Facebook Party Giveaway: Land of Enchantment print

Jill Evely is also sponsoring this wonderful giveaway. It is a print of Norman Rockwell's Saturday Evening Post work, Land of Enchantment. It features many classic storybook characters in the background, and two boys reading in the front. Full-color 12.75" x 23" print on heavy art stock. Custom-printed with an extra-wide border. Perfect for the mat and frame of your choice!

Jill will send one of these to a lucky winner.

To enter this drawing:

1. Like Jill's Sonlight Consultant page on Facebook and then leave a comment letting me know you did.

2. Leave a comment telling about one of your favorite childhood (or current!) storybook characters.

BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EVERY COMMENT!

Drawing ends at 9pm Eastern time tonite.

Facebook Party Giveaway: Sonlight Readers!

It is no secret that Sonlight is a hugely popular curriculum choice. Why? Many reasons, but one of the biggest reasons is THE BOOKS!

The books included in Sonlight are so enriching and wonderful, your whole family will enjoy them.

Sonlight consultant Jill Evely is a personal friend of mine and is a wealth of information and encouragement for homeschoolers! Jill is the mother of 5 grown children and has 17 years of homeschooling experience. Jill has been representing Sonlight at State Homeschool Conventions and locally for 13 years. She loves to help people figure out a custom plan for their family that meets their needs and their budget. She is the perfect person to talk to if you do not know what core to use, or how to use Sonlight with your multiple children or while taking into account your family's specific needs. All of this is a FREE service for you! Jill doesn't take orders, so there is no pressure on you to buy anything. Just good, solid guidance, and you can place your order with Sonlight when you are ready.

Jill says, "It is my joy and pleasure to encourage homeschool parents and I would love to help you. "

Jill has generously offered to send a nice selection of Sonlight books to one lucky winner! These are perfect for reading aloud to children in 2nd grade through middle school and higher:
Shades of Gray--an award winning, thought-provoking book about a boy who was orphaned by the Civil War;
The School Story--A 12 year old girl writes a book and then tries to get it published. It is a fascinating glimpse into the world of book publishing;
Freedom Train: The Story of Harriet Tubman--Fascinating biography of the black woman who risked her life helping other slaves reach freedom.

Reading aloud strengthens families, increases listening skills, develops higher vocabulary and is just good clean fun.

To get multiple chances to win in this drawing:

1. Get one chance in the drawing by Liking Jill's Sonlight Consultant Page on FB. Leave a comment here letting me know you've done that.

2. Get another chance in the drawing by leaving a comment telling the title of one of your favorite books to read to your children!

Don't forget to leave your email address with your comment so I can contact you if you are the winner!

You can enter this giveaway until 9pm Eastern time tonite.

Facebook Party Free For All: Supermom's Simple Guide to Healthier Eating

Since Supermom's Homeschool isn't a business, I don't have any direct items to promote tonite. However, I didn't want the night to pass by without giving each and every one of you something free! So I wanted to mention that you can get a FREE copy of my ebook Supermom's Simple Guide to Healthier Eating for Beginners and Beyond here. I hope it is helpful to you!

Also, whether you are already familiar with my health and wellness business or not, I wanted to offer a special discount for my party friends. From now through tomorrow (so you have time to browse) you can get 15% off your entire order at my store, Supermom's Health and Wellness. The products most loved by my fellow homeschool moms includes SuperMom and SuperDad vitamins, and Bee Strong and Berry Well, which give a great energy boost that we all tend to need! Just click through this link to automatically get the price reduction. (psst...the discount will even be taken on items that are currently on sale!)

Facebook Party Giveaway: Picture and Writing, Older Ages

This is a great ebook for older children in grades 5-8, offering them art and writing prompts to get their creativity flowing! Diane Hurst from Gentle Shepherd has generously offered to give away 5 copies of this ebook tonite!

Gentle Shepherd is a homeschool curriculum business, offering unique and creative learning materials for a variety of age groups—from preschool to middle school. Their website is: www.gentleshepherd.biz, and their Facebook page is facebook.com/GentleShep.



