How I Would Begin My Homeschool Journey Knowing What I Now Know

After homeschooling for 12+ years this is what I wish I had known to start with.  You can do this plan without spending any money!  This plan would be for an elementary aged child.  To use it with a younger child you can read aloud and have the child narrate back to you.  There are many free phonics courses online that you can print and use to teach your student to read.  For an older child you can add additional subjects to this plan and require more in depth essays.  I don't think a child is ever too old or young for read aloud time.

 

Daily basics to start with:

*Bible- Have them read the Bible if they are ready or let them read Bible story books.  Or you can read aloud to them.  

*Math- Do a lesson each day.  If they haven’t memorized their math facts(+-x/) have them use flashcards or a computer drill program until they know them.   You can do math facts only until they master them and then start math lessons.

*Reading- Find the best books you can and let them read. My children usually have one book on each subject in their possession.  I don’t tell them when to read what I just let them read.  I set a timer for 30 minutes in the morning and the afternoon and we all read quietly.  They also read in their free time if they want to. After they have read a book from all four categories I let them choose a fun book to read before starting with four new books.

 Here are the subjects my children read:

Literature- classics, Bible, good fiction books

Biography

History and Geography

Science- Ours are mostly about animals, plants, etc.  My children like The Magic School Bus books.

*Writing- have them write about the books they are reading.  If they are not ready to write they can copy a sentence or more from one of their books or the Bible.  You correct and discuss errors and then they can practice any words they didn’t know how to spell.  I assign a different writing subject for each day of the week:

                M- Bible

                T- History

                W- Free/creative

                T- Science

                F- Literature

*Spelling as needed.  There are some free websites you can use,  SpellingCity or Big IQ Kids.  Or you can just make your own list and quiz them, etc.

*Read aloud.  This is our favorite part of the school day.  You can read something that is too hard for them to read on their own and they will be able to understand it and enjoy it.  Some of my favorites are Winnie the Pooh, The Chronicles of Narnia, Anne of Green Gables, The Wind in the Willows, and other classics. 

Free resources online:

Forms- attendance records, lesson planners, and many others- donnayoung.org

Free curriculum plans including links to free books:

Amblesideonline.org

Oldfashionededucation.com

Sites to find good books which you can then search the library for:

                www.sonlight.com

                www.bfbooks.com

                Amblesideonline.org

                Oldfashionededucation.com

Free math resources:

                Khanacademy.org

                Oldfashionededucation.com

Book Review: Revenge of the Red Knight and Giveaway

In book four which also concludes the mystery of where the notes are coming from and why Albert is in danger, Beth and Patrick find themselves in ancient England.  Once again, they face danger and adventure but are able to help Albert and fund out who is sending the notes to the imagination station. 

Through the story children can experience what it would have been like to live in the time of knights and castles. 

My children enjoy the imagination station books and can't wait to get their hands on Revenge of the Red Knight.  I like the books because they mix history, Christian values, and adventure in a child friendly story.  As with the other books there is a secret word puzzle at the back of the book which is a fun reading comprehension exercise.  The secret word is a code which your child can enter at TheImaginationStation.com to receive a prize.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale House Publishers in order to write this review and have shared my honest opinion.

Now for the giveaway.  I received book #3 Peril in the Palace which we already have so I would like to give it away.  To enter leave a comment on this post.  For an extra entry follow me with google friend connect or let me know that you already follow.  Leave one comment for each entry.  I'll choose a winner Next Wednesday, July 6th!

The Garden Path #3

In my garden there is a large place for sentiment. My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams. The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful. Abram L. Urban

Please leave a link below so we can visit your garden post!

Introducing...

Rose Bud Jeffers.  Some of us call her Rose and others call her Rosie.

I tried to get a better pic of her face.

She is an 8 week old Shar Pei mix.

But, every time I got down on her level she ran up to me.

Her coat is black with a brown sheen and she has white markings on her tummy and toes.

And the rest of the time she didn't want to look at me.

She's pretty sweet so far.  I'm glad we got her during the summer when I will have more time to spend training her.

And then Oreo distracted her.

Our cat, Oreo, is not impressed!

Garden Expansion

We are expanding our veggie garden along the side of our property.  It is a slow process.  We(my teens) have to remove gravel and gravel filled dirt to get down to the soil.  I'll take you on a little tour of the new area I hope to be using next spring.

This is the area under and behind the grape arbor.  I will plant veggies behind the arbor with two more grapes along the edge.  I want to make a sitting area underneath the arbor and add some shade beds and hanging baskets for color.  I think a bunch of impatiens will brighten this spot up.

Here is the pile of gravel we dug up when we made the first veggie garden.  It is being loaded onto the trailer for removal.  Underneath the pile is more gravel dirt to be removed.  It goes down about a foot.  We want to clear out all the way to the front of the trailer.

This stuff is really packed down and hard to dig up.

