Yahoo Groups and Homeschooling

When I began homeschooling, I discovered Yahoo Groups, and these groups have been a

very helpful resource for me as a homeschooling mom.

Some of the Yahoo Groups that I am in, or have at one time been in, are...

*Apologia Science

*Apologia Biology

*Apologia Physical Science

*Elementary Apologia Science

*Homeschool Links (one of my favorites!)

* IEW Families

*Sonlight (there are also many subgroups within Sonlight...as with Apologia mentioned above)

*Used Curriculum (general used curriculum, and specific used curriculum...Sonlight, etc.)

There is a Yahoo Group for just about anything that you can imagine,

and if you don't see exactly what you are looking for,

you can start a group of your own.

To join a group, you usually need to send the moderator some basic information about yourself.

After you are approved (which may take a day or two),

you will then have access to discussion forums, helpful files containing worksheets, study guides, quizzes, tests...whatever other members of the group may have created or found to help their children,

and then choose to share with the rest of us!

The "Homeschool Links" group that I mentioned above can connect you to helpful online resources.

This is how I found about lizardpoint.com, the free geography site that Christian now uses on a daily basis

It is also how I came across a very helpful Etymology resource that I added to Caylie's Apologia Biology last year.

You can customize how you would like to get updates within each group.

Some members choose to receive e-mails whenever there is an update within the group,

while others just check the site occasionally to see what is new

I started out receiving e-mail updates,

and for some groups, that brought too much into my mailbox,

and so I would then go in and change my options for that group.

You can choose exactly how you want to use each group that you join.

If you are beginning a new curriculum, or just want to have additional resources and support for the curriculum that you are already using, this is a

great, free source of learning and connecting.

Good Reads For Tween/Teen Boys

This post was inspired by a comment that I received about the above picture,
which appeared in this post last week.

The reader wondered why my child was reading a book entitled, "Monk".

Rest assured, I am not encouraging my son to head off to a monastery!

That would be really weird...especially since we are Protestant!  :)

The "Monk" series, by Lee Goldberg
is based on a television show about a quirky, OCD detective,
named Mr. Monk.
Christian has enjoyed watching the show, as well as reading the book series.
The reason that he has the book on his school shelf, is because he chose to use it for a book report that he is doing right now.  Christian has checked the books out from our library.

Another book series that Christian has enjoyed reading is the
Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz.
The Alex Rider books are about a boy who is a spy...
kind of like a young James Bond.
Christian has read all of the books in this series...
also found at our library.

I am always excited to learn about books that are good for young teen boys.

I would love to hear from some of you who may have middle/ junior high aged boys.

What books have your boys enjoyed reading
just for fun?

School Room Reorganization

Saturday morning, I woke up wanting to tackle a project.  I didn't have anything specific in mind, I just knew that
I wanted to get something done, and check it off my list!

When I went downstairs into the school room/dining room, I decided that it was time to reorganize.

It wasn't horrible, but as the year has gone on, the shelves had gotten a little messier, and there were things that needed to be moved to new places and other things that just needed to be thrown away.

Here is the "before" of our school bookcase...getting kind of sloppy.



And "after"...much better.

Caylie's supplies.  (Many of her books and supplies are kept in her Co-Op backpack.)

Christian's school supplies.

Teacher resources for Christian's subjects.

Teacher resources for Caylie's subjects.

Reference books/ books that are not currently being used.

The trash pile.

The "move to a different spot" piles.

This is where we keep my old scrapbooking supplies, that are now great for school projects.  I also keep homeschool catalogs in here, as well as some of the curriculum that Caylie has finished with, that will be passed down to Christian.  This cabinet needed a little bit of work as well.

Before...

After...just neatened things up a little bit.

Top drawer is for pens, pencils, etc...

One side drawer is for our chalkboard supplies, and some guitar supplies.

And when I was finished...I had an empty cabinet on one side...

and an empty drawer right above it!

Love that!!!  :)

Random Thoughts

As we head into the weekend, here are some random things that I have floating around in my head this morning. 

1) Last night Corey, the boys and I, went to see a preview performance of Caylie's show.

  

She is doing another preview performance as I speak type, and the official opening night is tonight.  There are two shows tomorrow, one on Sunday, and I can't even remember what next week's schedule is.

It keeps us running, but she really loves it, and she did a great job last night.

I love to hear her sing, and watch her dance, and see her expressions as she "does her thing" on stage!

She is so expressive, and enthusiastic!

Next Saturday afternoon, Corey is going to go to the matinee performance with his parents, then on Saturday night, my mom and I will go to the closing night performance.

I am looking forward to getting to see the show again, and being there for the final performance is always exciting.

