 You 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 my February homeschooling update you guys this month Definitely has had its highs, but we also have had our lows in February We definitely was on a struggle bus a little bit especially towards the end of this month So I cannot wait you guys to share with you my homeschooling update and let's go ahead and get right on into this video So if you need you guys are new here to my channel again, my name is Brittany I am a homeschooling mom to three girls ages 10 3 and 2. I'm in my second year of homeschooling So you guys let's go ahead and talk about our biggest high February is black history month and we actually Thoroughly enjoyed ourself with all of our studies that we did in black history Our main focus was people in science and in the arts and my daughter She really enjoyed all the resources that I picked out for her And I really feel like it was all worth just all of the research and the time that I spent in picking out our books and Choosing everything my daughter. She just really enjoyed it She actually came in here as I was taking down her black history art Today as I'm making way for us to get started in our next unit for the remainder of our school year She was actually kind of sad and she said mommy I just don't want it to be over and I promised her that as we continue throughout our school year in our homeschooling journey We will still take out that time to highlight different black influences and voices within our homeschool So you guys Bre Elle she actually did an awesome job She made this really beautiful Portfolio where she took her time in all the people that she really was inspired or influenced by she actually wrote a bibliography About them so not only did we get an opportunity to study about all these amazing black voices and influences My daughter actually had an opportunity to work more on bibliography writing We actually edited and went through all of her writing assignments and she has all of her final drafts in here So I'm gonna show a few of them to you guys here goes the one she made on Charles are all are drew and She did an awesome job you guys on these she double-spaced them and she wrote it very neatly We she wrote a bibliography on Katherine Johnson and again. She double-spaced it and she wrote it so neatly She also wrote a bibliography on Betsy Coleman Here goes the second page and the last bibliography She wrote about was Misty Copeland and she really enjoyed us studying about Mitzy Copeland Mitzy Copeland was a person that we study in our arts category and you guys she really enjoyed it because As we were studying each of these black voices and influences in American history I took out the time to find a YouTube video We were listening to different people's music and we were watching Mitzy Copeland dance And she really enjoyed that aspect of learning So yes, we enjoyed all the books all the resources all the things if you guys want to check out Everything that I did use I will go ahead and link in the icards are my black history month video That I made where I showed all the resources that we did use for this month of February So again, like I said you guys that definitely was our highlight for this month now as far as reading goes you guys We actually are read a lot for the month of February was gone crazy in Alabama I originally wanted to read role of thunder here my cry However, I really want to do a novel study with that one So I went ahead and pulled off my shelf gone crazy in Alabama To continue our series as we've read one crazy summer last year So we didn't make it as far in this book as I wanted to however I'm not upset or surprised just because we were reading so many other picture books in our Encyclopedia's and things like that. So I don't mind that we kind of skimped off on the read aloud this this month So we didn't even make it like quarter of the way through this book So this book right here will just continue in the month of March now as far as independent readers you guys you always Ask me like what is Brielle reading? What is she enjoying and I'm playing on making a separate video showing you guys Brielle's bookshelves all the books that I have on there the books that she's read what she's enjoyed the series and everything like that But as far as now, I'm gonna share with you guys the series that she is reading and completing right now, which was Love like sky. She completed this book earlier in the month And of course I had to go out and buy her the second book in a series, which was forever this summer You guys these books are actually personal narratives about a little girl named Peaches It talks about her struggles as she has a new blended family dynamic It also shows her overcoming us illness and I really enjoy Brielle reading about these personal narratives Just because it's really not just giving her all the frills the fairy tales the happy endings But she's seen all these different family dynamics different Dynamics as far as dealing with sickness in the family and she's able to really read about these social Issues in a age-appropriate way and I love her to read about these personal narratives these struggles and seeing how these Characters overcome and at the end of the day you guys I know she thoroughly has enjoyed the series She told me she's give them four stars because this one right here forever like summer every single night again You guys mommy can I stay up 30 more minutes mommy? Can I read one more chapter and she does it over and over again? But I can't stop her from reading so I just always let her read some more Brielle does her independent reading at night Just because I find that that's the easier time to add in more reading We read throughout the day in our home school. So I kind of like separating it So that is consider her independent reading time, but right now you guys it's really just something she Ultimately does for fun now as far as curriculum