She's Gold!

In my book of proud parenting, Amy is already gold.  At Tae Kwon Do testing last night, she really got the gold!  Gold belt, that is.

She kicked, she aced the terminology, her forms were terrific, she survived the hapkido (her least favorite part), and she broke a board with her hand!  She was nervous, but she did it!  Woohoo.

Yeah.  Now onto Orange - oh my, then she has to kick the board to break it.  Well, at least, there's two to three months to prepare.

Fun stuff.

Weekly Wrap-up - January 21, 2011

 

Wow - what a week!

Monday was pretty calm - a little schoolwork in the morning (we started a new Ancient Greece unit).  Brownies for S-Doll in the afternoon (her first meeting with a new group - she loved it!).  A-Doll spent two hours at Tae Kwon Do - she was exhausted.  She just started Tae Kwon Do last week - and absolutely loves it.

Tuesday - I wanted a day at home, so we just chilled around here.  It was nice!  We all practiced reading and writing in the Greek alphabet.  The girls loved it, especially.

Wednesday - enrichment classes in the morning - my kids still love their enrichment classes, definitely a great place to go.  If you happen to be in the greater Cincinnati area, be sure to check out Leaves of Learning.  Great place, awesome teachers, nice kids.

Thursday - SNOW day!  We were expecting 4 - 6 inches of snow, I'm going to say we had more than that - it snowed all day.  Very pretty.  School was fun & games - math bingo, Wii Just Dance 2 and library-imagination play (S-Doll's favorite thing to do, maybe she'll be a librarian one day.)

Friday - we were supposed to have a Crafty Kids Club - we were snowed out.  We spent more time on Ancient Greece, especially reading myths.

Hope you had a good week.  Be sure to check out other weekly wrap-ups at Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers.

Ancient Greece

We've started a unit on Ancient Greece, it's been pretty low-key which I think we needed.

As you may remember, we started using WinterPromise Sea & Sky a couple months ago - it didn't actually work out so well for us.  So, we are back to following our interests using unit studies (I love unit studies!)

We scoured the local library for books to help us study Ancient Greece.  One of our very favorite books that we found was Spend the Day in Ancient Greece: Projects and Activities that Bring the Past to Life (Spend The Day Series).  Great book, lots of hands-on projects. 


We spent this week (so far) on geography of Ancient Greece, the Greek alphabet (writing and reading - fun), and of course, lots of Greek myths.

I'll add more soon - I have a bunch of books that are really great for bringing Ancient Greece to life.

Top Ten Tuesday - Great Freebies to enhance Homeschooling

Let me start by saying - I love freebies, so only publishing ten is just a mere tip of the iceberg.  I've found many, many more freebies for homeschooling than that.  But without further ado, here are ten great freebies that we use to enhance our homeschooling.

1.  Paperback Swap - list books you are through with, request books in the system - we picked up a lot of great books this way.  Also, they have a great wish list system, that keeps track of the books you want, and notifies you when they are available - sweet!

2.  Homeschool Share - great place to find free unit studies and lapbooks.  You can find almost everything here to tie into studies.

3.  Easy Fun School - more free unit studies - can you tell that we love unit studies at our house?  We do, they are fun!

4.  Ambleside Online - the very first site I discovered when looking into home schooling, still love it for ideas of books and curriculum to follow.

5. Clickschooling - great site with web-based curriculum ideas.  We don't use this one as much, but the links are awesome!

6.  Freely Educate - lots of free stuff, you can search by age, subject, grade level - however you like.  Some of our best freebies came via this blog!

7. 
  Post Crossing - great way to experience real-life geography, by sending and receiving postcards worldwide.  Also, works on language arts skills -writing postcards.

8. FreePrintable.com - Just what it sounds like, free printables including calendars, worksheets, lesson plans and more.

9.  Learning Page - More free printables, mainly worksheets, my youngest loves worksheets!


10. File Folder Fun games - I love file folder games, and so do my kids!  We love this site for all the fun theme-friendly, age specific games.  Sweet!



