5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Friday Favorites

Welcome back to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. Can you believe today is the fifth and last day. My fellow Crew Mates and I hope you've been finding encouragement this week. On Monday I shared how I stay motivated on this homeschool path, on Tuesday I decided we would "take a look" at our 2018-2019 curriculum, on Wednesday I shared my new schedules to show how we work it all in, and yesterday the hubby took over the blog to share what he was thankful for.

Today I would like to take a look at some of the children's favorites. I mean, you may have already been able to tell that my favorite curriculum is what we continue to use for our Core Curriculum: My Father's World. And I have other favorites from what we have reviewed, books I read, shows we watch, etc. But today, I would like for the children to add their input.

I will be sharing their favorite review products from this year, plus favorite books and whatever else they would like to share. Let's go oldest to youngest, shall we?

Tabitha's favorites:

Kids Email

She loves staying in contact with her email penpals, even three months after posting the review.

Tomb Dash! from Home School in the Woods

Home School Navigator

Amelia's favorites:

Kids Email

Tomb Dash! from Home School in the Woods

Hannah's favorites:

Hake/Saxon Grammar and Writing 3

Traditional Spelling 2 from Memoria Press

Harold's favorites:

Reading Eggspress/ MathSeeds

Paddington Lit Study from Branch Out World

They also have favorite book series. 

Tabitha is really enjoying the following right now:

Land of Stories by Chris Colfer 

Warriors by Erin Hunter 

Kane Chronicles by Rick Riordan

Percy Jackson also by Rick Riordan

and

The Keeper of the Lost Cities by Shannon Messenger

Amelia finally got into the Warriors series by Erin Hunter and is really enjoying it.

She also likes the Harry Potter books by J.K. Rowling.

Hannah is addicted to The Tales of Sasha series by Alexa Pearl. She has read and reread the available six books all summer during Summer Reading Program and beyond.

Thanks to the Summer Reading Program, Harold has really gotten into the Magic Tree House books by Mary Pope Osborne. He is on the fourth book right now, but his favorite is the first one, Dinosaurs Before Dark (no surprise there for my dino lover).

Tabitha also wanted to share the following favorites:

Zelda Breath of the Wild is her favorite video game. 

One of her favorite things to do, and what she really misses right now, is co-op. She loves her gym class there. 

Her favorite field trip this year was the Creation Museum in Kentucky.

Her favorite game we got for review this year is Word-a-Melon.

Amelia's turn:

Her favorite video game is also Zelda Breath of the Wild.

Last year she really like the Edible Science class at co-op. 

Her favorite field trip was also the Creation Museum.

Her favorite board game is Sorry!

Hannah also loves Zelda Breath of the Wild. 

She also really liked the Edible Science class at co-op.

One of her favorite things she has done this year was go to Penn-York Camp for Friendship Camp.

Harold's favorite video game is Zelda Breath of the Wild. (Yes, it is popular in our house right now.)

He also really liked Edible Science.

He loved going to the Creation Museum as well.

He got a new game, Checkers, during Summer Reading Program, and he loves playing it.

And though none of them mentioned it, I would say another of their favorite things to do is going outside to play and they love the added bonus of being able to find a critter or two. 

What do your children like to read and do?

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.

Christine @ Christine Howard
Christy @ The Simple Homemaker
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Felicia @ Homeschool 4 Life
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Thankful Thursday

Welcome back to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. I am so glad you are here. My fellow Crew Mates and I hope you've been finding encouragement this week. On Monday I shared how I stay motivated on this homeschool path, on Tuesday I decided we would "take a look" at our 2018-2019 curriculum, and yesterday I shared my new schedules to show how we work it all in.

Today my husband is taking over my blog, as he has done in the past. It has become a tradition for him to write one of my blog hop posts, and he chose to contribute for Thankful Thursday.

Without further ado, here's the hubby.

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Thankful?  Who has time to be thankful?  I work full time in a nursing home.  I'm on my feet so much my blisters are getting blisters, and when I get a day off, I'm scared to answer my phone for fear of getting called in.

What is this Thankful Thursday nonsense?  I just don't get it.

Or do I?

Sometimes when I'm frustrated at work, I find a folded up piece of paper with my sandwiches "I love you daddy.  Have fun at work"  They sure are sneaky.

