Happy Reformation Day!

Happy Reformation Day Everyone!

Five hundred years ago today--Martin Luther nailed his 95 Theses to the church door, having no idea how this single event was going to change his life and indeed the lives of everyone around him as well as many more people he had never met, living in different countries.

But Martin Luther wasn't the only one.   Years before him lived John Wycliffe--Morning Star of the Reformation.  At that time, there were very few copies of the Bible in existence.  But in spite of this, God was watching over His Holy Word.  He did not allow His truth to be forever hidden away, literally chained to a wall and written in a language that the common man did not understand. It is because of John Wycliffe's faithful work that I can read my Bible today--as he is the one who made the Bible available in the English language.

And then there was Huss and Jerome, who paid for preaching the truth to the people with their very lives. How many of us today value the truth enough that we would give up our lives to defend it?

We have taken time in our homeschool over this past month to study deeper the events and the men used of God which led up to the Reformation.  I have been meaning to share some of the resources we have been using here on my blog earlier, but life has a way of being very busy so as they say, better late than never!  Learning about the Reformation is not confined to a certain day or season--it is a great study ANY time of the year!  So I hope you enjoy these resources as much as we have!

Light Unshackled  A FANTASTIC film which goes over the history of the Reformation.  Very interesting and I would say appropriate for at least age 10 and up.  There is mention of Huss and Jerome being burned at the stake, so keep this in mind if you are thinking of showing this to young children.  The film is divided into four, 30 minute segments, all of which are available to watch free at the Light Unshackled link.

When Lightening Struck! The Story of Martin Luther  This is a book written for middle schoolers by a home school mom on the life of Martin Luther.  It is written from a first person point of view, and is very well written and quite interesting.  I first read the entire book myself, to evaluate and see what I thought, and now I am reading it out loud to our 13 year old and she says it is her favorite thing we are doing in home school currently!

When Lightening Struck! Discussion Guide and a 12 Week Unit Study on Martin Luther--both of these resources are available FREE at the above link for the book "When Lightening Struck!"  Go to that link and scroll down down down to the very bottom of that page and you will find them.  We are using the discussion guide as we read through the book, and it is really helping us to think about the things that are happening as we read the story.  I especially appreciate the Bible references that are included, so students can actually read for themselves where in the Bible the points that the reformers were resting on are to be found.  The 12 Week Unit Study is FULL of great learning--written for grades 6-12, which is rare to find as most unit studies are written for much younger children.  I am thrilled to have a meaty unit study for my older student!


The Great Controversy   This is a GEM of a book, and is available free online at this link!  For a Reformation study, you will especially want to use Chapter 4 on The Waldenses, Chapter 5 on John Wycliffe, Chapter 6 on Huss and Jerome, Chapters 7 & 8 on Martin Luther, as well as Chapter 9 on Zwingli.  The entire book is fantastic to use in home school (or in your own personal study time), as it gives a large overview of the great struggle between Christ and Satan, and really helps one to understand the big picture.  So if you are short on time, simply use the chapters about the specific reformers--but definitely come back when you can and read the entire book!  I believe it is also available to listen to as an audio book at the same link--I haven't done that, so poke around and see if you can find it if that interests you.


A Mighty Fortress Craft  O.K.--you might think that a 13 year old is too old for crafts, but not so!  My daughter is greatly enjoying putting together this little fort craft, based on Martin Luther's hymn "A Mighty Fortress" You can download a free copy of the craft at the link.  all you need to add is four toilet paper tubes!

It Is Written- 500 Years of the Reformation This link will take you to an amazing nine part series (approximately one hour each part) on the history of the Reformation. It is currently being broadcast on several channels, but as each part is broadcast they are releasing that part on the web site here.  So far, parts 1-6 are released, with parts 7-9 still to come. My daughter and I are still finishing watching part 2, but we have already learned so much!  Part 2 is all about Ireland and St. Patrick--I have learned many things I never knew before!  And the best part is it is all free!

Martin Luther 95 Theses Craft This link will take you to a page of wonderful resources from the company Homeschool In The Woods.  If you scroll down, the second item in the list is a Martin Luther 95 thesis craft.  This item is not free, but only cost a few dollars and you can download it immediately and use it today!  The company was also running a special which I believe is still valid through today, where if you bought ANY product of theirs, they would send you a free download of the 95 Thesis craft.  So this is what I did--I purchased another item of theirs that I thought my daughter would enjoy later on, and received this craft as a free bonus. :). That is win-win in my book!


Well, there you have it.  A long list of resources we are using in our Reformation study--and all but two of the items in the list are free! And the two that aren't--I receive nothing if you purchase them.  I am simply sharing what has been a blessing in our homeschool.

I hope these resources are a blessing to you and your family!  Remember--we must base every belief on the unchanging Word of God.

May God bless each one of you!

~Susan

Back to (Home) School Part 3-How do I Know what Subjects to Teach?

Good Morning Everyone!

I have another post for you today in the "Back to (Home) School" series. . . This post was inspired by one of the reader questions I received after last week's post on choosing your curriculum.  So I am going to back track just a little bit, as today's post truly "should" come before last week's post on choosing curriculum.  After all, it is a little hard to choose curriculum to use for each one of your subjects that you are going to teach if you are not clear on exactly which classes you NEED to teach!

