Question of the Week

What do you consider "Core" subjects {besides Reading, Writing, and Math} that need to be done every day/week?

Spelling
~Charity J.

Bible, Science, History/Social Studies!
~Jamie F. 


History/Social Studies and Science for sure.
~James L.


Scriptures, history, science daily or at least 3ish times a week and music is a big one at or house...that ones daily
~SheriDawn N. 


Literature, History, Science, and Bible. I teach one per day in Kindergarten and then when they get to 1st grade we do one small lesson daily.
~Shannon E.


Science, history, geography. 
~Jenni T.


Clean the house? Lunch/home ec.
~EmilieAn K.


PLAY DATES!! then religion, then literature, history and science.
~HolleeAn V.


Bible, History, Science and Literature. 
~Beth M.

We do scripture study every day. James and Tommy do a personal scripture study {because they are readers} and then we do something together. I do History twice a week and Science twice a week with those taking up most of our day. Because James and Tommy both play instruments there is practicing every day. And then there is lots of play!!
~Me


Next week's Question is.... Reading??? How have you {or how are you} taught your kids to read? Did you use a program? Did you just read to your child and he/she picked it up? Do you drill sight words or do you work more phonetically.

Desks

All home schoolers have different ways of setting up there school room.

Some sit at the kitchen table.

Some just stay on the floor or will climb into bed

We have desks.

We did have a table that was working really well.... until the boys realized that they could touch each other.

We were sitting at the table one day and I was making some copies and I hear Tommy giggling and I hear James telling him to stop poking him. Then I hear Tim telling him to stop poking him. Then Tommy was testing how far he could blow a piece of paper... into his brothers. Then he needed to stretch his legs... into his brothers.

So we had to do something.

We do a lot in the living room and on the floor. We don't do a whole lot at the desks but we do need to have a place to do our writing and a few things.

It's nice that they all have their own space now and the touching has come down to a minimum.  {you can't get away from it totally...}

Where do you homeschool??

I think I failed....

You know hind sight is always.... ok mostly 20/20.  And as I look back over the past two and a half years there was so many things I wish I would have done. There were things that I wish people would have told me....

I was a lot harder on James that I should have been. I thought I knew what I was doing, and here I was pushing him harder than he was ready. James is smart and he was in kindergarten too, and he was just curious about everything. I think we did some fun things.... I remember we did the story of the 3 Billy Goats Gruff... and that was fun. But I just didn't get it.

I was trying to hard to prove to everyone that I had "normal" kids with a "normal" school day. I wanted to prove to my family and friends that my boys were getting everything that they needed.

I pushed to hard.

I expected to much.

He was only 5.

Schooling should be fun. It should be go-with-the-flow. It should be learning at it's best.

I am still learning and things are much better. There are some things that we do at our desks but most of the things that we do are sitting on the couch together. Rotating boys that are sitting on my lap.

If there is any advice I can give is to focus on your family. Keep your blinders on when the negativity comes, and remember why you are doing this.

Kindergarten is a fun age, an age where paint is required every day. Where mess is almost always on the menu. And where happy kids are outside and looking at mud and bugs and leaves. Don't stress about kindergarten, keep it fun and upbeat.

I now have a 2nd grader, 1st grader, a kindergartner.... and one who is in the grade of "getting into everything". I know that I will continue to learn with the boys, we will have our highs... and our lows. And as we come upon those stumbling blocks we will try to go around... or over... but if we hit them we will learn from it.

For all those that are new to homeschooling.... ENJOY IT!!!! Don't stress to much. If you have a Kindergartner or a 9th grader... enjoy the journey of homeschooling.

Science Time

I have this science book and L.O.V.E. it!!!

James is really into chemistry right now. And this book does a really good job in breaking down the Periodic Table. There are fun poems that help the boys remember what things do.

There are experiments for each element group and most of them I have everything I need {ie: no extra trips to the store}

All of the science experiments are done on a basic level, but there are suggestion if you want to amp it up for a science fair project.

There is a lot of humor in the book and so on days that we don't do experiments the boys still like it when I read it to them.

You can find this book at Amazon for about $11.00.

If you are wanting something for basic Chemistry this is it. It's a great intro to a subject that can seem boring on the top but is really quite exciting when you throw in some experiments that make the elements make sense.

{all opinions are my own. I actually bought this book and use it and love it. I have not received any compensation for my review of this book}

Question of the Week

Our first Question of the week was: Do you start your school day in the morning, in the afternoon, a little all day long, or are you schedule free?


