Here we go!

 Our new school year has officially begun and we are adjusting to our new school routines. With five children currently doing school work it has taken some creativity and patience to get the ball rolling in the correct direction.

We are currently working our way through MFW's Exploration to 1850 as our core curriculum. The curriculum is written to be used with a variety of age ranges which is amazing for our family. We have grouped the children into two different categories. Our oldest two children are reading through the books intended for the older ages while the younger children are working through the 2nd to 3rd grade books. I can't say enough wonderful things about this curriculum. Being able to work on the same material with 5 different children at once is invaluable to our family!

Our younger set are rocking the early elementary school work. Our twins are working on a mixture of first grade and kindergarten level work. I love that we can tailor their work to exactly what they need.
 

 

After what seems like an eternity we are finally seeing some real progress on the reading and math fronts. The girls are now starting to memorize letter sounds and doing simple addition problems on their own. I am not going to lie, teaching children how to read is not my favorite thing to do. So much repetition and patience is involved!  We have begun using our Dancing Bears curriculum with them and I could not be happier with the progress. The curriculum was intended for dyslexic children who are struggling to learn to read. We began using the curriculum with our dyslexic daughter last year and have fallen in love with the technique used within the program. Since we have begun using the curriculum with our 6 yr old twins we are seeing some amazing improvement. We will be using it with our autistic 5 yr old son as well!

 I love watching their little brains make connections and find new interests. Today one of our girls wrote her name for the very first time. I can not even begin to tell you how amazing it is to be the one there to witness these milestones. The look of pure joy on her face when she realized what she had done was priceless. It makes the months of work worth every single second! I would not trade these days with our children for anything in the world.

I can not wait to see what amazing milestones we will reach this year. I have a feeling it is going to be a very productive year!