So if you are joining us for the first time today, you can find the first post in this series here:

Back to (Home) School Part 1

And you can find the second post in this series here:

Back to (Home) School Part 2

And now on to today's topic--how do you know what subjects you need to teach anyway???  This is an EXCELLENT question, and I wish I had thought of writing about it myself, before posting last week's post on choosing your curriculum.  This is one problem with having home schooled for nineteen years like I have--I do sometimes forget about steps that I have done so long that they are automatic to me.  Which is NOT a good thing when I am trying to help others who may be just beginning their home school journey!  But nonetheless, I suppose this might be a case of better late than never!  I hope so, anyway. . .

The very first thing that you will need to do when creating the list of what subjects you are going to teach is to check what classes you are legally required to teach in your state.  This is going to vary from state to state.  If you are overseas, I am sorry but I have no knowledge at all of what you are required to do or even if your country allows home schooling.  But here in the United States, my understanding is that home schooling is legal in all fifty states.  Keep in mind that I am NOT offering legal advice here--only sharing what I have heard and you will need to do your own research to make sure you are fulfilling your individual state requirements.

Some states are very easy to home school in.  For instance, when we lived in Texas, we had a short list of subjects that we were required to teach, but we were not required to turn in any test scores or proof of home schooling to the state.  Where I currently live--the beautiful state of Tennessee--it is not quite so easy to home school as I am required to either register officially as a home schooling family with our local county public school, or we may choose to register through an umbrella school.  Some umbrella schools are actual brick and mortar schools, where students  meet on a campus somewhere but they also have a home education program.  Other umbrella schools do not have an actual physical school and are only an on-line type of program.  You would then be required to fulfill whatever requirements your umbrella organization had--either for testing, classes, reporting, or whatever.

How will you find out what your state requirements are?  Good question!  A very helpful web site is the site of Home School Legal Defense Association.  You can find their link here:

Home School Legal Defense Association

On the HSLDA web site you can find out what ages are required for school attendance in your state, tips for withdrawing your child from public school if they are already attending, as well as tons of other useful information.  Some people have found it useful to actually join HSLDA, and then if they are ever in a legal battle over home schooling rights the lawyers at HSLDA will defend you in court at no additional cost to you.  I have never felt the need to personally join HSLDA, so if you consider joining please know that I am not personally recommending them but only pointing out that I have found their web site to have useful information.  One word of caution--oftentimes, when there is a problem with home schooling it is due to a divorce situation where one parent wants to home school and the other parent does not desire home school for their children.  I have heard that in cases like this, HSLDA will NOT defend the parent who desires to continue home schooling.  I do not know if this is true or not, as it is only what I have heard.  So my caution is that if you decide to join HSLDA and pay them your hard earned dollars, make sure you read the fine print and  know what it is that you are actually getting for your money.

O.K. So let's use the great state of Texas as an example.  As I mentioned above, when I lived in Texas I was required to teach the following subjects:  Reading, Spelling, Grammar, Math, and Good Citizenship.  This was what the state required of me.  The first three subjects--Reading, Spelling, and Grammar, all fall under the category of Language Arts.  Some Language Arts programs out there will include all three of these areas in the same book.  Others may be focusing on just one area.  Currently, one of the curriculum books I am using with my daughter is the book "Easy Grammar."  This book teaches--you guessed it--Grammar.  It does not include Spelling or Reading.  Another year, when I was still teaching my son, I used the Bob Jones University Press English book for the high school level.  This program DID include Reading, Spelling, and Grammar, all in the same book.  So you need to know exactly what each one of your curriculum resources is going to help you cover.

Now, going back to our Texas list--do you notice anything missing?  What about Science?  As a home school parent, it is very important to me that my children are taught Science--but it just happens that that is not one of the required areas for me to cover when I was living in Texas.  Does this mean that I do not cover it?  Not at all!  This simply means that I add it in!  I was also not required to teach Bible, but that also was an area that was important to our family.  So after making sure to research and include what you are legally required to teach, you can add in whatever classes you as a parent feel are also important for your child to learn.

As mentioned above, I currently live in Tennessee.  Our family has chosen to register through an umbrella school.  So I am required to teach the list of classes that my umbrella school tells me I must teach.  But once again, there are additional classes which I would LIKE to teach in our home school but am not required to teach.  I am free to teach those desired classes--but since they are not required of me to teach by my umbrella school, when I need to report grades to my umbrella school I choose not to report grades for those optional classes.  Now, this DOES mean that those optional classes will not be appearing on my daughter's permanent school record from her umbrella school.  But since she is still in the elementary levels, it is not important to me that every single class that we do in our home school appears on her school record.  Once she is in high school, however, I will feel differently about it and will definitely be grading and reporting to our umbrella school those extra classes which will count as "electives" in our high school credit count.

I hope this is making some sense!  It really isn't as complicated as it sounds when I write it out!  There really are only two steps:  1)  find out what your state requires you to teach, and 2) add in whatever other classes you desire to teach.  :)

So once you have your list of subjects ready, and you know what it is you are going to teach, hop back over to my previous post on choosing your curriculum and have FUN!  Really!  I absolutely LOVE looking through home school catalogs, reading the different descriptions.  It is almost as much fun as eating chocolate!

I hope this post is helpful to someone!  Feel free to ask any questions you may have, and I will at least try my best to help with whatever has worked for me.  Remember that every family is unique, but it can help to ask others who have been home schooling for a while and then evaluate whether what has worked for them might work for you and your children as well.

Next post, I hope to share some of my favorite home school resources!

~Susan

Back to (Home) School! Part 2-Choosing Your Curriculum

Good Morning Everyone!

Time for our second post in our "Back to (Home) School" planning series!  I am not exactly sure how many posts will be in this series, but until I run out of things to share I suppose. :)  Or get too busy--whichever comes first!

