Thursday, December 31, 2015

Happy New Year !!


Happy New Year to your family from mine. 
Yesterday, the girls and I went to the Mobile Museum of Art to check out a few of the new art exhibitions and spend New Year's Eve doing something educational too. The girls enjoyed seeing the new art featured and picked a few favorites as well to further look in to later at home. 

We even took a selfie in honor of the John Cerney "SELFIE" exhibition that is in full swing there as well. We spent the rest of our New Year's Eve all snuggled down in our own bed's , napping and watching movies. I finally watched It's A Wonderful Life... I am embarrassed to say I have never seen this movie in all my years. :) It's a rather interesting movie. 

 
We will be back in full swing with school on Monday.With lots of new and exciting things in the works to come. Astronomy, Chemistry, Zoology, new Math text , Writing Paragraphs and more. 2016 will be an exciting New Year for our homeschool and our family in general, I just know it will. And I hope it will be for yours as well.

Monday, December 28, 2015

Happy Holidays from My Family to yours !!

 We are still on Holiday break but plan to do a few writing activities this week along with some reading, but not too much.  I want the girls and us to enjoy the Holidays together and plan to do a few fun things. The city of Mobile is famous for it's annual Moon Pie drop at midnight on New Year's eve and even has National coverage. Can you believe that? So we may go watch the Moon Pie drop and the fireworks show this year, it all depends on the weather. En Vogue is also supposed to put on a concert as well.
As far as school goes,  I have been planning a bit for the upcoming month and looking for new curriculum for the girls in the way of Sciences, Math, Social Studies and Geography.  Learning is a never ending process and it's time to add a few new subjects, change a few things and try out  something different as well. I'm hoping to take this blog in a new direction in the coming month and possibly share a few product reviews with you. So check back soon. We plan to return back to our normal schedule on January 3rd, 2016. I hope you all had a very Merry Christmas and that you have wonderful plans for the New Year. 

Saturday, December 19, 2015

HomeSchooling Handbook for Moms and RoseArt Markers Review

Okay so the Roseart markers came from Amazon on the 10th and they are magnificent. I adore them. The colors are vibrant and yes, there are 100 different colors just as the box says. They color smoothly on the paper and are washable. But only one set back...they bleed through the paper. :(

Here is a coloring page that I started in my Homeschooling Handbook for Moms. The Pictures in the book are amazing and I love coloring. I am so glad that there are coloring pages mixed in the book so I can take some time to color with the girls when they are doing their school work and coloring too. :) 



And here is the backside of the page. I don't know if you can tell what the page is from the picture, but it's the Mom's Illustrated To-Do List that I just wrote my To-Do list in the frames .... And the markers bled through the page and on to the following page as well.... which is a Menu Planning page aka a recipe Page ...





So although the markers are fabulous and we will continue to utilize them, I think I will use them else where instead of our Journals and Handbooks unless it's absolutely necessary that we have to use the markers in our books :).

Enough about the Markers.... Let's get into the real nitty gritty, the Homeschooling Handbook for Moms. Oh My Goodness! What a fantastic book this is ! I do not know where to begin. First off, I need to check out my books from the library, which I have yet to do (I know, I am so bad and a procrastinator) but I have been so busy with the girls and feeling bad and other things that I have yet to have time to. But I have jumped right in and started with my book in other ways. :) This book is packed to the gills with all of us Mom's need to keep us on track in our daily lives...from planning meals, planning tasks with the kids, planning fun and educational ideas, daily journaling, prayers, ideas, thoughts....ugh, I could go on, but....then I'd spoil all the F-U-N for you. ;) You really just need to check this book out for yourself. I have written down recipes, planned meals, recorded ideas for Fun outings and websites and apps to check out, book lists the girls should read, colored pages in between and done exactly what the subtitle of the book suggests ... Taught By Example. My girls see me with my book and they pull out a book of theirs and sit with me, or they see me coloring and they come grab a coloring pencil and have a chat for a moment or two and help out :) I LOVE it. It's amazing. But don't just take my word for it, go grab one for your self and you will open a magic door or window of infinite possibilities in to your homeschooling world as well.  You can pick up a copy at Amazon here.

Tuesday, December 8, 2015

Eclectic and Creative Homeschooling

Wow, January 2014 was the last time I posted to this blog.... well let me catch you up a bit. We are still homeschooling the girls. And lots has been going on with me. My pain and migraines have continues to worsen. I have 2 bad disks in my neck that cause me great discomfort, numbness in my hands and pain in my shoulders, neck...and of course migraines. I also have pain in my hips and back. So I forget a lot of things and I guess this blog was one of them. Anyway, life moves on.

I wanted to get back to my blog and write a bit about a book I came across by accident . It's called :

Homeschooling for Girls - Winter Homeschooling Journal - Eclectic Curriculum for Artists and Writers: This 60 Day Homeschooling Workbook Covers Eight ... Ages 9 to 17 (Homeschooling Girls) (Volume 3) 

 

 

By the wonderful and talented author Sarah Janisse Brown. You can find her website here  and you will definitely want to check out her facebook page. She and her family are really active on the page and offer lots of great tips and giveaways. 

Anyway, the Winter Homeschooling Journal is totally awesome ! My girls get bored quite easily and so I came across a link some where to Sarah's books and did a bit of looking in to it and so I ordered the girl's each their own copy of the Winter Journal. I am so happy I did. The girls took to it right away. The book allows them the freedom to choose what they want to learn about by choosing 8 topics to start off with. Then you go to the library, choose books, videos, audio books, etc...all of the materials needed to get started and you are set. All you need to have your kids do is read a bit each day, complete 5-6 pages from the Journal a day, along with their other curriculum of course, and they are good to go. 

 
The Winter Journal has really changed our homeschooling experience. My girls were lacking that luster and desire for their lessons and when I gave them the Winter book it was like a light was turned on. They now complete their daily lessons, are more excited about learning and actually do more on their own than they were willing to do in the past.

My girls love their books. The pages are filled with areas to do their writing, be creative, doodle, and color.  I ordered the Spring Journal to give to the girls for Christmas gifts. And their Grandmother ordered one of the Math books for them for Christmas as well. Which I also won a copy from one of the Facebook giveaways (how awesome is that? now the girls will each have their own copy and not have to share).  I just gave the girls a nice set of coloring pencils and ordered an inexpensive set of markers from Amazon as well, by Rose Art (click on link to be redirected)


 I wanted an inexpensive set the girls could share that offered a large variety of colors and that we could try out on the pages in our Journals and in one of the Coloring books that we also own by Sarah as well, titled, A Tiny Treasury of Favorite Things: To Color When You Are Feeling Bad (Purse Sized Coloring Books - Therapeutic, Comforting & Inspirational for Ages 9 to Adult ) (Volume 1) that I received to review.  Once we receive the markers I will write a review on the blog about them and how well they hold up on the pages of the journals and coloring book and will take photos of the journals to share as well. First I need to find my camera battery ( I took it out to charge it but I can't find where I put it , LOL).

You can click on all of the hyperlinks throughout the blog to view more about Sarah, see her website, facebook page, view the books on Amazon and more. I am in no way affiliated with Amazon, or was paid to write a review . I purchased the Winter Journal myself and wanted to share my thoughts on the book with others and how it has helped my girls and our homeschooling experience to grow.

I hope this blog post has been helpful to you and that you will too find Sarah's books as delightful as we do. I hope you will give them a try and that you will also hop on over to her Facebook page and say HI. Tell her I sent you, Jennifer Fraunfelder.  

Many Blessings to you all and Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah !