It’s been a busy week here, full of schoolwork and church activities. Monday’s are the only day no one has to be at church. Seriously. Every other day one or all of us has to be at church at least for a couple of hours. Good thing we only live about 5 miles from church!

The kids are still progressing good with their work. I printed out planners for them from Schoolhouse Teachers.com They are awesome planners! They have several to choose from. We’re using the high school planner and the intermediate planner. This is the first year I don’t have some sort of central planner for everyone. All four of my students have their own planner. They help put them together, check to see what they need to do, write down what they did and keep track of their own work. I’m loving this! If I want to lesson plan or check their work, I get their individual planners. Surprisingly, they are all loving it, too. I thought I might have trouble with the 6th grader, but he took right to having his own. You can read my review of Schoolhouse Teachers.com. We still love it!

I really need to post about what we are using for 6th, 8th, 11th (who is almost ready for 12th) and 12th grades. Hopefully, I’ll get that typed up soon. I should just bring all their planners to the computer and start typing! lol

They all have some work on the computer now.  We do have more than one computer, but all the school stuff is on the school laptop. Even though they are using a few websites, like Schoolhouse Teachers, all the links and passwords are stored on that one computer. “gasp* We can’t be expected to remember the passwords, now can we? lol I think it’s time to make out a computer schedule. Definitely a computer schedule. We’ll work on that next week.

In lieu, of pictures, because I have none, I’ll leave you with some quotes from P.E. this week.

 

“I’m sweating!”

“Guys! My heart is beating!”

“I’m about to collapse a lung!”

 

Awesome, right! lol  I’ll try and have some awesome pictures next week!

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

How to Teach Your Children Home Ec Skills
Copy Work for Boys
Handwriting Worksheets
Graduation Present – It took this Dad 12 years to make it. It looks so cool! Homeschoolers could do it, too, using Sunday School teachers, Co-op teachers, etc. What a special gift!

7 Reasons to Teach Astronomy to Your Kids
List of adventure books for boys – this link is different, it’s to an Amazon.com page that lists great books for boys.
14 Fun Facts about Fireflies
10 fun Math Exercises from a Bingo Game

 

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

Homeschooling can be expensive. So I thought I’d share a few homeschool curriculum coupon codes with you.

Pearson Homeschool is offering 25% off their myWorld Social Studies. Through 9/15, customers can get $20 off the regular price of the myWorld Social Studies homeschool bundles (grades K-6) – a savings of more than 25%. Use promo code: MYW25.

Here’s my review of Pearson Homeschool myWorld Social Studies.

 

These Super Duper Publications coupon codes are going to expire in ten days. There are three different codes for three different products.

 

Jeepers Peepers
Coupon Code:    BLGJP30
Save 30%   Expires 8/31/12

HearBuilder Following Directions Home Edition
Coupon Code:        BLGFD30
Save 30%    Expires 8/31/12

HearBuilder Auditory Memory Home Edition
Coupon Code:       BLGAM30
Save 30%    Expires 8/31/12

 

Here’s my reivew of HearBuilder Auditory Memory Home Edition. You can also read reviews of all three products listed above at the Schoolhouse Review Crew post for Super Duper Publications.

 

I hope you found some codes to use. Happy Homeschooling!

As part of The Schoolhouse Review Crew I received a free Vocabulary Spelling City.com online subscription to review.

 

 

Vocabulary Spelling City  offers over 42,000 spelling words with customizable sentences and definitions, a real person who says each word and sentence, free home pages for teachers and parents to save lists, teacher training videos, free printable handwriting worksheets, free teaching resources with lists and lesson plans, twenty-five games to play online or to print. Games include: Alphabetical Order, Unscramble, Parts of Speech, HangMouse, Crossword Puzzle, WordSearch, and Vocabulary Test.

Here’s an overview:

 

 

Vocabulary Spelling City’s mission is efficient game-based study of literacy skills using any word list.

 

 

Parents and teachers can search for and use the words and lists on the site or upload their own. I have a spelling curriculum that I’ve used for all my kids for years. It was very easy to input the words I wanted each of my students to use. In just a matter of minutes, I had a few lists for all four of my kids. I’ve only done 6 lists so far, but it would be very easy to input a whole years worth of spelling lists in a fairly short amount of time. I’ll be working on that shortly.

