We started our homeschool year this year on Monday, August 14 and I'm just getting around to posting about our new school year traditions since the past 2 weeks have been busy with the celebration of the Solemnity of the Assumption of Mary, the Solar Eclipse T-shirt and cookie making and savoring memories of the actual solar eclipse day!  And in case you missed our curriculum choices for this year, be sure to visit Our 2017-2018 Homeschool Classroom and Curriculum.  

Cake Tradition 
On our first day we decorated and ate our traditional cross cake that represents the name of our school, Sacred Heart Academy!


First Day Photos
We also took our new school year photos with grade signs.  I can't believe my oldest is a senior this year!  A few years ago I stumbled upon 13 Free Printable First Day of School Signs that I have been using.  I don't think I have taken first day of school photos every year since I started homeschooling in 2005, but when I remember to do so, I think it's a great way to start the year.  


All About Me Sheets
We also filled out great Back to School Fun Pack free printables from Not Consumed that included Scripture coloring pages, All About Me and a Scavenger Hunt.  My kids enjoyed these!  You can get these printables for free by registering your email and getting the The Ultimate Homeschool Printable Collection downloaded to you.

Paper T-shirts
Our children enjoy filling out their annual paper T-shirts to add to our "We've Had a Tee-rific Summer" clothes line.  My kids draw or write some of their summertime memories from this past summer on the shirts.  They always love to compare their drawings from previous years that we leave hanging up through the years.  I got the pattern from a teacher resource book, but HERE is a link to a similar t-shirt pattern you can use if you would like.  As they use their creativity and draw pictures and write words about their summer fun, it's always interesting to hear some of the memories they have had over the summer.  Even my big kids do this simple activity! 


Charting Growth
My kids also enjoy seeing how tall they have grown each year so each August we measure their height and record it on the door frame in our classroom.  Our son grew the most of all the kids.  He grew 3 inches! 

Do you have any new school year traditions? Please comment and share!








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We will be starting our 2017-2018 on Monday, August 14!  Where did the summer go?


I am grateful we have a room in our home that is designated as the "classroom", but when we first started homeschooling in 2005, we used our dining room table in our previous home and didn't have a room just for school. (And really a "homeschool room" is not a necessity to have a successful and thriving homeschool experience.) In reality school work is done all over the house and even outside.  We just have all our school "stuff" stored in one room.

Not much has changed through the years with how our room looks and how I organize our homeschool books. If interested, take a little tour of the room and an explanation of our book baskets and foam boards where our curriculum is stored and stays organized .  I must say I struggle finding the "perfect" system for many things, but our book baskets have worked for us for several years now so that's one thing I'm not changing (yet).  Maybe it will inspire you and be helpful!



In year's past I have spent most of my summers discussing, contemplating, discerning, feeling sometimes a bit overwhelmed about curriculum decisions and praying about our upcoming homeschool year.  This summer I didn't spend as much time researching and looking at curriculum options because I have soooo much stored in boxes from the past 12 years of homeschooling.  So I spent time looking through my storage boxes. :)

I don't buy a "box curriculum", but rather I pick and choose from several different companies of what I think will work best for each of my children's learning styles and needs.  That's one of the beauties of homeschooling..being able to meet each child's needs with curriculum choices that I hope will help them thrive and become successful, but most importantly will help them grow closer to our Lord and His Church.

If interested, here are posts from previous years of what I selected for each child:

2010-2011 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 5th, 3rd, 1st grade and a 3 year old) 

2011-2012 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 6th, 4th, 2nd grade and a 3 1/2 year old)

2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 7th, 5th, 3rd grade and a 4 year old) 

2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 8th, 6th, 4th, and Kindergarten grade and I just had Baby #5)

2014-2015 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 9th, 7th, 5th, 1st grade and a 1 year old)

2015-2016 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 10th, 8th, 6th, 2nd grade and a 2 year old) 

2016-2017 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 11th, 9th, 7th, 3rd grade and a 3 year old)


In this post I will just list the curriculum for each of my children with their ages, but I'm still tweaking things. I'm still working out all the scheduling details, but it may look similar to our daily routine from 2015 with some changes, of course.)

