my blessed life

My kids have had a chore chart for a while.  It's one of those magnetic boards and they share it.  However, it's not by their rooms and often they (and I) forget to update it.  Plus it's a little bulky.   When I saw the concept of a door hanger chore chart on Pinterest, I loved it!  It was compact, right there were the kiddos could see it coming out and going into their rooms, and it costs almost nothing to make.   I headed over to one of my favorite stores: Hobby Lobby, of course.  They  have these little wooden door hangers for .79.  I also grabbed a couple of packets of decorative buttons for $1.99 each.  I already had the clothes pins and the paint so those cost me nothing.   I began by painting the door hangers (I used tempera paints because that's what I had).  Then I grabbed a fine point Sharpie and the clothes pins and started writing chores on them, making sure to write them correctly so they will ...

Today would have been my husband's grandpa's 83rd birthday.  Instead of celebrating that though, our family celebrated his home-going to Heaven just a week ago. Papa Wayne was a wonderful man and his memorial service was one of the most inspiring ones I've ever attended.  It was filled with people who loved him, people whose lives he had touched in a special way.  We remembered and rejoiced in the amazing example he had set for us to follow. So, Happy Birthday, Papa Wayne!  I know you're having a wonderful birthday up in Heaven!  Can't wait to see you again one day!

0571.  listening to my kiddos giggle as they tell each other their funny dreams from the night 0572.  celebrating the life of a loved one, knowing you'll get to see them again one day 0573.  the joy of seeing far away family and friends 0574.  the smell of rain on a summer day 0575.  coming home after a long trip 0576.  a delicious {surprise} dinner made for me by my husband 0577.  the sweet "welcome home" kisses from our dog 0578.  walking barefoot through thick green grass 0579.  laughing with your sister 0580.  a visit to our favorite bakery

It's the final day of the Back-to-Homeschool Blog Hop !  What a fun week it's been!  I hope you've been having fun, too.  If you are just now catching up with the Hop you can check out Day 1:  *Homeschooling Methods* here , Day 2:  *Homeschooling Curriculum* here , Day 3:  *Homeschool Planning* here , and Day 4:  *Homeschool Rooms* here .   (Brainteasers Class) Today we're talking about Co-ops ~in other words, homeschool cooperative classes.  Co-ops have been a big part of our homeschool experience for over 3 years now.  We have been a part of them with two different homeschool groups, in two different states. Co-ops are not classes meant to take the place of your own curriculum at home or to teach your core subjects.  Co-ops are homeschool families coming together to offer classes in subjects they are passionate about and enjoy sharing.  A great co-op can be a fun, enriching, extra-curricular addition to your home...

Welcome to our Learning Room ! In what was formerly the dining room of our home, one entire wall is a custom book case that my awesome hubby built for us last year (you can read more about that here ).  We love it!!  The shelves are all different shapes and sizes so it's not monotonous and I even have wall space to hang things.  We have that wall FULL :) Here is our large USA print, our workbox charts, printer/copier/scanner and lots of extra paper. There are, of course, more books across the room from the wall of books, plus extra school books and lots of art supplies.   This is our take on the workbox system.  These are scrapbook paper shelves--one per kiddo--and I have added subject tabs with sticky velcro dots.  It's a pretty simple system for us and I'm still tweaking it, but it seems to be working well so far.   This is our computer desk along with our large wall that holds our chalkboard and whatever charts...

Welcome to Day Three of the Back-to-Homeschool Blog Hop !  I hope you're having as much fun as I am!  I am really enjoying visiting the other participants' blogs--I never fail to find some great ideas that can help me in my own homeschooling. Today we're talking about planning . Now, I have to be honest here, anybody who knows me knows that I love to plan!  I like to plan my menus, my grocery trips, our daily agendas, our weekly schedule, our vacations ....I just love to be prepared, know what's going to happen, have a plan .   So, naturally, homeschooling is going to be no exception with me, I want to have a plan. Now there is such a thing as over -planning (just ask my family about that one vacation to DC when I nearly killed them with my schedule) .  I did that one year.  I literally sat down and planned out all 180 days of our school year day-by-day, week-by-week before the year ever started.  Yes, that was a bit much.  I used the...

I don't know about you, but I get pretty excited about choosing our curriculum for the upcoming year.  I start thinking about it way back in the early spring and generally have my choices made by early summer.  This past May I was able to attend a regional homeschool convention and visit some great vendors, so I have had nearly every single book we will use this year for a couple of months already.  I can't wait to dive in!   Now let's look at our lineup for this year. First, the family subjects --we have several of those.  It's great to be able to come together from individual studies and work together on some subjects.   Bible :  this year we are going to use God's Great Covenant: New Testament I .  This was review product from this past year and we have obviously already begun it, but are going to complete it this year.  You can read my review of it here .   Science : we are continuing with Apologia's Exploring ...