Just updated the Not Back to School post on the classroom but here's the Reader's Digest version

Here is the newly set up nature study table/art picture study and focal book area.  I have wanted to do this for a long time and was able to get that accomplished today. The other side of the room-well not so much but will finish that this week. (UPDATE:  this has since been removed and our geography center now takes up this area)

I literally just did a treasure hunt about the house to find doo-dads and some display things to pull this together.  Robbed a few of my decorations in the kitchen and such and then added the Safari Ltd. toob birds (backyard and a couple from the exotic b/cuz we have hummingbirds and owls around us)...added the labels so he can start remembering them.  Will have my pop scour his yard for various bird feathers (he has like a sanctuary or something in his back yard-the birds and critters know where to go for food) and those will go in a flatter basket (need to purchase) so he can check those out when we are covering birds in science (which will be right off the bat). I can add/delete as necessary and change the items per season.

 The workboxes used to be under the rain gutter book holders,

 now it displays our current studies 

and future study items 

(cannot wait to start the Laura Ingalls stuff!!!!)

 A necessity is the Mrs. Sharp's Family Traditions book! 

[Left hand corner of table] LOVE IT!

And I taped up the picture study cards I had

from when we first covered Audubon.  We'll

cover him again this year but will spend more time on 

his animal drawings for that.

 This little wood armoire is my dd's. She used it when she 

played with her American Girl Dolls-LOL

  Was just sitting in storage so had to use it.

My goal is to get a nice apothecary cabinet or 

discover chest cabinet to keep all the little fun nature things

in.  Maybe next year's budget will allow for it but for now-

just using what we have around here. 

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013: Day in the Life

The last installment for this year's NBTSBH is about what we do when we 'school'.

You can join/visit o

ther's blogs on the

Not Back to School Blog Hop Main Page

When our kids were younger, I did my best to maintain a schedule that was pretty regular and wasn't changing constantly . I found my children did better when they had a pretty good idea of what was to come-which included snack/nap time, etc.  But as they grew, we had to morph to accommodate their skill levels (meaning at one time I had a baby/kindergartner/middle elementary student and upper elementary almost jr. high student) to meet the demands of a variety needs.  Then when it came time for scouting or swimming lessons or what-have-you, well, it just made sense to readjust and redefine.  So now we're at this point-one upper elementary aged student. That's it.  So we have a much more relaxed schedule. 

We're not morning peeps.  I also like to take the first hour or so after arising to do my 'office work' and pray. That includes going thru my emails, making appts, prepping or just enjoying a cup of Java without noise, or anyone too nearby.  I think I deserve that after 25 years of parenting-LOL.  I find that when I have a bit quieter morning-the rest of my day goes better which equates to a more tolerable mom and happier student.  :)

Obviously, if we have afternoon commitments (like during baseball season) we work to get his studies done by 1 pm.  That way I have a bit of time to do what needs to be done around here and he has some off time before heading out the door.  

Plus, we do not have a 9-5, M-F dad.  He travels up to 12-14 days per month then works from home the rest.  So when he is gone-I have double duties, making my workload a bit more and therefore, during those times we adjust as needed.  Because of his travel, at times we are also able to do "tag-alongs" which offers us a change of scenery but throws any 'schedule' or major book work out the door (or car window if you prefer).  

So we have no typical day but I do my darnedest to maintain a relative "must do per week" for the following:

M-F:  reading work/spelling (intense to help combat the dyslexic struggles we have going on here)

M-Thur:  Bible (sometimes Friday), Math, art projects

M, W and F:  history, geography

T, Thurs: Science, artist/musician study and if weather permitting some type of nature study activity

F:  catch up for anything I really wanted to cover but couldn't for whatever reason, crafts, art projects wrap-up, etc.

Since I have become a big couponer-I do a blitz shopping every other Thurs. and frankly, that takes pretty much most the day and when I get home I am exhausted...so on those weeks we'll just move any Thurs. assignments to Friday and call it even. 

Monday mornings are also my intense 'office/coupon prep time' which means no teaching from me but he'll have some easier assignments he can do nearby to occupy him.  I found the biggest route to burn-out was using all my weekend time to do school stuff when I should have just been doing home stuff and enjoying the fam. Sometimes, this is unavoidable-but I have drastically reduced that b/cuz it never left me any time to just be me.  And that was not good.  It is just too easy to be drawn back into 'prepping and organizing' and before I knew it my weekend was gone and I never got a recharge.  I learned that one after oh, about 15 years of hsing.  LOL  Now I know better.  

