Happy July!

Happy July Everyone!

I know, I know--it has been REALLY quiet here on my little blog for a long time.  Six months to be exact.  I hadn't planned on taking this long of a blogging break--though after doing daily posts for 150 days going through the Psalms (which, by the way, I loved doing and was very blessed!) I did think that I might take a little pause. . .

But then my computer broke.  I mean, really broke.  As in--I took it to be repaired at two different places, and they both said the same thing--dead, dead, dead!  The first place DID manage to save my pictures and things off of my computer and onto an external hard drive, however, for which I am very thankful!  But both of them said that what was most likely wrong with my computer was not worth fixing.  Not exactly the words I was hoping to hear--especially since my computer was only one and a half years old.  Which for computer techies might be old--but for ME it is quite new!

Well, we went ahead and got a new computer for me.  Since I use the computer rather a lot in homeschooling it is rather a necessity.  And when I went down the list of what I wanted my computer to do and be as I talked with the salesman (for instance, I would like it to be sturdy enough that a tank could roll over it and it will continue to work for me--you know, that kind of stuff!) he looks at me and says "I think what you want is a Mac."  I looked at HIM like he had just sprouted a second head, because THIS homeschool mom did NOT want to have to learn how to use a new computer operating system!  I can barely keep my head above the water with just getting my day to day stuff done--let alone have time to learn some new computer system!  I just want to get on the computer and have it DO what I need it to do, without giving me any problems!  So I started down my list again, starting with the very first point which was "I do NOT want to have to learn a new operating system!"  Yes--you guessed it.  Of course I walked out of the store with a Mac computer, and have been wading through trying to learn a new computer operating system ever since.  I can't say that I have "arrived" and know how to do everything I need to do yet (probably won't EVER be there!).  But I CAN say that between asking my hubby, calling AppleCare, Google searching, or asking my 12 year old, I can usually get most things figured out.  By the way--I have been super impressed with calling AppleCare--and no, they are not paying me to say that (but I wish they would!).  However, my 12 year old is oftentimes faster and easier to get ahold of, so right now she is neck and neck with AppleCare in being helpful.  Maybe sometime soon I will be able to "rent" her computer operating skills out to other homeschool moms. . . .

So--what have you all been up to in the past six months???  We finished sixth grade in homeschool and are currently on summer break--yea!  Of course, being homeschoolers we are still doing a FEW things during the summer. . . finishing up a writing book since I want to start a different book when Fall comes around, getting a head start on next year's Science book since daddy is home and offered to do some with her, continuing to slowly work through the math book--simply because she LIKES math and didn't want to quit for the summer.

We have also spruced up our Master bathroom, which makes it sound all big and grand when in reality our "Master Bath" is a tiny closet type room with just barely space for the necessities!  But I am thankful to have it, and after 10 years of living with it the way it was when we bought the house we finally pulled the dated wall paper off and painted it crisp and pretty.  I am very pleased with how it turned out!

And finally, we are helping our oldest prepare for fledging.  He graduated from college in May (YEA! So proud of him and thankful for what God has done!), and we are helping him with a million things that need doing before he heads to grad school this Fall.  And speaking of "fledging," I have something I want to share with you. . .

BUT--I cannot figure out yet how to share the picture I want to.  I know how to share pictures on blogger, and as you know I used to share pictures all the time.  But doing the same thing on this different computer is not working today.  And calling upon my 12 year old resource didn't end up helping either.  Sigh.  Looks like I will be calling AppleCare tomorrow.  So will have to share it tomorrow or whenever I can get it figured out.

In the meantime, I am waving a "Howdy!" at all of you!  Leave a comment and let me know what you are doing this summer!

Blessings!

Susan

How it's Made: Lego

Hi Everyone!

I remember back in the day when I was a classroom teacher, one of the things I really enjoyed was being able to take my class on a field trip.  All kinds of field trips can be fun and educational, even something as simple as a trip to the Post Office, if your children are young.  But one of the things I find the most interesting is learning how products that we use in our day to day life are made.

Today, with the invention of the internet, it is simple to look on-line and take a virtual field trip without even leaving your home or school.  When I ran across the following link today, I knew I wanted to share it with you all here.  Because if you are anything like me, you probably have plenty of these little things somewhere in YOUR house as well!

How it's Made: Lego

Hope you enjoyed that glimpse into the Lego factory!  I love toys for children that are open ended and the children can use and dream up their own unique creations!

~Susan

How Firm a Foundation

Good Morning!

One of the things we are doing in Homeschool this year is a Hymn Study.  Basically, each morning we read in a book we have that tells about some background information on many popular hymns.  It is really amazing how many of these hymns were born out of adversity in the hymn writer's life.

After we read about a hymn, we will then search on YouTube for a video clip so we can hear what that hymn sounds like.  Often times we are already familiar with it from singing it in our church, but a lot of them are still new to us.  These YouTube clips are frequently put together along with beautiful nature pictures which I really love!

Today's hymn I really liked, because the words to the hymn are based on some very precious promises in the Bible.  I thought some of you might also like it, so have linked to it below.  When our foundation is based on God's Word, it is the ONLY firm foundation there is, because He is the only one who never fails us!

How Firm a Foundation

Hope you are having a beautiful day with Jesus!  We are getting rain and a small thunderstorm here in my neck of the woods--but every day with Jesus is beautiful!

~Susan

Bible Journals--Reading Through the New Testament

My Matthew 11--Jesus promises to carry my burdens!

Hi Everyone!

I thought I would share an idea we are doing in our home school recently, just in case it is a good fit for anyone else out there. . . 

With the coming of the New Year, it is always a good opportunity to have a little re-evaluation of your home school.  Just a time of reflection of what is working, what is not, and what perhaps you want to do more of or even less of.

One thing that always stands out to me when I evaluate our home school, is that my ultimate goal is to lead my children to Christ.  Yes, I know--I cannot choose Christ for them.  If I could, I would, trust me!  :)  But while it will be up to them whether or not they choose to follow Jesus with their lives, while they are still living under my influence I feel strongly that I need to teach them about Him.  

And what better way to learn of Him, than straight from His Word?

