Tag Archives: homeschooling

Our Homeschooling Week Ending June 14

This week E went to Tennessee with a friend’s family. She had a wonderful time camping. Here’s the cabin and it’s view.

While on the trip, E and her friend had the opportunity to spend the day in Nashville. They had lunch at an aquarium themed restaurant…

and then a visit to the zoo!

E wasn’t the only one to get an up-close look at animals this week. J and Z went to the library for Animal Tales, a live animal, “edZOOcational” program. Z was picked to assist the handler with the African Spurred Tortoise.After the program, Z was invited to pet a Woma Python!

At home this week, we have enjoyed these last days of spring observing the daily changes out in our yard. Our keyhole garden science project is growing like crazy! This week we picked the first Hungarian Pepper. The Jalopinos are ready to pick, too! It’s time to be thinking about adding fried green tomatoes to our menu.

Our Zinnias have blooms and we have our first Pansie.

Our Magnolia Tree is blooming too! It smells so good. I brought a couple of petals in to use as air freshener. (Our bathroom smells good, too.)

For more about Animal Tales click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/13/diggin-the-library/

For another post about our homeschooling garden science project click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/23/watching-our-garden-grow/

I hope you had a good week and wishing you another good week next week!

betty jo

Flag Day

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“This flag, which we honor and under which we serve, is the emblem of our unity, our power, our thought and purpose as a nation. It has no other character than that which we give it from generation to generation. The choices are ours. It floats in majestic silence above the hosts that execute those choices, whether in peace or in war. And yet, though silent, it speaks to us — speaks to us of the past, or the men and women who went before us, and of the records they wrote upon it.” (President Woodrow Wilson)

Americans have been celebrating Flag Day since before President Woodrow Wilson declared June 14 to be a national commemoration in 1916. We will have a flag and pledge study day as part of our summer calendar studies and a jump start on our upcoming American History unit studies.

Below are the best links I found for our homeschool to follow as we review and learn about our flag.

US Flag Picture Gallery http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/flagpics.html

Flag facts, etiquette, quotes, and instructions on how to cut a perfect 5 pointed star from the Betsy Ross homepage http://www.ushistory.org/betsy/

About the pledge and why it is important http://www.buzzle.com/articles/why-is-the-pledge-of-allegiance-important.html

pdf for the pledge in sign language http://www.legion.org/documents/legion/pdf/signingpledge.pdf

Flag Day word puzzles, coloring sheets, and more printables http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/flag-day/printables/

Notebooking paper http://homeschoolhelperonline.com/holidays/flag-day/

Flag Facts, Activities, and more! https://www.franw.com/2011/07/united-states-flag.html

betty jo

Diggin’ the Library

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Our library’s summer reading program started this week. The reading challenge this year is read twelve books and when completed the kids get a book bag/back pack! This is a big deal for us. We have been getting new library bags this way for many summers. Z is confident that he’ll be first to complete the challenge in our house. The kids names will be entered in a drawings for e-readers and such, too.

I took Z and J to the library the library to get their challenge forms, check out some books and to see the first of five wonderful weekly children’s programs, Animal Tales! This is an “edZOOcational” live animal show. Today, we got a close up look at some very unusual creatures, Paraguayan Screaming Hairy Armadillo, Harris Hawk, Woma Python, and Egyptian Fruit Bat.

Z was called on to assist with the African Spurred Tortoise from by enticing it with a tomato to come out of his shell and crawl.

Z got to pet the Woma Python!J’s favorite place away from home is the library, and one of his least favorite places to be is anywhere where he has to sit still, be in a group, pay attention to someone, or listen to spontaneous sounds like laughing, clapping, or animals. I tried to be hopeful but prepared for a meltdown. I have learned that I can expect the unexpected with J. I had help come with us. A23 (the girl who adopted our family and who I love like a daughter) had a day off and agreed to come with us. She would have stayed with Z had it been necessary for me to leave with J. I explained to J that whether or not he got to bring home DVD’s and Wii games depended on how he acted during the animal show.

J did not sit with the children, but laid in the floor in front of A and me in the adult section. I thought he was “zoning out”, but then I caught him looking at the animals each time the handler introduced a new one. I was proud of him. I know it’s not normal behavior to go to a program and lay in the floor, but he was calm and quiet which is a BIG improvement. I didn’t notice any looks of disgust or sympathy from the other moms or librarians and I heard no comments about him either. Very unusual, but very nice. J was happy when the animal show was over and he was able to pick out some DVDs to bring home.

If your local library doesn’t have a summer reading program, you can do it yourself with help from PBS and Education.com http://www.education.com/summer-reading/?cid=20.311 or here for some cute printables http://creativemamma.com/free-printable-summer-reading-kit-for-kids/

For more about Animal Tales (they travel all over performing for schools, churches, and libraries) http://www.animaledzoocation.com/programs/

For another post about J https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/02/autism-i-am-aware/

betty jo

The Great Barrier Reef

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June 11 is the anniversary of the discovery of the Great Barrier Reef (1770). Also, the third week in July is “Coral Reef Awareness Week”! Here’s the links we will be following in our homeschooling summer school lesson of the day (and maybe tomorrow’s lesson too).

