Ow!! What just stung us at the beach in the Gulf of Mexico? Jellyfish?

Ow!! What just stung us at the beach in the Gulf of Mexico? Jellyfish?

I didn’t get a single sting this year. Hurray! But Alan and two of our sons were swimming around when they all began to realize that their legs were stinging, all of them! It wasn’t a terrible run for cover ordeal, just a, “Hey, I’m getting out

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How to Make Fire with a Magnifying Glass

Last weekend we were enjoying a leisurely weekend of letting the kids play in the backyard while we visited with family. Caleb, who loves all things science-related, asked Alan if he could show him how to use the sun’s light and a magnifying glass to make fire. Deep down, I guess we are all like cave-men because every one of us was full of joy to watch this happen. I had never actually seen this done before. The sun was […]

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Classical Conversations, Basketball, Busy Bags, and Other Mom Stuff

These are the kinds of fun things we get to do in Classical Conversations, our home school tutoring service and curriculum. Look closely at his picture to see if you can find the eel coming out of the coral. (Hint: middle-left, It’s a profile with an eye.) Classical Conversations is a rigorous way to approach home schooling, but it is also fun. It has definitely raised the educational bar for us. ******** If you felt like you were reading the […]

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Our Favorite Books from Homeschool Year 2

There is a time of day that is my absolute favorite. It’s the hour at the end of the day when I read to the big boys. The children love it too because it means spending time with Mom. Do you think Joshua and Caleb would ever, in a million billion years, have chosen to read the entire Little House on the Prairie series? This is a series of books that takes the time to describe the common things that […]

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My Outline for Science Plans for CC Cycle 1 (Part 1)

CC Cycle 1 Science Plans

I feel like I will have an extremely firm grasp on my science plan by the time I finish poring over all these books! One interesting thing about the classical approach to education is that we pull the focus AWAY from good ol’ textbooks and look to real life experience and “living” books instead.  (By living books, I just mean books that are not sold as textbooks.) However, I do actually have several ‘textbooks’ that we will reference this school […]

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Ways to Use Brain Pop Jr. at Home School

Home schooling may be one of the greatest challenges I have taken on as a parent.  One of my biggest struggles is making learning fun. If the boys spend all day doing seat work, writing, and listening to me teach them, they start to become unmanageable. A house of unmanageable children will wreck your day in a hurry. I figure if it is hard for me to find ways to make it fun, it must be hard for other parents […]

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