This is my attempt at writing down my thoughts on various topics. Hope you find it an easy read and come back often. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 9 Apr 2009 13:57:00 -0500 Thu, 9 Apr 2009 13:57:00 -0500 The WeE-books     First, let me say I love a good pamphlet. They are little books just chalked full of information on a variety of topics. And the WeE-books for me fit right into this catagory. I read three of TOS's WeE-books.     The first one was Easy Fund-raisers for Homeschool Organizations. I was familiar with a few of the ideas presented, however I did learn about a few new ones. It gave enough information to make an informed dicision about wether or not to persue it any further for my homeschool organization. It gave me links to check further on things of interest.     The second one was Homeschool Conventions. I was re-affirmed with this one. It said a lot of the things I have been saying for a couple of years now about conventions. Anyone who has not gone to convention could greatly benefit from reading this one before going. It helps you to get into the right mind set for what will see and hear. Conventions are awesome and this little book gives some great insight.     The third one was Writing Essays. This is one of those pamphlets I love so much. It was just chalked full of information. It had wonderful explanations about different kinds of essays and writing drafts, making sure the meaning was clear. In fact, this could be a mini refresher coarse for those of us who have not written an essay in sometime. A great little resource to have around.      The TOS Homework Juggling Home, Work, and School without Losing Your Balance.       This one surprised me. The stories that are told are delightful, heartfelt, and informative. The things that these women, children, and families have accomplished is mind boggling. They support each other and teach each other. If you are wondering, "What can I do to help out the bottom line in our family budget?" this is a must read. These families have turned everything from bluejean recycling to freelance writing into a money maker for the family. You will learn about finances, bookkeeping, and organization as well when you read between the "covers" of this ebook. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/677533/ Thu, 9 Apr 2009 13:57:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/677533/ Hello out there in cyber land,   This morning I would have said it will be weeks til I talk again. I turned on my computer this  morning and it would not come on. Could not even get it to on in Safe Mode. What heartache I felt. Then I just took a deep breath and hit  system recovery. I watched as all my files that had not been backed up yet were erased. I almost cried, but alas did not. I am really doing quite well considering. I have recovered, LOL. I reloaded a few programs and made email request for software on others. Loaded my ICQ,AIM, and Yahoo IMs. Reset up my outlook express. Was momentarily lost about all those addys that are gone from my contact list. Will have to build that up again. Most of them I don't even remember where to begin. I will be definitely backing that up in the future. Printed lists and disks. I still have not reloaded the printer or the scanner but will do that probably tomorrow. I must say though, that I do not feel the sense of loss that I thought I would feel. I am glad for that. This could be real stressful on the whole family. I had been playing around with the notion of getting rid of a few stealers of time with my computer and internet work. And I just kept thinking no there is way to much  to  still go through before turning this or that off or going to no mail or unsubing. I think this crash was a God thing. He was telling me it is easier than your think. Here let me help. Crash, recover, all gone now. LOL I think I will be taking His lead on this one and rethink some of the many things I do and put my time to better use. I  will have to keep everyone informed on how things are going. I have so many irons in the fire it is uncanny. I need to paint my bathroom before putting down the new floor I bought. Paint the hallway and laundry for the  same reason. I have a stack of things to go to the goodwill. They have been there over a month. I just cannot seem to get to town to give them away. I have winter blankets that need washing for the winter. That is always a trip to the laundrymat. Oh what fun that will be. Pray for me everyone to follow the lead that God has so graciously given to me. On a lighter note and lots more fun. I am going with our homeschool group this Friday to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. I am so looking forward to this. I can't wait. We are getting a 45 minute audio tour of the scrolls. I have seen pictures and shows on them but this will be so much better. I plan on doing a lot of mouth open looking at these wonderful papers. We have a group of 30 adults and kids going. After we spend time learning about the scrolls we will visit the  Science Museum inwhich they are being displayed. The kids always love the dinosaurs, and hands-on room. I hope the butterfly/sloth area is open for us to go into. The butterflies are gorgeous. Well I am going to close now and chat with my kid about some more history and then reading. Have a Blessed Day Tanya http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/593719/ Mon, 22 Sep 2008 14:33:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/593719/ Well Everyone,  I am back from my trip and it was totally awesome. If you have not been to Creation Musuem yet---GO!!!!. It is so worth the trip. It is packed full of the most wonderful things. The animation is state of the art. The videos are mesmerizing. The shows are captivating. And the Message is Life Saving. If you are planning a trip and can plan more than one day at the musuem I highly recommend doing that. They have a two day pass if you don't have a membership. The extra day gives you ample time to really take it all in. If you are new to the Body of Christ and