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You are here: Home / Homeschool / Teens / High School / Homeschool Wrap-Up: November 2014

Homeschool Wrap-Up: November 2014

By Shannen Espelien 4 Comments

Alhamdulilah, we are still doing well in our homeschool, and while not every day is perfect, overall we are making good progress. Here are some highlights in our homeschool for November.

Our homeschool this month: preschool, Usborne books, Elegant Essay, and more

 

Homeschool Group Preschool Science

One of the moms in our group has really taken the reigns with setting up science experiments for our preschoolers using Mudpies to Magnets to get the ideas. The kids have really loved these experiments, and it keeps them from jumping off the walls playing inside together for a couple hours.

Our homeschool this month: preschool, Usborne books, Elegant Essay, and more

Elegant Essay

Completing Elegant Essay for Kira’s high school writing class has seemed to drag on for a long time, but moving and pregnancy has really slowed me down from active teaching. I’m really grateful that we are wrapping things up, and we just have one more assignment in December, in sha Allah. I highly recommend Elegant Essay as a primer for high school students to work on their logical flow of an essay, and understanding how all the small pieces fit into the big picture.

Home preschool

Our homeschool this month: preschool, Usborne books, Elegant Essay, and more

I keep trying different scheduling and techniques to make preschool work at home, and we do have some successful days, but we’re still trying to find something that’s a bit more predictable. Amina likes to do the busy bags when I break those out for Amatullah, and Aamina is not in the mood for concentrating when Amatullah takes a nap. I’ve collected a few more items to make more busy bags for Amatullah to keep giving that a try, but as I’ve said before, preschool is not at the top of my priority list. I am very happy with them having lots of imaginative play each day, but I also know that breaking up their day with a couple planned activities makes their day more enjoyable, too.

Another thing I’m trying to find time to look into is the Montessori method, and how that could fit with such young ages, and with both of them being fairly close in age. So far, it seems like it takes more planning than I normally am able to get to in a week, but I’m sure you just get into a routine after a while and it becomes easier. I’ve taken the idea of the prepared environment and have started implementing that, plus using that idea to plan how we are organizing our new home.

Usborne

Our homeschool this month: preschool, Usborne books, Elegant Essay, and more

I’ve mentioned before that I’ve become an Usborne books consultant, and my main goal is to collect books for my kids that they can use in their first years of school at home. I’m pretty proud of our budding home library, and hope to keep making progress to take the financial burden off my husband to get the awesome resources I want for the coming years. With three kids coming through the ranks, in sha Allah, I want things that are flexible for learning types, interesting, and educational. Usborne meets all of these needs.

In sha Allah, I’d love to share with you some of these books, and why I’m absolutely in love with them. I hope you’re excited for it, too!

What have you been up to this November?

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Filed Under: High School, Homeschool, Preschool Tagged With: wrap-up

Comments

  1. ummizu says

    December 13, 2014 at 8:55 am

    Love the preschool group! Looks fabulous, I will have to check out that book.

    Reply
    • Shannen Espelien says

      December 20, 2014 at 12:12 pm

      I just got the More Mudpies to Magnets book because I love it so much, plus I found it for 1 cent plus shipping on Amazon. 🙂 Now, just to make myself sit down and plan a couple activities. LOL.

      Reply
  2. Jamila Alqarnain says

    December 13, 2014 at 10:00 am

    Looks like you guys have been having fun! I would love to hear more about your experience with the Montessori method if you decide to get into it. I have thought about using that method as well. We’ve been learning the last few letters in the Arabic alphabet and learning about the prophets. I think we will be moving on to beginning,middle and ending letters soon.

    Reply
    • Shannen Espelien says

      December 20, 2014 at 12:07 pm

      What are the ages of your kids? So far, I’m feeling like Montessori would be hard to manage with a 5, 3, and 1 yr old all having their own stuff within reach. I’m still looking into it, though, because I really like the philosophy. I’m also (very) slowly reading through The Absorbent Mind on my Kindle and even if we don’t have the typical Montessori shelves setup, I’m finding the information really valuable to help frame my expectations as a parent and teacher.

      Reply

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