Hey, Girl.

I am linking up with Our Front Door for a super fun Pinterest Day!  WooHoo!  And today's post is all about homeschool.  Of which I love.  And hate.  Depending on the hour.

Did you know that you can find tons of homeschooling helps on The Pinterest?  Tis true, tis true, and I am going to show you some that I have tried.

But first, say hello to Ryan.

Let the records show that I have no crush on Ryan Gosling.  However, when one is searching for lesson ideas and comes across a Hey Girl gem, well, words fail to describe the delight it brings to an otherwise menial task.

I do, however, have a crush on a guy who is an electrician, but truly desires to be a lumberjack/rabbit breeder/chicken farmer.  FYI.

1)  Books Should Be Free

Books Should Be Free is a site that offers free audio books, and they have a large selection of ones for children.  You can even get them on the iTunes and put them on your iPod or other MP3 players, if they are so compatible.

I have successfully gotten a few books onto Sweet Pea's MP3 player, but not Daisy Mae's, because, and this may surprise you, I have NO IDEA how computers work.  It is amazing I find this blog everyday.

(image source)

2)  Weather:  Cloud Demonstration.

This is the pin I saw on Pinterest:

There is no original link to it, but the pin says to fill the cup with water, put shaving cream on top for a cloud, and explain that when clouds get really heavy with water, it rains! Then put blue food coloring on top of the cloud, and watch it rain,

This is an excellent idea, in theory.  Especially when you have a boy named Little Dude who is OBSESSED with clouds.  Because he is cool like that.  However, when I tried it, it did not work.  Such disappointment, such dismay.

3)  Let's take a Ryan break, shall we?

That is SO Bimlissa.  Does anyone remember Bimlissa?  Hello?  HELLO?   Anyways, she will oft avoid the library for weeks on end, due to the massive amounts of money she owes.  It is humorous.

4)  Triangular Math Fact Family Flash Cards

(image source and link to site with printables)

We made these and they are a great way to help the girls with their math facts.

5)  Speaking of math and facts and whatnot:

(image source and original blog link)

We have also tried this idea to help with learning math facts.  This was good for Daisy Mae, as she is more of a hands-on learner.  Sweet Pea could have cared less.

6)

7)  Symmetry Lesson

(image source and link to original post and instructions)

We really enjoyed this one.  You take a piece of paper and fold it in half.  On one half you draw half of a bug with a black, oil pastel crayon.  Which we had on hand, amazingly enough! Be impressed.  Then you fold it over and press it down, causing the blank side to have an outline of the original half, if that makes sense?  If it does not make sense, please click on the link above.  After you get the outlines all drawn in, the kids can color them.  It was fun!

8)

There really are so many fun ideas for school on Pinterest.  You can go to the education board and look around, or just search for what you are looking for.

Do it.  Do it for the children.

All "Hey, Girl" photos come from this site.  I did not come up with them all by myself.

Click here to go to Our Front Door and see more Pinterest Posts.

Click here to follow me on Pinterest.

Happy Thursday!

 

Finding Books

 I am bound and determined to not let homeschooling defeat me this year.

I will remain steadfast!  I will soldier on!  I will not panic!  I will not eat excessive amounts of  baked goods and gain 5 pounds on account of my stress!

I have begun a quest for a more organized life and am devoting the month of August to trying to find ways to do that.

Bonus:  I might get out of huckleberry picking!  Holla!

So, I thought I might share with you all some of the ideas that come my way.  I am, of course, assuming there are other people out there like me who need some HELP.  If you are super organized and don't need help, you can just read these posts and shake your head whilst sighing at me.

And I am ok with that.

Today is all about books.

Have I hooked you yet?

Even if you are not homeschooling, the library is an excellence resource for all families.  I wanted to share with you how I use it to help me save time.

First, our library has an online card catalog where I can search for books and request for them to be put on hold.  The library also searches about 25 nearby libraries, and I am free to request books from those libraries as well and pick them up at the library of my choice.

Tip:  Never take your children to a library and try to find specific books with them in tow.

Mayday!  Mayday!  This is a bad plan!