To get multiple chances in this drawing:

1. Go Like Gentle Shepherd on Facebook and then leave a comment here letting us know that you did so.

2. Check out the Art section of the Gentle Shepherd website, then leave a comment here telling about something you liked or found interesting there.

3. Post on Facebook, telling your friends about this giveaway, then leave a comment here letting us know you did.

BE SURE TO LEAVE YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS WITH EACH COMMENT! :)

Entries for this drawing end at 9pm Eastern time tonite.

**Gentle Shepherd has also generously offered a coupon for 30% off any Gentle Shepherd order, good until July 10. The coupon code for this discount is: PICTUREWRITING

Facebook Party Free For All: Classical Composers Monthly

I have always enjoyed classical music and wanted to share it with my children, but with the busy pace of life and the limits to the homeschooling budget, I never got around to any sort of organized way to do it. Inevitably, the various CDs I had on hand were forgotten and unused.

My oldest son Micah and I decided to create a simple way for families just like ours to learn about and appreciate the work of classical music composers without a big expense and with little-to-no prep time for the mom. The result is Classical Composers Monthly!

Micah and I have scoured the internet for the very best resources we could find, and have packaged them up in a simple, accessible way that doesn't require any special technical knowledge. It saves busy homeschools moms a ton of time and frustration, and gets the kids engaged quickly and easily.

You are all welcome to check out our collection about George Frideric Handel for FREE! There are a bunch of videos, audios, ebooks, and more to help you and your children get to know him and his work!

Facebook Party Free For All: Creatively Simple Soft Serve Desserts

Penny Raine has so kindly offered a FREE GIFT for everybody here at the party! It is her ebook Creatively Simple: How to Make Homemade Healthy Soft Serve Dessert!

You can get this sweet goodie here. Be sure to notice that underneath the download, there is an opportunity to sign up for Penny's newsletter. You will get another freebie right away, PLUS she gives away a freebie every week! She is a wealth of information, and a super sweet person. I know you will be glad you got to know her.

It's Time to Party!

Welcome to the Supermom's Homeschool Facebook Party and Curriculum Swap!

I am so glad you decided to join us tonite.

How to party, Facebook style:

1. Watch the Supermom's Homeschool wall as much as you can throughout the party. You may want to open secondary windows in order to get involved with the prize drawings and other fun activities that we will have happening.

You'll want to *refresh* your page frequently, because new posts will be coming up all the time.

Introduce yourself in your own post on the wall!

Say hello to others.

We will have some special guests from various homeschool-related businesses with us, and you will be able to ask them questions about what their business has to offer, or about their area of expertise! So once you see them introduce themselves, just jump in and start talking!

2. In order to participate in the curriculum swap, you need to have an item that you want to give to someone else for FREE. (if you need the person receiving the item to pay for shipping, that's ok) Please read the details on how to participate in the swap HERE and go ahead and get started on it!

Please do not post items that you have for sale. We are going to have enough going on at the group wall without adding that level of chaos. :)

3. Prize giveaways and special offers will be announced throughout the party. We have so many that they will be rolling out pretty fast. There will be a fresh FB post for the group when each one starts, so follow the clickety-click link to read the fine print and try to win yourself some fun stuff! Be sure to include your email address in every entry so we can reach you!

4. Tell your friends! Go post on your own facebook status to let others know about what we've got going on. The more, the merrier!

5. The party will end at 9pm Eastern time. If you win a prize, you will be notified by email, assuming that you left an email with your entry. (Don't forget!)

6. If you have any questions, post it on the group wall and I will do my best to answer promptly!

**If something crazy happens, like my internet service goes kaput or a meteor drops on my house, here's what I want you to do: Just keep going. Refresh this here blog page. Each and every giveaway is scheduled to show up here every 5 minutes from 7:05 to 8:30pm. Just have fun with it, talk to each other, ask questions of our business representatives, tell about your own homeschooling life, swap your stuff! I know it won't be the same without my cheerful chatter, but I'm sure you can all get along with out me. You know. If you *had* to. ;)

Here's How to Participate in the Curriculum Swap

My idea for the curriculum swap is this:

It is fun to give things away!

