Posted in links, resources and great finds

Well, I guess they aren't really "my" kids, but my students from our homeschooling co-op.  You may remember my post in January asking for input for a "Writing for Publication" class I was preparing to teach for co-op.  We have 6 weeks left and I'm still rather feeling my way week-by-week, but I think it is going very well. 

I have a 10-year-old girl who doesn't much enjoy writing or reading, but I'm trying to encourage her along and let her know that I didn't like either until well into high school myself.   I have an 11-year-old girl who is full of life and fun and loves to write.  I have a 12/13-year-old boy who is a very impressive writer.  And I have a 16-year-old girl who is a prolific author and from whom I would expect to see some full length manuscripts start making their way to publication within the next few years.

As a class we entered the SillyBooks short story contest in February with their group story, Pirates, Popcorn and a Party.  We received notifcation this week that they were selected as the February winners, receiving a small cash prize and the professional sound-recording and annimation of their story as an online book.  They now have a 1 in 8 chance of winning the grand prize (and a much larger cash prize) this summer!  I am so excited for them.  We will be celebrating at co-op tomorrow!

Posted in links, resources and great finds

In light of recent concerns over the "legality" of homeschooling, especially in the state of California, I am delighted to share this recent proclaimation made by the govenor of the state of Nevada:

WHEREAS, the State of Nevada is committed to the education of our children and to upholding the values and goals that strengthen the family; and

WHEREAS, home-based schooling may be the fastest-growing form of education in the United States (at 7% to 12% per year), home-based education is also growing around the world in many nations; and

WHEREAS, there are about 2 million home school students in the United States; there were an estimated 1.9 to 2.4 million children (in grades K to 12) home educated during 2005-2006 in the United States; and

WHEREAS, families engaged in home-based education are not dependent on public, tax-funded resources for their children's education; the finances associated with their home schooling likely represent over $16 billion that taxpayers do not have to spend since these children are not in public schools; and

WHEREAS, home school students score above average on achievement tests regardless of their parents' level of formal education of their family's household income;

NOW, THEREFORE, I, JIM GIBBONS, GOVERNOR OF THE STATE OF NEVADA, do herby proclaim March 30-April 5, 2008, as HOME EDUCATION AWARENESS WEEK.

To print out the Proclamation go to
http://www.hslda.org/elink.asp?id=5007

Rosetta Stone has been the #1 foreign language curriculum among homeschoolers for a while -- next week they are unleashing a brand new curriculum, and you can WIN the *all new* Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3… FOR FREE!

This is a $219 program (and believe me it's worth every penny!) and the winner gets to pick from any of these 14 languages: Spanish (Spain or Latin America), English (American or British), Arabic, Chinese, Japanese, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Irish, Hebrew, or Russian.
This will also include a headset with microphone, and students will participate in lifelike conversations and actually produce language to advance through the program. Rosetta Stone still incorporates listening, reading and writing as well, in addition to speaking. Many homeschoolers requested grammar and vocabulary exercises, and with Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version 3, they're included! For parents, the new Parent Administrative Tools are integrated into the program and allow parents to easily enroll students in any of 12 predetermined lesson plans, monitor student progress, and view and print reports.

To win this most excellent program -- in the language of your choice -- copy these paragraphs and post it in (or as) your next blog post -- then to enter the contest, go to the original contest page HERE: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JenIG/501132/ and leave a comment with the link showing where you blogged about it. And please make sure the link works to get back to the original contest page when you post it. And good luck! The winner will be picked randomly on March 26, and will be notified thru the link they left to their blog pg. And if you have more than one blog, you can post them and enter those separately for more chances to win. Yay for free stuff!

Posted in weekly class log

Our Exploring Countries and Cultures year has progressed more slowly than planned, but it is turning out to be a good year none the less.  We spent all fall on North America, all of January on South America and are now heading into Europe this week.  I would have to say that the missionary biographies have been the highlight of our studies, with Joshua taking to Cameron Townsend and Nate Saint with amazing interest.

