Ultimate Blog Party 2011

BOOYAH! It is party time.  I am excited to once again take part in this fun Blog party!  So the gist of the party is to you know-work the "room" and meet folks, mention a little ditty about yourself and so-here we are.

This is my main blog.  I started this one to serve as my welcome center and basic "what's going on in our lives" update blog.  My name is Sheri, I am Christian, I have been a wife for 23 years to my BFF Dave, and a mom for just about as long-as we have 4 beauties.

We've been HSing for over 16 yrs, and I love to blog-hence the reason I have 5 of them.  We're starting our path toward adoption of a special needs child, and so be sure to come back often and follow up on our life, our hsing adventures and just stupid, random posts.

I also encourage you to visit Reece's Rainbow's homepage to read about these precious, precious babies.  Even if you have no intention of ever adopting, many families have that calling and are in need of financial assistance to procure their child's "ransom" from a sure death sentence, and most assuredly can use your prayers!

Finally, I penned a ditty on each of my blogs, so that you could read up on their purpose and intent.  I hope you will decide to follow me and visit often.  My whole goal is to help others and bless them with ideas/projects and info. And if you are on FB-I have the link on my side bar-hope you FB friend me too!

What's in the Box? (workbox blog)

1 of 100 TOS Crew Review Blog (hs and various product reviews)

Homeschooling thoughts-not to give up

Well, here we are-almost done with January of a new year and I wonder if I have lived up to my hopes for this school year. I started out all geeked and ready-huge difference in getting into the groove and accomplishing things. Then we had the unexpected trip to Hawaii with my hubby, so that took out about 3 weeks worth of time-mostly recovery from the time change! Then it started rolling into the holiday season and I felt overwhelmed, like I didn't do much. But after going back through all the paperwork, lapbooks, and such-I see that we did do some stuff and mostly stayed on track. So that was definitely an uplifting moment-cuz I really felt like I bombed it.

But even though we have not accomplished what I had hoped by this point in the year-I can say we are working toward our goals and that alone is worth a high five. My biggest problem is that I have not simply had the time I wanted to get my pre-planning and printing/cutting/packaging for future use done. I dunno why really, but I am sluggish in that department of late. SO my goal between now and mid-Feb. is to get some of it done and sketched out to help guide us. I need to be focused and sadly, I have not been. I wonder what is up with me? I only have to do a quick flip thru my memory cells to know that answer, and need to cut myself some slack-but I also need to get my rear in gear.

SO what do I want to accomplish with the kiddos this next term?

For the teen: get her through her Life of Fred book (which is so not how I learn math) and move her into Consumer Math. Wrap up the dreaded Biology that has taken forEVER to get thru (b/cuz we don't do it every day) and start her in Astronomy soon. Continue working her through the IEW module and then carry that idea over to other subjects so she gets plenty of writing experience. Start her on ACT practice (which I am not sure if she will even take yet-testing is a struggle for her and I dunno if she really even needs it...I know our local Comm. College doesn't require it to be admitted)...and continue on with our artist study (Winslow and Grandma Moses), another Composer (??) and one more Shakespeare play. She will also move along in her Copywork material, LLATL (almost done) and History. Once that history is done-I may have her go back to Medieval or Ancient history...or simply read more 20th Century books covering the Vietnam war and beyond. I haven't decided just yet. That is the basic hope anyway.

For the boy: continue working him through the Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading and get him fluent in reading (huge struggle that is taking forEVER due to his dyslexia), continue him on with his copywork, history (American), wrap up his Astronomy and move him to a bunch of fun experiments until we start the Flying Creatures on the 5th Day, in the early summer; and keep up the pace with one FIAR book (IV set) per month, and a couple various lapbooks too. He is continuing through his Abeka grade 3 math book but has hit a snag with division-so I have to stop for a week or two and have him work on hands-on projects that get that concept thru to him.

Both kids are working through their Bible studies as planned (Yippeeee) and we started the Narnia Chronicles and will work through each book until we are done. That is their big lit. projects and when I can I add some fun, out of the ordinary things to liven up our days.

