Wordless Wednesday: Babies

TODAY ONLY: Thirty-One Sale!

TODAY ONLY I am offering 10% off any new orders of $50 or more!! 

Here you can see the August Special, and the 10% off is my personal discount in addition to the special! 

Browse the catalog and EMAIL ME that you are interested and I'll give you ordering instructions. 

Happy Shopping!

Morning Devotion - Trust

He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. - Psalm 18:33

Though the fig tree does not bud and there are no grapes on the vines, though the olive crop fails and the fields produce no food, though there are no sheep in the pen and no cattle in the stalls, yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will be joyful in God my Savior. - Habakkuk 3:17-18 

From time to time I'll be sharing passages from our morning devotions.  I hope they can be an encouragement to you!

Our Homeschool Room

I know I've posted some of these pictures before, but I'm going to use them again because nothing has changed.  :)  We have a school room, which is just an extra bedroom that we transformed.  It is not really where we do our school, but mostly where we house all our school stuff. 

Most of the time school work is completed at the kitchen table.  I lay out all school work first thing in the morning and we work side by side.

When it is time for me to read aloud or for her to read to herself, you will find us here, on the couch.  It's more comfortable and we can cozy up together.  

Another place that she likes to read is at her smaller table in the kitchen.  She eats, crafts, and reads here.  It's the perfect size and even I can fit too.  

Sometimes when we both want a change of pace, we will gather the books and head to my bed.  The change of scenery is nice and it is relaxing.

I guess what I am trying to say is that we use most of the rooms in the house, depending on what subject and/or activity.  We also go outside and lay a blanket on the grass when the weather is nice.  

If you missed it, check out our Homeschool Methods and Curriculum Plans for Fourth Grade and Homeschool Planning.

{For some added inspiration...check out last week's Curriculum Blog Hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew below!}

Florida Home School Directory

Do you have a service or business to offer the Florida homeschool community?  If so, you can add it for free to the Florida Home School Directory. 

The founders, Lee and Kristy Mikell, who are friends of mine, are also the proud parents of three home school children. The Florida Home School Directory was created out of a need to quickly find a variety of services and products for their home schooling journey.  From tutors, to groups, to educational events, the Mikell family really needed a central place to find all of these things.

Have you ever needed to find a particular group or service in your homeschooling journey, but weren't sure where to look?   

Using it is simple!

When each Provider Member joins the directory {which is free}, they chose categories for their information to be listed.  As you find a need in your homeschool, you choose all of your criteria and the Provider Members that have enrolled in that particular category will show up.  You can then contact them directly and seek their services.

Find Out More :  You can find out more about listing or seeking services at the Florida Home School Directory.

Disclosure:  I have received no compensation from writing this post and all opinions and experiences within this review are my own.
 

 

Homeschool Planning?

Would it be bad to say that I don't really plan out our lessons??  I do plan out the curriculum for the year though, and the curriculum I choose plans the lessons for me.  :)

I use Heart of Dakota and this year we are using Preparing Hearts for His Glory.  One of the many things I love about this curriculum is that everything is planned out for me.  All I have to do is open the book and read what comes next.  Each day is a two page spread.

Since a few of the subjects we use are different from what Heart of Dakota recommends, I don't follow every box. 

Below is an example of what I lay out each day for school.  This is the school work for today.  We just complete one thing after the other and I set it aside, so it is very easy to see how much work is left.

As Funny Bunny completes a subject, I log it on her weekly planner.  I created my own sheet for several years, but I really liked this one from SchoolhouseTeachers.com, so this is what we are using now.

So that is a quick peek into how our lessons are planned.    

And if you missed it, check out our Homeschool Methods and Curriculum Plans for Fourth Grade.

{Want to see what other homeschoolers are doing?  Visit all who are participating at the links below.}

Wordless Wednesday: Spy Kid

Curriculum Sale!

Since today we are talking about curriculum and I just posted our fourth grade plans, have you purchased your curriculum yet?  Hearts at Home Store has the best prices on over 200 popular publishers! If you find it for less, most of the time they can match or beat it!  Carrie, the owner, is a local friend and homeschool mom, so please stop by if you can!  Below are some of their great deals!

Picture Smart Bible Sale! Save 20% and get FREE Shipping!
Have you been looking for a Bible curriculum that is fun and your kids will love?

Mike's Inspiration Station Art Instructional DVDs Sale!  Buy Volume 1 Set of DVDs 1-6 at 20% off and get Volume 2 Set DVDs 7-12 for FREE! That's 12 art instruction DVDs for only $31.96 - a $79.90 value! 


American History DVD Sale!  Save 30% off retail prices PLUS, with the coupon code below get an EXTRA 10% off!

Curriculum Plans for Fourth Grade

Funny Bunny is in 4th grade this year...I can't believe it!  We started at the beginning of July so she is already in her 5th week!  

We are using Heart of Dakota’s Preparing Hearts for His Glory this year.  The history part of the program provides a one-year overview of world history from creation to the late 1900's.  The two main spines for History are Grandpa's Box  and A Child's History of the World.

