What Day Is It???

Anyone else right there with me? I can't seem to remember what day it is. My husband and I walk around all day long saying "What day is it?" Everyday feels like a Saturday to me. 

What can you do to get out of this crazy brain fog?

1. Keep a regular wake/sleep cycle.
2. Get dressed everyday.
3. Make your bed everyday.
4. Make a habit of looking at the date every morning.
5. Keep on a regular meal schedule.
6. Set a limit on media usage. 
7. Exercise daily, even if you just go for a walk.

If you normally meet friends for lunch on a Tuesday, have a video chat. Do you normally run to the library on Wednesday for books? Try looking through your stash and re-read some of those treasured books. If you normally go grocery shopping on a Thursday, grab a grocery bag and shop your pantry for some meal ideas. Do you get your nails done on a Friday? Dig around and pull out your supplies for manicures and have a fun Mom/Daughter pampering day. Just the other day I pulled out all my Satin Hands from Mary Kay and revived my terribly dry hands using those products. 

Check back for more ideas to get you through this time.

Take care and stay well,

Picaboo Homeschool Yearbook Review

As members of The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew (TOS) we have been privileged to make a homeschool yearbook through Picaboo Yearbooks. (Pronounced PeekABoo).

I'm grinning from ear to ear! I have to say that this was so much fun to make! It might make #1 in our top reviews of the TOS year! Here is the Moe disclaimer for this product. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK! Have I ever told you that you need to read or watch the instructions for a product before using it? lol...yes I attempted to click around on the Picaboo Yearbooks website and I failed miserably. lol

I have made many photo books in my time using other companies, but I‘ve never thought to make a homeschool yearbook before being given this review opportunity! WOW, the possibilities are endless for the homeschool family! With Picaboo Yearbooks for homeschoolers! there are autograph pages, QR CODES Add video to your printed yearbook pages, and the real plus for us homeschooler is that there is no minimum number of books to order. You can also do an eYearbook for people to view on line. You can even sell your book on your own yearbook store front, customers pay for books and shipping costs directly to the store front. No collecting $$ for the books. Each person that purchases a yearbook from your store front can custom design the cover of their yearbook. PRETTY NEAT! Think fundraiser!! Businesses can even use Picaboo Yearbooks to make customized directories. These can be shipped to schools or individual homes. You get to pick either matte or gloss laminate for the cover. The yearbook that we created for the TOS review contained 20 pages, were 8 1/2 x 11 sized and the cost was $9.49 per book. Additional pages are 22¢ per page and additional personalized pages are 99¢ per page. Shipping cost is $8.99. Here is a link to the ordering page. Click here and then scroll down to the softcover yearbook.

Easy to use design tools--no minimum order--3-week turnaround--free tools & support


(pages from our actual yearbook we made) We added some of our favorite sayings from our school year.

After figuring out the software and making our first Picaboo Yearbook I think that I could probably whip out another yearbook in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. That was the most time consuming part was trying to decided what pictures to use. Since we were doing this as a TOS review we had a set time frame to get our yearbook made. For the normal user like you, pictures can be gathered year round and then added to the yearbook.
 

This is a stock photo from Picaboo Yearbooks and not from our actual yearbook

What this homeschool Momma liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) Love the idea of making a homeschool year book, we did one for junior high. 
2) Once I got the hang of it, I LOVED it.
3) I liked the features of being able to place pictures wherever I wanted on the page, turn them, tilt them etc.
4) This would be INCREDIBLE for co-op groups or homeschool groups to make yearbooks.
5) I liked how you could organized your photos, it made the pages flow a better than trying to remember what you had on which page.
6) Great inexpensive way for schools to create yearbooks.
7) Love how the books come in hardbound or soft cover.
8) Other parties can add photos, so you can have more than 1 person working on the book at a time. GREAT for yearbook clubs.
9) Looks like it would be easy to import many student photos at one time and the program has the ability to sort the photos by grade.
10) You get to pick the number of pages for your book.
11) Great fundraiser ideas for schools, churches, and other groups.
12) The Live Chat that is GREAT! I had to use it for a question and they were very friendly.
13) AWESOME PRICE!
　
What this homeschool Momma did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) There is a learning curve with this program. WATCH THE TUTORIAL BEFORE TRYING TO MAKE YOUR YEARBOOK!
My student picked up right away on how it all worked, but I needed a bit of a tutorial on it…lol. I have used other photo book makers with no trouble, but this one threw me for a curve…lol. I finally figured it all out and it is actually VERY easy to use. After making our book, I think I could probably whip one out in about an hour if I had my pictures picked out ahead of time. 
2) I wish that the softcover yearbook would open up flat, it does not want to stay open.