Can I do it? I dunno-but I have hope and am praying for perseverance. I will try my best. Only time will tell...but the reason I am posting all this gobbleygoop is that I am seeing that this is a huge time of the year when others are fading so fast and losing hope. They are toast- and many we simply cannot blame, they have some big issues to deal with-but I so hate to see others throw in the towel. I am not foolish enough to think that everyone is meant to homeschool, or continue hsing all the way thru to graduation...but too many are giving up too soon. It is a battle and a big one. And there are plenty of Satan motivated days that almost snap even the hardiest warrior in half. Those are the times when you must pull back and hit the floor in prayer. Stop all extra commitments and clean house (meaning getting rid of laborious, tedious and non-essential curriculum/work) to just focus on being a family. Take more days off during the week to do some game playing, snuggling whilst reading a good book, baking, crafting, field trips and laughing! The math will always be there. The science can wait. You can work back into a reg. routine soon enough. Changing up how you homeschool can bring in such refreshing change that you'll wonder why you didn't try it sooner. Sometimes we (the parent) are so fearful we'll mess the kids up, set them behind their peers, or miss teaching them something utterly important-well, after these many years of hsing, I can tell you this...

you will miss stuff
you will mess them up at times
you will be behind in things
and you will on occasion-lose your marbles
you may yell
you may cry
you may wonder why God created children
you may plot a one way trip for yourself to Rancho Relaxo to never be seen or heard from again
and you may, you may
think you will never get through another day with these creatures

But as someone who has been there and felt the whole gamut of emotions-turn those thoughts around and consider these things too-it makes all the difference:

you are your child's best teacher
you love your child and know them best
you have the Lord on your side-where you miss, mess up and/or (unavoidably)create gaps-HE can fill and bring those lessons to them when HE needs them to have them
you cannot be it all and neither can a school system or someone else
GOD provides you with everything you need-you just need to pray, ask and wait
you will never get back those moments (good, bad or indifferent) and they fly by!
you will never, ever regret those tender moments and prob'ly will get a good family chuckle out of the bad moments down the road
and most importantly
the most worthy, and noble things in life come only by hard work, dedication and a lot of sweat and tears. This is not a picnic folks-it takes grit. It takes more than most are willing to even try for because it is hard! Let it instead, be a part of who you are, the way you live-not something you compartmentalize into "school stuff". Lowering our expectations to their abilities, not what we think they should be-but what they really are, then add a dash of encouragement, so they push for just beyond that. Recognize your child's "trigger" points and work the schedule around them-not the other way around (so if you child has frequent melt-downs by 1 pm-focus on getting the work done before then so they can have free time all afternoon). Do shorter lesson periods (this is a biggie-no 6 year old needs an hour of math per day-15-20 min is way more than needed), engage in more hands on things that yes-teach (baking, building, sewing, etc.), and most importantly-
stop worrying about everyone else's kids and how yours measure up to them-no child should ever have to bear that albatross around their neck. God created each of us to be individuals, with our unique and beautiful talents/skills. Encourage them to work past their road blocks, and always expect just a bit more than what they can do-and even if they don't reach it-praise them for their dedication, hard work and effort.

And remember-if they are being little stinkers and are fighting you tooth and nail-that is not an academic issue-
it is an issue of the heart.
and that needs to be dealt with before any of the disruptive school behavior is resolved.

I hope this brings some thoughts and ideas to you and helps you to continue forth.  Look to God to help you walk the tough times, so that you can bask in the blessings you will bear when your journey ends.  Sometimes it is us-the parent-that needs to die to self and start walking as Christ demands us to-in love and not out of selfish gain.  Tall order, but doable.  He will always provide for you and He will never ask more of you than can tolerate.

Trying it again-The Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading program

So, if you follow my review blog 1 of 100 (plus 25) TOS Crew Reviews, then you may remember a product I was given to test out the Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading back in 2008/09 {I didn't seem like a good fit for us then}.  At the time, I was overwhelmed with several things, and so this one just seemed to frustrate and confound me and the boy.  I knew it could work, I just wasn't sure if my dyslexic child could "handle" it and if I could ever figure out how to teach it.  I had to put it aside for a time....well to just last week actually.

Our biggest struggle with this child, is that he is the most dyslexic of our [only our oldest child is not] children afflicted by it (and yes-it is an affliction....doesn't mean you cannot succeed and do well in life-it just means it takes longer to learn some things-such as reading; and one needs to find ways to work with and around it).  So we have been going over and over and over the same concepts and getting just about no where.  I am exhausted, he is downtrodden by it and yet-we cannot give up and "chuck it" out the window.  He needs to read-for life!  So, after trying several dyslexic friendly programs, reading several books (some more than once  or even more than twice), and repeating (kind of like the movie "Groundhog's Day") the same material hoping for a break thru....(and granted we have had some) but it is not where he needs to be-we're giving this a try again. 

Now this post is not meant to slam my precious child-but rather to give hope to those who are in the same  boat with me...to encourage and offer another option to try. I want to write about this because I have watched my other 2 precious dyslexics struggle, struggle some more, start to figure it out, get on track and then with patience and time-read and read well.   LIKE really well-so there is hope- it can be worked through, it can be squashed folks-it can.

