Teaching Florida

    FLORIDA
        The Sunshine State

I think with anyone who home-schools Learning your State home-school info,As well as teaching your child about the "State" they live in is Very important.
So this last week that is exactly what I started to do.I must admit that in the process I also re-learned many Florida Facts like,
The State Tree ~Sabal Palm
The State Bird ~ Mocking Bird
The State flower~ Orange Blossom
ECT.,Ect,ect....

My daughter  really enjoyed learning about her state.Especially seeing Florida from outer space Aka "above picture".I suppose its hard to imagine that the very earth she was standing on actually looked like that.Of course we are not stopping with Florida.,With 50 states we have plenty to learn !
The Internet has been a Big help in locating the information to teach her ,Online games (50 state game) being the Biggest help!

Florida State Flag

English Language .....Gotta Love it!

We start off schooling our children with the basic ABC's .We work very hard teaching them the shape of the letter then the sound it makes.We are always so very proud when our children learn how to blend the sounds to form their 1st word !
Reading is such a important step in education that everyone must master to move on .
Of course anything worth doing is never easy...
IMO our language is so very confusing....You teach your child the phonic rules just to have to explain why they don't apply to all words..That's where memorising site words come into play..And then when you think you are past the confusion your find out ..Wait I also have to Teach Contractions aggghhhh!!!
When I first introduced these type of words My daughter actually said, Mom you misspelled do not ..LOL!!! It was soooo cute because she actually was very serious looking at me as if  something was wrong with me to misspell those words.When I told her that this was a contraction ..She took a minute in thought and then she said ,Why not just spell out both words? Of course I further explained and then to make things easier on us both I utilised my favorite teaching tool,The COMPUTER!!!
Luckily I have a lot of "Free" sites that help me teach my daughter..So after a lil bit of browsing my favorites I found a great site that had Contraction Games !
So far my daughter is really having fun with the games and seems to be accepting the idea of these "Contractions" ...
The English Language...Gotta Love it ;)

Summer

Its mid July & Summer is in full swing.....

Depending on what state you live in ,Most of us our trying to stay cool from this horrible heat "Swimming ,A/C,Ice cream ect ect ect "

For most summer means relaxing taking a break from the every day school grind . This thou is the totally opposite for my family,Are you Confused??? Let me exsplain.We are a Year round home-schooling family ,Which means when everyone else is letting their "Brain" take a break we our still working ours out ",so to speak .

Now for anyone who schools year round they know that we our not full force 5 days a week all year. The truth is besides being able to lessen our school days per week ,One of the perks of schooling year round is that we can take breaks when ever we want!

Another reason we chose this type of calender year is because for us summer time is not the best months to vacation in ,As we live in a very HOT and HUMID state and other then those swimming days ,Going out side isn't very pleasant or fun.So we like to break during spring and fall or any day that seems nice and breezy.

I will admit thou it can cause some confusion,Just the other day a older lady asked my daughter if she was enjoying her "Summer Vacation" ....LOL! My daughter looked at her strange , like "what vacation? "

One thing I do change during the summer months is our work load ,It is even lighter then usual.Even thou we school year round ,I really try to allow my kids to do more "Fun" type educational programs during time so that way they dont feel so left out when all thier friends our free to do nothing .For instants just yesterday she was using this Free website I found  for Language Arts that had Compound word games ...
These Free sites really help IMO to break up the monogamy of ones curricula & add a bit of Fun to learning :)

If anyone is home-schooling or thinking about home-school ,I hope that you might consider all the benefits year round schooling can bring.As I pointed out you have more control over you "vacation time " You get a lighter load in general during the week when you are doing lessons.Another perk is your child doesn't have to re-adjust to school come august .Since they never stopped ,Its business as usual.Plus if you wanted you could in theory do more grades a year and finish school earlier if you wanted too !

Whether you choose to school year round or not,I wish you all the Best in Your Adventure in Home-schooling ;-)

I took a break from "Life" & had a Pic-Nic....

In today's world it seems like our "life style" can keep us from appreciating the things that mean the most to us.Whether it is a Job that we have or a hobby we love , phones ,T.V's & yes computers seem to take so much of our focus away from what really matters ,Which is our Family!
A few days ago a friend of mine lost her grand-son who was only 4yrs old by a woman talking on her cell-phone while driving,which was an avoidable tragedy. After hearing this I just wanted to hold my children ,Unfortunately my daughter was at her grand-ma's, so I went and found my son who was playing on the floor with his lil match box cars.He was making the cutest VROOM! VROOOMM!! sound :) I  picked him up & gave him the biggest hug and tons of kisses ,Then I decided at that moment not to waste the rest of the day in front of the tv or computer or anything.So even thou it was already 3 in the afternoon I went into the kitchen and packed us some PB&J sandwiches ,cookies & chips and we went down the park. Now I wont lie at 90+ degrees it was pretty hot so not the best day for the park ,But I didnt mind. I just needed that special time just us, I found a nice shady spot & we had a nice lil pic-nic just him & I <3

Now I know this blog is dedicated to my Journey as a "Home-school" mom,So I am sure by now you are wonder why I am talking about all of this .The reason I chose to talk about this is because ,Life is too short & I just feel so Blessed to be able to stay home with children every day . I know some parents wish they could & are unable, while others would cringe at the idea of home-schooling . Spending 24/7 with their child may sound like a over whelming idea,But not for me!  Home-schooling  my children Online really does not take that long ,Which allows me to spend that precious time that for most is just wasted.

Today I am a very Thankful Home-school Mom <3