Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013 Student Week

Time for another round of the Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network. The theme for this week's hop is students. After all, why would we be homeschooling if not for those sweet little darlings?

This is our seventh year homeschooling, and I've been reminiscing about how much my kids have grown and changed over the last few years.

2010

2011

2012

2010

2011

2012

And now here we are - 2013. They're almost teenagers, and one is already in the youth group. Wow!

So let me introduce you.

This is Mr. Lego. He's in 7th grade now. He has now surpassed me in height, though just by a little. We had to raise his desk up a couple notches to accommodate his long legs. His interests include Legos (of course), science fiction and Minecraft. His favorite school subject right now is computer programming, something we just started. He's going to be a computer geek like his dad - and I'm thrilled!

And this is the Princess. She's 11 years old and in the 6th grade. She's not quite as tall as I am (I'm 5'4" by the way) but she's gaining on me. She likes princesses, horses and American Girl dolls. Felicity is her favorite. Her most enjoyable school subject at this moment is science.

And as I have in the past, I have to include Student #3. That's what my other students call her. She's our dog, Alexandra whom we call Xandra (Zandra is how you pronounce it.) She doesn't contribute much to the class except lots of soulful expressions that beg for attention.

We've gotten off to a great start this year, and I'm looking forward to the coming weeks. The children are enjoying their studies, and I'm enjoying being their teacher. I count myself blessed to have such a sweet class!

Georgia Aquarium Summer Field Trip

We live just a little over an hour from Atlanta, so the Georgia Aquarium makes a perfect field trip destination. This time we went with some friends and made some great memories, in addition to learning new things about aquatic creatures.

The Aquarium is divided into several galleries. My favorite is the Ocean Voyager section. I could sit and watch the fish, rays and whale sharks all day. They're mesmerizing.

I love this picture! All the technology represented in our group is so funny to me!

Can you see all four whale sharks in this picture?

The River Scout gallery included animals like otters and albino alligators.

The Cold Water Quest section was also very interesting. We loved watching the beluga whales dance. But the snow crabs looked mean. And creepy.

We found Nemo in the Tropical Diver gallery!

And saw a whole coral reef full of colorful fish! Is that Dory?

The Aquarium has added a dolphin show since our last visit. It is included in the price of your ticket, but shows are only a few times a day and seating is limited. We arrived at the theater about 20 minutes before show time and the place was almost packed. So definitely schedule that into your day if you want to see the dolphin show.

Photography and videography wasn't permitted in the theater, so I don't have any pictures of the show. The storyline was a little corny and didn't make sense at times. The dolphins, though, made up for the wacky story. They were absolutely amazing to watch. And the special effects were pretty cool. I'd go watch it again if I had the chance.

After the show, we hung out and watched the dolphins. They obviously enjoyed showing off for an audience!

Everyone had a fantastic time, and we plan to go back. If you're in the Atlanta area and are looking for an educational, fun way to spend the day, check out the Georgia Aquarium.

Not Back to School Blog Hop 2013 Week 2

It's the second week of the Not Back to School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network. Last week we shared our curriculum plans. Now it's time to share our school rooms!

When we started homeschooling seven years ago, we used the dining room table. Every day I had to pack things up so we'd have a place to eat dinner. I had a craft armoire that I used to store all of our books and supplies. It was cramped to be sure.

We moved to a new house in 2009 so now we have a dedicated school room. It's a small space, only 11x7. But at the end of the day, no packing up our stuff! Yay! I can just shut the door to avoid anyone seeing our daily messes accomplishments.

We start our school day here, then more often than not we drift out into other areas of the house - the den or the playroom often is where you'll find us. Those spaces have comfy furniture and TV's so we can watch DVD's or Netflix movies that go along with our studies.

My desk is the first thing you see when you enter our school room. It will only be this clean for a day or two until we start school. Then you'll be lucky to see its surface for the rest of the year! Thankfully, I have a Desk Apprentice, that big black thing in the corner, that allows me to stay organized. I keep all of my daily planning sheets and school supplies - Sharpies, stapler, paper trimmer, paper clips and more - in this thing.

The kids' desks are to my right, the Princess on the left and Mr. Lego on the right. We got the desks at a local office supply store after we moved into this house. The height is adjustable, so they will grow as the kids do. That feature came in really handy when we had to raise Mr. Lego's desk two notches so his knees would fit under it!

One of my favorite things about having a school room is being able to decorate the walls. We never could do that at our old house.

This is the other wall, our Wall of Presidents. I've left some room to add more as we go this year. The white board is really shower board from Lowe's. A sheet of it was here in the house when we moved in, so hubby just cut it to fit and screwed it into the wall. Not bad for free, huh?

This is what I use to adhere my posters to the wall. I previously used sticky tack, but it took the paint with it whenever I removed the posters from the wall. This stuff, Magic Mounts by Miller Studio, is amazing! It comes down easily (no paint peeling) and if I'm careful when I take them off the poster itself, I can reuse them on another poster! I picked these up at Office Max last year and still have plenty left.