If you personally do not have a child with dyslexia, then what I am penning may sound well-odd.  Aren't all kids suppose to be reading fairly well by oh-6 or 7?  If you don't have a child who has more than the average struggles in reading-then you cannot understand the depth and scope of the issue.  That is a whole 'nother post...but suffice it to say-most children with it (depending on the intensity of it) it is a daily battle to have their brain interpret the printed word.  It is also a struggle for the one trying to teach them to read (and retain what they know) and to persevere.  It simply breaks our hearts and can (if not properly handled) destroy any love of reading (let alone the ability to do so) for the child.  

Anyhoo-I am all about giving the dyslexic child the time they need to "get it" and some kids take longer than others-but he himself has shown he is embarrassed at times by it, and definitely frustrated that he cannot read as well as his counterparts.  So our goal this year is to get him reading at a level that is closer to his age mates.  We'll take it as it comes, and keep plodding along-hopefully, with more success.  

That said-I was in prayer, and lo and behold-the Lord put that program in my heart.  OK, I can do it -as long as I can figure out what  I am suppose to do  and do it right. I watched the intro video again, scoured thru the material again, and decided to give it another shot.  So-here we are, 2 weeks into it and so far, so good.  He knows some of what we are covering, and that is making it easier.  We didn't need to do the alphabet part and such, and we have been able to go thru most the vowel teams fairly well...so we are into week 4 now and  finding (his words) that he "likes this program."  GOOD!  That is half the battle.  So one of the ideas is to have the children make letters/vowel teams, etc. out of clay or write in sand (altho his father would whoop his behind if he wrote the letters on a dirty car [one suggestion by the author]-bad, BAD idea there-writing words in the dust/dirt of a vehicle scratches the paint-and if it is a newer car, you can kiss that shiny coating good-bye....don't do it!) so I had him make Play-Doh  ropes to build the vowel teams...here are some shots to 'splain it....

I had him use different colors for the different groups. The red dots are above the ones that are "never" used at the end of a word-kind of a visual to help his remember (and it worked).

I was finding he could remember the sounds these teams make when shown the flashcards-but (common for dyslexics-at least my kids)...but when the time came to write it "cold" or do this activity...he struggled.  This uses several areas (visual, kinesthetic, and tactile) which is helping cement them into the brain there for him.  It will have to be done a lot tho (he forgot a few sounds today when I quizzed him)-but we'll keep on keeping on 

I am excited to see if this may be the answer we have been so prayerfully looking for.  I think I will cry when we get to week 5.  Especially if he gets through it successfully-without too many glitches.  I will keep you posted....

I am going to update (probably once per month) on his progress.  Perhaps this will bless a few other folks who are in this battle with me.  If anything-someday my boy will be able to read about this journey we've been on.  I think this will be quite a lesson in perseverance for us both.   

**now some tips just in case you wanna borrow em :  

for the ay and ai-we say "this is what the Fonz says" (yes, my kids know the Fonz cuz we watch the Happy Days reruns) so he actually remembers with that clue. [aayyyhhh]

for the oy and oi-I tap my forehead like I forgot something-it helps him too. [oiiiiii]

I will add more when we create em as we go thru this....I am all about clues man-all about em.  :0)

The Outdoor Hour Challenge -Queen's Anne Lace

Today was a beautiful day-picture perfect. I couldn't resist the call to nature-so I printed off the notebook page on the Queen Anne's Lace study, grabbed Anna Comstock's Handbook of Nature Study, the kids' nature supply totes and well-the kids.  We went to up the to the "hill prairie" (another section of our sub that has not been developed)...and found quite a abundance of the precious weed...here are some pics.....

We chose to use on pencils in our sketches this time.  Since this is a year long study, we have plenty of opportunities to use several other mediums...which will be fun to compare.  Unfortunately, it doesn't photograph well-I tried to darken them a bit so you could see.  

The boy's (he dictated and I wrote what he observed)

The teen's (she decided she would do more observation than drawing 

because once she starts-she gets very detailed..so this is her quick sketch)

I did a bit of both.  The object here is not to sketch a perfect looking likeness, but to 

learn to observe, and take in the amazing handiwork of our Lord.  

You can find out all about this great The Outdoor Hour study on Barb's Handbook of Nature Study blog-which is an awesome place to visit!  

New site for homeschoolers offers free stuff-yes!

So lookie what I had found out about...Lapbook Lessons and Curriculum Share are giving away this awesome new Time Travelers kit from Homeschool in the Woods.  I love HS in the Woods stuff! I was even fortunate to review a couple items of hers whilst on my TOS cruise...you can read about those here:
Olde World Maps and the New Testament Lapbook Kit.

