Art Work! Fall Pictures

My son has been busy painting this week.
My husband had dug some butcher paper out of the trash at work and we've been using this huge roll for the past 4 or 5 years. I highly recommend it for art projects.
So here's my 8 year old and his amazing Fall pictures.








If you’ve posted any of your kids art work I’d love to see it. Just leave your link in the comments section.
Have a BLESSED day!

The Ant Farm!

For my son's birthday this past June he got this Ant Farm but because of extremely hot weather here in Florida they couldn't send the ants until a couple days ago.

My son is soooo excited about this.

Here they are getting right down to business. 

This is within hours of set up.

 

Now this is only day 2 and they are making some serious progress.

This has been so much fun for the boys. 

This kit included the sand and a years supply of ant food. They give you a certificate to send for the ants. 

If you live in Florida don't bother sending for them during the summer. It won't happen. LOL!

I think this is the ant farm we have.

Have a fabulous day!

Homeschool Supply Help Please!

I don't know about you but I'm pretty fed up with the cheap pencils that either the lead falls out or the "eraser" doesn't erase, it just smudges everything together or tears your paper to shreds.

When I was a kid I think we had one choice and that was a No.2 Mead pencil. Does Mead still exist? Am I looking in the wrong places?

There was no need to buy separate erasers. 

But I can't seem to find a decent pencil for my kiddos anywhere!

HELP! 

What do you use? Because these aren't working!

Thank you my friends!

Homeschooling Humor!

Here's a little smile for your homeschooling day!

HUGS!

A Pefect Example of Why I Love to Homeschool!

I love homeschooling because it allows your child to really explore and create all on their own. 

My 8 year old is constantly coming up with neat little inventions. 

This is his latest project.

Enjoy!

If you look closely you can see that he used every day household items.

Plain White Paper

Paper Towels

Crayons

Tape and

a Toothpick.

You gotta love the imaginations of kids!

Have a fabulous day!

Books!

What is your child's favorite book and why would they recommend it to a friend?

This is the Homeschool Village's question today.

I asked my 8 year old son this question and his answer was mystery books. He particularly likes the Jigsaw Jones Mystery books. He loves the suspense of what happens next. It really encourages him to read AND to be a good listener when I'm reading them because they hold his attention and makes him use his imagination.

My 5 year old then had to get in on the action. I'm not sure he grasped what I was asking him but this is the book he picked out as his favorite.......today! LOL!

He does love the Scholastic books because they have nice picture in them to hold his attention to the story that is being read. What I think is funny about his choice of book today is that it's about a bunny GOING to school. Oh the irony!

I then went in and asked my 16 year old daughter. And she really couldn't give me a definite answer. 

But then she said she really likes reading biographies. And this one in particular, she said, was VERY good.

 It's an old book all about Abraham Lincoln. It must be good because she can tell us just about everything there is to know about Abraham Lincoln right now.

To find out what other children are reading and why, head on over to The Homeschool Village and check it out!

Little House on the Prairie

When my daughter was younger she read this set of Little House books and loved them. It's a set that we've had for years now. 

With my boys getting a little older I thought it would be fun to read aloud to them.

Then I found a couple of good websites that have free downloadable lapbooks to go along with each book.

If you are interested here they are.

Lapbook Lessons and Homeschool Share

The first book in the series is Little House in the Big Woods, so that is where I linked you to.

I hope you enjoy this series as much as we have.

They also have a Little House Cookbook that I thought would be neat to have to go along with the study.

Check it out!

Click Here!

Have a fabulous day!

Not Back to School Hop! Curriculum

Today I am joining in with  Heart of the Matter for their Not Back to School Blog Hop!

The Week's Topic is Curriculum.

We don't have a lot of money to spend on curriculum, that's one reason why I love the Charlotte Mason approach. It doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg.

I'll start with my 16 year old who will be going into the "11th" grade.

She had been doing the Far Above Rubies Curriculum for the past 2 years and loves it.

It is all inclusive (except Math) and you definitely utilize the library A LOT! 

For Math she's been doing Business and Consumer Math from Abeka and she is doing a CD-ROM for Spanish.

She plays the guitar and she loves to sew and cook as well.

She is truly turning into a beautiful young woman!

The next in line is my 8 year old son.

He thrives in math. That is his strong point. Reading has been more of a struggle but he's moving forward in it so that's good. 

This year we are using:

Math: Math Mammoth

Copy work: Leaves of Life Daily Copywork by Sheri Graham

Science and Nature Study: The Handbook of Nature Study paired up with this blog is wonderful.

Phonics and Reading: Hooked on Phonics 2nd grade

Art: ArtPac by Rod and Staff

We also do random Lapbooks. Last year we did one on the Moon, The Planets and the Weather.

