Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers

Big Changes

2012-05-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

Big changes are coming and I hope you’ll continue to be a part of all the fun. I’m getting a big blog make-over and making the move to Word Press. What’s the fun in that for you?

Well, if you’re a subscriber – or if you become one – you’ve got a chance to win!

See, for the most part, the move should be pretty seamless for you and, other than seeing my shiny new blog, you won’t notice much difference. You’ll still find me at same address and I’ll still be doing things like The Weekly Wrap-Up and the Homeschool Showcase (with spiffy new buttons), reviews, and giveaways.

I’ll still be sharing homeschooling ideas, offering tips and resources and, generally, trying to encourage homeschooling families. You’ll still get all the wit (or sarcasm, depending on the way you look at it) that you’ve always gotten.

Plus, I’ll be merging my weight-loss blog, Eclipsed, with my homeschool blog since fitness is just a part of who I am now. It made sense to separate the two when I first started my weight-loss journey because it was such a deeply personal thing that I felt like it needed its own space.

Now, though, it seems silly (not to mention time-consuming) to maintain two blogs when they’re both just a part of who I am.

So, how can you win? Well, one thing that will be changing is Google Friend Connect. It’s going away for Word Press users. If this is how you follow Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers:

…you won’t be able to continue to follow me when I move to Word Press.

And, I don’t want to lose you. So, I’m hoping, if you’re currently following WUHS through Google Friend Connect, that you’ll sign up to follow through email or RSS feed.

As a thank you, I’ll be giving away a $25 Amazon gift card to one subscriber. This includes existing subscribers, too. So, if you already read WUHS in a reader or through email, you can enter, too.

Once you’ve subscribed, the next email or RSS feed post will contain a giveaway code at the bottom of the post, under my signature. (If you’re already a subscriber, it should be there now.) You’ll need this code to enter the giveaway. Just enter the info requested and the giveaway code in the Raffle Copter box below. If you’re reading in a reader or by email, you’ll need to click over to the blog to enter. That it’s!

If all goes as planned, the changes should take place late next Friday night, June 1. I’ll draw a winner at that time and notify the winner by email. Official rules apply.

I look forward to seeing you at my new digs soon!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Using Lapbooks with Trail Guide to Learning

2012-05-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

You’ve probably heard me say before that my kids, historically, haven’t been a fan of lapbooks. As a matter of fact, when we got Trail Guide to Learning to review, they offered to send us the lapbook CD that goes with it. I politely declined saying that my kids had such a negative attitude toward my favorite subject, history, at that point, that I didn’t want to try to add in anything else that they had negative feeling about.

(Psst…don’t miss the giveaway opportunity at the end.)

However, every time I saw one of the lapbook icons in the Trail Guide book, I’d get a little more curious.

By the time the folks at A Journey Through Learning contacted me about doing a review, curiosity had won out. Now, the AJTL folks do many, many more lapbooks than just the ones for Trail Guide. That’s just what I chose to review because it fit so seamlessly into what we were already doing.

AJTL offers lapbooks on topics such as:

History
Science
Geography
Math
Spanish
Literature
Holidays

They also offer a wide selection of lapbooks to go with specific curriculum, such as:

Truthquest
Maestro Classics
The Circle C books (Megan has used and enjoyed these.)
Apologia and Jenny Fulbright books
Veggie Tales
Little House on the Prairie

A Journey Through Learning Lapbooks are so easy to use. They come with complete instructions on how to do all the cuts and folds, there is a master placement guide for each lapbook, and each lapbook template page also contains cutting and placement instructions.

The thing I enjoyed the most about using them was that there was at least one activity to go along with each Trail Guide lesson and each activity pulled out key facts that helped cement the lesson details in the kids’ minds. It also made a great review tool.

The kids didn’t complain about doing the lapbook at all, either, like I thought they might. I presented the lapbooks to them as a review tool to offset that “extra work” mind-set that one of my {cough – Josh} always seems to have when I add in something that we haven’t been doing.

Both of the kids said that they felt like the lapbooks projects helped them remember the important facts and gave them something to focus on when they did their end-of-unit presentations.

They also said that, while they wouldn’t necessarily volunteer to do lapbooks with the next unit (the “more work” thing), they also wouldn’t complain if we did do them. That’s a high compliment, y’all.

So, if you’ve never done a lapbook, but have wanted to try them or you use them a lot and would love to get your hands on another A Journey Through Learning lapbook, here’s your chance!

The folks at A Journey Through Learning are giving away one lapbook of your choice (valued at up to $13) to two WUHS readers. (This will be a digital download copy.) You can also receive 25% off your order if you don’t win or you just want to buy more stuff by using discount code WUHS25 at checkout.

How to enter:

Visit A Journey Through Learning, then leave a comment on this post telling me which lapbook you’d choose if you win. (Mandatory entry)

For two bonus entries (optional):

Follow on A Journey Through Learning on Twitter. (Facebook guidelines won’t allow me to use following on Facebook as a giveaway entry, but the folks at AJTL would love it if you did!)
Share about this giveaway on your blog, Facebook, or Twitter. (Please include @Kris_WUHSMom and @ALTL_Lapbooks in your tweet so that I’ll see it.)

Rules: Leave a comment for each entry (up to three separate entries). This giveaway is open to United States residents, ages 18 years and older only. Giveaway ends on Monday, May 28. The winner will be selected at random using Random.org.

The winner will notified via email and given 72 hours to respond. In the event that the winner cannot be contacted by email or does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will be forfeited and and alternate winner selected.

Click to read the complete rules. By entering this giveaway, you indicate that you have read and agreed to abide by these rules.

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it. I received no other compensation for this review. The opinions expressed in this review are my personal, honest opinions. Your experience may vary. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.

Road Schooling

2012-05-22T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at Wise Owl Baby about one of our favorite picture books, Ladybug on the Move, and I’m excited to welcome Christy, from The Simple Homemaker, who is giving us the scoop on homeschooling while traveling the United States.

When we were awaiting our first child 16 years ago, we knew we would homeschool. When we mentioned the idea, people thought we were downright weird, that it was just another one of our crazy ideas, and that we'd get some sense knocked into us somewhere along the way.

Sixteen years and 7 children later, we took our "weirdness" to a new level. After the Nevada economy hammered the death nail in the coffin of our home business, we went from part-time to full-time with my husband's contemporary Christian music mission, Stephen Bautista Music.

Currently, we travel the country together in a travel trailer for the music mission, homeschooling...or roadschooling as we go.

As roadschoolers, we deal with many of the same challenges as stationery homeschoolers. There are, however, a few extra perks and a few unique challenges thrown into the pot.

While on the road, we are rarely in the same spot for more than a couple nights. We sometimes have to be in two towns on the same day. Laundry, showers, cooking, exercising, play-time – everything requires a little additional effort, foresight, and planning.

This requires an immense amount of flexibility. So how do we do it?

First of all, we keep the learning natural. There are opportunities around every corner to learn, and we take advantage of as many as we can. Yes, museums and such are great, but the real world experiences we encounter are just as, if not more, edifying to the children.

Take, for example, the day we were exploring a river in southern California when suddenly a man carrying a machete hacked through the underbrush, plunged into the river, and emerged on our bank. Despite my instinct to run away screaming like a sissy, we held our ground and were rewarded with a mini-lesson about river surveying and the government's river redirection project.

Secondly, we use some textbooks, but we do not stress over the texts. In our life there are days when we have three concerts in three towns within a 24-hour time period. We’re not going to stress if nobody cracks a math book those days!

There are also days when we visit national or state parks, historic landmarks, and regional operations...in the same day. Education doesn't always require a textbook.

Third, we don't do the unnecessary. Let's take spelling, for example. Four of my five readers are excellent spellers. I therefore do not waste time with spelling lists.

Is the time required to study and drill spelling lists better used reading great works of literature or writings from our country's founders, through which they will be exposed to those words (and some great ideas)? You betcha!I able to assess their spelling through their writing assignments and correspondence.

You noticed, didn't you, that one of them is not an excellent speller. That child, when old enough, received an independent spelling workbook that took about ten minutes of her time a day. No lists. No extra work for Mother. No tears. Her spelling has improved dramatically.

Fourth, we "do school" in the van whenever the scenery is particularly uninspiring. Unfortunately, our van's CD player died, making the excellent option of audio lessons out of the question. Also, our van is quite large (no mini-anything in our family), so reading aloud for more than, say, a chapter of the Bible, is pretty much out of the question for this ol' mama's voice box. We can, however, watch educational videos as we travel.

We also break into groups and work on different subjects. I help the children nearest me with their reading lessons and language arts, while my older children in the back work together on catechism lessons, English, foreign language, and whatever latest music they're making up. The van also provides an environment for discussing deep issues...if we talk loudly enough.

Fifth, we teach independence from the start. The older children work through their science texts and many other projects on their own, discussing what they have learned with us and each other. They also work with the younger children. Thanks to Math-U-See, they all progress through math relatively independently as well...with supervision.

We nurture and encourage independent progression in areas of our children interests and talents. Because many of our children are talented musically, this requires a bit of creativity as everyone attempts to practice piano in the churches we visit.

Finally, we stay relaxed. We school year-round and on Saturdays, because we have to take every opportunity to squeeze the book-learnin' around the real life educational opportunities. But if the books need to be set aside for a time, so be it. We can see that they are progressing, and together we can make an extra push in certain areas as necessary.

We also stay away from the "if only's." Would it be easier if we could afford laptops and unlimited data usage for everyone? Yes. Would it help if all the kiddos had Kindles, since weight restrictions prevent our bringing many books. Sure it would.

Would it be easier if we could afford to replace the CD player and load up on audios, or download freebies online. Of course. But if we were going to let the difficulties hold us back, we would never have become homeschoolers in the first place!

