A Summer's Pace -HSMothersJournal

In Our Life This Week  . . . 

We have summer storms most every day here in Southwest Florida - My husband is busy working, fishing. It's our tarpon season. People come from all around the world to fish in the "Tarpon Capital of the World" - Boca Grande. 

I'm working on a new site for the fishing business & Captain Daddy is fishing daily, dodging the afternoon storms. I wrote about it here in "Once upon a summer" 

In Our Homeschool This Week . . .  

We school year-round, but have slowed to a snails pace the past few weeks. We do some Bible, math, and reading - and any other projects that suite us. We catch a lot of bugs, tad poles, and lizards while we're at it. Well, the boys do. 

We are really excited about our new Awanas homeschool program! 

We are slowly working our way through the Swimming Creatures book from Apologia. 

I made these fun ocean themed book marks and copy work for scripture verses. You are welcome to download them for use in your home. 

We are cooking . . . 

Come and link up your own favorite recipes with us each Tuesday (open throughout 

 the week) on Kids in the Kitchen - we use kitchen time as part of our homeschool. 

Favorite . . . 

So, Spencer lost a tooth this week. He took it over to the neighbors house to show them, came home, excited with a $1 bill and said, "This thang's a REAL money maker!" 

He made 2 more dollars by putting it under his pillow. 

Read, Explore, Learn . . . 

The Tower of Babel  - Is our new book from Master Books. We will be building a Lego tower as we read and study the story and scriptures. We will explore the book further as we learn about how it relates to the world today. 

I'm excited . . . 

I just booked a vacation getaway for July, with our sweet cousins (my sister has 3 boys also) We will enjoy a couple of days at the Nick Suites hotel together, playing in their water park and getting slimmed, most of all, making fun cousin memories. 

We have a week full of organizing, learning, swimming and exploring the beach coming up this week. We will meet up with friends and I'm hoping to fit in some crafts as well. 

linking with: 

Holy Spirit Led Homeschool , The Imagination Tree , Creative Family Fun

Sun Scholars  , Camera Phone Friday, Favorite Resources this Week, Homeschool Freebie Fridays, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers  ABC blogging, Collage Friday, Educating Laytons HS MothersJournal Mommy Teaches   homeschool fridays  friday faves Read.Explore.Learn I choose joy

Our Homeschool This Week - Nn is for . . . .

In my life this week. . . 


Nn is for New Jewelry - I've been on a roll - getting my creative juices flowing 
the one on the right is my creation "BEECH glass" - excited about BEECH Retreat  Jan 31 

Nn is also for 'No room in the Inn' - I'm not the only one around here being creative 
we used sticks from our nature walk to create small Nativities (yeah, Nn is also for Nativity) 

In our homeschool this week…

We use our wonderful The World of Animals book from Master Books to study new and 

exciting animals each week. 

Nn is for Nuthatch and Narwhal  also Nn is for Nautilus 

A few fun facts for ya- the Narwhal (pictured above in bottom left corner) is a whale included in the dolphin and porpoise family. It is a toothed whale that grows up to 16 feet long. The male has a tusk and may use it to fence with other males. 

The beautiful Nautilus shell shows the mathematical  Fibonacci sequence - read more facts about this incredible creature here.  (ahem. . . Nn is for Numbers) 

Nn is for Nathan Hale - whom we read about in Profiles from History 

Nn is for North American Indians - Timucua Indians and Calusa of Florida are on our list - we found the Timucua Indians in our Indian Tribes of North America coloring book (great way to keep kids busy while I read more info) 

Nn is for New Hampshire - from the United States coloring book - we are reading about New Hampshire in our GeoMatters Pathway to Settlement  curriculum - which uses living books and not just a text book for teaching. 

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

Nn is for Numbers -  If you have a child who struggles with dyslexia or dysgraphia 

make your own simple flash cards for them to put in order. Numbers need to be reviewed 

as well as letters. Spence is working on addition and subtraction, but needed to review recognizing his numbers 11 - 20 this week. This was a great way for him to do it. 

We are reading learning and exploring …

Nn is for Nigeria -  Our Heroes For Young Readers  books are a wonderful addition to our family homeschool. Each lesson provides a short reader with pictures to introduce the Hero and the tale of how they left their mark on the world - this week we were in Nigeria on the continent of Africa - Mary Slessor was an incredible woman and a peacemaker among the tribes of Africa. The activity guide provides everything from songs to bible verses to spelling words and art projects to go with the books. Pictured in bottom left corner is a simple hut like the one Mary lived in while in  Nigeria. 
We have studied Corrie Ten Boom  of the Netherlands - here is a link to the first 4 book set  
and the Activity Guide here.  Other books here and the activity guides here. 

We're cooking…

We're cooking Pinto beans - teaching the boys how to cook healthy dry beans 

See our Kids in the Kitchen post here. 

Favorite moments this week …

Nn is for Nostalgic- 

It's always fun getting out the Christmas stuff. I love that our tree is a fun mixture of sand dollars and shells we've found at the beach, antique ornaments that have seen many Christmas's and bring back countless memories, and handmade ornaments from my boys. This year we added small nests and birds and even a couple of little bird houses that I think are really fun. It's kind of our "Old Florida - Nature Tree" 

Starfish, and tiny gifts from the sea - each one found by me or the family at our beach - make my heart beat happy when I see them sparkling on the tree. The long spiral "ice sickle" shells came from our honeymoon in Costa Rica. The Santa Claus starfish I painted with Parker when he was only 3 years old. Such special memories make me smile inside and out.  I'm so thankful for each of them and what they represent. 

