The Homeschool Mother’s Journal- Week 3

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In my life this week…

I’ve been busy learning the art of couponing.  After watching an episode of Extreme Couponing, my husband is convinced that I should be able to acquire all of our groceries and personal care items at little to no out of pocket cost. Clearly, couponing is not as easy as that or everyone would do it. However, I have couponed in the past and was doing really well when we began traveling with my husbands job. Let me say that stocking up when you live in a motor home is easier said than done.

In our homeschool this week…

We’ve not been very diligent. My boys each worked together two full days which left just my daughter and I at home. It doesn’t take long for her to complete her assigned work, so we spent our afternoons visiting some of the thrift stores in our area. We found some amazing quilt pieces so we are beginning  a quilting project. Sewing is not my thing so I’m really hoping that I can be a good example and see this project through to completion.

Since our visit to Narnia: The Exhibit, we’ve been fascinated with the works of C.S. Lewis once again. I rented a movie from Netflix, The Life and Faith of C.S. Lewis, that we watched and enjoyed. It also discussed his friendship with J.R.R. Tolkien. I’d found a book called The Tolkien Companion by J.E.A. Tyler which I presented to my oldest son and he’s been reading it every spare moment.

My 15- year old is still focused on training for boot camp and has visited the gym every day this week and is thrilled with his progress.      

Places we’re going & people we’re seeing…

My parent’s will be visiting from Ohio next weekend and I’m busy planning some sight seeing excursions while they’re here. We’re all looking forward to showing them around Alabama- we just hope that the snow lets up in Ohio so they can actually drive here!

What’s working/not working for us…

I received two products this week to review that I am absolutely thrilled with, a bible/worldview curriculum  and an art program. You’ll hear more about these products in the weeks to come. 

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have…

Now that my boys are working more, I’m trying to figure out how to schedule our days. It’s been a challenge since they don’t really have a set work schedule. They work for my husband and he doesn’t typically know too far in advance when he will need them. So far we kind of take it day by day. 

A photo to share…

Check out my newest adventure….I’m planning to open an Etsy store next week featuring my unique penny jewelry. I’m also hosting a contest until Sunday night - if you’d like to help me choose a name, you can win any one item in the store when it launches.  

Hope you’ve had a great week! Happy Homeschooling!

Join The Homeschool Chick to see how the week has been for other homeschool moms.  

I was a Mom, Long before I was a ‘Homeschool Mom’

In a few short years, our homeschooling journey will come to an end. My oldest son will be 18 in less than six months. It’s common to hear him comment several times a day that he is nearly a man. Our days are no longer focused around learning to read or multiplication facts. My independent learners are now interested in things like  photography, writing a novel, gaming, physical fitness and sometimes it seems, everything except school. My children are growing up and soon, their homeschool careers and mine as ‘homeschool mom’ will come to an end. I have to admit that on occasion that very thought has gripped me with fear.

Not because I’m not ever tired of homeschooling or teaching. If I’m completely honest, sometimes I am. Not because sometimes I wouldn’t rather spend the day browsing thrift stores, or playing on Facebook, or Twitter, or reading a stack of novels from the library. Sometimes I can find a hundred things I’d rather do than homeschool my children. Not because sometimes I wouldn’t love to have a career outside the home. I’ve often wondered if choosing to be a stay at home mom and depriving my kids from a public school education wasn’t a huge mistake.

When my senses return, I remember that though it has had its ups and downs, for the most part, I have LOVED homeschooling my children. Has it taught me patience? To be diligent? To persevere? Oh, yeah! Has it been hard? You bet! Has it stretched our entire family? Yes. Has it been worth it? A loud, resounding, thousand times, YES!

Thrift stores, Facebook, Twitter and that bestselling novel will still be there when my children aren’t, and honestly, working outside the home wasn’t that great the first time around. Have my children really been deprived of a traditional school atmosphere? I think not, after all, how many times have I heard someone tell me to be thankful that the Lord has led my family to homeschool?

Homeschooling has had its ups and downs but, now that we’re nearing the end, I’m reminded of the blessings that my family has received over the years as a result of homeschooling. My children have learned at their pace without the stigma that they may not learn like everyone else. We have memories of wonderful field trips, snuggling on the couch on a cold winter day, reading an amazing read aloud, the laughter at failed science experiments, the joy of reading the bible together each morning, and the fact that we love to spend time together. Plus, we’ve been able to travel with my husband which has been an education in and of itself; something we wouldn’t have had the freedom to do if our kids were in public or private school.

I’m not stricken with fear wondering if we made the right decision. I’m stricken with fear because sometimes I wonder if my children will still need me when we no longer homeschool. And then I remember that I was a mom, just plain mom, long before I was a homeschool mom . And I know that my fears are unfounded. Yes, my children will still need me. They will always need me.

