tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-57535966343036959432024-03-05T04:02:46.981-05:00One Mama's JourneyAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.comBlogger586125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-31734281021333807872016-12-21T19:29:00.000-05:002016-12-21T19:29:06.002-05:00Math musingsThere are somethings in the homeschooling world that I find fascinating. There are obviously a million different methods and philosophy options when it comes to educating our children at home. I fall into an eclectic homeschool model. I do what works for my children regardless of what predetermined philosophy I might find interesting.<br />
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For some of my children that includes workbooks and copy work. For other children that includes hands on games and no papers in sight. It all depends on the child and how they learn. It has taken me years to get to the point where I am comfortable enough to alter, and in some cases throw out, curriculum so that it works well for our children.. Even with tweaking and twisting however I have yet to find a math curriculum that I feel works perfectly for some of our children. I apparently need something that does not yet exist.<br />
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I figured I would scour the web and find another parent that had been in my shoes and designed their own math curriculum. Something hands on that would spark some interest in my children who are workbook phobic. While searching I was struck by something I had never noticed in previous years. Homeschool parents are apparently willing to design their own curricula for science, history, english, etc but not for math. <br />
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Why is that?<br />
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It seems that if you voyage away from the mainstream homeschool math workbooks you are in no mans land. Sure there are lots of games and worksheets available online but they are for one specific skill, not a total package sort of deal.<br />
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That makes me wonder. What are parents of children who hate workbooks doing with their children for math? Are they just sticking the book in front of them anyways and developing an ulcer as they teach their reluctant/hysterical child? Are they going off grid and developing their own plans...and not being considerate enough to share their curriculum plans with the rest of us desperate parents? Not like they don't have tons of time at their disposal to type out detailed plans, right? I mean we homeschool parents are known to have tons of free time at our disposal. *I am kidding in case you missed the sarcastic font.*<br />
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I am not talking advanced algebraic formulas here. Just regular old elementary math. Adding, subtracting, multiplication, division, fractions, etc. Surely if we are willing to design our own science curriculum we could come up with something for addition while we are at it.<br />
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I really have no point to this post other than to wonder out loud about the lack of options when it comes to homeschool math. It seems to be either workbooks or a free for all. I find this fascinating. I am also tempted to write down what we are doing for math this year and design my own hands on math curriculum to share with the world. Obviously I have way too much time on my hands as well! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-70761316113765000382016-12-15T19:08:00.001-05:002016-12-15T19:08:37.546-05:00A month without Facebook....It has officially been a month since I made the decision to step away from my Facebook profile. I did not trust myself to simply walk away from the site cold turkey. In an effort to make my self control stronger I deleted all of my friends before I stepped away. I knew that the urge to peek into other people's lives would pop up and I would give in eventually. I was afraid that such a situation would bring me back into the cyber world once again. With no friends there really is not much pull to the site.<br />
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Having the time away has been amazing for my emotional and mental well being. At first I could not put my finger on why I was so strongly motivated to leave the site and so relieved once it was finished. I just knew I felt 100 times better and that was enough for me initially. It was not until a few weeks later that the reason suddenly struck me.<br />
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I was no longer being affected by other peoples emotional highs and lows.<br />
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You know how it goes, you are scanning your feed and see that someone is going through a difficult time. Maybe their baby was born prematurely or their family member died unexpectedly. Just seeing what they are going through breaks your heart. You are then carrying that sadness around with you all day.<br />
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At least I was.<br />
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I would get so depressed and upset over something that had absolutely nothing to do with my life. Day after day after day. If it was not my friends personal stories it was ones they were sharing about children killed by their parents or lost in the woods and dying from starvation. I just felt like I was constantly being barraged by all of these heart breaking situations. I would look at my kids as they slept and burst into tears thinking about how horrible it would be if something like that happened in our family.<br />
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This was obviously not healthy.<br />
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It was not all horrible stories obviously. There was also the staged for Facebook photos of how amazing their lives were or the new car/vacation/clothes/jewelry they had just purchased. Nothing felt real anymore. Where is the sink full of dirty dishes? Or the laundry hamper overflowing with poopy underwear because their kid suddenly regressed in potty training? Was I the only one that did not have a perfect home? Perfect kids? A perfect husband? I knew in my head that their lives were not perfect and that the pictures were more than likely staged but it still lead me to self doubt and self deprecation. <br />
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I recently read a financial book addressed towards 20 somethings as they enter the real world. Yes, I know I am far from 20 years old but I am always interested in reading new financial books. Anyways, the book had an entire section on not allowing social media to negatively affect your spending habits. It is really easy to see someone else has a new car and then start to envy them for their purchase. Suddenly our 5 year old, paid for in cash, car is not good enough anymore. Or do not forget all of those lovely adds that pop up on your feed based on things you searched on other sites. I don't know about you but I find that extremely creepy. I do NOT like being tracked and marketed towards. I feel like I am being stalked! <br />
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I know these things that affected my life via Facebook are not going to be pertinent to everyone who uses social media. These are the things that were affecting me however. Things that I could not clearly see until I cut the cord so to speak. I do still have my blog facebook page up and running at this time. That is a bit different for me. I am able to post a picture of what I want to share and then walk away. There is no feed to look at or interact with. If someone decides to leave a comment I am happy to chat with them during the day. Since it is so removed from the things that were upsetting me I think I will keep it running at least for the time being.<br />
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So, one month of facebook freedom under my belt. I am happy to say there will be many more months to come! <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-82186291755367297772016-11-30T22:02:00.000-05:002016-11-30T22:02:00.240-05:002017 School Year PlanningI think I might have mentioned a time or two that we school year round. That means that as the Christmas trees are going up our school year is winding down. We are in the last throws of our current curriculum and it is time for me to start planning and budgeting for our new school year.<br />
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We have been using My Father's World curriculum for all of our children. While I love the curriculum and the approach it takes to include the entire family into the process it just is not going to work for our family moving forward. Put simply we were dropping too much of the curriculum from our daily lessons to make it worthwhile for our family. Our children found the multiple books each day for history to be too repetitive. We chose to do a different Bible study and need special needs programs for spelling and reading. That leaves us just completing the Story of the World text and the science assignments each week. Our daughters are begging to study chemistry next year so that would mean dropping everything from MFW but Story of the World. It makes zero sense to continue purchasing MFW for just one book.<br />
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So.....that left me to put together an entire years worth of curriculum from scratch. I admit it, I like this part!<br />
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<b>History:</b><br />
We have been enjoying the Story of the World texts so we will be continuing with the 4th volume and the PDF student sheets. <b>$25 for all 5 children</b><br />
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<b>Science</b>:<br />
As I mentioned our children very badly want to cover chemistry this year. I went on a search for a middle school chemistry program and initially found a $100 option. I kept looking and after going down the rabbit hole for a while I found this <a href="http://www.middleschoolchemistry.com/download/">FREE middle school chemistry</a> curriculum! I have had a look through it and am very pleased with the content. It is over 740 pages however so my printer is not pleased with me. <b>$0 for oldest 2 children</b><br />
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Obviously middle school Chemistry is not going to work for my 1st graders and kindergartner. I have another FREE option for them as well. We are going to be watching our way through the Magic School Bus series on youtube! I found this wonderful<a href="http://ourcozyden.com/index.php/2016/09/07/magic-school-bus/"> free curriculum</a> to go along with the episodes. It provides a break down of the lessons, gives ideas for experiments and projects, and discussion points. <b>$0 for our 3 younger children</b><br />
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<b>Math:</b><br />
<b> </b>Our oldest daughter is a year ahead of her peers and at 12 year old will be taking 2 years to complete Pre-Algebra. We have already purchased this curriculum and she has made it through the first 9 lessons. It is slow going but she has plenty of time to finish it before she turns 14.<br />
<b> </b>Our 10 year old will be finishing up with her multiplication mastery and moving on to division mastery this year. I feel confident enough in my own division abilities to teach her division without purchasing a curriculum. I have reviewed what material she needs to master by the time she is 11 years old and the toughest thing will be 4 digit division by a 2 digit number. After teaching Pre-Algebra I got this one down cold.<br />
Next up are the soon to be 7 year old twins. They are just finishing up their kindergarten work and ready to get started on addition and subtraction. We have already begun some of this through board games and cooking so it is not completely new material. Again, I feel comfortable enough in my own addition and subtraction skills to teach this without a curriculum. If I can not teach a child how to add to 10 we have some serious problems.<br />
Lastly we have our brand new Kindergartner. He will be working on learning his numbers, counting to 20, place values to 100, adding doubles, skip counting 2's 5's and 10's, telling time, etc. You know what I am going to say by now.... I got this one!<br />
<b>$0 for all 5 children</b><br />
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<b>Language Arts</b><br />
<b> </b>I am not overly fond of teaching language arts. Just sooooo boring. It has to be done however so here we go!<br />
The 12 year old will be finishing a 2 year grammar and writing program she began this year. She has been working her way through <a href="https://www.mfwbooks.com/item/30083/Applications-of-Grammar/">Applications of Grammar book 1</a> and <a href="https://www.mfwbooks.com/item/30084/">Writing with Skill level 1</a> this year. The budgeting side of me appreciates curriculum that is used for more than one year. Her spelling workbook is through <a href="http://www.soundfoundations.co.uk/en_US/product/apples-pears-set/">Apples & Pears</a>. She is up to her 3rd workbook which we purchased as a complete set when we began the curriculum. Last up we have her reading program. She has developed an obsession with the<a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=who+was+series"> Who Was series</a> and I am going to introduce her to the <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Survived-Collectors-Toolbox/dp/0545861012/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1479869944&sr=1-1&keywords=i+survived+book+series">I Survived</a> series this year as well. As long as she is reading several chapters of nonfiction works each day I try not to get to nit picky on what she is reading.<br />
Our 10 year old daughter has dyslexia and ADHD. As you can imagine this is not her favorite subject. For reading we are continuing with the<a href="http://www.soundfoundations.co.uk/en_US/product-category/dancing-bears-en_us/"> Dancing Bears</a> curriculum that we purchased several years ago. She is reading soooo much better these days but it is a constant push on my part to keep it moving. I encourage her to read a fun book as part of her school days as well. Spelling and writing comes from Apples & Pears workbook 2. She has started this workbook but we will be taking some time away from it to really drill the spelling words she has already covered before progressing to new words. We may have to just start back at the beginning and redo the entire workbook. Do NOT tell her that however!<br />
The twins are moving right along with cvc words. They are loving the BOB books along with file folder reading games and reading puzzles. They are working their way through <a href="https://www.aop.com/curriculum/shop-horizons/1st-grade-phonics-reading-student-book-1">Horizon's 1st grade</a> Phonics workbooks.<br />
Last up we have our kindergartner. He will be using <a href="http://www.3dinosaurs.com/printables/abc/index.php">3dinosaurs printable packs</a> to master his ABC's and letter sounds this year. I have to say I love how simple this is when you get to the bottom of the list!<br />
<b>$25 for all 5 children</b><br />
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I think that is everything.....of course we have the extracurricular activities that are not on this list. Art, drama, engineering, chicken club, gardening club<b>,</b> swim team, etc. Other than $60 for engineering class for our oldest daughter all of our extracurricular activities are FREE. I love this place!<br />
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So the budget minded side of me must wrap up with a breakdown of the costs for our new school year. All of our school supplies were given to us by a local Vietnam Veteran's group. I can NOT tell you how blessed we are to have these folks in our lives. They give so unselfishly every year to our entire homeschool community. I have not had to purchase a pencil or a notebook in years. We love them to pieces.<br />
