Keeping It Simple

Like anything that is labor intense, it is good to evaluate the cost (time) to benefit ratio. I have mentioned my absolute love affair with "All About Spelling", but I will tell you right now that if I could hand my child a workbook to do the job, I would! Workboxes are much the same way in our family. They take a bit more effort up front, but, for the gain in productivity we have, they are hands down worth it. From Sue Patrick's Site: An effective teaching system to reduce your organizational time and increase your child's self-control, independence and learning. Specialized for: Autism, ADD ADHD, and Large Home School Families This system will complement your existing curriculum! Note that this system was created to meet some pretty special needs. That does not mean that it cannot work in any situation, but if you are shaking your head and thinking "why in the world would anyone...?", I'll tell you why I did. The minute I first read about t...

 We had the privilege of having this HUGE reptile and amphibian show in our backyard (practically). I was very disappointed that there were not more educational forums on the day we attended- there were time slots designated, but no speakers got scheduled. However, the vendors are passionate about their animals, so they are a fount of knowledge concerning the species that they breed and sell.  Just some of the great creatures we met: Photogenic Tongue! No idea why a tiger was napping at the reptile show! Pac-man frog- amphibians can be seriously cool. Corn Snakes- Mark wants one. Hissing Cockroaches- why? Mr. Bearded Dragon- we want to get one, but not quite yet. Tarantula- cool, but seriously creepy Everyone once in while, I look up local events to see what is going on in our area. Over the years it has led us to bug days, Ohlone Days, Monarch Butterfly Festivals, Civil War Reenactments, Pioneer Days, and more. If you are thinking of getting a Bearded Dragon , we met ...

Books by Alan Baron : Red Fox And The Baby Bunnies The Red Fox Monster Little Pig's Bouncy Ball Red Fox Dances It appears that these titles are out of print; we borrowed them from the library. James (8yo) took charge of read aloud time with them. The front covers of the books have the phrase "giggle club" in the corner, which makes sense because James giggled frequently while reading them. With a very controlled vocabulary, these books are easily read by the 4-8 yo crowd (depending on their readiness). For a nice read aloud session, they are also the perfect length to finish a book (or two) in one sitting. While the story line was entertaining to James, it is the illustrations that tickled his funny bone. Togo by Robert J. Blake This is a newly discovered author for us and we love his books (the two we have read so far). While my 8-year-old will listen to almost any picture book attentively, it takes something a little more special to keep the r...

How super cool is that?! We attended a local reptile show (more on that later). We were lucky enough to pass this little guy as it was hatching. The amazing thing is that the crowds did not seem to notice the little tank holding him (and his two previously hatched siblings), so we pretty much had a front row seat to the event.

Joanna from Miss Marple's Musings (a great place for book lovers to visit) tagged me for this very "sweet" award! I am honored! Thank you. The rules for accepting the award are … 1. Thank and link to the person who nominated you. 2. Share 7 random facts about yourself. 3. Pass the award along to 15 deserving blog buddies. 4. Contact those buddies to congratulate them. Random Facts About Me: 1. I love where I live. This came to mind as Joanna (who delivered this award to me) mentioned traveling. I used to spend a bit of time wishing we could travel the world (or at least the USA). I finally realized that people come here from all over the world to enjoy the sights and scenery. I have made it my mission to see as much of our little world as we can. I still have a little travel envy left in me, but I am thankful to live where I do. 2. I need time alone! I consider this random as I have 7 children (plus son-in-laws and grandchildren), and on a...

Boat building has been on Paul's mind since last summer. There were a few protypes built, and a few failed attempts discoveries of designs that did not work, but he did not give up. Finally, he decided on this model that dad thought would be a managable project. (Paul painted a varnish on after this.) A tentative first voyage! A revised design is in the works now that this one has made its maiden voyage. There has been talk of making a longer and lighter boat with wheels on the sides so that they don't hang down so low in the water...

This Week-   I am going to narrow my focus this week: Kitchen: Meal Plans Health: Drink Water (no soda), Walk Thursday School Room: Plans for the rest of summer I am linking Mama Manuscripts for Goal Planning Monday .

