What next after the holidays?

As we come out of the holiday's I am looking at each of my children and what they have learned so far this year. I am finding that Honey (6) is slow to want to learn the "school" stuff but fast to learn the "everyday" stuff. She wants to learn but gets frustrated when trying to learn.  Like she has a very short fuse and will loose it when she can't get something right or remember something.  I am trying to figure out what her homeschool learning style is. Is she a right-brained visual learner or if she is an audio learner. Still trying to figure my Honey out.  

If anyone has any ideas on how to figure her out, I am open for suggestions. 

Writing through the holidays.

With the holiday's a lot of people slow down in their school. But one way to not slow down is to assign your children writing projects with subjects that match the season you are in.

If you are Jewish, why not try writing assignment on all the traditions.

What about if you are Christian, write about your holiday traditions.

What about writing about the commercial side of the holidays.

Need some SAT easy writing help? There is help out there with writing software.

So just when you are feeling that you have slipped into a lull for homeschooling during the holiday's Try some creative writing assignments about what all is going on in your world. A good directory is on Todays-Learners.com of homeschool writing programs.

What animal is this?

What would you call this animal?

Cow right? 

We have a running joke in our house that the animal pictured above is a horse. I know that sounds strange, but it is a funny story. See when my sister was little and learning her animals, my dad thought it would be funny to tell her a cow was a horse and a horse was a cow. Our family would go on family drives on the weekends, cheap entertainment for a family of 5. My dad would always point out the cows and horses. This was all fun and games till my sister went to school and argued with her teacher over what each animals name was. She argued so much with the teacher she was sent to the office and my daddy had to go down to the school and explain the whole analogy to her. 

Now when we travel and see a cow or a horse I think of my daddy and his little joke. 

Now that I have children I see that little joke could cause issues. Teaching my oldest to spell those animal names has not always been easy.  Spelling cow was not an issue but horse he kept leaving off the e at the end. You would find the word horse on our spelling test online very often. 

Florida forgot it winter time.

It looks like Florida forgot that is it winter, again.  This is what it looks like around the United States with the temperatures.

The heat energy that we are producing would be nice to send up to the northern states where they are dealing with not just snow but ice too. It would be nice to unscramble some of those temps and even them out. 

Just another day in Florida.  

Sneaking in lessons.

Here in Florida the temperature is turning, beautiful. I mean cooler. This is one of those few times of year that my kids want to spend the whole day outside. Since it is normally hot and humid. I let them take advantage of it and they can do their book work when it is to hot to be outside. 

Granted I do sneak in plant lessons, nature games, and even thermal energy lessons.  This is the time of year in our schooling when we are very eclectic.

Do you adjust to the weather, holidays or even family visiting? I would love to hear about it. 

 

Questions you get...

When you are new to homeschooling, you get asked a lot of questions. Some of those questions are just silly when asked but we get all kinds of questions.

Like….

What about sports and PE?

What about school dances, like homecoming and prom?

What if you don't know how to teach a subject?

What if your child struggles with a subject?

There are easy answers to all of these questions, lets start with the sports and PE. You can duel enroll at a school for any subject including PE and be on a sports team. Most homeschoolers will either do local sports groups, like PeeWee Football. As for PE, your kids do PE all the time, every time they go outside and play. When they ride their bikes, swim in the pool, skate board, etc…

School dances like homecoming and prom are sometimes a little harder to achieve but not impossible.  They are also not in the homeschool requirements. Our local homeschool support group puts on both homecoming and prom. They also do senior days, spirit days and more.

If you don't know how to teach a subject or your child struggles you ASK for help! Usually from other homeschoolers. But you can always use online classes or dvd classes, co-ops and even duel enroll in public schools.

There is always a way.

Tinker Bell My Office Mascot

This is Tinker Bell. 

She is a very busy little kitty. My boss found her when she was only 3 weeks old. 

Her eyes where still sealed shut due to infection.  

After lots of loving and medicine her personality has really started to show. 

She gets into things. The toilet paper rolls and paper towel rolls don't stand a chance at surviving when Tinker Bell is on the prowl.

She thinks I need help with my writing skills.  She is constantly going after my pencil/pen when I am writing. Like she does not like the syllables I use in some words. 

Some times she just blocks all of the writing process.

She has shown she can be a great paper weight on my desk. 

But most of all Tinker Bell is a lover of attention. 