*I use baskets and foam board dividers with subject headings to organize each child's books as explained HERE.

*I use one basket for all the Teacher Manuals for the various subjects and the foam boards are used to divide each child's Teacher Manuals so that I can quickly grab them when checking over work.

 * Family Morning Time
After breakfast, we will continue to do things as a family on our living room couch before we head upstairs to start our other school work.  Here is an outline of Family Morning Time:

- Couch Catechism
- watch CNN Student News (free, daily, online 10 min. news briefs that my children look forward to watching each day, Mon.-Fri.  I know CNN is not a favorite news source for many families (including mine), but I really do like how CNN Student News shows are geared toward middle school/high school aged kids.  Note: you can always preview the shows before showing your children.)  
- Couch Conversations (if you have heard of "Morning Baskets" this is what "Couch Conversations" time is just with a different name that I made up.) :)   Here are some of the books I plan to use with our Couch Conversations.
The Harp & Laurel Wreath (learn poetry together)
The Story of the Orchestra

Now onto the curriculum for each child...

Daughter, Grade 12 (Senior Year!!!!!!)

Religion/Theology
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Daily Mass on Thursdays and Adoration on Fridays
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* Following Christ into the World by Anne Carroll (Seton)

Math:
* My daughter will be taking a Math course at our local Community College in the Fall and Spring with their dual enrollment program.  So her math class will count as both high school and college credit.  Juniors and Seniors in public/private/homeschool may apply and test into this program.  This will be a big change for my daughter and for me!  But, it's exciting too!

English
* My daughter will also take an English course in the Fall and Spring at our local Community College

  History:   
* My daughter enjoys history and reads various books through the year on different historical topics

Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Piano
* Cross-Country with homeschool league
* volunteer at local library
* sing in girls' choir and play bells at church
* member of church youth group and youth board 
* baby-sitter for a mom at our parish
* My daughter just got her first job at a local grocery store near our home!!!!! (This will count as a Life Skills/Time Management/Economics/Accounting course ;) ) 

Son, Grade 10


Religion/Theology
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
* Daily Mass on Thursdays and Adoration on Fridays
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* The History of the Church with workbook (Didache Series)

Math:
* Teaching Textbooks, Geometry

Literature:
* World Literature (Seton)

Writing/Cursive 
* IEW US History-Based Writing Lessons (With 13 year old sister. We didn't finish the book last year so I'm just carrying it over to this year)
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Seton's Better Handwriting for Young Catholics 2011 workbook edition

 History: 
* Christ the King Lord of History text with workbook
* Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about world history.
Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Piano
* Soccer team with homeschool league in the Fall
* altar server at our parish
* member of church youth group 
*mountain bike team in the Spring

 Daughter, Grade 8
Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Daily Mass on Thursdays and Adoration on Fridays
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* Read various Saint books and apologetic books (ie: Saint Kateri: Lily of the Mohawks, The First Christians, Did Adam and Eve Have Belly Buttons? )

Math:
* Teaching Textbooks, Pre-Algebra

Literature:
* Various Literature suggestions in All Ye Lands-World Cultures and Geography

Writing/Cursive 
* IEW US History-Based Writing Lessons (With 15 year old brother. We didn't finish the book last year so I'm just carrying it over to this year)
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Seton's Better Handwriting for Young Catholics 2011 workbook edition

History: 
* All Ye Lands-World Cultures and Geography text with workbook
Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about world history.
Maps, Charts, Graphs
Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Travel Soccer team with local league
* member of church youth group 

Daughter, Grade 4
Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Daily Mass on Thursdays and Adoration on Fridays
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* Jesus Our Guide (Faith & Life 4)

Math:
* Rod & Staff 4

Reading:
* Pathway Readers

Writing/Cursive  
* Draw Then Write

 
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Pictures in Cursive Book B

History:
* Read aloud A Child's History of the World
* Continent Study Bags that I bought from a friend
Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about world history.
Maps, Charts, Graphs

Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Gymnastics classes
* sing in girls' choir at church

Daughter, Age 4
* My Little Patron Catholic Preschool Printables from SaongJai
* Letter of the week activities
* Various workbooks
* Read-alouds
* She will be going to the Good Shepherd Montessori program at our church one day a week for a few hours.
* I'm in the process of planning activities for her to do independently and with her older siblings as I work with my children on a rotating schedule. I've been looking through these books for ideas:
Catholic ABC's from Catholic Icing
The Preschooler's Busy Book
A Year of Fun Just for Three's 

I am currently sketching out our schedule with the curriculum I have chosen.  I've been busy jotting down notes and schedules as rough drafts trying to figure out what will work best for our family.  But, even when the best plans are made and laid out, it doesn't always go as "planned."  So we will see how it all goes.  

On the first day of  this 2017-2018 homeshool year, we will continue with our new homeschool year traditions that includes morning Mass, a Sacred Heart cross cake, draw on their "We've had a T-riffic summer paper T-shirts", measure everyone's height and fill out All About Me sheets.  So I'll be doing a post about these traditions that we do this week!

May you have a blessed 2017-2018 school year whether you are called to homeschool or not!








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Last week, on Aug. 8, we started our 2016-2017 homeschool year.  We are slowly getting into a routine and gradually implementing the curriculum that I prayerfully and patiently chose for this year.

We started our first day last week with some of the simple and easy new school year traditions we have been doing for several years now. I'm thankful the traditions are easy enough to prepare since it's the last thing I get ready before the school year starts.

Each year on the first day of our homeschool year we bake and eat our traditional cross cake.  Since our homeschool is called Sacred Heart Academy we add a Sacred Heart to the center with the current school year. 


In the morning on the first day I have to be honest...I was in tears from frustration!  Let's just say some of my children (who I will not name) woke up in bad moods and there was alot of fighting, yelling, and disagreements over who knows what!?!?!  So before 8 AM I was in tears as I tried to get all of us out the door by 8:15 AM to start our first day at morning Mass at our parish.   I was so frustrated and discouraged that I remember asking myself, "Why am I doing this!!!???!?!?"

As we came to Mass, I was happily surprised to see the priest who said our wedding over 19 years ago visiting our parish that morning and con celebrating Mass with our parish priest.  We have seen this great priest several times through the years and it was so nice to see him on our first official day of our homeschool year.  I asked if he could say a blessing over my children and me and it gave me the peace I needed to face the rest of our day!  I'm so grateful for the gift of prayer and a blessing from this priest and it helped me focus on "why I am doing this!"  I homeschool because for our family raising souls for Heaven (even when the going gets tough) is best done in a homeschool setting.

Each year at about this time, we measure the kids heights and record it on a door frame in our classroom.  My children like to compare their heights year to year.  Here is an image from last year because I didn't take a photo from this year :)

Our first week of school was filled with craziness, traditions, fun and meaningful memories too.  Here's some highlights of our first week...

After morning Mass on our first day, my son spotted a tree frog on our parish's school building and then placed the frog on a tree trunk to show how it camouflaged itself.  Can you spot the frog on the tree trunk?

During our "Couch Conversations"  in the morning after our Couch Catechism time, all my children worked together on a US puzzle as a way to refresh their memories on some geography. (Blog post coming soon on details of our "Couch Conversations" time.) Throughout the week I timed them to see if they could put it together faster than the previous days. 


On Tuesday, August 9, some guy running for President visited our town and my 3 older children went with my in-laws to see the Trump rally! I'm so glad they got to experience history in the making and it made for a great homeschool "field trip", but don't even get me started on this election. Uggh!

We've been going to Friday morning Mass and adoration of the Blessed Sacrament regularly for the past couple years and on Friday, August 12 we had our annual "back to school" sweet treat after Mass....Dunkin' Donuts! 

