I haven't been able to post anything new for a week or so. My hubby has been out of town. I have been home, alone, with 4 kids  (gasp)  :)      I am still alive and doing well.....and I promise to update you on the goings on in our life soon. We are planning a big history trip around our state over the next 2 weeks...so I will have a lot to share with you.


I thought I would leave you with this hilarious comedy about parenting. See you soon!:

Why Homeschool?

Homeschooling means different things to different people.  I think that these videos (of different educational ideas and methods) gives a good overview of what it is. Of course, not every homeschooling parent agrees with every single idea stated in these videos....it's about what works for you


(being updated regularly)

 

Not Just a Box

I sat there, staring at this big cardboard box. I could just imagine all the fun things we could do with it. Michael and Daelynn were inside the box, sitting side-by-side opening and closing the flaps. I could see there imaginations running away as well. 

Then it came to me. I remembered how much fun we had all had with the puppets we had recently purchased at a local arts and crafts festival.....I could see that box, not as a cardboard box that had been put together to carry a small table, but as a magnificent theater for wild plays and prose! Oh what fun it could be! I brought up my idea to my husband, knowing that he doesn't too much like puppets, but he does enjoy building things. I looked up some pictures for inspiration. 

Then my mind really started going. I remembered the wallpaper boarder I still had left over from my daughters room makeover. Then I remembered the old curtains I had in the linen closet. All I had to do was get my hubby involved for the schematics of it all.

Let me tell you, we worked on this theater for over 3 hours. But it was so fun and SO worth it! And, even if I say so myself, I think it turned out great!!! 

So next time you see a box, don't just see a box...........

Dancers and Monsters

"Oh, Mom! Look at this book! Isn't it so wonderful? Look at her pretty dress".

 Daelynn moves the open book so that I can see the illustrations. Sitting on the library floor with books all around us, Daelynn says with squinted eyes, "Don't you just love books? I love em'. I just get lost in them. Don't you, Mom?"

I smile back and excitedly reply, "Me too! I love them so much."

"I know. Don't you just love the library?"

"Yeah I do. Could you imagine being a librarian?"

"Oh my gosh, Mom. I would check out all the good books!"

"I would get fired", I said with raised eyebrows. We both started laughing quietly.

We hadn't intended on checking out any books today. In fact we were only there for the Lego-build activity they have on Saturdays. Daelynn had walked around to find some books to read while her brother was creating Lego monsters. I found a comfy chair to relax in while I worked on my crochet.

 When she brought the books over and sat down on the floor, she was so excited about the dancing book she found. Daelynn has been interested in teaching herself how to dance. I looked through the pages. What a great book for her to explore all the different types of dance there are.

               

She got even more inspired by this book. She decided to look through the DVD section. Not much time passed when Dalynn came running back to where I was sitting.

"Look Mom! A dancing movie!"

She showed me the DVD. It was an instructional video on ballet. What a great choice! I'm amazed how this un-schooling way of doing things is working! My child made 2 great choices for learning material, in the library, ON A SATURDAY, and was EXCITED about it. Wow!


If you have a hard time getting your children excited about reading, I would recommend a trip to the local library.....but not to look through books. You might need to be a little more creative. Check out all your branch has to offer. There are usually crafts, play-dates, tutorials, and other non-reading activities scheduled in the children's department.  You can sneak in a book or two with whatever your child gets interested in......

For example, my son built a Lego monster that he was very proud of. I could say something like, "Hey, wanna get a book with more Lego ideas?" or something like, "Man, you are really good at making monsters! I found this book about monsters....pretty cool huh?"

I guess a Lego trip can turn into a lot of unexpected things.

Embracing Your Inner Nerd

When I was in middle and high school I had a major problem: I was smart. When I looked around, I realized that the "brains" were not part of the "cool" crowd.......you were either cool, or you were a brain. So I decided to not try and show out in class by answering all the questions, and I made sure to keep my grades at As and Bs. I would joke around a lot and make it look like I didn't care about school.....but the big secret was that I loved to learn. I liked being smart. 

