We're Official!!!!!

I'm all giddy with excitement because I just submitted

our first ever private school affidavit!

This doesn't really mean much, other than we are offically

a homeschool in the state of California.

I was really intimidated by this task and kept putting it off.

(Deadline is October 15)

Official forms and documents always scare me because I have this

irrational fear that if I do it wrong, I'll have a warrant out for my arrest

and I'll never see my family again. Like I don't know how to answer

questions about myself or something.

Thankfully, another homeschooling friend of mine sent me this link

to HSLDA's website that has step-by-step instructions on how to do it!

http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/ca/affidavit/AffidavitInstructions.asp

Super helpful!!!

I started to fill this all out yesterday.

I read question 1 and was immediately stumped.

"Name of School"

ummmmmmmmm I don't know!!!!!!!!!!

Apparently we have to NAME our homeschool.

Nobody prepared me for this. Oh no, what do I do?!

 So I went to Google-land with a mission to find a name for our school.

I found quite a few homeschooling forums where other people listed the name

of their own schools and why they chose it.

It sounds like this would be an easy task....but its not.

Initially I'm like "Oh, I'll just put (Our last name) Homeschool"

No....that's not good enough.

Other people were so creative and thoughtful! I don't want a boring name,

I want to be cool too!

I noticed a lot of people had the word "Academy" in their name.

Ok, I could go that direction.

It literally took me almost 24 hours to come up with a name I think I could live with...

I chose this name because I felt it was unique and it encompasses what I want

our homeschool to be for our family.

The definition of Liberty is "The state of being free within society from oppressive 

 restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life, behavior, or political views."

Yea, that's one reason we homeschool.

We have the freedom to choose our own curriculum and teach our children the

way we feel is best for them without having to answer to anybody.

 Another reason we homeschool is because I want to encourage my children's

curiosity in learning new things. I don't want them to feel that knowledge is a chore.

I want them to understand that learning is everywhere in our every day life, not just

at a desk in a classroom. That is why I chose the words "Creative Learning" in our name.

We keep it fun, relaxed, interactive and entertaining so they actually enjoy it.

After I picked a name, we decided we needed a mascot.

Introducing, Liberty the Lemur!

 

Kayden and I have talked about it and are going to work on raising money 

to adopt a lemur from WWF!

We had fun with this and now that this process is over we can continue on

with our year as official homeschoolers, woo hoo!

Curriculum '13-'14

I don't think I've ever researched anything as thoroughly 

as I've researched 1st grade homeschool curriculum.

There are SO MANY options.

I was so intimidated and overwhelmed in the beginning,

but then it got fun. I've actually really enjoyed piecing

together Kayden's curriculum for the 2013-2014 year.

Of course we had the option of just purchasing a boxed

curriculum that had everything we would need, but I quickly

discovered that I was way too picky to do that. I couldn't find

anything that I was 100% satisfied with.

One reason I want to homeschool my kids is to have

the ability to sculpt their curriculum to fit their needs.

By doing Kindergarten this year I've been able to see my

daughter's strengths and weaknesses. I've gotten to know

her learning style and what works best for her.

So after months and months and hours and hours of

researching, I believe I've found a fit for her 1st grade year.

Math

I've chosen Horizons for our math curriculum. She's already

doing Horizon's K workbooks and we love them!

Language Arts

I've decided to go with All About Spelling and All About Reading.

I knew for sure that I wanted to do AAS this year but it took me a while to

choose a reading curriculum. We will give AAR a try and see how it goes.

Science

Building Foundations of Scientific Understanding has rave reviews

everywhere I look. From what I've read, its a completely new approach

to learning science. What I liked about it is the ideas and guidance offered

to adapt what you're learning to the student's every day life. I really wanted

a fun science curriculum, outside of a textbook, and I think I've found it.

History

Kayden's been learning about history this year through the American

Girl books. The first series we finished was Felicity, which took place

in 1774 in Williamsburg, Virginia. She learned a little bit about the

Boston Tea Party and Revolutionary War and how America began.

I wanted to continue studying history of the United States so I chose 

Adventures in America for our history curriculum.

So that's it! If you are an experienced homeschooler, I'd love your

opinion on my choices! This will be our first official year of school

and I want to make sure I have all the bases covered.

I love homeschooling :)


****EDIT****

Doing both AAR and AAS ended up being more than I could afford this
school year. So I have changed our spelling curriculum to Soaring With Spelling. 

Our Bug Farm

Welcome to our farm.

Ok I know its not much, but we've got a lot going on here!

I think everyone knows about the butterfly habitat

that everyone talks about.

I snagged it on sale on Amazon a few years ago for 

around $8 and just never got around to getting it out.

We got our baby caterpillars last Saturday and

it will take a few days for them to grow and make

their cocoons.

Then we have the Sea Monkeys which was a stocking

stuffer this past Christmas. We've done Sea Monkies

before but they are cheap entertainment for the kids.

Then Santa brought Davin this ant farm which

we think is so awesome. Its called the AntWorks farm

and they have a couple different versions on Amazon.

We were so excited to get our ants and have loved

watching them build their tunnels and work together.

The habitat isn't very big though and they

filled this one up pretty quickly. Here is a pic from last

week and a pic from this morning. 

The kids are loving watching the progress of our

bug farm and learning how they each grow and live.

Some pretty cool products if you have kids!

Our Homeschooling Space

Today is our first day back at "school" after winter break.

For those that don't know, I homeschool our 5 year old.

I figured I would give it a try during her Kindergarten year

and if it didn't work out, I would enroll her for 1st grade.

Well we are LOVING it!

I absolutely love working with her every morning,

seeing her progress, witnessing her passion for learning.

I made up my own curriculum for this year

which has been really fun. I think I will post it

another day for anyone else who might want to use it.

We don't have much space in our little four bedroom

base house, but we utilize a small corner for our homeschooling.

 

I got the awesome calendar off of Amazon. The file holder as well.

  We have one file for each day of the week. I try to get our weeks

worth of lessons put into the files on Sunday nights. This system has

worked pretty well for us and its nice that it doesn't take up any room.

I snagged this desk off of a local yard sale site for $20. 

Its the PERFECT size for Kayden. To the left is a box where

I keep all of her completed work. The drawers on right hold my

mommy folder with all my lesson plans, construction paper, and

any other miscellaneous items we use such as math counters and flash cards.

It's not much, but we don't need much. I do have fantasies of a 

gorgeous colorful homeschooling room some day. But with only one

school-aged kid, this is good for now :)

PS. Don't forget to start the 200 Sit Ups Challenge!

I would do the initial test today, and start Day 1 on Wednesday.