Tuesday Review

It's that time to review that something great that makes your hs work better. You can participate with angela here-http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/byourlove1.Here is mine.

How do you keep track of all the things you do with your homeschool? I use Homeschool Tracker Plus. I used to have the Basic version, which is free -http://www.homeschooltracker.com/, and I used it for a year. I then met a few great ladies that used the plus version and sold me on it. The plus version has lesson plans section and a few other things in it that the basic version does not. What I love about this program is that you don't need those consumable paper planners to write it all down. You could just keep track of it all right there. You choose and set up your own school yr.

What you have are the Main Menu, student, teacher, maintenance and reports. The main menu really just gives a at-a-glance view of your students days and time( you can choose not to keep time). The student has agenda, assignments, attendance, field trips, journal, memorization, overview and a reading log. The teacher section covers goals (set your own), journal, lesson plans, lesson plans schedule and a weekly planner. Maintenance covers all administration areas such as grades, resources, school info, students, subjects/courses and years/terms. Reports are just an area where you can print it all up in style.

The things I like about this program is I can put it all in there including our field trips and hours and reading. It really works for me and come high school I have a way to print out transcripts for my children. I can keep a journal too so If I don't have time to sort through some ideas I just put them there and sort them out later to make sense for homeschooling. It can drive you a bit nuts at times though if you get to worried about time spent and all like i did for a while. My kids have yet to use the agenda and such but I am working on that this yr. They also haven't used the journal portion and I will probably not make them, but I suppose it could be useful. The really great thing is having all my resources in one place and the books we have read there too. The list of books got quite long after just a short while so I really felt like we were doing alot and that was reassuring to me.

I liked the basic edition as well and it worked just fine so you can try that first before splurging on the plus edition. I would suggest this to anyone looking for something to keep all their homeschooling information.

Vanessa

Look what my friend Kathy shared?? I don't know how she finds this stuff but its great. What this guy does is amazing. The boys and I looked at his paintings for a long while. She's on the blogroll on the sidebar, it is what it is.

One of these days I'll figure out how to make names linkable.

Here is the link to the site to check out some of the amazing paintings this guy has done.

http://users.skynet.be/J.Beever/pave.htm

How did this happen?

Conner about a yr old. Isn't he the cutest?

It's official I am the mom of three pre-teen boys. Until December when my oldest actually turns 13 and will be a teenager. How did this happen? I feel like I blinked and the time just went through my fingers like water. I can't wait to see what the next yrs bring but loath the day that they will no longer be my babies but out there in the world on their own, I wish them the best. Ok enough melodramatics and all about me syndrome.

My baby boy turned 10 today, 3:30 in the morning to be precise.

Happy Birthday Conner

Conner and a baby chicken

Yes aother with his chicken

Conner nervously on a plane, the first he remember. A small one at that. He did well and they flew over our house.

Conner with his Best Friend

At the sand dunes my sweet little boy comes back for me. Sigh!

Conner and yes turtle again. they take very good pictures don't you think.

Igniting a passion for learning

In our journey of hs I have come upon a wonderful concept. Igniting within our children a love of learning. I have read cute sayings about teaching a child to fish and it related back to learning, I thought it was so cute. Now the question is how does one do this with their child? Is there some sort of secret to it.
It has come to my attention that my eldest son lost alot of his love of learning in the past school yr and if I want him to continue on this course then I should let him have his way and send him back to ps. I want what every parent wants the best for my child and if that is not being hs'ed then so be it. But the opportunity to re-ignite that little fire to search out the answers to the ever demanding questions is what I hope to capture in not just Austin but my other children as well.
What are your ideas or experiences for giving your child that love of learning? Please share at will. I will try to share some of your answers.

Here is a little something I found on the subject.
http://www.wikihow.com/Encourage-Your-Child-to-Love-Learning

Vanessa

Multiplication help

This past weekend a girlfriend and I went hs shopping. We had a great time. During this time we discussed many things among them was Times Tales. If you haven't heard of times tales you are missing out. This program is so neat and had my kids knowing their upper multiplication facts in an afternoon. Although I think we may need to review this program it was well worth the effort and time and very inexpensive to boot.

I love things like this that aren't texbookey. Where your children learn despite what everyone says. It's amazing the amount of time we spent on our multiplication facts between our textbook, reviewing them and worksheets and online games. Out of all of that this worked. I was skeptical at first. But it worked. One afternoon versus hours and hours of time. Yet quantity is not what worked here it was definitely quality. If I could do my whole school like this I would.

The idea is you read a series of stories based on the number 6-9. Then there are cartoon like picture stories that ask questions and there is also a worksheet your kids can do to have it stick. My kids enjoyed this and I think that is why it stuck.

Here is a link . If you want to purchase it it costs about $20.00.
http://www.triggermemorysystem.com/Deluxe.html

Vanessa

What a neat site

I just came accross this as I am in the midst of attemptin worm composting. It is such a cute site and so relevent for me and my children. If you plan on doing any enviormental studies this site has alot of information and it's all for kids.

http://www.dnr.state.wi.us/org/caer/ce/eek/index.htm

Vanessa

The last Lecture

If you havent heard or clicked on the hyperlink on the sidebar do so, now. I just found out this inperational man passed away on the 25th this month. My heart goes out to his wife and children. He made an impact on me and countless others. Go get the book it was great .

Vanessa