and then I let October be a more Halloween crafty month for art. Harper is a modernist who painted nature. He called his art minimal realism and I just love it. I am not usually into that style but I really like his version – perhaps because of the subjects of his work. Wyatt really enjoyed it as well, all the shapes and lines and colors. We did two projects, and had a third that never developed – which bothers me so we might have to revisit it so we can do it. I wanted us to construct an owl mobile inspired by his piece Hexit. I need Billy’s help though with construction as my brain couldn’t quite fashion the wings correctly for my design. The two we did complete turned out very nicely! We started out with Wyatt’s version of a woodpecker based on Harper’s Baffling Belly, and then I bought a unit study for Fall at the Pond from TPT and it was fantastic. Wyatt had so much fun with it!! It took a few days because there was a lot of time for painting and then waiting for it to dry, so that made it fun too, the waiting.

Next up we are learning about Canadian artist Emily Carr, and we will continue on with Michigan history, dinosaurs and math and reading! Wyatt has had a great two months and I am looking forward to the upcoming months and all of the various things we will be doing.

Back To School Basics: Homeschooler Edition

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling14 Comments

Part of me is like, we homeschool. Do we even really need anything for back to school? We roll differently around here. We school differently around here. If we decide to spend a whole day just focused on one topic, we will! If we want to take a day off, we do! Do we want to have school at the museum one day? Then we go!

Every homeschool family has their own routine, their own way of doing things that work for them, and things that are useful. What works for me might not work for other people, and that is ok. In fact, that is the point! I make my homeschool work for Wyatt, for his strengths and interests.

However, that being said, there are some things that I have found to be very helpful. Some are just things for my ease and convenience, some are things that are needed by Wyatt. And no, not just snacks, although we do need those too. I have made this list just to put it out there in the world, in case someone is looking around for some ideas or has a need and I know the answer. I know that I learn from other homeschool parents, even if I take their idea and adapt it a bit. I love that about homeschool, how organic it is.

Let’s start with the things that I really like and use a lot.

This post does contain affiliate links.

I tried to take a photo of my two favorite workhorses, Laminator and Hole Punch, but it turned out really weird no matter what I did. Like a sketchy ad on Facebook Marketplace or something. So, I am just using the stock photos from Amazon.

Laminator || Electric Hole Punch

A lot of the time, Wyatt’s curriculum that I buy is stuff we have to print. Thank goodness Billy works for an industrial printshop! At the beginning of the year, when I am putting together all the binders of material for him and for me, since they do come with a teacher/parent guide, I am extremely thankful for my electric hole punch. It’s a hit with the kids too, as both Wyatt and Mermaid Girl enjoy playing with it if it is out. Lol.

The laminator is also super useful. I make all sort of different resources for Wyatt that we use over and over, and having them laminated preserves them. I also use it for other things as well – I just bought a game that has those slips of paper for each game play, where you check off, etc, and we are just going to laminate a few so that we can use those with dry erase markers as well.

Another thing that I really love are the front opening changeable frames that I have! Like every kid, Wyatt loves his work displayed Since we homeschool in the dining room most of the time, I wanted a way I could display his work in a bit nicer, tidier way. These frames are perfect for that, and Wyatt loves it. And during the summer I can just put photos in there, or Wyatt’s art work – whatever I want. We also use bunting to display his artwork in our den. I actually love this myself – it is always so bright and cheery and cozy feeling to see it hanging there.

Frames

Also, our aquarium water is not green – that is just a reflection. We actually just had it tested and it is perfect, the lady said!

I also need a planner to survive. I am a planner girl. I have a Passion Planner for my life, and then a Clever Fox Teacher Planner for school this year. I am a person who has to physically write things down to keep track of appointments and lessons and all that stuff and this system works well for me. I also liked my planner that I used last year. I also might really like green.

Clever Fox Teacher Planner || Passion Planner

And that is enough about me! Let’s see what Wyatt likes!