As for the where?  Well some of it is desk work, and usually he does that in the education room which is right nearby the fam room...or he comes to the table I am working at.  Most reading (and we do a lot cuz we use a lot of literature based curriculum) is done on the couch.  But if it is nice, we'll go outside and sit on the porch or back patio.  When we travel and nature study opportunities arise, we work right where it is....so on a beach or nature trail, etc.  Well not on the actual trail, we might get run by a rogue biker or block the path-so we'll use nearby picnic tables and such. 

and that is a basic day in the life-

but that can all change and 

probably will! LOL

Samples of activities for zoology using critter replicas, labels and control cards

We're going to be covering birds and insects and swimming creatures this year for science. I have always enjoyed activities that help reinforce the lessons by using fun little goodies to do so.  Being that I have a Montessori background, and love the Charlotte Mason method-I try to combine the best of both worlds when I can.

image from the Safari Ltd. site

So I found (like why didn't I take a closer look at these before? Really? I am not happy with myself for walking right past these little gems for some time now-OY!) Safari Ltd. Toobs.  These containers hold a nice amount of critters, or people or flowers or well-known landmarks that can easily be tied into most lessons. One can use them for map work, science activities, matching lessons, and more.  So my goal is to collect the Toobs we need for our year. I should have all or at least most of them bought before Oct/Nov.  I am of course, focusing on the immediately needed ones first.  I have already purchased both the backyard birds and the exotic birds sets.  Being that I hate paying full price, and the couponer in me demands this-I gathered up my 40% and 50% coupons for JoAnns to save a few bucks-which I could use b/cuz they were not on sale. JoAnns has them for around $9 something and so I was able to get one for about $5 ish and the other around $6ish.  I will continue to use the coupons until I have all the sets I want :)!

image from the Safari Ltd. site

Thankfully, on the Safari Ltd. site, you can click the image to see what is included. If you ctrl/prt sc then go to MS Paint (if you have such programs) you can cut/trim it and then save it to put onto MS Word to create a control card for your activity.  I enlarged one kinda big (for youngers to place the actual bird onto) but it kinda fuzzed the wording. So I also shrunk it to a better size (as a control card for my son) that isn't so bad. I also used the MS Word to create name cards as well.  I then printed and laminated for long term use.

I then will put it on the tray (as pictured, but I am going to paint it white) when we get to those chapters in science.  It is just a kinda fun extra thing for my son to do to stave off boredom.  For the younger set-it is a great activity (very Montessori) to help learn the different birds (or whatever critter you want to study). The basic deal is that the student takes the word card and matches it to the right bird.

I will also be purchasing the N.A. animals and the river ones too.  I need that snapper from the river set to use along the Minn of the Mississippi book (BFB geography). Figured we would have fun occasionally moving the turtle down the great Mississip (with our sense of humor I am sure it'll be interesting) map that he fills in/colors as he goes thru the chapters. And it'll serve as a great replica of what a real one looks like. Mind you-he's already had fun poking at a snapper or two when his dad and him have been out and about on their walks. He knows a snapper and understands just why it is called one. That said, because this is one critter you do not want to handle for real-this is a great option to have! LOL.  Plus, I can pull a lot of those animals from the river set for our history study of the expansion west (in the US) that we're tagging into our Calf. history (by BFB).  Once I get a fun set together for that-I will be sure to post.

The beauty is you can create what you need. 

I also printed off a free coloring page of a snapper to use to teach turtle parts.  He covered that way back when he was in Kindergarten but obviously, it's been a while and why not revisit it?  So I will the laminated pic, some Vis-a-Vis markers and a control card (still need to create) that he can use to remember them. He'll just use different colors for different parts. I will also make an actual turtle control card with the correct areas labeled so he can self-check it.  I will probably do it for the Seagull one I have when we do the book, Seabird.  I have to go thru the Apologia notebooking wkbk I bought to go along with the Zoology 1 I have. If they don't do that-then I will create one.

This is just a simple idea that can create a fun, integrated 'accessory' for your  student's learning experiences. Think outside the one-dimensional when you are looking for different ways of teaching and you'll be surprised at what you find!

**the Toobs use the correct names for most of their sets, which is good b/cuz I prefer the child learns the right name of an animal. For the younger kids, you can get away with saying "bird" or "flower" but it does help significantly if you label it as it should be-their specific name.  I will also make cards with the Latin names for my son to match up because when we do our nature study notebooks (CM way), we always add that and I want to be sure to provide another opportunity for him to learn them.