Rick and I watched "At the End of the Spear" in December late one night after putting the kids to bed.  We hadn't planned to let any of them watch it, feeling that at not quite 8 even our mature little man was much too tender for such a visual encounter with missionary marterdom.  But by what we now see as God's ordinace, Joshua wandered into our bedroom late that night, about 20 minutes into the movie.  He couldn't sleep, something very unusual for him, and the two little ones were both sound asleep, also somewhat of a rare occurance at that hour for both to be out cold.  He ask if he could stay and watch, and with a quick silent prayer for wisdom, Rick and I exchanged glances and knew the answer should be yes, though up until that moment we would have never dreamed of allowing it.  He watched with intensity then fell asleep just before some of the most brutal sceens.  He slept soundly and had no emotional trauma, though the story has stuck with him in a profound and positive manner. 

When we began reading Nate Saint's biography we only got part way through before Joshua asked to stop, not wanting to relive the story again.  But after a couple more days to reflect, he came to me asking to watch the entire movie again, watched it, then was ready to finish the book.  I think both of us have been deeply challenged by this story and it made our studies of South America all the more profound.  As we start ci-op back up this week, he will be taking an international cooking class along with fencing and writing at co-op. I'm headed out in a few minutes to take him to his violin lesson. How can he already be 8 years old? Time just flies this side of infertility...

Ruthi is also growing up. She's spent more of her 5 year old year away from us than with us so far, turning around from her time at my parents (see next two paragraphs), to go spend 5 more days with Rick's mom on their farm about an hour away. It is so wonderful having everyone back home together, though she had a delightful time haing one-on-one Grandma attention for tea parties and dress up and lots of great outside play! Our homeschool co-op starts up again this week and she doesn't know it yet, but will be taking ballet again. I can't wait to see how excited she is when she finds out on Thursday! :)

It's amazing to think our baby is already 2. Jeremiah's learning new words on a daily basis. The kids all stayed with my parents for about 5 days after Rick's surgery (next paragraph).  I was just too physically done in to be an effective parent.  I was shocked at how his vocabulary had jumped in those short days.

Rick's had a SLAP repair (muscle that connects upper part of arm to shoulder was ripped away) a week ago Thursday.  He was several hours delayed, not going into the ER until after 8pm (had IV and was read at 3) and heading home from the hospital after midnight.  But the surgery seems to be sucessful and his range of motion is impressing both his surgeon and PT. Jeremiah will tell anyone who will listen, "Daddy Ow-nie!" and it is obviously of great concern to our littlest that Daddy hurts.

I'm hopefully going to be seeing Dr. Peterson (one of the world's leading experts in CFIDS) in the very near future. We've been working on this since last June and it is sounding more imminent now, so I'll try to keep you posted. I'll be teaching a class on writing for publication at our co-op and I'll be speaking on "Harvesting Hope from Heartache" at an informal ladies' tea for our church this Sunday. I'm also excited to have been named "Consultant of the Month" with Affordable Mineral Makeup for the month of January. Please drop by and visit my Inner Beauty Blog for affordable beauty tricks, healthy makeup tips, book and product reviews, inspirational articles, and give-aways all focused on letting your inner beauty shine!

I don't drink coffee (tea for me, please) but there is a cute website that even the least cafinated umong us might enjoy.  Mommie's Coffee Break is the offering of two homeschool moms who chat about everything from potty training to schooling tips to fashion to faith.  Pull up a chair and your favorite cup of hot liquid and enjoy your break today. :)

Posted in links, resources and great finds

Another My Father's World mom posted these really cute learning poems that I had to share:

Parts of Speech poems

I have been asked to teach a homeschool co-op class for 4-12th graders on writing for publication.  I need to have a class outline together by this Saturday!  It will be one hour each week for 12 weeks.  Anyone with ideas of books, programs, websites, contests that accept children under age 18, or any other resources???

I have a tiny start of resources I'm listing for Published Authors Under 18 but would greatly appreciate any other suggestions anyone can share!

Posted in links, resources and great finds

My Father's World has issued a couple of amazing offers today.  First if you know anyone who has lost homeschool supplies in the California fires, please encourage them to contact MFW for replacements.  MFW will replace existing MFW customer losses free of charge and is offering a 50% discount for new customers!

