Homeschooling A Houseful

Jamin, over at the Old Schoolhouse, and her freebie fridays , did a file folder games post...I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE file folder games. Anything fun and educational, I love. I love these because the little A's can use these as school time. Something they can enjoy with a little instruction to begin. I love that the older A's can use these, games to simply drill facts, and not even notice that they are learning! {SHH...let's keep that a secret between us!!} I love that all the A's actually play file folder games, during their free time, as any normal child would play a normal game. I also love that they are easy to store , {this is on the to do list!} and I can pull them out easy and keep them put away easy. So it can seem like it's a "new" game, when really it's not!! Well here's a few links to some of the ones mentioned, that I did search, for a minute. I am sure I will add more treasures from time to time, here. the Five J's , may I just say WOW!...

This year for our science curriculum, I am doing something a bit different. You see, A1 thinks that he needs to venture off on his own for most of his school work. I tend to agree, it seems there is a large gap between him and the other kids. I don't say that in any harsh way towards A2-A7 nor do I say that, meaning he's a genius. It's just a simple fact. I think every child will hit that point of Independence at different times. It almost reminds me of beginning reading. I can sit there and push reading upon a child, making the whole situation miserable....or I can calmly wait for that child to be ready. I know afew A's that caused me great stress when it came to reading. Then I just had to remember all those people, books, blogs, friends and strangers who told me this....reading will come!!! It also reminds me of potty training!!! {yes that is one thing I was hoping to start a6 on, but it's just not happening right now, and I had to just say, it's okay, it wi...

I thought before I get too far ahead of myself with showcasing our field trips, I should tell you a bit about how we do so many awesome field trips. It's called TEAM WORK!!! You see, I have always tried to plan a field trip every month, for a long time, probably the whole time I have homeschooled. Though it seemed like very few of us were always planning, and everyone else was enjoying the ride. Well I got burned out, and came up with a plan to still continue our monthly field trips, and have it not only every month {guaranteed}, but also make sure everyone was helping with the load. We stared a Homeschool Field Trip group, with our local homeschoolers. We are very blessed to live in an area where there is a large homeschool community. Each of us plans one field trip per rotation. So to make alittle more sense, there are 20 families in our group. So for every 20 field trips we attend, I only have to plan 1! YES that's right I get 20 for 1!!!!! We have a yahoo group, which I h...

{isn't this one awesome...it's made by willow branches, that were hand weaved!!} Today was our monthly field trip, with our local homeschool group. We went to a Horse Drawn Buggy Collection. I wish I could say museum, but they are still in the works on that. It's definitely not an issue of carriages, sleds or wagons...it an issue of funding! The man who owns all these, is Eli. He started collecting them when he was younger. He loved to learn the history of them, and felt poorly that our history, was being thrown over the hill, literally. So he decided to act upon it...and it has grown into a passion. Not to mention a passion of around 250 items! He has started, or I should say has been working on a museum, Wagonland Adventures . His wagons, buggies, and sleds have even been in movies, and documentaries. Along with himself! This field trip was not only inspiring for us, but very interesting. I might mention, A3 is in love with pioneer life! She was in heaven. Also when we go...

Maureen at Spell Out Loud, {link on sidebar!!} Has compiled a wonderful list of activities you can do in workboxes with Toddlers, check it out here . Thanks Maureen, you're the best!!!

Any one who might follow my new blog, or pop in from time to time, has probably noticed all the changes taking place to the blog layout, colors, and such. I am getting it to what I want it to be.... but we are not quite there yet!!! SO I am calling all you Blog Designers..... I NEED HELP!!! I am sure that I could easily continue in the way I have been doing it......trying to search the Internet. But honestly for everything I want to try to fix , change, that would take a life time!! And I don't think I have a life time to get my blog in order!!! So here's what I want.... Please help if you can! ~I want to align all the text on my blog in the center. The posts and the sidebars ~I want to make my side bars one long sidebar, without the breaks in colors, but I would like the border separations. ~ I want the sidebars and background different colors, but I don't like the white on the blue...So I'd like the white changed to a different color ~I would like the sidebar titles ...

