nice to see you back. We sold a house almost a year ago to take advantage of the market here and the prep to sell and then moving into a new renovation was exhausting! I feel like I'm JUST getting into a good groove with school.
also, I LOVED the westing game when I read it at public school way back. I know that I reread it several times outside of class. I love the idea of working through it with my kids like you are.
Hey!! I missed your videos and I love your chatty updates. I completely understand feeling like things get all scrambled when we do things outside the house when the kids do activities. I try and make sure on those days we do the "meat of or days early and then go out. We are part of a FB social group where moms post park days or fun activities, they ae going on and if we can go then we go; nothing formal which works best. We also participate in homeschool activities with the Parks and Rec center. Anyways loved your updates like always...wish you the best with this new adventure
So nice to hear from you! I missed your videos! Thank you for sharing, I will start homeschooling my son soon and your content has been very valuable in my preparation. 🤓📚
I love your videos! We are also a homeschooling military family and I feel the same way about activities. What we like to do and what works for us is to not have our kids involved in summer activities. We leave the summers wide open for our kids to just play. Play with the neighborhood kids all day, meet up with other friends, beach trips, swimming days, and spontaneous day trips. We also love camping and hiking so we love to just pack up and go on the weekend whenever we feel like it. The summer is also when we like to fly home to see family.
I'd LOVE to hear what your plans are for next year! The sooner the better for me. And I don't mind the chatty videos :) You wouldn't have had to edit this one, imo. You have excellent suggestions for curriculum and that's why I listen to you.
Sounds like you're at Ft. Meade. I used to live in Laurel, which is very close. Actually, I lived in Maryland for most of my life. It's nice being so close to DC with its free museums, etc.
Love you are back! My kids are doing soccer and co-op. This is our first time doing a co-op but we are trying out a secular co-op for elective type classes
Sounds like you have some great plans in place. I always find it so interesting how others homeschool. I homeschool 4 kids, almost 13,11,nearly 9 and nearly 7. My nearly 7 year old has done barely any formal work, she's still learning mostly through play, doesn't read yet but that doesn't worry me, she will when she's ready. We are very relaxed, informal and unstructured, here in nz we don't have to do tests or show anyone what they've been learning/ keep records etc. Is there any differences in your previous state and Maryland as far as homeschool expectations go?
We lived in MD right after college while my husband did his post doc at NIH. We lived halfway between DC and Baltimore in a beautiful community named Columbia. If you are there, you will love it! Enjoy all the great museums in the DC area- we had no kids when we were there so I missed all those great homeschooling field trips!
Yay, you’re in my area now! We are in Northern Virginia, and you are absolutely correct in experiences being so plentiful in the area. So much to do in DC (the Zoo is our favorite!) and so many groups and opportunities for secular homeschoolers in particular.
Also, I saw you mentioned libraries. Be sure to take advantage of reciprocal borrowing privileges! Most counties in the area will let you get cards as long as you live in one of the local counties. We have at least 5 different cards and could get so many more.
I am so glad that you are back! My daughter is one year older than your son, and is approaching fourth grade this September. We homeschool all year as well, and have been doing so since first grade. We started Michael Clay Thompson in January after losing interest in another grammar program (First Language Lessons). I would love to hear more about your experiences with the MCT program. There is honestly not much out there about it. Do you use the other books? I ordered the full first year package even though it is fairly costly. Anyway, as I said, I am glad that you uploaded a video. Welcome back and congratulations on the sale of your home!
Thank you! and we also bought the full first year curriculum. I am not following the weekly schedule they provided but I am trying to keep with the general overview of how it is supposed to be done so, so far we have done Grammar Island, and we are setting aside practice island for right now because his 4 level sentence analysis is pretty strong. (we did like 20 sentences in the different sections out of 100) and now we are almost done with building language and we recently started sentence island. I will try to have a video out about Michael clay Thompson soon! and then hopefully a very thorough one when we completely finish this level.
I feel the same way about activities! I like the idea of it, but I hate feeling committed to it every week, and constrained by it in a way. But I want my kids to be able to be active and part of a team, etc. So it's tough. We do 1 activity per kid, and it feels like a lot to me lol
Welcome to Maryland! We moved to Anne Arundel county a couple years ago and love it here. You are so right about the library system though :( Thanks for the update, sounds like you are doing great! Bowie has some great parks, so does AA county. We love the aquarium too, and right near there is the Maryland Science Center (kids museum).
Now that’s I’ve watched the full thing… we don’t live on post, but right off. We heavily utilize the Maryland library system & Marina. I would love to know about the board game cafe! I really need to find some homeschool groups to hangout with around her. I know my son would love that. We really love this area too, and we are going to be so sad when we have to leave.
