Homeschool Musings

Word Problems & Luci

2012-01-20T10:34:00.000-06:00

Word problems are a basic part of any good math program. They help students apply math concepts to real life situations. However, I think perhaps my daughter might take them a little too seriously. The following conversation took place this morning.

Math Problem:

Bert has 8 horses on his farm. His father sold 3 horses. Bert has how many horses left on his farm?

Luci: What? Why would his father sell his horses? That's not nice.
Me: It's just a math problem, Luci.
Luci: But it's not right for Bert's father to sell three of his horses.
Me: Just figure out the answer, Luci.
Luci: Ok, but it's still not fair. Now he only has 5 horses.

That's my tender-hearted, the-world-must-be-fair, compassionate, seven year old daughter. I love her!

It's Been a While...

2012-01-12T08:03:00.002-06:00

It's been a while since I've posted on my blog. So long that I've probably lost some of my followers, but that's OK. I started this blog several years ago just to write about our journey, to share our experiences with family, friends, and other homeschoolers. Somewhere along the way it became a chore and wasn't fun anymore. But, here I am, hoping to jump back in where I left off, but first, a confession...

Confession: This has absolutely been one of our most difficult years of homeschooling so far. Harder even than the first year, when I had no clue what I was doing with my first born 4 year old. Harder than when I went from homeschooling one to homeschooling two. And harder still than adding a third.

We've added in a number of 'outside' classes that have us schooling "on the go" as much as we are at home! We spend more than three hours each week just driving, not to mention the amount of time we spend sitting and waiting at lessons/classes. It's really changed the way we do things and honestly it has taken me the entire first semester to adjust to schooling this way. It has negatively impacted the amount of time I have to work with the younger two and as a result we've gotten behind and some things have slipped through the cracks, particularly with Luci since she is more dependent on me than the boys.

Things here aren't all discouraging and depressing, though. Here's just a small glimpse of what's going on with each of the kids:

Photo by Greg Campbell Photography

Gavin (8th grade) is doing very well, especially considering all the changes this year. He's taking two outside classes this year: Spanish I and Algebra I. He is making A's and B's in those classes and I'm very proud of him. He continues to take piano lessons, but is also playing guitar as part of a band with a few other teens in our church. They call themselves The Praise Project and they are doing a wonderful job! He amazes me with his musical talent, especially since I have none!

Photo by Greg Campbell Photography

Ben (5th grade) is also doing well, despite having to make huge adjustments to our homeschool days. He thrives on consistency, but our days are anything but consistent this year. He's had to learn how to read in the park, do math lessons in the van, and take advantage of every spare minute. He has taken on a volunteer position at our church working with the preschool & kindergarten children's church program. I never would have imagined how well he would do or how beneficial it would be for him. He takes great pride in being a helper and the teachers are constantly praising him for his help and patience with the children.

Photo by Greg Campbell Photography

Luci (2nd grade) would love it if school were all about reading, writing stories, drawing pictures, and doing arts & crafts. She's probably been impacted the most by all of our changes this year. Some of her school subjects slipped through the cracks and she's had a difficult time in others. Math has been a difficult area for her this year and I haven't given it the attention it needs. I'm trying to focus more on her this semester and get her back on track. One thing that's helping is changing her math program. She's been using Singapore Math this year. It's mastery approach works well for kids who are naturally good at math, but Luci needs a math with more repetition--something that keeps recycling topics over a long period of time. We've changed to Horizon's and are picking up with the second half of Grade 1 so she can get some more practice in areas where she is weak.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #12

2011-09-02T09:14:00.000-05:00

In my life this week... What a week! Two new classes added to our schedule, sick kids (mostly over the weekend), a 7th birthday, a very full week of school, and planning & packing for our cruise that's coming up soon. I'm very thankful for Fridays! Luci, who was sick on her birthday last weekend, is celebrating her birthday this weekend. She's having her "BFF" spend the night and we are going to make and decorate cupcakes (Thank you Aunt Rebecca & Uncle Rich for the cupcake decorating kit!), and then Saturday morning we are having a girl's morning out. A little shopping, a nice lunch, etc... The girls are looking forward to it and so is this mom :)

In our homeschool this week... I looked at my planner this week only to realize, rather suddenly, that we are finishing our fifth week of school! This month has flown by. It was a productive week. We added two new classes to our schedule this week as Luci started theater class (Tuesdays) and art class (Thursdays). She loved them and can't wait to go back!

Gavin is doing well in his algebra class. He said he is probably the youngest in the class (he is 8th grade, the rest of the class is 9th grade), but that's not slowing him down at all. He has his first test next week, and I am excited to see how he does! Spanish I class starts next week as well. That's the last of our outside classes to start. (I am beginning to feel like a chauffeur!)

Ben and I finished reading Moccasin Trail this week. He has thoroughly enjoyed this book! Up next is The Great Turkey Walk. He and Luci have been studying Pinnipeds this week. Don't know what that is? It's the order that includes seals, sea lions, and walruses.

On Tuesday I journaled throughout the day and took photos as we worked so that I could share "A Day In the Life of a Homeschool Family". If you haven't already, take a look at our busy day!

Places we're going and people we're seeing... We went to the park Tuesday and Thursday this week while Gavin was in algebra class. Ben and Luci enjoyed the chance to get some fresh air, run around and play for a while. I'm glad the weather is starting to cool off a bit, it will make these mornings more enjoyable.

My favorite thing this week was... As I mentioned, Luci started her theather class this week. When I picked her up she told me she'd had a wonderful time and had learned to faint, a skill which she then demonstrated when we got home. She puts the back of her hand up to her forehead, lets out a sigh, and then collapses to the floor. My little drama queen is going to have so much fun in this class!

Things I'm working on... I really wish I could say I was working on something. Anything. But the truth is these last five weeks have been so busy that there has been little time for anything. I guess I could tell you I've been working on my packing list for our upcoming cruise :)

I'm reading... A sweet friend of mine at our church just finished reading Heaven is Real, the book about the little boy who had a glimpse of heaven when he came near death after his appendix burst. I've been wanting to read this as well, so I was excited when she passed it on to me this week.

I'm praying for... Eleven year old Cynthia White. Cynthia is the daughter of a homeschool mom in our local support group. She was recently diagnosed with Epithilioid Sarcoma, a rare sarcoma. Join me in praying for Cynthia and her family as they learn about treatment options and make these critical decisions for their daughter.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

A Day In the Life of a Homeschool Family

2011-08-30T17:11:00.003-05:00

It has been quite a while since I did a "Day In the Life Of..." post here on my blog. Today seemed like as good a day as any. This is a glimpse into a typical day in our homeschool. Not every day looks exactly like this. Some are a bit more laid back. Some have less coming and going and more staying and working.

7:00 ~ For the past 20 minutes I've been looking at the clock every couple of minutes. I can't sleep past 7 this morning. Places to go...people to see. For a few minutes I check email on my iPhone, nothing pressing.

7:15 ~ Get the coffee brewing. One of these days I just might get in the habit of setting the coffee pot before bed. But until then, it's the first thing I do when my feet hit the floor. When the coffee's going I'm off to shower.

7:30 ~ Start waking the kids. Ben's already up. He's been sick for a couple of days and slept a lot yesterday. While the kids are waking up I get to have a little computer time while I drink my coffee. I read a Proverbs 31 Devotional. I wish I had made more time with the Lord today. But I ask Him to guide my steps today and help me to be the mother and teacher my children need me to be.

7:45 ~ Talk to Brian on the phone. We have to decide whether I should take Ben with me, or drop him off at the church (Brian is there for Tuesday prayer with the pastors). He's feeling a lot better today, but coughing still. I decide to take him with me. He can sit and read at the park. The sunshine will do him good. If there are no other kids there playing then he can run around and play if he feels like it.

8:00 ~ A flurry of hair brushing, teeth brushing, book gathering, and dressing.

8:30 ~ We are all ready to go with 15 minutes to spare. Breathe.

8:40 ~ Remember that no one took their medications. Scramble to get meds in those who need it before we load up and go.

8:45 ~ Out the door. Gavin's algebra class is at 9:15 and lasts an hour and 15 minutes, so I drop him off and head to the park with Ben and Luci.

At the Park...

When we got to the park I set up my books for a little planning. My planner is filled in for the first semester, but I fill the boys' weekly planners in by the week.

That way if they miss a day or get off track I don't have to go in and make changes. Today, I planned to use my time at the park to fill in Ben's planner for the week.

When I opened my planner I found a sweet note from my daughter. She sure knows how to brighten a person's day! The kid's played a bit and did some reading and then we went for a walk. This park has certain trees labeled throughout so we stopped and noticed the different trees.

At 10:15 we headed back to pick Gavin up from his Algebra class. On the way home I had to stop by Kroger to pick up a few things. We have a gathering tonight for which we need to bring a "Mexican" themed dish, so I picked up stuff to make an enchilada casserole. Ole!

Back at home...

11:30 ~ As we drive down our street we noticed a dog in a neighbor's yard, an unfamiliar dog who's sides were so sunk in that we could count every rib. The kids ran inside to get him some food & water but by the time they came back outside he was gone. Even with a bicycle trip around the block he didn't turn up. They are keeping an eye out for him though and if we see him again we will offer food and then make a phone call to the animal shelter.

11:45 ~ Gavin fixed lunch for himself, Ben and Luci today. Turkey pastrami, sliced cheese, and ketchup sandwiches. (Ewwww) Glad I didn't have to eat that!

12:15 ~ Shortly after noon, once the dishes were cleared off the table, we got down to the business of school work. Luci has two pages in Explode the Code to work on. Gavin's writing two paragraphs about the humility and simplicity of St. Francis. And Ben is reading.

12:30 ~ Luci practices her cursive "P" on the chalkboard. Ben is still reading Freedom Train and Gavin is working on his grammar and then his science. Twice I catch Gavin having slid over to the computer, checking Facebook or looking through his iTunes library. After the second time he's told he'll be grounded if he gets back on the computer again before school is finished. I take a few minutes to work on this "Day In the Life" blog entry. If I don't keep up with it throughout the day, it'll never get written. I also take a few minutes for some email correspondence and website maintenance for our homeschool group.

12:50 ~ I read Moccasin Trail to Ben. He is really enjoying this read aloud! He works on a puzzle to keep his hands busy while I read.

1:15 ~ Gavin's been working steadily since lunch, and has finished his day's assignments already. He has a lighter load on Tuesdays & Thursdays because of his outside classes. He has algebra on Tuesday and Thursday. Beginning next week he will also be taking a Spanish Class on Tuesdays and piano on Thursdays that will fill his afternoons.

1:20 ~ I get Ben started on his math test. Gavin is reading with Luci. He is responsible for reading her history books with her each day. Some days he does this with willingness and enthusiasm, other days he does it grudgingly. Today he does it grudgingly~iTunes is beckoning him. He asks for an explanation of why HE has to read her history. It is for a number of reasons: (1) He has a somewhat weak background in World History. While he has a genuine passion for and knowledge of American History, he has always cared little for World History. By reading Luci's World History texts, he is gaining a bit of knowledge at the same time. (2) I think it's good experience for him to be responsible for helping to impart a little knowledge to his sister. (3) I think that it's good for their brother/sister relationship to spend this time together.

1:40 ~ I go over a lesson in multiplication with Luci and then get her started on a page in her workbook. By the time I finish Ben has brought me his math test to grade. He's missed two problems out of twenty and I give him his test back to see if he can correct his mistakes for half credit. I think it's his own handwriting defeating him. He corrects both wrong answers and gets a final grade of 95%.

2:00 ~ Ben wants to disappear for a few minutes, but I reel him back in for a spelling & grammar lesson while Luci is working on rewriting a sentence and moving the attribution to the end of the sentence. We are getting pressed for time. Luci's theater class is at 3 o'clock. Gavin is practicing on guitar. He's recently joined up with a band with a few other youth in our church. He's been spending lots of time practicing.

2:30 ~ Luci is practically dancing at the door in anticipation of her theater class that starts today. I still don't know where the classroom is once we get on campus. My email and my phone call to inquire about this have both gone unanswered today. I guess we'll figure it out when we get there!

2:45 ~ With the single exception of Ben & Luci's science everyone is officially finished with school work. The boys have chores to work on while I take Luci to her theater class.

While Luci's at her theater class I take advantage of the short break and dash into Spunky Monkie, a local consignment. I looked around for 20 minutes or so, but didn't find anything that made my heart go pitt-a-pat.

4:00 ~ I picked up Luci from theater class. She thoroughly enjoyed herself! The teacher said it is a great group of kids and she didn't have to work hard to "draw" any of them out of their shell, they are all natural performers. Luci proudly told me that she learned to faint today! And when we got home she demonstrated that new talent for us. I can tell already, this theater class is going to be entertaining.

4:15 ~ It's time to cook for our gathering tonight. Mexican is the theme so I am making an enchilada casserole. The boys have earned their video game time. All the chores are finished and I'm calling the school day complete.

Oh, and if your wondering, we never did see the dog again. I hope he found someone to feed him.

Up To My Eyeballs

2011-08-17T10:18:00.001-05:00

I really had plans to begin blogging daily once school got started again. Really. I promise!

The last few weeks have been, for lack of a better word, jam packed! Often, over the last three weeks, I've felt like I'm being pulled in a million different directions and truthfully, while it's not 'a million', I do have a lot going on at this particular time. I feel like a juggler some days-- balancing church, school, family, friends, keeping up with email, managing the membership & website for our local homeschool group, planning for a family cruise/vacation, and struggling to find a minute or two for myself.

Don't mistake this for complaining. I am blessed to have so many opportunities in my life to serve and be a part of great things happening in our home, church, and homeschool group. But this time of year it seems they all peak at the same time and thus, the feeling of being stretched in all directions.

We are now in our third week of school for the 2011-2012 school year and so far things are going pretty smoothly. I attribute a lot of that to our new scheduling tools.

I am using The Well Planned Day's yearly planner to keep track of assignments for all three kids. I absolutely love everything about this planner! Here's a glimpse of where we are right now (click photo for an enlarged view):

You can see that each subject has it's own space for each day of the week, and each space has four lines for scheduling up to four children. Checkboxes make it easy to see what's been finished each day. I'm left wondering now how I survived my first 9 years without this planner! Aside from the perfect planning pages, there are also pages for tests, attendance records, and weekly tear-out shopping lists.