HS in the Woods Giveaway

Visit this great new site: Curriculum Share

This is one sweet idea!

I am always excited to share ways for HSers to expand their repertoire and jazz up their studies-and this is certainly one way to do so!

*I am simply sharing info here-no financial or other compensation was received for doing so.  I could win this giveaway-but that is not necessarily my reason for blogging about it.

Not Back to School Blog Hop-My Classroom week 2

OK, week 2 and it is all about the classroom area/learning area. Well now folks-before I go any further you need to understand something.  I have not always enjoyed the benefit of having a space I could call our "classroom" and in fact, it only within the last 2 years or so that I have had one that I am satisfied with, and actually enjoy.  You see, I have been doing this for so long, and due to space limitations of the homesteads over the years-have had to adjust and make do.  So here I am today, with the almost (cuz I am lacking the table area and rain gutter shelves and a few odds and ends) perfect room for us.  So please don't feel sad that you don't have something like this.  For years I had to run to the basement, find the right tub of books, heave it out into an open area, dig thru it and pull out what we needed, then heave it back into the pile, run back up stairs and try to teach.  Usually at that point, my students had gone AWOL or just lost interest...and we would sit around the dining room table and clutter it up faster than the shelves are cleared out at a Kmart Blue Light Special event! LOL.  We have shifted and tucked books into any nook and cranny we could find, moved and repositioned areas-to try to get a somewhat helpful area for it all- and usually it was not a success.  SOOOOO, this is a room that has been 16 ish years or so, and the sad thing is, I only have 2 students left to enjoy it.

OH, and we do not use only this room-we move to the "office" which is our couch for a lot of the read alouds and activities, the kitchen table (when Dad doesn't have it all jumbo-gumbo'd up with his office work/puter) and yes-we even school in the teacher's lounge (IE: my bed) so this is our central station, then we scoot out during different times, to get a change of scenery.  

The tables are MIA at this point (taken prior to purchasing them) but they are there now, so once I get them cleaned up enough to see them (not the piles of books and junk on them) I will post it.

so this is what you see when you turn to the right upon entering our home-not the most ideal location, but it was the only free room. So much for my stance on keeping the library a retreat room for adults-LOL.  We just rearranged the room within the last month or so and if you wanna see what a nightmare that was-then check out this post I wrote earlier this summer, it gives you a glimpse of just how many books one can squeeze on those shelves!  LOL

There will be a table (from IKEA and a couple chairs dead center there-so it won't be so roomy.  This is not a huge room, so it'll be tight, but it is nice to have the area dedicated-mostly so I can find the stuff rather easily.

Those shelves on the left-that is my teens workbox system (IKEA Trofast series), then those 3 cabinets under the dry erase board are where I hide all my science goodies, math/reading stuff, then my paper cabinet which is loaded with spiral ntbks, cardstock, glues/painting stuff, folders, loose-leaf paper, and my collection of construction and drawing papers. That is my favorite cabinet!  

yes, this is blurry for whatever reason-I think I had it on the wrong setting but cuz the sun is up front on the house now-the flash won't work and so what I get is a dark shot...but I have included one that is a bit less fuzzy.  The TV will be used on occasion for history videos and such, then I have an old fashioned radio that plays cassettes cuz yes-some of us still have those (and I refuse to buy a new CD when I already own it in a cassette form cuz I only have one main student left-my teen has already used those such things), and those 3 totes are where I am storing my current FIAR books, lapbooks, and State Study materials/books.

our goal is to create a window seat and curtain-but alas, there is not enough time right now...so it is an all-purpose shelf.  This faces the front of the house, we get a pretty view most of the day til the sun comes in and blinds the snot out of us...[UPDATE: I laugh at this part-what's there now- a discombobulation of a laminator, a radio, several 3 ring binders for my son's stuff, and a couple piles of stuff....so as pretty as this looks here-this is not how it looks now].

found these babies at the Dollar Tree-wasn't that nice of them to stock their shelves with these fold-able totes that just happen to match my decor?  [UPDATE:  these are no longer used for this stuff-the lapbooks are in 3 ring binders, the other stuff in various areas and these have workbooks and projects stuffed in them].

The section with the teacher's shelf and another shelf is on the other side of the window, but right now it is a total disaster, so no pic.  Sorry.

OK, so you have moved from the front look to the right around the room-after my work area is the large opening/door that is open to the front hall (bath across the way-very handy for potty breaks and with the front door there, I can make a mad dash outta the house and off to the looney bin when things get tough) and are now looking at that wall on the left of the first pic.  This is where a 5 ft section X 2, of the rain gutter shelving units will go.  I want to display the history and science books that we will be using or are extras discussing the subjects we are studying.  That little curved shelf to the right, is where I have some of those mini-totes which hold my son's readers, misc. stuff and the bottom has my boxes with my cards for their schedule books.  Their number cards and schedule books are temporarily in their dump/finished work holders til I figure out where they will live.  

