September 2015 – Living the Adventure

Tools/Resources to Help Cultivate a Prayer Life in Your Kids

September 27, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

Tools/Resources to Help Cultivate a Prayer Life in Your Kids:

Advocating for your kids in daily prayer is one of the most important things you can do as a parent. We do not fight against flesh and blood according to Ephesians 6:10-18. A parent’s most powerful weapon against the enemy is their prayers over their kids. I have seen in my own personal family many times how prayer has changed things in my kids. Another important aspect of intercession and parenting is teaching our kids about prayer and how to pray. I desire to have my kids have their own personal, deep relationship with Jesus and not just follow Jesus because that’s what Mom and Dad do. One of the ways to help them start developing a deeper relationship with Christ is to cultivate a life of prayer in them. Even when they are young, every time you pray as a family or thank Jesus for your food, it is helping to develop and demonstrate a life a prayer in your kids. I love finding resources that help me with this part of discipling my kids. Here are a few of my favorites….

Akebu to Zapotec by June Hathersmith

Akebu to Zapotec is one of my favorite books to develop intercession for the little ones. It goes from A-Z and covers 26 countries that do not have a Bible in their own language. We pick a letter once a week with my 7 year old and learn about the village and what country these unreached people are from. My 7 year old son loves this book and is anxious to get it out of the bookshelf so we can pray and learn about another village. I think one of the best things about this book is the author’s testimony at the beginning. Akebu to Zapotec is the second book that she has written on unreached people because kids prayed with the first book and every village in those countries received the Bible in their own language. Its a book that is written with younger children in mind but because we use it as a tool to teach the kids intercession, the older children still enjoy the book. You could take any of the countries and have the older kids do a deeper study of them.

2. Window on the World by Daphne Spraggett and Jill Johnstone

This book is another A-Z book that covers many more countries in the world that need prayer. The book has beautiful photographs of the different people groups and countries that kids can pray for. It is from the same organization that has given us Operation World for the adults. Unlike the adult one, this one is more attractive to kids because of the numerous pictures. Each two page spread has different facts and a map of the country. They also put down the specific prayer requests for each country. This has been one of our families favorites because it gives kids a peek into what each of the countries must be like. We have used this daily in our “Bible” time to pray for one country each day. Discussions about different religions and belief systems have naturally happened when using this book. I love how this book helps my kids get a world perspective and realize how much bigger the world is around them. The simple verse of John 3:16 that we all know so well becomes more impactful to kids when they learn about other countries. “For God so loved the world….”

3. 100 Gateway Cities of the 10/40 Window by C. Peter Wagner

This is the current book we are working through as a family as part of our “Bible” time. The 10/40 Window represents a rectangular area of North Africa, the Middle East and Asia that is located 10 degrees north and 40 degrees north latitude. These countries are some of the most unreached people in the world. The majority of followers of Islam, Hindu, Buddism and Non-religious live in the 10/40 window. There are about 4.63 billion people, represented in 8,065 specific people groups in the 10/40 Window. 5,495 of those people groups are considered unreached which amounts to about 2.97 billion people. Each page of the book represents a different city that is unreached and shares statistics of those countries. I also love the prayer requests at the bottom of the page for each city. You can also use this opportunity for a geography lesson. We take a globe or a world map and point out where the city is and what country it is in. This helps the kids have a reference on where the country is that they are praying for.

4. Voice of Martyrs (Kids of Courage)

Voice of Martyrs is a free magazine that talks about the persecuted church around the world. They change the names of different people who are being persecuted and share their stories in this magazine. They write a kid version called Kids of Courage that talks about kids that are standing up for their faith. The adult version is sent to homes for free when you sign up for the magazine on their site. The Kids of Courage magazine for kids can be sent to your home for a small fee but is free online on their website. Kids of Courage is a great way to bring kids an awareness of what its like for other children in the world to live out their faith. It also give them a chance to pray for these kids or families that are currently experiencing persecution.

5. http://www.prayercast.com

I recently found out about this site and I loved it. This site is prayers said over almost every country in the world. For example, we went on the site the other day because we were studying the country of Nigeria. We went to www.prayercast.com and clicked on “Nations” at the top of the site. Then we clicked on “Nigeria” and were directed to a page with a video to play. When you play the video, a native of Nigeria is praying over the country while displaying pictures of the people and the culture. I was so moved by hearing the prayers declared over Nigeria. This also gave my kids a small picture of what it might be like in that country. Amazing site to use for intercession for the nations with your kids.

Our lives can help reflect and encourage a life of prayer. One of the things in our family that we have done since the kids were little is when we see an ambulance go by, we pray for the people that they are going to help. Another way our family has walked with our kids in prayer is through family crisis. Family crisis are not something you ever want to go through in life, but they are an opportunity to have the entire family turn to God in prayer.

