CHRISTEPHI

I woke up in the morning and found this sweet sight. Miss M's Bible, open on her desk by the window, verse after verse highlighted. But wait, what's this? Pull back a bit and take in the whole scene.  A naked dolly and a toy gun.  Hmm…wonder what was going on? If only the fish could talk! Do you ever find unusual scenes left by your kids?

Week 13 of Adventures in U.S. History is earmarked for Thanksgiving. It is a stand-alone week that can be moved to an appropriate time of year.  Since we started our school year in February, we'll likely do Week 13, or Thanksgiving Week, as a finisher for our school year. We "travelled" through a few more states this week!  Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, and South Carolina.  Miss M was a bit distraught that "Maryland" isn't pronounced Mary-land.  Miss M's favorite book about states in our basket book so far has been Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America by Lynne Cheney . (affiliate link)   The illustrations are fun and engaging and it's simply loaded with interesting facts about the states! Our 50 States by Lynne Cheney In science we learned about the American Robin, Black-Capped Chickadees, and Northern Orioles.  All three of which we have as regular backyard visitors.  We sat outside and listened care...

One thing every homeschool parent has to do, regardless of state regulations, is to keep records .  Even if your state doesn't require records to be kept or turned in, some day you might move, or your kids might attend a public or private school, or maybe they'll want to apply for college or a job.  Having good records gives you peace of mind that whatever the future holds, you'll be ready! Figuring out the best way to keep track of your students' academic history can be frustrating and stressful.  Homeschool dad John Echols and homeschool graduate Jordan Shute figured that what homeschoolers need is an affordable, intuitive program to gather and manage records in a way that would be an accurate reflection of the homeschool education.  Together they created My Home School Grades . My Home School Grades is a deceptively simple program that allows you to track courses, grades, and activities for all your students.  It's simple, but powerful! Feat...

It was finally the week we've been waiting for…the start of our study of the 50 states !  Miss M has been anticipating this all along and has already memorized the states, their capitals, their shapes, and their locations, thanks mostly to the fun little game Stack the States . When she's interested in something, there's pretty much no stopping her from learning about it!  We have a large map of the U.S. on the wall in our hallway and she spends a great deal of time looking at it, asking questions about the names of places or the legends on the map.  She's really enjoyed some of our book basket books on the states, but her especial favorite is United Tweets of America: 50 State Birds Their Stories, Their Glories . (affiliate link) We are learning about the states in the chronological order of when they joined the union.  First was Delaware, aptly nicknamed First State, then Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Georgia.  Next week we'll learn about a few m...

Howdy!  Today I'm posting over at Homeschool Mosaics . Come read about our field trip to the dairy ! Do your kids know where milk comes from?

I've been commissioned by my 3 1/2 year old to make a life-sized doll to be his best friend and wrestling companion. Life-sized doll face in progress. Hubby is completely on board with this endeavor and issued strict instructions that the face not be too sweet. Little Guy decided his new friend's name will be Rocco, "And I'm gonna be Troy!"  Where Rocco  and Troy  came from is anyone's guess.  The mind of a preschooler is a fabulous thing!!

" The grass withers and the flowers fade, but the word of our God stands forever " (Isaiah 40:8, NLT). We are assured that the words God has spoken and caused to be bound together in the volume we call the Bible will never cease to exist. That is not true, however, of a single printed volume of Scripture. Paper-and-ink Bibles can undergo some pretty serious abuse in their service to us. In college, I carried my Bible everywhere I went. At first I had the thick teen devotional Bible I had used all through junior high and high school, but I soon set it aside in favor of a much slimmer volume that didn't take up as much space or weigh as much. I hadn't owned it very long when disaster struck. The reusable water bottle I also carried everywhere I went had the lid screwed on crookedly and when I tossed it in my backpack with everything else, it slowly leaked until the entire contents of my bag were soaked through! I was so upset that my nice new Bible was al...

What is Ooka Island? Ooka Island is an adventurous computer game that teaches early literacy to kids from Pre-K to 2nd grade.  It's fun and engaging without making any sacrifices on the academic side of things. "Upon arrival on Ooka Island, children customize their own online avatar and embark on a compelling 3D hero-mission to save the Ooka Elves! As young learners follow the Ooka Island Adventure, they travel on their own unique path created by Ooka Island's READirect learning algorithm.  This ensures that they are on the fastest track to reading success!" A Bit of Backstory Ooka Island is based on the work of Dr. Kay MacPhee who developed a successful program for struggling and reluctant readers in the 1990s.  Her program, then known as SpellRead, was the subject of many intensive studies because of its effectiveness, but it was quite expensive.  It became an exclusive product for either the poorest of the poor (by way of government sub...