Homeschooling for His Glory

This month The Canadian Homeschool Blogging Team is looking at " How we have fun in homeschooling " . You can find all the posts' round up over at Lisa's blog : The Canadian Homeschooler. When we think of homeschooling, of course we think books and workbooks. Especially in my case, since we homeschool with a classical bent, the general feeling is bookwork, and in a very real sense it is. We seek to be quite rigorous in our schooling. That said, homeschooling does not need to be all bookwork. It is really more about learning, and learning can take many forms. Today let me share with you a few of the ones that we consistently use in our homeschool: Games: I love games and my kids love games. So games is a very important part of our daily routines. When they were younger we did a lot of subject-oriented games, such as Number Binfo, or  flashcard games. Now we do more strategy games. Our favorites are: Settlers of Catan Risk Kings of Israel 7 Wonders Dut

Do you like scrapbooking? Or do you have lots of pictures that need organizing? Or, are you craft-challenged but would love to do something nice for your school year end? I've got good news for you. I am not a very crafty person, so I usually stay away from things like scrapbooking. That said, I was offered a 20-pages online scrapbook yearbook to try from Picaboo Yearbooks . I can tell you that I am glad I tried my hands at it. Picaboo is a an online or digital scrapbooking company that also offers yearbook options. What a great way to catalogue and gather in one place all of those memories we create as homeshoolers! You could make a yearbook about almost anything: year at a glance, field trips memories, family activities of the year etc... At first I was a bit at a lost in the process, but I very quickly got the hang of it after watching a few of their tutorials. First you pick between hardcover or softcover, then you pick how many pages you want your yearbook to be.

It is Thrusday and time for the Hearts for Home Blog Hop. Come join us ! <div align="center"><a href="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/hearts-for-home-blog-hop-hosts/" title="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CoHostH4HButton300x300.jpg" alt="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>   The Hearts for Home Blog Hop features encouraging and inspiring posts on home, marriage, parenting, tips and tricks for homeschooling, cooking, crafts, DIY projects, and anything home related. This is your one stop for sharing your family friendly posts and for finding these resourceful blog posts you are looking for. This week's most clicked through post is from Embracing Destiny: The Ultimate Guide for Free lapbooks for Every Subjects . My personal favorites from las

It's been a month since my last random 5. Wow, time flies by quickly! What have we been up to? 1 . Zach joined a violin/cello ensemble and is enjoying it a lot. 2.  Spring  Electives started back a couple of weeks ago, and the boys are doing: cooking, basketball, badminton, photography, and science 3. On the school front, things are moving along. We are still doing all of our subjects. We are slightly behind in our TOG studies, but pushing on.  We finished Fractions from Life of Fed this week, and will be starting Decimals and Percents next week. We have one more spelling list to d and then I am in search for a new spelling curriculum. I a crossing my finger for a review product coming soon that could serve as both vocabulary and spelling. This week we started a new read-aloud: Ten Boys who Made a Difference . 4. I have started planning for next year. Am I the only one? As I am planning for Zach's 7th grade year, I am keeping in mind that high school is not so

Do your kids hate reading? Are you looking for a way to get your kids excited about reading? Then, I have a review product just for you. Star Toaster is an online Reading Adventure that is sure to get your kids reading and enjoying it. We were tasked with trying out their  Orphs in the Woodlands  Online reading adventure, and I am glad we made it on this particular review. What is Orphs in the Woodland? Orphs in the Woodland is an online Reading book that offers you more than a reading experience. It is an interactive adventure, of which reading is the main component, but where you get to play games, and learn from a lot of different subjects. It is all online, so you will need a computer, or tablet connected to the internet. The set up is easy, each child gets a code name and sets their profile, and then  he is set on his journey. When you purchased this book you get a two-month subscription, with one-month extension available, good for up to three children The story: Y

This is it, the last day of the Real Life Homeschool blog hop week. I hope you have had a chance to read the different blogs posts on the topic, and gleaned some insights into some real life homeschools. Today let me tell you about how real life homeschooling works out for us when it comes to keeping the house clean and in order. I just have 4 words: It does not always. We live in an apartment and space is limited. School is done on the floor, on the sofa, on the bed, at the dinning table, and at the computer desk. What this does is that there is school work all over the house. At the end of the day I try to have both boys pick up everything and put it where it belongs, but it does not always happen. On a typical day, if you pop in my house in the middle of the day, the dinner table is a mess, the living room is a mess and the bedrooms are always a mess. I have a few mottos I try to apply to help me keep the house in some decent order and cleanliness: Motto #1:  "ever

