THIS WEEK IN HOMESCHOOL

I have a confession to make. I am absolutely addicted to homeschooling blogs. I just LOVE reading about what other moms are doing in their homeschools, and getting inspired, getting ideas, and learning from others what works and what doesn't. I came across this fun idea for a domino parking lot. I am constantly amazed at how other homeschool moms are more than willing to take the time to share with and equip other moms with their own ideas. I have printed out so many downloadable worksheets for free. Miss Boo was very sick with a stomach bug over the weekend (please pray that it doesn't travel through the rest of the family), so this morning when she finally felt like getting off the couch, I gave her this little activity.

This was a big hit - she kept coming back to it over and over.

During our lunch times, we like to watch an educational video. One of our favorites is this "Incredible Creatures the Defy Evolution". They present powerful evidence that proves that animal designs can only be attributed to a creator. They cannot possibly be explained by evolution. This program will inspire you to look more closely at the world around you. They are presented by Dr. Martin, who was once a traditional evolutionist, but his medical and scientific tranining went through an evolution.... rather a revolution when he began to study animals that challenged the scientific assumptions of his education. His lectures "enter the fascinating world of animals to reveal sophisticated and complex designs that shake the traditional foundations of evolutionary theory". Although - he is a "little biased", I like to challenge Banana to think through why she would conclude that these particular animals must have been created and not evolved.

Another favorite (and one that is often on loan to friends!!) is the Liberty's Kids series. These animated movies are historically accurate, and the kids LOVE them - and our kids friends love them, they are always being passed around. I was fortunate enough to find the entire set (all 40 episodes) on Amazon for a great price, and they have been well worth the money. This was actually a series seen on PBS for a while - not sure if they are still on or not?

Another favorite thing we recently discovered is SPELLINGCITY.COM This is a wonderful tool for Banana to work on her weekly spelling words. You just type in your own list of words and it creates fun games, crossword puzzles, word searches, etc. It even has her construct sentences using the words - GREAT tool for kids who need a little extra encouragement in that department!!

And this weekend, we mixed up a batch of the ever popular GOOP. Always a big hit with little kids, big kids, and grown ups. And we even had a tiny little lesson about endothermic reaction - why the goop always feels cold. Look it up! It's pretty interesting!

We are on week 23 of school, which is so hard to believe!! I have had lots of people ask which curriculum we use - for this first year we have used SONLIGHT. It was great for a first year homeschooler because absolutely everything is laid out for you. Now that we have a grasp on what it truly means to homeschool, and what we want ours to look like - I have been spending LOTS of time researching lots of other possibilities. I've decided that it really doesn't matter what curriculum you use (I was told that before but never believed it), it all depends on what YOU MAKE OF IT!! There are plenty of days when I don't make it what I want it to be - but I am learning, and we are really starting to enjoy the lifestyle. For instance, I just told Banana that we are on week 23 of school, and we have a total of 36 weeks this year - she just put that all into a math problem to figure out exactly how many school weeks she has left this year, without being prompted. Her answer 13 and 4/5 weeks.

Happy First Day of March!!