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Mimip
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| Posted: Sept 24 2009 at 5:26pm | IP Logged
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For the past 3 to 4 weeks I have been thinking about the beginning of the school year and stopping to reflect on the positives.
Keeping with my theme for the year: "Find Joy in All things" I thought that this would be a great time to reflect on the positives for this year so far. I know that right now we are working out and "tweeking" what we need to change but I also know that there is some great Joy happening in our homes.
So, What is bringing Joy to your homeschooling?"
I'll start:
1. Morning Basket: I know that I have said this before but it really has changed our tired and never ending nagging morning routine. We are actually getting to our Nature Study and Poetry and Music and Art. Ok, I'll stop now.... here is the link to Jen's page if you are new and have no idea what I am talking about...Wildflowers and Marbles: Morning basket
2. Workboxes; We are not using it in the traditional sense but having those drawers ready everyday after our Morning Basket is done is wonderful. The kids know what is next and what they are expected to finish, yes I could just use a planner but for my kinestic learner opening those drawers are simply heaven.
3. Teaching Textbooks Math: After a very rocky start with this program, (technical reasons only) I am blown away by its effectiveness and the fact that my child, that cried at the mention of Math, is now getting up at 7 am so that she can do 2 lessons before her siblings wake up and disturb her!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I know that we are still in the review stage but considering she only got through 157 pages of her Math book last year this is huge. So much so that after the first week, I walked into the bathroom where hubby was shaving and sat on the toilet and cried with JOY
So share away Ladies, I would love to here how the Joy is being found in your homes!
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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MrsM
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| Posted: Sept 24 2009 at 6:47pm | IP Logged
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My joy is coming from the extracurriculars this year.
Both my girls are learning how to ride horses, and they LOVE it. My youngest dd is in a new (to us) ballet studio where they do classical ballet, and the director has chosen her for a special scholarship program for promising dancers. She gets three hours of intense ballet for $37/month, and it's wonderful! My dh is teaching my boys how to bowl, and all three are having a blast during "man time." And my littlest guy is enjoying speech therapy, believe it or not (!), and finally learned to say "Mama" and "Dada," which melts my heart. 
So far it's my busiest year, but my most fun year. 
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Lynn in California
Homeschooling dd13, dd11, ds10, and ds8
Mom to Miracle Baby ds3
Mom to darling Elizabeth and Francis, held in Mary's arms and always in my heart
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Ladybird3
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| Posted: Sept 25 2009 at 7:04am | IP Logged
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I am a newbie homeschooler...ds is 6 and dd is 3. Ds spent 2 yr in pre-k bc his bday is Aug 25 we figured he'd do better in school starting kindergarten a yr late...then we discovered homeschooling :)
As a newbie looking into hs I bought a LOT of books and read a LOT of blogs (all beautiful and mostly from posters here, thank you!)...I finally got a little freaked out and went with FIAR vol. 1. I figured it would be a nice easy way to start kindergarten and ds loves to create so I figured lapbooks would be great...However, our fist one on Ping (ds loved the bk!) was very difficult...too much color this...color that..cut and paste...too much of the seat work, busy work that I wanted him to avoid in kindergarten...so, this being our second week I am just reading the book, Lentil, (we love it, so fun!) and talking about the lessons in the manuel....the phonics and math are very blah, so I've got to do something to spice it up...
Last week was fun, bc it was the first wk, did the first day of school schultuets for the kiddos and ds was excited to start school...this week was just a little more difficult...
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CandaceC
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| Posted: Sept 25 2009 at 7:40am | IP Logged
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Great thread!
1. Workboxes!! For sure! :)
2. Serendipity's World Tour of the continents! We are LOVING this study!
3. I'm *hoping* that Teaching Textbooks will be a big hit for us. In November they come out with grade 3, which is what I need. I thought about purchasing grade 4 and seeing if she could do it, but then I saw that it would only be another 1-2 months and am holding out. Because otherwise, math is NOT a joy in our homeschool.  Mostly for mom, my daughter enjoys it, I do not enjoy teaching it.
4. Getting together weekly with my sister-in-law (and friend) to do Latin - 1 video lesson, 1 science experiment and piano lessons/music appreciation. It is going so well and is so fun for the kids! This helps keep us both accountable to getting those "extras" done that we'd love to be doing but just haven't gotten done regularly before now.
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Candace - wife to David since 2000...mommy to Hannah (Feb. 2002), Emily (April 2003) and Caleb (March 2005)
His Mercy Is New
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Sarah
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| Posted: Sept 25 2009 at 7:57am | IP Logged
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Great idea here!
