Upcoming Reviews for September/October 2018: What Are We Working On?

By now I’m sure that a lot of you have kicked off your new school year. Here at the farm our new year isn’t going to start for a bit longer, because we are still in the middle of hay harvest season when all hands are on deck. We are still, however, working through some review products which help keep us prepared for when we do start our official school year. I forgot to share our reviews for all of August, so make sure you check our my reviews of an Old Testament Activity-Pak, a Paddington Bear unit study, and the book Godschooling! Here are the products that we have in house right now for September and October 2018 reviews!

UPCOMING REVIEWS FOR SEPTEMBER 2018

Friday Favorites: Favorite Homeschooling Essentials {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement}

If you talk to any homeschooler about their homeschooling experience, they will always have their FAVORITES to rave about. It may be a favorite curriculum, favorite website, or favorite school supply. So it’s my turn! Today I am going to give you three of my favorites in each of those categories—will one of YOUR favorites be on the list? Join me as I share with you some of my Favorite Homeschooling Essentials for Friday Favorites as we conclude our 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop this week!

The links on this blog and in the posts may be affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details and thank you for your support!

Favorite Curriculum

This is the one that I am asked about ALLLLLLLL the time. I have soooo many favorites, but I will share three of the ones that I bring up time and time again in curriculum discussions.

Thankful Thursday: Blessings of Rural Homeschooling {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop}

There are lovely benefits to homeschooling in the city. You have access to culture and resources at your fingertips. So much of our nation's history resides in large cities. Museums, zoos, aquariums, parks, historical structures, large co-ops, sports leagues, large libraries, and so much more. These are all things that rural homeschoolers (especially extremely rural) typically do not have access too. It can be frustrating at times being isolated in the country when you are homeschooling, but there are also some incredible blessings. Today, I'd like to mention some of the Blessings of Rural Homeschooling as part of Thankful Thursday of the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop.

I have put together a list of my five key blessings of rural homeschooling and at the end, I've included quotes from other rural homeschoolers about what they are thankful for as rural homeschoolers!

Work It In Wednesday: Two Hacks for a Smoother Homeschool Week {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop}

I am not quite ready to start planning for the 2018-2019 school year out yet--we won't start until the beginning of September and not full until after we attend the Feast of Tabernacles at the end of September. But even though I haven't started the actual planning, there are two things that I know will be included in our plans--our 4 1/2 day school week and our Mandatory Monday Morning basket. It's taken us a few years, but I've come to learn the value of both of these Hacks for a Smoother Homeschool Week, and I'm going to share them with you today as part of Work It In Wednesday of the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop.

The links on this blog and in the posts may be affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details and thank you for your support!

Why A Mandatory Monday Morning Basket?

I know that I am not alone in dealing with reluctant learners every single Monday morning. I think it's the same whether your child is in public school or homeschool! Monday rolls around and school is the last thing they want to do. But school needs to get done. Our Monday's are even more crazy,

Take-a-Look Tuesday: Exploring Benefits of Multi-Age Curriculum {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement}

If you have multiple children that you are homeschooling, you may find yourself going crazy creating schedules for everyone. Most families use customized curriculum for each student to make sure they get what they need for grade level work. While this is a great path and one that I've been taking for a few years, I have decided to try a different route this year. Even though my boys are 4 years apart (grades 3 and 7 this year), we are going to be using the SAME curriculum for both boys. Yes, we are going to be working with curriculum meant for multi-ages this year! I am hoping that this will actually make our days LESS stressed and flow much easier. Are you curious how this is going to work with an elementary student and middle school student? Read on my friend as I discuss the Benefits of Multi-age Curriculum in today's Take-A-Look Tuesday edition for the 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement Blog Hop!

Motivational Monday: 5 Things to Help Me Get-Up-And-Go {5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement}

Today’s theme is Motivational Monday. When I think of Motivation, I think of what makes you “get up and go”. As a homeschool mom as well as a wife, I must admit, my get-up-and-go most mornings is…gone. So what do I do on those mornings when I open my eyes and just want to close them again and pull the covers up over my head? The mornings when I need to do school, but my body or mind says “I don’t wanna!”? The mornings where it seems everyone woke up on the wrong side of the bed? How do I make the day end up being a productive day when I just want to crawl back in the bed and pull the covers over my head? Let me share with you Five Things to Help You Get-Up-And-Go to get things done!

Back to School Blog Hop Week 2018!

I am happy to share that this week is a great week! It's the annual Back to School blog hop! This year, the theme is 5 Days of Homeschool Encouragement and I'm itching to share my posts with you! I have a very busy week, so if they don't show up in the morning, make sure you check back for them later in the day! And as always, you can follow me over on Facebook and never miss new post!
Motivational Monday: 5 Things to Help Me Get-Up-and-Go Take a Look Tuesday: Exploring the Benefits of Multi-Age Curriculum Work it In Wednesday: Two Hacks for a Smoother Homeschool Week Thankful Thursday: Blessings of Rural Homeschooling Friday Favorites:Favorite Homeschooling Essentials
See you soon!
Want to go ahead and get started? Here is the list of all the bloggers participating this week!
Amanda @ Hopkins Homeschool
Angie @ Run Ran Family Adventures & Learning
Annette @ A Net in Time
Ashley @ Gift of Chaos
Betty @ Let’s Get Real
Brenda @ Counting Pinecones
Carol @ Home Sweet Life
Chareen @ Every Bed of Roses

Christine @ Christine Howard
Christy @ The Simple Homemaker
Dawn @ Schoolin' Swag
Debra @ Footprints in the Butter
Diana @ Homeschool Review
Felicia @ Homeschool 4 Life
Jacquelin @ A Stable Beginning
Jeniffer @ Thou Shall Not Whine
Jennifer @ A Glimpse of Our Life