On this side we have gravel over weed barrier and it is much easier to remove.  We are moving the gravel to the sand area outside of of our fence along the street.

That is my backyard in the background.  This will double my vegetable garden space when it is finished.

After the gravel is removed I'm going to mulch the sandy soil really well and water once in awhile so worms and bugs can start improving the soil.  I hope to plant some cover crops this fall.

I am going to dump weeds, hay, manure and anything else I can find which will break down into compost onto the soil to keep it covered.

I covered this spot with hay about two months ago.  It's looking much better and staying moist instead of baking in the hot sun.

This is what I'm starting with.  Nice, huh?  We are in an agricultural area so I know it can be built up and used to produce food.

And now for some greener and less stark photos.  The purple cone flowers in my herb garden make me smile.

We have baby tomatoes!

The green beans have not started growing up their supports but the morning glory has.

And here's our new view now that the tree which blew over in the wind storm has mostly been removed.  We will plant berries to grow on the fence and maybe some fruit trees behind it.

It has been hot this past week and I only worked in the garden once!  I will try to get out earlier in the morning this week so I can catch up on the weeding and planting.

How is your garden growing?



If you are looking for something to do on Wednesday you can come back here and link up to The Garden Path.  Details and a button can be found by clicking on the button below.

Tummy Progress?

This week

Last week

I lost 0" from my belly measurement.

I've been wearing the tummy splint 24 hours per day since last Sunday.  The first few days of wearing it all day were frustrating.  My muscles hurt, my tummy was slightly unsettled in the evenings after eating, and I was very grumpy.  I tried to take it easy with lots of rest and alone time.  My upper back feels tired most evenings and my tummy muscles hurt off and on throughout the day.  But it is getting easier each day!

Yep, they were worth it!

I have a hard time holding my tummy muscles in with and without the splint.  I need to work on being more aware of my movements and holding my tummy in when I use those muscles.  When I have the splint on it feels like I'm using my muscles differently.  I feel like I'm using my tummy and back muscles together when I bend instead of just my back.  No wonder I've had back pain.  I think my back has been doing most of the work while my abs have been on vacation for the last few years.

I also had a pain in the back of my right hip off and on the first few days but now I have less lower back and hip pain than I've had in a very long time.  The back of the splint is structured and must work almost as a back brace. When I'm not wearing the splint(shower) I automatically hold my tummy in whereas before I did not.

Woody is demonstrating how my tummy felt this week.

I may have to review the DVD this weekend and make sure I'm wearing the splint correctly.  I also want to review the section on using my tummy without making the diastasis worse.  I want to pick up a few more pillows to keep on the chairs I use often so I don't sit with my back at an angle and cause pressure on the front of my tummy.   I also sleep on my tummy at night and that probably isn't good for the separation.  I'm trying to prop myself up on my side with pillows instead of being flat on my stomach. 

This morning after I measured and found out I hadn't shrunk at all I worked really hard at pulling in my stomach when I did my exercises and realized that I have been slacking off.  I am motivated to work even harder this week so I can see some results next week.  I do think the top of my abs have gone in a little.  I noticed that I can pull them in more than before I started and the tape measure went around that spot easier than last week. 

Thanks for reading!

So that's it.  No results for almost a week's worth of hard work.  I will admit I did not work to my max on the exercises every time I did them and I wore the splint loosely the first few days.  I will make this next week count!

Book Review: Peril in the Palace by Marianne Hering and Paul McCusker

In book 3 of the Imagination Station series, cousins Beth and Patrick visit ancient China to search for the golden table of Kublai Khan.  They have to find the tablet in order to save Mr. Whittaker's relative Albert whom he met when he traveled back in time to England.

During their visit they meet Mongol warriors, Marco Polo, and Kublai Khan.  They also see the great wall of China, a Mongol camp, and Shangdu city. The story ends when the cousins go into the time machine and come out in a cave in another time period instead of Mr. Whittaker's workshop.

This story was fast paced with lost of action.  In the story we learn a little about ancient China and what it would have been like to live there.  It was interesting to read about the superstitions of the Mongols and their view of Christianity.  The end of the story leaves you wishing for the next book and the conclusion to the mystery of why Albert is in trouble.

There is a secret word puzzle included in the back of the book which is a fun reading comprehension exercise.  When you type the secret word in at the Imagination Station website you receive a prize.

I recommend this book for anyone who is looking for a fun adventure story based on Christian values for their young readers to enjoy.  The reading level of Peril in the Palace is listed as Grade 2.1.

I received a free copy of this book from Tyndale Media Center in order to write this review and have shared my honest opinion.

The Garden Path #2

"There can be no other occupation like gardening in which, if you were to creep up behind someone at their work, you would find them smiling." - Mirabel Osler

Please leave you link to a recent garden post below and then visit the other gardens listed. Have fun and I'll see you next week!