No.  Do the book searching from the comfort of your own home.  I beg of you.  The people will thank you.

Alright.  So, I have struggled before with which books to check out for my children.  I now use these books to help me find some options:

The Story of the World and Writing with Ease are both a part of the curriculum we use, which is part of The Well-Trained Mind.  All items for that curriculum can be seen here.

The Story of the World is our history and we LOVE it.  Each chapter has additional reading that can be checked out to further enhance the lesson.  Here is a sample page:

So, I can look through those selections and request them from the library to supplement our history.

Writing with Ease is our writing program.  It takes selections from literature and the kids either write summaries on the reading or copy a sentence from the book.

Usually, the kids become hooked on the book they have been reading about and ask me if we can check it out at the library.

I recently checked out Honey for a Child's Heart by Gladys Hunt.  In it, she provides book recommendations for your child's reading level.

Here are some selections for Daisy Mae's level (she is entering 2nd grade):

So, I can just look through the list, pick a few, and see if my library carries them.

Here are some recommendations for Sweet Pea (soon to be 3rd grader):

So, say I wanted Sweet Pea to read Heidi  by Joanna Spyri.

I can look it up online at my library

Next, I can choose to either request it right then, or add it to my book list.

Since I am in planning mode right now, I am just adding lots of book ideas to my book list.

I am making notes in my lesson planner for which books to request for which weeks, so when I am ready I can select the books I want from the list and ask the library to hold them for me.

Look at me and my bad self!

We don't live in a very "advanced" area, so I bet your library has something similar.  You should totes check it out.

Another fun thing to look for is books with a cd for little ones.  My boys have always loved Brown Bear, Brown Bear, so I recently checked out that book with its cd.

It entertains them for hours, I kid you not.

Some library tips:

1)  When visiting the library, let your kids explore and choose books that they are interested in.

2)  If you are wanting to select some books for them, try searching them out ahead of time.  It is hard to try to look up books at the library when you have little ones.

3)  Try magazines.  Our library allows older magazines to go home.

4)  Try books on audio for car trips or quiet time.  Sometimes my girls like to put on an audiobook and color.  This works well for books they want to read, but are a little advanced for their reading levels.

So, that's my advice so far on libraries and books.

And I would listen to me.  I have homeschooled for one whole year now, you know.

Feel free to add your two cents in the comments!

Happy Tuesday! 

The School of Excellence.

Ha!

The School of Excellence!

*sigh*

I crack myself up.

Yes.  That's right.

We homeschool now.

We are some of those people.

Look out the window!

Can you see my house?  Can you see my wood pile?  Can you see that strange feeder looking thing?

What, pray tell, is that thing?  It was there when we moved in.

Our school room is complete, but it is nothing spectacular like some of the school rooms I have seen online.  All we did to it was paint the walls blue (holla!).  The previous owners left several different throw rugs, tables, shelves, and lamps of which we were able to use for the school room. 

The shop at our new house is divided into three sections:  a garage area and two different large "shop rooms."  The room closest to the house is the one we use for a school room.  I think this room was intended to have someone live in it-there is a closet and a room where a bathroom might possibly be able to go in the future.

This little area is where we have our "library."

Inside, I just have one shelf unit with books organized by reading level.

Brace yourselves.

Our library is massive.

Baby steps, people!

Baby steps.

I am only 3 days into this nonsense.

The top shelf is books that I choose for the kids or I read aloud to them, while the second shelf is for fun reading.  The clear box holds library books.

The girls each have their own desk, complete with a white board, pencil box, and art box.  The shelves in the back of the picture hold their notebooks and such.

As you can see, it is extremely well-organized and aesthetically pleasing.

Curriculum.

Oh, how I stressed over curriculum.  I decided on using The Well-Trained Mind, which is a guide to classical education.  I chose this because I agreed with the author and became excited to homeschool after reading her book.  I also appreciate the fact that she tells you specifically which resources she recommends-which was helpful to me, seeing as how I was a wandering soul lost in a sea of confusing curricula.

Yes.  That's right.  I said "curricula."

No.  I am not sure if I used it correctly.