If you think you'd love this planner as much as I do, please see my affiliate link on the right side of my blog! I'd appreciate it :)

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #11

2011-08-05T08:44:00.001-05:00

In my life this week... We started back to school this week. Like every year before this one, it was a chaotic, sometimes tearful, sometimes hysterical, first week. By the end of the week we could see past the rough waves and see smooth sailing ahead.

In our homeschool this week... So far we are loving all of our new curriculum. Gavin especially likes the quick, straight-to-the-point, daily lessons in Easy Grammar Ultimate. But his favorite thing is the fact that he's studying physical science this year. His lessons started off with an experiment the first day. He was in his element! Ben had the most difficult time of all settling back into a school routine. Ironically, he's the one who benefits most from the routine. By the end of the week there were fewer tears, groans, and wails. He jumped right into math, declaring this math is EASY! Gotta love review material. Luci loves school, right up until math time. But even then, she doesn't do too bad. She worked on a paragraph this week and couldn't have been more excited about the whole process! She constantly amazes me. All three of my children are different, have different learning styles, different strong points, different weaknesses, etc... But Luci somehow manages to be polar opposites of both her brothers at the same time. She is SO incredibly different!

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share... I purchased the boys a personal school planner for this year. They are a huge hit! I think keeping the boys on track with these will prove to be a much easier task. We purchased the NIV Middle school and NIV Elementary Planner from Rainbow Resource.

What's working/not working for us... We have new chore charts in place (see a picture here) and they are working out great. It helps to have clearly defined responsibilities for the kids. In the past we've always used Accountable Kids, and I am still a huge fan of their system; however, I no longer have the wall space in our school room to devote to the boards. Our printable charts are working out great!

I'm reading... I've been spending a lot of time reading about the gluten-free diet and Celiac disease. We suspect this is what has been plaguing our son for quite some time. If so, it is going to cause a lot of changes in our house. We expect test results to be in within the next couple of days, but the wait is awful!

I'm cooking... This week's dinner menu:

grilled chicken salads
BBQ pork loin (slow cooker) on buns, baked beans, green beans
spaghetti with ground turkey, steamed broccoli
Mexican chicken in the slow cooker, tortillas
Pineapple glazed drumsticks, brown rice, green beans
baked pork chops, squash & lima beans

I'm praying for... This week, I'm praying for clear, concise results from Gavin's biopsies. Let there be no doubt, no need for further testing.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

This is a look at our homeschool area before we started school. It's my goal to make it look exactly like this at the end of each week!

Writing a Paragraph With Luci

2011-08-04T16:57:00.000-05:00

1. Choose a topic ~ That was the easiest part. Is there any doubt that Luci would choose an animal? And what animal does she know best? The family dog, Suzy.

2. Create a "keyword outline" ~ While Luci is using Sonlight LA 2, I am drawing from what I've learned from IEW's Teaching Writing with Structure and Style, in helping her to organize her thoughts so that she can create a cohesive paragraph. Each line in the keyword outline is a different subject related to her topic. For example, line one keywords relate to her appearance and line two keywords relate to the way she smells, and so on...

3. Use words in "keyword outline" to make sentences ~ Each set of keywords is a starting point for making a sentence.

4. If desired (and believe, me she desired it greatly), type your paragraph ~ She started typing her paragraph and one hour later accidentally lost all but the first three words. She gave in at that point and let me type it.

5. Print & illustrate ~ This is the fun part!

The Homeschool Cafeteria

2011-08-03T07:00:00.000-05:00

At the beginning of this year I started a new blog entitled The Homeschool Cafeteria. The purpose behind this blog was to increase accountability in feeding my family healthy meals, especially during the middle of what can be very hectic school days. I also hoped to offer tips and ideas for other homeschoolers who find it a daunting task to keep the noon-time meal from turning into a series of boring sandwiches and highly processed convenience foods.

The Homeschool Cafeteria Blog didn't pick up very much attention and I found it hard to post daily about the subject. However, I don't want to give up entirely on the topic, and so I am going to try something a little different. Beginning next week, each Wednesday, Homeschool Musings will feature The Homeschool Cafeteria. It will be a weekly post intended to share my weekly lunch menu along with recipes, where appropriate.

Here's where I need YOUR help:

I would love to make this a weekly meme, a link-up, where you can also share a post about what your feeding your homeschoolers for lunch. I think together, we can all be an incredible resource to each other as we try to provide healthy meals.

I'd love to hear your feedback on this topic. Please leave me your comments!

Day 2

2011-08-02T14:20:00.000-05:00

Aside from a temperamental little girl who wouldn't practice counting backwards, not because she couldn't or because it was too hard, but because she simply did not want to, today was a much better day.

After a good breakfast of egg & sausage wraps with fruit and milk, the kids worked on completing their morning routine.

And then moved on to their school work.

Gavin is enjoying the fact that he has a pretty light load until Algebra & Spanish classes start later this month and next month.

Ben almost always manages to find the most awkward positions to do school (and he's particularly fond of asking to do school in his pj's).

Luci and Ben learned about how currents work by gently blowing from opposite sides of a dish to cause cheerios to float in a circular pattern. Pretty cool!

Luci loves to be creative and spends a lot of time adding color to her notebook pages.

Yes, today was definitely a better day than yesterday! The second day always is :)

And It Begins...

2011-08-01T15:45:00.000-05:00

Today we had our first day of school for the 2011-2012 school year. We've been on break since the end of June, a total of about five weeks. For some that doesn't seem like nearly long enough, but for us, it seems like it was too long. Knowing it would be rough, I planned our first couple of weeks a little on the lighter side, but it still proved to be a pretty full day for my crew.

It was so busy, in fact, that even though I prepared for today with fresh batteries in my camera, the only picture I managed to take was one at our back-to-school breakfast this morning.

Better luck tomorrow! Glad today's finished...it just gets better from here on out!

Luci ~ 2nd Grade

2011-07-29T11:14:00.000-05:00

Luci will be starting 2nd grade next week. As hard as it is to believe that my oldest is beginning 8th grade, it's even harder to accept that my last 'baby' is already this big. Luci loves doing her school work. There isn't much that gives her a reason to whine. She made significant strides in reading this past year and now she's reading pretty much anything I hand her. She can't yet handle longer chapter books, but does great with readers up through about a level 3 reader. She loves to write short stories, poems, or narrate her drawings. However, she usually needs a lot of help with her spelling. Although it's not her favorite subject, she doesn't mind math work, especially since we switched over to Singapore Math for the last part of her first grade year.

Here is a look at Luci's 2nd grade curriculum plans:

Math: Luci grew weary of math worksheets last year and started to groan at the mere mention of math. We were using a popular Christian curriculum for math at the time. I had a couple of Singapore Math books on hand, leftover from the boys, so I decided to give that a try with her. She worked quickly through level 1A in just a few weeks and then moved on to level 1B. We'll pick up where we left off in 1B and then continue with the next level. She likes that they are straightforward, allowing her to master one topic before moving on.

Science: Luci and her brother are moving into the second Zoology book in the Young Explorer's Series this year, Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. We had so much fun completing Zoology 1 last year, that it was an easy decision to move into the second book this year. Luci has the accompanying Zoology 2 Notebook that she will be working in as we work our way through the text. Luci loves the projects, the hands on learning through making mini-books, and the experiments.

Language Arts: Luci will be using a variety of curriculum pieces to round out her language arts program. She will be using Sonlight's Language Arts for Grade 2 Readers along with the Level 2 reader package from Sonlight. I have a feeling that with as much progress as she's made in reading lately, that she will breeze through these level 2 readers at a much faster pace than planned. If so, that's fine because I already have the next level readers as well. She can go just as fast as she wants. For spelling this year Luci will be using All About Spelling, beginning with Level 1 and moving through at whatever pace she sets. It looks like All About Spelling will also be a terrific program for building phonics skills. Luci will also be working through books 4, 5, and 6 of the Explode the Code series, and A Reason for Handwriting.

Bible & History: Luci's Bible and history this year will come from Sonlight's Core B (Formerly Core 1), Intro to World History part 1.

Electives: Luci is going to be taking a Theater Class this year along with other elementary age students. She loves being in the spotlight, and is a bit of a ham already, so this class will be perfect for her and I know she is going to have fun with it.

Ben ~ 5th Grade

2011-07-28T09:04:00.000-05:00

Ben is 10 years old now and will be in 5th grade this year. If you know Ben very well, then you know he is an absolute sweet heart who thrives with attention and routines. He will do anything you ask him to do, as long as he knows ahead of time and isn't surprised by it. It's his need for this structure that helps keeps me on my own routine. Ben doesn't like a lot of frills or extras in his school days. He does not generally like hands-on crafts or spelling games and such. Just tell him what you expect and he will move steadily forward one subject at a time. He is greatly motivated by the promise of one-on-one time and board or card games with the family (very competitive!).

Here is a detailed look at Ben's 5th grade year:

Math: Ben will be using Saxon Math again this year, Saxon 6/5 with Dive CD. Ben does well with Saxon math. He enjoys watching the lesson on the DIVE CD and he is usually able to move right into his work without any help. Ben is assigned to do all of the lesson practice problems (usually 3-6 problems in that section) and every third problem in the mixed practice section. If I notice any problem areas I go back and assign more problems, but this is usually not an issue with Ben. Math is his strongest subject.

Science: Ben and his sister are moving into the second Zoology book in the Young Explorer's Series this year, Zoology 2: Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day. We had so much fun completing Zoology 1 last year, that it was an easy decision to move into the second book this year. Ben has the accompanying Zoology 2 Notebook that he will be working in as we work our way through the text. Even though Ben is not a fan of crafts and hands-on activities, he does enjoy the "try this" and experiment activities in this science program.

Language Arts: This year one of my primary goals with Ben in the area of language arts is to develop good writing skills. He is going to be working through the Institute for Excellence in Writing's All Things Fun and Fascinating: Writing Lessons in Structure and Style. I've been preparing for this (and Gavin's IEW course) by watching the Teaching Writing With Structure and Style seminar by Andrew Pudewa. For grammar Ben will be working through Easy Grammar, grade 5. Easy Grammar is a new program for us this year, but I think Ben will enjoy the straightforward - no frills - approach to grammar. He will once again be using Wordly Wise (book 4) for vocabulary, Spelling Power for spelling, and A Reason for Handwriting.

Bible/History/Literature: Ben is going to be completing Sonlight's Core E (formerly Core 4): Intro to American History part 2. We are doing this along with Core 100 so I am modifying the core slightly to make a combined American History program for both boys. For Ben, this simply means that instead of hearing readings from Landmark History and The Story of the USA, he is listening to readings from the Core 100 spine, Joy Hakim's books: A History of US. The Bible and reader portions of the core are planned as written in the Sonlight schedule.

Electives: Ben will continue karate training this year. Despite major changes in the dojo (his Sensei moved and as a result the karate school closed), he has continued training under another Sensei and is working towards earning his brown belt, and then his black belt. Ben will also be working on improving his keyboarding skills (using Typing Instructor).

Gavin ~ 8th Grade

2011-07-27T08:54:00.000-05:00

It's hard to believe that this kid is 13 years old, starting 8th grade, and beginning to earn high school credits! Where on earth did the time go? When we started our homeschool journey he was just three years old and I was so filled with doubt as to whether I could pull this 'homeschool' thing off. Here we are, 10 years later, embarking on new territory and I once again wonder if I can pull it off!

Gavin's always had an interest in building things, understanding how things work, and why they work they way they do. He wants to become a mechanical engineer, possibly for the US Military designing weapons and vehicles. He also loves studying history, especially American history. It is with these things in mind that I have designed Gavin's 8th grade curriculum.

Here is a detailed look at Gavin's 8th grade curriculum:

Math: Gavin overcame a significant gap after losing ground with Teaching Textbooks in 5th and 6th grade. We spent the summer last year using Alek's math to cover what amounted to nearly a year's gap. This year he completed Saxon 8/7 with Pre-Algebra. While initially his average was lower than I liked, we made a few changes and brought his final quarter average up by a significant amount. He is ready for algebra now, but I feel woefully inadequate to teach this subject to him knowing that he needs such a strong math background for his future plans. Because of this, Gavin is going to be taking an algebra course from a local math teacher who offers high school math classes to homeschoolers. I am so grateful that this opportunity was available to us. Gavin will be attending this algebra class on Tuesday and Thursday mornings each week and is using the Prentice Hall Algebra I text.

Science: This year Gavin will be studying Physical Science using the Apologia text: Exploring Creation with Physical Science. We are using Sonlight's schedule for this text. Gavin is expected to keep a detailed science notebook containing all of his experiment write-ups, vocabulary, and study questions.

Language Arts: Gavin completed Institute for Excellence in Writing: Student Writing Intensive B this past year. I have to say, that was probably one of the best decisions we've made in our homeschool years. Gavin made incredible progress in his writing skills this year and I was very impressed. He loved the teaching style of Andrew Pudewa and the writing techniques proved to be just what Gavin needed to get those words out of his head and on to paper. We will continue with IEW this year, using Character Based Writing Lessons. This program will expand on what Gavin learned last year. The only difference is this year I'll be doing the teaching instead of the having him watch DVD's. For grammar, Gavin will be completing Easy Grammar Ultimate, grade 8. We will once again use Wordly Wise for vocabulary.

Bible/History/Literature: Last year we began a study of American history by combining Sonlight's Core 3 (now called core D) with Sonlight's Core 100. This allowed me to teach American history to both of the boys simultaneously. It worked amazingly well and this year we are continuing with that plan, completing the 2nd half of Core 100 along with Sonlight's Core 4 (now called Core E). This provides Gavin with Bible study, history, and a great selection of literature. Gavin is expected to keep a history notebook with answers to study questions from his history and literature readings.

Electives: Gavin will continue studying piano this year under the direction of Susan Walker. This will be his second year of piano. He also continues to develop his talent on the guitar even though he is no longer taking formal lessons. For high school credit, Gavin will also be taking a Spanish I class. He will be taking a class, along with other homeschoolers, under the direction of a Spanish speaking homeschool mom. I'm excited that he has this opportunity to study a foreign language from someone who has the experience that she does!

Our Homeschool Room

2011-07-26T14:49:00.002-05:00

Our homeschool space changes from year to year to suit our needs. Some years we have used student desks, some years we've spread out into the family room, but always, we've centered our homeschool around the family dining table. A few years ago my dad helped us to build and install a wall of desks and cabinets in our dining room to help contain the endless amount of books and supplies we have. As our inventory has increased we've had to expand beyond our cabinets. Here's a look at our homeschool room as it looks for the 2011-2012 school year.