**I am not an associate for these companies-altho I should be LOL. Just wanted to share what we have found to be very useful for our lessons.

2013-14 Artists/Musician Study choices

I have finally made my decisions on who we will cover for our artists and musicians for the coming year.
Because we're going to be studying American History thru the new Beautiful Feet Books Westward Expansion in combination with their California History, I wanted to zero in on artists who did a good job representing the natural world and the peoples from that time period.


Now we have covered John James Audubon (info on several artists noted on this page) a couple years ago-but we didn't do a total in depth study nor did we cover his animal paintings/drawings.  So we'll do some bird time (esp. since our science covers the flying creatures of the fifth day-and of course birds are a part of that), then move to the critters.  So I am currently researching the books I will need from the library and will get some color copies made of some of the animals-esp. ones that are found out west.

The BFB Westward Expansion does include one of the books with a little ditty on him so I wanted to be sure to revisit him.

I will also tie in George Catlin.  He did some absolutely beautiful paintings of several Native Americans/Tribes.  He also knew (I believe also painted one or the other of the Lewis and Clark dudes) so since we'll cover L and C as well-I wanted to be sure to cover him as well.  I am currently hunting down books to use (from the library) and will get some pics printed for the picture study too.  I am excited to cover him since I know very little about him.





I will also revisit Benjamin West since that is a part of the very early expansion.  We covered him slightly last year (I think it was last year lol) but wanted to expand that study a tad more too.  I found some neat books via the library on him-so we'll do that too!


All of the artists we cover this year will be small and short lived studies since they are pretty much review for us.  Once I get all the materials and activities figured out I will be sure to do a link up of those.


And then I will cover one musician.  I bought a book on Stephen Foster (by Opal Wheeler) and a TG, and the CD so we'll cover him. I will get some music of his via the library.
Visit Zeezok's site because it looks like they have dropped and added different products.  They used to have the book and guide and cd set.  I don't see it anymore tho.  [updated 1/19/16]

Not Back To School Blog Hop 2013: Student Pics

So this week highlights the student(s) and right now all we have is one.  Hoping to change that tho, sooner than later (thru adoption)...but for now-I leave you with some pics of our boy from our recent trip.

You can join the NBtSBH 2013 and check

out what other homeschoolers have planned 

for the coming year!

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013: Classroom-Keeping it real people plus UPDATE PICS

So week 2.  School room.  Yah-OK, well here is my keeping it real post for ya.


It is only the second week of August and so far this summer has proven to be crazy busy. Between our two boys' birthdays in late June/early July, the exterior of our home needing to have some wood and trim replaced (by hubby), then 4 days with the painters here, then the two older kiddos moving from their shared apartment to two separate places in two opposite directions (with all of us helping), to planting a few flowers and moving some other landscaping about the yard, to packing up and heading out on a tag-a-long with dad (work) for a week around Michigan, to barely getting home to having our oldest dd's birthday (and dad's this week), to my jumping into about 3 other sewing projects for our adoption fundraising to well-life..yah-we've been pretty darn busy.

Why did I tell you all that?  Well to highlight why it is that my classroom area looks like a nuclear bomb of supplies, books, projects, papers, etc. and some more-blew off leaving the area decimated. That is why. Folks-getting the classroom ready for the coming year has been on the bottom of my 'to do' list. That is why I am posting this pic of how the room looks now. Well except for the rockets-those have been moved..but my new projects have taken over the space they created!  I kid you not.

This is about being real.  This is about how an area can become a masterpiece of chaos (albeit temporarily) in the midst of life.  And I am OK with that.  You'll be looking at some awesome rooms on your blog tour, but you won't find that here. I will get to my ever growing list of 'GET IT DONE' soon enough. Until then, I leave you with these...

  

I told ya it was a disaster.

If you need to see a clean/organized room-

you can check it out at the beginning of last

year when it was all pretty and neat-

Before d'explosion!

Join the fun at NBTSBH-classroom week

UPDATES TO ROOM!! 