2) For the previous two years, I have attended the Arkansas Homeschool Convention in Searcy.  I have enjoyed going, but had decided not to go this year.  

A couple of months ago, I heard about the
MidSouth Homeschool Convention

in Memphis, a convention I had never even known about previously.

(How that happened, I'm still not sure!)

The MidSouth convention is much bigger, and brings in great speakers, so I was really interested, but since Caylie's show was opening this weekend, and so much craziness comes along with that, I had decided that I would have to pass on attending this year.

Yesterday drove me crazy as I kept hearing of other moms that were heading to the convention!  I pulled up the schedule of sessions, and as I read through it, I wanted even more to be there!

I went to Corey and asked what he would think of me leaving at 6am this morning, and driving to Memphis, spending the night, and coming home tomorrow evening after the convention ends.

Although he knew that it would be a juggling act, he said that he could manage it, and that

I could go if I wanted to!

He's great about that kind of stuff.
We tend to be pretty spontaneous about things like this, but even so, as the night went on, and I realized that I wouldn't get home from Caylie's show last night until after 10, and that there were sooo many loose ends that I felt I would leave hanging if I took off this morning,

I decided that I would just not go.

  It would have been hectic, and tiring, but also very educational and inspiring, so I keep bouncing back and forth about whether or not I made the right decision.

3)  In other news, I posted here about how we missed the opportunity to sign Caylie up for the

1/2 marathon in Little Rock that she had been training for.

As a result, we found another 1/2 marathon near

Galveston, TX,

and decided to make that our family's Spring Break trip...

adding in some beach time, a fun water park, and a day trip to Houston.

Caylie has continued her training, but for the last couple of days,
she has had some pain at the bottom of her calf...in the area of her ankle.

She says that when she puts weight on the ball of her foot, that it hurts.

This is obviously not a good thing.

I don't want her to hurt herself more by continuing to run if she shouldn't,
but I also don't want her to have to miss the opportunity to meet a goal that she has been working toward!

  We are hoping that taking a few days off from running, will give her a chance to improve.

We will see.

Hope you have a great weekend!

Homeschool Mother's Journal

  

In My Life This Week

This was a difficult week.  

It started off with some stuff that kind of kept me

struggling to keep my head above water...
which is not my best mode.

I think that we kept things running along without any big pieces falling through the cracks, but small things, (if you call laundry, and house chores small) took a back seat, and are now

demanding my attention.

I have to keep reminding myself that life happens.  God knows that life presents challenges, and I have to work at not beating myself up when I experience the impact that comes along with these challenging times.

He needs to remain my focus and my comfort, especially in hard times.

I am hopeful that things are going to improve next week.

In our homeschool this week...

Things with school managed to stay afloat this week.  That is always a priority.

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Caylie has been super busy with running, play practice, school work and church activities.

Her show opens next week, so they are about to kick into even higher gear this weekend.  

She loves it, but it super intense right now.

Christian had his 2 days of outside classes this week, and he always enjoys those.  In addition to his usual church activities, the youth group went to play paint ball last Saturday.

Corey went with them, and they all had lots of fun...even if they did come home with some bruises!

(Corey said that paint ball is not a kiddie game...it can really hurt!)

Today, the older kids both have guitar lessons.

My favorite thing this week was...

Last Friday, Caylie and I went to a preview day at the
University of Central Arkansas, in Conway.  We both really enjoyed the day, and were impressed with the school.  Right now, I think that her top college picks are
OBU (Ouachita Baptist University...where Corey and I graduated!) and UCA.  She still has some time to weigh things out though!  

I posted here about a day where a we
"made lemonade out of lemons".
That made all of us happy, and gave us something exciting to look forward to!! :)


It made my heart happy to read this post that Caylie wrote on her blog. Caylie's sincere desire to allow God to work in her life, and guide her daily choices is one of my precious blessings.


I'm also thankful that while things were difficult for me this week,
Corey was very supportive and helpful.  

What's working/not working for us...

What's working?  

School.

What's not working?  

When I am feeling down, as I have this week, everything seems like a challenge, and it is hard to motivate myself to do the things that I need to do.  It DOES however, reinforce the need for me to count my blessings in the midst of struggles.  That is something that I have tried to become better and better at over the past few years.

It is absolutely a gift to be able to be thankful in hard times!

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I am in the process of getting Caylie's senior year classes planned.  Most of her classes will be outside classes...at Co-Op, and at the community college, so I am just trying to get those details lined out, and make sure that everything will work well together.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share..

"Thank Me for each blessing along the way; this brings joy to both you and Me.