Our wall system was built using a combination of cabinets purchased from a home improvement store and custom built desk/bookshelf combinations. My dad is a cabinet maker and he put it all together seamlessly so that it all looks like one fluid unit.

We use the right side for our desktop, which is used by the kids and my husband. The shelves hold two of the Sonlight Cores we are currently using.

The left side of the cabinet is my space.

Behind cabinet doors and in our drawers you'll find miscellaneous supplies, games we use in our school, homeschool catalogs and our science supply kits.

The corner of the room is home to the wall maps, charts, dry erase board and printer stand.

While the opposite corner of the room is our chalkboard, file boxes for completed work, bookshelf where we keep our 'workboxes', and other books and supplies we use on a daily basis.

And just outside of the room is our rolling cart full of assorted types of paper, our good art supplies (water colors, pastels, oil pastels, sketch pencils, etc...), card games, and coloring books.

I hope you enjoyed the tour of our homeschool space!

Miss Me?

2011-07-26T13:37:00.000-05:00

Obviously, for me, taking a break from school means taking a break from my blog, too. I think after being on the TOS Crew last year I kind of needed a break from blogging. But, summer's coming to a close and as we prepare to start our new school year, I'm preparing to start a new year of homeschool blogging. I have some new goals for my blog as well, which you'll see over the next few weeks.

I am more than ready for school to start back. For a mom who thrives on routines and plans, summer is hard! I don't do summer break very well! We officially start school next week, August 1st.

In the meantime, I'd like to share a few photos from our summer. It really wasn't much of a summer to speak of; lots of planning & working on my part, lots of reading & video gaming for the kids. Not the ideal summer for most, however the kids needed the down time and we do have a vacation planned for September (booking off-season saves major dollars!).

We had a couple of art days...

A few park days...

A lemonade stand day...

Lots of library days...

A few family cook-out days...

Some stinkin' hot days (please note, that right after this photo was taken the temperature climbed to 103!)...

And a Neshoba County Fair Day...

Good-bye summer...Hello 2011-2012 school year :)

Curriculum for Sale

2011-06-28T09:36:00.000-05:00

I've never actually used my blog as a place to sell used homeschool curriculum, but I have a lot of things to sell and had to miss out on our local used book sale this year.

Prices include shipping. Discounts for multiple items. Email me at homeschoolmusings@gmail.com for more information.

ABEKA

Grade 7

Abeka (Gr. 7) Grammar & Composition I Teacher Quiz & Test Key ~$4

Abeka (Gr. 7) Grammar & Composition 1 Teacher Key $8

Grade 4

Abeka (Gr. 4) Language A Teacher Quiz & Test Key ~ $4

Abeka Language Arts 4 Curriculum/Lesson Plans (older, 2000, edition) $4

Grade 1

Abeka Phonics & Reading 1 Curriculum/Lesson Plans~ $24

Abeka Grade 1 Readers ~$50

Handbook for Reading

Fun With Pets

Tiptoes

Stepping Stones

Secrets and Surprises

The Bridge Book

Kind and Brave

Aesop's Fables

Strong and True

ARTISTIC PURSUITS K-3 Book 1 ~$20

MISCELLANEOUS

Positive Action for Christ 4th Grade Teacher's Manual: Building Life Castles ~ $20

Spelling Workout D Teacher's Edition ~ $3

Language and Thinking ~ $5

Sequential Spelling level 1 ~ $4

Ready Set Count ~ $4

Shapes, Sizes, and More Surprises (activity book) ~ $4

Finding Out About Everyday Things ~ $4

Wow, I'm Reading! ~ $4

Children's Everyday Bible ~ $8

The First Step Bible ~ $3

My First Picture Dictionary ~ $2

A Treasury of Children's Literature ~ $8

Keys To Good Language 6 Teacher's Edition ~ $5

Keys to Good Language 5 Teacher's Edition ~ $5

Summer's Here

2011-06-06T10:47:00.000-05:00

It's been a busy week in our household over the past week. Our church held its VBS last week and the entire family was involved in some form or fashion. Did you know VBS was a lot like work? If you've worked in a VBS or directed a VBS then you know! Our VBS was held outdoors during a week of record breaking high temperatures, so we cam home each day sweaty & exhausted ...but blessed beyond measure. It was so wonderful to see all of those precious children growing in their faith and learning more about Jesus.

We celebrated a special birthday this weekend. Brian turned another year older so we celebrated with dinner at Mama Hamil's in Madison with friends. And then on Sunday Luci and I made him some special triple-chocolate brownies which we served with vanilla ice cream.

Triple Chocolate Brownies

1 large dark chocolate brownie mix

(get the kind that fits in a 13 by 9 pan, although you will still use an 8 by 8)

2 large Symphony milk chocolate bars

1 tub of chocolate frosting

Prepare brownie mix according to package instructions. In a prepared 8 by 8 pan spread out half of the brownie batter. Place the two chocolate bars side by side on the batter and then spread the remaining brownie batter on top of the chocolate bars. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until done.

Cool, and then frost with chocolate frosting. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Swoon.

As I mentioned before, when I talked about VBS, it's been hot here. It's definitely summer here in central Mississippi, although the calendar still says it's spring. Brian picked up a water sprinkler for the kids and they enjoyed getting wet with the cool water.

We aren't technically finished with our school work yet, but with a week of VBS behind us, and two kids off to camp this week and next, we aren't making much headway in finishing. The boys have just a few lessons left in their math books, about two weeks left in our Sonlight Cores, and a couple of chapters in their science books. I think once we get camp behind us we can knock the rest of this out over summer by just doing some light school days a couple of times a week.

Hope your enjoying your summer so far!

Cereal Box Book Report

2011-05-27T16:04:00.000-05:00

A couple of weeks ago Ben selected a book at the library on which to do a book report. The book he choose was Titanic Crossing by Barbara Williams. This was a decision he agonized over, sitting at the big round library table playing eenie-meenie-minie-moe over and over again. In the end he was very happy with his choice, and became quite the book-worm as he read through the book.

I knew that to do a traditional book report with him would be ~~a little~~ a lot frustrating for ~~him~~ me. Writing is not something he enjoys, but rather it is a chore akin to mucking horse stalls (not that he's ever mucked a stall...but, you know, if he had). So, I was delighted when I found this idea for a cereal box book report, a project for which I knew I could get him on board.

It only took him a few days to read the book (like I said, he was a bit of a book-worm, disappearing at odd times to read 'just one more page...'). We set aside an entire week to work on the cereal box book report, taking it one section at a time.

I used the ideas provided here as a basis for the cereal box book report.

Using an empty cereal box, the idea is to transform it into a 3-D hands on book report.

The top of the box gives the pertinent information: the title of the book, the authors name, the number of pages, and the student's rating of the book.

One side of the box, the side that usually gives the ingredients and nutritional information, provides the characters and the setting of the book.

On the back of the box, where you'd typically find a cartoon, a game, or a puzzle, Ben put a Titanic Word Search containing words related to the book and the Titanic. We used a word search generator to create the word search.

The front of the box gives the new name for the cereal (in keeping with the theme of the book) and artistically and creatively shows a little about the book. This part was Ben's favorite. He loves drawing Titanic ships. He gave his cereal the name "Titanic-O's".

The last side of the box contains the summary of the book.

This was a very fun project for Ben, even though it did contain elements of writing. The various ways of sharing information about the book provided a change of pace each day.

Once his cereal box was finished he filmed a short commercial to advertise his cereal:

Field Trip: Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans

2011-05-25T10:58:00.001-05:00

Not only are we in the middle of wrapping up a fantastic year of school, but we're in the middle of finishing a fantastic study on entomology. Entomology is the study of INSECTS! Whether they creep, crawl, or fly, I never knew insects could be so interesting until we reached this point in our Flying Creatures text.

We live about 3 hours from New Orleans, so when I heard the Audubon Nature Institute had an Insectarium, I knew we had to make a day trip to The Big Easy. This was a great way to add some excellent hands-on fun to our entomological studies and a great end of the year field trip!

The City of New Orleans

Being in the City of New Orleans is always interesting. The city is just bursting with activity and there is so much to see and do. The kids were completely enthralled with the sights: things like the Steamboat Natchez, horse drawn carriages, the trolley, the architecture, and the mix of very old buildings & newer skyscrapers.

Cafe Du Monde

At Cafe Du Monde we shared a few orders of beignets. Delicious, according to Ben & Luci! Gavin was far more intrigued by the idea of being in such an old building than he was with the beignets, but in the end he did enjoy a beignet.

Audubon Insectarium

The Insectarium was a great place for a field trip, especially since the kids had their newly acquired bug vocabulary and insect knowledge. There were a lot of hands on exhibits and many live insects for observing. And if that wasn't enough, kids (and brave grown ups!) could actually EAT bugs! That's right, in the very back is a kitchen where they cook up bugs for your eating enjoyment. Chocolate covered crickets, cajun roasted crickets, six-legged salsa, and other bug-filled dips and treats. Only two out of our group of five were brave enough to try... Ben and Catherine!

We Had a Super-Fun Day

After touring the Insectarium we walked a couple of blocks to Mother's Restaurant, a place that came highly recommended. Now, let me just say that my momma can make a pot of gumbo that would make just about any restaurant chef in New Orleans jealous. I usually don't order gumbo in restaurants because it is never as good as my momma's gumbo. Yesterday, I had a bowl of seafood gumbo that absolutely did not disappoint!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #10

2011-05-21T15:11:00.000-05:00

In my life this week...

It's hard not to be a little bit envious of all the families who are finished with school already! This is probably the only month of the year that I wish we did school for a traditional 9 month school year.

In our homeschool this week...

Another week closer to being finished!

From diagramming participial phrases, to understanding possessive pronouns, to underlining root words our grammar work for the year is almost finished. We're also finishing up in our other language arts areas: spelling is finished, handwriting complete, and vocabulary workbooks are almost done.

With those subjects finished we'll devote more time to finishing up science & math and tackle the last writing assignments.

Ben finished reading his book report book, Titanic Crossing, and will be working on his cereal box book report next week. He's actually EXCITED about a book report! This should be great!

We did a few fun science experiments this week. You can read about those here.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We have plans next week for a field trip to the Audobon Insectarium. New Orleans is about a 3 hour drive from our home, so we are just making this a day trip. I've been wanting to take the kids ever since I heard about this place and since we are studying insects, could there be a better time? We are taking a favorite cousin along on the trip with us so the kids are really excited about it!

My favorite thing this week was...

A fairly mundane week ended with two outstanding events. A mamma's always proud of her kids, but on days when they shine that turns into a heartfelt joy. This week two of my kids had their moment in the spotlight.

My oldest child had his first piano recital. I love how passionate he is about music!

I watched my youngest, my brave little girl with a pink feather in her hair, perform her kata in a room full of people as she tested for her blue stripe on her yellow belt.

And the third, well, while he may not have had a moment in the spotlight (this week anyway), he still had a moment to shine and make his momma proud. I loved seeing how encouraging and supportive he was to his siblings, even helping his sister fine-tune her kata before her karate belt test...and he never once indicated he envied their time in the spotlight.

How do I pick a favorite thing out of that?

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Our 2011-2012 year is planned out. Take a look here and tell me what you think!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

Photo by Greg Campbell (aka Uncle Egg)

Gavin's Piano Recital, First Year

2011-05-21T07:59:00.000-05:00

2011-2012 Curriculum Plans

2011-05-20T17:13:00.002-05:00

It's done! I've finished (mostly) planning for next year. This year I will have an 8th grader, a 5th grader, and a 2nd grader. (Just writing that makes me tired!) With just one or two things still a little uncertain, here is the outline of our 2011-2012 school year.

Luci, 2nd Grade

Math

Singapore 2A, 2B

Science

Zoology II Swimming Creatures

History

Sonlight Core B, Intro to World History part 1

Language Arts

Sonlight LA 2

Level 2 Readers

Explode the Code Workbooks 4, 5, 6

Wordly Wise book A

All About Spelling Level 1

Bible

Sonlight Core 1 Bible

Elective

Rosetta Stone Spanish
Theater Class

For a detailed look at Luci's curriculum visit this page:
Luci ~ 2nd Grade

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ben, Grade 5

Math

Saxon 6/5

Science

Zoology II Swimming Creatures

History

Sonlight Core E, American History part 2

Language Arts

Easy Grammar grade 5

All Things Fun and Fascinating Writing Lessons

Wordly Wise Book 5

Spelling Power

A Reason for Handwriting E

Bible

Starting Strong

Electives

Rosetta Stone Spanish

Draw Squad

Karate

For a detailed look at Ben's curriculum visit this page:
Ben ~ 5th Grade

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Gavin, 8th Grade

Math

Algebra I

Science

Apologia Physical Science using Sonlight's Schedule

History/Literature

Sonlight Core 100, part 2

Language Arts

Easy Grammar Ultimate

Character Based Writing Lessons

Wordly Wise

Bible

SL Core 100 Bible

Elective

Spanish, coop class for high school credit

Piano

For a detailed look at Gavin's curriculum click here:
Gavin ~ 8th Grade

Luci Sparring

2011-05-19T09:08:00.000-05:00

I took this video of Luci sparring during karate class last week. She's certainly getting more aggressive!

A Tale of Two Science Experiments

2011-05-18T10:16:00.002-05:00

If you ask my kids what their favorite thing about science is they'll tell you it's the experiments! Yesterday, both of our science curricula had experiments scheduled which made for a pretty exciting hour of science.

Gavin is studying the module about energy & life. To demonstrate the concept of combustion, the chemical process by which organisms get energy from food, Gavin performed two experiments...

For the first one, he lit a small candle inside a bowl filled with vinegar.

Then he covered the bowl with another bowl. This bowl actually ended up not working for a few reasons. (1) it was just too large, (2) the flame of the candle couldn't really be seen through the bowl, and (3) the bowl did not make an airtight seal. He ended up using a flat bottomed container that he set on top of the smaller bowl containing the candle.

It worked, and within a minute or so the oxygen inside the space was depleted and the flame flickered out.

In the second experiment, he relit the candle. And then poured baking soda into the vinegar surrounding the candle. (I'm sorry this photo is blurry, but I only got one shot at getting a photo of the chemical reaction occurring while the candle was still burning.)