We had a family crisis a couple of years ago with our daughter. She had MRSA inside her bones, muscle and and blood. MRSA is known to be on the skin quite commonly and not a fun thing to deal with, but inside the body, it’s a totally different animal. Our daughter quite quickly ended up being in a life and death situation. Our family and many other believers came together in prayer and within 5 days she was healed. She had to remain in the hospital for about 2 weeks, but the doctors were surprised how quickly she recovered. It was a hard time for us as a family, but our kids saw how powerful prayer can be. We have had other situations where we needed a financial miracle and have prayed as a family. God has provided in unique ways which helped our kids faith grow. Including the kids in some of our needs as a family is another way to live a life a of prayer.

These are just some of the tools we have used in our family to help develop a lifestyle of prayer. God placed you as amazing parents over your children. He will give you the strategy in how to teach and guide your children in a life of prayer. Enjoy the journey!

5 Favorite Homeschool Resources!

September 22, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

5 Favorite Homeschool Resources-

Throughout our homeschool journey there are different resources that you can use to add to your homeschooling experience. I enjoy finding resources that make homeschooling more interesting or hands-on for my kids. I will take a subject like Math and then find ways to do hands-on activities or projects with the concepts that we are learning. These are 5 resources that I visit quite often to help me throughout my year.

NotebookingPages.com

I love this resource! Notebookpages.com has hundreds of options for different notebook pages. For example, if you are having your child read a story or biography for school, you can print off a notebook page that they made for book reports and have your kids fill it out at the end of reading the book. They have notebook pages for about every subject that you would teach. They even have alphabet and preschool type notebook pages you can print for your little ones. I do not like worksheets and this is a creative way to avoid the worksheet boredom. Instead of filling out a worksheet on the book they read, they are illustrating and writing a summary of what the book was about. They also have a Notebooking Publisher App, so that you can create your Notebook Pages if you don’t see the notebook page you want. You can use their notebook pages as a free member with limited access or you can join their lifetime membership and have access to all their note booking pages. Try it for free and see if you like it!

2. HomeschoolShare.com

This is a great resource for homeschoolers. Homeschoolshare.com is a site where homeschoolers create lap books and unit studies for free. You can download any of their lap books or unit studies and use them for your schooling. I recently needed to find a small unit study on Volcanoes for my 7 year old and I found it on homeschoolshare.com. This is a wonderful way to add to your curriculum if your child wanted to learn more about a subject. Sometimes during our school year, I just have my kids tell me a subject or topic that they are interested in and we go to the library for books on that topic and then look online for resources that would teach about that topic. This site can have those resources already created for you from other homeschoolers. Brilliant idea!

3. TeachersPayTeachers.com

This is a site a created curriculum created by teachers. You can join Teacherspayteachers.com for free and have access to all these amazing resources for teaching various subjects. Some of the products created are free and many of them are for a small fee. For example, I was wanting to teach a science unit on weather to my son and I found this amazing weather unit study that had all the different notebook pages and experiments I would need to teach about weather for $6. Especially in the elementary years, you can ask your kids what they want to learn more about and then search for it on this website. There are tons of teachers that have contributed to this site. This site is created for any teacher whether you are homeschooling, private or public. This means that not all the resources created will work for homeschoolers but I found that many of them did work, so its worth checking out!

4. Discovery Education Streaming Plus

I found this resource a few years ago and I use it frequently in my homeschooling. It’s a membership that you sign up for that has short videos on every subject imaginable. This is a great way to add a visual illustration of whatever your teaching. For example we were studying the Lewis and Clark Expedition in history and used Discovery Education Streaming Plus to watch a video on the subject. When I put the grade of my kids and the subject, a bunch of videos that fit in that category popped up for me to choose from. They had every type of video on Lewis and Clark including cartoons and documentaries. This resource can be expensive. The normal price for a year membership is $365 dollars for the year. The best and most economical way to buy it is from Homeschoolerbuyersco-op.org. They have many people buy it at the same time so you can get it for 60% off right now on their site. We use it often enough in our homeschool that its worth the price but you would want to think about how often you would use it and whether it worth the investment for your homeschool. If you click on Homeschoolerbuyersco-op.org above, I have linked it to the Discovery Education Streaming Plus deal that they are having right now. They will also allow you to try it for a 30 day trial for free! So you can try it for free to see even if you would use it.

5. Peggy Kaye “Games” Series

Peggy Kaye has written a series on different games to incorporate in various subjects. Her 3 main books that we have are “Games for Reading”, “Games for Math” and “Games for Writing”. These books are excellent resources for adding some hands-on activities to your normal everyday subjects. We have used the “Games for Writing” the most because of my reluctant writers. I was able to get my reluctant writers to have fun with writing because it was in the form of a game. Peggy Kaye’s books have always had a spot somewhere in our library of books that we continually use. If your kids are having trouble seeing the value or fun in reading, writing or math, check these books out. You can find her books on Amazon for around $15.

These are just a few of favorite resources that I am using or have been using in my homeschool. Hopefully you can find one or more of them helpful to you in your homeschooling. Enjoy!