It is fun to receive things!

Some people have things to give away.

Some people need things or would enjoy receiving something.

This is not going to be a swap as far as you-give-something, you-get-something.

This is going to be a give-if-you-want-to, request-if-you-want-to event.

I don't have the time or desire to micromanage this, so here's what I'm thinking so we can all play nice:

On July 7, 2011, from 7-9pm Eastern time ONLY, please post on the Supermom's Homeschool wall if you have something homeschool-related that you'd like to give away. Let people know all pertinent info on the item, and if you want some money for shipping, and how much that amount is. Is it just for US residents? Can Canadians or others participate?

To keep it simple, just have those that want to be considered for your giveaway comment under your wall post during the party.

You pick somebody to give your item to, and work out the details between the two of you through private message. Givers, please follow through on sending, and receivers, please follow through on the shipping cost, if that was part of the deal.

You can pick who to give your item to based on your own criteria, whether it be random pick, first-come-first-served, or whatever you come up with. Maybe you want people to tell you why they need it. I don't know, but that's for you to decide, and as long as it all stays family-friendly, anything goes.

To keep it all simple, givers please choose who you are giving to by the end of the evening, if you can.

Obviously, I cannot take responsibility for the success or lack thereof of the swaps you arrange. Swap at your own risk. :)

I hope you all have fun with this! Help spread the word. The more, the merrier! Don't you agree?

July 7: Facebook Party and Curriculum Swap!

We are going to try something new and fun on July 7! We'll be having a Facebook party and a curriculum swap from 7-9pm Eastern time.

What's that? Well, I'll tell you.

At 7pm you'll want to join us on the Supermom's Homeschool wall on Facebook. If you haven't "liked" us yet, do it today so you'll be reminded as we get closer to our big event!

The party portion of the event will include:

-door prizes
-drawings, discounts, etc. from various homeschool-related businesses
-and hopefully we will have some experts from some of your favorite curriculum providers on hand to answer your questions!
-hopefully lots of party participants that want to get to know each other and tell about their own favorite blogs, resources, share support and encouragement...whatever!
-and hopefully more stuff that we will figure out between now and then

The curriculum swap is going to work like this:

-If you've got some curriculum item in good condition that you'd like to give away, you can do so.
-If you've got some curriculum needs and see something being offered that you'd like to have, you can ask the giver for it.

Whether or not the giver or receiver will pay shipping, comment on your blog, "like" you on facebook, or whatever else, remains to be seen. I'll be working out the kinks (hopefully) as our party night draws closer.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'm organizing this facebook party in order to do something fun, increase the amount of fellow homeschoolers in our group, and because I think most of us gals like a swap meet--especially when it comes to clearing our shelves or getting good deals and freebies!

Tell your friends about our facebook page, because that's going to be the "hub" of the party action. Some aspects of the party will be posted about here on the blog as well, so anybody philosophically opposed to facebook can still get in on at least some of the fun. :)

Poker Chips in our Homeschool

Like most children, mine enjoy rewards. Like most moms, I find that incentives are a great tool for encouraging, rewarding, and teaching. Poker chips have been an easy and fun way for us to do all of those things.

I purchased a set of poker chips at Walmart for maybe $10. Since we use a color-coding system at our house, this was perfect. Red, blue, and green were represented in the chips. We use black as an alternate color for our child who normally uses yellow, since sometimes yellow is hard to find. And when my daughter was using pink, we would use white chips for her. The colors of the chips is important to us because it eliminates any confusion about whose chips these are. If we find a red chip on the floor, we know immediately who it belongs to. No squabbles, and no temptation to pocket it. :)