My children can manage a home and care for children at a level I hadn't learned until I was married for years. They have worked in our family business and are vital to the operation of our music mission. They help manage a family blog and one keeps a personal blog; in the process they are learning online marketing and computer skills.

They manage a sales table independently. They come into contact with more people on a daily basis than most children encounter in a month. They are traveling this great country of ours and experiencing first-hand what most children only read about in textbooks – the Hoover Dam, the Laura Ingalls homes, Daniel Boone country, the Alamo...you name it! They meet people from all walks of life and are learning empathy and to look beyond themselves.

They are living examples of family, togetherness, cooperation, and sacrifice. No textbook could teach them that.

Is roadschooling perfect? No. Is it more fun and memorable to get out of the van and follow tarantulas across the road in Texas than it is to read about them in a book? I believe that's a rhetorical question...although we did both.

It would indeed be easier to make it through a textbook if our home were set on a foundation instead of on wheels, but with glorious America for our backyard, the learning opportunities for our family on the road are unparalleled.

What my children learn between the covers of a book is valuable, but what they experience from sea to shining sea and everywhere in between is absolutely priceless.

If you are interested in hearing about our adventures on the road, check out our family travel blog, The Travel Bags.

Visit Life Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!

Homeschool Showcase #95

2012-05-21T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the May 21, 2012 edition of Homeschool Showcase, where we spotlight all the encouraging, inspiring and just plain fun ways that homeschooling families live and learn together.

Last week we finished up our last six-week unit before summer break. We’ve got a few more days to log before we’re officially off, but we’re looking forward to following some rabbit trails instead of doing anything especially structured. This week’s Homeschool Showcase offers some interesting rabbit trails your family might want to follow.

Julie, who is a homeschooling mom living in Germany, shares some sad, but interesting (from a historical perspective) facts and photos from a concentration camp in Dachau, Germany. Visit Highhill Homeschool to learn more.

I love Becky’s encouraging post, To The Mother of My Child. It’s one that every mom needs to read, so, if you’re a mom, head on over to Charlie Brown’s Teacher to read it.

Bill Tyler offers 4 Quick Tips to Improve Focus. Although the article is written with a traditional office setting in mind, the ideas are applicable to our jobs as homeschooling parents or our kids’ jobs as students. I was really intrigued by the suggestion to rewrite your to-do list each day. Read more at Bubble Planner | Attention Deficit Destroyer - ADD Articles.

Because we’re going to give year round homeschooling a try this year, I was very interested in Jamerrill’s thoughts on the subject. Read The Year Round Homeschool posted at Holy Spirit-led Homeschooling.

Jamerrill is also offering a {FREE Printable Set} Little Mommy: Caring for Babies at her newest blog, Free Homeschool Deals.

Joan and her daughter are having fun Making homemade ice pops and studying freezing posted at Our School at Home. I can’t think of a tastier way to study freezing.

Tiger's Mum shares some great resources for those of who who are learning about vertebrates in her post, Funny bones, posted at The Tiger Chronicle.

That concludes this edition of Homeschool Showcase. Submit your blog article to the next edition, scheduled for Monday, June 4, by using our carnival submission form. (If it’s not working…again…follow the link below to the guidelines page to see how to submit your post.)

Post submissions are due by Friday, June 1, t 6:00 PM (EST). If you're new to Homeschool Showcase please read the guidelines before submitting your post. Past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Want to help spread the word? Tweet the following:

Creative #homeschool ideas and more in the Homeschool Showcase hosted by @Kris_WUHSmom - http://bit.ly/nhEsui #hsblogger

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Party

2012-05-18T15:19:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday! I hope you’re all having a wonderful week. It’s been a good one around here. Yesterday we finished up the last six-week unit in Trail Guide that we’ll do this school year.

We’ve got a week left to finish out our school year. I plan to read some books on the topics that we missed by started with Paths of Settlement instead of Paths of Exploration (since we’d already covered most of the topics in that set). I’m thinking that we’ll read about Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark. We probably won’t finish the books next week, but, hey, we’ve got all summer to read.

Today was our end-of-the-year party with our local homeschool group. It was our lowest turnout ever. I think that was probably directly related to a couple of things – one, I’m guessing that maybe it snuck up on everyone else like it did me, and two, homeschool graduation is tomorrow and we’ve got a lot of kids (in the area, not necessarily in our group) graduating.

It makes me feel rather old that I know five kids (three public school, two homeschool) graduating this year. It makes me feel really, really old that I’ve known three of them since they were born. {sigh} Where does the time go? I think we’re going to have to take out a small loan to send everyone a graduation gift.

We finally went to see Avengers this week. Well, let me rephrase that – I finally went to see Avengers this week with my husband and son who’d already seen it once and my daughter who’d already seen it twice.

I’m not usually an action movie kind of person, but I’d seen Iron Man and liked it and watched most of The Hulk and thought it was pretty good. Plus, I really thought it was cool that they did a movie about all these superheroes who’d each (well, most of them) had their own movie. It was as good as everyone said it was.

Gus the cat with the early-warning system we installed for the baby bunnies and other unsuspecting creatures – a bell collar. He is not impressed.

And, those are pretty much the highlights of my week, which is nice. I like these low-key weeks. I don’t think I’ve ever gone into summer break so relaxed. The last couple of years I was so burnt out and ready for a break.

I don’t know if it’s the fact that we completely switched curriculum in January, so everything stayed fresh or if Trail Guide is just that much a good fit for our family. Whatever it is, though, I’ll take it. I feel as “together” as I can remember feeling in a very long time.

I even got a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff blogging stuff accomplished – like some guest posts that were due and a couple of other projects. Other than the fact that I really need to thoroughly clean my house and catch up laundry, I’m starting to feel like I might have a handle on things again. And with the light school week that we’ll have next week, I should even be able to catch up those things, too.

I hope your week is going smoothly, as well, and that you’re looking forward to a good weekend.

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Review: Switched-on-Schoolhouse (World History)

2012-05-17T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today will be my final review on Switched-on-Schoolhouse as we wrap up our first full school year with it. You can read my previous reviews: my first overview and my spotlights on English, geometry, and biology.

Despite some of the annoyances of Switched-on-Schoolhouse – and I’m sure every curriculum has them – we’ll be using it again next year. After more than a year using it (thanks to a restart following a computer crash), Brianna still says that she likes it best of all the other high-school-level curriculum we’ve tried.

I think she likes that it’s straightforward and no frills. She knows what she’s got to do and she can just do it.

Subject Spotlight: World History

As an adult, I love history. I didn’t enjoy learning it as a kid, though. It was all boring dates and dry textbooks. I prefer teaching my kids history through great historical fiction, so I have been surprised at how much Brianna enjoys SOS world history. It’s basically textbook on the computer without the literature that I prefer.

Enjoy it, she does, however. When I asked her why, she said that it’s presented in an interesting way. She also stated that she really likes that it meshes world history with Biblical history when applicable. Brianna said she gets a good sense of what was going on in the world as a whole at the same time that familiar Biblical events took place.

I understand why she likes that. I have this tendency to think of the events I read about in the Bible as happening in some sort of bubble, so I really love when they are put in the setting of other world events. This makes the Bible and history make so much more sense to me since world events shaped the lives of Biblical figures.

Since Brianna is using the SOS curriculum independently, I’m not intimately familiar with the scope and sequence of the world history curriculum, however, from what I’ve seen on the work that I’ve had to manually grade, I think it’s covering what I would expect a high school level history program to cover.

I know that one thing she’s learned about has been the fall of Rome. We’ve had some very interesting discussions – many of them initiated by Brianna – about how our current society mimics much of what was going on in Rome before it fell. To see Brianna learning about history in such a way that she can see and understand those parallels is very rewarding.

I think one of the most compelling reasons to study history is to avoid making the mistakes of those who came before us. So, to see a student make those connections tells me that their study of history is doing one of the most important things it should be doing.

10 Reasons I’m Excited About Summer Break

2012-05-15T06:00:00.000-04:00

I am so excited about our upcoming summer break! I always am, but this year it’s not because I’m burned out…and that’s an exciting statement because I wasn’t able to say that the last two years.

We are loving Trail Guide to Learning. I’m not sure if it’s the fact that we started on it in January, so we haven’t had time to experience the normal burn out or if it’s the plain and simple fact that it’s such a good fit. Either way, I’ll take it.

In spite of the “no burn out” thing, though, I’m still excited about summer break. Want to know why?

1. Time to catch up. I’m feeling perpetually behind lately. Whether it’s laundry or blogging or other commitments, I feel like I’m always scrambling to keep my head above water. While this all may be a sign that I’m seriously over-committed, I’m hoping that a more open summer schedule will allow me some time to catch up.

2. Time to plan. I’m sincerely hoping that a more open schedule will also allow me some time to do some planning and organizing so that once I get caught up (see me being optimistic), I can get a schedule in place to stay ahead of the game once school resumes.

3. Time to play with my kids. During the school year, we often fall into that trap of doing school, then, everybody going off to do their own thing. I’m looking forward to spending more time just enjoying my kids and reconnecting.

4. Time to workout. I’ve still been working out regularly, but it’s been minimal. Last summer, I was able to take off 15 pounds. I’d love to bump up my strength-training workouts and get rid of my last 5-7 pounds in order to reach my goal weight this summer.

5. Sleeping in. Yeah, I know we don’t really get up early in the first place, but I love not having to wake up to an alarm. These days, I don’t sleep crazy-late (at least not my version of crazy-late) like I used to, but an extra hour or so sure sounds nice.

6. Late nights. I’m a night owl at heart, though I don’t seem to be able to stay up as late as I used to. I’m looking forward to staying up a bit later while we’re on break.

