Journey to Excellence

A couple of weeks ago I was asked to write a guest post at Or So She Says .... I chose to write about how a rookie homeschooling mom can prepare for the world of homeschooling. If you would like to read that post, you can go here .

I have posted about how Dawson loves to explore. And he loves hands-on experiences. For him, a trip to the art museum is magical, especially if they have a scavenger hunt attached to it. Today I read about Letterboxing from a fellow blogger, BJ Mama at For What It's Worth ... Or Not . You can go here to read about her 10 "Why Not" reasons you've got to try Letterboxing. I have never heard of this, have you? It sounds so cool! You buy a journal, purchase or create your own rubber stamp, buy a stamp pad and a compass, visit some websites to obtain clues and head out on a treasure hunt. People (lots and lots and lots of people) have written clues for you to follow to find a treasure. At that treasure location you will find a rubber stamp and a log. Many of these stamps are handmade. You stamp that person's stamp in your journal (and write about it if you want) and then stamp your stamp in their log. They have a record that you have been there and you have a journal...

Dawson was just plain angry at the beginning of the weekend. He was really hard to get along with. After much poking and prodding, I got him to open up to me about why he was so out of sorts. Apparently a rumor had been started that a boy, notorious for fighting and currently in in-school suspension because of it, was mad at Dawson and was going to "hurt him." Dawson was reacting out of fear and stress. This boy is the same boy that bullied him all the way through 6th grade. Dawson doesn't even know his last name. I offered to call the school to notify them of this boy's threats, but Dawson told me he did not want me to get involved. So, after much consideration and prayer, I decided to honor his wishes. I want him to always feel that he can open up to me and talk to me. If I betray him, he may not do that anymore. Rick and I have discussed it and have decided that should anything happen, we will go ahead and take him out of school this year. I have told Dawson that w...

He has, generally, C's and D's on most of his schoolwork that involve worksheets, workbook pages and tests. But, he has straight A's on projects and labs. Remember this, Nicole! Remember this when you are teaching him next year. Turn his learning around by doing it in the way he excels. Get his mind and hands moving!

There's not much left to do right now. Later in the summer we will be gathering the remainder of our supplies, setting up the classroom upstairs and getting the books requested from the library. But for now, we are just going to concentrate on ending this current school year strong. My posts will be extremely limited on this particular blog, until we pick back up in our preparations. See you soon!

A project I have been needing to tackle for the past 2 1/2 years finally came to a head this weekend. With schooling Dawson at home next year, I needed to get our office supply closet organized! I had craft supplies and office supplies and scrapbooking supplies just piled in boxes and bags and sitting loosely on the shelves. I also had a three-drawer craft cabinet in the garage full of odds and ends. I bought several shoe box plastic tubs and labeled them. Then I took to moving all of my scrapbook stuff to the left side of the closet and organizing my supplies in the tubs and stacking them neatly on the right side of the closet, including all of the things in the craft cabinet. Now it's all neatly organized and in one place in our house! Ahhh!!! We are one step closer!

I got my Saxon Algebra 1/2 curriculum in the mail this week. I love Saxon math! And I love how it has a teacher's manual with the answers in it. And I love how it came with the test masters with problem solutions included. And I love that I got it all for $30 when it costs well over $100 for all three books new. (The used ones I bought off of ebay are in perfect condition!) Actually, I think Dawson will like going back to Saxon math. There's one lesson per day and it's easy to find examples if you're stuck. It's very predictable and builds on previous lessons, so lots of variety in the daily problems. I also found a really cool thing called Life of Fred that could make Algebra, Geometry and Trig, dare we say it, FUN! If we can get ourselves all caught back up with our Saxon Pre-Algebra this year, we might just give that one a try for 9th grade. Also, thank you to those of you who have sent me e-mails and text messages with homeschooling information and resources. ...