Homeschooling adventures on the road to Teach Them Diligently

In our homeschool this week . . .  J is for Joyful! 

I am ill equipped to do justice, in pictures and words, regarding our trip to TTD in Nashville.

From the field trip adventures, to the fellowship, the encouragement, and valuable information gathered from this awesome homeschool convention - we had a tremendous time! 

Field trip fun . . . 

We spent time exploring the Adventures Science Center in Nashville with Kathy @Kathy'sClutteredMind

and her cuties - and with Ben and Marcy @Ben&Me

We visited the Parthenon in Nashville, TN with Marcy and Ben from - Ben and Me

Our favorite thing this week . . . 

I gathered a few of my favorite tweets and instagram moments with attendees and speakers to share with you: 

We are praying for . . .  peace, and healing for the folks in Oklahoma


Freebies for you . . . 

•   Bible verse printable here - Romans 15:13  J is for - Joy and Peace
•    1 month FREE science/ electronics curriculum 

Read all about our experience in my review here - 

and sign up to enjoy terrific science with your kids 

(The folks at EEME are passionate about teaching electronics and it shows!) 

You can cancel at any time, but you won't want to! We are looking forward to our next project! 

Go here to sign up for your free month of  video curriculum & hands on science project

Read, explore, learn . . . 

So excited to dig into our new wildlife books from photographer Tim Ostermeyer 

 from  Fun Adventure Wildlife Books  - We did see a bald eagle on our rafting adventure this week, so we will read that one first! 

I recommend . . . 

*affiliate links are present in this post

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, Ultimate HS linky Collage Friday, Educating Laytons ihomeschoolnetwork Mommy Teaches   homeschool fridays  friday faves Read.Explore.Learn I choose joy

Our homeschool - Letter of the week -Hh is for. . . Honor

*this post contains affiliate links 

Exodus 20:12 

"Honor your father and your mother that you may live long in the land 

the Lord your God has given you."

Download your free bible verse copy work here 

In my life this week… Hh is for Hiatus - we took off and went camping Sun & Mon 

I'm sorry y'all - but somebody's gotta do it - When the going gets tough, we go outside. I'd like to tell you that it's all for the kids . . . but that would be a flat out lie! Mama loves her time outdoors. 

They don't hate it either - Hh is for Harmonious and Heartsome -time with family in the great outdoors!

If you want to learn more about taking your family camping - check out our post from 

#31 Days of Expoloring God's Creation - complete with a downloadable camping checklist here. 

In our homeschool this week… Hh is for . . . Hexaemeron 

(Well, the study of the results of the hexaemeron - anyways )

 

The Coral bean plant and the blue-crab were fun to learn about as we explored God's Creation 

Read explore learn: Hh is for . . . Harry Horseshoe Crab 

We further explored horseshoe crabs with our Apologia - Swimming Creatures science book 

Hh is for . . . Herps (as in Herpetology)

our Apologia - Swimming Creatures book also teaches us about Herps  

Herpetology - the study of amphibians and reptiles 

Our Swimming Creatures book is focused on sea creatures - We studied turtle shells (we happen to have a few, with scoots in tact,  from our various outdoor explorations) The boys also followed the instructions in the book and used their elbows to pull themselves along like a sea turtle going to lay eggs on the beach. 

Below left: the boys are (unfortunately) doing some herp study up close and personal . . . IN my house! 

Hh is for . . . Hindu Hero - Amy Carmichael (above right) from YWAM Publishing 

Hh is for . . . hummingbird - We used our GeoMatters Geography Through Art 

That pretty much sums up our week! We enjoyed our time in the great outdoors, exploring and learning about God's creation

Please let me know if you have any homeschool - or  curriculum questions I can help you with! 

Things you should know about: 

• 4 more days to enter to win The Ecology Book  from Master Books and our Wildlife Wednesday group! 
• I have wonderful sponsors to Teach Them Diligently and EEME Electronics 4 Kids  has a special:  Project Genius Light and 1 month free offer for my readers! (read about our personal experience here) 
• Notebooking Pages Membership Birthday Sale is something you DON'T want to miss

           Invaluable resource for your homeschool! 

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 I choose joy What'sWorkingWed

Our homeschool week: A is for AdventureZ

We are beginning a new ABC blog series with Marcy @Ben and Me - it has inspired our homeschool to work around a letter of the week with them.
This week the letter is . . . A for AdventureZ 

In my life this week…

These two headed off into the yard to set traps to capture Big Foot. They are dead serious. This was the beginning of our AdventureZ . . . . 

We had plenty of down time to rest and relax. In order to avoid abiotrophy (degeneration; loss of physical vitality or ability) We recovered nicely from our trip and prepared to hit the road again . . . 

In our homeschool this week…

AdventureZ road school -  

We stopped at O'Leno State Park and saw a beautiful woodpecker - and learned about the history of the area. We took a nature walk . . . . . . . 

The old grist mill was interesting -
 we learned about the pioneer town of Leno 

AdventureZ with deer tracks . . . . 