Nice to hear your update! Had been wondering about you guys. I have the same feeling about reading as you are about math. DD is "supposed" to be in Kinder, but she's reading really well. Went ahead and moved up to the first grade curriculum in January. We're on like week 8 and still she hasnt really come across anything that she couldn't already read before we started the lesson, but I'm worried about skipping ahead to much and her having trouble later because we skipped some crucial piece. 🤷♀️
Yes, I understand the struggle! It is so hard to figure out what to do. I am thinking about really limiting the problems we do and trying to complete two in a day. But maybe that is too much and it is not a big deal to go slower. It is so hard to tell. I hope you guys figure out what works for you!
Happy to see a video from you!! ❤️ I always love hearing your thought process! We're also doing an around the world study! We're using BYL0 and TLK with all 3 of my kids and it's been SO much fun!! I just threw in Exploring the World through Story and we are enjoying that too!! I'm still trying to navigate Language Arts- we just finished Logic of English Foundations and so I'm debating about moving into MCT, so I was glad to hear you guys are liking it! Do you guys do any formal spelling or does Explode the Code do spelling?
Oh yay! We started out using BYL0 and TLK but I have kinda started doing my own thing but with some of their book suggestions haha! and I will try to have a video on MCT soon so hopefully that will help you pick! explode the code does focus on some spelling, at the end of each lesson there is a basic little spelling test. I did also get spelling power for this year (it is basically just a big book of word lists for all the grades) but we haven't used it since we have moved.
I’m curious if you have found a secular co-op in your area? My area had faith based coops that required you to sign a doctrinal statement so I started one that allows for people to join from all walks of life.
Glad to "see" you post again! We read The House at the Cerulean Sea for book club, it really was a sweet read! When you say Blossom & Root History, are you doing River of Voices? I have that on my radar but I think it's too much for my sensitive kiddo right now - we also had to set aside Ancient History for awhile because it was too scary! We're loving the B&R science though! My girls are trying tee ball this summer through our parks and rec! It's a 7 week program and we're missing 3 of them due to travel and other fun commitments!
Yes river of voices! I have mixed feelings about it so far. I love the content and love the parent suggestions. However so far with all of our other commitments it is too much reading and kind of too deep for my kids. I need to figure out a way to condense it. It is written very flexible like the science, but the spines at least for my kids age are a little dry and wordy. We have only gotten a couple weeks into it so I can't really speak to how it would be for sensitive kids, when we get farther I will try to update keeping sensitive kids in mind! And so cool! Is that hard for you or it doesn't bother you to miss activities? I think I just need to do it like you, sign up for stuff and if we end up missing some oh well. It is hard for me to get that mindset though! haha.
Hey! I used to watch your videos a few years back when I was homeschooling our kiddos in Alaska. We just let them tryout public school this past year (after moving) and are thinking we will switch back to homeschooling. We are a military family, secular, and in the DC area too! Would love to connect!
So I actually started out using both! I haven’t always been good at implementing both but that was the plan for this year. Now that we moved I am still trying to figure out if we are going to do everything I originally planned or let some things go. I still love BFSU, I just need to figure out time and everything.
I remember loving The Westing Game as a kid. I'll have to put it on our list! Missed your videos! We live right outside Philadelphia, and I love how many things there are to do all the time!
Oh so cool! Yeah so far this is definitely my favorite place I have lived! I am hoping we can visit Philadelphia in the next couple of months, we have never been!
Oh so cool! I am sure TN is beautiful though! It does seem like this area can't really be beat as far as activities, we are going to try to make the most of it while we are here.
@@LoveLearningEveryday yes, very beautiful but definitely missing things from home. absolutely!! If you ever need any recommendations, let me know. Born and raised in MD so I've got a good handle on the go to spots 😁
Have you considered joining a homeschool field trip group? We love to adventure too and we found our groove five years ago with a Field Trip Fridays group. We also have a core group that we meet regularly with for park play.
@@LoveLearningEveryday we have been here a year and half. We will move Summer 2023. We are hoping after my husband completes his 1 year course, that we can somehow come back to this area. We love it here. There is so much to do, see, and learn.
Fave account right now! Especially your book hauls! Ordered almost your entire last haul lol
nice to see you back. We sold a house almost a year ago to take advantage of the market here and the prep to sell and then moving into a new renovation was exhausting! I feel like I'm JUST getting into a good groove with school.
also, I LOVED the westing game when I read it at public school way back. I know that I reread it several times outside of class. I love the idea of working through it with my kids like you are.
Hey!! I missed your videos and I love your chatty updates. I completely understand feeling like things get all scrambled when we do things outside the house when the kids do activities. I try and make sure on those days we do the "meat of or days early and then go out. We are part of a FB social group where moms post park days or fun activities, they ae going on and if we can go then we go; nothing formal which works best. We also participate in homeschool activities with the Parks and Rec center. Anyways loved your updates like always...wish you the best with this new adventure
So nice to hear from you! I missed your videos! Thank you for sharing, I will start homeschooling my son soon and your content has been very valuable in my preparation. 🤓📚
So happy to see a video from you! Glad you all are doing well and I absolutely love that board 😍
Oh thank you! I loved your homeschool planning video you put out!