7. The weather. Okay, so I really prefer spring and fall when it’s just warm and not miserably hot, but I’ll take hot over cold any day (except where running is concerned). I just love not having to bundle up to go outside. I love when I take the dogs out at night and it’s still warm. I love summer.

8. No socks in the dryer. Come on, moms. Tell me I’m not the only one who hates matching socks. They’re the worst part of doing the laundry. Of course, this is an all-summer thing, not just summer break, but it’s worth mentioning.

9. Fun learning. I’m hoping to enjoy some of the read-alouds that we missed by starting Trail Guide with Paths of Settlement instead of Paths of Exploration. I’m looking forward to reading some book about Daniel Boone and Lewis and Clark (particularly this one that I remember with fondness from when Brianna and I studied Lewis and Clark).

I also want to put together for the kids this science box, which is about the coolest-looking thing I have ever seen.

10. Birthdays. Brianna, Brian, and I all have birthdays during our summer break. I don’t care how old I get, I still get excited about birthdays.

Our summer break is going to be shorter than usual this year, as we’ll be transitioning to a year ‘round schedule. We’re taking off that last week of May through the first week of July. Then, we’re going to be on a six weeks on/one week off schedule through the year. I’m excited about our plans!

What are you looking forward to about summer break?

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday.

Mother’s Day Recap

2012-05-14T06:00:00.000-04:00

I hope you all had a wonderful Mother’s Day. I had a whole weekend of wonderful. Saturday, Brian, Brianna and I went out to breakfast before taking her to work since the younger two had spent the night elsewhere.

After dropping Brianna off, Brian and I went mountain bike riding. It was so much fun! The trails – beginner and intermediate – still freak me out a little bit, but I haven’t wrecked yet or run into a tree (almost, but not quite) and it’s so fun being off-road.

In addition to beautiful scenery, we saw a gorgeous deer just off the bike path. She just stood watching us. I think if we’d have made a move toward her, she’d have taken off, but since we weren’t bothering her, she just stood and watched us ride away.

After we rode and ran a few errands, we picked Megan up at Brian’s parents and the three of us went to Chick-Fil-A to eat and hang out a bit while waiting for Brianna to get off. Brian and I split the yummy goodness known as a cookie sundae.

Yesterday started off bright and early with church, where I learned a valuable lesson: When you get an email that originated with the pastor asking you to pray that hearts will be open for the heavy message that’s been laid on his heart to share, don’t think that it probably doesn’t apply to you because you don’t have anything “heavy” going on in your life.

Yeah, instead, you should get out pen and paper and sit up and pay attention because God might be getting ready to confirm a message that He gave you Himself just a couple of weeks ago. Suffice it to say that Sunday at church was an incredible blessing.

After church, God gave me a Mother’s Day present, in addition to the sweet cards from the kids: a rainy Sunday.

Not only is rain the perfect weather for my favorite Sunday activity – a nap – but it also means that the noisy kids and dogs that live behind us can’t come outside and play. I slept like a rock! So much so that when I rolled over and saw that the clock said 3:36, I thought, “That can’t be right. It’s light outside.” It took me a minute to realize that it was 3:36 in the afternoon.

My husband brought me flowers when he came home from work and a silicon case for my new phone. He grilled out steaks while I baked sweet potatoes and roasted broccoli for a delicious Mother’s Day meal.

Josh helped me clear the table without being asked.

I really couldn’t have asked for a better day. How was your Mother’s Day?

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One with the Really Busy Week

2012-05-11T17:40:00.000-04:00

Have you been wandering around aimlessly looking for the Weekly Wrap-Up? Oops! It’s been such a busy day I almost forgot that I hadn’t posted it yet. It’s actually been a really busy day, capping off a really busy week.

Monday started with me getting up bright and early so I’d have time to meet with our evaluator to discuss Josh’s dyslexia screening results. This was followed by the whole business of getting back to school after a week off. Funny how being so close to the end of the school year makes that more palatable for everyone. As of today, we have two weeks left.

Erasing the traces of Sunday’s Zaxby’s betrayal

Tuesday, we got as much school in as we could before the mail ran. Why before the mail ran, you may ask. That’s because I knew that there was a video game coming for Josh. One that he’d been waiting on for over a week and talking about daily.

Because I know how I am and because I’m a nice mom, I had decided that I would let him stay home and play his video game, rather than making him do schoolwork in the car like we usually do during Brianna’s dance class. Yeah, he loves me. And, he didn’t even complain too much about finishing school once the girls and I got back home.

Wednesday, we hit the books hard and heavy since we didn’t get everything done on Tuesday and we had appointments on Thursday. Wednesday afternoon, I posted on my Facebook page that I had intended to post a status update saying how proud I was of the kids and how hard they’d worked, without complaining, to get so much done. However, by the time I got to Facebook, all I wanted to post was how long division is going to be the death of either Megan or me.

I’m glad I posted it. Someone shared an acronym that helped her child remember the steps: Does McDonald’s Sell Cheese Burgers? It stands for divide, multiply, subtract, check, bring down and it seems to be helping. Long division is still of the devil as far as both Megan and I are concerned (it gave me fits when I was her age), but that acronym does help her remember the steps.

Megan, impatiently awaiting her turn on Angry Birds

Thursday was dental appointments…for all five of us. It makes for a very long afternoon, but it also means we only have to worry about going to the dentist twice a year.

A funny thing happened while we were at the dentist. We ran into my mom! She’s a patient there, too, but in all the years (over 20) that she and I have been patients, we’ve never run into each other at the office. I’d love to figure the odds on that. Well, I’d actually love for someone else to figure the odds on that.

There are the 365 sixty five days, minus weekends and holidays, that the dentist is open and the approximately 8 hours that the office sees patients. We’re there for about 2 1/2 of those hours, twice a year, while my mom is there for half an hour, twice a year. Got the odds yet?

Oh, and my mom and I have been patients for over 20 years – probably 22 or 23. Brian started going after we got married (over 21 years ago) and the kids started going at around 4 or 5 years of age.

Today was homeschool day at a local amusement park. We don’t usually go because the company that Brian works for has their company picnic there in June, so we can go free and it’s far less crowded. Brianna was invited to go with a friend, though, and she paid for her own ticket, so that’s what she did today while the younger kids and I used our built-in catch-up day to catch up.

Megan thought that was rather unfair. She’s forgotten about all the times Brianna was slaving away over schoolwork while she and Josh had a light day.

I think those are the highlights from my week, what about you?

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5 Ways to Celebrate the End of the School Year

2012-05-11T06:00:00.000-04:00

Way back at the beginning of the school year over at The Homeschool Classroom, I offered suggestions for 10 Ways to Celebrate the First Day of School. Today, I’m offering 5 Ways to Celebrate the End of the School Year.

Wondering why there aren’t 10 ways on this list? Well, let’s just face it. By the end of the school year, my family is so happy that it’s time for summer break that confetti and back-flips couldn’t make the day any more celebratory than it already is. Somehow, the last day just doesn’t require as much effort to get excited about.

Still, it’s no fun for the school year to just stop, so pop over the The Homeschool Classroom today for five suggestions for ending the school year with a bang.

Homeschooling with Dyslexia

2012-05-10T06:00:00.000-04:00

It strikes again. Dyslexia. This time, though, it’s official. If you’ve been a long time – and I mean, a really long time – blog reader, you may remember way back when, when we had Brianna screened with a really extensive eye exam.

They discovered that she had tracking problems and some auditory processing delays, but they stopped just short of saying that she had dyslexia because “true dyslexia is a neurological problem…” blah, blah, blah.

But, I knew.

Still, being the painfully honest person that I am, I often find myself qualifying Brianna’s dyslexia with the words, “mom-diagnosed.”

When I found out about Lexercise’s online dyslexia testing, I immediately called Josh to the computer to take the free screening. I sat beside him as he took it, clicking a button onscreen to indicate if he’d read a word correctly or incorrectly. He was doing much better than I expected…in fact, I really thought the screening would indicate that he didn’t need further testing.

The Free Screening Process

The screening starts with a Z-Screener that tests phonemic awareness based on how well a child can read one-syllable nonsense words.

Then, it looks at reading level by having the child read sight words up to his grade level.

His results? Further testing needed in each of the two areas. Due to his continuing reading struggles and the fact that I’ve long suspected that he has dyslexia, the results really weren’t a surprise other than the fact that he seemed to be doing better than expected on the screening.

Just in case you’re thinking, “Yeah, right. I bet the screener shows that every kid needs further testing,” I know several people whose kids took it and it indicated that they did not need help.

Because the screening showed that Josh would benefit from a more in-depth screening, plus the fact that he has always shown symptoms of dyslexia, I was eager to try the full evaluation.

Setting Up the Evaluation

The most complicated part of the full evaluation process was signing up for the appointment. Just so you know, should you decide your child needs a full evaluation, the red boxes on the calendar indicate the week that you’re looking at on the appointment calendar. The dark blue boxes on the appointment calendar (on the right) show the available times. You click those to schedule.

Once I got that figured out, the rest was a breeze. Our evaluator emailed me to confirm our appointment and set up a time to talk by phone. When he called, he asked me to tell him, in my own words, what was going on with Josh. Then, he let me know that he’d be emailing me some forms and told me what I’d need to do with them.

The forms included a permission form with some privacy information and a Word doc that I was to fill out, which included some basic information about Josh, including the background history that I had verbally given over the phone. I just had to fill out and return those forms.

We also set up a time to test the equipment – Skype (which I’d never used before), headset/microphone, and a webcam (which I don’t have – it wasn’t necessary for the evaluation, but we’ll need one if we decide to pursue therapy), so that we didn’t waste time with technical problems during the evaluation.

