Websites For Homeschoolers

Here are some websites we really enjoy using in our daily homeschool journey...

Math Speed Drills

Starfall (Learn To Read)

Learn To Type For Kids

PBS Kids Electric Company (Phonics)

Spelling City

Preschool and Toddler Crafts

Multiplication Games

On-Line Spelling Bee

Lapbooking!

I have really wanting to get some more creative ideas going for the girls for homeschool. My personality is such that I tend towards workbooks and lots of reading, without a a lot of artistic projects. Of course, kids (especially girls) love to work with all sorts of colorful things and lace and beads, etc. So this year I vowed to come up with some more creative ways to learn.

After a lot of research and advice from other homeschooling moms, I decided to try lapbooking. If you have never heard of lapbooking, check out this link. There are lots of free resources all over the web including lots of tutorials on youtube and other video based websites.

Today we made our first lapbook and the girls LOVED it. I chose to teach them about the Full Armour of God (Ephesians 6:10 - 18) and it was the perfect topic for a lapbook. I got the basic idea for the project here and added a little of my own ideas to round it out.

I still don't have a digital camera so I can't show any pics at this time but when we do get a new camera I will be sure to upload some and continue to show pics of furure lapbook projects.

I am planning to make lapbooks to help my girls with their math facts as well as grammar rules. We also may do mini-lapbooks for each of the 50 united states.

Getting Ready To Start School

The summer seems to have passed by in a flash and next week we will be back to full time school again. It has been such a blessing to be able to take time off this year and regroup. We do so every year but for some reason this year, the time was much more appreciated.

I had posted our homeschool plans a few months ago but have since made some changes. After looking at our budget and our time each day I felt it better to go with some different publishers for various subjects which would allow my older girls to work more independently on some subjects while I work with reading and math with my soon-to-be 5 year old.

That being said, I posted the new plan in the left sidebar. The daily schedule and chores will stay the same.

Hope everyone is enjoying their summer!

Homeschool Convention 2009

We were blessed to be able to attend out states annual homeschool convention over Friday and Saturday. It was a lot of fun and there was so much to see, check out and to learn. We met up with a lot of old friends as well which was a true blessing.

This year our keynote speaker was Dr. Voddie Baucham. If you have never heard Dr. Baucham speak, check out this video. Dr. Baucham also has a website with lots more info and videos.

Saturday Morning Chit Chat

I'm so proud of my girls! They have helped me keep the house clean all week so now today we are going to relax, do hair and watch a movie together. I'm not sure what the movie will be yet but they have quite a collection of DVD's so I'm sure it will be something fun :0)

For dinner I am planning to make homemade noodles and ground beef stroganoff. Maybe a salad too if I can find some lettuce in the fridge.

Tomorrow VBS starts so the girls are extra excited today.

My parents will be here on Thursday for a visit. They are staying until Sunday and going to our homeschool convention with us, so that will be fun too.

I just started reading a book called "The Metabolic Typing Diet". I'm really excited to see how the principals in this particular book will help us in our continued quest towards good health and eating.

Well, I have a stinky 2 year old here so I had better go for today.

Praying everyone's weekend is blessed!

Making progress!

All is going well here as we begin our "prep week". I am so excited to get going with a new year of homeschool so I thought all the shelves and boxes and things should reflect our anticipation :0) They sure were a mess!

We got a great start today and got one entire book shelf cleaned off and organized. I also cleaned off and am almost finished organizing the "teacher desk".

I am about 2/3 of the way done with my list of books and supplies we will be needing to buy. I have had to make some changes to our plans since my last post so I will post our new plans soon. I am going to buy a lot less at the start of this year and add more as we need it. I went WAY overboard last year and we still have things we didn't get to finish up.

We did a major sorting of everyones clothes last week and now just about everything is washed and folded or hung up. It feels so nice to have things more in order.

Yesterday I made up a batch of homemade laundry soap. My husband happened to be home and he was amazed that I was MAKING laundry soap. LOL! I explained to him how much money it is saving us and how little is needed. He had never noticed this new kind of soap in our laundry room because we still have about 1/2 a bottle of liquid detergent left whenever he does a load he just grabs that.

Yesterday I also made up a huge pot of refried beans. We had burritos last night and will have them again tonight (my family could eat burritos for every meal and be happy, LOL). Last this week I am going to make up some meatballs for the freezer.

I was going to do some baking today but the temperature is supposed to top 110 so I think that will wait till tomorrow morning when it's a bit cooler.

I pray you are all having an enjoyable day!

Happy 4th of July!

I was just looking at my "To-Do" list here in the left sidebar and realized how fast the summer is passing by! We intended to start back to school on a full schedule as of the second week of August. I really need to get moving if I am going to get all my items finished in time!

Today we are making preparations for July 4th. There will be a fireworks display in the next town over from us so we will be attending that. Since my husband has to work tomorrow we will be getting dinner ready while he is at work. We don't have a grill at this time so I will be doing an indoor version of cookout food :0) Hot dogs, a potato casserole in the crock pot as well as potato salad, veggies and some cookies and ice cream. The girls are excited, they didn't get to see any fireworks last year so this year is just that much more exciting!

Today I have a bunch of little items to tend to like a few phone calls to make, laundry to fold and a little research on some homeschool items I am considering purchasing for next year.

Next week we will be spending most of our time in preparation for the week to follow. The third week of July brings VBS for the girls, a music concert we have been long awaiting to attend, our annual homeschool convention and a visit from my parents. It will be a busy and exciting week!

I probably won't be blogging a lot in the days to come but I will be back as soon as life settles back down a bit.

Praying everyone has a blessed and safe 4th of July!