Freebies … 

             

Luke 2:11 - Notebooking 

      Print and Cursive 

 Basic info on Calusa Indians of SWFL :               Part 1                          Part 2 

    
  Pocahontas Unit Study 

  Alphabet Flashcards with animals: 

     Aa - Ff                                 Ss - Xx

   Gg - Ll                                  Yy- Zz       

     Mm-Rr                                        

          

*Disclosure- There are affiliate links in this post - I will make a profit if you purchase using them - thanking you in advance!

Linking with - Holy Spirit Led Homeschool , The Imagination Tree , Creative Family Fun , Sun Scholars  , Camera Phone Friday, Favorite Resources this Week, Homeschool Freebie Fridays, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers  ABC blogging, Collage Friday, Educating Laytons ihomeschoolnetwork Mommy Teaches   homeschool fridays  friday faves Read.Explore.Learn Quick Tips Hammock Tracks Christian Mommy Bloggers

31 days of Homeschool encouragement- wrapping up our week - hsmommas journal

I'm writing this month to encourage homeschool moms. So far - I've shared bible verses and encouragement for every day use, some of our struggles, and  favorite activities. 

I hope you will find this a safe harbor - a place where you can gain inspiration as well as assurance that we all have challenges, and that God is faithful. 
They say parenting is the hardest job you'll ever love - and for the homeschool mom who is with her children day in and day out - it rings true all that much more. 

I'm sharing a peek into our homeschool week each Friday along with some of our favorite resources. 


We are blogging through the alphabet with my friend Marcy @BenandMe  - Her idea and the need to help my youngest son remember his letters and the sounds they make has inspired me to use her "letter of the week" as the format in our homeschool. This week we are working with the letter "Hh" 

In our homeschool this week -  "Hh" is for . . . 

Patrick Henry - hero  of American History and also the castles of Hungary 

(well, we are adapting the European castles in the art book to fit our needs) 

"Hh" is for Hungary in our country study this week

Homeschool tip - what works for me/us . . . 

Be flexible! Let your resources work for you instead of the other way around - if you get 

caught up in crossing every T and dotting every I - you'll never successfully  (happily) 

move through the curriculum with multi-ages in your home - pull what you need from it 

and find what works best for your family! 

Tangrams are Chinese and don't even start with an "Hh" - my former self would 

never have gone for it - but I have a little guy who needs something to do while we 

do our read aloud. I read "The Guns of George Washington" which we started on 

our "Gg" week - but it is "Hh" History! 

We are cooking this week…

End of last week - we gathered with friends to cook German food - one of our meals

was Stroganoff - which my husband says is Russian - BUT all was not lost - we enjoyed

the fun the meal and yummy leftovers for a couple of meals - AND it turns out 

our recipe is very much like Hungarian Goulash! (see Free unit study) 

We are reading …

We are using Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons - It's working well for our littles! 

They are actually excited about their reading lessons each day and doing 2 each day at this point

We also worked on our bible verse:

 Psalm 62:6 

"He alone is my rock and my salvation; He is my fortress, I shall not be shaken."

The boys do copy work with the verses and sketch in their Bible journals. Our oldest son 

(and now our homeschool friend who is participating with us) are doing their cursive practice

with the verses as well. 

The boys each made a Hungarian flag and we filled out a special country sheet. I'm thrilled - 

my 2nd grader is taking the initiative to do more writing. I never thought I'd see the day! 

We also do map work for each country - and we are making paper "clothes" for our 

cardboard people (new project idea- people from Micheals craft store) 

My favorite thing this week was…

It was an amazing experience - I'll be writing about it soon for the brand new Wildlife Wednesday 

(giveaway going on now for Master Books) 

Bike riding with the family and enjoying time exploring God's creation. The birds that landed right on us are called "Florida Scrub Jays". My husband stopped to adjust his hat and one landed on his head - and the other on his hand. Then another landed on my bike (my ole' beach cruiser) and others flew right up to the boys. It's highly illegal to feed these friendly birds - they are a protected species. They are intelligent and live in families - just like us! (the family part anyway) 

Freebies of the week … 

            

         

  Hh is for Hungary - Unit study                                                     Printable world passport with country stickers 

Thank you for visiting  - I'll be posting daily doses of homeschool encouragement - with some detailed information about how we manage our homeschool - and struggles - daily throughout October. 

Please let me know if you find these reminders and information useful or if there is something else you are looking for. I am happy to share what God has led us through (some pretty big challenges) and how He continues to carry us through each day.

 - visit others participating in 31 days series from The Nester here -
- Read my other posts of encouragement for your homeschool here-

Linking with - Holy Spirit Led Homeschool , The Imagination Tree , Creative Family Fun , Sun Scholars  , Camera Phone Friday, Favorite Resources this Week, Homeschool Freebie Fridays, Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers  ABC blogging, Collage Friday, Educating Laytons ihomeschoolnetwork Mommy Teaches   homeschool fridays  friday faves Read.Explore.Learn Quick Tips Hammock Tracks Christian Mommy Bloggers