 Something that has kind of been like a little wonky this month for us has actually been math you guys. Oh my gosh How you guys my name is Brittany and welcome back to my youtube channel you guys in today's video I will be giving you my November homeschooling update So if any of you guys are new here to my channel, I'm Brittany I'm a homeschooling mom to three girls ages 10 4 and 2 and I'm in my third year of homeschool so you guys I just really want to talk all about November and Just the ups and downs that I have had in our homeschool I can definitely say that November has been the most difficult month for me personally throughout this year and We're just gonna go ahead and chat about it So you guys I do have some notes in here on my phone because I do not want to miss out on any of these highlights I really want to make sure that I remember everything and I do touch on Just all this stuff. I want to talk about So first and foremost, I will be going ahead and giving you guys a mini life update Because I feel like this life update really impacted like our homeschool for the month of November So you guys I had to have actually a dental procedure I had to have an extraction done and we had a lot of doctor's appointments Really centered around me because I was just having a lot of dental issues this month being an adult Not taking care of myself properly But anyway, now that that's all sorted out. I really can say having those dental procedures It really slowed us down in the month of November Even in my YouTubeing plans that I had to show you guys more of inside of our homeschool all of those plans that I had really went on the back burner this month and I really had to Be okay with that. Um, I Really learned this month that I really was doing too much Me being incapable of doing all the things that I wanted to do after having my dental procedures It really showed me that I was doing too much in my home school And I really was able to recenter this month and focus on what I really wanted in my home school I was really able to simplify While my planner was not as jammed pack and we didn't get done too or we didn't do all the things that I wanted to do Academic wise. I really feel like I was able to bond more with my girls I really feel like I was putting other things in the forefront like us doing more art this month Us reading more I was really putting those things in the forefront of our homeschool this month because I was unable to do all the other things and that it really Re-centered me and it refocused me in what I really want in my homeschool and I really hope that I can take this trend Moving forward. I know we are going into our like holiday schedule And we are preparing to end off our first semester, which I'm so proud of us I'm so proud of me and my girls you guys I really cannot believe how fast this semester did go by if you do want to know like my December homeschooling plans and what I do have for us to do in a month of December I did already make a video of my December homeschooling plans and I will link it for you guys Down below in my description box and I'll put it in the i-cards if you do want to see our December homeschooling plans But I'm really taking a step back in December and I'm really recenter Recentering myself and I'm really going to Re-reflect on what I want for my homeschool and hopefully I can pass on this simplification Of our homeschool in the month of January So yeah, so that is like my life update my You know woo-ha moment of the month. So you guys what else I have here on my phone. Um, What is it? Okay, so you guys I guess I will go ahead and talk about Our book highlights and kind of start off from there So I'm gonna share with you some of the books that Brielle is reading and has finished Brielle finished this book right here called like magic and she really really enjoyed this book right here You guys Brielle has been reading so many books I really need to get her and sit her down so she can kind of do a book review for you guys really soon because she Is been like eating up a lot of her like fun Independent reading books and so far she has said all of them has been really really great So she finished like magic the book she is reading right now is actually called the sweetest sound and it says For ten-year-old Candice Jolly birthdays are a constant reminder of all that has changed since her mother left town With dreams of becoming a singing star Candice inherit that musical soul. She can't deny it But otherwise she couldn't be more different. She's shy as can be She did make a promise to herself last year that she would try to break out of her shell just a little But when a secret recording of her singing leaks and catches the attention of the whole church She decided she needs to decide what's better Deceiving everyone by pretending it belongs to someone else or finally stepping into the spotlight It says in a story filled with whimsy and hope music and joy Sherry Winston inspires readers to embrace their voice within so This book right here so far you guys after every chapter Brielle is coming to me and telling me all the things She is enjoying about it. I really feel like she is relating with Candice in this book because if you guys don't know Brielle is pretty shy She's an introvert. I'm really trying to just get her out there and help her open up her shell Especially as we are going to like more homeschooling events and she's able to like meet more homeschoolers and really I'm trying to help her as far as her introvertedness, but As she is reading more books like this and it's characters that she can relate to that is working on working outside Outside of their shell. I believe it's really helping Brielle as well I don't have a problem with her being an introvert I think that's probably where like her creativity comes in as far as like her loving to write in journal and things like that Those are definitely like more introverted like her touristics, and I think that's why she enjoys doing those things But she is getting better as far as like getting out there and socializing especially as we have been prioritizing socialization in our homeschool I'm sidetracking guys, but as far as Brielle's assigned Independent reader. She is doing she is working on a history independent assigned reader Which is Pedro's journal and