Homeschooling

Customizable Homeschool Planner

June 19, 2013 by Sharla Leave a Comment

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

I am not naturally an organized person although I know that I do so much better when I have a schedule, lists and written plans. Last year, our success in homeschooling in any given week was largely able to be predicted before the week began by whether or not I have planned and written out at least an outline of that plan. The weeks that I didn’t do it were nothing short of a disaster!

So I am a bit of an advocate for having a planner. A planner doesn’t necessarily need to be an official homeschool planner. It can be a coil notebook, a daytime, even a regular calendar if that is what works for you. For myself, I need something that is more organized and laid out. I have used different types of planners at different times and have found that there are some commonalities for me when it comes to a planner that works. It has to have a weekly planner, daily lists and a meal planner. Other features are nice, but those are the must-haves for me.

Right now, the Weekly Homeschool Planner has a coupon code for 40% off their editable homeschool planner. Just enter the code JUNESALE when you check out. This popular planner includes:

* 138 planning pages ~ 8 1/2″ x 11″ sized
* 12 blank month-at-a-glance pages
* 40 weeks of weekly planning and journal sheets: each
   page can be customized to the subjects that your
   family studies and can be saved to your computer!
* Preschool planning sheets
* Field trip/Event plan sheets
* Yearly curriculum planning sheets
* Yearly planning and evaluation sheets
* Yearly attendance tracking sheets
* Field trip/Event plan sheets
* Daily to-do lists
* Main dish menu planner
* Customizable chore charts
* Important contacts info
* Additional note space
* Standardized testing and yearly assessment result
  tracking
* Homeschooling requirement planning

This planner is editable and can be used from year to year and be customized each year. I really like that it includes things that may not be directly related to homeschooling such as chore charts and meal planning but those things impact homeschooling in a big way.

In order to get the discount on the Weekly Homeschool Planner, which is only available from now until this Saturday (June 22, 2013), enter the discount code JUNESALE at checkout. This will make the planner just $12 (it normally sells for $20)!

Filed Under: Deals & Freebies, Homeschooling

Weekly Wrap Up

June 13, 2013 by Sharla 8 Comments

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

In our homeschool this week…we seem to be winding down a lot of the formal learning around here. I made the decision that we are going to take July off or mainly off because two of the boys are going to camp the first week, Miss Optimism is going to camp the second week and we are heading to a family wedding out of province the fourth week! I will take the time to plan our year, especially our unit studies and then we will start our year in August.

For some reason, the kids decided that they wanted to do math for fun this week and I was not about to object! We picked up where we had left off in their Math U See books and we watched some fun Youtube videos about greater than, less than, equal to.

We read a lot this week. A lot. These are just some of the books we read this week:

Happy Birthday to You
Tell Me Again About the Night I Was Born
My Brother Charlie
Chicka Chicka Boom Boom
M is for Maple
I Love My Hair

Since I was blogging about my Summer Sensory Activities this week, we did 5 of those (we did the other 5 last week). We actually did 6 this week, but one was a total flop!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…last Saturday, we went to my nephew’s First Communion. I spent an hour earlier that day explaining what happens in a Catholic mass to the kids, answering their questions and practising sitting. The Husband was away on a fishing trip that day so I was quite nervous about having 6 of them in such a long service by myself! They couldn’t have been better! They sat through the hour and a half service with hardly a peep!

There was a party afterwards at my brother’s house and to say that my kids enjoyed the chocolate fountain would be an understatement!!!

I’m cooking…Eggs Benedict with Hash Browns (we love eating breakfast for supper!), Jambalaya, Chili Chicken with Basmati Rice and Caesar Salad, Macaroni & Cheese, Rhubarb Cake.

I’m linking to…Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Homeschool Mother’s Journal, The Homeschool Village, This Week, Collage Friday.

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Weekly Wrap-Up

Frozen Treasure Find

June 13, 2013 by Sharla 2 Comments

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

While this activity did require some prep work on my part, it was so worthwhile because this kept the kids occupied for a very long time! I actually made one big one for them all to work on together and then little ones for each of them just for fun.

For the individual ones, I used empty yogourt containers and put a few small items in each. I used glittery foam stickers, sequins and pompoms. I then filled them with water and froze them. The little ones were much more challenging to unmold than the big one was, but after having them sit in water for a minute, they came out easily.

The larger one took more time to make as I made it in layers. I used an empty ice cream bucket and placed some items at the bottom before adding a layer of water. I then put that in the freezer and when it had set, I added a few more items and a layer of water that I had added some blue food paste to so that it created layers of blue. The interesting thing is that the layers of regular water I added afterwards each took on a bit of the blue but less with each layer, creating a really cool effect that was completely unintentional!

The weather hadn’t been great, so I wasn’t in a rush to complete this and took a few days of adding layers here and there and keeping it in the freezer in between.

For the “treasures”, I used a few coins, sequins, ocean life shaped ice cubes, pompoms, silk flowers, foam stickers, string that I wound through the layers, toy fish, and mini pinwheels. I tried to stick with a summer theme.

