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Homeschool Curriculum Update and Favorite Resources
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Jun 19, 2024
We just wrapped up our third week of the new homeschool year - interested in how it's going and which curriculum I'm loving? Let's chat! In this homeschool curriculum update, I'm sharing what we covered this week and a few of my favorite resources. CURRICULUM & RESOURCES MENTIONED 📖 Recipes for a Sweet Child Book – https://amzn.to/3Dp0cC5 🧮 CTCMath Review – https://blessedhomeschool.com/ctcmath-online-math-curriculum-review/ ✝️ Latin Curriculum – https://blessedhomeschool.com/latin-for-beginners-curriculum/ 📚 BJU Press Curriculum – https://www.bjupresshomeschooling.com/site/include.php?id=88 📖 Escape to Liechtenstein – https://amzn.to/43x0YYt ********************************************* Hey there! I’m Sara, and I’m a teacher-turned-homeschooling mom to 4 kiddos (including a set of twins!). I balance homeschooling while working full-time from home, and am so thankful you are here. I love sharing about homeschooling on my blog, Blessed Homeschool, where you’ll find tips, resources, and curriculum reviews. Whether you are a newbie or a veteran, I hope you will leave inspired and equipped with what you find. MORE VIDEOS YOU MIGHT LIKE Homeschool Planner GIVEAWAY! - https://youtu.be/CFoEHVLCog8 CTCMath Review - https://youtu.be/opycTf5Y-LQ
View Video Transcript
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Hey guys, we are three weeks into our new homeschool year and I wanted to just chat with you today
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give you a peek into our homeschool and share how things are going with some new curriculum that we're trying
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I'm really enjoying some of the resources we are using, especially our language arts and Bible curriculum
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So I hope it will encourage you and be helpful to you. There's a fly in here. It's driving me nuts
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So in case you don't know me, I'm Sarah and I blog at blessed homeschool.com and also love
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sharing product reviews and homeschool tips on this YouTube channel. Please subscribe so you
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don't miss out on future content. Well, I posted a video about two weeks ago sharing about
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the first week of our new school year. I had hoped to do another video last week, but life just
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got too busy, as it often does, right? So something about me is that I love baking and decorating
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some of you that have followed my blog for a while might know this but last
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weekend I got to make a cake for a friend's son's birthday typically I only make
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cakes for my kids and I get super nervous when I get to make one for someone else
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but I think it turned out okay we transported it to the party with minimal
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issues and fun was had by all that being said it took a good chunk of time
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because I'm not super fast in making these things so we shifted our homeschool
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schedule a bit last week What's up? The videos are awesome
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Oh, well, thank you. You want to say hi? Right. Okay. Can you see my shirt
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Oh, let's see your shirt. Bye. Bye. Bye, guys. Bums up. All right
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So I also had a few sponsored projects I've been working on and trying to get the rest of our curriculum prepped
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And all of this has been keeping me pretty busy. Anyway, something that has been on my heart is
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to just try to put together a few of these weekly recap, wrap up videos, to just chat with you
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share how our homeschooling is going, how our curriculum is going, and sometimes maybe even how
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life is going. It's not going to be in the sense of you should be doing what I'm doing or I have my
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entire act together because let's be clear on the fact that I don't. No one does. But I think back to when I was
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starting to homeschool and I was so overwhelmed with the idea that it was some huge undertaking and I
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struggle to know that I could do it, that I could be enough for my kids. Guys, there are so many
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lies from the enemy that we will easily believe if we allow ourselves to go there. Homchooling is
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sanctifying work. Trust me. The Lord has a work that he wants to do not only for your kids
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but through you as you homeschool. And I just want to encourage you that you can do this. And
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my hope is if you watch these videos, you'll get a feel for what some homeschool curriculum is like
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you'll see that it doesn't have to be too hard or even perfect and that you'll maybe find some
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new ideas or things that you want to try. I think it can be just so valuable to just chat with
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other homeschool moms and listen to what they're doing. Even if it's not your particular style of homeschooling or they're using a different curriculum than you, everyone has something
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unique to share. I was just talking with a friend today who's doing something really cool with
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her history and science studies this year and I loved hearing about something that was completely
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different from what we're doing and what we have done. I've never even really thought about doing it that
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way before. It's a great way to get new ideas, learn new things and ways of doing something, and just to
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see how the Lord gifts people in different ways to homeschool their kids, not in a comparison sort of way or
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judging or wanting everyone to do it just like you, but because we all have a special light and we need that
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community. I was at an event the other day and someone came up to me because she knew that I homeschooled my
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kids and she told me that her daughter was going to homeschool and she, the woman talking to me
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was worried whether or not her daughter could do it. My heart went out to her because I understand
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that feeling. I doubted a lot whether or not I could do it. And the thing is, although I think this
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is changing a lot, there are still many people who don't understand what homeschooling is or how it works
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or how in the world kids can learn anything if they aren't in a classroom with 30 other kids of their age
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So I did my best to encourage this woman in the short time that we had. And if you are in this boat
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I want to encourage you that you can do this. Okay, take it day by day in the beginning. One small
