The Schoolhouse LIbrary

  Whether you are new to homeschooling or looking for fun, new ideas, The Schoolhouse Library could be just what you're looking for! You will gain access to a library of more than 175 ebooks or audio books designed to provide homeschool support from many popular home school publishers. You will receive study guides, lap books, timelines, and so much more!



Here's a taste of what you'll receive for a one-time purchase price of $25.00:

• 2 Study Guides from YWAM
• Draw Write Now Sampler E-Book by Barker Creek
• Heroines of the Past-Victorian unit study from Amy Puetz
• Map Trek: Atlas and Outline Maps of World History from Knowledge Quest
• Teaching Writing E-Book from WriteShop
• 15 audio E-Books from My Audio School in history and literature
• A Glimpse at Carnivorous Plants Lapbook from In the Hands of a Child
• Video from Jessica Hulcy on  “Learning as a Family”
• From Frazzled to Focused: 7 Planning Tools for Busy Moms from Mary Jo Tate

With over 25 topics, parents and teachers alike are sure to find something of interest for their homeschool journey:

• Art and Crafts
• Bible
• Economics
• Electives
• Encouragement
• Geography
• Government
• Grammar
• Spelling
• Reading
• Organization (with several planners)
• Nature Study
• Special Needs
• And many more!

{Wordless Wednesday} Spring Dance Pics Day 1

Day 1 = Ballet E {Midsummer Night's Dream "Sprites"} and Jazz E {I Will Survive}

{Crew Review} Science Naturally

Emma and I had a great time reviewing One Minute Mysteries: 65 MORE Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! from "Science Naturally!". This short 180-page book was written by the daddy-daughter team of Eric and Natalie Yoder. Each story in this book takes just one minute to read, and the stories challenge readers to tap into their science knowledge to solve the mystery.

One Minute Mysteries: 65 MORE Short Mysteries You Solve With Science! is written for students ages 8-12, and can be purchased for $9.95 plus shipping. You can even view Sample Mysteries on the website.
How we used this product: Typically, I read the stories aloud to Emma (fourth grade), and we worked through the solutions together. I gave her the opportunity to figure it out on her own first, and then guided her to the solution if she needed help. There were several times that Emma would stay up in her bed at bedtime to read more of the mysteries. Then, she'd holler to me to tell me what she discovered.

What I thought:
I'd say that any "educational" book that my kid can't put down is a winner!  This is definitely a great way to learn a few new science facts and brush up on ones you already know!

{J} is for June and July

June and July will be busy to say the least!!

We will kick the month of June off with Emma's dance recital. As much as I love recital weekend, I dread it because of the LONG hours. Friday night, we'll have a rehearsal of the full ballet. Saturday morning, she'll have rehearsals of all of her dances on the big stage at the high school. Recital officially starts Saturday evening and carries on into Sunday with 6-7 hours of recital each day! Oh, the things we do for our kiddos! LOL

Emma at her ballet dress rehearsal

She'll have a few days off from dance the week after recital, and we'll wrap up our "official" school year on June 6. We plan to fly to Cincinnati after Isaac gets out of school to go house hunting. We will need to find a house that weekend if at all possible - no pressure! :)

We'll head back to TX so Emma can start her summer dance intensive, and I'll start prepping the house for the movers to arrive. The rest f June will consist of just that - driving Emma to and from dance, prepping for the movers, and hopefully finding a few "fun" things to do before we leave TX. I want to visit the Dallas Aquarium before we go. During these few weeks, Emma will be doing a minimal amount of school work. She will need to finish up her math and possibly her English books in addition to wrapping up some reviews.

The movers should be here the first week of July. It will probably take them two days to pack up the house and two days to load the truck. I'm guessing we'll be in a hotel during that time since all of our belongings will be in boxes.

The day after the movers leave with everything we own, we are headed out on vacation! Emma and I will be going on a cruise with our dance team, and Matt and Isaac are heading to Gulf Shores to vacation with my in-laws. {Logan is spending his entire summer in Ft. Lauderdale doing an internship.}

 I  can't wait to go on a cruise with my favorite girl and our dance buddies!

So, once we leave for vacation, we will be "homeless". We will head straight to Cincinnati when we disembark in New Orleans. I'll, of course, spend the next couple of weeks unpacking and organizing our new house before Emma hits the books again.

Math lessons on the couch! Ah, the joys of homeschooling... 

{Dance} Last Regional Competition

Last weekend, my family headed to Tulsa for Emma's last regional competition. We've attended Stage One before, and she was excited to compete! Actually, she was most excited that this trip would include some pool time! She danced her heart out and kicked some bootie!! There were 48 solos in the 9-12 age division {she's 9}. And, her new tap solo came in 9th overall!!  Holy cow! I may have screamed really loud for her! And, I may have been in total shock! Not because I don't think she's a good little dancer. But, because I never want to get my hopes up. Not only did she get 9th overall, but she also earned first in the 9yo tap division and got a Fabulous Feet judges' choice award.

More exciting than all of that was the fact that Daddy was in town for this competition. So, he got to see her shining moment! 

Her other solo did well as did her duo and her groups. But, with her solos resting on her talent alone, I'm always a bit more excited when they do so well.

This was her last competition for her duo and two of her groups. She will be taking her solos and one of her groups to Nationals in July - on a CRUISE!!  WooHoo!!

{Works for Me} How to Remember Where I Saved My Files

Have you ever had one of those "duh" moments where you think to yourself, "Why haven't I thought of that before?" Well, I had one the other day! As I browse Pinterest and Facebook and the many blogs I follow, I see free downloads EVERYWHERE.  I find ebooks/unit studies/notebooking pages, download them, and forget I have them! Forget about them until AFTER we have covered that topic in school, that is.  Anyone else? So, I had the brilliant idea to start labeling my pins with where I saved the file on my computer. Duh!

I saved this pin to my "{Homeschool} 5th Grade" board. You can see in the picture above, that I listed in the description space where on my laptop I actually saved the file. This history curriculum is saved in my "5th Grade" folder and in the American History subfolder. I don't typically save every freebie I come across. But, if it is a limited time download, I want to make sure I get it while it's hot. I just need to make sure I don't forget that I have it later on. Hopefully, this is "Problem Solved"!

Obviously, this will also work with things you buy in advance. I love to shop the Scholastic $1 sales. I buy eBooks for topics I know we will cover "some day". But, again, I don't always remember I have them when I get to that topic. So, from now on, I will pin all those purchases to my homeschool boards after downloading the product. Then when I get to our Civil War unit, for example, and I'm browsing my Homeschool {History} board, I'll see that I already own a unit I purchased during that sale.

{Wordless Wednesday} Lunch with Two of My Favorite Peeps

 

Logan, age 19, and Emma Grace, age 9