The chemical reaction that occurred created carbon dioxide that, in filling the space, pushed the oxygen out of the way. The flame flickered out once again.

Both experiments demonstrated that in order for combustion to occur, oxygen must be present. Success!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ever see a bug walk on water? Luci and Ben have been studying insects and yesterday we read about the amazing water strider, a bug that walks on water. To explain surface tension of water, which makes it possible for the water strider to walk on water, little experiment.

We used a small bowl of water, a square of tissue paper, and a sewing needle.

Ben placed the square of tissue on the surface of the water and quickly laid the needle on top of it.

Within a few seconds the tissue paper had absorbed enough water to cause it to sink to the bottom. But the amazing part was the needle stayed on the surface of the water! Even though it is made of steel and should sink, it was floating because of the surface tension in the water.

What science experiments have you done lately in your homeschool?

Top Ten: Homeschool Products I'm Excited About Adding to Our Curriculum

2011-05-17T09:48:00.001-05:00

If you're a homeschooler and are anything like me, you probably enjoy this time of year. You've, no doubt, got a stack of homeschool catalogs to study and a fresh new year to plan for on the horizon. One of the really great things about the homeschool community is that we love to talk and share what we are using in our homeschools and how it's working out. I'm always excited about trying out new things with my family and that's probably why I love this time of year so much. Here are the Top Ten homeschool products I'm looking forward to adding to our curriculum this year...

Easy Grammar ~ I've heard great things about Easy Grammar for a number of years. The size of the book has always been a bit intimidating, but this year I'm taking the advice of several friends and giving it a try with Ben. We'll be using Easy Grammar Grade 5.

Easy Grammar Ultimate ~ While the Easy Grammar series is designed for grades 3 through 6, there is a newer addition for higher grades and that is Easy Grammar Ultimate. Gavin will be using Easy Grammar Ultimate for grade 8.

Exploring Creation With Zoology 2 ~ While the Young Explorer Series is not new to our home (we've completed Zoology 1 and Astronomy), this particular book will be new. Ben and Luci are looking forward to studying Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day.

All Things Fun and Fascinating ~ This theme-based writing program is based on the units from Andrew Pudewa's Teaching Writing With Structure and Style. I am looking forward to using these writing lessons with Ben.

All About Spelling ~ This is one of those products that homeschoolers have been raving about for a few years now. I'm excited about using this product with Luci. While it is a spelling program, it is such a complete approach to spelling that it can work as a phonics program, too.

Who Am I? ~ While on the TOS Homeschool Crew, I had the chance to review the first book in this series, Who Is God?, and now I'm looking forward to adding the second book, Who Am I?, to our Bible curriculum this year.

NIV Large Middle School Planner ~ We learned this year that planners work extremely well for my boys. They are able to stay on task and get their work done consistently and completely. This particular middle school planner not only helps schedule a students day, but it adds another way of getting God's Word into their hearts.

James Madison Critical Thinking Course ~ This is a newer course from the Critical Thinking Company, but it just looks so interesting!! I think I might enjoy it as much as Gavin.

The Well Planned Day ~ Before I can schedule the boys' work in their own planners, I first have to have a larger plan in mind. This planner is well-liked and highly recommended, so I'm looking forward to penciling in our year.

US History-Based Writing Lessons ~ This is the first of a two volume set of American History based writing lessons. Like All Things Fun and Fascinating, mentioned above, this is based on Andrew Pudewa's Teaching Writing with Structure and Style. Gavin completed Student Writing Intensive B this year and is looking forward to these writing lessons based on one of his favorite subjects.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #9

2011-05-13T14:06:00.000-05:00

In my life this week...

My week started with a beautiful Mother's Day. My own mother was here to make the day even more special. My kids and husband surprised me with a cookbook, a pair of sunglasses and a nice canopied swing for the back porch. But the best part of the day was just getting to relax and enjoy the day. They cooked a wonderful BBQ chicken dinner for me and then treated me to frozen custard at Bop's.

In our homeschool this week...

We're working on finishing up the year. We're getting closer, but the finish line still seems a bit far off.

We finished up reading aloud from Carry On, Mr. Bowditch this week. It's absolutely my favorite read aloud ever and even though this was the second time to read it aloud, it was just as inspiring as the first time. Nat Bowditch knew how to sail by ash breeze.

Ben and Luci's science studies have had us investigating insects for several weeks now; however, it's anything but boring! Such incredible little creatures with God-given instincts that are simply amazing! Thanks to a wonderful family member, we added these little creatures to our homeschool this week. They are perfect for allowing my bug-squeamish kids to get up close and personal with bugs!

Gavin learned about the Pythagorean Theorem, which triggered a family discussion on how to pronounce Pythagorean that could only be settled by using the dictionary.com pronunciation feature. Understanding the Pythagorean Theorem proved to be much simpler than it's name was.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

On Tuesday we headed out to the local zoo to see the new baby giraffe. We were having a frustrating morning where things just weren't going well. It turned out to be a great decision and we all had a grand time. The zoo is holding a raffle to name the giraffe so we let Luci put in her vote. Her name for the baby giraffe: Lola. We all think that's a pretty good name for a giraffe.

My favorite thing this week was...

Getting one week closer to finishing the year!

What's working/not working for us...

Combining Sonlight's American History Cores (Core E and Core 100) has worked amazingly well for us this year. I am so glad we did this! It took a little tweaking to make these cores work for us (instead of us being slaves to the cores & their schedules).

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I realize that it really is a blessing to have so many options, but it is absolutely overwhelming the number of Algebra texts available! If you've taught algebra to one or more of your students, I'd love to hear your experiences with it!

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

TOS Homeschool Crew Reviews: My Favorites

2011-05-12T08:53:00.000-05:00

As a member of TOS Homeschool Crew this year I had the chance to review many interesting products. While my time on the Crew is drawing to a close, my family's love and appreciation for some of the products is not. There were many hits and many misses with products this year, but I'd like to share our absolute favorite products of the year.

Pyramath ~ My middle son loves Pyramath! Pyramath is to him what Solitaire is to others... Simply Addicting!

Pyramath is a must have in my opinion! The online game is fun (and FREE), but the actual deck of cards is great to have because it allows you to play with two players. There are also instructions included for playing a variation of War. I recommend this product to any family, whether you think your kids need extra facts practice or not. Each deck of cards is just $6.95 and would make a great addition to any family game night.

Who Is God ~ I'm planning to incorporate the next book in this series into our family's Bible study next year.

My family is enjoying Who Is God?? immensely. The short stories add so much to the lesson and really prepare the way for children to understand the concept behind the lesson presented. I love that my entire family is able to discuss the questions included with each lesson.

The Master Fraction ~ We've used these Master Fractions repeatedly in our homeschool since they came into our home! What a novel way to help a child understand the relationships between fractions.

Master Innovations has created a product that simplifies (pun intended) fractions! Each set of Master Fractions sells for $17.95, the workbook sells for $15.95, and the poster for $10.00. The Master Fractions set is worth every penny, however the workbook and the poster are priced a little higher than I can justify. Some families, whose students truly struggle with fractions, might find the workbook worth the cost, however.

Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids ~ This incredibly useful resource has a place on our shelf right beside our most used reference books.

My children absolutely love this book and I've found them on many occasions just looking through and reading various topics that interest them. This book will be a valuable resource in our home for years to come! The Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids is available from Lifeway Christian Stores for $14.99.

When the Going Gets Tough...

2011-05-11T09:13:00.000-05:00

Ever have one of those school days where, within the first few minutes of beginning school, you can tell it's going to be one of THOSE days? It's going to be one of those days, that no matter how hard you try, things are just not going to end well. Kids have been fractious - bickering - all morning, pencils keep breaking, crayons & textbooks are missing, computers won't cooperate, and mom declares, "Enough!"

Yesterday was that day.

I stood in frustration at the counter in my kitchen while my husband, the completely rational man that he is, took in the situation and suggested I pack up a picnic and head on out to the zoo. We'd been wanting to visit this week anyway to see the new baby giraffe. In my head, I argued the case for staying home and doing school...

We'll have to have school Friday to make up for today.
I'll be, in a way, telling them that when things are tough we just give up.
I've already made this week's schedule and I don't want to change it.

But in my heart, I knew that if I pressed on in the state things were it would do more damage than good. We needed to go see the new baby giraffe. Even if it means we make it up on Friday.

And so we did.

It turned out to be a great day to be at the zoo. It was quiet & peaceful and the animals were all enjoying the beautiful weather.

Of course the new baby giraffe, just 9 days old, was especially cute!

But the best part was that, after a little while, the frustration melted, the tempers calmed, brothers & sisters enjoyed being together, and mom relished in it all.

This is what homeschooling is about. Beyond the math & grammar, way past the creative writing & the science lessons, it's about a family.

Top Ten iPhone Apps

2011-05-10T08:58:00.001-05:00

If you don't have an iPhone, chances are you know someone who has an iPhone permanently mounted in their hands. iPhone users love their iPhones and all of the useful (and some not so useful) apps that are available. Here are my Top Ten iPhone Apps (in completely random order):

Bible App by YouVersion ~ This Bible app includes the Bible in 55 translations! It also includes a variety of reading plans and devotionals. The best part: It's FREE!

PCalc Lite App ~ While I do have the lite (aka FREE) version this is a great calculator to have on hand. Cost: FREE

The Weather Channel App ~ Aside from Facebook, this is probably the app that I use the most. It is a must have! I've relied on this app a great deal this year as storms and tornados have ripped across our state. Cost: FREE

Instagram ~ This is a fun way to share your iPhone photos. You simply take a photo, choose a filter for your photo, and share :) Cost: FREE

Words With Friends ~ My favorite 'game' app ever! I have no fewer than 5 games going at any given time and love a challenge! My user name is: AprilLynn318 Just let me know you found me on my blog. Cost: The lite version is FREE, but it has ads that get annoying. The full version is $2.99, but it goes on sale frequently for 99 cents.

Facebook ~ 'Nuff said. If you have an iPhone and your a Facebook user, then I'm sure you already have this app! Cost: Free

Shazam ~ This is a fairly new app for me. A friend of mine recommended it to me a week or two ago, but I can already tell this is a great one to have! Do you ever hear a song on the radio and wish you knew the title and the artist? Simply turn on the Shazam app and it will identify the song for you! Love it! Cost: Free!

Amazon Mobile ~ This might seem like an unlikely "favorite", but it's handy to have when your out shopping. Need to read a few reviews before you buy that book or that Dyson vacuum cleaner? Amazon Mobile has 'em. Need to compare prices before you buy? Amazon Mobile. Can't remember the author of the book you were looking for at the library and all the computer stations are full? Amazon Mobile. Love it! Cost: FREE

Dictionary ~ We use this app pretty often in our homeschool, but we also use it on the go. As a Words With Friends player I also love the Word of the Day feature. Cost: FREE

AllRecipes Dinner Spinner ~ This is a great source for recipes, especially when your out and about and need to stop to pick up something to fix for supper. Cost: FREE

What We're Reading This Week

2011-05-09T16:48:00.002-05:00

A couple of weeks ago I shared in one of my Top Ten Tuesday lists all of the books we'd checked out at the library. It was such a popular post that I decided to do a regular feature of the books we are reading. Today, we made a trip to the library to renew a couple of books and pick up some new ones.

We've been reading aloud nightly from Little House on the Prairie, but are only about two-thirds of the way through it.

Little House on the Prairie 75th Anniversary Edition

Let the Circle Be Unbroken (Mass Market Paperback)

And we also picked up:

Amelia Bedelia, Rocket Scientist? (I Can Read Book 2)

Marley: Strike Three, Marley! (I Can Read Book 2)

Amelia Bedelia and the Baby (Amelia Bedelia (Prebound))

Luci has been enjoying our nightly reading of Little House on the Prairie so much that I thought she'd burst with excitement when she found these at the library today:

Sugar Snow (My First Little House)

Going to Town (My First Little House)

Ben had to pick out a book for a book report to finish up his 4th grade year. He chose this:

Titanic Crossing

After finishing up Ape House, I was ready for a couple of new books myself:

Redeeming Love

What the Night Knows: A Novel

I also have to include the books we are currently reading as part of our curriculum:

Bound for Oregon

The Slopes of War

Ben is almost finished with:

Om-kas-toe of the black feet

And we are almost finished reading aloud from my favorite Sonlight read-aloud ever:

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch

What are YOU reading this week? I'd love to hear your suggestions for our next trip to the library!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #8

2011-05-06T09:04:00.001-05:00

In my life this week...

Planning. Planning. Planning.

We are not yet finished with this year, but I'm already planning for next year. It seems like planning gets a little more complicated every year! Is this because they are getting older? Or because there is so much more to choose from every year.

In our homeschool this week...

We managed to get all of our boxes checked again this week!

I love weeks like that!

We finished Eli Whitney this week and started Lewis & Clark. Such an exciting time in our nation's history!

Ben and Luci have been learning about bug defenses. Have you ever heard of the bombardier beetle? This incredible insect carries a chemical weapon in its body! He has two chambers that contain five different chemicals and when the beetle feels threatened he opens a valve between the two chambers that allows the chemicals to mix. The chemical reaction is such that the beetle releases boiling hot gases from his abdomen! How incredible is that?

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Last Friday we went to a RC Plane Fly-In at a nearby airport. Although we had a small group, it was a lot of fun for the kids!

Today we have a play date at the park with our homeschool friends.

My favorite thing this week was...

The drama that Ben and Luci have been working so hard on for the past 4 months took place Sunday evening. The kids all did a fantastic job, but of course I'm really proud of my own two children! Ben had one of the leading roles in the drama with 27 lines to learn. He was AWESOME! I was so proud of how well he did remembering his lines and acting out the part of "Charlie". While Luci didn't have a speaking part, she did have some interpretive dance parts where she twirled and spinned as a flower. She also put in a lot of work contributing to the art work for the props and stage setting.

I even have to commend Gavin, who, while he was not actually a part of Kidz Prayz, worked hard with the media team to make sure things went smoothly during the production.

What's working/not working for us...

I've wanted to cut back on the amount of television my family watches for a long time, but as anyone who's been there knows, it's not easy to change the TV habit. Even for us adults (especially those of us who were crime-show junkies)! For the last two weeks, however, I've kept the TV turned off on school days and school nights, with just a very few exceptions for things like the news of Bin Ladin's death and the Royal Wedding (wow, are those two completely opposite types of programing). We've also drastically reduced the amount of time spent playing video games to a maximum of thirty minutes a day.

