Enjoying the Chaos

It's funny when you have kids a few years apart and you have to re-teach something that you did before. It's great in a way because the oldest lids are like the test subjects, whereas the younger ones get the benefit of your experience. A few years ago we worked on the Astronomy book in the elementary series from Apologia. We are in the process of reviewing their new version and so I am redoing the course with Captain. I remembered today that when Jam and Boo were doing it we did a fun little project about the phases of the moon with oreo cookies. It was such a hit I had to do it again!

For the last few years I have worked with  ShopGreatProducts.com  and shared information about their amazing $5.99 Christian and Homeschool T-Shirt sale. It's always this time of year and my kids love their shirts. This year Jam and Captain chose the same shirt - just different colors. Boo chose a different design. Jam and Captain chose this one - Boo chose - They are super excited for them to arrive. When they do I will take a picture and post it so you can see how great they look. All Adult and child regular tees are $5.99 and all other apparel including v-necks, ladies/little girls tees, tye-dyes, hoodies, sweats, long sleeve, hats, totes will be 20% off with the coupon code :SAVE20 - There are hundreds of designs - Dozens of colors and styles - You can also order in bulk/groups We use these shirts when we go on field trips or just hanging around the house. It's great to have some fun T shirts.  Check out the company on; FACE...

My son has made a goal this year to read all the G A Henty books by the time he graduates highschool. We have been researching the books and have them in chronological order! So this is his goal to read through all of them - at least all of the historical ones. Here's our list in chronological order - I am sure I am missing some but I will add to this if I find some more! The Cat of Bubastes - Ancient Egypt  The Young Carthaginian - Hannibal's Campaigns  Beric the Briton - Roman Invasion, Gladiators, Burning of Rome and Nero For the Temple - Fall of Jerusalem, 1st Century Jewish Revolt etc... The Dragon and the Raven - King Alfred Wulf the Saxon - Norman Conquest, Vikings, Battle of Hastings Winning His Spurs - Crusades, Holy Wars, Saxons, Normans In Freedom's Cause - Wallace and Bruce, Scottish History St. George for England - Crecy & Poitiers The Lion of St. Mark - War of Venice and Genoa A March on London - Wat Tyler's Insurrection Both Side...

We have been having fun with the  Solar System Flipstir Puzzle  from  Enlivenze.LLC . If you haven't heard of this fun new style of puzzle you are in for a treat! If you have always wanted a puzzle that could never loose a piece you don't have to look any further! I can remember when the kids were little and they thought taking a puzzle on a road trip was a good idea. It was crazy, if a piece didn't get lost in the car, it most certainly did in the hotel room. A missing piece makes a puzzle useless and it ends up being tossed in the trash. Now imagine a puzzle where all the pieces are contained in a plastic tube and you use a spoon like device to line them up correctly. No, I haven't lost my mind that's exactly what this is! Captain is studying Astronomy and so I chose the Solar System Flipstir as it fitted in perfectly and I thought it would be a great reminder! It was perfect we love it! Captain found the puzzle quite hard but I managed to do it on th...

I am so excited for this new  LDS Seminary Year  Boo gets to join Jam at 6:00 AM every morning, and they have a great class and amazing teacher! This year they are studying The New Testament and so of course we will be studying 25 special scriptures this year with them and studying the doctrine within each one. Matthew 5:14-16 Matthew 11:28-30 Matthew 16:15-19 Matthew 22:36-39 Luke 24:36-39 John 3:5 John 7:17 John 14:15 John 15:16 John 17:3 Acts 3:19-21 1 Corinthians 2:5,9-11 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 1 Corinthians 11:11 1 Corinthians 15:20-22 1 Corinthians 15:40-42 Ephesians 2:19-20 2 Thessalonians 2:1-3 2 Timothy 3:15-17 Hebrews 12:9 James 1:5-6 James 2:17-18 1 Peter 4:6 Revelation 20:12 I am so excited for this year. Having been a Seminary teacher myself for 6 years I'm a little jealous but of course in a good way. Studying these scriptures with them is in part to help them, but mainly for me. I need to have this daily input of scriptures in my life...

We have been using the  Starter Set 1  with Captain from  Foreign Languages for Kids by Kids  to learn Spanish this summer. I received ; DVD with videos for Levels 1-3 Three Parent-Teacher Guides which sets out a detailed lesson plan, with a suggested viewing schedule and a variety if fun, supplemental and hands on activities to choose from to reinforce the material taught in the videos. Flashcards and Card Games for Levels 1 to 3 Workbooks for Levels 1-3 Stickers for Levels 1-3 Captain is a very visual learner and this program had barely arrived when he realized what it was and stuck the DVD in the player. Each level has a parent-teacher guide so I had to quickly jump in and read it to catch up with Captain as he wanted to go go go with this program. I of course started with the parent guide to level 1, When you open the parent guide the first section you read is called 'program overview' it explains a little behind the concept. The videos start at 8...

I have an irrational fear of canoes. I don't know why but since our last adventure on the Kickapoo river it is a very well known fact that Mom doesn't like canoeing. Well to say I don't like it is a little harsh. I love being in the canoe, I don't even mind paddling. But if someone comes near my canoe resembling what my kids love to call 'canoe wars' I freak out! It's crazy, I know it's irrational - I can swim - well. I just don't know what comes over me. I get scared to death! The Kickapoo wasn't very clear the day we canoed on it. They said due to recent rain and run off it was muddier that normal. My husband said that might have been part of my problem. He is under the illusion that if the water was crystal clear and I could see to the bottom I would be fine. So he's already planning our next family canoe trip... So watch this space, maybe I will be able to beat this or maybe I will just have to realize that the fear of tipping in a cano...

  We have been using  CTCMath  for a few years and it by far is our favorite program. In fact my fifteen year old won't use anything else for his main curriculum. So when we were offered a  Homeschool Membership  we were all excited. So much so Jam did a happy dance. Yes, you heard right. He did a happy dance when I told him we had been accepted on a MATH review. I have reviewed this before and loved it, and this time was no different. The family homeschool plan covers 2 or more students for a year and is currently on sale for $118.80 which is an amazing price to cover everyone in your household. The program has content from kindergarten to Trigonometry. The program is broken down like this; Kindergarten 1st Grade 2nd Grade 3rd Grade 4th Grade 5th Grade 6th Grade Basic Math and Pre-Algebra Elementary Measurement Elementary Geometry Algebra I Pre-Calculus Algebra II Geometry Trigonometry Captain has worked through Kindergarten, 1st Grad...