Jennifer @ Dear Homeschooler
Joelle @ Homeschooling for His Glory
Karen @ Tots and Me...Growing Up Together
Kellyann @ Walking Home ...
Kimberley @ Vintage Blue Suitcase
Kristen @ A Mom's Quest to Teach
Kym @ Homeschool Coffee Break
Laura @ Four Little Penguins
Linda @ Apron Strings & other things

Lori @ At Home: where life happens
Margaret @ Creative Madness Mama
Marla @ Jump Into Genius
Meredith @ Powerline Productions: Being World Changers/Raising World Changers
Michele @ Family, Faith and Fridays
Missica @ Through The Open Window
Monique @ Mountain of Grace Homeschooling

Nicole @ Bless Their Hearts Mom
Patti @ Truth and Grace Homeschool Academy
Rebekah @ There Will Be a $5 Charge For Whining
Rodna @ Training Children up for Christ
Stacy @ A Homemakers Heart
Tess @ Circling Through This Life
Wendy @ Life at Rossmont
Yvie @ Gypsy Road

God Schooling by Julie Polanco {Book Review}

When it comes to being homeschool parents, you can never learn too much. Just as our children increase in knowledge, we as homeschool teachers chase after it too. We desire to present the best education we can to our children. As a Christian homeschooler, I desire to create the best GOD-centered education that I can. I recently was given a copy of the book God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn by Julie Polanco to review and hoped that it would be a great encouraging resource about how to bring God more into our homeschool experience!

About the Author

Julie Polanco is an author, educator, and homeschooler. She and her husband have homeschooled their four children from the beginning, with their first graduating in 2016. She is passionate about homeschooling and Christian living. She is the author of several other non-fiction books and works as ghostwriter as well. She maintains a blog at www.juliepolancobooks.com where she focuses on homeschooling, Christian living, and the writer life.

Her latest book God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn is designed to be a guide for homeschool parents who are asking the

Exploring Paddington with Branch Out World {Product Review}

Do you love the stories of Paddington as much as I do? There is just something about that darling bear which warms my heart. We were recently asked to review a unit study of Paddington Bear from Branch Out World, a British company.

About Branch Out World

Branch Out World is a British company producing educational resources like the Picture Book Explorers series. These are a collection of literature based unit studies created around beautifully illustrated picture books with links to the British Isles. These are all downloadable units that incorporate reading aloud with a variety of coordinating fun and educational activities.

Dive Into Savings with a BOGO Sale from SchoolhouseTeachers! (Ends Aug 31)

The links on this blog and in the posts may be affiliate links. Please see my disclosure policy for full details and thank you for your support!

Dive into savings this month with the SchoolhouseTeachers.com BOGO Sale! Get TWO FULL YEARS of Ultimate Membership for the one low price of $139! Also receive a free tote bag and print copy of 2018 Summer issue of The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine delivered right to your door.

That’s $139 for two full years of access to almost 400 preK-12 courses, plus tons of planning and organizational tools, with new content being added all the time!

With the locked-in renewal rate of $139/yr for as long as you continue your membership with SchoolhouseTeachers.com, the value just gets better every year!

No per-student fees or hidden costs.

Get your new membership 8/01-8/31 to take advantage of these savings. No coupon code needed.

We plan on incorporating some of the material on the website this year for at least my oldest. I especially want him to work through the Tinker's Club because he will love the weekly challenges. I also love the Daily assignments. I also use the website for recordkeeping and all the access to the online World Book Encyclopedia collection!

Want to see SchoolhouseTeachers in action? You can read my review OR watch my Facebook video review of the resource to learn more!

Lessons from Arts & Crafts (Summer Camp 2018)

For the last several days, we have been enjoying our annual trip to our church pre-teen summer camp in Northern Ohio. This was my 6th year and even though I typically work as a counselor for the youngest girls dorm, I "got a break" and worked as activity staff in the Arts and Crafts class. This class is my second most favorite place to work because unlike most of the other activities that encourage working as a team and don't allow for much interaction, we interact ALL THE TIME with our kids that come through. Our usual job is to help these kids make their imagination become real using various craft tools. 

Creating an Old Testament Activity-Pak with Home School In the Woods {Product Review}

I have written many times about unit studies and lapbooks and why our family enjoys them. One of the favorite companies for us is Home School in the Woods. We have reviewed several of their products over the last few years with great success. We recently had another chance to review on of their great products and have been enjoying putting together another one of the Hands-on History Activity-Paks, this time working through The Old Testament.   

About The Old Testament Hands-on History Activity-Pak

The Old Testament is just one of the many products in the Hands-on History Activity-Paks series from Home School in the Woods. Other products in the series include: Make-A-State, The New Testament, Artists, and Composers. Each of the Activity-Paks includes projects on the topic that together create an entire lapbook. Providing a hands-on experience for gaining and demonstrating knowledge on a subject. Home School in the Woods prides themselves on being a hands-on history company with multiple product lines. 
Every Activity-Pak includes step-by-step directions for each project, directions and photos for all the aspects of the lap book assembly, and all the printable pages needed to complete each activity. They can be used to accompany any text you are using--curriculum, unit studies, or just books in general! Another option is to use the lap book as a guide for your studies, simply add the reading and research each project as you do it! (Scripture references accompany the New and Old Testament projects.)
The Old Testament Activity-Pak includes 15 different lapbook covering different parts of the Old Testament including:

Wordless Wednesday 8/1~ Summer Camp 2018

It's that time of year.
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