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The National Parks Service has a wonderful Education program.   They have a Junior Rangers program, a WebRangers program and Parks as Classrooms. Here is a list of parks that you can check out to see if you have one near you.  Some parks even have curriculum based education programs.

Since we live near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we like to participate in their Parks as Classrooms Programs.  They offer programs from Kindergartners up to the Eight Grade.  Some of the 8th grade programs have been designed to meet the Standard North Carolina Course of Study for Biology and Earth Sciences.  

A couple of years ago, my older kids participated in a program at Deep Creek.  They had a Ranger talk with them about the different animals that live around the creek and how they survive.  They loved the hands on approach of learning about animal habitats in the Mountains.  We have also gotten the Junior Ranger workbooks and have worked in them with our 2 older children.

Be sure to do a search of the National Parks and see if there are any programs near you.  I can guarantee that not only will you enjoy it, your children will too.

The National Parks Service has a wonderful Education program.   They have a Junior Rangers program, a WebRangers program and Parks as Classrooms. Here is a list of parks that you can check out to see if you have one near you.  Some parks even have curriculum based education programs.

Since we live near the Great Smoky Mountain National Park, we like to participate in their Parks as Classrooms Programs.  They offer programs from Kindergartners up to the Eight Grade.  Some of the 8th grade programs have been designed to meet the Standard North Carolina Course of Study for Biology and Earth Sciences.  

A couple of years ago, my older kids participated in a program at Deep Creek.  They had a Ranger talk with them about the different animals that live around the creek and how they survive.  They loved the hands on approach of learning about animal habitats in the Mountains.  We have also gotten the Junior Ranger workbooks and have worked in them with our 2 older children.

Be sure to do a search of the National Parks and see if there are any programs near you.  I can guarantee that not only will you enjoy it, your children will too.

I recently posted what I had planned on using for my 2 younger children for the upcoming school year.  Now I would like to share what I plan on using for Sarah, my oldest daughter.  She will be going into the 7th grade.  Since she has gotten older, the last couple of years, I have asked her opinion on what curriculum she would like to use.  She actually surprised me this year and said she would like to go back using Bob Jones curriculum. 

I like Bob Jones material.  I enjoy using their teacher manuals.  They have lesson plans written out already.  I can read the directions to Sarah, she can take her text book and workbook and do the majority of the work on her own. The only problem with Bob Jones, is the price.  While I know I can find used at a reasonable price, I just haven’t really looked for any of Bob Jones, because I have recently acquired A Beka for free.  A Beka and Bob Jones are very similar in how they are written out.  They are both in the form of textbook and workbook as well as a teacher’s manual with daily lesson plans.  I am leaning towards using A Beka Science and sure Sarah will enjoy using this curriculum.

For history, Sarah is wanting to study American History.  Thankfully, we have a co-op that will be doing American History in our homeschool group.  They are looking at using Ray Notgrass material.  I have used this with my oldest son and he enjoyed the material a lot.  The Notgrass Company just sent us an e-mail saying that in the fall they will have a new curriculum called America The Beautiful (American History) written for grades 5th-8th grade.  What I like about Notgrass material, is it will cover English, History and Bible.  So with one curriculum, we will be able to cover 3 different subjects.  I am extremely excited with this find!

We have tried several different math curriculum’s over the past few years and have not been happy with any of them for Sarah.  Right now, she is using Alpha Omega’s LifePacs.  She seems to be handling this well without too much difficulty.  I think the reason why is because the LifePacs are broken down into 10 different books for the whole year.  I am pretty sure we will continue to use this math curriculum, at least for this next year. 

We will continue PE classes with the local Recreation Center.  This will be an hour and a half a week.  We will be taking part int his with other homeschoolers from our local support group.

My daughter will continue to take dance lessons and is asking to take violin/fiddle lessons.  She is also asking to take piano lessons as well.   Sarah will be participating in a local 4-H club, where she will be doing speeches and participating is cooking and sewing classes.  We will also continue to do those activities at home as well.

While I am pretty sure this is everything we will be using for the upcoming year, I am still praying that the choices we have made is what God would have me teach my daughter. 

I recently posted what I had planned on using for my 2 younger children for the upcoming school year.  Now I would like to share what I plan on using for Sarah, my oldest daughter.  She will be going into the 7th grade.  Since she has gotten older, the last couple of years, I have asked her opinion on what curriculum she would like to use.  She actually surprised me this year and said she would like to go back using Bob Jones curriculum. 

I like Bob Jones material.  I enjoy using their teacher manuals.  They have lesson plans written out already.  I can read the directions to Sarah, she can take her text book and workbook and do the majority of the work on her own. The only problem with Bob Jones, is the price.  While I know I can find used at a reasonable price, I just haven’t really looked for any of Bob Jones, because I have recently acquired A Beka for free.  A Beka and Bob Jones are very similar in how they are written out.  They are both in the form of textbook and workbook as well as a teacher’s manual with daily lesson plans.  I am leaning towards using A Beka Science and sure Sarah will enjoy using this curriculum.

For history, Sarah is wanting to study American History.  Thankfully, we have a co-op that will be doing American History in our homeschool group.  They are looking at using Ray Notgrass material.  I have used this with my oldest son and he enjoyed the material a lot.  The Notgrass Company just sent us an e-mail saying that in the fall they will have a new curriculum called America The Beautiful (American History) written for grades 5th-8th grade.  What I like about Notgrass material, is it will cover English, History and Bible.  So with one curriculum, we will be able to cover 3 different subjects.  I am extremely excited with this find!

We have tried several different math curriculum’s over the past few years and have not been happy with any of them for Sarah.  Right now, she is using Alpha Omega’s LifePacs.  She seems to be handling this well without too much difficulty.  I think the reason why is because the LifePacs are broken down into 10 different books for the whole year.  I am pretty sure we will continue to use this math curriculum, at least for this next year. 

We will continue PE classes with the local Recreation Center.  This will be an hour and a half a week.  We will be taking part int his with other homeschoolers from our local support group.

My daughter will continue to take dance lessons and is asking to take violin/fiddle lessons.  She is also asking to take piano lessons as well.   Sarah will be participating in a local 4-H club, where she will be doing speeches and participating is cooking and sewing classes.  We will also continue to do those activities at home as well.

While I am pretty sure this is everything we will be using for the upcoming year, I am still praying that the choices we have made is what God would have me teach my daughter. 

Summer is passing by us quickly. Before too long, it will be time to start the new school year. I have been looking at curriculum and brainstorming on what to use for this year. While I have nailed down a couple of choices for 2 of my children, I am still having doubts about what to do with my oldest daughter. My oldest son will be doing the majority of his school work through dual enrollment at the local community college. I just need to choose a couple of electives for him to do for his senior year of high school.

For my 2 youngest children, who will be 4 and 6 when we start the new school year, I will be using Sonlight Core K History. I was very blessed to have found this used at a book sale. I also plan to get the Grade K Readers for the 4 year old. Using Sonlight this year is something new to us. I wanted to give it a try, since my children love to read books so much. Sonlight has a wide array of books that I am hoping will open up a whole new world for us.

We will also be using Saxon Phonics for Samuel and Claire. I was also blessed by being able to find it at the same curriculum sale as the Sonlight. It looks very promising and the kids seem to be excited about it also. That is definitely a plus!

For science, I will be reading to them (as well as my oldest daughter) Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology. The kids will sit down with this book now and look at all the neat pictures that they have in it. I know we will have a blast once we start doing all the projects and activities that they have listed in the book.


Math curriculum for Samuel and Claire is what I am having trouble deciding on what to get. I have looked at Horizons Grade One for Samuel and Horizons Grade K for Claire. However, I just am not comfortable with that decision just yet. It will definitely take more prayer time to decide on what to use.

Most important to us is the Bible curriculum. We will definitely be using our Bible. We will read scripture out loud and then talk about what it means. I have found some awesome websites that has lesson plans to go along with a bible story. I will use those as a base to start with. I must say, one of my favorites is DLTK’s Bible Activities. Not only does it have the story and lesson plans, it also will suggest crafts and activities to go along with the story! Another website I used a lot with the preschool co-op in our homeschool group is First-School Preschool Activities and Crafts. They have a wonderful Bible section.


After writing everything out, it seems like a lot. However, I know that once I start writing daily lesson plans, it won’t seem as overwhelming. If, I feel like this is too much once we get started, we will pull something out. That is the wonderful thing about homeschooling. You can change or switch whatever is not working for you or your children.


I am just very thankful that God has blessed me with 4 wonderful children who love to learn.