Homeschooling Archives - Page 2 of 9

Tag Archives | Homeschooling

Spring Breaking & Math Freebies

By Dawn on April 16, 2012 Comments { 1 }

Brothers NOTE: If you’re visiting from the Ultimate Blog Party, click here–> Main PARTY post is right HERE!

Now that all the school kids are back to school around here, the weather is warming up. It does this every year! The first week of April is always spring break for the area kids, and it almost always RAINS. My kids grumble about it just like the rest of them, but not for long. Unlike the other kids in our neighborhood, my boys were able to take advantage of the SECOND week of April as well and now the THIRD and FOURTH weeks. But shhh! Don’t tell my kids! They think we’re starting school in the morning!

We school year round, around here. I actually contemplated following a regular school year schedule this year, but spring is still breaking…. and we’re enjoying it! We’ll just stick to our established routine: 3 months of school, 1 month break– year round. This gives us all of December, April, and August off. December is cleaning, cooking, shopping and baking. April is spring cleaning and garden planting. And August in the Inland Northwest? August is usually too hot to THINK. 90′s, usually about a week of 100* weather… not exactly conducive to good studies!

Since we spent the first two weeks of April just enjoying the break, the next two weeks will be filled with activity! You see, we are in the process of preparing to sell our house. It’s not on the market yet, but we need to get it ready. We have a few big things to tackle, such as replacing carpets and updating the master bath tile.

Yes, that is teal carpet. And teal/hunter green tile with PINK grout. The vanity counter is pink too. Hello 90′s house! The only other major repair, the total tear-out and re-pouring of our driveway, was completed back in September.

The minor repairs are things like putting a smoke alarm back up, re-attaching corner pieces to baseboard trim, touch up paint, having carpets steam cleaned, etc. I’m not sure how much of this we’ll get done in the next two weeks, but we need to get started! We figure it this way: Whether or not we end up selling the house, all of this stuff needs to be done. But I hope we sell it!! We’re looking at property and house plans, and THAT is exciting, my friends.

Leave me a comment and tell me about your big spring project!

So, are you ready for your Ultimate Blog Party download?! Today I’m featuring a fantastic MATH resource called White’s Arithmetic!

Click each title to view and download: (downloads expired)

Book 1: First Book of Arithmetic

Book 2: A New Complete Arithmetic

Key to Book 2

Quick Hint for using White’s Arithmetic: Print these out full-sized on regular printer paper, so that your students can do the work right on the pages.

If you missed the other downloads, here’s Friday, Saturday, and Sunday’s!

categories: Home & Family

Tags: Homeschooling, spring cleaning, UBP12

Comments { 1 } :

Hotel Options for Your Disney Vacation

By Dawn on December 5, 2011 Comments { 0 }

Credit: Naomi@TheMagicForLess.com

When traveling to Walt Disney World or Disneyland, which is the better value? Staying in an “ onsite” hotel or an “ offsite” hotel?

Walt Disney World - When I travel (almost from coast-to-coast) to Walt Disney World, I want to make sure that I am getting the most value for the money that I am spending, considering just the airfare is a huge chunk of the trip cost. When I look at offsite hotels, most of them have resort fees, scheduled transportation to the parks, and only three of them have access to Extra Magic Hours (extra time in the parks for resort guests).

What added value do Walt Disney World resorts have?

The first thing is that all of the Disney-owned resorts have access to the Extra Magic Hours. These extra hours in the park can make a huge difference in the amount of attractions and magic that my family can experience. Guests of the Disney resorts who are flying into Orlando International Airport can utilize Disney’s Magical Express service. There is nothing more magical than being able to skip baggage claim in Orlando, riding a bus directly to the resort, and seeing my luggage magically show up in my room later. On my departure day, I get to check my luggage at my Disney resort, hop on the bus, and ride back to the airport. This service is FREE to all Disney-owned resort properties. Another huge reason that I prefer onsite hotels at Walt Disney World is the ability to add on one of Disney’s various dining plans. These dining plans can save money, depending on the meal choices that you make. When I add the continuous transportation around the Walt Disney World property, the onsite resorts really have the extra value that I am looking for.

Disneyland - Unfortunately, Disneyland is not as easy to choose. I will say that I always prefer to stay onsite, but there are so many Disneyland-approved Good Neighbor hotels that are within walking distance of the parks. While Walt Disney World is very spread out and usually requires a bus or monorail to get from the resort to a park, Disneyland is much smaller and within walking distance of many hotels, both onsite and offsite. For the Good Neighbor hotels that are outside of walking distance, there is the Anaheim Resort Transit system (ART). My family recently experienced the ART, and it was pretty good. It is not free, but it is reasonable and convenient. However, I will say that I do prefer to be in walking distance for convenience sake, and there are many options at Disneyland in a wide variety of price points.

Why would you want to book your trip with an Authorized Disney Vacation Planner?

So, why would you want to book your trip with me? Because I want your trip to be the most magical it can be. I want you to have the best cost that I can find, and I want to help you find the perfect place for your family to stay. Not all families are the same, so I want to help tailor your trip to meet your needs. Would you like to start planning your trip for next year and have it ready to surprise your kids on Christmas morning? I would love to help you do that! There is nothing like seeing your children’s eyes light up when surprised by a Disney trip!

