Tomorrow we will be enjoying a Fun Friday at the Impression 5 Science Center. I figured that we would get back to lessons at a slow pace and enjoy the little extra time off before we work toward the mid-term chemistry exam and start a new healthy lifestyle course on Monday.
   This field trip will be interesting as "Impression 5 is a hands-on learning enviornment that challenges its visitors to experience, discover, and explore the world in which they live."  They offer many interactive lessons and educational games to make learning fun. Financially it is another bonus since Impression 5 is a member of the ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers) and its passport program. They honor membership cards from any ASTC member institution. 
   I will post our experiences tomorrow and maybe even a few pictures so you will have an opportunity to share the fun with us.  
 

One of the first speed bumps I saw coming was my hubby and I getting on to the same page as far as home schooling expectations.  He works from a home office, so is very involved (or at least likes to listen in).  We have very different styles and approaches, but the same goals.  He is the organized, structured type and I am more of the "go with the flow" personality.  Well, I have been married to him long enough to see a conflict in the making.  So I decided to speak to him in a language he understands...

Before we started, I wrote a business plan for our "school".  This business plan included a monthly budget, mission and vision statement, broad schedule, curriculum, academic benchmarks, and discipline plan.  I was intentionally broad in my language, so that I gave myself wiggle room.  This served 2 purposes, gave my husband an outline of the school in a format that he understands and gives me some benchmarks to work toward and a little structure in my chaos.

We also have included the kids in the rule-making process and gave them contracts to sign.  Since they went to public school and then home school, I want them to understand that this is going to be fun, but a serious endeavor - not permanent vacation.  We explained to them that we feel that this is a great gift that we are willing and able to give them, but that they need to take some ownership in this process and that it is their education. 


My plan is to provide the basic skills, but let them explore the areas that interest them and work that into our plan.  I cant wait to see where that leads...

One of the newest and hottest sites on the web these days is WOWIO. This site allows you to download eBooks for free. It is completely legal and you can have access to hundreds of titles that will help you teach your children. You will see how easy it is to find books related to your homeschooling lessons plans, too.

 

What exactly is WOWIO?

WOWIO is an online bookstore that allows you to find your favorite book titles and download them into your computer using Acrobat Reader. You may wonder how it is possible that latest titles are offered for free while still being legal. The answer is that this website compensates the writers and publishers through ads and commercial sponsorships. This is good new for you, especially when you homeschool because it puts hundreds of books right at your fingertips. No more searching through expensive bookstores or rummaging through the library only to find what you need is already checked out.

How can I join?

Before you can begin to use WOWIO, you will need to join the website. Don’t worry. It is easy and they walk you through the process. You can choose your registration process and information is needed to verify your membership. You can choose to enter your email address, driver’s license number, or your credit card information to verify your identity. If you use your credit card number, it is only to verify identity and you will not be charged any amount. After the registration process is complete, you can begin to use the website to download eBooks that are offered. You really do not need any special equipment to get the site working. All you need is a good Internet connection and Acrobat Reader, which is available for you to download for free if you do not already have it.

 

What is offered through WOWIO?

Virtually anything you need is offered through this website. If you are interested in children’s literature or on educational material, simply scroll through the categories and it will help you find titles from those selections. You can also type in a title name and it will search the website for you. Many of the titles offered on this website are educational in nature, meaning that when you homeschool, you now have access to many titles you can use when you teach your children.

How can I use WOWIO to create lesson plans?

You simply need to find eBooks that are related to a subject that you are teaching or plan to teach in the future.  You can use the eBooks to supplement your current curriculum, or to help you design your very own curriculum or unit study.  Either way, you will find lots of useful information.  WOWIO makes it easy for homeschoolers on a budget to find the resources they need in a flash!

You can see that this is a quite useful website for you and your children. Get online today to explore all the titles that you have just by registering with this free eBook site.  For more information, use their Frequently Asked Questions section on the website.  So, why are you still hanging around here...get there now!

