Have you thought of a family Blog? This is a WONDERFUL way to not only keep intouch with family but your children will develope great writing skills plus manage and maintain a blog.

I have my children write out on paper their newsletter. I will edit it, then they type it on Word, after one more edit from me, we then copy and paste it into our blog spot. Don't forget to add pictures to your bolg.
Let your family see the SUPER projects your children are doing.

Since I save all their newsletters in Word, I print them out and make a nice "Year Book" for our family.

To Blog or Not to Blog....This is the question!

Have FUN everyone!!
Blessings,

Most homeschool families are on limited budgets.  I always try and find a fun and interesting place for us to go on field trips but we were limited because of our budget.  Well thanks to the internet I have been able to take the children to TONS of places, even overseas!!!

If you have not tried a VIRTUAL Field Trip, you don't know what you're missing. 

We can take a virtual tour to France, India, England, Canada, etc.  I don't have to pack a bag, get passports or find a sitter for the family pet.  It's not the same as being there, but hey it's FREE and our family LOVES VFTD (Virtual Field Trip Day).  You can plan them around lessons or just go somewhere fun and have the children write about it OR make an eNotebook.  Let me help you get started.

Seasons Around the World
The Adler Planetarium has designed this multi-media animated presentation to help kids understand seasons and why they are oppposite in the northern and southern hemispheres of Earth.
http://www.adlerplanetarium.org/education/resources/interactives/seasons.shtml

Have FUN!!!
Blessings,

I must admit that math is NOT my strong subject.  Thank goodness my husband "shines" in this area!!   Still, with daily life and making ends meet our time can become limited.  I would love to say I'm one of those families that have it ALL together  You know, ...Clean house, dinner always ready on time, the prefect homeschool schedule, etc.

I needed help and I'm not ashamed to say it.  The 2 items I have found that made a BIG difference with my children are:

1. The Quarter Mile.  The children can pick if they want to horse race or car race their way into learning math facts.  I just love this program and I have the children spend 30 minutes every other day doing different math drills.  http://www.thequartermile.com/
2. Teaching Textbooks.  This is like having a tutor at the push of a button.  My youngest child does math first thing in the morning now, where she would hide when I told her it was time for math.  I feel this was a wonderful investment for our family.  They have animated lectures with lots of real-world applications.  There is audiovisual solutions for every single problem.  The feature I like best is their automated grading on homework and quiz problems.  http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/

Remember... Not every product will work with every child.  This is something that helped our family and I'm sharing with you.  Take a look if you are troubled with math and evaluate their products for yourself.
Blessings,

eNotebooking can be a fun thing for us parents also.  Don't worry if you're not computer savvy.  The library is FULL of books on computers and their programs.  Challenge yourself to learn a new program.  Start a blog, create your own website, etc.

If that seems a little TOO much to get started with, make your own personal journal to give to your children.  I have created "Our Family Cookbook and Traditions" book to give to my girls.  You can make this in any word processor program.  I have put our favorite family meal recipes with stories to go with them like, Mother's first meal she made Father while dating.  You get the idea.  I will use clipart I have on file or I will take pictures of the actual dish.  I have pictures of my daughters first pie she ever made.  She was SO proud that day!

Tell about certain or all family traditions that you have.  Use photos of your own or scan in old pictures of your family.  My grandpa was famous for his Chicken and Dumplings.  When he passed no one had his recipe, not even my grandmother.  My grandpa's sister sent me her recipe with a sweet note saying that tthis recipe was not near as good as my granpa's but it's something for me to try.  I have scanned in my great aunt's note along with pictures of my grandpa with her chicken and dumpling recipe.

I hope I have your creative juices flowing!!  Remember, this is not a project that has to be finished in a week.  I'm still working on our Family cookbook and I add to it all the time.
Blessings,

With SO many different computer programs and not everyone uses the same products how can you share an attachement if that person can't open it?  Make it into a PDF file.

This is easy to do and you don't have to buy expensive software either.  There are TONS of free PDF converters online now.  My favorite one that I use is PDF995  http://www.pdf995.com/faq.html

I'm not the most organized person.  In fact, I struggle in this area.  Notebooking and eNotebooking has helped me in learning organizational skills.

I started looking at my computer as one BIG file cabinet and the individual folders I made were the drawers.  I'm the head librarian and my computer is my dewey decimal catalog system.  This has served me well.  It takes a little time to set up but well worth it!!  Remember...Rome was not built in a day.

A big challenge I found was keeping my bookmarks or favorites for web sites organized.  After spending 20 minutes trying to find a web site, I knew there had to be a better way.  Just as I made file folders on my computer I made them for my bookmark/favorites.  Another great way to keep online sites organized is using an online bookmark site.  This way you can access your bookmark/favorites even if you are not on your computer.  Here is one that I use.

Portaportal   http://www.portaportal.com/

You can google online bookmarks to find TONS of other sites.  Another great feature with some of these sites is that they will let you share your bookmarks/favorites with friends and family!
Blessings,

Instead of your child creating their school work in a notebook or lapbook, they will be using the computer.  They will type out their reports on the word processor adding pictures or clip art where they like to make the eNotebook their own (just like in notebooking).

I make the girls write out their reports first.  This way they get handwriting practice and there is NO spell check available to them .  This will also help them with their typing skills.

I let the girls use their own pictures they take with our camera, computer and internet graphics they find as well.  I also will scan in their own drawings to be put into the eNotebook.  If I print out the eNotebook, I will bind it or hole punch it and place in a binder.  If I print out the eNotebook I will leave blank pages so they can add their own drawings as well as some handwritten work.

The great thing about eNotebooking you can make the creation how you like.  ALL computerized or half computer half hand made.

I'm working on an ebook "A Beginner's Guide to eNotebooking" with step by step instructions and illustrations so you can see how I set things up for our school on the computer.  I will let you know when I have finished it and give you a link to download it as well.

Blessings,

I have created this blog for those who may be interested in taking their home education to the next level using the computer and internet, but not quite knowing how to get things started.

eNotebooking (electronic notebooking or computer notebooking) is taking your childs' creation and putting an electronic "twist" to it.  eNotebooking does NOT mean that your child will be in front of the computer all day.  You the parent have FULL control over the time they spend.  It's a new way for them to show (express) what they have learned.  Some families are already doing this, others may not like this way.  This is the FABULOUS thing about homescholling, you get to do it YOUR way!!

I will be sharing with you how I set up our school for eNotebooking.  The items we use, how we use them and our favorite products.

For those that may or may not like the idea of eNotebooking (but enjoy notebooking) I have free notebooking items that you may enjoy on my YAHOO group.

I hope some of you will join me on our journey of eNotebooking!