 Guys, I need a break. I am so tired. I really feel like we have worked really really hard and my brain is fried Guys, my name is Brittany and welcome back to my YouTube channel you guys in today's video I'm going to share with you our November homeschool update and our holiday plans for the month of December So if you're interested go ahead and stay tuned for today's video. So you guys if any of you are new here to my channel again I'm Brittany. I'm a mom of three. I am in my second year of homeschooling you guys And I'm just trucking along this journey of we definitely have had our ups and downs this homeschool year But I'm just really proud of us. I'm a proud of really everything we have accomplished So far we are going into week. What is it? 16 this week? So we only have a few more weeks before we officially Wrap up our first semester of our second year of homeschooling and I'm really proud of us I'm proud of my daughter Brielle, and I really I'm just proud of us. So you guys let me go ahead and get on into our update And I love first of all talking about the books that we have read so our read aloud for the month of November was Little House on the Prairie and While this wasn't my favorite of the series we have read so far I really have enjoyed and appreciated the conversations That we have had over this book Little House on the Prairie My daughter definitely is very excited about American history because of this book It really brought us down some rabbit trails. We had some really good conversations as we were reading this book And while it's not my favorite of the series I am happy about just the discussions and the conversations we have had by the time you guys are watching this video We will have officially completed this book, but so far. I mean, I guess I can say it still is good Out of all the series or the books we have read in this series I think Farmer Boy was me and my daughter's absolute favorite We actually read that book last year while we was doing our Plant unit and we had so much fun reading Farmer Boy I just love that character Almanzo and all the little things he got up to That one was definitely our favorite out of the series so far. So we're really excited to continue on with the series I think we might only read one more book in the Little House on the Prairie series this semester And kind of just continue moving forward as the years go on. So yeah, so I mean not my favorite But the discussions we have had was amazing Now for my daughter for her independent reading she actually finished the series all eyes on Lena And my daughter you guys she really enjoyed this box series set of these three books following Lena And just her journey and just everything that Lena got up to in these series I definitely know she really enjoyed this series because I have caught her past her bedtime reading these books and I had to tell her breathe it's time for bed and I Definitely love being able to tell my daughter's time to time for bed and to catch her You know in her little bed in her pillow snuggling up reading a book. I mean some nights. I didn't even stop her I just let her finish reading until she was done But she definitely enjoyed this series at the end the last couple of chapters I saw her reread it a few times just because she said she enjoyed this series so much So if you have any daughters between the ages, I should say 8 to 12 I definitely would recommend this book all I want all eyes on Lena said it was amazing for my daughter And I'm happy I went ahead and purchased the whole box set So you guys let's go ahead and get on into our curriculum and what has happened where we're at if we're behind and I'm just gonna go ahead and let you guys know we are behind in math And I figured that it was gonna happen for us if you guys have watched my last video that I made as far as our Struggles when it has come to math this semester you would already know what is going on with our math. So I actually Started to supplement our a becca arithmetic for using the and I have it right here I put it in this little cute flex binder. I have our Good and beautiful simply math for that I have actually been supplementing So I've been using both maps because when we got to a point within a becca that It was just going too fast for my daughter once we got to the three by three multiplication Did just my daughter. She really started to throw a freeze up when it came to math Math is not her favorite subject and she has expressed it to me several times However, my daughter, she's really good in it. I mean I can explain her the concept She gets it right away and I just know it's just not her favorite So I really didn't want to continue to just push her along when it came to math I really started to slow this down. So in the a becca arithmetic for we are on lesson 43 And in the simply good and beautiful math for in my little flex binder right here We are on lesson number 23 Now we're not really quite at the halfway point for either of these math Curriculums and by the end of the school year I really want to complete at least one of these math curriculum and you guys like I was just trying to figure out Which one where we're going to complete and I just really was tossing and turning Just trying to make that decision on my own when I just simply asked my daughter I really put that in her hands and I just asked her I said Brie Which math would you prefer to complete by the end of the school year and she told me She would prefer to complete the simply good and beautiful math for so that is the math We are actually going to complete this school year So when it comes to the becca arithmetic for while I love it and I love the simplicity of this curriculum I am going to start just only adding this in when we absolutely need it And we're going to primarily start to focus on our Simply good and beautiful math for I'm going to allow my daughter to work at this at her own pace And we're going to complete this one throughout the year. I still love using two maps However, I'm going to really put our primary focus on finishing the simply good and beautiful math for for this school year So you guys that's where we are in math. We are behind Hopefully I can get us caught up before the end of the semester if not I'm really just going to take this math at my daughter's pace. I really think that with math It's really important to master those skills