I love your videos! We are also a homeschooling military family and I feel the same way about activities. What we like to do and what works for us is to not have our kids involved in summer activities. We leave the summers wide open for our kids to just play. Play with the neighborhood kids all day, meet up with other friends, beach trips, swimming days, and spontaneous day trips. We also love camping and hiking so we love to just pack up and go on the weekend whenever we feel like it. The summer is also when we like to fly home to see family.
That is a great idea! Do you do any school over the summer or is it a complete break?
I'd LOVE to hear what your plans are for next year! The sooner the better for me. And I don't mind the chatty videos :) You wouldn't have had to edit this one, imo. You have excellent suggestions for curriculum and that's why I listen to you.
Oh thank you that is so kind of you to say! I will try to get out some videos soon on next year!
Sounds like you're at Ft. Meade. I used to live in Laurel, which is very close. Actually, I lived in Maryland for most of my life. It's nice being so close to DC with its free museums, etc.
Love you are back! My kids are doing soccer and co-op. This is our first time doing a co-op but we are trying out a secular co-op for elective type classes
Sounds like you have some great plans in place. I always find it so interesting how others homeschool. I homeschool 4 kids, almost 13,11,nearly 9 and nearly 7. My nearly 7 year old has done barely any formal work, she's still learning mostly through play, doesn't read yet but that doesn't worry me, she will when she's ready. We are very relaxed, informal and unstructured, here in nz we don't have to do tests or show anyone what they've been learning/ keep records etc. Is there any differences in your previous state and Maryland as far as homeschool expectations go?
Hi Kayli, so glad to see you back... Loving your content as always ❤️
Thank you so much 🤗
We lived in MD right after college while my husband did his post doc at NIH. We lived halfway between DC and Baltimore in a beautiful community named Columbia. If you are there, you will love it! Enjoy all the great museums in the DC area- we had no kids when we were there so I missed all those great homeschooling field trips!
It's great to see you and this awesome video! Blessings upon your family! 💖
Thank you! You too!
Yay, you’re in my area now! We are in Northern Virginia, and you are absolutely correct in experiences being so plentiful in the area. So much to do in DC (the Zoo is our favorite!) and so many groups and opportunities for secular homeschoolers in particular.
Also, I saw you mentioned libraries. Be sure to take advantage of reciprocal borrowing privileges! Most counties in the area will let you get cards as long as you live in one of the local counties. We have at least 5 different cards and could get so many more.
Oh awesome! I didn't know about that! Thanks for sharing I will have to look into that!
I am so glad that you are back! My daughter is one year older than your son, and is approaching fourth grade this September. We homeschool all year as well, and have been doing so since first grade. We started Michael Clay Thompson in January after losing interest in another grammar program (First Language Lessons). I would love to hear more about your experiences with the MCT program. There is honestly not much out there about it. Do you use the other books? I ordered the full first year package even though it is fairly costly. Anyway, as I said, I am glad that you uploaded a video. Welcome back and congratulations on the sale of your home!
Lol this is almost word for word what I was going to comment.
Thank you! and we also bought the full first year curriculum. I am not following the weekly schedule they provided but I am trying to keep with the general overview of how it is supposed to be done so, so far we have done Grammar Island, and we are setting aside practice island for right now because his 4 level sentence analysis is pretty strong. (we did like 20 sentences in the different sections out of 100) and now we are almost done with building language and we recently started sentence island. I will try to have a video out about Michael clay Thompson soon! and then hopefully a very thorough one when we completely finish this level.
I feel the same way about activities! I like the idea of it, but I hate feeling committed to it every week, and constrained by it in a way. But I want my kids to be able to be active and part of a team, etc. So it's tough. We do 1 activity per kid, and it feels like a lot to me lol
Welcome to Maryland! We moved to Anne Arundel county a couple years ago and love it here. You are so right about the library system though :( Thanks for the update, sounds like you are doing great! Bowie has some great parks, so does AA county. We love the aquarium too, and right near there is the Maryland Science Center (kids museum).
How neat! We will have to look into all of that, especially the science center! Thank you for sharing!
Now that’s I’ve watched the full thing… we don’t live on post, but right off. We heavily utilize the Maryland library system & Marina. I would love to know about the board game cafe! I really need to find some homeschool groups to hangout with around her. I know my son would love that. We really love this area too, and we are going to be so sad when we have to leave.
