This is our 17th year of homeschooling.

I still love it!

Even though learning doesn't stop for the week-ends, I am excited that tomorrow is Monday!!!

Are you???

~Candy~

Our little preemie, Sarah, turns two today!

Happy birthday, Sarah Jane!!!

I am so excited about just starting my own shop over at etsy.com!!!!

Please take time to check out the crafts I have made.

Be sure to come back and leave me a comment so I know what you think!

~Candy~

I know that I have said this before, but I absolutely love John Hudson Tiner's science books!

If you want an awesome, easy, and completely understandable view on science, you need these books!

Check them out!

~Candy~

If you haven't been using SwagBucks as your search engine, now is the time to start!

I have already earned 4 $5.00 Amazon gift certificates from them.  I have just about enough for another one!

It's so easy!  Just search through SwagBucks and earn points.  The points add  up and you can choose a  prize.

Hey, you are on the computer anyway, so you might as well get paid to be online.

If you are interested in starting to earn while searching, please use my SwagBucks link at the top of this page.  That way I can earn too!!!

Thanks,

~Candy~

Check out these Godly magazines offered by http://www.wisdomsgate.com/

I love their magazine, "An Encouraging Word."

Do any of you ladies receive this magazine?

If you do, maybe you have seen the picture of my beautiful daughter, Jaimie, advertising my book,

"The Word of God on Being a Woman, a Wife, and a Mother."

Well, anyway, I am now an affiliate with Wisdom's Gate.

If you decide to order their magazines, please consider buying it through me.

My code is wgap20.

Thanks for taking the time to read this!

~Candy~

We are planning on having a week off from our regular school work next week.  We keep calling it our week off, but I don't think that is quite right. 

Here's a list of the things we are planning for our "week off."

1. field trip to the apple orchard

2. field trip to the zoo

3. field trip to the fire department

4. a day at the library and a huge box full of borrowed books to take home

5. a nature walk to collect things to put into our nature notebooks

6. I'm going to pull out the awesome microscope that I bought and tucked away for our "week off."

7. Not to mention, our son, Jordan will be taking a trip from our New York home to Georgia with our pastor during this week.

Hmm, sounds like a full week "off!"

~Candy~

My newest favorite phonics/reading program is,

Sing, Spell, Read, & Write.  This is such an awesome program!  An oldie, but a goodie!

~Candy~

I love to read books written by John Hudson Tiner.

I just finished reading, "Isaac Newton."  It is from the Sowers series.

It's an awesome book!

Check it out!

~Candy~

I really have to get back into blogging. 

I thought that I would list a few of my favorite books:

Simply Grammar

Spelling Power

Any Child Can Write

The Write Stuff Adventure

The McGuffey series

and anything written by John Hudson Tiner.

There are so many more I could list!  Rhea Perry is right - so many books so little time!

~Candy~

Well, it's time to get back into a school schedule.

I love this time of year!  The kids are excited too!  It's always so nice to get back into a routine.

Are you back into the swing of things yet?

~Candy~

I am always so excited this time a year.  I love getting back into school.  I know, in truth, we are always learning, but I love to get back into a routine.  I love buying all of the new school supplies.  I love to see how excited the kids are when I hand out those school supplies on our official first day back to school. 

It is always exciting to plan out all of the ideas that have been rolling around in my mind all summer. 

I have many unit studies and lapbooks planned.

I am hoping to do a lot more projects and have more fun these year.  Learning can be such fun!

I want my kids to enjoy school even after the first day!  :D

~Candy~ 

I love how no matter how much fun you have somewhere, it's ALWAYS so good to return home.  The old adage is so true - there's no place like home!

We had such a wonderful time on our annual three-day camp-out trip to my sister-in-law's!

Does your family enjoy camp-outs?  Don't let finances keep you from camping out with your family.

Every year we go "camping" to my sister-in-laws.  She only lives about ten miles from us.  We set-up camp right in her back yard.  We usually have tents, although this year we had a camper.  Yeah!  We have a campfire each night.  We sit around the fire talking while the kids run, play and make s'mores.

My sister-in-law has a four foot pool, trampoline, horse shoes, Texas horseshoes and numerous toys and other games.

The only money spent is on groceries.  We always have a blast!  It's so relaxing and down right fun.

You should try it!  We use to spend a whole week camping at my mother-in-law's house when she was alive

You can have an awesome family "vacation" for little to no money.

Hey, tell me about your frugal family fun ideas!

~Candy~

I just bought Streams of Civilization Vol. 1 for only $2.26!!  That's right - $2.26!

I purchased on Amazon.com and used my Swag Bucks.

Woohoo!!!

~Candy~

My newest grandson arrived last night.

Matthew Nicholas Foote, Jr.

9 pounds 1 ounce

20 inches long

Did you see me in the summer issue of TEACHMagazine?

What did you think?