This post is linked to…

Weekly Wrap Up: “A Life Worthwhile, Makes People Smile”

I was excited to receive the Secret of the Scribe this past week, the last book I wanted in hand before switching over to Illuminations by Bright Ideas Press. We began reading it as a read aloud and though three of us found it very interesting, one of my children fell asleep! Hmmm…I won’t mention any names but let’s just say that HE will be reading the book on his own from now on.

We began working on a new math program that I will be reviewing. So far so good. I’ll let you know more about that later.

Monday we met some friends so the moms could gab and commiserate about their weeks while the kids played an airsoft match. If you don’t know what air soft is, it’s like paintball but instead of shooting each other with horrendous paintballs, they are shooting air soft pellets which typically don’t hurt as badly. For some reason this really appeals to them. Even my daughter gets in on the action.

My oldest son has wanted to learn to play the violin but with all of our traveling/moving, I’ve just never taken the time to find someone that gives lessons. Wednesday we stopped by a friends home so he could have an informal lesson. He really wants to get started so I guess we’ll be adding that to our list of things to do.

Thursday we went on an incredible field trip with our homeschool cover to a local beekeepers’, rushed home to get some book work done, and joined friends for a beautiful hike Thursday afternoon.  Now that’s what I call a productive day!

Friday was…well…about as unproductive as it could have been.  Other than Driver’s Ed practice…I’d say not much was accomplished. Well, maybe not that unproductive, the kids did go to another ballroom dance class. All three of them this time and to hear it told by his siblings, my oldest son really livened up the class. Wouldn’t you know, this is the one week I decided to run a couple errands while they were in class and I missed it?  I got to hear about it all the way home. Belly laughs, I’m telling you. Belly laughs.  Apparently even the instructor found him amusing. Poor child. He certainly had a good time though and can’t wait for next week. Oh, I thought you’d enjoy this quote of his that is a Nickolaus original…

“A Life worth while, means people smile.”

I guess he is on a self proclaimed mission to bring humor to the ballroom.       

Next week the forecast is calling for lots of rain, which means my husband will be home- add to that the Thanksgiving holiday and I’m beginning to think that may be a good time to take a break and regroup.

What about you, do you plan to school next week? or will you be taking a break too?  

You can see how the week went for other homeschool families at the Weekly Wrap-Up, hosted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Geography Week On the Company Porch

This week the writer’s On the Company Porch are talking about geography. I shared some of the resources we have used over the years as well as some that we still incorporate in our studies. If you are looking for some ideas, why not pop over to see what everyone has to say?  

My Favorite Resources and Some Fun Ideas for Teaching Geography

Geography has always been one of my favorite subjects. I guess it’s because from the time I was very young, I loved to travel. Taking afternoon trips with my grandparent’s across fields and highways and bridges to visit Lake Erie. Standing along the shoreline gazing out over the water and feeling the wind whip through my hair never ceased to amaze me. Or spending summers in the gently rolling hills of Southern Ohio. Enjoying one of our only family vacations to Assateague Island in Northeast Virginia. Yep, those memories gave me a passion for exploring the world- one I desired to share with my own children and something that we’ve been able to accomplish in our home while traveling with my husbands’ job for nearly five years.

Ideally it would be great to learn about the geography and cultures in our world through travel alone, but I also know that’s not always possible. So, I’d like to share some of the resources and activities that we’ve used over the years to bring the world into our home.

You can find the rest of the post here.

Starting Fresh with Illuminations

As part of the TOS Crew, I was thrilled to see one of my favorite companies, Bright Ideas Press listed as one of the companies that would be offering products for review. So I guess you could imagine my disappointment when I read the list of selected reviewers and my name was not to be found.

I consoled myself by deciding that I’d already used or owned all the Bright Ideas Press products that I was interested in. After all, we’ve owned and used The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide for years. I’d also used the Hands-On Geography book when the kids were younger and a few of the other products that they carry.

Several years ago, my husband had suggested that we give the Mystery of History a try but since my son was already past the 8th grade, I worried that it may be too young for them. However, after a friend recently invited us over for lunch and shared how she implements Mystery of History with her high school age children, I began to have second thoughts.

I didn’t go to lunch that day thinking that I needed a history program, but I was thinking it was time to make a few changes to our current homeschool lifestyle. At home I perused the Bright Ideas Press website and was thrilled to discover a high school level program that utilized Mystery of History and also combined Bible, Language Arts, Literature, Humanities, Geography and Life Skills. It is called Illuminations and it instantly appealed to me for several reasons.