I read somewhere recently that there were just 260 chapters in the New Testament, and there are 262 week days in a year.  So if a parent read with their child just one chapter per day during the week, you could read your way through the entire New Testament during the course of a year and still have two days "extra" for make up days.  That thought really struck me.  I have read the entire Bible through myself several times, but I have never read through the Bible with my child.  Of course, the goal is not to read THROUGH the Bible--the goal is to learn of HIM through the Bible.  Finishing the last page is not the reward, but knowing Him is.

With this mulling around in my mind, I thought about how I could apply this into our lives, into our home school.  And as I thought about it, I became convicted that I needed to do this, and the key would be doing it WITH our daughter, not as another assignment for her to do by herself.  To read through the New Testament together, discussing and sharing as we went along.  

So God gave me a plan.  It is simple, but I don't know but sometimes the very best plans ARE the simple ones.  And it has been such a blessing to me even in this short time that I would not hesitate to recommend this idea even to adults just doing it by themselves, if you don't happen to have a child handy! ;)  And it does not matter that we are a ways into the New Year already--we did not start at the beginning of January because I had not even read about this idea until the month had already started.  Remember that the goal is to get to know Jesus, not to finish by a certain date.  For materials all you need is a notebook of some type--don't worry about being fancy, we are just using a spiral notebook--and your Bible. :)

So here's the plan:

1)  Read through a chapter together--for my daughter and I, we are actually reading the chapter and at the same time listening to it on the dramatized Bible, so we are reading AND hearing.  I love the dramatized Bible!  We listen using a free Bible Gateway app.

2)  Draw a picture from the chapter.  This can be anything you want--either something literally from the chapter, or something that the chapter made you think of that is more of an application of what that chapter is talking about.  And yes--stick figures are just fine!!!!  Even for adults!

3)  Write a verse.  Choose any verse from the chapter--the one that speaks most to your heart or stands out the most to you.  Our verses that we write end up in a way being the caption for whatever picture we draw.

4)  Write something that you learned from that chapter.  This might not be a "something new that you didn't know before" kind of thing.  Just anything that that chapter is trying to teach.  The big picture summary, the thing that God speaks to you about.

5)  Write a question about that chapter.  Sometimes my daughter will have very literal questions such as "How many 10 year olds were there in the crowd?"  But it is also a good time to really apply this chapter to your life and give yourself a question to think about.

And there you have it--our little Bible Journal plan.  I am being blessed by doing this, and I love to see our daughter reading and learning how to think about and apply the Bible to her own life.

An example of Matthew 13 from my daughter's Bible Journal, and the same chapter from mine.  This time we choose different verses to illustrate.  Sometimes we end up choosing the same verse.  Always we share when we are finished with our page.

My daughter's Matthew chapter 1.  I love how she illustrated Isaiah giving the prophecy!

My daughter's Matthew 4.  I love her "Something Learned"--that the devil knows the Bible.  Shouldn't WE study and learn the Bible as well?

Well, that's it for our Bible Journals.  I hope you will find this idea encouraging to get into our Special Love Letter.  It will be a blessing to you if you do--God has promised!

~Susan

A Blizzard of Kindness

 Hi Everyone!

Thought I might share a quick idea today that we are currently doing in our homeschool.  As many homeschoolers did, the month of November found us putting leaves up on a "Thankful Tree."  I had a brown construction paper tree trunk, and cut many different colored fall leaves which we attached to the trunk with pins on our felt board.  Anyone in the family could up a leaf up, though it was mostly my daughter and I.

This activity worked great, and my daughter had a blast not only placing leaves on our "tree," but also creating a huge pile of leaves underneath the tree.  I liked that it was encouraging her to count her blessings--instead of the all to easy complaining.

SO--I really hated to take it down, but it was time.  After a while ideas sort of lose their effectiveness anyway, and it is time for something new.  While pondering what in the world I could do to carry this idea forward, I thought of making a winter time snowman, and letting my daughter put up snowflakes.  But just to keep things fresh, I decided to put a little change to things.  Instead of writing what we are thankful for on each snowflake, we are instead putting up a snowflake when we have done something for someone else that was an act of kindness.

I was hoping this would ensure that we were not just simply writing down the same "thankful" things over and over without giving it much thought.
The conditions for being able to put up a snowflake are this:  1)  if it's your regular job, such as making your own bed, that doesn't count  2) if you are asked to do it, it doesn't count--but lots of things "count" if you see that the job needs doing and do it on your own before being asked.  :)

We have only been doing this a day or two, but so far I am loving it!  I decided to have my daughter write briefly on each snowflake what the kind act was--she HAS to be brief, because there isn't much room on them, especially the small ones!  Therefore, phrases are definitely "in," not complete sentences.  This morning I entered the kitchen to find the counters cleared, the dishwasher emptied, and the dirty dishes loaded into the dishwasher!  Yes! :)  She probably would have been asked to do those jobs after breakfast time anyway, but it is a whole lot more fun for her if she is being able to "make it snow" on top of our snowman, and I like that it is helping her to look around and think about what she can do to help in any given situation.  And to help keep it fun, I am also looking around to see what I can do that is not in my "regular" jobs.  Sometimes for a mom, that isn't easy to find, because we "regularly" do pretty much everything!  But I did loan my daughter my scarf last night, so when we returned home up went a snowflake for me with the words "loaned scarf" written on it!

Nitty gritty--My felt board is a piece of plywood purchased at Lowes and cut a tiny bit smaller there at the store.  I covered it with felt from JoAnn's Fabrics, and simply glued the felt on with Alene's tacky glue.  It is not mounted, but simply sits and leans against the wall in our classroom corner of our living room.  Usually I attach things to the board using straight pins, though large posters and such I hang from the top using binder clips.  My snowman we actually painted on a huge piece of manila paper that I had laying around leftover from a stack I bought years ago to homeschool big brother.  When the paint dried, I cut the snowman out and made the rest of the snowman accessories out of construction paper and glued or pined them on.  The snowflakes themselves I cut out using an Ellison machine at our local college Teachers Material Center.  I realize most people do not have access to an Ellison machine, so I would recommend looking at a Dollar Tree store or some other place for a snowflake shape if you want to try this--or better yet, a teacher store such as Schoolbox.  And if all else fails, set your kids up with paper and scissors and have them cut you a stack of them!