Homeschooling on a Small Budget

September 19, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

There are so many options out there for curriculum and there are so many things you could buy for homeschooling. Homeschooling could get expensive but there are ways to save money with homeschooling that make it affordable on a smaller budget. My hubby has owned his own business for over 20 years and there have been some feast times but we have also had some pretty drastic famine times as well. During those “famine” times, I have had to find creative ways to homeschool for almost free. Here are some helpful ideas that I have found when I needed to work off a smaller budget.

Homeschool Your Child For Free by LauraMaery Gold and Joan Zielinski

This is an excellent resource that has over 1,400 practical ideas on how to save money in homeschooling. Even though I read this when I had already been homeschooling for awhile, it had many ideas that were new to me. Each section covers a different subject or area in homeschooling. I loved how they even had categories for Pre-school, Public Speaking and Journalism. They didn’t just address the main subjects of homeschooling but they also wrote about many electives that homeschoolers would want as a part of their curriculum. I usually think books are valuable even if they have one or two amazing ideas, but this book had many practical ideas that I have or would use.

2. Homeschooling Potpourri

This is a hidden gem that maybe some of you do not know about. Homeschooling Potpourri is a used curriculum bookstore for homeschooling. They take used curriculum from homeschoolers and give them money to spend in the store or you can just buy used curriculum at a big discount. They are located in Kirkland, Washington and have many options of curriculum that you are probably looking for. I usually try to check with Homeschooling Potpourri before I buy my curriculum at full price. Another service that they provide, is that you can request the curriculum you are looking for and be put on a waiting list. They will call you when someone comes in with that curriculum and its yours. For the more popular curriculum like Apologia Science, you will want to call early because the waiting list can be long. I was in there the other day and purchased “Mathtacular Word Problems” DVD which retails for $24.99, still in its package, not even opened for $12.50. Its a great way to save money.

3. Homeschooler Buyers Co-op

This is an amazing resource that I found a few years ago. Its a brilliant idea of a homeschool family setting up a website where homeschoolers can buy curriculum at the same time to get a big discount. This is how it works, you go on the website and look for curriculum that you want to buy. When you find a curriculum or product you want to buy, you sign up through the website to buy it. The homeschooler buyer co-op designates a certain time they will buy it and because a bunch of homeschoolers sign up to buy it, the company gives a big discount. For example, right now they are selling subscription to “God’s World News” for this year. There is a savings of 68% because of the amount of people that have signed up to buy it on Sept. 20th. The best part of the homeschooler buyers co-op is that it is free to join! This is a way to save money on those popular curriculums or products you want for your homeschooling.

4. The Library, Internet and A Printer

The Library might be a more obvious money saver but I wanted to list it because during those financial “slim” times in our lives, it has become a wonderful resource for our homeschooling. I actually love the resource of the library regardless of whether or not I can buy the books. Its a great tool in a homeschool mom’s toolbox of resources. The way that we used the library was with Sonlight Curriculum. Sonlight curriculum is a literature based curriculum, so I would order the teacher’s manual from Sonlight and then get the books from the library. I also used the library to create various unit studies for the kids. For example, my daughter recently wanted to study penguins and Antartica, so we went on the library website and ordered books for those subjects. I received notice that they were on the hold shelf for me the next day and my daughter was off to the land of penguins who lived in Antartica.

The internet and a printer are a Homeschool Mom’s best friend. When my printer is down, I tend to panic and I am bugging my husband to fix it. There are so many free resources on the internet that you can print out. You can practically google any subject and find free print outs or numerous ideas for science and art that you can easily put together. The “Homeschooling Your Child For Free” book has numerous websites that you can check out. A couple of my favorites are Khan Academy and Quizlet. Khan Academy teaches kids math and science. My kids have used it for extra help in their math. Its a great way for when you are stuck on a math concept and need someone else to teach your child. Khan Academy uses video to teach the kids different concepts. Quizlet is an amazing resource that isn’t fancy but very useful. It creates flashcards for your kids to practice just about any subject. My 14yr old has used it for learning the terms for his Apologia Science. You can create your own flashcards or most likely someone else already created them and you can just search and find the flashcards already done.

Another resource on the Internet are free teacher planners, but if you like color it might not be as economical to print all the colorful teacher planner pages as it would be to buy a planner. If you don’t mind black and white, then it would be much more economical to find the free planners online and print them.

Statistically speaking, they have done research on homeschoolers and how the students did in their overall homeschooling experience. Kids who were homeschooled with every option possible available to them versus homeschoolers that were on a small or strict budget performed at the same academic level. You don’t have to spend alot of money to give your children an amazing education. What ways have you found that have helped in saving money for homeschooling? I would love to hear your ideas.

3 Experiments That Will Get Kids Excited About Science!

September 16, 2015September 16, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

I am a science geek at heart. I love how many different things fall under the subject of science. There are so many different things you can study and learn about when it comes to science. Even when I was young, I wanted to find out how things worked or the science behind different things in the world. One of the best parts about science are the experiments!

