What Do You Want to Be?

I got a nice surprise this morning when I found another review I wrote for Curriculum Choice has published.  Have you wanted to know more about the Wanna Be e-books we’ve been using as we study careers like firefighters and police?  Go read my review to find out what I think of the whole series!  Here is a little to get you started:

“What do you want to be when you grow up?” is a question most children love to answer. Those answers change many times through the years.  When I came across a sale for the Wanna Be series from The Old Schoolhouse, which are unit studies about different careers, I grabbed my debit card and ordered.  We love unit studies and I had nothing for careers in yet. . .

Click Here to read the rest, and be sure to leave a comment telling me which career you would want to learn about with your children in the comments.

Other reviews I’ve written for Curriculum Choice include a toddler-friendly microscope, the Magic School Bus books, and our Star-Spangled States curriculum.

Finishing Up the School Year

I suppose the end of February is an odd time of year to hear that we are finishing up our school year.  We homeschool year round, and so really our year never ends, it just keeps going.  We take breaks whenever we need them or want them.  However, I have been keeping track of days and we’ll officially pass 180 days of school work next month, in March.  Really what I’m excited about is finishing up the work needed for our 3rd Grade Portfolio.

Here is what we need to finish up for that portfolio:

• Health – we’re doing a quick review of body systems.
• Zoology 3 lapbook – going back to the first chapters we did and using the lapbook we now have.
• Grammar – 3 worksheets left
• Spelling – 3 tests left, we’re doing some cumulative reviews.
• Writing – Makayla needs to finish editing her novel from National Novel Writing Month.

We have a lot more we are working on, of course.  Makayla is making her United States Atlas and everyone is enjoying Artistic Pursuits.  We have lots of review items we are using, also. 

Once we officially finish our portfolio we will change the way we do things.  Besides keeping math going, we will focus on review items for a while.  It will be fun to see what we can dive into.

Our history study will pick up in a new way – read alouds.  We are reading our way through American History beginning in the mid-1800’s.  I have to decide if we are starting with pioneers or the Civil War.  My original thought was a wars theme, covering Civil War, Spanish American War, World War I, and World War II.  We will see.

I love this time of year, winding down old studies to make way for the new!

Happy 1st Birthday Oliver!

Today my sweet Oliver is 1 year old.  I have followed him around today trying to capture a few of his moods. As you can see in these photos Oliver is walking now. He was mad at me, I wasn’t working fast enough. Once I finished getting his spaghetti ready he was in a much better mood though. His big brothers and sisters baked cupcakes for his birthday.  He got one with sprinkles. And icing. He enjoyed every bite.  Happy birthday Oliver, I love you!

Week In Review #37 – This and That

Our week has been a little bit of this and a little bit of that. It started with a trip to the fire station and the last of our firefighter unit study. Makayla wrote two pages about our field trip! If you read my blog regularly you will realize how exciting that is. She’s usually all for keeping writing short and sweet.

I posted HERE about the many review items we have in process right now. There are more on the way, but we tried to get some work in on these this week. Makayla tried the Balance Benders book and did not really understand what it was asking. She really did not like it, but we’ll keep trying for a while. Mommy had a hard time with the pages too, which at least made Makayla feel better.

Monday we did a fun but messy project out of the new Artistic Pursuits book. Daddy was home to join with us and learn about sculptures. Everyone but Oliver then carved a bar of soap with wooden modeling clay tools for scraping and carving. It was a lot of work, which brought about a discussion on how long sculpting in wood or stone would take. Here is our school of soap fish.

The Olde World Style Maps inspired Makayla to start a project. Just when I thought we were done with the 50 states, she decided to make her own atlas of the states. Yesterday she started with blank maps of Ohio and California and labeled capitals, major rivers/bodies of water, border states, and places of interest like the Mojave Desert and our hometown. Today she told me she wants to do the rest of the states in alphabetical order so she doesn’t accidentally skip one. When she finishes her atlas we will use our GBC ProClick to bind it into her own book.

We have worked on lots of sign language this week, today’s big focus is signs related to birthdays and age because Oliver is 1 year old today. The kids have great plans to bake cupcakes for Oliver today, so we will be doing some real life math. I think I will let them do it “all by themselves”. The recipe is simple and Makayla is old enough to handle the oven.

Joseph and Emma worked through writing their names, ages, and important information this week with real manuscript paper. Usually they write on dry erase boards or on blank paper, so I pulled this out as a surprise. They also have been working on fine motor skills with the lacing cards we picked up.

Makayla learned about rounding numbers to the nearest ten this week. The concept was not quite sticking, so after the lesson and a review day I made her the teacher the rest of the week. I got to be the student. It was fun to make silly mistakes for her to catch, and to encourage her to put into word the process for rounding a number. I think she’s just about ready to move on to the next lesson in Math U See Beta. She also played with the Math Galaxy games we downloaded to review. There are so many things to choose from, so she will be spending a lot more time on these in the coming weeks.

The scripture we are learning is coming along. We just keep it simple and repeat it every day. I realized this week we have dropped off on our review of the scriptures we’ve already learned, so I hope to get back in the swing of practicing those so they are not forgotten.

The other activity I thought I would mention this week is Makayla’s ballet class. She is pretty focused in this class and is learning her routine for the June recital with two other girls. I love the smaller class size because Makayla is able to really get help when she just is not getting a move. Last night the other girls were not in class and so Makayla got a lot of focused attention from her teacher and the assistant. It was so fun to watch. Makayla is learning so many new skills, working very hard at them. It is wonderful to see how she has grown in just two years of ballet.

Oh, and lest you think I forgot to mention Daniel, the 2 year old, he has been working on all sorts of fun skills. The two newest:

1. Scaling the front of the kitchen counters to get into the cabinets above them. Sigh. What do you do about boys who climb everything? Not that this is anything surprising, he started climbing bookcases taller than mommy by about 11 months. He had just taken a break from climbing and I foolishly thought he had outgrown the habit.
2. Going upstairs and stripping completely naked. Off goes the clothes. Off goes the cloth diaper. Every single time he does this his diaper is wet. He will happily go sit on the potty for a minute before getting dressed. For some reason the fact that it is February and we have a ton of snow means nothing to him.

Well, that is all probably more than you wanted to know about our week, so I’m off to read to the kids.

Happy Homeschooling!

This review is linked to the Weekly Wrap-Up.

Learning about the States

Do you remember that I write for Curriculum Choice twice a month?  I know, it is not a weekly thing, so it is easy to forget.  Today my newest post went up.  If you have wanted to know more about our 50 States/Geography study we’ve worked on for months go read the post.  Here is the beginning, to get you started:

While I am a unit study mom, I do not feel the need to turn every topic into an elaborate unit for my family.  This year I wanted to encourage my 8 year old to work independently of me for one subject.  The topic we chose?  Geography of the United States . . .

