Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Newport Aquarium-Home School Days


The Newport Aquarium is offering a special discount for home school families on Tuesday, May 4th and Wednesday, May 5th 2010.

All tickets are just $12! The deadline to register for the 4th & 5th is Thursday, April 29th 2010...so if you are even considering it don't delay.

You can find the registration form on the Newport Aquarium Website

The next home school day is October 13th and 15th. Registration is needed by Thursday, October 7th, 2010

We're planning a family "field trip" to this event and in the meantime, I think it would be fun to teach the girls some different things about sea life-science, oceans-geography and you could even encorporate something in about how recycling plays an important part!

I'd love to hear your ideas on this and any other suggestions you may have.

Friday, April 16, 2010

"Holy Cow...Science is Fun!"

We're finishing up our second year home schooling. We've been using Abeka Science.

Now I'm by no means an expert on home schooling...but I am smart enough to know that there has to be something a little more exciting than this!

It's a basic approach to home schooling.

Read together, discuss...then the child answers a few work book questions.

Are you bored yet? I am!

I attended a workshop at the Mid-West Home School Convention on how to make Science fun. My daughter loves science, but she's always asking, "when can we do an experiment?"

I love Holy Cow Science because they are simple, inexpensive experiments that can be used for multiple children and multiple grade levels. Most "Science in a Bag" kits come with everything you will need to do the experiment. If there are things you'll need it is usually things you already have on hand like water, baking soda etc.

It is a business designed by two brilliant chemisty teachers!

Do you know how to do a science experiment correctly? Need science fair project ideas? Or just want to add a little hands on fun to your science curriculum?

We learned all about magnatisum this week through their project called "Wacky Water Tricks"

Here are some photos:


Thursday, April 15, 2010

Home School Humor
















We hear it all the time, "I send my kids to school because I believe kids should be with others they're age. Home schooling children are un-socialized."

Or...

"We don't think it's right to shelter our children."

I realized over the weekend that there is a lot of humor in home schooling. I didn't know there was a market for it!

I loved this comic and the message behind it...so, so true;) I was needing a laugh today, so I went looking for more funny home school humor.

Enjoy, oh and feel free to send over your favorites and I'll add them here so we can all get a good laugh!

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

My Memorable Week At the Cincinnatti Home School Convention

I just got back from the Mid-West Home schooling convention in Cincinnatti Ohio and what a life changing event that was!


This was my first convention and I have to say that I went in with an "agenda."


Home schooling had become a J.O.B for me and not one that I looked forward to tackling everyday.


Between the house work, farm chores, errands, my home based business, home school committee responsibilities and kids crying that they didn't want to do school work...

it felt that I was starting the day with "loser" written on my forehead.


I should tell you that it hasn't always been like this...I blame a lot of it on myself because life got so busy and what did I do...I took the fun out of home schooling.


Does this sound like you?

So this past week, I hit a wall and I knew it was time for a major change!

I packed my bags for a fun and exciting weekend with the girls, left the kids with my hubby and headed off on a road trip to Cincinnati knowing that I was coming home with my questions answered and a game plan to change the course of our class room!

We had a hotel reserved in the heart of the city and a room waiting for us on the eleventh floor!

Parking was crazy and so were the elevator rides up and down. The oldest hotel in Cincinnati only had two working elevators and 26 floors!

I am not sure who suggested this but some of the girls wondered if it was faster to take the stairs...yes, they actually raced up 11 flights of stairs and beat the elevator! LOL


The first night of the convention was filled with excitement. If I hadn't done my research going in, I would have been totally overwhelmed!


Over 300 exhibits and 250 workshops...that is some serious home school material to go through!

We each came for different reasons, so as soon as we arrived at the convention center we all went our separate ways. Some visited the exhibits first while others dove right in to the workshops.

We met back up that night for some late night pizza, chocolate and girl time....I don't think the lights went out till after 2am officially;)

The buzz was contagious and we couldn't wait to get back in there on Friday to learn more! It was two more full days of hands on material.

If you're not a home school mom, I could see how you wouldn't understand how this could be at all fun...but imagine being in a room full of things that will make your life go more smoothly, more organized, more fun and put more smiles on the faces of everyone you love.

Okay....now we're on the same page!

I had so many "a ha" moments it wasn't even funny. I can't wait to get it all out to share with you all and more importantly implement what I learnt into my homeschooling efforts.

Stay tuned for ways to spice up your home school!

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Cincinnati Home School Convention

Today I am off to the Cincinnati Home School Convention. I'm very excited because I've never been to this type of event and ofcourse I'm going with an agenda! We have a few months left before we finish school for the summer and I probably won't make any major changes until the fall, but some things I'm looking for are:

  • ways to keep learning fun
  • teaching multiple children of different grades
  • a new science, health & history program
  • christian based readers
  • organizational techniques

There are about a dozen speakers to choose from every hour a long with 300+ booths of vendors. I am sure I will find what I am looking for.

I'll keep you posted;)