Kids can learn a scientific concept but when they see that concept in action, they will have more understanding of how it works. I also have had fun using science experiments in my object lessons when I teach children’s church. I have a favorite site called madaboutJesus.net . They have excellent science experiments for many different lessons in the Bible. I have found out that its important especially if you are demonstrating the experiment, to try it out first on your own. There are usually tweaks that need to happen to get the desired result. All my kids love to do science experiments, but sometimes there are certain experiments that have a “wow” factor for the kids. I like to randomly do some of these experiments just to get the kids excited about science or to start a discussion on why the experiment did what it did. Here are 3 experiments that have been exciting to my kids….

Elephant Toothpaste

Elephant Toothpaste is an all time favorite with my kids. It has quite a chemical reaction that is fun to watch.

Materials: –16oz or 24oz empty plastic bottle, hydrogen peroxide 6% (you can find this at your local beauty supply store), dish soap, yeast, warm water, food coloring (optional)

Elephant Toothpaste is a common scientific experiment where oxygen gas produces the release of oxygen in a form that we can visualize. The final product (visualization after mixing the ingredients together) appears as a thick foam that looks like a toothpaste. This is a messy experiment that you would want to do outside or we bought one of those tin foil baking dishes that caught all the foam.

How to make Elephant Toothpaste:

Take the package of yeast and mix it with half a cup of warm water. Let this sit for 10 minutes. If you don’t let the yeast sit, the experiment will have less of a reaction. Meanwhile set the empty plastic bottle in a wide short glass to stabilize it. I have found this to be helpful in not having the bottle tip over when you get the chemical reaction. Put on a pair of plastic gloves and fill the bottle up with 8oz of hydrogen peroxide. If you are using 6% or more for the hydrogen peroxide, you will want to wear gloves because the peroxide can burn your skin and turn it black. I don’t let kids do this part, I do the pouring and wear the gloves just to be safe. Next put a couple of tablespoons of dish soap in to the bottle and carefully mix the two ingeridents. Now pour the yeast in and watch the elephant toothpaste emerge from the bottle. Its quite a reaction. You can add the food coloring right before the yeast if you want your toothpaste to be a different color.

Tips/Tricks:

If you want a bigger chemical reaction you can buy a stronger hydrogen peroxide at most beauty supply stores. We did 9% and 12% strength. The 9% was about perfect for indoors but any higher percent and you would want to be outdoors. If you do use the stronger hydrogen peroxide don’t forget the gloves! You do not want your fingers turning black. Another helpful hint is to use a funnel when pouring ingredients into the bottle. If you use just 3% hydrogen peroxide, you will still get a reaction just not as impressive. Check out Elephant Toothpaste experiment demonstrated on youtube to give you a better visual of what its supposed to look like.

2. Crushed Can Experiment

This experiment has an immediate reaction of letting the pressure of air crush a can. Air pressure is all around us but we don’t really notice it most of the time. This experiment demonstrates how powerful air pressure can be.

Materials:

Empty soda can, stove top or hot plate, Cooking tongs, gloves, Bowl, cold water

Directions:

Put some really cold water in a medium or large bowl (I used a mixing bowl). Then put about a tablespoon of water in the bottom of the empty soda can just to cover the bottom of the can. Put the can on the stove (you can use a frying pan underneath if you don’t have a hot plate) and then turn on the stove. Wait until the water is boiling in the can. You will hear it boiling and see the water vapor rising. Wait about 1 more minute, then grab the tongs. Use the tongs to pick up the can and plunge it upside down in the cold water. The can will immediately implode. Steve Spangler Science does a great job of explaining the science behind the crushed can on their website.

3. Walking on Eggs

You can walk on eggs without them breaking. This has a “wow” factor because the kids don’t think that you can. The first thing you do is try to walk on one egg and it will crush right away, but you can walk on eggs if they are all together in a dozen in the carton. I ripped off the lid of the egg carton and staggered 6 dozen eggs. A key to getting it to work the best is to go bare foot and to make sure your weight is even. You can also show your kids when you squeeze an egg sideways as hard as you want, it will not break. The egg is unique in how God made it because its one of most delicate foods, but also one of the strongest. The egg will break by itself but when you put it with the dozen, you can walk on them and not have any break. This is also a great Sunday School lesson on unity and working together. You can find many examples and tips on how to walk on eggs on youtube.

Hope you have fun trying these experiments. There are many more science experiments that are fun for kids to do that have become favorites in my family. I hope to share more science experiments in the future that you might have fun trying.

What are some favorite science experiments in your homeschool?

10 Favorite Picture Books That Will Delight Any Age

September 11, 2015September 11, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

The start of school and beginning of fall always reminds me of warm cups of tea, yummy scones and good books. We had our monthly library trip where we filled up on a bunch of books for September. My kids asked me if we could just have a reading day for homeschooling that day and I thought that it was an excellent idea. Soon my children had taken all the cushions from my couch, a bunch of blankets, some favorite stuffed animals and they informed me that they had created a “book house” where they were all sprawled out reading their books. It was a delightful site to see. Even my 3yr. old had his books out because he wanted to be part of the “reading” day. I love the flexibility of homeschooling that allows me to say “Yes” to a reading day.

