Tag: the waldock way

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.

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!

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

Tuesday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Coffee Catch UP9 Comments

Hello everyone! Another early morning over here…. Wyatt sure is an early bird. I mean, I am a morning person, but he is a different story altogether. Billy and I try to prolong getting up as long as we can but eventually we have to get up because Wyatt is up and at ’em in full force. Thank goodness for coffee!!!

Wyatt and I were obviously over the moon to get out and do something last week after weeks of being stuck at home. I mean, really, this summer has been a weird one, between the weather, the air quality, Wyatt’s allergies, and his bite/cellulitis/antibiotic issues. So getting out to the library was like a dream come true and we took full advantage of our time out, and got a little silly on the porch taking photos. Wyatt is such a ham, and loves his picture taken. I am not as thrilled but, for my kiddo, of course I will. We picked up a ton of books and even saw our tiny art on display!

Billy’s isopod is in the front row, while the paintings by Wyatt and I ended up in the back row…hmm. I love his sun and moon painting! My snail is pretty sad, but we had a really good time painting these together a few Saturdays ago. There are some really cool paintings actually, and I plan on going back and taking some more photos. I thought this idea was so cute.

I’ve been happily busy working on our school year plans! And extremely thankful for my electric hole punch, and that my husband works at an industrial printer who prints all the curriculum for me every year. My little bit is a drop in the bucket of what they print every week but it is always so nice of them to make time in their day for it. I very contentedly punched holes and organized and put it all in binders the other day. Then I was able to flip through and make plans for field trips and different studies and readings to go along with what he is going to be learning this year. (I posted a bit back what we are using this year if you are interested) We are still going to be filling in with Traveling the States from The Waldock Way as well, as we didn’t quite finish them all yet! We will actually begin the year with Ohio, our neighbor to the south, move into Pennsylvania, and then New York, as we read Paddle-to-the-Sea.

Speaking of Ohio, we took a road trip to a wildlife refuge over the weekend that was so much fun. I am going to do a whole post on it since I took a billion photos and videos, and feel like I have a lot to share about the day.

And now, just some random photos from the week – Wyatt is back on the bike, we have apples (and some are turning red!), Miso likes to random pose for me, the cucumbers and nasturtiums are going wild, the canopy is still up, and my neighbor cat wants some pets.

We have cooler temps and good air quality right now, and it feels like fall and it is marvelous around here. I wish you all a great day!

Homeschool Curriculum Picks for 2023-2024

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling13 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!

Saturday Morning Coffee Catch Up

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling17 Comments

The coffee is excellent today – Billy made it this morning and isn’t it always better when someone else does the making? We are back to Post Alley, our favorite. Billy also told me the other day that my coffee is always made strongest on Mondays – hmm. I wonder why that could be?

It was a bit of week around here. In the overnight hours of Tuesday/Wednesday Wyatt woke up with some quick illness that came and go very fast, like within two hours. I really don’t know what that was about, but it was an intense two hours!

Then Wednesday was my birthday! It was extremely low key, with basically 100% laying around by Wyatt and I. I could have had worse birthdays, and in fact I have. It was actually sort of nice to be do absolutely nothing for a change and to spend the day with my little guy just chilling. I very, very rarely allow myself to completely relax and it was amazing. Billy gave me a book, my friend dropped off a gift, and my parents gifted me with money to spend on me. They were very specific that it had to go to me and not something for the house or a bill or Wyatt. We will see.

The other night I nestled up in bed with my cup of mint tea, my new book, and a cat and it was all very cozy. The wind was whipping outside and it was so cold outside, but warm and happy inside. And I am still loving our bedroom refresh! The other day was so grey outside but our room still felt so open and light.

I’ve done some online Christmas shopping this week and feel pretty good about where I am! I have one thing for Billy, two of my three nieces are halfway done, and for Wyatt, I need to get just a few things still. I still have more shopping to do but I like to know the kids are covered first, then I move on.

In all my relaxing time from my birthday I took an online quiz on my phone to see what my “booksona” is. It was actually a really fun quiz. It was interactive and different from most little silly quizzes. I mean it was still silly but it was fun too. And I have to say I agree with my booksona! It feels really accurate.

Tonight my brother Devin and his family are coming over here for dinner. We are using a recipe for pizza dough that Jeanie from The Marmalade Gypsy sent me that her partner Rick uses. We are all going to make our own individual pizzas. I think it will be fun! Last week we had a really laid back dinner at my brother’s house, soup and bread and homemade pumpkin pie. It was a very simple, perfect evening. Even though I had Wyatt dressed like Doc Boy from the Garfield Christmas Special. (well Wyatt is super cute in anything) And for a little bit of reality, that is Wyatt being sassy! Then, one second later trying to charm us. Stinker.