My children earn chips for various aspects of their school work and chores. Additionally, I often have 1 extra habit I am trying to encourage that I will use chips for. For instance, although my boys have been unloading the dishwasher when asked, they would avoid ever unloading unless asked, even if they could see that it needed to be done. Also, when I started them out on the unloading I only asked them to unload 30 items each, which turned into them often acting like it would kill them to do an extra item or two, or everybody leaving the last 7 items because "I already did my 30!!" Yeah. Well, what needs to happen now that they all know how to unload the dishwasher, is the next step of seeing a need and taking care of it, and completing a job cheerfully. So I recently put a new chip incentive into place: If you see that the dishwasher needs to be unloaded and you just go ahead and do it, you'll get 1 chip per 30 items, or 3 chips to complete the whole thing. Now I have kids eager to know when the dishes are done, and they are now completing the job themselves. Easy for me, and fun for them. After about a month of this I will phase out the chips and they will be doing the job hassle-free, for the most part.

I have used incentives like this for better behavior at bed time, quicker getting out of bed in the morning, and other things like that. I try to just have one extra thing like that going on at a time, just because it's simpler, and I think it's more effective to establish one habit strongly at a time.

We have a treasure box (a really cool one that we found at Hobby Lobby, but you can use a shoebox or any kind of box) that contains goodies that the kids can purchase with their chips. You can put whatever items in it that your children would like and that you approve of. Little toys from the dollar store or Oriental Trading Post, cute school supplies, art supplies, candy, food treats that they enjoy, whatever works for you. I tend to equate each chip with about a 25 cent value (or less) of what I pay for the goodies. You may choose to do differently according to your budget and what your kids have to do to earn the chips. Sometimes I get really good bargains on items with a sale and coupons, but even if I get them at a cheaper price, if the kids are used to that item being 2 chips to buy, I just leave it at that. Simple rules the day!

We generally have the treasure box open once a week (Saturday morning) so the kids can buy their rewards. For younger kids that may be too long to wait, so maybe at the end of each school day will work better for you.

I do offer a cash buy-out option as well, so if my kids are in need of money, I will buy their chips back from them for 25 cents a piece. They only take advantage of that rarely, but they like that when they are needing money for something.

My boys are now 8-12 and they still look forward to buying items from the treasure box. We have been doing this for probably 3 years now and it still works great. Keep it simple for best success!

Color-Coding our Homeschool

One thing that has been an enduring help to my family in our homeschooling is color-coding. For the 5 children that needed colors, I picked colors that would be reasonably easy to find items in those colors. So, we have red, blue, green, yellow/black, and pink/purple. Several years ago I got everybody set up with:

1. a file folder box with a handle to make it easy to carry. I tried to get them in colors when possible. For the kids that I could not find their color, I got black boxes and then used colored electrical tape to label the front and side of their box. (purchased at walmart near duct tape, etc.)

-we have one like this which is nice because they can store their pens, pencils, etc. in the top area

-Each child keeps their own workbooks and notebooks in their own box, as well as basic supplies that they should always have handy like pencil, pen, crayons or markers, scissors, etc.

-I purchased a metal book end for each box, because some of the workbooks were falling over and fitting tightly into the bottom of the file box, making it difficult to get out. You can find these at library supply stores for $3-4 each. I got them in colors, which was fun.

-When it is time to do school, the child knows to just get their box and bring it to the table. They should have all of their books and supplies there, so we can smoothly work through their assignments without "Oh no! Where's my math book!?" When they are done with their seatwork they put everything back into their box and put it back on the shelf where it belongs.



2. When I purchase spiral notebooks, folders, journal notebooks, etc. I always try to get them in each child's color. it makes it easy to identify whose item it is at a glance.

3. We use the electrical tape to color code lots of things that could easily get confused: mp3 players, pens and pencils, electronic equipment, games, etc. It is easy and economical and cuts down on the whole "No that one was mine!" phenomenon.

4. We use poker chips as incentive currency at our house, and that works great with the color coding also. Each child only earns chips in their own color, so we never have a problem with not knowing which chips belong to a child. If we find a stray red chip, we know it goes to the kid who uses red. Easy! :)

Want to watch a Rocket Launch?

