Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers: Making Curriculum Work for You

Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers: Making Curriculum Work for You: "It can be easy to allow yourself to become a slave to your homeschool curriculum or to waste time and money trying to find the perfect curri..."

The Mystery of HIStory Vol. II

This year we are continuing on with The Mystery Of HIStory in Vol. II.

You can read about Vol. I, the beginning of the year here and the end of the year here.

We are continuing using the audio CD's, that make is so much easier on me. Why? you may ask, I have a hard time pronouncing words. I can get so stressed out about it.

This year a I went ahead and printted out all the timeline figures from Homeschool in the Woods.

We are using them for:

1. School Room Time Line
2. Personal Time Line book from Sunlight
3. Timeline 3x5 cards

Also printed out and in a 3 ring binder is all the worksheets/ maps.

Having all of that printed out ahead of time, will bless our school year.

For our classroom timeline board, we used an Elmer's 40x60 Foam Board. Colored duck tape is used for the timeline line's.

Words can not express what a blessing our History time has become by using The Mystery of HIStory. If you haven't picked out your history program yet , I encourage you to give this a try. Thanks so much for visiting.

Growing in Christ,

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Student Photo Week

Welcome to our "Not Back to School Blog Hop: Student Photo Week"

It was FUN to take some quick snap shots during the first week of school. Below are a few pictures together and them of the girls by themselves.

Well, I guess we need to get back to school (wink,wink).

Thanks for visiting us!!!!

In HIS Mighty LOVE,

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Not Back to School Blog Hop: School Room Week

Last weeks Blog Hop was educational . . . I want to tweak a few things we have planned.

A few years ago over here I updated our school room. It works so well for us. The BRIGHT LIGHTS and HUGE work space lets us spread out and dig into what ever we are studding. Below is a picture of what our school table looks like in the school room this year.

One NEW thing we started at the end of last year is a binder for each subject. Each girl has their own shelf and their own color notebooks.

Not pictures is the area when you first walk into the room. Last school year we had a piano in the space. We have moved the piano into the next room and now have a sewing work station set up. Both girls are spending time learning how to sew.
A BIG thank you to everyone over at Heart of the Matter for hosting this event. You can visit more school room tours this week here.

In HIS Mighty LOVE,

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Back to School . . .

It's CRAZY I know . . . . We were all EXCITED to get back to school. The first day of school is always special for our family. For the past two years the girls had wanted Homeschool T-shirts to wear on field trips and other places we may go during any given school week. Vista print let me design our very own. They were having buy 1 get 1 FREE a few weeks back. On the front it said: Homeschool Princess! and on the back it has our school bible verse: All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13 Plus in the flowers, they are just about every color there is . . . so it can go just about anything.

Here are the girls in them:

I always try to find surprises for them to make their school year FUN. Last year it was a simple thing as paper clips in FUN shapes. This year it was new containers to put their school supplies in. To dress them up I found some adorable puppy dog stickers.

Here is Shalyn's:

Here is Scottlyn's:

In HIS Mighty Love,

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Not Back to School Blog Hop: Curriculum Week

WOW . . . last year was so much FUN!!! Looking forward to the next four weeks of the Not Back to School Blog Hop. Our topic this week is Curriculum.

What Works for us:

For bible, I take each girl out weekly for one on one bible study with Mommy. We spend a little over a hour studying God's word together over a cup of tea.

Abeka Arithmetic 4th grade for Shalyn

Wordly Wise 3000 worked so well for Scottlyn that both girls will be using it this year

Spelling Work Out (this is our 3rd year using it :)

The Mystery of HIStory Volume II – The Early Church and the Middle Ages

Whats NEW:

Learning Language Arts Through Literature: The Orange Book & The Green Book

G.U.M. Drops for 4th & 7th grade

Trail Guide to World Geography , Geography Through Art & Eat Your Way Around the World

IEW: Student Writing Intensive Level B

IEW: Medieval History-Based Writing Lessons, 2nd Edition (Teacher/Student Combo) †

Shalyn:

Zoology 1

ART 1 hour a day

Scottlyn:

Apologia General Science

Saxon Algebra 1/2, 3rd Edition w/DIVE

Fundamentals of Piano Theory

Piano 2 hours a day

One day a week as a mother helper for 3 hours

My prayer for this school year:

Lord,

Thank you for this blessing to teach my children at home. I know that you have in trusted me with them. May I honor you in all that I do. Please guide me through this year. Help me to better understand my girls so that I can meet their needs in all areas: spiritually, physical, mental and emotional. Lord, I believe that you have a purpose for them, may this year draw them closer to you. I rest my hopes for them in Your hands and ask that You continue to keep my family humble, growing stronger daily in our love for You.

