Back to School Blog Hop (5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement) – Friday Favorites

We have been homeschooling since our oldest son was 10 years old and he is now 22-years-old.  So over the years, we have found quite a few favorites.

My first favorite came almost as soon as we began homeschooling.  We were blessed to be in a military community with a homeschooling group that met once a week at Camp LeJeune.  When we pulled our son out of public school, I immediately signed us up for the group.  Even though our other children went to public school, there were still plenty of opportunities for them to interact as well.

Because this was a military homeschool group, the moms had a lot of helpful advice and fantastic products to recommend.  I was introduced to Cathy Duffy’s Top 100 Picks that included sections for determining the parent’s teaching styles, the children’s learning styles, how to create a homeschool mission statement, suggestions for curriculum based on learning and teaching styles and more.  This book is my go-to resource when looking for information for myself or helping other homeschooling families.  I can not tell you how many times I have recommended this book.

Another one of my favorite resources is the Rainbow Resource Catalog.  From the first year we homeschooled and attended our first homeschool convention until this day, this is one of my absolute favorite resources.  If it relates to homeschooling, you are almost guaranteed to find what you are looking for in this catalog or at one of their booths at one of the homeschooling conventions.  I have spent many hours pouring over this catalog and browsing their booths through the years.

When looking for any type of art supplies, Miller Pads and Paper is my go-to company.  Their prices are incredible.  The supplies they bring to conventions are incredible.  Plus their staff is amazing.

Institute for Excellence in Writing is our favorite for writing.  Our three sons despised writing, but once we found IEW, they tolerated it if not actually enjoyed it.  Of course, our oldest will talk up a storm about the time he rode in an elevator with Mr. Andrew Pudewa and had a great conversation with him.

For math, one of our family’s favorites would have to be Life of Fred.  Our daughter started these books with the very first one for elementary school students and went all the way through the middle school books.  She loved the stories and the amount of work required.

For right now, I think that is enough of our family’s favorites, but stay tuned because I plan on this becoming a weekly post for Fridays.

If you would like to read my other posts from this series, click here.

Here are some of the others who are participating in this blog hop series.

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

 

If you would like to read the posts by other members of the Home School Review Crew for Friday Favorites, click here or on the graphic below.

 

2018 Home School Review Crew Back to School Blog Hop – Work It In Wednesdays (5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement

 

 

This week I am participating in the 2018 Home School Review Crew Back to School Blog Hop including 5 Days of Home School Encouragement.  You can come back each day to see what we are blogging about.  Today’s topic is Work It Out Wednesdays, where we are examining how to fit in electives, social activities and more into your daily schedule.

As the mom of only high school students now, one of the things that cause both myself and my children concern is how to fit everything in each year.  Prior to entering high school, I took most of the decision-making and curriculum choices on myself.  At times, we would offer the children choices to select from after narrowing things down significantly.  However, our children are now in high school and have directions, talents, and gifts, so we need to figure things out based on their individual personalities and goals.

A few weeks ago, we went to an activity fair for our area’s homeschool group.  We went partially to represent our area’s homeschool band and strings program, which our entire family is active in right now.  But we also went to find out what activities our children may want to participate in this year.  Our son already knew he wanted to play tennis, which occurs on Thursday mornings.  The Home School Band program is on Monday and Thursday afternoons.  So those two times were already out.

Our son also wants to take piano lessons and we found out there was a possibility our homeschool 4-H group would be offering piano lessons along with archery lessons and photography.  All of these are activities our son and/or daughter are interested in now. So we went to the meeting, but when we got there, we realized the times may not work for our family since these activities occur on Thursdays as well.  So it is a matter of deciding what priorities we have.  Band and strings are two activities that are non-negotiable since all four of our children (yes even our 22-year-old and our almost twenty-year-old) participate along with my husband and myself.  So that is a one-time slot that will not be taken away.

So this meant we had to decide how important archery was to our daughter.  The 4-H activities basically collide with both tennis (at least one week out of the month) and the band classes every week.  So we are still trying to figure that one out.

The photography classes have already been eliminated and so the only one who may participate in 4-H will be our daughter.  So stay tuned to see what our final decision is.

You know your children.  You know what is important to your family.  So you need to take every activity your children may want to participate in or elective they may want to take and examine it to see if the benefits make it worth fitting in at this time.

Another way of making things work is to find someone for your child to ride with or find a similar activity or class that meets at a time that is more convenient.  As far as electives go, especially at the high school level, you may decide your child could fit some of those in during the summer or do more intense classes, like college classes, for a shorter period of time.

You and your family need to decide what is important to you and go from there.  Here are some of the members of the Home School Review Crew who are participating in the Blog Hop this week, you may want to check some of them out for yourself.

Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Karen @ Tots and Me…Growing Up Together
Kelly @ Hope in the Chaos
Kellyann @ Walking Home …
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom’s Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things

 

So if you would like to read my other posts from this series, click here.

If you would like to read posts from the other members of the Home School Review Crew who are participating in the Back to School Blog Hop, click here or on the graphic below.