SO far I have rearranged the workbox/tables to create a nature study table under the rain gutter shelves. I have been wanting a nature area for a long time but never got around to actually creating one. I want (very badly) to get myself a nice unit to store all sorts of nature things but alas-not in the budget right now.  So I will make do with what I scrounged up from around the house.  I am using of all things-a doll armoire as a focal point. Just dug around the home and found little this and thats to make the table early fall inviting. I added the backyard birds from the recently purchased Safari Ltd. set and a few from the exotic ones since we have hummingbirds and have spotted owls-altho not sure about the snowy one but hey-he is representing the owl clan for us.   I am still working on the other side of the room and have decided to declutter the shelves from books and programs/curriculum that we are not using this year to clean up the look and make it feel less busy.  

Nature Study Table/Book Display plus Art Picture study prints area (using the pics we studied a few years ago when we covered J. J. Audubon who will we re-cover this year as well).

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013 : Curriculum

Wow-it's that time already?  I am not in the mode yet but have done most of my purchasing for the upcoming school year-thankfully.

Link up here for Curriculum Week

Curriculum:

12 year old son

This year I again (sadly) only have one student-my son and I are heading back to our roots this year with doing our own thing (verses using a pre-planned curriculum like we used last year). I am excited about that because even though we learned and expanded our knowledge using the other style, it just left us without much 'us'.  I don't know even how to describe that really, but we kinda like doing our own thing on our time schedule.  It is how I began homeschooling way back in the early 90s and I missed it. We missed using our workboxes too. Probably me more than him tho. I saw how he began to wander and 'escape' the second I left the room b/cuz he didn't have those boxes filled with his activities and he needed to wait on me for much of the lessons so-as you can imagine [an active boy] took any chance he could to go MIA as long as possible.  Workboxes equal order around here and even tho they can be a pain to fill day after day-it is worth it in the long run....but that is another post...

I copied/pasted the post I did recently on what we have planned so far.  I still don't know about the math or the Bible or the artist/musician studies.  I am hoping to have that figured out by next week so I can order those and be ready to roll after Labor Day when we start. 

Here is what we're gonna do this 

coming 2013-14 school year:

*Beautiful Feet:  California History and Westward Expansion

Beautiful Feet Website

*Beautiful Feet:  Geography study using Hollings C. Hollings books.  

*Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 and 2 plus the notebooks 1 and 2.  

*Italic Handwriting by Getty-Dubay.
Getty-Dubay Website

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading

image from Scholar Pub. site

*Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading Level 2.

This is a continuation to the first level that has been working for him. I am holding off starting the Little House study til September. With his dyslexia we are a bit behind but this year we're gonna power our way to his reading more smoothly and efficiently and get him caught up to where he needs to be. :)

Common Sense Press website (LLATL)

image from Common Sense website

*LLATL Purple level.

*Math-Still TBD

*Artist/Musician study: TBD  

*Nature Study: TBD 

*Latin:  Prima Latina and then quickly move to Latina Christiana 1
Memoria Press website

*Bible:  TBD still working on this

And of course we'll get back to our workboxing to pull this all off!  Which means I need to get a general plan on what I want to put in those for each month (extra stuff like seasonal lapbooking/notebooking, projects, etc.). 

*I also need to sit down and tweak the history out b/cuz the Cal. History and the Westward Expansion co-exist and even tho there is a little ditty on how to combine those-it is not detailed enough for me...so I need to sketch out something so I can stay on target and add a few extra things (like more study on the railroads per his request and such)...and whatever else that needs to be done.  I simply haven't had any time to truly do this...so it is my goal here to get this all figured out so I can get the last minute things ordered, do some pre-work to have it ready to go and so forth.  

And that folks is where I am at right now.  Frankly, it is the beginning of August and I am still on vacation (from my problems....or in this case-homeschooling) LOL  I will get serious soon enough.

You can read the whole post I wrote on the Heart of Dakota and this year's choices here.  See you next week!

Reflections on this past year with Heart of Dakota C to C, and changes for the coming 2013-14 school session

So, my thoughts are a bit scattered lately and that is just mostly due to the outside distractions going on.  Namely the baseball season.  Our son is the first of our four kiddos to actually play in an organized league for sports and wow-talk about a commitment of time and energy. Whew.  Almost to the end of the season and looking forward to it.  Anyway-on top of that, summer is here (well we keep telling ourselves that b/cuz the weather apparently missed that memo) so there is much outside work to do as well.  I frankly haven't been much into blogging/FBing or anything lately either.  So my long promised post on the HOD program and other thoughts sit idle in my brain.  I want to change that tho and start blogging a bit more frequently and after bball season, I may be able to truly start thinking and planning out the coming school year.