Here she is sleeping in my lap.

Tinker Bell is my office mascot and I would not change it for the world. 

Games to play...

When was the last time you played a game? 

Not a computer game but a real game. The kind you have to sit with someone else and talk with while you play. I know some people will say; "I talk to people all the time on my headset or they are sitting right next to me when I am playing with them on the video game." 

 

I am talking like a board game or card game. 

Check out these neat games I found that can be played with your family.  

Here is a new one that I have not seen before... The Logo Board Game

There are so many different Opoly games out there like...

Bookopoly

Earthopoly

Even Homeschoolopoly

Got a preschooler in your life you need preschool games...

What about card games...

How about a Make Your Own Game....

Not saying that computer games, educational games or video games are bad, just saying change it up now and then. 

Fall is here!

Fall is here... Even in Florida. When you think of the seasons you think of major changes in what your scenery and plants looks like. Well, in Florida that is not how it happens. You either have alive, green and hot or dried, cool and brown looking. 

We have finally started to have temps that are not getting past the 86-89 and as low as 64. 

Woo Hoo, I know pretty cold. (I know you are laughing at me.) 

Here are some pictures of what fall looks like in my area....

Dry and brown! This time of year is my favorite and leads to a lot of unschooling in our homeschooling high school. 

Skies

Look at these beautiful skies....

Both of these where taken in the last week. The weather lessons here have been incredible. 

It makes for easy and beautiful science for kids. 

Camouflage Crazy

My 4 year old is obsessed with CAMO!! 

Green, Blue, Gray it does not matter. 

Yep I said it right camouflage. He wants to ONLY wear camo.  Shirts, pants, shoes, even his underwear, he wants it all to be camo. His PS3 controller is even digital camo. 

He is right at home in the camouflaged habitat.  Playing, learning, or using his imagination. It always seems to include camo. 

Does anyone in your family obsess over a certain thing or color? 

Free is for Me!

Everyone loves the word "FREE." How can you not love that word and what it means. 

Being a homeschool mom I am always on the look out for "FREE" school items to use in our daily life. 

Here are a few things I have found that I want to share with you...

• Free Puzzle Games
• Free Art Games
• Free Spelling Games 
• Free Homeschool Printable Forms
• Free Printable Coloring Pages 
• Free Spanish Lessons

That is only a few on my list of FREE things for homeschoolers. There are MANY, MANY more. There are so many FREE things out there for homeschoolers I am just amazed!

Co-Op Baby!

The new school year means Co-op! Like last year both Honey (6)  and Biggun (14) will be taking co-op.  If you are not familiar with what a co-op is let me explain. Co-op is when parents (or adults) get together and teach a group of kids, that may or may not be their own children. Example Honey can take a class called Magnets for Kids and this class might include all the different ways magnets work in the world. A very hands on kind of class. Or Biggun could take a class on Teen Business. Teaching him how to create his own business and thrive with it.

Last year Biggun took a class about sign language, both first and second semester. It amazes me what all they learn in co-op.  He was surprised when he took a literature class, based on the book Boys of Grit, and he actually liked it. Being that he is not a big reader I was very happy with the outcome of the class.

I am willing to do what ever I have to do to have my kids go to co-op.  It is a great way for them to socialize and learn about things that I am not able to teach or they would learn better from someone else. All the while I still am able to teach my children the way God has lead me to.

Love the freedom of homeschooling.

Teacher Resources

Where do you find your teacher resources?

Do you do web searches or do you have some bookmarked? 

Do you go to homeschool forum to find them? 

I am finding more and more luck on Pinterest!

School at Night!

We have successfully finished a week of school. Granted our week started off on the strange side. We had to do school work 3 NIGHTS in a row.  Another reason I like homeschooling. My Granny is in the hospital and I was needed at the hospital during the day. That only left night time to do school. My kids rolled with the punches pretty good and did a great job schooling at night.

One of the new things my oldest is doing with his school this year is writing assignments due every week instead of once in a while. This week he has to turn in a 5 paragraph paper on a time when either he was prejudice against someone or someone was prejudice against him. If this assigning something once a week does not work well for him, then we will look into an online writing curriculum.