Book Review: God and Stephen Hawking by John C. Lennox

Read excerpt here.

God and Stephen Hawking, Whose Design is it Anyway?  from Kregel Publications.

John C. Lennox sets out in God and Stephen Hawking to refute some of the claims Hawking makes in his book The Grand Design.  Mr. Lennox shows the problems with some of Hawking's ideas. His explanations help you to understand the debate about whether the universe was created or created itself.

This small book(96 pages) was full of information!  It was complex although well written with the points the author makes well explained.  I had to read a few sections twice in order to understand what I was learning.  I think I will need to read the whole book over again to benefit fully from Mr. Lennox's explanations of Hawking's theories.

I read a few pages aloud to my husband and older children which sparked a lively conversation about God and creation.  This is a book I will keep on my bookshelf for my children to read as they become young adults.

I would recommend this book to anyone seeking to understand more about Hawking's ideas concerning God and creation. 

I received a free book from LitFuse in order to write this review and have shared my honest opinion.

A Tiny Praying Mantis

Nathan found this tiny guy in the carport the other day.  He was so tiny it was difficult to get a good photo.  He was also really fast and wouldn't stop moving.  After I got a few photographs we let him go.

He is in a large mouth canning jar.

In other news a tree behind our house blew over in the high winds we had yesterday afternoon.  It landed against the power lines and my husband called the power company to have them check it out before the power went out.

 

 

They still hadn't made it out by 11:00 pm when the wind moved the tree again and made the power lines touch.  There were lots of sparks and flickering lights and then the power went out.  My husband went to the store to call the power company again and found out that our tree knocked power out for over 500 customers.

The power company didn't make it to our house until 4am.  They looked at the lines and then turned the power back on.  It took all of 10 minutes to fix the problem.  The tree trimmers came this morning and chopped down the tree and trimmed up some of the other ones that were close to the lines.  Now my tomatoes and corn will get more afternoon sunlight and my husband didn't have to fix the chainsaw to get the job done.  See, something good came out of the whole episode!

I think I will sleep better tonight! 

A Bunch of Photos of My Flower and Veggie Gardens

Here are our side gardens.  The veggie garden is behind the flower border.  We need to reseed the lawn again.  I want to plant a few dwarf fruit trees in the flower bed next to the lawn.  We need something in the far corner to block the chicken yard!

The crepe myrtle got frosted this spring and is finally almost ready to flower.  I think we can plant a tree on the right side of the fake well.  The sun comes from behind this bed so the tree shouldn’t shade out my rose too much. 

I have pansies, sweet peas, and mint in the fake well.  I wasn’t sure if the mint was going to come back this year so I planted the flowers just in case. 

I love the scent of sweat peas!

See all of the weeds?  I have been weeding the veggie garden and neglecting the flower gardens.  The white flowers are cilantro that is going to seed.

Here is the corn bed in the future(maybe) grass area.  I planted green beans in between the corn and some pumpkins and other squash in the irrigation furrows.  Now that the plants are up I will flood this area instead of using the sprinkler.  If we make this area grass we will plant a medium sized tree here with some dwarf fruits in the flower beds around it.  It should help shade the house to cool it in the summer.

Behind the house is where I have the tomatoes and flowers I planted from seed along with my sunflower volunteers.  Not many of the flowers came up but I do have some way back there although they don’t have any blooms yet.

The tomatoes are growing well even though they get morning sun.  The mulch keeps the weeds under control and the soil moist.  I am experimenting with old hay as mulch in other areas of the garden also.

And here’s the veggie garden.  The green beans should be making their way up the garden twine soon.  I will have a wall of green beans separating the veggie garden from the flower garden.

I’m going to have to plant the onions somewhere else next year.  I had them along the paths last year.

I love having the herb garden in the center of the veggie garden.  It’s a nice focal point and makes me want to walk through the garden each day. 

A full bed.  I will have to plant something else in the lettuce corners soon.  Maybe some more cucumbers to make into pickles?

The peas on the right will have to come out soon.  I planted squash next to them already.

We removed the gravel from this area about a month or two ago.  I added some cow manure and after about two weeks planted pumpkins, watermelon and squash.  The sunflowers came up on their own.  After the plants had their first true leaves I mulched around them with hay.  I have already found some worms in this area so it looks like my plan to build this soil up is working!

This is the view from the other end of the garden.  I’ll have to take some pics of the new area my boys are uncovering for me.  I hope to have the gravel removed and the area mulched with hay by fall so I can plant next year.

I planted morning glories last year and now they are coming up all over like weeds.  I pull the ones I don’t want but leave a few to add color to the veggie garden and climb up the sunflowers.

And here are the potatoes.  I can’t wait to see how many have grown in there.  I only have to water once a week or less and have not seen these plants wilted yet.  We should have some good soil to add to our new beds which will be on the other side of the path.

Thanks for visiting!
How is your garden doing this summer?