Hope this has helped spark some ideas for you!  Feel free to leave me ideas of what YOU are doing in your homeschools in the comments.  January will be coming, and I am going to have to think of something new to do for then!

~Susan

 

Our Homeschool Corner

Hi Everyone!

With a new school year upon us once again, I thought I would give a photo tour of my little homeschool corner in the universe.  It is not the fanciest, and not the most organized either.  But it IS where lots of love and learning take place, and it was definitely put together on a budget, so I hope it may help give others some ideas that they can use in their homeschools.  

My little homeschool area starts out like this:

Once upon a time. . . (don't you love stories that start like that?!)

I was a classroom teacher.  

When I had children of my own, and felt called to stay home and homeschool them, I always wished I had room in our house to make a "real" classroom.  Not to chain them to a desk for eight hours a day, but simply to have a space where we could leave art projects out to dry, have science projects ongoing and undisturbed, etc.  The only problem is that we never had a house large enough to devote an entire ROOM to homeschooling.

Sigh.

It's o.k.

My son managed to be educated anyway, and since he is passing his college classes currently I don't suppose the lack of a school room hindered his education.

But I still wished I had one!

Well, eleven years after our son was born, along comes little sister.

When she was three years old, we moved into a modest ranch home--

BUT

it had a basement!

At LAST, I thought!

I am going to take over part of the basement and we will finally have a REAL school room!

And we can leave our messy learning things out and about and it won't matter, because we can just leave them there and they won't be in the main living area of the house, so no one will see the mess if they come over.

But there was one little problem.

That first winter, I realized that the basement was cold.

And the upstairs was warm.

And besides that--the kitchen was upstairs, and even though it isn't my first choice, the truth is that often while I am homeschooling I am also keeping an eye on something cooking on the stove as well.

Sigh.

So I thought and pondered and pondered and thought.  And one day my husband walks in the door to discover me pushing the couch further into the living room and I stood in the newly cleared floor space and declared it our "School Room."

He looks at me and says "I always did say we live in a One-House School Room."

He's right.

We do.

 So here--behind the couch, is our "School Room."  When people walk in the front door, they walk right into it.  Do you think they will notice?  So much for hiding it and leaving our nice little learning messes laying around!  Well, the learning messes still get left around. . . it's just that now people will see them!  That's o.k.  I suppose it's a more honest way to live.  I mean, we wouldn't want them to think my house is always clean or something! ;)

 Here is our school desk behind the couch.  It is a hand me down table that I was given free from a school that was getting rid of it.  For us, it has been the MOST perfect piece of homeschool furniture.  I LOVE LOVE LOVE being able to sit next to our daughter while we do our school things together.  We each have "our side," where we keep the supplies that we each need.

I bought the chairs from Walmart, and they have worked very well.  We were a little afraid at first that the chairs moving over the carpet day in and day out might damage the carpet in that area, but we have had our school room for three years like this, and so far I cannot see any carpet damage at all.  Well, the whole house has old carpet, so no damage that wasn't already there anyway!

Our little supply caddys I found at Hobby Lobby.  I used coupons to get them even cheaper, but they were only a couple dollars to start with so the coupons brought them super inexpensive.  Mine has things like stickers that I use for grading, and we each have scissors, tape, glue sticks, rulers, etc.

We also have our own little pop up post-it note apple, which has been fun.  I was able to get these with a 100% rebate from Staples one Christmas time.  I love Staples for school supplies!  When the rebate is a store credit instead of cash, I use the credit to purchase computer ink.  I consider it a win-win situation, as I am going to purchase ink anyway, so I might as well get some other school supplies free while I'm at it!  I have been able to get not only these post-it holders, but binders, photo paper, computer paper, and other things in this same way.

Since our "desk" does not have any drawers, we use pencil holder cups.  One is filled with colored pencils, and the other is filled with Ticonderoga pencils.  We worked out a system where if a pencil is dull, we turn it over so the pointy end is down.  Then we just grab another pencil to keep working.  After a while, when we have quite a few dull pencils, we get out the electric pencil sharpener and have a sharpening party!

 These are my daugher's school drawers.  Some of the things are books that I read out loud to her, and some drawers hold work books such as math.  These labels are actually what we were needing for last school year.  This year our curriculum is a little bit different, so when I get time I will tweek a couple of the labels to better describe this year's items.  They are all held on with little velcro dots, though, so are easy enough to pull off and change.  Last year I had her pull off the drawer label and toss the label into that drawer to indicate that she had finished the work in that drawer--that worked great, as I could easily tell what she was working on if I left to work on food in the kitchen and came back later.

 These are my teacher drawers.  Again, with new curriculum this year, I do not have labels made for some of my drawers.  Sometime!  I picked up these drawers as well as the student drawers at JoAnn's on a black Friday sale, so they were MUCH less expensive than they usually are.  The teacher drawers I bought both stacks one year, and the student drawers I bought the next, and they actually are slightly different.  My teacher drawers the drawer itself is square, and my student drawers are sized more for holding a 8 1/2 x 11 piece of paper.  I didn't try to get two different sizes--it's just what the store was carrying one year and the next.  I love having the drawers to hold our things--they work much better for me than a book shelf would, as many of our books are on the "floppy" side, so wouldn't stand up very well in a book shelf.  However--I will say that these drawers are very cheaply made, and if your frame sways at all off kilter, the plastic drawers will drop down.  I actually took an old cat collar I had laying around the house and used it to fasten the two drawers together, and this helped quite a bit hold up the one that was swaying off kilter.  So I would say they are not ideal, but with the sale I got them quite cheap and they do the job.  Ikea has some really nice, sturdy ones, but these will work so I am not planning on replacing them.

 Sitting here on top I have one box filled with home made file folder games (all subjects) and one box holding our binders for the unit studies and things we are doing this school year.  Remember I said my student drawers were a bit more narrow than my teacher drawers?  Well, they are just a tiny bit too narrow to hold our binders--normally I would have these in my daughter's drawers, but since they don't fit they are housed here.  It works!  The purple zebra stripe box and the yellow giraffe box I found at Ross for around $3.00.  They made me smile!