That said...I have decided to do just a basic pros/cons ditty on the HOD program.  Since everyone's experience and tastes/likes are so vast and probably unlike mine-it only makes sense to just note those bullet points instead of launching into some long post about it.

So here we go:

Heart of Dakota Creation to Christ Program thoughts:

image from HOD site

Heart of Dakota website

Pros:

*Nicely laid out and easy to follow. Little or no prep outside of the arts/poetry sections.

*Covers Bible, history, science, math (if you want to follow the suggested program), writing, geography, poetry, literature/reading, lang. arts (to an extent, as I am not 100% sure on that since I didn't do their suggested program). [I may have missed a subject as I don't have my guide anymore-so check the website for all that].

*4 day program allowing for 'catch-up' on 5th day or family activities/fun (or whatever) on non-scheduled day.

*Non-overdrawn assignments that are adequate and not overwhelming (esp. for younger/struggling students) with extension options for those kiddos who want more to do.

*Not extremely expensive compared to other lit/larger 'all in one' programs.

*Many of the books they suggest are easily found via the library for those on very tight budgets.

*Charlotte Mason inspired. offers good supply of literature (well for all the reading/history so yah) to satisfy most literature loving families. (You can always supplement with more for the veracious readers).

*My son enjoyed learning about these eras and he walked away with a new knowledge of it-which means he learned something-and believe me when I say this: that doesn't always happen when you use a program.

*Great appendices that list all the info needed for suggested books, supplemental work for older students, etc.  Very helpful and easy to use.

*Loved the Bible choice!

*Copywork and diction, very CMy.

Cons:

*Art lessons for Poetry are very redundant.  Would have liked to see different mediums/styles taught (not that one cannot do that, it is just when not all are artsy and can figure that out/do it).  I understand the need to keep supplies limited but more techniques and mediums should be taught.

*No personal study of the actual poet (Robert Frost) is included.  What?  That defies CM methods and needs to be added (see my post about adding extras into the program) to get a better feel for who he was and why he chose those type of subjects to write about.  I added it but I am used to finding that stuff and teaching it-to those new to CM or not having ever done an Artist study it could prove to be too much to pull together and therefore,  discarded.  :(

*No musician study. [She never advertised it would be included, but if following the CM method, it would be nice to have the musician and artist study included] Again-another "What?" There are plenty of choices and should have been included at least one dude. Since Robert Frost was studied and he is totally not in the era of creation to Christ (which is to be expected since we really don't have that data on poets or musicians from that era) then a composer or musician from his time frame could have and should have been included.  

*No artist studied either but there are drawing/crafting activities that pertain to the eras so that is OK here for this time frame.  There is enough to give examples of what art was like/used to express in those cultures.  Could there have been more-yes.  Necessary-eh, probably not.  Like the poetry and musician concerns, you can always add in more to your liking.  The point here is that when you buy an 'all inclusive" (well for the most part) program, you expect to see it there.  I knew this going in (say for no personal study on Frost) so it didn't surprise me.  If you read the descriptions you can see it isn't there. But boy would it be nice for future printings.  :)

*Like many programs-I feel the age range is not correct, meaning I would suggest this particular one for kids in 6-8th grade for most families.  The suggested 9-11 seems -well WOW, I don't know many 9 yr olds that could handle this.  I have my thoughts on aging a program and it usually is below what the author/publisher suggests..but that is another post for another day.

Some of the stuff (like the study of the History of Medicine) was kinda deep and heavy.  Younger kiddos may have a lot of that stuff fly over their head.  For HOD, I wanted to actually get the guide below this one but it had too much stuff we had already done-and we really needed to do C to C-so I went in knowing it may be too much at times since my son is dyslexic and struggles with reading.  I suggest you know your kid and make your decision (for any program) based on their skill level.  My son had no problem understanding the material-he just could not do a lot of on his own or we had to tweak/drop some things b/cuz he simply was not ready for it. 

*Didn't like the geography choice. Dry, boring and so we actually dropped it mid-way.  I couldn't do it.  There are other great programs out there and I am not the only one to say this about it.  

And that is that.  As with anything-it all depends on your family, your kids and their personalities/learning styles and skill level.  It was a good fit for what I needed this year, my son learned and I didn't have to 'think' too much.  Which with all we have swirling around us was the point for purchasing it in the first place.  For this coming year, I am going back to what I know works super swell for us and the things we missed.  There is a reason my shelves are stocked with this particular program and I am happy to report we're going back 'home' to it.  