This weekend we have to do a lot of around the house stuff. Cleaning, getting groceries including the ingredients we need for our contributions to Thanksgiving and Wolfenoot, and work on the gifts we are making. Busy but also fun, with a nice break for pizza with family.

Next week is a little wild, and the introvert in me is freaking out already! Tuesday we have a get together with my cousin and his kids, my mom, and my brother and fam. Wednesday we have early Thanksgiving with Billy’s family, and Thursday Thanksgiving at my brother’s. It will be a lot of fun but Friday Wyatt and I will be doing a lot of nothing.

And that is about it for today! I hope all is well in your world!

Homeschooling Journey: Paul Bunyan, Wisconsin, Photosynthesis, and Grant Wood

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling6 Comments

Last week was a crazy week! It was our second week back and we were still working out our rhythm and routine. We also added in the subjects we didn’t do the first week back, so we had a very full second week! Music, art, phonics, reading, math, science, social studies… we did it all.

Let’s start with..music and social studies. Wyatt is absolutely loving The Waldock Way’s Traveling the States curriculum. It is by far his favorite subject that we cover. I have to admit, it is pretty neat! I loved geography and history as a kid, and even in college so it makes sense. I was even in school to become a Social Studies teacher when they got rid of that degree and I had to choose sometime else (I picked History – I should have picked Geography) Anyway, back to Wyatt and our school! I have been starting every school session with a folk song or song that pertains to our lessons and this week we listened to the Wisconsin state song as well as songs from Bunyan and Banjoes, and Voices From Across the Lakes. Wyatt loves this – and was super pumped up by the Roll Loggers, Roll song. It also tied in with our Literary Arts for the week. We have been making our way through legends and tall tales, and last week we read about the mighty Paul Bunyan, and Babe, his blue ox. I asked Wyatt who he liked better, Johnny Appleseed or Paul Bunyan, and Wyatt is sticking by Johnny Appleseed.

Wisconsin facts we learned: toilet paper was invented there, which for some reason was hilarious to Wyatt, and that the first ice cream sundae was made there as well. Those were Wyatt’s two favorite takeaways. My favorite Wisconsin fact though is that Laura Ingalls was born there.

Science this entire year is all about plants, and we started at the beginning, with photosynthesis and how we get oxygen from trees. It’s still such a perfect design, that we need to live hand in hand with trees, as they use our carbon dioxide and we need their oxygen. We also had a very simple observation experiment to complete. We took two freshly cut leaves (I used my pothos) and put them in two jars of water. One was to be put in the sun, and the other in a closet. After an hour we needed to see the difference, were there any bubbles, etc.

Art this week was about Grant Wood, probably best known for his painting American Gothic. We read a few different books about Wood, looked at pictures of his work, and then we were supposed to make a sculpture over the weekend – but it didn’t happen. Note to self: Do not save work for the weekend, at least until the weather changes. Wyatt loved Wood’s sculpture work which were made out of just anything he found. I loved his portraits best, especially the portrait of his mother holding her snake plant, called Woman with Plants.

“Woman & Plant”, 1929 oil painting by Grant Wood, approx. 24″ high, collection of The Cedar Rapids Museum of Art, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. 4×5 transparency, Fuji Quattro scan. Painting is behind glass. Note: face and eyes painted “soft”, not out of focus.

The sculpture is named “Lillies of the Alley”, and I found this photo online at Antiques and the Arts, photo credit to Stephen Gassman.

What We Used: (contains Amazon Affiliate links)

Living Sunlight // B is for Badger // American Gothic // Grant Wood: The Artist in the Hayloft // Paul Bunyan

Bunyan and Banjoes // Disney American Legends

I am sure a lot of these resources can be found either available online for free or at the library.

We also use curriculum from The Good and the Beautiful, The Waldock Way, and Blossom and Root.

I am hoping to get my blogging situation with timing of posts, replies to comments, and visiting you all and commenting under control this week!

Homeschool Journey: The First Week Back

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling18 Comments

Well, we made it through our first week back! Wyatt had a fantastic week. We had our moments where we struggled, both of us, but overall this was a great first few days back!