highlights you guys It definitely has been Saxon math for a Braille you guys like I wish I would have tried Saxon math sooner It just has clicked with her She is thriving in math and I don't think I've seen her thrive this well in math since we started our home schooling journey She didn't very well with a Becca arithmetic three last year. However, this fourth grade year kind of was like Hitting miss trying to find that curriculum that was going to work for her But once we have started Saxon, I feel like this one is definitely a keeper I don't know if I'm still in my honeymoon phase I might still be but I really can say it's been almost two months And I haven't had any tears and math and that definitely is a big thumbs up and a big good sign in my home school because There definitely has been tears shed when it comes to math math. It's just not my daughter's favorite subject She struggles a little bit when it comes to understanding and starting off the concepts. However Once she got it. I mean that girl she has it so I'm just really happy for Saxon. Nicole the math lady has been a great you guys is definitely has been a great tool for me It's given my daughter the independence that she's searching for when it comes to taking ownership over her home school And it's also allowing me that flexibility and that freedom to be able to work more one-on-one with my toddlers So yes Saxon math Nicole the math lady. I'm in love I cannot wait you guys to do our Month review on Saxon that video will probably be the next one you guys see so I cannot wait to share with you guys in Details just everything about Saxon the pros the cons just everything Now as far as my toddlers now that we're talking about them I'm gonna go ahead you guys and share with you our curriculum highlights for them Which has been playing preschool you guys I thoroughly love playing preschool This just really has been the perfect preschool curriculum that I have added into our home school. I love it It's easy. It's open and go I mean it's ready for me the only thing I have to do is go to the library and pick out the literature books for our unit and We are good to go and also to get the supplies and then we're good to go I recently made a video about playing preschool with Christie from these little sprouts Christie She showed a playing preschool year two and I highlighted playing preschool year one and we just did it We did a do a lesson with me So if you guys want to see like more details about how playing preschool works the inside How the curriculum actually flows you can go ahead and check out those videos and I'll link those down below as well But we finished our colors unit and it was so much fun All of this art right here that you guys see behind me is actually all of my preschoolers art that they did this month And I really enjoyed it. I know the colors unit should have only took in us two weeks However, I'm still kind of getting my footing when it comes to the scheduling and the timing to do play in preschool We do play in preschool between two to three times out the week three times really being my happy medium spot When it comes to preschool and I think I kind of just need to take it. I mean it is what it is I'm still balancing trying to incorporate another Homeschooling student in my home school. So I think you know slow and steady it always wins the race So I definitely want to continue out of our year using playing preschool. We are going to be doing our nursery rhyme unit So I'm really excited to start that one Now something else that my preschooler has been enjoying laia. She's been enjoying these huge Melissa and Doug activity pads I went ahead and I bought the set of three this one just highlights colors and shapes and because we were doing our colors unit This was a really good addition to our homeschool and you guys these little worksheets. They are so stinking cute She's able to put the sticker at the bottom and she's able to Identify each of the items and count and my daughter. She loved doing these every day Just going over the different colors as we went over the colors in the unit and I'm really happy that I got all of these These activity pads and I think she's definitely going to enjoy continuing doing all of the sheets and everything like that But I really like doing those ones with her I also use those as an opportunity to work on her number skills her number sense Counting the different objects identifying the different objects on that page So that was a really quick way for me to add in some like worksheet work for her Laia she is going to be four on the 28th of this month. So as we are going into I'll kiss you guys. I will officially have a preschool or pre-care So this is gonna be her last year before Kenny Garten. So I really want to Show her and carve out that extra time for her. I definitely has been a balancing act But I think I'm doing okay so far But I do want to get more consistent when it comes to Leia and showing her She is a part of our homeschool and slowly add in little activities like a worksheet based activities along with playing preschool Now you guys let's go ahead and get on into the matters of the heart Which we have had several this month without disclosing too many details and Potentially embarrassing my daughter I'm just gonna go ahead and show you guys Some of the characters that I had to pull out from our September and co-cards And I think that this these the characters that I explain will kind of speak for itself So we used a lot of the characters matters this month from the characters matters in the home set You guys I love these character matters cards. They're so amazing and this was really a good resource for me to pull out So the first character that we went over thoroughly this month has been respect I Love the way these cards are laid out because it just tells you the definition of respect So it says respect is showing honor for other people and it asks it has like a