I ran the bucket under the water for a few seconds to release the ice creation from the ice cream pail and set it outside for the kids to play with. They used spray bottles, squirt bottles, a turkey baster, and plastic spoons to try to release the treasures from the ice.

This occupied them for a long time and it morphed into a bit of a science project as they decided to experiment with different temperatures of water in their bottles and with different techniques. It was also a good way to cool off on a hot summer day!This project is part of my series on Summer Sensory Activities as part of the iHomeschool Network Summer Hopscotch.

I’m linking to Sunday Showcase, Show & Share Saturday, Works for Me Wednesday , Ultimate Homeschool Blog Hop.

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Summer Sensory Activities

Weekly Wrap Up

June 7, 2013 by Sharla 4 Comments

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

In my life this week…I’ve been trying to find a better balance between working (blogging) and everything else. I had several deadlines regarding paperwork and that type of thing to meet so I had to put those things first and in order to do that, I had to pull back a bit on the amount of online hours I have been putting in.

I’m working on…getting organized. This will help a lot with the above.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…The Husband and I had a chance to go on a super long date thanks to my mom and some friends and it really gave us the chance to reconnect and to set some goals together. It was extremely refreshing and gave me a new perspective on a lot of things, including our marriage. Time to connect is crucial for couples, especially those going through stressful circumstances or those with a lot of kids.

The kids and I also ran some errands, went on our big grocery shop, went for Miss Optimism’s injections, and had some friends over here.

Dancing Queen got her hair cut which was a super hard decision for me to make but one that for right now, I’m relieved that I did. She is liking it and we even managed to get earrings into her holes that we thought had grown in so that helps too…by “we”, I mean Snuggle Puppy because he actually helped them along a bit with a pin…what are brothers for!

In our homeschool this week…Homeschool Track & Field! This is always one of the most looked-forward-to days of the year for the kids. The weather held up even under the threat of rain and everyone had a great time as always. This year was especially special in a few ways, one being that it was the first year that Miss Optimism has ever been able to go to the Track Meet without wearing a mask!

We watched the movie Degas and the Dancer and then the kids took turns modelling for each other while they were sketched portraits. As Degas uses a special type of pastels in his art, we later tried to purchase some at the store but they were sold out. We will complete these projects next week.

We also did a ton of super fun (and messy) activities but I can’t show them just yet! I am working on a series for next week of Summer Sensory Activities where I will be sharing two separate projects a day for 5 days. Check back next week and see what else we’ve been up to!

I’m cooking…my easy chicken stuffed pasta shells, Thai noodles, hamburgers and coleslaw, soup, and pasta.

What I’m blogging about…I shared this week my thoughts about tuck-ins and how quickly kids grow up, my new marriage revelation, books for kids about special needs, my recipe for pineapple upside down cake, and this week’s homeschool deals and freebies. I’m also sharing today over on the Homeschool Village about how to make a sensory rich classroom.

I’m linking with…Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers, Collage Fridays, Homeschool Mother’s Journal.

Filed Under: Homeschooling, Weekly Wrap-Up

Weekly Wrap Up

May 31, 2013 by Sharla 3 Comments

(This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, see my disclosure policy.)

In my life this week…I had a really nice, long visit and tea with a close friend and it really helped me. There’s something about having a conversation with someone about this mom thing and this marriage thing and this life thing in a way that’s real but that is infused with the hope that comes with a faith in a God who sees us that is so refreshing.

The lack of sleep of the past month or so caught up with me this week. The late nights are no problem. It’s the early mornings that are still just brutal. Every time the alarm goes off, it feels like a cruel joke! So this week, I hit a day where my body just refused to cooperate with me anymore. I was in bed at 8 and I slept until the next morning and since I hadn’t planned to fall asleep, I hadn’t set my alarm so I slept until the kids got up after 7.

In our homeschool…we had fun with the books in the Have You Filled a Bucket Today series. We did lots of activities to go along with them.

The kids decided that they wanted to learn sign language because of an episode of The Waltons that they watched (as an aside, my friend Michelle happened to be on the phone with me when the kids came down and announced their intentions and she had a good laugh about me being a stereotypical homeschool mom – kids watching The Waltons and kids actually WANTING to learn!). So this week, communication around here has been a bit slower than usual as the kids attempt to spell-sign words to me!

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…the usual doctors and therapists and appointments. The kids did get to play at a playground with friends and a few of the kids have gone on little play dates here and there.

That little collage of our week shows the playground (that’s Granola Girl climbing her way up to the top of the pole), Miss Optimism with the horse puppet she made out of a paper bag, game playing at the kitchen table (board games are a daily thing around here), a picnic on the grass, Einstein sorting through the books in the homeschool room and organizing them, eggs waiting their turn to be put into another themed muffin tin lunch.

I’m cooking…penne a la vodka, tuna salad sandwiches, curried butternut squash soup, and a thrown together concoction of Mexican veggie beef, corn, tomatoes, taco seasoning, and rice.

I’m linking to…Collage Friday, Weekly Wrap Up, Homeschool Review, and Homeschool Mother’s Journal.