oooooh.... new stuff!

Right after Christmas each year I get the itch to mix things up a bit with our homeschooling. So, this year I finally made my decisions and placed my orders the last of January. Everything is in now and as of yesterday, we've used it all at least once....

Simply Charlotte Mason Your Business Math Series - Pet Store
All About Spelling
English from the Roots Up Flashcards, Vol. 1
ThinkFun Math Dice
Kids Across, Parents Down: Crazy Critters

I'll write more about these later as we have more time to use them and see what we truly think of them. So far, so good though! We're really enjoying everything... but we'll have to see what the staying power ends up to be.

Sorry I've not posted for a while. It's funny. Prior to this year, the majority of the kids' friends were homeschooled. We were fairly oblivious to the schedules of the schools around us. We just did school.... not realizing that it might be a day off for the schools. Well... this year we've greatly upped our number of non-homeschooled friends and now we're very aware of the various holidays and breaks. Last week and this week have fallen victim to this somewhat. Last week the public schools here were off for Lincoln's Birthday.... so we went off with a friend of mine (a public school teacher) and her daughter to a local waterpark hotel for the night. Then Sunday night Alex was invited to spend the night at a friend's house since Monday was a holiday (they homeschool too... but the sister was having a sleepover that night since her friend would not have school on Monday... so the boys had one too), Monday night Clara stayed extra late (didn't get home until nearly 9pm) at her regular after dance playdate since her friend's private school is on break this whole week.... the list goes on.

It doesn't bother me in the least... I'm so glad my kids have so many friends and that they're not limited to just "classmates".... however, it cracks me up that there are so many holidays and breaks that I was not aware of! We've been back here over two years and this is the first time I've realized that a lot of the private schools here have February breaks!

Anyway... between the holidays and breaks this week and last... plus the fact that we've had workers in our house since last Thursday.... school has been a bit sporadic. Hopefully I'll be back to regular postings again soon!

Easter Egg Hunt!

I just randomly decided to visit the CurrClick site this morning and discovered that they were having an Easter Egg hunt! I think it said that there were 41 eggs hidden on their site with discounts up to 75% off certain titles PLUS 7 of those are for free products! I think I've found four free products so far... two of them I downloaded as they go along with what we plan on studying next year. So, approximately $22.00 in free products so far! I should have been keeping track of how many I've found but I'm thinking I've only found about half of the eggs so far. I've got to start my day.... but I'll be back there to hunt again later!

homeschoolestore...

... is now...



I didn't realize that it was changing until I got my weekly newsletter from this in my inbox this morning. I've been meaning to type an email singing it's praises but hadn't gotten around to it. Perhaps today is the day to do that.

I started out just downloading their weekly freebies, specifically lapbooks. But lately, I've been venturing beyond the lapbooks. I have to say that it is an amazing resource for homeschoolers. They have all kinds of workbooks available (and so much more, but I haven't explored it all yet). I had been ordering regular printed workbooks when I placed my curriculum orders. With two kids, I would spend too much time running up and down the stairs to Jeff's office to photocopy pages on his little printer/scanner/copier combo thing. Plus it was an ink jet printer, which is not a big deal but I have gotten used to my laser printer. Now, with the workbooks I've ordered from CurrClick I just walk over to my printer and print two copies. Right now we're using the Spelling Grade 1 workbook with both kids (for Clara to learn and Alex for extra practice). I love being able to just click print when we want to use the workbook.

I have a whole wish list of stuff from there. I really want to do some learning center type things. Folder games and stuff that they can choose from and take to their seats to work on individually while I work the other one on something. I think this will be HUGE for Clara. She's two grades behind Alex so she doesn't have as much work as him. BUT she insists on being at the table with us the entire time we're working. Which is a good thing except when I'm constantly stumbling to find stuff for her to do. I'm thinking about some of these Take it to Your Seat books. I have a few "center" books that I've purchased but the thought of being able to just load the printer with paper, choose which pages to print versus standing there while the super slow copier combo thing scans and then prints just makes me happy! LOL!

Anyway... CurrClick is a great resource if you have multiple children or want/need to photocopy stuff from workbooks and have limited access to a copier.

Enjoy! Warning though... it's hard to stop once you get started! :-)

i've been shopping again

This bike is the second to the last machine for the kids to build from their K'nex Simple Machines: Gears set. So, it was time to order a new set.... and it seems wasteful to order just one thing so I added a few other things to my cart and now here is what I have coming from the wonderfully fabulous Chicago Yellow Pages sized Rainbow Resource catalog (seriously, have you seen this catalog? it's HUGE!):

K'nex Simple Machines: Wheels, Axles and Inclined Planes
The Teacher's Guide to go with it
Apologia - Exploring Creation with Botany (to go along with the garden we're planning)
Another math workbook for Clara
Wikki Stix Activity Kit
Wikki Stix One-of-a-Kind Creatables Manual

Oh... and then a random pack of extra Wikki Stix. Not sure what compelled me to buy so many Wikki Stix items but I think it had something to do with the guilt of buying another K'nex kit for Alex and needing to find something fun that was more Clara centered.

I can't wait for the box to get here! :-)