A grateful heart protects you from negative thinking.

Thankfulness enables you to see the abundance I shower upon you daily."

(Todays devotion in Jesus Calling by Sarah Young)

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Homeschool Mother's Journal

In my life this week...

This week we have had snow. 

I have loved having the slow moments to just be together at home.  We have eaten together, played games together, relaxed together, enjoyed friends, and yesterday, I even got quite a bit of laundry done!

Everyone loves it when that happens!

In our homeschool this week...

Since we have had snow, I caved in, and gave the kids Wednesday and Thursday off so that they could relax and play.

Today we are kicking back into gear!  :)

. 

Places we're going and people we're seeing...

Yesterday Corey took the kids to a big hill close by.  They met another dad, and some friends from church there, and had great time playing in the snow and sledding. 

After that, we had a house full of kids for the afternoon.  It was a fun day.

My favorite thing this week was...

I was thrilled to have such a heavy snowfall for our area.  It is rare for us to have as much snow as we have had this winter, and especially rare for us to have as heavy of a snowfall in one day as we had on Wednesday.  It was beautiful and exciting to see it falling, and covering everything in a blanket of white!  I didn't want it to stop!

What's working/not working for us...

Other than having a few things that I don't want to do staring me in the face...like more laundry, and cleaning out the fridge, things have gone well this week.  

Maybe it is just because we haven't had much going on!  :)

Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...

I keep thinking that I am somehow missing the boat on how I plan out my curriculum.  

I hand write it all.  

I do the original planning and scheduling in my teacher planner, and then I write out individual daily plans in the kid's binders.  I know that there must be an easier way, but this actually seems to have worked for us so far.  I really only do planning twice a year...before each semester, so although it takes a lot of time at those points, it is a small part of the year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share..

As your kids grow they may forget what you said, but won't forget how you made them feel. (parentingzone.com)


Writing the Waves,
Christi

My 8 Favorite Homeschool Resources

Yes, I know that it is only February, but as a homeschool mom, I am always trying to think ahead, and work to make our courses as interesting and effective as possible...so yes, I'm already thinking ahead to next year!

We have actually had a really great year with our curriculum, and so believe it or not, unless something sweeps in and changes my mind (which I'm always open to), next year we will stick with these 8 resources that have been working well for us.

1) ALEKS online math curriculum-  This year Christian did Pre-Algebra, and we have been very pleased with the program.  Next year, we plan to stick with Aleks for Algebra.  They offer a free trial, which is what we used this summer before making the decision to switch from Teaching Textbooks.

2) Sonlight History- I really like how Sonlight merges resource books with historical fiction books to create a richer, more in depth picture of history.  This year we are doing our 2nd year of World History, and next year we will do US History.

3) Wordly Wise Vocabulary- This was our first year to use Wordly Wise.  It is a great, easy to use, yet challenging vocabulary curriculum. 

4) ABeka Grammar and Composition-  I like how thoroughly the ABeka workbook introduces and explains each new concept.  Last year we used Easy Grammar and Daily Grams, but I have found ABeka to be a little better at presenting the information.  We will continue with ABeka next year.

5) Spelling Power- This is a great spelling book that can be used from age 8 to adult. 

6) Apologia Science- Christian is doing Physical Science this year, and will be moving to Biology for 8th grade.  We will probably supplement the course with Red Wagon Tutorials.

7) IEW Writing- The Institute for Excellence In Writing is a thorough program.  It took me a while to get it all figured out, but once you get rolling, it leads the student step by step through continually advancing writing techniques.

8) Lizardpoint Geography-  I just came across this recently, but both Christian and I really think it is great.  It is a free online geography "game" that allows the student to master each part of the world, one area at a time. Right now, Christian is mastering Africa.  Before I found Lizardpoint, we were using our interactive globe to look up the areas that we were studying in history.

Caylie attends the homeschool high school co-op in our city, and will continue to do so (as well as taking classes at the community college), next year, when she is a...

SENIOR! 

Aagh!  Did I just type that?!?! 

Please excuse me while I take a quick break...sniff, sniff...

Ok...moving on...

The only classes that she is doing at home this year, are history, grammar, and vocabulary.  She is using the same resources as I listed above, only at the high school level, and next year will be the same.

Also, both kids do Christian World View here at home, which I have just put together using monthly memory verses, and daily readings.  The last book that we covered was Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life", which I love, and now Christian is reading "Live Like A Jesus Freak", by DC Talk, while Caylie is reading her Bible.

What homeschool resources do you love?

Writing the Waves,
Christi

So, Here's The Plan...

So, for the record, here are our subjects for the year, and how we plan to tackle them...

