A Living Homeschool

My Computer Died

2012-10-20T09:07:00.003-04:00

Haven't posted much this week because my computer died! I've had to fight for the family computer so I haven't had much time at all to post. Hopefully I'll get it fixed within the next few days and I'll be back and running again!

Week 5 in Review

2012-10-16T23:24:00.000-04:00

First off, our Bible memory verse for the week was Matthew 4:4, as we continue our study of that book.

Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.

We discussed the importance of knowing God's word and how it's important to feed our bodies spiritually just as it is physically, so that we can always know how God would want us to handle a situation or problem.

This week was also our first international travel to Mexico, and as such, the kids received their official (looking) passports, complete with photos.

As we've been studying North America, we took some time to play the Geography Game. The kids took turns drawing a country card and trying to locate it on their game board by placing a marker (in this case, emptying my wallet of pennies lol). It was certainly a challenge, especially with the Caribbean countries, but it was fun.

Since we're studying Mexico, our art project this week was based on a traditional Mexican art form of making clay sun faces. We didn't have any adobe clay, so we just used reusable modeling clay. They won't dry out and harden up but they still had fun with it.

Skylar


Elijah

Mikayla

Can you tell my girls like anime?

We were finally able to get outside for a bit and we took our nature study to the zoo.

I love this one. They have a hammock set up for the bears and he's just loving it!

Chillin' with their friend on the bench...LOL

We've been talking about the desert and I thought it might be fun to draw some desert animals. Since we don't live near the desert, the closest thing was the prairie dogs. Of course, they chose that day to hide in their burrows. So I just let them choose something else and they decided on the jaguar.

Unfortunately, he didn't stay in one place for too long but they did the best they could. I got another pic of him and one of his "cell mate".

Here are their renditions of the jaguar:

Skylar

Elijah

Mikayla

Of course, we couldn't take a trip to the zoo without having some rec time at the playground.

What were your homeschooling highlights this week?

Save 50% on Well Planned Day Planners

2012-10-16T20:02:00.003-04:00

Right now you can save 50% on all Well Planned Day printed planners from Home Educating Family! They have lots of different variations to choose from to fit your needs so be sure to take a look! Just use code 50sale at checkout to get the discount! Click here to go to their site now.

Apple Desserts Recipe Book on Amazon Only $.99 or Free

2012-10-16T19:45:00.001-04:00

Hurry over to Amazon and get a copy of the e-book 30 Delicious Apple Dessert Recipes for only $.99! And if you're a Prime member, get it for FREE! You can download the book to read on your Kindle, iPad, or PC by going here or clicking the photo below.

Educator Appreciation Days at Barnes & Noble

2012-10-14T09:30:00.000-04:00

Heads up! Barnes & Noble is having Educator Appreciation Days this week! From Saturday, October 13th through Sunday, the 21st, save 25% on all your teaching and personal items! You can also save 10% on all music and DVDs you buy!

Click here to get more info about the Educator program and to see eligible items.

Free Spelling Book for Your Kindle or PC

2012-10-14T09:14:00.000-04:00

Hurry over to Amazon to download Spelling Made Easy for free! This is an e-book that you can download to your Kindle, or if you don't have one, your computer or iPad. This book is FREE for everyone from midnight October 13th pst to midnight October 15th pst, with the hopes that you will be kind enough to write a review after reading and using the book!

About the book: Did you ever wonder why some people write their words down 10 times each, practice them aloud the morning of the test, then forget how to spell them during the test? Do spelling tests make you anxious? Here is the solution to spelling success.

People who write their words down 10 times each and use them in sentences, then forget them during the test have this challenge because they do not have the visual learning (picture) strategy that A+ spellers use naturally.

Spelling Made Easy gives you the specific strategy that great spellers always use. Since the best spellers see images of the words in their minds, they have access to very quick recall of the words they need to know. Great spellers don't use phonics because so many words are not spelled as they sound. Once you have this Spelling Made Easy Success System, you will be able to see the words in your mind too.

Sometimes, people with dyslexia and other learning differences struggle with spelling but the Spelling Made Easy Success System provides proven solutions to ensure that learning challenges diminish quickly as they relate to spelling.

When you use the Spelling Made Easy Success System, you not only cut your learning time but have a proven way to quickly recall your spelling words for the test and in your writing.

Spelling Made Easy is part of the Instant Learning Series of books by Pat Wyman and HowToLearn.com. Be sure and check out our other titles such as Math Facts Made Easy, Vocabulary Made Easy and more...

Click on the photo above or go here to download your copy for FREE!

Free Thanksgiving Printables

2012-10-13T22:30:00.002-04:00

Lapbook Lessons has uploaded some great free Thanksgiving Bible printables. Click here to check it out and download them.

Kids, Kids, Everywhere

2012-10-13T22:13:00.002-04:00

This weekend has been a whirlwind! Yesterday was co-op day and I taught my normal two classes as well as covering for an orchestra class for a friend. By the end of the day, I was beat! However, I had already planned on having a sleepover for my girls with a neighbor friend who had moved away a few months ago. Why exactly did I decide to do that on co-op day? I don't know. I like to challenge myself haha! And because I'm such an ~~airhead~~ awesome mom, I thought that my son should have a friend sleep over too--he might get lonely, right? So, five kids in the house after teaching about 30 kids that day. I honestly don't know how PS teachers do this every. day. Holy moly.

All in good fun though. The kids had a good time. We had (fake) ninja fights....Did you know that you can put your shirt on your head in a certain way to resemble a ninja mask? Learn something new every day.

Play truth or dare (cleanly of course)...Trying to drink something without using her hands in case you were wondering...

Had a dance party...

And crashed out after watching The Smurfs on DVD...

Ah, good times. We had a lot of fun, but boy am I glad I only do this a couple times a year!

Easy Thai Noodles

2012-10-10T10:00:00.000-04:00

I'd like to have a regular feature where I share a recipe with you. I'm going to (try to) post a new recipe every Wednesday.

This week, I thought I'd share one of our family's absolute faves! We have this about once a month. I got this recipe from a friend at a MOPS meeting several years ago and I'm so glad I did!

These ingredients can be changed to suit your family's tastes so use this as a guideline. Use loose measurements or switch to light versions, it's up to you.

Take some spaghetti noodles...

Cut up some chicken...

Throw in some yummy stuff to make a sauce...

Toss in some veggies and you're done!

Thai Noodles

8 oz. spaghetti noodles

1-2 chicken breasts, cooked and chopped into bit size pieces

3/4 cup Italian dressing, divided

1 tbsp. peanut butter

1 tbsp. honey

1 tbsp. soy sauce

red pepper to taste

2 tbsp. sesame oil

carrots, peeled and shredded

green onions, chopped

snow peas

*You can use whatever fresh veggies you have on hand but that's what we usually use.

1. Marinate chicken in 1/4 cup Italian dressing for a few hours. The longer, the better. What I like to do is throw mine in the crockpot all day with the dressing so it can cook and marinate at the same time. Less work so I can focus on other things and dinner doesn't take as long.

2. Toss your spaghetti noodles in boiling water and allow them to cook.

3. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together remaining 1/2 cup Italian dressing, peanut butter, honey, soy sauce and rep pepper.

4. In a non-stick pan, saute veggies and chicken in sesame oil for a few minutes. If you haven't cooked your chicken ahead of time, make sure that you cook it all the way through in this step.

5. Drain spaghetti and return to pot. Add chicken and veggies and coat with dressing mixture. Stir it up really well and you're done!

So easy and so delicious! We always make a double batch so we can have leftovers for lunch. Enjoy!

Week 4 in Review

2012-10-10T00:10:00.000-04:00

After a week off (don't ask), we finished out our study on the United States.

We continued in our Hero Tales book with the story of Harriet Tubman. I love that this book has a biblical character trait discussed in each story along with discussion questions. Harriet's life was a difficult one and I learned so much more than I knew about her before. That's one of my greatest joys in teaching my kids--I get to learn right beside them.

Our scripture memory verse for the week came from Matthew 1:23:

“The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel”^[a] (which means “God with us”).

The kids had a bit of fun with a problem solving challenge when we were doing geography. Their task was to take a blank map of the U.S. and color it in, using four different colors. The challenge was that no two states that touched could be the same color. I was surprised that they were able to do it fairly effortlessly. However, I'll admit I gave them a big hint (which would be that there is a point somewhere in the U.S. where you can stand in 4 states at once--start with that).

The weather didn't allow us to take a nature walk this week, but we talked about forests and looked at places online like eNature to study various types of trees. Another fun resource for studying the outdoors is the Crinkleroot series of books. Specifically, there is the Guide to Knowing the Trees.

Our big art project was another Native American craft from the book Global Art. The Sioux Indians would paint pictures on rawhide and tie them to sticks to represent their stories. I asked the kids to take three circles and draw some of their favorite special memories. We were going to tie them to sticks but we didn't get a chance to get them since we didn't do our nature walk. So I'll be sure to pick some up when we go out this week. So for now, here are the circles that they did.

My son drew a soccer ball (his favorite sport), a cabin for his recent camping trip, and a tv (really???).

My oldest decided that our three cats were her only favorite memories LOL.

My youngest was a little more thoughtful. She did a trip to a local water park,one of our cats, and playing with a friend that recently moved away.

Our week ended with a tasty treat from the book A Trip Around the World. To end our study of the U.S. we decided to make a traditional American recipe. We just so happened to have all the ingredients for a colonial Pumpkin Cake. Yum!

What were your homeschooling highlights this week?

30% Off and BOGO at Hearts at Home Store

2012-10-09T21:27:00.000-04:00

Hearts at Home is having a HUGE sale until October 31st! Right now you can save 30% on over 6,000 items from publishers including Apologia, Bright Ideas, Christian Liberty, Lamplighter and so many more! Click here for a full list of participating companies.

While you're there, be sure to check out the sale on Mike's Inspiration Station art instruction DVDs! These are still 20% off and BOGO! Click the banner above to grab these up!

Teaser Tuesday 10/9

2012-10-09T06:00:00.000-04:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today's selection comes from You Don't Know Me, part of the Deep Haven series by Susan May Warren.

Had she ever really trusted God? Or had she simply jumped into this new life and looked behind her, hoping God would catch up, would bless it? Yeah, look how that turned out. ~p. 98

Free Halloween Printables

2012-10-08T12:20:00.002-04:00

Head over to Paper Coterie to download some cute Halloween freebies. There are two treat bags and a Halloween bingo template. Click here to head there now.

Tunnel Books (Weekend Art)

2012-10-06T23:37:00.002-04:00

The past several weeks at co-op we worked on a really cool project called Tunnel Books. I found this on That Artist Woman's blog and immediately thought it would make a great project for the kids to try.

I created this book myself in about an hour or so as an example for the kids to look at (and just because it was so cool I had to try it myself). Here you can see how the pages are cut and folded up. You can fill them with pictures, words, whatever you want.

The top panels are folded and sit on top of the bottom panels so that you can see through them to the back panel.

Here's the top view.

The cutting and folding was the easy part. The hard part came when they had to figure out what to put in the book. Some of the kids had a lot of trouble getting started but once they were prompted a little bit, they seemed to get the hang of it.

Unfortunately, I wasn't able to get a lot of photos of the finished results because some of the kids were absent and didn't get to finish it in class. But here are a couple rough drafts that they did.

If you like the idea of Tunnel Books, you should check out this page. It's filled with beautiful variations of this project. I can't wait to try this again with another design.

Review: Drawn into the Heart of Reading

2012-10-05T20:44:00.000-04:00

First, I want to share something with you all. A while back, I was asked to be a part of Home Educating Family's review team. I was pleased as punch and jumped at the opportunity.

I'm excited to be able to contribute to HEF's mission of helping other families find homeschooling resources that best fit them. Not only have I been able to host some awesome giveaways this month, but an earlier article I wrote on Thanksgiving last year was featured on their blog today!

Now, onto the review!

We have always included literature in our studies, but as our kids have gotten older, I felt it was time to do a more comprehensive study of what we were reading. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided on Drawn into the Heart of Reading, one of Cathy Duffy’s 100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum. You can use this program with multiple children for grades 2 through 8, and the format allows for you to reuse it every year. The program is comprehensive enough to use as a complete reading program, which I found sufficient, or you can supplement with another reading program.

The unique part of Drawn into the Heart of Reading is that it doesn’t have pre-selected literature for you to use. You can tailor the activities to you or to your child’s interest using your own chosen books. There are nine units in all, covering biographies, historical fiction, mysteries, non-fiction, realistic fiction, adventure, fantasy, folk tales, and humor.

Read the rest here on visiting Home Educating Family's site.

20% Off at Halloween City

2012-10-05T19:56:00.001-04:00

Halloween is approaching fast! Halloween City is offering 20% off a single item both in-store and online until September 7th.

You can get a printable coupon here or use the code HCSDKH during checkout when shopping online.

Fabulous Field Trips and Giveaways

2012-10-05T01:38:00.003-04:00

This is our last week of Home Educating Family's Not-Back-to-School Blog Hop. I hope you've enjoyed reading all the reviewers' posts and that you've gleaned some encouragement and inspiration from them.

Our final topic is all about field trips! We don't get to take a lot of them but when we do, we usually have a great time. I thought I'd share a few of our favorites so far.

Some field trips are an annual tradition for us, particularly around the holidays. Every year we make sure we hit the pumpkin patch. We try to go to a different one every year. Some have been small where we just enjoyed looking at and picking out pumpkins, while others were filled with activites like corn mazes and hayrides and slides. Each one has been memorable and the kids always enjoy coming home with new pumpkins to carve or paint.

We also make sure we attend a local Christmas play every year. There's a church in town that puts on the most wonderful plays and musicals. They have a "living Christmas tree" filled with people singing, but the plays are always touching and wonderfully acted and produced. They often include live animals and everything. It's just a great show and all they ask for is donations. There are always a ton of people who come to the altar when the show is done.

One of our favorite trips we took was to the National Aquarium in Baltimore. I had not been since I was a kid and I was so excited to be able to share it with my own children. They had a blast, especially with the dolphin show.

Last year we got to head to the National Zoo in Washington D.C., which was a first for all of us. I was amazed at how big it was and it was definitely an all day hike. The animals were just beautiful to look at. I could spend every day there.

Our next big field trip coming up is an exciting one. At the end of the month, we're heading for NASA! This will be our first opportunity to learn about space close up and we are very excited! I will be sure to post pictures when we get back!

Hop on over here to read more homeschooling stories from our other reviewers!

And, be sure to enter to win this week's prize: The Well Planned Day planner from Home Educating Family! Just fill out the easy Rafflecopter link below and that's it! They're all optional so enter once or enter more--it's up to you.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Free Pumpkin Unit Study Printables

2012-10-03T21:53:00.002-04:00

Head over to Meet Penny to download some great printables for a Pumpkin Unit Study. The downloads include a unit lesson plan, a guide on pumpkin dissection, puzzles and activities, spelling and more. Click here to check it out!

Top 10 Free Educational Computer Games

2012-10-03T21:42:00.004-04:00

The Unlikely Homeschooler has a great list of fun computer games for kids. Click the picture below to check it out.

Help Out a Grieving Homeschooling Mom

2012-10-02T20:19:00.000-04:00

I received this notice today and am asking my readers to please read this and consider helping as well. A fellow homeschooling mama is facing the unexpected loss of her husband and is now trying to support her 5 kids alone.

On September 9th, Jenny called 911 because her husband Harold was behaving erratically. At the hospital, he was diagnosed with a serious brain infection and moved to the ICU, where he fell into a coma-like state. Over the next 10 days, their family experienced a series of ups and downs on the most horrific roller coaster ride you can imagine as they’d receive hopeful news followed by a setback. On September 18^th, Harold passed away despite everything the doctors had done for him. As you can imagine, Jenny’s heart broke, and not just for herself, but for her five beautiful children as well, who hadn’t seen their dad in 10 days and won’t see him again this side of heaven.

Head over to Life Your Way to read the story. In response, a group of Jenny's friends and wonderful bloggers have partnered up to help Jenny and offer their readers a fabulous deal at the same time.