UPDATE (Nov. 2011):  I have IKEA tables but not the fancy ones I wanted, instead we bought the $20 ones that have a white top and black pole legs.  They are perfect and light weight enough for my need to constantly move stuff around.  We bought some black rolling chairs from them too.  I actually bought 4 tables, but it was too crowed in this tight area so I took one out so we now have a bit more room to walk around.  We still have not put up any gutter shelves. OI.  Just not enough room...and I don't see where I could put some outside of over the IKEA shelves. That still may happen-not sure.  


I just didn't get to organizing much this past summer and so the classroom is a bit of a mess.  Not something I am proud of and it is rather embarrassing b/cuz as I already pointed out-it's the first room folks see when entering the house. Perhaps over Christmas break I can figure that out.  What I need is a room double the size-I have too much school stuff!  LOL  But seriously, a big room where I could have some areas specifically set aside would be awesome. But this is a good set up for now and I will continue to dream.  


Anyhoo-that is our education area.  Of course, the couch wins every time and lately the kitchen island has become rather popular for science experiments, crafts and other fun time activities.   

The "Not" Back to School Blog Hop-Week 1, Curriculum Choices

This is the first time I have taken part of this fun blog hop and am looking forward to reading what others are going to use (nosy I guess? LOL). 

I have 2 students this year-one Jr in HS and the other will be in mostly 3rd grade materials.  I will start with the high schooler and then do the boy's materials. 

HS Jr Girl:

 

Math: Life of Fred-Beginning Algebra this year.  We will focus on math the entire school season, and do the Advanced Algebra level, once the first book is completed. After struggling terribly with just about every curricula for it-we took the year off (outside of some minor math projects, etc) to recoup.  Her career choice is not math dependent so we do not need to have her complete Calculus prior to graduation-we'll be satisfied with a good general knowledge of algebra and then focus her Senior year on consumer math.

Science:  We just need to wrap up a couple more modules of her Apologia Biology to be done.  I had hoped to get this completed over the summer, but after the crazy busy year we had, esp. the spring, along with a couple trips-we didn't get to it.  We will also be working on her science notebook (general post about it) (and also, you can read about the additional post about some pages we included too) like before. Then once done-we'll not do science until next year.  We need to make the math priority-so outside of nature study projects, that will be it.

History:  We will pick up where we left off in the All American History Vol 2 book that we started last fall. We do a variety of activities, such as notebooking, projects and such to go with this. 

Geography: Continue with Mapping the World by Heart. We started it, then had to set is aside, and altho she knows the basics, I would like her to have a better detailed knowledge than she does, so we'll give it another go.  Plus, I am covering the US States with my son, so she will do a lighter level of it as a refresher [since we haven't done it in several years with her].  The maps we'll use are from a great map set by HS in the Woods-their Olde World Style US Maps.  I love these, and they will make a lovely notebook from it.  

Language Arts:  Continue wrapping up the Learning Lang. Arts Through Literature-Gold/American series-we have just a few more sections I want to hit.  Once done-we'll move on to the Brit. Lit or focus more on the writing criteria.  I want her to have one good research and one good essay done by the year's end.  This will require time to do the research/reading/actual paper(s)...so that is our focus.  I will also have her do the Advanced Winston Grammar series...I like to spend time on the structure and details closer to when the student will need to take the ACT tests-we work on it generally all through the school years, but this series is excellent and really keeps it fresh for that testing purpose. 

 She will also work through a couple ACT Prep books a few times per week, to start getting her into that mode.  We use the Real ACT Prep Guide and the Procrastinator's Guide to the ACT 2011 (altho we have the 2004 book and it'll have to do).  With all the good literature my kids read, the narration, and copywork-they have a pretty good prep for this.  Our goal is not to have them get a perfect score-but take it to help with poss. scholarships and over ride some of the entry level courses colleges have as prerequisite...sometimes they can jump ahead to the higher levels simply by their scores. 

Like I mentioned-we do copywork from various sources and this year-we'll include Queen's Copywork for girls and the Thematic Copywork Lessons-Lessons from Leaders (which actually is for the history lessons).  


Bible: I saved this one for last, because I simply do not know exactly what I am doing here-I have a couple ideas, and will have her read literature based on Christ and his life and so forth-but have not made my final decision-so this remains as my last hurdle to tackle when it comes to her line-up.


