Friday, July 24, 2009

giveaway....and homeschooling

First, I gotta tell you, my friends....
I can't believe you haven't said a peep
about my giveaway that I promised
a while back!

Either you are being graciously polite
or you forgot.
My guess it's the first one.

Well....

I haven't forgotten,
I just am having a hard time deciding what
to make to give away!!
But then I
decided that I would do the drawing FIRST,
then make something to fit the winner.
If I don't "know" you well
then I'll just do my best to make something
you might like.

I hope to do the drawing this weekend...
but please continue your polite
patience!
:)

******************************

Ok, last week I finally ordered all my
final selections of our curriculum for
homeschooling this year.

I was rather amazed (shouldn't have been I guess)
how God sent just the right people to
me (via blog comments and email) to
answer my very specific prayers for
guidance and discernment in what to buy!

Seriously.

And what I am quickly realizing is how
so MANY of you homeschool and I'm so excited
about that!

So, here's my little idea....
since bouncing ideas off each other is
always beneficial,
I'd like to have sort of a data bank of
homeschool families...
maybe I'll list them on my sidebar
(with your permission),
so perhaps others can get in touch with you
if they have questions.

Whatathink?

So, if you are interested,
Please email or leave in a comment..

*the age range of your kids that you HS.

*the cirriculum you use
(if it's a variety, just give what you use for main subjects)

*list where you live
(non-specific you want...like,
Midwest is fine")

I will link to your blog (if you have one)
and/or will list your email address (if you want).

I just think it will be fun to have a
little "community" of homeschoolers across
the country.

Let me know what you think!!

17 comments:

Janet and Kevin said...

Lori,

I think that's a great idea to list suggestions and info about homeschooling. Both Kevin and I are public school teachers, but we are really feeling the pull to have me homeschool Philip and soon Eli in their early years at least. So many of the adoptive parents we know also homeschool.

Thanks sister in Christ for hosting this. I haven't even decided yet upon a curriculum to use for this coming year and could benefit from suggestions from other hs moms.

Janet, Kevin, Ted, Philip, and waiting for Eli

Shonni said...

I love this idea! Just last night I was thinking of a blog friend who asked me to post some homeschool ideas. This way we can all share together.
ages - one in college, the others 16-7, plus several preschoolers.
curr. - that would take a bit of time, but my "foundational" one (besides the other 3 foundational ones-oh dear) is Sonlight.
Live in midwest, mountain time zone
You have my permission to share my info. with who ever and in you blog if you want.
Thanks again, Lori. I look forward to this!

Jean said...

Good idea Lori!! This sounds like fun! currently I am HS a nine yr old (home 7 months) and preschooler. Hopefully next summer I will have a seven and eight yr old to homeschool too!

I live in the upper midwest- central time zone.

Here is what we are using for our curriculum-
Sonlight P 4/5 then Sonlight K
Saxon math 2
HOP 1st grade
Explode the Code
A Reason for Handwriting
A Reason for Spelling

We are also do Click N Read and Rosetta Stone Homeschool Version English

( I also have McRuffy Science K and Hx for little Pilgrims and Draw Write Now)

We are always reevaluating - so this list could change but this is what it is for now.
I am not sure what I will do specifically for preschool? I'd love ideas? Anna just likes to be apart of whatever we are doing!

Blessings,
Jean

Joy said...

Hi Lori!

This fall, Allison (6) will start first grade, using Calvert School.

Sarah (12/14) will start kindergarten, using the A Beka materials I already have. (She received no education in China.)

Quinn (4) will attend pre K at church.

We live in the Houston, Texas area.

I haven't forgotten that you left a comment for me to email you back in May. I will do that today. :-)

Joy

Michele said...

First of all - I didn't enter your giveaway this time, because I won last time. I can't wait to see what you make the winner though! I am sure it will be divine!

I love your homeschool idea! Here is my info:

*First Grader that is 6, PreK'er that is 4, and a little interrupter that is 2.

*For First grade we are using My Father's World, for PreK we are using some random stuff.