One of the new programs my family has been using this year is Supercharged Science. We have loved it SO much. It's an incredible program taught by a lovely gal, Aurora Lipper, who is a real Rocket Scientist, as well as a mechanical engineer, and former professor at Cal Poly University. Even better--she does a *wonderful* job of teaching and engaging homeschool students (and their parents!) through her video classes.

Tomorrow Aurora is offering a *FREE* online tele-class about Rocketry that you and your children are welcome to attend. We have participated in several of Aurora's live tele-classes and they are always awesome, so I'm sure this one will be too. Seriously--my boys ooh and aaah the whole time, and *remember* what they learned, too!

Right after the class, there is a real rocket launch of a Taurus XL rocket that will carry a satellite into orbit. She’s going to give us the live video feed for this so we can have a front row seat. My boys are going to love this!

In order to attend the class you need to register here. Just click on over and get set up!

Times Tales DVD: Another winner!

As I've been happy to tell about for several years, my boys have really benefited from the Times Tales program. It's quite like magic to them to learn the more difficult multiplication facts so easily. :)

Every so often I realize that they would benefit from a review of the Times Tales stories, but inevitably I would forget to do it. So I was really excited to see the Times Tales DVD coming out.

It arrived yesterday, so today I took advantage of lunch time to have my 4 younger boys watch the video. The two younger ones aren't doing multiplication quite yet and hadn't gone through the program before. The older two have done the program but hadn't had a review for a long time.

They really enjoyed it. My 10 year old said that the DVD was even better than the regular program. My 7 and 9 year olds caught on very quickly and were excited to know the answers to the flash cards in such a short amount of time. :) The graphics, narration, and background music are cheerful and enjoyable, but don't get the kids hyper.

To me, this program is the best both for the fun of the content, and the ease of success for the student. It's great whether you homeschool or not. For me, having one less thing in our day that has to be Mom-Powered is a help. (I know other moms can identify)

I expect that we will get this DVD out every week or two for a quick review while the boys are getting the hang of it, and then on an as-needed basis from there. Highly recommended.

You can watch the Times Tales DVD Video here.

Times Tales DVD!

It's no secret that I love Times Tales for helping kids memorize the trickier multiplication facts. So often I will be observing my kids doing their math and think that I should get out the stuff to review the Times Tales stories with them. A lot of the time I forget to do it. (sigh) Now the Times Tales DVD makes success that much better by reviewing the stories for your child, so you don't have to use any Mom Power to get the job done. Yay!

Clickety click to order your DVD now. It is scheduled to ship Jan. 15, so you get a discounted price for your pre-order. Use coupon code 5MORE! to get an additional 5% off. Sweet!

Do your kids ask to go to public school?

This came up in the facebook group today:

Sara asks: Do your kids like homeschool or do
they ever ask if they can go to public? do you give your Kids a choice
or make it for them? I homeschool my 3 boys and my oldest who is now 12
going on 13 seems to think the grass is always greener on the other
side. Does anyone else have this topic come up with their olde...r
children?

Sara, my kids do ask about it sometimes. We have had our kids in public school at times and homeschooled at other times. Generally speaking we try to go year-by-year and kid-by-kid to choose the school situation that we believe will be best for them. I do listen to what they are wanting, usually asking questions about what it is that they are really wishing for. Sometimes it is more time with friends, a certain kind of activity they want to do, sometimes the littler ones have ideas that it would be fun to go to recess or ride the bus, etc. Sometimes I can meet their wish/need while homeschooling. Sometimes I give them more information about what they are saying they want, to see if they really do want it once they have a fuller idea of how it would work. Sometimes I learn about things that are legitimate issues not going too well at home and then I can work on addressing that problem. If they are still going to be homeschooled, I just talk to them about why we believe that it is the best choice for them, and sometimes we have to agree to disagree for awhile.

I think that it is good to respect our children's feelings about their life and school situation. It is not always wise to let them choose for themselves, but sometimes it certainly can be.

Having gone through upheaval in life that took us to public school turned into a great thing for us because we learned that no one situation is right for every child. I know not everybody has a great public school situation in their area, so you have to use your best judgment (based on reality, not imagination or heresay), but public school can also be a valid, good choice for some kids.

