School's out...but not for long!

This weekend we made one of the biggest decisions thus far in preparation for life on the road: selecting and ordering our curriculum for the kids' education next year. I (Stephanie) have been doing a lot of research over the past 9 months, and had narrowed most subject areas down to what seemed to be the best option for each of our kids, but it was a big step for me to actually pull the trigger and place the order. Maybe because I would like for each of the kids to follow the curriculum throughout our time on the road, so it seems like I'm making a long-term decision instead of just for one year. Realistically, if we find that something doesn't work for us, that's one beautiful aspect of homeschooling...we can change it! However, paying the equivalent to a year's tuition in one lump sum is sobering and I definitely wanted to get this right, from a financial perspective as well as educational!

I received several notices of shipment today and to say that I'm giddy is an understatement! I cannot wait for the book deliveries to start arriving!!!

Without wanting to come across as an advertisement for the curriculum companies (actually, we do get a small reward now if you purchase through our Sonlight link in the sidebar), I would like to share with you, our readers, what we selected for our basic curriculum for the coming year. As an aside, our older girls are only one year apart, so we will be teaching them together and expanding/customizing parts of the curriculum to challenge Caroline beyond where Lydia is at academically. However, since they are both so young and so close in age/ability levels, this is the best option for our family.

Core Curriculum, including Language and Literature, History and Bible, we have selected Sonlight Curriculum's Core A for our girls. This curriculum is easily adaptable to multiple ages  and the Level A is perfect for children ages 5,6 and 7 (right where our girls fall!). Within their core curriculum, we can select the level of readers that are appropriate for each girl's reading level, and have ordered a set of each level of reader that we'll need as well. If we find that we move through those faster than expected (which I'm prepared might happen, as Caroline surprised me with her reading level on the various assessments that I tested her with), then I can easily order the next level of readers that fits within the core curriculum seamlessly. Sonlight also is a curriculum that presents the material with a Biblical worldview, which is important to us. We believe that all Truth is God's Truth and try to incorporate the bigger picture into everything that we teach our kids, so a curriculum that does the same (without the added preparation of us lesson-planning our own Biblical integrations into the curriculum) is important to us. I also appreciate that Sonlight doesn't teach from a particular doctrinal perspective nor does it try to candy-coat anything, shelter kids from anything "sad" within its selections. They do not choose to neglect great works that might not be aligned with scripture (allowing kids to think critically and process Truth for themselves, when age-appropriate), nor stretch a concept too thin to connect it to scripture. That's also not how we roll!

Math, we have selected Saxon for our math curriculum. The school where our girls are coming from and where I formerly taught uses this curriculum and I love it! It is a spiraling curriculum, so you cover several concepts at once and build upon your knowledge over the course of the year and throughout the entire curriculum (K-12). We've selected the Math 1 level, and will work this summer to catch Lydia up to speed with any gaps she may have, but coming from a very academic Prep-K program as well as being gifted in math, she doesn't need a full year of Kindergarten math, and I can expand the curriculum for Caroline easier than teaching two separate math programs, only slightly off from one another.

Penmanship. While many public schools are steering away from teaching penmanship and instead are focusing on keyboarding skills, we do believe that penmanship is a valuable life skill and are choosing to teach this to our kids. We will be using the A Reason For Handwriting curriculum to build our girls' printing skills while also working on weekly scripture memorization. I strongly believe that handwriting needs to be purposeful, and down the line we will teach copywriting of important literary works, but at their ages, simple scripture Truths are the most appropriate method of teaching handwriting in a meaningful way.

Phonics. We are using Victory Drill Book to teach phonics to all 3 of our older kids. Ian will work on pre-reading skills such as letter and sound recognition, Lydia will work on her phonics charts, blends, short vowel words and then long vowel words, while Caroline will work toward mastery of these concepts and more complex words with these skills. I love that they can all use the same book, work through the same concepts together and it's the best method that I know of for teaching kids to read! I taught Victory Drill for years at HCS, and cannot rave enough for how great it is for readers of all abilities!

Spelling. This is one area that I have yet to get a feel for how extensive we'll be working with our kids on. This next year, it will mostly be Caroline, but as the year progresses we will likely be working with Lydia on her spelling as well. Because of not knowing how involved we need to be with reinforcing spelling skills, we're going to start with using Spelling City for our spelling curriculum, since it's all online and she can move as quickly or slowly through the lists as she needs to.

Speech Therapy. This is what is totally new to me. Because Ian will need to continue speech therapy, we've purchased the Articulation Station app for him to use in lieu of decks and decks of articulation cards. It was created by a SLP and is highly reviewed by other professionals, so it was a clear choice for our son. Additionally, he can work independently, and there is even a setting where either Jason or I can record the words, so that as he practices repeating the words, he is hearing a real voice (even better, Mom or Dad's!) to hear the nuances of the words and model from our articulation, even when he is working on his own.