The first day I got up way too early and got started. I tried to make a special back to school breakfast of french toast but, I totally screwed it up somehow. Lol. I wasn’t awake enough maybe? So we had just a breakfast of buttered toast and we were happy because Wyatt and I are superfans of toast, which I know sounds funny. I gave him his little bin of supplies, some that he had chosen and some that were surprises, and he ate breakfast while exploring them.

After breakfast, we got ready and took back to school photos. He opted for his new lizard shirt – and told me that he was looking forward to learning about geckos. I guess I need to get a unit study together!

I can’t get over how much he has grown since even last year. Where did my baby go?

Then we headed in and got straight to work. I had a week that was structured to let us ease back in. We only tackled reading and language arts, social studies, music, and art last week. Next week we will add math and science back in. We need to form our new routine, get used to the new schedule, figure out how to work around therapy, all that good stuff.

And in the middle of our first day, I discovered we had a runaway caterpillar! I was crawling around the office looking for it everywhere! I finally found it on the baseboard behind my desk. (This is a giant swallowtail caterpillar)

When we finished up our work for the first day, we went outside for a much needed break. Wyatt played and played while I sat in my new yard chairs by the zinnias, enjoying the cool of the day and listening to Wyatt playing. It was a tiring but wonderful day.

What We Learned:

Our week was all about Johnny Appleseed, the state of Michigan, and the artist Thomas Cole.

Our Language Arts curriculum is one that I designed so I was excited to try it out! I need to fluff it out more with some projects that correlate with the book, etc but the actual work and how it went made me very happy.

We are learning about the states this year using a program from The Waldock Way, and we had a blast with it last week! I added in some Motown music, of course, and I had found the book Voices Across the Lakes on Amazon for $6, when other copies are selling for $40! It is described as “Beautifully told and illustrated stories about the Great Lakes region. Historical content, written around 10 authentic songs.” It is really cool, and we are probably going to use it with music class for a few more weeks.

I was also really excited to start our art program. I am not using anything formal, but I have a list of artists I want us to learn about this year and I am sort of making it up as we go along. This week we learned about Thomas Cole. I found an awesome picture book called Picturing America: Thomas Cole and the Birth of American Art, which we read together. I also visited the Thomas Cole National Historic Site website and they had some wonderful free downloads available to use. It would be an excellent field trip for anyone living in that area too, with free outdoor explore kits for students to use while visiting. Plus that view from the porch!! We are going to complete our art project later this afternoon as a family, by sketching the view from our porch. Not quite as scenic, not by a long shot, but it will be fun to do.

What We Used:

(contains Amazon Affiliate Links)

S is for Sleeping Bear Dunes // M is for Mitten // Voices Across the Lakes // Picturing America // Seed by Seed

For a look at what we are using for our curriculum this year, check out my post here.

We ended the week with a crazy road trip – but that is a story for another day!

2022-2023 Homeschool Curriculum Reveal!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn Uncategorized6 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. The past two years we have used Blossom and Root for everything, for the most part, and then in January I decided Wyatt needed more structure in math and in grammar, so I added in another curriculum. We will be using bits and pieces from a few different curriculum this year, including one that I am designing myself.

This year for Math we are using The Good and the Beautiful, which is what we started using in January last year. Since we started using it late in the year, we will finish up from where we left off before moving on to Course 2. We both like it quite a bit, and math is Wyatt’s least favorite so that is a definite win! It is academically strong, easy to follow, hardly any preparation, and very aesthetically pleasing, which really isn’t important at all but does make it nicer. They also utilize a lot of nature themes, which we enjoy, and use inclusive and diverse images. Wyatt and I were very pleased to see one of the lessons included an illustration of a little girl with braces and crutches! Kids like to see themselves reflected in books and Wyatt definitely liked that lesson.

Since we are talking about The Good and the Beautiful, I will just say we are also using it for reading and grammar, for all of the same reasons. One other thing about The Good and the Beautiful – you can purchase the whole kit and caboodle, or you can get a download of the curriculum for free! I think this is spectacular. The program is fantastic, and I like that anyone can have access to it for their child.

We are sticking with Blossom and Root for science, as their science and nature program is very strong. It looks like this year is going to be learning all about the world of plants – which is pretty exciting to me as well!

I was looking at Michigan’s Common Core because I do try to make sure we follow along in our own way, and it didn’t look like there was much on there about history/geography/social studies. It seems to focus quite a bit on community so we will make sure to include that in our studies, but I also added in Traveling the States by The Waldock Way. I think it is perfect for where Wyatt is right now. It gives him a nice overview of the fifty states, and it looks like it is very fun and engaging. It was originally designed for roadschooling, but can be used in a home classroom as well, as we are doing. It would be neat to include some long distance field trips this year though! You can check out an inside peek video here!