1. The majority of the scheduling and lesson plans are done for you, which thrills me. Plus, my kids are getting older and on occasion I do hear “Why do I have to do this, read this, etc.” I’ve decided by incorporating lesson plans from an outside source, I can eliminate some of the whining.
2. Even though there are lesson plans, they are not rigid. They are totally customizable and I LOVE that aspect of the program. This means that though the authors suggest Writeshop I for Illuminations Year 1 (High School), I can easily substitute the program we are currently using for review purposes from the Write Foundation.
3. The program is multi-level, which saves time, money and allows my children to enjoy learning  many subjects at the same time.  
4. I already own many of the texts and books that are suggested for the program which include English from the Roots Up, Vol. 1 , The Ultimate Geography and Timeline Guide and Winston Grammar.   
5. The literature recommendations are easily attainable through our local library and the supplemental movies are available through Netflix which we subscribe to.
6. The program incorporates many of the aspects that I love and already practice including, reading great literature and creating notebooks.
7. The emphasis is on history, from a Christian worldview, a subject that my kids love.
8. There are craft projects available and scheduled for you if you desire to incorporate them.

Excitedly I showed my husband what I had discovered and within minutes he had handed me our debit card and told me to purchase the first semester by instant download so we could get started right away. I couldn’t be happier! It is with incredible excitement that the kids and I will once again incorporate a structured program as part of our school days and I can’t wait to share with all of you how the coming weeks progress. 

How is your year going so far? Are you happy with the selections that you made or do you also feel that you need to make a change?

Weekly Wrap-Up: A Peek at Our Uneventful Week

I can’t believe another week has flown by and it’s time for another Weekly Wrap-Up!  To be honest, the past two weeks have been somewhat of a blur. We’ve been on 3 field trips, a couple hikes and took a road trip to Ohio! Wow! Talk about busy. Not to mention I’m having one of those “…our homeschooling would be more productive if..” moments, which seem to be a resounding theme echoing through my days.

This week began a bit rough since I came home sick after our trip. I’m still not sure if it was a cold due to the weather change (it was sooo cold in Ohio!) or if it was allergies but my husband actually drove all the way home to Alabama while I slept comfortably in the passenger seat. That should have been a major tip off  that something wasn’t quite right because 1) I normally do ALL the driving because I’m a control freak like that and 2) I can NEVER sleep in the car…especially when my husband is driving, but that’s a story I’ll save for another day, or not.

My kids did all their independent school work and spent much of their free time reading.  We didn’t do any of our group studies and I bounced back and forth from whining because I couldn’t wipe my nose fast enough and attempting to return our home to order since we’d managed to bring some of our items out of storage.

I spent most of the week staring at the piles because I had no idea where to put everything. In a brilliant move the kids and I transported everything to the garage until I can find a place in our new home for all our old possessions. Aaahhh…much better.

By Thursday, I was once again beginning to feel like my old self. Just in time as I’d organized a field trip for our homeschool group. I joined 30 friends for two hours of laughter at the 4th Annual Athens Storytelling Festival, but I’ll share more on that later with a few pictures. Afterwards we visited with friends for a bit before heading home.

On Friday, I left the kids at home unsupervised (one of the many blessings of having older kids) while I met my husband for lunch where he dropped a bombshell on me. How would I like to move…again? Hmmm…more on those thoughts later. 

Thankfully, we were all able to relax as we enjoyed a 3.5 mile hike with friends in the afternoon and I’ll share more on that later as well because my daughter is holding all of our pictures hostage on her camera.

I guess all in all we had a good week. Nothing spectacular, but we’re still plugging along slow and steady.

If you’re nosy like me, you may enjoy reading more Weekly Wrap-ups which are hosted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Until next time…have a great week!      

Have you Stopped by The Homeschool Classroom Lately

Do you homeschool? Are you interested in finding ways to save money on homeschool expenses? If you answered yes then you should visit The Homeschool Classroom and read my October article. Here’s a teaser… 

I just love that title, What’s in Your Wallet? Sounds like the opening to a credit card commercial, doesn’t it? Well today I’d like to focus not on credit cards but reward and discount cards that you, as a homeschooling parent may be eligible for.

Lately, I’ve found it more difficult to stay home and remain within our budget while I continue to purchase those little extras that can pop up from time to time as a result of choosing to homeschool. As challenging as it can be to live on one income while staying home with my children, I certainly wouldn’t want things any other way. Which is why I hunt out all the deals I can that will enable me to stay home while ensuring that I have the tools available to homeschool successfully.

You can read the rest of this article What’s in Your Wallet? at  The Homeschool Classroom and while you’re there, why not leave a comment sharing ways that you save money on your homeschool expenses?

Our Weekly Wrap-Up

I’m thankful to say that our household experienced no near death experiences like last week.

We kicked off the week with our first Charlotte Mason/Nature Study Co-op of the year. I’d selected a nearby park that is scenic, has a pavilion available for the public’s use and has a well marked, easy to follow trail. One thing I hadn’t counted on was the unseasonably cold front that decided to come through- that and the fact that it’s always cooler on the mountain made for a chilly time.

Armed with Ziploc bags and a scavenger hunt list, we set off to see what we could find along the trail.

After our hike, we took a lunch break in the parking lot and returned to learn a dry brush painting technique followed by a simple handicraft project.