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With a boxed curriculum it would have cost our family over $1,000 to homeschool this year. It was more but I stopped adding it all up because it game me an ulcer to see the number going so high.<br />
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My original plan for this year was $420. That was with purchasing retail science books, math books, magic school house dvd's, etc.<br />
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After going through some rabbit holes thanks to pinterest I brought in our new school year for a total of $50 for curriculum plus $60 for engineering class. I would have to say seeing a grand total of $110 is making me do a happy dance. We will probably need a new workbook here or there through the year. Usually by August they are getting close to being finished with their current workbooks. That could up the total by another $100 depending on which workbooks are needed. We however are ready to get started on our new school year!<br />
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Well....I am...the kids....not so much! <br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-38101932853147117732016-11-23T08:50:00.000-05:002016-11-23T08:50:26.554-05:00What's new with us?You may have noticed a reduction in the number of posts over the last few months. I have made the decision to stop contributing to the School House Review Crew. Not because I was unhappy with working with them but because I am finally happy with the curriculum options we have chosen for our children. I can be a bit of a magpie when it comes to school curriculum. Always looking for the newest and shiniest things to add to my collection. I have had to learn that it is best to just stick with what we are using as long as it is working for our family. So with that in mind it doesn't really make sense to keep reviewing new curriculum options.<br />
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Since I am not renewing my contract with School House for the new year there are a few other things that are changing as well. Number one will probably be the consistency with which I will be posting in the future. I am back to being a lone wolf blogger. I do intend to keep blogging at least for the foreseeable future. Will that be 5 times a month or 2 times a month? I have no idea. I like the idea of being able to blog about topics that interest me when I feel like talking about them. With that said I have no idea what will interest me in the coming months.<br />
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Another new aspect in our lives is that we are finally buying a farm....okay....more like a farmette. What might you ask is a farmette? Think homesteading on an acre of land in a subdivision. That sounds kind of weird right? We are purchasing a farmette in a remote subdivision in the middle of a state forest. There are two streets within the subdivision and then miles and miles of state forest before you find another human being. I have no idea why this one small pocket of land was excluded from the state forest but I am glad of what ever fluke worked in our favor.<br />
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The home we are purchasing is at the end of a dead end street and surrounded on three sides by the forest. The previous owners built a small barn on the property and put up all of the boundary fencing needed for small livestock. I am told they had goats and miniature horses.<br />
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We intend to put in a raised garden, an orchard, and raise chickens. I would like to go to a Master Bee Keeping class over the winter and begin a bee hive in the spring as well. Another few ideas floating around in my brain have to do with raising tilapia and mushrooms.<br />
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As you can imagine I see a lot more homesteading posts coming up in the future. This should be quite the adventure and I am looking forward to sharing it with y'all! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-48409215653065516952016-11-18T18:56:00.003-05:002016-11-18T18:56:29.301-05:00Why I left FacebookI have had an issue pressing on my heart for some time now.<br />
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Facebook.<br />
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When I joined Facebook 7 years ago (gasp!) I was in a very different place in my life. Both geographically and figuratively. I was a new mom living on a remote island in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. I did not have any local friends and my husband worked five 12 hour shifts a week. When he was home he was exhausted and did not want to hear all about my day. The poor man just wanted to sleep. I really can't blame him......I don't do well without my down time either.<br />
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So there I was figuratively alone in the world. I could, and did, call my friends and family on the phone but people were busy and did not have time to talk with me every day.<br />
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I was so lonely.<br />
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I had previously refused to sign up for a Facebook account out of sheer orneriness. I was not going to do something just because the masses were doing it. I am still that way to this day. If everyone in the world is obsessed with a book, tv series, or app I purposely refuse to take part. Of course I will then "discover" this amazing thing several years after it has gone out of vogue. I am just ornery like that.<br />
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Anyways I had held strong and refused to sign up for Facebook. That is until the one person I knew on the island, my husband, got sent on a deployment. Now here I am totally and completely alone with our two very young children.<br />
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I was bored out of my mind. This is coincidentally when this blog was started as well. Boredom will apparently lead me to all sorts of new things. On a whim I signed up for Facebook and it soon because an obsessive situation.<br />
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You know what I am talking about. You have to check the site 50 times a day because you MIGHT miss some fascinating piece of information. Of course everyone will want to see those 50 pictures you took at the park while you are at it. While we are at it might as well post what we are having for dinner. This was all before we even owned a smartphone. In my true lone wolf fashion I refused to own a smartphone until years after they had become popular. I did not get my first smartphone until 2014. That of course blew the Facebook obsession out of the water.<br />
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I can now check Facebook anywhere? Anytime? I can upload pictures immediately? I know there are many many people out there who have a Facebook account and never use it. Those that can limit their time to just a few times a week. I was not one of those people.<br />
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A few months ago I came to the realization that it had been months since I had actually seen anything interesting on Facebook. Anything life altering that happened in my life was relayed via phone calls from friends and loved ones. I no longer needed Facebook to fill some void in my life. We had moved to New Jersey and I had found an amazing homeschool community to become involved in. We had added four more children to our lives and we were crazy busy with school work, sports, and classes. I was no longer lonely and alone on a rock in the middle of the Pacific.<br />
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So why did I keep checking that stupid app 5 times a day?<br />
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Why if I am not seeing anything important or life altering on the site did I keep using it?<br />
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I turned all of my notifications off in an attempt to stop my interest in the site. After all no little red numbers calling my name then no need to check in right? Wrong. I still felt I might "miss something" so I would still check the app religiously and then spend countless time scrolling through what was for the most part adds and random stuff that did not interest me.<br />
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I made the decision to cut the cord and delete my Facebook account. The problem was that I did need to still be able to stay connected to our homeschool group. They only communicate via Facebook. I reached a standstill. I made the difficult decision to "unfriend" all of my friends and just leave the account open to the one group.<br />
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There is something about "unfriending" people that can hit a nerve. I really wish they would call it something else. These people are still my friends and I still want to hear from all of them. I just can not have Facebook in my life anymore. I did leave my blog Facebook page open so that I could share pictures of what we are up to as a family. Not having any friend's on Facebook makes it a lot easier to step away from the app once I have checked the group messages and made note of any upcoming classes or homework.<br />
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The first week without Facebook was so freeing to me. I just felt like a weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. The second week was just as relaxing. I no longer worry that I am missing something vital. You would think that would bother me more now that I have no access to friends pages. Just the opposite happened however. Leaving Facebook was the right decision for me at this point in my life. Will it continue to be the right decision for me? That will depend on how life changes over time. I may find myself lonely and in need of human companionship again in the future. I have definitely learned never to say never. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-68908483123777639192016-11-03T12:13:00.000-04:002016-11-03T12:13:10.727-04:00Homeschool Legacy Review<div style="text-align: left;">
Our family might be slightly obsessed with food. Just a teeny tiny bit. You can imagine how thrilled we were to be chosen to review <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/">Homeschool Legacy's</a> Once-a-Week Micro-Studies on <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/cooking-up-history-with-the-founding-presidents/">Cooking Up History with the Founding Presidents</a>.</div>
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<img alt="Once-a-Week Studies {Homeschool Legacy}" border="0" src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/TOSCrew2011/2016%20TOS%20Crew/11%20-%20November/2%20-%20Homeschool%20Legacy/HLBANNER2_zpsi2lundim.png" /> </center>
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We are currently studying the colonization of America through to the Deceleration of Independence and the election of our first President. With this, and our love of food, in mind we were thrilled to learn that <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/">Homeschool Legacy</a> had a Once-a-Week Micro-Studies<a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/cooking-up-history-with-the-founding-presidents/"> Cooking Up History</a>! This 4 week micro unit study covers George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison! I could not have picked a more perfect unit study to go along with our current history program!</div>
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<a href="http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/once-a-week-studies-homeschool-legacy/" target="_blank"><img alt="Once-a-Week Studies {Homeschool Legacy}" border="0" src="http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/TOSCrew2011/2016%20TOS%20Crew/11%20-%20November/2%20-%20Homeschool%20Legacy/Cooking%20up%20History%20Cover_zpsvzcmudjw.jpg" /></a></center>
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So what exactly is a Once-a-week Micro-Study? The Cooking Up History with the Founding Presidents micro-study consists of 4 weeks of 30 min long lessons covering the biography of each president, pertinent historical and governmental information concerning their presidency, a brief language arts section with vocabulary or writing assignments, and of course a section sharing information concerning their favorite meals. </div>
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I love that all of the information needed for the unit study is compiled for the reader. No need to go to the library to find specific books on each president. No searching the internet for recipes. You just have to print the pages off and start. So simple! With six children currently "doing school" I definitely need something that is low maintenance and user friendly. This unit study fits the bill! The information presented was well written and easy for my children, 12 to 6yrs old, to understand and digest. For the Presidents we had already covered it was a good review of the information we had already covered. For the Presidents we have yet to cover it was a great introduction to the material that they will be covering in the future. Of course the addition of cherry pie, ice cream, and other yummy treats as part of their school work was a massive hit. We did appreciate switching from Oyster ice cream (Dolley Madison's favorite flavor) to Thomas Jefferson's Vanilla ice cream! I don't think we would have been game for Oyster ice cream!</div>
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We have used <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/">Homeschool Legacy's</a> Once-a-week Unit studies before and knew we were going to be receiving a wonderful product. I was not disappointed! I would recommend their Once-a-week Micro-Studies to anyone who is interested in adding a bit more depth to their current curriculum! </div>
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<a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/">Homeschool Legacy</a> was very generous and gave the Homeschool Review Crew more than just ONE Once-a-week study to review! They very generously gave the review crew members a choice of the units below to review!</div>
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<b>Once-a-Week Unit Study:</b><br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/christmas-comes-to-america/" target="_blank">Christmas Comes to America </a><br />
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<b>Once-a-Week Micro-Studies:</b><br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/pirates-or-privateers-you-decide-once-a-week-micro-study-grades-1-8/" target="_blank">Pirates or Privateers: You Decide </a><br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/cooking-up-history-with-the-founding-presidents/" target="_blank">Cooking up History with the Founding Presidents</a><br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/victoria-and-her-world-once-a-week-micro-study-grades-1-8/" target="_blank">Victoria and Her World</a><br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/thanksgiving-with-the-pilgrims-once-a-week-micro-study-grades-1-8/" target="_blank">Thanksgiving with the Pilgrims</a> <br />
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<a class="bbc_link" href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/many-nations-once-a-week-micro-study-grades-1-8/" target="_blank">Many Nations</a></div>