Joy for me this school year this far:
1.taking a personal day here and there to clean, blog, and regroup. Kids do independent work that day and the younger ones who are not independent just play. Trying to cram all deep cleaning and such to a saturday plus soccer and baseball and acreage chores was not working. This has lowered my stress so much, the house is cleaner, and we do better in our school days.
2. I am teaching a nature club/class to 13 homeschool boys. They play games afterward. It has been fun and inspiring for the kids.
3. LOVE having everyone on the same history cycle. We are all doing Vikings and then explorers. The kids read books on their level and several share From Sea to Shining Sea.
4. Wednesday afternoons are so fun. We have a holy hour then its off to the library where I look for a recipe that I have never tried before and on the way home we swing by the store for the ingredients to the recipe. We raised and butchered 50 meat chickens this summer and every Wed. I try to cook one with a new recipe. Everyone is excited, even dad!
4. I made a menu for the month and we grocery shopped all at once for the menu. DH is helping me to keep to the menu which has been so smart of him. I am so glad when I do! We just pick up a few items as needed. We are saving money!
Okay, I know that most of what I wrote is not really academic, but it has helped our academics by keeping morale up. That's where we had a problem. The school part isn't our problem. Its the logistics and fun that were dying.
I'm learning how to be more optimistic!
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Six boys ages 16, 14, 11, 7, 5, 2 and one girl age 9
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hmbress
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| Posted: Sept 25 2009 at 12:18pm | IP Logged
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Oh Sarah, I LOVE the idea of a personal day. I'm finding myself doing this very thing anyways, as I struggle with keeping up with both household duties AND lessons. And for me, if the house isn't under control, I just don't do well, which affects everything and everyone. So the idea that I could view this positively as a planned personal day, rather than as a day to beat myself up because I'm somehow "not good enough" is so liberating!
Great thread - it's helping me to take a look at what is going well instead of what isn't!
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Heather Rose (ds13, ds10)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 25 2009 at 12:37pm | IP Logged
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What is bringing joy to our homeschool this year?
*Lots of time in the water and on the shores--swimming, kayaking, snorkeling, and just plain old exploring.
*Art and lots of it. We've got some new supplies in our arsenal and are having tons of fun playing around with them.
*Ds and I both have a copy of "Wreck This Journal" and are having a blast working on them together.
*Having my grandson back in our homeschool again.
*Ds finally having some homeschooled friends his own age to do stuff with.
*Mondays With Mary. I cannot say enough good things about this book.
It's a good year that just keeps on getting better!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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Bookswithtea
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I think the most significant decision I made this year was to not overschedule activities. It is making for lovely days, no problems completing activities, and time to just be a family.
Its a very very good thing. 
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Blessings,
~Books
mothering ds'93 dd'97 dd'99 dd'02 ds'05 ds'07 and due 9/10
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JuliaT
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I hesitate to post what has brought joy into our homeschool as it sounds extremely bizarre. Please bear with me as I try to explain.
The thing that has brought joy to our learning is finding out that I have cancer. When I was initially told about the cancer, we really didn't know what we were dealing with -- if it had spread, if it was in my lymph nodes, etc.--we just knew that I was sick. Being given this kind of information changes you and how you perceive life. All I wanted to do from that moment on was just be with my kids. I didn't care about math, reading, or grammar, I just wanted to love on my children and feel the love back.
Even though I didn't want to do academics (and I knew my children were in no condition to do that, either) I still wanted to do things that filled up their souls. I wanted to replace the knowledge of cancer with poetic knowledge. So we started most days with our Morning Time Basket. This was such a bright spot to our days. Even on the days that I had doctor's appt's we still did MT and that gave us a strong foundation for the day. It filled our day with beauty.
We also went for walks every morning before MT so we could enjoy God's Creation. These walks are very special for me, for as my two youngest would run up ahead playing little games, I was able to talk to my oldest about what was going on in our lives. We were able to have such wonderful talks.
We also spent alot of time reading books and watching videos. Those times were our cuddle times. They, too, are very precious to me.
I have enjoyed our non-structured learning. It has strengthened me and has comforted my children. Our souls have been nourished by seeing how God has taken care of us.
It has been almost a month since my diagnosis. We know now that it isn't as serious as we initially thought. From the tests, we know now that the cancer has not spread. We will find out next week when I have surgery if the lymph nodes are involved, but I am confident that they are not. I was told that i would have to stay in the hospital for a few days after my surgery but yesterday I found out that I am only having day surgery! Wahoo! I am so relieved to hear that. So it looks like our drama may be coming to a close soon.
Even though, the cancer will be gone soon, I am not sure if I want our non-structured days to end. i can't fathom going back to a schedule, work boxes and the various curriculum. I don't think we are ready yet. I want to continue with what we are doing. It was so comforting to me and the kids.
