Tag Archives: homeschooling

April – More Than Showers

Acts 14:17 “Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.”

Many homeschoolers will be studying earth sciences this month. Ours included. We will be making a backyard weather station, planting some flowers, and doing some special projects and going on field trips for Earth Day.

April is more than a month for rain showers it is Autism Awareness month (around here, J9 makes sure we’re aware of the blessings of Autism every day). It is also Children’s Book, Jazz Appreciation, Global Child Nutrition, Poetry, and Frog Month.

As if these are not enough special themes to work into our monthly homeschooling plans, the April calendar contains many more special days, observances, activities, and historical remembrances. Here’s the complete list of what April offers for learning:

April 1-7: Explore Career Options Week

1 April Fools Day (posted links here: https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/03/31/foolish-studies/), 1st photo of the sun (1845)

2 Peanut Butter and Jelly Day, Hans Christian Anderson born (1805)

3. Washington Irving born (1783), 1st Pony Express (1860), Jane Goodall’s birthday (1860)

4 School Librarians Day

5 Read a Road Map Day, Booker T. Washington born (1856)

6 North Pole discovered (Peary 1908), Raphael born (1483)

7 No Housework Day, World Health Day, National Dare Day, Metric System Day

8 Ponce de Leon born (1460), Dick Turpin born (1739), International Roma Day

10 National Sibling Day

11 National Submarine Day

12 Holocaust Remembrance Day, Drop Everything and Read Day, Paul Revere Day, Anniversary of 1st Space Shuttle launch

13 Guy Fawkes born (1570), Thomas Jefferson born (1743)

14-20 National Library, Astronomy, and International Whistlers Week

14 Titanic crash (1912)

15 Leonardo da Vinci born (1452), Jackie Robinson Day, Death of Abraham Lincoln

16 Wilbur Wright born (1867)

17 Ellis Island Family History Day

18 San Francisco Earthquake (1906)

20 National Pineapple Upside Down Cake Day

21-27 National Coin Week, Safe Kids Week

21 Henry VIII became king of England

22 Earth Day, Jelly Bean Day

23 St. George Day, William Shakespeare born (1564), James Buchanan born

24 International Astronomy Day

25 World Penguin Day, Anzac Day

26 James Audubon born (1785), Pretzel Day

27 Freedom Day (So. Africa), Johannes Kepler born (1571), Ulysses Grant born (1822), Samuel Morse born (1791), Arbor Day

28 Poetry Reading Day, James Monroe born (1758)

29 Duke Ellington born (1899)

30 Vietnam War ended (1975)

There is absolutely no way we can participate in all that April offers, but if it has anything to do with Earth Sciences or Middle Ages history, I’ll be adding it in with our homeschooling studies.

April blessings,

betty jo

Foolish Studies

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Being Easter weekend, I’m a bit behind on working on our homeschool’s April activities and special days calendar. However, with tomorrow being April Fools Day, I wanted to go ahead and share these fun links.

http://www.museumofhoaxes.com/ (be careful with this link, not everything is “child appropriate”)

http://spoonful.com/april-fools-day

Easy April Fools Pranks for Family to do at Home

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/crafts/aprilfool/

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/april-fools-day/

http://www.education.com/results/?q=april+fools+day

http://www.sheknows.com/holidays-and-seasons/articles/827335/best-april-fools-day-pranks-for-kids (be careful on this site, it only has this one blog that is for kids the rest is not child appropriate)

Be on the lookout for more April study ideas coming tomorrow! No fooling!

betty jo

Silly Rabbit

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Speaking of silly rabbits…Z7 loves jokes. He reads joke books and writes them for for his homeschool language arts lessons whenever I will allow it. He loves to tell his jokes to his family, friends, neighbors, pastor, cashiers, and sometimes random strangers. Z7 performed a “stand up” comedy routine at our homeschool support group/co-op’s talent show, and was a hit!

This past week, Z7 has entertained us with cute Easter jokes. His favorites came from Activity Village. http://www.activityvillage.co.uk/easter_jokes.htm. We printed these and he put them in plastic eggs for his friends at today’s egg hunt.

Z7’s top 3 favorite jokes for Easter:

How does the Easter Bunny keep his fur neat? With a HARE brush!

Why did the Easter egg hide? He was a little chicken!

What of kind books do bunnies like? Ones with hoppy endings!

~~Hoppy~~ Happy Easter,

betty jo

15 Today

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B14, (my middle child) is now B15. He celebrated his 15th birthday today. Wow, 15 years old! He and I skipped out on homeschooling today. We went shopping for a new tablet, out to lunch, then later stopped by our house to pick up the others to join our homeschool group for bowling (PE). Tonight we partied on with his favorite home cooked meal, chicken and dumplings, and chocolate cream cake with mini M&Ms.