To recap, in the first post I shared about how I plan our home school calendar, and a little bit about why it is important and how to personalize your school calendar to work for YOUR family and YOUR unique needs.  If you missed that post, you can find it here:

Back to (Home) School! Part 1-Choosing Your School Schedule

I did have a reader request if I knew of a free program, printable, etc. that could be used for keeping track of required attendance days.  (Thank you for your question!  I love hearing that a post was helpful, or being given the opportunity to share helpful information!) In my state (Tennessee), I am required to keep track and report my attendance of 180 days, but the specifics of what I use to keep track of those days is up to me.  You could circle "school days" on your calendar, mark down in a notebook, etc.  All I need to do when I turn in my grade reports each semester is report our starting date, finishing date, and how many total school days.  With that being said, I do like to have all that information handy for me on one form that I can keep in my home school planning binder, so I use a form like this free one here:

Printable Attendance Form

Using this attendance form, I simply put a check mark or X in each blank if we did school on that day.  This form is just for my own personal use, but it keeps track of the information I need and is a good visual reminder for me to record our school for that day.  If you have an older student you could even pass this job over to them and let them do the record keeping.

O.K., with all of the above shared, it is time for the topic of today's post--choosing your curriculum!

1). Choose Your School Schedule

2). Choose Your School Curriculum

***As we saw already in choosing your school schedule, the very first thing you are going to want to do as you move into choosing your school curriculum is PRAY.  Remember James 1:5, read it again and claim God's promise to grant you HIS wisdom!  Ask Him to reveal to you the ways that your children learn best, and to open your eyes clearly to materials that will work well for that type of learner.

***After praying about it, spend some time simply pondering.  Think about each one of your school age children, and ask yourself how they each learn best.  Do you have an active little boy who loves to tinker and take things apart to see how they work?  If so, a curriculum program that centers around filling in workbook pages is probably not going to work the best for him.  On the other hand, some children--usually a girl--absolutely LOVE filling in workbooks!  Think about what type of learner(s) you have, and whether you will need programs with auditory components to them so your child can listen to their textbook being read to them, or unit studies where they can do a combination of research, hands on projects, and other "outside of the textbook" learning.
If you are not certain about what type of learner your child is, there are numerous free assessments you can look at to help educate yourself on the different learning styles.  I found this link that looks helpful if you want to read more:

What is the Best Way for your Child to Learn?

***Now that you have in mind your child's learning style, it's time to take inventory!  What are the resources that you already have?  Maybe you have never homeschooled before, but you have a relative who has--can you ask about possibly borrowing or purchasing some books that they are finished with?  If so, first make sure their books are ones that are going to work for your family.  Did you already homeschool an older child and you still have some of their books and materials in the house that could be recycled and used again for the younger sibling?  Maybe some materials may not work for your current homeschooler, but some of them can.  Each child will have their own learning style so you cannot automatically assume that what worked great for one child will automatically work just as great for the next--but on the other hand, don't throw out the baby with the bath water either!  For our son, he is an auditory learner so when it came to high school Algebra I ended up investing in a very expensive program that had daily video lessons.  It worked wonderful for him, and I was blessed to be able to purchase it used from a friend.  When our daughter was ready last year to start Algebra, I automatically assumed we would be using the same program with her.  After all, it was a high quality program, and it was already paid for and living in our house!  Well, she started into the program, but I realized after a while that it just wasn't the best fit for her.  I went ahead and purchased for her the Algebra book in the same curriculum series she had previously been using, and she has been happy as a clam with math ever since.  Oh the other hand, the same Science textbook that her brother used in middle school is working great for her as well.

***What "non-curriculum" resources do you have the can be used?  In our house, I have quite a collection of biographies.  Although they may not have been written specifically as school curriculum, we will be using a handful of them this year as a core component of our Geography class as well as using them for literature in our English class.  And don't forget your local library!  I live in a very small town, but can still go online and reserve scores of library books on topics we are going to study in our homeschool.  The wonderful librarians receive my requests, pull the books off the shelves, and hand them to me in a large stack when I show up later at the front desk!  :)  I can even access free videos that stream from some big library source in the sky straight to my computer!  I don't know how it works--I just know it works GREAT for our homeschool.  When I stream a video I don't even need to remember to return it--it just disappears from my library account when it reaches it's due date.  No late fees--yea!

***Write down the classes that you have materials for already.  We THINK that we can remember it all in our heads, but we can't!  And it's a sad feeling to find yourself half way through the school year--or worse, all the way through the school year, and then you "discover" lost on your book shelf somewhere the fun book you WERE planning on using with your child that year.  Don't ask me how I know this--it isn't a happy story!  You don't need a fancy form--a plain old piece of paper will do just fine.  But if you happen to have an on-line planner of some type, of course you can fill in a specific form if you want to.  The important thing is to simply start listing the materials you have already and identify what specific class they are going to be used for.

***Now that you know what you already have, you can see clearly where you have some holes that you need to fill in.  Decide HOW you want to meet that class in your homeschool.  Remember that not EVERY class needs to be taught by you.  When our daughter was younger, I taught her music class simply by singing with her and teaching her to use simple rhythm instruments.  Now that she is older, we pay a professional music teacher to teacher her private lessons.  When she was young, we paid for group swimming lessons--and now that she is older she no longer needs someone teaching her how to swim.  Today, there are swarms of options for homeschoolers.  There might be a co-op near you that you are going to join and the classes will fill in some gaps that you have in your plan.  Or you may have several classes that you are simply going to purchase a curriculum textbook to meet that need.

