Homeschooling Haven - Homeschool Blogger

Slow and Steady - Getting Ready

Sun, 17 Aug 2008 06:21:00 -0500

It is mid August and slowly but very surely we are getting ready for the new homeschool year. Portfolios have been completed, certificates filed away, and my oldest will be re-registered at NARS for his entry into ninth grade. He is very excited to begin his high school career and already has several high school credits completed. My younger boys are both entering the fifth grade and with the exception of extra help in reading and phonics for my nine year old, they are both doing very well.

My goals for the week are to order the last of my materials which is Math U See, run to staples for those fun new school supplies and start making plans for our 4H club. Most importantly I need to review my goals for my family at this time and remind myself the reasons why I am homeschooling. Academic achievements are important, especially for my two boys who aspire to attend the Naval and Coast Guard Academies. Along with their continuing academic successs I remind myself that a love of learning, a love of our Lord who we give all of the glory to for equipping us to homeschool and creating a family bond with memories and family values instilled are the true basis for our homeschool.

Field trips are fun and homeschool activities are enjoyable but as I sit with my coffee before church begins today I am looking forward to settling in as a family and let the learning happen.

lazy summer day

Tue, 22 Jul 2008 07:40:00 -0500

Good Morning everyone!

I am relaxing with a cup of coffee and listening to the quiet. The only sounds are the birds and a distant lawn mower and September seems blissfully far away. My boys will be awake shortly and we are expecting thunderstorms today and will finally experience a lazy day at home. Are your summers busy and fun filled too? It seems like the summer has been just as active as our school year. We will be catching up on our library summer reading today, breaking out the Legos and sipping some lemondade.

I have begun a new venture and became and Independent Avon Representative, remember the Avon Lady? Ding dong, Avon calling. It's been a fun and additional way to work from home and meet some great new people.

www.marysavon.net

My boys are now dreaming up home based businesses inspired by my hubby returning to his plumbing business. There is always something happening.

It doesn't make for lazy days, but at least it's been a quiet morning. I hope and pray that you all are well.

Take care and God Bless

Mary

Summertime

Thu, 5 Jun 2008 06:00:00 -0500

It is so close to summer, close enough for me, my younger two boys have finished up their school work, my oldest has about 10 days left and then we will be sendng his work to NARS. He is completing 8th grade this year but had taken primarily ninth grade course work and is very glad to have earned high school credits. He will be enrolled in NARS for 9th grade in September.

Even though the summer hasn't officially begun we are in a time off from school state of mind which makes finishing up really hard. It's going to be a busy summer and much of it is already spoken for. My oldest son will be going off the recruit trainings with his Sea Cadet group, we have the county fair with our 4H club, vacation bible school is coming up quickly at the end of June. I am hoping ot complete some of my course work towards my degree, lesson plan as much of my new 4H club year as possible, write a few more articles for associated content and I am building a homeschool art online website, slowly.

We will be doing a fun summer reading program, each child will have a subject to work in over the long hot weeks just to keep their skills up and before you know it we will be right back to September again.

Time goes by so quickly these days, I hope you all have a safe and happy summer, I'll check in now and then to keep up with friends here.

Take care,

Mary

Working from home and moving from ebay to OLA

Tue, 27 May 2008 11:05:00 -0500

Working at home for me has been a big part of our homeschooling. Aside from contributing to our family finances it has been an opportunity to teach my boys first hand how to manage their time, how to be self motivated and opereate a small business, manage inventory and keep books.

I have written in previous blogs about my efforts to work from home in order to continue homeschooling my family, and help out with the costs of activities and curriculum. I had struggled with the decision of what to do with my ebay business since during the past few months there had been some changes there and have decided to move my store out of ebay and into OLA

I don't know how many ebayers there are out there who may be stopping by my blog. I had been an ebayer for nine years and have become so discouraged with their changes in policy, fees and feedback. I am posting this note in my blog to all of my valued ebay customers who have shopped from my ebay store or subscribed to my site and to inform others who may be sharing a similar frustration that there is an alternative. I have closed my ebay store down and re-opened a new online auction house at onlineauction.com

My domain will now point to the new site

www.homeschoolinghaven.net

which is now an estore as part of

www.ola.com

Mary – homeschoolinghaven

If you would like to visit onlineauction.com and decide to become a founding member, please refer to the following promotional code

Promotional Code is: 39054AAA

Thank you, take care and God Bless

Prince Caspian and Catching Up

Sat, 19 Apr 2008 20:38:00 -0500

Oh my it's been awhile since I've been online to blog and socialize. I have been ebaying, wrapping up our school work and looking forward to gardening. We are finishing up with Farmer Boy which has taken longer than expected. Sometimes we end up in the complete opposite direction of where our plans for the day had begun. Reading a chapter in Farmer Boy about a nearly frozen corn crop in July led to all kinds of interesting other topic discussions about gardening, growing and weather. Especially unusual weather patterns.

Farmer Boy will continue but we have begun to read Prince Caspian also. My oldest son has read through all of the Narnia books several years ago. I have read the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe before we viewed the movie with my younger boys. We are now embarking on Prince Caspian, and while we haven't gotten very far in the book because my eyes are tired tonight, it is going to be very adventurous.