When I was older I went to nursing school through the Army. I realized that being smart as adult is completely different than being smart as an adolescent! Being smart was a good thing. Slowly, over many years, I have embraced my inner nerd. I don't fit all perimeters of the definition, but close enough I guess.

Nerd:  1)      a foolish or contemptible person who lacks social skills or is boringly studious.
       2)    a person who behaves awkwardly around other people and usually has unstylish clothes, hair, etc
       3)    a person who is very interested in technical subjects, computers, etc.

Last night I realized how much of a nerd I really am. I was reading a good book, and I just couldn't put it down. It was pretty good in size as well, but I was gobbling it up. It had so much good information that I just couldn't stop myself! .......I ended up staying up on the couch reading that book until it was finished. I finally closed the cover around 5am. With a big smile on my face, I proudly told my hubby about my accomplishment. I think that this might be the largest book that I have read in  just under 24 hrs. He wan't as excited as I was, though. He simply remarked, "Really? You stayed up all night reading a book? You are such a nerd". I smiled. I knew he was just joking with me. I call myself a nerd all the time. And looking at that definition above, I'd say I have something to be proud of!

Let Go and Let Learn: Wise Words

" I am a homeschooling mom, I have a gifted child who struggles in one area, and I am also a special education consultant and social psychologist.

1. First, your child is unique. Please don't compare your child to another child. Your critical eye will never allow your child to measure up to your perception of another's skills.

2. Second, EVERY child has strengths and weaknesses. It is the nature of who he or she is. Piirto says that for every deficit a child has, he or she ALSO has a strength. Find the strength and use it to improve the weakness. This is called "Strength Based Learning" and can do miracles for your child's self esteem and your peace of mind.

3. Your child WANTS to learn and learns vicariously every second that he or she is awake. This means that he or she watches you and others, copies and applies skills, and learns by natural consequences and experience. Yes, you will have to help him or her with the basics, and share skills as he or she is interested, but you are a teacher for every second that they are a learner.

4. On the subject of Standards and Curricula... oyyy. Do you all even know what curriculum is? It is someone's interpretation of sharing knowledge that may or may not be correct and stardards are a collective opinion of when curricula should be taught. Essentially it is a marginalized education for the masses that is taught to the level of average. So it may not "fit" the uniqueness of your child. Don't be pressured into buying a curriculum if you think that you can do better. Trust your instincts, you can. Curriculum is to convenience as pre-packed foods is to quick suppers. They are fast and easy but one has to wonder about the nutritional content of both.

5. So your child doesn't (read, do math, etc.) by a certain age and you are worried that he or she is not learning. See 1-3 above, then realize that your child's mind is developing just as individually as his or her body is. Your child may not have the synaptic development yet to learn to your expectations. Children's brains are unique and develop at different paces. This means that your child may not be developmentally ready to learn something. Seriously, step back, do some Brain Gym and focus on what your child can do. The learning will come in time. If you are still worried after a year or two, then contact a professional and have an assessment done to see what his or her cognitive devlopment is. AND recognize that your child will be who he or she becomes. Do not limit him or her based on your hopes and dreams. He or she will make her own dreams. Case in point, I work with a 15 year old who can not read beyond a second grade level. He has a processing disorder. But he is a brilliant young man who can take apart an engine and fix it before you can type a term paper. He is also an empathic soul who can understand your feelings and speak to you with a college vocabulary. He could be a great psychologist and uses dragon dictation to write his papers. Where there is a will, there is a way! Shine the light on the path for your child and they will walk it if there is enough illumination.

And so, this is my professional mom speak to all of you moms and dads who burden yourselves and your children about homeschooling. Remember, public schools were developed as a tool to educate the masses to a minimum standard so they could be productive citizens and good laborers in their societies. We as homeschool parents want something different for our children... we want them to be educated in away that best meets THEIR needs."

-R Amy Daley Moore

The Giving Tree Short Movie

I found this on YouTube tonight while telling my daughter about my favorite childhood book, The Giving Tree. (Must-Reads for children) What a wonderful story. This video is a great narration of the classic. Nostalgic. ENJOY!

