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The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and a History Link-Up in the works!

Written by Joy
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The Homeschool Mother’s Journal and a History Link-Up in the works!

 Don’t forget to drop by iHomeschool Network and look at what other homeschoolers have been doing!

  • In my life this week…

    I have had a pretty good week.  I was able to get up and dressed, get the kids breakfast and get started on school.  It has been a good with with not much pain. I am thankful and blessed by God for keeping my pain away.  I also am working on a new link-up for history!

  • In our homeschool this week…

    We got a lot accomplished in our homeschool this week!  I am so proud of my kids.  Other than our usual math, phonics and writing, we carved soap into big fish (Jonah lesson in MOH), made Oylmpic wreaths (Olympic lesson in MOH) and read about Mercury in Astronomy.

  • Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

     If you are able to, try to have a few minutes of quiet time at the beginning of the day and ask God to bless your day and your homeschool.  By putting God first, my days definitely go a lot smoother.

  • I am inspired by…

    I am inspired by Jenilee and her family.  Jenilee blogs at Our Goodwin Journey.  Jenilee and her husband Jeremy just announced that they are missionaries for Senegal, West Africa.  Will you join me in prayer for this blessed family and perhaps pray for how you can help and bless them in their new journey?

  • My favorite thing this week was…

    Claire, Sarah and Samuel making their Olympic wreaths.

    Claire, Sarah and Samuel with their big fish carvings.

  • Things I’m working on…

 I am working on the History link-up.  I share a little more about it at the bottom.  I am also helping out with Teaching Creation   Thursday at Creation Conversation!

  • I’m cooking…

    I have been in a baking and cooking mood lately.  The holidays and cooler weather always seems to get me in the baking mood.  This past week, we baked chocolate chip cookies.  They didn’t last long enough for me to get a picture of!  I also made a Pumpkin Spice Banana Nut Bread at the beginning of the week!

  • I’m grateful for…

     I am so thankful and blessed by the many friendships that I have made since I have started blogging.  I am encouraged by all of those who blog about their faith and those who encourage others through their faith and their homeschool journey.  It is my goal to do the same.

  • I’m praying for…

    I am praying for our family and that we find a church home soon.  I miss the fellowship with other believers.

  • A photo to share…

I am so excited about this new link-up I am having.  It will be a History link-up for those who are using Bright Ideas Press      history and geography curriculum.  I will begin having it once a week.  We will begin this next Wednesday and I have a giveaway from Bright Ideas Press!  It is a $20 store credit!!

 


 *This link-up is not officially affiliated with Bright Ideas Press but is my own project. I am a customer and fan.

* Affiliate links are included in this post.

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Teaching Creation Thursday ~ giveaway and a free download!

Written by Joy
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Teaching Creation Thursday ~ giveaway and a free download!

A Journey of Joy
Today for Teaching Creation Thursday, we have a worksheet to give to you all, as well as a giveaway of one of the books that Dr. Carolyn Reeves co-authored.

The worksheet that Dr. Reeves has prepared for you all is an activity that you can do with your children. It is an activity that Dr. Reeves has done many times to help students understand how scientists try to reconstruct the past. (It is found in Forces & Motion, DeRosa and Reeves, Master Books, and Understanding Science While Believing the Bible, Reeves, The Master Design.) Trying to figure out what happened in the past is much like a detective would try to figure out what happened at a crime scene. Print (or re-create) a copy of a “damaged” drawing of a tree and have students try to reconstruct the way it looked originally. Don’t let them see any of the examples of completed drawings. After they finish, tell them there is no “right” or “wrong” proven answer. Then compare their efforts to reconstruct the tree to how a scientist might try to reconstruct the past.

You can download the worksheet by clicking on HERE.

Now for the giveaway, we  have this wonderful book set, Forces and Motion that is written by Dr. Carolyn Reeves and Tom DeRosa.  The worksheet that you can download above is actually found in this book!