We also added video response to our school work. Since he hates to write and we already have one subject that is asking for writing assignments, we decided to use public speaking instead of writing. This means he has to record himself stating the answer (or what he would have written) to the question or topic that was asked. I am very proud of his his first attempt. He had to tell someone about Christ without using the actual scriptures to do it. He could mention parts of scripture but he could not recite the scripture with the address.  I wish I had a way to upload it so you could hear it. But it was pretty cool. He did great. 

As for the littles, they did good with school this week. Still working on a routine for them but I know it will work itself out. Their favorite part is time4learning.com. 

2013-2014 School Year!

Got our year planned out for my kids... I think. ((big smile)) We are using a lot of different stuff this year.  From books to online activities.

My oldest Freshman (9th) is using ....

Exploring America by Notgrass for
Bible
English
History
Writing
SpellingCity.com for vocabulary and spelling test online

Keys to Algebra for
Math

God's Design for Life
Science

We might add on a class from Time4Learning Highschool.

My 1st Grader is using...

Time4learning.com K-first grade homeschool online level everything.
Complete math for 1st grade work book
All About Reading Level 1
Today Is notebook
Lots of Dry Erase Sheets - practice practice practice

Reading LOTS of books Out Loud!

My PreK-5 is using

Time4learning.com for K level everything
Complete math for K grade work book
All About Reading Level 1
Today Is notebook
Lots of Dry Erase Sheets - practice practice practice
Reading LOTS of books Out Loud!

Lunch and the New School Year

A lot of people are getting ready to restart their school year. In doing that, we don't just think of school supplies and clothing but some homeschool mom's will think of new items to have for lunch and snack for the new school year. Pinterest is a great place to find ideas for lunch and snack.  Some mom's will go as far as trying to make a few lunches or snacks that will go with the subjects that are being studied. Food chains that work together. Here are some great ideas that I found...

Grade Level

YIPEE!!!!

 After 8 long years of having as son who shows signs of being dyslexic. We can not afford to get our son professionally checked. It is not offered by the public school system either in our area with out going through all kinds of other type of "Label" studies. So we have adjusted our teaching to homeschool dyslexia. This has not been to hard since we used time3learning.com on and off over the years and we have our son say out loud all words he is reading and writing. This was a trick we picked up from a friend who said if you read it, say it and write it, you have it going to the brain correctly 3 different ways. That and constantly telling our son to slow down. 

But back to our celebration YIPEE!!!

After 8 long years of struggling. My son tested this school year at 

GRADE LEVEL reading and reading comprehension!!! 

YIPEE!!

Happy Dance!!!

I am so proud of him and all his hard work. 

Not Amusing Weather!!!

Florida is known for its amusement parks and roller coaster rides. But the weather puts all of us through a constant roller coaster ride and let me share it is NOT amusing.


One minute it Sunny and Hot...

Next it is Raining

Next thing you know it is Hot and Humid.

If we had snow and changing of the leaves we would have great wether curriculum for our home.  We have to settle for pictures and science curriculum to help us learn about the other seasons. 

Pros and Cons of Homeschooling

I love the freedom that homescholing gives our family. There are so many pros and cons of homeschooling.  

Some of the pros are.....

• We can make our own schedule.
• We can move at our own pace.
• We can study what we want to study. (Bible)
• We can dress how we want to dress.

That is just a short list of pros. 

Some of the cons are.....

• We have to purchase our own curriculum.
• There is no real break from our children. (Some people this is not an issue)
• We don't have a regiment that insist we get dressed daily. (I know silly)
• If we don't know a subject we might have to find a tutoring, online classes or co-op to help teach it.

What do think the pros and cons are for homeschooling? 

Scienc4Us.com

Have you seen the new science for kids website?

If you have not been by to check it out, you should stop by. I have really enjoyed going through and seeing all the great science curriculum it filled with. 

The Science4U website states...

"The Science4Us curriculum is a complete, standards-based, core science curriculum that delivers digital science experiences to early elementary students. "

 

The Science4U mission is....

The mission of Science4Us is to provide a solid foundation of fundamental science concepts for students in their formative years, on which a deep understanding and interest in science can be built. In order to achieve our goal, Science4Us realizes that the teacher is an integral part of our mission.

I can't wait for my daughter to try this site. They cover subjects like Physical Science, Inquiry Science, Life Science and Earth Space Science.

They have some great interactive demos to try out, too.

What is your favorite homeschool resource?

What are your favorite homeschool resource? Do you have more then one? I would love to know what you use.

A few of my favorites are...

What are some of your favorites?