Unfortunately, there isn't one perfect formula on raising kids successfully, regardless of what so many books and magazines and web sites tell you. There are lots of great people coming out of public school, many damaged people coming out of homeschooling situation, and lots of everything in between from everywhere. Do your best to be wise and thoughtful and make choices in love, and know that no educational choice has to be forever. You can try school and see how it goes for a year, and if it doesn't meet the needs, do something different the next year. (same goes for parents thinking of homeschooling but aren't sure about whether or not they will like it or be able to handle it)

I hope this helps,
Erica

Supercharged Science is So FUN!

I recently learned about Supercharged Science because they were giving away a bunch of fun free science experiments. I really liked the teacher's style, so when I found out that she was offering an online science curriculum, I was very interested. I had already purchases Switched on Schoolhouse Science for the kids, but once my husband started using it he was like, "Ugh. Is there something different we could do?" Yeah. :) So I showed him the Supercharged Science site and he was hooked.

Supercharged Science is an internet-based learning experience with high-quality teaching via video instruction as well as instructions for doing the experiments at home, and textbook type reading you can do as well. Pretty much everything you need to have a fun and successful experience teaching science to your kids.

On day 1 of using the program my boys ages 7-12 were begging me to go get supplies so they could start doing experiments. On Day 2 they made hoovercrafts! They also watched an awesome video that showed them how to fly an airplane! (clickety click here to enjoy it with your own family!)

Check out the FREE Trial! plus be sure to sign up to get additional freebies as well

I love Alice.com and so will you!

Alice.com is a fabulous place for you to bypass a whole lot of your grocery shopping, without paying more! In fact, Alice's prices are comparable to Walmart prices, they add in coupons, and they ship all of your stuff to you for FREE! And it's fast. Like, within a day or two, depending on where you live.

Alice.com has toilet paper, feminine products, cleaning products, snacks and cereal, toiletries, pet food, office supplies, stamps, and just a ton of other stuff that you are buying every time you walk through your regular store. (not weird off-brands, either. The real brands you already buy!) The difference: less stuff to shlepp through the checkout, into your car, and into the house with the kids in tow!

I have been using Alice since fall of 2009 and I love love LOVE it. I recommend it to everybody! Right now you can get $10 off your first purchase of at least $50 when you clickety-click above to sign up. How cool is that?

Back to School Goodies for Homeschool Moms!

In my part of the country school will soon be back in session, and for you northerners that still have more than a month to go, it'll be here before you know it!

Today I decided to put together a special collection of goodies for my fellow homeschool moms that will enrich them in body, mind, and spirit. It is chock-full of wonderful stuff that has a retail value of well over $100, but is available to you for a super-low price. You can read all about it here.

Today is also the start of our new No-Cooties School Year sale! For a limited time you can get TWO bottles of my Supermom's No-Lice Hair and Body Spray for the price of one, OR you can choose to donate the extra bottle to a family in need. Read all about it here.
(because, yeah, it's true--homeschoolers can get head lice too....)

That's it for today. Enjoy what's left of your summer! (personally, I'm looking forward to fall!)

Floatie Swim Suit Safety Alert

I wrote this post several years ago, and now dig it out every year and re-post to share with people each summer.

We have an Easy Set pool at our house. It's a pretty big one, and we have floatation swim suits for our three youngest boys to wear, although we keep the pool shallow enough that all of them can walk around in it and still have their heads above water. Last year when I bought the suits the baby was one and the better quality suits did not come in his size, so I got a cheaper one, which he had continued to wear this year.
The other day the kids were playing in the pool while my husband and I sat on the deck watching them and chatting. Our youngest, who is now 2, lost his footing in the pool and very quickly was floating face down in the water. Fortunately my husband saw it right away and got to him within just a few seconds, so everything turned out ok.

BUT

The problem is that this suit was not designed to flip a child over onto their back if they needed to rely on the floatation! Our baby was helpless, face down in the water. He would have actually been safer with no suit on at all, since he would have been able to stand to his feet after losing his footing.

