Eclectic Education - Homeschool Blogger

Neat Homeschool Project

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 20:21:00 -0600

I just wanted to let you all know about a a neat project some of my friends are doing on eHow. Several of them are going to be sending a doll around the country and taking the doll to different landmarks and places in their community. They will be taking pictures and writing about the adventures. The project can be followed at this link: http://www.squidoo.com/ehowdollysgrandadventure This would make a really good geography project. I will say, though, a couple of the people sometimes have a uhm... colorful sense of humor, so I would preview it before showing it to your kids. lol!!! Just in case. Dolly is about to arrive at her first destination which is Maine. This project will be going on through the winter and possibly into the spring. Each person will be adding their adventures as they do them.

Swine Flu!

Mon, 2 Nov 2009 21:59:00 -0600

Ugh! I've had a rough month! My 2 sons came down with the Swine Flu on Oct. 7th and I followed on Oct. 8th. My kids are doing ok. I am still fighting to get well. That is why I haven't written at all for so long. I've been very sick. I've seen the doctor's 4 times and had to get chest X-rays. They say if my cough is not better by the end of the week, I may be getting more X-rays. *sigh* I was having trouble eating and couldn't keep my food down. I lost a total of 12- 14 pounds and I was getting dehydrated. If I hadn't started keeping my food down over the weekend, my husband was suppose to take me to the hospital on Sunday night. Luckily, I started keeping it down!!! I think I am finally on the mend, but I still have a ways to go, so my post may be light for another week or two. Hopefully by then, I'll be doing better.

Make Homeschooling Fun

Sat, 3 Oct 2009 22:00:00 -0500

School does not have to be a drag! There are many ways to jazz up your homeschool, allowing your child to have fun and get a good education. Here are some tips:

1. Use living books instead of textbooks when possible. Children can get into stories much easier than they can a dry textbook. Use the living books as a jumping off point to learn more about the subject. You can build an entire study around the book.

2. Make lapbooks or an interactive notebook to go along with your studies. Most children love colored paper, stickers, colorful markers, cutting and pasting. Use this love to do something creative, fun and educational.

3. Use puzzles. Puzzles require thought and so they are educational, in among themselves, but if you do a puzzle of the United States, the World Map, fine artwork or something, then you have an added benefit. By studying the pieces, your child is learning the parts of the map or is studying the fine detail of that makes up the artwork.

4. Go on nature walks. Studying nature not only teaches your child about the world around them, but it helps them develop important observational skills.

5. Play games. There are some games, like Made for Trade , that are made to be educational even though they are fun. Then there are games like, Monopoly that were not made for educational purposes, but still have many educational components. Games are a wonderful way to have fun, but learn also.

6. Add movies and videos to your school day. Ok, I know this is a controversial one, but I truly believe there are some awesome shows and movies that teach. A few that my son loves are Word Girl (teaches vocabulary), Cyber Chase (math), Magic School Bus (science), Liberty's Kids (American History) and Between the Lions (Reading). Now obviously, you don’t want to try to watch them all in one day, but one or two of them a day a few days a week is a good balance. Kids love the idea of getting to watch tv in school and a lot of the educational shows are packed with information. It’s a good use of the 30 minutes.

7. Make sure art, nature, music and physical activity is a part of the daily activities. These extras are fun as well as good for your child.

8. Make scrapbooks for learning. These can be for history, science, geography, or even art. It’s a fun and educational way to display what your child learns and they can get creative putting it together (if they are old enough).

I hope these tips help you make your homeschool fun as well as educational!

A Craft Apron and Craft Bag you can order for your child:

Child Craft Apron by lynnhsmomof2
Design your own apron at Zazzle

Craft Bag by lynnhsmomof2
More Crafts Bags

Mummies, Flowers and Blue Dolphins

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 13:12:00 -0500

Ok, it's been a few weeks since I have posted about our school work. We've had some unorganized weeks, but I finally feel like I'm on track again. Here is a sampling of what we have done.

In the School House:

I finished the Magic Tree House book Mummies in the Morning with Little One. Then we made an interactive notebook page for the story.

