Anderson Dairy Tour

Although we are raw milk drinkers, we went with a homeschool group and toured a local dairy processing plant.  Anderson Dairy has been in operation in Las Vegas since 1907.  They have a "barnyard buddy tour" specifically for kids and windows so you can see how the milk is processed.  Unfortunately, we didn't see any cows since they truck the milk in from Utah. 

But it was certainly interesting to see how they make milk and ice cream on a large scale.  It's very machine-dependent and I think the only two workers we saw are in this picture! 

I think we'll stick with our raw milk:)

 Anderson Dairy

Back to School Ice Cream Social

We continued our "not back to school" week by going to a homeschool ice cream social.  Bryce got to eat homemade ice cream that Andy made and he played in the splash park.  We're meeting lots of homeschoolers trying to make new friends in a new town with a new way of life:)

Cub Scouts

Every since Bryce attended a boy scout event with his cousin Joel, he couldn't wait to be a first grader so he could join Cub Scouts!  Last night, he went to his first cub event where they celebrated the "Magic of Scouting" with a magician and had a rock climbing wall. 

Clark County Children's Choir

Bryce attended his first choir practice with the Clark County Children's Choir. He is one of eight kids in the first grade "Cadet" class. The teacher, Miss Kelli has an amazing voice and I'm excited about everything Bryce will learn this year! The children’s musical education and creativity is based on the principles and philosophy of Zoltán Kodály. There will be a concert on November 15th and sometimes the kids get to do other performances. 

Clark County Children's Choir







Curriculum and Classes

For our first year homeschooling, here is our curriculum!

I've decided to use Sonlight as our basic curriculum. I love a literature-based program! We're going to do the Core A with first grade readers.  Sonlight has also provided us with science, language arts and Handwriting without Tears. 

For Math, we're going to use Right Start Math, version 2. 

In addition, Bryce is taking lots of classes!  We have the Connections Co-op on Monday afternoon.  On Tuesday, we have creative writing, Spanish and elementary math games.  On Wednesday, he is taking pretend drama and US geography. 

Other extra curriculum activities involve the Clark County Children's Choir, Boy Scouts, violin and baseball.  I think we also have soccer coming up! 

Bryce has quite a schedule coming up!  I'd better get my tennis shoes on:)

Not Back to School at Circus Circus

We started our homeschool adventure by joining other homeschoolers at a "Not Back to School" gathering at Circus Circus's Adventuredome.  The event was held on the first day of school for most kids in Las Vegas.  Bryce loved playing at the indoor amusement park and enjoyed meeting other homeschoolers!  Bryce is just fine with homeschooling if everyday could be like today:)

What. . .we're homeschooling?!?!?

Homeschooling was not my plan.  Certainly not the first thing I wanted to do.  Bryce was a part of two different Montessori schools over the past three years and we loved it.  I LOVE Montessori, the entire philosophy and the wonderful teachers we have had. 

But then the Air Force moved us to Las Vegas.  To Nevada. 

We found one Montessori school in Las Vegas that was comparable to our previous schools.  But Foothills Montessori is in the southeast part of town.  We had to live in the north part of Vegas.  A 45 minute commute to school in Vegas traffic was not going to work for our family. 

So we considered and visited the public school.  The elementary school is very close to our house.  Remember that we moved to Las Vegas, Nevada?  The state with the worst school systems in the country.  The city with the worst school systems in the country. 

Enough said. 

Then I looked for private schools.  And looked and looked.  The high quality ones that I liked were $30K a year. 

Enough said. 

We're homeschooling because I feel like it's the best, if not only choice, right now.  I'm broken hearted for Bryce to not attend a Montessori school.  But my heart might break in two if I sent him to the public school.  It may not be the ideal situation but homeschooling is the road we are on for now.