Leaving WordPress and Moving To Xanga

I’ve tried hard to like wordpress, but there are just a few things holding me back.

The theme options and tools just stink. Getting the kind of header or theme I want is

just either a huge mystery or flat impossile.

I can’t edit my categories and my widgets just will not work properly, especially the links area.

I can’t get my comments to be emailed to me.

So I’m going to Xanga, I’m familiar with that system and tried to leave it for WordPress.

But really it’s a less complicated and better organized system! Plus, I can make it look any way I want

and you just can’t beat that.

I love it that WordPress has “pages”… but I think that’s really all I’ll be missing.

So Goodbye! I’m sorry to leave. Please come visit me instead at www.Xanga.com/SchoolHobby !!!

Hippo Craft (Paint and Veggies)

Animal Worlds Week One “Hippo Craft“

So this started off as using potato and carrot pieces with paint to make a hippo. Our theme right now is Animals and their habitats.
But it ended up being a fun paint and texture lesson. They also wanted to try out brocolli & cabbage and Xan thought the
paint would hold the pieces like glue.  They had so much fun. I don’t know that we ever actually ended up with Hippos…

But I’m reading the first book in the set of Artistic Pursuits…which is a GREAT book by the way that I should do a review on..and it really
encourages parents to allow the kids to feel free to change up the art and just enjoy the experience instead of aiming for a perfectly right
outcome with the art. I really like that. So I just let project become what it did…and it was a FABULOUS session.

Soldiers Of Narnia

Way too cute to not share with you. They are in a Narnia phase now.
At first I had to breathe into a paper bag when “we” chose to let them watch it.
But I’m totally liking this SO much better than super heroes and transformers and such. Yay!
They are learning about defending truth and honor and being fierce protectors of family and such.
They think Aslan sure does remind them alot of God.
So they feel like they are soldiers for God. Cool beans!
I’m loving it. I think it’s all a bit much for Xander……
But I think Nathanael is at a good age for Narnia.
The only thing they don’t like is when I call them Kings Peter and Edmund.
They say MOmmmmmmmm! We’re King Nathanael and King Jadon!
And then Xander says and me and me ! King ZZZandah!!!!!!!
They really love the BBC version but also enjoyed the recent films.
But they seem to go back to the BBC version more. Cool with me!
I just ordered a HUGE American History package with my funds.
So late spring and summer…they’ll turn into American History Figures.
I just LOVE IT LOVE IT LOVE IT !

Funny Homeschool Video

This is GREAT. hahahaha
I’ve THOROUGHLY enjoyed this one.

Enjoy!

When The World Will End

5 year Old Jadon: Mom Is that a new Calendar you’re putting on that wall?
Me: Yes Sweetie. We have a new year now. Isn’t that Cool?

Jadon: What’s Going to happen after this year is finished, will someone have a new calendar for us?
Me: Yep…We’ll get a brand new calendar with a brand new year in it.
Jadon : “Nathanael Nathanael!!! Come Here” …(Screaming as if there is fire in the house)…
7 Year Old Nathanael Comes Running : What’s Wrong Jadon????
Jadon: I just figured it out!!!! I just figured it out!!!!
Nathanael: What?
Jadon: How the world is going to end!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Nathanael: Really? How Jadon? (With a sincerely curious voice and furrowed eyebrows)
Jadon: When they stop making the calendars, and there are no more calendars, because nobody made anymore calendars and we can’t buy calendars cause there are no more calendars on the shelves in the store……
THAT IS WHEN THE WORLD WILL BE OVER!!!!!
Nathanael: OH MY GOSH…YOU’RE RIGHT!!!!
Jadon: Yah, I always am (said matter of fact and sincere) (Giving a sad and knowing grin…..)
Nathanael: Good thinking Jadon…I’m glad we know when it’s going to be….

Me: In the corner of the living room holding my sides while cracking up and shedding tears …..
They are SO PRECIOUS.

Organizing A Small Space

I previously lived in a ginormous home with a beautiful area for a school room. It was lovely and fun. Well, gone are the days. We’ve hit the bitter journey of scaling back and are downsizing and penny pinching. So , enter the new home. We have 1200 Sq. Ft. to use. Two bedrooms, a living room , one bath and of course the kitchen. Our SAVING GRACE is the dining room which we use for our school room. I’d be up a creek without this room!

As you can see I’ve lined every bit of wall space with mix matched shelving. Beggars can’t be choosers…but really it’s pretty cozy.I don’t know why this picture is so dark. I must have taken it in the evening. It is normally quite bright in the afternoon. All the shelving makes my tiny space workable because there is a place for each “thing” I also have a set of drawers and under my copier is my file cabinet. The rectangle kind (two drawers). It’s very organization efficient even if the quarters ARE tight.

Notice that my teacher’s desk area and the computer is on the actual shelving. If you are trying to save space this is GENIUS if I do say so myself.

The computer box fits neatly under the the shelving …the monitor (flat screen) and keyboard fit great on the 2nd shelf, and a stack of notebook paper to my right is both my mousepad AND my notepad. I’m saving space in every way possible. Underneath the shelf that holds my monitor is the 1st shelf and it holds a basket with CDRoms, USB cords, Computer Curriculum, etc. Up above on the upper shelving is simply more room for School Hobby Supplies.

I placed the school table in the center of the room. This way if they need to call for help I can see , hear, respond to them from either kitchen, living room, or computer.It’s very central. I like it. Instead of lugging things to different rooms we just use this one spot. Easy clean up too. We got the table from IKEA last year. It’s a GREAT table. I want one for a sewing area too actually.  LOL

I’ve thought about putting this table in the kitchen and instead putting giant bean bags and rugs in this floor area. The boys vote YES, I’m still thinking.