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If you would like to learn more about <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/product/cooking-up-history-with-the-founding-presidents/">Cooking Up History with the Founding Presidents</a> or any of the unit studies listed above you can click <a href="http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/once-a-week-studies-homeschool-legacy/">HERE </a>or on the graphic below to be taken to the main link page for <a href="http://homeschoollegacy.com/">Homeschool Legacy</a>.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-80062782131262827102016-10-12T13:14:00.002-04:002016-10-17T20:42:09.910-04:00MyFreezEasy Review<div style="text-align: left;">
If you have been reading my blog for any length of time you know that I love freezer meals. They are seriously the only thing that got me though several pregnancies and deployments. There is something so comforting about knowing that dinner is ready and in the freezer waiting for you. No mad rush to make dinner or figure out what in the world you are going to make at the last second. That is why I was so thrilled to learn about <a href="https://www.myfreezeasy.com/">MyFreezEasy</a>! Our family was delighted to be chosen to receive a <a href="https://www.myfreezeasy.com/join">MyFreezEasy.com Freezer Meal Plan Membership! </a></div>
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I don't know about your family but my family is pretty busy these days. With six children in various activities, a full homeschool curriculum to fulfill, a full time employed spouse, and my own 5 days a week in the gym I am spinning like a top most days. Anything I can do to simplify my life is a gold mine for my sanity. I learned a long time ago that freezer meals are the way to go for busy families. </div>
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Over the years I have put away 3 months of meals every time I got the verification that I was pregnant. I get pretty severe morning sickness and the thought of having to cook for all of these people while trying desperately not to throw up was not working for me. I would spend one entire day making up freezer meals and then just have to reheat the meals through my first trimester. I loved knowing that I had meals ready to go for my family and I did not have to touch raw meat or smell cooking food while sick to my stomach.</div>
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I would then repeat the process right before I was due to give birth. Again knowing those meals are in the freezer and ready to go for my family while I am in the hospital and for those first few months with a newborn is priceless. Having to go grocery shopping, meal plan, and cook with a newborn and 5 other children under foot? Not happening. By stocking my freezer and pantry before hand I was able to send my husband to get a few odds and ends (bread and milk) though the week and spend my time relaxing and recovering. </div>
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Freezer meals are not just for new mothers however! My youngest child is 3 years old and I am not currently pregnant. I however still continue to stock my freezer with meals for my family. Why? What happens if you get sick but everyone else in your house is fine and starving? What about when your child spikes a 104 fever on the day you intended to go to the grocery store? Or you were up late working on a project and have to be out of the house a dawn for a meeting? </div>
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I have found a food emergency fund is just as important as a financial emergency fund. Both protect your family in times of sickness, job loss, and injury. Yes, you COULD go out to eat but who can afford that more than once or twice a week? For some reason these little people need to eat three times a day...what is up with that?</div>
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I think we can all see the value in having freezer meals at our disposal. The snag for most people seems to be the planning and implementation of the meals. It can be a lot of work to come up with a list of freezer appropriate meals that actually taste good and do not break the bank. I found the MyFreezEasy site to be a wonderful solution to this issue.</div>
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The MyFreezEasy freezer meal plan membership I was given was a wealth of information and recipes. There were so many different types of meals available each month. I personally chose to review the 10 meals available in the Clean Eating Meal Plan, but as you can see there were 7 other options to chose from! </div>
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I was able to peak into all of the meal plans offered above and they all had very yummy recipe options! Once you pick your meal plan you are given access to that month's recipes, grocery lists, and instructions for assembling and freezing the meals. I found these instructions to be extremely easy to follow and very clearly written. </div>
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What about the actual meals? As I stated I reviewed the Clean Eating Meal Plan. The recipes within the meal plan were all very tasty, made with clean ingredients that were easy to find, and simple to make. For the month I reviewed I was given recipes for Paleo Chicken Taco Salad, Spinach Chicken Burgers, Bolognese Sauce, Slow Cooker Italian Chicken and Vegetables, and Mediterranean Chicken Thighs. Each of these meals were doubled and then placed in the freezer to be used within the months to come. Since I needed to review the meals for this blog post I doubled the meals, ate one, and froze one. My family really enjoyed the meals and will not have an issue with eating the second meal waiting in our freezer. </div>
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I have to say I really enjoyed reviewing <a href="https://www.myfreezeasy.com/join">this product </a>and look forward to using more of their meals in the future. Want to know what the other reviewers at the Homeschool Review Crew thought of this product? You can click <a href="http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/myfreezeasy-com-freezer-meal-plan-membership-myfreezeasy/">HERE</a> or on the banner below to find out! </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-12706801098885776862016-10-05T19:58:00.002-04:002016-10-08T17:34:21.704-04:00Review: Everyday Education, LLC<center>
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If you are a regular reader of my blog you already know that reading and handwriting are do not come easily to our 10 year old daughter. She has dyslexia and dysgraphia which makes reading and writing "properly" difficult. I am sure you can imagine we have tried every thing we could find in an attempt to find something that would make things easier for her. When we were given the opportunity to try out <span class="bbc_size" style="font-size: 13px;"><a class="bbc_link" href="http://everyday-education.com/product/perfect-reading-beautiful-handwriting/" target="_blank">Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting</a> by </span><a href="http://everyday-education.com/">Everyday Education, LLC </a>we were excited to check it out.</div>
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When teaching a child to write we have all seen or used printed ABC sheets to teach the child how to properly form the letters. I can not count the number of times I have said "take the line up to top line and not past" to one of my children while they are working on their handwriting assignments. It always goes the same doesn't it? Same sheets, same technique, same struggles. The author of Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting has a different approach. She has found that an italic style of writing is easier for children with learning difficulties to read and write. By using a triangular writing style the children are better able to not only read the letters but also form them while writing. </div>
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The book Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting starts at the beginning, always a good place to start right? The lessons start with learning how to write the ABC's in this new italic form and then move on to simple CVC words. After the child has learned the new style of handwriting the author introduces yet another new concept....slant writing. This is where my brain starts to struggle with the concept but it seems to be helping children who have a difficult time with handwriting and reading. Our daughter has not progressed to this point yet but I am really interested to see how it works for her! There are several pages of copywork with the slanted lines pre-printed as well as several sheets of paper with just the lines for the children to use for their own writing assignments. From what I understand of the process, again we have not implemented this section of the book yet, the lines help the child to "cement" the placement of items on the page. It is a very interesting concept that I am looking forward to trying out!</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWLHTbaOa6PvYzI2p9dvKnWbDXUO9wVmY-d-BssVkB-RFmHHbdvpkqSszvgMBQIvIE6nRw1r-KZ6UCgDsRPYkpgudX7bxDIQb3zGY3x0LqrVp5KA4zAfPeunpIIFusjJSrG0dljX_Jr4/s1600/2016-10-05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLWLHTbaOa6PvYzI2p9dvKnWbDXUO9wVmY-d-BssVkB-RFmHHbdvpkqSszvgMBQIvIE6nRw1r-KZ6UCgDsRPYkpgudX7bxDIQb3zGY3x0LqrVp5KA4zAfPeunpIIFusjJSrG0dljX_Jr4/s320/2016-10-05.jpg" width="284" /></a></div>
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In the last few weeks our daughter has progressed from "I can't read and I hate writing" to "I love to read chapter books and write....just not in my spelling book." While I would love for her to be an amazing speller I am finding solace in the fact that she is learning to love to read and write. That to me is more than half the battle. In this day and age spelling is overrated...I can not even count the number of times I have used spell check on this post! The ingrained love of reading and writing is the real gold mine for future success. The fact that this curriculum can help make that love easier and faster to complete makes it a gold mine as well. I am excited to keep trying this curriculum with our 10 year old daughter and will definitely consider using it with our younger daughter who is showing signs of dyslexia as well. </div>
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The <a href="http://everyday-education.com/product/perfect-reading-beautiful-handwriting/">Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting </a>book by <a href="http://everyday-education.com/">Everyday Education, LLC</a> was not the only book the Homeschool Review Crew were given to review! Everyday Education, LLC was quite generous and also shared their <a href="http://everyday-education.com/product/handbook-for-writers-excellence-in-literature/"> Excellence in Literature Handbook for Writers</a> and their <a href="http://everyday-education.com/product/working-it-out-poetry-analysis-with-george-herbert/">Working It Out: Poetry Analysis with George Herbert</a>. </div>
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If you would like to see what the other review crew members thought of Perfect Reading, Beautiful Handwriting or either of the other books offered you can click <a href="http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/beautiful-handwriting-literature-and-poetry-everyday-education-llc/">HERE</a> or on the banner below to find out! </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-23217749866265792422016-10-05T11:51:00.002-04:002016-10-05T11:51:43.162-04:00Review: Away We Go Media<div style="text-align: left;">
Our family is a bit obsessed with living history books at the moment. Specifically books concerning how children lived in various time periods. There is something very appealing to our children about this type of learning approach. They find they can relate to the historical subject matter better when the main character is someone their own age. When we were give the opportunity to review a historical book series centered around children's lives during a wide range of time periods we jumped at the opportunity. We were blessed to be chosen to review Brought to you by Carole P. Roman and <a class="bbc_link" href="http://awaywegomedia.com/" target="_blank">Awaywegomedia.com</a></div>
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We are currently studying American history from colonization to 1850. When we were chosen to review this amazing book series we found several that fit perfectly into our current school program.<br />
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The first book we chose to read was <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Colonial-America-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234075/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4. </a></div>
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I was pleasantly surprised by how in depth this book went into the history of Colonial America. I have found that many well illustrated books lack on content and are geared towards much younger children. This book series however is quite different. I found the books to be on a middle school reading level with colorful illustrations on alternating pages.<br />
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This book begins in England in 1620 and follows the puritans from their initial move to the Netherlands and their subsequent dissatisfaction and progression to America. The book goes in depth into the difficulties of the journey on board the ship and how difficult life was once they landed. The author beautifully manages to cover the difficulties and the trials of the colonial children while still showing the beauty and love found within families. <br />
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At the end of each book there are two informational sections concerning the time period the book is centered around. For the <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Colonial-America-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234075/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4)</a> selection this consisted of two pages of information concerning people who influenced the colonies along the entire eastern seaboard as well as a glossary of terms used throughout the book.<br />
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In our family if I assign a reading item I also assign the child to design their own project based on what they have read. I have found by assigning the child to design and complete their own project they pay better attention to the material and think more in depth about what they are reading. We have completed a wide variety of projects over the years. Some examples include themed meals, art projects, dioramas, decorative crafts, etc.<br />
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After reading <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Colonial-America-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234075/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4)</a> our 12 year old daughter chose to make her own rag doll like those made by children in Colonial America. After a quick google session we were able to find instructions on how to make the doll from fabric scraps found in my sewing stash. Our daughter read the instructions and then proceeded to make her very own "poppet".<br />
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The second book we chose to read within this series was <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-American-West/dp/1532877846/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7)</a>. This book follows much of the same format as the first book we read. Again we start out in a well established city and follow a family as they make a pilgrimage to a new and undiscovered land. In this book however we follow a family as they leave an Eastern American town and progress out into the American West as part of the Great Migration of 1843.<br />
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The book follows a family as they learn how to live out
of a covered wagon, the hardships they faced during the journey, and how
they found their new homestead. The book does not end there however!