After a quiet school day at home on Tuesday we decided not to let the beautiful day pass us by and headed to a nearby hiking trail that we hadn’t explored before. The trail was rocky, well shaded and very pretty. Sadly we had started late in the day and I needed to start dinner so we didn’t finish the trail but any walking that we can fit into our schedule is better than no walking in my book.

Wednesday was an off day.  We just won’t talk about that.

Thursday we were pleasantly surprised to find that my husband was able to spend the morning with us. Since the kids and I had planned to head to the local botanical garden and see a bit of jousting, he decided to go along with us. We enjoyed watching a bit of what turned out to be fencing before taking another look at the scarecrows. Our membership to the botanical garden has certainly paid for itself again and again!

I was excited to run into one of my Facebook friends- that I’d not met “in real life”. I told my husband that I just needed to speak to her and oh my goodness, I could have spent all day talking to her- I swear, Karen is one of the sweetest people that I’ve ever met!  She has an awesome blog called Home School Girls where she shares all the cool things she does with her daughter.  They certainly have a lot of fun times!

After we finished at the botanical garden, my husband headed off to work and the kids and I headed across town to meet some more friends for a park day. I have to admit that I wasn’t really looking forward to hanging out at the park but it turned into a lovely day with incredible company! It still amazes me that critics of homeschooling don’t really think that homeschoolers are socialized properly. It seems like we’ve been doing quite a bit of socializing lately and it’s been really good for all of us because we have been missing our friends at home. I wonder if that will ever cease?

For a couple hours the kids played soccer, football or just hung out while the moms talked about public schools (surprisingly it wasn’t all negative- we aren’t ANTI-public school), our current curriculum or lack of, issues we face with our children and plans for future get togethers. I left feeling incredibly blessed because we really have met some incredible people in Alabama who have gone out of their way to make us feel welcome. 

We had another surprise waiting for us at home, I had a package from CSN Stores sitting on my doorstep which was really fun because I wasn’t expecting it to arrive until next week. And guess what was in the package?  A Thames & Kosmos science kit on Wind Power that I’m eager to review with my kids. 

Friday proved to be another busy day. The Von Braun Center for the Huntsvile Gem and Mineral Society’s Show. I really wanted to go to this because last year we’d met one of the exhibitors and I was intrigued.  Take a look at the table setting in this picture:    Can you believe that all of this food is actually rocks? It is really amazing to see and I plan to write more about this exhibit later because it truly is something.

Back at home, the kids did some of their book work while I cleaned in preparation for our first camping trip since we sold our camper and the first time we’ve actually slept in a tent in years! I’m sure I’ll have a tale or two for you next week. After all, isn’t tent camping always an adventure?

So, how was your week? You can see what others have been up to at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.    

Field Trip Friday: Niña and Pinta

I was excited to learn that replica’s of the Niña and Pinta would not only be making a stop in Huntsville, Alabama, but that they’d be docking not even 15 minutes from our home. One of our all time favorite field trips was to see the replica of the Santa Maria in downtown Columbus, Ohio. The kids were much younger on that trip and we’d just wrapped up a unit study on Explorers. Our tour guide was amazing and we had the ship all to ourselves. What a perfect outing! When I found out we’d have the opportunity to visit Columbus’ companion ships, I couldn’t wait! 

Arriving at the dock, we were surprised to find that both the Niña and Pinta were smaller than we imagined they would be. After spending a few days on a rocky cruise ship, I couldn’t imagine sailing across the ocean in the boats that were on the water before us.         

The Niña and Pinta are both caravels, a type of cargo ship commonly used during the Age of Discovery when Explorers roamed the seas.   These two great replicas of Columbus’ ships were constructed in Brazil under the direction of an American engineer and maritime historian, John Patrick Sarsfield. The ships are both historically accurate replicas of a 15th Century Caravel, built using techniques dating back to the same time period. 

The Niña

The Pinta

Since both of these ships are both sailing vessels we were warned before boarding that we were not to untie any of the ropes. We could look at them, touch them, photograph them but under no circumstances were we to untie them. Ropes were everywhere!

The boats were also painted black to represent the icky, sticky pine tar that would have been used to preserve the wood on the boats.

We also found it interesting that the ships had square sails rather than triangular ones to catch the trade winds.    

 

Today these ships spend warm weather traversing the rivers and lakes of the Western Hemisphere offering tours to the public as the ships dock in various locations. The crew members volunteer and we found it extremely interesting that our tour guide had just joined the crew three weeks earlier in Kentucky while vacationing with his family. He saw the Crew Wanted sign and away he sailed. He hasn’t been home since and will spend the winter in Mexico while the ship is dry docked for repairs. Now that really is an adventure, isn’t it? 

You can find a schedule for the ships here and if you are lucky enough to have the dock in a marina near you, check out this easy Ships in a Bottle tutorial at Noggins and Nonsense. It would make a fabulous follow-up activity that your younger students will enjoy.  

