Exploring God's World

There are so many things I love about homeschooling, but the one main thing I love is that the kids can see God's world live instead of in a book.

I always look for fun new things to do and see, but sometimes we tend to go to the same places we go to year after year because one, there's always something new and two, we just love it there!

This year we have been busy with some new and old field trips.  A new one was a smaller zoo that has tons of lions and tigers and some other animals that you may not see up close and personal!

The kids and I saw animals we have never seen before! I never saw a White Lion. Not even on TV or in books. I also don't remember seeing a White Tiger. Maybe in a book, but never in person!

 

Something we do every year is go to a pumpkin patch that gives amazing tours! We have gone to so many different tours there and love them all!

The kids love learning about where our food comes from, feeding the animals and also just being kids and having fun!

Also in October, we celebrate Fire Safety Month and go visit our local Fire Department.  This tour is never boring and always so informative! Every year we go, they add more and more and it gets better and better!

 We also went to feed animals that you might not see everyday at a ranch. Who can say they got to pet a zebra?

 

We really are blessed to live by so many wonderful places. Our trips are not over yet! There is still more to come!

First Fun Friday of the New School Year! Kool-Aid Playdough

Every Friday we do something fun, go somewhere really cool ,or maybe even wear something fun or weird  to school.  (maybe I can be the sterotype and wear PJ's)

So today was our first fun Friday of the new year, so we made Kool Aid Playdough. It's super easy, super fun and smells super yummy!

The first thing you will need are the ingredients:
1 Cup Flour
1/4 Cup Salt
1 Packet of Kool-Aid
2/3 Cup Water *You will end up using  between 1/2 and 2/3 cup
1 TBSP Oil

Mix the flour, salt, and the Kool-Aid together. Boil the water and when the water starts to boil, add the oil to it. Stir and then add to the dry mixture. Stir until it becomes playdough form.

Let dough cool and then have fun playing with it. And by the way, it smells yummy!!!!

2014-2015 School Year Curriculum

So yet another year is here!  I'm not sure where the summer went, but we are welcoming the new school year and getting back into a schedule.

I have decide to try a couple new things this year, which  is what I do every year! What can I say, I am embracing change for once! I guess I figure, if I get bored with something the kids will too, so I try to mix it up once in awhile.

First for the curriculum. Our core is still A Beka, but I have added a few other things here and there.

For Minnie (me) who is in third grade this year, she is using A Beka for Reading, Phonics, Language, History, Writing, Health and Spelling.  I think they have a great reading program, so I am sticking with it! When she first started using this, she already knew the letter sounds, so I moved her ahead and we began blends in pre-K.  (another plus to homeschooling, you can move ahead!)  You can check out all their curriculum here:  ABeka

For Math, we are using Saxon 3. I really love Saxon and how hands on the program is. My kids are such hands on learners, so this was perfect for us!  Check them out here:  Saxon Math

Minnie (me) does Science in co-op, but I do have her reading the ABeka reader for extra knowledge and a longer reading time!  (aka quite time)

For Super Boy, who is a second grader this year, he also is using A Beka for Reading, Phonics, Language, History (he is actually doing 3rd grade History) Writing, Health, and Spelling. He too is using Saxon Math, but Math 2.

Super Boy is doing his Science in co-op as well, but just like Minnie(me), he is reading the science reader from A Beka.

Every year, I have the kids do an "All About Me" worksheet where they write all kinds of sweet things about themselves. This year, they wanted to read them in from of the "class".  I thought it was a great idea and I loved that they wanted to share it with me and their sibling!

Another thing I am trying this year is getting on the workbox bandwagon. We're only on day three of school, but so far it's working like a charm!

I do all my prep work the night before, so I go through and see what we're doing the next day.  I put the child(rens) work in the draw and it goes with a number. (1-??)  So after our Bible time, which we do together, they go to number one.  They both have something different for that number, so that gives me time to teach one child while the other one is working on something quietly. (like reading, writing or doing a lapbook)  When that subject is done, they move it over to the subject spot and then they know to move on to the next number.  I am loving it because I don't have tell the child I am not working with at the time what he/ she should be doing. They just do to the next number. Some number do have a spot that says "Work with Mom", so they know to wait for me to be done with the other child.  I also made cute number labels for the kids favorite things (or one of them).  Minnie(me) has American Girls and Super Boy has Transformers.

Changing Your Financial Future!

When I got on the blog bandwagon, I decided to write about what I was going through at the time (and still going through) which is my adventures in homeschooling. But there is a subtitle about our adventures in life too. Adventure because we moved to a new state when I began this blogging journey. So let's get into that part of the adventure....life!  Let's talk finances.

Anyone who knows me knows that I love to read, especially if it's a great book where I can actually apply it to my life. I'm not much for fiction books, so they will barely make it to my bookshelf or Kindle Fire, but if it's non-fiction, well then, we can talk! (or read!)

A couple of months ago the church that we were attending offered a Dave Ramsey Financial Peace class. We signed up, but I will admit I did have my doubts.  We have tried a couple of budgeting ideas that we either came up with ourselves or heard about, but nothing really worked, so we just didn't stick to it.  We were trying basically to pay some things off and grow back up our savings account, because in four years, we moved four times! I was praying that this one would be different because I was tired of failing! Dave Ramsey is a pretty well- known fella, so what did we have to lose, but maybe our minds for trying yet another get-out-of-debt, financial peace plan that was easier said then done.