The result: My kids are finding things to do that engage their minds instead putting them in a trance. In the past two weeks they've put together almost every puzzle we own (sometimes twice), played with Legos, spent time reading or being read to, and played board games like chess & checkers. They are fighting less, getting along better, and showing better attitudes in general.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I've noticed that my best times of the school year, the times when I'm the most motivated and at my best organizationally, is the first quarter of the school year and the last quarter of the school year.

I really wish I could figure out how to spread that out over the whole year and avoid that hum-drum burn-out season from January thru spring-break.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

At a homeschool field trip to the Raymond Airport for a RC Fly-In all the kids got the chance to sit in a helicopter.

Ristorante Utalylonta

2011-05-05T08:31:00.001-05:00

All of my kids enjoy helping in the kitchen, but Luci especially wants to be in the kitchen helping out every time I fix dinner. Sometimes, when there are lots of steps to the dish I'm preparing, there is plenty for her to do. But other times a simple dish, like my baked chicken parmesan, requires more baking time than prep time. Her drive to be "in the kitchen" is so strong that at times like that she will get creative in finding ways to help.

This week after I put the chicken breasts covered in marinara in the oven, I told her we had to wait about 45 minutes and there wasn't much else to do except cook the pasta in a while. She grabbed up a few markers, two sheets of paper and asked me a couple of questions about the nationality of our dinner.

A little while later she'd produced a restaurant sign, with our dinner restaurant aptly named: Utalylonta. This was her attempt at sounding Italian. With images like tomatoes and bell peppers and those wonderful red and green colors, doesn't it look inviting?

After she made her sign she got to work on the menu.

She asked me to help her spell chicken parmesan and the other things we were having for dinner, so I wrote those on the chalkboard for her to copy. She got creative on the spelling of the rest of the menu, however.

In case you cannot decipher her phonetic spelling, the menu reads:

chicken parmesan

noodles green beans

spaghetti

pizza

fettucine

All appropriate for an Italian restaurant, don't you think?

Do your kids like to be involved in the kitchen?

A Few of My Favorite Homeschool Resources

2011-05-04T09:04:00.000-05:00

It's planning season for many homeschoolers, myself included, so I thought I'd share my favorite places to visit on the web. Whether it's forms, reviews, discussions or shopping, there are many places to go online. Some of these you may already be familiar with, but hopefully you'll find something new! Be sure and leave me a comment with YOUR favorite websites.

For Forms, Printables, & Other Free Stuff
donnayoun.org ~ I can't think of a form you won't find here!
CurrClick ~ Lots of good stuff here, too!
Notebooking Pages ~ If you use notebooking in your homeschool this is a great site, but even if you don't, there are some excellent free printables that you might find useful.

Curriculum Reviews
HomeschoolReviews.com ~ Real reviews by real parents (and sometimes the students themselves) of homeschool curriculum.
Cathy Duffy Reviews ~ Excellent reviews by Cathy Duffy, author of the very popular 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum: Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach for Your Child's Learning Style
Successful Homeschooling Reviews
Homeschool Math ~ These are just math curriculum reviews, but if I had to guess I'd say math is one of the hardest things to decide on, so a site dedicated to just math reviews makes perfect sense!

Curriculum Shopping
RainbowResource.com ~ Decent prices & free shipping on purchases over $150
CBD.com ~ A Christian Bookstore, sometimes their prices are a little higher, but I have found them to be considerably lower on a few things. It's always worth checking around!
Amazon.com ~ I think everyone's heard of Amazon!
Sonlight.com ~ If your a Sonlight Club Member shipping is always free, no minimum order! This is probably the best perk of being a Club Member.

Discussion Boards
Well Trained Mind ~ While I'm not necessarily a classical homeschooler (I consider myself eclectic), the Well Trained Mind forum is a great source of information.
Sonlight Forums ~ The Sonlight Forums are only open to users who have either earned access or purchased access, but if you are a Sonlighter then these forums are invaluable.
The Homeschool Lounge ~ A great place to get your questions answered and meet new friends.
Homeschool Christian ~ A wealth of knowledge here!

Top Ten Tips for Getting Kids Involved In the Kitchen

2011-05-03T09:32:00.000-05:00

1. Let young children mix, pour, shape, grate, mash and bread. Using tools like the Curious Chef 17-Piece Measure & Prep Kit and Cook It in a Cup!: Quick Meals and Treats Kids Can Cook in Silicone Cups even the littlest can help.

2. Ask them to help plan a meal. Not only does this get them involved, but it makes them more likely to eat the foods they choose. Planning meals has made my children a little more adventurous when trying new food. With a little guidance kids can easily plan a healthy, balanced meal that represents the major food groups. Consider this a chance to get a little Nutrition 101 in them!

3. Look at cookbooks with them. Our local library has a large selection of cookbooks available that are just for kids, but don't limit them to recipes just for kids. Cookbooks with photos are great for inspiring them to make things they wouldn't ordinarily choose. Our favorite cookbook: Southern Living: Kids Cookbook: 124 Recipes Kids Will Love to Make and Love to Eat (Southern Living (Hardcover Oxmoor))

4. Invite them to come chop veggies with you. Sitting and chopping veggies together is a great way to open the line of communication with your kids. One-on-one time can be hard to find in a busy lifestyle, so opportunities like this should not be missed!

5. Give them the right tools. My younger children use the Curious Chef 3-Piece Nylon Knife Set when cutting in the kitchen. I can use this time, while I know they are safe, to teach them good knife habits without worrying about them cutting off a finger.

6. Assign a night to cook every week. The more practice they have in the kitchen, the better their cooking skills will develop. My children each have their own night during the week when they are responsible for dinner.

7. Give older children a copy of your local grocery ads to use when they plan a meal. It's never to soon to learn that you can save money by planning around the sales. It really opened the eyes of my boys to see the cost of food and to know exactly what goes into each meal.

8. Make the fun stuff! It's easy to get into a cooking rut, making the same stuff over and over again. But every now and then make something fun like these Chicken Salad Scoops.

9. Let them cook when family visits. My daughter loves to show off her cooking skills when our family comes for a visit. Whether it's assembling a special dessert or preparing the main course, kids will love serving their grandparents something they've prepared.

10. Let them cook with their friends! After a sleepover my daughter and her best friend had loads of fun making banana, chocolate, and pecan topped pancakes for breakfast. Does it get any better?

Organizing Our Day

2011-05-02T08:25:00.000-05:00

I recently had a couple of requests on my blog to share with you how we do workboxes. Workboxes are a great visual way to help kids stay on task throughout the day. We are no longer using workboxes due to a lack of space; however, all of the posts I've shared about our workboxes can be found here.

I have a small house and every square inch is precious so we had to abandon our boxes in favor of planning pages. I purchased the PDF format of The Well Planned Day's Middle School Planner several weeks ago and have been very pleased with how well the boys have adjusted to using these printable planner pages. I originally intended this to be for just my 7th grader who was having time management problems, but they've proved helpful for my 4th grader as well.

When I am ready to plan the coming week I simply print two sets of the pages for the current week and then write in the assignments I expect to be accomplished during the week.

This is the page I've prepared for my 4th grader for the coming week. The front side has Monday-Wednesday and the backside has Thursday and Friday along with a section for notes and the weekend.

All of his assignments for the week are listed, and unless there are special circumstances, this is the order in which he should complete his work. Some of it is independent work and some things require instruction from me before he completes it.

The first line is Bible: He is using Positive Action's Life Castles and is reading from the book of Luke.

The second line is his reader, which currently is Om Kas Toe.

The third line is math. We use Saxon for math along with DIVE CDs for instruction.

The fourth line is our read alouds, which currently are: Carry On, Mr. Bowditch and Eli Whitney.

The fifth line is science. We use Exploring Creation with Zoology I.

The sixth and seventh lines are language arts. We are currently using Abeka's Language A, Spelling Power, and Wordly Wise Book C.

Throughout the week, as assignments are completed they simply put a checkmark by the work they've finished. This is a look at my 7th grader's schedule page at the end of last week:

It helps my 7th grader manage his time better if I write in blocks of time for him to try to work within. He doesn't always manage to complete everything in the allotted time, but it really does help him to get a better idea of what's ahead of him and what his pace should be. Otherwise, he tends to underestimate what he has left in his day and that leads to finishing school very late in the day. And THAT leads to a cranky 13 year old and a cranky mom!

While I do like the planning pages from The Well Planned Day's Middle School Planner, I've found another one that I think will suit us even better for next year. The week's grid is laid out by subject with more space for writing in assignments. This version costs less too, so I'll be able to get each of the boys their own copy and save my printer ink each week.

How do you plan your day? Do you have a planner you love?

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #7

2011-04-29T09:41:00.000-05:00

In my life this week...

Ready for the weekend! Our church is having a mother-daughter banquet on Saturday and we are really looking forward to it.

In our homeschool this week...

Although we got off to a rough start, after coming off of spring break, this turned out to be a great week. We met all of our goals this week, which in and of itself, is quite an accomplishment.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Other than the usual karate classes, piano lessons, and church services we've been at home this week. Today, however, we are going to the Raymond Airport for an aviation demonstration. The kids are excited about that!

My favorite thing this week was...

Luci turned her bedroom into a museum this week. She issued us all tickets to visit her museum, which was opened between the hours of 10 AM and 5 PM. The museum was a "Museum of Luci's Life", with exhibits showing her favorite books, toys, and collectibles. She constantly amazes us with her creativity! She even got disappointed later in the week when museum attendance had slacked off. She said she might have to add some new exhibits to get people to come back!

What's working/not working for us...

We switched our read aloud time to after lunch this week. It's a time of day where we all feel like lounging on the couch instead of working on math problems, so this switch really made sense. After lunch is finished and the dishes cleared away we all gather in the den with our blankets and snuggle up for some reading time. I think this did a lot to improve the flow of our days this week.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I've been working on curriculum plans for next year. I'm considering a couple of new products in our homeschool for the coming year and I'd love to hear from anyone who has used these.

Writeshop (both the elementary and Jr/Sr high programs)

All About Spelling

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

My beautiful children on Easter Sunday...

Planning for High School

2011-04-28T08:16:00.002-05:00

I've been homeschooling my children since my oldest was three years old. He's thirteen now. By some people's standards I'm a veteran homeschooler. With ten years experience, I should have this thing down pat. But the thing about homeschooling is that, as long as I'm still homeschooling my firstborn, every year is a new year. Each fall I begin teaching a grade that I've never taught before.

As I work on curriculum plans for next year, my son's 8th grade year, I am so very cognizant of the fact that high-school is just around the corner. In fact, some of the subjects he takes in his 8th grade year will go toward his high school credits. With that in mind, I've created a 5-year plan for 8th grade plus high school (with a pencil) to use as a guide in choosing curriculum each year. If I know where we are going, then I'll know best where we should be right now, and next year, and so on.

To create Gavin's high-school plan, I used several resources:

The state graduation requirements for a college prep curriculum for the state in which we live
The high school course requirements for one of the state's colleges (MS State)
The suggested course outline provided by DiveIntoMath.com (since at this time we plan to use Saxon Math and Apologia's sciences at least partway through high school)
Recommended course of study for his most likely career path (which at this point would be mechanical engineering and music)
HSLDA's Homeschooling through high school page
An article about translating Sonlight's Cores into high school credits
Dual Enrollment classes available at the local community college and requirements for enrollment (10 core credits)

Here's a look at our "working" high-school plan. (I say "working" high-school plan because I fully expect it to change as we move along. (I only listed the courses from eighth grade that would apply to high school credit).

Math (4 math credits and 1 advanced elective credit)
8th. Algebra I (8th grade for high school credit)
9th. Algebra II w/geometry
10th. Advanced Math
11th. Dual Enrollment math
12th. Dual Enrollment math

English/Lit (4 credits for English/Lit & 2 credits for Composition)
9th. Sonlight Core 200 World Lit. & Composition
10th. Sonlight Core 300 20th Cent. Lit & Composition
11th. Solight Core 400 Am. Lit & Composition
12th Core 530 British Lit & Composition

Science (4 credits)
9th Biology
10th Chemistry
11th Physics
12th Advanced Physics Dual Enrollment

Social Studies/History (4 1/2 credits)
9th World Civ/History of God's Kingdom (Core 200)
10th 20th Century World History (Core 300)
11th Civics & American Government (Core 400)
12th American History (using a college textbook or dual enrollment) & Economics

Fine Arts (only 1 credit necessary but I'm sure he will continue some type of music throughout high school)
Piano or other musical lessons

Advanced Electives (2 credits)
8th Spanish 1 (in 8th grade for high school credit)
9th Spanish 2

Health & Pe & Technology (1 1/2 credits)
10th Health
10th PE
11th Web Pages and Graphics

Electives (4 credits)
Personal Finance using Dave Ramsey's course
Art-possibly Photography (dual enrollment)
Psychology
Sociology

Total of 28 credits
(All four years will also contain a Bible doctrine course)
If you are planning for a high schooler, I'd love to hear about your plans as well. I'd also love to hear opinions from those who already have high schoolers or have graduated seniors.

Sometimes

2011-04-27T08:57:00.000-05:00

Sometimes you can just sit,

and sit,

staring at the screen,

willing the words to come.

Some days they do.

Some days they don't.

Guess which kind of day today is?

Circle of Moms: Top 25 Homeschooling Blogs

2011-04-26T14:45:00.001-05:00

Be sure and place your votes for your favorite homeschooling blogs! You can vote once per day until May 11.

Top Ten Tuesday: Library Books

2011-04-26T08:49:00.000-05:00

Usually I like to have my Top Ten lists ready to go before Tuesday morning comes. If that doesn't happen, I at least like to have in mind what my top ten is going to be about. Today, I started the day with no idea! I considered my top ten 'pet peeves', but then I realized that I'd be starting my day off with negatives instead of positives. Not how I want to start my day! I've been working on a top ten slow cooker recipes post, but it's not ready yet.

Yesterday we went to the library and we happened to check out TEN library books (or rather 9 books and one book on CD). So, here are the TEN books we will be reading over the next week...

Gavin chose this book to read. It's the sequel to Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry, which we read a couple of years ago as a read aloud.

While Ben was on his trip to Washington D.C. his Aunt Rebecca had begun reading aloud from Little House on the Prairie. He came home with a slip of paper to let us know where they left off in this book, however, because Luci wants to hear it as well we will be starting from the beginning.

