Do you ever use audio teaching in your homeschool? Or ever just listen to audio stories in your home or vehicle? It's not something I've thought much about until the last year or so. Last Christmas Munchkin received a collection of Curious George stories with the stories in a book and on CD. I was amazed when my 4 year old and my 6 year old actually sat and listened to every single story from the CD in one sitting! (My kids are not the type to sit for hours at a time! They are very active children! Anything that can make them sit still is a wonder in my eyes!) At our homeschool convention last year Hal and Melanie Young were the main speakers and they were selling CDs with G.A. Henty stories on them. They talked about how they listen to these stories as a family and how important it has been for their boys to grow up listening to such heroic tales. Recently I read the ebook Listening to Learn by Amy Blevins, which talked about how useful she has found audio learning to be. So, when I heard that one of my favourite sites for getting learning resources from had some audio stories that they were looking for people to review, I jumped at the chance :) I have not regretted it! My children love The Adventures of Mrs. Claus from Little Learning Lovies!
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In my last couple of posts I have focused on giving gifts with your children (here and here). The book, Celebrate Jesus - Light of the World is another wonderful resource not only for gifts you can make with your children, but also other ways to focus on keeping Christ in Christmas!
In my last post I shared with you some ways my kids want to give to others this Christmas. I also promised that I would share some ideas with you of things you and your children can make to give away for Christmas too. Here are some of the cute crafts that my kids have made that your kids might want to try making too :)
This year an over-riding theme has been coming up over and over again... At Thanksgiving I reviewed The November Planning Pack for Children, which included a list of ways to bless others... I had the opportunity to review the book, Why We Give Gifts at Christmas Time... The Christmas play our children are involved in is called We Three Spies and is about the Christmas Intelligence Kids (CIK) who give gifts in secret at Christmas time... All of this has led to some interesting and heart warming discussions and prayer with my children :) They have such big hearts and are so eager to jump at the chance to help someone! God has taught me so much through the faith and kindness of my children! My goal for Christmas this year is to really focus more on giving to others with my children! Here are 5 ways we have thought of to give to others together.
Our Munchkin is only 4 years old, but she loves numbers and doing school work. She kept asking when she could start doing "real" school, like her brother and sister. So, we started her on her kindergarten math this year!
I was blessed to receive a copy of Putting on the Spirit - Ten Minute Devotions for Busy Moms by Katie Hornor! This devotional book has been such a blessing to me! It has helped me understand the fruit of the Spirit better, and learn how I can help the fruit of the Spirit grow in my own life, even with all the crazy busyness of being a mom. I am looking forward to telling you more about it in another post when the book is released on December 9 :) For now, let me just tell you that if you are a busy, Christian mom (and aren't ALL moms busy moms?) this book will bless you too!
Homeschool Enrichment Magazine is having a Thanksgiving sale on from November 16 - 30! (You can get your yearly subscription for only $17.97! That is a 50% discount!!) The theme of the sale is Thankful for Homeschooling, which inspired me to think about why I am thankful for homeschooling! I have so many reasons that I am thankful for homeschooling, but I have narrowed it down to 10 to share with you today.
I mentioned in my last post how we have recently realized that we needed to make some changes in our homeschool for our oldest child. She is now using Teaching Textbooks for her math, and loving it! Today I want to tell you about the new language arts program Princess is doing.
Change, or trying new things, is exciting and scary! At least that's how I feel! Change in our homeschool can be especially stressful! As parents, we always want to do the best thing for our children, but sometimes it takes some trial and error to figure out exactly what the best thing is. Sometimes the children change, or just grow older, and what use to be the best thing is no longer the best. Changes need to be made to find a new best. That is where we found ourselves this year. It was time to make some changes in our homeschool for our oldest child.
Okay, I admit it; I come on pretty strong about homeschooling! I have heard non-homeschoolers say that it annoys them when homeschoolers act like everyone should homeschool and that homeschoolers seem to think they are better then other parents because they homeschool. I hope I don't do that! But I do love to tell everyone how great homeschooling is :)
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