Baby Worms & Thank You Lisa
Aug. 28, 2009
Aug. 28, 2009
Posted in Home Education
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First a quick thank you to Lisa for passing me on the link to Schoolhouse Quilts in Ohio. Great stuff!!!! Love their website. Now about yesterdays science. A couple of days ago, I turned over a small space in the back yard to plant some things my father had brought over to me. In the process I discovered a few worms. I gave MattMann the choice of working in his dinosaur book or doing worms. To my surprise he chose the worms. I thought my kids were so over my worm thing. We counted them, put them in a bucket in the fridge (clearly marked as science NOT food). Yesterday we took them outside to see what was going on and in the cornmeal we'd put on top to feed them we noticed little white "things" moving around. We had at least a 1/2 dozen baby worms -- it was so cool. We decided to keep going and built a somewhat larger wormery in a tank to further observe them. Now if my son had been in ps or even was going to the Christian school and he'd come home and I'd asked about science do you think he'd have been nearly as excited? Probably not. Yet another reason to homeschool, in my book. By the way, the larger container means cooler living space so the worms are no longer inhabiting our refridgerator -- and LizBeth is VERY happy about this, because she is so totally over my worm thing. What kind of start is your homeschooling year off to?? Blessings, MaggieRaye |
Penny Postcards
May. 6, 2009
May. 6, 2009
Posted in Home Education
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I received this link in an email from another homeschooling mom. It is worth taking the time to check out - maybe you could use it to do some geography lessons or local history. Blessings, MaggieRaye |
Blue Lobstah'?
Mar. 14, 2009
Mar. 14, 2009
Posted in Home Education
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Okay, I've just had a true 1 in a million experience -- and I got to share it with my son and daughter -- because we homeschool. We went to the store yesterday to buy groceries -- if they were in school and I worked, this would have happened on my way home from work, before I picked them up and while I would have found it interesting I would have been too tired to go back. We were walking by the tank of lobstah' (that is the proper Maine pronounciation) and there was a sign that said, "Don't sell the Blue Lobster" (okay, the store folks were obviously uneducated folks from away, who couldn't spell proper). Blue Lobstah'....so we looked and just saw a rather ordinary North American Lobstah'. But my very bold son (that is a post in and of itself for another day) asked the guy at the counter - while I'd moved on to tend to the task at hand - if he would please show him the blue lobstah'. MattMann, a few moments later, located me, and nearly dragged me and the shopping cart (those poor people who stood between us and the lobstah' tank) to see the blue lobstah'. Now when you've grown up on the coast of Maine as I did, and you've never seen a blue lobstah' it's quite a thing to behold. So being a good homeschooling mom (or at least trying too) I did what you should and we came home and googled Blue Lobster (I figured I couldn't expect google to understand the properness of our spelling and pronounciation). We found out that there is about a 1 in 2-4 million chance of seeing a blue lobstah'. God is so amazing! I think I might have to work the whole blue lobstah' theme into some quilt projects. So, what kind of a 1 in a million experience has God given you in your homeschooling journey? It doesn't have to be expensive and it may be as ordinary as a trip to the local grocery store. Blessings, MaggieRaye |
God's "Little" Blessings
Jun. 8, 2008
Jun. 8, 2008
Posted in Home Education
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I wasn't going to do it, I just couldn't afford it. It wasn't just money, it was the time involved. For health reasons it was not a wise way to spend several hours with my back still bothering me -- though, praise God, much better than it was over the winter. I went to our states homeschool used curriculum sale. I did. I think I must be crazy. The amount of money I had was less than many of us pay for one brand new book for homeschooling, often times. I prayed. I made a list. I prayed some more. I prayed before I went to sleep the night before the sale. I prayed the morning of the sale. I prayed on my way into the sale. I prayed as I walked around the sale. "Lord you know what I don't have. I know you can stretch it in amazing ways. You know what we need most Lord. I'm trusting you for this" While I did buy a couple of small (less than $1) books, that were on my master list at home, that we don't have, I pretty much stuck to my list. And the one thing that I thought I would surely not find or if I did it would be much to expensive to purchase with my minimal cash on hand -- was not only there, complete and available, but well within my budget. The Lord is so good. I wanted to do Miquon Math with my son, because I already had part of the set. I just needed the student books (6 @ $6.95 ea. new, never mind shipping). I got all six, plus both teachers books for a grand total of $10. Yes, I am praising the Lord. But more so, I'm praising Him because upon bringing it home my son said, "Mom, it looks really fun, can I start it now?" Seriously, today we did our first math page in it. I also got Bronze Bow; Hittey, Her First Hundred Years; Lentil; several Magic Tree House books; and a couple other paper back classics that we were missing -- exactly which ones escape me now. My prayer is that all of you single mom's will be as blessed (and truly feel and appreciate it) as much as I have been as I prepare for the coming academic year. Blessings, MaggieRaye |
Self-Confessing Junkie
May. 1, 2008
May. 1, 2008
Posted in Home Education
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I don't know about anyone else, but I find that I have "seasons" of compulsion. Blogging was one of them for awhile. It is the thing we spend a lot of time doing that just really doesn't make sense, especially to anyone watching from the outside. My recent compulsion is book lists - I've gone through every curriculum I really like and printed out their book list. Is that crazy or what? Now, I'm going through my library and a book has to meet one of two criteria to remain on the shelves. It has to be a book one or all of us really loved or it has to be on most if not all of the book lists I have in my note book. Yes, I confess, I have a book of book lists. Currently my book lists come from Ambleside Online, Old Fashioned Education, Robinson's Self-Teaching Curriculum, Total Language Plus, Connect The Thoughts Reading Program, a "twaddle-free" Charlotte Mason list from some website I found along the way, SCORE Cyber Guides, Eagle Forum's - The Ultimate Reading List, Kidsource's Timeless Classics List, A list my aunt gave me called 100 Significant Books, and most recently The Baldwin Online Children's Project. Yes, I confess, I'm a junkie - books, books, books and now even lists of books. And with the price of everything rising, I'm glad to have two library cards (maybe three), because at least I can afford to support my habit. Are you looking for a good book to read? Email me, I'll send you a list. *grin* Blessings, MaggieRaye |
Favorite Resources - FREE
Feb. 3, 2008
Feb. 3, 2008
Posted in Home Education
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It's been awhile since I've posted something like this, but since I was just sitting here printing out worksheets for the week I decided to share. I have a favorite math website. http://themathworksheetsite.com While there is a part of the site you can't access without a paid subscription there is also a part of the site that is FREE. These worksheets are great practice pages for our "problem" areas in basic math skills. Go by check it out and let me know what you think. I LOVE IT! Also, someone told me about Homeschool eStore several months back and I can NOT begin to tell you all the FREE downloads I've received. Great stuff. This weeks was a unit study using Charlotte's Web as the base -- which we just happen to be reading! It's worth the few minutes it takes to go by and sign up to receive their weekly email. I've gotten free Hands of a Child Lapbooks - LOVE THOSE! It has been a huge blessing to be able to get great stuff that I like and can really use for FREE. It is such an encouragment to me, with our limited budget. http://www.homeschoolestore.com/catalog/index.php Check them out and let me know if these are as big a blessing for you as they have been for me. Blessings, MaggieRaye |