Caylie...11th Grade

Most of Caylie's classes are going to be done in group settings. She loves "CoOp"! In our city, there are about 100 homeschoolers that attend a wonderful high school CoOp on Mondays and Wednesdays. Caylie's CoOp classes this year are...

*Art
*Algebra 2
*Spanish 2
*Writing

She will be taking Apologia Chemistry from a teacher that holds a few science classes in her home. Caylie will attend this class with 5 other homeschool friends.

Her "at home" subjects will be...

*World History (modified Sonlight)
*World View (selected memory verses and books)
*Grammar (ABeka)
*Vocabulary (Wordly Wise)

Last year, she did not do Grammar and Vocabulary, but we are adding them this year as extra preparation for standardized testing.

In addition to her academic classes, Caylie is excited about remaining active with the youth group at our church, taking guitar lessons, playing volleyball with our homeschool sports organization, and hopes to participate in some local theater.

Christian...7th Grade

Christian's courses this year are...

*Pre-Algebra (Aleks.com)

*Physical Science (Apologia)

*Writing (IEW)

*Grammar (ABeka)

*Vocabulary (Wordly Wise)

*Spelling (Spelling Power)

*World History Part 2 (modified Sonlight)

*World View (selected memory verses and books)

Christian also participates in our Homeschool Academy that meets one day a week. He gets to take Art, as well as several other classes. He really enjoys his days at Academy.

Starting in the winter, Christian will participate in a 4H Science day camp, called SEEK, that meets one day a week for 12 weeks. He did this last year and really enjoyed it. They spend most of the day outdoors, studying science. Last year they dissected fish, and lots of other "fun" stuff that I am happy to NOT be doing at home! :)

Christian will also remain active with our youth group, as well as participating in football, basketball, and guitar lessons.

Whew!

Never a dull moment around here!

Writing the Waves,

Christi

Off To A Good Start!

Well, it appears that I have officially fallen off of the blog wagon!

Caylie has been begging me for months to get back to it, and I have had the best of intentions, but my "to do" list keeps taking over my life.

Another reason that I haven't blogged in FOREVER, is that in my mind, a blog is not really very interesting without pictures. Unfortunately, when I add pictures to my blog, and sometimes, even when I don't, Blogger throws the line spacing all out of whack, and then it takes me WAY to long to get it straightened out. Unless I have a good hour or so, which I never seem to have, I don't even try to blog. Frustrating!

A couple of nights ago, Caylie convinced me that even if I do not include pictures, that I need to be blogging, so that we can keep up with our family memories.

I had to agree.

I'm going to work on doing better. Even if it means that many of my posts will be pictureless.

Ugh.

So...

Today was our first day of school.

Caylie was sooo excited about heading back to CoOp to see all of her friends, and get into the groove of the school year again. She had her backpack loaded with fresh, new supplies, and was ready to roll, with a big smile on her face as I dropped her off this morning. I love that she loves it!

When I got back home, Christian was already sitting at the table, hard at work. We have tweaked our curriculum this year, so we worked through those changes, and had a really good day. We both talked about how much happier we are with homeschooling than we were before.

Sooo glad that we are homeschooling!

So. Glad.

I have been doing preschool activities with Carson most days throughout the summer. Both he and I really enjoy doing these activities, so I will continue to teach Carson this year, even though he is enrolled in a 2 day a week preschool.

Although we always welcome summer vacation, and the break from routine, it is also great to get back into the swing of things in the fall. I enjoy waking up and having a plan for the day!

Tomorrow I will post about what subjects the kids will be studying this year, and how we are going to tackle each one.

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Winding Things Up!

Today we finished Christian's first year of homeschooling! It has been a GREAT year, and we have LOVED it!

Caylie still has a little bit to go (she started a week or so later than Christian did), but it has been a successful year for her as well.

Both kids have participated in homeschool sports, in various co-ops, and have made lots of new friends! It has been such a positive experience for our whole family.

I truly can't even put into words how very thankful I am. We started this venture a lot later in the game than most do, and although I had spent many, many hours in preparation, I was still intimidated. This past year has just been a time of such confirmation to our family that God has been working out His plan in our lives...in many very unexpected ways.

I have learned sooo much this year (and the kids have too!), and while we are all looking forward to our summer break, it brings me such happiness to know that we will also be looking forward to another year of homeschooling in the fall!

I leave in the morning to go to the state homeschool convention. I am excited about selecting new curriculum and also plan to attend some classes.

One of my many goals for the summer is to catch up on my blogging. I had hoped that I would be able to continue blogging regularly during this past year, but I just really didn't seem to have the time. Oh well...that's what summer is for! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Another Fun and Busy Weekend

This weekend, as most of ours are, is a busy, but fun-filled one.

