Saturday, December 2, 2006 -
FREE spelling program

... Posted in Homeschooling

Jeannie Fulbright, author of the Apologia elementary science books, has offered for free a spelling program she is creating. It is based on the Charlotte Mason method, and downloadable from her site.

For more information, check it out HERE.

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Wednesday, August 23, 2006 -
Cover me! I'm going in!!!!

... Posted in Homeschooling

Got your attention? Good... lol

I was just over visiting mamasquirrels's blog and she had a link to explain how to make bookcovers. This is pretty cool, because

#1- my dear husband was just saying the other day how we should get the kids to make bookcovers for those textbooks we still owe for, but I complained I didn't know how to make them anymore, and

 

#2- I have to admit, I really like Martha Stewart.

She would die of a coronary, I'm sure, if she ever stepped foot in my home, but I have a lot of admiration for her organizational prowess. Plus, her stuff is cool.

Anyway, I like these bookcovers.

I wonder if she has any ideas for saving those horrid softcover textbooks?

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Monday, July 24, 2006 -
and it's done

... Posted in Homeschooling

It's done, and the Curriculum Fairy hardly helped at all. I'd fire her but I might need her someday.

I got all my books for fall ordered. Woohoo!!!! Now I gotta pay for them.

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Thursday, June 15, 2006 -
All good things...

... Posted in Homeschooling

Well. Here we are, at the end of another year. The kids are seeing that proverbial light at the end of the tunnel-- a few lessons left here, a few there-- and boy, are they relieved! Maybe I might be too, a bit more than they are!!! Nine years, and here we still are. The wierd thing is, as relieved as we all are about this year coming to a close, we're that much and then some excited about plans for next year! Isn't that funny?  And my son, who is about the most relieved of everyone, really, about this year ending, has just started taking (free) guitar lessons from a friend of the family. I don't think he realizes it's learning... heheh... and we actually had to tell him that he'd practiced enough! No pulling teeth on this, I figure. I also have to toot his horn a bit more-- we use Saxon for math, and he's really struggled with it. Here comes the toot-toot-- he got a 90% on his last test! We are sooo proud of him.

About those plans for next year-- I'm still chewing on a couple of options, but this is a breakdown (more or less) on what we're doing:

DD5 (Kindergarten)

Rod and Staff preschool series

*Listen in on history and science with older kids

**music, French, art

DD7 (Grade 2)

BJUP English 2 (older edition- it cost me the postage)

Explode the Code, books 2 and 3

Christian Liberty Press phonics readers (still working on them from this year)

Horizons Math 2

Mystery of History vol.1 

Exploring Creation with Zoology

**music, French, art

DS10 (Grade 5)

BJUP English 5 (older edition- it cost me the postage)

Pathway reader, Living Together, and workbook (other link here)

Building the Basics spelling

Saxon 65

Mystery of History vol.1

Exploring Creation with Zoology

**music, French, art

DD12 (Grade 7)

Learning Language Arts Through Literature, tan book

Easy Grammar 56 (second half)

Daily Grams, grade 7

Saxon 87

Mystery of History vol.1/ Streams of Civilization vol.1

Exploring Creation with General Science

**music, French, art

DD14 (Grade 9)

Learning Language Arts Through Literature, gray book

Key to Algebra (although those Teaching Textbooks look really good...)

Streams of Civilization vol.1, and maybe some of the activities in Mystery of History as well)

Exploring Creation with Physical Science

**music, French, art

**Music, I'm hoping, will be a bit of the appreciation you find at Ambleside Online, but focusing mostly on theory, ear-training, and instrumental. The older girls really want to learn piano, and as I've already told, my son is learning guitar.

**French-- this is a hard one. Rosetta Stone looks like a lot of fun to do, but #1 it's expensive as all get out, and #2 is Parisian French (living in Canada, in a largely Acadian region, creates this problem-- pronunciation as well as some vocabulary are a bit different here. It's a little like the difference between British and American English. One can more or less understand the other, but it's awkward). The other program I'm considering is Le francais facile. This too is expensive, although not as much as Rosetta Stone, but the main problem I see is the fact that you are given a cd and you have to print out your own workbook. Might be more convenient, in a way, but ink is really expensive. By the time I print out enough for all 5 of my kids (and more, should we have any), it could be well above the cost of Rosetta Stone. Plus, in the samples section of the website, I saw a few grammatical errors. The actual product might not have any, but it did cause me to stop and re-think it. However, the real selling point here is its emphasis on learning a language in order to share the Gospel. The other programs I've looked at have been all secular. This would be my ideal program if it a) were cheaper, and b) used workbooks I didn't have to print off.