The author then takes us through how the family would have built their
new home from logs foraged from the land, learning to till the land and
plant crops, taking care of livestock, and much much more. Again I was
thrilled with how in depth the author went into the logistics of life in
the American West in 1843 while still including illustrations on
alternating pages. I personally think that information is easier to
"upload" into a child's brain if there are illustrations included in the
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With that in mind our oldest daughter chose to design her own illustration for the book as part of her project for this book. <br />
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We were given four books within this amazing series to look through and review for you! The two other books we were given include <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Greece-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234296/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1)</a>.<br />
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And <a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Elizabethan-England-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523229365/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)</a>.<br />
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I have read through both of these books and can not wait to share them with our children in the future! I am absolutely thrilled with this series and can not wait to delve further into these books and complete our collection! </div>
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Want to check out the entire series brought to you by Carole P. Roman and <a class="bbc_link" href="http://awaywegomedia.com/" target="_blank">Awaywegomedia.com ? </a></div>
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Here you go! </div>
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<a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Greece-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234296/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_7?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient Greece (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 1)</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Lived-Renaissance-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/152323427X/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_5?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Renaissance Italy (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 2)</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Elizabethan-England-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523229365/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in... Elizabethan England (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 3)</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/Colonial-America-Introduction-Civilizations-Throughout/dp/1523234075/ref=pd_sim_sbs_14_6?ie=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=HK8DF4D60612D8KM4212" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Colonial America (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 4) </a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-Ancient-China/dp/153287524X/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Ancient China: The Han Dynasty</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-Middle-Ages/dp/1533673241/ref=la_B008ZOXI0W_1_2_twi_pap_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471520677&sr=1-2" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...the Middle Ages (An Introduction to Civilizations Throughout Time) (Volume 6)</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-American-West/dp/1532877846/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...the American West (Volume 7)</a><br /><br /><a class="bbc_link" href="https://www.amazon.com/You-Were-Lived-Viking-Europe-ebook/dp/B01LNXP2H8/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1473364677&sr=1-1&keywords=if+you+were+me+viking#nav-subnav" target="_blank">If You Were Me and Lived in...Viking Europe </a></div>
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If you would like to see what the other Schoolhouse Homeschool Review Crew members thought of this series brought to you by Carole P. Roman and <a class="bbc_link" href="http://awaywegomedia.com/" target="_blank">Awaywegomedia.com</a> you can click <a href="http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/if-you-were-me-and-lived-in-by-carole-p-roman-and-awaywegomedia-com/">HERE</a> or on the banner below to be taken to a list of reviews.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-17498596325387727942016-09-27T15:15:00.000-04:002016-09-27T15:15:09.512-04:00Fall is in the air! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have to say fall is by far my favorite season! There is something magical to me about the leaves changing, the weather cooling off, and the thought of sweatshirts by a fire pit roasting hotdogs. </div>
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One of our favorite fall activities would have to be visiting a local farm for their military appreciation day. It is not often that you can find such an amazing activity for the entire family for FREE! Yep totally 100% free! </div>
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While we were there this year the children took part in several activities inducing the mummy wrap. Yes that is one of my children wrapping another one in toilet paper. I was a bit worried they would try recreating the mummy wrap here at home but so far so good.</div>
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<img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjnfM3Jf39ofIW5e8cuNsK8EDQK1nJDxmUOsS45MRkP9ZGyylKWeF7CM01REBqgpLRXkPdBF7cI7y2HWrOnby9HsrU1l3p2-9OZi98So3fPbJcGvWl15RRRL4hzHorotidQXkh6C4BPszI/s320/2016-09-17+12.20.22.jpg" width="240" /> </div>
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The fun did not end there however! We were also treated to a free lunch, face painting, bouncy houses, barrel rides and much much more! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijs-CNWq28h7f7CsUO1ZXRlVMbrfo8xQZfZ6wq-wF0wFoaMYrJOBL3Y9Lgecz1Zx-6hu27DZUuPTHsmqlpHfJ18eFTlMhjZi80AxrrcBUKgidey3yQL3KxDi3sMlGNNuIlTaMzBAtx_SM/s1600/2016-09-17+13.18.57.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijs-CNWq28h7f7CsUO1ZXRlVMbrfo8xQZfZ6wq-wF0wFoaMYrJOBL3Y9Lgecz1Zx-6hu27DZUuPTHsmqlpHfJ18eFTlMhjZi80AxrrcBUKgidey3yQL3KxDi3sMlGNNuIlTaMzBAtx_SM/s320/2016-09-17+13.18.57.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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The coolest part (for me anyways) was the hayride out to the pumpkin patch and the SIX free pumpkins they gave us! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-wc4WgLMiTAoHMQUmxLbma3pwTp6etxjQAsBOJeyGK02yUsFBpVnomxgfo_VPgWCVUf8ceoe6hQn1SZcMN02DRlHD5Yx2C57bO4mjDmnZwa-mxtQvvfsPCra7M8E_Fx7JdgVcUXDACI/s1600/2016-09-17+13.48.30.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjo-wc4WgLMiTAoHMQUmxLbma3pwTp6etxjQAsBOJeyGK02yUsFBpVnomxgfo_VPgWCVUf8ceoe6hQn1SZcMN02DRlHD5Yx2C57bO4mjDmnZwa-mxtQvvfsPCra7M8E_Fx7JdgVcUXDACI/s320/2016-09-17+13.48.30.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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We absolutely loved getting to spend time exploring all of the activities provided and can not thank the local farm enough for opening up their grounds to so many military families. It was wonderful to be able to spend time enjoying the moment and making memories. Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-15143488503791826582016-09-22T14:58:00.001-04:002016-09-22T14:58:26.124-04:004H has blessed our lives<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Living in the middle of New Jersey as a military family we do not have a lot of opportunities to experience farm life. Things that were common every day experiences for me as a child are unique and amazing experiences for my children. When looking for opportunities to add more farm based activities into our lives I found our local 4H program to be a wealth of activities and information. </div>
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I had no idea that the 4H programs covered such a variety of topics or that you did not have to own your own livestock to participate. I feel like a whole new world has opened up for our family! </div>
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We started off my joining our local "Chicken Club". We get together as a group once a month to learn about chicken facts, do activities, and play with chickens. We also were assigned one day a week to feed and care for the chickens on a local farm. My children love getting to experience life with chickens....and I love not having the responsibility of 24/7 care! </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhquur5lpAyy1YwtWO7V1EmwkG2S7vFlMJspEGC7_r7A3za9H4-74-TllVqObdUVhorakT6VJtmCuyB-DriNoznMAcArJJHs8ELvLug9rR5cVZnUsjaJ9uBp0ShJ-g2IEIO3VqvU3ogi4/s1600/2016-09-10+12.48.15.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhquur5lpAyy1YwtWO7V1EmwkG2S7vFlMJspEGC7_r7A3za9H4-74-TllVqObdUVhorakT6VJtmCuyB-DriNoznMAcArJJHs8ELvLug9rR5cVZnUsjaJ9uBp0ShJ-g2IEIO3VqvU3ogi4/s320/2016-09-10+12.48.15.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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The 4H leader for our chicken club wanted any children who were interested in raising chickens to have the option to do so at home. With that in mind she purchased several chicks for the children to borrow and take home to raise. We came home with these adorable little balls of fluff! The children get to take care of the chicks, play with them, and watch them grow up! When they get too big to stay inside any longer and we are ready to send them back to the farm we simply take them back and introduce them to the flock on the farm. I love it! </div>
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Our oldest two daughters will also be borrowing two chickens from the farm to show at Farm Fair this spring!<br />
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We did not stop and just chicken club however. We also joined the gardening club located on the same farm. Our family was given a small plot of land in which to learn square foot gardening. In this area the children are able to plant anything they like. The go each week to weed and care for their garden. The amazement on their faces when they pick a tomato they grew is seriously magical! <br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_0dPs9uqzGUymHJpUBYXBpNwESBu__5MqdYsKzFXn4PCL4lobO0wIzkwl2d3GUY8pShGKjr0Gs5QUrRAbzbECDqzxj84hGT-BOIa0yofiyZPTULGs-P1Jp3M_gYLPAym4eRsP8mGmAc/s1600/2016-08-24+15.55.06.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhh_0dPs9uqzGUymHJpUBYXBpNwESBu__5MqdYsKzFXn4PCL4lobO0wIzkwl2d3GUY8pShGKjr0Gs5QUrRAbzbECDqzxj84hGT-BOIa0yofiyZPTULGs-P1Jp3M_gYLPAym4eRsP8mGmAc/s320/2016-08-24+15.55.06.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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After working on their own square foot garden the children then get together to work on the community garden surrounding their private gardens. The children work together with the club leader to plant all sorts of new and exciting plants. Seeing all the children working together to plant and maintain the community garden is such a blessing to me. They always come home exhausted and absolutely filthy.<br />
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One of the huge blessings we have received through our gardening club would have to be the fact that it has gotten our 10yr old dyslexic daughter excited about writing! I know this sounds kind of odd...a gardening club does not necessarily scream "Learn to love writing" to me either. Our daughter however was extremely excited to be elected as the club reporter. She could not wait to start taking notes and writing articles to publish each week. I almost tipped over dead when she enthusiastically added her name to the election process for reporter. This is the child that has always hated reading or writing in any form. I will forever love 4H if for no other reason than showing our little girl that writing can be fun.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ10vkTqfHwf9_sBQ0aDwZFZtoENEiCgJbiZbIb0zNyhgRVAtmHwQk092QSjlp7-zOT9Pfh8N-CSUPktGqDZEBZuGCcs7kDXzzt6IXaSVEBQNsXaSWpQuCVwampnUg1uX5gG7S0rYsYtw/s1600/2016-09-21+16.43.35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgZ10vkTqfHwf9_sBQ0aDwZFZtoENEiCgJbiZbIb0zNyhgRVAtmHwQk092QSjlp7-zOT9Pfh8N-CSUPktGqDZEBZuGCcs7kDXzzt6IXaSVEBQNsXaSWpQuCVwampnUg1uX5gG7S0rYsYtw/s320/2016-09-21+16.43.35.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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We did not stop with just two clubs however....no that would be slacking. We signed up for two more that are a little more outside the preconceived notions about 4H.<br />
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All six of our children are taking part in a 4H based art class as well! I am head over heels in love! <br />
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Our second unusual 4H program is a 6th though 12th grade engineering club! I was a bit nervous about signing our oldest daughter up for this club. It was a bit outside her comfort level but I figured it was worth checking it out. She absolutely loves it! On their very first day they made toothbrush robots and art bots. She was so excited to show me her little robot and tell me all about how she built it. She has been dealing with autism related social anxiety since she was a very little girl so seeing her jump right into a club and flourish has been amazing. She did not stop there however! She was voted as the club secretary and could not be more thrilled with the position.<br />