versus to just push them along and I don't want to have any gaps within my daughter's Education when it comes to math or anything like that. So we're definitely going to try to get caught up But at the same time we're going to take our time So as far as English you guys it's the complete opposite my daughter is actually ahead We actually started using this rotten staff building with diligence Christian English Series level four or great for and my daughter right now She is actually right where we need to be for the halfway mark of our end of the semester Sometimes you guys with these lessons my daughter. She was doing like three lessons or two lessons a day I was just really looking at the time giving us maybe about like 30 to 45 minutes And however much work we got done within that time I would just let her go on if she wanted to do more than one lesson that day That's what we did because English is our favorite subject So we have definitely been enjoying this this English series. It's really simple a lot of these Worksheets in here or these lessons. I should say I have done them orally with her We do the sentence diagramming and it's really been going smoothly. So I'm happy that at least we're not behind I should say and All of our subjects. It's just math But I'm really happy that we are right where we need to be when it comes to English Another thing with English you guys and I'm really proud of my daughter is that she actually finished her Evan Moore building spelling great for and she also finished this reading test that I've been using as reading Comprehensions great for so when it came to her spelling and she passed the pretest we just skipped on and we went to the next week So my daughter she's a very strong speller and a lot of times even when it's new words And she asked me how to spell them I will just say the words a lot slower for her and she will hear the sounds and know how to spell I mean, I think some kids just have that gift and my daughter definitely has that gift when it comes to spelling I definitely think next semester. We may not continue with spelling since she finished this one I think what we probably will do is just focus more on vocabulary because I'm finding that that is where her weakness is right now She we really need to build up that vocabulary. I definitely think it will actually improve in her writing as well. So we finished these two I'm really happy and Yeah, we probably will just continue on with the next level of her reading comprehension We do the reading comprehension test every Friday On our it's we don't really do fun Fridays. I should just say we do like a half a day on Fridays It's like a lighter load. So I will have her do one of these every Friday So yeah, so we are on to the next set of reading comprehension and for spelling I think we're done with spelling for the year We're gonna go ahead and probably pick up our wordly wise book that I already have And we're gonna probably start that up next semester So you guys as far as my daughter's project She did a really big project this first semester and I'm so proud of her She actually already presented it for Thanksgiving and she did an amazing job She did a project on African mammals and she researched six African mammals where she had to find out their Classification their group their size their weight. She had to find their habitat She also had to find out different interests and facts characteristics their behavior She had to really dive in deep when it came to these six mammals I really challenged her writing in these or in this project because for each of these categories She had to actually write a paragraph about each animal and you guys she accepted that's challenge She did an awesome job on this project I was really proud of her when she presented it to our family and our friends During Thanksgiving and you guys like I am really proud to see how far her writing has come just by her doing This project she actually learned how to take facts and information from an encyclopedia how to find credible sources online We really was able to get a lot of things while we were doing this project And for the most part you guys I was completely hands-off on this project The only thing I really helped her with was finding Sources for her to get her facts and information other than that when it came to the pictures decorating her display board She actually did that all on her own and I'm so proud of her When we first started doing the project though and she was giving me her rough drafts for her For her project we did have some tears just because she was not used to like that editing process And she was feeling like she wasn't doing things right when it came to her writing And I had to explain to her that you know, this is just a part of writing and you know in order for us to or in order For her to be able to hone in on her craft. She definitely has to learn that editing process I really wish I would have started editing her work when she was in the third grade in a third grade The only thing I really required from her was capitalization and punctuation I really didn't do much editing as far as that this year though, especially with this project I definitely have been editing everything that she has been writing and Now she actually is used to the process she's very excited when it comes for me to edit the work and She knows what to expect and I definitely see now that she sees the editing process When she's given me her essays and her paragraphs for me to look over I'm finding fewer and fewer mistakes because she's actually figuring out where she needs to work in her writing Like I mentioned before you guys the main areas within my daughter's right in that she still struggles with but she's doing a lot better It's fragments and run on sentences. I definitely know that that's a skill that she's just definitely going to be mastering Probably throughout her, you know, education or throughout her, you know, high school middle school elementary years I know that's something she's definitely going to work on mastering, but she definitely has come so far. I definitely see I guess I should say I definitely see an improvement within her writing when it comes to those things But we still are going to be working on those in our next semester so you guys another highlight that we have had this month of December has definitely been our Knowledge