Pictures from our actual yearbook and the white page is an autograph page.

What this homeschool student liked about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) VERY easy to use, I figured it out right away and stared adding pictures. Watch the tutorial videos, they will show you exactly what to do. And be sure to lock your pictures when you are done with each section.
2) LOVED that background choices, sticker options, fonts and colors that I could pick from.
3) I liked how I could move the pictures around easily.
4) I liked how I could change things if I did not like how it looked, after I previewed them.
5) There are some pretty cool stickers, but we decided not to use any (can’t wait to see how the other TOS reviewers used them).

What this homeschool student did not like about Picaboo Yearbooks:

1) I did not realize that I could add a title to my yearbook cover.
2) I did not like the automatic page photo inserter (not sure what to call it) it would cut off part of the pictures and it was easy to miss.

You might wonder what on eart making a yearbook has to do with homeschooling? How to teach yearbook as an elective class. We like history and our school year is historical (yes, sometimes it’s even hysterical as you can see from our Picaboo Yearbooks!) Yearbooks work on art, grammar, spelling, creative writing, organization and many other skills. I think that kids of any age could use this if they know how to use the computer. I would guess ages 10 and up.  We will be making another yearbook for our next school years. I plan to make a yearbook folder on my computer to add miscellaneous picture for our next time we make one.

　

An Easier Homeschool Day? How Can It Be?

Another great blog post 10 Ways to Make your Homeschool Day Run Smoothly

I am stealing several of these ideas!!

No reason to reinvent the wheel!

Which of these 10 ways speaks to your heart? Post below in the comments.

Ideas for Homeschooling High School

There are lots of brand new homeschooler starting high school this year.

What worked for you and what did not work? How do you make a push for independence? How do  you set up school work accountability? Will you work in dual credits? AP classes (where did will your kids take these tests? Did you get your material approved for AP?), will you do dual enrollment? College classes? Online classes? Any non textbook things you plan to use?
Oh, the list seems endless!

Love is in the air...Homeschool love that is...

Today is a HOT summer day, but in our home it was like Christmas. Our homeschool packages arrived!

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

Apologia Physics Instructional DVD

 The Homeschooled Young Man could not wait to tear open this package and see what was inside!

When the Homeschooled Young Man see's bubble wrap, he knows it's gonna be a good day! 'Cause any boy knows that bubble wrap serves 3 purposes.

1. Bubble Wrap protects our purchases

2. Bubble Wrap makes for great workout routine jumping up and down on all the bubbles

3. Bubble Wrap drives a Homeschool Mom crazy with the popping sounds and the jumping up and down in the house!

Apologia Physics

The box is not yet unloaded and the Homeschooled Young Man has the book open and is reading through the lessons...lol...ah, the glory of homeschooling. 

Have you ever seen a child who is hold up in classroom all day, for 180 school days per year and are this is excited when their Apologia Physics Instructional DVD arrives in the mail? Yes, I know, we are weird, we homeschool, need I say more?

Praise the Lord for the learning everywhere about everything mindset. Our world is our classroom and we are loving it. Learning is not a chore it is a lifestyle in the homeschool.

I have not received any compensation or benefits for writing this blog post.

Hear ye, Hear ye: 20 Questions & The Homeschool Planning Meeting.

Summer has flown by and we are almost ready for a brand new school year. Tomorrow will be our annual Homeschool Planning Meeting. We have some pretty neat stuff to plan for. The Homeschooled Young Man has some thinking to do, we ask that he bring his ideas to the table in writing (by doing this he gets to practice real life skills in handwriting, spelling, critical thinking, organization, time management, goal setting skills). Things that I have on the agenda...of course they won't be hammered out in stone because it's just July and we don't follow the public school schedule, so we are good. But I like to get something penciled in, so I can be on the prowl for good deals on our homeschooling materials.

