Homeschooling is uncharted territory with each one of your children, because each one is unique and may require a different curriculum. But when you homeschool your first born, we are really talking uncharted territory, 100%.
It’s no wonder that I am overjoyed to see how things tie in so beautifully for us, even though we are only beginning our second year homeschooling. Lately, it seems that the theme in most of our studies has been water, water, everywhere. Continue reading
Can you believe we hit the half-way point in 2014 – and now we passed it? This seems like a great moment to pause and meditate on how the Lord has led us thus far.
Ellen G. White, a Christian author of the 19th century wrote, “We have nothing to fear for the future, except as we shall forget the way the Lord has led us and His teaching in our past history…” Continue reading
Last week we started Chapter 1 in our history curriculum, Story of the World. I read to the kids the first section about the first nomads. Then, we read “It’s Disgusting and We Ate It” – one of the recommended books. The kids (and I) can only take so many pages of that book. They groan and moan at almost every sentence. It truly is disgusting. 🙂
“Ancient Agriculture” is rather dry for a living book. It feels like a textbook. I tried reading it to the kids and they interrupted me, asking for another book. I must say, this is where I don’t follow SOTW to the letter. I know Susan Wise Bauer, the author, recommends doing different activities if they work for our families. This is where I have to learn to watch for their reaction and not feel bad if we cannot complete a certain reading assignment. Continue reading
I have written here before about our choice to teach cursive first and only. Here’s more information on the subject.
Many families truly appreciate the flexibility that homeschooling offers them. It allows them to include skills and subjects they deem appropriate as part of their learning day and they can include religious education if they choose. And they can focus more on subjects that public schools do not include, or deemphasize. Some of these subjects often include music, the arts, and cursive handwriting.
More and more public schools today are eliminating cursive handwriting instruction, citing a lack of time in the daily school schedule and instead focusing on preparation for standardized testing. Many experts in early childhood education, however, believe this can prove detrimental to young students during early brain development. Continue reading
Just a quick post to wish everybody a Happy and Safe Independence Day!
We live in the town which hosts the first 4th of July parade nationwide – when the clock strikes midnight on July 3, the parade starts in Gatlinburg. We are on Eastern Standard Time.
Would you like to watch it? Here’s a link to a live webcam overlooking the downtown area. Continue reading
For the past few months I have been reading the mommy devotionals from Mommy Pick-Me-Ups by Edna Ellison and Linda Gilden. The subtitle of the book is “Refreshing Stories to Lighten Your Load” and it aptly describes the format of the book.
Also known as the guru of Christian mentoring, trainer, international speaker and author Edna Ellison has written many other books that you may find interesting – look for them wherever Christian books are sold. Linda Gilden is a prolific writer, speaker, editor, writing coach, and Certified Personality Trainer. She has penned the popular Love Notes series.
Unlike a traditional devotional, Mommy Pick-Me-Ups offers 77 stories organized as follows: Continue reading
I have a small garden where I play “Farmer.” It’s only 4’x8′ and I don’t expect to feed my family from it. But if we can get some veggies every year while the children experience the cycle of sowing, weeding, watering and harvesting, I am happy.
This year, we already learned some lessons from it. Now, I’m back with an update. Continue reading
Back in 2005, I got into real estate. Big breath.
As I was joining the ranks of real estate agents, a friend told me, “Get into real estate and get right back out. The bubble is about to burst.” He was right, though it took him three years to be right. Continue reading
Story Sunday is a new series on Homeschool Ways – a series about how we learn from Story of the World, Volume 1 in our homeschool.
I will link up regularly to SOTW Blog Roll 2014, which, by the way, offers a number of inspirational blog posts from many other families using this history curriculum. Continue reading
Recently, we received two of the seven Go Science DVDs (Series 2) from Library and Educational Services. What follows is a review of DVD 4 – Motion, Friction, Electricity, Light – and DVD 7 – Engineering, Design, and Flight – , as well as a general overview of this set and the experience my children had while watching.
Ben Roy, a science professor from the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga, recorded different science experiments for a children’s program on a Christian satellite TV station. Later on, he put them together in these DVDs. Continue reading