*We live in Western NC.

Yay! I can't wait to see how you put it all together!

Holly said...

Homeschooling community...Great idea! Mixing the best of both worlds, homeschoolers and bloggers. :) Well, I don't have a blog, but you can use my email.

I homeschool my 3 boys, 10 down to 5, and will homeschool my new girl too. I also homeschooled our "foster" daughter for her senior year of h.s. That was an adventure! We use Explode the Code and Happy Phonics and are getting into Writing Strands for L.A. For Math we use Math-U-See and Math Mammoth starting at 4th grade. For Science we normally pick a topic and get stuff at the library, and for History we have done Mystery of History, and this year we are trying Story of the World. My email is hollygilliam@comcast.net

Also, Lori, I loved what you said about how God just leads you right to what you should use. That is exactly what happened to me, especially this year. I was amazed at how He answered prayer when I was clueless as to what to do this year!

Holly said...

Oh, I forgot to say where I live...in Michigan. :)

Hezra said...

Hi Lori. Yes sign me up for your drawing!! ;-)
And the homeschooling thing. YES! Great idea. I have homeschooled since the beginning. I have 5 currently and all do some school. The littlest is doing pre school stuff(mostly to keep her busy)
We use Sonlight for History, Geography, and Read alouds/Readers
We have MucGuffey Readers as well.
Math is Rod and Staff at the moment
Writing is Handwriting without tears.
Phonics is Alphabet Island.
Spelling is (after they outgrow AI) Rod and Staff also.
Spanish is Rod and Staff(Speedy Spanish). I have spent 9 years doing this and would love to help others figure out what they need.
we have 5 kids right now(2 waiting in El S*lvador(those two are 13 and 8). Our current kids are 12, 9, 7, 5, and 4. We live in Oklahoma. I also have neat ideas for preschoolers -- Activity bags, activity shelf. . . it is their "school" Sort of Montessori style. I would love to share that one because it has been a life saver here. For a while we had my niece (2) in our mix as well. so I had three toddlers to keep busy.

Lacy said...

Lori,
What a great idea! I am pretty new to homeschooling. We are starting our 3rd year this year. I am always looking for new and great things.

I live in Ohio and homeschool 4 children. I currently have Leanne: age 11 grade 6, Cameron: age 10 grade 5, Justin: age 8 grade 3 and Katie the mess maker age 4 and to curb the messes she will be starting pre-K. I am a Phonics curriculum collector. I am a lover of textbooks who longs to use Sonlight or My Fathers World and unit studies and lapbooks scare me. I am way to hard on myself and doubt every decision I make. I think a community for homeschool moms to share tips and advice would be great. Please feel free to share my info:)

As far as curriculum we use a lot of different things. Across the board we are using Bob Jones for English, spelling, science, history, reading and Math-u-see for all 3 older kids. Justin and Katie will use Rocket Phonics. Leanne and Cameron will be starting Institute for the excellence in writing this year. We use Handwriting Without Tears and all but Leanne will use this for handwriting. My boys will have neat legible handwriting if it is the last thing I accomplish:). We also use some Rod and Staff (Justin’s English), Explode the Code, Apologia Science and Critical Thinking Skills: Building Thinking Skills. Katie will be using Rod and Staff Pre-K with Rocket Phonics and Mathematical Reasoning Level 1 and 2.

I do not know how I will get it all done. There are just not enough hours in the day. I exhausted just thinking about it!

Susan said...

This will be our seventh year homeschooling. We have two in high school, one jr. high and one starting K. We will also be adding a 13yo and a 10yo.
I use a mix of curriculum, but some of my favorites are: Sonlight, Apologia, Saxon, Winston Grammar. I'm always on the lookout for new things!
We live in Missouri.
Susan

Tina said...

Hey Lori

I've been "following" you since Lucy's JTM (she's such a cutie!) My dear husband just gave me permission to start a blog, so hopefully I can get up and going before too long. I am NOT computer intelligent, so I'll be depending on my teenage daugher to teach me :)

We're in Oklahoma and have 4 children, ages 17,15,13,and 10. We've been homeschooling for about 14 years. After I get my blog, I would love to be a part of your homeschooling community, what a great idea!