One of my favorite genres is children’s picture books. I must confess I had a library of children’s literature before I ever had kids. When I graduated from college, the gifts that everyone brought me were different children picture books. I especially like the picture books that have sense of humor added to the story. There are numerous picture books out there that are quite enjoyable and entertaining for any age. I like adding them randomly to our homeschool when I find one I especially like. Here are a few of my favorites….

1.Aunt Chip and the Triple Creek Dam Affair by Patricia Polacco

This is a delightful book that celebrates books. I discovered Patricia Polacco in my college days when I was studying elementary education. I think she is a delightful author and many of her books are enjoyable. I loved this one because it celebrated reading and books. Its actually a good one for the start of the school year.

2. Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type by Doreen Cronin

This is one of favorites because of the sense of humor that the author brings to the story. Its all about animals that are negotiating with the farmer for different things that they want using a type writer. The expressions and things that they type are hilarious. This is a book that gets taken out of the shelf quite often by my children. Doreen Cronin has written other wonderful books that are also worth checking out.

3. Peanut by Linus Alsenas

Peanut is a book that is about an elderly lady who wants a pet puppy and she ends up with a pet elephant. The sense of humor comes in when she thinks, through out the story, that the elephant is a puppy. My kids think this book is hilarious.

4. The Wolf’s Chicken Stew by Kieko Kasza

Kieko Kasza is another of my favorite authors. She tells a delightful story and brings humor into her stories that make us read them over and over again. Wolf’s chicken stew is about a wolf that wants to eat this chicken and all the ways that he tries to fatten the chicken up for his dinner but in the end it has a surprise ending where the wolf actually becomes part of the chicken’s family.

5. The Mitten by Jan Brett

The mitten is a story about an small animal that finds a mitten to keep warm and hides in it. Then as the story continues, all these different animals also want to hide and get warm in the mitten at the same time. Jan Brett is an amazing author that has written several of my favorites. The illustrations are great too.

6. If you give a Pig a Pancake by Laura Numeroff

If you give a Pig a Pancake is probably many kids favorites. Its a story that explores the question what would happen if you gave a pig a pancake and the results of that choice. She has written many others in the series. Some of my other favorites are “If you give a Mouse a Cookie” and “If you give a Moose a Muffin”

7. The Napping House by Audrey Wood

I love the rhythm of the language in the “The Napping House”. The kids start learning really fast what the story is going to say and they start reading it along with you. The illustrations are hilarious and it definitely has a place reserved on our library shelf as one of our favorites.

8. Once upon a time, the End (asleep in 60 seconds) by Geoffrey Kloske and Barry Blitt

This book makes me laugh. Its a humorous book that shortens all these bedtime stories to the length of 60 seconds. The way they shorten the bedtime stories is where you find the sense of humor in the book. So my kids were not satisfied with the short length of the stories, but it was still fun to read and laugh at how they shortened the stories.

9. Barnyard Dance and Pajama Time by Sandra Boyton

Honestly I probably own every Sandra Boyton book that she has written. They’re my favorite board books for kids. You can tell that they are well loved at our house because we occasionally have to get a new copy because of the wear and tear on the original one we bought. Sandra Boyton does an excellent job of bringing a sense of humor to kid board books. My kids memorize the Sandra Boyton books quickly. Great gift idea for new or young mommies. Although I do see my older kids pulling them out of the shelves too.

10. The Book with No Pictures by B.J. Novak

This is a new picture book that I just bought for my collection and I am so glad I did. It is now added to my favorites list. The author decided to write a book with no pictures that kids will love. In the book there are all sorts of silly sayings and the author points out that he can make the reader say anything he wants. Its written in a delightful and humorous way. Even my older kids were laughing. The author is quite creative in how they chose to write this book. I hope there are more books like this from the author.

Homeschool Unit Study Idea:

One of the ways that I have used children’s books in my homeschooling is to have an author of the month. I pick one of my favorite authors like Jan Brett or Dr. Suess and I create a unit study. I gather books from the author we are studying and I also try and find a biography on the author. You can do the unit study as simple as you want or dig deeper. For a simple unit study you could just read the different books and read the biography of the author. If you wanted to dig deeper, you could have activities that go along with each book or you could have your older kids write papers on the life of the author. You could also have your kids write book reports or reviews on what they thought about each book the author wrote. They are a ton of different things you could do for the author of the month idea.

Hope you enjoy some of my favorite picture books. There are many more that I could have blogged about and I am sure you might have different favorites that would go on your list. What are your favorite picture books for kids?

Our First Day of School!

September 9, 2015September 9, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

We had our first day of school today! The plan for the first day every year is to make it a special time for the kids and do things that they normally couldn’t do if they weren’t homeschooled. The first thing I did was wrap a new book up in wrapping paper and set it outside their door the night before. When they woke up they were excited to see a gift outside their door. Here is what the gifts looked like…

I love variety and not doing the same thing all of the time, so I haven’t really done this before for the first day but it was fun putting the gifts together. A couple of hours later we went out with Grandma and Grandpa for brunch to continue to celebrate the first day. After brunch we went out shopping for school supplies. I like getting school supplies after school has started. You can sometimes get better sales and you miss the majority of the crowds. Some schools have already started around our area but some hadn’t so there were still some people doing last minute shopping. We headed home after shopping for school supplies and spent the day reading our new books and creating with our new art supplies.

