Friday, April 6, 2012

Our Homeschool Week - Home Again!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

Our Week:  Has been full of reminiscing we've talked about our special new (IRL) friends and about 
what fun we had on the road meeting them. Here I am on far left with Cindy of "Get-a-long-Home" 
and Rebecca of "Moms Mustard Seeds" - these ladies are such a blessing in my life on a regular basis
I hope you'll take the time (if you haven't all ready) - to get to know them better. They are smart and 
beautiful - on the inside and out! I am a better wife, mother, teacher, and friend because of their
 influence. 



After the incredible time at Teach Them Diligently - and before the Apologia Live Conference -  we 
enjoyed the privilege of spending time with Rebecca and her family. My kids are missing their new
 friends already.  It was wonderful to spend time with people who love the Lord and put Him first in
 their life. It shows in their home and in their children. It left an impression on mine and I'm thankful
 for it! 

We took the kiddos to the park and Rebecca showed them her "Robin's call" bird ap - which 
teaches the sounds of the birds. They sat on this log in the woods listening for Robins and other birds. 
They later did a unit study on Robins - which we are continuing and expounding on this week in our homeschool. 


We met up with Kathy from Kathy's Cluttered Mind - and took another nature walk and let the kids
play in the creek. They loved the stories from the Civil War from the Roswell Historical Mill and 
enjoyed Kathy's littles. They are such cuties and seem to enjoy adventure like we do! Kathy is a sweet
friend who let us crash her place and then drove myself and my crew from Atlanta to South Carolina 
for TTD. I love her adventurous spirit and the way she finds so many wonderful FREE activities for her family! She and Jen from Gricefully Homeschooling host a link up each week sharing homeschool
freebies you might want to check out - especially if you are homeschooling on a budget! 


I am so pleased that I got to spend more time with Amanda Pelser from The Pelsers. She is the
blogger who hosts our wonderful online book clubs - Right now we are doing "Shepherding a Child's
Heart". I got to know her better during the "How to Have a Heart for Your Kids" book club and then
met her IRL at the Teach Them Diligently Convention  (and her totally cute boys and tech genius hubs) 
It was during a quiet conversation at Apologia Live - where I really had the opportunity to "bond" with Amanda (for lack of a better description- that is what it was) I am honored to call her my friend and to 
have had the chance to know that she is a down to earth woman who cares about others. She has a 
new e-book out to help others who struggle with depression : Click here to view more details If you are fighting depression and need encouragement - I HIGHLY recommend this affordable book - you'll 
benefit from her insight, experience, and her heart's honest look at depression among women. 


And then there is this girl : 


I signed up for the HSBA swap a couple of years ago and was assigned Kelli from Lady of the Barn 
as my swap buddy. When you sign up - you're encouraged to exchange more info and email each other 
with prayer requests and to stay in touch. Kelli and I took the assignment very seriously and we hit it
off from the start. She shares her devotions on her blog and some tidbits about her adorable kids. She
is honest and open about her short comings and her desire to be a better mother, wife, friend - I really
dig that about her! You know, truth be told - we ALL need to be better on a regular basis and we are supposed to be striving for it on a daily basis - she doesn't pull any punches about it - I loved her
immediately! She drove to the Apologia Live conference to meet me (and to participate of course) and
I got to introduce her to the other fabulous homeschool mommy bloggers I've listed above. I'm so
thankful she did! 


Thankful Thursday: 
I am grateful that God has blessed me with encouraging friends. I'm grateful I have had the opportunity
to spend time with some of you - I gain so much from your insight and perspectives on a regular basis
 - these ladies are just a handful of the special people God has seen fit to place in my life in some
 capacity or another over the past year. There are more of you who I spend time praying for - who
 pray for my family - who I tweet with - read your blog -enjoy your comments - You are more of a 
blessing to this homeschool mom than you can know.
Thank you! 

Our Homeschool This week: We are getting such enjoyment out of our new Seeds of Worship cd 
I got from TTD - It is an upbeat musical cd that was originally designed to help kids remember their 
Bible verses from a summer Bible camp. It's a catchy little cd full of scripture for my children to commit
to memory. 


We are using our new science books from Apologia - "Swimming Creatures of the Fifth Day" 
Of course, we had to head off to the beach to find a few swimming creatures of our own! 