little Section where you do like Affirmation where you say how can I be more respectful and then you have your kids memorize it So they'll say I can have good manners I can do for others what I want them to do for me and it also has a memory verse that I am Having my daughter memorize so respect has been a big character. We've been going over in our household this month we also have been going over thoroughly teach ability and The September and co defines teach ability as learning from others without thinking I know better And it says the opposite of teach ability is stubborn and it again Has affirmations how can I be more teachable? I can remember I do not know everything I can be a good listener I can remember that others have valuable wisdom And I cannot be proud and it closes off and it closes off each character with again another memory verse So these were the two character matters in the home that we have been going over this month Two other character matters. We've been going over which is the purple deck that's in the Bible I don't have it right now because it's downstairs in our morning basket We have been going over kindness and we also have been going over compassion this month So with that all being said, that's a lot. So Definitely we have had to take away technology and privileges Punishments have happened this month because of these character traits and things we've been going over consistently in our home school and of course when you are having problems when it comes to Parenting of course it always trickles into the home school And it just it was just some days you guys that I just had to close the books for the day and just you know Walk away and kindly go over we will go over our character and I will explain You know what was going on and just let it go at the end of the day you guys I want to do my best to preserve my relationship with my daughter as she is getting older and she's getting into this preteen age I want to I want to Hold that relationship very dear I want to be very fragile with it because at the end of the day it doesn't matter what she learns in our home school I want to have a good relationship with my daughter with all of my daughters And that is my primary focus So we may not have gotten as much done as I wanted to academically this month However, I really feel like we have hit home and on some Matters of the heart you guys I'm so grateful for my husband He has definitely stepped in and he has definitely shown his support when it comes to Just these parenting moments and although he is working throughout the day Supporting us and support and you know our family He definitely has taken the time to help me when it has come to these matters of the heart I really hope that these matters they are solidified and they stick and you know We will have a better month moving forward. However It is what it is you guys and if you guys are going through like some parenting struggles matters of the heart You're not the only one. I really don't have all the advice to give to how to deal with it I just pray and ask God to help me and I just take these things one matter at a time again My relationship with my daughter is far more important than her getting her day's lesson done And hopefully by me remembering that and my heart We will continue to I guess build this relationship that we have with one another and Continue to work together in our homeschooling journey Now with that being said I am going to start allowing my daughter to have far more independence when it comes to Accountability and her schoolwork as we are ending off our semester you guys I am going to just pretty much give my daughter. Do I have one down here? I don't think I do but I made my daughter a list of Everything that she needs to complete for the entire week and I'm going to give her full ownership of her week and just Allow her to be able to practice that independence as we get into Her next year homeschooling a lot of her work you guys is going to be independent I cannot wait to share with you guys my curriculum fix for her for her I should say her next homeschooling year I think I'm going to make that video next week So you guys will probably see it in the next couple of weeks You will see our curriculum picks, but you will notice that most of her curriculum She will be using is going to be independent and I'm going to give her that opportunity to take ownership as she gets older and Not so much to be all down our throat because I won't like I said before I want to preserve our relationship and if given her more independence and allowing her that space and that freedom To do her work at will is going to preserve our relationship Then that those are going to be the steps that I'm going to take so as we end off the year Hopefully I can get my daughter Especially when it comes to like her math her English spelling the things that I know she can do on her own I will allow her to be able to do all those things on her own And she can just come to me when she needs me to great and go over those assignments. So Yeah, so you guys I really hope you enjoyed my update I know it wasn't like the the happy updates that I always bring but you guys this is life And I try my best to be open and honest about our moms And I love sharing these updates with you guys because I really hope that it can show you guys that even though you see all these beautiful Instagram drills and these beautiful day-in-the-life videos You are still only seeing the highlights and I want to use my platform as a way to show you guys that yes We do have highlights here in our homeschool, but we do have struggles as well So you guys in a comment down below let me know how your homeschooling has gone. Have you hit the February slump? Are you going full force as you are ending off your school year? Just let me know you guys Thank you so much for watching today's video and as always I look forward to seeing everybody in my next one. Bye