Great Day

We had such a great day today. The Hermitage was so interesting and we learned so much about President Andrew Jackson. Lots of things that would surely be a scandle now!

Little Buddy will help me load pictures soon!

RV Trip Excursion

For today's RV trip excursion, we visited the Farmer's Market, Whole Foods, went swimming and are about to hit Target (we always realize we forgot something that we need).

The Farmer's Market was so wonderful with all of the fresh, locally grown fruits and vegetables. Of course there were some that weren't local to the area, but they were definitely fresh! The plants were very healthy and looked to be thriving. If I lived closer, I would have definitely had a haul!

Little Buddy had a big time and made friends with a couple of the local farmers. He had to tell them about our chickens at home and about the vegetable garden that we still hadn't planted.

Have you visited your local farmer's market? It's a great trip for the whole family. Next time, I want to plan for Little Buddy to get to ask the farmers some questions about their farms.

RV Games

I love games. Especially those good ole traditional games. The non-electronic variety. Don't get me wrong. I think that electronics have a major place in this world and especially in games. I just happen to really like those good ole standby games. Games like Checkers, Tic-Tac-Toe, Jenga, Pass the Pigs, and card games like Go Fish and Kings Corner.

We have been playing them all weekend. There is something to be said about RVing. At night time, we pull out the game of choice and get in the floor and play. I hope these are the memories that Little Buddy keeps for a lifetime!

Lessons on the Road

One of the joys of homeschooling that we are looking forward to is being able to have homeschool while taking family trips, etc. Yesterday, we set out on a five hour drive to meet up with Dad for a week long RV trip. (He had to go ahead for business and we had to wait for end of school).

As usual, I was rushing around to get us on the road by the time I had "planned." (I am a planner!) I have to admit, I had a lead foot and a hurried disposition. About 30 minutes down the road, flashing blue lights greeted me in my rear view mirror.

To begin with I was just sure he needed to get past me for an accident or something so I moved into another lane to let him by me. He didn't leave my rear view mirror. As a matter of fact, he was even closer than before.

I pulled over and he came to my side of the car and very politely told me that he had clocked me doing 74 in a 55! He was very nice and I apologized for speeding. He reminded me it was a major holiday weekend and he just wanted me to keep my family safe on the road. What a wake up!!!

As I pulled away from my wake up call to slow my behind down, Little Buddy said, "Mama, we need to work on reading those signs."

I guess we are definitely learning lessons on the road.

Adventures with Nature

Wednesday we had a wonderful adventure with nature! We enjoyed a parrot encounter, a butterfly house, a southern victory garden, and a LEED certified cottage. We had a ball!

I have included a few pictures of our adventure below.

The gorgeous parrot is 15 years old and, according to her caretaker, can live to be 50 years old. She can bark like a dog, cry like a baby, say "good morning," and she is fascinated with people chewing gum. We really enjoyed being able to spend some individual time with the caretaker and the parrot to learn about the bird's needs, eatting habits, life, and favorite things to do.

We were able to thoroughly enjoy ourselves all day without feeling rushed and shushed as my little darling calls it! Isn't that cute? He paid really close attention to a couple of school groups that came through the butterfly house while we were there. They stood in line, went to watch a video, quickly walked through the butterfly house, and then back on their school bus. I know that they had fun, but finally my little darling told me that he sure was glad that he was on "our kind of field trip." It absolutely made my day! Another sign that homeschooling is for us!

What are some of your favorite field trips?

For the Love of Kindle!

I have to admit it. I love my Kindle (Kindle 2 to be precise). I have not overloaded it with tons of books, but I do have a good many. I even have the Bible on it. It makes it super simple to have it with me all the time and light as a feather. (Fits nicely down in my purse.)

My sweet son loves technology (Nintendo, Wii, Computers, etc.) and just as I thought, he latched onto my Kindle, too. To begin with, I thought of being selfish and keeping it all to myself. Then, I downloaded a Flat Stanley book and he was enthralled. Of course, he LOVES Flat Stanley anyway, but something about his favorite character meeting technology that kept him captured. Not only did he just read one chapter that afternoon, he finished most of the book.

I also noticed that his eyes were not quiet as tired as we had increased the font size to a comfortable size for his 7 year old eyes. (I rather enjoy that feature myself and my eyes are a lot older than 7!)

Now, I sure am glad that I shared my toys. And for the love of Kindle, where have you been all my life?

Welcome!

Welcome to Our Homeschool Home!

We are new to homeschooling as this next school year will be our first. We have researched, researched, and prayed and prayed to reach this point. I know that we are following God's plan for our family and He will guide our steps through our journey.

Our curriculum is selected, ordered, and received. Our school room is in the process of getting set up. Our declaration of intent has been filed and received. Our hearts are filled with excitement.
Any suggestions, please offer.

Links and Links

Visit the link below for a complete listing of my favorite links. I keep so many places bookmarked that I am using ikeepbookmarks.com to store them all and share! Thanks Trivium Academy for pointing me in the right direction!

http://www.ikeepbookmarks.com/homeschoolhome

Our Curriculum

Year 2 {Grade 3}

Officially our school year begins in September, but we are near completion of our work from year 1 {second grade year}. We are year-round schoolers, with a lighter load for the summer. Yes, I have two different maths, histories, and spelling. I explain why in this post.

Educational Sites We Love
www.starfall.com
www.exploratorium.edu
www.enchantedlearning.com
www.brainpop.com
www.pbs.org

What are some of your favorite educational sites?


Year 1 {Grade 2}

 

This is our first pass at our curriculum for this coming school year. Of course, I will tweak as we get going to make sure times allotted are the most appropriate to meet our goals while making school the most enjoyable it can be for both of us.