So sorry for the length but God has taught me so much in the past month. It is amazing to me that so much has happened in such a small amount of time. I am so grateful for what I have learned.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3(10,8,6)
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Servant2theKing
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Julia, your post is such a beautiful testimony of how we ought to spend each and every day God has gifted us with. It's interesting that we often discover what is truly most important during times of crisis. May you and your family continue to be blessed with God's strengthening and comforting grace showered upon all your days. May your days continue to be filled with beauty and a profound sense of trust in God's love for your family. Thank you for sharing such a thoughtful and insightful perspective on one of the most meaningful ways we can find true joy in homeschooling. I will be praying for you and your dear family.
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All for Christ, our Saviour and King, servant
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Paula in MN
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Thank you Julia. Just beautiful.
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Paula
A Catholic Harvest
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Mattie
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Oh, Julia, thank you for that testimony!
What brings joy in our day?
- Morning Basket
- Workboxes
-Having everything planned out! I have been working all summer to have our general plan for the year set and then we do 6 weeks of school and 1 week off during which I polish the following 6 weeks, buy material, print whatever needs to be printed and use a file folding system similar to Dawn's to keep everything organized by weeks. it has been a HUGE help. No more spending my weekends trying to figure out what we will be doing next week!
Yeah!!
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Mattie
Maman to 4 beautiful mountain kids in CO
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Mimip
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| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 12:26pm | IP Logged
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Julia, thank you so much for your sharing and please know that I am praying for you daily.
Mattie, We are using Dawn's system too and I love it. It really has allowed me to be flexible within my week because I have everything on hand and thought out. I plan on Thursday night and get my following week ready. Another thing that helps is I print out the next weeks coloring pages and recipes and projects and put them into my folder. I have everything ready for the next week!
Thank you all for sharing, looking forward to more causes of Joy in your homes!
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In Christ,
Mimi
Wife of 16 years to Tom, Mom of DD'00, DD'02, '04(in heaven) DS'05, DS'08 and DS '12
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Angie Mc
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| Posted: Sept 26 2009 at 12:40pm | IP Logged
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JuliaT wrote:
Even though, the cancer will be gone soon, I am not sure if I want our non-structured days to end. i can't fathom going back to a schedule, work boxes and the various curriculum. I don't think we are ready yet. I want to continue with what we are doing. It was so comforting to me and the kids.
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 to you, Julia.
Our family had a private, tragic, event affect how we are learning at home, too. Not to minimize your pain and suffering dear, yet I too don't want to go back to where I was, where we were, before my eyes became wide open...in fact, our family will be discussing this matter at a family meeting today. I'm praying for you and ask that you pray for us!
So what are we loving? My boys do their independent work in the morning without me...they do it...at their own pace...I'm satisfied with their pace. We gather together at 9:00 for our morning meal, prayers, poetry (new...just like you said, Julia, wanting...needing to add beauty to our days to counter the fear), and fun memory work. I have made 2 outings a week not optional - library and field trip. Movies, movies, and more movies! Books, books, and more books! Unit studies and rabbit trails! Nature study - walks, zoo, rocks! Habit of discussion and more discussion! We're really going back to what has worked for us in the past...and doing it with a renewed sense of *just how precious our time together is.* We've dumped outside expectations, decluttered, ordered our space, and are pushing ourselves to do enjoyable things together and with friends.
Thanks for starting this enjoyable topic, Mimi.
Love,
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Angie Mc
Maimeo to Henry! Dave's wife, mom to Mrs. Devin+Michael Pope, Aiden 20,Ian 17,John Paul 11,Catherine (heaven 6/07)
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JuliaT
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Angie, back to you. May you feel God's arms wrapped tightly around you and your family as you walk this path. I am definitely praying for you.
Blessings,
Julia
mom of 3(10,8,6)
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Erin
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Julia and Angie, hugs and prayers to you both. Your sharing gives me much to ponder. I'm just about to plan my next ten weeks and I'll be really thinking about your words of wisdom.
Our biggest joy has been Writing Club.
One afternoon a week 2 hsing friends and I with our children have gathered together to write.
The children LOVE it, they are so enthusiastic, every single one of them. We started out with our fifth to tenth graders, then after a couple of weeks our ten year olds joined in, this week our eight year olds wanted to join in too. My dd was so excited to tell her dadddy, "Daddy today I joined the writing club." We now have ten children joining in the fun.
Lesson plans are pretty spontaneous on behalf of us mums, we work really well together and it is just flowing.
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Erin
Faith Filled Days
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: So how is your year going?????