I am really liking the format of an interactive notebook for the Magic Tree House series. We basically just do enough minibooks to fit in a two page spread (or a two page spread with flap) and when we are done, I glue them in on a page labeled with the title. This allows us to extend the study to include other things like geography without spending a lot of time on it. I try to do 1 book every week to a week and a half. Since there are so many books in the series, I don't want to spend a ton of time on each of them. That is why about 5-7 minibooks for each book is ideal. I try to find stickers to go along with the studies (if I can) to make the pages more colorful and stand out. They are not necessary, but since I am a scrapbooker and have tons of extra stickers, I might as well use them.

If you would like to do you own study of Mummies in the Morning (or just an Egyptian study) here are some resources:
http://www.squidoo.com/magictreehouse--mummies-in-the-morning-studyguide
http://www.squidoo.com/magic-tree-house-study-guides (this has a directory of other MTH books)
http://www.squidoo.com/interactive-notebook

Both of the boys did some indoor nature studies since the weather has not been cooperating lately. I brought some wildflowers in from our garden for them to draw.

Prince Caspian's Drawing:

Little One's Drawings:

and

Here are some resources for your own nature studies:
http://www.squidoo.com/naturestudywithchildren
http://www.squidoo.com/homeschool-nature-studies

Prince Caspian was reading the book Island of the Blue Dolphin and he was to notebook what he read. Here is a page he did:

The notebook page is a part of the Basic Primary and Regular- Lined Notebooking Pages set by NotebookingPages.com. You can find them here: Notebooking Pages I love notebooking with older children. It gives them more practice in writing and it involves more thought than just circling a,b or c.

Being a WAHM:

I've also been busy working! I've gotten some of my Christmas line out on Zazzle. Here are a few examples:

Christmas Mug by lynnhsmomof2
Make a customized t shirt online at zazzle.com

Christmas Apron by lynnhsmomof2
Get a tee at zazzle

Nativity Stamp by lynnhsmomof2
Design customized shirts on zazzle.com

to see more, go here:

http://www.squidoo.com/christmas-zazzle-dazzle

I plan to add a lot more in the following weeks.

Well, that was our wrap up. To see more wrap ups, check out: My Heart's Desire Have a great week!

Here Comes Autumn!

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 21:42:00 -0500

It's hard to believe that autumn is here!!! It's funny it felt more like autumn during the summer, than it does now. lol!!! I for one am looking forward to the cooler weather. I just wish we would have had a better (warmer, dryer) summer.

Well, I have been busy on fall stuff. I have put together fall resources for lapbooking if you are interested. You can get them here: Fall Lapbook.

I have also been busy designing Autumn products for my store. Here are a few of what I have done.

Barn Sticker by lynnhsmomof2
Design custom stickers using zazzle.com

Autumn Bag by lynnhsmomof2
See more Harvest Bags

Autumn Blessings by lynnhsmomof2
Create canvas tote bags from zazzle

Autumn Window by lynnhsmomof2
Make custom stamps online at zazzle.com

Autumn Pumpkins by lynnhsmomof2
Create your own stamps with zazzle

To see the rest of my products, go to My Zazzle Store at: www.zazzle.com/lynnhsmomof2 or check out my Squidoo lens: Celebrate Fall

Yummy Recipes!

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 17:03:00 -0500

One of my friends has some yummy recipes that I wanted to share!

Here they are: (Just click the title)

Caramel S'mores
Chocolate Almond Butter
Dark Chocolate Dipped Strawberries
Vitamin Rich Soup (ok, the recipe sounds better that the title! lol!!!)

Enjoy!

Motivated Moms

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:46:00 -0500

I have mentioned this product before, but I never quite went into detail about it. I love Motivated Moms!!! Motivated Moms comes in several different styles to fit your personal preference. I personally choose to have the daily pages that fit into a binder. Motivated Moms also can be gotten with a daily Bible reading on the pages if that is the style you want. I love that it reminds me of both the larger chores (such as cleaning out the fridge) and the smaller chores such as clipping my son's finger nails (I don't know about you, but I always seem to forget that!). One thing to keep in mind, you don't have to be a slave to Motivated Moms, it's just a suggestion. If you really don't have time to do all the chores listed for the day, you don't have to feel guilty that you didn't get them done. With all of my health problems, there is no way I can do every chore, every day but that is ok. I just do the ones that I am able to do and move on. If you do have the energy and the time to do them all, then you would probably have a really neat and tidy home, but even doing part of the list helps keep things organized. The think the I like the most is, it helps remind of the things that I really do need to get done towards the home and I do those things. To see examples of this product, go to the website. Click on the button to get there:

