August Fields

our life

piano lessons for the three big kids….love the fact the piano teacher comes to our house.  he definitely found a niche catering to homeschoolers! 
dubs usually plays “run away” during school time! 🙂
deanie has started the nancy drew series
hank is busy during his “blanket time”….that realistically only ever lasts 7 minutes.  tops.
bathtime.  hank, dubs, boone.  i love the delicious smell of just bathed babes. 🙂
deanie and dancy recently had choir and drama performances.
deanie was the princess (in the pink dress) and dancy was the messenger (all in black w/ a blue sash).
the homeschool performing arts in our area really pulls out all stops.  the shows are fabulous and 
the kids gain such great theater and stage experience.

Homeschool Room Part One

“I have no greater joy than to hear that my children are walking in the TRUTH.” 3 John: 4


this is the verse that is written on the doorframe to the school room.  and truly it is my prayer.
you can read more about marking our house with scripture here
a schoolroom.  as a homeschooling family this is a major deal for us.  a separate room just for school!
now,  i don’t think this is a necessity because i know many homeschooling families that do school all over the house.  
currently, we have a section in our basement designated for all of our school stuff.  
when we were designing the new house we put a lot of thought into the schoolroom.  
we came up with ideas such as: 
1. schoolroom should be close to the kitchen
  this gives easy access for drinks and snacks.  also, i am often in the kitchen so that would keep me in close proximity to the kids while they’re in the schoolroom.
2.  schoolroom should have plenty of natural light.
currently, since our schoolroom is in the basement, we have no natural light.  i wanted to be able to see the rain, the leaves and the sun.
3.  storage for supplies and shelves for books
this is pretty basic for any homeschooler.  i’m happy with our system now so we just needed
to incorporate something for the new room.  there will also be two simple desks (you can see built
against the wall below) for independent seat work or tests.

4.  an old school door
so excited that i actually did this! you can read about the great search here
the Bible verse is cased in now.  pretty cool to know that the WORD is forever in that frame.
the door came with plenty of ‘scribbles’.  the 3 big kids are trying to wipe some of it off. 🙂
5.  a checkered floor just because 🙂
edited to add this post to Met Monday over at BNOTP

school

the journey of homeschooling has been rewarding in every way.  i treasure each and every moment with my children…honestly.

we have been homeschooling for four years now.  the kids and i have shared laughter, quiet moments, tears, frustration, joy, hugs, holding hands, smiles and winks.  we sing outloud, dance and twirl.    i wouldn’t trade my ordinary day at home for anything!

i am so so thankful to be able to pray with the kids throughout the day.  we pray when we hear an ambulance, we pray when we’re wrong, we pray when someone is hurt, we pray when we need patience, we pray thankfulness for all we have, we pray for devastated countries, we pray that God would keep us humble.

rod and staff and rainbow resource. orders done.

our first order of curriculum should be arriving any day.  it is a very big day when a new box of full of crisp books, clean pages, unwrinkled paper, and new subjects arrive.  

the two places i order from are:  rainbow resource and rod and staff (rod and staff does not have a web site so i call them directly at 1-606-522-4348).
from rainbow we will be receiving:
horizons math 1, 2, and 3
first language lessons for the well trained mind
explode the code books for each
a reason for handwriting
latin primer 1 package
kingfisher encyclopedia
bill and pete go down the nile
mummies made in egypt
ancient egyptians and their neighbors
king tut sticker paper dolls
ancient egypt dot to dot
three musketeers and robin hood audio cd (jim weiss)
a platform scale
3d geometric shapes
from rod and staff we will be receiving:
grade 3 english
grade 3 reading/bible
grade 1 reading/bible
age appropriate readers for all the children!  i LOVE the storybooks available from rod and staff….and find myself adding a few everytime i place an order. 🙂  
bible stories to read
bible pictures to color.  i also LOVE the coloring books from rod and staff! the illustrations are just precious.
i can’t wait!! 🙂 🙂

Crazy About Chalkboards

Gina over at The Shabby Chic Cottage is having a fantabulous Chalkboard Party!!! How FUN 🙂

This is the chalkboard in our school room. The story is: my dad found four great chalkboards leaning against a dumpster right outside a local bakery. They were changing their displays and were just going to throw them out! Yikes! He gave this one to me.

I wiped it down and proceeded to hand paint several little whimsical designs on the borders, right on the wood. I did this last year before I began blogging so I didn’t even think to document the process. 🙁

I didn’t want it to look “perfect” just FUN! 🙂 I just used the paints I had on hand..some craft paints and some off the lids of the cans of paint we have. I used a water-based poly sealer clear coat on top.

Typically it will have the kids’ memorization work for the week on it.