To busy to Expo? Get it to go!

I heard you wanted to go to the Schoolhouse Expo but May 16th -20th are busy days for you.....

Maybe it's Aunt Margret's annual visit is that week or you have a root canal scheduled or something....

Since the creators of the Schoolhouse Expo are busy mom's like you, they know things come up and life happens and sometimes you can't possibly glue yourself to a computer for a week....  they have come up with a perfect solution.

They want homeschool parents everywhere to be able to benefit from:

• Learning how to Teach a Timed Essay, by Kim Kautzer (  I don't know about you but I don't have a clue how to do that... and I have kids needing to take SAT's!)
• Leading with Vision, the Key to Family Unity, by Norm Wakefield.  ( We have teens and younger children and our family starts to feel very scattered sometimes.  I am intrigued to hear what Norm has to say about keeping your family unified.)
• Devotions with Deborah Wuehler....  ( really these are like a tall glass of water in the middle of the Expo day.  I look forward to these devotions everyday!)

They really don't want anyone at all to miss out on the great information that is going to be presented. So they came up with Expo to Go!

While I have been blessed to attend every Expo as a live event, I assure you that if there were some compelling family reason that had to keep me from the expo, or if I were a working homeschool parent, I would be buying Expo to Go.

With such busy full days, it is important to take time to recharge our parental batteries.  These recordings will do just that.  You can listen while you do the dishes or vacuum.  You can listen as you walk the dog or work out.  If you work outside the home you could listen during your commute.

Live attendees get these MP3's also, so I assure you that they are a valuable asset in your homeschool journey.  I have listened to Milia Russell (May 2010) over and over again.  Her two talks on Managing the Multilevel Homeschool, and Teaching the Distractable Child...  both speak straight to my heart.  They help me refocus when I feel overwhelmed by all that needs to be done....  They remind me that my duty is to teach and train!  That same Expo is where I met Lee Binz, the Homescholar.  She demystified making a High School transcript...  She stands with you and tells you ... YES! You can do it!....  I listen to that MP3 when I am facing a stack of paper 12 inches high and when I am not sure what things I can call a class or not.
From the October 2010 Archives, I listen to John Taylor Gatto. Every. Single. Time... I hear something I missed in the original airing....  Every time I come away galvanized that Home Education is the for sure choice for our family.

I want you to have these great resources at your finger tips from THIS Expo....  and you can for only $19.99.  Make sure you make your reservation for these great MP3's.

They have even thrown in a few free gifts every one of them something that can help you in your homeschool journey.

To check out the gifts in detail click on the purchase now button.  It will link you to a page that explains the whole Expo To Go concept and links directly to the spot to order your very own Expo to Go.

*A link to download your Free Gifts will be available in your account upon checkout.
**You will receive an e-mail sometime mid-June notifying you when your MP3s will be available for download

Lawyers, Doctors, Divers and Cheeps.... oh my!

Cruising from the office chair, once again, but today with the Hubbster sipping coffee next to me.  I could get used to this... 

Today's topic is: "What do your children want to be when they grow up and what are you doing to help them pursue their field of interest?"

Evan who is 16 for a few more months, isn't home this morning so his "what does he want to be" comes from his sister, who he talks to about these things....  My sources tell me that he currently wants to be a lawyer, pastor, music minister, oh... and maybe a software developer.  With no solid landing yet in any one area,  we currently let him explore the things that interest him....  If he is on fire to learn more about government.... we give him things like that to read or research....  He has started taking more music classes, and wants to take voice lessons....  We just try to give him the space to investigate all the possible jobs from all sides...

Tayler, she is 15.  She wants to be a doctor, paramedic, farm/ranch (a "franch" she called it..) owner, a missionary, and maybe a zoo owner.  We encourage her by letting her keep Noah's ark at our house....  She also helps out our friends with their farm work whenever she can.  She knows how to vaccinate animals and clip pig teeth, and help goat babies come into the world.  She is an amazing goat and pig wrangler...  I have seen her chase a 300 lb pig and win.  In her pursuit of medicine, she really likes to study how Herbs work in our bodies to help us naturally.  She has mentioned becoming a doctor of natural medicine.  For missions, we have been on a trip to Mexico, and I think our church will be going on another one in a year, so we will attend that also.  If she wanted to move to a different country ranch alpacas, tell people about Jesus, and grow herbs to help treat sicknesses, at 17...  I'd be ok with that. 


Hunter who is 8, states he would like to be an underwater welder.  This is news to me.  I have no earthly idea how in the world to encourage that one.... Maybe help him practice holding his breath for long periods of time???  Time to get investigating...


Jeremiah, my lovely 3 year old for only a few more weeks, proudly declared that when he grewed up he wants to be a "fyah cheep".  Fire Chief, I can do.  We will start investigating all the fire truck we see when we are out running errands.