If you can manage to tear your eyes off of the adorable baby… and ignore the messy notebooks on the 2nd shelf…here is a better pic of how well the computer fits on the shelving.  AND when sitting in the chair I can even prop my legs/feet into the first shelving area for a nice little foot rest. I’m telling you…for saving space it’s the way to go!!!!! hahahahahahahahahahahaha

Happy Organizing!!!!
You Can Make It Work…
Where There’s A Hobby There’s A Way!!!

Sports Class

And since I mentioned Sports Class… I wanted to mention how much we benefit from our local Home Schooler’s Sports class. We have REALLY loved it. Really , a mom could do this or a couple who is active and able. For our little sports class…it’s 20 dollars a month and each month is a session of usually 4 weeks …and a different sport is covered….. My money is (thankfully – because God is good) covered by school funds! But it’s a joy to pay the couple who runs our classes because they are not there as a drag. They are quality instructors to take their role seriously. They are really great teachers & mentors.

The kids have so much fun…they get to compete and play with their friends….learn sports skills, and even play some regular kids type games before and after class. Plus we moms get a change to converse and catch up on comparing our school weeks and help encourage each other. At the end of each session if the children applied themselves…they receive a certificate that states which sport they excelled in and they get a treat. This is a huge incentive and boost for them during the month.

Fall 2008 PE Schedule:

Soccer                 Sept.

Flag Football       Oct.

Softball                Nov.

Kickball               Dec.

Spring 2009 PE Schedule:

Basketball Jan.

Nerf Dodgeball    Feb.

Volleyball            Mar.

Track & Field      Apr.

Soccer                 May

Science At Sports Class

Look mom!The Fly Doesn’t bite!!

An impromptu moment that I didn’t have to plan…to observe a housefly…have oral discussion and plan facts to look up on Google (my best friend) later when home. I might have seen this as an EEEEEW GROSSSS moment…swished it off and told him to be quiet so I could get back to chatting with the other ladies. But instead it was an opportunity to have a science class….as nature intended!!!

The Game Of Kings

Here is a Beginner’s Chess Study that we are loving. My husband wanted this to be his one thing to do with the boys in the evenings after work. It teaches the history, rules, moves, and love of the game. It goes in depth with wonderful, colorful and informative books and has a really really nice playing set. The board is made of a sturdy cloth …. and the pieces are solid and nice. This is a course that the whole family could get into an a game set that is quality and would last a long time. Jason probably gets to the study 2ish times per week, and he says sometimes he tweaks what the course has laid out for them to do or read. Winterpromise is a curriculum that is laid out very much akin to Sonlight. It is open and go …with daily suggestions for what to read for the day. Winterpromise also has other resource, activities , video, and online web site suggestions in all of their courses to compliment their studies. So far we have studied from Animal Worlds and IRTL and enjoyed both of them. But that’s for another blog. LOL

Here are some pictures of the Chess Study…..

and lookie how cute with the little prince getting in on it….

Even 3 year old Xander is being introduced to the game….

and look at how intensely the baby listens in. LOL !

3-D Maps

I wish I had a bit better of a pic of these maps to show you. These are just the COOLEST for map people…or  for little ones just getting exposed to maps. They are bright, simple and informative…but the neatest feature of them is that all of the land and info areas are raised. It gives the map experience such a fun feel. We really didn’t have much wall space to work with…..So I put these right behind a door to the hallway. I bought these through Rainbow Resource if you’re interested in checking them out. They are REALLY reasonably priced too! Have Fun!

Phonics Pathways

We really love this book. It’s such a great way to teach reading. It’s gentle and appealing, while also including the building blocks of reading and spelling. There are no funny fonts or sizes of words…and they start off right away learning to think about what words are and what reading is and not just learning to sight read for “no reason”.I went halfway through 100 ez lessons because that what I kept hearing people rave about. But it only taught my son to sight read and not the rules or skills for “building words”. So once a little time went by…he’d lost his reading skill. Phonics Pathway is much more of a tool box for children. They really learn WHY words sound like they do…and they learn to THINK about what they are reading. In this book…spelling and comprehension are not later subjects. They are gently introduced to all of these concepts from the first few words they begin to read. It’s a brilliant program. Pain and planning free for mommy too!!!!

I like the simple games that are suggested in this book. These are things that you can skip if you’re not into using extra bells and whistles. No Biggie. The book is made to be used without them and you won’t be missing anything. BUT, I do like extra bells and whistles and if you happen to be the same way…then maybe you’ll enjoy these pics of how we decided to print out and use the game sheets.

We did this with scraps. We’re on a budget…. which is code for broke…. so I just used whatever I had laying around the house.

You should be able to see the strips well in the first pic below and then a photo of our whole project in the bottom picture. We just photo copied this paper with our humble printer on some scrap paper and then colored in all of the squares. We then glued the whole sheet onto some heavier paper that we had and then cut out each square. Now we can play a variety of ways and it feels like a game more than “sound blending practice”.

Next we have the vowels (I am obviously doing these OUT of order hahahaha) …. we made a bunch of book mark strips. Even my 3 1/2 year old thinks these are really groovy and has memorized his vowels! It’s nice when there is no pressure and they learn it so easily and gently because to them it’s a game. Sorry for the one fuzzy picture. There are lots of other games and some are more interesting than these…but being short on time I just grabbed at these and we’ve really loved how they’ve enhanced our lessons. My two big boys are way beyond these games now and onto a good reading path. But I can’t imagine throwing all of this out. I’ve loved it so much I will definitely be using it for the younger kids when they are ready.