First week of our 2016-2017 homeschool year in the books! *Only* 35 more weeks to go! :)

Do you have any special new school year traditions whether you homeschool or not?  I'd love to hear about them! 

Have a blessed school year!

This post contains affiliate links.

It's that time of year again where I have spent most of my summer discussing, contemplating,  discerning, feeling sometimes a bit overwhelmed about curriculum decisions and praying about our upcoming homeschool year.  I don't buy a "box curriculum", but rather I pick and choose from several different companies of what I think will work best for each of my children's learning styles and needs.  (That's one of the beauties of homeschooling..being able to meet each child's needs with curriculum choices that I hope will help them thrive, become successful, but most importantly will help them grow closer to our Lord and His Church.)

If interested, here are posts from previous years of what I selected for each child:

2010-2011 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 5th, 3rd, 1st grade and a 3 year old) 

2011-2012 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 6th, 4th, 2nd grade and a 3 1/2 year old)

2012-2013 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 7th, 5th, 3rd grade and a 4 year old) 

2013-2014 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 8th, 6th, 4th, and Kindergarten grade and I just had Baby #5)

2014-2015 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 9th, 7th, 5th, 1st grade and a 1 year old)

2015-2016 Homeschool Curriculum (my kids were 10th, 8th, 6th, 2nd grade and a 2 year old)


In this post I will just list the curriculum for each of my children with their ages and in a future post I will try to post our homeschool classroom (which pretty much looks the same from year to year) and our daily homeschool routine based on this year's curriculum. (I'm still working out all the scheduling details...)

*I use baskets and foam board dividers with subject headings to organize each child's books as explained HERE.

*I use one basket for all the Teacher Manuals for the various subjects and the foam boards are used to divide each child's Teacher Manuals so that I can quickly grab them when checking over work.

 * Family Learning Time
After breakfast, we will continue to do things as a family and try some new things this year.  Here is an outline of our morning Family Learning Time with more detail in a later post:

- Couch Catechism
- CNN Student News (free, daily, online 10 min. news briefs that my children look forward to watching each day, Mon.-Fri.  I know CNN is not a favorite news source for many families (including mine), but I really do like how CNN Student News shows are geared toward middle school/high school aged kids.  Note: you can always preview the shows before showing your children.)  
- Couch Conversations (if you have heard of "Morning Baskets" this is what "Couch Conversations" time is just with a different name that I made up.) :)   More details to come, but here are some of the books I plan to use with our Couch Conversations.
Grammar Land
The Harp & Laurel Wreath (learn poetry together)
The Story of the Orchestra
Daily Geography Practice
Memoria Press US States & Capitals Review


Once a week in the afternoon, I hope to do Meet the Masters Track A art program with all the kids that I started several years ago and didn't finish.  (Story of my life!) 

Now onto the curriculum for each child...

Daughter, Grade 11

Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Mass and Adoration on Fridays with Mom and siblings
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
*  The History of the Church with workbook

Math:
* Teaching Textbooks, Algebra 2

Literature
* British Literature courses with Homeschool Connections recorded courses with Unlimited Access

Writing/Cursive
* Fiction Writing course with Homeschool Connections recorded courses with Unlimited Access
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Seton's Better Handwriting for Young Catholics 2011 workbook edition

History: 
  * Exploring Government  (since this is an election year the focus for history for all my children will be on government/civics/elections)
  * Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about American history and government.
Science:
* Apologia Chemistry (with a homeschool co-op group)

Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Piano
* Cross-Country with homeschool league
* volunteer at local library
* sing in girls' choir at church
* member of church youth group and youth board 
* baby-sitter for a mom at our parish

Son, Grade 9

Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Mass and Adoration on Fridays with Mom and siblings
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* Understanding Scriptures with My Catholic Faith Delivered
* Confirmation prep at home using The First Christians: The Acts of the Apostles for Children and Called to Knighthood: The Sacrament of Confirmation in the Kingdom Family of God
* Confirmation prep classes through our parish (as required by our Diocese)

