Christianbook.com Homeschool Blog

It’s unbelievable that fall is just a month away and back-to-school (or not-back-to-school, whichever you prefer!) promotions are in full-swing.

We’re celebrating the last month of summer with 35% off of Apologia Curriculum, as well as the continuation of our Saxon Sale (also 35% off) and Rosetta Stone sale (save up to $100.00 on selected kits). And don’t forget to check back each Friday for the Deal-of-the-Week!

Choosing curriculum; re-organizing the school room; signing up for co-ops, sports & music lessons; finalizing reading lists–it’s a lot of work, but there’s excitement to it as well. Enjoy the fun (well, somewhat fun) work of planning out your kids’ next school year–and don’t forget, if you have a question or need some advice, give us a call at 1-800-788-1221 or email homeschool@chrbook.com.

We have so many homeschool sales going on today it’s almost hard to keep them all straight! Hopefully you’re finding them helpful for shopping, saving, and making the curriculum-choosing-process just a tad less nerve-racking.

And speaking of choosing curriculum, if you have any questions at all, give our amazing homeschool (mom) specialists a call at 1-800-788-1221; they’ve got the experience & the resources to help you with all your curriculum queries.

Here’s what’s currently on sale at Christianbook.com/homeschool:

Saxon Sale: Take 35% off not only Saxon Math, but also Saxon Phonics and Hake’s Writing & Grammar!

Shurley English is 25% off during the month of June, as is:

Easy Grammar! If you have older kids, be sure to take a look at their newer Easy Grammar Ultimate line.

A Reason for Handwriting and A Reason for Spelling are 20% off, also until June 30th.

Rosetta Stone‘s Level 1-3 & Level 1-5 Kits are discounted $75.00 and $125.00 respectively…and their sale has now been extended until June 30th!

Vocabulary from Classical Roots is this week’s Homeschool Deal of the Week; save 28% off from today, Friday June 18th through Friday June 25th.

Since our Homeschool Deal of the Week runs Friday-to-Friday, today is also the LAST DAY to save 20% off Susan Wise Bauer’s Writing with Ease.

The lowest prices until this time next year, get your Alpha Omega curriculum while it’s hot! Save 20% on Switched-On Schoolhouse 2010, Horizons, Lifepac, or Weaver, and stretch your curriculum budget even farther.

And while you’re taking advantage of these stock-up prices, the Key To… math curriculum series is on sale as well! Our Homeschool Deal of the Week, they’re 20% off from Friday April 2-Friday April 9.

And finally, a Happy Easter/Resurrection Sunday:

Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. Romans 6: 8 & 9 (NIV)

Our latest deal of the week kicks off our month of March Science Savings:

Take 20% off the retail price of the Great Science Adventures curriculum, including their latest, the World of Vertebrates:

And check back on March 1 to find 33% off Apologia elementary textbooks & notebooking journals!

You can save on THREE of our homeschool bestsellers this week!

First, take 28% off YMAM’s Heroes of History Series until next Friday.

Then, don’t forget our Mystery of History sale, which runs until February 28th:

And finally, our Story of the World sale is still going as well!

So pick up your favorite resource at a bargain-hunters price, because we KNOW how much you like to save!

I’ve gone to the MassHOPE conventions for…I don’t even know, but a while! Helping my mom choose my high school curriculum, browsing through books for my younger siblings, listening to workshops and seeing old friends always made it a fun-if-completely-exhausting weekend. And even now, though I get to see most of the curriculum here, there’s still the excitement of meeting with homeschoolers that I just love—and the fun of seeing the current community in a type of microcosm. Current trends, the latest topics of discussion…it’s all there!

Our list of Homeschool Conventions for 2010 has been updated, so check it out for information about your local conference; if you don’t see yours on the list, leave a comment and let me know!

One of our resolutions here at Christianbook.com was to bring you even MORE savings this year on all sorts of books & curriculum; and to kick off the year, we’ve slashed prices on…

Learning Language Arts Through Literature!
Save 25% all January long

And, for our Homeschool Deal of the Week:

What better way to pass cold days than curled up with some rousing, adventurous, traditional fiction?!