Though all of that has been fun, my mind has been elsewhere. My thoughts have drifted back 15 years. I was pregnant with B when our family decided we were going to quit public school, (the oldest was in kindergarten). My pregnancy was our homeschool’s first science unit study, and his homebirth was our first science experiment. Though the kindergartener slept through all the excitement, my two year old daughter did not. She learned about design and empowerment, I learned trust, my husband learned to be a true “hands on” kind of dad, and B learned that he was safe, loved, and protected outside my womb. When we woke the oldest, he learned that babies make both families and hearts grow. We all learned about miracles. Miracles make the most awesome homeschooling lessons, don’t they?

On B’s birth announcement we quoted James 1:17a, “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights”. You know his name really isn’t B, it’s Boone. Boone means “gift”. Yes, without a doubt, this boy, I mean young man, is a gift from God.

betty jo

Teaching Hope

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(Click on the image to enlarge)

Our homeschool is finishing up our Holy Week studies and getting ready for Easter Celebrations. But in the midst of our studies we are reminded of that sweet baby’s birth we celebrated just a few months ago. And we are reminded of the “whys” He came down from Heaven. “Behold the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the earth”, John 1:29

We made our own Resurrection Eggs from these free printables from http://www.lapbooklessons.com/ResurrectionLapbook.html.

And we are ready to put the final touches on our Life of Jesus timeline. The last days and hours of our LORD’s life are difficult for me to teach. And I think that these lessons are difficult for the kids to learn about, too, especially for my older kids. I’m not going to “sugar coat” or skip over anything with them.

Of course Jesus’ timeline doesn’t end on the cross, or even in the sealed tomb. In fact, His timeline doesn’t end at all.

This Holy Week, I’m teaching HOPE!

Here’s a video of a song we’ve been listening to.

betty jo

Blogging On Sunshine

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I had a “comment” notification on my blog dashboard. It was from Especially Made. She wanted to tell me that she has nominated Still Learning Something New for this:

The Sunshine Award is an award given by bloggers to other bloggers. The recipients of the Sunshine Award are: “Bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogsphere”. The way the award works is this: Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them. Answer questions about yourself. Select 10 of your favorite bloggers, link their blogs to your post and let them know they have been awarded the Sunshine Award!

Cue the music while you read the rest:

“The way the award works is this: Thank the person who gave you the award and link back to them. Answer questions about yourself. Select 10 of your favorite bloggers, link their blogs to your post and let them know they have been awarded the Sunshine Award!”

THANK YOU, Especially Made, you have no idea how much your nomination encouraged me. Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds”. I’m still feeling nervous and insecure about this new “bloggy thingy”, and I struggle with my recovery from a rather bad case of computerphobia. You strengthened me.

Here are the questions and my answers:

1. What inspired you to start blogging? I blog in a response to sermon challenges of getting out of my “comfort zone”, “casting nets in deeper waters”, “not forsaking the teachings of my youth”. The list is long.

2. How did you come up with the name to your blog? I really am learning something new every day.

3. What is your favorite blog to read? I’ve thought about this, and I honestly cannot choose a favorite.

4. Tell about your dream job. My dream job is exactly what I do now. However, I would add another baby or two, and it would pay a 6 figure yearly income!

5. Is your glass half empty or half full? My glass is empty. I drank it to avoid any debate.

6. If you could go anywhere for a week’s vacation, where would you go? I would love to see the Amazon Rain Forest!

7. What food can you absolutely not eat? Ramen noodles. My boys like them but I can’t stand them.

8. Dark chocolate or milk chocolate? Milk chocolate.

9. How much time do you spend blogging? I’d have to guess 2 – 3 hours. I work on my blogs a little here and there all day.

10, Do you watch TV and if so, what are some of your favorite shows? I like Psych, Swamp People, My Big Fat Gypsy Wedding, and Blue’s Clues.

And here’s 10 of my favorite blogs which I am nominating for their own Sunshine Award.

http://especiallymade.wordpress.com/about/

About

http://jonlilley.com/about/

Who We Are

http://parentingandstuff.wordpress.com/

http://seven2heaven.wordpress.com/about/

http://kingcohl.com/about/

Bio

http://beccascottage.wordpress.com/about/

101 Things about Us

And now, my acceptance speech. I would like to thank the little people, J9 and Z7, and thanks also to the not so little people A22, A21, E17, and B14 for giving me things to blog about.

betty jo

Passover

It’s Going to Be a Good Week

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One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that we do not have to stick to a preset schedule. If we want to veer off the “common core” path, we can. That’s exactly what I have planned for this week.

As I looked at all the different special days to possibly acknowledge, I decided it best if we just have a special kind of week of learning and put our middle ages studies on hold.

This is Holy Week so everyday we will follow what Jesus did these days so long ago. And,

March 25 – Passover (Exodus chapter 12 and we’ll be making unleavened bread and boiling eggs to dye then eat), and Tolkien Reading Day (everyone is already reading other selections, but we haven’t seen the Hobbit yet)

March 26 – “Make Up Your Own Holiday Day” (I wonder what the kids will come up with? I’m thinking, “Kids Doing Mom’s Chores Day”!)

