I just stumbled upon this post that helps you remember not only how many cups in a gallon, but pints and quarts too! LOVE the visual!! Check it out!
This looks like a great one for kids!!!
Weekly free apps!
Just found out that The Wired Homeschool is doing a weekly posting of homeschool related or friendly apps that are FREE!! He’s calling it "Free App Friday."
Life continues
I can’t seem to find time to update my blogs these days. Too busy living my life, I guess. But I’m going to keep trying!
This week I am thinking about how far I’ve come with our homeschooling. My kids, while not totally where I want them to be (will they ever be?) have come a long way.
We are getting more done than ever before! Still always seems to be a subject or 2 that are being neglected, but we are rockin it at math and some language arts!
Both kids are getting math done, with little or no fuss, every day! Also starting to get more writing done! I’m very proud of how far we’ve come!
A New Week
I think I’m ready to start this week. I’m showered (hair still wet, as you can see), I’m dressed, I’m sitting in my favorite spot in my comfy chair in the “Big Room” (our playroom/homeschool room) and updating my GoodReads.com account (via the wonderful iphone app!) with the books my son read yesterday. Yes, the new bookworm. Have I mentioned his newfound bookwormyness here? Hm, I don’t think I have! I’ve been quite lax at updating this blog lately…time to change that. Can’t promise there will be any consistency in it, but I would LIKE to get in the habit of posting more here, to help inspire ME more! (And in the process, I imagine y’all as well!)
BOOK SERIES REVIEW: Great geography & culture book series: A Child’s Day
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Found this book at the library while researching books on China to use with this idea of Homeschooling with The Amazing Race, as discussed in our podcast episode #19.
This series is full of beautifully done photo picture books depicting a child from a foreign (as in, non-American) city/village. Each book is a different child in a different country.
BOOK REVIEW: Blast Off to Earth!: A Look at Geography
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This book was so cute and fun! A class of kid robots from space visit the Earth on a field trip. A robot guide narrates info about the planet, including going through each continent and describing the uniqueness of each. I highly recommend reading in a robot voice to your kids! We had so much fun taking turns reading different parts in our robot voices! 
Great book! For ALL ages!
Children’s period games
So I recently thought of another idea to sprinkle into our learning…games and toys children played at the time we are studying about. So far I’m having a hard time finding much. I know there must be info out there…just a matter of finding it. If anyone knows of any good resources on historical info on children’s games and toys of the 1500s through 1800s, would love to hear about it! Please comment below!
2012 Summer Olympic opening ceremonies!
We’re getting ready to watch in just under an hour! I’m so excited! Was sharing some videos and links on my Facebook and Twitter pages (which you really should be following if you don’t want to miss out on anything from Homeschool Realm! Because often its a lot easier to just post over there than to make a whole new post here. *smile*)
Went looking for something like a list of all the countries participating and couldn’t find anything particularly printable. So I went to the official London 2012 website and did screen captures of the pages with the flags/names of all the participating countries and turned it into a printable file. if you want to use them with your kiddos to circle the countries/flags as you see them in the opening ceremonies tonight, you can find the pdf file here.
Working on planning school year
Yesterday I spent all day on this and will probably do the same today. I’m sorting out what to use for next year…As I think I’ve mentioned before, I really like the idea of using a history book as a spine (guideline) and add in other books to supplement not just the history, but also to add in the music/musicians, art/artists, science/scientists of the same time periods. This is looking like it could be really fun!
This year I’ve decided to use The Usborne Internet-Linked Encyclopedia of World History (below) as our spine. I’m starting to see the value in using it because there’s not a lot of text to read for each time period, so I can add in other books for that, and keep it interesting. I really liked the Story of the World series, and History of Us series, and plan to still use them as supplemental reading…but my kids were getting tired of them. Perhaps if they are not the main focus, they might enjoy them more. We’ll see.
Get ready, get set…
Spent a lot of time recently researching ideas for making homeschooling fun, since it was a topic we decided to discuss in the latest episode of our Savvy Homeschool Moms podcast…which has got me thinking a lot on this topic of “fun” in homeschooling.
It’s always been my intention to homeschool in a fun way. I just have lost sight of that in recent months as I continue to try to find a routine that will work for both myself and my quirks, my kids and their quirks, and the requirements of our homeschool charter.
I am feeling frequently overwhelmed by all that I need to do. In my home, with my businesses, with my kids, with my husband…and when I’m overwhelmed I do one one of 2 things: I shut down or I put the pedal to the metal and dive in. I tend to vacillate between the 2, causing many starts and stops. Such is my life. Sigh.