Don't forget to click on the big ship at the top, to check out what the kids of other homeschoolers want to be when they grow up, and how they are helping them be whatever God has designed them to be.

Kid Scoop News ~ Reluctant Reader Solution

Do you have a Reluctant Reader?
Me too...

The Reluctant Reader Solution is geared to entice children ages 7-12 into reading with a very friendly and interesting format.  If you choose to purchase this program for your child, be aware that it is comprised of three different parts.  First you can go to their home page, http://www.kidscoop.com/, and sign up to receive daily "Make Reading Fun" tips for 30 days.   The first portion of the Reluctant Reader Solution is an e-book.  It is an immediately down-loadable PDF file that you would store on your computer, or portable disk drive.  With that FULL and I do mean FULL book of activities, you also receive online access to a monthly magazine "KidScoop", for one year.  This package is available for only $97. It comes with a 365 day money-back guarantee. That is how important it is to them that you are happy with their product!

So how does this thing work???  It isn't mind control or a secret formula you feed to them...  It is based on something all kids have.  Curiosity!

The worksheets in the book and the monthly magazine are chock full of bite sized,  trivia filled articles that kids love to read and explore.

The Down-loadable file that you receive, comes with an explanatory page suggesting several different ways for you to use all of the files.  You can sort them by month ( it gives you that list)  or just go one by one through them.

In January and February I just printed out the files that were listed for those months.  I would keep them on a clip board and we would take them to church with us.  what?  yup.  That was where we would use them.  My son is 8 and at our church there are no longer children's programs for him during services.  I have tried and tried to get him to do some school work during that hour, and he has always been resistant.  Until now.

Now, he is asking for his "papers" and he eagerly sits and works while he listens.  I no longer need to shush him for making shooting sounds with the pencils in the pew....  he is too busy writing with his pencil to play with it.  So there you have it, I found a fun way to sneak school in on Sundays!

I really liked how the articles and activities are linked to State Standards.  You can at a glance, see the places that you child gravitates to, and standards that they are comfortable with.... and you can see the ones they struggle with or avoid altogether.

For instance, with the Hockey Volume, Hunter avoided like the plague a section on Proof Reading, but he did very well with the letter sequencing, recognizing identical words, skim and scan reading and recalling spelling patterns ( the Word Search puzzle).  You are able to see what skill the activities are working on building up in your child, that will carry over into those multiple pages, picture-less books you want them to read.  It may look a bit like you are giving your child busy work, but you are really giving them skill building work that they think is just plain fun.

As a reviewer, we were given access to the monthly online magazine as well. 

This is what it looked like on my home computer...  It was vibrant and colorful, and contained lots of great reading material that was very interesting.  It has a full screen view to help with reading those little letters.... and for those that need the writing even bigger, there is a zoom function,

that brings everything into a super easy to read size.  You just click and hold your mouse down to move around the page.  The online version also has the option to have the text read to you.  The robotic voice was a bit hard to get used to... but the thing that I had the most trouble with was when you clicked to hear the audio, your screen would go dark, and the audio files would be covering the actual text.  I tried to move it, but it just stayed put.  I think my son would have benefited from being able to read along with the audio file.  Seeing and hearing the words to help build a better connection.  That being said, it wasn't a deal breaker thing, we just chose to read the magazine and not listen to it.

The Reluctant Reader Solution is a great tool to have in your corner.

It makes writing, reading, grammar, spelling, sequencing.....  all that official stuff we want to make sure our kids are understanding.... it helps you make it all fun.

We will continue to use this product after our review, to help build these great Language Arts skills.

As always, opinions on products will vary from family to family.  Please take the time to read the other reviews from my TOS Homeschool Crewmates.

**** Disclaimer****

As a member of the TOS Homeschool Review Crew, I received a copy of The Reluctant Reader Solution and access to their online monthly magazine, free of charge from KidScoop, for the purpose of writing this review.  No other compensation has been received. All the above opinions are my own.

Wordless Wednesday

A friend of mine turned 40 last December.  They had some butcher paper up on the walls where you could write something you liked about her or a memory....

This one came from a very cute 6 year old

Tuesday Trivia

My children and husband are kings of trivia.  Random facts that lie lurking in their brains only to spew forth at the most random of moments.  Me?  not so much... most days I find pleasure in remembering my own name and not calling any of the children by one of the names of our pets....

Oddly enough, most people are impressed by these bits of knowledge.

I thought I would share some trivia with you all on Tuesdays...  sort of a running theme.  Maybe you can share it with your kids, and they can impress Aunt Sally at Easter dinner....  and maybe I will be able to keep up with all the smart people in my family.


In this day in History, February 15:

1764: the city of St Louis, Missouri is established

2005: YouTube was launched in the U.S.

