Our Homeschool Theme: 2017-2018 {Hogwarts}

Our theme for our Homeschool this year is Hogwarts! 

I have had a lot fun putting some fun Harry Potter decorations throughout our house! 

I think my favorite is The Great Hall!

(also known as the Dining Room)

The First Years Bathroom 

(watch out for Moaning Myrtle!)

Oh...there she is...

There are Mandrakes hiding in the plants... 

And you need a password to get into the dormitories... 

(aka the bedroom) 

The girls are excited to start school!

Tomorrow is the first day! 

July 31st, 2017

Our 2017-2018 Homeschool Curriculum Choices!

Can you believe it is that time of year already?  We will be starting school earlier than usual this year to make up for some of the travel and visitors we are planning for this fall.  Our first day of school will be Monday, July 31st.  Both girls are pretty excited to get back to routine...we did, after all, take a pretty long summer break this year.  (10 weeks!)

Believe it or not, this year I have written my own plan.

Not something I ever thought I would do, but I just couldn't find the right thing this year...so I have created my own schedules.  I am pretty pleased with them!

We do have a "theme" for this year...and if you couldn't tell from the schedule covers, our theme is Harry Potter!  More to follow with our theme in a later blog post...

Without further ado, 

here are our homeschool curriculum choices for

 2017-2018 School year!

Kayley, 6th Grade

History:

Story of the World, Volume 3

SOTW Activity Guide, Questions & Quizzes

Kingfisher History Encyclopedia

Complete Book of US History

Book of Centuries

Geography:

Simply Charlotte Mason's Visits to North America

Science:

Guest Hollow Nature

Apologia Exploring Creation Chemistry & Physics

Language Arts:

Rod & Staff English 5

Spelling Workout Level E

Writing With Skill

Christian Light Education Reading (1st Semester)

Reading across the curriculum (2nd semester)

Math:

Math-U-See Zeta

Logic 

Foreign Language:

Prima Latina
(I know this is generally recommended for Grades 1-4 but this is per Kayley's request and I'm just pretty happy that she is interested in taking ANY Latin at all!)

Maggie, 2nd Grade

History:

Story of the World Vol 3 (listening in)

SOTW Activity Guide

Usborne Book of World History

American Pioneers & Patriots

Geography:

DK Geography, gr. 1

Science:

Guest Hollow, Little Otters Anatomy

Language Arts:

First Language Lessons Vol 2

Spelling Workout B

Writing With Ease, Level 2

Plaid Phonics Level 2

Handwriting Without Tears, Cursive

Christian Light Education Reading 2

Math:

Christian Light Education, Math 2

Foreign Language

Salsa Spanish

(offered free through Georgia PBS)

Spanish Workbook 1

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The Crafty Classroom - How to Write a Paragraph {TOS Crew Review}

As a homeschool Mom I am always looking for helpful, yet affordable, curriculum options.   The Crafty Classroom offers hundreds of resources, downloads, and printables that are designed to make your homeschool day a whole lot easier.   Notebooking pages, geography, art, science, Bible, history, How to Read, How to Write, reading charts, homeschool planning forms and even more...from A to Z!  Did I mention freebies?  There are freebies!  I was so surprised upon visiting the website to find just what an amazing resource The Crafty Classroom is!  Literally anything you could possibly want, from complete curriculum to supplements, available for immediate download for PreK to 3rd graders.  And it is all VERY affordable!

We were offered a sweet curriculum to review for grades Kindergarten - 2nd called How to Write a Paragraph.  A 12 Week program, How to Write a Paragraph takes the a young writer step-by-step through the writing process.  