This is another book that they read aloud while on the trip. Ben wanted to finish this one as well. He's going to read this himself, picking up where they left off.

We also picked up The Mouse and the Motorcycle on CD. Luci spotted it and really wanted to hear it too. This is her first book on CD and she loves it! She's already halfway through!

Luci also picked out a few level 2 readers...

And, of course mom had to get a book, too...

I read Sara Gruen's best seller, Water for Elephants (which is coming out as a movie soon), right after it's release in 2007, before it was even a best seller. So, when I saw this new novel by the same author I thought I'd give it a try. After I got home and read the reviews, however, I'm not quite as thrilled to get started on it. Hopefully it doesn't disappoint!

Spring Break

2011-04-25T09:04:00.000-05:00

Spring Break is finished! Its been a good week, productive, a little exciting, and sometimes comical.

The chimney's exterior is now replaced and it looks great. Unfortunately, Brian had to give up his entire vacation to see it finished. What they thought might take three or four days ended up taking six full days of working.

Gramps made time to play a few games of chess, but after full days of working he much preferred a less challenging game of Connect Four or Checkers.

We released our butterflies...

Visited the butterfly exhibit at the Natural Science Museum...

Luci lost her two front teeth on the same day. The tooth fairy left her $6 for them! We've laughed so hard at how cute she sounds when she talks now. Not to mention how adorably cute she looks! I'm not at all anxious for those two permanent teeth to come in. Once they do, I know my baby girl will never look the same again!

Our homeschool group had an Easter party & egg hunt on Friday. The kids had so much fun playing and hunting eggs with their friends.

On Saturday night we made Resurrection Cookies. We thought our egg whites would never form "stiff white peaks", but finally it sort of peaked so we went with it. It worked and on Easter Sunday we had "Empty tombs." If you've never done this, I recommend you add it to your Easter celebration next year. I used the recipe and instructions from Faithful Provisions.

And on Easter Sunday we went to church to worship the One who gave it all so that we might have eternal life. I can't think of a better way to end our Spring Break than that!

Oh Glorious Day!

2011-04-24T16:48:00.000-05:00

My Kids

2011-04-23T07:39:00.000-05:00

A six year old ray of sunshine. Laughs all the time. Loves dogs. A girly girl.

Still snuggles with mom. Makes people laugh. Fully ten. Fully boy. Ninja.

Thirteen going on forty. Passionate about the Civil War. Musician. His daddy made-over.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #6

2011-04-22T07:32:00.000-05:00

In my life this week...

While it's been a somewhat busy week, I've had time for reflecting on what this Holy Week means to me. Over 2000 years ago Jesus Christ willingly rode into Jerusalem on a donkey knowing full well what lay ahead of Him. He willingly allowed Himself to be taken before Pilate. He willingly carried His cross to Golgotha and allowed Himself to be nailed to a cross. He willingly died. Such tremendous love. Such a tremendous sacrifice. And I am so completely undeserving of it all.
I am... Humbled. Awed. In love with my Savior.

In our homeschool this week...

Spring Break means no school books, but it doesn't necessarily mean no learning. We finished up our study on butterflies this week as we released our butterflies from their habitat and then visited the butterfly exhibit at our local Natural Science Museum.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

My mother and father in law have been staying with us this week. The guys have been working on replacing the siding on the exterior of our chimney. So while they've been working the rest of us have visited the science museum, done a little shopping, played a few games of chess, and just enjoyed visiting.

My favorite thing this week was...

Sunday night our church presented a dramatization of the Six Scenes of Easter. It was a very moving presentation followed by communion. I have to say that was the highlight of the week. I love that Palm Sunday helped get our hearts right for Holy Week as we consider the great sacrifice that our Savior made for us.

What's working/not working for us...

Since we didn't school this week I don't really have much to say here, except this Spring Break is definitely working for us!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

We've typically taken off most of the same holidays as the local schools with a few exceptions--mostly all of those "Monday" holidays. Do you observe the same holidays as your local schools or do you make up your own schedule?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

This is a photo I took at the live butterfly garden...

Luci's Stationary Bike

2011-04-21T09:26:00.000-05:00

Luci enjoys riding her bike, but I'm not always able to go out and watch her ride. With a little creative thinking she has made herself a stationary bicycle. She parks her bike in the front yard in such a way that the training wheels are on the ground, but the rear tire is not making contact with the ground. She gets on her bike and just pedals away, going no where fast!

A Very Butterfly Day

2011-04-20T06:00:00.002-05:00

After we released our butterflies from their habitat we went to our local Natural Science Museum where there is a butterfly exhibit.

The kids loved the giant-sized caterpillar crawler, where they had to work together with other kids to make the caterpillar feet move.

Giant leaves for climbing on...

Chrysalids big enough for the kiddos to climb in...

Very large, but strangely cute, spiders (did you know spiders wore glasses?)...

The biggest hit, though, was the butterfly glider.

Outside, in the terrarium, was a live butterfly garden where we found caterpillars in various stages of growth.

And beautiful butterflies partaking of the sweet liquid provided for them.

We enjoyed our Butterfly Day, from our own butterfly release, to the butterfly exhibit and the live butterfly garden. And although today was not officially a school day, this was an exciting way to wrap up our study on butterflies!

We were glad to have Grammy along for the trip to the museum.

Butterfly Release

2011-04-19T21:42:00.000-05:00

Our butterflies emerged from their chrysalids on Sunday. We missed witnessing the first few emerge, but were there to see the fourth one. Everyone gathered around to watch the butterfly crawl out and then crawl across the habitat. It didn't take very long before his wings had inflated.

You can see the newly emerged butterfly in the upper left corner of the photo below. Its wings are not yet inflated. You can also see the empty chrysalids.

Today, we released our butterflies in the front yard.

They obviously weren't bothered by their captivity. This we learned from their reluctance to leave the habitat. We had to bump the habitat a few times to get them to flutter around and find their way out.

One of the butterflies had a wing that had a deformity. We thought it might not be able to fly, but after a few minutes it flew off to go live its short butterfly life.

Top Ten Things My Daughter Says When She Cleans Her Room

2011-04-19T07:20:00.000-05:00

My girl doesn't like to clean her room. It's more than just the usual dislike of chores, or cleaning. It's an intense, tear inducing, good-'ol-southern-girl fit throwing dislike of cleaning her room! Every few weeks I end up in there with her, helping her get it cleaned up.

Here are the Top Ten things I might hear her say when I help her clean her room:

I don't know how that got there.
I was gonna recycle that.
I'm taking a break. (Never mind the fact that she's only picked up two pieces of trash since she walked into the room.)
Oh, that's where that was.
I was saving that for _______. (Fill in the blank! It could be her best friend, Avery, or it could be one of her brothers or a grandparent.)
Memphis probably did that. (In her defense, Memphis does contribute to the mess in her room, particularly under her bed. But she likes to give him more credit than he deserves!)
Why did God invent cleaning rooms?
That was a keepsake!
This is boring. Lame. And I don't like it.
Don't throw it away! My daddy can fix it with tape!

Keeping Holy Week a Holy Week

2011-04-18T08:58:00.000-05:00

Spring break is finally here! While we're off this week we will be completing a house repair project, enjoying the season, visiting a few museums, and preparing our hearts for Easter. I have a couple of posts lined up to share this week (watch tomorrow for the Top Ten things my daughter says when she cleans her room!), but will also be re-posting a few things I'd like to share again.

When I planned this spring break it was purely for convenience sake. We had a major home repair project that needed doing and this was the best time for my husband to get it done with the help of his dad. They are staying here this week, following their trip to DC with Ben. I didn't realize when I planned it that it would coincide with Holy Week, but I'm really glad that it did. Holy Week really is the pinnacle of the Christian faith. Certainly the fact that He was born of a virgin is important, indeed it is miraculous. But our salvation hinges, not on His birth, but on the fact that He was crucified for us and that He rose again and is ALIVE today! This holiday, more than any other, should be celebrated and honored among Christians. It saddens me how commercialized this holiday has become. The sale papers on Sunday almost resembled the ads of November & December. For many people it's nothing more than a day to give candy and toys, wear a shiny new pair of shoes, and find Easter eggs on a grassy lawn. When really we should all be on our knees beside our children at the foot of the cross.

Our Holy Week began last night as a number of members in our church, including three-fifths of my own family, brought to life the Six Scenes of Easter. We traveled from the temple where Jesus overthrew the money-changers tables to witness the Last Supper. We visited the Garden of Gethsemane, the trial before Pilate, the crucifixion and finally, the empty tomb. It is completely humbling to be reminded of how he suffered for us, how much he gave up for us, how he willingly went to die...on purpose.

This Holy Week is a gift to us and I hope to prepare my heart and the hearts of my children for Easter Sunday. Not as a day to greedily hoard chocolate Easter bunnies, but as a day to honor and give thanks to the Lamb who gave it all.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #5

2011-04-15T06:00:00.005-05:00

In my life this week...

I'm ready for our Spring Break! Is it here yet?

In our homeschool this week...

We had a good week. Among other things, we graphed functions, did a science experiment involving yeast and bananas (really really gross!), read more library books on insects, moved our chrysalids to the butterfly habitat, made a springtime mobile and learned how to add two digit numbers.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

We had a quiet week with very few places we needed to go. Aside from the usual church services, karate class and piano lessons we've been able to stay at home.

My favorite thing this week was...

Well, it hasn't happened yet, but Ben is coming home today! I'm sure that my favorite thing of the entire week will be holding him in my arms again! And my second favorite thing will be hearing all about his trip and seeing his pictures!

What's working/not working for us...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that Gavin is using the Well Planned Day's Middle School planner. At first I didn't think it was making that much difference, but this week he asked me to make one small change: Write start and stop times for each task on the right side of his page. That simple little change made all the difference for him. He did very well this week with finishing all of his assignments! Having the times written down gave him mini-deadlines and goals to work toward. I'll have to tweak it again when we resume our full schedule with Ben home, but that shouldn't be too difficult.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am often envious of those who get up at the break of dawn (or earlier), exercise, clean house, start school by 7 am, and are finished by lunch time. But try as I might, we just can't fit that mold. We stay up later, sleep later, and, therefore, start and finish school later than many of our homeschooling friends. It would be different, I'm sure, if my husband worked a normal job with typical daytime hours. But he works nights and over the years we've just adapted to that.

How about you? Are you an early bird or a night owl? And if you're a night owl, do you wish you could change that and get up earlier?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

How Do I Juggle Multiple Homeschool Children

2011-04-14T08:00:00.000-05:00

(Note: this post was originally written on May 12, 2009 under the title "You Asked...Part 5".)

Homeschooling two or more children can seem like a daunting task, especially when those children are different ages or at different levels of maturity. There are a few things, however, that can make things go smoothly.

Plan Ahead It is important to have a clear picture of what you expect to accomplish on any given day in homeschooling your children. For some, a strict schedule is the only way they can get things done. Many families have very successfully used Managers of Their Homes in order to schedule their day. The book includes helpful tips and reproducible pages that help you plan your day in 15 minute increments. This works great for highly structured and organized people. For some families, however, this type of schedule is too restricting. This type of schedule cannot account for the various things that come up every day--your 3 year old spills her milk, the baby won't take a nap, your 3rd grader lost his reader, etc... It can be frustrating to find yourself 15 or 30 minutes behind and eventually this schedule gets tossed out the window! Personally, I like the idea of a schedule, but we aren't disciplined enough to pull it off, so we use a loosely scheduled routine. To create our daily routine I made a list of what subjects each child needed to complete daily and then marked whether they could be done independently, partially independently, or required my direct supervision. I then rearranged them in such a way as to have only one child at a time requiring my direct supervision. These are each plotted into a grid that I divide hourly. The kids always know what comes next and they know when they are finished.
Teach Independence When your children are capable of reading on their own you will find that they are ready and able to become more independent in some of their work. From pretty early on I try to teach my children to listen carefully to the instructions and then work independently to complete the work. My children alternate one-on-one time with me throughout the school day and it is during those times that I teach new concepts, make corrections, and give instruction for work to be completed. Each child's one-on-one time is not to be interrupted, so if one of my children has a problem while working independently they are to skip that problem and finish the work. If I am still working with a sibling they are to look at that problem again and see if they can figure it out. Usually they figure it out on their own and are able to move on to their next assignment, and if not I offer help as soon as I am free. Teaching your kids to be independent workers will ultimately be as good for them as it is for managing your time. Independent workers turn into great problem solvers!
Make Use of Older Siblings Often an older sibling can step in and help out with a younger brother or sister, freeing you to work one-on-one with the another child. If your older child is a good reader, try having him or her read aloud to a little sister or brother. My oldest child reads aloud to his little sister every day. I love the bond that it has created between them. She will always remember that he read some of her favorite stories to her. Older siblings can use flash cards to help teach colors, numbers, shapes, and letters. Alternatively, they can simply play games or help them complete a puzzle.
Combine Subjects Wherever Possible If you have children that are close in age you can take advantage of combined teaching. History, science, art, and foreign language are all subjects that lend themselves well to combining. Even with children that are two or three years apart combining still works with some modification. You would obviously require more retention and understanding from your older child and perhaps add additional reading or writing assignment to go along with the lesson. Combining subjects not only saves time, but it also has the added benefit of having your children working and learning together. I've often discovered that when my children are learning the same things at the same time it carries over into non-school times as well. One day last year, after my boys had been studying they same subject in history, I found them writing a puppet show related to the building of the Great Wall of China. Currently they are both interested in gardening and this is also carrying over from school times to non-school times. What a great way to enhance the knowledge they've acquired than to talk about it together and expand it into their daily play. This is a benefit to homeschooling that I don't believe you will find to be at all common in public schools!
Occupy the Little Ones Sometimes it's the littlest ones in our homes that can provide the biggest distractions to our homeschool day. Toddlers and preschoolers often just want to be a part of the activity centered around your homeschool. I have found that having special, school-time-only, activities available is usually enough to keep even the most persistent preschooler occupied while the older children need mom's direct attention. When my second son was a toddler I set up some activity boxes in a cabinet for him. The plastic shoe-box sized containers are perfect for this. It is important that the boxes contain only activities that the child can do on his or her own. It defeats the purpose if you give a 3 year old a 500 piece puzzle that will only serve to frustrate and reduce him to tears. My boxes included things like lacing shapes, counting bears, paper and stickers, crayons and a coloring book, puzzles, and play-doh. Occasionally, I would also dump a large canister of oatmeal into a shallow, but wide, plastic bin and add some scoops, spoons, and cups. This serves as an amazing "indoor sandbox", and the clean up is pretty simple--a broom and a dustpan or, even better, a dustbuster. On rare occasions, when nothing else worked, I have also been known to fill up a shallow bin with water and supply the same scoops and spoons along with a strainer and a funnel. This one was good for hours of play! If you set it up on the kitchen floor on a couple of towels, your mess is pretty limited too.