In HIS Mighty Love,

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Atlanta History Center

Make a Smilebox scrapbook

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

Our 1st Day of School

Make a Smilebox slideshow

All your children shall be taught by the Lord, And great shall be the peace of your children. Isaiah 54:13

2009/2010 School Year Plan

Well it is that time of year again where I spend hours upon hours praying, reading and planning what will we use/do for our next year of Home Schooling. Here is the break down:

Scottlyn:

Language: A Beka 6th grade

Reading: Living Books ~ see long list

Spelling: Spelling Workout G

Vocabulary:  Wordly Wise 3000 

Math: A Beka 5th grade or Saxons 65

Shalyn:

Language: A Beka 3rd grade

Phonics/Reading: A Beka

Spelling: A Reason for Spelling

Handwriting: A Reason for Handwriting

Math: A Beka 3rd grade

They will do together:

IEW

Mistory of History Vol.1

God's Design for Life

Foreign Language:

Latin year II

Art:

Draw & Write Through History

Extra:

teach Scottlyn how to sew

continue to work on cooking skills

weekly individual bible study tea time

 This week is the first use book sale that I will go to.  I try to buy most things used or see if I can get thought Barnes and Noble. So here is my list . . . it is just a guide and I am flexible with it. A BIG thing for us next year will be, we will not be doing Timothy Ministry's. I have taught there since I started home schooling 6 years ago. I feel that we need to pull back this coming year and spend more time one on one with each other. So everything come in house . . . I am excited and have a new bounce as I look at next year.  This is only my shopping list. This is just a frame and I am flexable to see what I fine . . . God is always so good and provides me with what I need each year. I already have somethings on hand, the numbers are the ISBN for each book:

Scottlyn 6th/5th grade

Vocabulary

9780838828243 Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 6 2nd Edition

9780838828502 Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 6 Answer Key for Student Text

9780838829363 Wordly Wise 3000 Grade 6 Test Booklet with Answer Key

Writing

The Student Writing Intensive Level B (4 DVDs & Student Materials)

Spelling

978-0765224866 Spelling Workout Level G Student

Spelling Workout Level G Teacher

Shalyn 3rd grade

Spelling/Handwriting

978-0936785295 A Reason for Spelling Level C  

978-0936785301 A Reason for Spelling Teachers Guide  

978-0936785417 A Reason for Handwriting Level C

They will do History & Science together!!

History:

9780806620381 The Student Bible Atlas

9781892427045 The Mystery of History Volume I Creation to the Resurrection

      The Mystery of History Volume I Creation to the Resurrection CD Audio Set   The Mystery of History Volume I Printable Reproducibles on CD-ROM New! The Mystery of History Diploma/ Coloring Pages

The Mystery of History & Enrichment4You.com Vol I Craft Pak CD-Rom

Geography: 

9780131014725 Geography Coloring Book

Literature:

9781883937737 God King: A Story in the Days of King Hezekiah

9780141301235 Place in the Sun

9780836135466 Tirzah

9780486423630 Cat of Bubastes by G.A. Henty

9780394846996 Pharoahs of Ancient Egypt by Payne

9781883937386 The Hittite Warrior by Joanne Williamson

9781883937126 Archimedes and the Door of Science by Bendick

9780394896748 Trojan Horse by Emily Little

9780316515269 Librarian Who Measured the Earth

9780689868832 Children’s Homer by Padraic Colum

9780844667560 The Corn Grows Ripe by Dorothy Rhoads

9780395137192 The Bronze Bow by Speare

9781845503956 Twice Freed by Patricia St. John

9780152162801 Detectives in Togas by Henry Winterfield

9780152162689 Mystery of the Roman Ransom by Henry Winterfield

9780140303353 Golden Goblet

9780140319293 Mara Daughter of the Nile

9780375823787 Ancient Greece and the Olympics: A Nonfiction Companion to Hour of the Olympics

9780375802980 Mummies and Pyramids: A Nonfiction Companion to Mummies in the Morning

9780375832208 Ancient Rome and Pompeii: A Nonfiction Companion to Vacation under the Volcano

9780689846243 Proud Taste for Scarlet and Miniver

9780618615124 The Samurai's Tale

Activities:

Tabernacle 3D Puzzle

978-1885593108 Pyramids: 50 Hands-On Activities to Experience Ancient Egypt (Kaleidoscope Kids) (Paperback) 9781592237463 Explore Within an Egyptian Mummy

9781885593252 Ancient Greece!: 40 Hands-On Activities to Experience This Wondrous Age (Kaleidoscope Kids)  9781556523540 Old Testament Days

9781556522901 Classical Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in Ancient Greece and Rome

9780794509521 Make This Model Trojan Horse

Art:

9780977859702 Draw and Write Through History: Creation Through Jonah

Science:

9781400641482 Ant Farm Gel Colony

9781556525681 Insectigations: 40 Hands-on Activities to Explore the Insect World

Extras:

9780965326339 500 Key Words for the SAT and how to Remember Them Forever! 

I would love to here any thoughts you may have. Even share what you are planning. 

Resting in HIS hands,

Trina

How did we get where we are today . . .

How did we get where we are today . . .

15 years ago when I was single God planted a seed in my heart to Home School. Five years after he planted that seed I meet and married my husband. My husband had a son (Reece) from his first marriage who can to live with us right when we got married. We both worked in retail and could arrange our schedules so that someone could be home with him when he got home from school. Reece was in the 3rd grade when we got married. After we had out Scottlyn together I started to stay home. Working in retail you only get one weekend off a month. Back then my husband's days off were during the week and he worked most all weekends. His son would say to me that his father was never home when he was out of school. Or he would say that ya'll (his father and I) always go and do things when he was in school. This broke both of our hearts. We then started talking about homeschooling. Also during this time this was when the school shooting had started.

We were involved with Reece at our his school and did not like at all what we saw. This was where the seed God planted started to grow. A year after Shalyn came along I started to teach at www.timothyministy.org . Scottlyn would take pre-school classes/ ballet & tap when I was teaching. Plus I was able to bring in some income. I also got plugged into a support group and went every month to the mom's night out. This was where I started doing on hands research. The meting were in a different home each month. I was ask to see where they did school, what books they used and what kind of advice they would they give me s I stated off. I learned so much and was so blessed by each one of them.
We live in a very BIG homeschool area, here is a link to just some of the thing with in a 25 mile area of us: http://www.northgeorgiahomeschooler.com/ There is so much to do around here that you would never have to stay at home. This can be a double edge sword at times. We only have ever done Timothy Ministry on Tuesday. One of the main reasons is that the girls dance is at this time.

Each year I learn something as we grow. At first it was, I needed to learn how to have a consistent daily time with God. If I didn't do this it would effect my teaching. I ended up being on a short fuse with my family. Then I learned and are still are learning how to be that example that my girls need to see in their mother. One that is a help meet to their father, one who fears the Lord and is faithful to Him. To be able to show them a model of what a family is. (Both good and bad). But one that has Christ as it's center.

Here is some trivia about us that not a lot of people know: Last year Wife Swap had contact us about being on their show. We didn't get on (I think it was because we are to boring). But during the video tapping process I learned how passionate my husband was about us home schooling. I have always had his support in this. But something about the questions they had us answered opened my eyes and ears to hear his heart about what we were doing. It was a blessing!

As we are ask from friends and mostly family "How long are you going to homeschool?" We always say the same answered "Until the Lord tells us to stop." I am starting to do some research into Home Schooling the High School years. It's a few years away. I do want to be repaired for that adventure.

I pray that you found this encouraging and useful.