How it Works: This program requires no set up or prep work.  It is very open-and-go which is perfect for the busy homeschool mama!  A simple to use 12 week program that is taught four days per week.    The first few pages provide you, the teacher, with a weekly overview and the weekly goals,  that helps you to know which visual aid or chart to have handy and a visual overview of each worksheet the child will be completing, as well as a suggested outline to assist you in knowing what to teach each day.  An optional review lesson is found at the end.  
After teaching the material the student will complete each days assignment as found behind the Weekly Outline.  Each assignment is step-by-step and can be done quite independently as the student follows the provided daily checklist.
The first 4 weeks of the program focus on sentence structure and mechanics.  This is designed to help the child understand how to use nouns and verbs, plus gives a verbal and visual review of starting sentences with capital letters and ending with a period.  Adorable charts are available for your use during teaching time and as a reference while the student is completing the assignment. Beginning in Week 5 your student is already writing simplified paragraphs!  And not just any paragraphs, but by week 12 your child can write: descriptive, opinion, informative AND narrative paragraphs! 
You can view many sample pages on the website to get a closer look at the product, view the table of contents and see several of the charts by visiting the How to Write a Paragraph page.

What We Thought of How to Write a Paragraph:

The well-planned step-by-step instructions in How to Write a Paragraph had my 7 year old writing sentences in the first week of the program.  Honestly, I was shocked out how simple it was to just get my daughter to start putting words to paper.  Like building blocks, each lesson just took my daughter one step further than before.  But it was presented so simply, and it was just so colorful, that my daughter found it easy and fun.

The lessons are also bite-sized which is SO necessary at this age.  While many K-2 kids are ready mentally to begin writing sentences and paragraphs, many are just not ready physically for the tedious and exhausting task of actually writing. 

Lesson variety was a real bonus!  Some activities had my daughter crossing out sentences that do not belong, sorting nouns by category,  drawing lines to determine fact vs opinion, drawing and cutting & taping!  

Can I just be real here and admit that I never, ever, would've thought that my daughter could understand half of the things that she completed quite capably in this early elementary instructional writing program.  I was SO pleasantly surprised to see how intuitive and simple it was for my 7 year old to begin the writing process!

We have really enjoyed using this product from The Crafty Classroom!  They have SO much to offer and I have added so many other products to my wish-list for this school year.  (I couldn't wait on one and went ahead and purchased The Periodic Table of the Elements Activity Pack that I can't wait to try out with our science program this year!)

You can keep up with and find out about updates and special offers for The Crafty Classroom by signing up for their email list found at the top of their webpage.

You can also find them on Facebook and Pinterest!

Many of my fellow crewmates also reviewed products from The Crafty Classroom.  You can find out what they thought by clicking the linky below!

Thank you so much for Swinging By!

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Actíva Products {TOS Review}

Summer has proven to be a great time to enjoy doing the homeschool crafts that we just didn't have time to get to during the school year.  But, like many homeschool Moms, there are some projects that I tend to avoid...  like big, messy, gooey, sticky projects! While something like paper maché makes some pretty amazing large-scale projects, I have to admit that I do not always want to gather the materials, mix the goo, and make the mess!  If only there were an easier way to put these projects together without creating a total disaster!  Well, there IS!  And I am excited that I get a chance to tell you how to have the FUN of paper maché without the mess by using this great product that we had the chance to review called Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik-Sculpting Kit offered by Actíva Products!

We received the Rigid Wrap and CelluClay Quik-Sculpt Kit for review.  The box contained 2 rolls of Rigid Wrap, an 8 ounce package of CelluClay, and complete instructions for creating 12 different projects.   Each product was interesting...not something I had ever used before!  

Rigid Wrap is a plaster gauze/cloth that works very much like a cast for a broken bone! When wet, the wrap becomes a plaster that is easily smoothed over your creation to give it a nice consistency and even finish.  It is very uncomplicated, just add water! CelluClay is an "instant paper maché" that is simple to prepare and easy to use.  Again, so easy, all you have to add is water! How we used Actíva Rigid Wrap Quik-Sculpt Starter Kit: While the kit comes with simple black and white instructions to help you make several projects, Actíva also sent us an electronic copy of their Favorite Sculpture Kids Crafts e-book that offered even more options!  This is a free download that I highly recommend!  My girls chose to make the Totem Pole as found in the e-book since they thought it would make a great display item for their end of unit study on Early American History and Native Americans. We started out with a simple paper towel tube...

