Nat's Family Library - Homeschool Blogger

Great Organizing Website includes Homeschool Organizing!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 22:43:00 -0500

Hello! Another homeschool mom suggested this website on organizing your home, including homeschool organizing. It is: www.organizedhome.com This is the time of year when I always go crazy trying to get everything in order & cleaned out... you'd think I'd have it done by now, with summer vacation almost over!

Check out the Organized Home website for great ideas on not only organizing your home and homeschool, but also on freezer cooking (cooking lots of food ahead of time & freezing for later) as well as other ideas. Happy cleaning & organizing!

Aaahhh! I Love the Beginning of a New School Year!

Fri, 24 Aug 2007 06:04:00 -0500

Hello everyone! I've been terrible about writing anything in this blog... I keep up with the Connecticut one, but this one has gone by the wayside. But I think I will be using it more this year to journal our homeschool year. I think it's so cool how some people do that!

Well, I love the beginning of a new school year! The tons of school supplies being sold at every store you go to... they just beckon me! I also love the smell of new school books, making new schedules, and starting new outside activities with the kids. It's just so nice to know that even if last year was somewhat of a flop, you have the opportunity to start over, right? :o)

One thing I've done in the past & hope to do again before we start our classes (we start the week after Labor Day) is to cook some meals ahead of time & freeze them. It really helps on those days that have too many activities crammed in & you just don't have time to start dinner early. I have several cookbooks on cooking ahead or cooking once a month, they are all helpful. But I find that some of the recipes my family simply doesn't like. So, just take out your family's favorite recipes and double it up & freeze! Get the kids involved! This year I'm especially excited about it because we finally got a dishwasher... after being married for 14 years & not having one! Woo hoo!!!! This will make clean up time a little nicer.

Hope you all have a great time planning & getting ready for the upcoming year, if you haven't started already. Another note... my kids love getting a little pile of goodies on their "first" day of school... like new pencils, erasers, notebooks, etc.

Have a great day!!!

Time to Enroll Your Child for the 2007-08 BOOK IT! Program

Tue, 27 Mar 2007 21:57:00 -0500

It's now time to enroll your K-6th grade students for the 2007-08 Pizza Hut BOOK IT! Program. You can either call 1-800-426-6548 or you can click on this link to enroll your homeschooled children:

http://www.bookitprogram.com/enrollment/homeschool.asp

You will receive your free materials in September.

The enrollment deadline is June 8, 2007. The program runs from October 1, 2007 to March 31, 2008.

Free How to Draw Videos from Children's Author & Illustrator, Jan Brett

Fri, 16 Mar 2007 22:41:00 -0500

Awesome Free Spelling Website That Kids Love!

Mon, 11 Dec 2006 22:20:00 -0600

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let everyone know about an awesome spelling website that my kids love! They actually do their spelling before I even ask them... every day! It is called Spelling Time and you can find it at: www.spellingtime.com One of the features that my kids like about it is that they are rewarded with games if they spell their words correctly. So, check it out, it's FREE!

National Novel Writing Month Young Writers Program

Fri, 6 Oct 2006 20:21:00 -0500

Check out the National Novel Writing Month website for information about their Young Writers Program at: http://www.nanowrimo.org/. You can sign up for your students to write a novel during the month of November. You will then get a Classroom Starter Kit to help your students get going on their novels. Sounds like a great project!

Library of Congress Writing Contest

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 10:27:00 -0500

Letters About Literature is a national reading and writing promotion program.

Avoid Returning Your Library Books Late With the Library Elf!

Thu, 3 Aug 2006 17:12:00 -0500

Check out the "Library Elf"... a great tool to help you remember when your library books are due!

Avoid overdues with email alerts

Check multiple library cards

Track books, DVDs, CDs, videos, etc.

Join for free

"Library Elf" is a service customers can use to get reminders of their
overdue books. Evidently the individual signs up and that automatically
adds his/her library system to their list of agencies. It is not a service
that is provided by YOUR library system or even affiliated with it.

The customer just needs to provide contact information (e-mail address and
name) for each library account, a barcode, and the corresponding PIN number.
Library Elf will check the account every day, and let you know via email
before materials are due.

www.libraryelf.com <http://www.libraryelf.com/>

Take a look at this great homeschool cartoon!

Tue, 20 Jun 2006 16:18:00 -0500

This cartoon was drawn by Jim Erskine, a homeschool dad. He is the one who also has the www.homeschoolradioshows.com website which has some wonderful old radio shows every week! They are great "living books" type dramas, and we have enjoyed them over the years. Anyhow, he has drawn this cartoon & I thought others would enjoy it.

Have a great day!

Nathalie

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Book Review ~ Only the Names Remain by Alex W. Bealer

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:54:00 -0500

Only the Names Remain

The Cherokees and the Trail of Tears

Only the Names Remain is by Alex W. Bealer and illustrated by William Sauts Bock. The book has 84 pages and was published by Little, Brown, and Company in 1972. This is a true story about what happened to the Cherokees when they were forced to leave Georgia and go to Arkansas. After the Revolutionary War, the Cherokees were learning the white man's ways and had become friendly with them. Some of them even became very welathy, they had inherited land and money from their white fathers. Then one day, a Cherokee Indian found a gold nugget on Cherokee land. That caused Georgia to make unofficial laws to allow white men to kick Cherokees out of their homes and lands. Then the Trail of Tears started, the long journey that forced the Cherokees from Georgia to Arkansas. Some of the Cherokee families escaped to the Smoky Mountains. On the way to Arkansas, about one fourth of the Cherokees died. The Cherokees are no longer found in the mountains of Georgia... only the names remain.

One part of the book that I enjoyed the most was when the Cherokees were on the Trail of Tears. One of the Indian's wives was mistreated by a soldier. Her husband, named Tsalis, killed the soldier and the family managed to escape to the Smoky Mountains. I thought it was exciting how that family escaped. I also enjoyed many of the illustrations.

Alex Bealer did a great job telling me about how the Cherokees suffered on the Trail of Tears. Before I read this book, I didn't really know what the Trail of Tears was about. I am glad that Indians are no longer treated this way.

Book Review by Jon, age 11.