For three days only, pick up the following collection of ebooks – worth more than $50 – for just $5! And know that 100% of your purchase will go directly to Jenny and her kids.

This is a horrifying thought to lose your husband regardless, but even moreso if you've got little ones and are living on a single income. I will be purchasing this bundle and I know that many more will jump to help out this family in the midst of their loss. I pray that you will consider helping in some way as well.

This package includes the following e-books:

Easy Homemade by Mandi @ Life Your Way
One Bite at a Time by Tsh @ Simple Mom
31 Days to Clean by Sarah Mae @ SarahMae.com
Mindset for Moms by Jamie @ Steady Mom
50 Books to Enjoy with Kids by Veronica and Jessica
Fill ‘Em Up by Laura @ Heavenly Homemakers
Guide to Freezer Cooking by Crystal @ Money Saving Mom
Tell Your Time by Amy @ Blogging with Amy
How to Have Your Cake and Eat It, Too by Mandi @ Life Your Way
Plus the Complete Set of Life Your Way Printables

Click here to purchase, or if you prefer, you can also choose to help the family directly by going here.

Teaser Tuesday 10/2

2012-10-02T07:55:00.000-04:00

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is:

Grab your current read
Open to a random page
Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Today's selection comes from Last Breath, book #11 of the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine.

He had his hands in his jeans pockets, and his brown hair ruffled in the breeze as if invisible hands combed through it. He was staring at the front door, and if he wasn't careful, he'd ignite it into flames by the sheer focused power of that stare.~p. 44

Some Spiritual Encouragement

2012-10-01T20:34:00.000-04:00

I saw this on Facebook and wanted to share it here. If any of you ever wonder if our Heavenly Father loves us, just look in the Book. Hope this is encouraging for you.

Buy One Lapbook, Get One Free

2012-10-01T20:04:00.000-04:00

Knowledge Box Central has a great deal on their lapbooks right now.

From today through October 4th, when you purchase any one digital product from KBC's Government section, you will receive ANY Lapbook ebook of equal or lesser value for FREE!

After your purchase, simply e-mail Candie with the information about your purchase. Be sure to include which product (it must be of equal or lesser value) you would like to receive for FREE- she'll e-mail you back with a link to the file!

Eleven Years Ago

2012-10-01T12:57:00.002-04:00

Saturday my oldest daughter, Skylar, turned 11 years old. I can't believe that time has gone by so quickly. I have to brag on her and say, Look what a beautiful young lady she's becoming. *sniffle*

Unfortunately, we weren't able to have a party for her this year since money is so tight, but she and her sister happened to have a sleepover with their Mpact troop scheduled the night before anyway. They had a lot of fun playing games and I made 3 dozen cupcakes for them to share with their friends.so it was sort of like a party. They sang Happy Birthday to her and had a good time.

In lieu of a party, we gave her a little bit of money so she could spend it how she pleased. Thankfully, like her mama, she's a frugal girl and wanted to hit the flea market and thrift stores first. Love it!

For family movie night, she got to pick what movie we watched (Katy Perry: Part of Me, which actually wasn't too bad). Then instead of a traditional birthday cake, I honored her special request for a cheesecake. I made a cheesecake with fudge and strawberries.

You can see that I didn't wait until the chocolate icing cooled down enough when I wrote on her cake. It was a little too melted so it sort of blurred together lol. Oh well, she still enjoyed it and it was yummy!

Weekend Art: O'Keeffe Flowers

2012-09-29T20:33:00.001-04:00

We've been studying some of the modern master painters in our co-op art class for 2nd and 3rd grade. A couple weeks ago they practiced contour drawing and viewing close-ups from Georgia O'Keeffe's works.

If you're not familiar with Ms. O'Keeffe, she was a female American painter most notably known for her Southwest inspired art and her enlarged close-ups of flower blossoms. The piece Red Poppy, was our inspiration for the children's work this week. We talked about and chose warm or cool colors for our palette and used black to outline the flowers. It was a challenging but fun lesson.

Here's one I did for an example. It wasn't quite finished but enough for them to get the idea.

And here are a few of the kids'. I was only able to capture a few before they snatched them up to take home. I love how they're all so unique!