5 Yr. olds and needlepoint

Well, our patch-work quilt is coming along very nicely. We've been working on it little by little. My second youngest child, Trayce (Kindergarten), is so excited to sew. He sits right behind us at the kitchen table,waiting and pleading with me to let him try on the sewing machine. I just don't know. I'm so afraid that he will get hurt. He is very young, and he is still working on dexterity. I really want him to be able to do anything that he is interested in....I'm just afraid of that needle moving so fast!  However, if I hold the fabric and press the foot pedal with him in my lap, then I'm still the one sewing. He is too smart and would call me out on that one!

Well, I hope I found a solution. Today I went to Hobby Lobby and got a beginners needlepoint project for him. I explained that this is how he can learn to sew by hand first, and then when he is a little older he can move to the sewing machine. While we were at the "Girl's Club" meeting tonight at the library (with Daelynn), I showed him a little. We worked the first row together.He would do a few and say "Look Mom! I'm knitting! Look how good I am!" .........I'll have to clear up the difference between the two at another time.  I just  hope this interests him.

Still, I feel torn. Am I shorting him by keeping him from something that interests him? I try to keep our home a breeding ground for intrigue and development. I want them to go after what interests them. I tell them all the time that they can do anything that they put their mind to..........that is, unless you're 5 yrs old and want to use a sewing machine, I guess.

Food for Thought

Know the difference between peppers and cherries. Just sayin'

"Half-Schoolers"

I want to tell you a little bit about our journey into "unschooling". I was a little reserved at first, but looking to try something that I think might fit our family. I wouldn't really say that I unschool completely, but maybe if there were a subgroup called "half-schoolers" we would fit that description best. I have been slowly letting go more and more and letting the kids take the wheel of school.

I have been trying to explain unschooling to my hubby as best as I can....but he has been very skeptical, that is, up until today.................

This morning I rolled over to look at the clock and was very surprised to see that it was after 10am! We are late sleepers, but not usually that late, even the baby was still sleeping. When I went out to the living room I saw that the older kids were already awake. Michael rushed me saying "Look Mom! I'm almost done with that Titanic book!...Just have two more chapters left". Daelynn was just as excited. "And look, Mom. I've already looked through the fish books and checked out the vocabulary in the back for our lapbooks". Both older kids were very excited to get started on their blogs and Daelynn wanted to work on our family quilt. Wow!

Around lunch I had taken a break and was cruising around Facebook for a little while. Trayce came up behind me and asked if he could play his math games on Starfall........then Daelynn got interested and asked if she could play math games online instead of using her workbook (after Trayce got done, of course).

So,without any prompting from me, my children learned so much today! They learned about different methods of fishing, fish physiology and anatomy, addition, subtraction, poetry, history, sorting, and reading. Once I got into the mix I got them interested in some creative writing.........no tears, no crying.....just pure genuine interest and enjoyment in what they were learning!

Let Go and Let Learn: Maybe Mondays

Are Monday's as iffy for you as they are for my family? Wow, I'm telling you what......Mondays are always so crazy for us! It really is a "maybe" day for us. Maybe we'll get to doing some school, but maybe not! Usually we are catching up from the weekends. Saturdays we are busy. We like to get out and do stuff. However, on Sundays, we observe the holy day and take a day of rest.....(which ends up with a very untidy house). Hence, Monday's are usually "Home Economics" day. To all you fellow homeschoolers, you know what I'm talking about! We practice our washing, rinsing, folding, scrubbing, sweeping and mopping skills.

 I used to get all stressed out about trying to make school fit our lives on Monday, but that just wasn't realistic.

Take today for example: We have gotten all the laundry together and detailed all the bathrooms. The kids watched a few episodes of "River Monsters" this morning for Science and Social Studies. (We are doing a unit study on fish and fishing right now). We have talked about fishermen being called anglers, as well as different methods of fishing......But as far as school goes for today, we will just have to see what comes up. The kids usually ask alot of questions, randomly, throughout the day. They are always learning, so I don't freak out anymore about taking it easy with school on Mondays. I think sometimes we have to evaluate what's working and what's not and JUST RELAX! Let go and Let Learn! Do you have a similar issue with Mondays? or any other "regular" work day of the week? I would love to hear what you have to say about this.............