I asked him what he liked best that we had, and unsurprisingly his first answer was paint. So then I asked him what else he liked, and he told me a few different things. The second thing he picked, and I should have known, is all the games we have. He loves games so I have a bunch of games to accompany his learning. It took me a while to get used to the idea that learning through games was also learning, and for Wyatt it works really well! I should probably look and see if there are any games that would be useful for this school year.

Zingo || Money Bags || Sentence Building (also good for speech therapy) || Bananagrams || Sum Swamp

His final favorite is his little light up globe! This made me smile, I wasn’t expecting him to pick this. My mom got him the globe for Christmas and I am sure she will be tickled when I tell her it made his favorites list. You can actually see it in the picture above of our table, but this is the stock photo. It’s a small little globe and it lights up – it is pretty cute and does the trick!

Globe

I had put together a homeschool curriculum earlier this spring; if you are interested in peeping what we are doing this year, you can find it here.

So these are our favorites – now what about you? I would love to hear from anyone, homeschoolers, parents, teachers, grandparents – whoever! If you have any tips, favorite items, anything at all, just let me know in the comments!

2024-2025 Curriculum Reveal

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling6 Comments

If you have ever homeschooled, or know someone who does, then you probably know just how much time, effort, research, conversations, and comparisons go into picking the curriculum your child uses. Our position is unique – we do not need to choose something that will be effective for an entire school district of children all with different needs. We need only choose based on our own child and their educational journey. However, despite having a much, much smaller student body, it is just as important and just as time consuming.

After weighing Wyatt’s needs, where he is academically, and how he best learns, I FINALLY made my choices and started purchasing them, always with the slightest trepidation and anxiety about making the wrong choice. And then I remind myself, when I start doubting myself, that if it doesn’t work, then we find something that does. Wyatt’s education is probably our biggest expense outside of our actual bills, and it is something we sometimes make sacrifices for. But it is 100% worth it.

The homeschool world has so many options. Secular, non-secular, nature based, wildschooling, unschooling, roadschooling. We sort of take a little bit of everything over here, and have a very eclectic approach.

Let’s start with Language Arts!

This year I am going with Blossom and Root Year 3. I am super excited! There is just so much diversity and depth included in the year 3 curriculum, and when I spoke with other parents in the Blossom and Root Facebook group, so many told us that their children loved both years 3 and 4 and not to skip them. I had told them that this year Wyatt and I did our own thing and I didn’t know if I should just skip year 3 and they emphatically said no way, it is too good. So, I am listening!

And speaking of Blossom and Root, we are also using them for one trimester of science as well. We usually use them the whole year, but this year I am mixing science up a bit! We are doing four different units of study. Our focuses this year are the Prehistoric World from Blossom and Root, Extreme Weather by Books and Willows, The Human Body by The Waldock Way, and STEM by The Waldock Way, with a renewable energy study from Books and Willows. I love The Waldock Way studies, and so does Wyatt. This is the first year we are using them for science and I am looking forward to it. We have used them in the past for history/social studies so we are mixing it up a bit this year!

Math is the most challenging subject for Wyatt, and we tend to go very slowly and really spend time on it to make sure he understands a concept before moving on. One of the perks of homeschooling! I don’t care what “grade level” he should be at, he doesn’t need to keep up with anyone, it is all about Wyatt learning and understanding at his pace. We have found he responds very well to the math teaching style presented in The Good and the Beautiful, and then if we need to supplement for a concept it is is easy for me to just make stuff myself for additional material.

History this year is also a mix of topics and creators. I wanted to focus on two topics, Government and Michigan history. I know that in Michigan, fourth grade spends a lot of time on these two areas in public schools, so I wanted to make sure we cover them. I found some great looking materials on Teachers Pay Teachers and Living Books Curriculum.

As for art and music, we are going to stick with my own studies. I have so much fun making them for Wyatt and he seems to really enjoy them. Although, I would love to hear suggestions for artists to study. We have covered so many and so many different styles as well. We haven’t done Warhol or Pollock, and they are on my list. Who else do you think I should I add? I would also like to add more women artists, we have only covered a few. I would love to hear your suggestions!

And finally, a present for me, to keep myself all organized. With all the different hats I wear, and now adding in Cub Scouts, I need to be organized, and I am a person who needs it written down. I am not into digital planners. So, I use a Passion Planner right now for my overall life – meetings, appointments, etc, and I treated myself to a Clever Fox Teacher Planner for next year. It is so cute! The one that I bought last year was really nice but was more than I needed. This one looks to be about the speed I need. It is undated which I like because we school all year, with breaks here and there so I can make the dates work for when we are actually actively in school. It has stickers, monthly and weekly pages, extra blank pages for notes, and an events area where I will plan field trips. It does have a bit more than I need, but the one I purchased last year had way more pages than I needed, and it was designed for homeschool. So although this is designed for a traditional teacher, it still will be more practical for my particular needs.

And of course I got it in the dark green, because it is my favorite and matches my Passion Planner. Lol.

We will be ending for the month of June very soon now and I am looking forward to the next school year already! We will be starting these particular curricula in the fall, and finishing up this school year over the course of 6 weeks in the summer. I would not change what we do for the world.

Wednesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP, homeschooling13 Comments

Hello everyone! It is snowing here. Snowing. It is not sticking thank goodness, but I am so ready to just be able to leave my house without layering Wyatt and I all up to go outside. I long to step outside barefoot and in a t-shirt again! I mean I guess I could do it now but I would freeze my toes off!

It has been cold here for days, and we have been sticking close to home. And honestly, I complain about the weather but it does have its benefits. I love all the family time we have been having here at home together. Lots of game nights with popcorn, or on the couch tucked into a book, or all the creations we have been making together!

On Saturday we spent quite a bit of time together sitting at the table, making these little creature portraits. Billy made the badger, the rabbit is Wyatt’s, and mine is the fox. We actually loved making these so much that we have been eating eggs all week so that we can make more! They were so simple to make. Just a few simple supplies are needed to make them, just paint and glue and cardboard and egg cartons. I found them on Instagram and we put our own spin on them. This woman’s Instagram is filled with super adorable craft ideas!

Billy has also been making his little miniatures for me too.

I am still on my older book binge. I can’t stop with these old books, and I love the vintage copies the best. I intentionally seek them out from the library, over the more modern copies of the story, with the shiny new covers. I love a shiny new cover, don’t get me wrong, but for these books, I like reading the older copies, because then you find things like this. Isn’t this beautiful? It’s from the end pages of Thimble Summer, and it was just such a happy surprise to see this artwork when I opened the book.

I was also going through the millions of boxes of my books I have in storage, and found a book that was my mom’s. I don’t think I am going to read it, but the cover…sigh. So pretty.

The main event of the weekend however was my little niece’s birthday party! This little nugget turned one! I can’t believe it. We loved celebrating her first year around the sun! It was a fun afternoon spent with family, watching the presents getting opened, cake being smashed and eaten, albeit very daintily. My favorite part was her face when we all stood around her and sang Happy Birthday. She was looking at us like we were all crazy, and it cracked me up.

Finally, I added a new printable to my Etsy store, all about frogs, just in time for spring – and world frog day, which is today!

If you are interested you can pop over here! (Use code SPRING to get 20% off until Saturday the 22nd)

And I am off! Wyatt and I have a full day today! We have school of course, and then after I want to make cookies and visit the library before I go to my mom’s later this evening to help her with a few things. I don’t usually book my days like this anymore but.. I am sure we can do it. I am thinking start the cookies before school, pop them in the oven and while we work on one of topics for today they can bake – then we can eat them!

I hope that whatever you do today, you do something that makes you smile!

Homeschool Update: Monet, Magic Tree House, and Penguins

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling19 Comments

When Wyatt was given the opportunity to start a new intensive therapy this month, I had to rethink my whole plan for school. The new therapy is fantastic and definitely worth it, but it also reduces the instructional days down to three. As homeschoolers though, we can do this without missing anything, and this flexibility is just so perfect with Wyatt’s life.

However, having to rethink things actually took us on a wonderful new adventure together we wouldn’t have had. Instead of following his regular science curriculum, we have spent the month studying penguins, all the different types, where they live (Wyatt LOVES his new globe his grandma got him for Christmas), just everything penguin. So far my favorite penguin is the Little Blue Penguin; Wyatt’s favorite so far, he says, is the Chinstrap.

Penguins have even waddled their way into our reading! Our read aloud is Eve of the Emperor Penguins, part of the Magic Tree House series, and we are having fun reading it together in the middle of the day. It’s a nice little break in between subjects.

Art however, has dominated for fun this month. I created a Monet in the Winter Unit Study for Wyatt, and seriously, it has been awesome. Not to toot my own horn or anything. So far we have done in depth looks at Train in the Snow, and Sandviken Village in the Snow, but we have also looked at and discussed a few others, including The Magpie and The Road to Giverny in Winter. Next week our final art project and in depth study will be on Skaters at Giverny, and I am looking forward to it, but I will also be sad when we are done!

For Wyatt’s Train in the Snow study, we read Claude Monet: The Painter Who Stopped the Trains, and then Wyatt and Billy worked on a version of it together using oil pastels. I knew I wanted to include this one because Wyatt loves trains; Monet painted trains because his 8 year old son loved trains too! Billy helped with the form of the train and the rest was Wyatt. I love how industrial it turned out!

Next up for our in depth look, we studied Sandviken Village in the Snow. I love this painting, I think it is absolutely beautiful and tranquil and cozy. I had something a bit different in mind for Wyatt to do with this one….

I think it turned out so beautiful! It took us a heck of a long time to do together, but it was a very pleasant and fun way for us to spend a snowy, very cold afternoon. We had hot chocolate, and just cut and glued and planned. Wyatt loved this project more than I can express, and was so excited to show his dad when Billy got home from work. He did not like pulling the cotton ball apart to make wispy snow and gluing it down though, so I had to do that for him. It was just too sticky and weird feeling. He picked the locations for the pictures himself, with the exception of the bridge which I guided him to put into the correct placement to match the painting. Then we built a riser so that the diorama would be staggered in height, and I love the effect!

This section includes affiliate links. If you were to purchase something I would make a small commission to help support my family (and my son’s art habit!)

Resource Round Up:

I am excited to say that one of the Unit Studies we used was the one that I created!

Monet in Winter by Fox and Firth (me!)

Penguin Unit Study by Educating in the Wild

Eve of the Emperor Penguin Unit Study by McMarie

Traveling the States by The Waldock Way

And.. a few photos of Wyatt working hard at therapy!

I need to start thinking about February!!

Christmas Homeschool!!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling12 Comments

It’s that most magical time of the year, when homeschool families all over start to convert their curriculum entirely over to Christmas! Holiday and winter themed everything – science, math, history, geography, language arts.

I did this for a few years with Wyatt, preschool through about Kindergarten. Now though, I just weave some magic of the season into our regular curriculum, just a sprinkle, enough to make some whimsy alongside our regular learning. And, I am super excited to say that I have everything all lined up! Now printed and ready – well, we are not quite there yet!

However, I am super excited to share what we are planning!

First up:

Santa’s Tasty Trip Around the World from The Waldock Way

The Waldock Way is one of our very favorite creators to get homeschool curriculum from. We used her Traveling the States curriculum last year and it inspired a love of states and geography and state birds in Wyatt that still lasts now! And since she is having a 40% off all of her curriculum sale right now, I splurged on a special (and tasty!) Christmas geography unit study! This takes you around the world, and includes history, maps, and recipes! We won’t finish the whole thing but we can probably add a few countries in every year for a while to come. And since there is a sale, I bought the Who Was Claude Monet unit study as well, since he is the January artist of the month!

Next up, I found a few fun looking unit studies for Language Arts over on Teachers Pay Teachers.

These are all from the store Lashes and Littles, and I can’t wait to use them. I bought The Polar Express, Little Red Sleigh, Dasher, and 5 More Sleeps ‘Til Christmas, and I am sure Wyatt will love them! They are all 40-50 pages and since I plan on doing one a week I am sure we won’t do everything, again, but I will pick and choose from the many activities. These studies include comprehension, crafts, cause and effect, noun and verb work, writing prompts, coloring sheets – the list goes on and on. I am super excited about The Polar Express. Wyatt has not watched that movie yet and this year we are going to watch it. He loves trains and all things transportation so I am sure he will enjoy it, so that is going to be our big finale.

Finally, I pulled something from my archives that I bought a few years ago. Wyatt is special needs as you all know, and while he does well in school, I often meet him where he is, and math and numbers are just a struggle for him. We continue to learn at grade level but we are always always reviewing to keep those neural pathways open, and this is just perfect for some bonus fun math in December (and maybe all winter!)

This awesome looking winter math bundle is from Raising Dinos. I did buy it as part of a mega pack a few years ago and since I save everything, I was able to find it on my computer to reprint. I think it will be such a great “addition” to our math this December!! It is on sale now for $2.80, and is 79 pages, so it is a steal!

And that is it! We will continue along with our regularly scheduled curriculum and sort of gently fold this in as we go. I am super excited about it, and I hope that Wyatt will be too!

Our October Artist: Georgia O’Keeffe

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn artist review, homeschooling7 Comments

Wyatt’s favorite thing we do in our homeschool is art. He loves to create and paint and draw and learn, and I love to encourage that side of him. This year my plan is to focus on one artist a month, with the exception of November and December when we are just going to do seasonal type crafts and projects. We kicked things off in September with Van Gogh, and then October moved on to Georgia O’Keeffe. In all honesty, I was not super familiar with her work or her life, so it was a learning month for me as well. I knew about certain aspects of her work, like what people say about some of her paintings, but nothing about her life or her other work.

When I started to look at her paintings, I found some that were just perfect for fall – autumn leaves, apples, and bones. A ladder to the moon. More than just her beloved flowers. We learned that she loved nature, that she loved to take small things that some people may overlook and recreate them large so that they could not be ignored. Which was what we focused on for our first lesson!

Wyatt’s inspiration piece was O’Keeffe’s Autumn Leaves, Lake George, 1924. According to this website, fall in the Adirondacks was her favorite season, and I can’t say that I blame her. I would love to spend a fall in the Adirondacks!

I thought this was the perfect place to begin with Wyatt. He free painted a background, we let it dry, then added the leaf over the top, emphasizing that we were making something small, bigger for all to see.

Our next project up was two weeks later, after he had gotten over his cold. This time we based his piece on Georgia O’Keeffe’s apple paintings. We used the apples we had gotten at the orchard, and I let Wyatt arrange his own still life, and then we did some hand over hand for the first apple shape. Then Wyatt did the rest on his own!

Finally, the finale piece. This one I wanted to sort of line up with Halloween, so… we did bones. But not real bones! I did buy a replica of a raven skull from Etsy, but it is made of plastic and is not bone. I thought it would be neat to have a model, and I didn’t want like a big cattle skull or something. So, raven it was. The company sent us the one I ordered plus a bonus tiny one that I put on our nature shelf.

This particular painting I did a lot of hand over hand with Wyatt so that he could get the general sense of the shape and what we were doing. He did paint the background by himself first though. I thought this turned out pretty neat!

We read so many books about Georgia! I loved that Wyatt would wander over and pick up a book, and know that he was reading about Georgia O’Keeffe, who he just called O’Keeffe. I had no idea who Georgia O’Keeffe was when I was 8; as I said, I barely knew anything about her at my current age until this study.

This section contains Amazon Affiliate Links.

Georgia Rises || Georgia in Hawaii || Through Georgia’s Eyes || Georgia’s Bones || My Name is Georgia || Georgia O’Keeffe || Little People Big Dreams Georgia O’Keeffe

We love the Little People, Big Dreams biographies and I am always thankful when I can find them on the people we are studying. Wyatt’s favorite book this time was Georgia’s Bones, which I admit was pretty neat. Georgia in Hawaii was fascinating to me, more than it was to him. She was hired by the Pineapple Company in Hawaii to visit the island, and paint for them – specifically, a pineapple. However, no one was going to tell her what to paint, and she painted everything BUT a pineapple! However, when she returned home she reflected on how in love she fell with Hawaii, and how that was due to the Pineapple Company, and she did end up painting them a pineapple.

This was a great month of art and learning, and I am excited to return to our artists in January. I have a really good one all lined up. I wanted Wyatt to have the experience of making seasonal fun stuff as well though, so November and December are all about this type of art, like I made in my youth in school. It will be fun too!

Homeschool: Here We “Van Gogh” Again!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling5 Comments

Hello everyone! We had a very fun week last week in our little homeschool. Some weeks are more book and table weeks, some weeks are more hands on, and last week was a lot more hands on, which we both appreciate and love.

In science (we use Blossom and Root) and this year is all about the wonders of the animal kingdom – from the very tiniest on up. Last week we began discussing invertebrates, specifically octopi, snails, and worms (the curriculum picked for us). I was pretty excited, because, snails. We know I love them. But I opted to leave them out this time since Wyatt and I have covered snails pretty extensively in the past. So we focused on the wonderful octopus and worms. We read books, watched videos, including a Wild Kratts episode about an undersea octopus, filled out Wyatt’s science notebook with facts, and then, crafted one out of pipe cleaners and a foam ball. It was really easy and Wyatt loved it. Also, I felt pretty darn genius for putting it on display in Wyatt’s Catch and Release bucket.

Next we tackled worms! Same deal – read books, worked on Wyatt’s fact notebook, watched some videos, and then the hands on part of the assignment. And thank goodness we had Papa and Grandma on hand to help out! We were building a worm jar together using the instructions in the back of the worms book, and while I mostly set up and helped with layering, Papa had the hard job, handling the worms. Wyatt absolutely would not touch a worm unless Papa handed it to him. It was cracking me up. I mean not that I blamed him, I didn’t want to touch it either. And I didn’t.

We are still working on a few states that we didn’t do last year, and will intermittently do this throughout the year. Since we are reading Paddle-to-the-Sea in Language Arts, I thought it would be a good time to work on Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New York. We started with Ohio our first week, then moved on into Pennsylvania. We learned some neat things about Pennsylvania, like why the heck it is called the Keystone state, that their state bird the Ruffed Grouse is one tough bird, and that the “birth” of the Hershey factory shares a birthdate with Wyatt (I mean obviously much different years though). We celebrated with some Hershey’s chocolate and wondered if people in Pennsylvania get much fresher chocolate than we do. Does it taste different so close to the source? Maybe we will have to visit one day and answer these hard-hitting questions.

In art, we are still working on Van Gogh! I had planned Van Gogh for the whole month, but we did skip the other week to make our ghost pictures (“Goghst” pictures?) instead. This week we made our version of Crows Over a Wheatfield. I loved doing this one with Wyatt. We used oil pastels and focused on perspective and horizon as part of the lesson. It turned out really cool!

It was a fantastic week of learning, and this week is a little less hands on but that is ok! We still one more Van Gogh to “Gogh” (I just can’t stop) and this week it is The Starry Night.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

Books first!

Wonderful Worms || Snails || Worms || The Artist and Me

This week we move on into New York State (now I think I should play some Billy Joel for Wyatt…who else agrees?), ants, bees, moths, and more Van Gogh!

Homeschool: First Week Back, Sunflowers, and Buckeyes

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling7 Comments

Last week was our first week back and it went pretty well! I thought Wyatt was going to be all grouchy about it but he was pretty happy about resuming our normal school schedule. I am going to take that as a sign I am doing all right at this homeschool thing.

He cracked me up when we made his “Back to school” sign. When I asked him what he was excited to learn about, he said “Ghosts!”. Ummm… I don’t have that as part of the curriculum obviously. So I am going to have do some research. I did find a unit study about ghost animals, like the ghost moth, ghost crab, etc that we are going to do in October, but I will also try to find something that is more what he is expecting as well.

For our first week, I sort of tiptoed back into school. We didn’t go all out, and I think we both appreciated that. However, I feel like we did do quite a bit.

My plan for the week included (besides the basics of readin’ and ‘rithmetic) finishing up a few more states from our Social Studies curriculum from last year, introducing the art of Van Gogh, and science. I haven’t rolled music in yet, and I probably won’t until next week. Also, I’m not starting our main history curriculum until October. We are doing a whole thing with Paddle-to-the-Sea for Language Arts and wrapping state studies up in with it. We focused on Ohio, compared sunflower seeds to buckeyes (or in our case, a chestnut), read about Van Gogh, studied his painting Sunflowers, and then finally painted our own version. Our painting is a combo of Wyatt and I both – sometimes he paints on his own, sometimes I do hand over hand if there is a special reason. For this lesson, I wanted to make sure we were getting long, feathery strokes for the petals of the sunflowers, and fat dabs for the seeds, as we read that Van Gogh did when he painted his famous version. We also talked about how the painting had a life cycle sequence in it, which is pretty neat.

Add in three therapy sessions, bike riding, and time for just fun and play, and we had a very big week! This week is sort of jammed with appointments and a field trip, so it will be another slow week and that is ok.

What We Used:

This section contains Amazon Affiliate links. In addition to the curriculum I am creating for him, we also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root for phonics, reading, science, and social studies.

Vincent Paints His House || Vincent Van Gogh || B is for Buckeye || Camille and the Sunflowers

Homeschool Curriculum Picks for 2023-2024

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling14 Comments

Every homeschool mom starts researching like a madwoman starting in the late winter, deciding just which curriculum they are going to use the next school year. It is hard not to get distracted too, and just buy something new to finish the year with as well, to be perfectly honest! All the shiny new curriculums, full of new topics or projects or ways of teaching and learning. Some people have curriculum they love and stick with every year, some have curriculum they use for every subject, some follow different schools of homeschool styles, like Charlotte Mason or Waldorf or unschooling or roadschooling and there are people like me, who maybe do a little of everything. Our homeschool is a bit more eclectic, much like the people in the home, so I guess that makes sense!

Anyway, after MUCH deliberation, I finally decided on and have purchased all of our curriculum for next year! (well, with the exception of our extra language arts – I will get to that in a minute)

Math: The Good and The Beautiful

The Good and the Beautiful is an open and go type curriculum, that doesn’t require any extra planning on my end, which I love, because that is one subject I don’t really want to do that for. Wyatt struggles in math, and halfway through first grade I chucked the curriculum we had been using and started completely over from the beginning, with the Kindergarten level of The Good and The Beautiful math and he seems to be understanding it a lot better. The lessons are easily digestible for him, and math is no longer such a chore for us to get through. He is technically “behind” since we started over, but Wyatt is Wyatt and we don’t worry about constraints like that too much. We learn where he is, which is what he needs! He will get there, and I always say Wyatt does things in his own time.