For more Top Ten Tuesday, make sure you drop by Oh Amanda!

Have a great week!

Happy New Year!

2010 is over, and 2011 is here!  Hard to believe.  I don't know about you, but last year flew by for us.

So, a new year with new challenges, new fun and just new!

I've been organizing and re-organizing and organizing some more, especially working on our homeschooling areas.  When I originally started homeschooling (just two years ago -wow!), my plan was just to fit the home school into my existing formal living room and dining room.  What I've found (finally!) is that that plan was not working out for me, too much visual stimulation, too much stuff in too little of a space.  So, I'm on a mission.  The mission is, deformalize the room, make it more kid friendly.  Reorganize the stuff (how can one home school family have SO MUCH stuff??)  Simplify.  Make it more accessible.  Purge, pack, something.

Any great organizers out there?  I need help! 

Here are my issues:  

1.  I love much of our curriculum, craft kits, puzzles, manipulatives - and have children from age 7 to 13.  That's a wide range of interest and ability, right?  How do I simplify?
2.  Limited space - lots of stuff.  Need more storage, especially cheap and nice-looking. :)

Let me know what you'd do, and if you live near Cincinnati - wanna come help me??

Top Ten Tuesday - Christmas Movies

We are working on getting into the Christmas spirit.  Not so much working, as watching movies, Christmas and holiday movies.  Here are my top ten picks for Christmas movies:

1.  Elf - this movie cracks me up.  I love Will Ferrell, and he is the perfect human Elf.  Too cute.  (Available from Netflix.)

2.  The Year without a Santa Claus   Oldie, but goodie - it reminds me of my childhood.

3.  A Charlie Brown Christmas Can't you just hear the Peanuts gang singing Christmas carols?  This is a movie that has to be watched (at least once a year, sometimes many more than once at our house.)  Anything with Charlie Brown in the title has to be good!

4.  Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer Isn't Rudolph great?  Rudolph the red-nosed reindeer had a very shiny nose...  Great movie, and you have to sing-along, right??  We do!

5.  The Santa Clause - I love Tim Allen.  He makes me happy.  He's the perfect Santa Claus.

6.  The Polar Express -  Another great Christmas movie that we can't miss.  I think I'm ready to add this one to our DVD library this year.  It's such a great movie.

7.  Dr. Seuss How the Grinch Stole Christmas - this is the classic original one without Jim Carrey.  I like Jim Carrey, but I like this version of the Grinch better - maybe it reminds me of my childhood?  Who knows??

8.  The Santa Clause 2 - Still love Tim Allen :)  My kids said that all the Santa Clause movies have to be on our list.

9.  The Santa Clause 3

10.  Miracle on 34th Street - Classic Christmas movie, right?  "I believe... I believe... It's silly, but I believe. " Oldie and a goodie!


What are your favorite holiday movies?  Is there something else I should add to this list?  Don't be shy, let me know.  We don't want to miss out!

Be sure to check out other Top Ten Tuesday lists at Oh Amanda. 

Five Question Friday - November 19th

1. What Christmas song do you loathe?

 

 I can't think of any Christmas songs that I loathe.  Maybe the Chipmunks one - only because those Chipmunk voices are a bit annoying...

2. Do you and your significant other cuddle at night or sleep on opposite sides of the bed?

 

No cuddling here - not that I don't love him.  I just like to have my space at night.  Plus there are the two cats and one kitten that tend to sleep between us, especially in the winter. 

3. Have you ever had surgery?

 

Yes, oral surgery and LASIK surgery.  That's it though.

4. When do you typically have your holiday shopping done?

 

I like to have it completed by December 1st or so, it helps me to relax and actually enjoy the holidays.

5. If money were not an issue (and you HAD to pick something), what would your ultimate luxury item be?

 

I'd probably buy a Cadillac Escalade, it would be great to drive around in large comfort.   Maybe a beautiful diamond necklace would be nice too - just for me! 

Look at what other people have to say at Five Question Friday - it's fun!