1. What will be our core courses?

2. What will we use for those core courses?

3. What extras will we add in to round it all out?

4. What will be done as full year courses and what will be done as semester courses?

5. Field trip ideas?

6. Will we attend homeschool convention next year?

7. What life/social skills will we work on this year?

8. What volunteering will we be involved in?

9. What career training/skills/shadowing will he be involved in?

10. Will he be a part of TeenPact.org again this year?

11. What classes outside the home will he take?

12. What are some things that he would like to learn?

13. What sort of employment will he take part in?

14. What 4-H projects will work together with our schooling this year? (the 4-H Health Sciences can be used for Health class, the Cooking 101 project can be used for Home Ec credit etc. Homeschoolers are always thinking outside the box with real life skills.

15. What scholarships will he be applying for?

16. Will there be standardized testing this year? Stanford 10? SAT? ACT? ASVAB?

17. What colleges will we visit?

18. What materials do we have on hand that we can use instead of buying more stuff.

19. What church related activities will we take part in?

20. What worked and did not work last school year?

I am sure that more will come up as we chat around the kitchen table. However, this is what homeschooling is all about. Yes, some homeschoolers have a set of state standards that they must abide by, but there is so much more to homeschooling that those standards. We as homeschoolers can focus on so much more right alongside schoolwork. So many more rich life changing experiences that we can afford our children.

What are we teaching our pre-teens & teens about SEX??

This picture says it all, I had never really thought of it this way. What have you used to teach your children about abstinence? In our home we have talked about it since the very beginning. With our son being adopted, his birthparents were college students and that helped with explaining a lot of things. Our son had a pretty good understanding of single parenting and just how difficult life is for single parents and their children. We have used God's word in the book of Proverbs and the Song of Solomon. We have also talked about King David and his sin. 

Another of my favorites is called A Chickens Guide To Talking Turkey With Your Kids About Sex. I heard an interview on Focus On The Family with the authors and liked. Got it free from the library...check it out!

What have use used in your home regarding this topic?

SpellingCity.com Review

As homeschool product reviewers for The Old Schoolhouse Magazines TOS Review Crew we were given a Homeschool Membership to SpellingCity.com, it's a family membership for up to 5 students in our family. I had to giggle and reminisce back to the first years of our homeschool. We loved using SpellingCity.com, back in the day the homeschooled young man loved to play the free games and practice his spelling using the program. We had found our homeschool curriculum's spelling lists on the site and used those daily. Other times I would import my own lists for history, science and reading words. But there was something lacking in that whole process, now after using the Homeschool Membership of SpellingCity.com, I know exactly what it is. We were lacking accountability in knowing what was actually getting done, I just knew my homeschooler would tell me "I got X number wrong." or "I played this or that game."

Letter Fall game

With the Homeschool Membership you get so much more for your homeschool shopping dollar. SpellingCity.com has an age range of K-12th grade, but I played around with some of the games and had a lot of fun, though I struggled with the Letter Fall game, the homeschool young man LOVED that game and played it a lot.

When you sign up and start the Homeschool Membership, you as the homeschool Momma type in the students' names, it's that easy! Then when your students sign on to SpellingCity.com, they just log in and they will automatically go to your parent homepage.
All activities done on SpellingCity.com will be recorded for you to later view in your parent account. Spelling test results will be right there for you to see and are recorded including the score
              as well as the words that were spelled right or wrong.

I allowed the homeschooling young man to goof around on the site and find what he wanted to work on and he found some pretty cool areas that I did not even know existed on the site. He came across some very COOL science vocab lists that are by grade and by subject, as well as GERMAN word lists. Now how cool is that? He was messing around with those German word lists day and night, big thrill for him since he is taking German this year. The other games that he really liked were Hang Mouse and Word Scramble.

Word-O-Rama game

I do have one hint for you, coming from a homeschooling family that has used SpellingCity.com in the past, MAKE SURE THAT YOUR CHILD USES THE CORRECT ACCOUNT THAT IS HOOKED UP TO YOUR PARENT ACCOUNT! At first I could not figure our why things were not being recorded in my parent account, I figured that I (not being tech savvy in the least!) had goofed something up. Well come to find out the homeschooling young man was going in and doing activities on his personal account, he was so use to entering in his (free account) info, that it never dawned on him that he was using the wrong account. And ya know how us homeschool mothers get busy...lol. We finally got it straightened out.