We knew that if we were going to do this, we were going to do this 100%. So every Sunday night we went to the class and something weird happened. Every night we were actually learning something and Dave (Ramsey) made it fun!  I never thought learning how to do a $0 budget would be fun!!  There were a few times I was a stinker because his envelope system didn't sound like it was for us, but you know what?!?!?!?  It's actually perfect for us! I can't imagine NOT doing it! This has made such a difference in our lives too! We only use our debit card (for this like gas and online purchases) and we ONLY use cash for everything else!

Since it's working so great for us, we wanted to pass this along to our kids so that they don't end up in debt like most people today.  Over the summer I read another must read by Dave Ramsey and his daughter Rachel Cruze. It's called Smart Money Smart Kids.  This is a MUST read for ALL parents.  It talks about how your child(ren) can go to college without student loans to pay for the next 30 years after they graduate, it talks about how to warn your child(ren) about the pitfalls of credit cards and the debt that follows. It also talks about how to start your child(ren) out onto the right path at a young age.  My kids have now started to make commissions and using their own money to buy things that they want. They LOVE it and it is so easy to do!

They have a chart with all their chores listed out for them. When they completed the chore for the day, they check it off. Every Saturday night, I look at their charts and then put their commissions into an envelope that they get Sunday morning.  When they get up Sunday morning to get ready for church, they get their enveloped and count their money. They take a dollar out for offering and the rest is theirs that they divide into saving and spending!  It's a no brainer!!!

Now if you have child that is a senior, don't feel that your too late. It's NEVER too late!  The first step is to buy the book and read it, (it took me three days to finish because it's too good to put down) and then apply it to your situation!

Please check out all the other awesome books that Dave has and you won't regret it! You will only regret not doing it sooner!  Dave Ramsey

If you try this, please comment below and share your story with me!

Another School Year....Finished!

Funny how I am writing about the ending of another successful homeschool year in AUGUST!  I guess time really does fly when you're having fun!

Today I wanted to reflect a little about how the 2013-2014 school year went before we begin yet another year.

Every year seems to be easier as far as knowing what to expect with schedules and how the day will go, but also at the same time being somewhat tough because with each new grade level brings on new challenges, more work and wondering how we are going to make it work.  My kids are only a grade apart, so I always know what to expect for Super Boy because Minnie (me) did it the year before.  Minnie (me) will be in the third grade this year, and looking over her things I am wondering how in the world will I do it all????  This, of course, happens every year!  :)    She will have more and harder spelling words, vocabulary and more seat work, reading and tests and quizes galore! I know that it will all work out because it always does, but there may be a little fear of the unknown going on!

We got our state tests results back over the summer, and their scores were amazing, so I know something is going right! HA!

I am looking forward in this new school year and all the adventures it will have to offer!  I just know that I may need to pray a little bit more this year!  ;)

Reading Fun Time with The Magic Tree House

I'm sure I am like other moms who would rather see her children read a good book instead of sitting in front of a T.V all day. Since  Minnie(me) and Super Boy are at a great age to instil this, I try my hardest to make reading more fun. I do this by finding books that really get their attention and also apply some fun activities to go with the story.

I may be a little behind, but the kids and I have discovered The Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. They are great books about a brother and sister who find a magic tree house and go on these wonderful adventures together. I thought this would be great because the kids can see themselves going on these adventures themselves.  Anything to boost their imaginations right?

The books are only about 10 chapters, which I love because we read about 2 chapters a day. The kids take turns by each reading a page and then after the chapter, we do a little review about what they just read. We do this out loud so that I can help them if needed and the other child knows what is going on in the story as well.

Last week we finished the first book called "Dinosaurs Before Dark." The kids loved it! Super Boy really enjoyed it because he loves dinosaurs!

 After we finished each chapter, the kids had to answer questions about what they just read. They had a Magic Tree House folder where they kept all the activities that we did that went along with the book.  After we finished the book, they also had to complete a lap book. This required some research from some dinosaur books we have. It was great to see them work together and also help each other if there was a hard question.

Since they are still a little young for book reports, I had them do a bag report.  They had some questions they had to answer about the story, draw some pictures of things that happened in the story, and then collect items that reminded them of the story. Since they read about dinosaurs, they put in some dinosaur toys in their bags. They also put in some plastic eggs because the characters in the story came across a dinosaur nest. They also put some sticks in their bags to remind them of the tree house. They put some other neat things in there too!

For our special snack, we made Duck-Bill dinosaurs nests.  They're so easy to make! 

First you melt some peanut butter.

When it's all melted and creamy, you add some pretzels sticks. Stir to make sure that the pretzels sticks are all well coated.

They take clumps and put it on parchment paper to cool. 

When cooled, add candy eggs or jelly beans to look like dino eggs.  Then enjoy!  They were a hit with the kids!

 

Today we just began reading book #2 A Knight At Dawn.  We'll be finished with it on Friday and then we're looking forward to reading more from this fun series!