The last thing we did to celebrate the 1st day of school was school pictures. I told the kids that it was time to give Mommy her First Day of School gift by taking pictures. The younger kids were excited and the two older boys groaned but were willing. I bought a blank chalkboard and then wrote on the chalkboard “First Day of School” and “Grade”. I also added the question “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I would switch the grade and what they wanted to be when they grew up for each kid. This was my 3 year old’s turn to hold the sign.

I really liked how the sign turned out. Now if you are thinking how I must have some awesome artistic abilities you can stop thinking that now because my amazing artistic sister is the one who made the sign for me. I have no idea how this sign would look if I was the one doing the writing. There actually might not have been a picture if I had illustrated it (haha). Its nice having an artistic person in the family. My sister is the best and not just because she is artistically talented. Each of my kids chose a different career that they wanted when they grew up. It was fun hearing what they thought.

Here is what my 5 kids want to be when they grow up-

9th Grader- Missionary

7th Grader- Fire Fighter

6th Grader- Missionary Doctor (She actually wants to do Doctors without Borders)

2nd Grader-Soccer Player

Pre-K- I want to be like Daddy (This was my hubby’s favorite for obvious reasons)

I think it will be interesting and fun to see what they think next year about what they want to be when they grow up. Well, that was our “First Day” of School. I would love to hear about other people’s ideas for the “First Day” of school and what kind of traditions they have kept with their family. So feel free to email me or leave a comment about your ideas. I am excited to see what this year brings. The Adventure Begins…

A Clean House and Homeschooling? Does that idea exist?

September 8, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

For my type A personality my home probably will never be as clean and organized as I want it to be until the kids are grown. But the Lord is showing me all the time in different ways to enjoy the season I am in while my kids are young. I am enjoying the journey of homeschooling but I also want to have a balance with the cleaning of my home. I do think you can have a clean home and homeschool. I don’t think your home will always be perfect if you are homeschooling because your kids are always there. I loved this sign I saw recently in a store that said “Sorry for the mess, we live here.”. This sign made me laugh because it’s so true when it comes to homeschooling. When I do decide to make an extra effort to have my house be immaculate, you would probably hear one of my kids saying “Mom, is someone coming over tonight?”. In our home the kids are usually doing various science projects, putting together puzzles or creating new worlds with the cushions off my couch. I have to resist wanting to pick up that lovely puzzle that my 7 year old has been working on for a week in the middle of my living room. I have learned in my various years of homeschooling that its okay if there are puzzles on the floor or science experiments in my kitchen, its all part of homeschooling. All that to say I still think its important to work as a family to maintain somewhat of a clean house even with the challenge of homeschooling. It also teaches the kids life skills, so that they can learn what it takes to maintain a home when they have their own family.

One of the ways we implement having a clean house in our homeschooling is assigning the kids chores. This year I wanted to keep it as simple as possible with chores for my kids. I took some colorful 3×5 cards and wrote down all the main chores that it would take to keep the house looking decent. I also wrote down “Lunch Duty” and “Dinner Duty” on one card each to give out to one of my children each day. We have 5 children and 4 of them are old enough to do chores. Each day I give 3 cards with one chore on each card to each child. They are supposed to complete the cards then hand them into their school box by the end of the day. This has worked really well and I have been able to maintain the system because its simple. We told the kids that chores were 5 days a week and then on the weekends we just help each other out as a family if something needed to be done. Each day they get their chores done, they earn part of their allowance. If they choose not to do their chores that day, they don’t get that money for the day. We like to do allowance because we want our kids to learn about managing money.

Another way that has helped keep our home clean is teaching the kids to have a “Morning Routine”. My kids “Morning Routine” has to be done before 9am because we try to start school around that time. The “Morning Routine” is to get up, get dressed, clean their room, eat breakfast and we encourage them to spend time with Jesus during this time. We start when they are little, so eventually I can say to them, “Did you do your Morning Routine?” and they know what I am asking. This has helped them get ready for their day and maintain cleaning their rooms. It doesn’t always work perfectly especially with my teenagers, so sometimes we have surprise inspections of rooms. I have had kids try and stuff everything under their beds or in their closets and call their rooms clean. Sometimes it hard to keep a straight face in the creative way they have tried to hide dirty clothes or other junk in their room. I figure its all part of the process of training my kids.

These are just a couple of ways that have helped us stay more organized as a homeschool family. A couple of resources that I that I have found to be helpful in organizing my home are….

Help for the Harried Homeschooler by Christine M. Field

The author has some great hints and tips on chores and just keeping an overall organized home. The book isn’t just about keeping a clean and organized home but also covers about every area in homeschooling. Its helpful for new or veteran homeschoolers.