Big brother is reading to the little guys about US History - "They Called Her Molly Pitcher" and we
are - of course - checking out the free video's from Moms Mustard Seed and Founders Academy.  
Today's video at Freedom Friday is about the Federalist vs the Anti-Federalist and the House of Representatives - Parker was impressed with how our founding fathers came together and debated
then decided about the time limits in office so that there is a balance of power. We are studying :
The American Freedoms Primer by Adams  and The Bills of Rights Primer by Amar and Adams

                                                   


G is For Good Book! 


How was your homeschool week? Or, Spring Break week? Or just your week? 

3 in 30- Goals for April: This April, I'm keeping it simple. 
Goal # 1 - Spiritual Life - studying the Word daily - and doing the "Shepherding a Child's Heart" 
book club
Goal #2 - Health - My time for healing is NOW (can I get an Amen?) I'm using essential oils, special
mineral water (there is a story behind this - awesome) Drinking more water - and exercising 3 x each
week. Watching  what I eat with less sugar and more protein and veggies is also a part of this goal. 
Goal #3 -Schedule-  Family Life- my family life includes our homeschool so we'll be continuing our
studies - my main goal is to get some of our projects more organized in binders and get written work in
order. I want to yell less- well, not at all - It's hard in a family where little boys run here and there and
don't seem to "hear" mommy on a regular basis - God is hard at work - this is going along with the Shepherding a Child's Heart study too and that will be great support for this goal. I will to set 2 days
aside (I think Tues and Thurs) to do some deep cleaning and organizing this April. I am starting
with one main room and one bedroom each week. Blogging schedule- continuing on my schedule 
and adding in a review or two each week on Wednesdays and Thursdays 




 


    Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers
   

14 comments:

Jamie {See Jamie blog} said...

{sniff, sniff}
That's me telling myself it's okay that I didn't get to meet all you lovely ladies this time... ;)

Unknown said...

Next time Jamie! I would relish the moment :)

Gidget said...

I can't believe that I missed the opportunity to hang out with you ladies - although, I have to say that even online, I am a better person because of knowing you and ALL the other ladies you mentioned too :)

We loved the Swimming Creatures book too :) it's the only one we don't personally own but luckily my sister does! I'm doing Biology with my daughter right now, and man oh man do I wish that it was like that when I was in school!

Thank you so much for the info about Freedom Fridays - I thought that was for older kids - I will definitely have to check it out!

Larri said...

I'm sniffling too! Knowing you were oh, so close, and not getting to meet. We will though...one day soon. Glad you returned safely and looking forward to watching your road to recovery! Hugs and Prayers, sweet friend! ☺

Anonymous said...

I just love that you got to meet so many blog friends irl!!! I have thought of that so many times over the last week and just smiled to myself!! Maybe someday you will make it up to the Northeast and we can meet!!

We read about Molly Pitcher last year--I think that same biography. We love biographies!

Unknown said...

All you girls are on my list of "awesome blogger moms I want to meet" Each of you are people I'm thankful for in my life - even if, for now, it is online- you encourage and inspire me!

Lisa Boyle said...

Oh, Kelli, that is SO awesome! I would have loved to meet you all in person! It has been such a blessing to get to know my bloggy friends online and you all have been such an inspiration to me! I hope you and your family have a very blessed and happy Easter!

The HSV said...

WOW - what a great time! So fun when you finally get to meet those sweet bloggers who influence your life!

Susan said...

What an amazing experience this sounds like!! Many, many good things happening for you :)

Thanks for sharing all of the great resources in this post with Favorite Resources.

Leah Courtney said...

Hi, I headed over from Weird, Unsocialied Homeschoolers and noticedthat you were at Teach Them Diligently. My husband and I went and enjoyed it very much. I love to get away at a homeschooling convention, and this was a great one!

Mummyofthree said...

Wow, that's about six goals, by my counting! Great goals, though :-)

Rebecca said...

Hey you!!! OH, these pictures made me 'friend sick' for all of you girls! Love your wrap up...and need to check out that book when I make it your way!

Harvest Moon by Hand said...

You have great goals set for April! Will be looking forward to reading about your progress during the month.

Piper said...

Thank you for stopping by Mercy Saved Me.... love your blog.... You have a great way of incorporating so much into your homeschooling!!! May God continue to bless you and your family!!!