Heart of the Matter Online - Just What I Need

As a homeschooler, I love to find fun ways to teach material and reinforce our lessons. There are days where this is more of a struggle than others.

There is a resource many homeschoolers utilize on a daily basis to find great ideas for their own homeschooling - Heart of the Matter Online. The crew at HOTM keep things interesting, fresh, fun, and focused.

I don't know about you, but that is exactly what I need when I am searching for homeschool ideas.

HOTM not only provides me with fun learning ideas and activities, the supportive articles keep me grounded in our family's decision to homeschool and pointed in the right direction.

If you haven't already, be sure to visit HOTM for a ton of great information for your homeschool and for YOU!

What are some of your favorite blogs or websites that provide great homeschool information and support?

A Ticket to Geography and Math

This past Christmas, Little Buddy received the game Ticket to Ride by Days of Wonder. I had heard of this game, but had definitely not seen it in my local Target store. His game was purchased through Amazon, you know, the store with everything that you can get your purchases lickety split. Especially if you are a Prime member - you are already a Prime member aren't you? (It saves me a ton in shipping for all of my office supplies and homeschool supplies, I love it!)

I digress...

Since Little Buddy has always been fond of trains and we love to travel, the game seemed a perfect game for him. The age suggestion is 8 and up. Yippee. Perfect age.

We played the game for family game night and had so much fun! We all did. Sometimes I get a bit worn out with the same ole childish board games, but this game was fun. A challenge I enjoy. Little Buddy quickly began applying his geography skills and math was reinforced throughout the scoring process. There is an interactive website so you can check it out for yourself. Let me know what you think - or what your children think.

As a homeschooling Mama, I love it when a fun game gives a little more.

Any games you can recommend for us? We are a board game lurving bunch. Please, please share.

January: Eye Care Month

January has quiet a few important things associated with it - New Year's resolutions begin, my birthday, Martin Luther King, Jr's birthday, my sister-in-law's birthday, my nephew's birthday, and my birthday. (Oh, did I mention my birthday?) While these are certainly important, another important part of January is it's designation as Eye Care Month.

Proper eye care is especially near and dear to my heart because of Little Buddy's vision disorder. I've written about it previously and you are most welcome to read about it here. I whole heartedly recommend you schedule an eye care appointment for your children as soon as possible. I also recommend when you select your child's eye care professional, first research to determine if he or she has any experience working with pediatric eye disorders. Had our eye care team not had this training, Little Buddy's ability to read and therefore his life would be dramatically different.

As for incorporating Eye Care Month into our homeschool learning. We most certainly are doing that as well. We are paying a visit to our special eye care team and taking them cookies, we are studying the parts of the eye, we are discussing how Little Buddy's eyes work a bit differently than mine, and we are learning how to properly care for our eyes. We are also using parts of the National Eye Institutes lesson plan for 4th through 8th graders. I am also using parts from Teachervision's lesson plans and printables.

Oh, and did I mention that my birthday is in January?

My Snuggie Found a Purpose

Moms know that infomercials and children are like peanut butter and jelly. What children hear in those infomercials sticks together in their minds. My Little Buddy is no different. Put an infomercial on television and he'll tell you all the reasons we really need a Sham-Wow (got em), Pancake Puffs (yep, that too), and Benderoos and Blendypens (couple of sets).

Last Christmas, in the height of the Snuggie craze, Little Buddy included these lovely accessories on his Christmas list. His list had one thoughtful twist - he wanted one for everyone in his family! Oh me. How lovely we all looked Christmas when we unwrapped these confections of the design world. I'm more of a Little Giraffe blanket sorta girl myself.

Well, this week as we suited up (lots of layers, my dear) to check on our farm animals. I knew we would need a blanket for our ride to the barns.

AH HA! Snuggies to the rescue! Boy, they are pretty warm. I hate to admit it.

Um, but, they aren't very attractive. Luckily, the animals were still happy to see us. Matching Snuggies and all!

Florida Cold Snap! Oh My!

My friend, Karin's, blog post says it all - really it does! Please read it here. You will absolutely roll laughing. But, oh my! She's so right!

We planned our trip to Disney in January for multiple reasons. I had a major conference for my business in Orlando, my birthday is in January, Santa brought our family annual passes, and it is usually above 50 degrees there and below 50 degrees here. And to be completely honest - we just love Disney.

A New Year's trip to get the year started right.

Um, but I didn't know Florida was scheduled to have a cold snap!

Guess what I had forgotten to pack: hats, gloves, heavy coats, scarves, ear muffs, thick socks. Guess what I DID pack: short sleeved shirts, light jackets, and flip flops. Within the first two hours, I was wishing for some Disney magic to make my cashmere sweaters and new Burberry muffler I had gotten for Christmas to appear in a poof. Believe me, I blinked hard hoping they would be there if I kept trying. Nope, nothing.

We, along with all of the other Disney'ers trying to escape the frigid air from wherever they traveled from, flocked to the stores of Main Street and scooped up all the lovely hats, scarves and gloves we could find. By SpectroMagic time, Main Street USA looked more like a ski resort main street.

By the end of SpectroMagic, we were wishing the stores also sold some thermal underwear.

Disney Announces Homeschool Days

Disney says January is Disney Homeschool Month!

Disney has announced January 24th through 26th as Disney Homeschool Days for 2010. Space is limited for the program "Engineering the Magic" to be held on the 24th and 25th and I recommend signing up as soon as possible to attend.

It appears there are limited programs for 2nd grade and younger, so I would hop to it for registering if your children are 2nd grade or below. Disney has done a great job in making sure all school-age groups are covered each day and that subjects are varied and interesting. I would have expected no less of Disney!

For complete information, straight from Disney, read here.

Not sure we'll be able to be there since we JUST got back. But, I'm sure going to try!

The Castle

Disney knows magic!  From the minute I knew my conference was in Orlando, spending time in Disney was just a given. The big kid in me absolutely loves Disney. My family comes throughout the year, whenever and as often as possible. Each trip I say, "this is my favorite time to come."  And, "I think the world at Epcot may be my new favorite."

Truth is, the castle is my favorite part of Disney.  Especially during Christmas when it twinkles and sparkles with life. It is the true symbol of magic, romance, and dreams.

As we begin 2010, I am glad my family is able to start it off with a trip to Disney. I am definitely glad we got to start it with the castle in all of its magical beauty!

I wish you a magical 2010!