do not have a lot of Bible knowledge then plan on two days. If you have Bible knowledge then one day may be enough but two is always better for taking it all in. There is something for everyone and every age. My son really enjoyed the whole experience. There are two food areas--one has snacks and the other has heavier food. Food is very reasonable and excellent. I had the BLT and it was wonderful. The gift/book shop has all the books by Answers in Genesis I believe. I found a few deals and was afforded the opportunity to do a hands on check of a few other books I am thinking of buying. So don't skip the shop. And don't skip the grounds either. They are very well laid out and beautiful. Dinosaur plant sculptures, and now a petting zoo has opened. A rope bridge for your crossing pleasure. All in all the museum is well worth the trip and as I said before Everyone should go. If you get the chance to go let me know what you thought. Tanya http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/547123/ Fri, 13 Jun 2008 11:13:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/547123/ Hey Everyone,    Is anyone else out there winding down their year? We are here do to some traveling plans, and boy the paperwork to do. I am so glad I have Homeschool Tracker (www.homeschooltracker.com) or I would be at this for weeks. We will actually be finishing up next Friday. We have plans to go to the Creation Museum by Answers in Genesis. (www.creationmuseum.org) and to visit family while up there. A friend went just after the museum opened and she said it was such a blessing. I am so looking forward to seeing and experiencing this. We also have plans for snorkeling in the Bahamas this summer. I really cannot wait to share with my son the sites under the water. I am really looking forward to what we will see. I am going to buy an underwater disposable camera to record what we see. I hope this will be one of those remember all your life trips for him.   Back to school talk. We are finishing up several books, and several more lapbook studies and should be finished with all work by May 1st. Field Day is May 2nd. What fun we will have with the kids. We do some very strange Field Day gameshope the kids enjoy themselves. We will probably have a few less kids this year. Some are out of town and some are gearing up for a move across state. But those that come will have fun just the same. Well must move on to other things now. Hope everyone's evening is great. Tanya http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/521801/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 17:25:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/521801/ We just returned back from a wonderful week in Edisto Beach, South Carolina, with my parents. We walked the beach looking for sea shells and sea turtles. We found shells and we found a roped off area where sea turtle eggs were. The area was undisturbed so I do not think the eggs had hatched yet. But it was neat to see. We really would have loved to have seen the little turtles make their way to the sea, but alas we missed it. Apparently the best time to see the momma's come ashore is in June and July-at night of course.We learned that during this time it is illegal for the folks on the beach to have their back lights on. Especially if they light up the beach. This opens the sea turtles to prediators more than just moon light does.  We also tried to see dolphin activity at sunset, but we never did. Although while we were looking my ds did find a hermit crab. And a nice man on the beach crabbing gave him a piece of chicken for the hermit to eat. The hermit held tight to that piece of chicken. We let the hermit go. We have enough animals at home without adding a hermit to the mix. But ds did enjoy the thrill of finding him. If you get the chance to visit Edisto Beach do know there is very little there other than beach, fun, and sun. There is are a few resturants, a gas station, a Piggly Wiggly, and few other small store fronts. You do not go to Edisto to shop. You go to have beach time, family time, and relax and play in the waves. But if you must shop then Charleston is just an hour north and Savannah is just 2 hours south of Edisto. We went to Charleston a few afternoons and found a nice thrift store for  shopping. We also found the flea market type place. They had several dealers of the Sweet Grass baskets. The Gullah Island Sweet Grass baskets are beautiful.The tradition with them is so interesting. Apparently you can tell from which area in Africa a family comes from by the way they make their baskets. This is because it is passed down by weavers to the next generation and the only thing that seems to change is the ornamentation used.But the style stays the same in the family. We met a lovely lady named Lilly who had a stand on the side of the road going to Edisto. Lilly and her daughter did some beautiful work with sweet grass. They had earrings, bracelets, hair boubles, and of course baskets of all shapes and sizes and uses. She said the distinct smell of the sweet grasses does not disappear. All you have to do is wet it and it will perk up the smell. And quess what, it is illegal to just walk up and pick sweet grass even it is growing wild. Who knew? These baskets are so well made that they have been know to last a hundred years. They apparently get better with age. At the flea market I found a neat little store with Civil War items in it. I bought my son a musket ball from there along with some great books. I cannot wait to use them in American History, especially when we study the Civil War and our Nation's Flag. I bought books on it also. We also walked along The Battery in Charleston. Talk about a view across the water. At one point along the wall there is a stone that marks in which direction you can see different forts. Fort Sumpter, Fort Moultrie, and few others. It is really neat. It was while walking The Battery we saw a sea turtle in the water. It was so cool. I was looking down at the water and all of a sudden there he was. Not very big, probably about 12-15 inches across. We were so excited to see him. He stayed just below the water so pictures of him did not come out well. We have seen them in aquariums but never in nature so that was a real treat for us. You see my son is just in love with turtles. He seems almost drawn to them. So when we see one we get excited. We even have a pet turtle now named Snappie. No not a sea turtle just an everyday run of the mill turtle from the local lake. Some friends of ours caught him as a hatchling and gave him to us. Even then he liked to bite. Thus the name. But he is called a red-earred something or other turtle. We meet a fellow homeschool family while at Edisto. They were visiting from North Carolina and us from Virginia. It was neat to meet "neighbors". Well that is all the cool things that happen on our trip to Edisto Beach. I hope you enjoyed reading my little yarn about trip. Have a great day. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/397244/ Tue, 25 Sep 2007 09:05:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/397244/      Well school starts tomorrow morning. Another year on the horizon and things are looking great. My son is excited even though most of his friends don't start school for a couple more weeks.  He is like me in that I also loved going to school. I really enjoyed learning all I could. Yes, I was a geek. LOL But a cool geek, I hung out on the bus ramp. I hope when my son thinks back on his school years he, too, has fond memories of things we did and places we went.       We begin the 5th grade this year. I cannot believe my only baby is in double digits already. It seems just like yesterday he was toddling around the house getting into everything. And now I hear him having "deep" conversations about Poke`mon with his friends. In this summer between 4th and 5th grade there has been growth in this young man. God is working in his life daily. He has such a heart for God and His Word. He is ready for Awana to begin again. He is looking forward to seeing the book for 5th grade. He has heard it is hard.        His schedule for this year is full. His schedule will look like this for 2007-2008  Monday-Thursday        Bible, English, Latin, Math, Spelling, Vocabulary, Awana Verses, McGuffey Readers for reading out loud practice.  Monday and Wednesday only      History  Tuesday only      Health course for 7 weeks  Tuesday and Thursday      Reading,Science   Friday       Tests for chapters or units completed, Spelling Part E and Spelling Test This does not include the extra curricular like:  Tone Chimes, Children's Chior, Bowling, Soccer, Homeschool Group Activities, Awana meetings I really give funny looks when someone says "What about socialization?" With our schedule he gets plenty of social skill work out. I think he is socialized plenty, and with other like minded children who are also Children of God. He does not lack social skills in the least. And it allows dear ole` mom some time with other grow ups. Enough on that, now onto to fun things I will try out this year in school. We are going to add some lapbooks, notebooking, and a timeline to our studies this year. Mostly in the history and sciences but still it is new to us. I think it will be fun. I have gotten some great free ones from www.homeschoolestore.com and www.notebookingpages.com and bought a few from both of them and from www.handsofachild.com I really cannot wait to try them all out.  I bought one from hands of a child to do in my Sunday School Class on Who is Jesus? I think the kids have had a great time doing it. I showed them my decorated folder today and they were all excited about putting theirs together next Sunday. We have worked on the material all summer. And next week is our last meeting for this term and we will be putting them all together. I can't wait to see how they look. So with this practice under my belt my son and I will begin a new year using some new tools to add a little more to our studies. I hope they create for him some really great memories of our time schooling together. Well I will close for now. I hope to get back here tomorrow to fill you in on our first day and how things went. Have a great day or evening and Thanks for reading my blog. Tanya http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/375964/ Sun, 19 Aug 2007 14:35:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/375964/   My son witnessed God's provision first hand this past Wednesday night. We had gone to church to attend our Awana meeting. I did not pay attention on the way there to the gas tank, needless to say on the way home the gas light came on.   The story goes like this. On the way home I was following the Pastor's wife and had stopped at her house to ask a homeschool group question of her. When I got back in the car the gas light was on and the distance to empty was 0 miles the needle was past E and we had more than few miles to home or the nearest open gas station. So as I pulled out of the Pastor's driveway I told my son we need to pray for God to get us to the nearest open gas station.I said the words out loud and kept on driving. I was thinking out loud about the nearest open station and about how far away it was. My son all of sudden says "God gave some gas" we were up to 4 miles to empty. But we had further than 4 to go. As I drove along being mindful of my speed and driving so as to conserve gas as best as I could my son says "God gave us more gas". I looked up at the display and saw that in fact we had aobut 8 miles til empty. Were looking better but still need a few more miles in the gas tank to get the station. My son continued to watch the display and annouced over and over "God gave us more gas" it went from 8 to 12 to 20 to 22 to 24 and on up to 41 as we pulled into the gas station. As my son was annoucing with great joy what God had done for us I watched my gas needle rise from below E to about 1/8th of tank as we pulled into the nearest gas station which was about 6 miles or so past my home. And my home is about 13 miles from church. So me and son said a great big thank you to God for providing for us as He had provided for the widow and her son when Elijah had come to stay.  