So-The Well-Trained Mind is a guide.  I use First Language Lessons for grammar, Writing with Ease for writing, The Story of the World for history (we are starting with book one-The Ancients), All about Spelling for Spelling, Artistic Pursuits for Art.

Explode the Code for Phonics, Saxon for Math, God's Great Covenant for Bible, Zaner-Bloser for handwriting, and Making Connections is for reading comprehension.

For reading fluency, we will try to get in about 30-60 minutes of reading a day.

Science is divided into three sections this year.  We are starting off with animals, then we will move on to the human body, and finally, plants.

For the most part, the girls can be combined, although I am being mindful that Sweet Pea needs to be a grade ahead of Daisy Mae.  So far, I am really liking the curriculum.  It looks overwhelming to see all the different books, but I find them all to be really interesting and fun to teach with thus far.

Yes.  I am super experienced in my in my 3-day journey of founding The School of Excellence.

I have had several people ask me why I am homeschooling.

Honestly, I have always toyed with the idea.  But I had a hard time committing to it in the past and we lived within 3 minutes of a public school that we were quite happy with. 

 I went to a Christian school from K-12, so I had always envisioned my kids going to a private school.

But in order to afford that, we would have to sell the children, and then we would no longer have children to send to the aforementioned school.  So that wouldn't work.

I kid!  I jest!

I knew that if we moved to Ruralville, homeschooling was in my future.  In order to get them to school in town, I would need to drive 45 minutes one way.  So, if I drove there, went home, and then went to pick up the kids, I would be driving for 3 hours a day.  Our winters here can get pretty nasty, and I am not comfortable with committing to driving that much.

I feel there are pros and cons to all methods of schooling and I don't think that homeschooling is the best option for everyone.  But, for now, homeschooling is the best choice for our family.  And I am excited about it!  It might not be the right option for us forever, but for now, it is.

One of the harder things for me with homeschooling was the fact that I loved school when I was a child.  Getting a new backpack and new school supplies, meeting my new teacher, seeing my friends . . . I loved it all.

And eating lunch in the school cafeteria!

Oh. Be. Still. My. Heart.

My girls were bummed about this, so they talked me into letting them walk through the kitchen in a "cafeteria line."

Mom.

Of.

The.

Year.

I asked the girls what their favorite parts of homeschooling were.

Daisy Mae:  Snacks and recess!

Oh, Daisy Mae.  You are disappointing the headmaster of The School of Excellence!

Sweet Pea:  Well.  When I was in the other school, it was fun, but I would miss my mom.  Now I get to see mom all the time!

*Tear*

Then Sweet Pea looked at me and said, "Mom.  You are my kind of woman."

Hmmm . . . interesting.

And, for now, I am content begin this homeschooling adventure.

Content to keep them at home.  Happy to watch them learn.

Eager to keep them young. 

Those two girls got their dolls all dressed up to join them for school today.

Yes.  I want to keep them playing dolls, enjoying tea parties, and playing pretend.

What's with this growing up nonsense?

They can worry about that later.

There is one small, minor hiccup in The School of Excellence.

The dudes.

Lest any of you are confused, the small heads you see on the "library" floor and on the couch are not factual children, but they are the girls' dolls.

My dudes present a small . . . . challenge to the daily schedule of The School of Excellence.

I welcome, dear readers, your ideas and suggestions on how entertain my dudes while I teach my girls.

And now, I shall leave with some random facts you should know:

1)  I have homeschooled for 3 days.

2)  This makes me an expert.

3)  I reserve the right to change my mind about any and everything that I wrote about in this here post.

4)  I am making my husband's second favorite dinner tonight.

5)  I'll make his favorite tomorrow.

6)  I like to mess with him.

7)  I have not left my house since we came home from camping Monday.  This does not bother me.

8)  I have yet to wear striped socks with Birkenstocks.

9)  I have showered every day.

10)  I still wear jeans (pants.  not jumpers.  not that there's anything wrong with that), I don't have chickens, and I strongly feel that people would not label me as "eccentric."

11)  I might still be normal.

12)  I may or may not have found mouse droppings on the loveseat in my living room.

Happy Thursday . . . Go, Homeschool!