Va Homeschool Mom For God

Feb. 20, 2008

Next Unit Study/New Chapter in Homeschool

Well, the poll results finally came out with a winner in the end. The most votes were for the Rocks and Minerals Unit so that is the unit that I will be working on next. I almost have my Exploring the Deep Sea & Its Creatures done, just needs some formatting fixed. I should have it done by the end of today, Lord willing.

I never thought that this would happen to our family but there is now a new chapter on the horizon for my 10 year old son and our homeschool. We have strongly suspected that my son has some type of learning disability for a long time. My friend who has a son with Aspergers Syndrome (sp?), among many other learning disabilities (or "learning uniquenesses", as she likes to call them), has been observing him and I have been telling her things that have been going on in his school time and just every day life. She strongly suspects that he has Aspergers and from what I have read about it so far, I do too. I am not sad about it or worried about it. God made him the way he is and loves him. So do I. I am just having to readjust the way I teach and have to fit in more teaching time with him to make things easier on him and to help him learn to his fullest potential. I am going to continue with doing unit studies with him as i know that these work well with Aspergers children. I also have put a book on hold about homeschooling children with this "disability" from my local library which I am very anxious to start reading. I found out that it is suspected that Einstein had this so who knows, maybe I have another Einstein on my hands!

If anyone has a child with this, please feel free to post a comment or send me an email with any advice or encouragement that you would like to share. I would love to hear from you!

Have a great day!

Blessings!

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Feb. 14, 2008

17 Hours Left on Poll and Still a Three Way Tie

I still have a tie on my poll for the next unit study topic in my series of unit studies. You will find it on my unit study blog (URL posted in my last entry). I would love to break this three way tie, so if you haven't voted, please do. Or if you are not interested in purchasing, what unit study would you want to see if you were?

I will greatly appreciate anyone willing to go and vote, thank you.

Blessings!

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Feb. 13, 2008

My Next Unit Study Topic Poll/Hello again!

Wow, it has been a long time since i have written on here! I have just been so busy and had no time to write on my blog here. Basically we have been plugging along with our schoolwork, faithful to do the 3Rs and doing our Japan unit when we can. It is almost time to move on to our Easter Unit, which is for sale on my website, and to put away our study on Japan. So I am trying to get in as much as possible this week so we can wrap it up. Plus we have our Valentine's Day Party with our church's homeschool group tomorrow morning and our outreach to the local nursing home in the afternoon. Not to mention working hard on my unit studies, trying to get them out as soon as I can. I am almost finished with my Deep Sea one and am currently trying to figure out what topic to do next. Which brings me to the following.....

I have a poll on my unit study blog that is getting to wrap up with one day left to go. It is a poll on what others would like to see as my next unit topic. Currently it is a 3 way tie and I need some others to vote to hopefully break that tie. Even if you are not sure about whether you want to buy one of my units, please go and vote. it would really help me out and give me some direction with my next units.

Hip2Homeschool Unit Studies Blog

Hope that everyone has an awesome day! I am off to get my haircut and run some special Valentine's Day errands this afternoon.

Blessings!

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Jan. 31, 2008

Just a Reminder/ Our Homeschool Day

Just a reminder to anyone who may be interested in checking out or buying my unit studies, that you can go onto my other blog at hip2homeschoolunits.blogspot.com and sign up for an Email Subscription for my blog to keep you up to date on units that I am working on and new units for sale. I am almost done with the Easter one and will start working on the Deep Sea soon.

Well, we finally got to our Japan unit yesterday and had a lot of fun. Something funny happened as the kids were writing their information onto their notebooking page on the Japanese Tea Ceremony. My 11 year old didn't see the comma in the following sentence: "As they are waiting for the water for the tea to start boiling, the guests are served a small snack." He looked puzzled and said, "They boil their guests in the boiling water for the tea?!" We got a big chuckle out of that one and that was the joke the entire day in this house.

We also read about kokeshi dolls as well as the tea ceremony at my 11 year old's request. My husband made them some for Christmas and that was the big hit. The kids colored a flag of Japan before we read about the above. Of course that didn't take long since the only color on the flag is the red circle in the middle!

Today we are going to try to get to it again. This time I am thinking of reading about the Kabuki theater and the Noh Play. Then watching a little of one on the web.

