Tuesday, August 14, 2012

New Shoes

Last fall, Izzie was first introduced to Twinkle Toes at our weekly homeschooling coop. The first day of class, she was greeted by 8 little girls, most wearing these bright, colorful, light-up shoes.  Izzie was all googly eyes about these shoes.  After seeing these firecrackers, she was not at all impressed with her plain, non-flashy Stride Rites!  She quickly asked for a pair, but was told that we had already bought school shoes, so she needed to wait.  The first time at the store when she spotted the shoes, I was shocked by the sticker price!  We buy "good" quality shoes, but I couldn't see paying that price for this particular pair of shoes.  Every time we went shopping at Kohls, she would want to go "look" at the Twinkle Toes and "pick" which pair she liked best.  I had no intention of ever purchasing these shoes....


Until, this summer at the beach.   After not finding a pair of colorful shoes at Stride Rite, we headed to the Sketcher's outlet....and guess what we left with?  

One super duper bright, colorful, flashy...


little girl!  

Sunday, August 12, 2012

TOS Review: This Week in History

 http://i1202.photobucket.com/albums/bb374/TOSCrew2011/History/TWIH-banner.jpg

Are you looking for a quick and easy way to incorporate history into your daily plans, without spending countless hours preparing?  YES!?  Me too!!  This Week in History from Rachel DeMille is definitely your solution!  

This Week in History, a paid subscription from Thomas Jefferson Education, provides a weekly on-line bundle of resources, including math, science, language skills, geography, current events, the arts and so on--all tied to events in history, delivered directly to your e-mail.  Each weekly e-mail is packed with pictures, activities, projects, direct links to specific websites, videos, discussion questions and much more, all tied to historical events for each day of the week.  The lessons vary in age level; some are more appropriate for older students, while some are geared more for younger students, but all lessons can be adapted to fit the needs of your family. 

Seriously, there's so much information with very little to no planning needed!  Too good to be true?  Check it out yourself!  Click here to see several sample weeks of This Week in History.  Go ahead, go check it out!  It's amazing and you'll want to stay awhile, digesting all the the information, but hurry back! 

Told you!  Amazing!  

You get all this, every week, delivered directly to your e-mail for only $9.99 per month.



 How we used This Week in History

Since, it's summer and we aren't schooling everyday, I decided only to choose one day of the week to complete suggested activities from This Week in History.  I enjoyed receiving the e-mails a week ahead of time, just in case I needed to gather supplies, which only ended up being one trip to the library.  

Week of July 5-July 12

July 11, 1899
E.B. White was born.  He was best know for his children's classic, Charlotte's Web.

When I saw this, I knew Izzie would love reading Charlotte's Web.  We don't own the book, so knowing ahead of time allowed me to check it out from the library. 


Week of July 12-July 18

July 18, 1976
Nadio Comaneci became the first gymnast to receive a perfect score in the Olympic Games on the uneven bars and balance beam.  

 
One suggested activity was to perform some gymnastics!  A great way to incorporate a trip to the park.
My perfect 10s! 


Week of July 19- July 25

July 23, 1903
The Ford Motor Company sells its first car. 

Izzie strolling around in her Ford car!  Learning at the beach!


Week of July 26- August 1

July 28, 1866
Beatrix Potter was born.  Famous author of The Tale of Peter Rabbit.  

I love how there are direct links to all suggested activities and projects.  With a simple click, I was printing out Peter Rabbit coloring pages.  


August 2-August 8

August 3, 2003
Death of Peter Safar, Father of Emergency and Resuscitation Medicine. 

Suggested project was to make your own first aid kit.  The list of supplies was great, several I hadn't thought of!  We headed to our local store and purchased several of the suggested items, while discussing what each is used for. 

We've really enjoyed This Week in History from Thomas Jefferson Education this summer and look forward to incorporating it into more days this fall!  

Want to find out what other people thought of This Week in History? Check out the rest of the reviews from the Schoolhouse Review Crew by clicking here!

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Disclaimer: As a member of the TOS Crew, I received a free subscription to This Week in History, in return for an honest review.

Saturday, August 11, 2012

Working On New Design For Blog

Please, bear with me....I'm working on updating my blog design.  Unfortunately, during the process, I lost all my favorite blogs that I had listed on my sidebar...4 years of my favorite blogs, gone within seconds.  I'm in tears.  But, I wanted to make the blog simpler in layout, so maybe this will work.  It may be a crazy mess for the next few days, but hopefully, it will be together soon.  Thanks for understanding. 

Moments To Remember...

Late summer nights with ice cream!  

Friday, August 10, 2012

Homeschool Curriculum Choices 2012-2013


Homeschool Curriculum Choices

I've spent so much time researching curriculum for this upcoming school year.  There have been countless late nights reading reviews and dissecting every possible sample page on-line.  I spent hours at different booths at my state's homeschooling conference, asking way too many questions.  Decisions, decisions, and more decisions.  Thankfully, the decisions have been made and we are starting back to school next week! 

Izzie will officially be in kindergarten this year!  She did outstanding this past year with K5 and is looking forward to adding a few more subjects to her daily schedule.  During her K5 year, we focused primarily on math, phonics, and reading a lot of books.  Izzie is convinced that she's in first grade, since we did K5 last year and she did participate in all the kindergarten extracurricular activities (AWANA and American Heritage Girls), but I'm convinced that there's no need to rush these early years. So, we will be referring to this year as K-1.  I can make up grades, right? 

It was such an overwhelming feeling sending in her Letter of Intent to our local school system.  It's official...we are a homeschooling family!  Let the adventure begin! 

K-1 Curriculum Choices

Reading and Spelling  

 


We'll be using these books as supplements and will work at her pace. 

 All About Spelling Level 1 Materials (1 Teacher's Manual and 1 Student Packet)
 
Language Arts
 



 Writeshop Primary A
 

Bible and History 


 We will be incorporating some pieces, but not using their daily schedule.  Additionally, we'll be using their suggested science activities. 
  

 


The Story of the World, Vol. 1 (Ancient Times) [Revised Edition] - Paperback
 
Math


   
Art 



 Phew!  Now, on to Preschool


Reading and Unit Studies 

Phonics 

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 Writing 


Extras 

I found all of the following jewels at our homeschooling conference this summer! 

Set of 4 Preschool Activity Workbooks

Preschool - Set of 6 ABC Series workbooks


It's going to be a busy year!  

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Curious to see what other families are using this year?  Hop on over to "Not" Back-To-School Blog Hop to found out!
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