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decision after another. The years are going to fly by. Trust me, we're now going into our seventh
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year. I don't know where the time went. And you are going to be blessed learning alongside your
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kids and spending all those hours together that you would not have had otherwise. God knew what he
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was doing when he gave you your kids. And if he has called you to homeschool, he will equip you. I didn't believe that at first. My faith was weak, but God is faithful
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So pray for that faith, lean on him, and be encouraged that you are enough for your kids
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Okay so let talk about what we been up to in our homeschool These past two weeks the biggest changes were adding back our math curriculum and language arts to our schedule We using CTC math this year so each week I assign
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new tasks for my kids to work through. Now about a week ago, I sat in on a meeting about
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homeschooling high school in our state, so it made me think a bit more about the path that I would
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ideally want my kids on for math and what that will need to look like as my son moves into sixth
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grade. So I was intentional this week and set some loose goals for our math this year. With CTC
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math, you can either assign lessons to your kids or you can allow them to simply log in and complete
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lessons in order. And depending on how loose you are with your schedule, this might look like
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just letting them do however much they want to that day or you might set a time limit on them
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or tell them they have to complete a certain number of lessons, whatever. I assign lessons to my kids
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because I think it helps them in knowing exactly what I want them to do
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And it helps me make sure that we are making progress in a timely manner
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So let me show you my super fancy tracking sheet that I use for my son
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Okay, so I, it's all online, but I like to write it on a piece of paper
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This is just something that I do. You certainly don't have to do it
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There are so many reporting features in the program, but I personally like to write things on paper because it's easier for me to keep track of
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and reference. So my son has been working through the fifth grade math curriculum at CTC Math
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and this is what he was doing in our previous curriculum before we switched. What I did is I just
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made a sheet and I tracked each topic that is available or that's offered in the fifth grade
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curriculum. And then I check mark if I've assigned it to him, I check if he's taken it
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what score he got. I have it set at a certain score to be able to pass
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a lesson so I mark the score down and then if there are lessons that I want him
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to review so CTC math it breaks down each topic into smaller lessons so you can
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really see how your kids are doing on each part so if there are lessons that I
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want him to review I will write those down and then I'll assign them kind of one by
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one and then once he has passed those I will check mark those off and write the
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passing score if there's something that he didn't score well in I will circle it and then I'll go back and create a
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questions or review for those later. Now you don't have to do this and they actually have tracking sheets in CTC math that you can
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print and download. However, they are pretty ink-heavy. They've got a lot of black around the edges so I don't particularly like them which is why
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I just like to write it down here. And as I mentioned before, you can just look at all this in the reporting feature but
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I like to write it down and have something to reference. That's just me
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So we've got just a little bit left through the fifth grade track to finish
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and so probably about, I don't know, two months or so it might take us
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Once we get into sixth grade, this is my super fancy goal, my goal sheet right here
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I just wrote down, you know, our goal is to make it by the end of this year
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through his sixth grade curriculum and maybe about midway through the seventh grade curriculum
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So with CTC math, you have access to all the grade levels for all of your kids
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So that was my super fancy goal that I wrote down. And once we get into the sixth grade track, I'm going to be more specific about inputting into homeschool planet exactly what lessons I want him to do each week
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So it can help me see if we're going to hit those goals or what else we might need to modify as we move through it
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If you're interested in learning more about CTC math, I recently shared another video giving you an inside look at an actual lesson and more about how the curriculum works
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So definitely go check that out. Okay, the other big thing we began this week was our language arts curriculum
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This year we are using learning language arts through literature from Common Sense Press, and this is completely new to us
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Now, we're only one week in, but I'm super impressed already. This year, we just needed something different for many reasons
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And one thing that drew me to this curriculum was, okay, actually two things
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Number one, it's a lot more literature based than what we had done in the past. And number two, it's integrated
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Meaning last year, we had separate curriculum for English, spelling, reading, and handwriting
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and this program incorporates it all. So the authors believe that by reading good literature
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and working with good writing models, kids can have a great experience with language arts
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and learn really well. So, for example, this week, my kids worked with a piece of literature each
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My son is in the Tan book, and he worked with an excerpt from The Taming of the True
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And my daughters are using the purple book, and they worked with the poem, America