I know God will provide this is not the first time He has gotten me to the nearest station when I was on fumes and something tells me it wont be the last with the prices of gas what they are. But I as so excited that my son who is only 9 has seen first hand how God provides when you are in need, even if that need is gas to get you the nearest station. He is a great and wonderful God and I am so glad He loves me. Tanya  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/310776/ Sat, 7 Apr 2007 11:54:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/310776/ Hello Everyone,   Spring is in the air where I live. It was 80 today. I have worn shorts for the last two days. I am so excited about Spring and Summer coming are way. Although our winter has been fairly mild I do like the warmer weather of spring.   Spring for us means a winding down of school soon. Our end date is May 10th this year. As I will be off to Charlotte for Nationals in Bowling again right after that. Mom and I have such great fun at this and we get to bowl together.   My ds is doing great in school and will be testing soon. That will tell how well mom did at this teaching thing this year. And it will help to decide what we do next year. I have been thinking of adding Biblioplan as our History. We have been doing a modified Classical with lots of reading of various books in the right time line. However, I am beginning to feel that we are lacking. I want something with a little more accountability. Biblioplan follows the same time line. I would like to stay with that time line. I can not wait until convention to get my hands on one and really give it the once over. If anyone out there has some feed back on Biblioplan please let me know what you think of it.   Has everyone signed up for or gone to their state convention? I love ours here in Virginia. We have a really great used curriculum sale. I always find a really great deal in there on something I am looking for. Last year I found next years math for a steal. I was so excited. This year I am hoping to find my ds math for the following year at a steal. I am also hoping to find a few of the Learning through History magazines. We really have a great time reading them. If you have never gone to your state convention I highly recommend it. I really enjoy myself that day. We go for one day and do used and new shopping. If I really want a seminar I just buy it on tape, CD, or MP3 and listen at a later time. I put my ds in the kids program and he has a blast. We eat lunch together and then we go shopping for something special for him. He gets to look around and pick out something for the next school year. I have to tell you he picks great stuff. My mom joined us the year before last. She was free of course. Even she enjoyed herself very much. It is awesome to see all those fellow homeschoolers and all the new items coming out to make schooling the best it can be. I just love it. Well I am going to close for now. Hope to get back again real soon. Drop me a line and say hello sometime. Tanya http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/300070/ Thu, 15 Mar 2007 19:16:01 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/300070/ That question is a big one these days. It goes beyond just why do I home school and into why is so important for my family that we home school our son.   Home schooling is a big decision that no one should make lightly. I was lead to home school because of issues I had with the school system where we lived when I was pregnant with our son. All I heard from folks was what was wrong with the school, the teachers, the principal, the PTO. And I knew that I did not want my son going to school in this chaos. The only private school around was Catholic and well I am not. So this was not an option either. But before my son was even ready for school we moved. Yeah!! However when we decided to move back to Virginia to be near the grandkids the choice of schools came up again. By this time I had been informed of home schooling and it seemed like an answer to the problem. So I began researching what is this home schooling and how can I do it, and the big one can I do it?   So began the quest. I sat at the computer and did a search---homeschool----hit enter. Oh the things that came up. I was in it now. I began going through them one at a time. Learning the ins and outs of homeschooling. I read articles and checked out web sites with curriculum and so on. I wanted to know my state laws and find out about how others did it and how to get started. And for every answer I found up would come another question. I learned the benefits of home schooling were numerous to say the least.   I decided through all this that home schooling our son would be the best for him and that I could do this. I learned about learning styles and the advantages to being taught one on one. But I have to share that one of the biggest reason for going ahead with this home school thing was the relationship I would forge with my son. Something happens to the relationship when you send your kid off to school. You lose a closeness with that child or children as the case may be.   I know not everyone concerns themselves with this part of it but lets be honest. As home school families there is a special bond between the parent/teacher and the child/student that does not have to be shared with another person. Your son or daughter does not feel as if there are divided loyalities because they love their teacher. And this is the best. I am so glad that I was led down this path with my child. God put everything into place at just the right time and here we are. A home schooling family who learns together about everything including our Lord and Savior Jesus. And we don't have to worry who is listening as we pray or if they will have an issue with it or not. We start our day together with God and we end it together with God. And I thank Him everyday for the opportunity He has given me in raising my son to be a child of His and not only a child of mine.   