Schoolhouse Expo Online - October 4-8 2010

It's back to homeschool time and registration is open for the online Schoolhouse Expo, October 4-8. It's five days of top homeschool speakers, fellowship, and fun door prizes.


Save $5 per ticket! Register between August 16 and midnight August 22, and you'll pay only $19.99. Plus you'll receive over $200 in free E-Books.

You'll be inspired by speakers including: Zan Tyler, Dr. Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright,Carol Barnier, Diana Waring, Todd Wilson, Davis Carman, Kim Kautzer, Lee Binz, and many more!

A special teen track is planned--the entire family will definitely want to listen to these special sessions. We've also planned a special focus on a topic that touches every homeschool--writing. Plus, an array of other topics that will inform and inspire you throughout your homeschooling years.


Don't forget, MP3 copies of each session comes with your LIVE event ticket.


Two special preconference shows on August 24 and September 21 with Dr. Jay Wile, Jeannie Fulbright, and Kim Kautzer!

Register starting 12:01 a.m. on Monday, August 16.

 The theme this fall is "Celebrate Homeschooling!" We're going to celebrate the unique blessings of homeschooling, the beginning of another school year, our families, and the freedom to tailor our children's education to best meet their needs.


If you cannot make the Live event, then the October Expo To Go is just your ticket! You'll reserve MP3s from all of the workshops. This week only, pay just $14.95!


You can visit either of these links to get more information.

http://www.schoolhouseexpo.com/

or

http://bit.ly/aWHFiL

Back to School 2009!!!!???!!!!

Well, it is just about to time to get back to school. We have had the busiest summer on record and I need a vacation from that, so back to school we must go!!! I really appreciated the article: Notice of Intent to homeschool from Little Blue School. We are just to busy to go to school. This article explains it all too well!

There are some great articles from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine available online and a free ebook, too. Follow the following links to find great articles:

Are Public Schools For Christian kids??Learn about how the public school system began, and by whom. What was the original intent of this system? As a Christian parent, can you confidently make the decision to place your child in the public school environment day after day, year after year? What is being taught there?What is the national drop-out rate?Is God being honored. . . respected. . . lifted up?

What About Public Schools is The Old Schoolhouse's newest brochure that examines public schooling vs. homeschooling.

Escaping the Homeschool Matrix Brochure

Homeschooling with confidence article


Ebook about Ebooks....Discover all you ever wanted to know about E-Books, their use in homeschooling, and even how to publish your own! Gain a better understanding of the many ways E-Books can improve your homeschooling by quickly and resourcefully linking you with the latest information on a seemingly endless supply of lessons, encouragement, support materials, and more! E-Homeschooling is hyperlinked to additional reference material, purchasing sources, and free E-Book websites to sample and enjoy.

Also available is the freebie directory from The Old Schoolhouse. Try before you buy!!!! Here is the link to that: http://www.thehomeschoolmagazine.com/freebiedirectory/2009/

TOS Review: Salem Ridge Press

Salem Ridge Press is a publishing company that republishes children's books from the 1800's and early 1900's. That take seriously there job and want to only publish those books that are appropriate for children to read. They have a very high standard of purity and will take the liberty to carefully edit out any kiss or embrace. They will also edit any derogatory comments that are "unnecessary" or "offensive." Pictures are always "modest" and "appropriate." Any changes made are minor and don't effect the story. They want to be known as a trusted source for books, that parents can confidently give their children to read or read to their families. (Words in quotes come from Salem Ridge Press newsletter)

The books we reviewed were all excellent and received rave reviews from my children. The books were easy to read and one of the books contained definitions of unfamiliar words at the bottom the pages.

The first book we read was Mary Jane Her Book. This is first in a series for children 6 years to 10 (but can be read aloud and enjoyed by younger, I am sure.) We loved this because it told of the adventures of a 5 year old. From watching ants, birds in a nest or story about her broken doll, my 6,7,8 year old BOYS, loved these stories.

The book my daughter read was Glaucia the Greek Slave she said it was very easy to read and she could not put it down. The story is about a tale in Athens in the first century. The book begins with historical notes which help you get focused on the historical setting. My daughter (15) said the story always points to Christ. She is looking forward to reading more books in this series.






In the last book, The White Seneca, the author, William Ganfield, tries to accurately portray Indians and to rid the reader of myths. The story is about a 15 year old, captured by the Seneca, who becomes one of them. Later he is captured by another tribe and must use the skills he learned from the Seneca to escape. What I liked is the story is told from the standpoint of Henry the main character telling back the story as he recalls it. I thought it was easy to read. My son (17) loved this book, and can't wait until he can read the second book.





Salem Ridge Press wants to be known as a family friendly publishing company, and from the books we read we feel comfortable recommending the company. We would trust that other books they publish would have the same high standards that these books have.

Extra Activites - Helping or Hindering?

"What is your weekly extra-curricular routine? Do your kids take music lessons? Sports? Are they involved in church activities? How much time does this leave for family time? Are you over-scheduled or relaxed in your outside programs? Share with us your thoughts on this!"

We are, as stated elsewhere, very relaxed. I have no intention of recreating school at home. I also don't feel I have to offer my children every opportunity out there.

I take the approach that if they are interested in something they will pursue it on their own. This gives them the motivation to do it. My son wanted to learn the piano/keyboard, so he taught himself. I supplied the books and he did it all. Will he play at Carnegie Hall? Probably not. But he can play a tune on the piano for enjoyment and I believe he achieved the goal he wanted for himself.

My son has taught himself many things over the years. We bought an art curriculum and he taught him self to draw. Other times we had to take him to a class and still other times he just read every book out there to learn how to do it. He taught himself how to tan a hide and has done it for several people over the years.