The Full Dyslexia Evaluation

The evaluation itself takes about an hour and a half, plus 15 minutes later on for the child to complete a writing sample. If your child is anything like mine and the thought of doing a “reading test” for an hour and a half doesn’t exactly sound appealing, bribery does have its place. (Josh may or may not have gotten a new video game in exchange for complete cooperation with no complaining.)

I was very impressed with how thorough the evaluation was, along with the fact that it was tailored to Josh’s needs based on the information I had included in the background report.

I also really appreciated how personable and encouraging our evaluator was. He told me that he works with a lot of homeschooling families. He treated me as a colleague and never talked down to me or made me feel like he thought Josh could receive more help in a public school setting. He also went out of his way to make Josh feel comfortable.

The evaluation started with a vocabulary section that included naming a variety of pictures (Josh often has trouble with word recall) and synonyms.

Next was a rapid naming/listening section, which tested for phonemic awareness. It included naming letters as quickly as possible, isolating phonemes, and blending words.

Finally, there were some reading activities (sight words and a couple of short passages), followed by some spelling words and logical/critical thinking.

The Evaluation Results

Following the screening, we set an appointment for our evaluator to go over the results with me.

The results, of course, indicated that Josh does, indeed, have neurological dyslexia. Not a surprise, but sobering, nonetheless. Our evaluator went over each aspect of the assessment with me. He explained what each test measured, what the averages were, where Josh tested, and what that meant.

It was a surreal feeling. Some of the things he mentioned made me feel as if he’d been a fly on the wall for the last several years of our homeschooling life. I found myself nodding along as he explained some of the things that Josh is doing. Yes, I am very familiar with this symptom or that. I’ve seen it in action for the last six years.

I also really appreciated the fact that the evaluator was able to see past the spelling and grammar errors to recognize Josh’s incredible creativity in his writing sample. He was very quick to point out that dyslexia has nothing to do with intelligence, but is simply the way the brain is wired.

He did recommend therapy with Lexercise – and we’re very seriously considering it – and he also suggested a book that I might be interested in reading to help me better understand dyslexia. Though we’ve been dealing with it for quite some time with Brianna, hers isn’t as severe as Josh’s, so this is a whole new ballgame for me.

Our evaluator was also wonderful about answering all my questions and even followed up with an email about a couple of them.

I was very pleased with the entire evaluation process – you know, other than the part where we now have to figure out how to help my son overcome dyslexia. It was thorough, personalized, and enlightening.

If you suspect that your child might have dyslexia, I encourage you to try the free dyslexia screening to see if he or she might benefit from the full evaluation. Whether you decide to pursue therapy or not, sometimes it helps just knowing for sure what you’re dealing with.

To keep up with all that Lexercise has to offer, along with the latest developments in dyslexia therapy, you can follow Lexercise on Facebook and Twitter.

You might also want to read Maureen’s review at Spell Outloud. I know that she had a child who was evaluated, as well.

Special thanks to iHomeschool Network for arranging this review opportunity..

I received this product free for the purpose of reviewing it. I also received monetary compensation for the time invested in the review process. The opinions expressed are my personal, honest opinions. Your experience may vary. Please read my full disclosure policy for more details.

12 Highly Effective Ways of Putting Off Writing a Blog Post (or Other Somewhat Productive Activity)

2012-05-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

You know how sometimes you want – or need – to do something, but you’re just not quite ready, mentally or emotionally, to tackle the project? Well, I’m here to help you out. Whether it’s writing a blog post, doing the dishes, folding the laundry or any other various and sundry productive activity that might be lounging around on your to-do list.

Here are a dozen highly effective ways of putting off that thing you need or want (just not right now) to do:

1. Play Words with Friends. Don’t just slap any word up there, either. Give it some thought. Ponder, strategize, shuffle your letters. If you think about it long enough, you may just come up with a 63 point word (like perch played across a triple word and triple letter).

2. Play Draw Something. This is especially effective if you’re just a few points away from having enough credit to buy new colors.

3. Check Facebook. Repeatedly. Post a few status updates while you’re there. And, maybe upload a picture or two.

4. Take some photos with Instagram. This can also go along with number 3, above, if you don’t have any photos handy to upload.

5. Check Twitter. Repeatedly. Make sure to check each of your groups and lists, too. You don’t want to miss anything.

6. Stop to admire your son’s new video game. He’ll be happy to tell you all about it and show you all the cool stuff that came with the special edition set. Bonus points for bonding with your kid while showing interest in the things that interest him (even if he doesn’t smile).

7. Check your phone. Somebody might have sent you a text (or played their turn on Draw Something) and you just didn’t hear it. Be sure to respond if they did.

8. Check your email. Be sure to click any links that you might find to forums in which you participate, so that you can respond to those, as well.

9. Get the dogs some water. They might want some food, too. Don’t forget the cats.

10. Make a snack. It’s hard work blogging (or washing dishes or folding laundry…or even just thinking about doing any of those things). You don’t want your strength to fail you.

11. Go to the bathroom. Even if you don’t really need to. I mean, really, you just had a snack. You probably drank something, too. You have needs. Be sure to take a book or a magazine with you. Sometimes you need those little snippets of time to catch up on your reading.

12. Check your feed reader. Somebody may have published a blog post that you haven’t seen yet. You need to read it. It might inspire you.

Of course, those are just some random ideas off the top of my head. I’d never do anything of these things when I’ve got something that I need to do. And, if I did, I sure wouldn’t write a blog post about it.

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Putting God in a Box

2012-05-08T06:00:00.000-04:00

One of my favorite things about the 2:1 Conference was the evidence of God’s hand in it all. While it was a wonderful to get together and hang out, in person, with some of my favorite online friends, it was also a chance to hear from God as He spoke through the conference speakers.

I think a lot of times we know it’s God speaking to us when it’s something we don’t want to hear – when we want to ignore or brush aside what we’re hearing, but just can’t.

photo credit

Sometimes, He bangs us over the head with what He’s trying to say, like when he showed me how I’ve been tearing Megan down, rather than building her up, as I should be. Other times, it’s just a gentle nudge that you can’t quite brush aside.

The first time I felt God speaking to me at the conference was that second kind – the gentle nudge.

Just so you know, I’m not someone who just goes around claiming that God was speaking to me about this or that. I usually find those moments very hard to decipher, but these two things that He showed me at the 2:1 Conference, I firmly believe were from Him.

Have you heard the story yet of how Rachel Martin came to speak at the conference? It was a total God thing. She was supposed to be there as the emcee, but the Saturday morning keynote speaker was unable to attend at the last minute. After much prayer, Rachel agreed to fill in.

I made several notes during her keynote address, the first of which was, “God was not surprised that Rachel would be speaking.”

I wrote down other great words of wisdom from Rachel, such as:

Comparison is the death of contentment.

We need to reclaim the Internet for God.

God doesn’t care about comments, Facebook likes, or retweets. He cares that He comes first and that I care for my family.

All good stuff, but there was one thing that I didn’t write down – not at first, anyway.

I didn’t want to write it down because what if someone read it over my shoulder? What if someone saw what God had just revealed to me? What if someone else saw this nasty truth?

I couldn’t let it go, though. God kept whispering it in my ear. So, I finally wrote it down:

“I compartmentalize God.”

Ouch.

As Rachel was talking, I was constantly reminded that my faith should permeate everything I do – from parenting to blogging, my role as spouse, friend, and even stranger-in-passing. My faith should be evident in everything that I do.

I started thinking about the word permeate. It was one of the kid’s vocabulary words recently. The example given in their text was how smoke permeates a room.

I thought about that. Have you ever sat around a campfire or been in a room with someone who smokes?

The smell of smoke gets in everything – your clothes, your hair, even on your skin. You can smell it long after you’ve gotten away from the source. So can others with whom you come into contact.

Shouldn’t God be like that in my life? A part of everything I do? He should permeate every fiber of my being, every aspect of my day.

Everyone with whom I come into contact – whether online or in person, stranger, family or friend – should be able to sense God’s presence in me. He should so permeate my life that even though I am not the source, others would see Him in my words and actions.

I can’t put God into a box and pull Him out when I need Him. He’s too big to be contained. The aroma of His spirit should permeate every aspect of my life.

Its time to quit compartmentalizing God and let Him permeate my soul.

The verse I used at the close of the Have a HEART for Your Child post seems to work well here, too:

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19

Are you trying to put God in a box?

Homeschool Showcase #94

2012-05-07T06:00:00.000-04:00

Welcome to the May 7, 2012 edition of Homeschool Showcase, where we spotlight all the encouraging, inspiring and just plain fun ways that homeschooling families live and learn together.

After a long weekend at The 2:1 Conference, followed by an impromptu week off, we’re back to the books today and counting down the weeks until summer break.

Whether it’s a school week or a break week for you, I hope you’ll enjoy browsing the ideas in this week’s Homeschool Showcase.

Tiger's Mum shares her recent experience art journaling with her son in her post, It's all about timing, at The Tiger Chronicle.

I may or may not be guilty of numbers 2 and 9 on Melanie Grant’s list of suggestions of 20 Ways to have less stressful school days posted at Mel's Mouthful on Mothering.

Serfronya offers suggestions and resources for Teaching Children About Money posted at Cookie's Domain.

photo credit

Joan Otto and her family enjoyed some Super science with stuff around the house. Visit Our School at Home for more details.

Rebecca Rassi reflects on the idea of sacrifice and The Gift That Keeps Bugging Me at Charlie Brown's Teacher.

Denise reveals her plans for PUFM 1.0 Introduction posted at Let's Play Math!, saying, “More than eight years ago, a group of homeschooling friends started a Yahoo ‘teaching research group’ to discuss math in hope of deepening our own understanding and learning to better help our students. Now I’m planning to bring that study to my blog, bit by bit, updated with things I’ve learned in the years since.”