 Next to the plastic teacher drawers, I have a stack of stacking plastic bins from Walmart.  On the top, I have this plastic basket which is holding all the resources we are using for our Bible study this school year.  Well, it is holding everything except for our actual real Bibles, that is!  We are using a Bible program that I am absolutely loving, which is going through the entire Bible over the course of three years.  We have just started it a couple weeks ago, but at this point I am planning on sticking with it the entire three years.  I will have to do another post sometime showing in detail what we are using for our curriculum this year.  Below this top bin, the other bins are holding shoe boxes with our Math-U-See blocks in them, as well as magnet letters and other math manipulatives.

 Behind our desk leaning up against the wall is our felt board.  I made this from a sheet of plywood cut down to six feet in length, and felt from JoAnn's (bought with a coupon, of course!).  Everything currently on our board is hung with binder clips.  I do have a lot of actual felts, though, so it just all depends what we are currently doing what is on this board.  I love having it, and use it ALL the time.  And one nice thing is that it fits on this wall even though the front door swings open on this wall.  I couldn't fit any book cases or desks or anything bulky here, since it is a walk-way area, but this board only sticks out about four inches at the bottom, so it fits in this walk-way area just fine.  Right next to the felt board is actually the furnace closet.  I WISH I could use it for storing school supplies, but alas, the furnace does not allow me to do that.  But nothing keeps me from hanging pocket charts from the outside of the door!  Pocket charts were from the Target dollar spot--$1.00 each.  I use them for different things.  Sometimes spelling or vocab words.  Sometimes math facts that we are working on.  Sometimes cards listing the books of the Bible, and my daughter has to put them in the proper order.  Sometimes I write memory verse words on index cards and mix them up.  When she was younger, we would use them for recording the day of the week, the month, weather, etc.

 Our view from our school desk--the REAL reason we are schooling upstairs, is our wood stove!  In the winter time, we heat almost entirely with wood.  Being close by means we are nice and cozy--not to mention that I can always see when the fire needs another log tossed on it! And whenever we are going to read a story (which is often!) we just hop around the desk and head to the couch!  The sunlight is washing out the picture a bit, but we also have our large living room picture window right here, and we can see outside to the front of the house from our school room, which is nice as well.  I have some hearing loss, and have not yet chosen to wear hearing aides.  There have been times when my girlfriend has come over and knocked on my front door, and I haven't heard her! :(  Our door bell doesn't work, and if I am elsewhere in the house when someone knocks, chances are I will not hear them.  So being on the first floor and especially in the living room also means I can keep an eye on whether anyone is coming up to our house.  By the way--my girlfriend has now taken to standing on my front porch and calling me on her cell phone to tell me that she is out there!  She knows I will hear the phone ring if I do not hear her knock!

 My little "hidden" school area is these two white boards that are hung on the back side of the living room half-wall.  If I had more "real" walls surrounding my school room, I would hang these higher.  But you work with what you have, and my sweet hubby doesn't mind living in a One-House School Room, so he went ahead and hung them for me.  They are also magnetic, so we can use plastic magnetic letters on them as well.  Whenever we are doing something on these, we just plop down on the floor and grab the white board markers!  I love having them!

 If you turned directly around from the white boards, you would see this--our nondescript hall way.  Well, to the untrained eye it is "just" a hall way.  But to those who know. . .

 That coat closet door holds a plastic shoe holder on the inside of it!  This is where we keep our "extra" school supplies--glue sticks, glue, tape, markers, pencils, pens, post-its, paperclips, etc.  Whatever we may run out of over at our school desk.  I used to run down to the basement to get supplies, but having them close at hand is MUCH better!  I "wish" I could have these over the back of the furnace door closet, but safety won't let me and this coat closet is not that far away. . .it's just a little school room annex area!

 Forgot to show that on the back of the front door is a United States map. We used this all the time last school year.  This school year we are not using it quite as much, as we are studying more from a world map which is hanging on our felt board.  But until I have something we need to refer to more, I will just leave it there, as we do occasionally use it.  This map was from the Dollar Tree.

And last but not least, our little music corner just adjacent to our school desk.  The back side of the piano is where the white boards are.  On the other side of the quilt wall is the kitchen, so you can see it is within "hollering" distance for when I need to be working on food.  Our family usually eats lunch as our main meal of the day, which we like but it does often mean I am cooking and doing school at the same time.  I do have some large pull down wall maps that I was also given for free from a school that was throwing them away.  They are currently hanging in our basement, but I would LOVE to bring them up stairs. . . Just haven't figured out where to squeeze them in yet.  But I HAVE thought about hanging them behind my quilt here. . . then I could toss the quilt up when I want to pull one of the large maps down?  Just a thought!

Hope you have enjoyed this little tour of our homeschool corner.  As you can see, it has kind of evolved and sort of takes over everywhere.  But we have been blessed with freebies, inexpensive things from dollar stores, and lots of sales.  We "school" all over our house--our kitchen is our science laboratory,  our library is housed in every--single--room.  Really.  I realize I have left out our library completely, because none of our bookshelves happen to live in this school corner.  But trust me--there are twelve full size book shelves scattered around the house and basement, most of them filled with children's books bought over the years, often at thrift stores.  And this doesn't count the books that are not housed on book shelves!    But rather than showing off what "we do," I hope this has helped spark some ideas of things that YOU can do--even if you do not have a homeschool room!  

~Susan

The Frugal Home Schooler--Free Words of Love from the Bible copywork!

Hi Everyone!