Have a field trip that you’d like to share? We’re all ears, so please do. It’s really simple. Just link up with Linky Tools. It’s not necessary, but I would be grateful if you included a link back to my site so more people can learn about Field Trip Friday. Don’t forget to stop back next week for more Field Trip Friday fun! Until next week~ Happy Field Trippin’!

When you want to Quit Homeschooling & Creative Lunch Ideas for your Homeschool

In addition to taking a break from blogging here, I also accidently took a break on The Company Front Porch when I forgot to turn in my article last week!  This week I wrote about some of the techniques I incorporate when homeschooling gets to be just a little bit too much.  Hope this can encourage you if you ever find yourself in a similar place.  

When You Feel Like Throwing in the Towel 

Let’s face it; homeschooling isn’t always the easiest task in the world. Personally, if my husband and I hadn’t had such a strong conviction that this was the path our family was to follow through completion, I would’ve given up years ago. There have been times when I just didn’t think I could homeschool one more minute of one more day.

Homeschooling has not always been joyful. I’ve not always been patient, encouraging or kind. I’ve shed tears of frustration, anger, sadness and remorse. I’ve had my share of regrets. My children are now in high school and I don’t have many years left to homeschool. Sometimes I wonder how we ever made it this far.

Read the entire article,  When You Feel Like Throwing in the Towel on The Company Front Porch. 

Don’t miss The Homeschool Panel discussion this week where I (and the other wonderful panelists) share how we handle lunches in our home. You may also be interested in joining in the link up tomorrow and sharing your favorite lunch ideas. 

 

Weekly Wrap-Up: A Week we Narrowly Survived

I’m so bad. Before we started school I was determined that I would faithfully link up to the Weekly Wrap-Up.  I had hoped that by announcing to the world all the really cool things we accomplished in our homeschool each week I could kind of hold myself accountable to actually getting things done. How funny is that?

Well I’m a bit late but I’m trying to get on the ball.

Monday we took advantage of the discounted prices at the Tennessee Aquarium for their Homeschool Day. We’d only visited a few months ago so I really wanted to go and take a behind the scenes tour which prices were also discounted. I was disappointed to learn that the tours had sold out early but we’re hoping to work something out next time we go.  You can see some of the pictures my daughter took while we were there on my Facebook page.         

Tuesday we had a great day and began making a replica of the Mayan temple we saw in Mexico. Apparently my kids are getting a bit old for this type of project because they certainly did not enjoy it as much as I thought they would.  They actually came around a bit when they realized that I wasn’t going to force them to use paper mache, but had actually bought rigid wrap for the occasion. We’ll work on finishing it next week. 

Wednesday was my daughter’s birthday. My baby is 14. Of course since it was her special day, she felt that she was entitled to a day off school work. I felt inclined to allow it. It’s not like the kids didn’t do anything- they all curled up with books and read ALL DAY. I’m not allowed to mention the struggles that we’ve had in reading (per my children’s request) but let’s just say that seeing my boys read and enjoy it is answered prayer and makes this mama very happy.

Thursday my daughter wanted to go to the nearby botanical garden and put her birthday present, a new camera, to use. Since I have two boys that are practicing their driver’s skills I figured it wouldn’t hurt to fit in a little drivers’ ed. Oh my, were we in for a wild ride! All was well until my son excited the freeway onto the service road and applied the brakes. Good so far, right? NO! The brakes failed. I was literally scanning the lanes of traffic ahead searching for somewhere to crash other than the massive truck it looked like we were going to slide under. Remember a few months ago when my son lamented the fact that he’d never been able to lay skid marks? Well, now he has and believe me, he’s not in a hurry to do so again. All I can say is that the Lord certainly answered our prayers because we stopped just in time. 

At home we continued our book work before finishing our read aloud,  Mara, Daughter of the Nile by Eloise J. McGraw.  It was an excellent book and one we could hardly stand to put down each day. Finally we couldn’t stand it any longer and the read the remaining five chapters.

Friday I had a ton of errands to run that were totally out of the ordinary. In the old days, when the kids were younger, I would have had to pack them up with some books on tape and other car friendly learning tools, but now that they are older it’s nice to be able to allow them to stay home and work on their studies.  

After the brake fail fiasco, I’m so thankful we survived this week uninjured. Next week we’re looking forward to our first nature study/Charlotte Mason co-op and making some new friends and heading out of town for another fun field trip.  

Don’t forget to stop by Weird Unsocialized Unschoolers to read more Weekly Wrap-ups! Until next week ~ Happy Homeschooling!  

How was your week?

Boost Your SAT Scores Easily

This review has been adapted from a review that I wrote for The Curriculum Choice titled Vocabulary Cartoons, SAT Word Power. 

