Term 1 Completed ! and I found New curriculum ...

Wow ! I can not believe that 6 weeks has come and gone by so quickly ! We started our first term on July 1st and now we are on break number 1. As you know or may not know, we are homeschooling year round this year with 6 weeks on 1 week off blocks, the entire months of December and June we are taking off. And though this term was a bit rocky to start, it ended quite well. The girls will be finishing up a few things when we return from break next week and finish out the month and then starting September we are starting fresh with  an entire new curriculum.

I recently came across a feed on Facebook about BYL and ad no idea what people were referring to. So I delved into it further and found out BYL stands for Build Your Library curriculum.  I picked up both grades 6 and 7 and started picking up books for both, joined several of their Facebook groups but then thought about it and after the suggestion of some fellow BYL moms decided to start both girls with BYL 6. I thought that it would be best to give both girls the history background this year and then go in to the geography next year.  So what is BYL you ask ?  Here is a brief description taken from the BYL  website :

       "Have you been looking for a literature based homeschool curriculum that is secular? How about a way to incorporate narration, copywork, dictation and memory work into your child’s education? Or art study that ties into history? What about a secular science that is mostly literature based in the elementary years? Well, you have come to the right place! Welcome to Build Your Library Curriculum!"

So we are super excited to start BYL. We are changing the science though and will be using Sassafras Science-Anatomy, and we will be complementing our studies with a writing program by Susan Bauer-Writing with Skill.  And for Social Studies we have decided to change it up and go with Social Studies through Art.  The girls will also continue their journaling, spelling, handwriting, occupational education, health and  language arts as before. It will be a lot busier, a bit more work than before but I have confidence that they can do this and will like it more as  they love to read and BYL is literary based.  I will let you know how it goes after we begin.

Starting Fresh, Starting New, JULY 1st FIRST DAY of SCHOOL !

I love the first day of school and this year we are opting for a Year round homeschool year ! So on July st we started back Brand spanking New !! Yay homeschool Fraunfelder Girls !! Our Schedule is pretty darn exciting too. We are on a 6 week on 1 week off , 4 day a week schedule with Fridays for catch up and Family Night and Field Trips. We are also taking off December and June, yes, the entire month ! (yay ! the girls are most excited about this) We also have a very big year ahead of us as we are planning to move across country to be near our family for more support due to my illnesses and pain and so the girls can grow up near their Fraunfelder Grandparents out West. So a big adventure is not far off. So moving will be an exciting reward , an adventurous homeschooling, educational experience for the girls. As we are going to try and see as much as we can while on the road.

Because we will be moving to a new state, we are following that state's way of homeschooling now and have 11 courses to study this year. Those courses are :

Health
Occupational Education
Writing
Language Arts
Science
Social Studies
History
Math
Spelling
Art and Music Appreciation
Reading


I will list our curriculum for this year and a few reviews of each as we have some pretty exciting curriculum we are using such as Excel Math,  Bravewriter and America: The Story of Us (DVD Series from the History Channel).

We are excited about this school year and where it will take us as our new journey in to our 5th year just began. I look forward to all of our new adventures it brings.

Easter baskets and traditions ....

What are your Easter traditions with your children and family? Do you meet up for big family gatherings and have dinners? Do you hunt for Easter eggs in the yard? Does the Easter bunny visit your home and leave goodies behind in baskets filled with Easter grass and eggs? Once upon a time I knew 2 little girls that were so excited that the Easter bunny was coming here for a visit. Well, that tradition has long since past and this will be the first year that tails of the Easter bunny will be a thing of the past :( Now, they still want an Easter basket filled with goodies and gifts, lol, but as far as who delivered them, that is questionable. So I decided to do gifts this year instead. Gifts that would be useful for school or educational minded. For starters, I picked out something fun. The girls love mad libs and I found the cutest mad lib (click on images to be redirected) books on Amazon that are right up their alley for my pug and cat lover in mind.

Next, I found adult coloring books that were of interest for my tweenagers : Sherlock for my Sherlock fan and Pugs once more for my Pug-fanatic fan ... and gel pens for coloring.

 

Then I picked up Science Experiment kits for Science class and of course kitchen (Mess) fun. :)

 

Last but not least, I chose to go with science experiment books.

 

I will also fill a few eggs with jellybeans, because what's Easter without jellybeans. LOL. But this year I decided to go with gifts because it's also Ella's birthday that day too. Ella will also receive her few Birthday gifts on her birthday but I wanted to do something a bit different this year and do something a bit fun too as the girls are older now. 

We will also go to my parent's house for dinner and Ella has requested a coconut cheesecake and chocolate dipped strawberries for dessert. Yum. 

So what are your plans for Easter? 

 

 

Otis !