Reading Mechanics, Grammar, Etc: The Good and The Beautiful

This is another one we actually started over with, like math, for the same reasons. The only difference is that Wyatt loves words and reading so it wasn’t like his attitude toward math. I just felt that The Good and the Beautiful had such a great, simple delivery system that made learning easier. The Good and The Beautiful is a non-secular, religious curriculum so there is mention of non-denominational faith in both subjects. Oh! I forgot to mention, The Good and the Beautiful also offers FREE curriculum as downloads! I think it is wonderful that there is such a fantastic resource available to anyone who wants it, since homeschool curriculum can really add up!

History: History Quest

I am so excited about my pick for History this year! We are going to use History Quest from Pandia Press, which is a secular history curriculum. I did a ton of research for history this year, it is a favorite of Wyatt’s and mine, to be honest. I love how this one is laid out, with reading and discovery and projects, as well as built in “hygge” weeks where we just read one of the suggested books that week, nothing else. It seems very inclusive and sensitive which was something else that I was looking for. I have been spending time this past week working on lesson plans and I am excited by what we will be doing. Our second week of school, Wyatt will be researching a local Native American tribe, first by searching the native lands database to find what lands we are on then following up with the research and project. This curriculum is very comprehensive, and I can actually see us slowing it down, spending more time on certain times and topics, and extending this curriculum into next year. We are actually still working on our Traveling the States curriculum from The Waldock Way, which Wyatt absolutely LOVED this year. We will be adding in the states we haven’t covered yet here and there throughout the year until we finish up.

Science: Blossom and Root Year Three

I have always loved Blossom and Root for science! I feel it is their strength, their science and nature curriculum, and we have enjoyed it every year! Sometimes we need to break it up a bit with some rabbit trails into different areas, but for the most part it is awesome. They have so many options and approaches for every learner, and every “wonder” (unit) has options for the basket book families, the minimalists, the visual learners. Then from Wonder we move on to Explore, which is the hands-on part, with labs and projects and demonstrations, and again there are multiple ways to approach exploration for each unit. There are ideas for the arts and crafts crowd (usually our choice!), the table top learners, the outdoor explorers. I usually opt for the arts and crafts version but sometimes we mix it up, or do all three, the same as I do for the Wonder part of the week. It is very comprehensive, so sometimes I skip over some of the information (like when we learned about vascular and non-vascular plants last year! I mainly skimmed it) but that is what I like about it. You can pick and choose. It is a secular based science curriculum and I think it is very affordable for all that you get with it!

Music: Legends of the Staff of Musique

So this is the first time that I have ever purchased a music curriculum, and we haven’t started this yet so I can’t really review it. However, it looks very approachable for us, and is designed for homeschool parents who are not musically inclined. Like me, that is me. This description sold me on it: “No instrument purchase necessary!  High/Low, Fast/Slow, Loud/Soft… using only your voices, you and your child can explore the foundation of music literacy together in a wonderfully holistic way.” I am also looking into music therapy for Wyatt as an additional tie-in, since he loved music therapy camp this year!

Art:

Here is where I start going it alone! We had such a good time last year in art, learning about so many different artists and styles of art and architecture and so so much, that we are going to continue along the same lines this year. We are also going to have art on the weekends so that Billy can join in! We loved when we had art with Billy!

Last year, I designed Wyatt’s language arts myself, choosing all the books, the copywork, the comprehension questions and discussions, and accompanying projects – and we loved it. We are doing it again this year, but instead of all picture books like last year, we are doing all read together/read alouds. Some of the books I will design my own book study, for other books I will purchase unit studies online. I have two lined up already – Children of the Longhouse by Jospeh Brucach (which actually aligns perfectly with hygge week in History Quest!), and Paddle-to-the-Sea by Holling C. Holling. We will begin the school year with these two and then see where the year takes us although I do have some ideas already.

Phew! That was a lot just to type out! I am so excited about our upcoming year, and am busily putting all of this together and planning weeks and field trips and projects! I think it will be a great year!