CLICK HERE to read the rest, and while you are over there leave me a comment to let me know you stopped by.

You can also read my posts on Curriculum Choice about Magic School Bus books or an inexpensive, toddler friendly microscope.

Easier than a Co-op: Book Club

There are often times when I think it would be nice to participate in a homeschool co-op once every few weeks. I seriously looked into it last August as a new co-op was beginning in my area, and I have looked at some in the past. What I’ve discovered has been disappointing.

There was nothing for most of my children to do but play in a nursery/preschool room for the entire half a day co-op, and at some co-ops most of my young children are not even welcome. Anyone under age 6 does not have actual classes to participate in. Why is that? Why are the classes rigidly age segregated? We love learning together as a group and 4 of my 5 children are under age 6!

We have another issue to consider for our family. Food. We live with a severe food allergy (to eggs), and any event with food has the potential for a hospital visit for us. Many times all the snacks offered at an activity are not safe for us.

The other problem I’ve found is that the co-ops never offer something we’re ready to study. Inevitably, if we are studying ancient history, the co-op offers American history. If we are doing life science the co-op has space science or physics for kids classes. Sigh. Nothing is perfect, but it always seems that we’re off schedule for classes being offered.

I have been praying about starting a co-op myself, with a group of moms I know through my church. I have investigated places we could hold said co-op. I have even looked at possible classes to offer. Nothing quite fit, as I really could not offer a large time investment to starting and running a weekly co-op.

Just this week God shifted my focus. What about a book club? A group where the babies and toddlers are just as welcome as the elementary ages. Reading aloud books is something we love to do as a family, and it is something that can include every age in the fun, including non-readers.

So I sent out an email to see if there was interest. The families I approached were not only willing, but ready to begin next week! Our plan is to read a book all month in our families. Then the first Wednesday of the next month we meet to discuss the book, maybe do a related activity, and then have snacks.

Yes, I said snacks! One of the perks to starting the book club is being able to set the rules, and one rule is that all snacks accommodate the food allergies of the children in the group. Believe it or not, our list of allergies for the group is:

• eggs
• soy
• citrus
• red dye #40
• strawberry jelly
• gluten (this one is not severe and can be eaten in limited quantities)

I am so excited! I will happily come up with snacks that avoid all those allergies. :)

Did I mention that between the 5 families that plan on participating we will have 23 children? Yes, really. Those range in age from infant to 12. There are more girls than boys, and I think we have a child in every age from infant to 12 (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, etc), with more than one child at some of those ages. It is going to be great!

For our first meeting the kids are bringing a favorite book to show and tell, we’ll make some bookmarks, and then while the kids snack the moms will choose the first 6 books we’ll be reading. I’m working on a list of possibilities.

Do you have any favorite read aloud books to recommend? Please leave a comment or send me an email – I would love to hear from you!

Fire Station Field Trip

I have to admit I forgot to use the camera again, just like on our police department field trip. Honestly, we were so busy having fun at the fire station that I did not think of it.

Yesterday we showed up at our local station - mom, dad, and all 5 children in tow. It was amazing all the things we got to see, touch, and learn. The kids climbed in the fire truck. They asked questions. They saw axes, hoses, large fans for blowing smoke away, and rescue equipment.

Our firefighter guide took us through the station, showing us that it really is like a big home with a kitchen, bedrooms, workout equipment, and even a living room to watch movies. He took them to the top of the fire pole to look down (gulp!).

He put on his gear one piece at a time. As he showed each part he let them touch it, hear it, and even try on some of it if they wanted. They talked about why each part was important. When he put on his air tank he showed them the mouthpiece and how noisy it was before using it, saying the magic words “I’ll sound a lot like Darth Vader.” Yes, my children are Star Wars fans, and that made perfect sense to them. The only one a bit unsure was Daniel, my 2 year old. He did not like the mask at first.

I learned some things too. I did not know that our fire department now goes on more medic calls than they do fire calls. They carry a walking pharmacy of medicines, heart monitors, and more. They even have people simply go to the fire department when they have a medical problem sometimes, like chest pains. (That seemed funny to me because the hospital is literally 40 seconds down the street.)

I learned that there is no state-mandated training for driving those big fire trucks! You can be hired one day and drive the next. Our fire department does provide training however, which was reassuring, but I’m pretty sure I would be a hazard if I tried to drive the fire truck.

Another neat feature of Fire Station 3 in our town is that they have an ambulance, fire truck, mass casualty truck(full of backboards from one end to the other), and HazMat truck. All fire fighters working there must be certified as an Emergency Medical Technician, Firefighter, and HazMat worker, each of which have certifications to do, classes to take, and lots of training to keep the certification current.

We got to climb in and explore the HazMat truck, including a blue HazMat suit a firefighter would wear over his gear at a major spill.

All in all the field trip was a lot of fun!

Homeschool Showcase #41 is Up

The Homeschool Showcase is always fun to read and this week I got my act together enough to submit an entry.  Go HERE to see the new showcase.  I’m off to explore the links myself!

Current Reviews in Process

I thought I would give you a sneek peek at the review items we are currently working with for The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. I have been amazingly blessed on this journey and look forward to continuing in the next year. Go HERE to find out how you can apply for the 2010 – 2011 TOS Crew, but hurry! Applications are due no later than march 12th. Clicking on the product names below will take you to more information about each item.

Rocket Phonics – This is our long-term review. We are using this program until it is finished. You can read my first review HERE. Currently we still love Rocket Phonics and the kids ask to do it every day. I am going to try moving into the next level soon, I think that Joseph and Emma are just about ready.

Family Mint – A fun online ‘bank’ that we’re using to help our children learn more about money, budgeting, saving up for goals, and spending.

Graphics Toolbox from Great Software Tools – I have been learning to use this computer software for a few weeks now. You can see some of my creations HERE, and my current blog header and decor I also created using Graphics Toolbox.

Olde World Style Maps from Homeschool in the Woods – I just received these maps, both the World maps and United States maps, this past week. I’m making plans to use them soon.

Math Galaxy software from Galaxy of Education – These just came in too. Mixing games with math usually goes over well at my house, so we will see what my kids think of these in the next month.

Balance Benders from Critical Thinking Co. – Another new arrival to our mailbox, one that hopefully my kids will enjoy more than I do. Logic is not my strong suit, and working some of these puzzles makes my head hurt…LOL.

Artistic Pursuits K-3 Book Three – We are all excited about this review item! We own Book One for the K-3 level already and like it. The girls and I made a shopping trip Saturday to pick up the art supplies we needed and we’ll get started this week.

