The Old Schoolhouse Planner - I'm in Love!!

I just had the opportunity to review one of the most amazing planning tools available for the homeschooling family. This e-book is absolutely phenomenal!! It comes in PDF format and if you have the most recent upgrade from Adobe you can actually type in the forms and print them out for each of your children. There are monthly featured themes with recipes and articles. There are links to resources for each monthly topic for additional worksheets and information to enhance your unit studies. There are charts that help you with measurement conversion, the fifty states, the presidents and even the branches of government.

My favorite forms would have to be:

• Shopping Lists
• Chore Charts
• Yearly Goal Sheet
• Curriculum Planning Form (perfect for the eclectic homeschooler)
• High School Transcript
• Report Card Forms
• Bible Memorization Record
• Assignment and Due Date Sheet
• Attendance Chart
• Housekeeping Weekly Schedule
• Grocery Lists
• Monthly Menu Planner
• Vacation Planner
• Party Planner
• Chore Charts (several different types to fit ANY family)

There are just so many amazing and practical forms in this that any home, homeschool or not would greatly benefit from them. I would also recommend this planner for the public school teacher as there are several form that would help in preparing lesson plans, quick reference and also in organizing work and home life. I actually have never seen anything like this and for me it was like a child in a candy store. I used to search all over the Internet and spent hours obtaining all the forms and information that I needed and now it is all in ONE 375 page e-book!!! I know once I spent an hour just trying to find a printable multiplication chart, which also happens to be in this book. I also couldn't find a kitchen conversion chart and had to go online to find one and once again this chart is easily accessible in this book!!

The planner is only $39.00 and will provide every homeschooling family with the opportunity for total home organization. I recommend every family has one of these as you will not be disappointed!!

Get Your Planner Today!!

Designs for all the Dorks out there!

Daughter of the Risen King!!!



Are you a D.O.R.K. - Daughter of the Risen King? Then these designs are just for you!! I have just designed ten different D.O.R.K. or DORK designs and have added them to my t-shirt shop with more to come!! These designs are available on onesies, t-shirts, tote bags and so much more.
GET YOUR D.O.R.K. T-SHIRTS AND MORE HERE!!

WASP-UP!!!

Okay so we go out for lunch today and I come home to check if the mail is delivered. I get ready to open the door and noticed that we had a few friends on the front porch. There are hundreds of newly hatched wasps on our front porch!! What a lovely thing to come home too. Those of you who know me know I absolutely hate wasps and bees!! I'm totally bugging!!! LITERALLY!!! I wish there was better lighting because they are even crawling on the floor of the porch!!!

How I Hope to Generate the Love of Learning

I am beyond no means an expert when it comes to the art of homeschooling. I've tried different curriculum and learning techniques throughout the years to see if there was anything that would be the magic formula. The one thing that I have found that works the best is to not "over" teach my children. I give them their books and let them explore their assignments and if they need help they know they can immediately come to me, my husband or research for answers at the library, Internet or books in our own personal library. It kind of happened accidentally as I stepped away to do some dishes one morning while they were working and found that they actually learned MORE when I wasn't hovering over them explaining the lesson to them. I also caught my oldest child "teaching" his brother mathematical equation tricks....his face glowed as he was able to show his brother something that he knew to help him.

Once a child can read, the world is an open book for them to explore. The coolest part of this accidental discovery is that my boys do not expect me to know the answers to everything. If we are watching a program and they want to explore something further, they know how to use the library computer index and the Internet to find the answers they are looking for. I can't ask for a better venue for them to discover more than what their textbooks tell them. If they are learning about tigers and have a question about a specific tiger...they can easily find what they want.

What my dream would be is that this freedom to explore and find the answers for themselves will assist them in higher education as well as throughout their lives. Rather than being spoon fed puppets, they have turned into constant seekers of facts and information. If they do not understand something, they research it more. If they want to know the Chicago Cub player with the highest batting average, they can find it!! What more could a mom or teacher ask for.