Keeping in my Valentine's train of thoughts, I thought I would share with you today one of my FAVORITE freebies for Valentine's Day!  It is a nice collection of free Bible copy work on the topic of Love, from Amanda Bennett.  If you have never heard of Amanda Bennett, it's about time you did if you are a home schooler!  Amanda creates the BEST unit studies in the world.  In my humble opinion, that is!  Back in the dark ages, before everyone was connected by the internet, when I FIRST started home schooling our son, Amanda actually published BOOKS with her unit studies in them.  I know.  Hard to imagine.  Yes, books.  You know, those things with numerous pages in them, all collected together and held in place by a front and back cover.  Books!  ;)  Well, I liked her unit studies back then  (and I STILL have some of them--do you think they will become collector's items???), but I LOVE her unit studies now!  She has switched to unit study downloads, instead of paper books, but the NEAT thing is that the studies are now filled with embedded links.  This morning my daughter was working on one of Amanda's studies on the country of Mexico, and we were watching videos of Mexican dancers, videos of flying over the landscape, etc.  Just really, really neat!  

ANYWAY, so if you are interested, when you are over at the web site check out all of Amanda's unit studies.  But our featured item for today is some free Valentine's Copywork she made up just for us home schoolers.  Because she loves us! :)  There are several really nice Bible verses, arranged for hand writing for both younger students, as well as older kids.  There are also a couple of nice coloring sheets, for those who enjoy coloring.  This link will take you to Amanda's "Specials" page, and if you scroll down near the bottom you will fine the link to click to down load this copywork for free.  Did you catch that?  FREE.  A home schooler's favorite budget amount!

Now, Amanda changes what she features on her "Specials" page all the time, so if you want this, go down load it NOW, even if you do not think you will use it this year.  You can always store it on your computer for use next school year. . . 

And just in case you are wondering, no, I do not work for Amanda Bennett.  I am not even being sponsored with any free product in my recommending her unit studies to you (I wish!).  I just honestly love her things, and wanted to share her Valentine's free copywork with all of you!  

And if you have any free home schooling item that you would like to share with me, tell me about it in the comments.  I LOVE free! :)

~Susan

http://www.unitstudy.com/Specials.html

Butterfly Time--Final Update!

O.K., I realize it has been a LONG time since I updated all of you on our butterfly caterpillars, but better late than never, right?  

Our three caterpillars stayed sleeping for around two weeks.  Sadly, one caterpillar never made a chrysalis, so we knew he (she?) wasn't going to make it.  Of the two remaining, one hatched out but had a deformed wing.  I've seen this happen before, though have no idea why.   An enemy did this.  I hate sin.

HOWEVER,

in spite of this sin filled world, there is still plenty of God's grace and beauty all around us.  Caterpillar #3 hatched out just perfect.  What a thrill it is to hold a butterfly on your hand.  Of course, this only lasts until their wings dry enough for them to fly!  But the brief moment of time makes it all the more special.  In heaven, we can hold them all the time.  

Watching a butterfly fly around in the air that you were able to watch hatch is like seeing a piece of laughter take wing.  Like a piece of God's smile.

A week after this beautiful butterfly took wing, I was watering a friends garden while she was away for two weeks.  Guess what I found devouring her parsley?  Yes--two more Black Swallowtail caterpillars!  I knew my friend was more interested in growing parsley, NOT feeding caterpillars--so I decided to relocate those two caterpillars from her yard to our indoor container.  Currently one is in his (her?) chrysalis and the other is still munching away on the food we feed it.  And soon, if we are fortunate, we might be able to hold a piece of God's smile again!

Bedtime Math Problem

Hi Everyone!

Life is currently in a super-busy mode, so no time for anything fancy--but I did want to pop in here and let you know about a really neat web site I ran across today! :)  Maybe you have already visited this site, but I just learned about it today--Bedtime Math!  This is simply something that one family started doing for their own children--giving each of them their own math problem at bedtime.  I don't know for sure if I will use it exactly the same way--I'm thinking I might instead just use it as a fun math problem sometime during our homeschool day.  But anyway, I did want to share the site with you.  They give variations of problems, some geared for preschoolers, some for K-1st or 2nd grade, and the highest level for 2nd grade and up.

So----go check out this site!  http://bedtimemathproblem.org/  I think you will have fun reading some of the back problems they have listed on there.  You can also check out their facebook page, where sometimes they have posted videos of things they have mentioned in their math problems.

Have Fun!

Susan

Butterfly Time!

Hi Everyone! 

Couldn't resist announcing it--it's BUTTERFLY TIME!!!!!  We got home this evening, after having supper together with friends and I went out to check my little garden bed one last time as the sun was sinking.  Checking it is a habit for me, and I am almost always only looking for one thing--butterflies!  Or perhaps I should say, caterpillars.

I LOVE butterflies, but I especially love raising them.  The first time I ever raised butterflies was in the classroom, where I ordered a tiny caterpillar for each student out of an educational catalog.  They each came in a little plastic cup with some green waxy stuff melted at the bottom.  That green "stuff" was some sort of concocted food, that the caterpillar would eat.  If you were fortunate, after they grew large enough they would attach themselves to the underside of the lid and emerge days later as a beautiful butterfly!  This was a fun activity, and my school children loved it.  But it was not cheap!

Years later, when I was homeschooling my son in Texas, I dutifully ordered a butterfly kit for him.  We "hatched" the butterfly, and it was fun, but--then it was over and it had been so brief.  We wanted to do more, but my budget did not allow "more" at the prices in the educational catalog.  So--I had to think of something else.  After doing a bit of research, I decided to try and attract some butterflies to our yard, and provide host plants for them to lay their eggs on.  Most butterfly species will only lay their eggs on a limited variety of plants.  I looked for butterflies in our area, and then surveyed the list of their preferred plants.  For my area, I found that the Black Swallowtail was probably my best bet.  They ate things like parsley, and I KNEW I could find parsley at any store selling garden herbs.

I planted some parsley, and I already had lantana growing in a near by garden bed.  The Black Swallowtail would not eat the lantana, but it sure attracted the adults to my yard--where I hoped they would then see the beautiful parsley plant I had planted especially for them!  Time would tell. . . . 

It worked!!!  One day, upon examining my little parsley, to my great joy I found these little black specks on it.  Since I had read up on what the larva looked like, I knew these black specky things crawling around were just what I had been hoping for. I had already learned about raising them inside.  Out in the wild, most of them end up as bird food.  Don't get me wrong--I love birds.  But in my opinion, the birds can eat other things.  Like worms.  Or the seed I put out for them.  So I dutifully started gathering every black speck I could find.  The only problem was, they ate like crazy.  And I only had one small plant.  But fortunately, they readily accepted parsley I bought for them from the grocery store.