My daughter is doing this with crocheting. She is getting a little help from Grandma, but is mostly pursuing it on her own. She has taken music lessons in the past, but with some of her disabilities she found it difficult to pursue. She is also teaching herself how to cook right now and we get to eat her experiments.

We have done sports in the past but my children found that most people are just too competitive to have fun. In fact some people they found to be mean (do anything to win.) So we quickly gave up on that. We are not sports people anyway. We do like other non competitive type activities such as hiking and other sportsman type activities. Our church during the summer months has very relaxed baseball games at the school ball field (anyone is welcome) a couple times a month.

I have a child who has a chronic illness and has frequent medical appointments so that takes up a lot of our time, so we don't give much time to extra curricular activities. Other things to consider is that we live in a rural area, so we have to travel to go most anywhere and with high gas prices that is a consideration. We did go to several places over the summer (a "diamond" mine, a children's museum, county fair, zoo, etc.) so we did do a bulk of activities this summer.

All that being said, I do feel somewhat overwelmed sometimes with all the things we do. My daughter illness acted up over the summer and we had almost one doctor's appointment a week. The problem being, most doctors are an hour away. One we went to last week was 3 hours away (one way!!) So that spends a lot of our gas allowance on trips and kills a lot of our extra time. So as the Lord leads he will open doors to do more things, but for now, this is where he has us.

Never Complete List of Homeschool Helps

The Homeschooling Guide to design your own approach

Ambleside Online - Free CM Curriculum

Answers In Genesis - Video On Demand

Carl's Corner - Reading Helps

Christian Classics Ethereal Library

ChristianAnswers.net - Online Christian Movies

DLTK's Crafts for Kids

Donna Young - Printables and Resources

Easy Fun School

Ed Helper.com

Educational (?) Games

Enchanted Learning

Free Worksheets for Teachers

Futures Channel Movies

Google Virtual Field Trips

Homeschool Share - Unit Studies, Lapbooks, etc.

IEW Lesson Share

Kid Zone

Literactive - Teaching Children to Read

Old Fashioned Education - Free Homeschool Curriculum

Puzzle Maker

Soft Schools Worksheets

TLS Books Free Worksheets

Virtual Field Trips

Websters 1828 Dictionary

Work Sheet Works - Worksheets Made To Order

What We Are Using This Year! Part 2

I posted what we are using this year here:
http://homeschoolducks.blogspot.com/2008/08/what-we-are-using-this-year.html

So I won't repeat my info. What I left out, which I think is a great curriculum, is Drivers Ed in a Box. My 17 year old is using it to learn to drive. This is the first "class" my husband is officially teaching my son. So it does provide some great bonding time for them!

Ephesians 5:15-17 (New International Version)
Be very careful, then, how you live—not as unwise but as wise,making the most of every opportunity, because the days are evil. Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord's will is.

I believe our time with our children are precious. We need to make wise use of our time, because who knows, ultimately how much time we will have with them. The time we do have also goes so fast.

We are relaxed homeschoolers and have in the past not used curriculum, especially when my two oldest (now 17 and 15) were younger. But I have "caved" do to pressure from my states regulations and "peer" homeschool pressure. However the curriculum I choose I want it to fufill the regulations without tying us down. I have found that Rod and Staff social studies and science to fit that need because you can do one lesson a week (in one day) and have more free time for other things.

We hope to spend some time doing bible and poem memorization, copy work, reading Story of the World 1 and other read alouds, and completing lap books on subjects we choose.

Have a great new school year!

What We Are Using This Year!

We are an eclectic bunch and with 5 children they are all doing something different.

Here is an overview:

6 y/o is working through Rod and Staff Preschool Workbooks (He will be sitting in on his brothers reading lessons, but he is immature and I don't think he gets the idea of reading yet.)

7 y/o is trying to work through Spell to Write and Read. Our 8 year old used this the last two years and is a strong reader. My 7/0 does not get it and struggles with it, so I have to see what we decide to do with him. We also love Christian Light Math. This is great if you have not looked at it before. It is totally new series using a spiral type learning. Not too much busy work. Math drills and everything needed to teach the program comes in the light unit. http://www.clp.org/ They also have an excellent reading program.

8 y/o For him we are trying Alpha Omega math and language arts. I hope we like it. I read many reviews and people either love or hate it. He is going to be doing some copy work to supplement A&O. He is also doing Rod and Staff Social Studies and Science. I chose these because they only require one lesson a week (done in one day.) so that he would have lots of time to do independent and family lead projects.

15 y/o She is going to try Saxon Algebra 1/2. She has done Christian Light math the last 4 years however we are trying to save money and we already have Saxon (which my oldest did all the way through and always scores extremely well on standardized testing.) She is also doing Alpha Omega Language Arts. We will see how it goes for her. She has a vision impairment so we will see if that works. She is also doing Apologia General Science, Body by Design for health (I believe by Masters Publishers?) and Rod and Staff Social Studies. We plan on purchasing a lap book to accompany the Apologia science just for fun.

17 y/o Is done as far as the school district is concerned but has a few more subjects left to complete before he officially graduates. He is working on Christian Light English and Social Studies, Abeka Consumer Math, Auto Fundamentals (Christian Light has great electives such as home maintenance, computers, accounting, carpentry, etc.) Apologia Chemistry and eventually he will do Bob Jones Appreciating music.

I also purchased this year Institute for Excellence in Writing program to do with the two oldest. They are not writers and I really hope this works. I can't go wrong with their unconditional anytime return policy.

I have several lap books I would like to work on with the children through out the school year too. I haven't really done one yet, but I own a few. I have purchase some of the supplies so I really just have to do it. One thing we started last school year was poem memory / recitation. I will alternate with bible verse memory.

So that is probably more then I thought I would write. We have fun homeschooling and although I have lots of list of books we really are relaxed about it.