I couldn’t help myself. I started looking through our curriculum catalog and ordering school books already.

I usually make myself wait until July to open the catalogs, because I KNOW that once I start looking at all the great books, I’ll want to order about 600 of them (and take a bath in them) and start school within the week. But I just couldn’t help it. I just threw my self imposed rule out the proverbial window and started looking through the beautiful catalogs, making lists, checking prices on Amazon…

I do have excuses for beginning so early. (Yes, because if you’re going to break a self imposed rule, you better have some good excuses to toss out there while you have an argument with yourself inside your head.)

My excuses mostly have to do with the fact that our summer is busy…and our fall is even busier. Right now our days are filled with travel and company. Hardly a day goes by (when we’re actually at home this summer) that we don’t have extra people at our house…some of them as live-ins. I LOVE this, because that means I get to feed more people and feeding people is what I love! But a girl has to be organized (and also a little bit crazy, but I’ve got that one down pat).

And so, all of our books have been ordered and most of them have arrived!!! Oh what fun it is to check the mail each day!!!

I always order books based on what Sonlight Curriculum suggests. I LOVE Sonlight in all of its literature based educational glory!!! We got a lovely box from Sonlight several days ago. Plus, I ordered as many books as I could from Amazon because used books don’t bother me and because books can often be less expensive this way and because I could use my saved up Amazon Gift Cards that I earned from Swagbucks. Yes, free school books. They’re even more fun to read when they’re free! (You can read more about how Swagbucks works here.)

Here’s what I did yesterday as I tried to sort through all of the books we will try to read this year:

No, I didn’t order ALL of those books this year. Some of them are ones I’ve used and saved from past years and get to re-use this year.

And yes, I am getting just a little bit of freaking out over the fact that Malachi is “starting school” this year, which means I will be juggling schoolwork with all of my children this year. And Asa is going to be an eighth grader which means I only have five years left to teach him a whole bunch of stuff before college. And since I’ll have an eighth grader, a fifth grader, a third grader and a kindergartener I can’t school them using all of the same books all at the same time because those gaps are just a little bit too broad.

It’s okay though. I tend to do a little bit of freaking out every year as I make our school plans. And then I pray a lot and lay everything out and spend a few hours making plans and getting organized. Then we start school and all the kinks work themselves out. God’s pretty cool like that.

During the next few weeks, I’ll share more with you about our plans and schedule…and about what each of the boys will be reading and studying this upcoming school year. Just as soon as I get it all figured out myself. :)

Here’s a questions I’ve been promising to answer on my blog for about a year and a half:

What do you recommend I do with my babies and toddlers while I’m trying to teach my bigger kids?

You mean besides strap them into their high chairs for three hours and hand them candy and cookies to keep them quiet?

Yeah, I don’t recommend that.

What’s funny about trying to answer this question is that even though I home schooled for several years with little bitty guys running (or crawling) around…I’ve had to rack my brain coming up with the answer to this question.

What DID I do with my babies and toddlers while I was schooling my bigger boys (who were at the time quite little themselves)?

There is no simple answer or formula. I don’t have anything to just hand you. I can’t just say, “Oh, my little guys did X, Y and Z while the bigger kids were schooling.” We just sort of did it. I’m pretty sure it looked a little chaotic half the time. That’s just life with little ones.

I would read history or read aloud books while I was nursing a baby (sometimes the bigger boy would have to hold the book). I would squeeze in school work during the little one’s morning nap.

I would take all of us into a room with toys, close the door so that the little guys were contained and I would do school work with the big boys. That way everyone was safe and happy and I knew exactly where everyone was at all times.

If we were using tiny objects like cuisenaire rods, the bigger kid took them to a table and I kept the littler ones away from the table, hollering my help from afar.

Once the babies were 2 or 3…I had several play options on our school room shelves. These were some of our favorites:

Melissa and Dug Food Cutting Set

Bead Buckets (I’d give my kids a big container of beads, some plates and a spoon. They’d spoon out beads and separate the colors onto plates. You could do this with beans or buttons too!)

Lego Duplos

Wood Peg Puzzles

Wooden Blocks

I called each of these options “Rug Work” and the kids got to pick one activity off the shelf, go to a rug, sit on it and play. These options were only allowed to be played with on the rug and during school time. When they were finished, they put the activity back on the shelf and got something else to play with.

I usually had a Veggie Tale or an educational video each day that I reserved for the time I needed to do more difficult schooling with my bigger boys. That would ensure that I had 30 minutes of uninterrupted work time.

I certainly remember having moments of frustration…feeling like I was trying to read a book around a bunch of craziness…trying to keep my baby from eating books off the shelf and trying to keep the toddler from screaming when he didn’t get his way…all while trying to teach a 2nd grader what a fraction was.

Ultimately, everyone learned to be patient. The big kids learned to be patient and wait until mommy could answer their questions. The toddlers learned to be patient until mommy could get their favorite puzzle off the shelf. The babies learned to be patient…yeah right. The babies screamed until they were fed. The mommy learned to be patient because school time is fun and loud and full of hubbub and hardly ever goes according to her perfect and ideal plan.

The beauty of it is that school time didn’t take hours and hours each day (still doesn’t even with bigger kids). A couple solid hours of concentrated school time (with some diaper changing breaks here and there)…we got it done.

And somehow, we all survived to tell about it!