***Last of all, after you have prayed, assessed the learning style of your child, taken inventory of what you already have or have access to and have written DOWN what you will be using for specific classes it is finally time to purchase what you need.  I strongly encourage you to check several resources for each item you are planning on purchasing.  It is amazing what price difference you may find!  Or while the prices may be the same with two companies, one may offer free or low shipping costs and the other one might require a higher purchase before offering free shipping.  If there is one thing I dislike, it is spending my curriculum dollars on shipping!!!  I want to spend it on curriculum for my child instead! So compare, compare, compare!  And once you have decided which company you are going to order your materials from, don't hesitate to order it!  Not only is it easy to forget to order, but companies get really swamped with orders the closer to Fall that it gets.  Besides that, you need to get those books into your hot little hands so you can keep your planning going. :D

Well, that wraps up all I can think of in choosing your school curriculum.  I hope you have found some helpful ideas here, and I would love it if you would share in the comments the one curriculum/book/resource you are most excited about trying this year and why.  Just ask my hubby--I LOVE curriculum!

~Susan

Back to (Home) School! Part 1-Choosing your School Schedule

Hi Everyone!

Are you enjoying your summer???  I am!  But it truly is flying by very fast.

Yesterday I found myself in Staples, and they had a whole front page of their "Back to School" sales on school supplies!  Staples happens to be one of my favorite stores to find good school supply deals, but that is a post for another time. :)

Today I want to talk about something that many homeschoolers would prefer to simply ignore--planning your school year during the summer time.  I know, I know.  I can hear you now! "But it's SUMMER BREAK!  Why do we need to spend it planning school?"  Trust me--it won't be nearly as bad as you think it will be, and the small amount of time you put into your planning now will pay off HUGE later on.  After all, how can you know that you are being successful in your home teaching if you really don't have a goal in mind that you are aiming for?  If you don't know where you are going, how will you know when you have arrived there?

As someone who has already homeschooled a child from Kindergarten until college (and lived to tell about it!), I have been around this block once already.  And even with all of that experience, I am STILL needing to take the time this summer to sit down and plan out our next homeschool year.  I "can" wing it--and some seasons that is exactly what I have had to do, but trust me when I say that EVERYTHING goes better if it is planned out ahead of time!

So I thought as I go through my planning this summer, I would try and bring you along with me.  "My way" isn't the only way to do this--it is just what works for me.  Take what is helpful for you, and ignore the rest.  Change things to fit you and your family.  After all, that is the beauty of homeschooling.  You DO have flexibility and can arrange your homeschool to best meet your family's needs.

Today I will simply share with you the first step--that isn't too intimidating, is it?  I hope not!  It is a simple step, but do not skip it as all your other planning will depend on this one.

1) Choose Your School Schedule

This is crucial--more important than ordering all that shiny new curriculum.  More important than those lovely school supply sales at Staples.  More important than setting up your homeschool area in your home.

***Before beginning anything--PRAY!  Claim the promise that if anyone lacks wisdom God will supply our need (James 1:5).  Thank God that you can come to Him for wisdom.  Acknowledge that He is the One who created your children in the first place, and therefore He knows best how each one of them learns.

***To start choosing my school schedule, I first print out an Academic Calendar.  These are available  online on several sites.  You don't need a special or fancy one--just a paper that shows the months of the school year all on one page.  I used this free calendar here:

2017-2018 Academic Calendar

***After printing your calendar out, it's time to consider your personal family schedule.  Does your husband have specific dates off as vacation from his work?  Do you have an older child who attends school and you want to match that school calendar?  What about Grandparents coming for the holidays?  Take your calendar printout and grab a colored pencil, marking out days or weeks when you KNOW you do not want to be doing homeschool.

***Now that you have your firm vacation days planned, think about other things--such as when you want your school to be out for the summer! Is there a certain month you want to be out by?  Since my hubby is a college teacher, I always like to be done with our homeschool by the graduation date of his school.  Let's just say it is a LOT easier to run our homeschool when daddy isn't home and offering to take us places, run errands, or starting in on a home project!  Therefore I know that every year I really want to be finished with our school year by the early part of May, even though other area schools all go until the end of May or even sometimes into June.  Yes, I know we are always learning even on "non school" days.  But in my state, I am required to report attendance days, so I do keep a record of our "official" school days.

***Once you know when you want to be finished by, it is a simple matter of working your schedule backwards.  I like to make sure we have some time for special things, such as Field Trip days and even special activities at home which are educational but are not necessarily doing "Book work."  Find a flow that fits your personality and go with it.  I like to have a term--usually six weeks (though this might vary) of concentrated book work time, and then we have a break week from our books and do other things.  You know--those things that you always want to do with your child but they get squeezed out of day to day living.  Actually stopping the book work and allowing TIME for these special activities is the only way they happen in my house.  For us, these are things such as concentrated time on Home Arts, for example, cooking, baking, sewing, embroidery, crocheting, quilting, etc.  All those fun, hands on activities!  I have four weeks of these planned in my school year, two weeks each semester.  Having these types of "Home Arts weeks" gives me a rest from the book work and makes me so happy that I am able to teach these types of activities to our daughter. :)  And yes--they "count" as school days!  I strategically place these weeks in our schedule when there are not other vacation days coming soon.  For our first semester, we will start our homeschool in early August and then have a "Home Arts week" in September.  By late October, we will have another Home Arts week, and then November has a built in change with Thanksgiving week and December has the same with Christmas.  When we get to second semester, we do take off for a Spring Break in March, so our two break weeks are placed in February (EVERYONE needs a break in February, in my opinion!) and in late April.

***Add up your school days to make sure you have what you are required to have.  I also evaluate what type of day each school day will be--whether it is a "Book Day" or a "Home Arts" day.  Then I also look at official "Field Trip" days, and see what my total for the semester is, adjusting as necessary.  In my state, I need 180 total school days, so I aim for 90 school days in each semester.

My Academic calendar gets filled with notes and "chicken scratching," as I count the weeks in each term, mark out our vacation days, and put slash marks through our Home Arts weeks.  Then at the bottom I add everything up, counting how many weeks we are going to have of "book work."  Knowing the number of weeks we are going to be sitting down and doing actual book work will be crucial in your Home School planning a little later down the line.

But first--now that you have your school schedule set, it is time to choose your curriculum--my favorite part of home school planning!  Watch for Part 2-Choosing your School Curriculum (hopefully!) soon!

I hope this has been helpful!  If you have any questions, feel free to ask and I will try and help out.  Don't be intimidated--you can do this, and God has promised to lead you in each task He brings you to!  So have fun--and jump in!

~Susan

What is it?

Hi Everyone!

Can anybody help me?  I was innocently inspecting my rue plant in my garden bed, hoping that I just might start finding some Black Swallowtail Butterfly caterpillars on it sometime soon--when I discovered this big thing.  I am suspecting it may be a Praying Mantis egg case, but do not know for sure. . . does anybody know?
If it isn't Praying Mantis, what is it?  And if it IS a Praying Mantis egg case, how long until it hatches out and what do they eat???  I really really really don't want anything eating MY butterfly caterpillars. . .
On the one hand anything from nature is potential good home school science material.  But NOT if it is something that is going to eat my butterfly caterpillars!!!

Whatever it is, does anybody know if it would be a good thing to bring inside in a container and watch for science class?  And how small would the critters be when they hatch--exactly how small do the air holes on my containers have to be to prevent escapees in the house?

Thanks for any help that you can give!

~Susan

Hide in my Heart

Hi Everyone!

Just thought I would share a little something we are doing in home school this month.  One of my New Year's Resolutions is for me to memorize more Scripture verses.  This is NOT an area that I do well at by any means!  Well anyway, I have been working on it, slowly bit by bit, and am actually making a little progress.  I will probably post more about what I am doing specifically in another post sometime.  But one idea that I had to help me was to include a bit of Scripture memory into our actual home school routine.

Thinking about Valentine's Day this month, and all the candy hearts that appear everywhere, I cut out a bunch of heart shapes from colored paper and placed them in a stack on our school table.  Then each verse that I was trying to learn (or had learned this new year, and need to keep reviewing) I wrote on a heart and pinned up on our board.  Then I told my daughter that she could write down her memory verses from Sabbath School and put them on the board, along with any other verses that she has memorized.  She has absolutely LOVED doing this, and takes GREAT pleasure in trying to have more verses up on the board than her mom does.  ;)  The only catch is, each morning we quiz each other on our verses--so if you put a verse up on the board, you really have to make sure you either DO know it already, or that you ARE working on learning it--because you WILL be asked to recite that verse the next day!

For me, this has been a win-win idea.  I get some review practice in during school time, and my daughter gets some memory practice too!

Hope this idea helps others in their Scripture memory projects!  Please share in the comments anything that has worked for you to hide God's Word in your heart!  I would love some new ideas!

~Susan

Homeschool Interview!

Hi Everyone!

Ever want to learn more about our family?  Why we homeschool, what materials we use, and what our school schedule looks like?  Well today is the day that all those questions are being answered in an interview which is posted over on the SDA Homeschool blog!  So if you are interested, follow the link over and read all about it! :)

~Susan

http://sdahomeschools.com/homeschoolfamilyinterviewthemenzmers/

Hands-on Math: It's for Everyone!

Hands-on math.  Just the term itself instantly makes one think of kindergarten students playing with blocks as they add one block with another block.  And this is good--kindergarten level students SHOULD be using blocks (and rocks, matchbox cars, plastic toys, etc.) to help them learn how to add.  But far too often parents and teachers fall into the trap of putting away the "messy" math manipulatives way too quickly, exchanging them instead for neatly bound math workbooks with hundreds of spaces for our students to fill in.  Upon finishing all the problems, we feel like they have "done the grade."

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Keep reading!  This entire article is featured as a guest post over at http://sdahomeschools.com/hands-on-math-its-for-everyone/ today!  Learn why we should keep hands-on math in our home schools, and gather some ideas of how to do it.  Share YOUR great ideas for hands-on math projects in the comments! :)

~Susan

Invisible Me!

Hi Everyone!

I'm still here.  Really.  Even if you are not seeing me posting on my blog very much lately.  "If only" I had a secretary to follow me around and take dictation on all the things I think about that I would love to post on here!  But alas, that is definitely NOT the case!  So therefore I will have to be content with just posting when I get a chance.  (I know you are all disappointed about that, right???)

So where have I been?

I have been out helping our daughter finally learn how to ride her bike.

I have been trying out new healthy recipes.  Found a low fat granola bar recipe I would love to post.  Sometime.  Also a Chickpea salad recipe that our whole family loves to eat stuffed into pita bread.  Someday it will appear here.

I have been finishing up some jammies for our daughter.  Smiling frog fabric--she picked it out.  It is a soft flannel.  I'm glad they got finished in time for her to wear them just a bit before the weather turns too warm at night.  Hopefully they will still fit her next winter as well--I did make them a tad big for that reason. . .

I have been compiling my "Wish List" for next year's home school curriculum.  Every year I write down anything at all that I would love to have.  Then when June comes, I have to get ruthless and start crossing things off.  But for now, I am still having fun adding things to the list!