Once I had a list of words, I was able to pick which activities I wanted the students to complete. I originally had Teach Me, Alphabetical Order, Unscramble, HangMouse, Crossword Puzzle, WordSearch, and Spelling Test. Many of the games and activities are available to print for worksheets. I haven’t used this feature, as all my kids having been using it online only. You also have the option of choosing which students you want to assign the list to. That makes it easy if you have students that can work on the same list. You also have the option of choosing a due date, one that you set for the length of time you want. I gave all my students new lists on Mondays and with a due date Fridays.  If they found the list easy, and worked ahead, they could finish the work earlier and have a day or two off from spelling.

As they were doing it the first week, all four of the kids said they didn’t like HangMouse. As the kids are working down the list of activities, they have to complete each one before they can move onto the next activity. So I went in to change it. However, once students start working on a list, you can’t change the activities.  So unfortunately, deleting that assignment and starting over with it was the only way I could find to make the changes I needed.

That was the only problem I had with Vocabulary Spelling City, though. Overall, it was a great website to work with. My children have been enjoying their spelling lessons much more and spending more time working with on them than when they were writing them out on paper.  And that’s a good thing.  🙂 I also really liked the voice that said the words out loud. It’s a real voice, not a computerized voice.

I will be continuing to use this website with my kids for the rest of the school year, most likely returning to use for for a couple of more years.

 

 

Registration is free at  Vocabulary Spelling City! When you register, you can save and customize your own lists.

Premium memberships are available, also. A family with up to 5 students costs $29.99. There are also several classroom rates, check the website for those.

You can use Vocabulary Spelling City for free, but when you upgrade to a premium membership, you will receive:

Automated student recordkeeping – no more manual grading of tests.
Complete access to our vocabulary content including definitions, parts of speech, synonyms and antonyms.
Premium learning games and activities that motivate students to study.
Student and list grouping features for differentiated learning.
The ability to create assignments for individual students, groups, or the entire class.
No commercial ads.

Visit Vocabulary Spelling City to see what works for your family.

 

 

 

*Disclosure of Material Connection: I received a free subscription  in the hope that I would mention it on my blog. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers. My opinions are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

We  had a great first week back in the books! Everyone is liking their new books. Some are finishing up a few books from last year, so will get new books as they go along.

We don’t have a schedule per say. More of a routine. I prefer the kids to be up, finished with their morning list by 9 so they can start school at 9.  Sometimes, life is busy, and they have to stay up late. I won’t  wake them up to start. I’ve always been a “Don’t wake the sleeping children!” mama. lol Teenagers are just as cranky (if not more!) as toddlers when they don’t get enough sleep.

So once they are up, and finish their morning list, they start school work. We work until 12ish then break for lunch. Usually at 1 I have them do their afternoon lists, then they finish their schoolwork. School is over for the day when they are done. I had one student who spent ALL day in her new math book (one lesson, mind you!). Student finally finished math at 4, then still had to do the rest of their work. Thankfully, this rarely happens. They can’t stand it if they have to keep working and their siblings have hours of free time. That’s the best motivator to finish school work. lol

I had a very funny 6th grader this week. Upon finding out he had to put a list of words in alphabetical order, he declared, “But I don’t know the alphabet!”. In a very whiny voice. I couldn’t help myself, I laughed out loud! So did his 3 siblings who were nearby. lol He managed to remember the alphabet rather quickly and finished the list. lol

Two of the kids, Abby & Zach, went on a road trip Thursday with Dad to visit Grandma in Ohio. The hubster got out of work early and decided to go visit his Mom for her birthday. They left at 2 in the afternoon and got home at about 11:45 that night. It’s a 3 hour trip each way, so they were very glad to get out of the car! Yes, they slept in on Friday morning!

Last night, our church had a lock in for the middle and high schoolers. That includes all 4 of my students! Right now, while I’m typing this at 3:20 in the afternoon, 3 of them are sleeping. After waking up from a short nap, Calen went across the street to his other grandmothers. He said if he didn’t he’d fall asleep again. lol I plan on making them go to sleep early tonight, even though they won’t like it, as they have to be ready to leave for church by 8:30 in the morning. They all had a GREAT time with their friends, so I guess it was worth it. I’m just glad I wasn’t a chaperon and didn’t have to stay up all night! lol

 

Here are a few links I found interesting and helpful:

The Ultimate List of Inexpensive Art Projects
Top 10 Educational Magazines
iCivics Online Civics Class – complete 1/2 credit course $40, $30 for HSLDA memebers
Ultimate Homeschool Guides
Lots of Science Worksheets

Make Your Own Place Value Chart
Lots of Printable Games
Free Constitution Lap Book
Free Copy of the Constitution – They also have an awesome free Constitution class my son took earlier this year
Civil War Lapbook

 

 

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

We worked on our Olympic Lapbooks again this week. Unfortunately, we haven’t finished them yet. We will continue next week with them and with our England Unit Study. Life kept getting in the way of finishing. Life such as taking a child to the doctor for a tick bite, then getting stung in the parking lot (me!!), then having to take lots of Benadryl.  That’s just one example!