crate you guys knowledge crates They actually reached out to me and this was a perfect addition to our homeschool this month this month you guys we definitely have been like really working hard and Getting into the books and getting into the curriculum, but when we just need it Actually just a break from just the regular, you know Learning and we just wanted to do something fun This was when I pulled out this knowledge crate and no We did not finish all of the amazing activities that they put in this crate But we definitely had so much fun doing this crate this month of November This crate right here that I have is their fall theme and right now they already have their Winner theme crate that they will be shipping out. So if you guys are interested I will have more information about knowledge crate within my description box But we definitely enjoyed this and I definitely can see us using knowledge crate for the month of December as well And doing like all the activities and things that they have in here. I'm so excited about that So this definitely was a big highlight Especially in those days when we were tired and I knew I didn't want to push my daughter This knowledge crate definitely came in hand. So I'm really happy about this So you guys as far as my younger daughter who is Leia I have a three-year-old you guys. She's actually three and a half. She will be four in March and you guys I had one up go ahead and update you on her. She definitely has been doing good this semester in our preschool I made a preschool video you guys showing you our little preschool area and just me being more intentional When it comes to like some type of schooling with her She definitely has loved that one-on-one time we have spent together I'm really proud to say right here I have a really big update for her and that is that she has mastered all of her letter sounds and I can't believe She's mastered all of them. We did a lot of like flashcards hands-on activities with letter sounds We watched a lot of leapfrog letter factory and I cannot believe I can just point to any letter And she'll tell me the sound along with that my daughter actually knows 12 site words And she also is beginning to sound out short CVC words. We are actually working on the at family I got a really cool bundle from teachers pay teachers from JD a she has these really cool CVC flashcards that I purchased. I believe they were only like 699 They were so affordable I went ahead and I printed them off and I laminated them and I cannot believe she is sounding out a few words and We are working on that Um, I think honestly, I'm really surprised by my daughter's progress when it comes to like pre-school letter sounds and things like that Is because of my daughter. She actually has a speech delay. We are in speech therapy We do speech therapy on Wednesday on Wednesdays virtually and I guess for at one point I really was hesitant to start off like her Schooling and doing other things other than speech because I was really worried That it will hinder her speech if we don't just focus on speech all day long However by me focusing on other things it actually has encouraged her speech and I'm so happy that I just followed my instant And I just started to add in like little things for me and Leia to do together and I'm so proud of her I'm proud of her progress. I went ahead and I actually bought a few little pre-school things that Extra for her that I am going to share in an upcoming haul So you guys can kind of see like our progress and what we're working on now that she's actually finished that little phase of Learning her ABCs her colors numbers things like that So now she's kind of like in this in between kindergarten or pre-k Readiness is pretty much where she's at right now And I cannot wait to share with you guys some more resources that I have picked out for her And I know she's definitely gonna be excited about that. So you guys this actually is our November update I'm really really happy About everything that we accomplished in a month of November As far as holiday plans you guys I'm definitely going to keep things really short and sweet at our house I actually bought a whole lot of new Christmas books that we are going to be reading you guys I need a break. I am so tired I really feel like we have worked really really hard and my brain is fried At this point, I really feel like I need the month of December to just relax However, I'm not going to relax too much of our first year of homeschooling We took the whole month of December off. All we did was read we did arts and crafts and while it was fun I found that in January. I really had to pick up a lot of pieces with my daughter, especially when it came to math She forgot a lot of stuff So we had to go back and go forward and it was just it was a mess in the month of just January for us last year So this school year in December While we will be taking a break with all of our other subjects. I am not going to take a break with math I'm gonna really use the month of December to probably get us caught back up to where we need to be within math I told my daughter Brielle We are going to do a power hour where we will just focus on math for one hour each day We're gonna do the first two weeks of December We'll take the Christmas break or the Christmas week off and then the last week of December So only three weeks in a month of December We're only gonna spend one hour a day on math We're gonna do as much as we can in that hour I will set our timer and then after that we are done. I really feel like that is a good compromise Not only for me, but also for my daughter for me to get a break and for us to both rejuvenate We'll also just focus in a little bit more on math because I know that that's the area where we need to really Just work a little bit harder in it. I know my daughter can do it. So you guys that's everything Those are our holiday plans. Those are our November update. I really hope you enjoyed today's video I love these chit chat videos. I love talking with you guys in the comments Let me know if you're going to go on break in December how your homeschool is going If you're excited about Christmas and all of the holiday theme items and just everything like that So you guys as always I look forward to seeing everyone in my next video Please don't forget to comment like and subscribe and I'll see everybody next time. Bye