Journey to Excellence

"Mommy ... can I play the computer?" That is a question I hear VERY often from my 8 and 6 year old. There are a few websites that they know they are free to use, as long as they ask first. Some of them are just for fun. But, I always like to have a handful of educational websites available for them on the Bookmarks Bar. IXL is now there, and I am THRILLED! So are my kids! In fact, in one two-day span, Brynne logged 2 hours! (How do I know this? The system keeps track of it!) IXL approaches "each math concept from all angles, offering visual representations, word problems, interactive activities, and more. With an abundance of math problems for every learning style, students can't help but build lasting skills and confidence" (from the website) When the kids are ready to play, they just click on the link and choose their grade level. They have both been working on Second Grade. There are so many different types of less...

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I promise I have read these chapters, but I have been pretty distracted the past week with helping my sister paint, kids' activities, my husband's birthday, and our anniversary weekend. So I'm going to go back through what I have read, and my sticky notes, to tell you about the things that stood out to me in Chapters 5, 6, and 7. Really, I just spent the majority of those chapters reminiscing about my childhood play times, and how I know that my kids to do not have the same experiences I had. It's not that they don't have the room, or nature opportunities to explore. It's just that it's a different world with different distractions, the majority of which being electronic. Chapter 5. A Life of the Senses: Nature vs. the Know-It-All State of Mind. "I go to nature to be soothed and healed, and to have my senses put in tune once more." ~ John Burroughs Do you see nature being "packaged" for our pleasure in the commercial world as...

In my life this week ... it's been pretty much about others. Last weekend I spent the entire weekend helping my sister redecorate her living room, dining room, kitchen, and hall bathroom, and paint and create her baby's nursery. We baked and gave a sweet treat to our public school librarians. And, we celebrated Rick's birthday by throwing him a golf-themed birthday dinner . BUT, this weekend Rick and I are going away for the weekend to celebrate our anniversary. And I am looking forward to it! In our homeschool this week ... We really didn't do a whole lot in the schooling department. We read a tad bit, Brynne worked on letter writing for her Keeper's Club, we had our second Keeper's Club meeting , and the kids played the computer several times. Otherwise, we were either having fun or relaxing. Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share ... We are going on a vacation next week. My personality is to make EVERYTHING educational. And I know that as ho...

General Background Information When I first saw that the Pearson Homeschool materials were being offered for review, I was instantly taken back to my elementary school days. It appeared to be very textbook-oriented, and I immediately had a negative attitude toward it (just being transparent, here.) It wasn't because it was a textbook (I happened to LOVE textbooks as a kid), but Dawson has not done well with textbooks in the past. Dawson and I were having our typical end-of-the-year discussion about his math curriculum. We have attempted to use some tried-and-true-highly-recommended-and-often-used math curriculums that just did not work for him. But, at the end of the year he is always convinced that his current math curriculum is "too easy" with not enough problems, and so he wants to explore some other opportunities. I, on the other hand, don't want to spend hundreds more dollars on math curriculums that he hates. (And, quite honestly, I think the re...

Yesterday was our second Keeper's Club meeting of the summer, and our topic was "Storytelling". Our hostess had such a fun and appropriate activity for the girls.  They colored puppet faces of characters from the story "The Little Red Hen". Once they were colored and cut out, they were taped to craft sticks to be used as puppets. Then the hostess read the book The Little Red Hen and the girls used their puppets to act out the story. To earn their Storytelling pin, the girls have to do the following at home: Tell one story from the Bible Tell one parable of Jesus Tell one story about a lesson that God taught you Tell one story which illustrates a character trait such as honesty or truthfulness In the next couple of weeks, we will be completing the requirements for our "Letters" and "Storytelling" pins. We have lots of work to do. But, the girls are really enjoying this club and the activities. I highly encourage yo...

Remember my post on our unit study of The Lorax ? At the end of that post I told you that we had joined The Arbor Day Foundation for $10. We were to receive 10 trees (we chose the Wild Bird Variety) in exchange for our membership fee. I wanted Brynne to experience how planting these tiny "twigs" could make such a huge difference in our world. Those trees arrived a few weeks ago, and we planted them in several places in our yard. We received the following varieties of trees: Two Arrowwood Viburnums ~ "provides food, cover, and nesting sites for birds, larval food for butterflies and moths." Bur Oak ~ "provides food and shelter for a wide variety of birds and animal life." Gray Dogwood ~ "provides food, cover, and nesting sites for birds and squirrels." Northern Red Oak River Birch Sargent Crabapple ~ "Birds love the fruit." Tuliptree ~ "Squirrel and birds eat the seeds. The flowers are a ...