**Art-- hmm. I have absolutely no interest  in doing the whole "famous artists" study thing (no offence, AO users). It just doesn't seem to serve much of a purpose. However, I have one child (dd12) who loves to draw (and does it well) so I'd like to capitalize on that. I have something someone gave me called ArtPac, and we've done a little of it, so we may continue with that. Or, maybe, I'll find something else. The How Great Thou Art program/ books look interesting. This will be decided on when I see how overbudget I am... lol Come to think of it, I'll probably use what I have.

So, there it is. More or less.

anybody seen that curriculum fairy????

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Friday, May 26, 2006 -
playing hooky and government freebies

... Posted in Homeschooling

What a day.

We played hooky. Went shopping (woohoo! new shower curtain-- the liner part, which is all we use-- and milk, and eggs. Big spenders.). Kids played outside tonight after supper, just kicking around a ball or three. It was nice and cool, a little windy, and the mosquitoes hadn't discovered the potential feast yet. A couple kids new to the neighbourhood, about my son's age (10), came and asked to join in. Even asked if it was OK to come back sometime to play (wow-- polite, respectful kids, and in my neighbourhood, too...). Wonder what they'll think when they find out we homeschool? I'm guessing they'll know something is different Monday morning at school, when my son isn't there.... lol 

Yesterday I was pleasantly surprised when the Canada Post truck stopped at my driveway with a parcel for me. I thought, Cool! My HSB t-shirt is here! or maybe my TOS magazines that are WAY LATE.... lol  nope-- none of the above. It was an "educational package" from Veterans Affairs Canada about WWI. It's called Canada and the Great War 1914-1918: A Nation Born and I ordered it back in September. I'd completely forgotten about it and the other one, on WWII-- Sacrifice, Achievement, Legacy: Canadians and the Second World War 1939-1945 (still backordered, apparently), I ordered online. This one on WWI, though, is really cool. It's in a big binder, with 2 videotapes (about 20 min. each), and sections with dividers!!!! lol... doesn't take much to make me happy.... Gives a complete overview of WWI and its background, why Canada got involved, a section with newspaper ads from the era, soldiers' diaries, artwork, medals (and what it took to earn them), songs and poetry (including a CD with 3 selections, and the internet link to many more), and lots of other resources (even stuff about the Halifax Explosion, which happened at that time). I am impressed.  It's very well done, and it'll be a big help when I get to that part of Canadian/ world history. Can't wait to get the one on WWII! There are others as well, which can be looked over at the Veterans Affairs Canada website. They're all free too, which is a bonus. Click here for some more links to educational stuff, most if not all of it free. I also vaguely remember ordering something about the elections process but maybe that's backordered too??? Oh well. You can find lots of freebies from the government, if you poke around. Free stuff just makes my day, ya know?

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Thursday, May 11, 2006 -
spring is in the air....

... Posted in Homeschooling

I'm really more of a fall person, but I like this time of year. Well, today, anyhow... it was warm, and sunny, but a bit breezy... I had a bit more energy today and actually got my floors scrubbed. And made lasagne. And no-bake cheesecake. Lots of both. We had what seemed like a ton of company for supper (actually, it was 8 people, 4 of whom were aged 4 and under). It was a good day.

School is nearing an end here for the year. We don't school year-round, and by May I'm ready for a break. Of course, I'm trying to plan for next year too, and getting a tad bit frazzled... by August, when the school stuff comes, we're more than ready to get back at it! I think it would be a lot easier if I went with something like ALL Abeka, or ALL Bob Jones... no scheduling, no decisions, just order the next year and run with it... but I don't (one major reason being the extra cost getting it sent across the border). So, it's decisions on everything. There are just too many great things I want to use! Any advice on 9th grade English curriculum? 5th grade science (hands-on)?

By the way: if anyone has any American History things suitable for 9th grade they'd be willing to lend (or trade) for the year, it sure would help! My oldest daughter is interested.

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Monday, April 10, 2006 -
A Day in the Life, part deux

... Posted in Homeschooling

OK... I'm still not going to put up a picture of my ugly kitchen where we do school, but I have a picture or 3 of the bookshelf where I keep all current stuff. I even straightened it up and cleared out the dust bunnies that took up residence. I may have an uprising on my hands if they mobilize the troops under my bed or behind the fridge.

If you want to see a close up of what's on the shelves, take a look here for the top shelf, and here for the bottom one. Actually, the very top shelf is movies.

So there... it's ALMOST a pic of my schoolroom. Sort of.

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Saturday, April 8, 2006 -
A Day in the Life... sorta....

... Posted in Homeschooling

I'm so wanting to win something, but I AM NOT posting pictures of my ugly little kitchen where we "do school"... but this is the table I have:

NOTE: it's just the table. My chairs are mismatched, and I don't have the china cabinet. And my kitchen is definitely not that nice. It seats 6 comfortably, 8 squished, and with the 24" leaf, a few more than that. But I digress.