Later, we took a trip to an Herb Farm, and I found them selling plants--one of which was a herb called "Rue."  I had never heard of it before my butterfly research, but I knew that it was also on the list of host plants for the Black Swallowtail caterpillars.  So I bought this tiny four inch plant and brought it home to plant.  It was happy in my yard, and I ended up getting more caterpillars crawling on this plant than I did on my parsley--though the caterpillars I collected and brought inside would readily eat either rue leaves or parsley, either one.  Butterfly hatching went well--at one time I had over thirty larva caterpillars living inside my house.  We ended up getting quite a collection of plastic containers to hold them, as too many caterpillars in the same container only leads to dirty living conditions and therefore your rate of successful hatchings decreases.  And I wanted as many happy butterflies as possible.  I know.  I am greedy about some things.

When we moved to another house in the same area, I collected some seeds from the first plant and got it to grow in the second house--yea!  Then we moved to another state--what about my Rue plant???  So I collected some more seeds--and managed to get two plants growing from those seeds--yea!

And it is these two seedlings that are growing in my yard today.  Where they are large now.  AND where I just found three absolutely beautiful little black crawly things tonight!  :)  Above is a picture of the flowers on the Rue.  They are not super showy things.  You wouldn't really plant it in your yard because of the flowers.  But you would if you wanted caterpillars!

 This photo shows what the foliage looks like.  My two plants had been rather stressed looking, after making it through the winter and then being hailed on a couple of times.  But I cut them back around two weeks ago, and they have really come back nicely.  Great!  More caterpillar food!  Really, I have absolutely no idea what "good" rue is as a herb.  Don't know if people eat it.  Only know that caterpillars do!

This is a two quart size mason jar, where the little beauties are currently living.  Later when they grow bigger I will transfer them to one of my plastic containers.  But for now, they are so small that they would crawl out through the vent holes in the lids.  Don't ask me how I know this.

Here is a close up of one of my little treasures.  Isn't he (she?) lovely????  Black Swallowtails always have the one white spot on their back--when they are tiny, anyway.  Always looks a bit like bird poop to me, and honestly I think that is what it is supposed to look like, to help keep them safe.  As they grow bigger, they will change in appearance.  Once they have hatched out as butterflies, you can actually tell which are the boys and which are the girls, by looking at the wing markings.  This is a MUCH cheaper way to get caterpillars to raise.  And besides that, it teaches kids where caterpillars really come from--they don't come from plastic cups!

So there you have it.  My lovely beauties.  You can bet tomorrow morning I will be out examining my rue plants very closely--just in case there are any more out there.  That is, if Alison doesn't beat me to it!

This is my favorite part of homeschooling.  I love to share with my children the beautiful things God has made for us.  And butterflies just happen to be one of my favorites!

Swagbucks = Free Amazon gift cards

Hi Everyone!

Thought I would write about a neat thing I have discovered lately. Well, I actually heard about it first off a while back, but didn't really understand how to use it and then finally learned how recently!

Have you ever heard of "Swagbucks"? I think the name is a bit misleading, because it makes you think that it is the same as dollars and it isn't. I think Swagbucks are better thought of as "Swagpoints." ANYWAY, Swagbucks are points that you earn doing different things and you can then redeem those points for different items. What I learned recently from reading another mom's blog was that you can redeem them for Amazon gift cards. As a homeschooler and book lover, I can ALWAYS use Amazon gift cards!!!! Not to mention that you can get so many other non-book items as well from Amazon. I looked up the Nylabones that my dog loves, and I can get them cheaper from Amazon than I can from PetSmart or Petco. Not to mention that if I have a gift card it makes it even cheaper yet.

So, the big question is how does one earn Swagbucks? They have tons of different ways--but as a super busy homeschooling mom I do not have time for doing a lot of them. But the main way I earn points is by using Swagbucks as a search engine--just like I would use Google. When you log into your Swagbuck account, they have a search box on that page and you just type in whatever it is you are wanting to do a search on. You do not earn points EVERY time you do a search--it is a random thing. Sometimes I get points awarded the first thing when I search something. Sometimes I will search five or six different things real quick, just to see if I can get some points awarded, and I usually do. Anyway, so that is the main way that "I" earn Swagbucks. They also have a daily poll, which is a super quick question about anything, really. I will cruse over to the daily poll, answer the quick question, and I am always awarded one Swagbuck just for participating in the poll. Other things that they have on their site for people to do and earn Swagbucks include playing games or watching little short video clips on all sorts of topics. Some of the topics are really interesting things, like cooking or home improvement. Anyway, there are even more ways to earn Swagbucks than these, but this will give you an idea.

The FUN part--redeeming your Swagbucks--is what I like best! They have all sorts of things that people might want to buy, but I personally am only interested in the gift cards. They do have gift cards to Amazon, Lowes, different restaurants, etc. And not all gift cards are equal in Swagbucks. One of the lowest "cost" gift cards is one for $5.00 to Amazon, which is 450 Swagbucks. For comparison, a $5.00 gift card to Lowes is 690 Swagbucks. I'm personally thrilled with the Amazon cards, and I have just redeemed some of my Swagbucks today for my first gift card--now just to narrow down my "wish list" and decide what I am going to use it towards!

Anyway, so in a nutshell that is what Swagbucks are all about. If this is something that you think you might be interested in, I would appreciate it if you would sign up for an account using my link, because it will give me some referral points. Hope this helps to explain things more clearly, and gives you an idea as to whether this is something you might be interested in.

If you want to sign up with me as your referral, just click on the "Swagbucks" icon at the top right hand column on this blog. (If you are reading my blog posts through e-mail, you would have to come to my actual blog to follow the link.) Thanks!

Good Table Manners

Hi Everyone!

I am researching how to teach good table manners to children today. In my search, I ran across this cute video. While I do not normally go for green talking cats, in the case I thought the video was nicely done and look forward to sharing it with my daughter.