Music! I always struggle with this one, as I am the farthest from musical anyone can be. So this year I am pairing music appreciation, learning about different instruments and genres, with our literature and art program. I am also looking for music lessons for him nearby, that will take special needs children. And Jeanie at Marmalade Gypsy has told me about a program at MSU called RicStar, and I think I am going to try to get him in to their camp next summer. It looks like something Wyatt would absolutely love!

And finally, literature and art. This is separate from The Good and the Beautiful program we are using to learn the mechanics of reading and writing. This will be all literature based projects and activities, based on the readings for the week, and will include poetry, geography, history, comprehension, art, vocabulary lists, copywork and narration. I am designing this myself, so I am super nervous about it but feel I have all his bases covered with the other programs we are using so it should be ok. This will just supplement everything we are doing in a nicely complimentary way.

As for physical education, Wyatt does go to physical therapy once a week, as well as occupational therapy and speech. However, I did find swim lessons specifically for special needs children.

And since I have made my choices and started buying them all, I have also begun planning – and have some awfully fluffy assistants.

And.. that pretty much sums it all up! I can’t wait to share all of this with you when we begin in the fall!

Homeschooling: Pirates, Raccoons, Magical Fish!

On By Erin @ Cracker Crumb LifeIn homeschooling5 Comments

First, can we talk about how big this kid looks these days? What is happening? Where is my baby? Lol.

We have been so busy the past two weeks! We have established a pretty good routine – we start with Language Arts and phonics, then move on to math in the mornings. Then in the afternoons we rotate between history and science, along with whatever extra unit study I have thrown in the mix. It seems to be working well!

This week in Language Arts we were supposed to read Magic Fish but being me, I remembered we had a similar book, The 1000 Star Hotel. Wyatt absolutely loves this story, written by the Okee Dokee Brothers, whom he also loves. And even better, there is an accompanying audio for it! We were able to read it together, and then listen to it (for the 1000th time maybe but he loves it so it was perfect), before getting to work on our copywork/journal/narration pages and projects. The “fun” project was decorating a magic fish, which was supposed to be made from a sock, but I didn’t have an extra so I sewed these little felt fish instead for him to decorate. They turned out pretty cute! We skipped the rabbit trail suggestion of studying a specific fish, Wyatt just wasn’t that thrilled with any fish suggestions and I figured we had enough to learn about so we moved on.

For our extra study unit, that I will probably refer to as our nature study, we started a month long unit about nocturnal animals. Our animal for this week was the raccoon. It was a cute little study – we read a few books about nocturnal animals and raccoons, played a matching game, and then matched shadow pictures to the animal. Wyatt also completed his journal page about raccoons which I am going to put together in a book at the end of the month. I also felt quite clever in finding this craft. We are talking about simple fractions in math, and I talked about halves and equal sides and all that while I was showing him how to cut hearts out of construction paper. We have to do this sort of thing hand over hand, so I did a few as demo and then cut a few together before he assembled it all. I think it turned out super cute!

We are using The Waldock Way’s Passport to Adventure for our history unit this year, although I am doing a rather poor job of connecting the historical parts to it in our lessons. It is turning into more of additional language arts right now – although, one of the GLCE goals for first grade is about maps, and we made a treasure map, so I guess I hit one goal. This curriculum is based on the Magic Tree House series and this week we were reading Pirates Past Noon. These books are super fast reads and pretty cute! We completed notebooking pages and journal pages based on the reading, talked about pirate treasure, what Wyatt would choose to put in a buried treasure (fruit snacks, a Mickey Mouse toy, and a book), made a map, crafted a cute pirate puppet, and painted a treasure chest, which I filled with “treasure”. This was Wyatt’s favorite thing we did. I find him going through this treasure chest all the time, and putting on all of the jewelry. I think today we are going to watch Peter Pan, eat Pirate Booty, and hide the treasure somewhere and make a map for Billy to find when he gets home. We also have to make time for our art project today as well.

We did other things as well, like sight words (which we call cake words) and word family activities, learning about the layers of the earth, make a felt model of the layers, fractions, telling time, and all the other things you learn in first grade.

I will post about our nocturnal animals study in a future post, with links and activities for anyone who is interested! I am going to combine that post into multiple weeks as well, so I will probably post that information next Friday.

Next week is all about coyotes, mountains, turtles, and the Choctaw Nation! And with that, I better get moving! I have a lot to get together before Monday!