Organization

Wed, 16 Sep 2009 10:32:00 -0500

Does anyone else here have a hard time staying organized??? Geesh! I think I'm doing pretty well, but some days I just feel very swamped. Ok, actually some weeks I feel very swamped. lol!!! The last two weeks I don't know if I'm coming or going!!! lol!!! Last week, first the holiday and taking a day off from school threw me off, then on Thursday it was Little One's 7th birthday. I feel like I got very little done. Then this week started off with a playdate/ PE time on Monday and we weren't able to fit school it. All this is creating havoc on my schedule!!! lol!!!
I also need to ask for prayer for Little One. He's really having a tough time. We now believe he may have OCD and Tourettes and well, it is REALLY interfering in his life and ours. We are hoping to get him into a doctor that can maybe give us some answers soon. I think that is another reason, I just feel out of sorts right now.

Here are some things that help me stay somewhat organized:

My Home Management Binder
My Homeschool Planner

What I need to use more:

My WAHM Organizer
My Special Needs Child Medical Binder (I guess I'm going to have to start updating this again *sigh*)

And soon it will be time for:

My ChristmasOrganizer (Hard to believe it's getting so close!)

If you have not made a Home Management Binder, I really suggest you do so. It is really helpful in keeping yourself organized. Here is where you can learn more about them: http://www.squidoo.com/home-management-binder

Hitting the Books

Mon, 7 Sep 2009 16:11:00 -0500

The kids and I were kinda sick this last week, so we didn't get at as much work done as I would have liked, but we still did get some accomplished.

PC really had a rough week. He just kinda had trouble getting his work done, so I really don't have anything to show of his. He did get ahead some in math which is great. He just finished the chapter on factoring. He has also started reading the book Island of the Blue Dolphin. I don't think he likes it much especially since the only thing he wrote on his notebooking page is, "This is the most boring book I have ever read." lol!!! Needless to say, he had to do the page over. I doubt he really feels that strongly on it though, I think he was just in a bad mood at the time.

Little One read The Knight at Dawn (Magic Tree House) and Raising Yoder's Barn and did interactive notebook pages for them.

Here is a picture of his interactive notebook for The Knight at Dawn:

Here is a picture of the interactive notebooking page of Raising Yoder's Barn:

To learn how to do an interactive notebook, go to: http://www.squidoo.com/interactive-notebook You can get resources for The Knight at Dawn here: http://www.squidoo.com/magictreehouse-the-knight-at-dawn-study-guide and resources for Raising Yoder's Barn here: http://www.squidoo.com/raising-yoders-barn-picture-book-study. There are more pictures on the resource pages.

For resources on other picture books, go here: http://www.squidoo.com/picture-book-studies
For more resources on other Magic Tree House books, go here: http://www.squidoo.com/magic-tree-house-study-guides

On Saturday, we went to a Colonial Days fair called The Fair at New Boston that was really fun and educational. The people there were in character and were willing to answer questions about their jobs and the things they do. We also got to see a battle reenacted which the boys loved!!! Little One was so excited, he came home and watched Liberty Kids. lol!!! So now we are studying the colonial days. Here are some resources: http://www.squidoo.com/colonial-days-study.

Pictures from our day at the Fair at New Boston (Click on them to see them enlarged):

Here are some things I hope to accomplish this week:

Work on our Artist Scrapbook: http://www.squidoo.com/artstudyscrapbook
Study Van Gogh: http://www.squidoo.com/kids-study-art-van-gogh
Start on our nature studies: http://www.squidoo.com/naturestudywithchildren
Start on our animal studies: http://www.squidoo.com/animal-study-for-homeschoolers

For more Weekly Wrap Up, visit: My Heart's Desire blog.

Have a great week!!!

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Fri, 28 Aug 2009 13:38:00 -0500

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