CHATTY QUARTER 1 HOMESCHOOL UPDATE||HARD DAYS|HISTORY CHANGES|BOOK CLUBS +MORE

[@MadisonHopperCleaning]

Oh no! I was hoping you would share about Shormann math! Haha. Are you guys liking it so far? 💗

[@laurenreichow5427]

Me too!

[@GraceandGrit]

I didn’t share about it because it’s our second year we’ve used it. It’s not new to us. We changed to it at the beginning of last school year and so I’ve done many updates on it all last year, as well as in my curriculum picks videos at the beginning of the year. If we’re using it again than that is also telling what we think about it. ❤️ if you want to hear why I switched I even have an entire update called math chat last year under the my curriculum playlist. Hope that helps!

[@MadisonHopperCleaning]

@@GraceandGrit My mistake! I will check those videos out. Thanks so much for your response! 💗

[@trisha4given]

My 7th grader started Shoman Math this year bc of Ashley 's recommendation. We just more, we were using TT. This seems to suit our son perfectly 🥰

[@brittanyedwards3293]

I’d love a video comparing/contrasting pros and cons of all the history curriculum you’ve used over the years 😉

[@justgiveustherecipe7422]

Last fall, my brother was close to dying in the hospital. He received a miracle and pulled through, but I was drained. 2 months later, my dad passed away. 23 days later, my mom died in a car accident. We didn't do hardly any traditional school in those months. I felt so guilty, but looking back, I needed that grace. My kids aren't behind. They still learned through play. They still read books. God watched over us during that time and He still is.❤️

[@alwaysaperdue1]

🙏😥

[@VoodooCrab]

❤

[@steffa648]

Love how your son Loves history and is a history buff. I absolutely hated history as a high schooler because I didn’t understand it. Now as a homeschooling mom I find history sooo interesting and am loving that I get to learn right alongside my children!

[@aimtok]

Thank you for the history curriculum recommendations! Wonderful! Thanks Ashlee! ❤️🙂

[@jessicaolin4261]

Glad you have found a good fit with Notgrass. We love them! My daughter did Exploring World Geography last year and is doing Exploring Economics+Government this year for her senior year. My oldest son did From Adam to Us last year. This year we combined my 4th, 6th, and 9th grader for Uncle Sam and You. Yes, it's a level "below" for the 9th grader but it's been a wonderful fit and fun to have all 3 of them together for history. The younger 2 do the workbook and the older one does the lesson review. This company is such a blessing and I'm so glad we found them.

[@moniqueharris5609]

Great to hear your quarter updates! Glad to hear that you are finding your rhythm for this year! Thank God He continues to show His Grace and Love for us! He is good all the time! Thank you for being obedient to His voice/leading with your videos! Such a blessing!!

[@IamGodsgirl139]

Not holding historical figures to today’s standards - very well said!! 👏🏻👏🏻. I love your perspective and understood exactly what you were trying to say. 👍🏻❤️

[@Backtocool]

Thank you so much for forging a path for us moms with kids a couple years behind yours! I have gleaned SO much valuable information from you about curriculum and just everything homeschooling and this makes it so much easier for me to just pick what curriculum we will use next. Thank you for your hard work and figuring it all out so that those who are coming up behind you have it that much easier. So glad things are lightening up for you and I pray the rest of your year goes well❤

[@gracegreenwell2657]

I did Maturation with my oldest last year and I think this year will be the year to do it with my youngest daughter now who is 10. A book club sounds so fun! We love Notgrass & Masterbooks. I would love the History Notgrass review/flip thru video.

[@pupreader7057]

How fun! you came to Carlsbad CA, not far from us. I hope you and family enjoyed your stay.

[@KylaJo2]

I absolutely love the "Fun Friday"! What a great day to look forward to each week, especially during these three months.

[@Joypontious]

We just did that maturation study. It was so good.

[@mrs.jaywojo5426]

I have to work part time outside the home. One of those days is Tuesdays... It was weighing on me that my 8th grader was doing all her course work and I wasn't there as a resource. So... like your fun Fridays, I am doing a lighter Tuesday for her and filling in with other things, like: Bible, hymn, poem, art, night zookeeper, and piano practice.