Math:
* Teaching Textbooks, Algebra 1

Literature:
* Poetry and Short Stories American Literature
* PACES Publishing Literature Study Guides: Johnny Tremain (we will be choosing other literature selections throughout year) 

Writing/Cursive 
* IEW US History-Based Writing Lessons (with 12 year old sister)
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Seton's Better Handwriting for Young Catholics 2011 workbook edition

 History: 
* Uncle Sam and You text and workbook with 12 year old sister (since this is an election year the focus for history for all my children will be on government/civics/elections)
* Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about American history and government.

Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Piano
* Soccer team with homeschool league
* altar server at our parish
* member of church youth group 

 Daughter, Grade 7
Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Mass and Adoration on Fridays with Mom and siblings
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* The Life of Grace (Faith & Life 7)

Math:
* Rod & Staff 7

Literature:
* Uncle Sam & You Literature Package

Writing/Cursive 
* IEW US History-Based Writing Lessons (with older brother)
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Seton's Better Handwriting for Young Catholics 2011 workbook edition

History: 
* Uncle Sam and You text and workbook with older brother (since this is an election year the focus for history for all my children will be on government/civics/elections.)
* Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about American history and government.
Maps, Charts, Graphs
Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Travel Soccer team with local league
* sing in girls' choir at church
* member of church youth group 

Daughter, Grade 3
Religion:
* Couch Catechism with Mom and siblings
* Various service projects throughout the year with our homeschool group/church youth group
*  Mass and Adoration on Fridays with Mom and siblings
*  Once a month Confession
*  Tea Times where we spend time as a family reading over the Gospel readings for the upcoming Sunday Mass and have a fun snack
* Celebrate the liturgical year with faith, food and fun
* Our Life with Jesus (Faith & Life 3)

Math:
* Rod & Staff 3

Reading:
* Pathway Readers

Writing/Cursive  
* Draw Then Write

 
* Continue with daily cursive practice using Pictures in Cursive Book A

History:
* Our American Heritage 3 Abeka
* Continue putting in dates and timeline figures in their "Record of Time": Timeline Notebook Binder (from Homeschool in the Woods) as they read about American history and government.
* supplement by reading through this huge stack of American government/history books from my personal library

Titles in photo from top to bottom:

Stories of Great Americans For Little Americans
Election Day (older book)
The President's Cabinet and How It Grew
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution
The First Book of the Constitution
How the U.S. Government Works
If You Were There When They Signed the Constitution
The Story of Presidential Elections
The Story of the Statue of Liberty
The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Norman Richards
The Story of the Declaration of Independence by Conrad Stein
The Story of the Liberty Bell
The Story of Old Glory
The Story of Mount Vernon
America Votes How Our President is Elected
The Story of the Star-Spangled Banner
So You Want to Be President?
Woodrow For President
Marshall the Courthouse Mouse
House Mouse, Senate Mouse
Woodrow, the White House Mouse

Maps, Charts, Graphs

Extra-Curricular Activities:
* Gymnastics classes
* sing in girls' choir at church

Daughter, Age 3 

* She will be going to the Good Shepherd montessori program at our church one day a week for a few hours.
* I'm in the process of planning activities for her to do independently and with her older siblings as I work with my children on a rotating schedule. I've been looking through these books for ideas:
Catholic ABC's from Catholic Icing
The Preschooler's Busy Book
A Year of Fun Just for Three's 
Seasonal Activities for 3 Year Olds    

I am currently sketching out our schedule with the curriculum I have chosen.  I've been busy jotting down notes and schedules as rough drafts trying to figure out what will work best for our family.  But, even when the best plans are made and laid out, it doesn't always go as "planned."  So we will see how it all goes. I hope to do a post on our daily routine soon using our curriculum.
 
 
I'm not sure which day exactly I will be starting our school year, but it will be soon!  

May you have a blessed 2016-2017 school year whether you are called to the homeschooling lifestyle or not!