Fun Christmas Homeschool Ideas

I am always looking for fun ways to tie in current events with our homeschooling!
For instance, at Easter time we learned Bible verses about the Resurrection, did a science experiment with an egg, planted some new flowers and talked about Spring, and had fun with an "empty tomb" marshmallow recipe (http://www.hubbardscupboard.org/recipes_q_-_s.html#resurectionrolls).

For the Presidential Election, we created a huge scrapbook with the history of voting, the requirements of Presidents, the processes of running for President, etc. Of course, we ended the scrapbook with polls and ballots that the children we able to cast themselves! They also went to the polls and watched me early vote.

I've been looking for some fun activities to do for Christmas as well!

Here are our plans:
Memorize the verses surrounding part of the Christmas Story (Luke 2:8-14)
Create new ornaments for our tree
Make some Amish Friendship Bread Starter to share with neighbors (http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Amish-Friendship-Bread-Starter/Detail.aspx)
Study Charles Dickens and A Christmas Carol
Learn some Christmas Carols, their place of origin, and put them on our timeline
Learn the origin of the Christmas Tree
Learn the legend of the candy cane
Bake a birthday cake on Christmas Day and sing "Happy Birthday to Jesus!"

Fun Homeschool Blogger Swap!

I received my gift today from my swap sister in the homeschool blogger gift swap!

I am going to love scrapbooking with "The Art of Choosing Joy!" And what a wonderful topic as a homeschooling mom! When there are so many other choices that we sometimes make, it is important to remember that God wants us to be joyful. Thank you again, Montserrat!

S...L...O...W... Start!

Have you ever awakened one morning, and realized that WAYYYY too much time has gone by, and many of your goals that were scheduled to have been completed have not even been started?? That has been happening to me lately!
I also feel as if my day planner is my worst enemy. Actually, it's more like a nag who follows me around constantly and taunts me about things that I said I was going to complete, but never followed through! As I turn the pages of my day planner, I see things such as, "lose 20 pounds by now!" Then, I turn the pages backward and see that my diet was suppose to have begun 2 months prior, and I actually could have realized those goals if I had stuck with it! How frustrating!

I am at one of these cross-roads with school as well. In a down market, my real estate business has drastically picked up (go figure!), and I find myself taking constant phone calls and emails during the entire school day, and eventually sitting in amazement as I tuck my children into bed, wondering "where did the day go??? How am I ever going to catch up???" It is easy to become terrified about these sorts of things. YOU are responsible for your child's education as a homeschooler! YOU could make or break their future! YOU could be doing them a huge disservice instead of enhancing their academic aptitude!

And, all these things are true! But, His Grace is sufficient for me. And I know that one day, I will look back and say, "Wow- that was not even anything to worry about!" I know that this too shall pass, and we will be ahead again in no time.

Isn't it amazing how God can make time stand still for us? Sometimes that is not such a great thing- like the times that we are sad, or scared, or feeling guilty... and we just want the time to fly by so we can move on. But I've noticed that sometimes God seems to say, "let's sit and think about this for a minute, just to be sure we won't end up here again..."

So while I could continue to unproductively worry and fret over losing a couple of weeks of schooling, I am instead going to take some time to sit back, and take My God in as I ask for his help in achieving my homeschool goals.

To Be... Or Not To Be?

The Foundation of a Fabulous Classical Homeschool

The Well-Trained Mind by Susan and Jessie Wise-Bauer:

What an amazing work.

After reading this book, I felt as if I had been invited to an everything-you-need-t0-know session given by homeschooling experts! I also felt totally inundated and overwhelmed.

But in navigating through this homeschool encyclopedia, not only did I gain some insight to new teaching ideas, curricula choices and scheduling suggestions, but I also had some epiphanies regarding what was working for us... and what needed some serious tweaking.

These realizations will ultimately be the foundation of our upcoming homeschool year.

Realization # 1: My own entire learning experience was built on a modge-podge of dates, relevance, and time periods, all gooped together as teachers saw fit. Because of this, I could not build a historical time line to save my life, with out having the dates already laid out in front of me.

Realization # 2: I know a few key facts about key figures in history, but for instance, I couldn't tell you what kind of art, music, cuisine or literature was popular during Julius Caesar's rule.

Realization # 3: In order for my children to absorb information in a thorough, thought-provoking and chronological manner, I must conduct our homeschool in completely different form than the way I was taught.

This year, we are starting from the beginning.

As the book states, the word HISTORY contains the word STORY. And that is really what it is all about. History tells a story. And like any good story, it doesn't start in the middle. It always begins at the beginning.

This year, we will begin with Genesis, and progress through Romulus Augustus, the 6 year old Roman Emperor! Along the way, we will learn hieroglyphic writing, common cuisine in Ancient Rome, some common teachings of Confucius, and the lore of the Greek Gods. We will learn of their art forms, their music, the maps of the areas at the time, and what the Bible says about the leaders of that age.

And in the end, I will be certain that my kids can create a timeline.

Not-so-Summer Schooling

Around Spring Break Time, I made a pact with my kids.
I told them, "we can take a longer Spring Break if we all understand that we will be doing school throughout the summer, so we will not have to review and catch up next year."
At the time, the response I got was an overwhelming, "DEAL!!!!"
Now, when I remind them to get out their curricula, I get, "MOM! It's SUMMER!!"
How exactly does this work????

We just participated in a Homeschool Science Fair! We were nervous, because we had some really intense competition!! But the kids did AWESOME!!!! Here are some photos...