My Father's World
PO Box 2140
Rolla, MO 65402
573-426-4600
info@mfwbooks.com
www.mfwbooks.com

Also for anyone else who is interested in trying this program (not impacted by the fires), MFW is offering a new customer discount from now until December 21, 2007 on the 2007 editions of Kindergarten, First Grade, Adventures in My Father’s World, and Exploring Countries and Cultures.  Basic packages are 10% off.  Complete deluxe packages are 15% off.  In addition, we will include a free CD of David’s message, “Becoming a Family of Eternal Purpose.”

It is not too late to begin using MFW for this school year.  The flexibility of homeschooling allows us to change curriculum at any time and still have solid academic instruction (and enjoy it!).

MFW staff are available and willing to assist new customers with questions about MFW curriculum, placement of children into a program, and how to use our programs.

Here are the sale prices for the new customer products: 

2007 Editions                       Regular Price   Sale Price

 

        Kindergarten Basic                $105.00             $94.50   (10% off)

      Kindergarten Deluxe              $189.00           $160.65   (15% off)

 

      First Grade Basic                   $150.00           $135.00   (10% off)

      First Grade Deluxe                 $245.00           $208.25   (15% off)

 

      Adventures Basic                   $205.00           $184.50   (10% off)

      Adventures Deluxe                 $310.00           $263.50   (15% off)

 

      Exploring Countries

         & Cultures Basic                 $250.00           $225.00   (10% off)

      Exploring Countries

               & Cultures Deluxe               $305.00           $259.25   (15% off)

If you can help share the word about MFW, make your request for catalogs on the MFW website at http://mfwbooks.com/catalog.htm. In the comment field tell us how many catalogs you would like shipped to you at no cost.  Thank you for helping to distribute our remaining 2007 catalogs.

Posted in weekly class log

Well, so much for having mastered running 2 programs at once! LOL  Several of you left comments on my last post asking me for tips and advice and all I can say is that I'm learning to take each day as it comes and not be a slave to any program.  I still love MFW just as much as ever, but reality for our family is that I just can't keep up with 2 full programs and a potty-training toddler and my own health and sanity needs!  I've talked to many more experienced homeschool moms and have decided to take a much more relaxed approach, now using our curriculum as a resource and possibly a guideline, but no longer try to follow it to a tee.  There may come a day when we are "back on track" and more closely following the lessons as planned, especially as my health (hopefully) improves down the line.  But for now I feel we are right where God has us for this season and it is a relief to just take each day as it comes, not worrying about tomorrow and letting God guide us step by step.

I can't really post curriculum-week reports because we aren't doing the "weeks" as such, but may spend a week or two focusing just or primarily on one subject/secition, then move on and focus on another subject for a while, then have a week where we mix it all up again.  It isn't pretty or precise, but it's working and as long as they are moving forward, learning and we are all less stressed and enjoying the process together, I'm satisfied that they are being educated well.  Just wanted to share where we are now and will continue to drop by and share special joys along the joureny. :) If you want to know more details about our family, I've just updated our family blog at http://www.saakefamily.blogspot.com

While you are reading here, please drop by and visit Noah's Blog.  I don't know Kate and Jeff personally, but their journey with baby Noah has touched my heart deeply and this family needs all the prayers we can offer!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull

Posted in weekly class log

It's taken us 4 weeks, but we have a clean, organized school room and have finished 2 weeks worth of ECC for 3rd grade and 3 weeks worth of MFW K, and have survived a family-wide round of the tummy flu!  I think I'm getting the hang of how to ballance it all finally and give both kids their fair share of one-on-one teaching time.  The only thing I haven't consitently gotten added in yet is our Spelling Power program because I'm still reading and trying to figure out how it all works!  I think this coming week we should be able to accomplish a full week's program for each of the kids.

Joshua is loving learning cursive handwriting and Ruthi is doing really well in starting to print her letters as well.  A few weeks ago she brought me a card addressed to "NUM".  We talked it out, sounded out the letters and talked about what sounds she was trying to make.  A few minutes later, without any assistance, she came back and poundly presented me a card addressed to "MOM"!  (I need a happy tears picture here!)

Posted in organization

Since I've been so sick this summer, it has been really hard to get my school room up and functional for the new school year.  We have limped through our first 3 weeks of school in a disorganized, frustrating way.  I've just been too overwhelmed with that room to really even know where to start.