Have a great day!

Blessings!

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Jan. 29, 2008

Charlie and The Chocolate Factory Is Completed

I finally finished Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and have already sold 3 e-books for it. It took a while but I finally got it done. Now I am beginning to type in my Easter study lesson plans and finishing the lesson plans (on paper) for The Deep Sea and Its Creatures. If anyone is interested, you can go to my unit study blog at

http://hip2homeschoolunits.blogspot.com

I also have a sign up for an email list to receive unit updates on my blog via email.

We are going to get to our Japan Unit this week. I am determined. Yesterday was our weekly park day, so we just did the 3 Rs like we usually do. Even though it was cold, we really enjoyed our time out yesterday. Got to get that "socialization" in.

Of course, the kids didn't get cold until towards the end of our time there. I even had to reprimand my 8 year old for taking her shoes and socks off at the park! My 13 year old was having so much fun with his friend that I practically had to drag him away from the park. He was running around and climbing trees so he wasn't cold. But I sure was!

It really hit me this morning that my oldest will be done this year! I can't believe that the time has flown by so quickly! So now I am frantically trying to get her transcript together. And then there's the burning question, "Did we do enough?" She wants to go to cosmetology school so we are looking into that for her as well. It can cost as much as a 4 year college! But I know that if the Lord wants her to be one, the funds will be there somehow.

Funny how I totally got off the topic in the title above. Oh well.

Blessings!

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Jan. 24, 2008

Subscribe to My Blog Via Email for Unit Study Updates

This is now available on my unit study blog at hip2homeschoolunits.blogspot.com

If you are interested, just go and sign up. Updates will be added when units are done and ready to sell. I will also share about where I am in the units that I am working on.

We have been having a hard time getting to our Japan unit lately with all the efforts that I am putting into getting this business started. Lately all we have been getting to is reading, writing, spelling, and math. At least we are getting to that, right? I hope to resume the unit next week or maybe get some done tomorrow. It has been a neat study so far. Plus the kids have been doing their assignments for our homeschool group's newsletter/newspaper and the kids have been making things to sell to raise money for an orphanage in Hungary. Our Pastor goes there every year on a missions trip and the kids do this to raise money for him to give them when he goes.

Maybe our week has been more productive than I thought.

Blessings!

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Jan. 19, 2008

New Hip2Homeschool Unit Study Website

Well, it is finally done, up and running. My husband finished putting together my website last night and here is the URL.

http://www.thebobzone.com/hiphome.htm

Do not be thrown off by the "bobzone.com". My husband and I had just decided that for the time being it would be good just to put up my site on his web domain until I can afford to get my own. My blog at Blogspot.Com will continue to be where I will inform everyone on what units I am working on and when units become available.

So come on over and pay us a visit and look at the new site. I have the following units for sale on the site: The Middle Ages, Japan, and Celebrating Christmas: the Traditions of the Holiday. Soon to come are the following, in the order that they will be done: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Easter, and The Deep Sea and Its Creatures. I may do the one on the deep sea creatures first depending on when I have the Charlie unit all done. I want the Easter one to be done 2 weeks before Easter, by March 7th.

We are in the process of doing the Japan Unit ourselves, although it has been very hard to get to it lately with so many distractions! Then again, what home school doesn't have those? This has been forcing me to not do it according to all of the lesson plans. I have been rearranging a little to accommodate what is going on with our day.

Hope that everyone is having a great weekend!

Blessings!

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Jan. 4, 2008

My Unit Studies

I have been working hard on my unit studies lately. Having a Christmas break really gave me more time to work on them as my intention is to sell them online in the next month. I have started a blog on Blogspot. Com exclusively for sharing about my unit studies, the progress of getting them done and when they will be ready to sell. Hubby has planned to make me a page on his site, designing it for me and everything. That is where I will probably do the actual selling. All these things are still being worked out in my mind. I hope that this will be a good year for me, as my goal is to get this business off of the ground so that I can help out with the day to day finances of having a big family.