My preschooler has just started reading and it's amazing that the more words that he learns the more that he can share in the fun with his older brothers. He is my most inquisitive one, so it's going to be fun to see what kind of researcher he's going to be.

The best way that I can tell you to start this with your homeschooler is to first teach them how to read. Once they are reading, let them read the instructions to their homework and try to figure out the concepts. I'm not saying just let them do everything themselves and not help them, I'm saying be that eagle momma watching over the babies in the nest and only jumping in when they need help. Next show them how to use Google, Yahoo and MSN to search for answers to their questions. This is something you absolutely have to supervise if you do not have a profanity filter on your browser as you should never give a child free reign on the Internet. Take them to the library and show them how to use the card catalog (computer or the original card files depending on your library). I also show them how to use a dictionary, encyclopedia and thesaurus to find answers as well. Finally, if they ask you something that you know that they can find from one of these resources, tell them to "look it up". My mom always did this too me and I am actually glad she did because it is that very activity that has fostered this new learning style with my children.

And May's Winner Is.............

Momma Miller!!!

Thanks so much for your participation in the drawing!! Please contact me so we can get your free t-shirt too you!

You Can Do It Mom!!

Sometimes in a homeschooling parent's teaching career, they wonder if they are doing everything they need to and get overwhelmed with teaching, housework and parenting. If you operate a home-based buisness, it adds more to the stress of maintaining a peaceful and balanced home. As laundry piles up and dishes fill the sink while you spend half your time being a parent/homeschooler and then hit the computer or craft room to earn those extra dollars for your families income with the rest of your spare time, you wonder how can I make time for myself, for prayer time and for all those other things that I want to get done. What about those pictures that I need to get scrapbooked, or what about that idea I had for bringing more income to the family? Later this month I will be sharing some of the websites I have started using to bring some organization into my home, but in the meantime, I wanted to share an exciting e-book that I discovered.

The Old Schoolhouse has just came out with the most amazing e-book that helps homeschooling families to figure out how to work from home and still keep up with their main goal of homeschooling their children. The book is called Home Work - Juggling Home, Work and School Without Losing Your Balance. Several authors have teamed together to give you ideas on managing your home, homeschooling and home-based business and to not falter in your goal in raising Godly and well-educated children. Whether it's a crafting business or an online based business, this e-book has tons of ideas on how you can bring extra income into the family and even gives you ideas on how to make your current crafting business into something more. I strongly encourage you to get this book as you will not be disappointed. There is absolutely an idea for every mom and there were job ideas that I had not even thought of!! With my husband recently being laid off at the railroad, this book is a lifesaver on getting ideas how to get by until the economy picks up again!!

Click on the picture at the top of this review or HERE to find out what kinds of home-based business options are available for your homeschooling family.

The Creation vs. Evolution Debate

One of the most fascinating things about homeschooling my children, is that they do not really question whether or not we were created by God or if we evolved from a ball of gas. Even after watching several documentaries on the History Channel, Discovery Channel, and National Geographic, my boys use what they know about God's word to discredit those that adhere to the Theory of Evolution.

The Old Schoolhouse Creation vs. Evolution - Interpreting the Evidence WeE-Book gives you even more resources and ideas on how to refute and make a strong argument against the Theory of Evolution. Authors Dr. Carl Wieland and Darren Nelson help parents use historical facts and the Bible to help prove the existence of Creation. In addition to all kind of facts and historical comparisons, Wieland and Nelson also list many resources for furthering a unit study on the Creation vs. Evolution Argument. This is the perfect resource for your older child headed to public high school or to college to be prepared to factually present the case for creation.

WeE-Books has all kinds of e-books for homeschooling families to download for the low price of $1.95. Please click on the graphic below to visit the website or click on the graphic at the top of this review to get started on teaching your children how to effectively debate the creation vs. evolution argument.