Science and Geography. We are not using any formal curriculum for these areas this coming year. We are going to use more of an un-schooling or delight-directed learning approach by exploring these areas through our travels and through life. What better classroom to learn these things than the world around us?!? Especially as our scenery changes frequently!

Now we just wait! We might have the only kids who are asking when we can start school again...but maybe it's because we've told them that it will be once we're in our house on wheels and they cannot wait for that day to arrive. Neither can I!

And as a side note, today when I went to deposit the money to pay off my credit card bill from purchasing all of the curriculum over weekend, I was once again amazed at the little ways where God shows himself in confirmations of our steps along this journey. We have been selling items that we no longer need around the house to purchase items that we do need as we go on the road full-time. When I opened the envelope to get out the money to pay for our curriculum, I was hopeful that what we have sold would cover the full cost, without need for inserting an "IOU" to ourselves from future sales. 

As I counted the last of the bills, what was in the envelope was exactly the amount that I needed to deposit--down to the dollar! Not a penny more nor less than was needed. I seriously had to sit down because it was abundantly clear to me in that moment that we're exactly where we are supposed to be right now in the process. It seems a bit chaotic and very scattered right now, but if I only look down at the step where we are right now, the path is clear. It's only when I look too far ahead do I get dizzy and the way seems foggy. I need to remember that God never promised to illuminate the entire road, only our steps--which is exactly where we are right now. And in the midst of chaos, I found a slice of peace today. It's been a good day.

One foot in front of the other

I feel like my heart has been racing at a hummingbird's pace this week. It's full--of lots of good things that excite me, of a number of bittersweet bits that bring tears through my smile, and a sprinkling of anxiety, because try as I might to fight it, I'm still a control freak.


I am still perpetually in awe of how God is making His hand very clearly seen in our family's major transition. The pieces of what needs to go/what we need to acquire/what we need to do and in what order continue to just fall into place exactly when they need to--and not a moment too soon!


That contributes to some of my anxiety, if I'm honest, because of my control freak tendencies. I am quick to forget that we aren't in control here and that things will happen when they need to and when they should. It's just a little overwhelming sometimes to look around and see a van, a motorcycle, a house and a houseful of furnishings that need to be sold within the next 6 weeks or so. We also have to pack up and move all that we will be bringing with us into our RV (and the nebulous truck that we're still looking for!) to head off for our first job site in that same time. It's totally doable, I just get bogged down with details more than I should.


I've been finalizing our education plans for our kids too, as they wrap up their school year this week. I want to have any curriculum that we need shipped before June so that we're organized and ready to start their next educational level whenever we get to our first destination. Since summer will be Jason's heavy work season, we'll start our school year over the summer to align their breaks more closely with our travel and "vacation" breaks.

All of the little Simpsonites this morning. It's Lydia's last day of Prep-K.

As the school year wraps up, we're starting the series of "Goodbyes" to our friends, co-workers and neighbors here in town. As excited as we are for what lies ahead and as hard as we are trying to remain present while we are here, when the time comes to say "See you later," it's really difficult for me, not knowing how long it might be before we do see these friends once more.


So we continue to keep on keeping on. I remind myself that the journey is the destination. And that doesn't just start for our family when we hit the road. It started the moment that we breathed our first breaths. And so I'll just keep breathing in and breathing out and trusting that our story will continue to unfold just as it should.

Happy New Year

New Year's Eve is now upon us and 2012 is waiting in the wings to make its entrance. As we come to the end of 2011, we are each reflecting upon some of the markers on our journey and we here at The Simpson Six are no different. So, come along with us, if you will, to recall some of the events, memories and lessons we've learned in the past 365 days.

2011 started out exponentially better than 2010 ended for our family and aside from the usual bumps along the way, it is ending even better than it began!

A typical scene out our back window in January

January ushered in a cold, snowy winter that kept us home-bound more often than we prefer, but with a new baby, was probably a good thing. We celebrated Christmas in January with Jason's extended family--possibly our new favorite Christmas tradition in recent years. We save our holiday get-together until after the December craziness subsides and have an easy, laid-back time to get together instead of everyone having to hustle and bustle about to the next family dinner. I don't recall who thought up the idea, but they are positively brilliant! Finally, I (Stephanie) started back to providing part-time childcare in January of this year and it has been such a blast to spend my days with not only our little kids, but also with the coolest little pair of brothers I know!

Baby planking

February brought not only more snow, but also ice--and LOTS of ice! Jason was out of school for nearly an entire week straight and then a smattering of other delays and closures due to ice and snow--but mostly ice. We enjoyed a lot of time together, but had to get creative to keep cabin fever from creeping in.

A birthday cake for the birthday girl!

For our family, March starts off Spring in the best possible way--with Lydia's birthday! We had a fun time celebrating as a family at Hollyhock Hill for dinner, and Lydia planned her own Ladybug Picnic theme birthday party, which was fit for our favorite little bug.