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I know its been forever since I posted a blog on here! I have just been really busy with homeschooling and basically with life! Christmas just ended, so now we are back on schedule and I hope to be on here more regularly. We did a lot of learning things over Christmas.....and I can't wait to do more, but for now, I just want to take it easy, and not do too much. Hope all is well with you. Leave me a comment and let me know how your holiday went. |
Our Home School group went on a field trip last Tuesday, and we had so much fun! We went to The University of Florida in Gainesville to the Butterfly Rainforest,, and also Grossology. The kids loved it and I would have taken a lot of great pictures if I hadn't forgotten my camera!!!!  We walked around in an outside enclosed "Garden" where they butterflies were flying all around us...it was so cool. Butterfly Rainforest Then we walked around what was called "Grossolgy"....where they learned all about the "Gross" things the human body does..it had learning games and was fun. Grossology The next field trip is next month to a play of "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory". That should be fun. |
This is Chas' 2nd year playing Flag Football and he just loves it!  |
The other day I decided to have home school outside because the weather was so gorgeous. My son really enjoyed it and so did I! It seemed to make such a difference in his attitude too. I will do this more often as the cooler Fall weather is here.  |
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He is soo excited to be turning 9. He could hardly wait for the day to get here! I plan on going to get some cupcakes and ice cream later. He just started Flag Football and has a practice game tonight, so we have a busy day ahead! |
We did a Unit Study on China this week and my son even helped serve and prepare a Chinese meal . My husband, and daughter loved it and he really enjoyed telling facts about China. We even sat on the floor! One thing I wanted to add is, we even used REAL chopsticks! We had so much fun learning to use them......but we caught on fast and it was fun.   |
This is a Skink Lizard that was caught in our dish we set outside to observe insects!! And of course, the lizard ate all the bugs inside the dish! My son thought this was pretty cool. This is the first time we saw one of these in our yard. They have a cobalt blue tail and orange stripes! Very cool looking. Using a magnifying glass to see the Insects inside--dog, Sandy looking on  Lets get a closer look...  He really enjoyed this experiment! |
This is where we homeschool each day....at our Dining Room Table. Some of the books we use  Another View  |
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Well, the waiting is over! My curriculum finally arrived! Now we can start on schedule....Monday , Sept. 1. I will have all week-end to plan. I have had fun reading through all the books. My son is really excited now..more so than before now that he "sees" all the books. I love the curriculum I chose...its from Christian Liberty Press, and Abeka. I have already planned out all next week in my planner. I wanted to wait until Tuesday, since Monday is Labor Day, but he is so anxious, so I will go ahead and start Monday. I know a lot of you have already started, and I feel like I am really late...but I had no choice since my books took so long to get here. But, God's timing is perfect timing! |
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Whenever my son and I go out somewhere during "school hours", he inevitably gets asked "Why aren't you in school?". I smile when my son proudly shouts out "I am homeschooled!" Then come the looks and the questions. One lady looked shocked and said "WHY?? Were you bad??"......thats a new one for us! Its like they think we are punishing our children by homeschooling them. Quite the contrary! When she said that, I piped up and said "No, thats a GOOD thing!! Its better for them to be taught at home where I have control over what they learn". Well, by the look on her face, I could tell she disagreed! I just smiled and walked away. My son looked up at me and laughingly said " Were you bad!" He thought her comment was funny...so did I. Of course the most popular one is their "concern" over socialization! So...what I would like to know is what types of questions and reactions do you homeschool mom's (and dad's) receive from others? And how do you answer them? I am proud to be able to homeschool my son......I feel tremendously blessed to have that PRIVILEGE ! Sure there are days that try your patience, and days when he just does not want to do any work at all...but let me tell you, it is ALL worth it......to have my son home with me, not worrying about the types of things he is learning at "school" , what types of friends he is making, etc. They don't allow prayer in school...well we do in OUR school !! There are so many benefits of homeschooling. There is nothing better than when your child finally "gets" that hard math problem that you have tried to teach him....the joys I receive when we are out somewhere and we use that as a teaching experience. I wouldn't change it for anything in the world.   |