It only takes a very few moments for a little one to drown. I am so thankful we were right there with our eyes on the pool happenings.

We tossed out that suit and today I went and bought him one of the better ones, that are designed to keep a kid floating on their backs. Here is the difference between the two suits:

The kind that flips a child onto their back has a float in the front of the suit that is longer than the one in the back.

The kind of suit that put my baby into the pool face first is a kind that is designed for children who need a floatie while learning to swim. The floats are all around the suit and are the same size all the way around.

Just thought someone else might appreciate the reminder. Go check and see if your little one's floatie suits will flip them to their backs in their moment of need.

Pressing On

While just about every homeschool mother I know is finishing up the school year and getting ready to enjoy a break, we're pressing on here. We've been utilizing Time 4 Learning for about 3 weeks or so and are finding it helpful in helping the kids cover more material than they had been, all with significantly less Mom Power required to keep it going. Also, it's fun and they are enjoying it. Even the one or two that tend to not like to do school. Instead of the usual moans and groans and avoidance tactics, they smile and say "ooh I love this one!" when they see their learning activity loading up on the computer screen. So, it's a good place for us to be, and I sure hope it keeps on working for us because it's nice to lift a few of those worries off my plate.

Since I started homeschooling I have been a proponent of the year-round schooling idea in theory, but have rarely been able to pull it off. I'm actually glad to be keeping on this time around. The kids will be continuing to move forward, instead of forgetting and then needing a lot of review time, and they'll have that built in structure to their day which helps. Too much time on their hands seems to contribute to a significant amount of bickering around here. School time is short enough that there is still plenty of time to enjoy playing, swimming, the garden, and everything else. In addition, I love it that by keeping going year round, I have more wiggle room for taking time to do other activities when the need arises. Whether it be making grape juice, going apple picking, visiting grandparents, or whatever, I like having total flexibility, so paying the piper on those school days sure helps alleviate any homeschool mother anxiety I have.

I ordered a few new materials from Timberdoodle today. I am looking forward to checking out several new resources and seeing how they work for us. Timberdoodle has been one of my favorites for probably 12 years, and I love that they keep on showing up wonderful, fresh, new resources year after year.

Are you using paperbackswap yet? I love it! It has been a long time since I had time to get books from the library and actually read and return them on the proper schedule. Now when I hear about a book I want to read I just order it (or add it to my wish list) from pbswap and when it arrives, if I don't have time to read it, I add it to my wonderful To-Read pile and don't worry about it. It'll get read when the time is right, and then I'll probably send it on via paperbackswap again.

Well, I do the same for our Sonlight books. We are doing core 4 right now and almost all of the books were rec'd through paperback swap. Once I got core 4 in hand I started collecting core 5 books through pbswap as well. Any that were not available went onto my wish list, and they trickle in as they become available. By the time I need core 5 I will order whatever I have not already obtained, and core 6 books will be coming in. Also, as I finish core 4 books I just send them back out into the world through pbswap as well. So many of those readers are easily obtained this way. I will say that one small "rule" I have for myself is that if I see that I can buy the book new from Sonlight for around $4-5, I don't usually try to get it through pbswap. Each credit basically costs $3-4 for me to ship something to someone else, so I am content to get those new, and focus on the money-saving aspect of obtaining other books through pbswap.

I obtained almost all the books we needed for core 300 through pbswap, including some that retail for around $30. I thought that was pretty great. :)

One other resource we are enjoying here is college-level DVD course from The Teaching Company. They have a huge selection of course that regularly go on sale for around 70% off. Although my two teens are not college-age yet, we decided to give a few of the courses a try. My thinking was that although some of the material may go over their heads, they would probably benefit from being stretched and introduced to some more challenging material. My 14 year old daughter is taking The Joy of Science (cost around $90 when I got it on sale) as well as The History of European Art (was around $40 on sale). She likes the art one more than the science, but I believe both are beneficial to her and are bringing learning opportunities to her that were not previously happening. I definitely plan to add more of these courses to our collection, and of course then I will have them available as the other children get older as well.