End of summer

One of our summer traditions is to go to the New York State Fair.  My kids participate in poultry science contests and have done robotics competitions there in the past as well.  It's a really HUGE fair and so so so much fun :) :) Kind of an end-of-the-summer tradition for us!  This year we got to see the Beach Boys (at a free concert!  yay!)

How about you?  What marks the end of summer for you?

Dear Homeschool Mom...

Dear Homeschool Mom,

Guess what? 

We (other homeschool moms) don't have it all together. (Okay, maybe a few do, but not most of us!). You know all those posts you see that make you feel like you're not quite good enough?

          And make you question your path

          And make you worry

          And make you feel like you're maybe 
                                shortchanging                     
                                         your kids

Guess what? We all feel that way. Really. Some days, not all, of course, but those days we're feeling a little insecure seem to be the same days we happen to see other homeschoolers' blogs or Facebook or Instagram posts and they look so idyllic and, well, perfect. They seem to have their (happy, of course!) children involved in everything, they are all dressed in cute outfits, working on projects you would see in a magazine article... And you start to question and doubt.

But you know what? Thats just the enemy. Don't let yourself forget your priorities and why you started homeschooling. You will always be able to find someone to compare yourself unfavorably to. But there's no reason at all for you to.

Focus on your priorities instead of what others are doing. And remember that those you view as having figured it all out probably don't!!!






Check out some other homeschool moms notes!

Transcripts

TRANSCRIPTS!!!!!

Depending on what aged children you are homeschooling, you may spend a lot of time thinking about grades or maybe none at all.  The philosophy I have had about grades for my children (prior to the high school years) is that the purpose of grades is for the parents to know how the student is doing...and the way we homeschool, I was intimately comfortable in my knowledge of how each child was learning/performing.  For this reason, I did not keep grades for my chidren's homeschooling all the way through 8th grade (I know you're horrified!!)  :)  Well, the exception was Algebra 1.  Since it's technically a high school course, though they took it in 8th grade, it was graded and recorded on the beginning of the transcript.

SO -- now, high school.  Knowing that there would be more people than just my husband and I who were interested in grades, I started giving tests (oh yeah, I didn't give them tests till high school either!!), grading essays, and evaluating work.  I kept track of these grades on a loosely-named transcript.

UNTIL

Until my daughter wanted to apply for college.  At this point I took a brief hiatus from my mindset of doing things simply and had a few momemts of panicking.  Transcripts for college must be very complex and highly-perfectly formatted, right?  I polled friends and acquaintances, asked for advice, had some people look over the transcript I had for her.  Basically everyone has a different idea of what a transcript should look like and what it should contain.

I'm not really a person who freaks out too much about stuff like this, but I was feeling definitely stressed.  What I had was a 2-page document which listed my child's demographic info, then listed (by year) the classes she had taken, the # of credits for each one, and the grade assigned for that class.  Each year had a GPA figured.  The only other thing I included was her SAT and ACT scores.

Some homeschooling parents mentioned that I ought to include her activities, community service, and volunteering.  Others directed me to (different) complex formats.  Several told me that it all must be on one page.  Okay, still panicking .

Then my logical side prevailed and I emailed the admissions office of the college she was applying to and told them that I was a homeschooling mom and I was getting a transcript ready and asked if they had a preferred format or required anything particular.  They said that they just wanted a listing, basically like what I already had.  We submitted that and she was accepted the next day!

She also wanted to take her senior year of high school dual enrolled at the community college near here, so, once again, the transcript question appeared.  This time my daughter called the admissions office and asked them what form they'd like for the transcript.  They told her they were looking for just a basic list of course/credits/grades.

SO--the moral of the story is to not freak out, just include the basics, ask the admissions office if you are concerned, and give the class names/credits/grades and SAT and ACT scores and that should cover you!

To read more about peoples' thoughts on record keeping and planning, read this article and check out these links below!

Also linking up with

Writing implements (and our favorite pencils!)

Do you have favorite "tools" that you use for homeschooling? (or regular school, I suppose) Pens and pencils are always being used, and we have found that in our family we favor certain types of pencils! Sounds kind of weird or picky, doesn't it? :) I'm laughing at myself a little for writing a post about pencils, but, hey! We like them!

Before pencils, though, let's talk about pens. In our household we are not too particular about pens. As long as it writes fairly nicely and smoothly we're not too picky. Because of this, let me tell you where most of our pens in this house come from...the fair! Or farm show or some such event! Haha!! All those pens that vendors give out to advertise their businesses...those are what fuel our inkiness in this family!

Here's a random selectoin of pens from around the house :) Notice the advertising...

Now pencils...well, we DO get some of those at the fair also, but we're pretty consistent with what we use in our schoolday (and preferred pencils for most days!)  The ones we use are mechanical pencils, but not just any mechanical pencil!  We LOVE the papermate mates easy to hold with 1.3mm lead.

The lead in these pencils is thicker, so there is not much breakage, and we find that although the point is not super sharp, the writing is smooth and we get a lot more writing out of it than a skinny lead.  They also sell replacement lead, which is a great thing.  The barrel of these pencils is a triangular shape, which makes it easy to hold (comfortably) when writing.

We love these pencils so much that I actually buy a bunch of them on Amazon when they're a good price and use them for gifts (I figure if we love them so much, others will as well, right?!)

There IS one other pencil that I (mom) personally like more.  It's a mechanical pencil as well, the lead is a little thinner (though not as thin as most) and the lead seems to write very smoothly. The pencil is comfortable to hold and write, the eraser always erases nicely, just a great pencil.  This one is also by Papermate and is called sharp writer.

