4 Sweet Sisters

Here's my curriculum plan for this up coming school. My goal is to get everyone organized and planned in the next 2 weeks so that I can have 6 weeks to play and have fun. We will be starting back to school on August 1st. Yippee! 12th garde: Alpha Omega Consumer Math- 1 credit Notgrass Economics - .5 credit Notgrass American Gov't - .5 credit Movies as Literature - 1 credit Body by Design, The Reproductive System & Children's Apologia Anatomy -she is surveying this course and teaching it to her younger sisters. she doesn't need the credit. Rosetta Stone French year 2 - 1 credit 8th grade: Tapestry of Grace year 3 (literature, Bible and history) Alpha Omega Consumer Science - 1 credit Artistic Pursuits - 1 credit Rod and Staff English Rod and Staff Reading Apologia Physical Science - 1 credit Teaching Textbooks Pre Algebra Rosetta Stone French or Sign Language (class) - 1 credit 5th grade: Tapestry of Grace year 3 Rod and Staff English Rod and Staff Reading Rod and St...

Warning~ There are a lot of pictures in this post. Look at your own risk. This year we splurged and went to the Florida Parent Educator Association's Homeschooling Convention. We haven't been in about 5 years. Reasons:1) We needed to put more of our money to curriculum use in years past. 2) We didn't have a vehicle that we felt could make it there and back. 3) It was no longer being held at our favorite hotel. 4)I knew what curriculum I liked and have stuck with. This still holds true and I felt a bit guilty going for nothing? Not so. So here's what we did to stay at the 5 star luxury Gaylord Palms Hotel. We saved moo la every month for a number of months. We saved money out for gas, dinners, and brought everything else from home. Breakfast , lunch, and snacks. I printed out all my curriculum needs and wants with Internet prices for comparison. We also reminded the girls frequently to save their pennies for the trip. Lots of fun goodies for children to buy. It was so ni...

As promised an update to our Bug Jars. The girlies found these cute stickers in the school room and decided to go that route. So easy and no mess. Can you see the difference in personalities? These stickers on the sides are to make the bugs happy.... As they drift off into dream land. Hopefully we'll have some neat bug boards by the end of summer. I'm pretty sure I'll be making new jars at some point. Note to self. No getting upset when/if these break. Get some plastic jars. Have a terrific weekend! Julie

Have you ever made a Bug Jar? It's been -- something years since I made one. What, you really didn't think I was going to share how long ago it was did you? Actually it's been since Grade School and then again in Junior High. Do they even have Junior High anymore? Anyway back to the project at hand. My younger girlies are really interested in nature right now and would like to make specimen boards. Okay they didn't even know what those were until I told them about having to make them in school. They thought that was a really cool idea. (I told them about this months ago and am now just getting around to it. Just in case you thought I was all organized and on top of things.) So here we go. You'll need: - 1 jar glass or plastic per etymologist -plaster a Paris -water -nail polish remover or rubbing alcohol Clean jars. I would have used plastic had I had them. I don't recommend this brand, but it was given to me free from someone who didn't need it anymore....

School has "officially " been back in session for a week here at our house. I frequently get asked why we start so early. I'm not a very eloquent person and usually fumble on the spot. I use words like,"uh", and " that's what I was meaning to say". But , the reasons we start back so early are: It's SUPER HOT here! I like to be done with the bulk of our studies in April so that I can start planning in May before the Homeschool convention. Usually 3 out of the 4 chickadees are begging to start. We still have summer fun, take days off and so it isn't straight school, day in and day out. A little crazy on my schedule, but doable! So these are some of my reasons. Catch me on any given day and I could have more or less. I spoke of scheduling. I'm a real nerd when it comes to scheduling. I micro manage our individual and daily schedules down to the last minute. Then I feel totally relieved that I have this wonderfully organized schedule and ...

Good Morning All! We had a wonderfully busy, four day weekend here. We started out our time together visiting a reenactment of Civil War life. We had a chance to here the cannons blow and the muskets crack. A little unnerving when your aren't prepared for it. All the Dads in our group were entranced. We learned about Morse code and the telegraph service. How to dress for day, evening and what type of hoop skirt was used for different activities. Everyone enjoyed some sarsaparilla, fried peas, parched corn and fry bread. The chickadees has lots of new ideas for ball gowns and bonnets. ( I think we will have a busy summer.) These were war refugees getting dressed for the day. The hairstyles were so intricate! Did you know that they made specific chairs for men and women? The hoops that women wore couldn't fit into chairs with arms. These chairs were also sold in pairs because married couples were the ones most likely to need them. After leaving the Raid we then headed to Bocia...

We had the most wonderful day. The girls were asked to serve our Armed Forces by helping Operation Military Kids hand out dolls and picture dog tags to children of the parents and grandparents leaving on deployment. We heard the Governor of our state speak and shook hands and exchanged smiles with may of our military personnel . Everyone loved these dolls! There's a pocket were you put a picture of your loved one. A very special remembrance for our family of all those fine folks who are willing to serve our country. We pray for your safety and quick return. julie

I've been away for awhile. I'm finding that school and our schedule are a bit more rigorous and I don't have much time to think. Which is was I need if I want to blog! Yep. I'm not a writer and I have to use a lot of brain power at times. So I've been on Face Book quite a bit (no brain power required). Today we took a break and cleaned the house. Yippee ! Did it need it. I think it's the dirtiest it has ever been. We started earlier this week with Farm Girl doing baseboard, trash cans etc. Today we hit all the rooms and pantry. Did gross ceiling fans, wiped down cabinets, vacuumed behind furniture, window sills, you name it. I also got a couple of shots of our School Room. I never showed how it turned out. We've been living with it for about 3 months and it's working out much better for us. Here are some of before. 11x10 room. Scary! Books! Lots of School Resources and lets not forget the TRASH! I like the paint color and my curtains. I had to steal t...

We are now in week 8 of Tapestry of Grace. I really like the program. You can do as little or as much as you want. If your using it your 1st year of homeschooling, DON'T TRY AND DO EVERYTHING! I'm shocked at the number of people who are getting themselves all twisted up over this. I think it's a perfection thing. How do I know....I started falling into it and I've been homeschooling to long not to know when I'm headed for overload! Here's what we've been up to: Map work of ancient countries, studying Babylonia, Sumeria, Egypt, Israelites and their journey, plus the beginning of creation. Crafting and cooking our way through the countries. We our in the midst of 40 years in the desert with the Israelites. We've been taking an in depth look at the Wilderness Tabernacle and put together a replica. We also tried taking a wonderful field trip to the Holy Land exhibit in Orlando. Perfect timing (we thought). Grammy and I loaded up the chickadees in the van an...