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I know a lot of people think 4H is just for the farm children in the community but that could not be farther from the truth. It is an amazing program that will bless any child that is able to take part. I strongly urge you to contact your local 4H agent and see what they have to offer in your area. If they do not have a club you would like to see already set up it is a simple process to start a club yourself. If took me about 2 hours to get certified as a 4H volunteer and a friend and I have another club in the works! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-87046175992054015682016-09-14T15:06:00.000-04:002016-09-22T15:06:51.763-04:00The Lizard Lady Strikes Again! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Our 10 yr old daughter is obsessed with lizards. </div>
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No seriously she is flat out OBSESSED. </div>
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She spends hours each day out in our backyard catching lizards and studying their markings and anatomy. I was shocked at how many small lizards she was able to catch each time she went out. I don't know about you but I am not the fastest moving person on the planet. The thought of being fast enough to catch a baby lizard just blows my mind.</div>
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Not only did she catch one....or two...but she has caught as many as eight in one afternoon!<br />
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She and her siblings used an old cooler to build a lizard habitat in which to keep them and continue studying them through out the day.<br />
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I do insist that she let them go at the end of the day. Of course that is always met with the puppy dog eyes and the "but mmmmmooooooooooommmmmm" response of a heartbroken child. I do not think I am going to be able to hold her off on purchasing her very own lizard for much longer.<br />
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I am trying to find ways to incorporate her love of lizards into her school day. I am currently researching different field manuals with the intent of having her identify each lizard type and hopefully keep a record book of her discoveries. If you have a favorite field manual please let me know!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-22449967907931821172016-09-05T19:52:00.000-04:002016-09-05T19:52:00.158-04:00Invertebrates are cool<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Our science lessons this month have been revolving around invertebrates. I don't know about you but I am not all that keen on bugs. Butterflies are cool...the rest...nah....not so much. Unfortunately my children feel the same way about bugs as I do. I an attempt to spark some interest I thought a little field trip to the local bug museum was in order. </div>
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First off who knew there were whole museums full of just bugs? That is it...an entire building full of all different types of beetles, ants, butterflies, walking sticks, and much much more. </div>
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We loved these "windows" into different habitats scattered through out the museum. It was like a game of where is waldo as we tried to find all of the different types of moths, walking sticks and such scattered through the "picture". It was a great chance to talk about camouflage techniques and native habitats. </div>
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Of course the butterfly displays were the coolest things in the entire museum according to my oldest two daughters. They were however very sad that so many butterflies had to die to make these displays. We did learn a great deal about them as we worked our way through the museum. We can now tell you all the ways a butterfly is different from a moth and why the blue morpho butterfly has "eyes" on the underside of it's wings.<br />
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The coolest part of the museum would have to be the touching section! We were able to hear a brief talk about several different invertebrates before being able to touch them! I touched a hissing cockroach, a millipede, a scorpion, and a tarantula. Some of my children were brave enough to touch a few of the specimens. Most however declined. We did learn a great deal about each of the invertebrates before they were brought around for touching. For example if you see a scorpion with small pinchers you want to stay far far away, it has very toxic poison.<br />
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<br />So was I able to instill a life long love of all things creepy crawly? Not on your life. I did however get a little more knowledge into their little heads and I got bonus points for a field trip in the middle of the week. That is always a hit with my family. I am looking forward to studying something a little more cuddly in the future....panda bears anyone?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-59361457477080950712016-08-30T19:29:00.000-04:002016-08-30T19:29:00.166-04:00Everything is educational<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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We recently took a family vacation to Wisconsin to see my father's side of the family. While there I over heard my father telling someone that everything we do is in some way educational. While I do not think EVERYTHING we do is educational I do tend to make sure the kids are challenged and shown new things even when on vacation. </div>
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One of the things I attempt to share with my children is an in depth look at things that can be seen as controversial. It is all well and good to tell someone "this is how this works". It is a whole new ball of wax to actually see and experience these places and to then allow the children to ask questions and come to their own conclusions about what we are seeing. </div>
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One of the places we visited was a mink farm. These farm raised mink are raised in "houses" until they develop a desirable pelt. They are then killed, skinned, and turned into coats and such mainly for European countries. I could have told my children what my ethical view point was on the subject while sitting at our dining room table. All while shading my talking points in an attempt to push them to see things my way. I did not do that. I intentionally did not share any of my view points or shade my narrative in any direction. </div>
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We took a walk around the mink farm and got an up close and personal tour from the owner of the farm. He took us through and showed us all of the different steps of raising farmed mink. This included preparing their food, how they are watered, where they are kept, their vaccination schedules, etc. </div>
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The children asked quite a few very interesting questions about not only the farm raised mink but wild mink as well. Thank goodness for google on my cell phone! </div>
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So what did they decide about mink farming? It doesn't really matter does it? </div>
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They had a hands on view of a real life facility. They got to ask questions and delve into the information surrounding the operation. When the person they were asking did not know an answer they researched and found it for themselves. They then formulated their own view point on the subject based on their experience, research, and internal belief structure. </div>
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Will their view point stay the same as they age? Maybe. That isn't the point however. I am not trying to teach my children to feel a certain way about certain subjects. I am teaching them to investigate, question, research, and become involved in things they know nothing about before forming an opinion. I am teaching them that they can not form a view point on a subject without first seeing and researching the subject. Walking blindly into an opinion without all of the information is a dangerous way to live your life. </div>
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I hope that as they age my children will continue to question and investigate the world around them. That they will never be persuaded to simply adopt someone's opinion on a subject simply because they are told to do so. The world is full of people willing to share their opinions based on little to no facts. I hope my children will learn to base their opinions on their own research and critical thinking. </div>
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Not a bad lesson while on vacation, huh?</div>
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-48564790638694818782016-08-24T18:57:00.000-04:002016-08-24T18:57:01.064-04:00Self Directed Learning<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I have to say there are somethings in life that I will never get tired of seeing. My children taking the lead and delving into topics that interest them would definitely fit this bill. </div>
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We are not unschoolers in the traditional sense of the word. We do have a curriculum that we follow and I do make sure they are doing certain lessons each day. I do however let them spend quite a bit of time working on their own projects and interests through out the day in an attempt to encourage self directed learning. </div>
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There is nothing sweeter to me than to see children really investigate and learn about a topic that interests them. The fact that they are doing this all on their own makes it even sweeter.<br />
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You never really know which way their interests is going to take them on a given day. They may spend one entire day working on airplane collages and learning the name of every single air frame they can find (thank you hubby!). Then the next day they are learning how to build little cottages complete with peaked roofs and decorative accents.<br />
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I love watching their little brains work on new projects and follow their investigative instincts to new discoveries. I would have to say it is by far my favorite part of homeschooling! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-4338532050537036472016-08-20T18:50:00.000-04:002016-08-20T18:50:17.773-04:00A day in the lifeI have been hesitant to post this "day in the life" piece simply because I do not want to make any other mothers feel they are not doing enough....or show that *I* may not be doing enough! I decided to go ahead and send it "out there" to the world in an effort to show how our lives flow while homeschooling 5 children and trying to keep everyone alive in the process. This is a "typical" day in our lives. Every day is not like this however. We are just like every other family out there. Some days go smoothly and some days are a struggle. It is what it is. I hope you find these notes on how our day progresses to be helpful.<br />
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The breakdown: 7th grader, 4th grader, 1st grader, 1st grader, kindergarten, and 3 yr old. Oh, and a husband who works nights.<br />
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Ready?<br />
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Let's go! <br />
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6:30am<br />
The children and I wake up. The kids brush their teeth and get dressed while their father dishes up the breakfast I made the night before. After they eat it is time for the rabbit to be fed and then the children are free to go play. Meanwhile I am still in bed checking out what has happened on the internet since the night before.<br />
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7:00<br />
Hubby comes down and joins me in the master bedroom. We spend 30min together talking about how his night went and any plans I have for the day. This is the only alone time we have during the day.<br />
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7:30<br />
Hubby goes to sleep for the day and I head upstairs for my breakfast. I have my breakfasts made up in bulk and stored in the freezer. I make a quick protein shake while my spinach, egg, and feta quesadilla heats up.<br />
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7:45<br />
Time for my first workout of the day. I complete 35 minutes on my stationary bike completing a hills and valley routine. The children are still playing quietly together. This early in the morning they still like each other.<br />
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8:20<br />
I am done with the bike and start my morning chores. This is when I clean up the breakfast mess in the kitchen, dining room, and living room. I also take this time to pull a meal from the freezer and get it started in the crock pot.<br />
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8:45<br />
I pull out all of the books needed for the day and call all of the children to the table.<br />
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8:50<br />
Our oldest 4 children (12, 9, 6, and 6) begin working on their math work for the day. Meanwhile our 5 yr old works his way though his kindergarten workbooks and our 3 yr old works on her coloring and playing with the math manipulative blocks.<br />
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9:05<br />
The twins (6 yrs) finish up their math and move on to their handwriting practice. Sara (9yrs) also finishes up her math and moves on to her spelling, grammar, and punctuation.<br />
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9:10<br />