This is a post from my other family blog about our learning room. Not all of tis post is up to date, I will have to update some things at a later time. The reason I want to put this up right now, is I noticed on the Spell Out Loud site, she is looking for ideas to organize some of her things, and I thought this might help her! {note to self: Update Learning Room} YEAH!!!! Our learning room is finally complete!! I posted alittle while back about our Construction/Demolition Class! Well the organizational class is now finished too!! We have finally got most everything in the room, and into the places I am thinking we want them. Ofcourse things will be moved and reorganized as we use the space more and more. For those of you who know me well enough, now I LOVE to reorganize. Its not really a love of reorganization. It's more of a love to try to find that perfect "home", that perfect place for every single item we own. I love the idea that everything has a place and everything...

"What dat something?" so cute, that was what my little A6 asked tonight. It made me think sometimes she gets so frustrated because I won't listen to her. Sure some of what she says is hard to understand. Just tonight, A1 asked, "Mom what does "tissors" mean?" My response, "um...not sure??? {that's an odd 12 yr old question} Then I noticed A6 was in the kitchen by him, asking it and it clicked "tissors" or did she mean Scissors!!! Yes A2 was trying to open a new package of diapers and A6 knew that she needed the scissors, "tissors!" Sometimes I get so bogged down with questions. It feels like all my children ever do, is ask me questions. Yes some are a bit on the odd side, and yes some are just plain dumb. However all they really need is to feed a curiosity. They crave knowledge and have a hunger of curiosity. Just think of a toddler, everything is new, everything is exciting. {how else do you explain the fact that you can ...

Something I love about beginning a new school year, is making all the new memories. Starting over, fresh, refreshed, and ready to jump in! Something we love to do, is a beginning of the new year, NOT back to school party! This is something I started with our local homeschool group, and it continued. This year we went on a walk. There's an awesome river close by us, and it has a nice paved walkway right next to it. All the A's and their little friends could wonder off the paved path, and explore to their hearts content! I could stay on the path, with the stroller and the littlest "A" and still see everyone. We always enjoy these times. This is a tradition, everyone should invest alittle time in doing! You could easily do this alone, as a family or with a group. There are so many possibilities for things to do. One of my favorite things about these types of activities, is watching my kids. I love to sit back or walk behind them, and just notice how they interact with th...

the Math Their Way newletter has tons of great ideas. I have only skimmed through this so far. I am planning on doing some more reading tonight. Don't miss the downloads on the bottom of the page. That alone is a great resource. The newsletter, has ideas on how to implement them... This looks very interesting. I also noticed in their store, they not only sale tons of items to implement a hands on math curriculum, but there is a curriculum book itself.

So I noticed you can purchase laminators for $40 or even less, and ofcourse more!! With all the laminating I do, it just seems more cost efficient to own one!! Especially lately, I have been making a ton of activities for my littles. Some of these need to still go through 3-4 little kids. I currently use clear contact paper on everything, but that is tedious, not to mention not always effective! I think I would prefer one that I could use regular sized paper on, anything larger I would simply take into the copy shop to have laminated. Anyone have a great suggestion??

Well, I am really into making Montessori type preschool activities for my younger kids right now. I just found this amazing site, Senteacher.org You can input information for making your own cards, with names. They have pictures {real photos and clipart type images} that the site searches through. I printed off some animal cards. I clicked on the animals tab, and it has a pre-selected group of animals. You can also change any, if you are doing a unit on African Animals you can add only African Animals. Also if a picture comes up that isn't exactly what you wanted, such as I really wanted photos, not clipart. You just research for the thing you want. I plan on visiting this site, often. As soon as the kids are done with these cards, I can simply make some new ones! Oh and next time I will print them onto cardstock...then I simply put clear contact paper on them. this has been added to thirsty thursdays .

WOW!!! I just love others who share their wonderful crafty activities! I love stuff like this, but am not very knowledgeable on how to make my own....I also doubt I'd ever do this!!! I barely find time to fold my laundry! great alphabet cut and paste worksheets Btw , check out this blog....now this lady is talented, and so willing to share!

Recently... Recently, I have been trying to find more time for me to study and educate myself.. Recently, I have been trying to get organized, not just physically, but also mentally. Recently, I have been enjoying the peace and quite of the neighborhood, yeah school has begun! Recently, we have been trying to not spend so much money, trying to reuse, rethink and re-evaluate our purchases and things.....oh how many things we have. Recently, I have been organizing our school, curriculum, subjects, personal planners, outside activities, and preschool/kindergarten items. Recently, I have begun about a billion projects....and finished very few!! Recently, I have been organizing workboxes for my littles, and tons of fun activities to use!!! I am so excited about these! Recently, and probably the most important, I have been trying to laugh more, and see the small things.....remember and cherish the small things!