Flash Card

"Differentiated Learning": you can assign different tasks to each of your children

"Efficient record keeping": Great for states where homeschoolers must track their students because the tests results and student activities are recorded right away.

"

• *Set up year-round homeschool spelling word and vocabulary practice with our Word Study Playlists
• *Students can create and customize their own word lists
• *Receive immediate feedback on all games and tests
• *Review and assign learning activities to match your homeschool vocabulary curriculum
• *Easily review your child's work from the parent portal
• *Accessible anywhere

SpellingCity.com also offers Mobile Apps, and now they even offer an Android App and a Kindle app. We used the Kindle app and it worked really well.

All in all we had fun playing with the SpellingCity.com Homeschool Membership and I think we learned from using it too. Make sure you check out the FAQ section, lots of helpful info there and also a great video guide is on the site too.
P.S. SpellingCity.com comes in handy when homeschool Momma is busy and can't stop just right then and there, she can send her students to play on SpellingCity.com...lol. The kids won't even know they are learning, they will be having so much fun!! Also, SpellingCity.com is a great learning tool for homeschoolers. See SpellingCity.com for more information.

400+ classes, transcripts, NO textbooks to buy! Buy 1 year Get 1 year FREE+ FREE Tote Bag and FREE print edition of The Old Schoolhouse Magazine 

Click link here

Use Promo Code SHARK20

VideoText Interactive Review-Homeschool Math Program

Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post is published.
OK, so I have been just itching to tell you all about the VideoText Interactive review that we have done for the TOS Review Crew...I mean so many times I have started to brag about it in a blog post only to remember "I CAN'T SAY ANYTHING ABOUT VideoText Interactive TIL July!!" ARGH!! Sometimes being a reviewer is hard!! I just wanted to shout from the roof tops about VideoText Interactive. For all of our homeschool years we have used the spiral method for math, know what that is? Boring worktext pages with tons of math problems that you do each and every day. VideoText Interactive uses the mastery method so you keep moving forward as you learn the material. We were blessed to receive the use of VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course for 3 years for the use of 2 students. Online Programs have a full 30-day money back guarantee. You can also request a FREE DVD sample (it's really nice, I got one).

VideoText Interactive is not new to our family, we have seen their booth many times over the years at homeschool conventions, but the price was totally out of reach for our family. $529 for the complete DVD set with textbooks was way out of our price range. BUT!!!! Now VideoText Interactive is available at a reasonable price for the online version, you get 3 full year courses for one price! You will get Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2 and you can use it with 2 students! Now if you want to add additional students, it's small added fee per student. Did I mention that you can try the full online program at no risk? VideoText Interactive offers a FULL 30 DAY MONEY BACK GUARANTEE! WOW!!  VideoText Interactive is for any ages from 6th grade student through adult, for more information on if your child is ready for this excellent math program click here to read the FAQ section VideoText Interactive FAQ #3. There are 170 lessons, course notes, student work text, solutions manuals, and progress tests all included and don't forget that you can use this for 2 students! Need to add on a 3rd or 4th student?

Don't laugh but I am hearing that age old slogan being yelled... 

"CALL NOW!! OPERATORS ARE STANDING BY,

CALL NOW!!"

Scope & Sequence Rational pdf has a lot of great information that can explain in detail better than I can about the actual program contents. The Algebra Schematic pdf is a very nice chart that explains in detail when and where each type of lesson is taught. For example when polynomials are taught (Unit 5) and when quadratic equations (Unit 8) are taught. Very nice set up and easy to follow.

I knew this program was for us when I read this on the website...
Remember, “It doesn’t have to be that hard when you use a video textbook!”

If you know me, you know I am a total math phobic! lol. To say the least! My thoughts are going crazy and around 90 mph about VideoText Interactive. This math program is the BOMB! The author Tom Clark has 46 years of experience teaching math and science, VideoText Interactive is a family affair with Tom's children, his brother and sister helping to bring the whole curriculum together. You can read more about the Clark family here on the About The Author page.