I am super excited to be using Trail Guide to World Geography and Galloping the Globe . I am using both guides to stretch the curriculum across the ages of my three boys (13, almost 11, 8). Draw * Write * Now is going to be a great supplement to our geography studies. I have "Animals of the World, Part 1" and plan to purchase Part 2 as well. Our big investment of the year is this series , A Kid's Guide to Drawing the Presidents of the USA . My husband agreed, after viewing the single volume available at the library, that this would be a wise investment if my sister as well as a dear friend would agree to make use of them too! Done. Click on the link to learn more- Timberdoodle has plenty to say about it. I will surely give an update on our experience with these books. A call out for Timberdoodle : The mail service misdirected my package (it was an error on the part of the post office) and as soon as it became apparent that my packag...

As is usually the case with me, it takes me a while to "figure it out". I'd hop over to this "Pinterest", look around, shake my head, and run back to safer ground. Finally, something drew me over there yet again and it clicked. I love it! I guess that tells you where I am when it comes to all things computer/Internet related. But I give myself credit that I keep trying. I am a "see it" kind of person. One picture is worth a hundred lists to me, so being able to click on the recipe, craft, or school item that I want to remember and have a picture of it saved (with the link) is a perfect fit. If you have not used Pinterest, it is super simple. You love a recipe? "Pin it"- make sure you are on the page you want to access (not to the whole blog), click on the picture of the food, and then "pin it". Pinning it is just clicking a button that you have installed that says "pin it". You will pin your items on your boards that y...

My friend sent me this message today- I'm in. ;) I have started a Yahoo group to discuss the iPad as a tool for homeschooling. For more information: http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/iPad4Homeschoolers/ Colleen

Last Week: #1- Walk two times with my walking group. (casual group that meets M/Th to walk for about 45 minutes) Yes! Plus one extra walk that included a pretty steep hill. My calves were sore! #2- Drink water- not soda! Working on it. #3- Finalize summer "fun" list. Working on it. #4- Get all caught up on laundry for one day! (Tuesday) Not even close. This Week: Around the House: * Get caught up on laundry. * Spend 15 minutes a day (a la flylady) cleaning my bedroom. In the kitchen: * Make a meal plan. In the Schoolroom: * Lesson Plan- focus on notebooking pages * Organize and Purge Health: * Walk with my M/Th walking group. * Drink more water- no soda! Read: * Simplicity Parenting (rereading to regain some focus) Linking to Goal Planning Monday @ Mamamanuscripts

When I recently received a bloggy thank-you, I realized that I have been remiss in giving a thank-you of my own. So... Thank you to Jen @ Forever, For Always, No Matter for hosting the giveway of 500 Writing Prompts for Kids ! And thank you to the author, Bryan Cohen , who sponsored this giveway. I have not had a lot of time to study this ebook, but a brief look makes me think it is going to be a helpful writing tool. I am sure this will work for boys and girls, but I am interested this book for my boys particularly because it is written by a man. I have a few writing prompt books on hand and I have to say that they have a decidedly "girly twist". Although, in all fairness, I purchased them for my girls to use. I will update on this product when we use it.

*Note in advance: The pictures I chose don't necessarily match the text. They are just random examples of crafts that we have done in our home. Crafts vs. Art I recently read an article about this. Mind you, the article did not say that crafts were bad, but it seemed to imply (to me) that crafts were inferior to art. I just want to give a brief plug for crafts. In our home crafts have been used for: Learning concepts - Time to learn shapes? First we read a book about shapes (Tana Hoban is a favorite!). Then I tell my child(ren) that we are going to make something using shapes. I have a ziploc bag of precut construction paper shapes (depending on the age, I may trace and the child cuts) and a large piece of construction paper for the background ready to go. After pulling the pieces out of the bag one at a time ("can you find the blue rectangle?"),  my child gets to organize the shapes into a truck. When he is done with that (we t...

Hanging with Horses:  Doodling: ( TeachKidsArt ) (projects in progress) Lounging at the Pool: Learning about drawing: Bumming at the Beach: Summer is here! :)