We have a new blog here on HSB and it's one many of you will get excited about! It's the TOS Homeschool Crew and they will be steering homeschoolers toward great products.

"Do Hard Things.” That’s the title of a book by Alex and Brett Harris, twin brothers of Josh Harris of “I Kissed Dating Goodbye” fame.  

If you haven’t read the book, I think you’d find it worth your while. While the book is aimed at teens, it has some real lessons for everyone. I know I stepped away from it reflecting on its lessons for me.

The premise of the book is that society sets expectations for teens ridiculously low, that teens are capable of excellence in their spiritual and material lives, and that the revolution – or as the twins like to say, rebelution -- is already underway.

The book outlines ways for teens to identify their weaknesses and overcome them and ways they can maximize their strengths. It’s packed with real life examples. Above all, it’s a cheerleader in print – a “you can do it” book.

You won’t mistake “Do Hard Things” for C.S. Lewis or Chesterton or any of the deep thinkers of Christianity. It’s more along the lines of the ever popular motivational books that sell by the millions today – but with the twist of simple spiritual substance where many of those books lack it.

I think that if my children were still teens and I wanted them to read “Do Hard Things,” I’d want to make it a discussion book, one that all of us would read and talk about. On the other hand, teens in the throes of rebellion or lacking a good relationship with their parents would benefit from a read-alone approach.

The book would make a very good gift for public school students who long for something more challenging and meaningful in their lives.

Finally, if you read the book yourself, look for the lessons that can apply to our job as parents. Homeschooling can sometimes be one of the very big “hard things” we do in life, and you’ll find help in mustering the courage and tenacity to stick with it as well good examples of what it means to not give up when the going gets tough.

Tammy Drennan homeschooled her sons from 1985 through 2003. She now works as a writer and tutor and maintains several web sites and blogs, including www.educationconversation.wordpress.com and www.homeschoolstarter.com

I was in JoAnn’s this week picking up supplies for a couple of homeschool co-op classes I am teaching and found that my educator discount card was expired!  I sure was glad that I had my teacher ID card with me so they would issue me a new discount card.   

Did you know that you can print a free teacher ID card and ID cards for your kids online?  Here is the site where you will find them. All you need to do is fill out the form on their website and they produce the card and email it to you in pdf format. From there you can print it out or even have it laminated.  

There are A LOT of places that offer a discount for teachers, so be sure to ask wherever you purchase things for your school.  Some of the places I have discount cards are Barnes and Noble, Borders, and JoAnn’s. 

Happy Homeschooling,

Jamin

Sorry I missed last week's column. Suddenly it was Friday! (...but wasn't it still Thursday? Nope, I was totally off on my days! Yikes!)

I have been so very busy in the last couple of weeks and now can announce the Great Move! I've been moving HOOville (message board for those who Homeschool Only One, affectionately called HOOville). It's a totally new format, so there has been (and still is) a LOT to learn. I'm using phpbb 3.0 instead of websitetoolbox.com, which I still can heartily recommend.

I've revamped the title of Parent Forums and the Forums to reflect the idea of "HOOville" as a village. There is the Town Square where one would introduce themselves and at The Serendipity Tea House we do all our chit chat and general discussions. There are also some private areas which we call Our Sanctuary (members only). The member ranks at present are according to a medieval list of gentle ladies (starting with Peasant Woman to Gentlewoman, on up to Baroness, Countess, Princess, and Queen). We've not had any HOOdads join us, but if they do, we will give them their own honorary titles. They will be most welcome and I can even open a forum just for them.

I hope if you are homeschooling only one student, you'll come check HOOville out and join us! Lots of good fellowship and support is to be found there. It's a very nice group to be a part.

Homeschooling Only One ~ A Message Board for those who homeschool only one student to come and network with one another. Affectionately called “HOOville” where a family is a family, no matter how small!©

I'll start out by saying my week was full of candy corn...crafting that is. My kids wanted to do a whole lot more, but I had to put an end to all the madness.

Earrings made from REAL candy corn

Paper cone candy corn holder

Paper corn holder doubles as a party hat

This is her 'candy tote' for the festival this year.