SO what is on tap for the coming year?

I am glad you asked (well if you didn't, you're gonna read about it unless you click off this post now...).

Ah-well I am excited to report that we are going back to our old fav:  Beautiful Feet Books history guides! WHEW!  I guess I am more of a control freak than I thought as I like to 'cut and paste' different things together to create a program for our year that is tailor made to us.  We're going back to workboxing too!  With a program like HOD you kinda don't have the option (without a ton of unnecessary work) to workbox.    My son spent a lot of time 'wandering and wondering' and I just got sorta checked out this past year b/cuz I was a passenger not the driver.  Not gonna happen again unless we are knee-deep in the adoption process or something....

Here is what we're gonna do this 

coming 2013-14 school year:

Beautiful Feet Website

*Beautiful Feet:  California History and Westward Expansion

(I just need to get the W.E. guide cuz it is relatively new and gasp! I don't own it-yet)

This is a fun one-takes us from Europe when exploration was just getting revved up, to seeking out different continents/peoples and faster ways to the Orient.  Then we'll move on to the expansion of the US to the west coast.  Think gold rushes, transcontinental railways and pioneers with steely souls searching for their little paradise. Literature based and notebooking and timelining and all that fun stuff.  

*Beautiful Feet:  Geography study using Hollings C. Hollings books.  We're done one map so far but I saved the other 3 (due to difficulty and the subject matter) for now.  [I have the older guide, not sure what improvements have been made but since he is our last student (at this point) I am not repurchasing. I am satisfied with the one I have.] 

Apologia Website

images from Apologia site

*Apologia Exploring Creation with Zoology 1 and 2 plus the notebooks.  

We've done the Astronomy and Zoology 3 already. Looking forward to these two this year.

Getty-Dubay Website

*Italic Handwriting by Getty-Dubay.

Simply moving along to last two books.  Love these. 

Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading

image from Scholar Pub. site

*Phonics Road to Spelling and Reading Level 2.

This is a continuation to the first level that has been working for him. Dyslexia sucks people-just sucks. There I said it.  We started with it a few weeks ago and so far, it's working great. I am holding off starting the Little House study til September. 

Common Sense Press website (LLATL)

image from Rainbow Resource website

*LLATL Purple level.

I am going to cherry pick thru this because he get a lot from the Phonics Road study but it will give us a few more literature options and cover grammar, copywork and dictation. I think I could put him in the Tan level but we haven't done much with grammar and this one highlights Farmer Boy-so we're keeping with the Little House theme with this level.

*Math-well here is where I am stymied.  We've been using Abeka but I have Saxon and when I get a moment I will go thru the Saxon 54 or 65 to see where he'd fit best. Otherwise, I will get the next level of Abeka and go from there.

*Artist/Musician study: TBD  (working on selections and will post once I have them)

*Nature Study: TBD on the focus 

Memoria Press website

*Latin:  Prima Latina and then quickly move to Latina Christiana 1

I have held off on this due to the reading issues but want him to start on it.  He should be able to handle the switcheroo to Latin back to English (esp. since much of our language is Latin based) so we're gonna try it. This will also help with our nature study and science lessons.

Apologia Site

image from Apologia website

*Bible:  Apologia Who Am I? and scripture study

We did book one already and will just continue on with the series.  We'll also do verses and prayer study like we did this year.

And of course we'll get back to our workboxing to pull this all off!  We missed it and altho it is more work for me, the organization and his knowing what to expect are so worth it! 

So that in a nutshell is our experience this past year and what we're looking forward to exploring this year. Now to get some energy to start planning, get the final products I need and come up with some fun works and projects too.  

Couponing Tips

So for those who coupon, you know the difficulty that occur in regard to the storage of said useful pieces of paper. So how does one solve those pesky issues of properly storing them or more plainly-keeping them safe and snug in the binder? Fear not-I have some quick fixes to help you out.

The Issue:

The 3-Ring holes are torn and my pages fall out!

Well I have mentioned keeping them in a binder (zippered) in the lovely plastic sheets usually used for photos or sports cards.  But these were not designed to be flipped, stuffed and handled so frequently.  The 3-ring holes tear quickly from the constant flipping of the pages. Now what good are a bunch of pages that fall out of the binder every time you go to look for your coupons?