Then we wet the Rigid Wrap using a mixing bowl filled with water and begin layering the plaster cloth gauze onto the tube...  We found that it had to be pretty moist in order for the plaster to really work well...

After letting the plaster dry (It took about 2 days to get completely dry) we moved onto the CelluClay portion of the project.  We had a little more trouble with this since we couldn't seem to get the texture quite where we wanted it but once we added a little more mixture we were able to get it to a nice thick, pasty consistency.  It really makes an instant paper maché and while it was super nice to avoid the strips of newspaper and gluey-goo we found the CelluClay to kick up quite a fine powdery dust cloud that was both concerning and challenging to clean up.  Next time I would mix the clay on the porch for better ventilation and clean up.

The clay itself worked great.  My girls glopped it on, then smoothed it down with their fingers and gave it some texture using a craft stick.  This allowed them to add special and more refined features to their critters on the Totem Pole.

Once it was dry...  Painting!  

We just used regular, tempera paint, to add color.

The completed projects turned out SO cute!  

What We Thought of the Actíva Quick-Start Sculpt Kit:

I often find that I avoid projects (or can't even do a project) because we do not have all the necessary items on hand...  We really enjoyed having the ability to do an entire project in one simple box.  

The Rigid Wrap was surprisingly easy to use!  We found less to be more when it came to the size of the pieces.  Small rectangles worked like a charm and were more manageable for small hands to manipulate.  

The CelluClay did puff up a very intimidating cloud that had me a little stressed about breathing it in.   I really recommend doing the initial mixing in a well-ventilated area.  It took a while to get the "fall out" cleaned up, but, honestly...cleaning up honest-to-goodness paper maché would've been much worse!  Oh!  I also found on their website the Material Safety Data Sheet for CelluClay and there is nothing to be worried about as far as safety goes!  (Also listed is a Material Safety Data Sheet for Rigid Wrap, among other products!)  While I wouldn't intentionally inhale it...there is nothing toxic in it so use it without worry.  

It took about 3 days to complete the project, not including dry-time which is GREAT for homeschool Moms who want to do a project that won't take weeks to complete!

We enjoyed using this simple project kit and we are pretty excited we have enough left in the kit to do a 2nd smaller project later in the year!  

You can learn more about Actíva Products by visiting their website, 

You can keep up with updates by finding them on Facebook

or Twitter

and get even more craft ideas on their Pinterest page too!

Many of my fellow crew mates also enjoyed playing with Actíva Products too!  You an read their reviews by clicking the linky below.

Thanks so much for Swinging By!

Pops 66 Soda Ranch {Route 66}

We made a quick weekend trip to Oklahoma City and had a great time driving Route 66 back home!  We stopped at Pops 66 Soda Ranch in Arcadia, OK.

This is a must-see if you happen to be in the area...

Pops boasts over 700 varieties of Soda and they did not disappoint!

Each person chose 1 soda so we bought 6 to try (including Gramma and Papa) 

We then set up a "soda tasting" and had a great time with lots of giggling and some gagging!

First Soda:

Papa's Pick

Maple Bacon Soda

GAG  

I mean, really.  Yuck.

Second Soda:

Mommy's Pick

Scotty's Butterscotch Soda

It was pretty good...tasted a little like dum dum. 

Third Soda:

Grammas Pick

Swamp Pop - Root Beer

Tasted a little medicinal due to the added sassafras root but not gross. 

Fourth Soda:

Daddy's Pick

Dr. Browns Original Cream Soda

Yum. 

Fifth Soda:

Kayley's Pick

Original Nehi - Peach

Yeah...totally yum! 

Sixth Soda:

Maggie's Pick

Oh So Cherry Soda

It was ok...except for the part where it tasted like a cough drop. 

Needless to say we were all bubbly and silly by the end 

and we regretted not buying a 12 pack to try!

If you want to learn more about Pops, 

check out their website here!