This past week marked a big moment in the McGilvray home--our first week of homeschooling! With Chaeli turning four this fall, we decided it was time to start pre-K with her. So I researched and prayed and planned and prayed and prepared and prayed some more....are you noticing a pattern here? It is my heart's desire to keep God at the center of our homeschooling years, to not just train my children to succeed academically, but to train them to be faithful Christians, to reach as many souls as possible, and to someday find a home in heaven with God. Chloe is, of course, very young to be doing school, so she just tags along where she can, and otherwise plays nearby while we work. 

     Our curriculum this year consists of Bible, phonics, handwriting, math, and Before Five in a Row (BFIAR). For Bible, we are keeping it simple. We start our school day each morning after breakfast with Bible Time. We go over the basics, like the Books of the Old and New Testaments, study that week's memory verse (this week, John 14:15), and read a Psalm. Then we sing a few of their favorite Bible songs, and read a Bible story, straight from the Bible. We started doing this several months ago, and this week, we are reading about Elijah and the confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mt. Carmel. Chaeli has been playing "Elijah" all week. She just loves when God sends down the fire and it consumes the water, sacrifice, altar, and all. After the story, we end with a prayer. 

Chaeli pointing to days of Creation as we sang the song.

After Bible time, we head to our story area for calendar, phonics, and stories. For our calendar, I found this terrific free printable calendar notebook set at Mama's Learning Corner that we just love. It includes sheets for the weather, the date, how the student is feeling each day, and several more. For phonics, we are using The Ordinary Parent's Guide to Teaching Reading. I like it because it is very simple and straightforward, while providing an excellent foundation in phonics.

We then usually have a little handwriting practice, and proceed to Before Five in a Row. In case you aren't familiar with how BFIAR/FIAR works, I'll sum it up for you. The curriculum includes lessons for one week for each of 26 books. Each week, you focus on one of the books by reading it every day together and doing activities that highlight different elements of the book, much like a unit study. I also find several "read-along" books that compliment the main book and use those for our naptime/bedtime reading for the week. 

I am using this book along with many great ideas and printables found online--please visit my Pinterest homeschool board to take a look. I am amazed at the number of wonderfully generous people who share their creativity and hard work with the rest of us. After a full morning of learning, we take about an hour outside for playtime, then it's lunch and nap. After nap, we do our math and usually one more activity, then back outside/free play the rest of the afternoon. I am so excited about all of our materials and all the fun activities we'll share this year and the memories we will be creating! Feel free to stop on by anytime and share this journey with us!