For preschool, WalMart has some really good workbooks to start out with. I usually just spent 15-20 minutes a day schooling them at this age. (plus a lot of reading
books aloud)

For the elementary years, I love Rod and Staff. They are biblically based, very teacher friendly, lots of review for retained learning, and so down to earth without a lot of "fluff".

For high school we've done mainly Bob Jones, but I'm looking around for this year. Love their history and vocab, hate their science! For algebra this year I'm going to try Saxon with the DIVE cd for the computer. I'm hoping it works for us.

Another thing we do is memorize a Bible verse each week. I think the most important thing I can teach my children is to hide God's Word in their heart.

TinaCD

McNew Family said...

Super idea, Lori! I always get excited when I find out that a bloggy friend HS's, too!

This will be our 12th year to HS. We have graduated two out already. This year will be a slow year for us - just one 10th grader and some preschool fun with the 3.5 year old. When we return from Ch*na (hopefully this fall or VERY early winter), we will add a 4 year old preschooler.

Not too certain on all curriculum yet. I know that we are going to use Friendly Chemistry and Streams of Civilization. We always do an apologetics course, just haven't chosen this year's yet.

We are in SW WA and I would LOVE to enter your giveaway!

Janet said...

Great!! We live in AL, schooling a 16yo (this week), 17.5 yo; both 12th grade-trying to finish in Dec and go to college in Jan.
A just turned 4yo-with unintelligable speech (needs more palate surgery), a 5.5yo, adding a 5 yo this winter-from CHina, and more in the future.
For the big kids I have loved Apologia science, and Teaching Textbook math--even though I thought Saxon and DIVE Cd's were great until 2 years ago.
I used to teach K at a church school, so I have tons of stuff for that age. My little kids also have speech therapy at the public school--I wait in a teacher's work room, where teachers constantly put stuff on a "free" table--especially at the end of the year--so I've brought home a huge variety from that. I have so much stuff that I do not know what to do. The only thing I have bought for the little kids is Usborne Eeasy read books, Bob books, Five in a Row, and My Heavenly Helper. I also love lots of hands on stuff, counters, foler games, etc. I'm currently changing the guest room into a little kid school room, the big kid one just won't work for them. I hope to sort, organize, and get my ducks in a row in the next few weeks.

Shelley said...

Hello. I am a military wife from VA who has homeschooled for 6 years. I have 4 daughters, 11,8, 5, and 22 months. The oldest 2 have always been homeschooled. The 5 year old has come home from special ed preschool and this will be our first year adding her to our school. Our youngest came home from China in March so this year will be a transition year for us as we have had many changes. We use Horizons Math, Total Language Plus, and I make my own science and history based on Classical Conversations which we attend once a week. I am looking forward to following your new blog.

Adeye said...

Ooohhh, what a wonderful idea. I love it.

I'll be homeschooling these grades this year: 5, 3 and 1. This is only our fifth year--so I am still pretty new to the whole thing--and learning as we go along. Loved some curriculum, others not so much.

We use:
My Fathers World
Saxon and math-U-see
Learning Language Arts Through Literature.

Live in Colorado.

Please add me--I would love that.

Thanks so much for doing this. great idea.

christy rose said...

I used to homeschool and I would have loved to have this idea in my resources. Great idea!

Sharon and Michael said...

Hi. I've been following you. We have five in home minors from China with various special needs. The bios are grown and gone. Lili, 10, and Laney, 8, are going to use everything A Beka this year and MathUSee - third grade. I'm sure I'll pull from here and there. Alyssa, 4, is using A Beka K4 and K5 material. Seth, 5 for two more days, and Eli, 3, also have A Beka, first and K4, but the boys have lots of special needs that require lots of therapies from the local school. They will attend there for now and ride the minibus to and from school most days. But, I hope to have them home in HS within a year or two. We live in the upstate of SC.

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