The twins move on to their phonics warm-up. I have found that having them do a quick phonics warm-up before starting their reading helps their letter recognition greatly.<br />
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9:20<br />
Sara (9) finishes her spelling and starts her morning break. The twins progress to their reading work.<br />
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9:40<br />
The 5 youngest children (9, 6, 6, 5, 3) sit down to watch the Leapfrog Talking Words video. Why do musical frogs make everything so much easier to learn?<br />
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9:45<br />
I move on to helping our oldest daughter (12) finish her math lesson. Why do percentage symbols and decimals make everyone crazy?<br />
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10:00<br />
Our oldest moves on to her spelling, grammar, and punctuation work.<br />
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10:10<br />
Snack for our youngest two children (5 and 3). The Leapfrog Talking Words movie has finished so all 5 of the younger children head outside for "recess".<br />
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10:20<br />
Our oldest has finished her spelling, grammar, and punctuation work. I spend a few minutes going over her remaining assignments for the day focusing on the work she needs to complete on her own. She then heads to the playroom for her "teenage" time alone with just the tv. At this point I head to the kids bathroom to pick up the dirty laundry and clean the dried toothpaste off of the sink from the morning brushing frenzy.<br />
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10:25<br />
Time for my 30min morning workout with Faithful Workouts. The church ladies really kick my butt when it comes to squats and weights. Do I know how to have a good time or what?<br />
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10:55<br />
I am all finished with my workout and it is time to make a snack for our twins.<br />
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11:00<br />
The twins start their science and history work.<br />
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11:10<br />
Our oldest two (12 and 9) join in for their half of history as well. Our youngest (3) comes to the table as well to color another picture.<br />
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11:30<br />
Sara (9) starts her eye exercises, Hailey (12) starts her reading work. The twins and our son take a break while I straighten the kitchen, dinging room, and living room again.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijiC1_9iT_kLX3zbYHtfrh33_XFEFbz02tmPGhTpKuf7lWBt61PSP1733w4jpBhMhxMXPkGxGZjWOKZtuQrIlLotipq9DC_jKXH9kd412fUWFVLdoyb43HIQgmXxuvExAFVVMnhpXA8Wo/s1600/2016-05-30+11.16.12.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijiC1_9iT_kLX3zbYHtfrh33_XFEFbz02tmPGhTpKuf7lWBt61PSP1733w4jpBhMhxMXPkGxGZjWOKZtuQrIlLotipq9DC_jKXH9kd412fUWFVLdoyb43HIQgmXxuvExAFVVMnhpXA8Wo/s320/2016-05-30+11.16.12.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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11:35<br />
Sara (9) is off on her break and we all begin our lunch routine. My lunch again comes from the prepared meals I put in the freezer over the weekend. The children make their own lunches consisting of sandwiches or leftovers.<br />
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12:30<br />
Sara (9) starts her science lessons. I read the material to her while she works on drawing a picture concerning the material covered. I have found that when dealing with dyslexia, eye muscle weakness, and ADHD it is best if she keeps her hands busy while listening to her material. <br />
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12:45<br />
Sara starts her reading work. We use a dyslexic curriculum for her and it has been a Godsend. The work is difficult for her but she is progressing through the material on a steady basis.<br />
<br />
1:00<br />
Sara is done for the day and I am off to start the laundry from the kids bathroom hamper. After getting that started I clean up the mess in the kitchen from lunch and load the dishwasher.<br />
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1:05<br />
Our oldest daughter starts her science. She had 2 experiments to complete today which is always fun for everyone in the house. Of course this is also when my husband wakes up to ask for a sandwich and a glass of milk. I quickly take him his sandwich before getting back to the science experiments.<br />
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1:30<br />
The youngest 5 are all headed back outside to play in "chalk city". I love having a large paved area in our fenced in back yard. The children are able to ride their bikes and set up chalk villages all day long.<br />
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1:45<br />
Our oldest is finished with her science and headed off for some alone time in her room. I forgot how much "alone time" a pre-teen needs. She is very thankful to have her own room in this new house. <br />
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2:00<br />
I get a few minutes to spend some time working on my blog.<br />
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2:25<br />
I head off to check the laundry and watch the oldest 4 girls put on a doll fashion show with the outfits they made all on their own.<br />
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2:30<br />
Off to the grocery store to get the essentials for our field trip tomorrow.<br />
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4:00<br />
Back from the grocery store and mom gets a snack and some time to watch the news. Meanwhile our oldest finishes her writing assignment and 2/3rds of her reading assignment.<br />
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4:30<br />
Time to make lunches for our field trip the next day. We will be heading to a living history village! We go with simple bagged lunches of peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, pretzels, oranges, and juice pouches. <br />
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5:00<br />
I make rice to go with our crock pot dinner, pack husband's lunch and dinner for work, and then wake hubby up. We all sit down to eat dinner while hubby has his breakfast. This is usually a short affair as the kids never like what I have made for dinner and I am usually so hungry I eat like it is going out of style.<br />
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5:15<br />
The twins (6) and Meg (3) get their dunking in the bathtub. With 8 people and 1 hot water heater we have to spread our showers out throughout the day and double up when possible. <br />
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5:30<br />
I am off on my 40min hike through the local state forest. I love having this time alone to just think and decompress from my day. Meanwhile hubby is headed to his shower before work.<br />
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6:15<br />
I am finished with my hike and and headed for a shower and then a rest before it is time to get the rest of the children clean and ready for bed. <br />
<br />
6:30<br />
It is time for Brent's bath. After finishing up with his bath I make breakfast for in the morning, clean up the kitchen again, and give twins their anti-seizure medicine. Hubby grabs his lunch box, kisses everyone goodbye and heads to work for the night.<br />
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7:00<br />
Bedtime for the 4 youngest. This is my downtime to do whatever I want. I am a wild woman and head to the master bedroom to lay down and read a book. Meanwhile the older two girls are required to have quiet time in their room until their brother is asleep. Once he is asleep they are welcome to watch some tv until their bedtime. They are expected to turn the tv off on their own and begin their bedtime routine at 9pm.<br />
<br />
9pm<br />
Older two girls take turns in the shower and then bed time. After her shower our oldest (12) finally finishes her reading for the day. I guess better late than never.<br />
<br />
9:30pm<br />
I am exhausted headed to bed!<br />
<br />
So there you go, a day in our lives. We completed all of our school work, the house is reasonably clean, meals for tomorrow finished and everyone is clean and in beds. Now to do it again tomorrow.....oh wait tomorrow is a field trip! Definitely the best part of homeschooling! Our lives may seem chaotic and slightly insane but I would not trade this time for all the money in the world. We are truly blessed each and every day to have this time together.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-78368071625525817212016-08-11T10:50:00.000-04:002016-08-11T10:50:02.984-04:00Ice Cream! <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
We have been working on a very fun badge this month! ICE CREAM! I don't know anyone who would turn down ice cream especially at the rate that our children have been consuming it this month.</div>
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Before beginning our adventure into learning about ice cream I had no idea that there was so much controversy surrounding the origin of the sweet treat. We quickly learned that no one really knows who created the dessert item. Honestly it is kinda nice to know that there are still some mysteries in the world.....even if they do center around milk and sugar.</div>
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Since we could not begin at the beginning we chose to start our lessons in the 1800's. I may have chosen this time period since we are currently studying the early 1800's in our history lessons....don't tell the kids that I snuck education into their ice cream explorations! </div>
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We began the process of learning about ice cream at a local historic village. We are so blessed to live within a short drive of an actual 1800's village! The creators of the village moved original buildings from all over New Jersey into one central location and decorated them in period furniture. They also have volunteers in each building to teach the visitors about life in the 1800's. We really enjoyed meeting the lovely ladies at the Ice Cream Parlor and hearing about how ice cream was made and transported before our modern conveniences. </div>
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<br /><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBAwMktUKFFw6UOVzOBsjfKij2YAK_WntYPeyvT0eB2Iu7aGsd2N1BE0iBl8JHdT570yeOrN0q_RaH1xsyIS3f_TTnjKb46uJLL5zgpb2wwRUX9aZoMwbhoq5SNO7epPonKihT5O7_g8/s1600/2016-05-31+11.10.27.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHBAwMktUKFFw6UOVzOBsjfKij2YAK_WntYPeyvT0eB2Iu7aGsd2N1BE0iBl8JHdT570yeOrN0q_RaH1xsyIS3f_TTnjKb46uJLL5zgpb2wwRUX9aZoMwbhoq5SNO7epPonKihT5O7_g8/s320/2016-05-31+11.10.27.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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After learning how homemade ice cream was made we had to give it a try ourselves! I am glad we have such a great group of families at our meetings all of whom had a lot of fun shaking bags of ice and cream to make our very own vanilla ice cream.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSqRZfyRXwd-tH6m5JXWeM34EYqtCvuJ-wFh-JW8Qd4DxTybaEUZ-LdA3Ig7zyc1zGMQe1pcn21ygLMRO4F98JgKV5L49P77cFSiNlAA7EU93ddraA-uxM6RcXO1s3Cz4D57UMhTULlk/s1600/2016-07-18+15.01.58.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgSqRZfyRXwd-tH6m5JXWeM34EYqtCvuJ-wFh-JW8Qd4DxTybaEUZ-LdA3Ig7zyc1zGMQe1pcn21ygLMRO4F98JgKV5L49P77cFSiNlAA7EU93ddraA-uxM6RcXO1s3Cz4D57UMhTULlk/s320/2016-07-18+15.01.58.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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After learning about the history of ice cream and how homemade ice cream was made we moved on to how modern ice cream is produced. We were able to make a trip to Pennsylvania to the Turkey Hill Experience. At the Turkey Hill location we were able to work our way through an interactive museum and learn all of the steps of producing ice cream. From milking the cows to making commercials to sell your creation we had a blast learning how modern ice cream is produced!<br />
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Of course the fact that Turkey Hill offers as much ice cream as you can eat did not hurt the process at all!<br />
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I think I will take this container of ice cream home with me!<br />
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It has been a really fun month learning about ice cream. With the heat index in the 100's I could not think of a better time to consume massive amounts of the creamy treat! <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-80488438181969043102016-08-03T20:19:00.000-04:002016-08-03T20:19:00.193-04:00Healthy Meal PrepAs I have mentioned though out the last few months I am attempting to change our dietary habits from the <a href="http://www.takepart.com/article/2015/09/14/global-dietary-illness">Standard American Diet</a> to a <a href="https://www.ttuhsc.edu/som/fammed/wholefoods.aspx">whole foods diet. </a><br />
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While this is a noble attempt there are some stumbling blocks that seem to pop up when you are least expecting it.<br />
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Whole fresh food takes time to shop for, prepare, and eat. You are not grabbing a box of processed food items, throwing boiling water over it, an then swallowing it down without any real effort to chew. Instead you are purchasing multiple separate items for each dish. Then there is the chopping, washing, and assembling of the meals before taking your time to sit down and eat a meal that takes effort to chew and process.<br />
