Another day at the zoo...

It was a beautiful day...

to see some butterflies...

and how they grow.

They were all so beautiful.

SC's new favorite animal is the baby girraffe!

They loved the barnyard as well.

Then they needed to cool off a bit!

and take a nice ride...

Question of Extremes

I think it is hysterical that the top two questions that I have gotten from people over the last two years of homeschooling have been"What about socialization?" and "How do you not overschedule your child?" - one extreme to the other!

Overscheduling is a huge thing because you see all these great classes and opportunities for your family to have a great time, but you still need to have time for lessons, chores and nothing time scheduled!

My homeschooling "GURU" has this system of "stay days" and "go days" that you may have seen me mention before. How this works is you choose a few days a week consistently that you do not go anywhere! Now this does not have to mean that you are locked in the house, but more that you don't have any outside activities planned on those days. For us this is Tues, Wed, Sun. Some people have/need for it to be more than that. Others choose to not schedule anything before 12 or 1. However you work it out the key is to stick to it consistently. Now I do make concessions if there is a Field trip, play date or something like that, but I will not schedule anything that is repeating on those days.

If it is a particular class(es) you are debating over or trying to choose between, another thing is to really think about what the class is and if it will be running again. Would this be something that your child might enjoy more next year, after doing a unit study on the topic, maybe they could wait until spring and take it then, maybe they would enjoy it more when they are older. Most classes that are offered for homeschoolers will run again. Really this is just about prioritizing.

How do you avoid overscheduling in your household?

Meet me at the Corner - Site Review

Last week I was contacted by Donna Guthrie, founder of the site Meet Me at the Corner to see if I would do a review of the site...and I am SOOOO glad that she did!!!

MEET ME AT THE CORNER, Virtual Field Trips for Kids, is a dynamic, interactive site, which encourages individual expression and participation through video submissions from children worldwide. Through these video pod casts we hope to create a community of children, who learn the art of self-expression and storytelling through video.

In the beginning, the video pod casts highlighted the people, events and history of New York City. As this site grows through children’s submissions, we hope to highlight the people and events of other towns, cities and nations. To date we have video podcasts from California, Colorado, North Carolina, Texas, and Maryland. We are always open to the people and events in your corner of the world. - from site

KM and I poked around the site this morning and we were both very impressed with the content, variety of topics covered, as well as the quality of the videos - even in full screen mode the quality was really good!

KM's favorite episode that she watched was Juggle for Kids and she "thought it was great and really interesting."

As a homeschooling mom my favorite feature was the Learning Corner -

Each Learning Corner is designed by an educator to be easily integrated into individual curriculum, as well as State, and National Standards.

Click here for The Learning Corner Page

It is also so convenient that they have posted links to various things mentioned within the episode right on the video page, as well recommended book suggestions. Which is so awesome to be able to have the content references to continue a discussion or expand on the ideas presented!

They also have some really cool contests that seem to cross curriculum areas - ANOTHER FANTASTIC feature for homeschoolers!

This is sure to be an incredible, fun and FREE addition to our current curriculum!

With that being said though - I would like to say that the one thing I am a little uncomfortable with is the registration questions. You don't need to sign up for an account to view any of the content on the site, but in order to submit or enter contests you do - here is where I feel the uncomfortable part - and the child is asked to submit first and last name as well as their full address and phone number. They do ask the children to submit their parents email to approve the account, but I have heard many a story of kids setting up separate accounts to approve these things themselves. Here is their explanation of how it works -

We have set up the Meet Me at the Corner account in such a way that unless parents confirm the child's account, the child won't be able to log on to the website. So, when you create a new account, one mail is sent to child's email id and another is sent to parent's email id. To activate the account, both the child and the parent must click on the confirmation link in the email notice. Once both confirm, the account is activated and the child can log on and submit content there on. - from FAQ page

I, personally, will be really thinking about whether I let KM set up an account or not. However, since you can access the content without registration I do still HIGHLY recommend the site!

Such Cuties!!!

I hate to brag, but...

I truly have the cutest little nieces!


