Fun in the sun!

  Since we have finished w/ our regular school work, we decided to celebrate! So we took a trip to Melbourne Beach, FL. We started the trip late Saturday afternoon since we weren't too sure about the weather which was fine since the sun is NOT our friend! We made it there by 5pm & it had just finished raining on the way there so the beach was e m p t y!  We all had so much fun just exploring the beach & found so many awesome & different looking shells. L8 is planning on cleaning them & adding them to his fish tank & M6 said she wants us to do a unit on seashells! I feel so proud of my kids when they can look at something & find the educational value in it without any prompting from me!  ^_^    Daddy dug out a hole & then buried the kids in it. We were all laughing so hard watching them all take their turns trying to get out!

  On our way home we stopped at the Melbourne Square Mall since the kids still had birthday money that they wanted to spend. L8 came out w/ a video game & pre-ordered a new one so he got a poster (somehow I didn't get a pic of him), M6 made a kitty at The Bear Factory (just like Build-A-Bear) & dressed her as a ladybug, & J12 found the new cd she was wanting. 

  Since we got home last night M6 has been dressed in her ladybug costume & playing w/ her kitty, named Meowee. So cute!  Also stopped just before we got home to get L8 hair trimmed.....such a handsome pants!

(Again, sorry about the horrible quality of pics. Still only have the webcam & my hubs phone!)

  Now this week I have to get the house back in order, unpack, do laundry, get the kids to clean their rooms, & pack them up for my dads house next week. Every year they spend a week at his house w/ their other cousins they don't get to see as much & they always have a blast. I'm excited too but I will miss them. I love my babies but sometimes mama needs a break!

The "official" school year is over & Science!

Yesterday was our last day of "official" school. You're probably wondering what exactly that means. Well, that means that we are taking a break during the summer from our normal school routine & focusing on more hands-on experiments, art lessons, lazy days, laying on the couch reading, gardening, outdoor water play time, whatever-we-feel-like-doing days!

It all started with a few science experiments. I had only planned 1 but J12 decided to add another to the list. For our 1st experiment we made our own paper! It was a long process & we only made a little label out of a brown paper lunch bag. The kids kind of wandered off anyway in the middle of it & that's when J12 decided it was time to show us experiment #2.

She filled a glass jar with 1/2 water & 1/2 oil. Then she dropped in an ice cube. It was so neat watching it just float in the middle of the glass! We watched it for a while until it melted.

Last Saturday we also planted our 1st garden. I've had a few plants here & there before in pots but nothing ever really took so they don't count...LOL. SO now every morning we go out & water them & check each plant out & note any changes we see. SO far we learned that broccoli starts out the fastest but yesterday we found that green beans will grow about 3 inches in 1 day!! I need to get a pic up of it but right now the only camera I really have is my webcam since I lost my actual camera right after Christmas.

Time4Learning Review!

WOW! I cannot believe it has been a month since my last post! We have a lot to talk about!

Last time I talked about how we had just got set up with Time4learning. Well.....we tried it out & L O V E it!  It is so easy & took a ton of stress off of me. You sign in & go to each childs account. You can look over their work that they have done, see their score, & how much of the activity they completed. You can also set up what needs to be done & print it out or print the list of finished lessons & activities after! Another thing I love about it is that not only do you have access to the grade they are in but also the ones above & below. So it's easy to adjust what they need. They do have worksheets to print out with certain activities so I like that they are able to get in some writing, especially if you are using this exclusively.

I'm not sure if we will use it enough during this summer since we just finished our "official" school year yesterday. But if I decide not to I can make our account dormant  which allows you to take a break from the program and return where you left off, with all records kept intact! There is a one-time, non-refundable fee of $4.00 per month per child. The dormant period will begin and end on the dates you specify.

Check out the interactive demos and try out a few lessons. They offer a 14 day money back guarantee for new member sign up & there are no contracts.

If you register, be sure to put down the name of person who referred you on the last step of the sign up process, so they can get credit for the referral. Enjoy!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

Time4Learning

  So I decided to take the plunge & jump into Time4learning for M6 & L8. I just feel like I'm not doing enough for them. It could be my insecurities or it could be the truth. But if this makes me feel better & they are learning then what/who is it hurting? They love being on the computer anyway.

  During this month of April they are offering a 50% savings of $9.98 per child for your 1st month with a 2-week money back guarantee! I couldn't pass that up. I have been hearing so much about this program & so finally made the decision when another homeschooling mom I know tried it out recently. Her & her kids love it so far.

  I signed up this morning so now I'm just waiting for them to confirm it & activate our account. It could take anywhere from a few hours to 24 hours. I'm hoping it's soon so we can get started...I'm so excited!

  I am planning on using it at least from now until the end of August. This way they will be working in the current grade they are in until the beginning of September when they will change grades.

  Stay tuned! I'll have a review after we get started!







Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

2012-2013 curriculum (M6)

M6

*ABCMouse.com - She had begged me to start using this because the commercial was ALWAYS on. I decided to give in & get it for her. After about 1 month she decided it was boring....LOL. Ok then...I cancelled that one.

*Funnix Reading & Math - This is her main curriculum now. I set her up at the computer with her headphones & printable workbook & off she goes. She loves it & says she feels like big girl. That's because with RockerGirl doing her school online M6 feels like she is doing the same thing. So cute!

*Reading Eggs - Since L8 was already using this, M6 was jealous because she wanted to play super fun games for her school too. So I decided to get her own subscription & she will play on it all day if I let her. She really does learn!

*Expedition Earth (http://www.confessionsofahomeschooler.com/world-geography)  We actually started this last year in the middle of the year. This is so much fun too but it took up a major chunk of our day so we decided to use this during this summer. It is a ton of printing as well but you can print most of it out in black/white to save $ on ink. There is also an animal minibook for each country, animal classification study, & Christmas Around The World! Comes with lesson plans for each country, crafts, recipes, etc.

*Easy Peasy All-In-One Homeschool - We used the Getting Ready 1 & 2 for the letters & numbers at the beginning of the school year. We did a letter a week (unless she already knew them then we would bunch up 2 or so) followed by a letter craft on Friday's from No Time For Flashcards. These letter crafts were hung up across the top of 1 of our dining room walls as you can see below!

*Confessions of a Homeschooler-Letter of the Week - We used this along with EP. It is a lot of printing but you can pick & choose what you want/need so you don't have to print it all!

Disclosure of Material Connection: I have not received any compensation for writing this post. I have no material connection to the brands, products, or services that I have mentioned. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”