Enter duct tape. Yes-and now thanks to some very creative person or persons-we now have duct tape that is hip, stylish and/or all snazzy with designs for your taping needs.  I bought (of course with a 40% off coupon at Joanns) a Hawaiian style one to secure up my ripped up pages.  I had already had these pages, so they were somewhat stressed to begin with, and then from the wad of coupons and my use they were tearing at an alarming rate!  I needed something very strong and durable-the duct tape was the perfect solution.

yes, I had to fuzz out all the bar codes

So I grabbed my binder, the tape, scissors, and a hole punch and went to work.  All you need to do is simply tear or cut the length needed and tape onto the hole side of the page.  Do not cover over too far on the side that that has the openings or you'll cut down the size with which to stuff those coupons in it. Then simply feel for the area that you need to punch the hole out and whallah!  Pop back into your binder and they are good to go. Mind you-this is tape so they may not swoosh over the rings as nicely, so you have to take a bit of 'not-so-cool it kind catches/sticks' with the keeping them in the binder part. Give it time, as I have found that with frequent use they don't stick as much and I can flip 'em a lot easier now.

What about those printed coupons I have-they are huge and 

I don't want to mix them with the insert coupons?

Since I began seriously couponing-the printed [via online] coupons have always been kept separate.  I put them in envelopes labeled by general categories.  These expire a lot quicker than most insert coupons and they are generally a lot larger too-so it just made sense.  But that got old real fast....flipping thru those trying to see what I had.  I finally found a lovely solution at Michaels and only because the clerk was slow.  For once it was a good thing.  As I patiently waited-I looked about and saw behind me on the scrapbook end cap [the shelves at the end of the isle] a display of smaller-sized scrapbook supplies [insert stars, music and glassy eyes] where this two-pocket, clear-paged doodad beckoned me.  Mind you these are not full size like the sports page inserts but are  8.5"  x 6.5" (not including the 3-ring part).  Problem?  I didn't have a binder for 'em.  Or did I? 

OK so it hangs out over the edge. 

Not pretty but efficient.

I do not pay full price unless absolutely necessary (oh and yes-I used a 40% off coupon I hadn't used to buy the pages)...so I didn't want to purchase a binder right now since it is not Back-to-School time. Those babies are full price right this time of year, and man do they over charge for those! I also wasn't too sure they would work since I didn't have any coupons on me to visually see if they would fit. I bought one packet. I wanted to be cautiously optimistic they would work before even thinking of going on a binder purchase spree. Of which I have yet to do.  Waiting for August to do that.

  

I thought I took a pic of the pages, but cannot

find it right now. Will get the name brand for ya soon.

When I got home, I found that yes, they would fit if I clipped them very close to the edge of the coupon (or just stuff those puppies in) and lo-and behold they have a lovely home til I pull them to save money!  I had a smaller 3-ring binder from my Stampin'Up! days.  Well almost-it isn't as 'fat' as it needs to be. I am not picky and it will work for now.  So I typed up a cute label, put my duct tape on and punched out the holes.  I also cut up some old, and kinda ugly in color card stock to provide double side storage too.  Ah.  I have solved my problem.  I was near the Michael's store a week later and used yet another coupon to get another pack.  I may need more but prob'ly not since those coupons are less reliable and I can have sections with nothing in it or have it over flowing, depending on what is available at the time.

Pre-paperclipped

The first two pages are where I put those store catalinas.  Now those kinda want to jump ship so I have just put a paper clip at the top to help hold em in.  It works.  

What was that about inserts in the sections?

I cannot recall where I saw this, I believe on one of the sites where a lady who sells kits for coupon binders but it is really quite elementary.  I have copy paper [actually from the scraps from printing coupons] in my main binder to separate the pockets giving me two sides to use, instead of one without them.  Problem is the paper tends to slide out a lot when I pull coupons.  I will be switching those out with card stock soon.  The printed coupon binder has them already.  They seem to stick better when I am pulling coupons which is a huge blessing.  I do have a nice paper cutter so making them was a snap-if I had to cut them with scissors-well gosh I dunno.  If you don't have a paper cutter, use one of the Joann or Michael coupons to get one or better yet ask a pal who does have one if you can borrow it.  I just eye balled the size and went with it when I found it fit.  I have been scrapping long enough to do this but you may need to properly measure to be sure.  

Yes the dividers are too small-on my 'to get' list.