Save 30% off Vision Forum’s Ballantyne Book Series until Friday January 8th.

Be sure to check back each Friday to see what else is in store!

For once, it actually *feels* like it should be a new year. The busyness, perhaps? And clichéd as it is to reflect back on the year past, well, it is helpful! It’s almost like a fresh-start in the midst of winter, a chance to see all that you’ve accomplished so far…and hey, at least you can say that you’ve made it half-way through the school year. Almost there!

Some questions we’ve found to be helpful to ask:

*What worked this year for curriculum? What didn’t? Have learning styles remained consistent? Does anything need to be changed or switched around?

*What new interests surfaced? How can we further these? (Co-op classes, unit studies, Teaching Co. tapes, just more reading time)

*What field trips did we take? What field trips do we want to take?

*Any new patterns surfacing? Working better in the mornings, evenings, mid-afternoon right after lunch?

*Are the records caught up? What about book lists?

*Are we on-track to finish the goals we’ve set? Are those goals still worth pursuing, or do we need to adjust the plan going forward?

*How has the long-term view changed? (This is one I find I need to continually look at, and it’s absolutely astonishing to me how much the smallest thing can alter it!)

*What nagging tasks can we take care of to start the new year fresh and unencumbered? (This one always seems to involve math for us).

*How has the tone of our homeschool been? Are there are any character traits that need to be worked on?

*What can we declutter? There are plenty of printable inventory forms online which can be helpful, and then there’s always the tried-and-true “go through everything and chuck it in a store/give/throw box” method.

*And finally, how has our spiritual walk been?

Homeschooling is the ultimate customizable, fit-to-measure type of education, and it’s AMAZING what can change from day-to-day, never mind month-to-month! So take a look, evaluate, and feel the freedom in being able to shift, move, and juggle things to create whatever sort of plan is best for your family—even if it is different than what you set out with!

Best of luck in the New Year!

It’s almost over! If you’ve been thinking about Rosetta Stone…longing for Rosetta Stone…mulling it over again and again…you’ve got just two days left to take advantage of our discounted prices!

And last but not least, Rosetta Stone Level 1, Version 2 without audio companion (Indonesian, Pashato, Swahili, Thai, Welsh) are only $189.00.

Spice up the winter months with some new software,  and put those cold, inside-days to use practicing vocabulary or conjugations!

Check out the Rosetta Stone Sale.

I would say that I received an eclectic education with a strong dose of classical education included. I had Canon Press’ logic, a few months of Latin (Wheelock‘s was a bit much for me at that time) and then Vocabulary from Classical Roots, The D’Aulaire’s Book of Greek Myths, and a good dose of Greek and Latin history that was a combination of my mother’s assignments and my interest seizing upon some book I saw at the library (reason 1,001 for why being at the library on hours on end is a wonderful thing).

So when The Great Tradition came by my desk today, I seized it. A thick book (668 pages), I had to content myself browsing through it bit-by-bit…but that probably wouldn’t be a bad way to approach it anyways. An anthology of “classic readings on what it means to be an educated human being”, it’s filled with excerpts from some of the great classical authors—as well as classical education theorists—in history. Kill two birds with one stone—read the classics while learning about them! Plato, Xenophon, Isocrates, Cicero, Vitruvius, Quintilian, and Plutarch all the way through C.S. Lewis and Dorothy Sayers are included. Chapters begin with a quote, dates of their life, and a brief introduction with notes on the selections chosen. Often selections from more than one work or paper are included, providing a variety of material to move around in, as well as natural stopping points. I’m a relatively quick reader, and I had to stop—pause—re-read. It’s deeper than many books, and contains a fount of classical allusions, names, and all the other good stuff that classically educated folks would know; but rather than being off-putting, I found it only strengthened my desire to learn even more about the ancients.

For those who are already committed to classical education, or who have time to trace its development from ancient to modern history, this will be an invaluable tool to bring your mind in new directions, learn about the roots of the model, and gain some fresh insights into the education you’re trying to instill in your children.