Hi, I'm a homeschooling mom of 3 wonderful children. Our middle child is special needs and attends a conventional school. I have resisted doing a blog for a very long time and am now deciding to get with the program and move into this century! We have a very eclectic style of homeschooling that includes unit studies, living books, outdoor exploration, field trips, and loosely following the Charlotte Mason and Classical approaches. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 7 May 2009 20:17:00 -0500 Thu, 7 May 2009 20:17:00 -0500 I've moved my blog to a new location. If you are interested in free homeschool resources, come check me out at: http://worldofdicovery.blogspot.com/ http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/686753/ Thu, 7 May 2009 20:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/686753/ Ok, I have to admit... it has been ages since I've posted anything to the blog. I can say I was distracted with trying to complete my homeschool year, I was ill, and that I was just too tired to blog, and all of that would be true, but I think the biggest factor was managing and finding time to sit down and post. Well, let me catch you up on some things that have been going on with us. We took a trip out of town for about a month, and the children had a great time, we have been on a few trips (Assateague State Park, Brookside Butterfly Gardens and Chestertown) since our new school year began. The children are excited about their studies. I am teaching a Science class to children in my coop. We are using Apologia Science, Young Explorers by J. Fulbright, and can I just say we are loving it! We combine the book with Notebooking, Lapbooking and videos from Discovery School. The Children will be working on what is called a lapbook journal. They are also enjoying Saxon Math, Story of the World vol. 2, Geography, Grammar, and lots of reading! Anyway, it's late and I need to get to bed. I will post some more later and also try to upload some great photos. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/594058/ Tue, 23 Sep 2008 00:14:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/594058/ Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 NIV A helping hand, what does it mean? Well it can mean a variety of things to people depending on their culture and/or their upbringing. It could mean saying a prayer for a loved one, a friend, or a stranger; it could mean lending a listening ear to someone who just needs someone to listen to them. I have been thinking a lot about helping hands lately. The economy is so troubled right now, and every day I keep hearing about how tough it is for everyone to survive with the gas prices, the stock market problems, and people losing their jobs. The election is on everyone's mind, and frankly people are just worried about the direction we are choosing to go in as a nation. Should we worry? Should we be afraid? Nothing wrong with having healthy worries, but I truly believe we need to put our faith in God, know that he has blessings ready to pour on our lives...Be still and know that he is God. He is our shelter in these times of storm. Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you. Take therefore no thought for the morrow: for the morrow shall take thought for the things of itself. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof. Matthew 6:31-34 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/514879/ Fri, 11 Apr 2008 20:30:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/514879/ Hello all! Once again, up way too late! (Rantings of a sleep-deprived mother :-) ). This is my last post for right now, but just thought I'd post this cool list of homeschool-related sites. Some are paid services, but many are free. I have a lot more links, but I won't overwhelm you tonight. I'm going to post the links here...Why? Because I can't figure out how to set up a section where I can just put useful links without it showing up on the main page first...sorry, I appear to be truly blogger challenged . I also know that some people who may be reading this is wondering why I don't have any pictures posted of myself and my family, and my only answer is.... it really took me a while to warm up to the whole idea of blogging, so I'll just take it in baby steps for now, bear with me as I adjust my comfort zone . Now, as promised, here's a list of 100 Top Homeschool related sites (ok...there might only be 99 ). sidenote: if some of the links don't work, check to make sure there aren't any extra spaces in the address. For some reason, sometimes when I copy and paste, the program inserts extra spaces. Reference Gateway Educational Materials http://thegateway.org Ed Helper http://www.edhelper.com Learning Page http://www.learningpage.com Britannica http://www.britannica.com Discovery School http://school.discovery. com Educator's Reference Desk http://www.eduref.org Internet Public Library http://www.ipl.org Merit Badge Research Center http://www.meritbadge.com New York Times Learning Network http://www.nytimes.com/learning ThinkQuest http://www.thinkquest.org Miscellaneous Autism Today http://www.autismtoday.com BBC Online Learning http://www.bbc. co.uk/learning/ subjects/ basicskills. shtml Ideal Lives http://www.ideallives.com Tutor.com http://www.tutor. com Math Ask Dr. Math http://mathforum.org/dr.math Math Worksheet Generator http://www.TheMathWorksheetSite. com KidsBank http://www.kidsbank .com Math Goodies.com http://www.mathgoodies.com Math Playground http://www.mathplayground.com Mega-Mathematics http://www.c3.lanl.gov/ mega-math Purple Math http://www.purplemath.com Web Math http://www.webmath.com Science BrainPOP http://www.brainpop.com Chem4Kids http://www.chem4kids.com Exploratorium http://www.exploratorium.edu HowStuffWorks http://www.howstuffworks.com Imagine the Universe! http://imagine. gsfc.nasa.gov InnerBody http://www.InnerBody.com Kids Dig Reed http://www.kidsdigreed.com Life Beyond Earth http://www.pbs.org/lifebeyondea rth Science Friday http://www.sciencefriday.com/ kids NASA Kids http://kids.msfc.nasa.gov