Our Visit to the County Fair

Every year we visit our local county fair so I thought I would share some pictures with you...

This was the largest pumpkin a whopping 819 pounds!

I just love the 4-H building, so many ideas that can be implemented in homeschooling...

A huge lego mountain display

Mini real life model displays

This pizza is really a cake and looks good enough to eat!

Vegetables made into animals, people and dinosaurs...

The Hulk made from straw

Rides everywhere..homemade fudge, elephant ears, alligator eggs, deep fried oreos, grilled corn, horse and camel rides, animal competitions and more...

My children had fun rolling real beeswax candles...

But the funnel cakes are what we really go for!

Did you ever see a pig race? I love watching this every year because it is so cute and funny. They give the piglets a small piece of oreo cookie to reward them.

(Don't forget to turn off the music before viewing!)

I hope you enjoyed our pictures!

Back to School Sale

Calling all homeschooling moms!

I love a great homeschool deal when I find one so I just had to share this with all of you. I know that finding good curriculum is hard and finding curriculum that isn't going to blow the budget can be harder. Right now Vision Forum is having an extra 20% off their high quality homeschool products. Some of the items are already discounted at 50-70% percent which makes for an amazing deal!

They have all things to teach your child--from God's Word, science, history, law, spelling, drawing, economics, music, and much more.

The discount code is: BACKTOSCHOOL

CLICK HERE to view over 200 special selected sale items. 

Have a blessed day!

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Creative Homeschool Curriculum Planning

 Have you started your homeschool planning yet?

I have started and today I am participating in this:

It's a great place to get your creative juices flowing in planning your curriculum, homeschool room, and overall just getting inspiration for your new school year!

As I began to reflect over this new school year, I know the Lord has been urging me to make this year very different from the others. A "homeschool as  if it is your last year" approach, followed with "do it with your whole heart for your children with not be with you forever" kind of tugging which I am grateful for, especially after homeschooling for 15 years.

I have ordered our books and will once again be using an eclectic style curriculum for my children. But it is not about the books at all.

It is about everything else. 

Our hearts entwined, teaching them to explore, influencing the formation of their character, the imparting of wisdom and instruction in the Lord, creating an engaging atmosphere, the whole living to learn and gaining real life experience, and passing on a legacy...

SO different from what I remembered in the classroom, I am grateful for a chance to change that!

Homeschoolers are blessed in their freedom to approach education with thinking that is"outside of the box". The sky is the limit and we are not limited by any educator's scope or philosophy.

With that said I want to share with you two posts that really blessed me this morning. One was by Lillibeth of The Pleasant Times. I love how she shares with passion her heart on what she will be teaching this year AND her past homeschool experience being taught by her mother, whom is Lady Lydia over at Homeliving. Here it is:

Back-To-School

And also another article that will bless you over at Visionary Womanhood:

Hope in Christ, Not in Curriculum

I couldn't have said it better myself! 

I hope you are encouraged!

And if you are looking to ease your mind about curriculum choices I recommend this:

Curriculum Advice (2 set CD)

(Now on sale for 30% off) 


I hope you will find it as helpful as I did!

More Resources:

Indoctrination: Public Schools and the Decline of Christianity in America
(with trailer link)

Dumbing Us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling

Homeschooling on a Small Budget

 

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Artful Homemaking--Homeschool Preparation

I have been so blessed by Joy over at Artful Homemaking this past month, I love when I find blogs that really speak to me in the area of homemaking and remind me of what I would love to spend my time doing.

I stumbled across her blog when we were having a tough week, my husband had come down with a bug and we had that horrible heat wave that brought storms, knocked out our AC and power and we had to cancel our summer getaway to visit friends up in Michigan. I was tired and her blog was a balm to my soul!

She blogs about many things domestic that you should definitely read, but today I am going to share a few posts that inspired me in the area of homeschooling. I know that the school year is about to begin for many of you or that you are in the planning stages so I though that I would share some posts I liked from her. You can click on any of the images to take you to the post.