[@erind3286]

Praise God health issues are clear! Praying for all the changes!

[@rusticheritagecrochet]

I'd love to hear why you chose to go with Notgrass over something like BJU....considering both for next year, and would love to hear your thoughts on that. Love these videos! ❤

[@hollylantrip4902]

Finally getting to watch this Week! Loved your update. I need to do do this with my homeschool. 2nd year homeschooler here. We are using Notgrass for our 4th grader and we love it! I also have a 3 and 4 year old and almost 1 year old. It gets crazy here. Any advice homeschooling with littles is appreciated!

[@VoodooCrab]

Really good comments on the history books.

[@amandamendoza4181]

We do “fun Fridays” and I don’t know how I would make it through the week without it! My kids are college level, 7th grade, 4th grade and 18months. I’m so sorry for your rough start, life can be so hard. Luckily with homeschool we can adjust as needed. We love Notgrass history as well. Prayers for your family and all of your health!

[@rusticheritagecrochet]

Since Notgrass offers 5-8th grade levels as well, and you enjoy Notgrass for your high schoolers, would you consider it for your younger kids too? Love these updates, and very happy that things are settling down now for your family....blessings!! ♥️

[@WonderfulCrow43638]

Hi! Just catching up on my videos lol - love love love all your content.

[@sjones9944]

I loved hearing about ask the cheers and how everything is within our! I too just seemed to a 4 day week with a lighter Friday with my larger age spread as well.

[@Acbb342]

Would love a more in-depeth video on Notgrass! I've had my eye on it for high school

[@WonderfulCrow43638]

I relate to the hectic start to the year- we also lost a pet, my son broke an ankle, I lost my job (which is a huge blessing), and we all got the Rona and were down sick for a couple weeks. So it’s been a little rough

[@melissamoffat742]

So glad I watched this. I got your undertones for the younger history. Glad we are doing TGTB constitution course this year. Thankful also for your history comments for high school as my daughter hates her current history so maybe we will just bite the bullet and buy not grass for her.

[@gingersnaps5979]

I feel the hectic start to the school year. Our 10 year old was diagnosed with a few different things and we’ve had to work around 3 therapies for him in our schedule and it is a lot. The mom guilt can get me, but I try and remember his therapies are needed and homeschooling allows us flexibility to work around them. I feel that persevere attitude. I’m just trying to get through.

[@cocoalampkins8838]

I adore Notgrass we just discovered them this year. We are doing America the Beautiful Book 1 this year with the 10 book Literature Unit. They are amazing. I am enjoying everything about the curriculum. Great video as usual.

[@jillhurford4522]

I have used many different curricula over the years and Notgrass is a favorite! I am using the HS government this year and really like it so far. Notgrass is a great family company worth checking out. And, yes, their curriculum is very affordable. They have produced beautiful textbooks with just the right information and great pictures.

[@WonderfulCrow43638]

The not grass books are so gorgeous. We use that for 2nd, 2nd, and 4th and each kid has their own text books so they can follow along and look at the pictures. It’s so great.

[@WonderfulCrow43638]

We’re wrapping up our 50 states and then doing our star spangled banner

[@faith20ten]

Thank you so much for sharing. We are using MB for history for the first time and my kids are not enjoying it. It seemed so lovely and that it would fit the bill. I’m enjoying their other courses in Apologetics though. It’s good to hear that I’m not overthinking it. My girls love history so I don’t want to squash that.

[@BustlingHome]

It's nice to hear someone say that homeschool moms should have high (but realistic) standards for themselves and their kids. The more lackadaisical attitude I often encounter don't feel right for my family. I had a really good week before everything fell apart. I've had to devote time and energy to new livestock acquisitions and infrastructure that must be done before winter. I hope to settle all of that into a routine soon so I can go back to focusing on schooling.

[@tramseyplanter2]

Thank you for All that you said. BF bks always comes highly recommended and I love getting many bks from them to supplement. Some of their book choices have puzzled me tho, so again...thx.

