It is during these dreary days I feel the need to have my heart lifted up. I tend to get depressed when there is no sun shining. I have been feeling like we are just dragging our feet through school a bit and decided I wanted to read some old posts. I hope you’ll enjoy the following as much as I did remembering the success.
http://emptymelord.blogspot.com/2010/05/lil-man-makes-progress.html
Mandy
I am being led to change some things in our homeschool. I am spending too much time trying to get my kids to pay attention. I do not remember last year being like this. We are Charlotte Mason homeschoolers and this year has felt far removed from the ideals Miss Mason espoused. I long to return to our carefree learning days, our lovely read-a-louds on the couch, the beautiful handiwork, the pride my children feel in a job well done.
MFW is a great program and we enjoyed our time using it. I appreciate that it is local and feel honored to be able to choose such a great curriculum and to have gotten to know such a great MFW family. With that being said, my younger children will be using a different curriculum next year, one that includes all those things we missed this year.
MFW relies on the library for the read-a-louds instead of having everything in one place. I found that the library is not always my friend when I forget to return massive amounts of books. Last year I had purchased all our books we needed and loved all of them, this year the books were not so well loved and thus resulted in my forgetfulness. So while MFW fit us well it did not fit us best. We are going to go back to the lovely school we had last year and use Heart of Dakota. I will post more after I figure out just where everyone falls on the placement chart.
Mandy
We had some fun today with our weather. I have been wanting to make a sensory box for Deirdre for awhile but am always worried about her putting things in her mouth she could swallow. I thought snow would be a great experience for her. This was not the first snow we have had this winter but it is the first good texture we have had. Great for packing. She loved it so much I am going to try and come up with a box for her to play with at least one a week.
Mandy
1. Homeschooling In Nova Scotia, Canada
2. Clever Title TBA
3. Until the Day Dawn Weblog
4. RubySlippersSchool.com
5. Smooth Stones Christian
6. Clothesline Musings
7. Four Little Penguins
8. Laurie's School Days
9. Sunshine to Flowers
10. One Big, Healthy Family
Here is our next weekly installment of TOS Crew members. Please stop by and say hello.
Mandy
A whole lot healthier that’s what! I have for years tried to do things more organically and without all the chemicals. Hubby is resistant to say the least. I firmly believe that our children’s health problems could have been non-existent if our society had quit trying to save a buck (or make a buck depending on who you are) and stopped (or never started) using chemicals like formaldehyde, parabens, and phthalates. Hubby has an issue with soap not looking like soap. So I decided I was going to try again and make homemade laundry soap but all the recipes I found called for 5 gallon buckets and I just do not have that kind of storage.
Contains the Instruction Manual and DVD for the Gamma level.
Price:
35.00
MFW ECC TM
Teacher’s Manual $45
The Purpose Driven Life by: Rick Warren $8
The following are in good usable condition.
Aesop's Fables $5
Bram Stoker's Dracula $5
The Scarlet Letter $5
Night Elie Wiesel $5
King James Bible $8
The World Since 1500 $20 (college level history text)
These are not schoolbooks but I am adding them anyway
2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul $5
Twilight's Child V.C. Andrews $3
If Life is a Bowl of Cherries Erma Bombeck $3
Heroes At Home $5
Deployment materials for miltary families 2 CDs and 2 DVDs $ 20 or $5 each
I am looking for MFW AHL TM to either buy cheap or borrow for my 9th grader. I am willing to do a trade if anyone is interested.
If interested in any of my books let me know in the comments and leave your email and zip code so I can let you know what the shipping will be. I take Paypal only!
Mandy
As Charlotte Mason homeschoolers we think composer study is very important for our children. It is in this spirit I share the following link.
Yale University offers a selection of free open courses. This particular course is of particular interest as the instructor uses classical music to improve a students listening experience to popular music of today. It is a very basic, intro level course and assumes you know nothing about classical music so would be appropriate for even younger children. There are required texts written by the instructor and a selection of music CDs. I feel just watching the videos are of great worth but the resources are a very good investment. I hope everyone takes a look at what is available but especially if you are using CM methods this class seems a good addition to your High Schoolers curriculum.
I would love to hear about your open course experiences and how you incorporate them into your homeschool.
Mandy
I love history, biblical history especially. When I was a student not so much. I think that was because I was such a visual learner and most of my classes were dry and boring with just words on a page.
When we decided to homeschool our children, I realized what a visual learner I am, hands on too! My children tend to be that way also. I have made it a goal to have good visually striking resources in our school. I was so thrilled to have received today’s review item.
Here is a PDF of the Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary for Kids we received so you can take a peek yourself
Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary For Kids
This is a Bible dictionary that is full of beautiful pictures to show just how things looked from the bible. From the city of Bethlehem to Noah’s Ark, you can see how things looked as they were back then. I was expecting a small book with some cute illustrations to help explain some things to my younger children. I was so off base here. This is a book worthy of anyone, adult or child alike. The information is not dumbed down, illustrations are not cutesy and it is a hefty size, plenty of information.
I really enjoyed this book and can see it will become one of our treasures as time goes on. I have used it so many times already in the brief period I have owned it. I especially appreciate being able to look up quickly any place mentioned in the Bible and having a wonderful map to show the children where we are talking about. Last year I spent hours online looking for good maps to use during our Bible studies. From now on this will be my go to book for Bible time.
You can purchase the Dictionary from Lifeway Christian Stores.
Publisher: B&H Publishing Group
Pub. Date: August 2010
Type: Hardcover
ISBN: 0805495312
Product No.: 005268545
Price: $14.99
To see what other TOS Crew members thought about it click the link. Be an informed buyer!
Mandy
Disclosure: I was given a hard copy of the above item for free in exchange for my honest opinion. I have not been compensated in any other form.
Here is this week’s TOS Crew featured blogs.
1. Clark Clan Craziness
2. Doxazo Prep Academy
3. My Elastic Life
4. Fun in the Sun
5. A Teaching Heart
6. Mindful Ramblings
7. Simple Thoughts
8. Joy in Our Journey.com
9. Crazy Homeschool Mama
10. Walking Home
Mandy
City Creek Press – Times Alive
Lifeway Christian Stores – Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary For Kids
DiggIt! Games - Roman Town, look what Digg-It Games has given me to share with you
“We would also like to provide your readers with a special bloggers discount for Roman Town. Use coupon code TOS2011 which gets them 20% off the 2010 price of $24.95. The code expires Feb 21, 2011
We have changed the price of RT to $39.95 instead of $24.95. We’d like to give TOS Crew readers 20% of the 2010 price of RT at www.dig-itgames.com
Curiosity Files – Zombie Fire Ants