she or Pedro's journal. Yes, and she said so far She doesn't mind this book. It's pretty good. I'm really happy She has read this book, especially since we are still on the beginning Parts of our history curriculum of River of Voices and we have been talking about the journey of the Mayflower And it's really connecting the history that we're learning with this historical fiction And I'm really enjoying giving her an assigned reader and then also allowing her to have a fun reader as well And it's really beefing up our Reading goals in our homeschool after she finishes Pedro's journal, which she's pretty close to finishing She's going to be reading Pocahontas and the stranger. This is going to be her next independent assigned reader So you guys some of our book highlights that we have really enjoyed this month Especially in our history curriculum has been the children of the Longhouse you guys this was such a great story We listened to it on audible and we really really enjoyed this This was one of our longer read-alounds in a River of Voices and we really really enjoyed this one this month Children of the Longhouse another book highlight from a River of Voices that Brielle really enjoyed was a Squanto's journey You guys I actually already posted a do a lesson of a River of Voices on my channel And I showed us doing a lesson where we read Squanto's journey And we got up to like some fun projects and things like that So if you haven't checked out us doing a lesson of River of Voices by Blossom and Root And you want to know more about that history curriculum. You can definitely check out that video now as far as curriculum highlights I'm not going to talk about every single piece of curriculum you guys just because At the end of December I will be making my mid-year curriculum update where I will be going over all of the curriculum We have used for the first semester I will talk about the pros and the cons and I also will be letting you guys know some of the curriculum that will not be coming With us in January. Yes, I am going to be dumping a few pieces of curriculum really to simplify our homeschool But I will be making that video for you guys and I cannot wait to do my mid-year update I love making those videos But in today's video you guys I'm just gonna highlight some of the curriculum We have finished some of the curriculum that we have been struggling with And just those in between so I'm gonna actually start off you guys with my two-year-old because she is definitely enjoying being a part of our Homeschool she really tags along with my four-year-old Leia when she is doing her schoolwork She's just like inadvertently listening and learning and I kind of like her being around especially when I am doing Leia's lessons But by herself she has been really enjoying this my first learning folder and I seen this folder from Dina from Pursuing Peace She used this toddler folder with her kiddos and I printed this off from Etsy and I made this little flip book where it has All these different like interactive velcro pages like this one right here You guys is Alana's name and she can kind of take it off And I asked her how to spell her name how old she is and I have a picture of her right here And it has like all of these different interactive pages She loves this page where it talks about the baby and how the baby is feeling so we're going over like emotions and here goes her shapes and Colors and this book you guys it just goes on and on with all of like the velcro Pages and she really really enjoys when I sit down with her and I work with her on this learning folder Sometimes my oldest daughter Brielle works with Alana too so she doesn't feel left out So this is definitely been a highlight for my two-year-old now as far as leg goes you guys my four-year-old You're gonna be so happy about her She actually finished this a little bit earlier than expected But we have finished preschool math at home by Kate Snow you guys I Absolutely loved this curriculum like when I tell you love my daughter's math skills from finishing this book It's ridiculous. She is able to subitize where she can look at numbers one through five and instead of counting them She automatically knows. Oh, that's one. That's two. That's five. That's six and She has learned so so so much from this book Like I'm definitely doing this book with my two-year-old when she is ready It was really simple activities for me to incorporate and just her math skills from the beginning of the book So when we finished it it just has blown my mind and how easy it was to incorporate like in our actual flow our daily life Um, it wasn't any works or this book right here is not worksheet based So she wasn't sitting down doing worksheets. She was really using her hands to learn math And I think that's a really really important especially as the kiddos are so young Not to do so many worksheets but to allow them to learn different skills by using their hands So we really thoroughly enjoyed preschool math at home and when I make my mid-year curriculum review I think I'm going to separate the video. So I will have one for Leia's Curriculum that we've used and then I also will separate it for Brio. So um, we finished this So now you guys we actually started this week kindergarten math with confidence by Kate Snow and you guys I am so in love again with this curriculum It really follows a similar flow to the preschool math at home The only difference is is now we have book selections that we can read different math books at the end of the week We do still utilize a lot of hands on learning and I really really love that The meat of this curriculum is really in the teacher's guide not necessarily the student workbook But so far she has been enjoying both of them We are only two lessons in on week one, but it's been going so well and I'm so happy I went ahead and I started this I was going to like wait until January You guys to start her off with kindergarten math of confidence, but she was ready and I'm so happy I went ahead and did it because she's really really enjoying that So that is like Leia and Alana's highlights my two in my four-year-old as far as their curriculum now Let's go ahead and get into Brielle. So Brielle you guys she has finished Fixed grammar town mouse and country mouse and I'm so so so proud of her for