Schools out for the summer........

.....not. So this year we are schooling through the summer. Not because we are trying to get ahead of everyone but because we are a bit behind, so I made an agreement with my children that we will work for up to 2 hours each morning and then we get to enjoy the rest of our day. I thought the would think I was awful but they were fine with it. So I am keeping it simple and also including learning in everything we do from gardening to baking to a car ride, so far so good.

We are also finding some great books to make the experience even more fun. Some are just for fun reading, some help us in the garden or with cooking and baking and some help us with the learning. Great books out there, we will never trade them for an electronic reader ever, I love turning the pages of this great science program and seeing the great printed colors, very cool. Check it out here - Real Science 4 Kids offers a great learning experience and really give you a thorough understanding for each level of science.

Plus I am reading the City of Ember series, very interesting so far, I will let you know what I think when I finish the series.

Have a happy day!

I hate math

Ugh if I hear that one more time, I will go crazy.  We have tried so many math programs over the years and finally we seemed to have settled on one - Teaching Textbooks, it is wonderful, truly the best for my older two and my 11 yo seems to like it but today I heard those dreaded words "I hate math" from my daughter and I was telling her she did not and that everyone has to do math and now we are all doing this program and no one gets to change, but then I heard myself and remembered why I home school in the first place.  Why you ask?  Well let's see the main reason was because I wanted them to have a freedom in the way they learned, to not be kept in a box and that includes not using a program just because the rest of the family uses it.  So it hit me she loves to bake and shes loves the basic concepts and she doesn't have to have a program to get that.  To some degree I have lost track of my eclectic style and keep following along on the paths of others and that makes me so mad because I am truly my own style but over the last bunch of years I have lost me and my sense of learning from doing and learning at our own pace and style. 

All this from one little state, you ask, why yes can you believe it?  But it took her saying it with such persistence to make me realize I have lost our own path and begun to follow others and it's time for a change.

I will let you know what she chooses.

What's up next on the reading list? 

Going through so many changes

As you can tell by my lack of posts life has gotten quite busy, yes we are still homeschooling which is why we are quite busy, Nolan is graduating this year, we are so excited, my daughter and I got heavily back into crafting, thank goodness we have a book business that has some great craft books, but we are also very fortunate to have a wonderful library system too and they are full of some of the new crafting books.  So between homeschooling, crafting, Daniel's interest in monster creatures and leisure reading (I said that while chuckling, because there really is no time for leisure reading, but I find bits and pieces), I have flipped through many pages over the last few months.

So let's see my favorites right now are Thirst 3, I am almost done with this one, got if as a Christmas gift and I really enjoy this authors style.

One of my favorites for crafting was this one - The New Handmade

Plus I also read an interesting book called Kiss Your Dentist Goodbye
I found this particularly interesting and I think anyone could glean something from this book, my whole family is now using her process for keeping our teeth clean, however we are looking for non-chemical clean products, I will share with you what I find on my other blog La mia vita bella once I find them.

You get the point, I could go on and on but I won't.  There are so many amazing books to read, some are just plain ole fun, some are educational, some help you learn a new craft or even trade and some invigorate the imagination.  Start with your local library to try out a new book and if you find something you must own of course check out our store to see if we have it =D .

Enjoy this beautiful day.