I hope that everyone is having a great beginning to the New Year. I haven't written my first check yet, so I have been wondering if I will remember to write 2008 and not 2007! We have had a slow start back to school this past week. We resumed our school year this past Wednesday after a week break. We are doing the unit that I wrote about Japan, which I will be selling online when I get things up and running. This topic is a passion of my 11 year old son and he was the inspiration of writing it. We did a notebooking page on Japan, designed by Molly over at Homeschool With Index Cards in her Disney World pages file, on which we recorded the information that we learned form a children's atlas that I had bought at Walmart. Yesterday, they colored a picture of a Japanese kimono and they wrote from a writing prompt asking them to close their eyes and imagine life in Japan, then describe it. We haven't dug in as deeply as I was hoping but we will get a better start on Monday. The first week back after a break is always the hardest for us.

I am totally re-evaluating what we are using for math this year and am going to go in a different direction. I need something that will give them the ability to do a page on their own without as much help from me after I explain to them the concept that he or she is learning about. With trying to start a business i really need a program or workbook that is self-learning instead of so teacher intensive. So I have ordered a workbook of Horizons Math for my 10 year old son and plan to buy a couple of workbooks for the older 2 boys this weekend. Nothing fancy, just something straight to the point without a lot of repetition on concepts that they already know, which is especially what my 12 year old wants. That is why Saxon Math just doesn't work for him. I also plan to supplement with living books and online interactive math games and pages.

Here is the URL to my other blog for my unit studies below:

Hip2Homeschool Unit Studies

God bless and have a great rest of the school year!

Blessings!

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Jan. 1, 2008

Happy New Year!!

I just wanted to wish you all a very

Happy New Year!

May your 2008 be blessed! This New Year brings some awesome changes to my life (for the good) and I am really looking forward to a bright and prosperous New Year.

Blessings!

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Dec. 24, 2007

Merry Christmas!!

I just wanted to wish a Merry Christmas to everyone! And remember the true "Reason for the Season" - JESUS!

Let us worship and adore Him!

Also, wishing you a joyous and prosperous New Year (if I don't write in before then)!

Blessings!

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Dec. 18, 2007

Stout Family Benefit

I just received an email this morning about the benefit for Betsy Stout and her family to help them after an unfortunate fire took their house and most of their belongings. If you can afford to, please go and contribute by giving a donation for which you will receive a package of wonderful homeschool resources. Here is the link:

http://www.academieguertinhomeschool.com/Benefit/Stoutindex.html

Here is the package information:

There are 3 different levels of donations accepted at this time. For your gifts, please see the lists below.

Donations of < 24.99$ - Receive Package 1
·             Bahama Blessing's Holiday Notebook
·             Academie Guertin Homeschool's Ultimate Christmas
       Coloring Pages
·             Kim Mills' Shawl Pattern and Rabbit Cookbook
·             Cindy Rushton's Christ Centered Christmas
·             Rachel Larkin's El Roi Package Collection
·             Tammy Cardwell's See I Told Me So
·             Lilliput Station's Noteworthy News pages
·             Notebooking Pages' Nature Pages
·             Homeschooling with Index Cards' Flashcard Frenzy

Donations of 25 - 49.99$ - Receive Package 1 plus Package 2

·             Academie Guertin Homeschool's Ultimate
       Coloring Package 1
·             Massage Oils, Body Spray and Lipgloss recipes
·             Stephanie's Ultimate Herbal Teas
·             Tammy Cardwell's Homeschool that Handles the
       Hard Times
·             Académie Guertin's Basket Weaving and Quilting
       101

Donations of 50$ or more - Receive Package 1, 2 plus Package 3

·             504 Bath and Body Recipes
·             Mega Scoubidou Book
·             Practical Lessons in Yoga
·             Académie Guertin Homeschool's Ultimate Christmas
       Package

I know that Betsy will really appreciate it.

God bless everyone and have a Merry Christmas!

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Dec. 14, 2007

Japan Unit & More

Right now I am working on our Japan unit study that we will be doing after the Christmas season is over and we go back to our homeschooling after a week break for Christmas. I always like to do a unit on something that is fun and that my children want to learn about as we get back into the swing of things. Originally we were doing The Weaver Volume 1 but are no longer using it. I really missed writing my own units and it just wasn't our style. I just couldn't get into the groove of it because it just wasn't me. I love to get my creative juices flowing and do my own thing. So originally, I had planned the Japan unit because I wanted to do our own unit about an area of interest to ease us back into schooling after the New Year. Now I am doing it just because we want to do it. I am also planning on selling this unit after I am done with this one and the one on the Middle Ages that I had planned to do. I am really excited at the prospect of selling unit studies. I love to do them and what is better than making money doing something that you love to do!