Well, that is all the reviews we have in process at the moment. Lots of fun is sure to be had while we experiment with making each item fit for our family. Click HERE to see the other products we have reviewed for TOS Crew this year.

Happy Homeschooling!

Week in Review #36

{This post was also shared on The Homeschool Classroom.}

One of the best things about blogging regularly is the opportunity to look back at our homeschool year and see how we have grown.  I enjoy writing an end of the week post by subject for our homeschool.  Today I thought I would give you a peek into our most recent week.

Gospel – We begin our homeschool day with scripture time.  This week we read Old Testament Stories about King David, King Solomon, and Elijah, worked on memorizing a scripture, and practiced a song.

Math -My 4, 5, and 8 year old learned about inequalities this week.  We used Math U See Beta, watched the lesson together, and then got out chocolate chips.  We like using food in our math.  I find it really reduces the amount of tears we get per lesson! Each child was given a small amount of chocolate chips.  We then paired them up and used cards with the <, >, = symbols in between children to show who had more, less, or the same amount of chips.  Those chocolate chips were eaten, more passed out, and the game repeated.  It also was great practice in counting for the younger children!  Later in the week my oldest did a worksheet and then taught me the concept to show she really understood it using manipulatives.  She also played on Mathletics, a product we reviewed HERE.  The younger children counted manipulatives and played games.

Phonics - My preschoolers use Rocket Phonics daily (read my review HERE).  It is wonderful!  They like the games, and both of them enjoy reading to me.  We also have been reviewing the Beehive Reader 1 (read my review HERE) and I got this picture of Emma, my 4 year old, reading it for fun.  She was doing pretty well with it on her own.  She is one stubborn determined little girl.  I’ve found that if she wants my help she will ask for it, so I try not to offer too often.  She reminds me when I forget.

Firefighter Unit Study -Our main study this week and next is firefighters.  I’ve blogged our plans and book list HERE.  This week we learned about the history of firefighting from bucket brigades through the present day.  We learned the requirements to become a firefighter and a little about their equipment.  Next week we will be visiting our local fire station.  Makayla also has some pages to do related to this unit.  We printed them and use a 3 prong folder to hold her work.  These pages include a quiz, writing prompts, firefighter related math problems and graphs, etc.  The younger children colored a fire engine and helped play the board game we made in a file folder.

Sign Language - We learn sign language with our embarrassingly large Signing Time collection.  This week we focused on signs related to our unit study like: firefighter, help, hot, hurt, water, stop, truck, trees (a la forest fires).  This is a picture of Joseph signing ‘firefighter’.  I ask each child to sign something and they show everyone how to do it, or they quiz me and see if I make any mistakes for each sign.  We also have some basic signs we are helping the 1 and 2 year old learn.  You can read the story of why we chose sign language HERE.

Fun Field Trip -We visited the police station on Monday to wind up last week’s unit on police officers.  The kids had a lot of fun seeing the holding cells, munitions room (with a machine gun!), dispatch, weight room, and more.  They even got to climb in Officer Delancy’s police cruiser and explore.  It was a lot of fun.

50 States Exam -Makayla has worked for months with the first semester of the Star Spangled States curriculum.  This week she took the end of the year exam over the course of 4 days.  In the exam she labeled all 50 states on a blank map, matched some states to their capitals, and wrote the postal abbreviations for all 50 states.  The last task was to find mystery states.  She had a list of 3 to 4 states that all share a border with another state, and had to use the map she had labeled to find that mystery state.  She felt so accomplished when she finished the exam.  I think it really reminded her just how many states she has learned about.  The only hard part?  Keeping her from telling me some of the stories she remembered from favorite states when she was supposed to be working on the exam.

Read Aloud - We try to have at least one chapter book going as a family all the time.  Our current book is Call of the Wild by Jack London.  I’ll be honest, I remembered having this as a child and my copy must have been a children’s version.  The original is a bit brutal, so I’m editing a tiny bit on the fly, but we are all enjoying it.

Random Fun - We played with lacing cards, worked puzzles, made art masterpieces, wrote letters on dry erase boards (preschoolers), and read more books!

That about wraps it up for my family, so why don’t you tell me some of the fun that happened in your homeschool this week?

You can also see how other homeschool families’ weeks went at the Weekly Wrap-Up.

Go Read my Week in Review At . . .

. . . The Homeschool Classroom!  Today I was able to guest post for the very first time on The Homeschool Classroom.  You can read about our week by clicking on the button above or by clicking HERE.  I would love hearing more about your week, so be sure to leave a comment over there about something you did.  Thanks!

God’s Math vs. The World’s Math

I cannot count the number of times someone has heard we have 5 young children and they make comments about how hard it must be. The ones that especially stand out are from parents of one or two children, who say they can barely keep up with the children they have. I know a lot of those comments come from a simple misconception because I said the same thing when I only had one and then two children. They do the world’s math:

1 child + 1 child = lots of work

therefore,

1 child + 1 child + 1 child + 1 child + 1 child = IMPOSSIBLE

It is an easy mistake to make, one that follows the world’s ‘logic’. What really happens, however, is an equation more like this one:

1 child + 1 child + 1 child + 1 child + 1 child = More Hands, More Fun, and Less Work

God says children are blessings, and I believe Him! I call the equation above God’s math. Let me explain. As a mother of one child I was constantly sought after to be mommy, playmate, friend, shoulder to cry on, grand snuggler, cleaning lady, and story reader. The arrival of child number two increased the workload. When children number 3, 4, and 5 arrived something wonderful happened. I was no longer the only person available to fill the playmate, friend, shoulder to cry on, grand snuggler, cleaning lady, and story reader roles. There were all these siblings available to choose from.

Many days now I am the one going to my children asking to join in as playmate, friend, shoulder to cry on, grand snuggler, and story reader. They are busily living and playing together.

What about the workload?

• Yes, it is true, I cook more meals - 147 a week, plus around 70 snacks.
• I wash more diapers and laundry – currently two loads every day. 1 of clothing, 1 of diapers, with two children in diapers full time (down from 3!). Oh, and we occasionally wash the bedding for 6 beds too.
• I bake more bread – we eat a loaf from my extra-long bread pans in one meal or snack.
• I clean up more spills – there are a lot more with 5 children.
• I wash more dishes – besides running the dishwasher 1-2 times a day I still have dishes that get washed by hand daily too.

However, God’s math holds true in the workload area as well. There are many more hands ready to help with that work. As proof, let me share what happened this morning:

I was enjoying a moment of quiet unloading the dishwasher by myself, when Daniel, my 2 year old, came in. He started stacking the cups all by himself. When they were all stacked he pushed in the rack, shut the door, and we were done. Even a 2 year old can help.