About the reef from the Marine Park Authority of Australia http://www.gbrmpa.gov.au/about-the-reef

Photo Gallery https://www.livescience.com/23611-image-gallery-great-barrier-reef-through-time.html

Lapbooking materials http://www.homeschoolshare.com/coral_reef.php

documentary here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b_d3LFvc8HQ

It is going to be a “G’ Day” of homeschooling with this Great Barrier Reef Study!

betty jo

Attentiveness

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This past school year I added some character development studies to our homeschooling lessons. These studies have proved to be a great opportunity for our family. Homelife Ministries has wonderful family character quality guides. E and B found much to notebook and journal about and as a family, we found much to discuss, memorize, and put into practice. J, Z, and I made several lapbooks of the same studies from Homeschool Share. The Homeschool Helper Online has some good ideas for character studies, too. (Links are at the end)

I was able to include the subjects of Bible, History, Science, Music and Language Arts into each study making for simplified days with lots of time to pursue elective interests. These charactier development lessons were a welcome break in between topics in our usual history studies. We completed six such studies this past year. We will be adding more next school year.

“Pay attention! ” “Watch what you’re doing.” “Listen.” These are things parents say to their children on a regular basis. I know I say these often during our homeschooling days, whether it is during math, cooking, art, or whatever. If I would listen, I would hear the Father saying those same words to me just as often. Attentiveness seems to be an across the board kind of character trait that both my children and myself need to further develop. Attentiveness was good place to start with our new studies. Though all of our character development lessons were good, this one was my favorite. This one is also the most reviewed one.

This is J’s and Z’s attentiveness lapbook. I covered the back with clear contact paper so they can do the wordsearch puzzle with washable markers again and again.

Below are the free resources I used for this and our other character development studies. These are the links I’ll be going to again as we continue our lessons when our homeschooling starts back full time in the fall.

Hymns, Scriptures, application, examples, and science connections for copywork, notebooking, journaling, and discussion from http://www.characterjournal.com/ (scroll down a little bit then select the character quality from the list on the right sidebar)

Lapbooking and notebooking materials http://www.homeschoolshare.com/character_lapbook.php

A few more ideas from http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/character_studies.shtml

For other posts about character development https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/08/keeping-the-code/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/10/calling-for-reinforcements/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/10/but-he-has-a-good-heart/ and https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/10/1654/

betty jo

Our Homeschooling Week Ending June 7

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The highlight from our week was Graduation/Achievement Night. My daughter and I were on the decorating committee for our homeschooling support group’s year end celebration.

We had an expected head count of 120 guests for the reception. We planned for more, which was a good thing because we had close to 200 guests attend!

SALT (homeschool creative ministries) and Silver Lining (homeschool color guard) performed for the night’s entertainment.

As part of this celebration, families set up display tables featuring awards, photos and projects from the year. This was our homeschool’s display.

Also, as part of the celebration, parents present their kids with awards for something well done during the year. These are the ones my husband presented to our kids.

He gave our homeschool a history award for our unit studies of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

E17 received Honor Roll and Supergirl awards.

B15 was awarded for “Scriptural Character Studies and Application”. J10 earned the “All Around Improvement” award.

Z7 was given the “Independent Study” award. I wasn’t left out of the awards. My family gave me one too, “Computer Achievement”.

Saturday morning we awoke to a flash flood! Our front yard looked like this.

Our back yard was worse.

The water poured into our cellar and flooded our garage. Thank goodness we had access to a pump. It took nearly 6 hours to get the water out from under our house.

We were quite concerned about our garden when we saw it. Our pepper plants were partially uprooted and leaning over. The box floating away in this photo was our homeschool’s weather station. I’m still not sure where it ended up. We found some of our yard things in the empty lot on the next street over, but not the weather station.

By Sunday afternoon, all looked fine. The yard barely even had a puddle left in it.

The garden recovered from the down pour. We even have some baby tomatoes and peppers growing now.

Monday and Tuesday we put summer school on hold to dry out some of our things we had stored in the garage. Our Christmas books got the worst damage, but most will be alright. We feel blessed not to have had more ruined.

June 5 was the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of our summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons. Last year’s lapbook made a good review for us this year.

We are hoping for the upcoming weekend and next week to be uneventful and peaceful. And maybe we’ll start a new art project for our chalkboard wall. We erased the last mural and now our kitchen/school room looks very plain. I’m thinking we need something summery and fun, maybe a summer camp scene?

Here’s the links to related posts:

Year End Celebration https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/04/year-end-celebration/

Homeschool creative ministries https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/20/salt/

Homeschool color guard https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/16/silver-lining/

Homeschool Gardening https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/04/14/homeschool-gardening/

Our one day study on Hot Air Balloons https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/06/05/hot-air-balloons/

Our chalkboard wall murals https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/one-of-our-favorite-things-the-wall/

betty jo

Hot Air Balloons

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June 5 is the anniversary of the first hot air balloon flight (1783). Last year as part of summer school calendar studies Z, J, and I decided to learn everything we could about hot air balloons.

Fantastic Resource and Activity List! https://www.franw.com/2014/06/hot-air-balloons.html

We made this lapbook from

http://www.homeschoolshare.com/hot_air.php

and added a few of our own ideas.

Our library had a few children’s books about hot air balloons. These two were our favorites.

Here is a link to a cute craft idea we tried, of course we had to use batman action figures in the basket instead of the child picture http://www.dltk-holidays.com/summer/mballoon.html

We thought this video from the Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta was fascinating!

betty jo

Year End Celebration

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Every May, our homescholling support group celebrates the end of another year of homeschooling. This celebration includes a graduation ceremony for those leaving kindergarten, eighth grade, and twelfth grade. This year our group had twelve graduates, two kindergarten, four 8th grade, four high school, and for the first time in our group’s history, a mom and son graduating homeschool college.

There were senior and college graduate speeches. One senior sang and was accompanied by his dad on guitar and younger sister on piano. Our Creative Ministries troop, SALT, performed during the program.

This family in the next photo is so special. Our families have known each other for years. They have been most active and helpful with our groups activities for since they began their homescooling journey. And we have gotten together many time outside of the support group. They invite my B15 to go to events with them. They come to special church events with us. Seven years ago, this boy was in a 5th grade special education class in a public elementary school. He was taking several behavioral medications. The school evaluated him at a 1st grade level. Therapists had told her that he probably would not be able to learn to read, write, perform math, or be a self sufficient adult someday. She took her son’s education into her own hands. She took him off the medications. She taught him to read, write, do math, drive a car, get a job, and manage his own finances! It’s been a difficult for them to get to this point. They have not had family support. The mom is currently battling cancer for the second time. He takes care of her. There wasn’t a dry eye in the audience by the time they finished their presentation.

Families without graduates still participate in the ceremony by presenting their children with awards for something they have achieved during the year. My husband presented awards to our kids. He gave our homeschool a history award for our studies of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Z7 was given the “Independent Study” award.

J10 earned the “All Around Improvement” award.

B15 was awarded for “Scriptural Character Studies and Application”.

E17 received an “Honor Roll” award and the “Super Girl” award for academics and extra curricular activities.

I wasn’t left out of the awards. My family gave me one too, “Computer Achievement”.

Families also set up display tables featuring awards, photos and projects from the year. This was our homeschool’s display.

E17 and I had been on the decorating committee. We had an expected head count of 120 guests for the reception. We planned for more, which was a good thing because we had close to 200 guests attend!

Several of our group’s members brought potluck style finger foods and drinks which made for a delicious, four table long buffet. We had a bakery cake made for dessert.

Silver Lining, the homeschool color guard, was the entertainment during the reception.

Graduation/Acheivement Night is always my favorite homeschooling event of the year. I’m so proud of all the families in our homeschooling support group and love to hear about their accomplishments and see what they’ve been up to throughout the school year.

For more about our homeschool creative ministries click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/05/20/salt/

For more about our homeschool color guard click here https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/16/silver-lining/

Here’s the link to free custom awards printables http://www.dltk-cards.com/award/

betty jo

Special Days in June

By Your Side

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This mommas heart has been heavy. My first born, A21 is leaving the nest. Not for a job or different college, but for love. A love that is not here in Kentucky, but in Michigan. I knew this day would eventually come, but that doesn’t help my emotions any. This is not some surprise news, they have been planning this for months. I have imagined the worst possible outcomes. I’ve cried rivers. I have thrown fits. This was not in my plan for my son!

I have very close friends in our homeschooling support group. As I whined and complained about my A quitting his job (it’s a cruddy job) and not signing up for the fall semester at college, one of the moms looked right at me and said I just simply had to trust God with my son now. I replied, “I trust God, just not my son!”

For days, no weeks, that conversation has haunted me. That other mom was right. I wasn’t trusting God with this situation.

I don’t know the plans HE has for my son. I know A belongs to God and has a personal relationship with Christ Jesus. I know the WORD is in his head and his heart. And, if he makes a mistake or two, the Lord will use it for his good. He will grow from it. And, if this move is God’s plan, then it won’t be long before I have a daughter-in-law and a very happy son!

The girl is beautiful and sweet. She loves him. I truly cannot blame him for wanting to be with her. His moving so many miles away may even be Biblical if the courtship goes right. “Therefore a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife” (Genesis 2:24)

It’s time for this momma to let him go. His dad and I have educated him. We have taught him the best that we could . We believe that he knows what to do to be a man. We have shared our faith and A made it his own years ago. He is smart and talented. He works hard and loves much.

I am assured that my A isn’t going away totally on his own, but he is taking his Best Friend with him. He will stay by his side, He will teach him. He will spark A’s memory of what he has learned from being a child of God.

I have this same Best Friend who will stay by my side too. He’ll comfort me, dry these tears, and remind me that He’s got this under control. He sees the big picture, not I.

For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Hebrews 13:5)

But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you. (John 14:26)

Dear reader, pray with me to get my emotions under control and actually start trusting the One with the plan. He will lead and guide my child. God does not require my interference, opinion, or my controlling nature with what He has in store for my first born.

betty jo