I also got him a workbook for 3rd grade from Sam's Club to supplement some things.

For history I read different books to them and have them dictate back to me or sometimes act it out.

The last in line is our 5 year old.

He was a late talker and so we are just getting the phonics thing rolling.

He'll be using Hooked on Phonics for Kindergarten

Art: Artpac with the rest of us.

I got him a Kindergarten workbook from Sam's Club that we are using for the rest of the stuff. 

He has a very short attention span so less is more with him right now. But on the up side, he does think it's "fun" right now. We'll see how long that lasts.

For Bible time we all do a devotional together in the morning to start things out.

Well that's it for now.

Thanks for stopping by!

Art in your Homeschool!

I love to draw. I've been doodling since before I can remember and I am excited about starting a more "formal" Art lesson with the kids this year. 

My oldest, 16, doesn't have my passion of drawing and painting but my 8 year old son does and I know my 5 year old will want to do it just so he can try and out do his older brother. So it ought to be fun to say the least.

To encourage them in Art I had made this "Picture Window" out of one of my Grandmother's old windows from her home in Maine.

I made it to display their art work. It really does encourage them to do a better job as they know EVERYONE that comes in our home will be seeing it. 

This year we are going to use the Rod and Staff ArtPac. 

It teaches the basics and I think it will be fun!

What do you do for Art?

HUGS!

I'm linking up with

Getting Serious About It!

Man it's been a busy month. What I thought I was going to get done, I didn't, but I got a whole lot done that I didn't plan on. So now it's time to get those things done that at this point NEED to be done. Like planning the next school year.
Where does the time go?
So the majority of this week will be used to do that. The other part will be to clean my house! OY! It's amazing how it builds up.

What kind of system do you use to plan your homeschooling?
Do you use teacher's manuals?
Look at lessons ahead of time?
Wing it day to day? LOL!

Have a marvelous day!

Chocolate Day Resources!

I'm celebrating chocolate day over at my main blog but thought I'd share a little chocolate love over here.
Here is a link to a FREE Unit Study on Chocolate!
LOVE THAT!

And if you want something a little more planned out you can always check out these chocolate lap book studies.

And while you're at it, make a batch of these today.
No Bake Chocolate Cookies!

ENJOY your Chocolate Filled Day!

Homeschool Planning

Well now that I have my craft/sewing/homeschool room ready to go, I think it's time to start planning for the new school year. That way I can enjoy the rest of the summer. Typically we homeschool year round but there was a slight bump in our plan this year and I think we will be taking July off.
How do you plan your homeschool year?
I like to write down what I expect each child to learn for that year and then I gather all the needed materials for at least a month in advance and start planning each day.
One thing I've come to realize is that I don't like using a "calendar" to plan my week. Instead, I number my days in a blank grid. That way if something comes up on a certain day, it doesn't mess with the schedule. You know like if you had planned something specific on a Wednesday and all of sudden your child is sick and it doesn't get done then you have to remember to do Wednesday's work on Thursday or Friday and then everything gets thrown off. If you simply # each day then you just wait until you do that number until you move on.
Don't worry, when I get some of the planning done, I'll show you what I'm talking about.

What tricks and time savers do you do?
Happy Planning!

Future Homemakers Free Resource!

This is a wonderful resource for helping teach your daughters how to become future homemakers.
And best of all is that it's free.
Check it out here.

OHC Summer Series Begins!

Over at the Handbook of Nature Study blog she is starting her summer series using the Handbook of Nature Study book.I highly recommend purchasing this book because it has soooo much information in it and she uses it for the studies she does for each season.

She offers her lessons for free on her blog but she also offers the whole thing in e-book format for you to download. It's completely up to you what you want to do.
This is a great hands on observational series.
So hop on over and check it out!

BLESSINGS!
Kim

The Intentional Planner!

My friend Sheri Graham has out done herself this year with her new Intentional Planner. I just received mine last week and I love it.

She thought of everything. And for those of us who homeschool year round, the calendar starts in July and goes through till the end of next year. YEAH!!

And it’s only $5.00.

And did I mention is customizable. Meaning you can type right into the planner and save it for later. I love that new feature.

Click on the picture if you want to check it out.

HUGS!

Kim

Getting Started!

Yes, I've probably completely lost my mind but here it is my 4th blog. LOL!
AND I had just set one up over at Homeschool Blogger but I'm finding that learning a whole new format is harder than I thought so I am switching to what I already know and that's blogger.
So Welcome!
This is going to be strictly a homeschooling blog. I wanted to post about our homeschool happenings and maybe encourage and be encouraged by all you homeschoolers out there.

Feel free to stop by any time. I am gearing up for the new school year and I'm very excited about sharing it with you all.

HUGS!!