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And through those pieces, they worked on grammar, vocabulary, spelling, reading, writing, handwriting, and critical thinking. We had a great
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first week really so it's so different for me and I'm breathing a breath of fresh
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air over this. It took us maybe 30 minutes most days this week to do our
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language arts lessons, maybe 45 minutes one of the days but we really enjoyed it
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and I enjoyed doing language arts with my kids again I am excited and hopeful that this will be a good change for us and I also thinking about doing a review video where I kind of flip through and show you guys what a week worth of lessons look like using this curriculum So if this sounds like a new approach for you too
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and you're interested in and you want to see what it looks like, leave a comment below so I know
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And I'll see if I can put that together sometime soon. Okay, for Latin curriculum, I wanted to show you guys what we're using this year
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I actually have been using the Memorial Press Latin curriculum and teaching it through our homeschool co-op
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We've gone through Prima Latina and then Latina Christiana and this year has been First Form Latin
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This is a super easy curriculum to teach from. There is a short video that goes along with each lesson
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So I watch that first and use it to figure out how I'm going to teach the lesson to the kids
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And then there are lots of notes in the teacher manual that I'm trying to
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open up to a good example that show you exactly what you need to say how you need to teach it
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I make lots of notes in the margin. But this in the middle is the student book and then you've got
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all sorts of teacher notes on the outside. So really super easy to teach from. I am not an expert
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in Latin. I'm learning it along with the kids. So this has been great for me too. I highly recommend
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it. I do have a blog post that reviews. I think it's Latina Christiana. So you can go check
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that out on my blog. And I will leave a link in the description. And you're interested in learning more about how this works. But our co-op only meets once a week. So
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it's challenging to fit the entire curriculum in within a year. So we will be getting through this
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in about a year and a half. Right now, I'm having my kids work through some review lessons and
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practice some vocabulary while we're on break from our co-op. But I figured, you know, I would
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offer to teach it because it's more fun to learn with friends. And you certainly can teach it at
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home, but if you do have a co-op, just know that it's a great option to do with friends at your co-op
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All right. The last two things I want to update you on is our Heritage Studies curriculum and our
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Bible curriculum. We began using Heritage Studies 5 from BJU Press last school year, and I use
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this for my son and my twin daughters together. We honestly only made it about halfway through the
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curriculum because we didn't do it every day. In some units, we wanted to spend a bit more time on
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At first I was a little stressed that we were behind, but I had to remind myself, there's no behind in homeschooling
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So we are simply continuing this curriculum into the next year because we are enjoying it
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and we'll be using it alongside my father's world exploring countries and cultures
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where we'll have a bit more geography and less history, so it'll fit in really well
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So this week, we finished up our World War II chapter, and along with this unit, we read one of the BJU Press Journey Force books
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which was recommended. and this week we finished that book too. We love this so much. The book was this right here. It's
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Escape to Lichtenstein by Ed Dunlop and it's actually part of a series. I noticed that there are
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two more books to follow this one. I really like how BJ Press gives book recommendations to go
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along with their chapters. They're usually historical fiction books that relate to whatever we're studying
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at the moment. This book was a favorite. We read it a little bit every night after dinner. Usually
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our routine is everyone gets dessert and listens while I read and then I just have to eat my dessert
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alone after I read but you know that's the sacrifice of a homeschool mom right but seriously I don't
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mind I have a captive audience then what I love so much about this book was the example that
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one of the main characters set during the narrative you see examples of him praying seeking
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the Lord you see his thought process and I thought it was really powerful for my kids to hear
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in the book the kids pray for their Jewish friend that they're helping escape from Nazi
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soldiers and we really just enjoyed it. So if you have kids that are about 8 to 12 or so
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and you're studying World War II, this would be a great addition. And I'll leave a link in the description so you can check it out. So now we are beginning a chapter on post-war America
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which will involve the civil rights movement, America's struggle against communism, Eisenhower's presidency, Space Race, JFK, Martin Luther King Jr. So we are going to read
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another Journey Force book to go along with this chapter. And sorry
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for the glare. This one is called Sherlock Jones, the assassination plot, which this is a mystery novel
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where friends are going to be seeking to rescue their state governor from an assassination plot
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And it's the first book in this Sherlock Jones detective series, and it goes along with our chapter
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which I know is going to cover the JFK assassination. So I'm sure that's why this was suggested
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Next, let's chat about our Bible curriculum, which I'm also really loving. Here's what we're using
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This is basics of the biblical worldview from BJU Press, and it's been going really well
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so far. It's intended for sixth grade, but I'm using it with my three older kids together