Meet the newest addition to our family, Otis, the basset hound. I just wanted to share with you all because I am so very proud of our newest addition . We just adopted him 3 days ago and he is the sweetest, cutest most gentle dog in the world. Six months ago, we lost our beloved Snickers. He passed away and we were all very heart broken and needed to fill that missing void in our lives. And we it was just luck that we came across the post for Otis. So we called up and it was like fate brought us to him. So we quickly drove the hour and a half to Mississippi and met with his owner and that was that, he was then ours. So here he is, Otis. Isn't he just a doll? We think so :) .

Winner of the Mom's Fun-Schooling Handbook !

We have a WINNER !

 

CONGRATULATIONS to ..... Kirsten DeWitt. 

Thank you to all that participated in my first ever giveaway. Your comments were  all very interesting and endearing. Keep following the blog and the facebook group as I will be having another Thinking Tree Book giveaway in the upcoming week. :) 

 

Thinking Tree Mom's Night Books Have arrived and a GIVEAWAY on the blog !!

The Thinking Tree books for my Mom's Night Out have arrived !! YAY !! I am totally excited. Now to plan for the homeschool Mom's Night Out. I have a few ideas floating around but I haven't put my finger on one yet.

But now for what I really came here to post. For all of you that follow me and and then some. I would like to give  one lucky person a copy of the :

Mom's Fun-Schooling Handbook: Flip to Fun-Schooling - An Idea Book & Coloring Journal for Homeschooling Moms

It is currently on SALE right now on Amazon for a super super low price while the family is out of the country traveling and visiting the Homeschool Convention in South Carolina. So You can purchase a copy or two or three :) or try your hand at wining your very own here.  All you have to do is leave a comment below by answering the following question and fill out a few other things on the rafflecopter:

What is your favorite fun thing to in your homeschool? 

 A winner will be announced on Friday, March 4th. via the blog and the Facebook Group.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Our Thinking Tree books delivery today .... so exciting !

I love to hear the roar of the UPS truck coming down my street ... especially when it stops in front of my driveway :) Today was the best delivery of them all ... our Thinking Tree books delivery from Sarah Janisse Brown. Oh the glory. I could not wait to open the box (I mean tear in to it, lol) and see all of the goodies it held inside , deep within the brown corners of cardboard. Once inside, it was packed full of Thinking Tree goodies. If you aren't familiar with The Thinking Tree books and journals yet, you are missing out on a great opportunity to change your homeschooling experience forever. Sarah's books are phenomenal and will change the way your kids think and learn.

  Let me show you all we received :

We received  the following Thinking Tree books/journals:

• Spelling Time - Master the Top 150 Misspelled Words: Do-It-Yourself Homeschooling
•  The Four Seasons ~ Spelling Time ~ Master 150 Spelling Words Through Art & Logic: Do-It-Yourself Spelling Games For Elementary Students
•  The Thinking Tree - 10 Subject Portfolio: 1 Year Plan - Illustrated For All Ages - Home, Library & Internet Based Curriculum Handbook & Study Guide
•  Mom's First Year Of Homeschooling - Handbook: For Teaching Children ages 4 to 17 - A Workbook, Coloring Book & Learning Guide that Teaches Moms How to Plan, Organize & Teach by Being an Example!
•  Bible Games - Math, Spelling and Creativity: Christian Family Homeschooling (Christian Family Homeshooling) (Volume 3)
•  The Thinking Tree ~ 12 Subject Portfolio - Home, Library & Internet Based Curriculum Handbook & Study Guide: A High Level Learning Plan for Organized Home Education
•  Film Study - 180 day Journal: Do-It-Yourself Homeschooling
•  The Busy Mom's Homeschooling Handbook: Over 180 Delightful Activities to Help You Organize Your Day and Inspire a Passion for Learning in Your ... to Impart a Passion for Learning) (Volume 1)
•  How to Make Money - A Handbook for Teens, Kids & Young Adults: What Do You Want to Be When You Grow Up? What do You Want to Be Now? Dishwashers, ... Books for Teens, Kids and Adults) (Volume 1)
•  All About Horses - Homeschooling Journal - Horse Lovers Handbook: The Perfect Method for Homeschooling Horse Lovers! A Delight Directed Learning Guide - A SIX Week Unit Study on Horses!
•  Horses, Ponies & Donkeys: Learn How to Draw Realistic Horses (Christian Homeschooling Family) (Volume 5)
•  Horses, Ponies and Donkeys - Research Handbook: Art, Science and Creative Writing Workbook (Teach Yourself to Draw - Series 3) (Volume 7)
  
  
  When I get a chance this week, I will dive in to each book and post a few photos of the inside of each book so you can see what each book offers. You can also check out the Thinking Tree Blog Roll for a weekly review of Thinking Tree books by other bloggers too. My girls are tickled pink to get started using their new books so I see a library trip to pick up horse books this week. So be sure to check out the books on Amazon. The links are provided above for you to do so. And you can visit the Thinking Tree Facebook page as well.  Drop by there and tell them I sent you. Also check back here often. I plan to do a Thinking Tree book giveaway in March :). I hope you will give these books a try. They will change your homeschool experience for the better.