Homeschool Village Garden Challenge

Starting March 31st, the Homeschool Village is hosting a Garden Challenge that anyone can participate in ~ even if you don’t have garden space!

You don’t need acres of land, intricately planned plots…just a desire to learn and have fun as a family. Plant one tomato plant or plant twenty, it doesn’t matter!

Find out more about the Garden Challenge at the Homeschool Village. They will be hosting a monthly link-up where everyone can share what they are doing, planning and progress on their gardens and/or containers.

The most IMPORTANT link-up comes next Thursday, March 31st at 10am, so be sure to mark your calendars!! The first 10 participants to link up March 31st will receive a $15.00 CurrClick Gift Certificate!! And to make it even more fun, there will be a special ‘add-on’ preschool pack to go along with my Garden Preschool Pack that I will be releasing on Monday ~ available only to participants in the Garden Challenge!

Quick! Pull out some pots, soil and seed, start planting, and link up next Thursday! You know you’ll have fun doing it!

Substitute Homeschooling ~ The Homeschool Village

 

Today the panel at The Homeschool Village is answering the following question:

If you could hire a substitute homeschool teacher - who would you want to teach for the day? (famous or not) WHY?

Are the wheels turning in your head? You’ll have to head over to the Homeschool Village and see whom the panel {and that includes me!} would like to fill in for them!

Blessing My Children ~ The Homeschool Village

Today the panel at The Homeschool Village is finishing the following statement:

I believe the best way I can bless my children as their homeschool teacher is ...

Having the last few weeks off from school and being in the throes of complete chaos at times has really given me some time to ponder and reflect on what we’ve been doing and what we will be doing/changing…and things I personally need to change to bless my children.

Visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms and I are sharing about this topic ~ you will really be blessed and encouraged by what the other moms are saying about this topic today!

What are Your Favorite Websites?

I’ll admit it. I love surfing the web and visiting blogs, websites and such. There are stacks of great ideas out there just begging to be used!! Each of us has our favorite sites that we check out frequently. I have many of my favorites in my sidebar under “Blogs I Love” and also a stash of friends and fun memes on a page called Blogs I Love and Visit Often.

What are YOUR ‘go-to’ sites? Today over at The Homeschool Village the panel of moms is sharing some of their favorite sites. Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

Juggling Time Online ~ The Homeschool Village

Although the internet can be an amazing resource, there are times when it can be a struggle to balance online time with everyday tasks. My trip to Relevant in October provided a great resource for me to schedule my time ~ Amy Andrew's ebook Tell Your Time What to Do. Since then, I have worked MUCH harder at budgeting my time…and sticking to that budget!

Have you struggled balancing blogging, blogs, the internet vs. family? What have been things that have helped you out? Other moms on the the Homeschool Village panel are sharing their tips and suggestions for balancing online time and have some. Be sure to stop over The Homeschool Village and read more here.

Groundhog Day Syndrome ~ Homeschool Village

This week, the panel over at The Homeschool Village is talking about refreshing your homeschool day when you start to feel like every day looks the same {i.e. the Groundhog Day syndrome}. You know ~ when mundane and repetition set in and you wonder HOW to change things up.

Having a routine is great, but what do you do to ‘mix it up’ and keep things from becoming ho-hum? Be sure to stop over The Homeschool Village and see what the other moms on the panel are doing to keep things fresh and exciting in their homeschool day…read more here.

How Do You Know if Curriculum Isn’t Working? ~ Homeschool Village

This week, the panel over at The Homeschool Village is talking about ways you know that a curriculum ISN’T working for your family. We’ve had a few that just didn’t mesh with our family ~ either with a child or with the teacher.

Having a curriculum that DOES fit can make an amazing difference in the learning experience ~ but what are signs that something needs to change? Be sure to stop over The Homeschool Village and see what indicators the other moms on the panel look for …read more here.

What Are Your Favorite Planning Resources?

This week, the panel over at The Homeschool Village is talking about planning resources. You’ll be shocked to know that I use my own planner {ok, maybe not}…speaking of which, I’m finishing up a new, super-cool version of it and cannot wait to share it with you!

What do you use for planning? The back of your hand? Sticky notes? Do you wing it? Be sure to stop over The Homeschool Village and see what the other moms on the panel are using and how they plan…read more here.

Homeschool Village ~ Goals for the New Year

For the next little bit, I’ll be part of the guest panel at the Homeschool Village and chiming in on different questions that are being asked. This week the question is: “Do you encourage your homeschoolers to set new year goals?”

Truthfully, I’ve never thought about encouraging our kids to set goals in this sense {although I do for myself all the time ~ ahem}.

Six other moms chimed in their answers on this question today, so be sure to head over to the Homeschool Village today and gather some ideas {which I apparently need to do also!}.

Great Science Resources ~ Homeschool Village

The topic this week at the Homeschool Village is science. Truthfully, this is an area that until recently I wouldn’t have recommended much of anything ~ because we were inconsistent and hadn’t found anything that worked and was enjoyed by all of us.

Until this year that is.

What made the difference? I’ll give you a little teaser and tell you that Nancy Larson Homeschool Science has been pivotal in changing our minds. Both the kids and I are excited about the Science 1 program that we’ve been using this year…and I’ll be sharing more about it next Tuesday with you all!

In addition to our new science program, we’ve started doing simple {but fun} experiments using the book How to Do Science Experiments with Children. The experiments use easy-to-find objects and also include record sheets for kids to fill out with their predictions and experiment results. Each experiment also includes teaching tips and explanations. Here are a few of the fun experiments we’ve done using this book:

• Ping Pongs and Air Pressure
• Penny Baths
• Cohesion and Surface Tension
• Making Raisins Dance
• Making Water Spill
• House of Cards

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

Homeschool Village ~ Back to School Traditions

This week the question at Homeschool Village is: “How do you celebrate back to homeschooling or what traditions have you started for the new school year?”

For the last two years, our ‘tradition’ has been to make funnel cakes for breakfast on the first day of homeschool. Because nothing else will help you have a calm and relaxing first day like sugaring your kids up, right? The kids do enjoy it too, because just the other morning the girls asked if I would make funnel cakes for breakfast. When I said “Not until the first day of school,” McKenna answered,  “But I haven’t had them since I was SEVEN!”

What traditions do you have for the first day of school? Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

Homeschool Village ~ Heart for the Arts

This weeks topic at the Homeschool Village: A Heart for the Arts. Post a picture of your homeschooler enjoying art and what you are planning on teaching!

Until about 2 days ago, I wasn’t certain exactly what we were going to do for art {other than arts & crafts, rice & beans projects}. Cindy from Along the Way let me borrow one of her books {which I promptly spilled coffee on and hence committed myself to using that book for our art time this coming year…Discovering Great Artists by MaryAnn Kohl.

Ok, I kid {somewhat}. The books is actually what I was looking for ~ art activities for kids based on famous artist along with a brief bio on each artist. We’re going to get together with Cindy and her kids twice a month and learn about a different artist and try our hand at some different art techniques.

Other than painting and drawing, we love to see plays from time to time {depending on what is available and how much they are!}. Flat Stanley has been one of our favorite plays so far! Stanley got flattened by the big ol’ bulletin board below.

 

And as far as music goes…this past spring, both girls took piano lessons and also had their first recital! Practicing was hard for McKenna, but she wrote her own song to play for the recital too ~ it was cute!

What do you as a family enjoy doing for art and fine arts? Leave a comment and be sure to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

Homeschool Village ~ What About PE?

 

Just a picture…which means no talking. HA! Have you read my blog? :) I’ll keep it brief…on rainy days, super-hot days, or just plain any day…we LOVE using our Wii. Kaleb is fond of the Wii Outdoor Challange mat {and truthfully, Mommy gets winded doing the trampoline game…}.

 

 

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

Homeschool Village ~ Self-Evaluation

This week's topic at The Homeschool Village has to do with self evaluation and here’s the question ~ “If you were to "grade" yourself on homeschooling this past year ... what "grade" would you have earned? What if your children were grading you?

Honestly? There are more times than not that this would be an ‘ouch’ moment for me. Yes, we accomplish the bulk of what I plan for us to do, but not all of the time that we’re working is … well, spent appropriately.

THAT is something that I need to change and set some big ol’ limits for myself on. I have a tendency to get sidetracked and if the laptop is sitting nearby, I can quickly get sucked in and not doing things that I should be…as in spending time teaching my kids.

If I had to grade myself, I would have to say an A for effort but more likely a B/C on follow-through and attention span. {grins}

What would my kids say? Well, they are at their first week-long overnight camp this week and truthfully I MISS THEM!!! Which is most likely making me realize how much more attention I need to pay to them, how much less irritated I need to be with them throughout the day ~ and what I REALLY need to be focusing on.

Ok…that’s all. I’m done.

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!