Sure, my house can look like a tornado hit about 10 minutes after the kids get up in the morning. It often does. The entire mess can be picked up in another 10 minutes though – by the little blessings who made the mess in the first place.

My life has been blessed beyond measure by my children. I wish every parent of 1 or 2 children could learn what I have learned, that the world’s math is wrong. Having more children does not make the workload impossible. More children = More Hands, More Fun, and Less Work.

We love Packages!

Yesterday we got a package delivered from Educator’s Outlet.  I made the order a few days ago from their 80% off section.  Buying things from a new company is always iffy, will it be quality products or just junk?  What I bought seems to be very nice so I just may go make a second order!  I spent less than $20.00 before shipping on this order.  Want to see what I got? A list of what is there:

1. The two yellow boards with tiles are mosaic boards. I got 2.
2. Blue, yellow, and red lacing dinosaurs – these are nice plastic and much bigger then I was expecting.  I got 2 sets, only 1 is pictured.
3. Attribute buttons – Red, yellow, and blue buttons that are large.  You can work on patterns with these, and they come with laces to string them too.  I got 2 bags, only 1 is pictured.
4. Lacing cards – just above the dinosaurs is the package of lacing cards.  These are nice heavy cards (not cardboard, more a plastic/laminate), probably 20 in the package.  Each picture is bright and cute.  I got 2 sets, 1 is not pictured.
5. Messy mats - Underneath the lacing cards you can just see these large mats that will help save my table from projects, paints, glue, and more.  I got 2 sets.
6. Young Engineers Working Generator Lab – a fun project for really cheap!
7. Young Engineers Working Crystal Radio Lab – if this really works my kids will be very surprised I think.  Radio is a fuzzy concept, will be fun.
8. Animal Kingdom – a board game with lots of problem solving skills. 
9. Dr. Green – our own mini-greenhouse.  We’ll do some experiments with it this spring and transplant them to the garden.
10. Round-Up – another board game.  This one has you gather the sheep, but watch out for the wolves!
11. MemoSpell – a spelling game that I have ideas to tweak for my beginning readers as well as my speller.  I got 2 for extra cards.

I am very excited to have more hands-on things for the little ones.  Even Oliver can play with the lacing dinosaurs and cards without the laces.  They will survive his drooling and chewing just fine.  This is a picture of all the kids playing with the new things yesterday.  They had so much fun!  Now to find somewhere to put all of this… ummm….. I think I need another shelf. 

Beehive Reader 1 Review

If you have read my review of All About Spelling you will know we love Marie Rippel’s work.  It will be no surprise, then, that when another package came from All About Spelling my children were excited.   We received Beehive Reader 1 ($19.95), a beautifully crafted hardback book with 10 stories in 156 pages. The Beehive Reader 1 correlates directly with All About Spelling Level 1, starting on step 15.  I decided to try using it with my 4 and 5 year old beginning readers.  They have not used All About Spelling yet.  They know their sounds, plus some phonograms like /th/. 

The results?  They were able to read stories with minimal help from me.  We had not covered “the/she/he/we” with a long e sound.  We have tried reading other beginning readers before and most end with a frustrated child who does not know all the sight words thrown in.  I am happy to say there are very few sight words in the entire Beehive Reader 1!  (Technically, the words I listed are not sight words anyway, but my 4 and 5 year olds have not learned why they would be a long vowel - yet.)   The stories themselves were fun and interesting.  Even my 8 year old (who reads 400 page books easily) enjoyed reading the Beehive Reader 1.  She even read it to her siblings a few times when asked.  The illustrations, by the way, are the breathtaking ink drawings in this post.  I love that they do not give away the story, a child really does need to read the words to see what happens next.  The words on each page are lightly underlined to help early readers with tracking their spot on each page.  You can see samples from 6 stories HERE. I also received news from Marie Rippel that before the end of 2010 there will be 4 more Beehive Readers released.  Guess what that means?  There is also a new program being released: All About Reading!  The Beehive Readers, while correlated to All About Spelling, will be an integral part of the new All About Reading program.  A teacher’s manual will also be released in 2010. 

I love when curricula my family already uses can be combined with another seamlessly, saving me time and making all our efforts work together.  Yes, I’m looking forward to seeing All About Reading when it is available.  For now, we will just enjoy using Beehive Reader 1. 

Read my Crewmates’ thoughts about the Beehive Reader HERE.

{Disclaimer:  I received a copy of Beehive Reader 1 for free to enable this review.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

Ice and Snow at Night

My dear husband took a few pictures tonight of the snow right in front of our house: Yes, this is central Ohio.  We’re not way up north where you are supposed to get 3 snowstorms in two weeks.  We’re used to nice breaks in between ours that let most of the snow and ice melt.  This next picture is from the back yard, looking at our back door.  See how long those icicles are?  We have watched them grow longer and longer over the last week. Beautiful, but I wouldn’t want to be standing under them when they fall.  We have icicles like this hanging from all levels of the roof.  The kids especially like seeing the ones just outside their bedroom windows upstairs.

I.want.spring.now.

Pretty please?

WFMW: Points Calculator

I have to totally thank my mother for this.  I use old Weight Watchers materials to maintain my weight (and when I’m really in gear to lose that baby weight that comes with 5 children).  It is the Points system, where each food is assigned points based on fiber, calories, and fat.  I have a points ranges I need to stay in each day, but I can eat anything I want to fill those points.  Even chocolate, pizza, or cinnamon rolls.  Mmmm.

The only drawback is writing it all down on bits of paper and trying not to lose the pencil (it walks away with kids at my house).  If paper and pencil are not right there when I’m making food I do not write the points down, and then I’m setting myself up for failure. 

Last week my mom offered to order me a Points Calculator with Daily Tracker.  I was feeling especially lazy and said “No thank you.”  I did not want to be held quite so accountable for my eating.  She bought it anyway.  (Thank you Mom, you were right, as always!). This little gadget is so easy.  It looks like a little calculator with some special buttons (and very easy to follow instructions).  I put in my points for the day each morning with the New Day button.  Then any time I eat I put in the point for my food.  It will even calculate points for a food if I have the fiber, calories, and fat information from the package.  The Points Calculator does the math for me and tells me how many points I have left for the day.  That Works for Me!  You can find a Points Calculator at your local Weight Watchers group, or on Amazon.com HERE.

Check out my other Works for Me Wednesday posts HERE.  You’ll find undercover agent vegetables, free scripture resources for children, and our If/Then Chart for discipline.

Works For Me Wednesday is hosted by We Are THAT Family.