Hey everyone…share your fun ideas for keeping babies and todders happy and occupied during school time!

If you’re new to HeavenlyHomemakers and want to know more about our homeschooling…read about our curriculum choice here, the books we’ll be using this year here and our budget here.
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Here is our current schooling schedule, subject daily to being changed and rearranged and shifted and completely messed up:

1. Bible reading time during breakfast
2. M/W – United States Geography Portfolios; T/Th – Science Units (all together)
3. History (all together) (boys play with legos or something else similar while I read)
4. Asa – Math at computer; Justus and Elias – Handwriting, Spelling and Phonics
5. Ten minute break
6. Justus and Elias – Math; Asa – Spelling and Language Arts
7. Boys finish up work and take turns at computer using Typing Instructor program (I work on lunch)
8. Lunchtime – I read our latest “Read-Aloud” book while boys eat
9. M/W – Journal writing; T/Th – Proverbs study
10. Reading – boys cozy up on couches and read independently

Now the big question:  What does Malachi do during all of this?

Why, he sits quietly and colors pictures of course.

Yeah, right. Rarely do any of my children ever sit quietly and color pictures. 

Malachi is four and a half and actually does a pretty good job now just playing quietly on his own while I’m reading to the boys during History and Science and Geography. (He LOVES Legos.)  He often joins us for science if we’re doing something fun…or plays USA Bingo with us during Geography. Otherwise, he just plays. 

As far as his own personal school work goes…maybe when I am completely finished with canning and preserving…and soccer season is over…I can get a little bit of Pre-K time in with him. He’s obviously not suffering because of neglect. He is amazing us with how he can spell words and write letters and even answer History questions! 

I know many of you want to know how I schooled the boys when they were all littler…and how I handled school when some of them were babies. And, you want to know what I suggest you do with your little guys while you’re schooling your older ones. SUCH good questions. I’m thinking through those questions and will write a post soon to answer them. 

In the meantime…while writing THIS post…I was just feeling like it would be easier to explain how we homeschool and how our day goes if you could all just COME OVER and watch. But since my living room just isn’t that big…and you know…some of you live across the ocean from me…I decided that someday next week I’ll take bunches of pictures throughout the day and do a “Day in the Life” post or something like that.

How does that sound?

At your request, here is an idea of some of the books we’re using this year for school:

Bible:  We’re starting off the year reading through the book of Luke together in the mornings during breakfast. Matt does scripture memorization with us all during lunch and dinner (I can share more about this if you want). Also, two days a week I’m using Proverbs for Parenting to teach the boys more about studying the Bible (and hopefully we’ll all gain a little more Godly wisdom while we’re at it).

History:  We’re studying American History this year, reading most of these books from Sonlight.

Geography:  Since we are learning American History this year, I felt it appropriate to do a unit on US Geography. I put together a portfolio packet of activities and lessons for the boys with things I found at the library. They’ll also do special projects and maybe write a paper featuring a state of their choice.

Also, I was SO excited to find a States and Postal Abbreviations ebook from Joy at Five J’s which goes right along with what we’re studying this year. It includes writing activities and flash cards so the boys can practice and learn easily.

Click here to view more details

Science:  We’re doing a unit on weather based on this book. Then we’ll try to get through several of these books to learn about how things work.

Reading and Read Alouds:  We’re reading a TON of great books this year either individually, or out loud. To list them all would take up a lot of space here, but I pieced together packs of books for each of the boys based on what I felt they were ready for. Check out Sonlight’s book lists if you ever want anything awesome for your kids to read, or to read to your kids. You can not go wrong with Sonlight book recommendations.

Spelling:  I’m using Spelling Power for Asa (age 12). This year we’re starting something new for Justus and Elias (ages 9 and 7):  Sequential Spelling. I think this program is just what they need at this point. So far they are both doing well with it.

Two other things we do for spelling:  Matt has a really great bedtime tradition he started with the boys several years ago. It’s a great spelling tool. Also, I’ll be using SpellQuizzer for fun extra practice for the boys.

Math:  This year is a little different as we’re doing three different math programs for three different boys. Asa is using Teaching Textbook Math 7. Justus is using Saxon 54. Elias is using Miquon. We decided to use Teaching Textbooks for the older grades because it is so wonderful…but it’s also pricey (which is why we didn’t buy a program for both Asa and Justus this year). Justus graduated out of Miquon last year so we’re borrowing Saxon for now until he can use the Teaching Textbooks Math 6 we previously bought for Asa. Elias is in the Miquon blue book (and will hopefully get through the green book this year too). Miquon teaches math in a different and “backward” way…but it’s worked well for our family and we really like it.

Handwriting:  Justus and Elias are using Italic Handwriting. I like this method of writing because the cursive is so much like the printing…just hooked together. Plus, it just looks so nice. Asa doesn’t do handwriting practice from a book anymore. He has nice handwriting and I just have him practice by writing letters to people or copying Bible verses.

Typing:  I bought this computer program this year to help teach the boys to type. They each spend about 15 minutes, four days a week practicing with this software.

Pre K:  I’m using a few Rod and Staff books for Malachi this year. Plus, I’m feverishly trying to finish a complete preschool curriculum which I will put into ebook form. It’s not complete enough to offer for sale yet, but I’m using the concepts and ideas with Malachi this year. Hopefully we can fine tune it while we use it before we put it into the shop!

What are some of your favorite books?