This is the view from the kids' desk looking toward my desk. I adore having the large wall maps up and easily visible. Maps make me happy for some reason.

Looking out the school room window, you can see our driveway and front walk. We're a little below ground level, since the school room is located on the bottom floor of our tri-level home. We have a neighborhood cat that likes to sit by our window and look in, until the dog notices and barks at it. We also have chipmunks, squirrels and birds that hop around the walk. Maybe that's why the cat comes around?

So what does your school room look like? Link up to the Not Back to School Blog Hop and share!

Not Back to School Blog Hop Curriculum Week!

It's that time of year again! Time for the Not Back to School blog hop hosted by iHomeschool Network. 

This week's topic is curriculum. I have a sixth grader and a seventh grader. Seventh grader? Because they're close in age, we do Bible, history, science and geography together. Language arts and math are at their own grade level. This seems to work really well for both of them.

I always like to start out school day with Bible study and prayer. We're using materials from the Word of Life Fellowship. Our church kids' and youth ministries use the daily quiet time books, so we've incorporated it as part of our school day. The kids love to discuss the passages of Scripture they've read, and I really enjoy hearing their insights.

For history, we're continuing with All American History but have moved on to Volume II. The first few units deal with the Civil War, so we'll be camping out there for a while. We'll continue our practice of notebooking and reading living history books, too.

We'll be using another Bright Ideas Press product, Christian Kids Explore Chemistry. I'll admit, I've been intimidated by the idea of teaching chemistry to my kids. But I've spent some time reading through the lessons, and it's not as difficult as I feared. It will be a challenge, but I'm up for it. I hope.

Last year we completed a US Geography course. The kids loved it! So this year we're going around the world with Expedition Earth: My Passport to the World. We're all looking forward to learning about other countries and cultures.

For math, we're continuing with Teaching Textbooks. I really, really like this curriculum. The math lessons are on a CD-Rom and are taught on the computer. Each step is demonstrated as the lesson progresses. Students are then given the opportunity to do some practice problems before working out the "real" problems - the ones that are graded. They get instant feedback, whether they got the problem right or wrong. Then they can watch step-by-step to see how to correct any problems they missed. All of the grading is done by the program, too. Love that!

For language arts we are using Soaring with Spelling, Growing with Grammar, and Winning with Writing from JacKris Publishing. We started using these books last year and I loved how they encouraged independence. I can't begin to tell you how my daughter's spelling improved with this curriculum! I'll probably stick with it until we run out of grade levels - it only goes up to Grade 8.

Of course, even though I've listed all my curriculum here, I reserve the right to change it at any time during the school year. That's one of the beauties of homeschooling, the ability to switch gears if something isn't working.

So what are you using in your homeschool this year? I can't wait to find out!

Home School Field Trip - Winn-Dixie!

Today we took a tour of our local Winn-Dixie with our homeschool group. It was fun to see behind-the-scenes places like the produce cooler and the meat cutting room.

We enjoyed samples of fruit, cheese, fresh bread, still-warm chocolate chip cookies, and ice cream!

But the kids' favorite part of the tour was getting to run the cash register!

They weighed produce and scanned groceries. They didn't actually handle any money, though, much to their chagrin.

It was a great morning of fun and learning opportunities.

Not Back to School Blog Hop Week 4

This is the final week of the Not Back to School Blog Hop and the theme is a Day in the Life. I think we're supposed to share our daily routines. Then I asked myself, we're supposed to have routines? LOL

No, not really. We do have a flexible schedule. The key word is, of course, flexible. If we need to take more time for a certain subject or stop until tomorrow, we do. If we breeze through one subject, we move on. And break time or snack time are taken as needed.

We're up and at 'em by 8 am. After breakfast, each child has chores to complete. I simplify this process by using chore jars.

The large popsicle sticks are painted pink or red with white tips. Various chores are written on each stick, then placed in the jar. When they've finished that chore, they can turn the stick over so the white tip is showing. I can easily glance over and see if they've gotten their chores done. Anything not completed before school starts has to be done after, but that rarely happens. If chores are finished before school, they have free time so they work to get things done!

As always, we start our school day with devotions and prayer. We use the Word of Life Olympian program that our church uses for kids' Bible club. The kids enjoy reading the Scripture passages together and discussing what they mean. We've all learned a great deal this way.

Since the kids are close in age, we do our science, history and geography studies together. Usually I will read from the textbook, then we work on notebooking or other projects together.

 Our separate subjects come next. Language and spelling is done with little help from me, but I'm available if either one needs further explanation. The kids have extremely done well with their independent work, and I'm really proud of them!

Math is also done separately, but I do spend more time working with the Princess. Mr. Lego has greatly enjoyed using Teaching Textbooks so far this year. I'm thrilled that he's catching on so quickly!