Sense and Sensibility – Bethany House Book Review

I was excited to receive a free copy of the Sense and Sensibility Insight Edition by Jane Austen($11 .99) from Bethany House!  I love reading Jane Austen’s works and wanted to see what benefits the Insight Edition could bring to the experience.  What I found is Jane Austen’s text is completely there but has been enhanced with notes, facts, and thoughts in the margins.  These annotations fall in 7 categories, denoted by icons, as follows(taken directly from page 8):

1. Historical and cultural details and definitions from England in the early 1800s. Icon – a crown.
2. Facts and tidbits from Austen’s life that parallel or illuminate the novel.  Icon – a quill pen.
3. References to S&S in today’s culture, particularly in film. Icon – a movie camera.
4. Unscientific ranking of the novel’s most frustrating characters.  Icon – a frowning face.
5. Themes of faith drawn from the novel or Austen’s life. Icon – a cross.
6. Comments and asides on the book’s characters and plot.  Icon – an open book.
7. The parts of the novel that just make us smile.  Icon – a smiley face.

It really was a pleasure reading this book!  I enjoyed having definitions, facts, and more right along side  the pertinent parts of the book.  This edition even has 12 questions for conversation at the end that could be used in a book club, if you are a part of one.

{Disclaimer: I received one copy of this book for free to read and review from Bethany House.  I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

I Have a New Project

I have a new project and I am so excited I just have to tell you a little bit about it.  I am working with some other great homeschooling moms on a new blog for LDS homeschooling families.  It is called Latter-Day Homeschooling, and I will give you the official link when it opens to the public.  It is the brainchild of Dana at Noggins and Nonsense.  Here is a peek at the blog button:

I love the homeschooling community, but in my area there are not many homeschoolers. In my church the few homeschooling families are spread across an entire county.  There is no active LDS homeschooling support group or co-op, and when we began homeschooling there was even less available.  While I love the other Christian homeschoolers I have come to know in my town, finding ideas that emphasize the specifics of our faith has just been few and far between.  I have even found some of the Christian homeschool community in my town and online to be outright hostile to The Church of JESUS CHRIST of Latter-Day Saints, telling me I am not a Christian.  Frankly, that makes me sad, but I can only focus on what I can do.

The Latter-Day Homeschooling blog will offer a place to find ideas to incorporate faith in our homeschool with like-minded homeschoolers.  It will offer ideas to support families in their homeschool journey.  

So keep an eye out for my announcement when the Latter-Day Homeschooling blog officially opens, and feel free to leave a comment on this post if you have any topics you would love to see written about on this blog (Our Busy Homeschool) or on the new blog.

It is Snowing Again . . .

Which means that the local schools will be closing their doors again. In the last three weeks we have had 3 snowstorms here in Ohio. The public school families are having to find alternative care for their children or miss paid work, which no one can really afford to do in this economy.

I have read messages from people I know personally that they really want their kids to have school tomorrow because they are tired of having them home. It is sad. There is something wrong with that. It is a whole separate issue, and not what I’m really posting about today, though I may tackle that one another day.

What really is on my mind tonight is related to what the public schools are doing. The children are missing lessons because school is cancelled. Here they are missing quite a lot of days and will have to make up days by attending school extra. Do you know when they made up those days last year?

Saturdays.

Seriously, there is something wrong here. Families who already lose the children for most of 5 days in 7 to school, bus rides, homework, and outside sports and activities (making them no-contact families, as in they have no contact with each other) will give up even more days in a week to ‘catch up’.

In our homeschool, and others just like ours, children do not miss lessons when the weather is bad. We’re already together. The learning also takes drastically less time each day to accomplish as much or more than is done in a 7 or 8 hour public school day. They play in the snow just like everyone else, or enjoy nice weather when those public school children are locked inside.

Children in my town attend school 5 days a week for 7 to 8 hours a day beginning in Kindergarten. What takes 35 – 40 hours a week, 1260 – 1440 hours a school year (180 days) to teach? And then they assign daily homework!?!?

A typical day’s work for my 3 oldest children (technically grades PreK-3rd) only takes 3 hours, maybe 4 if we really get into a read aloud book or project. Oh, and we take breaks during that time. I just don’t understand what the public schools are doing with children for 8 hours in a day. Do you?

{Stepping down off my soapbox…} So, is it snowing where you are too?

A Few More Plans 2/15 – 2/19

I wrote all about our firefighter unit study plans HERE.  That is a big part of our week, but we do have a few basics we will be doing as well.  I thought I would mention those here. 

Gospel – My sister and I had a discussion today about writing this down or not.  Honestly, our gospel study is such a part of our day that I do not need to write it down.  It is the first thing we do after breakfast.  However, I continue to write it just to give other moms ideas if they want them.  This week we are still working through our Old Testament Stories.  This month we’ve been singing He Sent His Son each day.  We have learned several scripture verses already and it is time to choose a new one.  This verse is going to go along with some habit training we are starting.  We’ll be working on the habit of attention first.  (I’ll post more this week to explain.)  This verse goes well with that habit: 

“. . . I have not commanded you to come up hither to trifle with the words which I shall speak, but that you should hearken unto me, and open your ears that ye may hear, and your hearts that ye may understand, and your minds that the mysteries of God may be unfolded to your view.”  Mosiah 2:9

Math – We actually do not have any math reviews going on right now, so Makayla is going to dive into Math U See Beta.  After all the math we’ve done lately I suspect she’s already mastered a good bit of this book.  One of the perks to homeschooling is we can take it at her pace, so we’ll just fly through until she’s ready to slow down.

Writing – This is actually covered in our unit study, but I thought I would mention that Makayla will write to at least one of the prompts from our main book.

50 States Exam – Maybe we will finally get to the exam.  Over the course of several days she will label a blank map of the United States, match states and capitals, write postal abbreviations for each state, and do some border puzzles.  The border puzzles are a list of states that all share a border with a mystery state.  Makayla has to figure out what that mystery state is by using the U.S. map she is labeling from memory. 

Phonics – the preschoolers are still working with Rocket Phonics.  Maybe we’ll try the next section to see if they are ready this week.

Outside of those we will take what learning opportunities come our way.  Right now we’re getting ready for our trip to the police station.

Firefighter Unit Study Plans

Ahhh, here we are at the beginning of another week.  This week we will be learning about firefighters with When I Grow Up, I Want to Be a Firefighter.  This E-book is 82 pages full of information, activities, and fun.  We will only use parts of it this week.  We are going to learn about the following:

• The history of firefighting.
• How to become a firefighter.
• What a firefighter does.
• About a firehouse dog.
• Firefighting equipment.

This E-book also covers robotics, building codes, and more.  There is a quiz, word search, crossword puzzle, coloring pages, copy work, math application problems, even games and party planning (for 3 themes related to firefighters).

While it has more that enough material for our week, I still picked up a few books at the library for our reading basket.  We try to read at least one ‘extra’ book a day.  Below are the ones I picked up.