Then & Now

2011-04-14T06:00:00.002-05:00

July 2007, the day Gavin started taking guitar lessons.

Nearly four years later:

Wednesday Rambling

2011-04-13T08:38:00.000-05:00

Beautiful Day
It's the middle of the week, not the time we usually do park days or field trips or spontaneous zoo trips, but it is absolutely gorgeous outside. Sunny with a high of 82 degrees today. Here in central Mississippi those warm, but not hot enough to melt the makeup off of your face, days don't last too long. It's really tempting to take today off from school and just spend it soaking up the beautiful sunshine. Our 'official' spring break is planned for next week, however, when Ben will be home and when the kids' grandparents will be staying with us while the men work on a home repair project. So, as much as I'd rather not, we are still having a school day, although I can definitely envision us having lunch outside.

Caterpillars
Our caterpillars formed their chrysalids last weekend while I was away at the Extraordinary Women Conference. Four out of five of them formed right where they were supposed to, but the fifth is laying in the bottom of the cup.

Once the chrysalids are formed you are supposed to remove the lid and then lift off the disk of paper that they are attached to and hang it with tape in the butterfly habitat. Unfortunately, that didn't work with our caterpillars. We must have some unusual caterpillars who like to eat paper because apparently they ate away a circular area from their paper disk and are attached to the lid itself.

The only thing I could do is to put the lid in the bottom of the habitat. It leaves the chrysalids lying on their sides instead of hanging down, so I hope it doesn't affect their metamorphosis. If all goes well our butterflies should emerge a day or so after Ben gets home.

Two More Days
Ben will be home on Friday and we are counting down the days. I think everyone, including his older brother, misses him! I talked to him on the phone yesterday while he was on the train from DC To Raleigh, NC, and I asked him what was his favorite thing. Maybe it's because it was the most recent thing he'd done, but he told me it was dinner at Filomena's, where he had a 'mountain of spaghetti' and chocolate truffle cake. He gave his brother a different answer, but I think it's safe to say he's had a wonderful time!

This is one of the pictures that were taken this past week. They've both got their cameras! I love it! I bet this was a common sight this week in Washington, DC.

Top Ten Reasons To Be In Walmart During School Hours

2011-04-12T08:30:00.000-05:00

In a neighboring court district there is a storm brewing over a judge who has requested information on all of the homeschoolers in his district. There is no basis for this request and no case before the court that would justify it. You can read more about that here.

Of course the local newspaper has picked up the story and put their own spin on it. As usual, such stories prompt a myriad of comments from the public -- both those in favor of and those opposed to homeschool. This weekend's story in the Clarion Ledger prompted one person to make this comment about homeschoolers:

One thing that would help the image of home schooling is this......No trips to WalMart, a mall, restaurants or anywhere else except a doctor during school hours. Say 9-3. I see so many families in these places during school hours that it APPEARS little learning is going on. This would also help to figure out who is cutting school and who is not (which is impossible currently).

There are so many things I could say in response to this, beginning with the fact that it does not take six hours to homeschool an elementary student and in most cases even a middle schooler with good time management. Subtract the amount of time it takes to coordinate and move 25-30 small children from one place to another, the the time it takes to settle a classroom of 25-30 children when they get disruptive, the time a fast learner has to sit and wait on the rest of the class to catch up... I could go on and on. It simply does not take as long to homeschool as it does in a classroom.

All of that aside, however...here are the Top Ten Reasons for a homeschooler to be in WalMart during the hours of 9-3:

Your kid needs aluminum foil for a science experiment and you just realized they used it all last week building aluminum foil sailboats.

Today is your day off from school for the week. You school 4 days a week, year round.

Your 9 year old has the flu and after visiting the doctor you stop at Walmart for some sprite and chicken noodle soup. But perhaps, you should have considered waiting until the local schools were out.

You're on your way to a homeschool Easter party and just remembered you needed to bring 1 dozen treat-filled eggs for the egg-hunt!

You decided to do your grocery shopping during the week instead of on the weekend so that you could teach your 4th grader about unit pricing. He's struggling with that unit in math.

You're on vacation. Vacation spots are packed in the summer months so you decided to rearrange your schedule and take a vacation in the off season.

You ran out of printer ink. Enough said.

You're doing school in the evenings because your husband is working nights and the daytime is the only time he has with his family.

Your picking up the ingredients for a special recipe that your 6 year old is preparing for the family at lunch time for a lesson in home economics.

Your infant dropped your toothbrush in the toilet this morning.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #4

2011-04-10T16:49:00.001-05:00

In my life this week...

My middle child, Ben, left this past Sunday for a trip to Washington DC by way of Cary, NC. He is traveling with his grandparents and other family members. It's been a little strange here this week without him. It's definitely been a lot quieter, but it's also been a little less exciting without the energy he adds to the mix. Dare I say, almost boring? I sure do miss my sweet, excited, happy boy!

In our homeschool this week...

We took a break from our history curriculum while Ben is out of town. We all do history together and I didn't want Ben to miss out. Luci is also taking a science break, since she studies science with Ben. We are filling in with some great books from the library. Gavin's doing great with his math lessons. He loves the algebra stuff we've gotten too and said that if ALL of his math problems each day were algebraic he would love it! This week he worked on multiplying algebraic terms, multiple unit multipliers, diagonals & interior angles, and mixed-number & negative coefficients. Fun stuff :) Luci's learning to tell time to the quarter hour and how to count by 3's. She's still struggling with counting by 2's & 5's though, so I think we are going to slow down a bit and let her catch up. Gavin finished his research paper this week. His topic was "The Causes of the Civil War." Now I have the monumental task of grading it. (Any advice?)

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

The biggest thing this week (and the reason this is being posted today, Sunday, instead of last Friday) was my trip to the Extraordinary Women Conference in Pensacola, FL. I went with a group of women from my church and we had a wonderful time! It was like a really fun slumber party mixed with hearing some incredible Women of God speak from their hearts. We laughed, we cried, we sang, we laughed, we cried, we...well, you get the picture!
While I was gone on my trip, our homeschool group had a horseback riding field trip. In a change from the usual, it was Dad who took the kids on their field trip. After looking at the photos it's pretty clear that Luci had a great time riding and Gavin had a pretty good time hanging out with his friends.

My favorite thing this week was...

It's a toss up...The Extraordinary Women Conference was amazing! The speakers were fabulous and the sense of renewal I got is just...well, it is Extraordinary!
I also loved getting phone calls from Ben in Washington, DC! Each time I saw the familiar number on the caller ID I knew I'd hear his happy voice. He's having such a good time and I can't wait to see all of his pictures and hear in detail about his trip.

What's working/not working for us...

I've tried to think of something interesting to write here...but I'm drawing a blank. I have no major complaints about anything and I don't have any new grand ideas to share either. Maybe I'll have something next time...

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I'd love to hear from you If you've had any experience with Writing With Ease. I am thinking about using this with Luci next year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
Luci, in the saddle...

On Reading

2011-04-07T07:44:00.001-05:00

Books are important. It's how we learn. If I didn't know how to read books I wouldn't be able to read books to my children when I have them. ~Luci

TV. If kids are entertained by two letters, imagine the fun they'll have with twenty-six. Open your child's imagination. Open a book. ~ Author Unknown

Books had instant replay long before televised sports. ~Bern Williams

Books are the bees which carry the quickening pollen from one to another mind. ~James Russell Lowell

A house without books is like a room without windows. ~Heinrich Mann

There are many ways to enlarge your child's world. Love of books is the best of all. ~Jacqueline Kennedy

The more you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go. ~ Dr. Suess

Caterpillars

2011-04-06T09:38:00.000-05:00

Our caterpillars are growing like, er...well, like caterpillars! FAST!

This picture (not the greatest quality) was taken when they arrived last Wednesday. They were tiny!

And this photo was taken this morning, one week later...

I guess we'd all grow this fast if our only job in life was to eat, eat, eat!

Top Ten Favorite Bible Verses

2011-04-05T11:34:00.000-05:00

"For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future. Jeremiah 29:11

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who live him, who have been called according to his purpose. Romans 8:28

Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. Hebrews 11:1

So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. 2 Corinthians 4:18

How lovely is your dwelling place, O Lord Almighty! My soul yearns, even faints, for the courts of the Lord; my heart and my flesh cry out for the living God. Psalm 84:1-2

We are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. Romans 3:24

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Corinthians 5:17

Praise the Lord, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits -- who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's. Psalm 103:1-5

But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 2 Corinthians 12:9

How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! And that is what we are! 1 John 3:1

Library Day!

2011-04-04T17:16:00.000-05:00

I took the kids to the library this afternoon. We had a huge stack of Civil War and Railroad books to return now that our research projects have come to an end and I also wanted to take a look at a few books to add to our studies for the next couple of weeks. Ben is away on a trip to Washington, DC, and while he's gone a few of our regular subjects are put on hold. He and Gavin study history together (same spine, different readers) and he and Luci study science together. While I don't want to entirely skip those subjects, I also don't want to move forward without Ben. So I thought we'd supplement with a few library books.

Gavin checked out a biography of Abraham Lincoln and a just-for-fun book, Mockingjay (the third book in the Hunger Games series). The librarian who was helping him kept trying to direct him to the juvenile section of the non-fiction books, but I had to point out that Gavin reads on at least a 12th grade level.

Luci found an abundance of books about insects! After accumulating a pile of them on the children's table I asked her which ones she wanted to bring home. She looked at me and said, "How many can I get?" Her eyes got as big as quarters when I told her she could take home as many as she wanted. We ended up with seven titles. As soon as we got home she spread them out on the floor and started looking and reading...

And asking mom to read!

I also picked up a couple of books for myself. I haven't read any just-for-fun books in a couple of months. That's not to say I haven't been reading, I've just been reading heavier non-fiction books. I'm looking forward to sinking into the big red chair for some comfy reading, especially this evening as the rain and wind come. I am very eclectic in what I like to read and my bookshelves reflect that. Some of my favorite authors are Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, Jonathon Kellerman, and Dean Koontz. But today I chose books by unfamiliar authors, The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo by Stieg Larson and The Scent of Rain and Lightning by Nancy Pickard.

Giveaway Winner

2011-04-01T08:25:00.000-05:00

Congratulations to Marleen for winning the $20 gift certificate to DesignerBlogs.com. Marleen blogs at Momtastic Adventures. Hope you enjoy your makeover!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #3

2011-04-01T08:12:00.000-05:00

In my life this week...

My 20th high school reunion is in the planning stages. I'm actually thinking about going this year. I didn't go to my 10th reunion, but I'm not really sure I can pinpoint a reason why I didn't go. Maybe it was self-esteem, self-consciousness, or whatever. But I'm really at the point now where none of that matters. I know that some of my former class-mates might be more successful than others, but it helps to find my worth in how Jesus sees me rather than in what kind of car I drive or how big my house is.

In our homeschool this week...

We've actually had a very productive week. We finished everything on our schedule! That doesn't happen often. We got some caterpillars in the mail this week and the kids are watching them like hawks. They seemed to double in size overnight. We've been reading Carry On, Mr. Bowditch for our read aloud. This is our all-time favorite Sonlight read aloud (and we've read a LOT of read alouds!). We're also reading about Eli Whitney and the cotton gin.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Aside from the usual (and not so usual) church and extracurricular activities, it was a quiet week. That was much needed after the crazy week we had last week! This weekend my middle child is leaving with his grandparents for a trip to Washington, DC.

My favorite thing this week was...

On Wednesday afternoons Gavin has a piano lesson. For Ben and Luci, this means they need to bring along something to keep themselves occupied while we sit and wait for half an hour. Usually Luci brings things like crayons and paper, or her Nintendo DS, or even just a toy to play with. This Wednesday she asked if she could bring the Beginner's Bible and sit and read her Bible while we waited. It made this mommy heart melt!

What's working/not working for us...

Last week I purchased the download for the 2010-2011 Middle School planner from The Well Planned Day. It was significantly discounted, given the fact that most of the 2010-2011 school year is gone, but it was a small price to pay to get to use the product for the months of April, May, and June. We should definitely be able to judge whether this is a calendar/planner that is going to benefit Gavin with his time-management. I also ended up printing a page for Ben's work as well.

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

Do you homeschool year round or for a 9-month school year? Or something entirely different?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

I Really DON'T Have It All Together

2011-03-31T17:16:00.000-05:00

In my ladies Bible study last night we talked briefly about how we often try to act like we have it all together.

We want to seem as if...

we have perfect children

our house is always spotless

we always cook nutritious hot meals for our families

we are perfectly organized

our hair and makeup are always perfect

our homeschool is completely successful

we never yell at our children

we don't lose sleep over finances

and we never, never, ever, get stressed.

We have it ALL together!

Why do we do this?

I think in our nature to want people to respect us and think highly of us. We don't want them to see our weaknesses, only our strengths. I think this is especially true of moms, and maybe even more so of homeschool moms. Are we really doing anyone a favor though, by making them think we have it all together? Perhaps we might be better served by letting our weaknesses show ~ just a bit. And perhaps we might serve others better, by showing them that they don't have to be perfect.

So, here's my confession...

I do not have it all together!

I wake up each day and cringe at the size of my laundry piles. I do cook healthy & nutritious meals for my family, but not every single day. I might seem organized, but as you can see in the above photo, it's a struggle. Every minute of the day, it's a struggle! I do lose my cool with my children. I seldom wear makeup, and am lucky if I get to brush my hair on days when I'm not leaving the house. Our homeschool has problems and some days I wonder if I'm really cut out for this afterall. I DO lose sleep over our finances. And yes, I do get stressed (I'm just better at hiding it!).

My kids on the other hand, they are perfect. Aren't yours?

Ok, so maybe they don't behave perfectly all the time, but I love them anyway!