Keeping Little Ones Busy

So many moms ask how to keep the little ones busy while they are homeschooling their older students. This post has sooooooooo many creative ideas to help a mom prepare for this, I love, love, love all of her ideas and some can easily be made with everyday items around your home.

I can't wait to make this I Spy Bottle!

Planning a New School Year 

There is something special about planning a new year and when I read this post, she reminded me of how I like to prepare, she also lists a few helpful resources as well. She also shares tips at this link on how to  homeschool on a budget .

Our Homeschool Room

 Here Joy gives us a full tour of her homeschool room and how she keeps it organized. I love all the baskets that she keeps to organize, her nature shelf and so forth. It inspires me to tackle my homeschool room and make it fresh for the new school year ahead.

I love that she has a basket for this that she can just whip out at a moments notice and take to any room it is needed.

Toy Organization 

I included this because before every new school year I have to organize the toys too! This post is a great visual of how it can all work (for me, I like to keep the bulk of the toys in the basement where they can go fetch what they would like but can be put away for company, etc.). I hope it helps you too!

Now go on and visit her, trust me, you will be blessed! 

(Thanks, Joy, for all the inspiration!) 

And next week we will be covering more ideas for homeschooling so be sure to visit....

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Homeschool Day at the Capitol

Yesterday we attended for the first time a lovely event called Homeschool Day at the Capitol in Indianapolis. As homeschoolers we love to take our children out to visit special events for a richer learning experience in the form of a field trip.

Here are some pictures of our day:

The outside of the Capitol building, here is my husband with our children...

The inside where we got to listen to men who encouraged us in our homeschool journey and told us to continue to "fight the battle", "to do the right thing" and that "one family can make a difference".

Our friend and State Representative, Timothy Wesco, gave us a private tour of the building along with our good friends, the Devine family. My daughter baked him some homemade cookies that she was able to share with him and some other men who were defending our freedoms to homeschool. He took us to see the inside of the Supreme Court...

It was quite a grand room and the ceiling had the most amazing and beautiful details

Large pictures of past judges scattered over the walls made you feel like you were taking a step back into history

 the Law Library...

My son, Stephen, checking out the thousands of books there.

 and the House of Representatives while they were having a legislative session...this is where they vote on different amendments and laws, etc.

It really was a great reminder to me of how we need to pray for the law makers of this land and that our very freedom to homeschool can be taken away quickly if we do not speak up and defend them. A scary thought when you think of it . 

There were several of these beautiful statues and somehow we only managed to get one picture and it was blurry. :(

My Future World Changers

Left to right: Josiah, Christian, Joshua, Joy, Ravi, Stephen, Naomi and Janai

The building cost about 2 million and took 10 years to complete and they came in under budget. Amazing!

Me and my best friend, Steve.

Later we went out and enjoyed the rest of the day at the Indianapolis Children's Museum which is the largest in America--the kids had a blast!

Hope you enjoyed our pictures!

By the way, if you are looking for great homeschooling materials I suggest you check here, here and here.

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Creative Homeschooling in December

December can be a busy time for most homeschooling mothers. Many mothers have much more on their plate this time of year especially with extra events, commitments, shopping for gifts, sometimes sick children, etc. Often times mothers feel overwhelmed, thinking they can't do it all and are struggling to keep up with homeschooling. They look around at the whirwind of things that need to be done and ultimately feel like a failure.

But it doesn't have to be this way.  

No, it doesn't.

I know many mothers who plan for a special break during the December months. Some mothers purposefully take off a few weeks to ease up the load, while other moms take the entire month of December off and make it up during the regular school year.

Either way, I want you to know that this is a busy time for moms all around and you are not alone. Instead, I want you to think creatively about this holiday. I want you to think about special memories being made, your children learning about the Lord, your children learning life skills of serving others, with some learning still actually taking place! I was very pleased to have stumbled across Sherry's article (she is a mom of 15) that will encourage you:

Christmas Homeschool

I would also like to add the incredible amount of reading that can take place together snuggled under a warm quilt during this month--reading the Bible, Christmas stories, and so forth, good will projects, helping the homeless, feeding the hungry, creating skits/plays of the story of Jesus's birth--whatever you can dream of can make a wonderful learning experience for everyone. As a homeschooling mom, you have the freedom to take learning to a new level--don't forget that.  Take advantage of the holiday season, implement some of the fun ideas Sherry has listed,  and make it special for your family.