I cannot think of a better reason to home school than that. All the other issues are great reason too. However I think this one is the best of all, don't you? http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/248913/ Sat, 2 Dec 2006 12:21:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/248913/ Who saw Dr. Phil's show Friday about Homeschooling?  I did. I made a point of watching it. He seemed be not at all himself on this subject. I am not sure how I expected him to react but he seemed subdued on this subject. He brought in left wing extremist on homeschooling but not an everyday use a schedule and books family. He even had a not so radical unschooling family. But no everyday homeschooling family. I think like so many others he was trying to leave a bad taste in the mouths of others about homeschooling.   He kept talking about research shows that our kids are socially behind. Socially behind who? As a whole our kids are better socialized than most other kids. They can carry on a conversation with most anyone of any age. Our children are not afraid to talk to an older adult or for that matter an older child to play with younger kids. They don't think about it. They just have fun. No peer pressure to act a certain way because of who is around.   They seemed stuck on this socialization thing. When that is such a non-issue. As homeschoolers we are keenly aware of the need for our kids to play, hang-out,and learn from others. We just monitor closer what are kids are playing at, hanging out doing, and learning from others. This is not to say PS parents are not monitoring but let's be real here. You are not a fly on the wall of your child's classroom or playground all day. So you do not know what your child has been taught until it is already learned. This is not something we as homeschoolers have to undo at the end of the day.   Everyone seemed to think that homeschooling is a new thing that just started. Well folks read any history lately. Homeschooling was the only schooling all children used to get. The public school system has only been around about 200 years. The days of the past everyone was taught at home by mom and dad to read,write and decipher numbers. Most lessons were taken straight from the Bible. You learned to read, write and do your math from the verses and stories of the Bible. And every child was taught according to their abilites and their readiness. No child was ever left behind or moved ahead of where they needed to be. And we grew some really smart people in our history this way. Some where along the way someone decided that parents did not know enough to teach their child and that the experts should do it. I am here to say that the experts don't know my child and his needs. Therefore they are not equipped to teach my child what he needs to learn. The experts are not willing to let my child go ahead in one subject but be on level in another. They are willing to let him learn at his pace and in his area of interest. They want to teach what they think he should know when they think he should know it. And as for the experts--they are not as smart as they used to be. There has been a backsliding in out education system for years. So there is no way a child graduating today is as smart as one from years ago. Our textbooks are missing large parts of out history and no one seems to mind. And math well lets just say kids do not know the facts anymore. They are not required to memorize the facts anymore. And what is this New Math anyway. What happen to 2+2 =4 and learning that. What idiot thought to teach a child to borrow in math on a two-digit number less than 20 that is something they should have memorized and do without thought. Not by borrowing. When you see 15-9 you should know it is 6.   Let's move onto peer pressure. As a homeschooler a child does not have to been so concerned with this. It is not a right of passage as so many think. It is a way of making the weak feel inferior and the strong just to get stronger. I am glad that my son will be able to discover who he is and become strong in that before he has to deal with the fool who just want everyone to follow him. I want my son to be strong in who he is in the Lord, Jesus Christ before he faces the world head on. This is done best without little Johnny whispering in his ear "Oh no one will know" But someone does know God knows and my son will know too.   Let's talk a little about my ability to teach my child. Everyone seems to think that parents are unable to teach their own children. Well who is it that potty trains them, teaches them to use silverware, read simple words, learn their numbers and letters, colors and shapes. The parent does. If I am able to teach them these things why not all things? And if I am keenly aware of my childs needs and I feel I need assistance in some area then I find someone who can assist me. As parents we teach our children those things they should know but then someone decides we are not good enough anymore and off to PS they go. What is up with that? When did I no longer have the skills to continue to teach my child? At this rate of thinking and with PK3 and Pk4 on the rise it won't be long before we are unable to raise them til they are ready for Pk3. We will give birth and then be deemed unable to teach or raise them. Someone from the PS system will come and take our child and enroll them in new born classes. I know this is extreme but can't you see it happening some day?   I am not sure where any on this will lead. But I am hopeful that if our homeschool children grow up to homeschool their children our world will become a better place. We will have a generation of self starters and free thinkers who don't just go along with the crowd. Our children will change the way people around the world think.   May God bless you in your homeschool endeavors. And guide you and keep you strong. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/245016/ Sun, 26 Nov 2006 11:00:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/IamHis/245016/