Last night started off with Christian's end of the season basketball party with his homeschool team. The kids all met at a local church and brought drinks and snacks to share. Dads were invited to come and join in a father/son basketball game, and some older brothers also joined in the fun. Corey had a job that he had to do, so he was disappointed about not being able to attend. He would have had so much fun! The kids had a great time playing basketball and hanging out together. At one point, the coaches gave out awards to each of the players. Christian was given the "Phillip" award, which his coach explained was "for bringing the team together in unity...also known as talking!" Funny! Christian really enjoyed the season, and making some new friends. I think that we are all a little sad that it is ending. He is looking forward to playing again next year.

Caylie attended a play last night that one of her friends from church was in. She said that it was really good. I can't remember what the play was called, but she said that the audience was actually seated on the stage, and the play happened right in the midst of them. I can't quite imagine it, but she said that it was really interesting.

Today we woke up bright and early and headed downtown for a volleyball tournament. During a break between games, we took Carson to play at a nearby playground. It was soooo cold! I couldn't believe that only 2 days ago, the kids were breaking out their shorts and flip flops, and today, I had on my coat and gloves...and was still freezing!

After the tournament ended for the day, we all came home and relaxed for a while. I took a nice long nap while Carson was taking his nap! :)

This evening, Caylie got together with some of her good friends, and has plans to spend the night with her friend Gracie. We will all meet up again at church in the morning.

Corey grilled hamburgers (in the cold!), and made some cheese dip for dinner. We ate in the den and watched "Extreme Home Makeover" together! We all love that show!

Now I am washing Caylie's volleyball uniform so that it will be ready to wear again tomorrow. As soon as church is over, we will head back downtown for day two of the tournament. Hopefully it will wind up in time for us all to attend our Sunday night church groups that we really look forward to.

Staying busy, but having fun!

Writing the Waves,
Christi

Caylie's First Half Marathon

Yesterday was Caylie's first half marathon! She was both excited and nervous about it.

Her weekend had already been busy. She had gone on a church retreat on Friday evening, which really lasted until Sunday, but since she and Charles (the boy in the picture below) were both planning to run the half, they rode home with our church's music leader after the Saturday night events ended at the retreat. They didn't arrive back in Little Rock until 2:30 am, which didn't make for a good night's sleep before a big race, but she's a trooper, and says that it was well worth it!

Here she is before the race with Charles, and Kaitlyn (who ran the full marathon!), as well as Kaitlyn's sisters, Betsy and Hannah. Charles, Kaitlyn, and Hannah are some of Caylie's homeschool friends, and Betsy attends the school that Caylie attended before homeschooling.

Below, Caylie is with one of her best friends, Elizabeth, and Elizabeth's sister Rachel. Rachel and Caylie were running buddies for the race.

Here they are in the starting line up. It took almost 10 minutes for all of the runners to cross the official starting line, but since they all wore timing tags on their shoes, they were able to get accurate finish times.

We were around the 6 mile mark to cheer them on! It took them about an hour and a half to get to us, and they were still all smiles! Look at all of those cups scattered on the ground!

Elizabeth had made signs to hold up for both Caylie and Rachel at this point. Here is Elizabeth with her mom, and Carson. Carson L.O.V.E.S. Elizabeth (and we do too!). She has spent a lot of time with our family, and he just considers her to be one of us! :)

Caylie approaching the finish line...

Their finish time was 2:36:30. They completed the second half in less time than the first, which was surprising. Caylie said that once they got to the 6th or 7th mile, that they realized that they were going to be okay, so they picked up the pace a little bit at that point.

Here she is with Elizabeth after finishing. She said that as she was approaching the finish line, that she actually felt like she could keep going, but that when she stopped, her legs immediately started cramping up. She sat and rested for quite a while before hobbling to the car! :)

My mom had skipped church in order to arrive at the race site in time to see Caylie cross the finish line! Here they are as we started heading back to the cars...

We told Caylie that she could choose where she wanted to eat for lunch, and she chose Luby's! That seemed so funny to me, but she IS a healthy eater, and it WAS her choice, so we all headed out to Luby's!

After lunch, mom headed home, and Caylie took some ibuprofen, a hot jacuzzi bath, and then a LONG 4 hour nap...she had some sleep to catch up on even without having just run a half marathon!

In other news, Caylie told us that while on the retreat, she decided that she wants to homeschool again next year. We had told her that it would be her choice, and she has not taken the decision lightly!

Oh my...time to start planning! :)

Writing the Waves,
Christi