Remember, January will be here soon enough--if not in a blink of an eye.

You can get refocused then! 

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Vision Forum is having a NEW sale-
buy $95 of products and your total will be reduced by $25%
or $175 of products reduced by $30 for FOUR DAYS ONLY!
(click on banner for details)

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48 Hour Sale Ends Today!

Yesterday I spent a fabulous day shopping for fall clothes, planning out the school year, and ordering art supplies online from Amazon (yes, they have that and great stuff like manipulatives, puzzles, dry eraser boards, supplies, etc.). I also registered the children up for some local classes that they are excited about attending.  I'm feeling like I am wrapping up the strings to being fully prepared next week when we start and that we are finally ready.

I still had to pick up a few last things last week and was so happy when I ran across this sale at Vision Forum. Today is the last day for this 48 hour sale, so if any of you are like me and need to pick up a few good resources today is a great day to do it! They have really expanded their line this past year and have some great NEW homeschooling resources, click HERE to take a peek.

(They even sell fun things like this Windpower Kit!)

The sale is for all homeschool items 25%-50% off--PLUS FREE SHIPPING!  

(You can't beat that! And if you don't homeschool these still make great educational resources.) They also sell microscopes, sketching sets, calligraphy sets, Science DVD sets, readers, and so much more.


Remember, this sale ends at midnight tonight--so don't delay!

Have a blessed day!

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Homeschool Room Ideas for 2011

Every year I like to get new ideas for my homeschool room. While the majority of our homeschooling is done at the kitchen table, sofas and even bedrooms we do have a room downstairs that we use for storing crafts, displaying and making our many projects, painting and sewing, etc.

This year we purchased a black Labrador puppy for my son's birthday and the puppy wreaked havoc on my school room.  So this year I will be repainting and replanning this room and attempt to make it a happy space once again. I love some of the ideas below:

Isn't this tent adorable? What little boy would not want this?
By Magical Hands

I like how this uses a small space but makes it feel alive, bright and fun all at the same time. 

If you didn't have a lot of room, you could always just use one of these as workspace.

I like this kids alcove from house to home,
a place for little ones to have their own creative space.

This room is bright and sunny and I love how the students are faced AWAY from eachother, although I think my students would get distracted looking outside those windows! LOL!
BHG.com

What a lovely art room, 

I like the art work lovingly displayed in the background. I had a friend once who would display her children's art work on twine hanging from one end of the room to another using clothespins! It was quite charming!

The globes in this room beckon one to learn...
Pottery Barn

This brilliant mom has a beautiful reading/library room with rain gutter bookshelves. I love the colors in this one and the energy it gives! I am thinking about repainting with these colors...

Reading nook for the kids....

This little escape from Pinterest makes me want to curl up and escape with a good book (especially after a long day of homeschooling!) This could be called the Homeschool Mom's Recharging Nook!

Now, I know most of us just like to do school at the table or all over the house, which is just fine! Don't feel pressured to have to have a beautiful school room in order to teach your children! You can make homeschooling special whether you have a room or not--remember it is the learning and the memories that counts! Learning is LIFE---and can be done anywhere from the couch, outdoors, at the museum, zoo, etc. My homeschool room is used basically as a storage room for craft supplies, a place to CREATE and do major sewing or painting projects, displaying projects, etc. 

You also do not need a big budget to make a nice homeschool space for your children. Look around your home to see what you already have and be creative. You might even be able to repurpose something old and make it something you love for this room.

Pray and ask God to show you!

If you need more inspiration, nearly 300 moms have shared their homeschool rooms HERE.

If you have not seen my past posts of school rooms--click below:


Homeschool Rooms of 2010

Homeschool Rooms of 2009

Homeschool Room Virtual Tour

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