So, How Do You Do It? Homeschooling

This is a good question. We're still working on figuring it out but we've got the basics of it right now. Here's a run down of our curriculum since that's the first question I'm asked by other homeschooling moms:

Phonics/Language Arts: Zoe is in Abeka 2nd Grad phonics/language, Ace is K5 Abeka Phonics
Math: Both are using Saxon Math 1
History: Truthquest History Early American History for Young Students 1
Science: God's Design for Life (Answers in Genesis)
Comprehension for Zoe: She started out with a workbook but now she's using a software program called Reading Detective
Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting (K for Ace; A for Zoe)

Now for all the non-homeschoolers: I'm writing this because I can not count the number of times that people have asked me if I have to report our curriculum/have it approved or use only what is issued. Each state governs public schools/education. As such each state has different laws as to what is required of homeschoolers. Some are more strict than others. I would consider our state's laws medium to less strict. We have report attendance, sign a declaration of intent and keep annual progress reports. They will not supervise my teaching nor the curriculum Iwe choose to use...that's part of the positives of being able to homeschool.

We could have chosen to use one set of curriculum which would have been easy but I know that not one set of curriculum will/can serve our needs academically and spiritually. Our goal is to raise up our children to bring glory and honor to God first and then the academics can follow.

As far as when I teach, we break it up. I've done a lot of tweaking but finally have a working schedule that I used based on Managers of Their Chores. Now, I have the times written down, but we have yet to hit each mark. Ceili Rain still is not on a workable schedule as she wakes up at different times during the night causing our daytime routine to not be set...so, we just follow the order which is what really works best for my kids.

The kids each have a pocket folder that I keep their worksheets in for the day. They each keep notebooks that we keep the completed worksheets in. We also journal and keep up with projects that we're working on/studying. I love watching them flip through their notebooks and see what they've worked on and remember things that we've done. Tons of fun to see!

All the kids follow a schedule and I work with Liam for about 10 to 15 minutes on critical thinking skills. So, we have some blanket time for the youngers and playing with older siblings and sit time. It keeps the house to a minimal catastrophe at the end of the morning...on some days.