That's what's new here and I have been working very hard getting my ebay store in order. I cannot plant a vineyard like that wonderful Proverbs 31 woman, but I do believe that she would be an ebayer if she had had the opportunity. An industrious gal she was. I suppose my ebay store is my vineyard, at least I like to think of it that way. :)

I hope you all are well and having a pleasant evening, for it is now nearly 10 pm and time to go to bed. Take care and God Bless.

Mary

www.homeschoolinghaven.net

curriculum temptations

Fri, 21 Mar 2008 17:02:00 -0500

We are not quite finished up for the year....but soon. We school from August through May and really are counting down the days until summertime. The new school year catalogs have just arrived and although I had thought I was decided on my educational approach and well laid out plan, I am always so tempted by the nice new textbooks and workbooks with all of the lovely fill in the blanks.

It happens every year, colorful, shiny and tempting I order the workbooks, begin what I expect will be a banner year and before lunch on the first day of homeschool at least one of my children are in tears, or was that me?

I had just decided this morning that I was going to continue notebooking with my younger two boys who will be in 5th grade. We began notebooking with Apologia science making persoanalized astronomy notebooks. I plan to carry this idea through all of the subject in my unschoolerish way. It has greatly enhanced our homeschool to notebook and we will be making history and geography notebooks along with our copy work compositions and apologia study of botany.

But oh now the temptation of all the nice new textbooks, resist! I must resist and not be drawn in.

Some people are tempted by money, fame and glory......I just love a brand new textbook with sharpened number two pencils to go with it.

Looking forward to Easter Sunday

Wed, 19 Mar 2008 16:00:00 -0500

Hi everyone, I am so looking forward to Easter Sunday at my church. I am going to be having fun with the Sunday School kids. We will be reading a story "The Thornbush", and having a Resurrection Egg hunt. The children's choir is also singing at the church service, the song "Where you there?" Easter is by far my favorite holiday, although so early this year I am wondering if it will snow.

We have been so blessed as a family to have a wonderful church and have carried the Sunday School lessons over into our homeschool. This has been a great way to teach Bible my boys and they are learning that their Bible lessons are relevant to their lives everyday and not just for Sunday morning. Sunday School Choir and Youth Bell Choir have been our music education and the youth group activities have filled in for that all important socialization.

I hope everyone here is doing well and has a very Happy Easter.

Spring Fever

Tue, 4 Mar 2008 12:41:00 -0600

There are signs that spring is in the air here in NJ and although we just received a weather report that stormy days are coming, the past few have been absolutely beautiful. Too nice a day to stay in so we headed out for digging, swinging on the swingset and my farorite; planning our garden. Our daffodils, crocus and tulips are already coming up and I just hope that they survive until Easter without a frost coming in.

Al winter long I scour the seed catalogs and now I am ready to visit our local garden center. I have a small potters area in our shed and we will be taking inventory of terra cotta pots, work gloves, hand tools, and potting soil. If we start our plants indoors now they will also be ready to take to our county fair with our 4H club. I am planning an herb garden again this year along with our favorite sunflowers, cucumbers, tomatoes. We are looking forward to planting green beans, zucchini and eggplant too. I have always wanted to grow indian corn next our front door for a nice display in the fall, this year I am going to give it a try.

Each one of my boys has a garden plot and each has their favorites, marigolds, morning glories and zinnias are sure to make it to our garden again this year.

We have kept garden journals and I think we will do that again, I am anxious to start the apologia elementary science for botany with the boys, we are currently working through astronomy.

I wish I could say that spring fever leads me to start cleaning the house, decluttering I can do and those things are now on ebay but cleaning,...I'll get around to it when it rains or after everyone is asleep. On beautiful days I'd rather be in the garden.

A Birthday Party Games Article

Sat, 1 Mar 2008 20:33:00 -0600

As homeschoolers we have enjoyed many fun birthday parties with our fellow homeschooling friends. Some of them have been out in party venues such as martial arts school, chuck e chees and bowling alleys. Our favorite have been held right here at home in our own backyard.

Party places are fun but I often find that the simple things in life are truly the best and I hope to encourage this in my boys. When we look back at our scrapbooks and photographs we just love remembering the fun of having guests in our home and celebrating special times together.

I have written an article on assocaited content with the details of our favorite party games and appreciate so much anyone who is able to click through and read my article there, for I am not permitted to reprint it elsewhere.

Thanks so much everyone for the kind comments, click throughs and support I have received here at the homeschool blogger.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/632995/favorite_birthday_party_games.html

Farmer Boy

Thu, 28 Feb 2008 17:29:00 -0600

We have finally finished our adventures with Dorothy and the great and terrible Oz! My family agrees that the book was much better than the movie. We had also begun reading Farmer Boy by Laura Ingalls Wilder and had a wonderful time celebrating Almonzo Wilders actual birthday on February 13 with a johnny cake breakfast that Almonzo himself would have loved.

I have always loved the Little House books and it is so fun to read Farmer Boy, I had read it when my oldest was 8 years old and am reading it again with my younger boys. My oldest sits in and remembers the book, Almonzo is like an old friend.

They are amazed at the different lifestyle they lead and how much work was to be done in those days. We had read Little House in the Big Woods previously and my boys love the mischief and the details of the family life. I am hoping it will inspire them to write down the details about their own days as well.