Brianne shares photos and details about the Global Art Project - Creation that kids in her local homeschool group worked together to create, posted at this is my offering....

Enjoy the sites of the Pacific Northwest with Pamela Jorrick as she and her family visit Seattle posted at Escape is Possible.

Amanda Pelser offers free Books of the Bible printables in her post, Kids in the Word Wednesday: Learning the Books of the Bible with FREE Printable posted at The Pelsers.

That concludes this edition of Homeschool Showcase. Submit your blog article to the next edition, scheduled for Monday, May 21, by using our carnival submission form. Post submissions are due by Friday, May 18 at 6:00 PM (EST). If you're new to Homeschool Showcase please read the guidelines before submitting your post. Past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.

Want to help spread the word? Tweet the following:

Creative #homeschool ideas and more in the Homeschool Showcase hosted by @Kris_WUHSmom - http://bit.ly/nhEsui #hsblogger

Weekly Wrap-Up: The One After the 2:1 Conference

2012-05-04T14:39:00.001-04:00

Happy Friday! I hope you’ve all had a super-fantastic week. We have – it’s been an impromptu vacation week for us. My husband decided to take the week off, so we did, too. Who wants to try to be doing school while Dad’s off?

Not to mention the fact that we had stuff going on the first three days of the week – a doctor’s appointment, two other morning appointments Tuesday and Wednesday, and dance class on Tuesday afternoon. It would have been difficult to be productive anyway.

The 2:1 Conference speakers (photo credit)

Next week, though, it’s back to the books as we finish up our last few weeks of school. Surprisingly, everyone is on board to give year ‘round schooling a try. There is a slight faltering in the enthusiasm at the thought of starting back to school the second week in July, but everyone likes the idea of a week off every six weeks, so we’re going to give it a go and see how it works.

The highlight of my week, as sad as it is to admit, has been playing with my new phone. For those of you who have smartphones, how long did it take you to start looking at it as a phone again, rather than a toy to be played with? Are you eventually able to do that?

Please tell me you can or I may start worrying about addiction. Two words: Draw Something. {sigh} And, Megan may or may not be getting tired of being my guinea pig for Instagram.

I’ve been overwhelmed by the response to my post, Having a HEART for Your Kids. I was really worried about hitting “publish” because I was afraid I might get blasted for admitting how I’ve been guilty of tearing down my baby. Quite the contrary, though, so many of you have let me know that you share my struggle. Others have said that you’ll be praying with and for me. The response has really touched my heart.

Thank you.

In addition to running errands and playing with my phone, I’ve been chipping away at a massive laundry pile this week. I have successfully managed to get it caught up. Of course, it’s a never-ending battle so the challenge will be to keep it caught up this week.

Oh, and my big project yesterday was steam-cleaning the carpet in my van. There are still some stains that I couldn’t get up, but you know it looks better when your kids get in the car and say, “Wow, Mom! The van looks awesome!”

So, now I’m in that phase of, “Take all your stuff with you when you leave the van. Be careful with your drinks! Don’t put your hands on the windows!”

It won’t last long.

Brian, Josh and Brianna went to see the midnight premiere of The Avengers last night. Megan asked me what we were going to do while they were gone. Um, sleep.

She gave me a look until I reminded her: It’s the midnight premiere. They won’t be home until, like, three in the morning.

Oh, yeah.

Now, we’re just heading into a low-key weekend before starting up our last three weeks of school next week. It just feels so stress-free and relaxing. I love it!

How was your week? Be sure to post about it and sign up with MckLinky. If this is your first time to join us, be sure to read the Weekly Wrap-Up guidelines. You can also follow the guidelines link to grab the banner code.

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The Airport Story

2012-05-03T06:00:00.000-04:00

After yesterday’s rather heavy post, I thought y’all might enjoy a funny one from the 2:1 Conference – the one about the lady who wanted to fight me at the airport.

photo credit

So, on the first leg of my journey, I flew on a tiny little plan to Atlanta. There were probably only about 50 or so people on it. Most of them were really nice. A couple of them were a little…um…testy.

The first bit of evidence to testify to this fact happed right after everyone had boarded. The flight attendant announced that we would not be taking off until about 8:20.

It was 7:40.

As the flight attendant walked by, this woman, who had a window seat, nearly climbed over her husband, sitting on the aisle, demanding, “Hey! Hey! Does that mean we’re not taking off??”

Then, her husband refused to turn off his phone until he was good and ready to turn it off when we were ready to take off.

When we landed, he immediately jumped up, with his, um, posterior in my face to unload his carry-on. It took awhile. I did not particularly enjoy the view.

When the line of people in the aisle finally started moving, I waited so that this woman could exit their seats behind her husband. She didn’t move. She hadn’t even gathered up the stuff that was in the seat beside her.

Her husband was now two rows up behind the steadily exiting flow of passengers. Since both I and the other guy on my row were ready, I stepped into the aisle and proceeded down the aisle behind her husband.

She didn’t like that, apparently.

“I’ll be there in a minute,” she bellowed. “Somebody just jumped right in front of me.

“I wasn’t trying to be rude,” I replied (since I was obviously supposed to hear the comment). “I was just trying to exit the plane.”

“Well, you didn’t have to get in such a hurry!”

“I am actually in a bit of a hurry,” I said in a not-unpleasant kind of way. “My connecting flight leaves in half an hour.” (Thanks to the delay. Half an hour. In the Atlanta airport, which is the size of a small city. My connecting flight was two gates over. That involves an extremely fast-moving train. I hadn’t flown in 15 years. I didn’t know about the train.)

“What’d you say,” she bellowed, as we continue to exit the plane.

I repeated myself.

“What’d you say? What’d she say,” she demanded of the people behind her.

I repeated myself again.

She continued to bellow.

She chased me down in the little chute thing that connects the plane to the airport where I’d stopped to collect my gate-checked luggage. “What did you say to me?”

I enunciated very carefully, but again, in a normal tone of voice, “I said I was in a bit of a hurry. My connecting flight leaves in half-an-hour.”

“Well, you didn’t have to be so rude.”

Seriously? You’re telling me about not being rude? Really?

I didn’t say anything else as she walked away. I was thankful when the other passengers made comments that let me know that they thought she was crazy and not me. I wasn’t sure if I’d broken some kind of plane exiting etiquette that I was unaware of.

Can I tell you want I wanted to say?

The third time she demanded to know what I’d said, I wanted to turn around and enunciate each and every word as I replied, “I said I’m going to blog about you. Be looking for it. Next week. Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers dot com.”

After I collected my bags and went to try to find out where to find my connecting flight, I overheard another passenger talking with a gate attendant about the gate number for the same flight. I asked if he’d mind if I followed him.

“Not at all,” he replied. “Just don’t make me mad like you did that lady.”

We bonded in that moment. And, I was very careful to follow all unspoken airline etiquette, real or imagined, for the duration of my trip.

Having a HEART for Your Kids

2012-05-02T06:00:00.000-04:00

Are you ready for total transparency? I hope so, because you’re about to get it. So, the first breakout session at the 2:1 Conference Saturday morning was a sponsor session. The choices were Apologia and Classical Conversations.

If I could have found a ride to the Verizon store to get a replacement for my phone that had died Friday afternoon, I would have. I’m familiar with both Apologia and CC, so I didn’t expect to hear anything I hadn’t heard before.

photo credit

Apologia’s owner, Rachel Carmen, was supposed to talk about the books that Apologia offered. I thought I was just killing time. Somehow, though, in the middle of talking about books, Rachel started talking about something that is usually a part of her keynote address: having a HEART for your children. It went something like this:

H – Have a heart for God. If we don’t have a heart for God, we can’t have a heart for our children.

E – Enrich your marriage. Make sure that your kids know that you love their dad like crazy.

A – Accept your children.

R – Release your kids to God. They are not our kids; they are His.

T—Teach them truth. Homeschooling is not the answer; Jesus is. Truth matters more than academics.

Good stuff, huh? You may wonder why I don’t have much for letter A. That’s because that’s when I quit listening to Rachel and started listening to God.

See, she was telling this story – a story about breaking her son while trying to “fix” him. She said that one day they were driving down the road listening to Focus on the Family on the radio. Dr. James Dobson was on, talking about strong-willed children.

Rachel looked into the backseat and saw that tears were streaming down her son’s face. He said, “That’s me. I’m that kid.”

Rachel said to us, “I did that. I did that to him. All his life, I’d been working to convince him that he was that kid.”

It was that moment that God spoke to me. I’ve been doing that to Megan. I’ve been tearing her down instead of building her up.

“The wise woman builds her house, but with her own hands the foolish one tears hers down.” – Proverbs 14:1

I am fairly certain that she has ADD – not the hyperactivity or even inattention, but definitely the impulsivity. It drives me batty sometimes. I will say to her, “You’re driving me crazy.”

“The tongue has the power of life and death…” Proverbs 18:21

It makes me a little sick to my stomach to even type those words. I’ve been saying that to my baby. Not daily, but often enough. Not always in so many words, but in my actions, my body language, and those long-suffering sighs.

She has two older siblings whose job it is to let her know that she’s annoying them. You know how you have a kid that you butt heads with? Well, that would be Megan and Brian. She seems to push his buttons quicker than Brianna and Josh.

And, then, there is her mother telling her that she’s driving me crazy. Who is standing up for this kid?

Megan is a words of affirmation kid. She’s always leaving little notes for all of us, telling us how much she loves us and pointing out special things about us. And here I’ve been tearing her down with my words when the truth is, she’s not driving me crazy at all. The behavior is frustrating sometimes, but she is not the sum total of her behavior.