I have been helping our daughter finish up our math book for this year.  Yea!  I always use the finishing of the math book to "officially" announce to our children that they have progressed into the next grade level.  When you basically home school year round, you have to have SOMEthing to mark off the accomplishments!

I have been praying for and trying to support our son as he finishes up this second semester in college.  I can't believe he will be done with his first year in 3 1/2 short weeks!  But between here and there come the hurdle known as "finals."  Much prayer is needed to help him think clearly and study wisely.

I have been taking walks with my sweet husband.  :)

I have been trying to push through and finish up a quilt that our daughter designed two years ago and requested that I make for her.  It's NOT complicated--I'm just busy!  But I really am making an effort to finish it up.  After all, she won't be a little girl forever--and some day her tastes will probably change and she may not even like these loud, bright fabrics she chose!  Maybe.  Then again, maybe she still will! ;)

I have been sitting at the side of the pool, watching our daughter at her Swim Club.  They had their meet last week, and today it was announced that she won first place as the Swim Club member who shaved the most time off of her own personal best which they timed at the start of the semester.  Large, happy smiles! :D

I have been growing tomato plants from seeds, under lights in our basement.  I have several different varieties--most of them heirlooms.  My problem is that too many of them sprouted.  And I have a REALLY hard time pinching out the extras, so usually will just separate and repot all of them!  I currently have 50 plants--I used to have more, but I really truly did thin out some of the scrawniest.  And gave away some.  I probably only have official room for 12 plants.  But I will ask my husband to help squeeze in more. It's all right. He's used to it! ;)

I have been researching and ordering a new bike for myself!  Yea!  Remember I said our daughter has learned how to ride her bike?  Well, now I can't keep up with her when I am walking! :)  Good problem to have, I suppose!  So I decided in self-defense, I needed to get myself a bike.  It has been around 25 years since I have had a bike--hope I can keep up with her!  Or at least keep closer to her so I can watch over her.  So glad God does not have a problem with keeping close to me, to keep watch over me!

I have been reading an ebook about letting God lead in your home school.  And rethinking all those things on my "Wish List."

I have been reading through the Bible again.  This time I am following a plan that takes you through the Old Testament and the New Testament at the same time, taking a whole year to complete each.  It is divided up into a morning reading and an evening reading.  I have discovered that I do not do well with the evening readings, as there are too many times I miss them.  Therefore, I have taken to reading both the morning's Old Testament reading and the evening's New Testament readings both in the morning.  This works much better for me, but to be honest I think at this point I really prefer just reading straight through, rather than be reading in both areas at the same time.  But I am this far into it, so will finish this reading plan this year.  But I think next year I will just start with the Old Testament and read through in the order the books come.

So there you have it.  A snapshot of where I have been.

What have YOU been up to lately????

~Susan

The Frugal Home Schooler--Free President Report!

Hi Everyone!

I hope you have enjoyed the couple of free Valentine's Day items I was able to share with you! :)  You know how it is--when it rains, it pours!  That is how I feel about the freebie I am going to share with you today.  No sooner does Valentine's Day end, when President's Day is sneaking up on us!  

This is not my own work, so I cannot include it here on my blog.  But I CAN send you over to the site where it appears! :)  So--if you are interested in a FREE (always my price!) president report, one that your child can use to assist them in researching ANY president of their choice, follow the link below to find it! 

And if you have a free home schooling resource that you have enjoyed, please share it with me in the comments below.  I LOVE free!

~Susan

http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/schoolroom/unit_studies/presidents-unit-study.php#sthash.EqiVeRZy.dpbs

The Frugal Home Schooler--Free Bible Valentines!

Hi Everyone!

Sorry I haven't written much lately.  It's NOT that I don't have much to say--it's that I am simply too busy to stop long enough and say it! ;)  Hopefully I can change that and become a bit more organized with my posting.  Someday.  Maybe!

ANYWAY, with Valentine's Day coming at us pretty quick here, I thought someone else may enjoy this fun little freebie that I found on pinterest.  This is not original with me--I just ran across it and thought I would share.  I'm sure there is a better way to get a picture that is not fuzzy, but I don't know how and do not have time just now to figure it out.  So hopefully the fuzzy picture above can help you know if these Bible Valentine's are something your child would be interested in.  If so, the link for where you can print them out is here:

http://www.childrens-ministry-deals.com/blogs/news/7304224-free-bible-verse-valentine



Sure hope this works!

There is just the one sheet of designs.  You can print them out the way they are, cut them apart, and your child can write names on the back.  Or, you can cut them apart and use them to decorate larger cards that you make yourself.  Either way, they are fun! :)

Hope you enjoy!

~Susan

The Books of the Old Testament song

Hi Everyone!

Sorry it has taken me a while to get back on this topic, but I did want to share with you some of the resources that we used for my daughter learning the books of the Bible in order.  Since I last posted the video of her singing the Old Testament books, she has learned the New Testament books as well, and I will frequently have her sing them to me at the beginning of our home school Bible class.  For a while I was having her sing them every day, but recently I have just been asking her a couple times a week.  I don't want her to forget them, so I need to remember myself to keep asking her to sing them!

It is amazing how much easier memorizing is when you can put whatever you are working on to music.  Since I am not very musically talented myself, I needed to search out other people who were!  Fortunately, with the help of the internet, that is not so difficult these days!

I spent some time searching for a Books of the Bible song to use, and lots of them had a more rocky beat to the music than I liked.  But I finally found this gal who I loved!  So happy she decided to share her talents on YouTube with the rest of us!  For some reason, I was not able to embed her video here on my blog--but here is a link that will take you to her song on the Old Testament.  Will post the New Testament song soon!

