Busy weeks can seem never-ending when you’re in the midst of them, but there’s certainly satisfaction when you can look at a list all crossed off! A mini-review of this week at Christianbook.com:
I loved this week’s article (we do have weekly articles, by the way!): “What is Classical Astronomy?” by Jay Ryan, author of (sensibly enough) “Classical Astronomy.” It’s a fantastic introduction to the history & science of astronomy, well-worth the read.
Be on the look-out for an email from us next week—Saxon Math is going to be 35% off throughout July!! The Saxon Phonics, DIVE, & DIVE kits aren’t included…but everything is else is dropping, dropping, dropping in price. Those are my favorite emails…nothing like bringing people good news. 
I also finally got to really look at Geography Matter’s new Trail Guide to Learning series, as well as their Profiles from History: Stories of Those Who Are Worthy of Remembrance, and Lewis & Clark Hands on Art & English Activities. The Trail Guide to Learning series covers six units: Columbus, Daniel Boone, Jamestown, Lewis & Clark, the Pilgrims, and Trails West, with each lesson taking about a week. It seems disarmingly easy to use, while fitting in an incredible number of activities and cross-curricular information. Planning on getting the rest of the new items all ready with images and descriptions next week.
We also have a new Switched-On Schoolhouse Demo video up! Click on any subject, any grade, and scroll down (for example, you can Watch the demo here (scroll down to the video player). It’s narrated by a homeschooling mom, as she displays the features and functions while incorporating a bit of her own family’s testimony as well.
Just the highlights of our week here in the midst of rain. Hope everyone has a delightful, relaxing weekend no matter what the weather does!
I’ve always loved the Fourth of July, and our family always brought out the American history books, games, & resources to help celebrate America’s birthday in style!
Some favorites for a 4th of July celebration:
America’s Founders Shop
US Presidents Shop
US Gov & Elections Shop
Homeschool Biography Shop
With the myriad of summer reading programs out there, most homeschoolers are participating in one or another, whether via a local library or Book-It!
And while reading is always, always, always to be encouraged for its own sake, writing reviews afterwards is a fun way to tack on just a bit of writing as well. Short (and with the thrill of seeing their name “published”, if parents so choose) it’s just the right size for summer–and comes with the bonus of helping out another reader or homeschool family as well!
It seems the second you’re nearing the 4th of July, summer is already gone.
Capture the moment with lazy days, fun field trips, and projects that you never seem to have time for during the year, cutting off any sign of “I’m bored” complaints before they begin! Simple “Summer Wish Lists” are a fun way for everybody to list out some things they’d like to do for the summer, providing an extensive chest of ideas everyone can come back to.
Let your child fill up his list with books to check out from the library, things to learn about, games to play, maybe even what places to visit during the family vacation. Never mind if you don’t have time to do everything— just writing a list is fun in and of itself, an inherent promise about the fun that each long day brings. And when a summer day seems to drag, the lists can provide a reminder of all the things you wanted to do at the start.
Try writing them out with fun craft supplies and laminating; you can hang them up where they’ll be seen and easily accessible each day, cross off activities as they’re completed, and come fall, turn them into a fun reminder of all you were able to do and see this summer!
I’m told there are many dreams in which homeschooling kids stand up and praise their parents for years of sacrifice & then trip safely off to college, leaving parents to move on to things like trips where moms can actually SEE all those ruins studied year after year.
Well, turns out that can happen (and my mother did just get back from Greece & Rome, so take heart, ye weary).
A homeschool graduate, I’ve had the incredible-yet-incredibly odd opportunity to never leave the homeschool universe. I still go to the conventions. I still read the same blogs. I still have homeschooling siblings. And, here as homeschool editor, I’m surrounded by curriculum All. Day.Long. It’s only after a season of purposeful concentration that I don’t feel compelled to practice all those math problems that come across my desk.
All of this leads to an interesting conundrum as I purchase stacks of bargain and soon-to-be-out-of-print curriculum home to my good-natured husband. No kids, but lots of ideas that I can’t wait to put into practice, millions of books too good to resist (latest purchase: Ain’t Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry), lots of things I don’t want to forget learned from the “other” perspective…your 9-year old who keeps complaining that math is too hard when they just did the same thing every day for the past few weeks? Yeah, I remember that.
