homeschooling – Page 15 – A Journey of Joy

White Ranch Park – field trip

September 13, 2012Written by Joy

The one thing I love about moving and living in a new place, is all of the wonderful field trip opportunities. There is so much to see and do in this area. I could choose a field trip once a week and be doing something every week for a whole year. This time, we took the younger kids to White Ranch Park. It is considered an Open Space Park. It has a lot of trails that you can ride horses on or you can just walk. We saw people taking their dogs with them, as well! White Ranch Park used to be a successful ranch back in the early 1900’s. Now, it is a successful park with many different types of wildlife running all over it. The park also has a couple of ares that you can camp in. We have talked about taking the kids camping and I am thinking this would be a wonderful place! The park has left a lot of farming and ranching equipment behind for visitors to look at. While they are old and rusty, they are still beautiful to look at and learn about. I am thankful for the signs the park has put up to explain what each piece of equipment is. It gave my kids a chance to read a little about the history of ranching and farming in the mountains.

Kids reading information about mountain lions.

Kids looking at a John Deere 383 Plow.

Claire reading about a ground leveling tool, while Sammy looked at it.

Their dad is explaining to them how the Seed Planter worked.

An old Hay Mower.

A Hay Raker.

A Manure Spreader.

Kids sitting on the rock, where a plaque is displayed for the dedication of the White Ranch Park.

Looking forward to heading back to the park. Do you have any historical parks in your area? What do you love most about them?

2012, family, homeschooling 2012, field trips, history, homeschooling, White Ranch Park

Views from White Ranch Park

September 12, 2012Written by Joy

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While my oldest daughter was at her riding lesson, we rode to White Ranch Park in Golden, CO. It is a beautiful Open Space. A lot of great trails to walk on. We didn’t have time to go hiking on any of them, but were still able to take in the gorgeous views that the park offered. I see us coming back here for a field trip to do a nature walk for science. The kids have already said our next time to the park, we will need to bring a picnic lunch. I can’t wait until next time!

Homestead Road, Golden, CO.

White Ranch Park, Golden, CO.

2012, family, photography 2012, family, field trip, hiking, homeschooling, photography, White Park Ranch

Lego’s and Homeschooling

September 4, 2012Written by Joy

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Some see Lego’s as toys for kids. While it is considered a toy, I also think you can use it for part of your schooling. There is just so much a child can do with legos.

Samuel and his police car.

They can separate the Lego”s by size, color and shapes.

Claire and her beach set.

When putting the Lego sets together, the child follows directions of the set.

Lego City set.

Playing with the sets can spark imagination and creativity. You can even let the kids build projects for schooling of what they have read about. There really is so much you can do with Lego’s for schooling.

Lego Friends set.

We love playing with Lego’s in our house. My oldest two have been playing with Lego’s for years. Now my younger two children are getting into it. Yes, they do hurt when you step on them, but I think the learning possibilities outweigh the pain. 😉

Does your children play with Lego’s? Do they like to build the sets or do they like to just create anything from the Lego’s?

2012, homeschooling 2012, children, homeschooling, Legos

My Well Planned Day Software Review and Giveaway!

August 31, 2012Written by Joy

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When I first started homeschooling, I tried using several different planners to help me plan our day. With in a couple of weeks, I always stopped using them, either because they didn’t fit our needs or I got behind trying to write everything down that I wanted to keep track up.

At one time, my husband even created a weekly excel spreadsheet that I could right lesson plans in and I could print lessons for the day or even for the whole week on it. I used it the longest for a couple of years. However, it still did not have everything I wanted to keep track of on it.

As the years have gone by, I have turned more and more to the computer and online world to make up different plans, spreadsheets and calendars to help me keep track of our busy life with four children. I have yet to find anything online to keep track of everything, until now.

When I went to the 2:1 Conference back in April, I had the pleasure of meeting Jenny from Home Educating Family. We got to talking about the Well Planned Day Planners that Home Educating Family offered. I had seen them before, but never bought one because it was paper and would have required me to write everything in. Knowing my history with this, I knew it wasn’t the planner for me. I asked her if Home Education Family had plans for making there planner online. She said yes! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to try it out when it became available. Jenny contacted me about a month ago and asked if I would love to give it a try and I just couldn’t pass up this offer!

The My Well Planned Day software is amazing to me! One of the things I love most about it, is that it combines School plus Household activities and events. I can use the software to make lesson plans and assignments plus make a menu and grocery list! The best of both worlds that I wanted together! You can add the textbooks on here that you are using and keep track of the Literature that you are reading. What has really gotten me excited is that I will soon be able to sync my Google calendar that my husband and I use, to the calendar on this software!

I really feel like the My Well Planned Day software is going to help me out so much. I can already see areas that it has helped me in. I would like for you to have the same chance to see if this awesome software will help you as much as it has me.

Home Educating Family is offering the readers of My Home In The Smokies $15 off the MWPD software retail price of $65. The code is case sensitive, no spaces, and expires on October 1. Your personal code is: 31wpdblog12.

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2012, family, homeschooling, review 2012, family, Home Educating Family, homeschooling, My Well Planned Day, review

Lookout Mountain ~ field trip

August 28, 2012Written by Joy

One of the first places we took the kids when we got to Colorado, was Lookout Mountain. Lookout Mountain is the place where Buffalo Bill is buried. They have a beautiful museum and a great little cafe on top of the mountain. The day we took the kids, they were having their annual music festival. So there was an extra added treat to this visit.

The first thing we did was take a short walk around the railing outside. The views were just beautiful. We saw people para-sailing off the mountain. I tried to get a picture, but they were just too far away. You can barely see them in the picture.

I just can’t seem to get enough of the views. They are absolutely beautiful!

The picture below is of the North and South Table Top Mountains.

I love the history of the Old West. So I was in heaven walking through this museum. The amount of actual items from his shows are amazing.

One of the reason why I love this museum so much, is they have an area just for the kids. They provide hats, boots, chaps and vests for the kids to try on. They also have a horse and a calf so the kids can try to rope the calf. I didn’t think we would ever get the kids away from this area.

Loved my son’s facial expression in this picture. He did not want his sister on the horse with him!

Claire did finally get her turn on the horse. I just wish I could have taken better pictures of the kids in this area.

I am thankful that my kids live history as much as I do. They took their time looking at each display.

Even my oldest child enjoyed this little family field trip. It is rare that he gets to come with us when we go on trips.

The Buffalo Bill Museum is a great place to go for a family outing. I definitely see us coming to this museum many times.