For this weeks' lesson in the kitchen, we choose to find recipes using candy canes.  Not just because we are up to our neck in them, but because even after Christmas we will STILL be up to our neck in them!  So we decided to put them to good use this week and find creative, tasty ways to do that.

The kids really liked this project, hands on is the way they like it, and we really had a lot of fun picking out this weeks' candy cane lessons.  We choose three recipes, I was cheering for the fudge, but the children were adamant on the reindeer.  Before the New Years, we will try all three:

• Candy Cane Fudge
• Candy Cane Reindeer
• Candy Cane Hot Chocolate

The best thing about all three of these recipes is that you can also give them away for Christmas gifts.  They will not bust your budget, and gives you the hands on fun and learning that you are looking for.

Now we cannot let this moment pass without filling our brains along with our stomachs.  So for a little history and a few facts on the candy cane, please visit the links below.

Candy Cane Facts

History of the Candy Cane

 

Where you teach your children may be just as important as what you teach.  Without having an organized clean area you will struggle with homeschooling in the most efficient manner.  Before you begin your homeschooling journey, you should take time to consider designing a homeschool classroom.

 

No matter what your budget is, you will find that with some creativity and ingenuity you can transform a spare room into a homeschool room easily.  You will definitely appreciate the ease of using a room specifically designated for homeschooling and it will help your children separate their school activities from other household areas.  Needless to say, you will also find that keeping your homeschool activities in one room saves a mess from ensuing in other areas of your home.

 

One of the greatest joys of homeschooling is the freedom to create a curriculum that is tailored to your child’s needs.  Your homeschool room shouldn’t be any different.  When you create your homeschool room it should be personal to your child’s needs and studies.  There are no hard rules as to what you should include in your homeschool room.  However, you should always ensure that your homeschool room is quiet and provides ample lighting so that children may work in an atmosphere that is conductive to learning.

 

You can decorate your homeschool room with various bulletin boards and displays depending upon the season, activities that you are currently working on, or by bulletin board themes.  You’ll also find that when you have a homeschool room that you have an easy way of storing and displaying your child’s work, posters, educational borders, and more.

 

Here is a video produced by the Homeschool Video Blog Project that takes you on a tour of Laura’s wonderful homeschool room.  I hope you will be inspired to create your own homeschool learning haven.

 

 

When you're new to homeschooling, finding the right curriculum is like looking for a needle in a haystack. The choices are overwhelming, and so are some of the price tags! Our tax money pays for a school system we're not using, so it's hard to justify a huge chunk out of the family budget for books and other educational materials to use at home. Publishers often package curriculum in sets consisting of a student textbook, workbook, test booklets, answer keys, teacher's edition, and sometimes additional tools like cd-roms or dvds. There's nothing worse than buying an entire grade-specific set of science or math, only to find out that it's as dry as toast! Ebay here you come! Check the publisher's web site before buying their product to see if they have some sample pages posted online for your review. Another way to preview materials is the old fashioned way...go to the bookstore and thumb through the material. Either method can be time consuming, but well worth the effort.

Parents new to homeschooling are usually better off mixing curriculum, especially for the younger grade levels. It's a great way to try out different publishers and keep things fresh all year. Your kids won't be the only ones who appreciate the variety!

I've listed below some resources for finding curriculum online. Don't forget to use the library too. It provides a good reason to leave the house each week, and the shelves are full of rich history, intriguing science, and entertaining biographies.