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In an effort to continue to eat a whole foods diet while raising and homeschooling 6 children I have had to find some shortcuts and easier methods for our meals. Of course the first step in any meal plan is to actually plan the meals. Our family now eats a diet high in vegetables, fruit, lean meats, and complex carbohydrates. With these things in mind I sit down each week and make a list of the meals we will be eating through out the week. One of my big tricks is to serve the same meal at least two times a week. This cuts down on the time I need to spend in the kitchen as well as the expense of buying multiple items for multiple meals. I have found that my family does not mind eating the same thing several times a week as long as I space them out a few days and rotate to new meals the next week.<br />
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The main "trick" in my arsenal is to take one afternoon
to meal prep for the entire week. This can include pre-cooking our
protein for the entire week and chopping all of the fruits and veggies
in one sitting so they are ready to be assembled at meal times. Another
tip is to assemble completed meals in individual servings so they are
simply "grab and go" items.<br />
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For this weeks meal prep I
decided to make up a bunch of single serve meals. These meals are
available to anyone who wants them at any time they feel they are
hungry. <br />
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This weeks meal plan for lunch and dinner looks like this:<br />
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Berry salads with spinach, strawberries, blackberries and a blackberry vinaigrette<br />
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Chicken burrito bowls with wild rice, chicken, black beans, corn and avocado<br />
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Pork chops with roasted brussel sprouts, green beans, tomatoes and wild rice<br />
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Baked sweet potatoes with kale, black beans, and green goddess dressing<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-0eoX2cFQTOxYHozR3XiwxUTFiAFlmoM_aq3mSEze1iS7QPLorNMGatSYheRfIF2p7fClgy6wF93RHCdkm3cVc2w_pQNluEw4C9vKxpjT9SPc7IC52y_mp1iFOFtMTbOOrciAoyWTyU/s1600/2016-07-11+17.58.47.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEho-0eoX2cFQTOxYHozR3XiwxUTFiAFlmoM_aq3mSEze1iS7QPLorNMGatSYheRfIF2p7fClgy6wF93RHCdkm3cVc2w_pQNluEw4C9vKxpjT9SPc7IC52y_mp1iFOFtMTbOOrciAoyWTyU/s320/2016-07-11+17.58.47.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
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As you can see I do not have a very big refrigerator and it all still fits inside along with tons of extra veggies, fruit, dairy items, and lunch meats. I, or my children, could use the remaining items in the refrigerator or pantry to make several more meal combinations if the repetitiveness of meals gets boring. I intentionally only assembled salads for myself since portion control is important to me....and I wanted to make sure there were strawberries set aside for my portion! There however is plenty of salad items to make salads every night of the week if we chose to do so.<br />
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A typical day's meals for our family looks something like the following:<br />
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<b>Breakfast:</b> Oatmeal with apples and honey<br />
<b>Lunch</b>: Strawberry and spinach salad with chicken<br />
<b>Snack:</b> Watermelon<br />
<b>Dinner</b>: Chicken burrito bowls<br />
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I am getting hungry just looking at all this yummy food! I think it is snack time for mama! <br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-59201911117175067642016-07-26T14:35:00.000-04:002016-07-26T14:35:01.624-04:00Our Laundry Routine<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Having eight people in one house means a lot of laundry! I am not an expert by any means but we have finally found a routine that works for our family. In the interest of making things easier for other families I thought I would share what has been working for our family.</div>
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The first rule in our home is that if you are capable of doing your own laundry you do so. That goes for my husband as well as our oldest daughter. They are both in charge of washing, drying, and putting away their own laundry. If I am feeling particularly gracious I will do my husband's laundry but for the most part he is in charge of his own clothes. Now before you think I am an evil wife you should know this was his idea and he is happy to take the load of at least one person's laundry off my shoulders. The key to this system working is to make sure they each have their own dirty laundry hamper in their rooms. Keeping their laundry separate at all times makes the process go much smoother for everyone. </div>
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I am in the process of teaching our youngest 5 children to be in charge of their laundry as well. This is different for each age and ability obviously. It all begins with our clean clothes sorting system. A while back I built these laundry basket hanging systems. I can not say enough wonderful things about this system! </div>
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Each hanging basket corresponds to a specific clothing size and child. The top basket is for mine and my husband's clothes. Then from the top working down we have baskets for each child based on their heights. The shorter the child the lower their basket. This means that if they need a clothing item and their clothes have not already been put away they can go to their basket and find their clothes on their own. </div>
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I am getting a bit ahead of myself though. You see the washer and dryer are right next to these baskets. When I pull laundry from the dryer the clothes are immediately sorted into the correct child's basket. No more mountain of laundry to sort through! I only touch each piece of laundry once to place it in the correct basket. </div>
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When each basket is full it is time to put it all away. Our 9 yr old daughter is completely in charge of putting away her laundry. I simply hand her her basket and she takes care of the rest. She is a bit too short to operate the machines but will soon be able to start washing and drying her laundry on her own as well. </div>
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Our 6 year old twins create the most laundry by far! There is something about this age that just makes laundry piles. It is too overwhelming for them to be in charge of sorting their laundry. I bring their laundry basket upstairs and sort their things into piles and they take the piles to their room and put them away on their own. I then inspect to make sure they put everything away as instructed and not piled on the floor. </div>
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Then I move on to our 5 year old son's laundry. He is 100% able to put away his own laundry but gets a bit distracted. I work with him to put away his laundry. He handles the items that go in the drawers while I hang his clothes up. </div>
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Last up we have our 3 year old daughter. She knows where her clothes are and gets herself dressed every morning. We have a similar arrangement as with the older children. I sort the clothes into piles and then she helps put them in the correct location while I supervise and help her. </div>
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So that covers the clean laundry routine but what about the dirty laundry? How in the world do you wash that many clothes and towels each week? My husband always does his laundry on Saturday night because his work week starts on Sunday night. I have set aside Sunday as our laundry catch-up day. I am usually woken up in the morning by our oldest daughter starting her laundry in an attempt to get to the machines before I do. After her clothes are done I spend the entire day making sure that the laundry is running continuously and that all clothes are washed and put away by the end of the day. Having that day set aside to making sure that the laundry is completely done each week takes a massive load off of my shoulders during the week. I do still attempt to keep up with the laundry here an there throughout the week but it is definitely hit or miss to say the least! <br />
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The one thing you will notice is that I do not fold or iron any clothes, not even my own. It is just not important to me. Our wardrobes consist of mainly play and gym clothes. If we by some fluke have a special even to go to those clothes are kept separate and handled according to their instructions.</div>
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Will this system work for everyone? Maybe not, it however works for us. My goal is to teach my children to be self sufficient and I am attempting to do so based on their abilities. </div>
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Do you have a laundry system that works for your large family? If so I would love to hear about it! </div>
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-29808272891109794862016-07-18T14:03:00.000-04:002016-07-18T14:03:03.055-04:00Mid Year Neurology Appointment<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Every six months we take a trip to the neurologist to see how the twins are doing on their epilepsy medications. Five years ago when our oldest daughter was diagnosed as epileptic these appointments terrified me. The thought of her having a seizure during the routine EEG's was enough to keep me up at night worrying. It did not help that she did in fact have have seizures during the EEG's.</div>
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Watching your child go through a seizure is horrible and not something I would ever wish on another parent. By the time our second child was diagnosed as epileptic I was starting to get a handle on my emotions and able to take the seizures as they came. When our third child was diagnosed I knew that there were medications that would make it stop and that their doctors would do everything in their power to take care of our children. I am not going to say I am relaxed on the subject but it no longer terrifies me.</div>
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Every June we go to the neurologist for a routine EEG and neurological check up. This June we added a fun trip to the pet store before their appointment.</div>
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I love watching them interact with each other away from their siblings. The twin bond is really amazing to watch!</div>
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After a fun lunch and trip to the pet store we were off to the doctor's office. I love that the children's hospital keeps them together during the entire time they are undergoing testing. </div>
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This time we had wonderful news! Lacy's EEG was perfect and she has been seizure free for two years. That means she gets to wean off her medication and attempt to maintain her seizure free status. If she can make it a year off of her medication without a seizure she will no longer be considered epileptic. Her older sister took this journey a year ago with wonderful results. I am still pretty nervous on the subject especially around water but it has to be done at some point.<br />
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We are excited to start this new journey towards a seizure free life!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-64433318312343646952016-07-13T13:42:00.000-04:002016-07-13T13:42:00.172-04:00Our Beach Trip<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
I grew up in a small town in Kentucky and did not get my first experience with the ocean until I was in college. Not surprisingly I am more at home in the woods than on a beach. That is probably why after living in New Jersey for 5 years we just took our 3rd trip to the beach, our first as an entire family.</div>
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Our children had an amazing time and wore themselves out rather quickly. Hubby and I were shocked that we out lasted the kiddos. It seems sitting around in a chair and watching people play in the waves is not nearly as exhausting as being out there actually playing. Who knew?!<br />
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I would like to say that we will be heading back to the beach soon but the waves make me a nervous wreck. I much prefer water that does not move! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-91046485900254871572016-07-10T13:36:00.000-04:002016-07-10T13:36:24.282-04:00A Strep Throat Outbreak<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
You would think after six children our family would be professionals at infectious diseases. At the very least you would think that we would have super human immune systems. </div>
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<span id="goog_1957431492">We were extremely blessed to make it through the entire winter with just a cold moving through our house. For some reason summer seems to be the time when we get the worst of our illnesses. I am sure it has to do with sending more time out playing with friends and going on field trips.</span><br />
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<span id="goog_1957431492"> Our youngest daughter came down with a massive fever last week and it moved through our house like wildfire. </span><br />
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<span id="goog_1957431492">At the current count we are at seven positive cases of strep throat. My husband is the lone hold out. After several trips to the doctors office and pharmacy we are finally all stocked up on antibiotics and on the mend. </span><br />