School is mostly done at the table. In the ugly kitchen. I may get brave enough to someday post a picture of it, but not likely. We start at 10:30 most days, although I have fantasies about starting at 9...lol... anyway. We start out with Bible. We read a devotion for the Keys for Kids devotional, then a Psalm (we're workiong our way through them. I think we're up to Psalm 33. Maybe.). We divvy up the verses so the 3 oldest kids and I have an equal amount, if we can. They aren't looking forward to the day we hit 119. After that, we pray, whoever wants to, usually me and my son.

Then it's Math for the older 3, they all do Saxon, and I kind of round-robin it. After Math is English, and they all work on whatever I have on the schedule for them (gr4: Pathway reader, WordlyWise 3000, copywork; gr6: Pathway reader, WW3000, EasyGrammar 5/6; gr8: WW3000-- I gave up on Writing Strands and Editor in Chief. Oh, gr1: Explode the Code, CLP readers, Bob Jones math). That brings us to lunch, and after about an hour lunch break they finish up English, do Science (Abeka for gr4 and 6; Apologia General Science for gr8), and History/Geography. For those this year we've done map books from Apple Press, an Egypt study I created, and now back to Canadian history, with the War of 1812. I hope to cover up to Confederation (1867) before the year is out. We rarely do art, and I gave up on French. We tried to use PowerGlide Adventures, but it was sooo annoying. Probably partly because we're in a French area, and it sounded hardly like what we hear.

Now, this sounds pretty good, but the post would be twice as long if I included the yelling, fighting, and begging. Some days we're done at lunch, some we're done at 4, some days we give up completely. But I still wouldn't send them to public school. In the end, when all is said and done, it's worth it.

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Monday, February 20, 2006 -
CompanyBlog Survey- my answers

... Posted in Homeschooling

Here are my answers to the Homeschool Shopping Survey on the HSBCompanyBlog:

1. What time of year do you do most of your homeschool shopping?Mostly in August, or at least that's when I put in my order at Homeschool and More (see sidebar). However, I spend months planning (and praying about) what my purchases will be. Occasionally through the year I'll pick up a few things.

2.  Do you typically do most of your homeschool shopping all at once or at various times throughout the year? The bulk of my shopping is done in one order.

3.  Do you mostly shop online, from catalogs, at conventions or at local stores? I shop from a catalogue (see #1) and from a couple of local stores. Have been to a convention once in 9 years and bought nothing there.

4.  How do you learn about new homeschool products? (friend, magazine, see them in catalogs, etc..) Online, catalogue, word of mouth.

5.  Are there any areas where you'd like to see more products? (algebra, weather, grammar for boys, etc...) Canadian history and geography, and high school English. Mostly I'd just like to see cheaper products!

6.  What will typically sway you to purchase from a particular company?  (online sample lessons, helpful website, customer service, price, able to get most things there, free shipping, etc...) I buy mostly from Gertrude (see #1) because she's friendly, helpful, and somewhat local. Her prices are good, and she gives good deals on shipping. There is very little she doesn't carry, or can't get in, and she has her entire catalogue (and then some) on her website. I do appreciate being able to see samples of products online, which is helpful in makiong choices, but in the end I prefer to deal with Gertrude if at all possible.

7.  How could homeschool companies better serve you? By lowering their prices! and having Canadian reps.

8.  What subject would you say that you spend the most money on? Depends on the year, child, and needs. Generally it's more expensive for me to buy math and science. Last year, I spent more on the Canadian history products than anything else.

9.  Do you prefer things to be bundled together for convenience or seperated so that you can pick and choose? I like subjects to be bundled (ie: everything you need for English for one year for one child, preferably non-consumable), but I don't want to buy every subject for a child for one year together (ie: Bob Jones grade 7 kit).

10.  When you are looking for the extra products (games, learning kits, etc..) what is most important about them?  (fun, hands on, simple, educational quality, easy to use, etc..) Anything extra has to be inexpensive. But durable. With a warranty...lol... It has to be easy enough for the kids to use with minimal supervision.

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Monday, January 30, 2006 -
Well, shoot....

... Posted in Homeschooling

There goes the "traditional" hs'ing denim jumper....lol

Mon Jan 30, 11:48 AM ET

CANBERRA (Reuters) - An Australian state plans to ban students from wearing denim because it is linked with having a good time.

"It is associated with weekend wear, with recreational time. It's just unacceptable at schools and we are trying to lift the standards," a spokesman for Western Australia state Education Minister Ljiljanna Ravlich said.

The ban on denim in Western Australia's secondary schools will be imposed from 2007.

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