What this homeschool Momma liked about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) 3 full high school math classes for 1 money! You get Pre-Algebra, Algebra 1 and Algebra 2.
2) You can follow a 1 year, 2 year or 3 year program. So depending on the ability and needs of your student they can work at a faster or slower rate to make sure that they have the materials mastered.
3) EASY on the homeschool Momma (what more can I say about that  :O)
4) Tom Clark the author is AWESOME! He spent time talking me down off the cliff of homeschool Momma terrors! lol. What a man is all I can say!
5) Easy grading, no hoops to jump through.
6) Pretty much hands off for homeschool Momma, besides grading.
7) Wonderful people at the help line.
8) We had started out with our normal math company we had been using from the beginning and had a few struggles with me teaching it along the way. So I was really scared when we started Algebra A Complete Course from VideoText Interactive, but our homeschool young man picked right up on it and has been going strong since.
9) Our homeschool young man did 6 lessons per week (yeah, he wanted to work on Saturday too!) What on earth? lol.
10) No wasted printer paper, just print out daily worksheet, quizzes and tests. Easy on the printing budget!
11) I love that the guy on the video NEVER gets upset when the homeschool young man needs a repeat lesson or does not quite understand the lesson and needs to hear it again. That guy never sounds like a grouchy homeschool Momma who has to repeat herself! That guy is cheerful the first time he explains it and he is still cheerful the 3rd and 4th time if we have to repeat the video...lol.
12) I learned a very interesting fact from talking to Tom Clark on the phone, he told us that story problems are actually Algebra problems. No wonder the Homeschool young man struggled with story problems in the lower grades, he had not yet had Algebra. Now he is understanding them and actually likes the challenge of a good story problem. AMEN!!

What this homeschool Momma did not like about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I love this program so much, but I did find a few things that needed tweaked. Nothing at all wrong with any of the teaching, it's high quality, laid out nicely and easy to learn.
2) The video looks a bit dated, there also needs to be more light shed on the subject. The video is very dim.
3) The solution manual seems to be in very small print, I can enlarge them, but then it's hard to scroll around the pages. If anyone knows a homeschool Momma, ya know she has bi-focals by homeschool year #3 and really needs tri-focals by homeschool year #6, but she ain't buyin' them! lol. But seriously the exponent numbers were really hard to see and sometimes I could not tell a division sign from a minus sign.
4) I would like to see the Progress Checklist be online instead of printed out, I don't know how many times we had to turn the house upside down to find that crazy sheet of paper that should have been in the homeschool Young Man's FOLDER!! But instead was nowhere to be found. lol.

What this homeschool Young Man liked about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I liked how I could do 3 years of math in 1 year if I worked hard.
2) Made math fun!
3) Made math my favorite subject! Before we used the Spiral Method and I did not like having pages of boring math problems to do.
4) Wish homeschool Momma had bought this years ago at convention when she first saw it!
5) Glad that they have reduced the price so more homeschool kids can enjoy math.
6) I liked how the teacher made reducing fractions so much easier than the old way I learned.
7) Liked how easy it was to figure out how the program works, I just watch the video (pause to answer questions out loud/then listen to answers on video), read the course notes, do my assignment, grade it using the solutions manual, then usually a quiz the next day, after so many days a test. They even include graph paper to print out if needed.
8) Mr. Clark the author was fun to talk to on the phone.
9) Thanks to Mr. Clark I now like story problems, and the more complicated the better! I can understand them now. I use to cry in the younger grades when I struggled with them.
10) I am looking forward to the Geometry course.

What this homeschool Young Man did not like about VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course:

1) I did not like the old look on the video screen.
2) I wish I could access the quizzes myself, since if Homeschool Momma was not home, Homeschool Daddy did not know the password.

So there you have it folks! An endorsement for VideoText Interactive Algebra A Complete Course, we are loving it and wish we had done this much sooner.

If you are done with Algebra and ready for Geometry, come on and check out the other TOS Crew Reviews as many received the VideoText Interactive Geometry A Complete Course that includes Geometry, Trigonometry and Pre-Calculus, 3 full high school math credits all in 1 affordable package! Just click the box below.

 

Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak Review

Please note that prices and offers may change after this blog post has been published.
We are SUPER CHARGED with excitement to share with you The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak for grades 3rd-8th from Home School In The Woods.

Hard at work? Or hardly working because this is so much FUN?

 We received a download version to review for The Old Schoolhouse Review Crew. Home School In The Woods also offers a CD versions too. You can find it here at 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.
　