Neuroscience for Kids http://faculty. washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html Nine Planets http://www.nineplanets.org Ocean Planet Home Page http://seawifs. gsfc.nasa. gov/ocean_planet.html Sci4Kids http://www.ars.usda.gov/ is/kids StarChild http://starchild.gsfc.nasa.gov The Electronic Zoo http://netvet.wustl.edu/e-zoo.htm The Franklin Institute: Learning Resources http://sln.fi.edu The MAD Scientist Network http://www.madsci.org The Yuckiest Site on the Internet http://yucky.kids.discovery.com Try Science http://www.tryscience.org Arts & Crafts Arts Workshop http://www.childrensmuseum.org/artsworkshop/ index.html ArtsEDGE http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org Art Lessons for All Grades http://www.princetonol.com/groups/iad/lessons/ lessons.html Inside Art http://www.eduweb.com/insideart Kinder Art http://www.kinderart.com Crayola http://www.crayola.com Kids Space http://www.kids-space.org World Kids Network http://www.worldkids.net Reading Starfall http://www.starfall.com How To Learn http://www.howtolearn.com Bartleby.com http://www.bartleby.com Children's Literature Web Guide http://www.acs.ucalgary.ca/~dkbrown Pink Monkey http://www.pinkmonkey.com Project Gutenberg http://www.gutenberg.net Writing ABC Teach http://www.abcteach.com CRAYON - Create Your Own Newspaper http://crayon.net MidLink Magazine http://www.cs.ucf.edu/~ MidLink Take Our Word.com http://www.takeourword.com The Write Site http://www.writesite.org What Makes a Good Story? http://www.learner.org/exhibits/ literature Word Central http://www.wordcentral.com Geography and Virtual Travel Amazon Interactive http://www.eduweb.com/amazon. html Colonial Williamsburg: Electronic Field Trips http://www.history.org/trips CyberBee http://www.cyberbee.com Global Online Adventure Learning Site http://www.goals.com/Index.htm The Jason Project http://www.jasonproject.org Virtual Field Trips http://www.uen.org/utahlink/ tours Xpeditions @ National Geographic http://www.nationalgeographic.com/xpeditions HyperHistory Online http://www.hyperhistory.com/ onlinen2/ Historyn2/ a.html Justice for Kids and Youth http://www.usdoj.gov/kidspage K-12 Africa Guide http://www.sas.upenn.edu/ African_Studies/ Home_Page/ AFR_GIDE. html Lewis and Clark http://www.pbs.org/lewisandclark Life in the Middle Ages http://www.kyrene.k12.az.us/ schools/brisas/ sunda/ma/ mahome.htm New Perspectives on the West http://www.pbs.org/weta/ thewest States and Capitals http://www.50states.com The American Civil War Homepage http://sunsite.utk.edu/civil- war The Canada War Museum http://www.civilization.ca/cwm/ kidsection/ cwmindexeng. html The Civil War Homepage http://www.civil- war.net The Oregon Trail http://www.isu.edu/~trinmich/ Oregontrail.html WestWeb http://scholar. library.csi. cuny.edu/ westweb/noframes /main.html White House for Kids http://www.whitehouse.gov/kids Homeschooling About Homeschooling http://www.homeschooling.about.com Homeschool Learning Network http://www.homeschoollearning.com/approaches/ A to Z Home's Cool http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/ Homeschool Blogger http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/home. php Homeschooling Forms http://www.donnayoung.org Homeschool Oasis http://www.homeschooloasis.com/ The Well Trained Mind http://www.welltrainedmind.com/ Educational Games I know that http://www.iknowthat.com (my dc love this one) Study Stack http://www.studystack.com Family Fun http://www.familyfun.com Teach With Movies http://www.teachwithmovies.org The Smart Guide to Financial Aid http://www.finaid.com Fun Brain http://www.funbrain.com Study Spanish http://www.studyspanish.com By Kids For Kids http://www.bkfk.com/ Family Travel http://www.familytravel.com http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/513773/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:40:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/513773/ I don't know about any of you, but when I first decided to homeschool, I went out and bought all of this expensive curriculum that I just KNEW my children had to have! Sadly, many months later (and many dollars later), I came to the conclusion that my children have different learning styles and the curriculum I bought was not the best fit for the children! What do you do in a situation like that? Go out and spend even more money on something you hope and pray will work?..... Ney, not I! I decided that the best thing for me to do would be to research the web and find some sites that might have things that I could use in my teachings. I had NO idea there would be so many different resources from me to pull from! To make life easier on you, I have compiled an extensive list of homeschool resources that I have found that I think may help some of you. The list is pretty extensive, so I will break the lists into parts and post as I can. Here's the first list: http://oldfashioned education. com/index. html http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/methods/UnitsFree.htm (free unit studies)  http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/  http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/materials/Free.htm   http://homeschooling.gomilpitas.com/weblinks/lessons.htm   http://librivox.org/  (free audio books)   http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ Well, these ought to get your feet wet. If you want to stay with the blog while you check out the links, right click on the link and open it in a new tab. Next post... 100 Top Homeschool related sites http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/513766/ Thu, 10 Apr 2008 00:17:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/513766/ What is the best way to teach science? I'm sure plenty of people  will chime in with their own opinions, and I'd just like to say that there really isn't any right or wrong way to teach it. I am what my darling daughter pleasantly calls a "science geek". I subject them to long walks in nature where we find cool bugs like this plant hopper. Kitchen science which includes making makeshift volcanos out of baking soda and vinegar, making our own rock candy, and doing a study on bubbles that we make in our kitchen sink. The most important thing is to inspire children to have fun exploring the world around them, and that includes science. My niece called me a few weeks ago, and ok...I going to just say it...once again, the school systems have just squashed her imagination . Ok I'll explain what I mean. My darling niece is in the 5th grade, same as my dd, and she calls me for help with her homework (what she really wanted was for me to answer the questions  ). We started talking about the various questions and how to best answer them. I directed her to get some common household items she had and we did various experiments to solve the answers. She then says to me: Aunty this was so much fun. I hate science at school because all we do is read the textbook and take tests, we don't even have labs What????!!!!  Since when have they done away with Science labs? The schools today are so busy teaching to the test that they have killed the love of learning!!! Ok, I am getting off of my soap box now. If you prefer to teach from a textbook, I REALLY have to say that I LOVE the Exploring Creation series by Jeannie Fulbright. They are put out by Apologia Publishers. We did Astronomy in the fall and are now begining Botany. What wonderful books to teach young children very advanced concepts. I highly recommend. Whichever way you choose to teach science, I recommend the following websites to help you in your journey: http://www.jeanniefulbright.com/science.html http://www.answersingenesis.org/articles/ka http://www.sciencenetlinks.com/matrix.cfm http://www.canteach.ca/elementary/earthspace.html http://msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/uc/index.html (secular site, so parents please screen carefully. Many nice activities)   I will be pasting many more links in my homeschool links section soon. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/505410/ Wed, 26 Mar 2008 15:38:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/505410/ Have you ever struggled with teaching math, or with a child who learns differently from your other children? I belong to a wonderful community of homeschooling moms and I know the biggest compliant that I hear all the time is the feeling that the kids just aren't getting what they need for Math. Of course there are many wonderful Math products available: Math U See, Saxon Math, Singapore Math and others, but I have to tell you, I have found this DVD series of a wonderful Math Instructor. Math Tutor DVD These instructional DVD's are intended as a substitute for a live tutor, and contain hours of problems, worked out step-by-step by a clear and patient narrator. Many basic and advanced topics of mathematics are covered, including fundamental addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division, fractions, polynomials, algebra, trigonometry, even calculus. My darling children have greatly increased their mathematical abilities. This series is great! A couple of times a week or every day if you prefer, and you will notice a difference. Some people use this in place of instructing (it's like having a tutor in your home), some use it to reinforce the concepts learned. I like it because it offers lots of examples, isn't dry and best yet... it doesn't break the bank!!!  http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/497401/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 14:06:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/497401/ Well, it's been a long journey to get here, but we are finally here! I can't believe it took this long to decide to blog! For those of you who have been blogging for a while, please feel free to send some recommendations, advice, or just a friendly hello. Well, a little about us: We are a blended homeschool family of five, our oldest and youngest are homeschooled and our middle child attends public school, We believe in Christ as our Savior and strive to live our lives glorifying his purpose for us!! The children would probably discribe their Mom as a person who's sole pupose is to make them completely WACKO, but that is truly only ONE of my goals ! This is our second year of homeschooling, and I have to say I really admire those who have homeschooled from the beginning. It's really difficult having to deprogram and decompress children who have been taught outside of the home (any of you moms out there know what I mean?) I have always been convinced that I was called to teach the children at home, but didn't always feel the circumstances were right to pursue it (where was the trust?), but after being beat over the head time and time again by the spiritual hammer, my hubby and I finally decided to listen and keep the 2 who live with us full time at home. This has been a wonderful (and frustrating) journey of rediscovering the world through the children's eyes and I have noticed such a change in their personalities, academics and demeanor since we made the decision to bring them home. We have a pretty eclectic style of learning in our household (after trial and error and figuring out what DID NOT work). I like the Charlotte Mason philosophy and tend to take a more relaxed approach (ok,ok, I'm WORKING on trying to take a more relaxed approach ) to learning. We combine the concept of keeping lessons short, outside play, nature studies, living books, unit studies and lots of hands on projects, and Mom really tries to get a grip on reality that I don't have to make them do 8 hours a day of learning in a classroom in order for them to learn (no offense intended at all to those who choose to teach in classroom/school setting). We are looking forward to continuing this journey. Please keep us in your prayers and God Bless each and every one of you (...sounds a little like Tiny Tim... sorry! ) Michelle - somewhere in Maryland http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/497379/ Wed, 12 Mar 2008 13:18:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/worldofdiscovery/497379/