March 27 – Robert Frost’s birthday, 1874 (poetry and biography notebooking)

March 28 – (Don’t laugh, even though I did) “Weed Appreciation Day” (the younger boys can go through our collection of herbal remedy books, but I think I’ll have the older two debate legalization of marijuana). And it’s “National Black Forest Cake Day” (I’m trying not to laugh again, but for someone else this might go hand in hand with the side effects of appreciating weed) – we have never made a Black Forest Cake, so maybe we’ll give it a try. And even more special than weeds and Black Forest Cake, it’s B14’s birthday! (he may not want Black Forest Cake)

March 28 – Good Friday – We’ll have to decide on a movie (Passion of the Christ, The Jesus Film, Story Behind the Cross) and we’ll try making Hot Cross buns.

It’s going to be a good week! I hope you will have one too.

betty jo

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Another New Homeschooler And Another …

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It’s spring and almost time for the school year to come to a close, but there are quite a few parents making some changes about their children’s education. Many are deciding to home educate.

Just this month alone, we added 5 families to our local homeschool support group. At a parent’s meeting, one of the newer moms made the comment that she was looking forward to learning from the “veteran” homeschoolers. I looked around the table to see who she was talking about, and I was shocked that she meant me. I had never thought in the terms of me being a “veteran”. After all, I school a second grader. I really did not know how I could help her out. But wait, I have been homeschooling for 15 years. I have a homeschool grad and two more in highschool and a special needs child as well as that second grader. Maybe I can help. At least I can advise about what not to do. I certainly have experience with what does not work well.

I’m an admin on a brand new Facebook homeschool support group page, Homeschooling Around the World, and we already have several members. Many are just starting their homeschool journey. And they too are looking for some “veteran” advice.

Yesterday while I was at the library, I met a mom and teen daughter who will begin home education for themselves in August. She asked me to point her in the right direction to get started. So for her and whoever else is wanting to start home educating , here’s my top 5 list on what to do first:

1 Pray for wisdom and patience.

2. Learn your state laws: http://www.hslda.org/laws/ or http://www.nhen.org/home.html

3. Checkout a local homeschool support group or co-op: http://www.home-school.com/groups/

4. Figure out your teaching style and your children’s learning styles. This link is good for helping with that: http://www.soyoucallyourselfahomeschooler.com/category/homeschool-approachesmethods-series/

5. Remember that you want your child to love homeschooling so plan some fun learning activities.

If you would like to be added to Homeschooling Around the World on Facebook, join here: http://www.facebook.com/groups/567122276640599/571481952871298./?notif_t=group_clucomment_reply

For more of my posts about our homeschooling and my personal thoughts about teaching:

https://stilllearningsomethingnew.com/2013/02/26/not-so-weird-after-all/

Abeka, Lifepac, and FIAR, Oh My

http://stilllearningomethingnew.com/2013/03/11/concerned-teacher/

Train Up A Child?

Why And How

Happy Schooling,

betty jo

Visiting Solitary

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Do you read what your kids are reading? I do. Not just the books that I assign them for homeschooling, but also I read the books they select for themselves.

When I was a teen I read a lot of books I had no business reading. I got immoral ideas from some of them. I developed an unhealthy fascination with the occult from others. No matter what I read, I absorbed it and somehow fit it into my life. My parents did not have a clue what was between those paper back covers. I think they were just pleased that I was such an avid reader.

E17 is an avid reader, too. I trust her, (she sticks to Christian authors most of the time), but still I always try to know what she is reading. And sometimes, I find myself “caught up” in her library selections as much as she is. That is the case with The Solitary Tales by Travis Thrasher. We just finished Hurt, the fourth and final book in the series.

If I were having to categorize the Solitary Tales, I would have to say “Christian/Suspense/Horror/Supernatural Fiction”. Does that even make any sense? If not now, it will after you read them.

These stories are about a 16 year old boy , Chris Buckley, who moves with his mom to Solitary, North Carolina. Solitary, North Carolina is no place to raise a kid. It’s an evil place, with a heritage of evil, with evil people in charge. And most of the characters that are not evil , to say the least, are quite strange, like Aunt Alice. Chris is special, though, maybe even a hero.

Thrasher must be a fan of obscure rock music from the 80’s, for he includes lyrics and suggested playlists from bands I listened to back then. I won’t say anything more as I wouldn’t want to ruin it for you. But, you should know there are awesome Bible themes and Scripture references mixed with the horror throughout the series. I’m a little sorry that it’s over.

E17 and I have had many long talks about Solitary and Chris. And having long talks with my daughter is always good. I wonder what she’s going to bring home from the library next?

betty jo