If I took nothing else at all away from my weekend in Sterling, Virginia, this word from God would be worth it all. I came home and talked to Brian about it and we’ve made a concerted effort over the last few days to build Megan up and to direct any words of correction toward the behavior, rather than her character and personality.

I want this beautiful, incredible, sensitive, loving kid to know how special she is. I want her to recognize how God has gifted her and crafted her specially. I want her to understand that she fills a place in our family, in my heart, and in God’s creation that no one else can fill.

I want her to know that she does not drive me crazy, but that she rocks my world – that she is loved more than she can ever imagine and that she is worthy of words of praise and affirmation, rather than an onslaught of negativity.

“Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord.” Acts 3:19

I’m looking forward to a time of refreshing, rebuilding, and restoration.

These were hard words to write, but I hope that they speak to somebody that needs to hear them as much as I did. That kid that you may have been trying to fix is just exactly who God created her to be. Don’t try to fix her. Accept her.

Top 10 Things about The 2:1 Conference

2012-05-01T06:00:00.000-04:00

Oh, my goodness, y’all! You know I just got back from The 2:1 Conference. It was a complete and total blast! I am so very, very glad I got to go and I can’t wait until the next one in 2013!

I’m just brimming over with things I want to share with you all and I’ll be doing so over the course of a few posts because God showed me a couple of things that deserve their own post. I wanted to share the highlights with you, though, so here are my top ten, but not necessarily in any particular order.

1. Rooming with Angie. Okay, so I know that Lauren, from Mama’s Learning Corner already has dibs on her for the Savvy Blogging Conference, but I call dibs on Angie, from Many Little Blessings, for any conference that we attend together after that.

(me, Cheryl, and Angie)

Angie was absolutely the perfect roommate. She doesn’t snore (or, if she does, I fell asleep before she started), she likes the room really dark and really cold, and our getting ready schedules meshed perfectly.

And, although there was much discussion about the choice of firm and soft pillows that were really the same, I slept so well while I was gone. It was cold, it was dark, and there were not whining puppies or barking dogs. It was heaven!

2. Reconnecting with old friends. It was so nice to see some friends that I haven’t seen in two years or more, like…

Jolanthe…

and Rebecca.

3. Meeting so many friends for the first time. It was also incredible meeting other friends for the first time. And, I don’t say “new” friends, because when I met them, I realized that we truly were already friends, even though we’d never met face to face.

I told Amy that it was so cool to me that there was no awkwardness. It was just an immediate level of comfort and was more like catching up with and old friend than getting to know a new one.

4. Meeting several of my fellow Homeschool Classroom authors. It was so good to meet Dianna, Amanda, and Angie. Of course, Cheryl was there, too, but since she’s the one who organized the whole shebang, she was awfully busy, so we didn’t manage to snag her for a group photo.

(Hey, Angie, did you notice that Bob didn’t make it into the picture?)

Oh, and apparently I missed the memo that we were all supposed to wear black.

5. Fabulous speakers. Wow! God really spoke through such fabulous ladies as Rebecca Powell, Rachel Carmen and Rachel Martin. Rachel Martin was slated to be the emcee, but she wound up filling in for one of the keynote speakers whose father became ill.

As she was speaking, I just kept thinking, “God is not surprised that Rachel is speaking today.” He spoke through her in such a powerful way. It’s one of the things that God said to me through Rachel that I’ll have to tell you more about in a later post.

The other thing God showed me – that also gets its own post – was during Rachel Carmen’s session. It was a sponsor breakout session, so I wasn’t expecting anything more than some information about Apologia’s products. It was so much more than that. I can’t wait to tell you more.

6. Plenty of sweet tea. When I checked in Friday afternoon, the front desk person told me that she had something for me. I laughed out loud when she brought this to the counter:

In case you can’t tell because of the note, that’s a gallon of Chick-Fil-A sweet tea. Yes, my friends, I am loved. That gallon was from Jolanthe. Two other gallons showed up from Ms. Love My Crazy Life (whose real name I’m sure I was told, but I was sleep-deprived).

Yes, you read that right. We had three gallons of Chick-Fil-A sweet tea.

There was plenty of sweet tea for sharing, though I didn’t manage to find many takers. (What’s wrong with these people?!?) I did have one big group of, um, friends, who wanted to share. Yeah, Angie had to call the front desk and have them come spray our room for ants. Oops!

7. Flying. Yep, I love to fly! I was so very worried about going through airport security because I haven’t flown since pre-9/11. I know there are horror stories, but my experience was incredibly kind TSA folks. If I’d known it was going to be so easy, I wouldn’t have put off flying for so long.

Take-off is my favorite part. I was like a little kid on an amusement park ride. I had a huge smile on my face every time I got to experience take-off. Dealing with a connecting flight both ways wasn’t even a hassle…it just meant that I got two extra take-offs!

8. Nice people. With the exception of the one lady who wanted to fight me on my first flight (another story that deserves its own post), everyone I met was so very nice. There the TSA agent who, upon hearing that this was my first time flying in 15 years, told me that he was there to make things easy and to make my flight enjoyable.

Really? That’s not what I’ve heard. I didn’t tell him that, though. I just smiled and thanked him for being so pleasant.

(Jolanthe and Carisa)

All the people I wound up sitting with on each of my flights was really nice, especially the pilot I sat with on my flight back from Dulles – a pilot, I had to clarify to Megan, not the pilot. She was a little concerned about that arrangement.

After we landed he, without a word, pulled out his smart phone, pulled up his Delta app and checked to see from which gate my connecting flight was leaving. He told me where it was, pulled out a map to show me where we were and where I was going and made sure I knew where the food court was.

I keep thinking that I wish I knew who he was so that I could somehow send him a thank-you note. Pay it forward, Kris. Pay it forward.

And, I can’t forget Joy’s wonderful husband who worked really hard to resurrect my phone that died as soon as I arrived in Sterling.

9. My phone dying. Um, yeah. I sent a text when I arrived at Dulles Airport on Friday. When I arrived at the hotel, my phone was dead. Completely dead. Not a dead battery, just nothing. Bumming Angie’s phone to text Brian and call him a couple of times was the only contact I had with my family all weekend.

I also missed texts from friends at the conference – well, probably not too many since I whined to anyone who would listen about my poor phone.

So, why is my phone dying on my top ten list? Because I went to get a new one today and it turns out that I could get a smart phone for about the same price I could get a basic one. So, guess what I got? My very first smart phone!

I’m so excited! It’s going to take me weeks to figure it out. I’m really afraid that it’s smarter than me.

(Maureen and Dianna)

10. Great sponsors. Last, but not least, I want to mention all the great 2:1 sponsors. Apologia (I can’t wait to attend one of their retreats), Bright Ideas Press, Classical Conversations, HSLDA, CurrClick, All About Spelling, Grapevine Studies, The Homeschool Lounge, Home Educating Family, and HEAV.

I have to say a very special thank you to Peter Pollock of New Blog Hosting who so patiently answered my 2,001 questions about moving to Word Press.

I had such a great time. I encourage you all to make plans to attend next year, if you can. You will be so blessed.

This post is linked to Top Ten Tuesday.

How to Homeschool: Bookmark Great Online Resources

2012-04-27T06:00:00.000-04:00

Today is the final day in the 10 Days of Homeschooling 101 series. I hope it’s been helpful. Before I share today’s post, I wanted to ask for your input. I’m considering publishing the series as an ebook for those who would like to have this series of posts more easily accessible. I want to include a bonus section of advice to new homeschoolers from veteran homeschoolers.

What advice do you wish you’d been given when you first started homeschooling?

By commenting on this post, you acknowledge that you are giving permission for me to use your comments in the upcoming ebook. If you would like me to include your name and a link back to your blog, please leave your blog address in your comment.

Oh, and, don’t forget, there will be no Weekly Wrap-Up this week since I’m on my way to the 2:1 Conference! Squee!!

Now, on to the good stuff…

The Internet is an incredible wealth of information – so much so that it can be overwhelming. While you need to realize that you can’t do every great craft, science experiment, or hands-on project out there – nor should you try – it is fun to include some great finds in your homeschool.

It’s also good to have some great reference tools bookmarked. And, let’s don’t even get started on Pintrest, an amazingly visual source of ideas (except, I seem to pin more recipes than anything else).

Here are some of my favorites from over the years:

Algebra Help – This is a recently-discovered find of ours and it’s awesome! You can plug in your algebra problem and it shows you how to get the answer. It’s a great resource for those of us who, after not using it for 20 years, are finding ourselves needing to help teenagers with algebra. {ahem}

Jimmie's 50 States Notebook - A fantastic resource for putting together a study of the 50 states.

Highland Heritage Homeschool - Tons of printables, units, forms, articles and my favorite resource for reading level assessment.

Keeping Your Preschooler Occupied - An extensive list of ideas for keeping your preschooler occupied – and learning! These aren't just ideas for keeping your preschooler out of your hair so that you can do school with the older kids; they'll actually be working on useful, age-appropriate skill while they're having fun.

Brightly Beaming Resources - This is the home of the Letter of the Week curriculum that I used for Josh and Megan's preschool years. It has learning ideas from birth through early elementary school – and it's all FREE!

World Book's Typical Course of Study - We all know that kids develop differently and with different strengths and weaknesses, but if you ever want to know what kids "should" be learning at different ages – either for a little reassurance or for planning – World Book provides a nice set of general guidelines broken down by grade level.

Can Teach - Need an exhaustive list of writing prompts to get the ideas flowing? This one's for you!

A Book in Time - We love learning history through literature. This site offers a chronological list of historical fiction and non-fiction books, along with lesson plans.