Large Family Logistics by Kim Brenneman

I think this is one of my favorite books on home management. It has a ton of helpful ideas on organization and keeping the house clean in the midst of craziness of life. Even if you don’t have a big family, the ideas are still helpful and I would encourage you to read this book.

Enjoy the moments and season that you are in, especially if you still have little ones. I am still in the process of learning its okay if my kids want to leave out different projects and build different kingdoms in my home. This is a short season that I intend to enjoy every moment that I have with them.

Helpful Household Tips:

Do you want to get rid of those pesky fruit flies? I have found a solution that works quite well. Fill a glass with apple cider vinegar and put in about 1 tbs of dawn soap. Put it wherever you are having fruit fly problems and its a trap for those fruit flies. They are attracted to the apple cider vinegar and will fall into the glass and not get out. I have captured a ton of fruit flies by doing this. It needs to be change every couple of days.

Drink Bands

My kids would constantly get a new glass every time they wanted a drink of water. One of the reasons that they would do this is because with 5 kids, they would forget which one was their glass. I have a friend with 7 kids and she has this genius idea that has been around for awhile, but I didn’t know about it. She uses drink bands. They were these colorful bands that go around a drinking glass so that each kid would have their color and know what glass was theirs. You can buy a set of 10 or them on Amazon for around $10. This has helped in the amount of dished we wash and we don’t have kids fighting over whose glass they thought they might have. I assigned a different color band to each kid.

Which Teacher Planner Should I Use?

September 5, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

As we are about to start our new homeschool year, I start to think about what kind of teacher planner I want for the year. We homeschool year around but our new school year still starts in September. Some homeschoolers use teacher planners to organize their days and keep track of where they’re at with each of their children. Some homeschoolers do not see the need for a planner especially if their kids are younger. I am definitely in the first category. I love planners and seeing where I am at or how much I have gotten done. A planner helps me see the gaps on things that I might be not getting to and might need more attention. Here are 3 teacher planners that I think are excellent choices for homeschoolers.

1. My Well Planned Day

I have used this planner for many of my years of homeschooling. I love how it is made for homeschoolers. There are sections for keeping book lists and field trips that you plan for each month. I think my favorite feature is how the planner caters to teaching multiple children. One of the most important features I look for is whether I will be able to use it with multiple children because of the 5 children in our house. There is also a section for planning out your meals and inspirational articles to encourage you in your journey of homeschooling. The price point is also quite good at $26.95 for the planner. You can find it at headua.com or christianbook.com. They also have an online version planner that is an option on the website called mywellplannedday.com. The online version is offering a 30 day free trial if you want to check it out. I prefer the paper and pencil method but if you like the tech version for things, it may be worth checking out.

2. Teacher Planner by Erin Condren

What attracted me to the Erin Condren Planner were the lesson pages. I love the amount of room in the lesson pages that allows me to fit multiple children. Erin Condren teacher planners are unique because you can customize them in many different ways. For example, if your homeschool has a name, you can put that on the front cover. She also has many other different unique options that you can add to your planner. One of favorites was the snap in sticky notes. She created a plastic insert that has multiple sticky notes that can snap into you planner on the pages your doing your lesson plan. I take numerous notes about ideas that I have for each of my lessons so this was a nice feature for my planning pages. She also has these amazing inspirational quotes throughout the planner. Erin Condren Planners are not made for homeschoolers so there are pages that do not apply to homeschoolers. There are blogs and youtube videos that homeschoolers have made on showing how they adapted and repurposed those pages to work for homeschoolers. The price point for this planner is quite a bit more money. You would have to decide if the customizable planner was worth the money. Erin Condren planners are about $59. I have done the free planners that you print off online and by the time the year is up, I have spent almost that same amount in ink on the free planner from online. Its a well thought out planner worth checking out. You can find it at erincondren.com.

3. Notebook Paper, Pen and A Binder

Okay, you are probably going to laugh, but the last “planner” that I recommend is notebook paper, a pencil, and a couple of binders. I have a child in highschool this year and I have found, in all the planners that I have researched or tried, that there is not enough room for me to write out each of the details for his assignments. He is more of an independent learner at this point and I need to communicate in writing to him what each task is about. I have two binders for my highschooler. One of the binders is a small thin binder with notebook paper that I write out his daily assignments with check boxes. The other binder is a 3 inch binder that I have dividers in for each subject and important information I keep that are required by state law for his high school records. Every time he hands in an assignment, I put it in the binder under that subject. I love the idea of the binder keeping his assignments because I can look at the binder and see where there are gaps. For example, if my science section is full of assignments but my fine arts sections is empty, I can see right away that I need to put some focus on fine arts to add to his high school records. Lee Binz calls this method of keeping records being a “Binder Queen”. One of the best things about doing planning this way is the price. It does not cost much to buy a couple of binders, notebook paper and some pens. I use the teacher planner for my 3 younger kids and the notebook paper for my highschooler. Even in teacher planners I am eclectic.