Hope you enjoy it too!

Susan

How It's Made PENCIL

Cool. Just learned how pencils are made. Now I think that is VERY important for homeschool. After all, we use pencils every day! Hope you enjoy learning something new as well!

How it's made-Globes

Don't you ever wonder how some things are made? Well, wonder no longer about globes. Thought you might enjoy this cool little video I ran across today. It's good to learn something new each day! :)

Where in the U.S.?

Hi All!

Just couldn't resist sharing this lovely picture of two alligators in love! :)
Guess where we are studying in homeschool today? Where in the United States would you find scenes like this one?

I'll give you a couple minutes to think about it. . . . . . .





Ready? This photo was taken at the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge. (photo from their web site--I can take NO credit for this picture. You won't find ME close enough to alligators to take a picture like this!) Don't you just love that word--Okefenokee? Try saying it out loud five times fast! And do you know WHERE the Okefenokee National Wildlife Refuge is? Why, at the Okefenokee Swamp, of course. And where IS that swamp? Yes, it is on the border between Florida and Georgia. Cool, isn't it?

Anyway, just thought I would give you that little trivia for the day. I love the picture--hope it makes you smile!

Before the need--there was God

"Before sin created the need, God had provided the remedy. Every soul that yields to temptation is wounded, bruised, by the adversary; but wherever there is sin, there is the Saviour. " Education by E.G.White p. 113

Isn't this a beautiful statement? I just love thinking about it. Before the need--there was God. He had already provided a way of escape for us. He knew He would let His one and only Son take our place on the cross. So that if we chose to, we could accept the gift of eternal life and live with Him in heaven forever. But He won't force us. He offers, but we have to accept. Why would we turn Him down? Pride? Watch certain shows on T.V. and you will soon realize that people have no pride when it comes to the possibility of winning money. They will do just about anything if they think they have a chance of winning. How foolish of us not to accept an eternal prize--something that does not rust away or lose it's value.

Since I finished the "Bible in 90 Days" program on October 8, I have been sick so have not really gotten myself into a new program for Bible study yet. But I have started reading through the book "Education" by E.G. White, which of course is where the above quote is from. I am enjoying the book very much, and as a homeschool mom I am very interested in studying the teaching methods that Jesus used, so I can use those same methods with my own children. If you have never read this book before, I highly recommend it. And if you have read it, as I did years ago, you may find a real blessing in reading it again. It is available free on-line, http://www.whiteestate.org/books/ed/ed.asp and also as an app you can download http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/egw-free/id374790551?mt=8.

Have a beautiful day. And as you go through it, consider what a beautiful Saviour we have.

The Spider and the Fly

Hi Everyone!

I was pretty excited today to discover the entire poem of "The Spider and the Fly" by Mary Howitt. I have often quoted a portion of this to my son as he grew up, and when I read the whole poem to him today he said "I thought that was just something YOU had made up!" Anyway, fiction though the poem may be, there is a LOT of wisdom in these passages. We must be so careful of whom we are listening to, where we are drawing our value and self worth from. Remember that we were bought with a price--the precious blood of Jesus. Who can put a value on that?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Spider and the Fly

"Will you walk into my parlour?"
Said the spider to the fly;
"'Tis the prettiest little parlour
That ever you did spy.
The way into my parlour
Is up a winding stair;
And I have many curious things
To show you when you're there."
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly;
"To ask me is in vain;
For who goes up your winding stair
Can ne'er come down again."

I'm sure you must be weary, dear,
With soaring up so high;
Will you rest upon my little bed?"
Said the spider to the fly.
"There are pretty curtains all around,
The sheets are fine and thin,
And if you want to rest awhile,
I'll snugly tuck you in!"
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly;
"For I've often heard it said,
They never, never wake again
Who sleep upon your bed!"

Said the cunning spider to the fly,-
"Dear friend, what can I do
To prove the warm affection
I've always felt for you?
I have within my pantry
Good store of all that's nice;
I'm sure you're very welcome-
Will you please to take a slice?"
"Oh, no, no," said the little fly,
"Kind sir, that cannot be;
I've heard what's in your pantry,
And I do not wish to see!"

"Sweet creature!" said the spider,
"Your're witty and you're wise;
How handsome are your gauzy wings,
How brilliant are your eyes!
I have a little looking-glass
Upon my parlour shelf;
If you'll step in one moment, dear,
You shall behold yourself."
"I thank you, gentle sir," she said,
"For what you're pleased to say,
And, bidding you good-morning now,
I'll call another day."



The spider turned him round about,
And went into his den,
For well he knew the silly fly
Would soon come back again.
So he wove a subtle web
In a little corner sly,
And set his table ready
To dine upon the fly.

Then he came out to his door again,
And merrily did sing,
"Come hither, hither, pretty fly,
With the pearl and silver wing;
Your robes are green and purple,
There's a crest upon your head;
Your eyes are like the diamond bright,
But mine are dull as lead!"

Alas! alas! how very soon
This silly little fly,
Hearing his wily, flattering words,
Came slowly flitting by!
With buzzing wings she hung aloft,
Then near and nearer drew,
Thinking only of her brilliant eyes,
And green and purple hue-

Thinking only of her crested head-
Poor foolish thing! At last
Up jumped the cunning spider,
And fiercely held her fast.
He dragged her up his winding stair,
Into his dismal den:
Within his little parlour,-
But she ne'er came out again!

And now, dear little children
Who may this story read,
To idle, silly, flattering words,
I pray you ne'er give heed;
Unto an evil counsellor
Close heart and ear and eye,
And take a lesson from this tale
Of the Spider and the Fly.

--Mary Howitt

Road Trip USA!

Hi All!

Thought I would share a little bit about our geography curriculum we are using this year. We are having LOADS of fun using a curriculum developed by a homeschool mom that is called "Road TripUSA." You can find it here if you are interested, and it is available either in a CD form or instant download: http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/u-s-geography I chose the instant download, which she charges only $18 for--well worth it for a year's worth of geography fun!

First we begin by printing off Travel Logs for each student. We needed a picture of the traveler to go inside the Travel Log, so I snapped this photo of my daughter. Can you tell she is excited?

