Homeschool Curriculum 2020-2021

Us Watsons are new to the homeschool world. When I began homeschool research (I’m an avid researcher), I was unfamiliar with and overwhelmed by the number of homeschool curriculums offered. I was overwhelmed by the methods, styles, and literature.

Once I got over my initial shock, I delved into what method would work well for our family. I chose Charlotte Mason method with a touch of traditional and unschooling. It was not long after I made that decision that I began my curriculum hunt. After reviewing spines on Amazon and various blogs, I stumbled upon SEVERAL You Tube video reviews. Amazon reviews and vlogs from real homeschool parents (linked below) helped me to decide which books to get for our children.

Homeschool Vloggers that I love:

• Homeschool On
• Homeschool 101
• The Olgesby Ohana
• Project Happy Home
• The Waldock Way

So, without further ado, these are our homeschool curriculum picks for our 2020-2021 premiere homeschool year!!

GROUP SUBJECTS

I teach these subjects to both kids. I am not surprised that the kids look forward to them the most because these are more interactive and engaging that our other subjects.

SCIENCE

• Scientific Connections through Inquiry – Level 3

HISORY

• History Quest: Early Times
• The Usborne Encyclopedia of World History (required reading for HQ Early Times)

ART

• Art Lab
• A Survival Kit for the Elementary/Middle School Art Teacher
• Complete Art Curriculum Activities Kit

NATURE

• Exploring Nature with Children

NOVEL STUDY

• Sarah, Plain & Tall
• The Boxcar Children
• Number the Stars
• Where the Red Fern Grows

SIXTH GRADE CURRICULUM

While my sixth grader was bummed about missing her first year of middle school, she is currently enjoying the texts that I chose for her. I landed on Masterbooks for both kids for ELAR and math. I felt that these books both did a good job of explaining the concepts, and I love that the students narrate what they learned at the end showing mastery of concepts. I asked Harper to choose a foreign language elective because I felt that would be easiest for her to kind of learn on her own (with my help of course). She chose French which is great because I took 3 years of French in high school, tutored for 1 year, and then I took a year of French in college. I'm a bit rusty, but I'm using this as review.

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Language Lessons for a Living Education, Level 6
• The 10 Minute Bible Journey (required reading for LanguageLessons, Level 6)
• Evan-Moor Daily 6-Trait Writing, Grade 6

MATH

• Math Lessons for a Living Education, Level 6 Set

FRENCH

• The Everything Kids’ Learning French Book
• French 1, Grades K-5 (Skill Builders)

THIRD GRADE CURRICULUM

Sawyer was actually super happy to be homeschooling. He misses his friends from public school, and he misses his Dyslexia teacher, but I think homeschooling is a good fit for him, even if he is ornery at times. He is ADHD with moderate Dyslexia and Dysgraphia, so I tried to find a curriculum that would best fit him, his interests as well as offer a quick, efficient form of learning. So far, Masterbooks fits the bill, but we will see over the course of the year. I started him on level 2 rather than level 3 for language arts because he is behind in his reading and writing. Right now we are in review, and he's catching on quickly.

LANGUAGE ARTS

• Language Lessons for a Living Education, Level 2
• 101 Favorite Stories from the Bible (required reading forLanguage Lessons, Level 2)
• Handwriting Book for Boys
• Cursive Writing Practice Book

MATH

• Math Lessons for a Living Education, Level 3
  

SUPPLEMENTAL MATERIALS

For both kids, I also chose supplemental materials. These materials are easy enough for dad to take on in case I am sick or for the kids to complete when they are bored during the daytime while mom and dad are working. 

• 180 Days of Social Studies, Grade 6
• 180 Days of Science, Grade 6
• 180 Days of Social Studies, Grade 3

I hope that these curriculum picks are helpful to you. We went with a blend of spines to achieve the perfect fit for our kiddos. We are on week two of our homeschool year, and the kids are enjoying these materials thus far. 

In my next few posts, I will share reference books and materials that we love using this year as well as supplies that we cannot live without.  

Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this and other posts are affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may make a small commission. I only link to items that are tried and true for our family. I will not link to items or services that I do not like. The commission I make, if any, is minuscule.

Welcome to Westridge Academy!

It has been a long while since I updated my blog, but I thought that it was time to brush off the cobwebs. 

For those who are new here, I am Gabrielle, a first time homeschool mama to two. I have a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology and Masters of Science in Educational Psychology. I work full time at an office manager for a local university. I have 3 children ages 11, 8, and 5 months. My husband and I have been married for 14 years, and we have a sweet, orange beagle called Maple.

Lennon and Mama at 2 months old.

 Now for the life update for all my other readers:

During the year of our Lord 2020, a new little person joined our family of four. Now, we are a Watson Party of Five. Little Lennon is just 5 months old. He knows nothing of the world around him except his immediate family and both Gavin’s and my families. He has rarely had interactions with our friends and certainly none with coworkers, PTA, baby classes or even some of our besties. It has been a weird 5 months in our life, and I am sure yours too. However, this is life in a pandemic, and I am grateful for being able to work from home, care for my family, and be alive when so many people are ill or dead.

We found out when Lennon was four months old, that I was still immunocompromised from pregnancy. My body has not fully healed itself from the trauma that is pregnancy and birth, so on one of my very few excursions out of the house, I picked up a minor virus. It began as a low-grade fever and within days I was begging for that low-grade fever and chills to return when I was running fevers ranging from 104—106.7 regularly. I wound up in the hospital with sepsis, tachycardia, and systemic inflammatory response syndrome for several days. While being treated, the doctors could not determine what caused my mystery illness. I was in the covid wing of the ER for over 24 hours while they tried to admit me to a nearby hospital (all local beds were full). Luckily, both of my covid tests came back negative, and I was transferred by ambulance to a hospital just minutes away. It took me another 2 weeks to recover from my ordeal. As a nursing mother, I am not sure if my milk supply has fully returned yet, but I hope so. Lennon does not seem to notice too much. That was a long story, but I am happy and healthy for the most part, BUT this was the leading reason is why we chose to homeschool this year.