When I'm exhausted after a twelve hour (or longer) shift and I fall asleep on the couch still in my uniform I get woken up to "Here's your breakfast, dear."  And she doesn't even add the words "choke on it" or "eat it or else"

When I'm leaving for work, and all the children rush up to give me a hug and kiss goodbye, then go out on the porch to wave.  Insisting that I honk the horn in our special way as I drive away. They like disturbing the neighbors.

When I'm finally home for a night, and the kids are in bed, and I feel my wife's arms around me, or I come home after a long day at work and she is waiting eagerly to see me.

When I find out I have time off to go to a Bills game I figured I would have to miss.

When I need a second hand with home repairs and members of my church offer to help.

When I hold my youngest daughter during the worship time  at church and she is singing along while one of her sisters is singing with the worship team.

I guess I have a lot to be thankful for after all.  But most of all, I'm thankful for My beautiful wife, Karen.

I would not be where I am, and doing what I do, if it weren't for her steadfast love.  She has been there for my highest of highs such as finally obtaining my LPN license, as well as through lows that are too devastating to put into words.  I can always count on her to be there for me.

Working night shift with 4 little ones in the house is no easy task and I couldn't do it without her.  She keeps the kids downstairs, away from our bedroom. She teaches them in a way that they enjoy, but without disturbing me.

I'm also thankful that, despite my love of sleep, She knows that there are some things I want to be up for, and won't hesitate to wake me.The house being on fire is one of those (no, that hasn't happened.)
I even get a nice, home cooked meal before I leave for work. Pretty cool, huh?

To this day, I don't know why we connected in the back seat of Mom's car.  I only know how thankful I am.  I'm also thankful that she said "yes" because, as I've come to find out, marriage. and all of it's perks, is awesome. Thanks sweety!! I love you!

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Aww, I love you too! And I'm so thankful to be appreciated and loved back. It is wonderful to have a husband that supports and encourages me. A husband that reminds me that yes, I can do this homeschooling thing. I am thankful that the Lord brought Harold into my life during quite the tumultuous time. Thankfully, things have calmed down a lot since then, and he has stood by me this whole time.

There are so many things that come up in life that make me want to grumble and complain. I need to remember not just to look for the good things to be thankful for, but to praise the Lord through the tough times. He tells us to rejoice always, to be thankful in all circumstances.

What do you have to be thankful for?

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.

Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Betty @ Let’s Get Real
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Work it in Wednesday

Welcome back to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. I am so glad you are here. My fellow Crew Mates and I hope you've been finding encouragement this week. On Monday I shared how I stay motivated on this homeschool path, and yesterday I decided we would "take a look" at our 2018-2019 curriculum. Of course, being a part of the Crew, things change up quite a bit, but our core always stays the same. Today we are going to look at how I fit it all in.

One of the things I love about homeschooling is how flexible it is. I can look at our schedule at any time and see where I might need to tweak something. Though, I admit, once I get a schedule down I find it hard to have to switch things around. I've never been a fan of change. However, each year it seems we are changing up something in our schedule to make it work better. Usually they are just little alterations. In fact, I really liked the way our days were flowing last school year after the few changes I had made. However, due to some recent changes at the YMCA, we are going to be making some big changes in our schedule this year. 

See, we joined the Y a few years ago so I could get healthier, and now getting exercise into

 our days is very important to me,. Going to the Y used to be about the hubby and I getting exercise; however, last year Tabitha (and sometimes Amelia) joined me for Zumba. I figured it was a great way for them to get their P.E. requirement in. Unfortunately, that class was put on hold during the summer, and it looks like it isn't making a comeback. During the summer I found a few different classes that I enjoyed, as does Tabitha. Amelia comes with us occasionally. The only problem is, these classes are all in the morning. Sooo, in order to work them into our school year, I needed to do some major flip-flopping of the schedule. Thankfully, I think I have it worked out. Though I won't know for sure until school officially starts. I guess if it doesn't work out, I will have to tweak some more. 

Our school time is going to be pushed back to the afternoon and possibly the evening, leaving the morning free for exercise on Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays. In October we will start back up with co-op on Wednesday mornings. Mondays, and Wednesdays when we don't have co-op, we will devote our mornings to art, music and science, playing catch up where we need to. Those are the subjects we fell behind in the most last year. 

