Fall 2020 with the TripleSmiles

Proverbs 16:9

A Man's heart deviseth his plans, but the Lord directs his steps.

2020 has proven to be quite the unknown. Whew..... I have had so many of my friends both near and far reach out recently and ask me questions about home education.

I have suggested to many to start by taking a short Homeschool Style Quiz to see what type of homeschooler you most identify with for your family.  You might also consider buying this very funny book.

I personally most identify with the Charlotte Mason method.  A few yeas back, I stumbled into the Brave Writer Lifestyle, which is a modern day Charlotte Mason based approached to learning.  Brave Writer is a magical journey that takes children through reading and writing in a way that awakes their wonder and creates a delight driven approach to learning. Brave Writer prioritizes the content a child writes first and grows their mechanics over time using someone else's writing. They teach that writing proficiency is not needed until 18 year of age! So you have a huge span of time to grow their writing skills and create a learning/language rich home life. This is me meeting THE JULIE BOGART at my first Brave Writer Retreat.

Here is my plan for Fall 2020 for all 3 Triplesmiles:)

We are going to start the year with a family class from Brave Writer called Groovy Grammar
(We are starting August 3rd) WHY? Well because we usually take off most of December and I try to wrap up by end of April each year!

Musical Mondays-  I am going to use the Movie Guides to introduce my kids to at least a musical a month. We have been involved in children's theater for many year, but now that they are getting older, I can show them some of my favorite musicals that have more mature content. 

Tuesday Poetry Teatime is a favorite in my house! We will continue to do this weekly!


Arrow Book Club- We will be using Brave Writer's Arrow Book Club suggestions this year. Every month we will read a new book together. Each Arrow guide comes complete with Discussion questions and a fun Party School Suggestions for the end of the month.

Uncle Sam and You is our history spine. We completed the first part of this curriculum last spring and plan to do Part 2 this fall. It is super awesome that this study is aligning with our election year!




Ava (7th grade) Zach (8th grade) will be going through Answers in Genesis Science curriculum.


Levi will continue at Thinking Reeds in a Physical Science class. 


Both Ava and Levi will be taking 7th and 8th grade Math at Theo. Theo is an a la carte home education outsource ministry. Levi will also be taking a Money Management class and a Greek and

Latin Roots class. 

All 3 children will continue to get their Bible Curriculum through the Awana program.

And as always....I will follow their individual interest as they present themselves. This is what makes Home Education the most magical. Being able to craft their curriculum, book choices, and time to what they are personally interested to study!

Currently.....

Levi continues to be very active in the Media Ministry at First Baptist Dallas where he gets exemplary training in all things media related.  He is also enjoying the book You Have a Brain by Dr. Ben Carson. Pictured in Levi getting his book signed recently at our church.  

Ava continues to excel at creating.....well anything. She has cooked, created flower arrangements, made vinyl project for her friends all summer long. She is currently also interested in learning sign language. 

Zach had been in a specialized program through our local school district the past few year, but he is coming home again until things calm down in the school systems. He is adding carriage driving at Manegait and possibly an audible drivers ed class to his fall calendar! He continues to be very interested in all things football and NFL related!


And the question I get a lot.....What time do you start homeschooling each day? Heres the answer:

Math-- Curriculums we love!

I posted here about my thoughts on lower elementary Math. After building back the confidence level of my children the curriculum we have had the most success with is Teaching Textbooks. 

Each lesson is clearly taught and practice problems are assigned. It is a self graded curriculum. I can easily see areas the children need additional help and we can revisit those. This is a very slow paced program.  I personally have had my children go through 2 lessons per day, but only make them do one set of practice problems. 

When they advance to a new level, I have them start by "Quizzing Out" of the beginning of each new level. They begin by taking the quizzes and they stop taking the quizzes if they score below a 90 on  the Quiz. 

Another supplementary Math curriculum that we love is 

Life of Fred

Life of Fred is a Narrative about 2 characters named Fred and Kingie. It starts with basic addition and goes all the way up through Calculus, I think.  Some people do use this as full curriculum, but I use it for my kids to read about how Math is used int he real world through the life of Fred and Kingie! They love it. 