I have to admit, when I find a book or resource that works wonderfully for my family, I love to tell everyone about it. That’s exactly how I felt when I originally found this book and when I found out that I’d be offering a review for the TOS Crew of a product that I already knew well and LOVED.  I was so excited by the results I saw right away that I literally carried this around in my purse so I wouldn’t forget to show it to my friends on homeschool outings.

Are you curious to know what has me so excited? Allow me to introduce Vocabulary Cartoons: SAT Word Power, written by Sam Burchers and published by New Monic Books, Inc.  Though there is an entire line of these incredible teaching books to choose from, my focus will be on the one designed to improve SAT scores because that is the book that we have used.  However, from viewing the website, it looks as though all the books in the Vocabulary Cartoon series are written using the same format.

Written directly to 7^th-12^th grade students, Vocabulary Cartoons SAT Word Power claims that your child can learn hundreds of SAT level words effortlessly, but just how is that possible? And the question you want to know is does it really work? In my experience of using SAT Word Power with my 13, 15 and 17 year old children, I would say, yes it certainly does.

How the book works

These books use mnemonics, a nifty devise that aids in the memorization process. It could be a phrase, a rhyme or an acronym that allows you to remember something by associating it with something you already know.  Confused? How about an example? Do you remember learning the colors in a rainbow in elementary school? My teacher helped me learn them by introducing the mnemonic, Roy G. Biv.  I already knew my colors; I just needed to learn the colors that made up a rainbow in order.  Remembering the mnemonic she gave me I was easily able to picture the colors red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet by associating each letter in the name Roy G. Biv with a color. R= red, O= orange, Y= yellow; okay you get the point.  Another mnemonic you’re probably familiar with is the phrase, Columbus sailed the ocean blue in 1492. The catchy rhyme makes this little tidbit of information easy to remember, doesn’t it?

Vocabulary Cartoons use the same principle but takes it one step further.  Not only are the vocabulary words linked with a word that you would know by association, they also introduce a silly cartoon drawing so you really see the picture in your head.  Are you familiar with the phrase ‘A picture is worth a thousand words?’  Never underestimate the power of a picture. In my opinion, this is invaluable for visual learners like my children and this aspect of the book is what really drives home the meaning and makes it stick.

How we use these books

Since I enjoy learning new vocabulary words as much as my children, we use this book together.  I’ll read the subject word, followed by the definition,  the link word or association word, show the kids the goofy cartoon while reading the silly sentence that describes the picture and then I’ll read the three sentences at the bottom of the page which you can see from the insert above, use the word in different contexts.

After we learn our new word, we will review the words we learned previously.  I do this by saying the vocabulary word and asking them to share it in a sentence of their own.  The book does have its own review system in place. Every ten words you’ll find a chapter quiz with matching and fill-in-the-blank questions that we choose to do orally.  My children love this book and will often pick it up between sessions so they can try to stump each other with the new words they’ve learned.   If you’d like to take a peek at the words included, you can do that here.

Time to wrap this Review Up

According to the publisher, Vocabulary Cartoons boost verbal standardized test scores and students learn 72% more words with 90% retention.

While I can’t attest to the claim that this book will raise SAT scores, since my children have not taken the SAT, I can say that they have learned a new word, effortlessly, in minutes each day and have retained what they’ve learned.

Vocabulary Cartoons, SAT Word Power sells for $12.95 and can be purchased through the publisher’s website.  I encourage you to check out this book and others in the series, you’ll find something for learners of all ages.

I’ve been impressed with the results that I’ve seen; whether my children ever take an SAT test or not, vocabulary is important to reading comprehension and communication skills, written or verbal.  I’ve found this book particularly helpful for my right brain children and look forward to beginning the second book in the series.  

You’ll find other reviews of this product here.

 Disclosure: I received this product from New Monic Books  free of charge in exchange for offering my honest opinion to my readers.    

A Few of Our Favorite Games

I’ve mentioned a couple times before how much my family likes to play games but this week I shared some of our “all-time” favorites at The Company Porch. I hope you can stop over and take a peek.  

Not Back-to-School Blog Hop: Student Photo Week

Well I messed around and missed participating in the blog hop last week which focused on ‘school rooms’. I guess that’s because personally, I’m opposed to school rooms…for my family. You can have a school room if you want to and there have been times that we have had a designated ‘place’ for school. But over the years I’ve found that we prefer a mobile, all through the house, in the van, in the museum, out on the trail, kind of atmosphere. I guess you could say that our school takes us all over. Both in and out of the house. 

I will say that this year we are enjoying our school days IN A HOUSE. I guess I tried not to think of the space we DIDN’T have in the camper at the time, but looking back….

…maybe it was a bit of a tight squeeze. And for those that are wondering, Yes, my son is reading the lettering on a Pepsi bottle. As long as they’re reading, right? Ha!

This year we are enjoying our added space…    …and the fact that that until I get some bookshelves, the couch hides our clutter pretty well…

Of course this week’s blog hop at Heart of the Matter has nothing to do about school rooms but school pictures.   I used to take individual first day of school pictures of the kids, but haven’t for quite a few years. Now I just snap the customary picture of the kids at our First Day of School Breakfast …

…they take a picture of what they’re eating…

….throw in a self portrait…

…as well as one of the kids goofing off later in the day...

   …excited that they survived their first day of school….apparently they have a fear that they would not…and that’s the extent of our school pictures. Of course I take pictures almost daily throughout the year, documenting our field trips, projects and other activities for my own personal records as well.  

Want to show off some of your school pictures? You can link up to the blog hop too and don’t forget, next week you can share a-day-in-the- life…that should be a fun one!

And We’re Off to Another Great Homeschool Year

 A Wrap Up of Our Week

One week down, how many more to go? I have to admit after our third day of school last year, this question was already on my mind. This year is so different and I think that has as much to do with me as it does my kids. Last year, none of us were motivated. We’d kind of hit a wall and stumbled a bit so I backed off, removed a lot of the pressures and looked forward to this year.

Monday we kicked off our 12th year of homeschooling with a fun tradition, a trip out to breakfast followed by an incredibly productive school day at home.  Though I had created a list of curriculum that I wanted to purchase, as I began unpacking boxes when we moved from the RV into the house, I realized how many resources we had. It seemed a waste to make any purchases until we used some of what we already have on hand. 

Our week has been incredible with the kids already making great strides and tackling the lofty goals they’ve created for themselves which; both personal and academic in nature. It’s so much fun to get a glimpse of the adults they are growing into.

This week we’ve played around with our schedule a bit to determine what will work best. We even took a couple afternoons off to meet up with friends- you know it’s important that we keep socializing so the kids know how to converse with other people! OK, maybe I’m just poking fun at those that don’t know homeschoolers.

I had planned on following the suggestions of Ambleside Online this year, so I loosely structured our days around their plan, supplementing with books that we already have on hand. Though I love the Charlotte Mason approach and philosophy, there are a couple things that we don’t follow at all. One of those is the short lessons.

Some lessons are short, but if the kids want to keep working, I’ll allow them to work all day on the same subject. Also, we don’t follow short readings for our books. I really ‘get’ why short readings are practiced, so we can ponder what we’ve read and really comprehend it, but once again when we find a great book we want to read until we’re done.

For our daily Bible lessons the kids are reading a chapter of Psalm’s and Proverbs daily on their own. Together we read and discuss several other resources including Know What You Believe: A Practical Discussion of the Fundamentals of the Christian Faith. We also began our first year of formal Worldview Study using Thinking Like a Christian: Understanding and Living a Biblical Worldview. So far we all find this study fascinating.

We worked on math and language, which consists of independent work using Easy Grammar Plus, Sequential Spelling and Story Starters for creative writing. We’ll add a few more things as we go along.

We added in some fun science experiments since that was hard to do in the camper, along with map drills and economics using Whatever Happened to Penny Candy? which my son LOVES.I’ll definitely be ordering more books in this series. 

I also assigned various biographies of Christian missionaries for the kids to read, which they’ve all enjoyed.  We’re also reading Heroes of the Faith, Fanny Crosby together. This week we studied ‘Blessed Assurance’ by Fanny Crosby for our hymn study so I was thrilled to find the book tucked away in a box.

Finally, my child that has always proclaimed his distaste for reading has had a change of heart. He has read a book a day since the weekend. So far, he’s read six books this week! As a mother who struggled for YEARS to teach her boys to read, this just makes my heart swell…so if you have a child that isn’t reading well, thinks they can’t read or swears they hate to read…just hang in there.  

We’re moving back into school slowly, but we’re off to a great start. I can’t wait to add in more topics next week. You can visit the Weekly Wrap-up hosted at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers to see how the week went for other homeschooling families.  You can even join in on the fun!

Do you homeschool? What have you been up to this week?

How Do You Teach History in Your Home?

Just wanted to let you know that my article, Teaching a Love of History in Your Home is featured today at on The Homeschool Classroom.  I’d love if you’d stop over and check it out!

 

Kicking Off our 12th Year of Homeschooling with a Fun Tradition

Today we began our First Day of Homeschool for the 12th time.  Each year we have a special celebration of sorts that has become something that the entire family looks forward to.

In addition to shopping for new school supplies, which I admit doesn’t thrill them like it used to, and purchasing a new outfit for the occasion,  our favorite First Day of School Tradition is to go out for breakfast. Though it means waking up earlier than they are accustomed to, my kids have never dared to complain. 

The restaurant may vary, but the routine is the same. We wake early and meet my husband at a local restaurant that the kids choose before he starts work. …well, usually they choose. This year they wanted to check out Ihop, because we’ve never eaten there. However, I had a coupon for Denny’s so my money saving mission trumped their request.  Of course I didn’t hear any opposition. They left with full bellies and I managed to feed a family of five for only $14.02. Not bad.    

How about you, do you have a special 1st Day of School Tradition at your home?