 

 

We all know there is such a thing as "Good Busy" and "Bad Busy" and I must say that recently we have been a very good busy! It certainly shows in my lapse from blogging. I miss being on here more regularly, but life just keeps on moving along far too quickly. So much to do, and time keeps moving too fast.

For those who keep up, I did begin teaching in our 3s Sunday School class a month ago, I can hardly believe it has already been a month!! They are a fun little group and it helps me come up with new activities for my little guys at home as well, which is an added blessing. The little boys are doing well, staying busy with the usual toddler and preschooler activities that seem to spur them on to growing up far too quickly. Hearing them laughing together is such a joy, once I get past the "uh oh, what are they up to?" feeling! Oh, the things these two can giggle about, and yes, they are definitely boys. I even caught them one day spitting, yes spitting, lovely thing to have a 1 year old and 3 year old boy doing, part of the joy of having them in the same room together! Anyway, that was just one of their gross moments, usually I find them bouncing balls all over the place, rolling matchbox cars off of tables, or sitting beneath the piano lightly banging their heads in unison to hear the echo. If you haven't seen two little guys sitting side by side under a piano, it truly is something to see. I'll do my best to get 2G17 to click a picture for me to put on here, they are adorable.

School is going full force and quite well, we are enjoying the year and can hardly believe the holidays are creeping closer. We were in Lowe's the other day and they already had Christmas trees up!!! YES, Christmas trees, at the end of September! Commercialism, such a sad side of the holidays. BUT, on a good note, I made it into a Marketing course with The Old Schoolhouse, and am so excited about it. Perhaps I'll learn more so that I can understand the up-side of commercialism. This should help me write better press releases for our daughter. And I hope to learn about the marketing side of the business world, what works and what doesn't. 1G21 is done with the first round of editing for Book 2, so the coming months will bring much more editing and proofreading work as we near the publishing of her second book in the series. You can still check it out at www.jessicalynncampos.com. Perhaps you'll see some website improvements soon as I learn more about marketing!

If you are one of my marketing members, please drop a comment. I will be doing my best to add you all as friends if I know you have a homeschoolblogger account. I love to learn, it is one of my greatest joys in homeschooling. I've learned so much more while teaching my children than I ever did in public schools. Learning is definitely a lifetime joy, enjoy it!!

So what is your October bringing for your family? Will you Trick or Treat traditionally? Or attend a Fall Festival of some sort? Or do you choose to skip it altogether and focus on the wonderful season of Fall? Share, we'd love to hear it!

I've been wanting to do one of these for sometime....guess I was super bored tonight. Here it is...

1. I’ve been married for nine years.

2. We’ve been together for 13.

3. We went to school together, but never met there.

4. I have three kids…two boys and one girl.

5. I have two brothers…one younger and one older.

6. I graduated in 1993 from high school.

7. I had my first born at 17.

8. I’ve been planning on doing this list for some years now.

9. I’ve been busy…life happens.

10. I live in the boon docks.

11. …on a farm type place.