How's this for God's provision?  My dear friend Fawn (a.k.a. JoyfulMommy ) just spent 2 entire days of her week in Reno, visiting from Texas, helping my plow through our school room.  It looks beautiful and we can find / use everything again!  She left saying the room was "inspiring" and she was eager to get home and tackle her new year too.  I was in tears last night with thankfulness over God's provision when I was beyond overwhelmed!

One thing that I really discovered this week is that MFW is so complete it truly needs no supplimentation.  I had picked up all kinds of great extra "stuff" last year (craft projects, workbooks, United stages games, Target and Dollat Tree finds...) to go with our Adventures program.  But as we storted and cleaned yesterday, most of it went back in a box, unopened or barely used, to be passed on to others.  It was all great stuff, but just too much over and above the very ballanced program we alread had from MFW.  I'm going to work hard at not spending time, money or unneeded storage effort on "stuff" this year, being very selective about what (if any) "extras" we add to our ECC year.

Posted in links, resources and great finds

Not original with me at all, but anyone studying other countires or cultures may enjoy the resources I have found through MFW ECC families, mostly posted to our various yahoo groups.

To maintain a realistic looking "passport" for your "travels" this year, consider contacting LCMS World Mission to request resources such as Mission Friends Passport and Stamps (stickers), Mission Friends Map and more!  These resources are readily sent free of charge to anyone who request them, though I would encourage a small gift to help offset the ministry production and shipping charges.  Special kids newsletters about several different countries are available for download as well.

What the World Eats Photos of 15 families from around the world and their groceries for an average week.  Very eye-opening!

Birthday Traditions Around the World (McAfee does advise not to click on any links to "shippony.com" from this site, but otherwise, it looks great!)

 

 

Posted in weekly class log

My blogging fizzled out last year, so I'm not going to make promises for this year.  It is my desire to blog fairly consistantly, but we shall see...

Health-wise it's been a very, very hard summer.  I am almost totally housebound at this season.  It is seeming that God is opening doors for me to begin working with a new research facility called the Whittemore Peterson Institute for Neuro-Immune Disease .  We are hopeful that this is the Lord's provision for rebuilding my stamina and easing my daily pain.

As we start our fifth officialy year of homeschooling, we are just about to finish our second week of My Father's World Exploring Countires and Cultures DS7 (Dear Son, Age 7 1/2)'s 3rd grade year!  DD4 (Dear Daughter, Age 4 1/2) is THRILLED to be doing "real school" as she jumps into MFW K!  DS 18m (Dear Son, 18 months) continues to keep us all on our toes. :D

Here are an assortment of links I want to post.  Hopefully you will enjoy or find some of them useful, but if nothing else, I will have them posted somewhere when I need to refer back to them myself!

First, I am very moved by the journey of one of our fellow homeschoolblogger families at http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/ourquiverfull/351155/ - please join me in prayer for baby Noah and God's emotional and physcial promisions for this entire family.  Beyond prayer, here is a very rewarding way that you can help! http://www.chirotoons.com/benefit/

Next, our cuddos to Math U See!  We have been having fun with their blog (see my sidebar links) and wrote to tell them about it.  They sent our kids their adorable "Choco-8" and "Can You Tell Me How To Get To Decimal Street?" tee-shirts as a gift.  The kids are so excited and absolutely love the shirts.  What a great company! :D

As a recap of my first post last year, here are the yahoo groups we regularly use, however we are saying goodbye to our Adventures group to join two related to ECC instead: 

My Father's World Curriculum

MFW Message Boards

 

 

Homeschool Tracker

 

Homeschooling Moms With Chronic Illnesses

 

Norther Nevada Home Schools

Nevada Homeschool Network

Home Educators of Faith

Eagle Home School Co-op

 

Home School Legal Defense Association

 

My Personal Website

My Book: Hannah's Hope: Seeking God's Heart in the Midst of Infertility, Miscarriage, and Adoption Loss (NavPress, 2005)

I have become a daily participate in the facinating Chritian online community, ShoutLife.  Please feel free to visit me there at http://www.shoutlife.com/InfertilityMom

God is blessing both my writing and my online mineral makeup business.  In the writing world I am thrilled to finally have found a local Christian writing critique group after years of discouragement that there seemed to be no such resource.  I am writing a regular column on beauty (both inward and outward) for TeenAge magazine, and for a slightly younger group of girls (8-12) am keeping up with my Inner Beauty Blog.  With Mineral Girlz I have been promoted to one of only eight Regional Manager positions within the company and am excited to continue watching how God uses this as both an outreach tool and source of income.