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and it's really been more of a traditional discussion-based curriculum. So each day we read the
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lesson, discuss some questions, and some days have extra activities in their workbook. The discussions
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have been good, and they use some great examples in the text that the kids can really relate to
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For example earlier this week we were learning about what proof is and how it whatever really ought to convince someone else of the truth of something So they gave an example about a short basketball player
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claiming that he could dunk the ball. No one believed him. So he did it. And then he had eyewitnesses
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that can now back up his claim. Well, when his teacher came in, she didn't believe he dunked the ball
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And we talked about different types of proofs such as proof by experience, which would be
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direct experience, seeing something with your own eyes, and proof by authority, which would be a
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reliable eyewitness account. We talked about why proof by experience is not the only or best type of
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proof and how we rely on both kinds of proof all the time in our lives. So I gave my kids the
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example of a map, right? So those maps back there. I have no experience that this is exactly what
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our world looks like. I haven't seen it with my own eyes, but I'm trusting reliable sources that have
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studied and put this resource together for me that this is the truth. We do this type of thing
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all the time. Without the testimony of trustworthy authorities, we would only have proof from our
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extremely limited experiences. So this led into discussion of how the Bible uses these two types
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of proofs, experience and authority, and how it is possible to rely on someone else's witness
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of evidence. Furthermore, how God is the ultimate authority and reliable eyewitness. We read verses
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is showing how the Bible is its own authoritative testimony and we talked about how we know the Bible
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is true. My daughter told me that she really loved this because she had not really thought before
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about how she would answer the question if someone asked her, how do you know the Bible is true
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She just always knew it and had assumed it, but hadn't thought of how she would actually
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answer that. So this was making her think of it about that, which is really important to do
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There's a lot more I could share about this. And again, we're a couple weeks in. I think I'll do a
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walkthrough of the curriculum sometime so you can learn a bit more about it. I'm really excited for the
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lessons coming up because we're getting into dualism and the two-story view, which we've been
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studying in a class at church. So I'm looking forward to teaching my kids about these and having
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some discussions centered around that as well. Okay, there are a few more things we did this week
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but I feel like I've talked quite a bit already. But one more thing. I want to share that we did go
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off ice cream last week because my kids finished their silent reading books per our agreement, and they all got new books this week. And I've got a new book. And I've got a
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new book this week too that I want to share with you. My friend and author, Katie J. Trent
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sent this book my way this week, and I'm really excited about it. Katie is the author of Dishing
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Up Devotions. Maybe you've heard about it. I've shared about this before on my blog, and this is
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a new book of hers that's coming out early August, but you can pre-order it now. And I recommend that
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you do. Katie's goal is to help you take the stress out of parenting and discipleship with super fun
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devotionals that include object lessons and a lot of baking. So if you and your
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kids like to bake and try new recipes i really think you will love this on this book will equip you with
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biblical solutions for common childhood struggles so she's got 36 devotionals in here
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including prayers lessons and discussions and a variety of recipes including some gluten-free options
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they have all she's got all sorts of topics in here so looking through the table of contents
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she's got it broken into sections um emotional challenges the behavioral challenges
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and relational challenges. So she talks about things like anger, sadness, fear, jealousy, grief, hatred, anxiety
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and worry, depression, goes into perfectionism, resistance to schoolwork, tattling. We need to do that one right now, probably
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Unforgettenness, modesty and purity, laziness, and let's see what else, teasing, disobedience
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crushes a lot of great topics in here. So I'm probably going to do one of these and videotape it so you
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guys can see how it goes. But lots of great pictures in here of the recipes. So you'll see there's
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a recipe for each section. And she'll start off each lesson with that devotional. So there's a
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devotional. She's got a prayer, teachable moment, conversation starters, family fun, and then you
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get into the recipe, and the recipe has scripture references, and also just a great object
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lesson, and the recipe kind of ties into what you are teaching and going over with your kids
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So I'm going to be leaving a link in the description for you to go check out Katie's new book
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Okay, so I think that's it for now. I would love to answer any questions you guys have
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so please leave those in the comments for me. And I also want to remind you of the homeschool planner giveaway going on
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You'll see a link to that at the end of this video, so make sure you go and watch that and enter the giveaway
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It's ongoing, so no matter when you're watching this, you can enter for a chance to win
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Thanks so much for watching, friends. I'll see you next time
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