http://www.homeschoolreviews.com/

http://school.familyeducation.com/home-schooling/curriculum-planning/38847.html

http://www.homeschoolsupercenter.com/

http://www.homeschooldiscount.com/

http://www.hsadvisor.com/

http://theswap.com/

http://www.abeka.com/

http://www.time4learning.com/

http://www.homeschoolclassifieds.com/

http://www.usedhomeschoolcurriculum.com/

http://www.thebackpack.com/

http://www.rocksolidinc.com/

Even after you've chosen a variety of books and other tangible learning materials, there's still plenty to be found online to enhance your at-home library. You may be in the middle of a unit study about castles and medieval life, and your children can't seem to get enough. That's the time to jump on the Internet and begin researching the subject in greater detail. It's surprising what you can find, and if you have older children you may be amazed at what they can dig up on a given subject. Internet research skills are crucial to this budding generation, so why not incorporate a little practice into their schedules and call it a lesson? That's what homeschooling is all about...turning life into lessons and lessons into life!

Are you homeschooling on a budget?  Many families that are contemplating homeschooling their children are discouraged by the price of new curricula.  Even used curriculum can be pricey, especially if you have more than one child to teach.  So, how can you homeschool your children, give them a quality education, and do it free to virtually free?  That's a good questions.  Let's explore!

I could easily list thousands of websites that offer free games, eBooks, lesson plans, and much more that the Internet offers, but there is just not enough room on this blog to do so.   Here are just a few of my favorites:

• A to Z Home's Cool Homeschooling 
• Homeschool Learning Network
• A to Z Teacher Stuff
• Wowio Free eBook Library - Lets you download up to 5 eBooks a day for free!

I also encourage you to invest in books that help you learn about homeschooling on a budget.  One of my favorites is:

 by LauraMaery Gold and Joan M. Zielinski

Other resources for homeschooling your child for free include using your local library.  There is a ton of information available to you at the library.  Not only can you find books, but also periodicals, audio-books, and videos.  Consider using the library as a source of resources for lessons you are teaching, as well as to find reading material to help improve your child's reading level.  As Dr. Seuss would say, "Oh the Places You'll Go!" if you use your library.

Develop your own curriculum.  Have you considered preparing your own curriculum for your children?  Try unit studies, whereby you can teach multiple kids the same material, but on different teaching levels.  It makes life for a homeschooling mom with more than one child so much easier.  Check out these easy steps to create a unit study yourself.

Your TV is actually a great resource for teaching kids.  The Discovery Channel, How Things are Made, and other programs, such as you can find on PBS, offer programs that teach children in areas of science, language arts, and history.  You can record programs for kids to watch at their leisure or to build a reference library for younger children when they can watch the same programs in later years.

So you see, homeschooling your child on a budget is not out of the question.  Even homeschooling for free is within reach.  You have to use your imagination and know where to find the best resources.

I'm part of a large homeschooling group and every now and then a potential homeschooler will come to a meeting. They are usually on a quest to discover if homeschooling is a good fit for their family.

Here are some tips that I have if you are wondering the same thing:

1) Go to as many homeschooling activities and field trips without your kids as possible! If you're concerned how your kids will manage without the socialization of other kids EVERY day, it's best to see how other kids are doing. Talk with the parents and get their advice. Chances are there are many who have been right where you are!

2) Join lots of homeschooling support egroups! Yahoo Groups has hundreds of eGroups dedicated to homeschooling. You can find local or national groups. Feel free to ask questions and most people are very willing to help. This is where I got my start when I began this journey for our family.

3) Read books and articles from your library or online about homeschooling!  Do your homework and you'll be better educated to make your decision.

4) Be prepared to make more sacrifices of your time and finances!   The lovely thing about homeschooling is the variety of curriculum plans there are out there. My kids use a distance learning program from Bob Jones University where all their classes for all their subjects are on an external hard drive for their computer. No matter what curriculum program you choose you will have to sacrifice finances and time.

5) Be prepared to obey your state's laws! The Home School Legal Defense Association has a fantastic site full of information regarding state laws and what is required of the homeschooling parent(s). Visit http://www.hslda.org/laws/ for more information on your state's laws.

Overall, homeschooling is a personal decision. If you feel it's right, your kids agree to it, and you don't mind making sacrifices it can be a very rewarding experience.