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Different Styles of Homeschooling Explained
Homeschooling is growing in our country. It is a completely valid and effective way to educate our children. It is legal in all the states. If you do not know the law as it pertains to homeschooling in your state, I would highly recommend familiarizing yourself. Homeschooling is beautiful and can bring so much joy in your life. It can also be incredibly overwhelming, especially when you are starting out. There is a pressure we feel as homeschool parents, mostly put on ourselves by ourselves, to not screw this up. We feel that there is no one else to blame and if we do not produce amazing, talented, geniuses, we…
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How To Combat Summer Boredom… Don’t
I have spent the last ten months of my life teaching these children, planning events, toting them around all over town to soccer practice, play rehearsal, the goat farm, youth group, play dates, enrichment classes, field trips, field day, celebrations, park days, and so. much. more. I am on summer break just as much as they are. I have a list of things I cannot wait to accomplish. I have a stack of books to read. I have a book study I want to participate in with other moms. I have paintings I want to paint and t shirts I want to make and blog posts I want to write.…
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Film School 4 Teens- Intro To Filmmaking
Last year when I attended the NCHE Thrive Conference, I shared in one of my talks about my son’s new found love of filmmaking. A good friend had been taking time to teach him the basics of film editing. This friend had also given my son a camera and a tripod to get him started. I shared in the talk about how my son had become so involved in film making that he was “doing school” and didn’t even realize it. He was learning the basics of good story telling, computer skills, editing skills, how to handle a camera, how to handle a cast and crew, and so much more.…
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What I’m Reading- Where the Crawdads Sing
I follow several bloggers on Facebook and Instagram that are homeschool friendly and conservative in their views on life at large. When I see them post about a book, I typically take note. I will head over to the Overdrive app on my iPad and see if the book is available to check out. When I looked up Where the Crawdads Sing, it was unavailable and I put it on hold. I was something like number 700 and there were only 2 copies available. I promptly forgot about the book and moved on. A few months later, I got an email that a book I had put on hold had…
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What I am Reading: Starting a Micro Business for Teens
I am blessed to be part of a large homeschool support group in Western North Carolina. Our group has been vital in our homeschool life across the board… socially, academically, emotionally. I can say with confidence that our homeschool story would be much different had we not found this group. Every year we take part in our group’s enrichment classes. They are parent taught which is really cool because we have so many gifted people in our group with a variety of interests. Our classes serve babies through high school. Although my degree is in Early Childhood Education, I have discovered over the last few years how much I love…
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When the Homeschool Conference is Over
I look forward to the last weekend of May every year. The NCHE Thrive conference is our state homeschool conference. I, admittedly, have not been to many homeschool conferences, expos, or conventions. My first experience was when my oldest had just turned five and we were just getting our feet wet. It was overwhelming. I wanted to buy all the things. The speakers were all also representatives of curriculum companies. Every talk I went to left me feeling like I HAD to buy what they were selling or I. WOULD. FAIL. One thing I love about the NCHE Thrive conference is that the talks are not seller driven. Some of…
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The Art of Nature Study
I know so many people who stress out so much about working everything into their homeschool life. We homeschoolers want to make sure we get all the school things done. One of the questions I see come up over and over again in homeschool groups and forums that I am part of is “Am I doing enough?” … or some variation. Everyone wants to make sure they do it all… Bible, Science, Art, History, Grammar, Literature, Math… ALL. THE. THINGS. What if school didn’t have to fall into so many categories. What if the subjects beautifully merged. What if science and art intertwined. Literature can come and join the fun…
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Sleep in the Deep at the Tennessee Aquarium
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The Redemption of Spring
I have not been diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, but I am pretty sure that is only because I have not gone to anyone who would be qualified to give that diagnosis. According to what I have read in the DSM-5 (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders), I am pretty sure I check all the boxes. My daughter was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor in January 2016. She had surgery to remove the tumor, six weeks of radiation, and four months of chemo. I often tell people it was like our life changed tracks. Like we were set on an alternate plane of reality. It was also…
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Sleep in the Deep at the Tennessee Aquarium
When my two oldest were itty bitties, we went ot the Georgia Aquarium. I remember one of the employees talking about how they have groups that come and spend the night under the ocean tank. I thought at the time how amazing that experience would be. As with most things, I tucked it away in things we probably won’t do, but really want to do. I didn’t ask, but I imagined it would be way out of our price range. **If you are just here for the FREE Printable Aquarium Field Trip Pack, feel free to scroll to the end.** I am living in a way that is vastly different…
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The Art of Nature Study
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What I am Reading: Murder on the Orient Express
Recently, my big kids and I were given the chance to do a “Sleep in the Deep” at the Tennessee Aquarium in Chatanooga. This is about a four hour drive from where we live. My kids were hunkered down with their devices, freshly loaded with downloads on Netflix. The fourteen year old was watching A Series of Unfortunate Events and the twelve year old was watching Despicable Me 3. I was all alone with my thoughts until I remembered that I have a phone! And a Hoopla account through our library. When we pulled over at a rest stop, I downloaded Murder on the Orient Express. Crime shows are my…