So, there you have it!  My suggestions for pencils! 

How about you, any favorites?

Have a great schoolyear!!  Check out more ideas about school supplies by clicking this or the links below!

Curriculum (again!)

Choices of curriculum are wide and varied. As homeschooling parents, we have the luxury to choose which materials we will use with our children to assist their learning for the schoolyear. And it IS a luxury! We can evaluate our students and use materials that will enhance their learning styles.

For many years my homeschooling family used a curriculum which they could participate in much of together. This program was called My Father's World, and we really loved it! When we finished the "cycle" we started drawing more from different programs to kind of piece together our program. With highschoolers, we have had to look at requirements and college-prep lists and focus a little more on classes that are suggested/recommended/required for college prep.

If you have read my blog for the past few posts, you will have read my true confession about curriculum for this year :) :) Although I haven't settled on everything that we will be using this year, here are a few of our favorites!



Saxon Math! Yes, we love Saxon, and by "WE", I mean "ME" haha :) No, really, the kids like it too, pretty much. That's all they've had so that's "math" to them! Saxon style is textbook--lesson + explanations followed by problems that the student has to copy out into their notebook (or paper) and solve. What do I like so much? Great explanations, wonderfully complete variety of topics, and tons of review in every lesson.

Apologia Science! Beginning in 9th grade we use Apologia science. Biology in 9th, Chemistry in 10th, Physics in 11th ... that's as far as we've gotten thus far! What do I like about it? Well, first of all the Christian slant. Plus it's GOOD SCIENCE!! It has wonderful explanations and is very thorough. I was especially impressed with chemistry.

Wordly Wise: My kids just plain enjoy this curriculum, and if they like doing vocab, why not keep using it?!

So--that's where we are at this point. We will, of course, be adding things like grammar, history/social studies, Bible, and more.

OH, and I get a "curriculum break" this year as well--my oldest (12th grader) is going to be taking the early college (dual enrollment) at the community college, so I don't need to pick out curriculum for her this year!

One more note, about buying curriculum. Schoolbooks are very expensive! We usually buy as many books used as we can. Different places I look for used books are websites such as ebay (have found most of my daughter's college books on here for a fraction of the cost in the college bookstore!), homeschoolclassifieds.com, Amazon or bn.com (look under the "used" option), and a few facebook groups. It takes a bit of digging and searching, but you can save a lot of money buying used. If your child is taking a class that needs a particular edition, however, make sure that you pay attention to that and purchase the right one.

There are so many different curriculum options. Pray about it, do your research, find out what works well with your children, and don't be afraid to switch if it isn't working for your family!

I'm sure you would like to read more about curriculum from other homeschooling folks, and you can! Just click the links below:

Blog Post Link: http://schoolhousereviewcrew.com/curriculum-back-to-homeschool-annual-blog-hop-2017/

Back to School Blog Hop! :) It's that time of year...to get ready to begin!

Surely I can't be the only homeschooling mom who's in denial about the start of the schoolyear, can I? Wow, the summer has zipped by so fast! Here we are looking at starting school in a few weeks...and this year I have a 12th grader, a 10th grader, and an 8th grader! I am sometimes surprised at how old my kids are getting!

Just before the start (or at the start) of the new schoolyear is a great time to check out what other people are doing/using/planning/experiencing for this schoolyear! Lucky for you, there's a whole series of blog articles that a group of folks are writing to share with you!

The series of posts will have a different theme for each day:
August 14 – Curriculum
August 15 – School Supplies
August 16 – Planning / Record Keeping
August 17 – Outside the Home
August 18 – Dear Homeschool Mom

Click on the link below and you will be directed to a series of great articles to inspire you as you begin your schoolyear!

Fatal Trust by Todd M. Johnson—my REVIEW

Sometimes I get into a rut with my reading.  I do like several different genres, mysteries, some adventure stories, some dramas, contemporary fiction, historical fiction…it seems like mostly what I’ve been reading lately has been kind of fluff fiction—and honestly, my life is so busy and dramatic with 3 teenagers (hahahaha!!) that fluff fiction is appreciated J J .  This book, Fatal Trust, was different than what I’ve been reading, and I appreciated that!

SO what kind of a book is this?  I guess I’d say a legal drama, a bit of a mystery, a suspense novel.  Kind of mob-like.  Kind of tense.  Definitely interesting!

In Fatal Trust, Ian is a new-ish lawyer who is struggling to keep his deceased father’s legal practice going while taking care of his mother who is slipping into Alzheimer’s.  He is plagued with financial difficulties and just when he appears to have no hope, he receives an offer he cannot refuse.  It seems too good to be true, but his father initiated it many many years ago, so he jumps on board.  As things that seem to be too good often turn out to be otherwise, so does his situation.  Ian is plunged into a family trust with stipulations for disbursement that he is to untangle.  Upon looking into these, he finds his own family mixed up in the matter, possibly criminally, as well as associating with other shady types. 

You’ll have to read the book to find out more…it’s a story I don’t want to give away! 

I would definitely recommend this book.  It’s a suspense story that will keep you guessing as you see parts unfolding.  I really liked it and my husband is looking forward to reading it next!  It’s not a quick read, you have to think a bit while you are reading it, but it is good!  It’s published by a Christian company (Bethany House), and while there are not really overt Christian messages, there is definitely a lack of profanity and other elements that you may find distasteful in many suspense stories.  

Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 : “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”