The plan for January

I am so excited about the beginning of the new year! Although we are actually in the middle of our current school year it feels like a new beginning for me. We just had our fourth little one in November. The first few months of this school year were very low key. We not only had a baby but also moved cross country.
This month we are doing a unit study about the civil war. It is one I am really excited about because I enjoy history and that is also a period in history I like to learn more about.
We have two boys that are what you would consider school age. With our five year old I take more the philosophy better late than early. I do not use any curriculum with him for spelling, math, or anything else of the sort. He is included in our unit studies and we practice learning the letters and there sounds and numbers and counting. Just in general giving him plenty of time to be little so that when we do start to add in more schooling he is really ready for it.
Our eight year old we consider a second grader. Honestly I don't care too much for the whole grade thing. He may read at a "first grade" level, be doing "third grade" math and "fourth grade" science work! But since everyone always asks and for reporting reasons we consider him second grade.
Apart from our unit studies we use All about spelling and daily grammar lessons. for math we are using saxon math grade 2. Of course scripture study is a big part of our learning as well.
This year we are not doing any outside lessons like swimming or taekwondo or an instrument. With a new baby, daddy deployed and TWO cross country moves in 10 months we know we need to have a more basic year.
At some points this first 5 months of our homeschool year I have felt guilty about that.I think as homeschoolers especially we can feel the pressure to do MORE. My sister, who is a fellow homeschooler and I had a very interesting conversation the other day that made me feel much better. The conclusion I came to by the end of this conversation was that if the only things I could teach my kids were the "basics". Reading, writing, math and gospel(I consider gospel an absolute essential). Then that would be enough. Because if they know how to do those things then they will be able to teach them selves ANYTHING else they could need or want to know.