5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Friday Favorites

Welcome back for the fifth and final day of our week of homeschool encouragement. I am glad you have joined us throughout the week!

Today we are talking about favorites. No, I won't tell you who my favorite offspring is...because they are each my favorite!! Instead I'll share a few of our favorite resources and activities, in no particular order.

One of our top favorite resources is Heirloom Audio Productions, and their online Adventure Club. We have reviewed several of their productions:
In Freedom's Cause
With Lee in Virginia
Captain Bayley's Heir
Wulf the Saxon

Another top favorite is Home School in the Woods. I recently posted a review for the Project Passport: World History studies--Renaissance and Reformation. Near the bottom of that review, I listed the other products we've reviewed from Home School in the Woods.

One product I need, and without which I could not function (HA!) is Homeschool Planet from the Homeschool Buyers Co-op. I've written a couple reviews here on the blog.

Any guesses what our favorite "extra-curricular" or elective type activity might be? If you guessed photography, you got it right on!! Scrapbooking, and Instagram, go hand-in-hand with photography, for me.

For my Seventh-day Adventist friends, a couple of my favorite E.G. White books are: The Desire of Ages, and Steps to Christ. My favorite male vocalist is Steve Darmody. My favorite female vocalist is Jennifer LaMountain. My favorite instrumentalist is Jaime Jorge. My favorite pianist is Kelly Mowrer. And my favorite vegetarian "meat" product is a three way tie: Big Franks, FriChik, and Rediburger. Oh, and our favorite potluck meal is Haystacks!

What are a few of your favorite things? Please share.

I hope you have a wonderful weekend, and a productive school year.

Lastly, meet a few more of the Crew members who have been participating in the blog hop this week:

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

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5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Thankful Thursday

Welcome! Thank you for joining us again today.

This morning I'd like to share with you some of the reasons I am thankful for the privilege and opportunity we've had to homeschool over the past 20+ years:

1. Time spent together
2. Being able to give my children Christian training, teaching them Biblical truths
3. Being able to teach them to be disciples of Jesus
4. Being able to tailor my children's education to fit each child's strengths, weaknesses, interests
5. Being able to pursue our passions: nature, photography, weather, writing, reading, etc.
6. The ability to closely monitor my daughter's health (diabetes) during the years she was still homeschooling
7. The ability to allow each child to learn at his/her own pace, especially SJ and his learning challenges
8. Freedom of schedule
9. All the wonderful books we've been able to share
10. The fact that my children can (fairly easily) converse rather intelligently with people of all ages, not just age peers

What are a few things you for which you are thankful this week, whether you're a homeschooler or not?

Meet a few more of the Crew members who are participating in the blog hop this week:

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama
Marla @ Jump Into Genius
Meredith @ Powerline Productions: Being World Changers/Raising World Changers
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through The Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

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5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Work it in Wednesday

Welcome back! It's good to have you here again today. This morning we will take a moment to discuss how to work in a few of those essential "extras," such as nature study, field trips, or service activities.

Nature study

If you've been following my blog for any length of time, and even more, if you're a follower on my Instagram, you may have noticed that I am pretty passionate about nature, God's beautiful creation, because I post collages from my morning walks of clouds, trees, flowers, butterflies, etc.

Believe me, I am thankful we are able to live in a mostly rural setting, so I can enjoy these walks. We have bird feeders up, too, to attract the birds.

What if you live where the houses are close together? Or perhaps you even live in a city? How can you possibly fit nature study in then?

Well, in most situations, you ought to be able to put up a bird feeder. Perhaps you can grow some flowers in a window box. Or even herbs. You could have an aquarium or terrarium. Or you may need to make regular excursions to the city park.

I know many homeschool moms keep nature journals and have their kids do the same. We tried that once, years ago. I personally find it easier to just take photographs!

Some good resources:

Handbook of Nature Study-Outdoor Hour Challenges and Nature Study
Simply Charlotte Mason-Nature Study
AmblesideOnline Nature Study Schedule
And for my Seventh-day Adventist friends, there are all those Pathfinder Nature Honors your children can work on.

Field Trips

There are many places one can go for field trips: museums; aquariums; theme parks; zoos; state and national parks; historic reenactments; factories; farms; even common every day places such as the post office, police or fire station, bakery, etc. I have Pinterest boards for Local Attractions, and Field Trip Ideas, if you want to check them out. I've shared some of our field trips in the past.

Service

This can be as simple as doing their household chores, or helping the grandparents with little tasks around their house or yard, or helping in the kitchen at church setting up for potluck or cleaning up afterward.

See about going to nursing homes, rehab facilities, or maybe even the pediatric ward. Your children can take homemade cards, crayon (or any other medium) drawings, or maybe even flowers, to the residents or patients.

Or visit the widow next door, or the single mom from church. Perhaps there are some simple tasks your child could do for her for which she would surely be grateful.

There is always preparing the Christmas shoe boxes, or volunteering at the local food bank. Or consider going on a mission trip.

I'm certain there are many more possibilities for field trips or service opportunities that I haven't mentioned. Would you please share your ideas in the comments below?

Remember to take time to work in these aspects of homeschooling, at least several times a year.

I hope to see you back here again tomorrow.

In the meantime, here are a few more members of the Crew who are participating in this blog hop. Stop in and say hello to some of them.

Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together
Kelly @ Hope in the Chaos
Kellyann @ Walking Home ...
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom's Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things

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5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Take a Look Tuesday

Welcome back! I am glad you have joined us again today, while we take a look at--

Step 3: Choosing curriculum 

If you have been following our homeschool journey over much of the past 20+ years, you will know that we began our journey using Five in a Row, and enjoyed using these products for most of our journey.

Five in a Row consists basically of three levels: Before Five in a Row, Five in a Row, and Beyond Five in a Row. There is also one unit of Above and Beyond Five in a Row. These are literature-based unit studies, using quality children's books. They provide a gentle, natural learning environment, which is something I appreciate tremendously.

Before Five in a Row "opens up the world of learning through great books and creative play, and builds the solid foundation needed for more formal education to come."

Five in a Row "is designed to teach children the joy of learning while exposing them to the vast world of information that’s so important in building a solid educational foundation to prepare them for a life of learning."

Beyond Five in a Row builds on the foundation of loving learning and the joy of discovery while upholding academic excellence and encouraging critical thinking and developing character growth in interpersonal relationships.

We have made some wonderful friends in the Five in a Row community, through the forums, and on Facebook.

We have also used Unit Studies by Amanda Bennett, especially the Download and Go unit studies.

More recently I came across Simply Charlotte Mason, when even SJ was past the early-learning age. Take a look at the preschool planning guide, especially. We have used a couple of the History Studies; and I really like the looks of the Enrichment Studies, and am intrigued by the Individual Studies...and wish they had high school levels available, since I still have one high schooler left.

As far as math goes, I think my favorite curriculum is Math U See. I wish I had used it from the beginning with all of my children. As it is, SJ is the one who has benefited the most from it.

For language arts, I highly recommend the Primary Arts of Language reading and writing package, from Institute for Excellence in Writing.

Another excellent choice for reading and spelling would be All About Learning.

If you are interested in hands-on history products, be sure to check out Home School in the Woods!

I think all of these resources would work fairly well with the delayed FORMAL academics approach.

For my Seventh-day Adventist friends, remember that the Adventurers and Pathfinders coursework is an excellent hands-on educational resource.

I hope you'll come back tomorrow!

Here you may meet a few more of the great bloggers who are joining in on this blog hop:

Christine @ Christine Howard
Christy @ The Simple Homemaker
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Felicia @ Homeschool 4 Life
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

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5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Motivation Monday

Dear young homeschool mom,

You and your husband have made the decision to homeschool your children. Your oldest is 4 or 5 now, and you're getting pressured by society, friends, maybe family even, to put him or her in preschool or kindergarten.

But your little girl would rather play with her dolls, or make "meals" for Daddy in her play kitchen. Your little boy can't sit still; he'd rather play with his toy cars or his Duplos or Legos.

Or they'd rather be outside, playing in the dirt, climbing trees, swinging in the swing, or swimming in your pool.

Besides all that, there is so much curriculum out there from which to choose, it's extremely overwhelming!! Where do you start?

Relax, Mama. You can do this!

First step: Pray. God will speak to your heart. He will guide you in the way you should go.

Second step: Read. First and foremost, read God's Word.

"Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it." Proverbs 22:6.

"And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up." Deuteronomy 6:7. (Deuteronomy 11:19 says basically the same thing)

"All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness." 2 Timothy 3:16.

"If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." James 1:5.

Some other resources to read:

If you click over to our Homeschool Philosophy, you'll find a few of my favorite resources. Or you can read it at this website, if you'd rather.

I shared a review of God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn last week, which was a new resource for me. It certainly is becoming a favorite resource for me to recommend to new homeschoolers.

A couple of the first books I read were: A Charlotte Mason Education, and More Charlotte Mason Education, by Catherine Levison.

More books to read, by Karen Andreola: A Charlotte Mason Companion, Pocketful of Pinecones, and Lessons at Blackberry Inn.

Maybe you'll even want to read Charlotte Mason's books: Home Education; Parents and Children; School Education; Ourselves; Formation of Character; A Philosophy of Education. (I will admit, I have not read them myself...not yet, anyway.)

You can listen to podcasts over at A Delectable Education, and at Simply Charlotte Mason.

For my Seventh-day Adventist friends, some of the best books to read are: Education; Christian Education; Counsels to Parents, Teachers and Students; and Fundamentals of Christian Education, or any other books by E.G. White.

Tomorrow we will cover Step 3 by taking a look at curriculum, so I hope you'll come back then.

Here are a few others of the Crew who are joining this blog hop:
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Betty @ Let’s Get Real
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

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Five Days of Homeschool Encouragement coming soon {blog hop}

It's that time of year again, the "not back to (home) school" blog hop. I plan to join in next week, so I hope you will follow along, and be greatly encouraged by my fellow Crew mates.

Take a look at that line up!

We hope you'll find encouragement on Monday. Tuesday we'd like to share about our plans for the upcoming school year. On Wednesday we'll share with you something that has worked well in our own homeschool. We'll share why we're thankful to be homeschooling on Thursday. And Friday we get to share with you our favorites.

I hope to see you right back here next week, while we join with this other great bloggers:

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Betty @ Let’s Get Real
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses
Christine @ Christine Howard
Christy @ The Simple Homemaker
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Felicia @ Homeschool 4 Life
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life
Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together
Kellyann @ Walking Home ...
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom's Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things
Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures
Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama 
Marla @ Jump Into Genius
Meredith @ Powerline Productions: Being World Changers/Raising World Changers 
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through The Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling
Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life 
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

To make sure you don’t miss anything, subscribe to Life at Rossmont, or like Life at Rossmont on Facebook.

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