We'll also throw in 2 artists/musicians to study as well (for both kids to do).  That is on top of working on getting her driving time in for driver's ed, and the usual life things.  


We do NOT do every subject every day (except for Bible/Character study)-I try to do keep it so it doesn't become so mundane that they fall asleep whilst doing their lessons.  By having history/math and L.Arts on some days-science/copywork/nature study/etc. on the others [or whatever] it helps avoid the boredom.  


Remember too-in college and lots of high schools now a days-they do not have the same subjects every semester/all year long (math, science, history, lan. arts) but rather do a semester's worth of whatever and may not hit that subject again for another year or 2.  So don't feel you have to do every subject, every day, every year during the high school years!  You don't.  In fact, by not doing so-you will give your student a better idea of what they will experience in college.  Sorry, just had to point that out.  If you have a high schooler or will soon-you are welcome to download the notes on a lecture I presented-it offers up more ideas/links/helps on schooling your teens...you can find that on our HOPE Ministries site.  

As for my 3rd grade son:

Science:  We'll continue wrapping up our study of Apologia's Exploring Creation with Astronomy.  I don't push a ton of science in the earlier years-formal that is, so we are taking our time.  We have to finish Mars and the rest of em.  I also have him working on continuing his Lapinder on it (first post) [another post] in conjunction with our Science Center activities.  We will also have some projects through our FIAR Bk 4 studies too.  My goal is to do much more nature study too.  So I will work that in when ever I can.

Math:  Abeka Arithmetic 3, various games, math living literature [list of books and another list], little tie in activities [great site: Home Education Resources and Enchanted Learning (membership is so worth it) and Homeschool Share (lapbook and FIAR projects, plus check the Workboxables cuz there are lots of ideas there too) to just list a few].

History:  LOVE, LOVE Beautiful Feet Books history programs! We'll be continuing on with this series-Early Am. History with our notebook too.  Since he is young enough-we stroll through at a leisurely pace and truly take the time to enjoy this stuff.  We'll be picking up with George Washington (which is awesome cuz last summer we visited his house MT. Vernon)...we'll probably do some crafts, mini-projects and such done along with it.  

Geography:  We'll be starting the Study of the States.  Now, this is a bit early on the scale of when others start this, but we're going to only cover 25 this year.  We'll visit each state and mull over them a tad, create our notebook and do various projects with it.  He will have a much more detailed notebook than Sissy's and we'll do lots of puzzles and such too. We will use the maps by Homeschool in the Woods mentioned above.  I have a whole geography post that you can read, It's all about the States on my What's in the Box? blog-it give more details on what I am using.  Oh, read the comments section too-a gal linked in another help to go along with it as well. 


Language Arts:  We do a mixture of things-mostly though my precious boy needs to have some major reading skills/spelling skills work.  Being that he is dyslexic-this has been a true struggle-so we'll focus most of our time on improving and working on this vital area.  

We use All About Spelling and their All About Readers (along with Hooked on Phonics-I have an older set, but hey it works, so we piggy back it with other basic readers I have collected through the years).  

Getty-Dubay Italic Handwriting and Memoria Press' Copywork books (he is on book 2). I may throw Copywork for Little Boys from Queens HS in there after he completes the third book.  I reviewed those MP copywork books and love em...so we'll continue on with where we last stopped.

We will also be doing lapbooks (most are from Homeschool Share) to tie into our Five in a Row BK 4 (digital downloads) studies (but I am mostly just doing my own thing using the lapbook info for ideas) and the  books. I have one download but simply do not want to drop that kinda cash right now...these are side dish studies. I will use what I can find for free and work around others' ideas to get a mini study for now.  I am planning on one book per month.  


We also do narration too.  


Bible:  Again-I am unclear as to what exactly we'll use as our backbone material.  I want to work on character study this year with him and have a few resources but am unclear as to what that all entails right now.  So like his Sissy-I have to figure this out (and soon) too.  


So there you have it-the basic layout for the kids this year.  And as past experience has taught me-the best plans can be laid to waste due to well,  LIFE...so I keep an open mind and stay flexible.  I also am reviewing again for The Old Schoolhouse Magazine on their Homeschool Crew, so I will add in the goodies we get, as well.  You can read about the products I have reviewed on my 1 of 100 (plus 25) TOS Crew Reviews Blog.  There is lots of info for ya there.  


Thanks for stopping by!

It's all about the states

So if you have read my previous Busy as a Beaver post, then you realize I have been working on the geography stuff for the up and coming year.  And I promised to do a geography post...so here it is.