~Susan

http://youtu.be/BF7YPy4-OTY

In Search of the Perfect Pencil--Part 2!

Hi Everyone!

Does anyone have colored pencil brands that they love to suggest for our home school????  I am still looking for that "perfect" colored pencil.  The one that is fairly inexpensive, and the leads will not be so brittle that they break off when you are still sharpening it or even when you just gently lay the pencil down on the table!  Anyway, I have been researching and have a brand or two that I am interested in purchasing when I make my shopping orders for next year's school supplies.  But in the mean time, I have decided to copy one idea a home school mom shared with me.  She said that when the back to school sales are going on and you can buy them really cheap, she picks up several identical packages of the Crayola colored pencils.  Whenever one color breaks on her children, there are always several other pencils of the very same color that they can grab and just keep going so the broken pencil does not slow them down.  Later, when she gets a chance, she will go through and sharpen all the broken ones.

Another idea that I read about on a home school blog was from a mom who took all their colored pencils, made cardboard dividers inside a small shoe box, and they divided their colored pencils into sections according to color--without paying attention to what brand the pencil was--only to the color.

SO, trying to use just what we already have in the house, I gathered up two packages of Crayola's--these are the pencils that are driving me crazy due to pencil lead breakage.  But--they are in the house already, and we do have two packages so that means two of each color.  One could have a broken lead and the other could be grabbed and used so the project does not come to a stand still.  As long as that second pencil lead does not break, that is!

I then hunted down a different set of pencils that we had left over from home schooling our son.  I have no idea how they compare to Crayola's in the lead-breaking-department, but this is a set of Laurentien pencils and they were already paid for and in the house, so into the pile they went.

Out came the electric pencil sharpener, and all pencils got a brush up on their pointy leads.  Then it was time to organize. . .

The one (big!) purchase I did make was to run to Walmart and pick up a second big plastic pencil cup.  I had just gotten one for holding our Ticonderoga's, and if the colored pencils were going to sit out on our desk I wanted the pencil cups to match.  I know.  But it was only $2.00, so I could afford that splurge!

I already had some poster board in my school supplies, so I measured two pieces that would fit inside the cup and slit them.

Sliding them together gave me a nice X shape.

I did reinforce the slit parts with scotch tape attaching them to the "wall" next to them, so they would be a bit sturdier.

Last, we divided our pencils into four categories, roughly as follows:  1) reds, pinks, yellows, oranges,   2) greens, aquas, 3) browns, blacks, tans,  & 4) blues, purples, violets.

My hubby is referring to this as the "shot gun approach."  If one pencil lead breaks, hopefully we will have another exact or similar color so the project can continue on.  Someday I hope to just have nice pencils that the leads do not break so easily, but in the mean time, I am thrilled with how much more attractive placing the pencils right out on the desk top has made them.  My daughter has never been one who willingly wants to color something, but every day now finds her sitting at the desk and using the colored pencils to draw something.

And I call that SUCCESS!

Happy Home Schooling!

~Susan

Books of the Old Testament

Hi Everyone!

My daughter has been working on memorizing the books of the Bible in order this week.  This all started with a phone call from grandma.  My Mom asked her if she knew the books of the Bible, and she truthfully answered "Not all of them."  I wasn't home at the time this phone call took place, but when I heard about it later and was talking with my Mom, I couldn't resist teasing her just a bit and asking her "Well, why didn't you teach them to her while talking with her on the phone?"  

Anyway, so she had a bit of incentive, since she had been asked if she could do this.  Never one to back down from a challenge (she IS a native Texan, afterall!), we have been dutifully working on this project so she could tell Grandma "YES--I know them all!"

We haven't started working on the New Testament books yet--one step at a time.  But this morning I decided to video her saying/singing them, so Grandma can see her do it.  She did make one little mistake where she started to skip a book, but she caught herself and went back and corrected it.  I think that's an A+ job for any kid!

Hope you enjoy!  Later I will share some of the resources we used to help her learn, so that if you are interested in helping the children in your life learn the Bible (or you yourself!), you can! :)

Have a wonderful day with Jesus!

~Susan

Happy Birthday Uncle Arthur!

Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday to you, Happy Birthday dear Uncle Arthur, Happy Birthday to youuuuuuuu!

No, Uncle Arthur isn't my REAL uncle, but I would sure claim the man even though I never had the pleasure of meeting him in person as he was born before "my time."  One hundred and seventeen years ago today--January 14, 1896, Arthur Stanley Maxwell was born in London, England.  During his lifetime, he served in many different positions, including author, editor, and administrator.  But what he is remembered for the best is as the author of the famous "Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories" set.

When I was a child, these were my FAVORITE books in the whole world!!!  They are all stories of children--some made the right choice when facing a hard situation, and some did not, and I would read for hours at a time, knowing that these stories were about REAL kids just like me!  At that time, they were a huge twenty volume set.  My mom would sometimes buy one of us kids a volume for Christmas, or one volume for Easter, until our family had the whole set.  When we grew up, my older sister married someone who had his own childhood set--so she did not take her volumes with her (yea!), my older brother never had kids, so he said that I could have his volumes (double yea!) so that left our family set of books to be divided between my younger sister and myself.  Unfortunately a couple of the books were never found in the house, but we divided up what we did have.  Later, I found some volumes being sold on-line, so I bought them and shared the duplicates with my sister as we each had different volumes to start with.  I have 18 out of the original 20 volume set--I think I will forever be searching on-line for volumes 15 and 16!   Now a days they still publish Uncle Arthur's Bedtime Stories, but they have condensed the 20 volume set down to only 5!  It's not the same!  Arthur Maxwell also published a 10 volume set  of "The Bible Story," which is still in publication today.  Many thanks to my brother-in-law who helped me purchase the Bible story books at a discount when our son was a little boy.