As part of the real life homeschool blog hop, I would like to share with you our schedule and how it gets, or does not always get followed.  Monday : Online Math, Life of Fred, Grammar, Writing, Copywork, Science, History, Spelling, French, Bible, Reading and read aloud Tuesday: Same as Monday except for spelling and read aloud. The science is lighter. In the afternoon Johann has piano lessons. Wednesday: Same as Tuesday. In the afternoon Zach has violin lessons. Thursday: we do not school on Thursdays because it is dad's day off ( he is a pastor). Coincidentally it is our co-op day which happens 7 weeks straight in the winter and in the spring. It goes from 12:30 to 3:30 and we do have to drive a good 30 minutes without traffic to get there, to over 1 hour in traffic time. In the winter we also have 7 weeks of volleyball on that day. Friday: Online Math, Life of Fred, Copywork, science, History, Spelling, French, Bible, Art/Poetry, Reading and re

I just recently received an email from the founders of Educents, Kate and Kaitlyn, with some really exciting news. Until today, Educents was a website for parents and educators to take advantage of daily deals.      But those deals expired...          And there were only 50 deals available at once... I wanted saving money to be even EASIER. Kate and Kaitlyn agreed. So they created the new Educents Marketplace . It’s even easier to discover affordable educational resources that make learning FUN!     Thousands of new products - Educents Sellers can now offer ALL of their bestsellers on the new Educents Marketplace. There's a wide variety of worksheets, lesson plans, educational apps and toys. Shop The Young Scientists Club , Scholastic , Workman Publishing , Alpha Omega Publishing , Life of Fred books , hundreds of printable units created by educators, and more!  Offers that NEVER expire - Sellers can offer our favorite educational products year-round . Once a de

Yesterday, as part of this week long blog hop on Real Life Homeschool,  I shared about my 4th grader school day. Today we will look at my 6th grader school day. My oldest son is a typical first born, very autodidact, dreamer, lazy tendencies, and very laid back. I find it harder to homechool him, but over the 8 years we have been at it, there has been progress, though there is still a long road ahead. The difficulty arises in that he tends to get very distracted and needs to be held accountable. When he wakes up in the morning, he likes to do his own thing, which consists of whatever is on his mind at the moment, writing a book, creating some Lego game or board games, playing imaginary battles, you name it. After breakfast, as of recently he has taken to spending a good time in the shower. Then he tries to start his school. Most days he gets about 2-3 subjects done, then gets distracted again in doing something else, like playing with his swords, or writing or building pro

Many always wonder what it is like to homeschool and what a typical day is like for a homeschooler. Well this week I am joining over 50 other bloggers to share with you what our days really look like. I have 2 boys, grade 4 and grade 6. Today I will share a day with my 4th grade,r and tomorrow a day with my 6th grader. Let me preambule this with a few things to know about my 4th grader: He is very routine oriented He is by the book He is driven He likes to achieve and be done He likes to have time to do what he wants to do and therefore tends to plan out his day. He loves to eat He moves a lot I am not a morning person so my kids are usually up before me. Don't throw the tomatoes at me!! Sometimes, my 4th grader will get started wit his school before breakfast, depending on his mood and how much work he has to do. After breakfast, which is usually anytime between 8:30-9:30 am, he gets groomed and gets to work. Most days though he stays in his pajamas - he loves

I am joining over 15 other bloggers to bring you the Hearts for Home weekly blog Hop where you can share your family friendly posts. <div align="center"><a href="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/hearts-for-home-blog-hop-hosts/" title="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" target="_blank"><img src="http://www.marriagemotherhoodandmissions.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/CoHostH4HButton300x300.jpg" alt="Hearts for Home Blog Hop" style="border:none;" /></a></div>   You can meet the other co-host bloggers here. The Hearts for Home Blog Hop features encouraging and inspiring posts on home, marriage, parenting, tips and tricks for homeschooling, cooking, crafts, DIY projects, and anything home related. This is your one stop for sharing your family friendly posts and for finding these resourceful blog posts you are looking for. Every week we feature the most clicked through post f