Nice to hear your update! Had been wondering about you guys. I have the same feeling about reading as you are about math. DD is "supposed" to be in Kinder, but she's reading really well. Went ahead and moved up to the first grade curriculum in January. We're on like week 8 and still she hasnt really come across anything that she couldn't already read before we started the lesson, but I'm worried about skipping ahead to much and her having trouble later because we skipped some crucial piece. 🤷♀️
Yes, I understand the struggle! It is so hard to figure out what to do. I am thinking about really limiting the problems we do and trying to complete two in a day. But maybe that is too much and it is not a big deal to go slower. It is so hard to tell. I hope you guys figure out what works for you!
I’ve been waiting for you to post again!!
thank you, that means so much!
Happy to see a video from you!! ❤️ I always love hearing your thought process! We're also doing an around the world study! We're using BYL0 and TLK with all 3 of my kids and it's been SO much fun!! I just threw in Exploring the World through Story and we are enjoying that too!!
I'm still trying to navigate Language Arts- we just finished Logic of English Foundations and so I'm debating about moving into MCT, so I was glad to hear you guys are liking it! Do you guys do any formal spelling or does Explode the Code do spelling?
Oh yay! We started out using BYL0 and TLK but I have kinda started doing my own thing but with some of their book suggestions haha!
and I will try to have a video on MCT soon so hopefully that will help you pick! explode the code does focus on some spelling, at the end of each lesson there is a basic little spelling test. I did also get spelling power for this year (it is basically just a big book of word lists for all the grades) but we haven't used it since we have moved.
I’m curious if you have found a secular co-op in your area? My area had faith based coops that required you to sign a doctrinal statement so I started one that allows for people to join from all walks of life.
Glad to "see" you post again! We read The House at the Cerulean Sea for book club, it really was a sweet read! When you say Blossom & Root History, are you doing River of Voices? I have that on my radar but I think it's too much for my sensitive kiddo right now - we also had to set aside Ancient History for awhile because it was too scary! We're loving the B&R science though!
My girls are trying tee ball this summer through our parks and rec! It's a 7 week program and we're missing 3 of them due to travel and other fun commitments!
Yes river of voices! I have mixed feelings about it so far. I love the content and love the parent suggestions. However so far with all of our other commitments it is too much reading and kind of too deep for my kids. I need to figure out a way to condense it. It is written very flexible like the science, but the spines at least for my kids age are a little dry and wordy. We have only gotten a couple weeks into it so I can't really speak to how it would be for sensitive kids, when we get farther I will try to update keeping sensitive kids in mind!
And so cool! Is that hard for you or it doesn't bother you to miss activities? I think I just need to do it like you, sign up for stuff and if we end up missing some oh well. It is hard for me to get that mindset though! haha.
Hey! I used to watch your videos a few years back when I was homeschooling our kiddos in Alaska. We just let them tryout public school this past year (after moving) and are thinking we will switch back to homeschooling. We are a military family, secular, and in the DC area too! Would love to connect!
Nice to see the update! Can I asked why you switched from BFSU to B&R science?
So I actually started out using both! I haven’t always been good at implementing both but that was the plan for this year. Now that we moved I am still trying to figure out if we are going to do everything I originally planned or let some things go. I still love BFSU, I just need to figure out time and everything.
@@LoveLearningEveryday thanks for your response! I have been looking at both, and think I am going to give BFSU a whirl.
Welcome back!
Thank you!
I like the lighter hair color :-)
I remember loving The Westing Game as a kid. I'll have to put it on our list! Missed your videos! We live right outside Philadelphia, and I love how many things there are to do all the time!
Oh so cool! Yeah so far this is definitely my favorite place I have lived! I am hoping we can visit Philadelphia in the next couple of months, we have never been!
We just moved from the Annapolis area to TN. Wishing I could be back there. Make sure you enjoy for me!!!
Oh so cool! I am sure TN is beautiful though! It does seem like this area can't really be beat as far as activities, we are going to try to make the most of it while we are here.
@@LoveLearningEveryday yes, very beautiful but definitely missing things from home. absolutely!! If you ever need any recommendations, let me know. Born and raised in MD so I've got a good handle on the go to spots 😁
Have you considered joining a homeschool field trip group? We love to adventure too and we found our groove five years ago with a Field Trip Fridays group. We also have a core group that we meet regularly with for park play.
Thanks I feel like that would be perfect! I need to seek out a group like that. We go to a park play group as well!
Omg! We are military and live in the exact area you described! I bet we are local! I have a son that is gifted that is around the age of yours!
Oh my gosh how cool! How long have you guys been here?
@@LoveLearningEveryday we have been here a year and half. We will move Summer 2023. We are hoping after my husband completes his 1 year course, that we can somehow come back to this area. We love it here. There is so much to do, see, and learn.
when you were talking about the book ratings did you mention common sense media
Yes! thank you so much, I couldn't think of it!