And I think it goes without saying....that lots of Math can be practiced....in the kitchen! 

My Math Journey

Math was always difficult for me as a child. I don’t remember my mom having me “tutored” though until Jr. High and High School level Math. I vividly remember staying after school daily beginning in the 8th grade. My 8th grade Math teacher, to this day, is still one of my favorite people on the planet. I have only positive memories of her constantly telling me “you can do this!” As I moved into high school, I remember meeting a Math tutor at my church every Wednesday night prior to Wednesday night activities. In college, I dated my Math teacher’s son…..so I passed. {not fully joking here}

This experience however made me a good elementary Math teacher! I understand kids who struggle. When I taught in public school, I was chosen to attend the Marilyn Burns Math School to teach kids Math through experiences. This was a life changing experience for me and I realized why I struggled so much as a child. I loved teaching Math in my elementary classrooms. I loved watching the kids faces light up when they would finally understand a concept through experiencing it verses a bunch of problems on a page. 

Fast forward a few years into homeschooling……I picked a workbook full of problems without experiences? SAY WHAT? I knew better, but the time monster got the better of me in the beginning. {I had to check it off my list!}  I vividly remember the day, one of my children started crying and said “I can’t do this!” I stopped in my tracks remembering immediately the words of my 8th grade Math teacher to me. I remember closing the book and THROWING IT AWAY! I did not want this child to go down “my Math road” thinking they could not do Math. That very day, I dug back out my  Marilyn Burns Math files and just started playing games with this one child.  I don’t remember how long I took this approach with this child, but long enough to build back the confidence level it would take to make them successful at another Math curriculum. 

For this reason, I love Math literature to teach Math skills, especially in the lower elementary years! Looking back, you don’t even need a Math curriculum in the younger years.  If you need a little bit of guidance on what Math skills are recommended a different ages, that is easily accessible online. Grab the list of skills and find Math literature and hop on over to https://mathgeekmama.com/ for some awesome lessons and games per topic. 

Hello Sweet Friends! 

I do hope and pray this blog post finds your family safe, healthy, and making lots of memories! I have had this blog post rolling around in my head for a few weeks now. 

The Lord called me into full time Home Education when my oldest child was about to enter kindergarten.  We were just beginning to find out the vastness of his special needs. 

Over the past nine years, I have learned a lot and I just wanted to share my heart with you today. I hope that you will find this post encouraging. 

I know most of you did not choose this season in your life. Some of you are trying to work a full time job from home and also home educate your child right now. Its hard! 

The biggest thing I had to learn when I first started to home educate, was simply, home is NOT school.  This was not an easy thing to cast aside as I had spent so many years as a public school classroom teacher. However; over time, I learned there are so many wonderful properties of home. These properties making learning at home beautiful and enchanting! 

Home does not have a fixed schedule, BUT a good routine is helpful! 

At home, you have the freedom to eat a snack whenever you want! And momma, when all the kids are crying over Math, its a great time to get the BROWNIES OUT! Nothing changes a bad day around like a great big pan of brownies! 

At home, your kids can sit on the couch, relax in a swing, Zoom in from their beds! Home is comfortable!!!  In my home, I do not have a set “school room”. We learn all over our house and outside!!! 

This is a also a great time to build relationships with your kids. If your kids are having trouble getting along and or not wanting to do their school work. DROP IT! Play a game first, cook a meal together…..CONNECT! After a few hours or even a few days of connection and building your relationship, add school back in!  

Lastly, Mama….you are setting the temperature in your home right now. If you need a break, take a break. Jump in that bath tub in the middle of the day! Get yourself a cup of tea. Drive around the neighborhood alone! Self Care is so important! You cannot pour from an empty cup!  Grab the hem of HIS garment every day! Jesus loves you and cares about you so much! 

You can do this mama! Big hugs today!

Noelle