A Day in the Life of a Firefighter by Linda Hayward – A level one reader with photographs and short text for my preschoolers to enjoy. 

Curious George and the Firefighters – George goes on a field trip to the fire department, mixes up the equipment, and goes along on a rescue call.  Funny in the typical Curious George style.

A Visit to the Sesame Street Firehouse by Dan Elliot – After seeing firefighters on the job, Big Bird and some of his friends make a visit to the fire station to learn about fire safety and the equipment firefighters use.  This one even covers smoke detectors, forest fires, and things like the mask a firefighter wears.

Barney & BJ Go to the Fire Station by Mark Bernthal – Barney and his friend learn about the equipment, uniform, and life at the fire station (including where the firefighters sleep!).

A Kid’s Guide to Staying Safe Around Fire by Maribeth Boelts –  Talks about fire in everyday life (matches, stove, grill outside) as well as nighttime fire safety and calling for help.

Machines at Work: Fire Trucks by Cynthia Roberts – A photo filled book teaches you about fire trucks inside and out.  Each two page spread has a basic question with the answer in text and photos.

I Want to Be a Firefighter by Stephanie Maze – This gem of a book is filled with information about many different fire fighting specialties, the history of firefighting, basic training, famous disasters, and even international firefighting.

DK Fire Truck (Machines at Work) by Caroline Bingham – This book covers fire fighting on land, on water, from the air, and more.  We’re fans of the DK style with photos and topics on two page spreads.  This one looks great!

Beyond that we’ll be making and playing a  board game to review the rules of fire safety.  It is from the membership section of ABC Teach.  We may also make firefighter paper bag puppets from there as well.  (There are a few free fire related printables on ABC Teach HERE if you do not have a membership.)

We will finish up the unit the following Monday with a trip to the local fire station.  At least, I hope that we’ll be finishing then.  Next week looks a little crazy.  We have our trip to the police station Monday, I have some online training for Graphics Toolbox Wednesday, I’m babysitting some nephews and a niece Thursday morning followed by going to my own dentist appointment Thursday at 12:30pm.  Morning is our prime homeschool time but this week we just have a lot of morning things going on.  We just may stretch this unit out to last two weeks.  Who knows?  It really depends on how interested my kids get.  If they want to read every book and do every possible activity I have available we will take the extra week. 

I’ll let you know how it goes!

Under the Microscope

Check out my newest post over on Curriculum Choice!  Here is a sneek peek:

There are so many expensive homeschool resources, but one of the best science investments we have ever made cost less than $15.00. . .

Click Here to read the rest of my article over  at Curriculum Choice.  You can also read my last post for CC about the Magic School Bus books HERE.  Enjoy!

The Jewelry Thief

The following is the creative writing Makayla did in her police unit this week, which she gave me permission to share:

Reerrrr---reee---rrrr. (siren)

“Make way! Police coming through.” Jane’s Jewelry Shop has been robbed. At the scene the window is smashed! Glass is on the sidewalk and on the shelf.

They called a detective to check for fingerprints. And then he asked the people around if they has seen the thief. They all said no except for one lady who said, “I saw someone by the window a while ago. I didn’t recognize them because it was too dark to see this morning. The figure was plump and short. I believe it was a man, but it was hard to tell. I know it had on a black mask and a black suit, with a light brown sack. It looked like he had some rectangular thing in his hand. It seemed heavy because he was leaning to one side carrying it. I left at once to go home. I had been out walking my dog Puffy and I did not want to go near the figure. It looked scary to me.”

The detective went and looked at the window. He peered inside and all the jewelry was robbed, except for the fake jewelry for kids. The detective saw a brick on the floor by the window. He looked back at the police and said, “I believe that the thief threw this brick at the window and smashed it. He took all the jewelry except the kids’ collection. I believe that he stepped in something messy because there are some foot tracks over here. Maybe if we follow these tracks before it gets busy we will be able to find him,” said the detective.

Two of the police officers went back to the station and got three police dogs. The dogs smelled the polish from the prints and charged ahead, sniffing their way to find the person. They turned the corner and went down the street. Then they saw an old apartment that was very old and no one lived there. The detective dogs were scratching at the door. The detective opened the door and there, sleeping on the couch, was a man. There was an open bag on the floor. When the dogs pawed at it a piece of jewelry fell out. It was a gold ring. The police knew that the man on the couch was the thief so they got out some handcuffs and handcuffed him before he woke up. The crime was solved. The police took the criminal to the police chief who put him in jail. Jane’s Jewelry Shop window was fixed and the jewelry was returned.

The End.

By Makayla – age 8

Week in Review # 35

We did it! We survived the snowed in week and got done the homeschool we had planned except for the 50 states map quiz. Here are the highlights:

Makayla finished up the fractions pages we wanted to do from Math Mammoth (read my review HERE). She also had some real life math applications in the police unit study including figuring how much a speeding ticket was at different speeds. I think we will go back to our Math U See next week unless some more math review items come our way. I am excited to see how fast she progresses through Beta now that she’s had other math curricula pushing her. She liked both the police and valentine’s day units, and enjoyed the layout for each. You can read her creative writing piece for the police unit HERE.

Joseph’s favorite part of homeschool this week was learning about the heart in our Valentine’s Day unit. Well, that and the candy hearts we ate. We got a cute reader from the library, The Magic School Bus Has a Heart. Even Daniel recognizes the Magic School Bus and some of the characters at age 2.

Emma liked learning about police, especially the dispatch side of things. She liked calling in with emergencies or being a thief and stealing things like an officer’s gun. Uhhh, maybe I should worry about that? She also enjoyed the story Officer Buckle and Gloria by Peggy Rathman.

All the kids were surprised to find one of the scripture verses in our Valentine’s Day unit was John 3:16, which we had been working on memorizing. As of last night everyone can recite it from memory but Daniel, who probably can with prompting – when he wants to at least.

We started reading a literature book for fun over the weekend. Call of the Wild by Jack London is one I remember having in a children’s classic as a child, and I remembered it was about a dog, but I probably should have read it again before starting it with the family. Sigh. The original is a bit brutal, so not for the faint of heart. I am editing a tiny bit as I read aloud, but it is bringing up some interesting discussions. The book is from the perspective of a dog who is stolen from his nice home in California and taken North for the Klondike Gold Rush. Buck, the dog, learns to survive by the rules of the wild. One discussion was about cruelty to animals by humans. It was interesting to hear my children’s opinions, and to share my own. I will try to remember to update what we think of the next few chapters in a week or so.

That’s all for this week. We’ll start next week with our trip to the police station on Monday, then we’re learning about Firefighters after that. Have a great week!