[@Raising_Arrowsx5]

Love these updates! We are in our 9th week this week and although the first quarter wsnt as productive as I had hoped because of medical issues i have been dealing with, I am content with what we got done. Im praying the next 9 weeks are more productive even though my surgery to solve said medical issues is in three weeks and will be a long recovery. Im hopefull that we can stay on track.

[@GraceandGrit]

Praying for you Lena!!!!!! Praying for health to be restored!

[@largefamilymama2725]

I might have missed where you explained the crafts you're doing (kids...🥴) and books you're using for said crafts. I would love to know more about that. Thanks!

[@LM-ku5ko]

We love Notgrass for history! It's all we have ever used for middle and high school history! 📚

[@JuliaCantley]

We plan to start from adam to us in a couple weeks. It looks like A LOT but i'm excited to use it.

[@tmsk717]

I totally am picking up what your putting down on the beautiful feet. its (in part) why I decided not to go with it when I too was looking for a history curriculum. we went with notgrass for my kiddos and absolutely love it. we are doing our star spangled story -even though my oldest is technically out of the recommended age - they're really enjoying it!

[@knrock5163]

We love Notgrass!!

[@laurenreichow5427]

We just finished the maturation unit with my oldest, it was wonderful. I was just wondering about Notgrass. We are doing year 3 of tgatb. I love it! I’m sorry you had a rough start, good for you pressing on. God is so faithful and uses all things for our good and his glory!

[@lauragauthier7303]

Loved this update; and thank you!! Loved hearing about the history especially.

[@sarahkassa7749]

Girl I feel you completely! Our year started the same way as well. We are just finishing up week 7 and I’m hoping life will go back to “normal” and slow down some. LEO wife also. Thank you for making these videos.

[@steffa648]

Ok so now I’m really interested in what the undertone was? An undertone of the way the native Americans were treated wrongly? The explorers didn’t treat them well in taking their land? That sort of thing?

[@HomeLifeWithLove]

We love learning history through literature! We are using Sonlight, which is surely easier with one child. That being said, I’m already going rogue and leaving out books that don’t seem enjoyable or a good fit and adding ones (like Rush Revere) that are not part of their selection. That makes the instructor guides useless though.

[@IamGodsgirl139]

The Rush Revere books are some of the best and most memorable books we’ve ever read. My girls retained great historical lessons from them. 👍🏻👍🏻

[@erind3286]

Thanks for sharing!!

[@bethsteward8933]

I'm thinking about switching to TGTB next year for science. I'd love a video on their science courses - pros and cons, which ones you'd recommend for what ages, topics your kids enjoyed the most, etc. 🙂

[@adventuresineducation2207]

Oh I hear you! We had the roughest start we’ve ever had to a homeschool year. I had such high expectations because of a huge change we made, but my health decided otherwise. Oh well! Just last week I finally felt like we were getting into a rhythm, so hoping things will just continue to improve now. Enjoy the time with your family as we head into the Thanksgiving season. 😃💗

[@GraceandGrit]

You too sweet friend!

[@ChristinaSmithHomeLife]

Aw, I just posted our update, too. ❤️ We had been using TGTB for ELA, but my son wanted a change up this year. We also enjoyed it for science, but went with something else this year.

[@melissashelton7482]

Very helpful video thanks!!!

[@FlutterFlies22]

We LOVE Notgrass! We’ve used Our 50 States and Our Star Spangled Banner…I also love that it is a Christian based curriculum ❤️

[@tarynswart3575]

Hey Ashley, could you please share where your kids did the first aid training you mentioned in the video? Thats such a great idea.

[@GraceandGrit]

Through a cpr company. They have classes!

[@lisagerleman9854]

good luck

[@taylormw13]

Yay for a history win! If you know, you know😅 yes!!

[@humbledaughter2219]

Sometimes today’s standard of what’s acceptable was the case for generations past as well. The issue is these textbooks should be reporting history without a biased lean. The parent can do that if they want to, it is out of place for a factual textbook to insert any ideological commentary. Current political climate is infiltrating everything.