1546: Galileo Galilei was born

1965: Canada inaugurated their national flag.  Today is Flag Day.

Share some of your new found knowledge with your family over lunch or dinner today...

How our family helps me homeschool

Blog Cruise time again.........  I was thinking last night in church ( wrong place to be day dreaming...LOL ) how a cruise on a real boat might be so much fun....  for now...  cruising from the comfort of my spinney office chair will have to suffice.

Topic for the day is : "How are your spouse, grandparents, or other family members involved in your homeschooling?"

Well...  lets see... starting from the top..  My Spouse.

He is involved in our homeschool as the Principal.  He solidly stands behind me in discipline issues, when needed.  He has been known to leave work, on days that are especially difficult to help with some attitude adjusting.  He also helps me with scheduling the children's day... letting them know that is isn't just mom making these "rules".  He is very artistic, and in the past he has taught our children an Art class in the evenings.  He is also very mechanically inclined and repairs our own automobiles and those of people in our church.  He models servant-hood, and teaches "shop" to anyone who wants to go and hang out while he is working.

Grandparents:

Back in the day when I was a working homeschool mom...  My mom would do the kids work with them during the day when I had to work.  At the time, I was a bus driver...  she would do school on the days that I had field trips scheduled and would be driving all day.  Most days, I could come home after the morning run and supervise, till the afternoon.  Having her there to help the days I couldn't be home were such a wonderful blessing.

Other Family Members:

This happens most in our home as just a natural extension of the day.  Lots of times I will just catch my daughter working on letters and numbers with her 3 year old brother.  Sometimes she reads to him.  Sometimes she teaches him words in Spanish. 

My sisters have helped too when we visit and are still schooling.  Everyone really pitches in and wants to see the kids learn, and be successful.  One of my sisters is the queen of fieldtrips.  She is always finding fun places for the kids to explore when we visit.

Click on the big Cruise ship to read more about how other families are involved in homeschooling

Blog Walk Week 15~ Feb 7-11

Slowly I crawl to catch up.
Yesterday was week 14....  today week 15...
and when this weeks list comes out, maybe I'll get it up before Easter...LOL

Everyone have their blog walking beverage?
Ready. Set.
GO!

1. Heritage Homestead and Homeschool Academy
The first thing that greets me from this blog is the happy pink and green circles...  they are so refreshing :)
There is lots here.  Mom of 4, 1 with special needs, there is much wisdom and sharing on this blog.  There is a tenderness to know the mind of Christ in raising all of her children.  Oh, and she has written a novel.  Wow!


2. The McClanahan 7
 I am enjoying getting to know this homeschool mom.  We will be working together on some TOS projects for you all, so stay tuned to hear more about that...  She makes cakes.... and WOW!  the recipe for chicken chili made me drool.

3. The Happy Homeschool Mom
Mom of 6 with #7 on the way any time now....  ( I think I am tired just thinking about that many kids!)  Mom's of big families like this just amaze me.  Lots to read and explore with this great family.  Information from about Middle School on down. 

4. Books \'n Other Stuff
Widowed Stay at home Mom, of 3 boys.  Reading the story of her Husband brought tears to my eyes.  She shares her passion for books, especially children's literature with us on her blog.  Her life is about perseverance, and the all sufficiency of Christ.

5. The Midlife Housewife
Ok.. the title alone makes me smile.  The first post I read about chickens and the egg falling to the floor, really made me smile.... because I have lived it.  This blog feels cozy, and homey.  The kind of place that you could kick off your shoes, tuck your feet up under you on the couch, and swap stories for awhile.

6. Because of Our Children
Mom of 4 who describes her house as loud, disorganized and always interesting.  Amen!  Mine too! Lots of great reviews and photos to go along with them. 

7. This Day Has Great Potential
Mom of 4, she shares her homeschool adventure with us all.   Great reviews, and everyday life thrown in too.

8. Ladybug Chronicles
Time for a refill...  I'll wait.  Go fill up your cup.
Now, you are ready to explore this blog.  Curriculum reviews, book reviews, field trips... all here.  Not to mention she has separate photo and card making blogs... wow.  one busy momma!  See, I told you, you needed a refill.

9. Freelance Homeschool Mom
Mom of 2, if you don't count the furry four footed children.  She is a Walmart-Mom...  I will have to see what that is all about.  I could get into the blogging about Walmart thing.  Check out the Valentine Basket. It is a cute idea!

10. Ben & Me
One of those blogs with an absolutely adorable layout that makes me wish I somehow knew how to do all that /*html*^$* stuff.  Did you know there was such a thing as a Mixing Bowl Academy for kids to learn how to cook?  Me either.  Go check it out on her blog.

Happy reading...  Don't forget to leave some comments, and let them all know how wonderful they are!