Completed Home School In The Woods Lap-Pak for ages 3rd-8th grade is seen above and below is a list of what is included.

The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak comes with the following areas of study:

Newspapers & TV Media
Sports
Persons of importance
Conflicts around the world
Politics
Medical
Space travel
Art history
Architecture
Writers & books
Musical movements
Transportation
Historical events
Missionaries
Disasters
The Stock Market Crash
Science and Inventions
Food Trends of the 20^th Century
Clothing styles
Jargon of the 20^th Century
Timeline
WarsThe 20th Century in America Lap-Pak also comes with a booklet to make that contains more information about the history of the 20^th Century.





What this homeschool Momma did not like:

I failed to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. I just jumped in and started printing everything off. Big goof! Some pages needed to be printed on colored paper and some needed to be printed back to back. My goof, but I think for us rushed home schooled Momma’s it would be great if on the main page we were told to read the TEXT ASSIGNMENTS & PROJECT DIRECTIONS SHEET. LOL...chalk this up to operator error and nothing against Home School In The Woods. I'm must showing that I am a real life person and do goof up!

I think this would be hard for younger kids to follow all the detailed instructions by themselves, so younger kids would need a lot of supervision with this, BUT I think it would be a great learning experience and lots of fun to work on together.

What this homeschool Momma liked:

I found that this Lap-Pak contained projects that work on the following skill sets including art, drawing and creative writing. This Lap-Pak allows the student to delve into fun topics all the while learning historical facts. Use of research skills and math skills (using measurements to make sure that the pieces went together correctly) were also used.

Our student got totally lost in this Lap-Pak, he would spent hours working on it. He was coloring, cutting, gluing, taping and putting brads on. I was so impressed by the work that he was doing. Following each direction to a T.

This was so cool! We used overhead projector transparencies to make windows for these.

 Our 12 year old 7^th grade student was able to work totally on his own with this.

Our student was thrilled with this Lap-Pak and wants to tackle The Civil War one next.

Our student did have some difficulty figuring out the photocopying of the back to back/back to front of pages, but I am putting that down under the “What I liked” section, because he learned how to use the copier and flip the pages over to photocopy on the backside. So I was very pleased that he learned some real life skills through this review. How many of us homeschool moms struggle with “which side do I put up in the paper tray, when we are making photo copies. (waving hand in the air)

This record player is the neatest thing! It spins and has different saying that show up.

What this homeschool student liked:"It was really a fun project.” “I liked the section on “Dining Through The Decades“, the recipes were fun and I liked learning about the different foods such as the Dagwood Sandwich.

Instructions were very detailed and easy to follow. I was able to complete the Lap-Pak during the review. Everything was explained step-by-step.

I really liked how the project shapes for each area corresponded with each area I was studying. For example, the “Medical Advances” used a syringe that you cut out and put together. You then pull the plunger up and a new medical advancement shows up in the window.

Fun way to learn history.

“I liked the fact that there was more to do than in an ordinary lap-book. I think that this Lap-Pak was made for older kids and was a lot of fun to do.

I want to review the Civil War Lap Pak next!

I plan to use this with my 4-H project this year too.

LOVED IT LOVED IT LOVED IT!

What this homeschool student did not likeI wish that there was an easier way to figure out how to photo copy the pages from front to back, I goofed several times and ran out of colored paper. I started to get frustrated and then finally figured it out. YEAH!



The Home School In The Woods Lap-Paks are fun and a great learning tool for your homeschool. There are several to choose from and lots of fun learning to be had by all ages. We are thankful to Home School In The Woods for allowing us this great learning opportunity to review The 20th Century in America Lap-Pak.

Favorite FREEBIE Homeschool Websites

These links are a wonderful way to bring education into your home and to supplement your homeschooling. There are links for preschoolers, grade schoolers, junior high, high school and Moms.

