Issues....

So sorry for not writing in ages!  Life has happened, but we're back! 

We had a great Christmas break with all the kids home!  It was hard to start back to school on January 3rd but we did it! Yeah me... !

Tonight I am writing about a website called

http://www.spellingcity.com/

 I love it!

I've known about it for at least a year, even looked through it a few times.  I was speaking to a dear friend I look up to for homeschooling advice - she knows who she is - and she recommended it to me for help w/ Chicklet.

Well, we have had so much fun on there!  It is a free sight, but you can pay $25 for additional uses.  Here's how it works...

you type in a list of words, and then click on test, teach, games, etc. There are several games they can play to build their skills, but it also teaches them the definitions and reinforces those too.

Hunk #4 and Chicklet are using Apples Spelling and Apples Phonics respectively this year.  I love these books.  Each section covers a rule for 8 days or so. The first day, the whole rule is printed on the top of the page. Each consecutive day, part of the rule is missing and the student needs to write it in. There are exercises on words that fit the rules.  I typed in and saved several lists for each of these rules that they have covered.  I can even print the spelling words off in cursive for them to practice. Heck, you can print it off showing the word in sign language! 

 They can even work on writing skills... having to type or write a sentence for each spelling word OR using all the spelling words in a paragraph. When they are finished, it is sent to me, the teacher, for grading!  These kiddos get to work on it after lunchtime.  So far, they really enjoy it, and so do I.

Thanks Miss Rosie!

Sewing Day in the desert

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We had only one Mom/Daughter team show up for Sewing Class this last week. We truly missed our other girls, but had a LOT OF FUN anyway!

The girls made a set of pillowcases for their beds.  They did a great job, I am so proud of them!  I even made one for my body pillow!  You know, the one that supports my poor hips, destroyed by stretching chicklet ‘ in utero’.  But I digress…………….

Great Old Book

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McGuyver was going through his boxes of books the other day, trying to organize his new bookshelves.  He came across this gem, called  The First Mortgage.  It was published over 100 yrs ago.  It is basically one very long poem, ranging from Creation to Revelation!

And it’s really cool!

I started reading it to the kids and they were hooked!  I read about 7 pages yesterday and 5 today.  We’ll read a little everyday for school.

 

 

 

Where oh where am I????

Wow - looks like I have been AWOL on this blog!

We're in week six of AmblesideOnline.com

and really enjoying it. 

I was so indecisive about which curriculum to use, always second-guessing myself.  I love Lorraine Curry's book - Easy Homeschool Techniques, and had decided to do that for school. But it wasn't laid out clear enough for me (silly I know) and then found http://www.amblesideonline.com/.  I really liked what I saw. 

Then, I  found Accelerated Achievement, or A Squared, and really liked that too!  All 3 of these are somewhat similar, basing themselves on the Charlotte Mason method of schooling.  Some based themselves on her method more than others. 

I really hated going back & forth with my decisions.  I didn't want to do just workbooks, I wanted the kids to enjoy school.  I kept praying about what to do, which curriculum to do, etc.

God answered my prayers.  He told me to put away all my different 'how to homeschool' books! So I did, and decided on Amblesideonline.com!  I felt the weight of the world go off my shoulders!

We do approximately 70% of what they have listed each week - some of the books I choose not to use. And that's ok!

We do our Saxon Math, Apples Daily Phonics/Spelling (depends on the kid), A Beka Language (they are suffering in grammar so I threw these workbooks back in our program), and Latina Christiana.  Somedays, when we get everything done, we have schooled for 4+ hours!  Solid straight hours!

I don't know if I posted that Hunk #3 started attending Calvary Chapel Green Valley Christian Academy for 9th grade.  Hunk #2 started there this year for his junior year.  I can't imagine trying to do AmblesideOnline.com with Hunk #3 as well, along w/ Hunk #4 & Chicklet.  It's even more intensive.  I find myself spending more time with these 2, for school, than I have in the past 3 + years that we've been homeschooling.  And that's a good thing.  I enjoy it more, so do they.

One of the books we read from, from the AO website, is called Triumph & Trial: Stories from Church History by Richard Hannula.  This is online and you can access it for free!  That's one of the really cool things about AmbleSideonline.com - they have links to most of the reading books online, so you don't have to buy all of them.  I have chosen to buy a few, and have been pleased with my purchases.  I will try to blog on some of those in the next week or 2!

http://books.google.com/books?id=QEcLSqCYi18C&lpg=PP1&dq=trial%20and%20triumph%20by%20richard%20hannula&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false

Sew many girls, sew sew sew!

 

Sept. 14th we hosted our first CCGV Vine & Branch Sewing Class. We had 8 girls, including Chicklet. Thank GOD there were 4 who couldn’t make it, there was ‘no room in the inn!’

The girls set up their machines w/ the help of their moms. They practiced stitching on paper, then on fabric from old pillowcases. Then… they made mini-pillow cases. The girls had sew much fun! And so did I!

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What a blast!

On Sept. 8th, we went to the Leid Discovery Museum with some friends from our homeschool group, Calvary Chapal Green Valley Vine & Branch.

We had a 'BLAST' as you can see by the photos!

Eggstatic!

We did a 'physics in the kitchen' experiment yesterday! We did the 'egg gets sucked into the bottle' experiment! We invited our neighbors over to help and we had a blast! We went through 2 books of matches, much to pyro Hunk #4's delight! Went through 2 eggs as well, but we had a great time!