Email me at naomi@themagicforless.com to book your trip. Already booked directly with Disney, email me to find out how to transfer your booking.

———————

I am so thankful to Naomi at The Magic For Less Travel for sponsoring my ticket to The Relevant Conference. She is a homeschool mom as well as a blogger, and is looking forward to helping you with your vacation plans. Naomi will help make arrangements for any special needs that your family may have so you can make the most of your family vacation. Please contact Naomi to book YOUR magical vacation!

categories: Home & Family

Tags: Disney vacations, Disney World, Disneyland, Homeschooling, vacations

Comments { 0 } :

The Special Needs Life

By Dawn on October 10, 2011 Comments { 11 }

I’m so glad you came to see my new home on the web! If you’ve read me for very long, you know that my sons have some challenges. We daily live with and teach two boys whose brains were drug-affected when they were in their biological mothers’ wombs. Both are affected differently, with varying severity that appears in different and sometimes surprising places and ways. For us, it is life. For them, it is normal. Normal for us is not going to be the same normal that you live with. Normal for someone else will be completely different also.

It’s funny how I can lose sight of things when I create An Agenda. You know what I mean. I can’t be the only one who tends to live by the almighty Lesson Planner! Right? Tell me I’m not alone here. It just looks so good to see all those lessons written out so neatly in the little white squares in my planner. It looks so… accomplished. So tidy. So productive!

So what’s the problem?

My planner for Tuesday may say “Handwriting p. 21 #2; Math Lesson 36; Spelling List Day 38 full assignment parts 1-5 on SpellingCity; Read aloud 30 min.; History- Read Ch. 7 and do Explorers lapbook parts 3 and 4; Health p. 17-20; Grammar p. 139 Common and Proper Nouns” but what gets done looks more like “Math Lesson 36; Spelling List Day 38 assignment pts. 1-2; Grammar p. 139.”

This is life. This is life with a child who struggles to stay focused and takes over an hour to do a ten minute copywork assignment in his handwriting book. This is life with two boys who take off like rockets at lunch time, and reeling them back in for more school work afterward takes the patience of a saint. And I’m no saint.

What happens to those neat little white boxes full of so much productivity? Well let me tell you: Nothing. I quit writing lesson plans down ahead of time. These days I’m all about loose planning, going with the flow, and documenting everything after the fact. It’s the only way I can come out not feeling like we are failing, because with special needs you just can’t always plan for everything.

We go day by day, and week by week. We do get that history project done sometime during the week, just maybe not on Tuesday. The math and spelling do almost always get done, because they are both on the computer and the boys love using the computer for school work. And the other things? Experiences sometimes trump lessons anyway.

Two weeks ago the boys were in the thick of things when for three days, we had a concrete crew here that tore out our driveway and poured new concrete. They watched, they helped, and they asked questions. Sometimes you just have to go with the flow. That week, not a lot of actual “school work” got done, but don’t try to tell me they didn’t learn. I documented hours’ worth of social studies, PE, life science and occupational education over the course of those three days.

——————————————-

Homeschoolers love their planners, and I am no different. My personal choice for planners is actually a digital journal. I have used the Homeschool Daybook for a long time now, and I love it. It is lesson relaxed schoolwork documentation. It is simple and easily customized, and guess what? ~~Today’s giveaway is a premium license for the Homeschool Daybook!~~ Giveaway is closed. (Click the screenshots for close-ups!)

categories: Special Needs Kids

Tags: Homeschool Day Book, homeschool planning, Homeschooling, planning software

Comments { 11 } :

Homeschooling for Techies

By Dawn on October 9, 2011 Comments { 5 }

Credit: Gateway

Technology. It’s everywhere today. A glance around me reveals my laptop, cell phone, and iPod Touch. There is an iPad on the couch, a movie playing through the XBox streaming Netflix on the television, and the Kinect is resting in front of the TV. All within 8 feet of where I sit. It’s everywhere.

Homeschooling has changed so much over the 13 years since we first began. The Internet was just beginning to populate with homeschool information. State homeschool organizations were beginning to “get online” so people could find them, even though most people didn’t have Internet access yet. It was still new.

These days, computers and the Internet play a daily part in our lives, and particularly in our homeschooling. There are no shortage of software, apps, live online classes, and websites to use for education. No matter whether your kids are 2, 12 or 18 and graduating, technology easily integrates their learning and meets the unique needs of many students.

Some of our favorite interactive online resources are free, and some either offer more with a paid membership, or are membership only. These include:

Timez Attack and Division Attack (free)

Time 4 Learning (paid- My boys LOVED the summer we used it!)

ALEKS Math (paid- Great for high school to prep for Community College!)

Vocabulary Spelling City (free w/paid option)

Dance Mat Typing (free)

Lesson Pathways (free)

YouTube (free- Just search any topic and you’ll come up with it! Especially great for “How To” videos.)

I’m sure there is so much more. The Internet is seemingly boundless! People connect, and classes can form just through relationships and the right chat software. The world has become much smaller in that respect! I can’t even begin to tell you all of the sites that have downloadable curriculum materials, because there are hundreds more of those than there are the online-lesson type. The one that I use all the time is CurrClick! They also have online classes, although we haven’t tried any yet. So what are you waiting for? If your kids aren’t staying on task but love the computer, maybe you could change it up a little and try one of these techie based resources!

——————————-