Here is my son whom I am homeschooling. He will be 9 on Sept.22. He loves to act "Cool" in pictures! |
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Today I went to our first Homeschool meeting! They talked about all the fun field trips we are going to be taking this year! Do any of you belong to a homeschool group? Ours meets once a month. I really enjoy going. Its good to get together with other homeschool moms and trade ideas. |
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The Top 20 Reasons to Homeschool
20. Your kids never tell you that you're a lot dumber than their teacher. 19. If you can't find matching socks for your child first thing in the morning, who cares? 18. Cleaning out the refrigerator can double as chemistry lab. 17. Your kids never have a reason to think they'll get beat up by a gang at school. 16. If the principal gives the teacher a bad evaluation, she can stick her icy feet against his legs at night. 15. You can post the Ten Commandments on your school room wall, and you won't get sued. 14. You never have to drive your child's forgotten lunch to school. 13. Your child will never go to their 20th high school reunion, meet an old flame, and recklessly abandon their marriage. 12. You get to change more than diapers, you get to change their minds. 11. If you get caught talking to yourself, you can claim you're having a PTA meeting. 10. It's better to be slightly concerned about socialisation than very concerned about socialism. 9. Your child will never suffer the embarrassment of group showers after PE. 8. The only debate about the school lunch program is whose turn it is to cook. 7. You never have to face the dilemma of whether to take your child's side or the teacher's side in a dispute at school. 6. If your child gets drugs at school it's probably Tylenol. 5. The teacher gets to kiss the principal in the faculty lounge and no one gossips. 4. Your kids recognize that this list is numerically in reverse order. 3. Your honor student can actually read the bumper sticker that you have put on your car. 2. If your child claims that the dog ate his homework you can ask the dog. 1. Some day your children will consider you to be a miracle working expert and will turn to you for advice. |
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I recently received a comment on a question regarding the Abeka Curriculum, and couldn't respond because you left it as Anonymous, so I decided to post it here. I have only used Abeka, so thats all I know. I have nothing to compare it too. I love it for many reasons...one, its very colorful so my kids always loved working in the books. Two, its very easy to teach, and three, its really advanced. I was going to only use Abeka exclusively this year, but ran across another company called " Christian Liberty Press" that is MUCH cheaper. But, they also have a couple of Abeka books in their Curriculum packages. The one I am getting for 4th grade has an Abeka Science book , and reading book. The rest are from Christian Liberty, or Saxon, or others. I saved over $200! Anymore questions, please send me a message or comment, but don't make it anonymous if you want a response. Thanks! |
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I had a busy, but productive day today! I decided on using the Abeka curriculum again. If in doubt , stick with what you know! I will go next week to Tallahassee to pick up my books. Its always exciting to get the new books for the year. My son especially loves looking through it, it used to get him so excited! Chas (my 8 year old) and I went to the Library today and I made copies of some homeschool things, and also picked up 2 books. One is "Homeschooling The Middle Years", and "Real Life Homeschooling". I am already half way through the latter one. It has 21 stories of families who homeschool. Very interesting. I also have been clearing off my dining room table to make room to homeschool. Seems like that is the drop place for everyone's "junk"! I informed everyone (Politely of course!) that I need that table for only my school stuff from now on. Thats not a problem, since my husband is thrilled that I am doing this. It makes it much easier when you have a supportive mate. I pretty much decided on starting school on Sept. 2, right after Labor Day. I figure I will be good and ready by then. What about everyone else? When are you starting? I know everyone's schedule is different. When I finish my homeschool "Table" I will take photos to show you all. Chas @ VBS, July 16, 2008  |
I found this on a site....thought it was hilarious!14 Days of Homeschooling
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