Journey to Excellence

So, this is the last post in this year's {Not} Back-to-School Blog Hop hosted by iHomeschool Network .  It's always fun to document our curriculum, our schoolroom, our first day of school pics and our schedule. Here is how we do things around here. It is really 7:01 a.m. I have always set my clock ahead 15 minutes trying to psych myself into thinking it's not so early.. 7:00 a.m. ~ My alarm goes off and I crawl out of bed and limp to the coffee pot. I take the dogs potty, fix my coffee, feed the cat, give the dogs a crunchy bone, and climb back in bed with my computer. Then for the next 30 minutes I get updated on my blogs, e-mails, and news at the Schoolhouse Review Crew site. Dawson is getting up and ready for school during this time. 7:30 a.m. ~ I jump in the shower and have my second cup of coffee. Dawson leaves for school. 8:00 a.m. ~ I grab my coffee and head to the Sitting Room for my quiet time. It is during this time that I do my Bible study, ...

It's Student Photo Week at iHomeschool Network's {Not} Back-to-School Blog Hop . I would like to introduce to you the 2013/2014 students of Pursuit Academy. We have students here, there, and everywhere. And each year we have homeschooled it has been different. This year we have one starting Cosmetology school in October, one in our public high school, and two homeschooled 3rd/4th graders. Here they are: I'll update this with her 1st day photo once she starts school. Kyndal is our oldest. She is 18 years old and graduated from public high school in May. She is enrolled in cosmetology school and begins her classes on October 1st. She will spend 8 weeks doing all of her classwork and then will move out to the salon for training. Her schooling will be complete in September of 2014. Dawson is our second child. He is 16 years old and is a junior at the public high school where I graduated. This year he is taking Algebra I, U.S. Government, Chemistry, English II...

Just looking at other's schoolrooms linked up in iHomeschool Network's " {Not} Back-to-School Blog Hop got me motivated to get up with my bum knee and get our area reorganized and ready to go. Good thing, cause we started school today! In Oklahoma, we had a large room upstairs that was empty and perfect for a schoolroom. The problem? We hated doing school there. It was not inspiring and it kept us feeling "trapped". I thought we would need a classroom environment to function well. Boy was I a newbie! It wasn't until we moved everything downstairs to the couch, coffee table, and kitchen did we realize how diverse our learning could be! When we moved to Missouri last year, we more than halved our living space. And even though there was a room that we could have designated as a schoolroom, we decided against it and just stuck to what we knew worked for us. I like to call it Dining Room School. Our dining room is in the center of our house, with ...

I look so forward to the iHomeschool Network {Not} Back-to-School Blog Hop every year. I could spend hours (and sometimes do) pouring over other homeschoolers' choices for curriculum, looking at their schooling spaces, checking out their cute back-to-school photos, and reading a day-in-the-life of other homeschooling families. It's a lot of fun and I get lots of ideas and inspiration. I shared our curriculum choices in a recent Weekly Wrap-up, but thought I would spell it out on a separate post and include links and photos of products. I am not an affiliate of any of these products, but thought you might enjoy easy access to view them. Here is what we will be doing this year our 3rd/4th grade year (we advance our grade levels in January): Bible  - We will start each morning stick-figuring through the Bible continuing with  Grapevine Studies: Old Testament Overview  (Level 3-4). In looking at the website , I do not believe they sell this book any longer. They...