12. We have goats, chickens, ducks, fish (outside and in., birds, and a dog.

13. I’m not a ‘farm girl.’

14. I’d rather be sewing or reading a book.

15. I taught myself to sew, crochet, and just about everything else.

16. I learned to crochet from the internet.

17. I’m a firm believer that you can find out ANYTHING online.

18. I’m pretty much always bored (app since I’m doing this list…I am right now.

19. I home school my kids.

20. This is our third year…and I love it.

21. I drive a GMC Suburban…and my Grandma thinks it’s HUGE! Lol

22. I don’t like motorcycles…but we have some…ugh!

23. I hate my hubby’s cars…all straight shift and…too much work!

24. I didn’t get my driver’s license until I was 18.

25. My friend, Jackie, took me to get them. (She also watched my son..

26. She named her little girl after me…I fit the ‘J’ profile.

27. I hate air conditioners.

28. I don’t like ice in my drinks.

29. I’m not big on eating meat…I could go the rest of my life without it.

30. I LOVE salad…it’s like a dessert to me.

31. I’m big on vacations…I could use one right now.

32. I don’t ‘do’ Knoxville (TN.. (I won’t go there without the hubby to protect me..

33. I have a list of states that I will NEVER go to…CA, NY, NV….

34. I will NEVER fly on an airplane…I’m a big chicken.

35. I’ll die by a tree falling on my head …long story.

36. I hate trees for that reason.

37. I love trees for that same reason…strange, I know.

38. I love pictures of trees with NO leaves.

39. Halloween is my favorite holiday.

40. We don’t do trick-or-treating…anymore.

41. We don’t do television…anymore.

42. We don’t do anything…anymore….lol.

43. I no longer have a cell phone for people to call me at every waking moments notice.

44. I have SLOW dial-up…due to living in boon docks.

45. I have to fight my kids to get online for a few moments…that’s why I’m usually online around 3am.

46. I like OLD music…Patsy Cline, Conway Twitty, etc…

47. I like newer music also..just the strange stuff.

48. I hate the radio on in the car…UGH.

49. I pretty much only listen to music while I’m in the kitchen.

50. I’m in the kitchen a lot. *usually just standing there

51. I’m not a coffee drinker.

52. I like the taste of coffee candy or ice cream.

53. My little kids LOVE coffee. YUCK

54. I love hot chocolate.

55. I don’t drink alcohol.

56. I don’t smoke..anything.

57. I don’t take pills for anything.

58. If I have a REALLY bad headache, I’ll take an orange flavored Goody powder.

59. That’s very rare that I’ll even do that.

60. I’m not big on doctors or their ‘medicine’.

61. I love the VC Andrews books.

62. I have ALL the Harry Potter books in hardback and first edition.

63. I know I’m a dork.

64. I collect school books. (at least they get used.

65. I always wanted to be a teacher..now I get to play one on tv.

66. I love pizza.

67. I make pizza lasagna and pizza sandwiches.

68. Pizza Hut is like a steak house for me.

69. I hate to cook a big meal and then no one eat.

70. I throw away leftovers to the animals.

71. I don’t like to talk on the telephone.

72. I love to do paperwork.

73. I keep the books for the family business.

74. I make lists of the stuff we have at the house.

75. I do the above, because I buy multiple copies of the same thing.

76. I enjoy reading people’s blogs about their lives.

77. I collect free ebooks…you never know when you’ll need something.

78. I shop at Goodwill for books.

79. I LOVE books….you can never have too many..can you?

80. I often forget what I was just thinking about.

81. Yet, I remember random crap….constantly.

82. I always check my myspace for messages.

83. I’m addicted to checking my email.

84. I have to write down my passwords for everything…hope no one breaks in my house!

85. I have bookmarked all kinds of crafts in my "want to make" file…that will prob never get made.

86. I have about five bins of fabric ‘scraps’.

87. I need to teach my kids to sew to use up those scraps…I need new fabric.

88. I’ve never been to a JoAnn’s fabric store….WANT TO GO.

89. I did recently purchase something from there online…and I felt like a princess.

90. I can’t think of ten more things.

91. I love the sound of a fan running at night.

92. I sneeze EVERYTIME someone sprinkles pepper.

93. I feel like I’m supposed to be right here where I live….rich in history and family history.

94. I love LOCAL history.

95. I collect books on it…and paid way too much for them.

96. I could spend all day in the mountains looking at old houses.

97. I love any old house that is abandoned…beware.

98. I’m kinda nosey…and a people watcher.

99. I’m quiet at times and won’t shut up at others…depends on who I’m with.

100. I’m finally finished….now I can say I did one of these….whew

The documents and speeches covered are:

• Mayflower Compact
• Patrick Henry
• Declaration of Independence
• Articles of Confederation
• The Constitution
• Northwest Ordinance
• President George Washington’s Inaugural Speech
• Bill of Rights
• Monroe Doctrine
• Gettysburg Address
• Emancipation Speech
• President Roosevelt Infamy Speech
• Martin Luther King Jr. “I have a Dream” Speech
• President George Bush’s 9/11 speech

For grades 2-7

If you are looking for a colorful and lively resource to enhance your studies you will love this product!  Available in print or E-Book version.

Remember, at the Schoolhouse Store there is always free shipping!