AdventureZ in nature . . . . yes, that is a deadly coral snake (I used a zoom)
A is for Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh AAAAA snaaaaaaaaaaaake! 

                       

We are still on the road enjoying our AdventureZ - the Real Refreshment Retreat was
Amazing - I will Absolutely be back for more - I look forward to hearing from some of
those same speakers in TN at the TTD convention (see my side bar - join us!)

A is for . . . "All we like sheep" Isaiah 53:6 - 

Free Bible verse printable here (cursive and print)

And we are off . . . getting back on the road for more AdventureZ - on the Agenda: A Cave Tour and

A river Kayaking Adventure! Are you enjoying some adventure this week? 

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 I choose joy

Qq - Letter of the week - wrap up

In our life this week. . . 

I'm speaking next week for the Ultimate Homeschool Creation Expo with Media Angels! 

January 15 - 17 - I am preparing wonderful things to share with you all - to encourage, support,

and to inspire you as you Explore God's Creation with your homeschool family. I am giving 

away 5 tickets! Check out the post on Saturday, Jan 13 and enter to win yours! 

In our homeschool . . . 

         Letter of the week: Qq is for Quench, Quail, Quack . . . and more- free printables
               (Letter of the week -  with Marcy @Ben and Me 

We always begin with the Word, and I plan our week around the letter of the week 

This week, we learned 1 Thess. 5:19 - the boys write the verse in their journals and did

some worksheets I made up (sharing with you below under Freebies)  

The boys did other math as well (I'm doing individual mid year reviews) They also spent time

learning and discussing Quarters - counting money, dividing pizza, and cutting oranges

We have also read about John Quincy Adams from our GeoMatters books

We did some fun science with National Geographics on the Humbold SQuid 

(I realize that is cheating on the Q words - but, a Momma's gotta do what she's gotta do) 

Daddy brought home a REALLY cool crab we haven't seen before & stone crab for dinner!  

We're cooking . . .

Stone Crab - my favorite!                                          Easy Chicken Enchilada's 

  

Read, Explore, Learn . . . 

Teach Your Child to Read in 100 easy lessons 

A is for Adam from Master Books - is our current devotional - this week Qq 

We study a bit at a time and discuss the devotions in detail 

Freebies . . . 

From Adventurez:                                From Smart Tutor: 

Qq is for quench                                    Printable FLAG flash cards 

Qq is for quack vocabulary                  Free Math Games




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 Kids in the Word

Homeschool - Letter of the week = Pp

In our life this week. . . 

We enjoyed a little family party for New Year's Eve. We went to the beach for the last 

sunset of 2012 and the boys issued in 2013 with sparklers and excitement. 

In our homeschool . . . 

Letter of the week - Pp 
     We used our World of Animals book from Master Books to find animals that begin 
with the letter Pp - How do fleas, lice, and ticks fit in? Why, they are Parasites, of course. 
The boys drew various animals and wrote special information about them in handmade 
books while I read out loud. We discussed interesting facts about each one. 

We used the new bug maker to create several parasites and a couple of predators. 

Our bible verse of the week, as always, was used for handwriting - cursive for the 6th 
grader and print for the other two in their spiral notebooks. We read about Perseverance
from our We Choose Virtues cards and information. Bible verse Psalms 100:4 

We found Pennsylvania and Poland on the map. We are studying Pennsylvania with 
our Paul Revere profile from Geo Matters - Profiles from History. Of course, as we 
read about his involvement with tea - we had to have some for our school snack! 

We have been learning about various countries all around Europe this year. We color
 it on the map, discuss culture and basic information, color a flag and cook food from
each region to help us connect and remember what we are learning. This week, we
made our own version of the Polish folk art of papercutting, with directions from our
Geography through Art book by GeoMatters: 

The time spent in the kitchen stirring and chopping, leaves for plenty of opportunity to 
review what we've read about each country and why a particular food is popular there. 
Two great resources we use consistently for these projects are: 
Passport to the World and also Eat Your Way Around the World  

We're cooking . . . 
Pennsylvania Dutch cooking - making 4 meals out of 1 chicken - see our 
Frugal Family 2013 - new link up series for recipes to save money. We use 
cooking as part of our homeschool each week. You can download the free Kindle
book Pennsylvania Dutch cooking at the bottom of this post. 

             

Read, Explore, Learn . . . 

 

We had plans to go and get fresh oysters (we LOVE to head out to the oyster
beds and gather fresh oysters) but, there is red tide in the area so it isn't 
safe to eat them right now! We talked about our previous experiences and 
drew pictures of Pearlie the amazing oyster. 
Our plan is to make our own Pearlie out of shells and clay on Friday! We will 
go for a nature walk and explore an oyster bed near shore to examine the 
habitat of some of our local oysters. 

Freebies . . . 
(these book were all free for your Kindle or computer this week
 - they are subject to change on Amazon ) 

Thank you Marcy Crabtree for sharing this Freebie: 

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