Here's a look at my tentative schedule. As I said, I will have to evaluate it once school starts to see if it will need some more tweaking.

Of course, with a change in our daily schedule, the children's routine time had to be altered a bit too. We used to have what we called "Morning Routine" and "Afternoon Routine." This is when they took their turns on the new computer, old computer, WiiFit U, and math drill (in the morning) or mommy time (in the afternoon). Now these routines will come back-to-back after lunch, which will take some getting used to. These are the times when the children work on math and any review products we have online. 

  

So, with school less than two weeks away, I think I have some clue what our days are going to look like. I am thankful for My Father's World which gives us one day of the week that is more relaxed than the others, so I can work co-op in without making me crazy. I am thankful that I can be flexible in order to adjust our schedule due to changes at the Y, or the addition of Bible Quizzing, which the girls are just starting up. Of course, this flexibility assures me that we will be able to fit school in even if we have such things as dentist or doctor appointments. Unlike public school, where the child(ren) would be absent, we can just take some work with us for in the van or the office, change up our schoolwork for the day, or move it to the weekend. I love homeschool flexibility!! Don't you?

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

Littles Learning Link Up: 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Take a Look Tuesday

 Each month you will find:

• A seasonal round-up (usually toward the beginning of the month)
• Posts where I share what I have been up to with my early elementary children (including occasional highlight posts where I share how we used ideas that have been linked up here on Littles Learning Link Up).

Each week, I will host a link up, where you can share either what you have been up to recently, or old posts that may go with the theme.  Feel free to link up more than one post.

Each week I will continue to feature a couple of posts from those that have been linked up. 

I hope you will continue to share your wonderful posts, and I hope you will find something new to try with your child(ren).

It would be great for everyone to stop by and visit the other linked-up posts as well. Check them out, leave some comments, pin those that interest you. Let's make this a real party and socialize with each other.

What have we been up to?

We are, once again taking a bit of a break, though the children are still working on their few review products online. Plus we have some books to read. Both Summer Reading Programs are finished. VBS is over; what a wonderful few days we had! We will have two weeks to relax and get organized for the new school year, which starts September 3rd.

I know there are some who have already started back up with school, and some who will start later in September, but I have a feeling there are many who are in "Back to Homeschool" mode, especially with all those "Back to School" sales floating around. Well, in case you didn't know, I am participating in this year's Homeschool Review Crew 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement. Yesterday was Motivation Monday. Today is Take a Look Tuesday, which I decided to combine with Littles Learning Link Up.

Sooo, let's Take a Look:

Take a Look Tuesday

Welcome to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. I am so glad you are here. My fellow Crew Mates and I are hoping you will find encouragement through these posts this week.

Today I decided that we would take a look at our 2018-2019 Homeschool Curriculum.

We will continue to use My Father's World as our Core Curriculum. This year we will be using Rome to the Reformation, continuing our study of history from where we left off in Ancient Greece from last year.

Here are all the books/materials that come with the Deluxe edition of Rome to the Reformation.

The children enjoyed finally being able to "take a look" at our curriculum. We've had it since March, but I only glanced through the box before we had to hurry off somewhere, and I packed it all away without us really looking at it.

Additionally, we needed to keep the following books from last year:

Ancient World, Streams of Civilization: Volume One, and Journey through the Bible are part of the history component that spans Creation to the Greeks and Rome to the Reformation. 

History from our RtR shipment:

We've got The Roman Empire, Augustus Caesar's World, Galen and the Gateway to Medicine, The Story of the World, Medieval World, Trial and Triumph, plus the Make a Castle activity, Starting Chess, and How the Bible Came to Us.

To help enhance our history portion, we will also be reading these living books:

Dangerous Journey (The Story of Pilgrim's Progress), The Bronze Bow, The Door in the Wall, and Twice Freed.

For science we will be looking at the Human Body the first half of the year, and then we will move into Astronomy.

We'll be using Exploring Creation with Astronomy from Apologia (which we started a while ago as a review, but when I realized we would be using it this year, we set it aside). And for our Human Body portion we will use the First Encyclopedia of the Human Body, The Body Book, The Wonderful Way Babies are Made, The Human Body for Every Kid, and I'm also sticking Galen and the Gateway to Medicine with our Science books. I also plan on using some Answers in Genesis DVD's our church has.