Sign up for our family's monthly newsletter and receive a free sample of one of our books!

candyfoote.com

~Candy~

We are back home from South Carolina.

It was our first family trip.

We had such a wonderful time.

I even got to see the ocean.

Most of my kids had already seen the ocean because daddy likes to take a couple of them and head out to different places.

They finally talked mommy into going along.

What a great time!

I hadn't seen my sister in over a year and a half, so that was the best part for me.

God is so good to us!

~Candy~

This is good-bye....um, for now.

We are heading to South Carolina on Monday.  Yea!

Our monthly newsletter won't be sent out until after I return in two weeks.

Hey, that gives you time to sign up for it! :D

candyfoote.com

See you in two weeks!

~Candy~

Today was our last day of school.

We are officially on summer vacation.

I laugh when I use the word 'vacation' though.

The kids anxiously await their 'vacation', then they spend their time doing school work!

They love school.  They are able to pursue their work without any pressures of having to get it done.  I love it!

~Candy~

Hey, what better way to teach geography?!?

We are headed to South Carolina in 6 days!  Yea!

~Candy~

The kids are counting down until "summer vacation".

I always laugh at them because they truly love school.

Many "first day of summer" days, my kids could be found somewhere reading a good book.

We tend to do school through-out the year.  We just change up what we are learning and how it is being taught.

We are finishing up our ocean study by actually going to the ocean!

Technically, we are going on 'vacation' on May 28th.  Then, on June 1st we are headed to South Carolina!!  Yea!!!!!!!!!!

How are you spending your 'summer vacation'?

~Candy~

I've been spending the day reading over Karen Andreola's book, "Charlotte Mason Companion".

I could just read it over and over; couldn't you?

~Candy~

If you haven't used up those BOOK-IT coupons from Pizza Hut, you had better hurry up.  They expire on May 1st!!!

~Candy~

We only have four and a half weeks of our regular school year left!  Wow!

The funny thing is that we never actually stop learning, we just switch up the way we learn.  We also focus more on science and nature studies.  We get to spend a lot more time on learning crafts too.  The kids are getting pretty good at crocheting!  Read alouds never stop!  We actually do so much learning during the summer that we shouldn't even call it summer vacation.  Oh, well, it makes the kids feel better thinking they are on vacation.   lol

We are preparing to go to the ocean in June.

What a great way to complete our ocean unit study!

I have never been to the ocean before.  Many of the kids have been to the ocean, but this will be my first trip.  Yahoo!

What are your summer time plans?

~Candy~

We just got three new Drive Thru History DVDs!!

I love them!

Have you seen any of them?

~Candy~

One of my all time favorite kid's book is the story of Peter Rabbit.

What is one of your favorites?

~Candy~

Here is another awesome site.

There are a lot of free worksheets available for multiply grade levels.

It's a wonderful resource.

Check it out and let me know what you think.

http://www.tlsbooks.com/miscellaneousworksheets.htm

~Candy~

Have you read any of John Hudson Tiner's books?

I love his books!

They are absolutely wonderful.

We are working through his books on exploring the earth, chemistry, and medicine.

Which one of his books are you reading?

~Candy~

Saturday, March 21st was our 22nd wedding anniversary!!

I had a lovely day.

It was great.

My husband and I went out to lunch and did a little shopping.

Later, we ordered pizza and had all of our kids over.

Some extended family came over too.

We ate pizza, cake, and watched our wedding video.

What fun!

Everyone enjoyed laughing at my huge glasses!

I tried to tell them that it was the style in the 80's, but they just laughed all the more!

~Candy~

http://donnayoung.org/index.htm

This is an awesome site!!

~Candy~

We love Vocabulary Cartoons.

They are really awesome!

My kids are not only learning, they are learning fast!

Do any of you use Vocabulary Cartoons?

We have just started our second book.

~Candy~

My husband is so awesome!

I caught him teaching the little ones how to spell using the alphabet.

(Okay, I do realize that all words are spelled from the alphabet. )

Here is what he was doing:

a = ay

b = bee, be

c = see

d = Dee

g = gee

i = eye, I

j = Jay

k = Kay

o = oh

p = pea, pee

r = are

t = tea, tee

u = you

y = why

Isn't that awesome?!?

I tell you, my husband is not only awesome, he is cute too!

~Candy~

Hey, my books are on sale!

Check it out at:

http://www.theoldschoolhousestore.com/index.php?main_page=specials&page=4

They are 50% off!!

~Candy~

How do your kids memorize their math?

I love to simply have the kids recite.

It is amazing how quickly and painlessly they memorize them.

~Candy~

No school today!!!  Today is Jacob's thirteenth birthday.

Happy birthday, Jacob.

Do you have a favorite book to share today?

Stop by every Monday this month and share about one of your favorite homeschooling books.

I really love Vocabulary Cartoons.  My kids pick up these books without having to be talked into it.

They learn from them quickly and painlessly.

Not only that, they these vocabulary words weeks, even months later.

It really sticks with them.

Have any of you used Vocabulary Cartoons?

Your turn.  Tell me about one of your favorite sources.

~Candy~

All of these books and papers seem to get out of control so easily!

Time for a new system.

I hope to get some new book shelves up this week-end.

I need to make time to go over schedules and prepare for next week.

We don't have school on Monday, though.

It's Jacob's thirteenth birthday!

What are you doing this week-end?

~Candy~

We have been having fun collecting things in preparation for our ocean books.

I picked up some ocean stickers at the dollar store, but they didn't have very many.

I picked up a book on sea creatures at the junk store.  We are going to use it to cut pictures and paste them inot our books.

Preparing seems to be half the fun.

What kind of lapbooks are you working on?

~Candy~

I am trying to get stuff collected and organized to make lapbooks on the oceans.

Any ideas?

~Candy~

The more that I read this book, the more I love it!

It is written as a letter to a nephew from his uncle.

It is written very clearly.

It is really a no tears economics course!

It is endorsed by John Taylor Gatto, Mary Pride, Cathy Duffy, and many, many others.

Have any of you used this book?

Let's share different books that we truly love in our homeschool.

Each Monday in March come back here to read which book I love, then share which one you love.

Sound like fun?

I'll start. 

We just got, "Whatever Happened to Penny Candy?" in the mail.

It is an economics course, but don't let that scare you.

This book is wonderful!

It truly captivated us. 

It is really a 'living' book.  I love it!

The chapters are short, but you get a lot out of them.

When I told my 16 year old that we got his new economics book in the mail, he wasn't excited.

That is until we started it.  He was really impressed with it too.

Have any of you tried this book?

Are any of you thinking about it?

Go for it!  It is a great resource.

Don't forget to go over to candyfoote.com and sign up for our monthly newsletter.

You will get a free sample of one of our books just for signing up!

~Candy~

Hurry, today is the last day to enter Rachel's contest.

The prize is one of my books!

http://dixonhomestead.com/rachel/?p=929

~Candy~

Timing is everything!

Each one of my kids has a certain time of day when they learn the easiest.

Life is much easier when I tune into these times.

When Olivia was little, she couldn't seem to understand anything during the day.

The funny thing is, when nighttime rolled around, she turned into a different child.

She could do all of her work without tears. Yeah!!

Learn which time works best for your children.

Believe me, the tears it saves makes it worth it alone!

Here's another chance to win one of my books!

Go to http://dixonhomestead.com/rachel/?p=929

If you win, you can make your choice of book over at

http://candyfoote.com/

If you have been around the blogosphere for very long, then I'm

sure you know Tiany.

Well, did you know that Tiany created this great site called,

The Homeschool Lounge????

It's great!

Check it out http://www.thehomeschoollounge.com/profile/CandyFoote

I forgot to tell you in my last post that three of my books are included in the raffle.

Go check it out Homeschool Christian.com :: HSC Raffle - 2009

~Candy~

Martha Robinson is  having an awesome raffle over at

HomeschoolChristian.com.

Go check it out Homeschool Christian.com :: HSC Raffle - 2009

~Candy~

I spent the day working on school papers and schedules.

I still didn't get all of my paper work done!

Does it ever really get all done!?!

Well, more paper work tomorrow.

We are going to  have some fun tomorrow too!!

We are heading over to my aunt's house for a sledding party.

We plan on having a fun filled afternoon with sledding, singing and playing guitars, and good food!

Sounds like fun - doesn't it?

~Candy~

We are offering our Woman's Special for only $25.00!!

You get three e-books in this set:

The Word of God on the Book of Ruth,

The Word of God on the Book of Esther,

and

The Word of God on Being a Woman, a Wife, and a Mother.

Go to http://candyfoote.com/  and look under, "GREAT DEALS".

~Candy~

Okay, I know that  I told you to read Shakespeare, but I'm wondering which plays you decided to read.

We started both MacBeth and Hamlet, but didn't like the witches and ghosts in the stories.

How do you guys handle that junk?

~Candy~

Today is President's Day!

Does your homeschool take the day off?

We don't!

How are you spending Valentine's Day?

We are spending the day celebrating our little

girl's fourth birthday.

When she was born, the nurse said, "Gee, all

I gave my husband were candles." LOL

Happy birthday, Christina Pearl!

So, what will you be doing today?

~Candy~

Have you thought about teaching Shakespeare, then decided to think again?!?

Do you think it sounds a little overwhelming?

Don't worry - there's a solution!

Charles and Mary Lamb have put many of Shakespeare's plays into enjoyable stories that even your little ones will enjoy.

Give them a taste of Shakespeare!

Check it out for yourselves at http://www.eldritchpress.org/cml/tfs.html

And don't forget to have fun!

~Candy~

http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks.htm

This site is great!  It has a lot of free stuff to help you make those lapbooks!

Have fun!

~Candy~