Science Timeline - Want to add some relevant science study in with the historical time period that you're studying? Check out this list.

Outline Maps - Free outline maps to enhance your history or geography studies.

Paula's Archives – Great resources for everything from preschool to high school. I've referred to this one for years.

National Geographic Coloring Book – Realistic, detailed coloring pages, with facts, for a variety of animals.

Spelling City – Create your own spelling lists for online study and games.

Best Homeschooling – Tons of articles to encourage and inspire. Be sure to read my favorite, "A Preschool and Kindergarten Curriculum."

Donna Young – Hundreds of great printables for organizing your homeschool.

Vegsource Homeschool – I love their swap boards. They're set up "flea market" style, so that each individual sets their prices. If you find what you're looking for and it's at a price you like, you just email the seller to purchase it – no being outbid or having a competing bidder drive the price up. I've always had great success here and never a bad experience buying or selling.

Simply Charlotte Mason – Loads of great resources for those Charlotte Mason homeschoolers (or those of us with a "little twist of Charlotte Mason"). All are either free or very reasonably priced.

Games to Make – Josh and Megan have lots of experience with these games. You’ll find tons of printable games for your early learner.

Living Math – Don't believe me that math can be fun? I didn't either, until I found this site. Go check it out!

PPS Leveled Books – This site, which organizes books by reading level, is a great, low-key way to assess your child's reading level or find more books to enjoy or challenge at a slightly higher level.

Crayola State Coloring Pages – Have fun working your way through a study of the United States with these great coloring pages.

Now that you have tons of sites to explore, how will you keep track of them all? Pintrest is a great option. You can also set up folders in your favorites/bookmarks. That’s what I do. I have folders such as:

Language arts
Math
Science
Reading
History

What are some of your favorite online resources?

The 10 Days Series is organized by iHomeschool Network, a collaboration of outstanding homeschool bloggers who connect with each other and with family-friendly companies in mutually beneficial projects. Visit us on Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter. And of course, click the image below to visit all the 10 Days posts from these homeschool moms of the iHomeschool Network.

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How to Homeschool: Plan Your Calendar

2012-04-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

A lot of homeschooling parents are fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants kind of folks. I guess I am, too – to an extent. When it comes to planning our school year, though, I am very much a planner.

Our state requires that we include 180 days of school in our school year. I like to have those 180 days mapped out so that I know what our school year is going to look like. I like to know when we’re doing school and when we’re taking off.

That doesn’t mean that I’m inflexible. Our calendar isn’t set in stone by any means, but mapping out our school year at the beginning of the year helps me to plan.

My older daughter is using Switched on Schoolhouse. I like to use their auto-assign feature. In order to do that, I have to plug in our school calendar at the beginning of the year.

Also, I like to make sure that we’re always giving ourselves room to finish school by the end of May – when Brianna’s birthday occurs. She likes being off school by her birthday – and I do, too, since mine is less than two weeks later. (For the record, the other kids’ birthdays are school holidays, too. Since Josh’s birthday is in December, we usually try to wrap up for Christmas break by his birthday.)

I like to use the school calendars on Donna Young’s site. I usually start by marking off my ideal school year. Then, I add up the days to see how close I am to 180. I usually wind up having to add 5-10 days. Once I figure out the best places to take a few less days off, I’m set for the year.

The upcoming school year will probably be a bit different. I’ve thought about year ‘round schooling before, but I never could quite work out all the details with holidays, summer birthdays, and our local homeschool convention’s late-summer schedule.

However, we’re using Trail Guide to Learning now and it is set up as six six-week units – perfect for a six-weeks-on-six-weeks-off schedule, with long breaks for summer and Christmas. I fully expected balking from the kids when I said the words “year ‘round schooling,” but all three of them have actually said that they like the sound of our proposed schedule.

Does that mean I won’t worry about a calendar this year? Nope! I’ve already been looking at the calendar, as a matter of fact – trying to figure out when we need to start to ensure the Christmas break lands where we want it to. I think I’ve got it figured out. I’m excited about this new possibility.

My suggestions for effectively planning your school year calendar include:

Know how many school days are required by your state’s homeschool laws
Mark off days that you know will not be school days – birthdays, holidays, family vacations
Consider when you’ll want breaks – The middle of February tends to be a huge slump time for homeschoolers and public schools, alike. We took a four-day weekend in mid-February this year and that really helped alleviate a lot of the burn-out we’ve felt in the past.
Leave yourself some wiggle room – On the forms that I have to file with our county school superintendent, I declare our school year from August 1 of one year to July 31 of the following year even though I always plan to be finished by the third week in May. That leaves me some catch-up room if we need it.

Do you plan your school year in advance? What tips would you add?

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How to Homeschool: Homeschool and Public School Parents Are not Mortal Enemies

2012-04-25T06:00:00.000-04:00

There is a tendency, in society at large, to perceive one person’s choices as a commentary about our own. Don’t believe me? Do you breastfeed? Discuss that with a mom who has chosen to bottle-feed.

Are you a stay-at-home mom? Discuss your role with a working-outside-the-home mom. Have you chosen to circumcise your sons? Discuss that with someone who has chosen not to.

See, all of these choices are intensely personal ones. None of them are right-and-wrong. None of them are life-and-death. Yet, we, as a society, tend to feel threatened when someone makes different choices than we do.

I still remember when we decided to pull Brianna out of public school at the end of first grade. I was on a very friendly basis with her classroom teacher – not so much with her reading teacher. I talked to her classroom teacher over the phone and discussed my concerns and our decision to homeschool for at least one year. She seemed very supportive.

Then, I went to the school for a meeting.

She had obviously already spoken to the reading teacher, with whom I had not discussed my decision, because they were ready with an arsenal of reasons why this was a terrible decision – both of them, including the classroom teacher who had initially seemed very supportive.

They both took our decision very personally, even though it had nothing to do with them and everything to do with my daughter’s learning needs.

I noticed this shift with other parents, too. I’d mention that we were going to homeschool the following year and I would see their faces close as they said, “Oh,” followed by an awkward silence.

Then, there was Josh’s speech therapist. He had speech therapy through the public school system when he was 4. The first therapist was very homeschool-friendly and everything was great. The therapist who replaced her when she quit was very standoffish – until the day we wound up having a discussion about why my family had chosen to homeschool.

When she found out that I was not anti-public school – or, at least, not anti-public school teachers – her entire demeanor changed. She even confessed that she had thought about homeschooling her own daughter at one point.

I think it’s important to realize – and to convey to your public school parent friends – that we aren’t enemies. There is much we can learn from one another. Some of my best hands-on ideas came from public school friends. I found out recently that a 5th grade public school teacher has linked to my salt dough map post on the website that her student’s parents can access for homework help.

I can’t tell you how many pleasant conversations I’ve had with public school teachers about education when I treated our discussion as one between colleagues. I think that I got the sense across that I wasn’t in competition with them – that I wasn’t looking down on them or their professions, nor was I feeling inferior in my position as my children’s teacher.

Now, I will say, there are some rather militant homeschooling parents out there – people who think that if you’re a Christian, you should homeschool your kids. They can get very belligerent about the whole thing. I’m not one of those folks. I see the reasoning behind their argument, but it’s not my job to be anybody’s Holy Spirit. That’s a conversation between you and God.

On the whole, though, I think there are a lot of misconceptions about homeschooling parents and their attitudes toward public school parents. That’s why I wrote the post that has come to be my most popular ever – and has even been printed in The Homeschool Handbook – The Public School Parents’ Guide to Homeschooling Parents.

That post has nearly 200 comments and you know what? Not one of them is negative. I think that’s because it’s a post that takes an honest look at the common misconceptions and shows public school parents that we’re not that different than them; we just chose a different path.

We’re not condemning parents who send their kids to public or private school because that’s their choice. Homeschooling is just our choice. One is not a commentary on the other. Both are just choices.

So, as you begin homeschooling, realize that your educational choice for your children isn’t a commentary on someone else’s choice for their children – and make sure that your public school parent friends realize this.

P.S. Don’t miss my post at Simple Homeschool today. It’s curriculum fair week and I’m talking about our new favorite, Trail Guide to Learning.

You'll be blessed with tips on how to handle bad days, cultivating curiosity, teaching with Legos, and much much more!

How to Homeschool: Be Prepared for the Nay-Sayers

2012-04-24T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you’ve told anyone that you’re planning to homeschool, you’ve probably already met the nay-sayers, those folks who want to tell you what a horrible decision you’re making and how you’re going to ruin your kids.

Now, I will say, if the people who are voicing their concerns are people you love and care about, who love and care about your kids – your parents, your siblings, or even your spouse (because the two of you definitely need to be on the same page) – listen, honestly and with an open mind, to what they are saying and be willing to consider any valid concerns.

However, if those concerns are from random friends and acquaintances who are basing their arguments on their “friend who had a neighbor who homeschooled” or the cousin of their sister-in-law’s sister who homeschooled, be prepared to respond with firmness and grace.

I do think that, most times, that grace part is pretty important. As homeschooling parents who hear those questions, concerns, and arguments quite frequently, it can be easy to get defensive. However, I think most people aren’t trying to be difficult or argumentative. They’re just reacting to a concept that is completely foreign to them.

Let’s face it. The majority of us went to public school. It’s what we know. It’s just what people do. It’s normal to ask questions about a lifestyle that is completely out of your realm of experience.

Maybe some of us have imagined homeschooling since before our kids were born, but for others, homeschooling seemed weird to us, too, until we started considering it for our own children.

If you’re the only homeschooling family someone has ever known, you are the voice for all homeschoolers. Don’t be a defensive, angry voice. You could be talking to the person whom you’ll be mentoring in a year or so.

When I announced that we were going to start homeschooling Brianna, my sister laughed out loud. Really. A few years later, her daughter joined our homeschool for her preschool year. My family completely changed my sister’s opinion of homeschooling – an opinion that was based on one homeschooled kid that she worked with once.

If you have decided to homeschool, plan for the nay-sayers because they will find you.

Don’t debate. It’s okay to answer the honest questions, but don’t ever let your educational choices be open for debate. Assuming that you did not, in fact, wake up one day and decide to homeschool, but, instead, made this decision after much thought, prayer, research, and discussion with your spouse, your decision is not up for public debate. Even with your mother. Or your mother-in-law.

An answer for someone you love and care about can be as simple as, “I appreciate your love and concern for us, but we’ve made this decision after careful consideration and planning and with much prayer.”

An answer for a casual acquaintance or the lady behind you in line at the supermarket can be, “Thank you for your concern. That is something we’ve considered. So, what do you think about the weather we’ve been having?”

It’s not your job to make others agree with your parenting choices. Know when to pass the bean dip.

Be gracious. If people are asking legitimate questions and you have the time, answer them. Maybe they’re not questioning your decision; maybe they’re just curious. Weren’t you before you chose this lifestyle?

Give some consideration to how you’re going to answer the questions so that you’re not caught unprepared.

The most important thing to remember is that while those snappy little comebacks may sound fun, they can come off sounding snarky and that doesn’t speak well for homeschoolers as a whole and can negatively impact your Christian witness.

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How to Homeschool: Determine Your Child’s Learning Style

2012-04-23T06:00:00.000-04:00

One big step toward homeschooling successfully is determining your child’s learning style. Most kids have a natural bent toward one of four main learning styles, which means they take in and retain information more effectively when it is received in one of four ways to which they are naturally inclined.

Like personality styles, few people are 100% any given style, but most lean heavily toward one or two than toward the others.

There are four main learning styles: kinesthetic, visual, auditory, and tactile.

Kinesthetic

Kinesthetic learners are your active, hands-on kids. They learn best through movement and activity. These are the kids who learn through doing and tend to be good at sports, dance, and drama.

photo credit

They will have a hard time sitting still and may fidget while working. They often like to do two things at once, like listening to music while they study. Kinesthetic learners may be able to focus better sitting on a stability ball while they work.

Being active can help their memorization. For example, these kids may do better practicing their spelling words while bouncing on a mini-trampoline, rather than trying to sit still. Sitting still may actually make it harder for them to pay attention.

Visual

Visual learners take in information best through ways that they can see – images (videos, plays), drawings, diagrams, maps, and colors. Drawing pictures to remember vocabulary words or making diagrams to cement math facts are helpful tools for visual learners.

These are the kids who learn well by taking notes, making lists, highlighting key concepts, and sketching out ideas. They need it to be quiet to study and learn. I found it interesting that reading is not a key method of learning for visual learners. Reading happens in the language center of the brain, making it auditory, rather than visual.

An interesting note from Learning Abled Kids:

“Not all visual learners have dyslexia, but all children with dyslexia are visual learners.”

Auditory

Auditory learners learn though – you guessed it! – sound. These are the kids who do well with lectures and read-alouds. They probably like to talk and listen to music. They’re the kids who do well putting facts to music to study for a test and who respond well to oral directions.

Auditory learners may read out loud to themselves when trying to understand something. They tend to be good with words or language and are abstract, conceptual thinkers.

Tactile

Tactile learners are often lumped with kinesthetic learners because they, too, are hands-on. The difference is that tactile learners learn best through exploring with their senses.

photo credit

Tactile learners are the kids who like to manipulate things – blocks, math manipulatives, models, and puzzle pieces. These kids learn by doing and touching. Good tactile teaching tips include letting a child “write” out their spelling words with their finger on sandpaper or in shaving cream, using beans as counters when practicing math skills, or building salt-dough maps when studying geography.

Learning Style Assessments

Now that you are familiar with the four basic learning styles, you probably have an idea which one best suits your child. However, if you’re still wondering, The Way They Learn is a highly recommended book.

There are also several online learning style assessments, such as the Vark assessment for kids 12-18 years old and Abiator’s online assessment tool.

I hope this gives you a bit more insight into how your child learns best. Next we’ll tackle one of the big hindrances to new homeschoolers – the naysayers. Those skeptical friends and family members can make even the most independent-thinking person doubt herself. We’ll talk about how to handle the questions with grace and confidence.

References:

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The Weekly Wrap-Up: The One After the Prom

2012-04-20T16:30:00.000-04:00

Thank goodness it’s Friday! It’s been a good week, but busy and I’m excited for the weekend. I’ve got a 5K in the morning and I’m hoping to do some trail riding on my new mountain bike sometime this weekend. Do you have any fun plans?

This time next week, I’ll be at The 2:1 Conference in Sterling, Virginia! Aside from the idea of dealing with airport security, which I haven’t had to deal with since pre-9/11, I’m really excited. I’m not terribly nervous about speaking – at least, not yet – and I’m really looking forward to hanging out with lots of my bloggy friends and rooming with Angie.

Oh, and since I’ll be out-of-town, there won’t be a Weekly Wrap-Up next week, but I’ll look forward to catching up with you the following Friday, May 4!

This time last week, we were knee-deep in prom preparations. My girl looked stunning, if I do say so myself.

She had a great time.

This week, I’ve been incredibly busy fine-tuning my notes for my 2:1 breakout sessions and week one of the 10 Days of Homeschooling 101 series, which has been a lot of fun.

Of course, there’s been school in the midst of all that, so it’s been a busy week. That’s why I’m really glad it’s Friday.

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How to Homeschool: Subscribe to Homeschool Blogs

2012-04-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you’re reading this post right now, you obviously see the value of homeschool blogs to answer your questions and provide you with tips, support and encouragement to better equip you in your calling as a homeschooling parent.

(Note: If you stopped by looking for the Weekly Wrap-Up, come back by later this afternoon. I’ll have it posted by 5 PM (EST), as usual.)

The online homeschooling community is a vibrant, abundant, generous source of support and information and homeschool blogs are at the heart of that community. Because these blogs are written by in-the-trenches homeschooling moms and dads who are sharing their tips, resources, secrets, and talents, they’re an incredibly valuable tool for new and veteran homeschoolers alike.

Group Blogs

The Homeschool Classroom – The Homeschool Classroom is a group blog comprised of some of the most talented homeschool bloggers in the blogosphere (and me). I’ve been blessed to be a part of HSC since its inception and I’m continually amazed at the quality of articles posted on this fantastic group blog.

Simple Homeschool – The goal of Simple Homeschool is to offer you tips, encouragement, and resources to bring simple back to your homeschool. I love the way that the posts on this blog point homeschooling parents back to relationships first; academics second. (In the interest of full disclosure, I am a contributing writer at SH, too.)

The Homeschool Village – Community. Encouragement. Reviews. You’ll find all that and more at The Homeschool Village.

Preschool and Early Elementary Blogs

Spell Outloud – Maureen is so creative! She offers incredible activities (including lots of themed ones – my favorite!), printables, and activities for toddlers and preschoolers.

1+1+1=1 – Carissa offers all kinds of fun, hands-on, creative games, activities and printables for preschool and early-elementary-aged kiddos. If you’ve got kids in this age range, you’ll want to subscribe to 1+1+1=1. Just don’t let her teach your kids math! (Yes, I’m kidding. I think she really does know how to add.)

(Funny side note: My son, Josh, was reading over my shoulder as I was working on this post. When I went to Carissa’s blog to get the link, he got this really confused look on his face, and said, “That’s not right.” So, see, I can teach my kids to add!)

Homeschool Creations – Another great source of printables and activities for preschool through elementary is Jolanthe’s blog, Homeschool Creations. She offers an incredibly wide variety of printables and activity ideas for kids. She has even created an editable homeschool planner for moms.

Mama’s Learning Corner offers a variety of worksheets and printables related to science, math, and language arts. You’ll also find lots of great file folder games along with instructions on how to assemble and use them.

Everything Else

Jimmie’s Collage – It must be the Charlotte Mason twist in me that loves Jimmie’s blog or maybe it’s the fact that she does such cool stuff with her daughter, Sprite – stuff that has made me say, on occasion, that I wish I could just send my kids to Jimmie’s house for school. Whatever it is, Jimmie’s Collage has been one of my favorite blogs for over 7 years – back before it was known as Jimmie’s Collage, even.

Handbook of Nature Study is the blog that got me and my family excited about nature study. If you’ve ever thought – even just a tiny bit – about incorporating nature study into your homeschool, this is the blog you need to be reading. Barb’s got years’ worth of challenges that go along with The Handbook of Nature Study, by Anna Botsford Comstock, ready to print off and implement with your family.

She’s also got lots of nature journaling tips, e-books, and printables to help you get started.

Smockity Frocks – Connie will keep you in stitches as she shares the day to day life of her homeschooling family with humor, grace, wit, and wisdom.

Blogging ‘Bout Boys – Got a house full of boys? Maybe you just have one or two. Jennifer Fink has four and she shares the ups and downs, ins and outs of living and learning with lots of testosterone.

Finding Joy – I have to include Rachel if for no other reason than she shares my love of Trail Guide to Learning. There’s much more to her than that, though. She’s a phenomenal resource for those trying to figure out life with celiac disease and she has an amazing talent for finding joy in the little things in life.

Of course, these are some of the best blogs in my opinion. There are hundreds of homeschool blogs out there. Honey, at Sunflower Schoolhouse, has compiled an amazing comprehensive list of homeschooling blogs if you want many more to explore.

What are some of your favorite homeschooling blogs?

I hope you’ll come back Monday as 10 Days of Homeschooling 101 resumes. We’ll be talking about learning styles.

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