Some are oldies but goodies and some are ones you may have never seen before. These are in no certain order, just some different sites that we really enjoy and get a lot of help from. These are also great to have in a SAFE folder for your child to be able to go to when they have their media time. Please let me know if any of the links are bad and I will get them fixed.
Happy schooling!
Homeschool encouragement

https://thehomeschoolgal.blogspot.com

Homeschooling boys (they also talk about homeschooling girls too)

https://www.raisingrealmen.com/

http://www.homeschool-your-boys.com/index.htmlhttp://www.spellingcity.com/

LOVE this site! I entered in an entire year of spelling words and each week he uses this site to learn them. There is a ‘teach’, ‘play’ and ‘test’ area. He loves this site.
http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/
Make your own comics, this is a great tool for creative thinking
Thanksgiving ideas (plus other holidays)
http://localhs.com/holiday/thanksgiving_elemetary.asp
Math games
http://sheppardsoftware.com/math.htm
Tests grade school through high school
http://www.thatquiz.org/
Math games http://www.quia.com/mathjourney.html
Word scramble and puzzle makers
http://www.theteacherscorner.net/printable-worksheets/make-your-own/word-scramble/
Math & grammar games
http://www.funbrain.com/
Math games
http://www.lizardpoint.com/math/add-ws.html
Christianity Today home school info
https://www.todayschristianwoman.com
Lots of neat stuff here for Bible believing homeschoolers & Bible studies & character studies
http://highland.hitcho.com.au/bibleforms.htm
http://www.tlsbooks.com/
Worksheets for different grades
http://www.squidoo.com/50statesnotebook
Great ideas for state notebooks
http://www.barbarafrankonline.com/
Let’s play math
http://letsplaymath.wordpress.com/
http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/
Lots of printable lessons
http://www.sonlight.com/TF4.html
I don’t use Sonlight curriculum, but the website offers up lots of great info on home schooling, books to order from your local library and it has book lists by grades. I enjoy the emails they send too.
Lots of printables
http://www.canteach.ca/

http://www.canteach.ca/links/linkhomeschool.html 

http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php

Math games & printable
http://homeschooling.about.com/
http://www.homeschooldiner.com/
Lesson plans
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp067.shtml
Crafts/Art
http://www.teacherhelp.org/crafts.htm#recipes
Physical science
http://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/index.cfm
Free resources
http://blog.learningresources.com/
Coloring pages & resources from National Geographic
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coloringbook/archive/
http://highland.hitcho.com.au/index.htm
Neat stuff
http://www.unshackled.org/
Pacific Garden Mission-great place to take a field trip.
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/
Good info & printables
http://www.distance-education.org/Articles/100-COMPLETELY-FREE-Distance-Learning-Resources-for-Homeschoolers-125.html
Evangelism tools for kids & fun stuff
https://www.wycliffe.org/resources/kids/activities
Homeschool Classifieds
http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/planner_form.asp
This is a funny home school blog a few great articles & links to home school websites
https://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/
Timeline helps
https://store.homeschoolinthewoods.com/blogs/words-from-the-woods
Frugal website (sometimes has home school content, but otherwise about saving money with kids & being frugal.
https://www.livingonadime.com/
Interesting home school blog
http://chocolateonmycranium.blogspot.com/2007/10/homeschool-resources.html
Science homeschooling
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/Default.asp?bhcd2=1256956745
Socialization of homeschoolers
http://www.angelfire.com/mo/sasschool/socialization.html
home schooling forms to print
http://www.donnayoung.org/forms/index.htm
Candy science experiments
http://www.candyexperiments.com/
Geography worksheets
http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/geography.html
Scholastic
http://www.scholastic.com/parents/play/games/
Neighborhood Bible Time kids site
http://www.nbtime.org/kidscorner.html
Weather
http://urbanext.illinois.edu/treehouse/
History
http://www.historyglobe.com/jamestown/
Lego building projects

http://creative.lego.com/en-us/FamilyTime/buildinginstructionssecret/BuildingInstructionsBoxSecret.aspx?domainredir=legofamilytime.com

Hoping your enjoy some of these free goodies along your journey of crisis homeschooling or full-time homeschooling. Some of the links contain Christian materials and I did not receive any compensation from any of these websites for listing their links in this blog post.

Upcoming review of SpellingCity.com

I've been given a Homeschool Membership to VocabularySpellingCity.com for a candid, personal, online review. Can't wait to share it with you all!

VocabularySpellingCity helps students study word lists using 25 different learning activities such as Unscramble, Hangman, WordFind, and Crossword Puzzle. Parents can create their own spelling lists, find published lists already available on the site, or use any of the prepared lists. Try a sample game. on topics such as Multiple Meaning Words and Possessive Nouns . Be sure to come back in three weeks to read about my experience.