I spent a total of 5 days in the hospital in June with sepsis.

 Also, I still scrapbook, and I still bargain shop. I rarely practice photography, but do it for friends and family when I can. I am also a freelance resume writer when folks need their resumes updated. Check out my Facebook page: www.facebook.com/watsonresumes

Disney tri-fold interactive scrapbook folio that I created in July 2020.

 So, this post is really about our reasons to homeschool:

I am immunocompromised, and we have an infant with a developing immune system.

Lennon at 4 months old.

There are some other reasons of course that we chose homeschooling for our family too, but those are not important. I am proud that we have successfully survived AND THRIVED through our first week of homeschool. I am here to tell you that it is doable, even if you work full time. Give yourself grace. Be flexible, and you do not need everything to start homeschooling. 

 

Our very first day of homeschool ever, July 27, 2020, all the kids enjoyed their first day.

In the next few posts, I will talk about our academic calendar, our method/curriculum, our homeschool space (aka dining room), our daily schedule, our reference materials, and keep updating you on our daily lives. 

You can also follow my journey on Instagram @fromwatsonwithlove – I post pretty much daily, and share a lot of stories.

Leave some love, if you enjoy posts like these or you are on a similar journey to ours. I would love to be part of a community of #newhomeschoolers.

Disclosure: Bear in mind that some of the links in this and other posts are affiliate links. If you click on them and make a purchase, I may make a small commission. I only link to items that are tried and true for our family. I will not link to items or services that I do not like. The commission I make, if any, is minuscule.

Endless Love > Christi & Rodney

It's time to refresh the old girl, and let you all know that I am alive and well!!

The last couple of years have been busy. Here's a super quick recap:

2015 -  Harper breaks a leg (literally), the Watson's go to Disney, the Watson kids are baptized, Gabrielle graduates with a Master of Science in Educational Psychology

2016 - Harper breaks an arm (insert big eyeroll), the Watsons visit family in San Antonio, Gavin and Gabrielle celebrate 10 years of wedded bliss with a trip to Austin (Airbnb rocks my socks), Gabrielle begins a weekly girls night out, Harper starts 2nd grade, Gabrielle begins distributing Young Living Essential Oils, Gabrielle turns 30 (insert GIANT eyeroll), Gabrielle performs at her first Glitterbomb show as Juniper Jones

2017 - Well we are still in the midst of it, but so far Harper had her 8th birthday party at the skating rink. Sawyer just graduated from pre-K and begins kindergarten in the fall; where did my baby go? Harper began her 3rd year of summer camp  just today. This month is Sawyer's 5th birthday; he wants a splash party. I'll be volunteering and attending the Great American Scrapbook Convention in Arlington, Texas. I am SUPER excited of course because I love attending every year. In July, I'll be staying a few nights at my FAVORITE place -- Memory Lane Inn in McKinney, TX. Last year, we stayed in Tyler, TX, and it was wonderful (as always).

Now that you're caught up, here's the fun part! I recently did a fun photo session with my sweet friends Christie and Rodney. When they set up the photo shoot, I was informed that it was an engagement announcement. The day of the photo shoot, I quickly learned that they had eloped! So, here they are the newlyweds, Christie and Rodney.

 

Frugal and Delicious Chicken Pot Pie

I have a WONDERFUL, EASY, PEASY recipe to share with all of you. This is my favorite recipe that I have collected over the years from my family members, and I love to make this when people are unwell or in need of something quick and easy to make for themselves like after bringing home a new baby or loss of a loved one, etc.

Aunt Karina's EASY PEASY Chicken Pot Pie (makes 2 pies = 1 to cook now, 1 to freeze for later)

You'll need:
1 can of Cream of Brocoli soup
1 can of Cream of Chicken soup
1 can of Cream of Potato soup
1 can of Mixed Vegetables
2 Deep Dish Pie crusts (2 comes in package)
2 Unroll Pie Crust (2 comes in package)
1 lb of Cubed Chicken Breast
1 can of Chicken Broth
3 cups of Water

This meal is very easy to put together, the prep time is very short anywhere from 10-20 minutes total. Total cooking time is 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Thaw/Defrost chicken breast and cube. Add chicken broth to 3 cups of water and boil. Add cubed chicken breast to boiling water, cook for 10-15 minutes until done. Chicken will be white, no pink.

While boiling the chicken, drain the can of mixed vegetables. Add mixed vegetables and soups to medium sized mixing bowl and stir.

Drain chicken in colander or just scoop out the chicken with a slotted spoon and add to the pot pie mixture. Stir until chicken is spread evenly among mixture.

Take out frozen deep pie crusts and scoop pot pie mixture into pans evenly.

Unroll 1 refrigerated pie crust, lay on top of pie and fold up the sides, crimping/pinching with fingers until pie is sealed. Make 2-4 cuts on the top to let out steam. Repeat for the next pie.

At this point, you can choose to make both the pies if you have a large family. Freeze both of the pies for someone special or for another day, or you could cook one pie and freeze one for later. It's really that simple!!

Cook on 350 degrees for 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Yay, so I'm so happy to share this recipe with you, and I hope that you will love it. I'm very particular about my pot pies, and not a big fan of them overall, but I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this recipe!! It is the absolute best, EASY pie around to bake!!

Enjoy this recipe!!