Moving on to English/Language Arts

One other component that continues with us from Creation to the Greeks is our vocabulary book, English from the Roots Up. Last year we focused on the Greek roots, this year we will learn the Latin roots.

Of course, we are also learning Latin with PictaDicta from Roman Roads Media, a current review product. And I will be pulling out Tabitha's Latina Christiana from Memoria Press which we reviewed last year (and set aside in anticipation of this RtR year).

Here is what we will be using for Spelling:

Tabitha and Amelia will continue using Phonetic Zoo from IEW.

And Hannah will continue to use Traditional Spelling from Memoria Press.

I'm not sure if I will worry about spelling for Harold yet or not.

For the remainder of Language Arts, the older girls will continue to use Grammar Planet, which we are currently reviewing.

Hannah will continue on with Grammar and Writing 3 from Hake/Saxon, which we reviewed at the end of the school year.

Plus I may have her continue working in Eclectic Foundations Language Arts B.

Harold will continue to use Grammar Galaxy.

Harold is also using Reading Eggs/Reading Eggspress currently for review purposes.

And we will pick back up with our neglected Poetry Memorization from IEW. I completely forgot about it last year.

For math the children will continue using CTCMath.

Though Harold will be using MathSeeds until our review subscription expires.

My Father's World also has a music component. We will continue our study of classical music with the following three composers: Haydn, Beethoven, and Mozart.

Here is what we will be using for art, also from My Father's World. Hopefully we will fit it in better this year than we did last year.

We will also continue using The Master and His Apprentices for Art Appreciation.

And that is what our 2018-2019 year looks like. For now. As you know, because we are on the Homeschool Review Crew, our curriculum changes up a bit at times through the year, though we always stick with our core.

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.

Lisa @ Farm Fresh Adventures 

Lori @ At Home: where life happens 

Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama 

Marla @ Jump Into Genius 

Meredith @ Powerline Productions: Being World Changers/Raising World Changers 

Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays 

Missica @ Through The Open Window 

Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

The following linky is for the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement blog hop! To link up to Littles Learning Link Up, please go to the end of the post as usual.

Back to our regularly scheduled Littles Learning Link Up!

Let's take a look at that review schedule real quick:

Last week I shared my review for the Paddington Lit Study from Branch Out World. Next week you will find my review for GrammarPlanet. In September (which I can't believe is so close) I will share my review of PictaDicta from Roman Roads Media, Reading Eggs (both the new Reading Skills for First Grade workbook and the Reading Eggs/MathSeeds website), and two Kingdom Files books from Barbour Publishing.

Now onto:

Littles Learning Link Up Features

On my last Littles Learning Link Up post, there were 4 wonderful posts linked up. I will be sharing  the two most clicked on posts. 

Please, don't forget to stop by other posts that are linked up. See what catches your eye, stop by, pin the post to a relevant board, and perhaps leave a comment to let the author of the blog know you have been by for a visit. I know I appreciate others commenting and letting me know they have read my posts, so I am sure others do too.

This week's first featured post is:

Brandy from The Barefoot Mom shared Math Outside the Classroom.

This week's second featured post is:

Thaleia from Something 2 Offer shared Crafts for Back to School.

Join the Party!

I would love to have you join in this week! What sort of activities do you do with your young children? Do you have some favorite activities you would like to share? I invite you to link up below. I will be pinning posts on one of my relevant boards, and I would love to feature some of the activities each week from what is linked up.

Please know I may share a picture from your post and link back to it, along with sharing how we used your idea in our school time. By linking up you are giving me permission to use a picture from your post. I will ALWAYS give credit and link back. Additionally, if you choose to try out any of the ideas with your child, please make sure you give credit where credit is due.

Linky will be open through Monday night, to give me time to check out all the posts and get the Features organized. Please take the time to visit some of the other wonderful posts linked up.

No button currently, and there won't be one until I can figure it out seeing as Photobucket has changed things. Feel free to still share the picture in place of the button. Just link it to my Littles Learning Link Up permalink please.