We also did a couple of subjects on the computer for a couple of the kids. I can’t tell you yet, as they are for a review. 🙂

We bought new scissors last week. Well, my husband did when he went shopping. He bought little kids scissors, even though our youngest is now 12 and doesn’t need them. I could not believe how excited the 13 and 12 year olds were about those scissors! We got our lapbooks out to work on, and they ran for the new scissors.  You should have heard all the oohing and ahing. lol Once they found out what the sheath was for, they got even more excited. Zach, 12, said, “We can run with scissors now!!”  lol Sorry son, no you can’t.

 

And here he is, working on his Olympics lapbook in the living room while watching the Olympics. See that mess? Well, he didn’t do it all himself. Abby helped. She just RAN when she saw me with the camera. lol They did clean it up themselves, though, even vacuumed. 🙂

Abby sings on the Youth Praise Team at our church and has appointed herself in charge of the music books. After a few weeks of them pulling out the songs they need, and not putting them back, the books are a mess. So she brings them home to get them back in order. I just wish she could figure out a way to do it without laying ALL the songs on the living room floor! Oh well, it’s for a good cause, right?

I really need to get our plans for this school year down on paper or blog post, as the case may be. And out of my head! lol

Monday we will be back to a full schedule of book work, as well as finishing our lapbooks. Should be an interesting week!

 

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

This week has been all about the Olympics. We’ve been watching as much as possible live, and then watching what we missed. We’ve had lots of great discussions about time differences, the metric system, and sports rules. We’ve been working on our lapbooks, also.

We haven’t had any of our English Olympic food yet, but tomorrow we’re having fish and chips!

To see what else we’re doing and what we’re using for our Olympics study, visit my Homeschooling and the Olympics post.

My baby, Zach, turned 12  last Saturday! He’s now in the 6th grade, too. This is the first time in a very long time (13? or something years!) that I don’t have an elementary student! I find that kind of shocking and kind of good all at the same time. lol Now I have 2 twenty something “kids”, three teenagers, and a 12 year old. Next year, I’ll have FOUR teenagers! Yep, I’m old! lol Here’s Zach on his new bike. He loves it!

On Tuesday, some of the kids were making signs for a friends birthday so they decided to do some paintings while the supplies were out. The Olympics made it into two of the paintings. lol The one on the back right is flowers that looked better when the paint was wet. The did a great job and had fun. We won’t talk about the mess, okay?

They’ve been at church a few nights this week for different projects and practices. Tonight there is a cookout for the youth. There are still there as I type this. I’m sure they’re having a blast!

Next week is more Olympics and we’ll start adding in a little regular schoolwork, too.

 

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.

The Olympics are here! I love using the Olympics for school. I have since we started homeschooling in 1991. (yes, I’m old! lol) Since I had so much information to share about homeschooling and the Olympics, I put it all in a separate post, Homeschooling and the 2012 Olymmpics. Stop by and see what we do!

The three youngest kids have all been at sleep away church camp this week. It sure has been quiet around here! When they left Monday morning:

I sure have missed them and can’t wait until they get home tonight!

Before she left, Hannah made a toiletries case she had seen on Pinterest.  Here it’s rolled for the suitcase.

And open, it has 3 “slots”. You could also put more “slots” in if you wanted. It depends on the size of the items you’ll be putting in it. Very clever and I think she did a great job!

Monday is back to school for us! First up is sending in our homeschool notification letter. Since the Olympics coincide with our back to school dates, we won’t be starting a full load of book work until the Olympics are over. We’ll concentrate on the unit studies, lapbooks and activities for the Olympics. As well as items we are working on for reviews.
I posted a review last week for Super Duper Publications Hear Builder Auditory Memory. If you looking for a way to increase your children’s auditory memory, check it out. I also posted a review for Knowledge Quest TimeMaps. Very cool!

 

To see more homeschooling posts, visit Weekly Wrap Up.