Don't forget to check out the Weekly Wrap-Up at Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Homeschool Blahs Beware!

For many homeschool families February is the month where nobody wants to do school.  Call it burnout, homeschool blahs, or just plain “I’m tired of winter”, but whatever you call it, it stinks.  I think there are lots of factors that contribute to homeschool blahs, and it does not always strike mid-winter or mid-school year.  Sometimes it strikes after a family change (new baby, toddler in a new phase, change in jobs, even the loss of a pet). 

Whatever the cause, I wanted to offer a few suggestions to fight it if you’re there, or avoid it all together if you’re not. 

Suggestion #1: Change things up.  If you have been doing the same things for a while it is time to change.  Ruts are nice to run in for a while, but sometimes you need to find a new rut.  Simple changes like doing math on a dry erase board instead of a paper, reading a book as a family just for fun (no lessons attached!), take writing assignments to the beds instead of at the table, video taping their narrations to watch as a family movie, or trying something hands-on if you are usually more hands-off, and vice versa.

Suggestion #2: Drop something.  Is there a subject you simply cannot face this month?  Drop it!  You do not need to teach every subject every day or week for the next 13 years.  At one particularly trying point in our homeschool journey math became a battle ground.  We took two entire months off.  It was the best thing we could have done.  When we came back to math lessons the child was matured a bit and lessons went easier.  Concepts they had struggled with before did not bring instant tears.  We started seeing progress.

Suggestion #3: Plan simple rewards.  It is amazing how motivated my children are to buckle down to work when they know we will play a game, bake some muffins, or watch a movie complete with popcorn once everyone is finished.  Find what motivates your child/children.  Maybe it is a simple as reading a great book aloud, one with cliff-hangers.  Stop at one of those cliff-hangers each day and promise the next installment will be read once everyone finishes school work. 

Those are a few of the ways I have learned to prevent or combat the homeschool blahs. What do you do?  I would love it if you share your tips in the comments or email me ( tdrowlee@yahoo.com )!

Today’s Update: This and That

What do you think of the new blog decor?  I am having way too much fun with Graphics-Toolbox!  I made this header yesterday and figured out how to find the hex code for each color to use here in Blogger for my text, links, etc. 

On the homeschool front we are enjoying our twin unit studies of Valentine’s Day and Becoming a Police Officer.  Today we will learn all about candy hearts:

• How candy hearts are made.
• The messages – they are themed each year and we’ll check out some past themes as well as make some of our own.
• We’ll graph the color distribution in a large bag of candy hearts – and then eat some!

In our Police unit we are going to do a review of what we have learned so far and do some creative writing related to the theme.  We’ve got a book about police horses we may get through today as well.

On the general home front we are inside for yet another day of snow.  Outside our windows we have over a foot of snow and ice.  We are starting to go a little stir crazy by the end of each day, so I need to come up with something fun to do for our evening tonight. 

Our Roses Have Arrived

The kids were thrilled to have real roses delivered to our door.  I was thrilled to have another reason to play around with a product I’m reviewing, Graphics-Toolbox.  I will not be posting the review for a few weeks yet, but I wanted you to get a peek. 

A Flower Surprise!

Shhh!  Don’t tell anyone yet, but my husband and I decided to arrange a little surprise for our children.  Among all our Valentine’s Day studies we are learning about roses and what the different colors can represent.  Yesterday we ordered a half dozen roses in 5 different colors to be delivered today to the children.  We’re in the middle of a snowy winter and while we could just look at pictures of roses online there is nothing quite like holding a rose, smelling it, or touching the velvet petals.  I will post photos after the roses arrive.

Math Mammoth Review

Math has been everywhere this year in our review products. I have yet another one to tell you about, and it may be just what you are looking for. Math Mammoth carries many products labeled by colors for the different series. We tried out two series: Blue and Light Blue. The Blue series are worktexts on individual topics. The Light Blue series are complete curricula that cover all topics for a specific grade level.

The Blue Introduction to Fractions book we received covers fractions for grades 2 - 4. This 76 page E-book costs $4.00, which is a very affordable option for our family. Introduction to Fractions has 51 lesson pages and the answer key. There are two follow-up Blue books taking a child through fractions for grades 4, 5, and 6. The Blue series is a great way to give a child focused practice in an area they need work in. Many topics are available, from basic addition and subtraction to measuring, decimals, and division. Makayla, my 8 year old, liked how this worktext had lots of pie circles to fill in or count to help her work fractions problems early on. She was able to see the ‘parts’ in a concrete way instead of just number symbols for every problem.

In the Light Blue Complete Curriculum series we received Math Mammoth Grade 2 ($29.70). Each grade level includes two parts of a worktext (A and B), as well as tests, cumulative reviews, answer keys, and a worksheet maker in the downloaded files. The each worktext can be purchased separately for $15.50, just part 2A or part 2B, if you want to start a child partway through a year’s curriculum. Placement tests and samples are available on the website.

A worktext is a combination textbook and workbook. The concepts are taught directly to the student, then the workbook problems are right with the teaching. This may work well for a student who is math-minded and learns mathematical concepts easily. My daughter, however, still needed me to teach her each concept. The Light Blue Grade 2 book covered a lot of topics compared to what we use regularly for math instruction. This was not something my daughter liked. She prefers to focus on a topic until it is mastered instead of having multiple topics going on together.

Makayla also became easily overwhelmed by the large amount of problems on a page. Being a perfectionist, she ended up in tears several times. She felt she needed to finish every single problem or the page did not look “finished”. There also is not room to work problems directly on the page, which put her off at first. She adjusted to using a dry erase board to work the problems, but then I had no record of her work, just her answers. She could have used paper, but then it seemed too much like work to her.

On the whole, we liked the Blue series best because it focused on one topic at a time. That is just how we like to learn math. There were still many problems on a page often, but I learned to look ahead and only hand Makayla one page if it had a lot of problems on it, or two or three pages if there were many visuals or concept explanations taking up parts of the pages.

Remember, Math Mammoth has other products if the setup of Blue series or Light Blue series are not what you are looking for. The Golden series are worksheets by grade, beginning with grade 3 (contains problems only, not a worktext). The Green series are worksheets by topic, beginning with grade 3 (contains problems only, not a worktext). Have an older student? Check out the Make It Real series for basic arithmetic through Calculus workbooks. There are also Package Deals for Math Mammoth that save you even more on an already affordable product.

Read reviews of more Math Mammoth products by my Crewmates HERE (I will update this link when it is available, for now it takes you to last year’s reviews of Math Mammoth products.).