My nephew is rather handsome too, but he is way beyond allowing me to take his picture,
never mind posting one!!! I may even get yelled at for just stating that he exists!

Science Thursday - A Little of this and a Little of That

These pics are from last week -

Our triops

were lots of fun to watch while they lasted...

and very interesting to examine under the microscope
we also managed to harvest some eggs and

will be trying to hatch these once they have dried out.



This week we had some fun with SC

First they added a little

Then they added A LOT...




I LOVE her expression in that last one!



Our unit this week was on Weather so here are some of our favorite pics from those projects...

Rather Different Choice for Lunch

not judging...just noticing!

And the winner is....

Out of the 12 entries -




there could be only one winner-

CONGRATULATIONS!!!
Thanks to all who have entered!

I have a featured interview!

I forgot - as I was letting my wonderful first giveaway have center stage for the week! - that my interview on the wonderful freedom of homeschool was going to be featured this week! You can check it out here along with many other wonderful families' experiences as well!!! And don't forget you have until tonight to enter the Spellquizzer giveaway!

FIRST GIVEAWAY - EVER!!! SpellQuizzer license

I was contacted to review this product ~SpellQuizzer~ and they have also offered a license to giveaway to a very lucky lurker!

SO COME ON OUT!!!

We have slowly but surely shied away from spelling programs as KM has gotten older, but this is far better than any other off-line spelling program that I have seen! This program allows you to create your own spelling lists, record the word so that they can hear and then spell it, and enter definitions of the words to increase vocabulary. While there are pre-made spelling lists available to use, I think one of the biggest benefits for an older child would be for them to be able to set the lists up themselves, adding the typing element to it. For younger kids it would be a great way for them to practice their spelling as well as getting more familiar with the keyboard! Though I have not tried this yet, another feature that truly intrigues me is the ability to import and export lists so that homeschool families or co-op groups could share their lists instead of having to create them independently! So whether you are homeschooling, creating your own lists, using a curriculum list, going to school and using their lists this program would surely be a safe and convenient way to encourage more spelling and vocabulary practice!


Now as for the giveaway - I am new to all this so I am going to do it the old-fashioned way - leave a comment on this message by Sunday July 26th 10pm EST and you will be entered to win a license for this incredible spelling software. Then Monday 7/27 KM will draw a name out of a bowl of some sort to pick the winner! Simple enough -

GOOD LUCK!

ADDED AFTER POST--- OH YEAH! I said I was new to this, I need away to contact you as well, so either a link to your blog, email address or something of that sort would be fantastic!!
I will of course post the winner here on the 27th as well!
Thanks!

Two very excited girls -

celebrated SR's 10th birthday a bit early this year...by going to a fabulous concert last night!

Science Thursday - Biomes?

Our topic this week from our Science Review book was Biomes - it is ironic that this was KM's strongest area last year and the books review section was only 2 pages - compared to 6-8 in other chapters - so it was a good thing that she really already KNEW the material. Anyway she did two really fun habitat builders on adaptive curriculum and then wanted to do a project. WELL I figured she already had an aquatic habitat and a tropical habitat going with the triops and the terrarium, but she really wanted to do something - so I dug out some kits that I had gotten last year at a science museum and just totally forgot about until NOW! -

Crystal growing kits - hey didn't we try this before...these are crystal growing trees so I guess they could be part of a fantasy biome right?

If you have kids who are really impatient - these are the kits to get!
This was just minutes after we filled the trays..

and this was about 90 minutes later!

The next morning they had grown to this -

Don't know why the orange one is not as puffy...hmmm?...but could have something to do with the branches not being spread out as much as the others.
Now the tray will take a bit longer but will have permanent crystals whereas the trees are the soft dissolvable variety! I will keep ya posted on how they turn it!

Enchanted Gardening

Earlier this week we went back to a magical little place, to have a magical little class, and they made magical little creations -






They had a wonderful day and I got some great pics of their beautiful gardens that you can check out on our nature photo blog!

Various Shades of Green -

We have all been truly amazed to watch how the vegetables actually grow from the plants, some of the things truly surprise me and others just look so pretty....