We are continuing our A Christmas Carol unit. Yesterday we read about the Christmas traditions of Victorian England and the kids did a couple of notebooking pages on that. One was a page on 19th Century Christmas traditions and the other was listing their Christmas traditions and the ones that we have today. I gave the kids a daily writing prompt (one on Christmas) and they wrote their assignment on a notebooking page. They also did a Christmas themed math worksheet and they had to silent read. Today we re going to read Stave 3 of the book because we haven't been able to get to it all week. We are also going to do notebooking pages on Christmas Treats and the Foods Of a Victorian Christmas. The to top it all off, they will draw a picture of the Ghost of Christmas Present and make Christmas cookies and a Gingerbread house. So on that note I better get going!

Blessings!

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Dec. 13, 2007

Prayers for the Stout Family

A dear lady and her family lost their home to fire this week. Betsy has been a dear online friend of mine for about a year. She and her family are now in the process of "picking up the pieces" of their lives and putting it back together. They are in need of many items that you can find a list of on the following blog link:

http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/gidget/

Through the kindness of people from their church and others in their area, they now have a home to live in while theirs is being rebuilt. They are also receiving food, furniture, and many other supplies that they need. But they are still in need of things so if you have anything to give on the list provided through Sonia's blog above, please send it. Betsy also lost all their homeschool curriculum and supplies. She lost their portfolios and notebooks from the past 10 years and all of their precious artwork as well as curriculum. As fellow homeschool moms I am sure that we can all imagine what that would be like. So if you have any of those items that she is looking for, please send those as well. I know that she would be really grateful.

Most of all, let's send our prayers up to heaven for this sweet woman and her family. I truly believe in the power of prayer. It can move mountains!

A benefit is being put together for them and I will post it on my blog when it is completed and ready to go.

Know that all of our prayers are with you, Betsy.

Blessings!

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Dec. 10, 2007

Christmas joy!

I don't know about you all but I am really in the Christmas spirit! We got our tree on Saturday evening and put it up yesterday to decorate it. Took out my Christmas village figurines and the nutcrackers and put those up all around our house. And, of course, our nativity set is up as well. I just love to decorate for the holidays and do our Christmas unit. We all love this time of year in our house.

The sweetest thing this time of year at church is when we gather in the sanctuary on Christmas Eve for the Christmas message and to watch A Charlie Brown Christmas, listening as Linus tell the Christmas Story, the true meaning of the holiday. Then we gather in the children's ministry room and have cookies and cocoa, fellowship abounding. We look forward to it every year.

Those of you in the midwest are in my prayers. I hope that the ice storms have not caused too much damage in your area. We went through an ice storm when we lived in Vermont. Didn't have electricity for 4 days afterwards! Boy was that rough! Hope that everyone is okay.

Today we are doing little school with so many errands to go on. But the kids are notebooking the Christmas Traditions that we have done so far and I will probably read the next Stave of A Christmas Carol. Tomorrow we will read about Victorian Christmas traditions. I have also been working on the next unit that I am writing on the Middle Ages and having a lot of fun with it.

Have a happy day!

Blessings!

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Dec. 7, 2007

Felt Like a Change

I decided to go ahead and change the look of my blog this morning. I was getting bored of the same old thing and really wanted to change things up a bit. Hope that everyone likes it. I know that I do. The only thing that went wrong is that I lost my link images to Notebooking Pages.Com, Notebooking Nook, my CM artist study Yahoo group, and Kate's blog updates on Noah. Now I need to do that all over again which is a bummer but not the end of the world. It is just back to the old drawing board.

Hope that everyone is enjoying their week. Today we are going to learn what a Victorian Christmas was like and study how the carol, O Little Town of Bethlehem came to be written and make a banner of Bethlehem to go up on the wall for Christmas as our craft. Then we are going to notebook and make paper snowflakes, which was a Victorian Christmas craft and one that is still around today. We are really enjoying our unit on A Christmas Carol this year. It has been a lot of fun.

Blessings!

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