I will be part of a panel of homeschoolers that will take place at the News Herald office's on Wednesday, June 12th at 7p.
We will discuss why we homeschool, some of the resources we use, and will answer any questions you may have about homeschooling.
If you are thinking of homeschooling or are currently doing homeschooling, please join us!
If there are any questions you would like answered and will not be able to attend the session, please post them here and I will gladly have them answered for you.
Monday, May 20, 2013
Sunday, March 3, 2013
Phonics Tip
My kids reading has really been helped by an online phonics lesson that involves the Looney Tunes characters. It gives them several areas with multiples choices where a robot says the letter sound or word and they have to pick it. They read sentences along with the robot, and as we are finding out as we go, they have to unscramble words to make complete sentences. It also incorporates the computer keyboard into the lesson, so they have become very proficient at using the keyboard.
I discovered this program on a living social deal, so when I saw another deal the other day by the same company, ClickN Kids, I grabbed it. It is for spelling and more phonics. It is a lifetime subscription for $17! While it won't have the Looney Tunes characters in it, that is OK. We are 53 lessons into the Looney Tunes one and the kids have asked me to cut out the cartoon content in the middle and only want to do the lessons. They would have never asked me that at the beginning, but their learning style is changing and they want the lessons more than the cartoons. (That program allows you to control the amount of cartoony-stuff in between the lessons.)
It also gives you a report at the end of the lesson to track progress and if 4 or more errors are made it recommends that the lesson is repeated. I have been printing those reports and saving them for the homeschool portfolio.
If you are interested in checking out the spelling and phonics programs, you can go here. I believe the deal is valid for TWO more days.
I discovered this program on a living social deal, so when I saw another deal the other day by the same company, ClickN Kids, I grabbed it. It is for spelling and more phonics. It is a lifetime subscription for $17! While it won't have the Looney Tunes characters in it, that is OK. We are 53 lessons into the Looney Tunes one and the kids have asked me to cut out the cartoon content in the middle and only want to do the lessons. They would have never asked me that at the beginning, but their learning style is changing and they want the lessons more than the cartoons. (That program allows you to control the amount of cartoony-stuff in between the lessons.)
It also gives you a report at the end of the lesson to track progress and if 4 or more errors are made it recommends that the lesson is repeated. I have been printing those reports and saving them for the homeschool portfolio.
If you are interested in checking out the spelling and phonics programs, you can go here. I believe the deal is valid for TWO more days.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Lowe's Build and Grow
My kids and husband have enjoyed the Lowe's Build and Grow events over the last couple of years. They got an apron at the first one they attended and they get patches for each build they do. They have a really cute Valentine's Day one coming up. If your kids happen to be Monster Jam fans, as mine are, the one on 2/23 features the truck Grave Digger. They are FREE, you just need to register here.
It's good hands-on learning at the right price! I just registered my kids and thought I'd pass along the info.
It's good hands-on learning at the right price! I just registered my kids and thought I'd pass along the info.
Wednesday, January 23, 2013
Our Goals for 2013
Well, we are a little over 3 weeks into the New Year and we are chipping away at our goals for 2013 as a family and individually for me.
*See 20 movies
* Read 13 books
* Have a weekend brunch/lunch with 20 different friends
* 13 date nights with my husband
* Visit 13 new places/have 13 new experiences
I've done some of that already. My husband and I had an impromptu date night last weekend that was so much fun. I also stepped out of my comfort zone and went on a large slide at Kalahari. (I do NOT like being enclosed, in the dark, with rushing water.) I can't say I enjoyed it, but I did have a huge rush when it was over and my friend that went on the raft with me said she thought I was speaking in tongues, so maybe I've discovered something else I can do ;)
As far as homeschool goals, one of the things I want to work on is having the kids spelling more words independently. They are reading like champs and have decent penmanship, but they still want me to spell the words they don't know. I want them to get in the habit of trying it first and then after they write it their way, I will tell them the proper way. We are working on that.
Thanks to friends that will be getting married, we will get to show the twinadoes more of our great county and visit the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama later this winter. We will start our lessons about those states in a week or two. I pack an old suitcase (think old school hard sided, powder blue) with books, worksheets, games, puzzles, and various other things related to the states we will be studying. I've made the kids travel "passports" and have state flag stickers so once we study a state they can get their stamp in their passport.
I hope to get to this blog more often this year and would appreciate any feedback on topics you'd like me to touch on or information you may need if you are starting your homeschool journey.
*See 20 movies
* Read 13 books
* Have a weekend brunch/lunch with 20 different friends
* 13 date nights with my husband
* Visit 13 new places/have 13 new experiences
I've done some of that already. My husband and I had an impromptu date night last weekend that was so much fun. I also stepped out of my comfort zone and went on a large slide at Kalahari. (I do NOT like being enclosed, in the dark, with rushing water.) I can't say I enjoyed it, but I did have a huge rush when it was over and my friend that went on the raft with me said she thought I was speaking in tongues, so maybe I've discovered something else I can do ;)
As far as homeschool goals, one of the things I want to work on is having the kids spelling more words independently. They are reading like champs and have decent penmanship, but they still want me to spell the words they don't know. I want them to get in the habit of trying it first and then after they write it their way, I will tell them the proper way. We are working on that.
Thanks to friends that will be getting married, we will get to show the twinadoes more of our great county and visit the states of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama later this winter. We will start our lessons about those states in a week or two. I pack an old suitcase (think old school hard sided, powder blue) with books, worksheets, games, puzzles, and various other things related to the states we will be studying. I've made the kids travel "passports" and have state flag stickers so once we study a state they can get their stamp in their passport.
I hope to get to this blog more often this year and would appreciate any feedback on topics you'd like me to touch on or information you may need if you are starting your homeschool journey.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
No Answers
I don't normally cross-post stuff from my personal blog, but I am going to break my rule and do it. I wrote this Friday night.
No Answers
Nolan padded down the stairs about 90 minutes after being put to bed tonight. He says he is not sick nor did he have a bad dream. He knows nothing of today's tragedy in Newton, CT . He just needed to be by me. Ironic, because tonight more than any other night, I needed him. He climbed onto the couch and stretched out in between my legs and was snoring in 2 minutes flat. As I look down at his lashes so long that they make a shadow on his face, I started to cry. How many of the 20 innocent children murdered today had long lashes? How many parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles, and friends are staring at gifts under the Christmas tree tonight that will never be opened? How can life ever go on when your baby is ripped from this earth in an act of such violence? How many siblings will have to live the rest of their lives wondering what little brother or sister would have grown up to be? Where any of them twins?
The pain is unfathomable. I don't want to think about it, but I have to. Just because I homeschool doesn't mean we are 100% safe. This could (and does) happen anywhere. The mall, the movies, hospitals.
After hearing the news today, I was in a farmers market. A man walked in, both hands buried in jacket pockets. He was unkempt and muttering to himself, his eyes shifted nervously. Probably totally harmless, but at that moment I had a panic attack. I walked out without buying anything. I can't run away forever, but today I did.
We have become an angry society. Someone in front of you is going a mile under the speed limit and the car behind is honking and yelling. The cashier isn't moving as fast as you'd like, so you make some rude comment. So many have no patience or kindness in their hearts. Mentally ill people either have no where to go because there are no beds, they can't pay for it, or no one cares enough to speak up and help them.
Violence has become an acceptable way to deal with problems. Rappers sing about it like it is a tea party. Kids play violent video games at such a young age that they know no other way to deal with problems than to hit someone. Or worse, pick up a gun with bad intentions. (I was raised in a home with guns. I learned to shoot. I learned respect for them. No matter what gun laws are made, they will always make it into the hands of those that really want them.)
I'm not an ultra religious person. I believe in a higher power, but at times like this I question how any higher power could let something like this happen. People say things like, "everything happens for a reason" or "God needed more angels." That is bull. There is NO reason why 20 little kids will never ride their bike around the block again, put a tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy, or kiss their parents good night. Why 7 adults will never see their children get married or bounce their Grand-babies on their knees. NO REASON.
This was not a random act of violence. This person knew where he was going and what he was going to do when he got there. He is described as being "off", but was on enough to plot this massacre and get himself some body armor in the process. I'm angry that he had access to guns. Why would there be guns in the house with him? If his mom was afraid of him enough to buy a gun(s) then something else should have been done for everyone's safety.
I have no answers tonight. Only tears.
Life will go on for us, but not for 27 families in CT.
The pain is unfathomable. I don't want to think about it, but I have to. Just because I homeschool doesn't mean we are 100% safe. This could (and does) happen anywhere. The mall, the movies, hospitals.
After hearing the news today, I was in a farmers market. A man walked in, both hands buried in jacket pockets. He was unkempt and muttering to himself, his eyes shifted nervously. Probably totally harmless, but at that moment I had a panic attack. I walked out without buying anything. I can't run away forever, but today I did.
We have become an angry society. Someone in front of you is going a mile under the speed limit and the car behind is honking and yelling. The cashier isn't moving as fast as you'd like, so you make some rude comment. So many have no patience or kindness in their hearts. Mentally ill people either have no where to go because there are no beds, they can't pay for it, or no one cares enough to speak up and help them.
Violence has become an acceptable way to deal with problems. Rappers sing about it like it is a tea party. Kids play violent video games at such a young age that they know no other way to deal with problems than to hit someone. Or worse, pick up a gun with bad intentions. (I was raised in a home with guns. I learned to shoot. I learned respect for them. No matter what gun laws are made, they will always make it into the hands of those that really want them.)
I'm not an ultra religious person. I believe in a higher power, but at times like this I question how any higher power could let something like this happen. People say things like, "everything happens for a reason" or "God needed more angels." That is bull. There is NO reason why 20 little kids will never ride their bike around the block again, put a tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy, or kiss their parents good night. Why 7 adults will never see their children get married or bounce their Grand-babies on their knees. NO REASON.
This was not a random act of violence. This person knew where he was going and what he was going to do when he got there. He is described as being "off", but was on enough to plot this massacre and get himself some body armor in the process. I'm angry that he had access to guns. Why would there be guns in the house with him? If his mom was afraid of him enough to buy a gun(s) then something else should have been done for everyone's safety.
I have no answers tonight. Only tears.
Life will go on for us, but not for 27 families in CT.
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Give Thanks
Today is a day to reflect on what we are thankful for. I am thankful my husband is on-board with homeschooling and is supportive with how I'm doing it. Without his hard work, I wouldn't be able to stay home and do this.
I'm also thankful that so many institutions are now offering homeschool activities and classes. It is helping the kids establish friendships other than the kids in the neighborhood or in our multiples group.
Enjoy your day!
I'm also thankful that so many institutions are now offering homeschool activities and classes. It is helping the kids establish friendships other than the kids in the neighborhood or in our multiples group.
Enjoy your day!
Monday, November 12, 2012
Homeschool Field Trips
I'm excited to have found a very active homeschool "field trip" type group on facebook. It will give my kids a chance to hang out with other kids and see places we have never been or discover something new about a favorite place. Maybe make a lifetime friend. You just never know.
As my kids are getting older, the trips take on different shapes. Before we used to go to the West Side Market to just be exposed to all the sights and smells. Slowly, they started asking questions about the different foods and the nationalities behind them. Now when we go, they get some money to spend and they have to make choices about how to spend it and keep count of their money. As they get older, I'll give them a recipe to gather ingredients for and then they will have to cook it.
What about you? What places do you visit and how have those visits changed as your child grows? What was your favorite "field trip" and why?
What about you? What places do you visit and how have those visits changed as your child grows? What was your favorite "field trip" and why?
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