And there you go.  Nice and tidy ways to keep those precious coupons safe.  And even tho my printed coupon binder is not zipped, I find it works well for this application.  I wouldn't suggest it for one with tons of coupons because as the pages get more stuffed they tend to want to pour out the contents a lot more too. 

Look for another post soon about what kinda coupon gal I am...a flipper or a clipper (as the Krazy Coupon Lady gals labeled it).  Love that site! 

Supplementing Heart of Dakota-Creation to Christ Poetry unit and Human Body unit

If you are a follower or if you just pop by to read up on the Heart of Dakota [HOD] program we have been using this year, you are probably familiar with my feelings on it by now, but I wanted to highlight a couple things we have done that has taken outside the box.

I found we (personally-as this may not be for every family so keep that in mind) needed to do something different regarding one recommend book for science; and that one area definitely needed a more in-depth investigation-the poet Robert Frost.

I have the Considering God's Creation [CGC] curricula (which I have been plucking units from for about a year and 1/2 now) that has a section on the body. After we read the book Exploring the History of Medicine (very good book!) we simply have moved into this study.  I ditched the An Illustrated Adventure in Human Anatomy book that was scheduled (I had received it via the library inter-loan prior to the Exploring History one...and it needed to be returned before we came to this section-I didn't feel it was worth trying to re-hold/check out again as I have enough human body books on our shelf that are very similar to this one) and that is why I chose not to follow that part. Plus, being we are lapbooking/notebooking sorta folk-the CGC fit the bill perfectly. So we have been working our way through this unit and are just about done.  I am very satisfied with it and find it is just the right amount of info/work for our boy.  Again-this stresses the need for the instructor to look at what does and does not fit the student or situation when using an all-encompassing type of guide such as HOD.  Just because it is listed and recommended does not mean it must be used.  Esp. when you are at the mercy of library loan books, and other circumstances that require tweaking. [image from eagleswingsed.com]

As for the lack of any biographical data/study on the poet Robert Frost...well here is where I was sadly disappointed with this section.  It is very Charlotte Masony to study the person and not just their work.  So being that I am versed in scrounging up data-I found a few things to offer the boy as a backdrop into who this dude was. The one I got via the library is older-so not everyone will be able to find it.  It is Robert Frost: America's Poet by Doris Faber. I have to say it was a very nicely written book that hits all the key points a book should when following the CM method for choosing books-it was twaddle free. :)  Anyhoo-I saw the other listed book below via Amazon, but was not able to get a hold of it...so not sure how great it is but looks to be written for children and looks lovely.  If I do get my hands on it-I will come back and update my thoughts on it.

Robert Frost: America's Poet by Doris Faber

Papa Is a Poet: A Story About Robert Frost by Natalie Bober

image from Amazon.com

I also downloaded these free notebooking pages on Robert from 

The Notebooking Fairy

to give him some opportunities to jot down 

some essential data and such.

I have also pulled those noted human body books from the shelf and we refer to them when needed. Again-I am using what I have to wrap up this unit and it is all good.  Just not what was originally outlined in the study.

And now for one of my favorite projects the Boy has done so far...and yes, it is a fav because he put some personality into it.  Our floating-head skeleton boy with a Barber of Seville curly mustache and a rocker dude goatee. [I say-if you do this study-dry place the pieces prior to the child gluing unlike us. Otherwise, you too will end up with a lovely floating, non-connected skull]

And that my blogger peeps is how we tweaked our HOD study to fit us and our current needs.  

Ultimate Blog Party 2013!

 

Hi and welcome to my blog. Well, I actually have 6 blogs, all created to highlight different aspects of our life/education methods, but am working toward putting them into one soon. My main blog is this one-Homeschooling on a Wing and a Prayer. I post about our home education projects/adventures, but also about various other things-like couponing, being a mom and other life stuff. I am a crafter by nature (scrapbooking, various projects and sewing) and have become a big fan of Pinterest.

I have been married 25 years to my best friend, and we have four wonderful (bio) kids (OK, well 3 are adults now) and we're working toward adopting a special needs child (or two) from Eastern Europe or Asia-hopefully very soon.

That is me-us-in a nutshell (and because I know you have lots of other blogs to visit-wanted to keep it short and sweet).  I hope to come across your blog soon, as I work my way thru this year's Blog Party!

And if you have time-come back and visit!  You can also see my other blogs by clicking the links below.

Blessings-
Sheri

My Workbox Blog

I am retired, but I have several (like a hundred or so?) 

reviews about homeschooling material

My Review blog