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

Today I’ve decided to participate in the Not Back to School Blog Hop sponsored by Heart of the Matter. This week the topic is all about curriculum.

As a recovering curriculum junkie, I guess you could say that I’ve gone from one extreme to the other. When I first began homeschooling my three children, I thought I had to have every item on the market that was targeted for homeschoolers. Now, 12 years later,  I have an aversion to packaged curriculum and instead prefer ‘various resources’ in the form of books, CD’s, DVD’s, online resources  and field trips.  Of course that doesn’t mean that I won’t ever use a curriculum or textbook, we do on occasion make use of workbooks, like Easy Grammar, Sequential Spelling,  and Life of Fred math but I’ve grown more confident and don’t always feel it’s necessary to spend the extra money.

Tomorrow we will kick off our 12th First Day of School and for the first time ever, I’ve not spent a dime on curriculum this year. I do plan to make some purchases, like Teaching Textbooks for math and Rosetta Stone for foreign language, but right now we’re going to work our way through some of the resources that I already have laying around before I buy anything else.

As you can see from our assortment of books in the picture, the kids will be learning about anything from architecture, to logic,  to the Mayan culture. Though it doesn’t look like it from the mix and match of books, I can assure you that I do have a plan and can’t wait to see how it unfolds throughout the year.

So, do you have an interesting subject that you’re excited to delve into this year? What resources do you plan to use to help you teach your children?

Field Trip Friday: North Alabama Railroad Museum

Well, keeping up our pace, the kids and I headed out to explore yet another local attraction, the North Alabama Railroad Museum. This was the second time we had stopped, but the museum is operated by volunteers and may not always be manned. For that reason, I suggest calling ahead before your visit. The museum grounds are open 7 days a week so you can see the trains, but if you want to see the tiny museum housed in the depot, or hope to get access to the caboose,  you’ll need to do so when volunteers are present.

When you arrive, your first stop should be to the Chase Depot, the yellow and green building shown in the picture. There is a box on the outside of the building that holds brochures and a paper detailing the self-guided tour which includes a map of the grounds.  Inside the depot, you will see a small display of railroad artifacts and displays. The depot was one of the smallest union depots in the country and served the Southern Railway, Nashville, Chattanooga and St. Louis Railways.  The depot you will see today is the second built on this site. The original depot contained two waiting rooms during the days of segregation, an agent’s office and a freight room. 

We were a little bit confused about where to go from here. Though the map details the buildings, we weren’t entirely sure what was open to the public and what wasn’t. I guess my advice to you would be to wander around, if it’s locked, it’s not open. Lucky for us, there were plenty of volunteers on hand since it was a work day and we were quickly whisked off to get a glimpse of the caboose.  The caboose is part of the display train and though you’ll find a plaque on the bottom of the car telling you what it was used for, this is the only part of the train that you are permitted to tour unless you arrive on a special departure day when the excursion train is running.

One of the volunteers ushered us into the caboose. All I can say is wow, was it hot in there! I really think that the volunteer would have talked more about the train car if it hadn’t been so unbearably hot! We were interested in the commode that seemed to be stuck in the middle of the room. It was explained that men and women didn’t work together at that time so the two men who shared the caboose had less need for privacy. It was really interesting to peek under the lid and see that the toilet drained directly below. See the picture on the right? That’s gravel. Don’t think the EPA would let you get away with that now, would they? Of course if I remember right, this caboose was last used in the 1940’s- things have changed a bit since then.

The guys in the caboose would sit in the bay like window seats in the caboose, which would allow them a clear view of the train. They’d watch intently for axles that appeared to be overheating. We did see one that had overheated and as you can imagine, a broken axle would create a heap of trouble.

We also got to take a peek in the vintage, restored Amtrak train that is still operational. Today it is used on select dates to transport visitors along the 10 –mile Mercury & Chase Railroad.  If you ask my children what they learned on this one, I don’t think they’d be able to tell you much. We discovered that it’s a bit hard to concentrate when you are literally dripping with sweat! My suggestion would be that if you happen to be in the Historic Chase community on a Wednesday, you could stop to stretch your legs and have a quick look around. It won’t take you too long, maybe 30-45 minutes tops. If you’re going to spend any significant amount of time traveling to this attraction, call ahead and see if you can schedule a tour. I really think if you received a tour it would make the difference between this being an okay stop and a gem of a field trip. You can reach the North Alabama Railroad Museum by calling 256-851-6276 or by stopping in at 694 Chase Rd. N.E. Huntsville. You can see more of the pictures from our trip at the Live the Adventure Facebook Fanpage. If you do plan to go you may want to download the free notebooking pages that I created.    Thanks for linking up to Field Trip Friday! Feel free to grab your cute button and once again, it’s not mandatory, but I would love it if you’d help Field Trip Friday to grow by offering a link back here. 

Until next week~ Happy Field Trippin'!