{Disclaimer: I received these two downloads for free in order to review Math Mammoth products. I received no other compensation and all opinions presented herein are my own.}

New Website and a Sale – Grapevine Studies

Early in my voyage with the TOS Homeschool Crew I was able to review the New Testament Overview (Level 2) from Grapevine Studies.  (Read my review here.)  They have just opened a new website that is very easy to navigate, with all their products, free samples, and teacher resources.  I have also updated links in my review post to take you to the new site, so you can read that first if you want to learn all about how we used this in our homeschool. 

Grapevine Studies has great sales and for the February Sweetheart Special all books are 50% off.  I just may pick up the Old Testament books this month to go with our family’s scripture study. 

 

{Disclaimer:  By letting you know about the new website and sale I will get a discount on my next purchase from Grapevine Studies.}

Set Sail with TOS Homeschool Crew Next Year!

As you, my dear readers, are quite aware, I have been thoroughly enjoying my experience reviewing homeschooling products this year with The Old Schoolhouse Homeschool Crew. It has been a wonderful blessing! (You can read about the many products I have reviewed HERE.)

Some of you have asked me in emails how you can be a part of this review opportunity. I’m sure others of you have wondered what it would be like too. Here is your chance to find out!

The application process for the 2010-2011 TOS Homeschool Crew has officially begun. You can find information on how to apply HERE. The important thing to know is you must begin the process through that page by March 12, 2010.

Feel free to comment on this post or email me to ask any more questions you may have about how this experience has gone for our family, then be sure to get your application started HERE.

Valentine’s Day Unit Study

We’re trying to be ambitious next week and do two unit studies at the same time.  I’ve laid out the first one about being a police officer HERE.  This post will detail our Valentine’s Day unit study plans.  Our goal in this unit is simply to learn something new while having fun as a family.  To that end, our main plan is to use the Valentine’s Day Download N Go unit from  The Old Schoolhouse and Amanda Bennett.  We were so excited about this unit we began it Saturday with Daddy.

The Download N Go unit is divided into 5 days where we will learn the answers to 4 questions each day.  Some of the topics we will touch on include:

• The history of Valentine’s Day
• How Candy Hearts are made
• What God says about love.
• How our hearts work.
• Valentine cards through time.

This unit really lays things out well, with 5 very full days.  Internet links to photos, websites, and videos are woven in with the information and notebooking pages.  Lapbook pieces are even included if you want to use them.  There are booklists if you are interested in finding more to read related to the day’s questions.  We will spread the 5 days of work out over the next 8 days. 

I printed out most of the unit for Makayla to act as family recorder with the notebooking pages.  I printed extras of the parts easy enough for Joseph, Emma, and Daniel to do.  Each day we read a book from the library related to Valentine’s Day, work through the pages of the unit as a family, and do any activities or watch any online videos as we go. 

I have already read through the whole unit and checked out all the links.  I learned several neat things along the way and this will be a fun week for my family.  Some of the fun things we’re planning to do include graphing candy heart colors (or messages for those who can read), making valentine cards, baking cookies, and having daddy bring home real roses on the day we talk about the meanings different rose colors represent.

Here are the books we will read as extras during the unit:

• My Book of Funny Valentines by Margo Lundell – A funny book of poems.  We’ll read a few each day.
• Valentine’s Day by David F. Marx – An easy read that covers what people do on Valentine’s Day as well as a bit of the history of the holiday.
• Let’s Celebrate Valentine’s Day by Peter and Connie Roop – History, neat facts, and a craft or two are in this book.
• The Magic School Bus Has a Heart by Anne Capeci – A level 2 reader where Ms. Frizzle’s class ends up in Keesha’s heart.
• The Valentine Bears by Eve Bunting – This is illustrated by Jan Brett and tells the story of two bears who try to surprise each other for Valentine’s Day.  There is a free lapbook for this book HERE.
• Cookie Monster’s Book of Cookie Shapes by Richard Brown – Cookie Monster is heading to the cookie baking contest with his shape cookies.  He (of course) eats a few along the way.

If the snow ever stops I will probably be able to pick up a few more books that are waiting for me at my library.  If that happens I will update this post with those titles too.

So there you have it.  Our Valentine’s Day will last for the next 8 days.  What are your Valentine’s Day plans?

Unit Studies – Time or Money?

When I first started doing unit studies, I thought the best way was to make the units myself.  Of course, our budget also insisted that I do as much as I could  for free.  With only a couple children I even had a bit of time available for creating units. 

Fast forward to today. I have a houseful of children needing my time, as well as other responsibilities.  My ability to pull together a unit has grown, making the process quicker.  I have also learned to put aside money each year for homeschool, giving me the option to buy some things.  I try to spend that money to maximize the time I will gain from it.

I have come to understand something as I have been homeschooling longer and with more and more children in the house. 

Time = Money

That applies to homeschool in a very real way, especially to unit study preparation.  When I am planning a unit study I have many options. 

The first, most basic option, is to create the unit from scratch.  I plan what we will study, I gather all books, create all lapbook pieces, and come up with everything.  This costs me a lot on the time end of the spectrum, but can be light on the money end if I utilize the library, create things myself, and find free resources.  Sometimes the budget demands I create a unit because there simply is not any money to spend.

Next in the option lineup is to find someone who has done part of the work for me. I may create a few things and gather some books, but I use a lapbook someone else made, or plans for a unit study on a particular book.  This costs me less on the time side of the equation but usually increases the money I spend for these ‘helps’ a bit. 

The third option is to spend money for someone else to do the preparation work for me.  This drastically reduces my time spent planning and preparing a unit for my family.  The best scenario is that my purchase is virtually open and go – ready for me to use when I get it.  This saves me a lot of time, but the money side of the equation is at it’s highest point usually.

Before you make any judgment calls on which option is best, let me give you something to think about:

My time is worth some money! 

So while I can create a completely free unit on bananas, I need to decide if I should.  It could take me hours of time to track down books, research information, create each lapbook piece, plan some activities, crafts, experiments,and find ways to accommodate the wide range of age and abilities in my home.  All of that takes time, from several hours to several days, and I have not even begun teaching the children yet! 

Which unit study option to choose is not an either/or decision.  In reality all three options are valid choices, and my choices may vary from week to week and unit to unit.  Sometimes I have plenty of time to research and create a unit specific to our family’s interests.  Or there simply is not an option to buy a unit on the topic we want to study.  Sometimes to determining factor is money.  If I do not have money to spend, I must either create the unit or choose something else. 

I have finally come to accept that paying someone else to create the unit for me is okay too!  Being a good steward of my time and my money means that using each of the 3 options will sometimes be the right answer.  It has been so freeing to realize I do not always need to reinvent the unit wheel. 

Now part of my being a good steward is to decide which unit study option is right for each unit.  If I decide to spend money to purchase a unit I look for the best investment of my money.  If creating the unit myself is called for, I manage my time and work effectively at my research and preparation.