This is Avery working on her experiment, "How Strong is an Egg." She was the only 3 year old in the competition!!Courtney really enjoyed learning "What Makes Popcorn Pop"And Alex did a wonderful job studying "Salinity and Buoyancy!"Avery and Ashlyn waited patiently for the science fair to begin.They share lots of hugs!
Avery was pumped up to do her presentation! Here she is posing for a picture with her board.
She is explaining her project to the judges...Then, she went to give Courtney a hug for encouragement. Courtney was VERY nervous!!
Her board looked great! And she did an awesome job with her presentation!!
Alex was SOOOOO ready! Bring it on!! We couldn't believe what a great public speaker he is!

Avery got a 3rd place medal for her division!!! GooooOOOOO Avery! Courtney also got a 3rd place medal for her division!!!! Woo-HOO!!!!And Alex got 1st Place!!!! WOW!!!!!!!! Way to go guys! I'm SOOOOO PROUD!!!

The kids had a GREAT TIME at Homeschool Field Day! There were WAY too many cute pictures, so I didn't post them all. Here are a few of them...

Avery enjoyed a good game of Tug of War!Alex and friend Judson are in a Jump Rope Relay!Courtney bounces across the field!!Avery negotiates an obstacle course (versing Derek Jeter's nephew!)...

Avery taking the ball to the goal!

I wish I had this on video! This is Avery's version of the "Dizzy Bat Relay Race." They told her to run to the bat, hold on to the end, and spin in circles, so she slung it around HER in circles! Watch out everyone within a 15 foot radius!!! LOL!!

See Courtney in the background?? That's her in a dead sprint. She made quite a name for herself with her speed!!!

Ashi looks on in comfort...

My Mom and Ashi Celebrating... HOORAY for a GREAT DAY!!!

Luckily for me, MeMe was here to put the little ones to sleep (both at the same time... I've NEVER accomplished that!!!)! Thanks MOM!!! You're the BEST!

My New Homeschool Room!!!

My New Homeschool Room!!!

I am SOOOO excited about my new homeschool room! In the past, we have homeschooled at the kitchen table, in the office, in the den, in my bedroom, in the music room, in the laundry room, in the basement, in the car, at the park... and I intend to still have a mobile classroom! But I really wanted a dedicated space, so I could keep our curricula all together, and hang our maps, timeline, books of the Bible, cursive chart, etc. on the wall where I won't need to move it!

I am SO happy to say, that I took this past weekend to rearrange our playroom to accomodate both a play place, and a school room! And the best part???? I did it all for $260!!!

I went to Wal-Mart (I'm a Target girl, so that was hard on me!), and found two student computer desks (Alex and Courtney can use these to work on their laptops, or just to do their book work... and Alex is even planning to use his for some model plane building, which is a great hobby of his!), a book shelf, two rolling office chairs, and a colorful rug! Then, I went to Target, and found two floor chairs for $19 each! I had to move ALL the kids toys out of the schoolroom (previously known as the playroom!), then build all the office furniture (... which is why I got it for such a GREAT deal! There is definitely an advantage to buying it pre-assembled!!), then arrange the room! Problem is, even after all this was done, I had the entire contents of the old playroom in the basement hallway! I spent Saturday and some of Sunday (yeah, I know I shouldn't have worked...) moving toys to different locations around the house! Many of them went back into the schoolroom (the less distracting ones!), and some went into the kids' rooms. Even more went to Goodwill!!!

This is how the whole thing turned out...

PRESIDENT'S DAY!!!!

Happy President's Day!

A day like today, which honors our country's great leaders, is the perfect opportunity to connect education with fun activities! After all, one of the greatest challenges and responsibilities of a homeschooler is to instill in your child a love of learning!

Here are some of the activities we did for President's Day:

A patriotic breakfast!!

These are pancakes with whipped cream, raspberries and blueberries!!

We did President's Tic-Tac-Toe, George Washington Word Search, and President's Crossword Puzzle!

We didn't read too much about previous Presidents, because we are currently studying William Bradford on our timeline.

But we finished the day by making some "patriotic" sugar cookies!!!! (any excuse for cookies, right???)

We had a great day, and enjoyed celebrating our awesome country!

Valentines Day, Homeschool Style!

Happy Valentine's Day!!!!

"And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is LOVE."

1 Corinthians 13:13 NIV

On Valentine's Day, we enjoyed a HUGE party at our neighborhood bounce-house style playpark, Jumpsters! There were a little over 60 children from our homeschool group there, all ages 0-9! They had a blast jumping off some energy, then they exchanged Valentines, and had some great food and drinks!!

Each child made their own Valentine bag or box to receive their cards and treats in...

Then while the boxes and bags were all being filled, the children broke into their age appropriate groups for snacks and drinks! My little Avery is in the middle with some of her new homeschool friends!

Courtney is in the middle on the right, enjoying her homeschool party as well!!!

Ashi woke up just in time to have a Valentine's Day picture with her big brother!

School away from home!

Anywhere-but-Home Schooling!

When I hear the term "homeschooling," sometimes it just makes me grin. People who are unfamiliar with homeschooling might picture kids in their jammies, gathered around a mother, still in her apron from grinding her own grain and making bread, a fire crackling in the fireplace, burning the wood the oldest son chopped himself, the night before...

Maybe that is how it is done in some places! I would love to visit a home lke that actually, it sounds peaceful.

Now, enter the Vaagen house. When the kids wake up, they eat their bowl of cereal or breakfast of choice, then begin immediately on math. To me, once you get math behind you, the rest of the day just sails right on by. That's when the questions start flying... "Mom, what are we doing today? Where are we going???" See, I have learned that homeschool doesn't have to be done at home.

Here we are at the park, learning about Pocohantas and doing some math.

We're on our way to Homeschool park day!

The little ones enjoy a tailgate lunch....

While big brother and sister have a scooter race!

Here are the kids doing some English while they munch on the Norwegian treat "lefse."