For others in homebased businesses, you may be interested in this free home business management software I found.  You will need to read through a big sale's push page to get to the link to accept the free offer, but there really is no obligation to buy anything either now or later.  I actually did purchase the upgrade package because it was filled with helpful resources at a great discount.  No matter what your interest level in the upgrades, the free basic software is great!

Hmmm...  I know there were more links I wanted to pin here, but now that I'm typing, I'm drawing a total blank!

Hopefully this school year will allow me to rekindle relationships with old friends here and establish new friendships as well.  Looking forward to this journey together with you and with all of our amazing kids!

Posted in weekly class log

Hard to believe.  We will be heading to Chuck E. Cheezes tomorrow to celebrate.  We have a few last projects to follow up on over the summer, but for all intensive purposes, 2nd grade is already behind us.  Where does time go?  Third grade sounds so old!

We've loved MFW and I'm currently sitting next to a pile of books for our Exploring Countries and Cultures year that we'll jump into probably mid-July.  I also just got done ordering our Math U See books for next year.  Be sure to check the new link to the MUS blog on my sidebar!   Hearing other families struggle, I'm so thankful that we started out with MUS from the start and are getting a great foundation in the working of math from an early age. As a dyslexic mom, I find myself relearning math right along with our kids and wishing someone had taught me this way from the start! Numbers and their relationship to one another make sence to me for the very first time!

We found Times Tales to be an incredible supplement to our math too. I wouldn't want to use TT alone, because MUS gives us more than just memorization, but the "why" of how equasions work, and I want my kids to have that foundation before rote memory. But after understanding how we get our answers, TT was great for filling in the memorization with instant recall of 6-9 multiplication facts.

Have a great summer!  If I don't see you sooner, I should be checking back in with a 3rd grader (and a Kindergartener too) in July!

Posted in links, resources and great finds

While the MFW Message Boards are the only online community specifically provided for My Father's World families by My Father's World, several MFW families enjoy the additional support and information provided by family-maintained emaily groups.  I've known of several, but never seen them all listed in one place before.  Today I discovered the following (some I hadn't even known existed):

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFWFamilies/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MyFathersWorldKindergarten/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFW1STGRADE/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFWAdventures/
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFW-ECC/ (ECC is "Exploring Countries and Cultures")
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFWECC_UP/ (for all 5 years of the 2-8th grade rotationals, starting with ECC)
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFWCTG/ (CTG = "Creation to the Greeks")

NEW -----> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MFWHIGHSCHOOL

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/myfathersworldcurriculumexchange/ (buy, sell and trade anything MFW)

If you know of other My Father's World resources, please add them in the comments here!

 

Posted in weekly class log

We only have a few weeks or school left now and here I've left this poor blog neglected for quiet some time.  Between filing taxes, keeping up with co-op classes, doing a lot with my businesses, and - oh yeah, keeping up with school too, I'm afraid our homeschool blog has gotten pushed aside.  

Preschool and 2nd grade are almost finished and we are already thinking about K and 3rd to start back in July.  We plan to continue on with My Father's World and are quite excited (but ready for a little break first).  We are going to Disneyland with grandparents to celebrate our year end then taking a few weeks without structure just to refresh.  Next year will bring Exploring Countries and Cultures and sounds like a great way to continue our homeschooling adventure.

If you haven't had a chance to visit yet, please drop by my Shoutlife page.  It's a great online community, like a Christian answer to MySpace.  You'll find a little bit of everything there and make great connections and friends while maintaining a healthy place. :)  I'm amazed at all the wonderful people I've met there!

We've had a nice run of everyone healthy at the same time and made some nice progress the past few weeks.  Jeremiah's back on antibiotics again, as of yesterday, but we are finally drawing "week 24" to a close.  We;ve hit on Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri, Arkansas, Michigan, Florida and Texas since last post!  Science has been lots of study on the human body and history has been heading west via wagon train.  Joshua was especially thrilled to learn about Samuel Morse and his Morse Code this week!

We are also loving our co-op classes.  Ruthi is really amazing me with her Young Rembrandts art class.  Joshua's doing great with his IEW writing class.  And I'm having so much fun with the 6 young ladies I'm teaching for my A Life of Faith girl's club. 

I've also just started an Inner Beauty Blog aimed at "tweens" and young teen girls.  My goal is to draw young ladies to the Lord by offering beauty and makeup tips with an emphasis on the kind of beauty that goes much deeper than the skin, that of a heart that honors God.  There you will find information, articles and links to all kinds of resources of interest to young ladies.  If there is a young woman in your life who would like to join us or if you have any links or suggests for me, please come visit Inner Beauty Girlz.

I woke up Monday morning with no voice.  My several-week sore throat finally caught up with me.  By Tuesaday night I had a bad cough, fever, chills and still voiceless.  We attempted school through an assortment of written words, Joshua reading his own lesson plans, hand signs and actual Sign Language.  We got less than one full day's school work done between the two days.  Ruth patiently explained to her brothers that, "Mommy's using Sign Language because she is death." (No, that's not a typo.  That was her explanation.) 

By Tuesday night I was sitting in the urgent care and sent home with antibiotics.  No school Wednesday.  Thursday we had our first day of co-op for the semester and that did me in so no school again Friday.  We are planning to get back on track on Monday, but Joshua woke up loosing his voice this morning so we'll see what happens.

Posted in weekly class log

We've made it to the early 1800s now, studying Thomas Jefferson's presidency, the Louisiana Purchase and briefly touching on the War of 1812.  I never remember history being so facinating as a kid, but Joshua and I are both finding it to be so.  In fact, this week he could hardly wait to get through other subjects each day so that we could read more "stories" (a.k.a. "history"). :)

Last week we made a cell model out of jello.  My husband says it's always interesting to come home from work when your kids are homeschooled.  You open the refridgerator only to hear, "Wait Dad!  Please don't eat my science experiment!" LOL  This week we are trying to grow popcorn, but nothing is happening, so far.

Everyone but Joshua's been down with some kind of bug or another this week.  For me, it's the Chicken Pox, believe it or not, for my 5th time!!!  (I had a horrid case as a kid, and now, because of issues with my immue system, I am currently facing my 4th mild case as an adult because of issues with my immune system.  Thankfully I only have 5 pox and they are all small, but the other things like fever, swollen glands and general yuckies are all here in force.)  For Rick it's a nasty flu bug that's had him out of work and sleeping away most of the week.  Jeremiah and Ruthi have had assorted sniffles and rounds of tummy troubles.  Hopefully we will all be on the mend soon.

Do you have a daughter who is starting to show an interest in makeup?  You don't want her taking on worldly values, nor ruining her skin with destructive "beauty products".  Consider investigating Mineral Girlz, a budget-friendly, skin-friendly light and natural-looking tool to help her blosom into a young lady while maintaing the values you desire for her.  My goal with this business is to help young ladies shine from the inside to the out, focusing on 1 Peter, chapter 3.

It's been a great month getting back in the swing of school after the holidays.  For week 17 of Adventures we continued our study through birds and worked our way to Kentucky in our study of states in the order than acheived statehood.  There was a special family link this week when Grandpa Ralph was able to share with Joshua stories of growing up on Moss Hill Farm in Kentucky, where he regularly found indian arrow heads.  Daniel Boone was also facinating to learn about.

We are getting excited to start a new semester of homeschool co-op next month.  If everyone gets their first choice of classes, Joshua will be taking a Lego® building class where he will learn how to graph and design structures.  He will also be taking a "Young Writers'" course based on the Institute for Excellence in Writing.  Ruthi will be taking a beginning course in art from developed by Young Rembrandts.  And I will be teaching A Life of Faith Girl's Club.  I don't know who is looking forward to this semester the most!