Great Homeschooling Tools

One of the best homeschooling tools we have is board games. The kids love to play them and they reinforce without the constant drilling that my kids have grown accustomed to. :)

I never have to beg them to play and the only problem I have is that Dad and I get tired of the same games. So... I need your help!

What are your favorite educational board games? Please share!

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A Lesson In Hurricanes

I know it has been a while since we posted. The hurricanes caused quite a bit of delay in our lessons and we have been playing catch up ever since. Here is how we handled the situation.


Once the news started reporting that Hurricane Gustav was heading our way we decided to take the opportunity to learn some lessons about extreme weather. We used our God's Design for Heaven & Earth Our Weather and Water text as the foundation for our hurricane study and we used experience to be sure we mastered the information.

I used our Hurricane Tracking cork board to let the boys track the path of the hurricanes and we kept a close eye on the news and discussed things as they happened. We made videos during the storm and the boys journaled about what they witnessed.

After the storm had passed we surveyed the destruction and went right to work with helping neighbors and family clean up and find food & water. The lessons they learned weren't necessarily book knowledge but wisdom. They learned that life changes and we have to roll with it and make the best of it. During the storm our electricity went out so we lost all of the food in our freezer and refrigerator. We cooked all of what we could and ate it the first two nights before it went bad and on the third day we just ate the dry goods we had. Then the ants came in. We ended up losing all of our food. ALL of it.

We went to a disaster relief location and got some MRE (meals ready to eat) from the National Guard. My brother is a sergeant in the National Guard and was actually deployed to another city during the aftermath. Anyways, we opened up the MREs and the boys were shocked. They loved all the goodies inside and there was enough in there to feed them for a day! Each one has a different snack but you have to open it up to find out what it is so this was like a treasure hunt. Kind of like Cracker Jacks when I was a kid.

Overall much good and many lessons came from Gustav and Ike. I'm glad that I was able to share this experience with my boys. What life lessons have your kids been taught?

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Real On the Job Training

My multi-talented husband is a computer/game system repair person aside from his day job and well, Gevan just loves to sit and watch dad tinker with the electronics. He finally asked dad the question we had been waiting for,"Dad, can you teach me how to fix this one?"

*all smiles*

Of course dad didn't mind and Gevan was quite successful at his first attempt. He got this one working on the first try thanks to the great lessons he received. Afterwards he asked the question we weren't waiting to hear, "So... how much do I get paid?"






Way to go, Gevan!

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Learning Problems?

Gevan has been working hard with his literature guide for Sentinel, City of Destiny and doing very well. In fact, he is doing so well that I have questioned his learning disabilities.

I don't dispute that he is blind in one eye. I've seen the scarring on his retina and I watched him being tested and saw him struggling with the vision tests but he has greatly improved since last year. He is reading much better than he was even six months ago. Either the therapy has worked wonders or he has learned to cope really well with one eye.

What do you think?

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2008 Olympics Lapbook & Unit Study

Who doesn't have Olympics fever especially with the outcome of events by Michael Phelps and the American gymnasts? I mean, wow. That's all I can say. Wow!

However, the Americans aren't the only ones that have made us smile. I have to add that Shelly Ann Fraser of Jamaica rocked it last night in the Women's 100 meter race and Huo Liang and Lin Yue, the Chinese synchronized dive team, won gold and I don't think I've ever been so impressed with divers. They were good.

My boys are just as fascinated with the Olympics as we are so we decided to incorporate it into our studies. Why wouldn't we? It includes history, geography, literature, science, math, art, and physical education! Now, I bought the project pak from Hands of a Child: Olympics Beijing 2008 but you can also get a great free one from Homeschool Share.

We spent a few days studying, reading about, and watching the Olympics then we began constructing our lapbook.

I always assign different tasks to the boys so that we can complete it in a timely fashion and everyone gets to participate. Gevan primarily took care of mapping out the countries that have hosted the Olympics, finding answers to the questions, and defining words. Jacob did all of the artwork, brochure, and writing and Brennan made sure we were all entertained during the process! :)

We learned all about: the International Olympic Committee; that the Olympics originated in Greece and women could not participate; all the countries that have hosted the Olympics; what each of the colored rings in the Olympics symbol stands for; what is on an Olympic medal; the differences and similarities between the ancient Olympics and the Olympics today; the sports categories that are included in the Olympics and more!

We reviewed all of the material when dad got home (the boys love to show dad what they've learned each day) and we even decided to host our own pentathlon at home!

On Saturday, after the Servolution at church, we had Chinese food in honor of Beijing hosting the Olympics. The boys learned to eat with chop sticks and really liked the food even though it was different from what they are used to.

Once we got home the 2008 Bayliss-Conway Olympics began. We had a bike race, a track race (barefoot and on the street), wrestling, and then we did boxing and tennis on the Wii! They all received gold medals for their participation and even have a new found interest in athletics.

On Saturday night we also called the boys into the living room, out of the bed mind you, to watch the American men's relay swim team, Lezak, Hanson, and Peirsol, help Michael Phelps make history and receive his 8th gold medal. It was an awesome moment for us as a family and I'm sure we will always remember it.

Here are the final photos of our lapbook:

We will finish on today by filling out the notebooking pages with each of the boys' favorite memories from the study.

Here are the notebooking pages we made: Olympics 2008 Notebooking Pages

Images available on the official Olympics Website.

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Favorite Curriculum or Books

The Heart of the Matter Online meme for this Friday is:

...share with us your Favorite Curriculum or Books! With the new school year beginning it would be wonderful to hear why your curriculum works for you, new ideas you're looking forward to trying, or really great book ideas you would love to share.

I knew right away what I would post as my favorite. Jeannie Fulbright's Apologia "Exploring Creation With.." series and Robin Sampson's What Your Child Needs To Know When.

I have found What Your Child Needs To Know When to be an invaluable resource to our homeschool. Not only does it provide government educational standards but it also provides biblical standards for your child's spiritual development as well. On a daily basis, I use the bible reading schedule and the character traits list. This book, above all else, is a must have for the homeschool family.

Jeannie Fulbright has made me one happy mom. You see, I am the mother of three little science geeks (term of endearment, folks) and we refer to these books quite often. I have every one she has written and PRAY that she writes more for the series. These are the most amazing books for science because they are full of facts but yet, they read like a story book. They are not dull and lifeless. They are life giving! We have used them since the conception of our homeschool and will undoubtedly use them for the duration.

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One With Nature

"Let them once get in touch with nature and a habit is formed which will be a source of delight and habit through life."
Charlotte Mason

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Spelling for Fun!

Yes, it is actually possible. My boys love the idea of a spelling bee and I love exposing them to new words so here is what I do:

• print out age appropriate word lists for each child
• give them each a different color dry erase marker
• have them take turns at the board and I call out a word from their list to each one
• they write it on the board and if they get it right then they move on
• if they get it wrong then they have one chance to fix it and if they do then they move on
• if they don't get it right then that child gets one mark by his name (three marks and you are out)
• MOST of the time we can go through 50 words without anyone getting marked out and on those days everyone gets the prize (lick the bowl when we make desert, an extra cup of juice, get out of one chore, sit in the front seat, etc)

They love their "spelling bee" and it makes their every day spelling lessons (Sequential Spelling) more bearable because they know that they will be learning new words that will help them win the "bee" in the future! It also give me the opportunity to increase their vocabulary because they often ask me what a particular word means.

... and did I mention that they thought of this all by themselves?

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