Great Idea

I love a great idea and will admit I didn't come up with this on my own. Another home school mom in our Classical Conversations group gave this tip to me.

Cut four inch circles out of different colors of construction paper. Have your child use each circle to write words in their own handwriting that they know. Use one of the circles to draw a face for the word worm. Tape it to the wall where it can be easily added to as they learn more words.

My daughter is so proud of hers. Every time someone comes over she shows it to them and reads the words. Every repetition helps when it comes to learning.

The Great Indoors

Although I love fall and walking in the crisp autumn air is energizing it is getting too chilly to spend lengthy periods of time outside. This is a great time to look at your community to see what it has to offer for indoor opportunities. Eastern Nebraska is brimming with wonderful museums.

The Joslyn Art Museum has a children's area as well as terrific backpacks to check out. We had a great time with it. Ours was specific to the Impressionists gallery. My kids loved it and bringing art to their level helped make it so much more meaningful to them.

We purchased a Home Educators membership from the Durham Museum. They asked for something that identified me as a home educator. I simply replied '' these are my children, I am their teacher''. That was sufficient for them. The Durham also offers home school educational events at the museum. The latest session we attended was $6.00 per child. As a member/chaperon my admission was free. The session explored Laura Ingalls Wilder, pioneer life and included a craft. It was a terrific learning experience. My daughter is currently reading Little House on the Prairie so she was especially enthralled with it.

Fontanel Forest also has backpacks for children to check out and currently has a designated play area ''Acorn Acres''. The leaves are beautiful this time of year so it is a great time to go for a hike there before it begins to snow.

The Strategic Air Command museum is a bit further away but well worth the 20 minute drive. To see the many aircraft up close is exciting for every age. The SAC also has temporary exhibits that are always interesting. The flight simulator is always a must when we go. My son especially enjoys the in flight sensation.

We have so many more museums and local historic sites to visit. I am sure we will have plenty to keep us busy this winter inside and out of the snow.

Time flies when you forget what you are doing!

Wow, I utterly forgot that I had started a home school blog. No time like the present to pick it back up again.
We have had many changes in our home school since February. Luke went back to public high school half time this semester so he could be eligible for sports. This has not gone as well
as we had hoped but are thankful for the lessons learned from the experience. At least in his case it seems that it is necessary to commit to one path or the other and to try to do both 50 % did not equal a 100% educational experience. He appreciates that I allowed him another go at public school but is now looking forward to coming back to home school life.
Another change was moving across the state to eastern Nebraska. We joined a home school program Classical Conversations. Laramie is in the ''Foundations'' class. We meet once per week. The program is great as it leaves the responsibility of homeschooling on the parent but adds the benefits of a wonderful curriculum, fellowship with like minded homeschooling parents, accountability and support. Each week new topics are introduced in the history,science,math and fine arts categories. The rest of the week the parents expand on those subjects and work on memorization skills according to age and ability level. While we are just eight weeks into the program we are very impressed with it thus far.
We are not sure if Luke will join us for in Classical Conversations or complete the curriculum that he has been in. I am leaving that decision up to him.
I have so much to say about our home school experiences. I will try not to be so neglectful in my posting of it.