So there you have it--the reason why today is a very special day.  And while I never had the pleasure of meeting Uncle Arthur myself, my husband did teach at a college for ten years where Uncle Arthur's son was the president.  And if the father was anything like his son, then I know Uncle Arthur was indeed a wonderful Christian man and I look forward to meeting him some day in heaven and telling him what a blessing his books were to me growing up--and to my children as well!

Makes me wonder--what kind of influence am "I" leaving behind in this world?

In Search of the Perfect Pencil

Hi Everyone!

Our second semester of our school year is well under way by now.  It is always a bit of a hurdle to get started again, as Christmas break is usually quite long and your school schedule becomes sort of a distant memory. . . but last week we started back, and by Friday I was feeling like we really were getting our subjects done. :)

In between semesters is always a good time to evaluate how things in your school are going--what is going well, and maybe what isn't going well and what possibly could you do to change things for the better.  I have several home school blogs that I like to read on a regular basis, as I gather ideas for things that might help or work in our own home school.  Even if you have been home schooling for fourteen years like I have--and classroom teaching before that--it is still helpful to read about what others are doing and evaluate in your mind if that idea is worth adapting for your child.

WELL--this is a super simple thing that I found, but I am still thrilled about it so thought I would share just in case there is anyone else out there with the same frustrations as I have had.  I have finally found the perfect pencil!!!  I am serious--I have been SO frustrated with pencils breaking on my daughter all the time.  She will be one problem into a math sheet--and her pencil breaks.  She will ask me to sharpen it, so I do--and just the moment it gets to the right length, that lead will break off right in the pencil sharpener!  Grrrrrr!  This has happened SO many times, and I have always been frustrated when it does, as you lose your child's attention and it wastes math time and turns it into pencil-sharpening time.  I never remember having this problem when I was teaching in the classroom, but I chalked it up to companies making pencils less well now-a-days.  I still think this idea has some truth behind it--pencils didn't do this when I had 20+ students in my class!  At first, I thought it must be my pencil sharpener and the sharpener I had in my classroom (those old crank ones bolted to the wall!) must have been a better quality sharpener.  So I went to the teacher supply store and bought the highest quality non-electric non-bolt-to-the-wall sharpener they had.  I loved the sharpener--but the pencils still broke!  :(

FINALLY, this week as I was reading one of those other home school blogs I mentioned above, the mom writing the blog mentioned how they loved Ticonderoga pencils, as they didn't break as easily for them and they sharpened well!  My ears pricked up immediately, and if I could have I would have left my house that very second to run out and buy some!!!  But alas, I had to wait until the next day--but I bought some as soon as I could!  They ARE more expensive, but they are SO SO SO worth it in my humble opinion.  I sat down at home and sharpened 24 pencils in a row--and not even ONE broke while sharpening.  AND they write really nice as well!

So--you may think this is a foolish thing to be happy about, but as a home school teacher, I spend a lot of my day with a pencil in my hand--or trying to make sure my daughter has a pencil in HER hand!

Now.  If only I could find the perfect colored pencils. . .

Anyone have any suggestions?

~Susan

Butterfly Time--Update!

Do you remember those little tiny black specks with a white spot that I showed you a week ago?  And I told you they were Black Swallowtail butterfly caterpillars????

Well, they ate.  And ate.  And ate some more.  It's a good thing my two Rue plants are LARGE plants in my garden, because every day I went out to pick some fresh Rue for these little critters to eat.  And. . . . just look at them now!

Yes, I know it is hard for you to believe me that these are the very same caterpillars.  But trust me--they are.  The little black furry caterpillars eat and eat and eat until they don't fit into their skin any more.  Then they shed their skin, and underneath they look like this!

This is pretty much full size now.  One of the three caterpillars is notably larger than the other two.  I think he ate more!  But even the two "smaller" caterpillars are large enough that they could go into their chrysalis stage any day now.

I "was" going to try and keep them in their large two quart jar for just one more day--as I wanted to take them back to church this week to show the kids who saw the tiny black caterpillars last week.  But last night I saw the warning sign.  Yup.  One of the caterpillars started wandering off of the Rue leaves, and climbing up the side of the jar.  THAT is a definite warning that they are looking for a nice spot to hang their chrysalis.  Eek!  I did NOT want that to happen in the small two quart jar!!!!  Why?  Well, first of all, I didn't have any sticks in there for them to hang their chrysalis on.  But the main reason why is because when they come OUT of the chrysalis they will be butterflies--and will need room to spread out their wings.  The two quart jar is definitely too small for that, and I would have a real hard time getting them out the small opening.

So--time to quickly move those caterpillars out of the smaller home, into a larger one!  I have them in a larger plastic critter container now--just one I picked up at Walmart years ago.  It's nice because when you take the lid off, it is taking the whole entire roof off.  So you do not have the problem of trying to guide a butterfly through a small opening.  It is also much easier to put a couple sticks in it for them to climb on and hang from.  I actually took a picture of their new container to show you on here, but then forgot to get that picture off my camera and onto my computer!  Oh well!  Maybe in the next butterfly update?

Anyway, just wanted to share how our little caterpillars are growing.  Hope you enjoy this close up look at God's beautiful butterflies!