Lapbooking

A Journey Through Learning has lapbooks for many subjects and grade levels. These are great for all kids and even for kids with special needs.

We LOVE lapbooks in our homeschool. Learning made fun!http://www.ajourneythroughlearning.net/expresslapbook.html

Enjoy,
Moe

Poking Fun In The Homeschool

With the Homeschooled Young Man going into his junior year of high school in the fall, I've been doing a lot of reflecting and thinking back on our homeschool years.

We have been downsizing our homeschool materials for an upcoming used curriculum sale and it has brought back some fond memories of days gone by.

Just today as I was sitting in my rocking chair, a chair that holds many fond memories (our church nursery was remodeled and they bought brand new rocking chairs and gave away the old ones. They were delivered to my house and what a blessing it was to sit down in one, pick up the phone and call my out of state friend and say "Guess what I am doing? I am sitting in one of the rocking chairs that we both rocked our babies in!" It was a precious moment, remembering back to those days, for her 19 and 16 years ago, for me just 15 years ago.

Ok, rabbit trail here, back to the title of this blog post Poking Fun In The Homeschool...lol.

Finger Pointer Thingy

My son walked up to me this morning and poked me in the side with that finger pointer thingy. I am very ticklish and I was just giggling like a school girl as he kept poking me with it. The more I laughed the more he poked. I was not so much giggling at the tickling as I was at not having seen that finger pointer thingy in a very long time! He came across it as he was digging through his closet the other day.

I remember the day I bought that finger pointy thingy, we were at a Scholastic Book Fair sale and I was buying my teaching supplies, like a real teacher don't ya know? Hahaha, it was one of our first years of homeschooling, ya know the one where you have the Homeschool Momma dress on (actually I wore a cute denim apron that my Mom decorated up with buttons that had pencils, school bell, books and cute stuff like that on them), the student desk, decorated classroom, student with feet flat on the floor, pets banished from the room until school was over, ya, you're gettin' it now! lol. Yes, I was one of those 8:20am-3:00pm homechoolers. We even had school colors and a school mascot, we were Home of the Pugs!

I had big plans for that finger pointer thingy, it was going to keep my boy's eyes on the board, keep him engaged and force him to learn. I was going to fill that bucket (child) up as full as I could with information that he could spit out on a test!! You bet ya, he was going to learn!

Long about October of that same year, the Homeschooled Young Man asked if he could do his history on the couch with the dog, I told him as long as he got his work done. Then next thing you know he was under the kitchen table (his all time favorite place) on the floor with the dog doing science. A short time later he discovered fort making with sheets, blankets and kitchen chairs to study in. These shenanigans nearly ended our homeschool career before it really got off the ground when Homeschool Dad saw what was going on. Because you know, homeschooling dad's think that learning can only be done in a straight backed chair, a desk and feet flat on the floor.

Over time I sold the school desk (yes, it was the kind with seat attached and desktop lid that would lift up), took off my cute denim apron (I still have it), took down the classroom decorations and instead of doing school at home, we started HOME schooling. Better known now in the teenage years as car schooling since we live in the middle of nowhere and I am driving the Homeschooled Young Man back and forth to 4-H, job shadowing at the hospitals, doctor's offices, and his high school pre-medical school program, and to volunteering. We just pack up the school books, pile into the car and off we go! His chemistry book seems to be intriguing to many doctors and starts up some interesting conversations with them. They have shown him apps that they still have on their phones for the Periodic Table and chatted with him about struggles in O Chem.

After attending my first homeschool conference, I also realized that teaching is not simply filling a bucket with information that can be spit out on to a test. That one really rang my bell.

My homeschool decor has also changed, I have cute laminated quotes and pictures all around our homeschool bookshelves. They perk me up on a long day and get me through the tough times. The picture below is from The Old Schoolhouse magazine I've had it for years on my refrigerator and no matter how bad my day is, I can look at it and just laugh, I don't know why it makes me feel happy, but it is just so funny!

You can see how our homeschool has evolved over time, changed and morphed into something wonderful and unique to our family, now do you see why I was giggling so hard when being poked with the finger pointer thingy? It is amazing how a little finger pointy thingy can bring back so many memories.