For Math we are using Rightstart Math E and Daily Math Word Problems 4.  We have been using Rightstart from the beginning so we are sticking with it for now.  Funny Bunny is actually just finishing up Book D, so we will begin E in the fall.  

For Science we decided to use Christian Kids Explore Biology.  Funny Bunny really liked Heart of Dakota's scheduling of the One Small Square books but we have read those already and I thought we would try something new.  She is not sold on this text just yet, but I like it.  :)

For Spelling she is working through All About Spelling 4, which she will complete in the first half of the year, and I also picked up Abeka Spelling, Vocabulary, & Poetry 4, that she can start on in January. 

Last year we used Rod & Staff English 3 but this year I already had First Language Lessons 4 on hand so we are working through that.  It is pretty thorough and so far I like it.

For Bible we attend Community Bible Study (CBS) in the fall but before that begins we work on Bible passage memory work of Psalms: with the CD "Lead Me to the Rock."

We started Latin for Children A last year and only completed half of it so we are finishing up the second half.  I'm glad we took it slow because if we would have rushed through it I don't think she would be where she is now.  She is doing very well!

For Writing Funny Bunny is going to be attending Essentials through Classical Conversations and they will be using IEW's Ancient History Writing Lessons.  We worked through IEW's SWI A last year so I think this will be perfect.

We also do a LOT of reading...aloud and independent!  Here is a list of books assigned for this year.

Read Alouds:

Life in the Great Ice Age

The True Story of Noah's Ark

Noah's Ark, Noah's Flood

The 5,000-Year-Old Puzzle: Solving a Mystery of Ancient Egypt

Tizrah 

Triumph for Flavius

Fountain of Life

Viking Quest I: Raiders of the Sea 

Door in the Wall 

The Wonderful Winter 

The Family Under The Bridge

Twenty and Ten 

History Independent Readers:

The Trojan Horse  

The Young Christian's Introduction to the Bible

Little Miriam of Galilee

Leif the Lucky

Pedro's Journal

William Shakespeare and the Globe

Peter The Great

Mozart the Wonder Boy

The Little Riders

Minstrel in the Tower

Misc Independent Readers:

Folk: Sarah Whitcher's Story

Hum: Mary Poppins

Real Fic: Misty of Chincoteague

Real Fic: The Secret Garden

Real Fic: Shadrach

Mys: Key to the Treasure

Mys: Red Sails to Capri

Non Fic: Helen Keller

Fic: Heidi

Hist Fic: Riding Freedom

Fic: Betsy-Tacy

Hist Fic: Adam of the Road

Adv: The Black Stallion

Adv: Black Beauty

Adv: Where the Red Fern Grows

Hist Fic: Mystery Roman Ransom

I think that covers the majority of what we are doing for 4th grade.  There are some other things here and there, and you can see the entire list at 2012-2013 4th Grade Curriculum.  You can also see the curriculum we have used since Pre-K on the left sidebar. Thanks for stopping by!

{For some added inspiration...check out last week's Curriculum Blog Hop from the Schoolhouse Review Crew below!}

Homeschool Methods

I'm so excited to be participating in the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop with the Schoolhouse Review Crew!!  We will be blogging each day this week about different homeschool topics, so I hope you can follow along with me and my Crewmates!  

Today's topic is: Homeschool Methods

There are so many methods for homeschooling nowadays, and it can become quite overwhelming to choose.  Before talking about what we do though, I thought it would be helpful to review a few of the more popular methods.

Charlotte Mason: This method is based on the writings of a 19th century British educator who felt children should learn from real books with living ideas.  It involves nature, discipline of good habits, narration, and living books.

Classical: This method is based on the Trivium, which is made up of three stages.  The Grammar stage includes memorizing lots of of facts and language, mainly Greek or Latin.  The Dialectic stage involves the study of logic; understanding what has been memorized and asking questions.  Lastly, in the Rhetoric stage the student learns how to present arguments in a persuasive way.

Unit Study Approach: This approach allows a child to learn a subject as a whole instead of just reading chapters in a textbook.  It takes all of the subjects, such as Science, History, and Language Arts, and focuses the lessons around one central theme, say Astronomy. 

Literature Based: This method uses great books as the centerpiece for learning, instead of textbooks. 

Unschooling: Unschooling allows children to learn through their natural life experiences, including child directed play, game play, household responsibilities, work experience, and social interaction, rather than through a more traditional school curriculum.

Eclectic: An Eclectic Homeschooler is one who looks at the different approaches and methods of homeschooling, and takes little from each one.

So what method do we use?  I'm a big Charlotte Mason fan, and though I wish I could say we use this method, we really don't!  We enjoy nature, do narration, and use living books in our schooling, but a lot of what we do would not be considered Charlotte Mason.

Ultimately I think we fall somewhere between Classical and Literature Based.  Funny Bunny is extremely good at memorizing facts, especially if they are to a song.  We also love to read great books to go along with what we are studying.

Of course, I don't think it really matters, that's one reason we love homeschooling, it gives us the flexibility to do what we want, and change it if it's not working! 

{Want to see what other homeschoolers are doing?  Visit all who are participating at the links below.}