El Shaddai Academy

Homepage

About Us

Welcome to our homepage!

We are a homeschooling family of five living

in the Southern California area just north of L.A.

My name is Shelley, and I'm the

mother of 3 children.

Eric is my oldest, he is 17,

and he is in his junior year.

Monica (check out her webpage) is my only girl. She is 14,

and she's in the 8th grade.

Justin (he has a webpage too ) is my youngest. He is 8, and

he's in the 3nd grade.

*(Highlighted words through out this site are links to corresponding sites!)*

About Our Homeschool

In California, we have the choice of filing an R-4 affadivit every year and becoming our own private school. That is one of the four choices offered, and the route we decided to take. The name of our homeschool is El Shaddai Academy.

El Shaddai is one of the names of God in Hebrew.

It means "All Sufficient One".

Our first priority in our homeschool is character

training and teaching our children to walk in the

ways of the Lord.

And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.

Deuteronomy 6:6-7

Our Curriculum

I use a variety of curriculum. I try to tailor the

curriculum to each child's needs.

I prefer "living" books over text books for History, so I

prefer to use Sonlight, Beautiful Feet Books, Greenleaf Press

and Five in a Row (FIAR). In the past we used Sonlight with only Monica

and FIAR with Justin. We

broke World History (SL6) into two years, so we could enjoy it fully without

being rushed!

Either make the tree good, and his fruit good; or else make the tree corrupt, and his fruit corrupt: for the tree is known by his fruit.

Matthew 12:33

Eric

For 9th grade Eric used a combination of Alpha Omega Lifepacs for History and he also sat in on our read-alouds for Sonlight and pretty much kept up on what we were studying as well as his own assignments in AO. I want more than just pouring facts in his head and being able to answer quiz and test answers. I want him to love learning, not just regurgitating up the facts when quizzed.

For Science he used the Alpha Omega CD Switched on Schoolhouse , This is nice in the fact that it is interactive and has a lot of action and pictures, but it still is reading the facts and answering questions. I will say that it is very convenient for the teacher because it grades and assigns the work for you with very little input from the teacher, except when they need help on a question or printing off the lesson so they can read it off of the computer screen. So I would recommend it for a very busy mom that doesn't have much time to teach certain subjects, such as Science.

Powerglide tapes for Spanish (even though my husband speaks fluent Spanish) :-) other people have raved about this program, but I did not see the progress from my son what I had hoped to see. This is for the motivated student. We will use a different program in the future.

Sonlight for Language Arts and Saxon for Algebra 1.

He used Mavis Beacon for typing on the computer and the

Spell-it Deluxe CD for Spelling review.

He learned to play the guitar also.

Monica

In seventh grade, Monica used Sonlight for History and Language Arts. Monica learned to love reading using the books from Sonlight. We only buy the teacher's manuals from SL and get the books from the library. We have bought several of the books to keep in our personal library because we enjoyed them so much. She was studying World History, so we learned a lot about Ancient Greece and Egypt.

Abeka for Science, and Saxon for Math. Saxon is a good program, but it is not for every child. Monica is a hands-on learner and needs more time on a new concept when it is introduced. We are looking into a different Math program for her in the future.

Mavis Beacon CD for typing.

Spell-it Deluxe CD for Spelling. I had listened to a Neuro-developer (I think that is what she was called!) speak and she recommended this program for children of all ages that have problems with Spelling. I have seen great improvements in Monica's spelling since we started using this CD. It is fun and interactive and reviews the spelling words in several games and puzzles. It can be used for all levels from beginning to adults. I highly recommend this!

She is learning to play the piano this year.

Monica is learning to cook, planning meals and we hope to add on sewing skills. She is also involved in the local Star Spangled Twirlers and performs baton routines at parades and special events. She has started competing and is doing quite well. We call her Twirly Girl! :-) Go check out her webpage - just click on her highlighted name at the beginning of this webpage and it will take you there.

Justin

In second grade, Justin learned to read using

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons.

He used Sonlight for his Language Arts and

Five in a Row (FIAR) for Social Studies and Science.

He used Math-U-See for Math along with worksheets from Worksheet Factory.

Health , Safety and Manners is from Abeka.

He has a webpage too, click on his name at the top of the page and go visit him.

My Favorite Books About Homeschool

Since Eric is in High School now, these books have been quite helpful to me since they are full of information for structuring your high school student's learning experience and for making sure we're not missing anything important!

The High School Handbook by Mary Schofield

/Christian Home Educators' Curriculum Manual for Jr/Sr High by Cathy Duffy

Senior High: A Home-Designed Form+U+la by Barbara Edtl Shelton

These books are for all ages of children, for the beginning homeschooler as well as the experienced.

The Big Book of Home Learning Vol.1 by Mary Pride

The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dr. Raymond & Dorothy Moore

A Survivors Guide to Home Schooling by Luanne Shackelford & Susan White

For the Children's Sake by Susan Schaeffer Macaulay

The How & Why of Home Schooling by Ray E. Ballmann

Language Wars and You Can Teach Your Child Successfully by Ruth Beechick