Since they are set up to print out two on each page, we ended up with an "extra" Travel Log that we didn't need. Or so I thought. She insisted that "I" needed a Travel Log as well.

We took our pictures standing near the state we were each born in, which was my daughters idea and I thought it was pretty neat. We are using our LARGE pull down USA map that God gave me. Really. I had been drooling over them on E-Bay ($). I even looked them up brand new ($$$). But when I gave up the idea and just told God about how neat I thought a HUGE map would be, He sent me this one for FREE. Just my price. And a few more maps too, for good measure. Pressed down, overflowing. More blessings than I can receive.


The curriculum has you going through the states at a pace of two states a week. Sometimes we actually achieve two a week. Other times we do not, due to medical appointments, lessons, etc. But we will just keep moving through at our own pace, and someday we will finish.

Not ALL the states have a huge craft project, but it seems that around every other state does. That's often enough for me--keeps it fun, but not overwhelming. Here we were studying Delaware, and we are constructing a major bridge that is there. This project actually went together MUCH easier than I thought it was going to. And it was fun, besides!

As you can see, there is a GREAT need for this bridge in Delaware. So great, that the traffic did not even wait for the bridge to be completed before it started using the bridge!

Isn't it amazing what can be done with popsickle sticks and hot glue?

This bridge is so much fun to play with, even the cat plays with it!

When we were studying Maine, we made a lighthouse craft. This idea was actually suggested for a different state elsewhere in the curriculum, but we both thought Maine needed a lighthouse craft so we did it here. Who knows. We may make another one later on.

For Maryland, we each constructed a "Skipjack" boat. This is the state boat, and is quite famous we learned.

We each chose slightly different sail shapes. Had to include some yarn for rigging, of course, and I chose oars while she chose to put in seats.












Most important, they both passed the "ocean" test. Well, that is, until a typhoon came and swamped them both!

We are only a little ways into using this curriculum, but are enjoying is very much. So if you are looking for something fun and affordable for geography, check out "Road Trip USA!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

All opinions expressed are completely my own. I did not receive this curriculum free. I purchased it myself to use in my own homeschool, and am enjoying it so much I wanted to share about our fun.

Making a Homeschool Room--With no Room at all!

It has finally happened. After years of wishing we lived in a house with room for an actual homeschool room, I finally decided I needed to be proactive and just TAKE a spot. You know, squatters rights. It's mine, because I am there sort of thing. Now, we DO actually have a basement in this house, but after living here for several years, I realize that the basement is NOT where "school" happens for us. If it was a beautiful basement it might, but ours is a basement with very tiny natural light. During the summer it is nice and cool, but during the winter it is freezing and you will find us curled up in the living room near the wood stove. SO. Given my perimeters, given that we do not have money to add on an addition and I know much of the day we "school" either on the couch or at the kitchen table, I hereby claim this little used corner in our living room, right where the front door enters. It's now mine.

This is the view from the front door corner. It's just a little 8 feet by 8 feet space. And, of course, there isn't a lot of wall space and it is not truly an enclosed room, so I can't park large book cases there. But I do have the basement for storage of longer term school items. I just need a place for more of the things that we are using NOW to be gathered all together. So I don't waste time searching for a math item that I KNOW I have, but I don't know where....(don't ask me about this, it's not pretty!).

Behind the couch I have placed my daughter's workbox drawers. We have used these for one school year so far, and I love them still. Helps her be independent in some things, yet she knows when it is an activity I want her to do with me. On top of the workboxes is our math balance, and the pink container with the handle holds her glue, tape, scissors, and pencils. The zebra box on the floor next to her workboxes holds binders with things that we are working on, but are not in the workboxes for today. The hanging chart is her chore chart, with tags that she turns over when she has completed a chore. I like this method because I can easily see what she still needs to do for that day. The red bag underneath holds all our M-U-S blocks. The plastic shoebox stores our magnet letters.

This is sort of "my" spot in our little "room." I bought these carts really inexpensively the day after Thanksgiving at JoAnn Fabrics. Yes, I was one of those insane people who was up around 4:00 a.m., out shopping. But honestly, I was only there because my husband had a store HE wanted to go to, so I decided SOME rational person had better go along with him. And while I'm out and about, well, might as well shop! Anyway, I am repurposing them now for homeschool use. One has been next to my desk for filing, and one in the basement in my sewing room. But I have decided I need them more for organizing homeschool, so this is where I have put any "teacher" type of books that I will be using this next school year. In addition to regular teacher manuals, I also have some hands-on math games, flash cards, etc. Whatever I have that I am planning on using with her for this new school year, I have put in these drawers. No more searching for those lost fraction bars that I KNEW I had somewhere...

The giraffe box holds file folder games. The tub in front has spelling cubes. Our dictionary and thesaurus are sitting close by. The magnetic white board I picked up at a thrift store for $1.00, and the file box on the floor is holding our felts for our felt board.

The third wall of our school room has our felt board leaning on it. This is the only "real" wall we have in our little corner, but due to the front door opening and swinging back against it, I only have around four inches of usable space. Also, it heads right into the kitchen, so is a pass-through space. No bookcases can be placed here, but our felt board (made from a 4x8 piece of plywood cut down to a 4x6 size) fits just fine. I thought this is making good use of this space. Since this IS a living room, I don't want to put a bunch of nail holes in this wall for hanging things--but I can "hang" from our felt board with using large clips. One pocket chart has our days of the week and weather, one the math flash cards we are working on, and the third has a Bible verse written out and cut apart to be put back together.

And there you have it. Our little schoolroom. Some work will be done on the floor right here, or sitting/standing in front of the felt board. Some work will be done using a little bed tray, just the right height for my daughter to sit on the floor and use it for a little desk. Stories will be read on the couch. Handwriting and other subjects that need a larger writing surface can be taken to the near by kitchen counter. The drawers in both the "teacher" carts as well as the drawers in the workboxes all can be slipped out and carried to a table to work there.

I hope this little tour into our new schoolroom has given you some possible ideas of ways to think creatively and "out of the box." Or is that "out of the room?"