Forces and Motion
Tom DeRosa, Dr. Carolyn Reeves

From the New Leaf Publishing Group, the description of the books is:

This amazing full-color book is filled with 20 hands-on activities that ignite a sense of curosity about the wonderful God has made. Concepts are introduced in an engaging way – by highlighting the science behind kids at play, like rollerskating, skateboarding, and even running. By guiding students through these easy to understand investigations, they learn to explain, apply, expand, and assess what they have personally observed!

Learn how to:

  • Determine the speed and motion of favorite toys
  • Create a catapult and experience the mechanics of pulleys
  • Set up a floating pencil race
  • Discover why friction creates heat

Investigate the incredible world that God has created with science that is fun and educational in this comprehensive series!

Now how do you enter for this great set of books? Enter below! If the Rafflecopter widget does not show up below, please click on it and it will take you to the page to enter!
a Rafflecopter giveaway

2012, Creation, homeschooling, , , , , , , ,

Denver Zoo has a free day! ~ field trip

Written by Joy
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Denver Zoo has a free day! ~ field trip

We recently found out that the Denver Zoo has free days for the public. One of those days was last week. I asked our neighbor who homeschools her 7 year old son if they wanted to go with us. They said yes, so off we went! We packed a lunch, snacks and bottled water for the day. We got to the zoo fairly early and there were already a lot of families who were taking advantage of this wonderful opportunity.

King of the Jungle

As you walk in through the front gate, the first animals that you come to is the African Lions.  They were absolutely gorgeous!  And huge!

Cape Buffalo

Being a zoo with a lot of animals, the one thing you do notice right off is the smell.  I kept giggling at Samuel who kept asking why the animals smelled so badly.  He walked around the zoo with his shirt over his nose, most of the day.  The smell was really horrible at the Cape Buffalo area.

Dall’s Sheep

I have seen mountain sheep before on Mt.Evans.  Was even able to get some really close pictures of them.  So I liked watching these that were at the zoo.  The one with the horns was the dominating one.  He would go up to the younger ones and push them below him.  He was definitely playing king of the mountain and succeeded!

Claire with the Capuchin

Claire had told me before we arrived at the zoo that she wanted to see the monkeys.  Her Papa calls her, his little monkey and so she wanted to have her picture taken with them, so we could send it to him.

Samuel seeing how tall he is next to am Emperor Penguin

Samuel thought this was pretty cool, being able to compare how tall he is to an Emperor Penguin.

Grizzly Bears

While we have seen black bears in North Carolina, this was our first time seeing grizzly bears.  I loved watching the grizzly bears.  Tundra (female bear), kept pacing back and forth while watching Tipani (sp?- male bear) eat his bone.  Tundra was waiting for him to walk away from his bone so she could take it, even though she had her own!

Kids checking out an Elephant skull

The Denver Zoo has just recently added a new section to the Zoo.  It is a much larger Elephant exhibit.  From what we were told, they have added several more elephants to the zoo.  It is amazing how large and graceful these animals are.

Elephant

Another highlight for the kids were seeing the giraffes.  We also got a lesson in giraffe anatomy.  When we walked up the largest giraffe was going to the bathroom.  They must have a bladder the size of a basketball or larger.  The make giraffe stood there urinating for several minutes.  Adults and kids all got a giggle out of seeing this!

Giraffe

The last exhibit we went through, was the Tropical Climate building.  This building had so many different types of frogs, lizards, fish and snakes in it.  It was very humid and damp.  This was also a big hit with the kids.  It is so amazing to see all the different types of animals that God has created.

Kids looking at a Komodo Dragon

We spent about 3 hours at the zoo that day.  I would have stayed longer, but the kids were all tired.  So we left after leaving the Tropical building.  The zoo was so big that we didn’t even get to see everything.  We are excited about going back again on the next free day.  This time, dad is going to take off a half a day so he can go with us.  The kids can’t wait to show him all the animals we saw.  I can’t wait to see the animals that we missed on our first trip.  We enjoyed the zoo so much, that we are planning on buying a yearly membership.

Do you have a zoo that is close by?  What are your favorite animals?

