Journey to Excellence

There are some great singers our there! Here are just a couple I thought you might enjoy …  

Last year I read a post by Heidi at HomeSchoolroom about their unit study on the Iditarod . I knew this was something we would enjoy so calendared it for this year. As the 2014 Iditarod race begins this Saturday, March 1st, we started our studies this week. I thought I would share what we are doing in case you would like to jump in. There's still time! Literature As we always have to incorporate a read aloud, we are reading Winterdance by Gary Paulson. Did you know that the famed youth author has actually raced in the Iditarod? I can't think of a better living book on this topic! Videos We wanted to watch "Toughest Race on Earth" produced by The Discovery Channel in 2008. The only place we could find it for free was on Youtube broken down into six episodes. The quality is not first-rate, but it's good enough for us and well worth the time to watch! We have already learned so much and can't wait to watch the rest. (And we may get that chance t...

Science has been an area where we have struggled over the years. We tend to fit it in when it corresponds with another unit we are doing, but have not been able to stick with any formal science curriculum. This has worried me because I do not really have a way to assess if my kids are up to par on what they should know about science.  Science4Us.com is a web based science program that is recommended for Grades K-2, but it is also recommended for grades 3-5 as a refresher course. That is what caught my eye and what made me realize that this was a product I really wanted us to review. We received a six-month subscription to Science4Us.com Online Subscription   for both Eli and Brynne. I was able to register both kids separately in my class. We do grade level work for 3rd and 4th grade, so we jumped right into the program. We decided that we would complete one module per week and that turned out to be completely doable. Both of the kids were registered onto the program...

I saw over at Managing Your Blessings that Carlie has eliminated the prompts for the Homeschool Mother's Journal . Sometimes I think that I don't like using them, but then I go back and read my posts and realize how it helps me to center on what we really accomplished in the past week. So I have decided to continue using them, for the most part, but change it up just a tad. The Past Week in our Regular Life Where was that warm weather we were supposed to get last weekend? Not in Missouri, that's for sure! We froze all weekend! But by Tuesday it was in the 50's. Brynne and I rode our bikes to and from her basketball practice that night. That was a nice change! And instead of unit study on Wednesday afternoon, I told the kids they could get outside and ride their bikes for 30 minutes, but it was windy! By Wednesday night it was raining, and rained all day. Today it was so nice I actually got out and cleaned up the yard. And it's supposed to get cold again by Sun...

Life can be so serious sometimes and for me, lately, it really has been! So, when I saw a set of photos produced by a haunted house in Canada and literally laughed out loud, almost to the point of tears, I decided that maybe someone else needed a sadistic laugh today, too. Photo Credit Go to this link to see more of these photos. And be ready to laugh!

I am joining up with Simple Homeschool to share in their "A Homeschool Day in the Life" Series. You have seen how we handle our days on multiple occasions (if you are a regular follower). But, I thought I would share one of our days from the past week. And these types of days are what are most typical. So how does a mom and two 4th graders get from here ... to here ... in just a few hours? We start out with our Bible lessons. That's always a good place to start. Then we throw in a little laughter when one of us shakes the Stick Jar too hard and the sticks all go flying everywhere. And then just a few minutes later a couple of tears fall when composing grammatically correct sentences proves to be too difficult. We always work through our core subjects in the morning while our minds are fresh and ready (grammar, spelling, reading, handwriting and math). We aren't "dum dums", sometimes we have a piece of candy to help ge...

In our regular life this week… I like to think that I am generally good at handling stress. But this week I struggled. It's difficult to have so many things out of your control and to watch so much injustice happen. I caved to the pressure and had a couple of rough days emotionally.  But, I am finding my way back out of the darkness and putting my trust back where it should be. I am sure the cold temperatures and constant snow and ice have not helped matters either. It is so hard to feel motivated to do anything in these temps. And when I feel sluggish physically I feel sluggish emotionally. The greatest news is that the temps will be in the 50's and 60's starting tomorrow. It's already been 30 degrees warmer which has made a huge difference! Hallelujah!!! In our homeschool this week… We had a great week of school. I am grateful for the pleasure of teaching my children and getting to watch them grow and enjoy learning. Bible - We learned all about the maj...