A quick note from a mathmatician

Do you or your child hate mathematics? Does your child cry over his/her math worksheets? This video by a mathematician makes so much sense!

Make math relevant to your child.  I have been trying this out myself in our school. Instead of "doing math", i.e worksheets and quizzes, I've been teaching it through day-to-day events. Since we are doing a fish unit study right now, this week I will be using goldfish snacks to teach math. Say I give my 2nd grader $5 and tell her I will take her to the store to spend it. Right there is a HUGE math lesson that is relevant to her (hence, she will remember what is taught and in turn use it) First we use math in traveling-----> How many miles away is the store? How fast are we traveling? How long will it take to get there?....So what if it's a little over her head, she's getting exposed to the thought process!!! Second, we use math before we get out of the car to explain a little about dollar value and how many she has to spend. Third, she will use addition and subtraction in the store. She WILL NOT CRY during this lesson and I am sure she will learn a wide range of mathematics during the whole event...so why cry over worksheets that you both hate?

here's a little something that we used for this lesson ourselves for my Kindergartner and 2nd Grader

Just relax! Let go and Let learn: Environment

I was talking with my bestie and realized I have alot to say about "letting go and just letting learn". I have struggled with this in the past. By nature I am a little controlling. I like things to be a certain way, and that way is 'perfection'. Up until the last few months I even had this in my school life setting. I had the nice "school room" with maps, graphs, charts.......even a large whiteboard, the childrens' desks set up with pencil boxes and their books. It was lovely. Just like school but at home......but after having Elijah I realized pretty quickly that this wasn't working for us!

After eating breakfast most people would go ahead and start school, right? Well, I would get the kids in the school room. We would say the pledge, sing our hymn of the day, go over our calendar and then begin our lessons....... which was a whole new problem trying to teach 3 individual lessons (one was Kindergarten). Whew. Not long after that I would try to rush back to kitchen, leave them working, so I could wash up some dishes and try to feed the baby. I start the water, grab the baby and put him in the highchair. Give him a bite, walk over and turn off the running water....walk back over give him another bite. Then I wash a plate. As I grab the next plate I hear a voice calling from the school room, "MOM! I need help"....... "Just a minute", I call out. I give the baby another bite and run back to the schoolroom. Trying to explain as fast as I can because the baby starts crying in the dining room all alone.......this goes on for a while. Slowly Trayce (kindergartner) gets bored because I can't help him right away and he needs the most instruction. He wanders off to his room to play with action figures. Michael and Daelynn are chit-chatting, not doing school and I'm struggling still cleaning up from breakfast and the baby. Now its time for lunch. I'm yelling at the kids, "Do your school! This is important! Come on, quit talking.....Trayce stop playing with play dough and get over here".....Day after day, until slowly the kids start coming to the dining room table with the workbooks and such while I'm cleaning up.

I realize this is easier because I can just lean over, take a look, give an explanation or read instructions. They can help feed the baby.I can clean up the kitchen and help everybody. School starts getting better. The school room starts getting trashed and used as a drop off point.

So, now we have a play room. Our books and school type stuff are in the pantry, and school is done a little bit everywhere. (Mostly at the table in the mornings, and then people kinda migrate to the couch or their beds, or desks in there bedrooms). I tried so hard to hold on, but all I needed was to let go and just go with it!!! We do school outside, in the car, at the park..... life has really gotten better. And the kids like to do school now.

Are you hanging on too tightly to something that isn't working, all for the sake of a dream?..... a picture in your mind of what homeschool "should" be?     Isn't it time to let go and let live.... which will let learn!?

How to encourage a love for reading

We are gathering the tackle boxes, poles, and bait. Have I gotten everything for the baby? A bottle with water? Check. Formula? Check. Diapers? In the diaper bag, check. Standing from the dining room I scan the kitchen for anything I might be missing for our outing. Nope, nothing comes to mind. I turn and scan the living room........I see a my oldest sitting on the couch reading his book he just got from the library the day before. We are all rushing about trying to get out the door to go fishing and he is sitting on the couch intently lost in a book! "Michael! Stop reading and get up and help us! We are trying to get outta here!" Right when the words tumble out of my mouth I realize how funny it sounds. I'm telling a child to stop reading. We both start laughing. What a great problem to have.........

