How much time do we spend schooling???

My schedule with the kids feels a bit out of sync this year. Although we are covering a lot and enjoying quite a bit of it.

The older two, 7 & 10 do two or three workbooks (math, english, etc. dep. on the kid). They are supposed to do so many pages per book per day. That's just an easy way for me to keep track of progress.

The younger two, do schoolwork as well. Not nearly as structured. They do a lot of coloring, cutting, pasting and playing with playdough. Jaden does some bookwork, but not much.

Then I have tons of extra school material this year. I am a product reviewer for The Old Schoolhouse. I have so many products to review... it's like Christmas a couple of times per week. There are some not so great products, and then some that I adore.

Right now, we've added All About Spelling to our schooling. Hands down, it's the best spelling program I've tried yet. My "can't sit still" hands on, 10 year old LOVES IT. No traditional spelling lists... hands on... repeat til they get it.... He's so getting it. My 7 year old asks to do more... uh, yah! We are doing it at an accelerated rate because I have to get through a certain amount of material to do my reviews. So, you can see this throws a wrench into my structured bookwork.

Then we also got this amazing kids programming class... Logo Adventures. It uses a particular program... Josiah and Jed are having tons of fun learning basic programming. Fun and educational.

So, I'm in the middle of trying to find a balance. We are having a good time... and with Rod off of work, it turns out that it is nice to be a TOS reviewer, because I didn't have cash to buy school material for this year. Funny how those things work out.

Let's see we try to spend from 9 to 12 doing regular schoolwork. Then we normally take the afternoon off. We do our together stuff like All About Spelling, Spears Art (another product of many) and Logos Adventure after dinner a couple of times a week.

We are not really traditional, but i'm keeping track of hours through homeschool tracker, and we are WAY above "suggested" hours... so I feel pretty good about it all.

Pumpkin Art X 2

(Click on pix to blow them up.) We've been doing a few different things lately in our homeschooling. Normally, I have several things that I like to have the kids do almost every weekday. Since i've been on the review crew for TOS, we are struggling to get both the TOS stuff done as well as our normal school routine. So I think i'm going to be bumping some of our bookwork to give the review things a try. The day before yesterday, we got a book & program... Logo Adventures by Motherboard books. It's about teaching the 8 to 12 year old basic programming. Wow, that's something that I really think would be good for the kids to learn! So excited about getting that product. Will let you know how it goes about review time.

Another one that i'm doing a review on, is Spears Art. So far so good. The pictures above in pumpkin art are both from their materials. What I really like about having the kids do projects, is how much fun it is to do the same project... It really shows the differences in their learning styles or personalities. I definitely enjoyed watching them do this one.

The first project (picture on right), was color the pumpkin orange & green, then draw different shapes in each slice of the pumpkin, then cut the pumpkin out & cut it up in slices & put it back together like a puzzle. Glue on construction paper. Loved from my 3 year old to my 10 year old.

The bean pumpkin project was a take off of another Spears Art project. Julia colored & cut three pumpkins. She still wanted to do another one while the boys were finishing up. So I had remembered that there was a bean project in their Art kit, and that I had beans in the pantry. Hence, she began and Jaden & Jedediah followed. We had just enough beans out of the 16 bean bag to do their three projects. They are elmer glued on. Josiah hadn't gotten in his 30 min of reading today, so he had to be "responsible" and read instead of glue beans. The kids were so proud!
Didn't they turn out good?

Not much value in a pencil.

Kids have changed my life for more reasons than one. Oh, how I take for granted those dear hearts that live within my walls! Precious ones, sent from the Lord, to be a witness to the life of those within our family.

Anyone would say that Josiah is a nice boy. I would. He has such good friends! He was invited last Friday to go to the Museum of Flight down in Seattle with his friend Cade that coming Sunday. He stayed the night Sunday night & they went to Seattle Monday. I gave him $10. I couldn't really afford to give him much more... we are living on unemployment.

Last night he came home. Smiling and had a fantastic time. That wasn't a surprise. He enjoys himself no matter what he's doing. What did surprise me though, was that with his last $3.00 (which he could have gotten anything... a pop, played a video game, bought himself a cheap toy at the Museum store, etc.) he bought each of us, a Muesum of Flight pencil. Not much value in a pencil. Yet, that's not the point. Through a pencil, he demonstrated to each one of us, that he had remembered us while he was gone. He had thought about each one of us! He had shared something he doesn't usually get, something we had entrusted him with... just a few dollars. And came home with a gracious gift. He... is so kind. It almost (or does) brings tears to my eyes.

When Rod and I have traveled in the past without the kids, no matter where we go.. we usually try to bring home something, even if it's a box of candy to share.. to show them that they were in our thoughts while we were away. And God gave back to us - and my heart is swollen!

Thank you Lord for the blessing that you have given me, that I often take for granted.

Help Me 2 Teach Site Review

Have you ever wished that there was an online encyclopedia of homeschool friendly websites? HelpMe2Teach is precisely that. A site where you either search for a subject and a website is displayed OR you can browse through subjects/topics where websites are listed. All websites listed are family friendly, safe-searchable sites.

What I really liked about HelpMe2Teach is that they have done all the homework for you. If you are interested in creating mazes or crossword puzzles etc., they already know where you will find free maze or crossword puzzle creators online.

Do you want to know what the school standards/benchmarks are for your homeschooled child? At HelpMe2Teach you'll find many many legitimate websites to see what grade standards/benchmarks are for any grade. These are just a couple examples of many.

Personally, I don't mind digging around online to find things that i'm looking for. So this site isn't something that I would use on a yearly basis. If you are someone who doesn't like searching online, I would recommend it for at least month or two. You'll find enough at HelpMe2Teach.com to make it worth your while.

Link to site: helpme2teach.com
From now until Dec 31st there is a special subscription price of Buy one year, get one free ($29.95). Prices are also available for 3 months, one month and 3 day subscriptions.

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