Graves 8: Back To School

What does your back to school ritual involve?

We home school the 5 youngest children. Have 2 in Public High school, and one in College. This year we filmed what it took to prep for back to school. And filmed the first day of school for everybody. You'll find the video at the bottom of this article.

Music Lessons taking place in our family room on day 1 of school 2017

I have been homeschooling for going on 15 years, and have had the pleasure to teach all eight of my kids to read & write. I have learned a lot over the years. My plan from the beginning was home school my children until the 9th grade, and place them in public school once they've made it through, what I believe to be, their most impressionable years.

How has this worked for us?

So far so good. My oldest is 17 years old and a freshman in college (with scholarships for swimming) who spent her high school years as a mostly 'A' student while working, swimming competitively, and taking several AP classes a term starting freshman year (or maybe sophomore year - I sometimes loose track). It's a little strange not having her live at home, since she is living in school housing but she seems to have adjusted very well so far.

Second oldest, my 16 year old son is a Junior at our local high school. He is also a mostly 'A' student. He has a job on top of school and is working towards saving enough money to pay cash for his first car. No, we don't buy our kids cars - we believe they need to learn the value of a dollar earned at a young age. Christian worked his first job picking blueberries for $.40 a pound when he was 12 years old. He is also a dedicated body builder and spends time every day prepping his own healthy breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

Third in line, my 14 year old is a sophomore, also at our local high school. Although I doubt she'll pursue education as heavily as my older daughter, she is also a mostly 'A' student. Her passion is music, and we are hoping to start her on an early college program next year that is focused on the arts. She is also a swimmer, and you will find videos of her singing on our YouTube Channel Here.

All of our children, home school or public school, also have daily chores around the house. They are each responsible for keeping one of the common areas in our home clean. They are required to wash, fold, and put away their own laundry. They each have either an animal to take care of every day, or a chore like garbage, recycling, or compost to keep dumped every day. 

The kids that home school each have a chore to do after every meal as well. Things like: washing dishes, tables, chairs, counters, putting dishes away, food away etc. My job? It takes as much work some days to oversee them as it would to do things myself. All kids feel things are clean when they truly aren't. But I NEVER, well.......almost never, clean up after they are done. Unless it's a holiday or we have company coming, I continue to call them back in to the kitchen over, and over, and over until they've done the job right.

Okay. We get it, your kids do chores, now what about the schooling???

Yes, I'm getting to that, but let me first say this. My older children have been hired for, promoted at, and referred to jobs, and even received college scholarships; because they have learned how to work hard, take pride in what they do, treat people with respect, and not quit until the job is done. And because they are honest good people. These qualities far exceed so many other things when it comes to being successful in life. So all the chores they are required to do ARE a part of their schooling. I see schooling and parenting both as a job preparing my children to be successful in the world on their own.

Okay, now for Curriculum.

It took me a lot of years to find curriculum I liked and that I wanted to use with my kids year after year. And some subjects I'm still creating my own curriculum for because I've never found one that I love. We started off in the beginning working through The Core Knowledge Series, which can be found here. I STILL USE THESE BOOKS!!! They are titled 'What Your First Grader Needs to Know' 'What Your Second Grader Needs to Know' and so forth. One reason we went this route is that we had very little money when our older kids were starting. And a lot of curriculum sets cost hundreds if not a thousand dollars or more. So a $15 investment, plus weekly library check outs was the way to go.

The Core Knowledge Series Books are not a curriculum in and of themselves, but for free spirits like us they are a great place to start. I don't use them for reading, language, or math, although we do read through a lot of the Language arts stories. We DO use them for Science, History, Art, and sometimes Music. One great thing about these books is they list 'additional reading' for all the subjects and many of the lessons. So I made a list, we visited the library at the beginning of each week, and had all our extra materials for free.

 Science and History

We LOVE the Core Knowledge Series Books  for guiding us through history and science, and building on to last years lessons in each subsequent year. We do history and science in blocks (History Mon/Tues & Science Thurs/Fri) and we reserve Wednesdays for field trips or big projects. Typically we read through a section a day and supplement with books from the library, documentaries, and projects for the second half of the block. This way we can delve more heavily into the things that actually interest my children as well.

There are a few other curriculum we've tried for Science and History that we go back to every few years Those are: The Story of The World: History for the Classical Child. This is a great, story based series that can be used for kids at all ages. We often go through parts of it loosely over the summer. I believe they have 4 different volumes - all can be found here.


The other is The Sassafras Science Adventures. This is a super fun story based science that uses journals and exploration to learn. It again can be used for many ages and is a curriculum I sometimes pull out over the summer. It has several different volumes including: Anatomy, Botany, Earth Science, and Geology. We've only done Zoology, but plan to try some others out later this year. These are another very reasonably priced curriculum, with 3 books to each series: a Story book, Teachers Guidebook, and SCIDAT Logbook (or journal) for your child to fill out.

READING IS HARD!!! 

It can be challenging to teach little ones to read, I know first hand. But what I didn't know when we started out, is some kids are much harder to teach than others, and some don't learn the same. We have two children with a learning disability who could not learn to read the same way as my other six. So I have two different curriculums to share here. 

First: Hooked On Phonics. Yup, I love it, my oldest was reading at 3 with this program. It's easy, fun, and....well does it get better than easy and fun? Educents currently has a great deal for on Hooked On Phonics: Find it Here

Second: Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons. This is a beginning book that works wonders. But I've had to follow up with used materials off of Amazon, since the Reading Mastery Based programs can be expensive. But it has taken my 13 year old, who could not read just 3 years ago, and has him reading and progressing up year by year. He is on an IEP as well. But him reading has felt like a miracle.

Writing and Spelling

The last curriculum I want to share today are my favorites for Spelling & Handwriting. There's not much to say about them. Out of all the curriculum I've tried, I've constantly landed back on these two: Horizons Spelling and Vocabulary and Handwriting Without Tears.
These can be found on Amazon below or CBD link also below.

Horizons Spelling & Vocabulary 2, Complete Set By Alpha Omega Publications

And that's it for now! Please Share your favorite curriculum, home school tricks, and advice in the comments below. I love hearing how others succeed as are always learning and morphing our style of homeschool.

REVISION:   MATH!!! I ALMOST FORGOT MATH!
We love Saxon Math. It can be found at CBD (The Christian Book Store) or on Amazon Here.
It cost between $70-$95 for a full grade level set, but if you have multiple kids you only have to buy the teachers guide once, and for all your younger children you can purchase just the workbook which cost around $26. CBD often has more reasonable prices for this curriculum. Here is a link for their site where you can find Saxon Math Homeschool Curriculum.

Saxon Math 3, Home Study Kit By Saxon Publishing

Watch The Video Below and Enjoy our first day back to school this year.

This video seems to be a favorite....for everybody who watches but mom. Because she is the wrangler of all the chaos and it can be exhausting at times.

Want More?

Find our entire

 Graves 8 - Family Adventure Series on Youtube HERE.