I am sharing over at

An InLinkz Link-up

5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement: Motivation Monday

Motivation Monday

Welcome to the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Back to School Blog Hop from the Homeschool Review Crew. I am so glad you are here. My fellow Crew Mates and I are hoping you will find encouragement through these posts this week.

Sometimes homeschooling can feel like quite the lonely path. All around us families are sending (or getting ready to send) their children off to school. You may be wondering, "Am I making the right decision?" Especially if this is a new venture for you. Or perhaps you are concerned your children are not learning what they should be learning, and are thinking of sending them to school instead of continuing with homeschooling. Maybe you are burning out and are so tempted by that school bus as it passes by your home.   Let me just reassure you by saying, "You can do this mama! You are not alone! You are doing what is best for your children! And you are most definitely NOT the only one who ever has doubts." 

Here is what helps me to stay motivated.

First, I remember what led me to homeschool in the first place. I always wanted to homeschool our younger children. In fact, I wanted to homeschool my older children, but their dad (my ex) wouldn't let me. When I look back now though, I have to admit, I didn't quite have the same reasoning as I do now. Half of families in my Conservative Mennonite church homeschooled their children. Granted, that was two families, as there were only four families with children in our small church. But as they were large families, that was a lot of children being homeschooled. I figured that was what God wanted for our families, but couldn't really explain my reasoning. I won't go into all the craziness of my relationship with my ex, but yes, he won that fight, and the children and I had to suffer through public school. 

After I remarried, and we had our first child, Tabitha, I approached my husband about homeschooling. He was hesitant at first, but he knew the struggles the older children had dealt with, in addition to his own problems in school, so he was onboard, at least for a trial run. We knew we didn't want to deal with bullying. We wanted our children brought up in the Lord, without having to deal with doubts thrown at them through the indoctrination of the public school system. I didn't want my children being taught that the lie of evolution was real. I wanted to make sure they had solid reading skills, which my older children did not, which caused them to struggle with comprehension in all their subjects. And more than anything, I wanted to be with my children, to be the one who saw that glimmer of understanding, to partake in their excitement when they learned something new. 

The fact that I am still homeschooling tells you that the "trial run" was a success. Hubby saw the benefits and saw the children learning. Tabitha is now going into sixth grade, and we have no plans to send any of the four children to public school at any time. 

Are there times I doubt myself? Oh yes. Many. Are there times I am tempted to send them to school? Yes, but they are brief flickers that are quickly extinguished. Because I remember what the public school was like for my older children. I see what the public schools are becoming, so much worse than they were. I mean, I loved school as a child. I always wanted to be a teacher. But now that I am an adult and can see them as the indoctrination institutions that they are, that is almost all the motivation I need to stay firm on this path the Lord has set before me. 

However, my top motivator is knowing that this is where the Lord wants me to be. His Holy Word tells parents that we are to be the ones training our children. In fact, I've had a "Scripture Tag" of Proverbs 22:6 on my blog since just about the beginning of this journey. 

Here are some other verses that have helped to keep fellow homeschool mom's I've asked motivated. 

Deuteronomy 6:7

You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

Proverbs 31:17, 27

She dresses herself with strength and makes her arms strong. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.

Colossians 3:23

Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men.

Colossians 1:9-14

And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light. He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

I know that it is the Lord's will that I be home with my children, teaching them, not just the academic subjects, but the truths found in the Bible. My husband and I desire to raise children who will grow up loving and living for the Lord. 

And when I need that bit of a nudge to remind me that I can do this, I have my husband who will keep me focused on my path. 

I have the Lord, through whose power I can do all things. See, he promises me that very thing:

The full verse states:

Philippians 4:13

I can do all things through him who strengthens me.

If the Lord could strengthen Paul who was thrown into jail, faced hunger, and trials, and other needs, if He could strengthen many throughout the ages who were persecuted for their faith, why should I not be able to trust in Him to strengthen me in this simple (in comparison) path of homeschooling my children. And hey, at least we are living in a time when it is legal to do so, right? 

So, yes, I have my struggles as you do. But I will continue to look to the Lord to strengthen me, because these kiddos are so important to me, and I want what is best for them.

Here are some of the other participants in this week's blog hop, and you will find more in the linky below.

Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Kellyann @ Walking Home ...
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom's Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things