Milligan Family Homeschool

Our comfy reading area

Bradley's alphabet sheets...in progress

Our monthly calendar:
Bradley re-sets this each month

the magnets that have really helped Bradley learn how to spell his name

Sometimes Bradley works at his desk.

Lots of times the boys play together.

Rachel (usually) loves to do work at her desk.

Some days we paint in the garage.

Trent is our official "pencil-sharpener". He LOVES to sharpen pencils...even if we don't need any more pencils sharpened...he's so dedicated that he won't stop! We all love the NOISE it makes, especially if we're trying to talk or explain something!!

Trent loves playing with the Little People house and figures...and sometimes he adds a tractor.


Trent really likes to color...sometimes all over his legs...

(close-up below)



how artistic and creative!

We are having a GREAT year homeschooling this year. I don't know if it's because it's my 3rd year or if it gets easier as the kids get older. Whatever the reason, we've had so much fun and it's only October! I LOVE that we're all on the same schedule...Rachel and Bradley go to Learning Grove on Tuesdays and they both love it! Trent and I usually go grocery shopping and do some just Trent-stuff and he loves it! (So do I!) That leaves us with so much flexibility for the rest of the week and I feel like we get to do so many things.

Learning Grove is going great...Rachel LOVES 2nd grade and is really thriving and absorbing everything that she learns. Her favorite class is Art and the art tutor has a very specific art style that each grade level studies (but I can't remember Rachel's). They get to try all sorts of different mediums, from paint to chalk to clay. She also loves music and enjoys tapping the beat with the rhythm sticks. Creative Writing is fun and her tutor reads them books and is helping them learn the elements of writing a story. Science is also super-fun right now. The regular tutor is on maternity leave, so one of the Director's husband (a surgeon) is filling in. It has been quite a treat. This dad has brought in a red-eyed monster (rat) and a baby shark. Rachel has loved every bit of Science too. Bradley has really embraced Kindergarten too. He has 2 other boys in his class and 2 girls. His tutor is super sweet and patient and allows them to have lots of free/play time. They're also learning some cute songs, the months of the year, practicing numbers and letters and visiting a new country every few weeks. They have fake passports that they stamp when they begin studying a new country. He's having a blast and happy to have some new boy buddies. (Although, he still considers Mark- from Pre K- to be his best friend and we still see him once a month.)

We usually go to the library once a week, or at least once every 2 weeks. The kids love the library. They pick out their own fun books to read, sometimes we check out some non-fiction books that they're interested in, or that relate to something we have/are going to study. The kids also enjoy playing computer games, playing with the train table (especially Trenty), checking out DVD's and looking up books/subjects on the card catalog and then going to find the book.

Some of our favorite books (that we don't own) are:

Shark Vs. Train- ?- Bradley

I Got Two Dogs- John Lithgow- All kids

Marsupial Sue- John Lithgow- All kids

Max & Ruby's Bedtime Stories- ?- Rachel

Junie B. Jones series- ?- Rachel

Babysitter's Club- Little Sister Series- Ann M. Martin- Rachel

Sweet Valley Kids series- Francine Paschal- Rachel

Look & Find books- All kids

Pout Pout Fish- ?- Bradley

*We're hoping to add these (and many others) to our own library at home a few at a time.

We usually go to a park once a week or every 2 weeks. We are lucky to have so many great parks with awesome playgrounds within about 30-40 minutes of our house. We usually take a picnic; sometimes we meet a friend or 2, and we have a great time playing, exploring and sometimes walking the trails.

Our days at home look something like this:

Wake up and Eat breakfast

Do chores: feed pets, make bed, get dressed, brush teeth, etc...

Go upstairs for school

We start with reading, which seems to calm everyone down and get us in learning mode. Each kid gets to pick out a book that we read together.

Then we pray and start on some schoolwork.

Sometimes Bradley needs a break after this, so I let him play.

Trenty usually plays contentedly for awhile after this, so I try to give Rachel some one on one instruction.

We have "box work" which is just a plastic drawer that contains some independent activities that each kid has each day. Rachel loves her box work. She is so smart and flies through her math and reading/writing activities. She is doing SO well in everything!

Bradley is so smart and doing so well with recognizing his letters and writing his name. He is already more comfortable with mathematical concepts than he is with writing. (Such a boy!)

We do Science together. We have a great workbook that has small lessons and then optional activities or experiments that we can do. The kids love Science stuff and especially love anything that is "experimental". Even Trenty gets in on the Science activities.

We also do Bible stories and lessons together. We have a workbook with short lessons that also includes a craft or game. The kids love this too.

In general, we try to keep homeschooling fun, relaxed and all-kid inclusive. Otherwise, what would be the point? I've tried to make peace with the fact that every day looks different from the next and to "roll with the punches" when what I have planned doesn't work out. After all, if I want my kids to have 7 hours of instruction in a classroom/school setting, I should send them to public or private school. Since I don't, I shouldn't expect our days to look anything like the typical classroom. (Talking to myself here...) Anyway, homeschooling is a nice fit for our family and I love the many benefits that we enjoy due to the flexible schedule. We spent Columbus Day with Pop and Nana, since they were both off work. Recently, Gege took me and Rach shopping for some new clothes for Rach and we had a blast enjoying our girl's day. I love the fact that we can set our own schedule, modify our pace as needed and play together alot...enjoying the sweet family time that homeschooling maximizes. So, we'll take our homeschooling year by year and see what works best for our family and go from there.