When all of their independent work is done, we regroup for reading. By reading, I mean that I read aloud to them. I've done this since we started homeschooling, and it's been a great tool to model how to read with expression. We're finishing up Courage and Conviction:Chronicles of the Reformation Church that we started at the end of school last year. When we're done with that, we'll begin Johnny Tremain, one of my favorite historical novels of all time! Even if your children are no longer elementary age, reading aloud to them (and to each other) has great benefits. It truly is a family-building exercise.

We usually finish up all our schoolwork before lunch. That leaves our afternoons free for library trips, field trips and socializing with other homeschoolers. I'm also going to start letting the children take part in my kitchen adventures. They've both shown an interest in baking and cooking, so they'll be helping with lunch and supper - as well as clean up! Yay!

So, what does your homeschool day look like? Do you prefer a tight schedule or are you more flexible? What works better for your family?

Not Back to School Blog Hop Week 3

This week's theme is student pictures. I'm blessed with two students, Mr. Lego and the Princess. We also are joined by Student #3, our dog Alexandra. Would you like to meet them?

This is Mr. Lego. He's eleven years old and in the sixth grade. Over the summer he grew about four inches. Four! He's almost as tall as I am! There's no doubt he will be looking down on me soon! And he's now wearing a mens' size 8 shoe. My little preemie baby is growing into a fine young man. If you want to read more about his early intro into the world, you can find my post about it here.

As you can probably guess by his online name, he loves Legos. He spends hours creating buildings, spaceships, you name it. Currently he's interested in the BBC show Dr. Who, so he's built several Daleks (the Doctor's arch-nemeses).

This is Mr. Lego's Lego table. Somehow in all this mess, he can find the parts that he needs.

Mr. Lego is my studious child. He loves to read and learn. He even enjoys reading instruction manuals for video and computer games! In fact, he won't try to play without reading the instructions first. His favorite subjects are math and science.

My second student is the Princess. She is ten years old. She was added to our family just 17 months after Mr. Lego was born, so they're only one year apart in school. But they're worlds apart in interests and personalities! LOL

The Princess loves to draw. In fact, there is no scrap of paper in our house that's safe from being doodled on! I incorporate a great deal of notebooking and coloring pages in our school day to capitalize on her creativity. She adores anything princess and loves to play dress-up. We are also treated to lots of storytelling and homemade books that she dreams up.

Our dog Alexandra (we call her Xandra for short) joins us nearly every day. She sits between the kids' desks and waits for us to take a break so she can get a belly rub or head pat. To say she's spoiled would be an understatement.

We're in our sixth year of homeschooling and have loved the journey so far. Our family has grown closer and stronger along the way. I wouldn't trade these years for anything!

Not Back to School Blog Hop Week 2

This week's blog hop is all about school rooms. We are blessed to live in a house with plenty of space, though that hasn't always been the case. We used the dining room table for almost three years. Every afternoon we packed things up, and I never put anything up on the wall.

When we were looking to buy a new house, a room we could use for school was at the top of my wish list. And I got my wish! The room isn't large - only 11 ft by 7 ft. But it's enough for us. And I can plaster the wall with posters and artwork. I love it!

So, when you walk in the room, here's the first thing you see - my desk! It's a $15 thrift store find. It's metal and was formerly used at a military base. No frills, no nonsense.

See that box-like thing on my desk? It is my best friend! No, not really. But close. It's the Desk Apprentice from Staples. During last year's blog hop, I saw several moms who had them and loved them. I wanted one, too, but we don't have a Staples nearby. And on the website it's $45! But my husband remembered I wanted one, and on the way to Atlanta for business, he found a Staples and bought it for me for about $30. So it's way cheaper in the stores than online. And don't I have an awesome hubby?

Here's a closer look. It holds everything I need to make it through a day of school - paper, scissors, files, notebooks, Sharpies, pens, even my paper trimmer!

And it spins! I don't have to dig around for my stapler or anything!

Okay, let's move on. To the right of my desk are the kids' desks and our bookshelf. Each child has a shelf for books and supplies. The top shelf is reserved for resource books and extra notebooks.

We bought the desks on sale at a local office supply store. We can adjust the height as the kids grow, so we'll get several years' worth of use. Not a bad investment.

Here's a closer view of Mr. Lego's side of the room.

And this is where the Princess reigns.

When the children look at my desk, this is what they see. I love having space for the wall maps.

And the part of my school room I couldn't live without - my dry erase board! It used to be white. Unfortunately, I don't erase it as much as I should, so there are some smudges I can't get off. It gets lots and lots of use, so that's to be expected after three years, I guess.

Beyond the door you can glimpse the playroom. It's a mess right now because we had some company over last night.

Right beside the school room is our avocado green bathroom. It's very convenient to have next door. No fooling around in the bathroom because Mom has been known to bang on the wall!

Yes, there are paper Legos on the wall. We had a Lego birthday party for Mr. Lego in February 2011 and used these for decorations around the room. We liked them so much we left them up. They're just construction paper with paper circles attached. It makes the playroom seem more cheerful.

So, what does your school space look like? Link up to the Not Back to School blog hop to share. Just click the image at the top of this post to join in.