This kind of thing happens alot around here. I usually find Michael at night in the bathroom reading when he is supposed to be in the bed. I have to shoo him out and force him into bed. "But Moooooom", he drawls the words out, "It's just getting good". Daelynn is at most times reading 2-3 books at once. But it wasn't always like this.................

Things used be different. When my children attended public school they hated reading. Every night for homework Daelynn would have to read a selected passage. I would have to time her as she read as fast as possible as many words as she could (correctly) in a minute. I would have to write at the bottom of the page how many words she read and then circle any words she got incorrect. As I would circle words she would cry. She hated reading. Her confidence was thrashed to pieces. It was so sad to watch, and worse to participate in! I love to read. I would try to encourage the kids, but they hated it. For school it was so harshly forced and tested and scrutinized. Daelynn was "behind" and was put into a special reading group (which was away from the regular class). What is so funny is that now she is at home for school she LOVES to read. She is reading at about 2-3 grade levels higher than what grade she is in right now. What changed?

First of all, I don't force them to read anything. I do encourage reading by "strewing".....which is a word I found at my favorite blog (here) that explains exactly how I do it. Also, we make regular library trips. I pick out some books that I think would be a great choice to steer them in a certain direction (when we are learning about specific topics). I make sure they are super interesting and colorful. Sometimes they are a hit, sometimes not. I make sure to grab plenty of different types. For example, we are learning about fish and fishing right now for science (since it's the beginning of fishing season, and we love to fish).

 The secret is to let them be in drivers seat! The kids asked "hey, can we do fishing for school". So I went with it. Why not? We went to the library. I got a bunch of books that have fish in them for my Kinder child. Things like One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and "girlie" fun books for Daelynn (Mermaid Sister). I made sure to get a few different ones for each age. Just fun reader type books. Then I got a couple specifically to teach about fishing: Freshwater Fishing and For Kids. And some about fish in general (scroll down in the link to peruse through this book: Amazing Fish)  When we got home I left these books (and others I didn't link) around the house. I scatter strategically. I know this sounds gross, but leaving books in the bathroom for kids is a great way to get them interested! I can't tell you how many times the kids have burst into the living saying, "Mom, did you know......".

Also, while at the library I tell the kids to go find a few books they are interested in. If I see them walking around kinda aimlessly with no books.....I help out, saying "Hey, have you checked this out? Come over here. I think you will like this". I did this recently with Daelynn. I found a great section in the Children's department of book (aimed toward girls her age) that are historically based. The books are written in diary form of a girl (girl series) or boy (boy series) in a certain period of history. These books are awesome! I can't get my kids to put them down! We also count these books as two to three different subjects for school. 1) reading  2) history  and if they ask me what a word means or how to pronounce a word, we look it up in the dictionary and count it as 3)Spelling/Vocabulary for that day. You are probably wondering how I can count those books as history.....and I'm glad I got you pondering.Think about it: They are interested in these books. They get lost in the plot. This gets them interested in the time period. They start asking questions....which leads to us looking up stuff on Youtube, Google, or going back to the library for more information. Sometimes it's a small search...but sometimes it ends up being a week or two (or longer) dive into history. Isn't this what we want from homeschool? Isn't this why we started in the first place? To have our children LOVE to learn?!

Helpful Links

Welcome back! I wanted to stop for a minute and share with you some of the information that I use all the time. I peruse many blogs and websites and have made a list of things that I find helpful to our homeschool. It's so hard to find good info all in one spot.....so I am hoping to do just that! I will add to this list whenever I find useful info, so be sure to check back every once in a while!

First of all, I would like to share with you links that I personally use EVERYDAY. I will give you my opinion in review of these sites. Please feel free to comment or leave any questions. It's so good for us to network together!

• First thing first, I use Homeschool Skedtrack everyday to keep up with our "paperwork". I really like this site for many reasons. 