finishing off another fix it grammar book We really really love fix a grammar easy short sweet grammar lessons, and they're effective and It's been going great as far as IEW her writing curriculum Structure and style we are actually finishing up week 12. So we are actually at the halfway point of IEW So in December, we're not gonna be doing IEW. We will pick up back or we will pick back up IEW in January So I'm really happy Brielle is gonna get like this little break Away from IEW and we can kind of like really be more laid-back IEW you guys the writing curriculum. It's great, but it's pretty structured I mean she is writing a paper every single week and she really has to come in here and narrow it down And she really has to work hard when she's writing these papers. She's doing great writing It's her strong point. I am noticing with it being such a structured form of writing She is learning more skills Brielle is used to doing creative and free writes and things like this So it's really taken her outside of her comfort zone in her writing, which I'm really really happy about But it's so great here in her papers You guys I read her first paper from IEW structure and style and to like her paper her 11th paper Because we're still in week 12 right now The difference is like mind-blowing as far as like her work. So I'm really really happy about IEW I did film a week of IEW if you guys want to see like an inside look of how we actually complete a full week of IEW But that program. It's great. I love it now something that has It's surprising but not necessarily something that has kind of been like a little wonky this month for us has actually been math you guys. Oh my gosh like I Absolutely, I love Saxon you guys like I will say it and I will shout it To the mountain tops like how much I love Saxon math One of our main problems that we were or we was having this month You guys was the amount of time that it was taking Brielle on math you guys one day I'm not gonna kid you Brielle was working on Saxon for two hours and I Think it's really just at this level of math where they're doing all these multi-step problems That's taking longer. She is like one level ahead or one level next to the level where she will be using a calculator Because this is the level before pre algebra in Saxon So I know that this level is probably gonna be pretty intense other than that you guys She is doing great as far as you know understanding the concepts and the problems and things like that She doesn't have any problems as far as the new material. She's learning It's just I'm finding that math is just taking so long One thing that I did add that has been kind of helping us when it has come to math Is that I have now told my daughter to put a timer on so we put a timer on when she starts math For an hour and 15 minutes and whether she has completed the lesson or not She's finished with math that day and I really think by putting that timer on for Brielle It's really motivating her and it's showing her that whether she completes a lesson or not She still is you know going to have an end point when it comes to math So, yeah, that has really been helping out as far as math goes We are not going as fast as I would like us to go in this book But she's still doing really really well and I am just going to continue to do it like that. I mean I Rather her understand the concepts and we take our time Then for me to try to rush her to do a lesson a day if it's not possible if we can't get it done in our time slot Then it's just gonna roll over to the next day and I think that that's really helping us simplify our home school So you guys as far as Nicole the math lady We are still utilizing the video lessons some of the lessons Brielle actually is not watching Nicole the math lady She is just reading them on her own because she's used to the format of Saxon and she's doing really really well Sometimes she picks up the lessons or watches the Nicole the math lady lessons if she feels like she needs it But so far she's really using this program how it's designed by her reading it and learning the material independently I did add on Nicole the math ladies grading because I was finding like it was taken so much on Or pressure on me to make sure that I was grading every single one of her assignments And now that we've added the Nicole the math ladies online grading It really has taken a lot of pressure off of me It's allowing me to be able to focus on my younger to a lot more and it's really given Brielle a sense of independence With Saxon before when we were grading and checking her work I was going over it right away But because she's using the Nicole the math ladies online grading if she sees she got a problem wrong She then will work on it herself So it's really creating more independence for her and it's allowing her to work through those problems Now if she does need help she will come to me But for the most part of Brielle is really checking her own work and figuring out where she missed those problems So here is like a little course summary of the Nicole the math ladies grading system And it's so cool because now I I will have something at the end of our Year to print off her records. It's even keeping score of like all of her Lesson practice her mental math her mix practice and her tests, which is really really cool So I really have been enjoying the Nicole the math ladies online grading you guys don't worry I will do a lesson of Saxon math showing you guys a Brielle using Saxon Nicole the math lady and how we are still making this curriculum work out for us in our home school So you guys that is my November update That is everything that has happened for us in the month of November Things didn't go as planned But you know in this month it really has taught me what life and home school looks when they're combined together and It was crazy, but I'm so happy for the Experiences that I had this month because it really taught me the things that I need to shift within my home school So you guys let me know how your home school has gone in a month of November. Is it good? Is it bad? Are you ready for your? The holidays are you ready to be done with the books for the year? Let me know in the comment section down below. Thank you guys so much for watching I look forward to seeing everybody in my next one. Bye