I stumbled across this State Symbols USA site-and boy was I like whooping it up over the wealth of info and such here.  Good place to start.  I used this one to get the seals and other goodies to really make our state study "pop" with neat stuff! I noticed on the side-bar there was this book for Alabama (since we are going in alphabetical order here) and thought-could it be?  Could there be a book for every state? Yeppers!  Now, since I did the study before these were written with my older 3, I was unawares.  So stop giggling if you already knew about em.  The most exciting part-outside of the fact that now I can start each study with a book as the lead in and it fits the Charlotte Mason method, and it is just so beautiful and, and, and...can ya tell I am excited about it?  Best yet-our library has em all-now that is like a one in a thousand chance and I am so geeked!  So-then I searched and saw that they also have this baby available-so I put it on hold (since it was one thing our library didn't own) and got it today-not that I am big on teacher's guides (always seem to not follow em too closely) but figured I could glean some useful ideas to make this a great stroll thru the USA.  Take a look-see here...

Look how nicely each book is illustrated and ties into something major the state is known for!

The series is called Discover America State by State-but when I did the search thru the library-I had to look for each individual state's book-guess our library website is a bit fussy-LOL, so anyhoo-when you go to the State Symbols site-just look on the side-bar for that state and you will have the name.  

I will take some notes and let the rest be (in the guide) but I am always looking for ideas-now to find time to go thru it!

The HIP Pocket Change (US Mint) site has lots too.  I actually downloaded the quarter info-the background about the decisions behind the state's quarter design-look under the extra resources sections for each year...they are about 2 pages long each. I just ran those off.  There is also the full quarters listing in picture form under the 2008 stuff.  If you go thru the earlier years, you won't have em all.  I ran those 2 pages off and then cut out the quarters to add to the info packet for the individual states.  There are also coloring pages that you can run off (good for younger siblings to keep em busy) and lots of other links/activities.  

Found this one, but haven't explored it yet: Teacher Guide to the 50 States

A to Z Teacher Stuff has a recipe for edible state maps (why not enjoy a wee bit of food when doing this heh?)

Maps that Teach  offer up some good online links/activities

This 50 States Book List is going to come in rather handy during our study.  I will just use what I can get thru the library-on top of the cool state books noted above.

The US50 site offers up those stamps I downloaded. I did have to shrink the size of em a bit, and tried to fit as many as possible on the page too.  They have more state info to help you with your studies as well. The license plates are from MS Word-images, I think the only one I couldn't find was SC, so I searched the internet and found one that would work-sized it and added it to the document to print.  

I will also be using a few goodies I was able to review whilst being on the TOS crew:

The Little Man in the Map  This is a delightful way to learn the states and where they are located on the map.

My Review 

HS in the Wood Olde World US Maps  I will be using the states maps and notebook pages, and the brochure document too-I think that one is under the World maps tho.  I will have to double check-but these are sooooo nice and perfect for this study.  I am also the materials for the Geography Center.  But if you are on a super tight budget, you can find most downloads for free from various other sites-they simply won't be as detailed or have all the data, but they certainly can create a lovely notebook for your student.  I suggest Googling or doing Swagbuck searches, which frankly is a great way to get free $ (Swagbucks that is-you can join and earn-I have already earned $20 worth of free Amazon gift cards just by searching!) Click the icon below and it'll get you there.  :o)

 My Review

TOS Travel the World eBook I will pull some elements out of this eBook to help with our studies too.
My Review

I also have a mishmash of atlases, coloring books or map books about the states, and of course-where would I be if I didn't tie in some kinda lapbook to this?  Well-I purchased

Hands of a Child State by State lapbook  and will pull out components as needed. 

10 Days in the USA

This is on my wish list-a nice to have but not totally necessary...

I have found flashcards at the dollar section of Target, a poster listing the state names/capitals at the Dollar Tree and so forth. Been building the collection for some time and now when we get to it-I can draw from all sorts of good products to make this a fab project.  

HTH ya out too.  So that is the big stuff-I am sure I have more, but it gives ya a good idea of what one can use to pull together a study.  I have seen a few other great ideas from my pals via their blogs too-but since I am pretty sure I have enough to make this a detailed enough to remember kinda study-I am using what I have available.  :0)

Lots of neat form downloads for organizing your school

Found this link via the The Homeschool Mom Site (sign up for her free eNewsletter)-

It is a great place to download some most needful forms to help you organize your year:

Highland Heritage Forms

Enjoy!

For those who are FIAR rowers-esp. for bk 4, need help

I am compiling a listing of the locations of where these stories take place (well as close as we can get for some) and b/cuz I don't own them, and I haven't received them yet from the library inter-loan...was wondering if you all could help....