1) It's free!    
2)It keeps up with attendance for me (which is a requirement from my state)
3) It keeps track of grades....automatically generates report cards and transcripts (great for portfolio requirements)
4) Another feature that I really like is the option to either plan ahead or just fill in day-by-day. I use this feature in many different ways. Ex: for Math and Language we follow (very loosely) a curriculum. So, at the beginning of the year I "plan" out what will be done daily. Day 1: pg.1 Day 2:pg 2.....and so on. but the great thing is that if I see that  my child is not getting a concept I can stop, add a few blank days in (however many we really need to 'get it')....then as I go I can fill in those blanks daily with whatever we did. Ex: "reviewed telling time" or "reviewed parts of a sentence" and so on. Then when they understand we can start back where we left off. For those of you who have a relaxed curriculum, or even unschool, you can have it set so that you just go in everyday and write a little note about what you did that day in each subject that applies (which is pretty much what we do for everything else but math and language).
5) It tracks multiple children at once
6) You can edit holidays/vacation days as you go, or at the beginning of the 'school year', whichever suits your family's needs.
7) MY FAVORITE FEATURE: If you miss a day of school because you decided to just go to the beach, or woke up with everyone throwing up...whatever life throws (which we all know life can get a little crazy sometimes), this program automatically just moves everything that was planned to the next day. No biggie. No erasing. No moving everything down a day in your little pocket planner.


On to the next lovely link.  Every time we finish up a book (which is pretty often in our house) I go to this site

•  Book Adventure. Its kinda like the accelerated reader program. I like it because I can have separate accounts for all my kids. They have their own login info. We have the option to either go in and make a reading plan (pre-select a reading list), in which they can go in and take a short test after each one...or they can read a book and then look it up to see if there is a test for it. I like to "test" the kids on the books they read, not to actually have a test score, but to make sure they aren't just saying they read the book when they really didn't. In our house we give incentives for reading: once a person reaches the 10th book they get a gift certificate to the book store (so cheating is a no-no). Plus, I can keep these "test scores" as proof for our state for our reading program, or in a portfolio list of materials. 

Now let's talk about different subjects. I have found some great websites for different subjects. Check out some of these if you would like!

Arithmetic Links:

• Math-Aids Worksheets   (you make the worksheet specific for your particular needs) LOVE LOVE LOVE
• Interactive Math Games
• More Interactive Math Games

All these are free and are so valuable to any homeschool! My kids don't see the interactive sites as work, but actually ask me to "play" them. They are enjoyable and fun!

• Mathematical Science Research Institute   This website is so cool. It's not really on a younger students' level, more for high school....although, my 5th grader likes it. Some things are over his head (and mine too) but it's good because we both learn something new and it starts great conversations about math and different mathematical processes. Isn't that the whole idea of teaching our children? Guiding them toward different avenues that cause them to stop and think. When they start asking questions, they are really taking control of their own education! I love this!

Language and Phonics:

• Starfall    This site is great for young learners! It has some really great phonics and reading games. My son (Kindergarten) LOVES this site. It also has some math and lots of other fun games too....a good mix of fun learning games for kids.

Science:

• Scratch  We found this awesome website for kids that are interested in computers and animation. It's kinda tricky at first, but once you figure it out it's really fun. (The "figuring it out" part is actually great to help your child with problem solving, process of elimination and, and reasoning!!!)
• The Institute for Creation Research  this is a wonderful website that is all about research done in the scientific field that proves the creation 'theory'. It is great for just perusing through and reading articles...you can just get lost here!! They also have textbooks and literature for homeschool students that are a great resource if you teach creationism.

Reading/Literature:

• 1000 Good books  is a list of classical books separated by reading level
• Open Library  is so great. You can search for topics/keywords/titles like in a library. This website is free and a great resource for books online. Just search for what you are looking for, then choose an icon with an "open book" image on the bottom (that tells you it is in PDF or online book form ready-to-read). Once you click on the book with an open book image icon, scroll down a bit and you will either see the PDF link or 'Read online" link. We have fun just searching for all sorts of things. My daughter really enjoys this site alot. 

Music:

• Violin   great teacher. easy to follow. Has free lessons available on Youtube, but also offers paid lessons via webcam. Packages are very affordable.
• Piano  also free

Misc Helpful Sites for Homeschooling Parents:

• Educational Resources  this site is pretty neat, but kinda difficult to navigate at first. It is really best for High School students or even College. It has plenty of college-level lectures and presentations on any subject you could think of......but there is some things on this site that would interesting to secondary students (you just have to dig a little).
• Homeschoolshare is a Free Lapbook resource. AWESOME! If you've never done lapbooking, please check this out. My kids love it! They remember so much more of what they learn when they lapbook.... and most of the lessons cover more than one subject, so its pretty comprehensive. 
• Homeschool Creation is an encouraging website that has so may resources for you. It has worksheets, craft ideas, free printables, its is full of ideas!!!
• Lesson Planz online lesson plans and teaching resources.Some things are free and some you have to buy. 

and last but not least......
Homeschool Blogs that I follow: 

• Stories of an Unschooling Family   THIS IS MY FAV!!!  She is so inspiring! I read this blog regularly. It really helps me to stop worrying if I'm doing "enough" or doing it "right". i really believe she has a wonderful outlook on schooling and raising children.
• The Homeschool Mom lots of info

Well, this post ending up being a little long-winded I suppose....but I think that it is so important that we put good resource lists together and share them! That's what networking is all about. I hope that you find some of these links helpful and are able to use some of them! I know I wish somebody handed me this list when I first began this journey. Well, off to bed I go. See you next time!

About Me

I want to invite you to come along with me as I navigate the roller coaster of my life. A little over a year ago I decided to withdrawal my children from the public school system and begin teaching them from home. Since then many things have changed in our lives, including the birth of my fourth child. We have learned together what works for us and what doesn't. We worked with different styles of teaching and learning.....and have quickly come to realize that curriculum IS NOT one-size-fits-all. I decided to start blogging are day-to-day adventures. I want a place that I can share tips and advice to other parents struggling with homeschooling, especially to those parents who are just starting out, or who are considering homeschooling. I know when I first began (and even now), I had great comfort reading others' posts about their daily routines. Its nice to know you aren't alone isn't it?!

That being said, I would like to share a little bit about my family and I with you. First of all, you should know that we are nomads to the core. We cannot stay put! (which plays in our favor as a' homeschooling family). I was just talking to my husband, Kris, about his. I realized that I haven't lived in the same house for more than 3 years since I was about 7 years old. We moved alot when I was young....but even as an adult I moved around a bit. Then I joined the Army a little while after my second child was born. So, even my children have pretty much always been "on the move'. It was very difficult for the kids when they were attending public school. States are not on the same page with education: "ahead" in one state is "behind" in another. 

My oldest child is Michael (03'). He is very bright and loves science. His hobbies are reading and collecting bugs. My second oldest is Daelynn(05'). She loves anything "artsy". She loves singing, drawing, writing, and dancing. She loves getting into a good book. My second youngest is Trayce (08'). He is the comedian of the house, always having a good time and making everyone laugh. Trayce is into gaming and anything electronic (even if he doesn't know what it is). He loves music. Elijah (13') is my baby. Right now he loves eating, gnawing, slobbering, and tearing things up. He already shows signs of being the prankster of the family and he loves to smile.

My husband and I are both disabled veterans. We both served in the military for 6 years. He was deployed 3 times during his service time. I never went to war, but I did serve 3 wonderful years in Germany. The funny is that I used to be so career driven, but now I couldn't imagine leaving the kids everyday to go to work as I sent them off to "school"! I love being at home with them!

Last, but certainly not least by any means, we are a very conservative Christian family. Everything we do revolves around our Lord Jesus Christ. He leads our family in our daily lives. Following Him is how we began this homeschooling lifestyle to begin with...but that is a story for another time. I pray that as I share our life with you, you will see Him. I pray that you will be encouraged and lifted up as well. 

I guess that's enough. I will delve a little more into the details of some things as we get to know each other a little more. Thank you for stopping by.

-Brandy