What's that smell?

LOL...The Homeschooled Young Man asked me the other day "Mom, you need to help me figure out how much cologne to put on." My husband replies "Son, don't ask things like that of your Mother, you know how she is. She will plan a unit study, you will have to get on a plane and travel to Zimbabwe to study some exotic herb that is harvested to make cologne." LOL...Me? A Homeschool Mom, do that?

YES!!! I would do that! What about you?

My reply to my husband was, "How do you even know what a unit study is?" He says "I just know."  That totally threw me for a loop, I thought my husband's only understanding of homeschooling was the following...

1. The house is always messy with books & papers

2. We are always taking a field trip

3. The child will graduate with a diploma

4. The house is always messy with books and papers (oh, wait, already said that one...lol...but it's a biggy.

I guess we are rubbing off on him, hahaha. Got to love those husbands that are faithful in many things and know what is going on, even when we think they don't.

2014 RUNNER UP for the top blog post

Homeschooling Websites To Kick Off The New School Year

Kicking off the new school year with some of my favorite homeschool websites!!!

Some are oldies but goodies and some are ones you may have never seen before. Come get encouraged about the new year! These are in no certain order, just some different sites that I really enjoy and get a lot of help from. I also have these listed in a SAFE folder for the Homeschooled Young Man. So when he has his computer time he can click on any of these sites and freely peruse them. Please let me know if any of the links are bad and I will see about fixing them.
Happy schooling!
Moe
http://www.homeschool-your-boys.com/index.html
Homeschooling boys
http://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
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
http://www.keepersofthefaith.com/
Keepers of the Faith
Christianity Today home school info
http://www.christianitytoday.com/momsense/homeschoolcenter/
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.bjupress.com/resources/ecamp/
Bob Jones University kids website
http://www.barbarafrankonline.com/
The Imperfect Homeschooler (great encouragement)
Workbox system-we use this system and LOVE IT!
http://wayzleyacademy.homeschooljournal.net/2009/07/31/my-workbox-system/
http://www.wfmu.org/onthedownload.php/album/5654
Neat Christian science/nature programs
http://www.johnsburglibrary.org/
home school resource library
Let’s play math
http://letsplaymath.wordpress.com/
Lessons plans using Legos
http://www.weirdrichard.com/activity.htm
Lego site
http://forum.littlebrickschoolhouse.com/index.php
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 and 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 home school area of above website
http://www.homeschoolmath.net/worksheets/grade_4.php
Math games & printables
http://www.ntm.org/kidstuff/index.html
New Tribes Mission kids website
Info and printables
http://homeschooling.about.com/
http://www.homeschooldiner.com/
Arts & crafts
http://www.sundayschoolresources.com/clipartcoloringpages.htm
Lesson plans
http://www.educationworld.com/a_lesson/dailylp/dailylp/dailylp067.shtml
Resources for Christian teachers
http://www.teacherhelp.org/hs.htm
Crafts/Art
http://www.teacherhelp.org/crafts.htm#recipes
home school info
http://delicious.com/LifeSchool
Physical science
http://www.physicscentral.com/experiment/physicsathome/index.cfm
Free resources
http://www.learningresources.com/category/teachers/resource+center/for+your+classroom/free+activity+masters.do?code=PROMO-WIND09
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
Neat free stuff
Homeschool articles
bonajo/index.htm
Homeschool programs
http://caa-archeology.org/html/programs.htm
Math curriculum & games
http://www.mathusee.com/
Evangelism tools for kids & fun stuff
http://www.wycliffe.org/Resources/Kids/RecommendedResources.aspx
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
http://www.weirdunsocializedhomeschoolers.com/2009/07/my-ten-must-haves-from-back-to-school.html
Timeline helps
http://www.homeschoolinthewoods.com/HTTA/TimelineHelps/
Frugal website (sometimes has home school content, but otherwise about saving money with kids & being frugal.
http://www.livingonadime.com/articles/deprivingkids.htm
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
Homemade Homeschoolers
http://hmhomeschoolers.com/blog/category/games-for-learning

A No-No List For Homeschoolers

Lee Binz, The Home Scholar has got a great list of No-No's for us homeschooling Mothers.
I really think this list is good; it has some tough subjects and makes you think.

#3 Spoke to me, I was thinking that homeschooling high school would be totally different than homeschooling grade school but it is not.

I just shiver when I hear homeschoolers say that they will be putting their children back in school for high school. Why undo everything that you have done by putting them back in school?

There are so many resources out there for high school and it can and does work. Your child will have more time to explore the their passions and what drives them. They can job shadow and take part in real on the job learning, so that when/if they decide on college they will have a better understanding of what they need to be focusing on.

We have had so many doctors give the Homeschooled Young Man tips on what to do/what not to do as well as their thoughts on what they did and how they wished they had done things differently or focused on different things while in college/medical school.

High school is a wonderful time of growth and maturity for our children, why not be by their side to encourage them and guide them through this time.

I think a lot of what Lee Binz, The Home Scholar touches on in her list, is that we should not micro-manage our children. ZING! That struck me right off the bat, I remember when my 72 year old mother told me I was Micro-managing my child...lol...first off I was like "Mother, how on earth do you know what micro-managing is?" lol. Yes I was micro-managing my child and I have since worked very hard at not doing that.
Trust me on this one; it is much easier to have your child's day planned out, than to wait for him to do it. I am a manager by nature...lol...I think I get that from my BFF's son, he has taught me well...HAHAHA!!

Have a great school year!
Moe

Will you stay in your comfort zone in 2014??

Will you be staying in your comfort zone in 2014? Why not stretch yourself and work on getting organized in the coming New Year!!! Join me as I work through different areas that need attention in the home. I got this idea from a Facebook post from Homeschool Mamma Lori (well she is now a homeschool mamma at heart, she has graduated her 3 girls already).

As I look into 2014 I think of the following verse as it relates to my family.

Romans 14:13 "Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother's way." Is my method of being a keeper at home causing my homeschooled young man to stumble? To learn messy ways? To try to take the easy way out? Am I teaching my homeschooled young man to be a Godly husband to my future daughter in law? Am I teaching my homeschooled young man what a Godly wife and mother is like?

Let us get organized in 2014...here are some great ways to get there! Just click on the links. These are some of my FREE printables This one is totally my style.
printable goal list, planners-goals-calendars-church-and-ministry, Love this one! Check it out.

To get healthy in the New Year try this how to succeed with your new years.

If you are a label person, I'm not, but there are some pretty COOL things to print out on Avery type labels on this site.

FREE return address label templates, VERY CUTE! I even made me some  :)

Galatians 6:9 "And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not."

Ok, Homeschool Mamma's (and non homeschool mamma too, I know several that read my blog) out there how many of us can relate to the second half of this verse? LOL...yeah, most of us are ready to faint at any moment! But we need to look at the first part of the verse, obviously the Lord knew that we would be weary and ready to drop over in doing well (His idea of well and not the world's idea of well! REMEMBER THAT!)

Share your own favorite ways to get organized in the new year.