[@GraceandGrit]

I agree , but that’s not the issue here, I’m not denying that factually it occurred. But I do believe curriculums show there bias when there’s soooo much emphasis on “xyz”. Sometimes even factual events don’t need 29 lessons. Hope that makes sense

[@chrystalmatney2189]

When you do TGATB courses, like the safety, maturation, etc. when do you include this? In the morning basket?

[@GraceandGrit]

Yep!

[@laurenreichow5427]

One more question. What are your thoughts on scheduling “gym” daily in your HS. My kids do ballet and gymnastics 2d a week. I am just wondering about being more purposeful with it and if love yo hear your thoughts and the ladies on your channel here. I exercise daily to set the example. It’s just an area I’ve been thinking about. Thanks for your thoughts!

[@jennajadeg7010]

So excited for an update! Ty for sharing. I do have a question - are you using the spine book with bfbooks? I tend to read it aloud for now but man, the visuals could be a bit much lol

[@GraceandGrit]

I use it when they say to

[@jennajadeg7010]

@@GraceandGrit perfect! Ty

[@erind3286]

We were not fans of the My Spangled Story. Just boring for us! We did enjoy the literature pack that came with it!

[@ceciliacalvin207]

Lesson learned- write down the titles of the books for the book club. 😉😄

[@IamGodsgirl139]

😆👍🏻❤️

[@Mahomesfan615]

All you have to say is undertone…we get it. I may not use this bc I’m sick of having to explain why history is what it is and we love America no matter what. So….we love the book series “Rush Revere” for the young children. Just reading them aloud as the history curriculum because they are very well written with the leftist innuendos.

[@megankoger119]

Thanks for the update! Especially about history. I will definitely keep Notgrass in mind when we approach high school in a few years. I am curious how you compare Sonlight D with BF Early American History, if they do compare. Which one you prefer so far? I am considering both of those for next year when we study that time frame. :)

[@GraceandGrit]

Will report back!

[@tracyat3wisemenhomeschool29]

Will you consider Notgrass middle school curriculum for next year? LEO family here and yes, when their schedule changes it changes for the whole family😉GREAT update

[@GraceandGrit]

Possibly since I’ll have two in middle together next year

[@diaryofahomeschoolmama9191]

Maybe middle school notgrass would work better for yall next year instead of beautiful feet. I've looked into beautiful feet so many times and just meh. But we did use Notgrass middle school a few years ago and its really well done like the high school courses.

[@GraceandGrit]

Thanks for this!

[@whitney5581]

Hey Ashlee, I know you use many resources from the Good and the beautiful, like we do. My question is, how is Olivia finding the Math program? We used math 2 and 6 for the first time this year and math 2 is working well for my younger son, but math 6 typically takes at least 1.5 hours for my older son to finish a lesson. Does Olivia find it takes a long time to complete, and do you find it more advanced than other math programs you have used? Thanks!

[@aimeejohannes6713]

Curious about this as well. I’ve used math levels 1-4 and loved them all but I keep hearing that 5 and 6 take so much longer.

[@GraceandGrit]

I haven’t noticed a substantial change in the time it takes her unless she’s struggling. 45 min is average.

[@whitney5581]

@@GraceandGrit thanks for the reply, my son also gets easily overwhelmed by busy pages and I've noticed this program is very colorful and full, however very beautiful. Might just trigger him the wrong way.

[@whitney5581]

@@aimeejohannes6713 I have also seen this concern from a few others. I don't think we will be able to use it past grade 3 unfortunately. I really want to love it, but even as the teacher, I find the older levels overwhelming.

[@heatheraz4680]

I have heard others saying it takes 1.5hours as well. It takes my daughter about an hour to complete a lesson.

[@christinasetzer2880]

When you say you will be using notgrass for now on. Do you just mean for highschool? Or you like it over the good and the beautiful and you won't be using the new good and beautiful history when it's released? I'm still so torn on notgrass or the new good and beautiful when it releases 😆😆

[@GraceandGrit]

For high school

[@andreadriver6532]

How much does skill-share cost after the free month?

[@PiningOverHome]

Beautiful feet explanation was spot on 😁