I don't have a schedule. It doesn't matter to me what time of day we start school. The kids know that they can not watch TV or play until some schoolwork has begun. They each have a binder full of schoolwork to get finished before the day is done. I don't even worry anymore about what order it gets done as long as it gets done.
~Shannon E. 

I home school in the morning, after breakfast. That way I still get my own free time in the afternoon when the little guy takes his nap. But, a few times a week we will do an art project of some sort and we will do that after lunch when the baby is napping.
~Kris S.

We homeschool in the morning. My guys don't do well trying to school in the afternoon. We are just better focused in morning. We have a really good schedule and the boys know what is expected of them. But because we don't school in the afternoon doesn't mean that there isn't learning.
~Me

Next week's question...

We all know that the "Core" subjects{reading, writing, math} are important, but what other subjects essential for your family? {ie music, geography, science ect.}

Classical Conversations

A friend of mine is the local director to a group called Classical Conversations. {CC}

Classical Conversations "combines classical learning with biblical world views"

It is based off of the method from Susan Wise-Bauer, and her book the The Well Trained Mind.

It has three levels the Foundations K-6, the Essentials 4-6, and the Challenge 7-12.

I went and checked it out and talked to my friend and others who were in the program. It is set up to meet as a group once a week and learn from the teacher, and then you take what you have learned home and expound upon it the rest of the week.

There is a lot of memorization in the Foundations class, and then as you get older you start learning why you have memorized those facts.

I actually like the idea and the way it is brought out. It's like when you are little and you know the song of "Ring Around the Roses" but you really have no idea what the song is about or why it was written. You just like to sing it because it's fun. As you get older you come to learn the story behind it. The whys to it. Why you are putting flowers in your pocket and why you are falling down. CC is the same type of concept.

CC is also Christian based and as a Christian I don't have a problem with that, but they use the New World Translation of the Bible... at least the local group here did, and I use the King James Version in my home, and there is a big difference.

It is also really expensive, and we could not afford it. There are some that supplement by being a teacher, because the teachers are paid, but they require that the teachers sign a "statement of faith" and because my religious views are different, I can't put my name to something that I don't believe.

After looking at this program I think it is a great program for those that want to follow after The Well Trained Mind, and would like the structure that CC brings, however it was not for us.

{all thoughts and opinions are my own and I have not received any compensation for this post}

$7 and a Screw Driver

I was at the thrift store picking up some last minute things for our costumes for Halloween, and I found a VCR for $7. I bought it and brought it home.

For the next hour and half {after I had to explain what a VCR is to the boys} took it apart piece by piece. They had a great time, and I only had to help loosen a couple screws.

This is a great idea for anyone with kids that are fascinated at taking things apart. Buy a bunch of stuff and let them have at it. Kids are so curious about how things work and the inner parts of things. For your older kids let them see if they can put it back together and get it to work again.

You don't need to buy anything to expensive... just what ever you can pick up that the thrift store will do.

You may want to pick something up for each kid. The boys did good taking turns but next time I will get them their own piece of equipment to take apart.

This Blog....

I've decided to resurrect this blog and do something different.

I've decided that I am going to review things that I am using, things I have used, and things that I have looked at and decided not to use and why. I am skeptical sometimes of "testimonial" on the websites, I mean really who are these people? But I know that I am more likely to buy something or even look that way if someone I know says something about it, or recommends it.

This won't be just curriculum and products but magazines, books, and internet sites as well and why I like them or.... don't like them.

I will also share some things that work for us and tricks that I have learned along the way.

I will also be posting a "Question of the Week" I would love it if you would email me your answer. I know I have so much to learn from others and I know that your knowledge will help others as well. I will post all the answers the following week so you can see what others have done or what works for them.

I don't consider myself an expert at all, and I have only been doing homeschooling for 3 years but I feel like I have something to offer and new ideas are always good.... right??

I'll post as often as I can, and I look forward to meeting and learning from all of you.

Scroll on down to see my Give Aways!

Give Away #1!!!

The first give away is these 3 packs of playing cards.

I love playing cards with the boys it's something easy that I can do with one hand while holding Benji or trying to keep him busy with the other. Also, I can play cards with Tim while the other boys are doing their school work, or while they read to me. {I am all about multi-tasking}

Cards are also an easy game to teach young kids, and they are fun for older ones.

In the packs are Crazy 8's and Memory, Matching and Old Maid, and Go Fish and Slap Jack.

All these games my boys like and we play often. 

You will get one entry for your first comment.

If you post on Facebook about my giveaways, come back and post again and you'll get 5 more entries.

The give away will close Sunday the 15th at Midnight... for me, that would be EST.

{oh, and leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner}

Give Away #2!!!

The next give away is a pack of 4 books. I love Usborne books, I am a dealer actually and I love the way they are put together and I love the variety of the books they offer.

In this pack of books is a board book "little puppies",  "The Story of Rumpelstiltskin" this one is a two person reader. You read the words on the top, and your little one can read the words on the bottom of the page. This was a favorite one for each of my boys. Then we have "I Can Cut and Stick" what kid doesn't like to cut and paste and this book has lots of ideas. And then there is "Sticker Dolly Dressing Dolls" {honestly... pink is banned from our house as far as the boys are concerned}

You will get one entry for your first comment.


If you post on Facebook about my giveaways, come back and post again and you'll get 5 more entries.

If you want to do a quick blog post come back again and I'll give you 5 more entries.

The give away will close Sunday the 15th at Midnight... for me, that would be EST.


{oh, and leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner}

Give Away #3!!!

Give away number 3 is a 2nd grade workbook. This is "Daily Learning Drills."

Now I am not a big workbook fan, however.... it is nice to have stuff to pull from if someone is not getting a certain concept. I have a tendency to have excess on hand just to have the options to pull from from.

And.... it's nice to have something to give the kids when you are having a bad day... or a sick day. I think having workbooks on hand are great for days like that. I was sick one day and the things that I had planned for that day needed me to over see it. I really didn't want the boys to watch TV/movies all day because I couldn't get off the couch. So I pulled out a couple workbooks and had the boys work on that on the floor next to me.


You will get one entry for your first comment.


If you post on Facebook about my giveaways, come back and post again and you'll get 5 more entries.

If you want to do a quick blog post come back again and I'll give you 5 more entries.

The give away will close Sunday the 15th at Midnight... for me, that would be EST.



{oh, and leave your email so I can contact you if you are the winner}

ME!

 {that's me and Tommy}

Ok, where to start, it's hard sometime to introduce yourself because you never know what other people want to know about....

Well, I'm Leah, I have 4 boys, a dog... that's a boy, and a wonderful husband who has taken me on many great adventures. Not adventures to foreign lands but just life in general. Currently we are in Florida while he goes to Chiropractic school, but it was a long road getting here.

When we got married Steve was going to school to be a nurse, and I had just graduated from a Tech school with an Associates in Computer Aided Drafting. We had our plans and things were good.

Well apparently the Lord knows better than we do... {insert big DUH here} and all our plans changed. After 9/11 Steve joined the military. So while he was at boot camp I packed up our small house. Off we were to Monterey California. While we were there we had our first boy, James.

Then once he was done there we were off to Arizona for more training. Where we got pregnant again when James was 6 months old. I was thinking great he'll be done with training before we have another baby. Well... again the Lord had a different plan and I had Tommy when Steve was in Iraq. Steve was on the phone and got to only hear Tommy cry. James was 15 months old at the time and we were back in Utah

I made my way through a year of being a mom to two babies, and Steve made it home safely and all was well again. Then two months after Steve got home we again found out we were pregnant. I thought well, good at least I'll have a little time with just the four of us before a baby is born. Again, the Lord in all his wisdom blessed us with a determined little boy who didn't think he needed to cook that long and was born 10 weeks early. Tim was in the NICU for 7 weeks before he was able to come home.

Not long after he came home Steve took a different job in Arizona and so we were on the move again.

{I'm going to shorten the story a bit....}

He was deployed again.... Came back, got out of the Army completely, and decided to become a Chiropractor. So here we are.

Since we have been here we added again to our family with yet another baby boy. Benji is a joy to the family... his strong will and all.

Steve graduates in December 2012  and who knows where adventure will take us next??

New set date!!!

I am going to start posting new on January 12.... 12 days into 2012.... When I woke up out of a dead sleep with how clever that was I was patting myself on my back... sitting here now... not so clever, but I'm going to roll with it any way.

In addition to starting new there is also going to be a give-away!! Face it we all like free stuff and if I have to bribe you back over here then so be it.

You'll notice the "Question of the Week" bar already up, if you have a chance to email me your response that would be great and I will get it up on during my first week-ish.

If you really can't wait to see the chaos that I live with head on over to my other blog... the dog's a boy too

You will see that I really do live with crazies... cute and lovable.... but crazy none the less. And come back here January 12th. If for no other reason than to fuel my ego that people are reading this.

I'll have some great reviews of things that I am using, and some tips that have worked for me. I have some confessions to make and advice to give.

I'll see you all back in 12 days!!