I need to know the specific/general location for these (BK 4)

Arabella (I know it is an island-does it pinpoint any specific region of the world?)
Roxaboxen (any place?)
Higgins Bend (?)
Hanna's Cold Winter (?)
Mailing May (I remember it being out west, OR or WA?)
Hickory Chair (southern USA?)
Albert (would NY be a good guess?)

Just leave a comment with the answer if you know it.  Thanks.  I will Scribd these for ya all later-I was trying to get a fix on where these books take place so I can pick ones that match our continent studies/state studies, etc. and will also need it for the new co-op, so I figured I would compile it and hey, why not share it too-just in case someone out there wants a quick rundown of where these take place...:0)

**Elinette at His Wonderful Works directed me to this lovely resource on Homeschool Share-not sure why I never thought to click that master link-thanks!  Because I need boxes and not so linear layouts for my info-I am going to still publish what I created, since I see theirs is hard for me to follow-but there are plenty of good links there at HSS's FIAR section, so do head there if you need more FIAR helps.

For those of you who have or will soon have high school aged students

I have now posted the lecture notes from my HOPE Ministries session.  There are 3 different documents...one with additional notes, the lecture notes themselves and then the resources listings.  Also, Leah has her notes there too. They fit so wonderfully with what I spoke on.  Her notes are pretty self-explanatory...just fill in the areas as you feel best answer the questions asked of you-it can be a great baseline for your homeschool career.  All of them can be found on our site.  I hope that this blesses you, helps to ease the fear of teaching high school, and offers you enough sources to get you started in your research.

HOPE June Lecture Notes

Oh, and I found a fellow TOS Mate has some good links to her article and more on high school too-take a look!  

All American Family

Ohh, my first guest blog post thingy! How cool!

I originally wrote this ditty on how to organize one's eBooks and then a new bloggie pal asked if I would mind having her highlight it on her blog-well of course, I am honored!

So please take a moment and visit the Shining Dawn Books post (of my post) and then take some time to look around this awesome site!  They have some unit studies called NaturExplorers that look really interesting.  This is especially timely, because I want to really get some more nature studying in with the kids.  I also see they offer up some useful ideas and books for nature study (and I have to second the Keeping a Nature Journal book recommendation-it is beautiful- and just so happens to be our main text for our co-op's nature study class!)

Thanks ladies~wish you lived closer, it would be so nice to meet ya, and hang out-seems our hopes and goals for homeschoolers is pretty much the same!

Mother's Day Gifts-Tea Cup Bird Feeders

I found this neat idea on my friend Heidi's blog, and just couldn't resist making a few for Mother's Day.  I ended up making myself a couple too!  Why not?  So the only thing I tweaked was the post.  I saw some metal rods right by where I was getting the copper caps at the hardware store, and knew that is what I wanted.  They are zinc plated, smooth rods (1/2") and will do nicely for us.  Then the hardest part of the craft mission-well, that was finding the darn tea cups!  Now I have been seeing these big mugs all over the place and sure thing-when I wanted to actually buy some-I couldn't find any! Well, I did find a few but they were way too spency~ and I just about gave up.  I spent an entire day hunting well over 7 or more stores to try to find them-I couldn't believe it~ but isn't that the way it goes?  Then the Lord popped "donation store" into my head.  So I gave the local Salvation Army a quick call and sure enough-they had several of them~! Whoop it up.  So off I went and I had fun trying to mix and match cups to plates.  Then I went back for another plate, similar to the house/maroon one because I couldn't get it out of my mind-and I knew it was perfect for my mom.  [the blue polka dot one was what I originally wanted for her, I found out it was simply too heavy and I worry it will fall off, or the cap will pop off due to the weight. So, I have decided to use that one as a ground or deck hand railing feeder.  In fact, I am giving my  MIL the option between 2 (one being the blue polka dot one) b/cuz she has trouble with raccoons in her feeders, so this way she can just pull it in at night.  Plus, there are not a lot of areas in her yard where a feeder on a pole could be seen (for her to enjoy watching the birds)...so that is where we are at with these.

I don't have a pic of my mom's here-it is similar but with a boat/bay theme (similar to the house one in the lower right of the pic) with a white cup.

The top one is what I originally thought for my MIL, the watermelon is for me.  I just love the whimsical nature of it and am a big fan of watermelons (even tho I am not into the taste of em-I like the colors)

The top one is mine too (for the front yard) I just love it~ and I couldn't believe I found that cup which looks like it was made for it.  The heavy weight champion of the group-ole Polka Dottie.  

Thanks to Heidi for linking that project, as I was in a bad state of affairs trying to think of something original and unique to give the mums this year.  I am planning on making a few more for birthday gifts....this is a very versatile gift!