Randomly Wednesday

2011-03-30T15:39:00.004-05:00

Our sweet Suzy had surgery yesterday to prevent any future accidents. She's recovering in her crate where she can be quiet and peaceful without Memphis driving her crazy! Pretty soon she'll be running around again though and ready to go for walks with Ben and Luci.

Our caterpillar's arrived today. The kids were worried at first because they weren't moving. But since they got here they've moved all around their little cup. I was a little frustrated with myself for not thinking about the fact that Ben will be gone for part of the butterflies' metamorphosis. He'll be in Washington D.C. for several days, but should make it back home in time to see them emerge.

Along with our caterpillars, the kids also got a book on gardening. My mom sent this really great book for the kids to read and hopefully help them along in their gardening. We are planning to put down a small flower bed on the side of our house for them to tend to. Gavin is planning on giving a vegetable garden a third try after two unsuccessful years.

My new Sonlight catalog also showed up on the mailbox today. (Today was a great mail day!) I spent my lunch break browsing through the catalog and love what I see. I think the decision to change Core names to letters was brilliant! This will make it so much easier to emphasize the point that Cores are not grade-specific. Good job Sonlight!

I got the Instagram app on my iPhone this week and I LOVE it! This app is so much fun and turns boring iPhone pics into fun pictures. Got an iPhone? Get instagram.

It's time to think about some new bookshelves. Our current bookshelves came from Target, and while they seemed like semi-decent bookshelves at the time we purchased them, they are just not holding up under the weight we put on them with all of our books. One of them is close to falling completely apart and dumping hundreds of books on the floor. I'd really like to see about making our own versus buying more particle board bookshelves. Have any of you ever made your own bookshelves? Do you have pictures? On your blog perhaps? Do share your ideas!

Don't miss out on a great giveaway to celebrate my 300th post! Click here to be taken to the giveaway and thanks DesignerBlogs.com for kicking in half of this prize!

Four Inches

2011-03-28T11:23:00.000-05:00

This morning I turned to see Luci at the kitchen counter getting herself some grapes and it struck me suddenly how much she has grown these last few months! She just looked so tall standing there and it seems like just yesterday when her head barely reached the top of the counter. We measured and she's grown four inches since last October!

Monday's Mini-Goals

2011-03-28T07:00:00.005-05:00

I've been working hard at figuring out how to teach time management and personal accountability to my oldest son and in the process have learned that I could use a good bit of help in that area too. Often times when we start looking at all of the things that we need/want/must do it can get overwhelming. Large goals can seem monumental and giving up just seems easier. I think breaking it up into smaller, more manageable mini-goals might help to make it more doable.

Personal Goals
This week I really want to get back into the habit of spending time in the Word daily and writing in my prayer journal. The last couple of weeks seem to have derailed me and I am missing that quiet time each morning with my Savior.
I also want to get back into my routine of working out at least 4 times this week.

Household Goals
I want to tame the laundry beast that's taken over, clean the cabinet doors in the kitchen, and organize the utensil drawers.

Homeschool Goals
In our homeschool this week, my first goal is to check work daily! I also want to do something fun at least once a day and incorporate art at least once this week.

If you'd like to share your mini-goals for the week I'd love to read them. Please leave me a comment and a link if you do!

Blog Audience

2011-03-26T09:13:00.001-05:00

The Stats feature on blogger just fascinates me. I love to look and see who my readers are. Not surprisingly, most of my readers are in the United States. But what does surprise me is how many readers I have from around the world. The countries highlighted in green on the map above are the ten most frequent countries that make up my blog audience (since last May).

United States

Canada

South Korea

United Kingdom

Germany

Australia

Japan

Russia

Ukraine

France

But I've also received visits from people in Iran, Nigeria, Israel, Lebanon, Ireland, Kuwait, Poland, and many others!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #2

2011-03-25T09:12:00.001-05:00

In my life this week...
I got a blog makeover this week and I LOVE it! I used DesignerBlogs.com and was very pleased! If you need a blog makeover I highly recommend them.
In our homeschool this week...
Spring always makes it hard to be indoors doing school, so we took school outside a few times this week. It worked out really nice that we reached the unit on insects at such a perfect time of year for being outdoors.

The boys have been working on research papers for a few weeks now and they're working on the final stages now. Ben chose to write his paper on the beginnings of the railroad in America (are you surprised?) and Gavin chose to write his paper on the causes of the Civil War (again, are you surprised?). Gavin's topic was rather ambitious, but he was very eager. Yesterday while he was working on his outline he was trying to explain to me that some of the issues were hard to put into words. To get his point across he said, "This complex topic was a lot less complex when I knew less about it." Haven't we all felt that way at times?
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
It seems like we've been on the go all week long. The only day we stayed home all day was Monday. Any homeschool 'socialization' skeptic could take one look at my family and be convinced that socialization is not an issue! Between karate, piano, church, and homeschool activities our kids have more friends than we can keep up with.
My favorite thing this week was...
Luci noticed her brother typing his research outline on the laptop and asked if we could set her up to write on the computer as well. So we set her up with a Word window and just let her go. Every now and then she would ask us how to spell something, but for the most part she attempted it all on her own. Here is her finished product, completely unedited by me (think phonetically and you'll be able to read it):

A Princess

Wunse apn a tim ther wus a princess her nam was Luci. She liked to go outside and pick flowers with her friends. and then they sit and hav tea, Then they go in hr room and play with her toys. Then play outside with a ball then go to the car and go to the park and pik up rocks and slid and go to the car, then the stor get grosheys then go to the casl to slep becus it wus bed tim. The necs day was Sunday and she wet to the church she wet to her sndescol. Then she wnt to bed beycas it was bed tim the necst day was munday at nite tim luci had to cook bycas it was her tarn too cook tonight like too cook. they end

What's working/not working for us...
Right now things are working pretty good...
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
I need to hear from homeschoolers of teenagers. How do you teach time management? Can you teach time management or is it an innate skill?
A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
This is a photo of the elusive creature known as the teenage boy. This creature doesn't like to be photographed so the photographer must get sneaky. To get this shot I had to position myself at a window, quietly open the window so as not to give myself away, slip the camera out of the window through a small hole in the screen and click.

More Insect Fun

2011-03-24T10:19:00.000-05:00

Did you know there are 18,000 kinds of grasshoppers in the world? And that the longest grasshopper is an astounding 11 inches long?

Did you know that dragonflies are the fastest flying insects, flying at speeds of 50 to 60 miles per hour?

This past Christmas Ben received an insect model kit from a family member and he's been anxiously waiting for the time to come when he could pull it out. It took us a bit longer to get to the insect unit than I'd planned, but we finally made it and he couldn't wait to get started. Since Luci and Ben are studying insects together, of course she wanted to participate, too.

This model kit is made by a company called Bloco Toys. Each model is built using thick foam pieces and round plastic connectors.

The models were a little complex for Luci, but with help she managed to put together the grasshopper...

while Ben put together the dragonfly. I was very impressed with how well he could read and follow the instructions. He said it was all thanks to his Legos. I'm not surprised!

These insect models are great for showing the parts of an insect -- the head, abdomen and thorax.

We've got more insect fun coming... we just got a butterfly kit in the mail today from my mom (aka Maw Maw) and we'll be sending off for our Painted Lady Caterpillars!

Another Thing I Like About Homeschooling

2011-03-23T08:23:00.000-05:00

There are so many things to like about homeschooling.

I could write about all of the academic advantages. Things like being able to teach my children in the way they learn best, working at their own individual pace instead of a classroom full of children, and teaching with a real love for learning as the goal instead of just making a grade on a standardized test.

Or, I could write about the flexibility homeschool provides. We aren't tied down to a school calendar, or typical school hours. We have more freedom to enjoy spontaneous zoo trips, spring days, or off season (cheaper!) vacations.

I could also write about the advantages of being able to freely include our spiritual beliefs in our homeschool. God, as Creator and Lord of all, is interweaved throughout our entire curriculum.

But, today, one thing I really like about homeschooling is what it does for our family.

The boys had gone outside for a creative writing assignment and Luci wanted to go out to do her math worksheet. I found her and Ben sitting side by side and I paused to watch for a while as they worked.

Every now and then Luci would let out an exasperated sigh, which indicated her math was frustrating. Ben would lean over and help her through her problem.

I loved seeing the interaction between the two of them as they worked side by side. I wish I could say they were always this sweet with each other, but I'll take the sweet moments as they come!

New Look

2011-03-22T22:51:00.002-05:00

Notice anything different?

I purchased a pre-made blog design from DesignerBlogs.com as a gift to myself for my birthday. I highly recommend DesignerBlogs.com if your considering a blog makeover for yourself. There are a variety of pre-made designs & basic templates starting at just $10 or you can splurge for a custom design if it fits in your budget.

Let me know what you think about my new look.

Top Ten Things I LOVE About Spring

2011-03-22T10:07:00.001-05:00

Ice Cream in the Park

Moon Watching on the Back Porch

Azaleas in Bloom

Taking Science Outdoors

Tank Tops & Flip Flops

Green Everywhere

Bird Watching from our School Room

Curriculum Catalogs

Taking Readers Outside

The Oldest Teaching the Youngest What He Knows About Gardening

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-03-21T20:43:00.001-05:00

Over the last several weeks I've enjoyed reading various blogger's entries for The Homeschool Mother's Journal weekly link up, hosted by Sue at The Homeschool Chick. I decided to join in this weekly meme beginning this week.

In my life this week...
I celebrated my 38th birthday this past Friday. I cannot think of a birthday I've ever enjoyed more! My family and friends made me feel very loved and appreciated and I am so grateful to have been so blessed!

In our homeschool this week...
I didn't intend to take Spring Break last week because we're planning to take time off in April when Ben goes to Washington DC and the following week when we have plans to do some work on the house. Things changed though and we ended up taking most of the week off. On Wednesday Luci had a few friends over to plant Fairy Gardens and on Friday we had an Ice Cream Play Date at the park with homeschool friends. It was the kind of homeschool week where, while I might wish we'd gotten more school work done, I'm grateful for the flexibility of homeschooling so that we can enjoy the pleasures of the changing seasons.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...
As I mentioned, we had a couple of opportunities this past week to visit with homeschool friends. We also had an opportunity to see some race cars this weekend at our church. Some of the drivers who race at our local speedway brought their cars out for the kids to look at and climb into. They loved the cars and also enjoyed getting their flags signed by the drivers.

My favorite thing this week was...
going shopping with birthday money and getting to the dressing room with an arm full of clothes only to discover that everything I'd picked out to try on was a size too big!

What's working/not working for us...
The new schedule sheets I started making several weeks back have been wonderful! I've made a few changes in the way we use them, but having everything, for all three children, right in front of me makes it so much simpler!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
It's curriculum catalog season! Last week I received 5 homeschool catalogs in the mail. I love perusing the curriculum catalogs, even for curriculum companies that we don't use. It helps me in being sure I'm making the right choices for my family. I've got a soon-to-be-eighth-grader and plans for the coming year(s) are weighing heavy on my mind! Can I really handle homeschooling a high schooler?

A photo, video, link, or quote to share...

A Fairy Garden...

Investigating Insects

2011-03-21T17:44:00.001-05:00

Luci and Ben started their investigation of insects this week. Whether you love 'em or hate 'em, whether you find them interesting or consider them pests, insects are an important part of our world.

Albert Einstein is reported to have once said, "If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe then man would have only four years of life left."

I, for one, am glad that God included insects in his design!

Our module on insects began today with a basic introduction to insects, which included, among other things, the fact that insects are cold blooded. This means that when the air is warm their bodies are warm and when it is cold their bodies are cold. When they get cold their bodies start to slow down.

To demonstrate this the kids were supposed to capture an insect in a glass jar and put it in the refrigerator for a few hours. When it dawned on the kids that they were expected to catch the insect themselves, which might mean TOUCHING a bug, this was their reaction:

Ben cringes at the idea of touching a bug.
Luci laughs at the absurdity!

After turning over a few things in the yard...

and looking, with great hesitation, through a couple of bushes & plants...

they enlisted the help of their daddy, who declared that he didn't know what this world was coming to that two kids couldn't go out and catch a silly little bug.

In no time at all he caught them a bug.

They observed how quickly their insect flittered about in the jar...

and then put it in the refrigerator to chill.

And exactly as they expected, the insect slowed down to where it was barely even moving. A few hours later they put the jar on the table to let the insect warm up a bit. It's moving so fast now that it just looks like a blur in this photo.

More insect fun to come in the days ahead!

Homeschool Musings

Word Problems & Luci

It's Been a While...

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #12

A Day In the Life of a Homeschool Family

Up To My Eyeballs

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #11

Writing a Paragraph With Luci

The Homeschool Cafeteria

Day 2

And It Begins...

Luci ~ 2nd Grade

Ben ~ 5th Grade

Gavin ~ 8th Grade

Our Homeschool Room

Miss Me?

Curriculum for Sale

Summer's Here

Cereal Box Book Report

Field Trip: Audubon Insectarium in New Orleans

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #10

Gavin's Piano Recital, First Year

2011-2012 Curriculum Plans

Luci Sparring

A Tale of Two Science Experiments

Top Ten: Homeschool Products I'm Excited About Adding to Our Curriculum

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #9

TOS Homeschool Crew Reviews: My Favorites

When the Going Gets Tough...

Top Ten iPhone Apps

What We're Reading This Week

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #8

Ristorante Utalylonta

A Few of My Favorite Homeschool Resources

Top Ten Tips for Getting Kids Involved In the Kitchen

Organizing Our Day

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #7

Planning for High School

Sometimes

Circle of Moms: Top 25 Homeschooling Blogs

Top Ten Tuesday: Library Books

Spring Break

Oh Glorious Day!

My Kids

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #6

Luci's Stationary Bike

A Very Butterfly Day

Butterfly Release

Top Ten Things My Daughter Says When She Cleans Her Room

Keeping Holy Week a Holy Week

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #5

How Do I Juggle Multiple Homeschool Children

Then & Now

Wednesday Rambling

Top Ten Reasons To Be In Walmart During School Hours

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #4

On Reading

Caterpillars

Top Ten Favorite Bible Verses

Library Day!

Giveaway Winner

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #3

I Really DON'T Have It All Together

Randomly Wednesday

Top Ten Posts and an Anniversary Giveaway

Four Inches

Monday's Mini-Goals

Blog Audience

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #2

More Insect Fun

Another Thing I Like About Homeschooling

New Look

Top Ten Things I LOVE About Spring

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Investigating Insects