 

2012, field trips, homeschooling, , , , , , , , , , , , ,

a solar eclipse and pinhole viewing box project ~ Apologia Astronomy

Written by Joy
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a solar eclipse and pinhole viewing box project ~ Apologia Astronomy

The kids and I are moving right along with the Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia.  We have made it to the end of the 2nd chapter about the sun.

The first thing we did, was create a solar eclipse using our globe, a small ball attached to a string and a flashlight.  By putting the ball between the light source and the globe, we were able to cast a shadow, showing the kids how a solar eclipse works.

showing the kids how a solar eclipse works.

We then moved on to making a pinhole viewing box.  I gathered the supplies that we needed.  One of the things I really like about Apologia and their projects,  it is stuff you can find laying around your home.  For this project, I had everything on hand.

supplies for the projects

Sarah started out cutting a hole in the side of the box.  This was to view the sun when we finished the project.  However, you could have cut the side of this box off.

Sarah making a hole in the side of the box.

Samuel had the job of cutting a piece of aluminum foil and white paper to go on the end of each box.

Samuel cutting the aluminum foil and paper.

Claire helped Sarah tape the aluminum foil over a hole on one end of the box.  She then helped tape the white piece of paper on the opposite end.

Claire getting a needle.

Sarah helped Claire poke a hole in the aluminum foil.  We found out the bigger the hole the needle made the bigger and fuzzier the sun showed on the white paper.  The smaller the hole, the clearer the picture of the sun.

Sarah helping Claire poke a hole with the needle.

The kids and I had a great time looking at the sun through the pinhole viewing box.  It worked really well.  We were hoping to be able to see some sun spots on the sun, but we didn’t notice any dark spots at all.

seeing the sun through the pinhole.

Trixie even came out on the porch and wanted to look in the box!

Trixie wanted to see the sun in the pinhole in the box!

While we were sad to end the chapter on the sun, we are looking forward to the next chapter about Mercury.  We can’t wait until the next project!

Linking up with:

Science Sunday

 

2012, homeschooling, , , , , , ,

Teach Them Diligently Conference Early Bird Special Ends Soon!

Written by Joy
Teach Them Diligently Conference Early Bird Special Ends Soon!

Teach Them Diligently early bird special will be ending soon. In fact, it ends this Thursday, November 15th, 2012. If you want to hear speakers Pam Tebow, Ken Ham and Voddie Baucham and many more, buy your tickets soon!  Take advantage of the early bird special!

What is Teach Them Diligently Conference about?  Here are a few questions answers that might be able to help you understand a little more about the conference.

What is the Teach Them Diligently Convention?

Teach Them Diligently is a large, but intimate celebration in the Word of God and
His plan for families. The goal of the convention is to encourage parents to
focus on discipleship and soak their homes in the gospel. The organizers pray
over this convention for months and bring in speakers and vendors with the same
focus. The result is not just your typical homeschool convention book fair or
academic exercise, but something more. The parents are entrusted with the
special task of leading their children through the Word and to equip them to be
our Lord’s servants in the world.

Where will the Teach Them Diligently Convention be?

Teach Them Diligently is coming May 2013 to Spartanburg, SC; Nashville, TN; and
Omaha, NE. In 2012, this convention was in Spartanburg, SC, and attracted a
community of over 7000 homeschoolers.

What is the vision of Teach Them Diligently?

We view homeschooling as a form of ministry and state whether we realize it or
not, we reproduce who we are in our children. Therefore, we have a constant
need for renewal and encouragement in Christ. This is the reason for the Teach Them Diligently Convention. We believe a homeschool convention should be a
waterfall of enrichment and encouragement in Christ, and a re-focus toward
discipleship.

Who will the speakers be? A variety of speakers including Voddie Baucham,
Ken Ham, Heidi St. John, Clay & Sally Clarkson, Davis & Rachel Carmen,
Israel Wayne, Debra Bell, Hal & Melanie Young and many others will join us
to minister to the families coming to the Teach Them Diligently Convention.

Our family plans on attending the conference in Omaha, Nebraska.  Will I see you there?

*this post contains affiliate links.

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