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<span id="goog_1957431492">I am happy to say we are almost ready to return to our normal life! </span>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-44946421552848500032016-06-30T13:11:00.002-04:002016-06-30T13:12:04.616-04:00Notebooking Review<center>
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Our family loves to be able to notebook our way through our school work. You can imagine how excited we were to be chosen to review <a href="http://notebookingpages.com/">NotebookingPages.com</a> and their <a href="http://notebookingpages.com/memberships">Lifetime Membership</a>! </div>
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When we began our homeschooling journey I spent a great deal of time trying to decide what was the proper fit for our family. With several special needs students and a cluster of younger children on their way up the school ladder we needed hands on activities that would reinforce our learning. We very quickly learned that worksheets were not for us. There is something just so stifling about looking at a stack of worksheets to complete. It was even worse to look at a stack of worksheets that needed to be graded! </div>
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After doing quite a bit of research and reading countless homeschooling blogs we discovered notebooking. Notebooking is simply the newfangled word for keeping an old school journal with the added twist of artwork, paper art, maps, etc. </div>
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Our children are very artistic and have always enjoyed keeping journals and doing scrapbooking projects. Notebooking seemed to be the perfect combination of the two activities. I made a trip to a local office supply store and had them put together several notebooks from colored cardstock. Then we were left with the task of figuring out how to fill all of those empty pages. I found several notebooking pages here and there online but it took quite a bit of time on my part to hunt down interesting pages that were not just "more of the same". </div>
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When we found <a href="http://notebookingpages.com/">NotebookingPages.com</a> I was in heaven! The site is a treasure trove of notebooking pages! From plain lined pages for any activity to subject specific pages covering Bible/Character, Famous People, Fine Arts, Geography, History, Holidays, Language Arts, and Science/Nature. </div>
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Our family chose to use the History and Science notebooking pages as part of our school routine. I purposely chose our curriculum for it's compatibility with notebooking and hands on projects. Each day we complete a group reading of our assigned material and then begin working on our notebooks. In order to make our day's progress smoothly I go through and print up a wide variety of pages and keep them in a binder by our school materials. </div>
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I absolutely love that each section is divided into different areas of study and has the option of downloading the ENTIRE section in just one click! It is so tiring go through individual listings to save and then print them one at a time. I loved that I could download the entire collection in one click!</div>
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Our family has been studying the middle ages for history this year. I found not only some fun coloring pages for the little ones to complete but also a great deal of person specific notebooking pages. </div>
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When it is time to work on our notebooks I pull out the binder and let the children chose which pages they would like to fill out. After they have chosen which pages they want to complete we sit down with our notebooks and begin working on projects. </div>
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Our older daughter chooses to complete written summaries of her readings while our younger children are more likely to draw pictures that remind them of what they have heard. I am very easy going when it comes to what method they take for their notebooking work. After they are finished working on their pages I ask them to narrate what they have written or drawn so that I can be sure they understand what we have been discussing. </div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-66240639156373026872016-06-22T09:08:00.000-04:002016-06-22T21:09:04.795-04:00June's School Update<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
So what have we been up to for our most recent three weeks of school? So much I have had my hands full trying to keep up with them all!</div>
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I think the biggest break though would have to have been for the twins. They both read their very first books this month! We are still at the sounding out every letter stage but they are making some great progress. They finished their first math workbook this month as well! It is funny how quickly it all goes when it finally "clicks" in their little brains. I am so blessed to be able to be part of these moments in their lives.</div>
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This month was also our very first Rain Gutter Regatta with Frontier Girls and Quest club. We had never taken part in a Rain Gutter Regatta before but were blessed to be able to borrow the rain gutters from the local boy scout troop. We met as a troop and built our boats together. The children then headed outside to race their boats against the other members of the troop. We had never built our own boats before so we got to do quite a bit of hands on learning while figuring out what makes a boat float. It seems were were quite good at making boats that sink!<br />
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The biggest event this month would have to be our oldest daughter competing in the Special Olympic games! She and I moved into the dorms for the weekend and took part in all of the festivities. We had an amazing time and loved every second of the competitions. She did amazing and won a gold in the 50m breaststroke, silver in the 50m freestyle, and silver in the 50m freestyle relay. </div>
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Also this month our oldest daughter has been working on her architecture hobbies. She has spent many hours locked in her room building new doll houses for her shopkins dolls. I might be a little biased but I think she did a really amazing job on her projects. Especially when you consider she had absolutely zero adult help with either project.<br />
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We did do the full three weeks of school work this month I promise! Although Caesar the cat tried his best to stop it from happening every chance he got. Here he is disrupting our 9 year old daughter's spelling lesson. It seems his belly needed to be scratched at exactly that moment.</div>
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Our last big project this month was spent working towards earning our Postcard badges. The children met with their troop and made their own postcards while learning about the use of postcards throughout history. One of the requirements for completing the postcard badge is to put together a postcard collection. I took it a step farther in an attempt to sneak some geography into the mix and assigned a 50 states postcard collection. Luckily we have a lot of friends all over the United States who all happily stepped forward to help us fulfill our goal.<br />
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We have started out week long school break for the month and I have to say it came just in time for me. I would like to say we have been completing all kinds of fun projects and activities but in reality I have spent the entire week cleaning, meal planning, grocery shopping, making and attending appointments and other very mundane activities. I love having this week off to get caught up on all of the things that get dropped or pushed to the back burner while schooling full time.<br />
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I am looking forward to July's school work however. There is some sick part of me that loves seeing those workbooks all filled out and the lesson plan full of check marks. I guess it is the little things in life! Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5753596634303695943.post-12537492727326905712016-06-21T18:06:00.001-04:002016-06-21T18:06:06.645-04:005 weeks of healthy habitsI am starting my 5th week of intentional healthy habits. In some ways it feels like it has been a very long road. While in other ways it feels like I just started the process. I know that I am healthier and stronger but really wish I was seeing more of a physical change. I am however down 5 pounds and a whole inch off of my hips! I am not going to complain about that!<br />
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For those who have not been following along on my journey (What?! Where have you been?) I had three goals. First was to work on my sleep patterns, secondly I wanted to eat healthier, and thirdly I wanted to increase my exercise routine.<br />
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I am happy to say that my sleep patterns are now set in stone and going well. I am tempted at times to stay up late in an attempt to spend time with my husband. I however know that if I stay up late one night I will sleep late the next day and it is a slippery slope for me.<br />
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My eating has been going well but I am really tired of tracking my daily calories. It is tedious. I however need some way to monitor my daily intake. I tend to either eat way too little or way too much if left to my own devices. I have been tracking my calories in an attempt to hit the sweet spot of 1,200 to 1,500 calories.<br />
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Exercise has been going well and I have been hitting my 12,000 steps a day every day! Unfortunately that has taken me two hours a day out of the house walking on the local trails. While I love walking on the trails it has started to get difficult to fit into my schedule. I have been walking in the evenings when it is slightly cooler but that means I am either missing dinner or eating way to late and feeling light headed and shaky. I have the option of going out early in the mornings but I am holding that card as a last choice. I am not a morning person at all! Getting up early does not appeal to me in the least.<br />
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Now that I am starting my 5th week of intentional healthy habits I am making yet more changes to my goals. The initial stages of eating healthy and exercising are over and I am ready to ramp up my efforts. After reading an article in Running World I have decided to set my goals for three week periods. the thought process is that it takes 3 weeks for your body to no longer find a challenge in a new activity. With that in mind you need to change up your routine at least every three weeks in order to continue to challenge your system. <br />
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So what are my goals for the next three weeks?<br />
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1. Maintain my sleep patterns. I feel it is very important that I get enough rest each night. Without the proper amount of sleep I am useless and more likely to crumble and purchase fast food while skipping my exercise routine.<br />
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2. Eating healthy of course. I would like to try something new for the next three weeks. After doing some reading and poking around the internet I have decided to use a version of the 21 Day Fix. I am not purchasing the program nor have I even read the book (although I will be checking to see if they have it in the library). I however have found some interesting printables online that I think could be beneficial. The process is pretty simple and relies on portion control and exercise. You are allowed a certain amount of veggies, fruits, protein, seeds/nuts, etc each day based on your calorie range. As you eat your meals you check off a block under the appropriate category. When you are out of squares to check you are done eating out of that category for the day. For a more in depth look at he program you can check out<a href="https://www.pinterest.com/pin/198580664797824107/"> this pin</a> which has tons of information. My goal is to check off the foods on the checklist each day instead of tracking them on the tracking software. I am hoping that this will make my calorie tracking simpler to complete throughout the day.<br />
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3. Exercise is a must. I would like to change things up in this area as well. My goal is to increase my intensity while decreasing my time spent exercising. I have turned my nightly five mile hikes into two mile runs. I will be working my way up to running a 5k very soon. I am also about to start increasing my strength training as well. I have made the questionable decision to begin crossfit workouts. I am slightly terrified but excited to give it a try. My friend recommended the location and was able to score me a $100 gift card towards my first month's membership. Tomorrow is my first workout! Hopefully they do not kill me in the process.<br />
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I am excited to see what the next three weeks has to offer! What healthy habits are you working on? <br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10201110473168685039noreply@blogger.com0