A Couple of Helpful Hints for Using Teaching Planners-

When using a planner for multiple children, a creative way to help with that is using different colored pens for each child’s assignments so you can clearly see who is doing what.
You can use a highlighter after the child completes an assignment to show that what they have accomplished and what they still need to get done.

Hope you have an amazing start to your new school year!

5 Favorite Homeschool Books for Newbies or Book Addicts Like Me

September 2, 2015 esther7dancing1 Comment

I confess that I am a little bit dangerous when it comes to bookstores. I am probably not to be trusted around curriculum fairs either. I love books and I especially like books about teaching or homeschooling. Even though I have been homeschooling for almost 10 years, I will still read “how-to” homeschool books because I feel you can always learn something new that you may not have thought of for homeschooling. Here are a few of my favorites that I have already read or have been reading…

Educating the Whole Hearted Child by Clay and Sally Clarkson

This is an excellent book that teaches training your children in discipleship and academics. It has recommendations of curriculum to use but its not the main purpose of the book. The authors want to encourage you as the parent in training and discipling your child using the curriculum that best fits your family. Its an excellent foundational book to read for people who are new to homeschooling or for veteran homeschoolers who want a different perspective. I read it only a couple of years ago and I was encouraged and wanted to adapt many of their ideas. I wish I had found it sooner. A bonus part of the book are the different forms that you can copy at the back of the book that help with the organization of your homeschool.

2. Help for the Harried Homeschooler by Christine Field

The practical advice in this book makes a great resource for new homeschoolers and veterans that want new ideas. The author goes over everything from discipleship to life skills to academics. I appreciate her sense of humor and her style of writing. Some of my favorite sections have been when she addressed life skills with kids and structure vs. freedom style of homeschooling. She also had a section for homeschoolers that feel “burned out”.

3. The Three R’s and You Can Teach Your Child Successfully by Ruth Beechick

For new homeschoolers, this a must have book. It teaches how to incorporate reading, writing and math into your everyday life. It is very helpful in helping homeschoolers that are teaching the K-3rd grades. The creative ideas that she suggests are easily done in every day life. She also wrote a book for the 4th-8th grades as well. Ruth Beechick is probably one of my favorite author’s on homeschooling. Sonlight curriculum tends to follow some of her style.

4. The Well Trained Mind by Susan Bauer

For anyone who is interested in the classical educational model, this is the book for you. My love of research and books compelled me to read this book and I found it an enjoyable resource. Our homeschool does not follow the classical method of education but we do incorporate parts of it. This book is well done and easily understood. The author also has curriculum that we have used that goes along with her classical educational method. There are other excellent books on classical education but I felt like this one was the most understandable and detailed for me. Some of her recommendations for curriculum will be outdated unless there is a new updated version but the information is still valid and good.

5. Beyond Survival: A Guide to the Abundant Life of Homeschooling by Diana Waring

I appreciate this book and how the author points out the importance of what education really is and what it can look like in a home with multiple ages. I have gotten the privilege of hearing Diana Waring in her own home with my homeschool group at that time and the wisdom she can give homeschoolers who are still on the journey is invaluable. She has authored other books and has her own biblical history curriculum. We enjoy listening to her amazing history audio cd’s that I will put in a review soon on this blog.

Hope enjoy these books as much as I have! They have a permanent spot on my bookshelf!

Caught More Than Taught

September 2, 2015 esther7dancingLeave a comment

I would probably be a teacher even if I didn’t homeschool. I love the research of finding out new ways to learn and finding out how to get a subject across to a child that doesn’t seem to get it in the usual way. Before I was a homeschool Mom, I was an elementary school teacher in the public school system. I always knew that I would homeschool my kids but I also knew I would teach until the time came for me to teach my own children.

All that to say, character training is particular love of mine to find materials that will help my kids in their journey of practicing the fruits of the Spirit. I use many different materials depending on what I see my kids walking through but I have also been learning from the Lord that even though its good to teach character training, I also need to live it. Things can sometimes be caught more than taught. This is encouraging to me because if my kids don’t seem to be getting what we are trying to teach them about the fruits of the Spirit, I know there’s hope that they will get it someday. Perhaps the best way some of my kids will get their character training will be through watching me. This is a hopeful and scary thought at the same time. I desire them to only see and follow the “good” traits and ignore the times when I am not even close to demonstrating the fruits of the Spirit. I think God has grace for those times when we mess up and I have gone to my kids and asked their forgiveness sometimes. I was reading a homeschool “how-to” book recently and I was inspired by a poem that the author included in one of the chapters. I thought I would share it with you.

I Caught Your Faith

I saw you stand bravely for years

But saw no trace of senseless tears

I saw you stand calmly through stress

But caught no glimpse of bitterness

I saw you stand prayerful in grief but saw no trace of unbelief

Though you spoke well of Jesus Christ

I caught your faith, watching your life

Anonymous

Be encouraged that even if you think you aren’t teaching the right thing or maybe your kids don’t seem to be getting the “character” training like you desire, they are watching your life and actions. You have great influence in your children’s lives and God has chosen you to raise these warriors. You are doing an amazing job!

Blessings

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