SRKindredSpirits

The best thing I've done when it comes to homeschooling is to ditch the idea that it needs to be like a real school!  We used to have a school room with charts, maps, desks, set hours and breaks, etc.  Then, after 3 years, needed the room as a bedroom (we live in a small house), so we moved the schoolroom to our enclosed back porch. We still used desks and had individual pencil cases, charts, maps, posters, and all the stuff you think you need to have for a school room. We used the back porch as our school room for a couple years, but then turned it into a office for our home business ..... But, I still needed a place for school..... turns out, the best thing I ever did regarding homeschooling was to give it all up.  I gave up the idea of having to have a class room, desks, charts and posters on the walls, set hours, and every other extra thing most people think you have to have to homeschool - including the complete encyclopedia set!!! I got rid of it all!  Instead,

Our beautiful daughter, Faith graduated from  High School this Spring - so I wanted to have a graduation party to recognize that accomplishment... only problem was, trying to keep it simple, and not spend too much.... here's what I came up with.... Our theme was blue (her school colors), gold, silver, black, and white with pink peonies for a touch of elegance.               The Guest Table -  We had guests sign a JENGA block with a message. (If you couldn't make it, but want to still give her a note... we have lots left... let us know and we'll have you sign one!) Picture frames hung on the wall. A Vase of flowers, a card box, and a basket for the JENGA blocks on the table. We also had a quiz about the graduate for guests to fill out. You can see the quiz here. The Gift Table was pretty simple - it was the top of a garage cupboard... I glammed it up with a sign and flowers... We had her diploma, more pictures and some of her

Here she is.... Our oldest daughter, Faith Dahlia... a graduate of the class of 2017! .....  We are so proud of her! We had the following quiz at her graduation party.... How Well Do You Know The Graduate? What is her middle name? Dahlia What is her favorite color? Blue What is her favorite ice cream flavor? Chocolate What is her favorite holiday? Thanksgiving What is her biggest pet peeve? Tardiness What is her favorite food? Fish If she could go anywhere in the world, where would she go? Ireland What was her favorite subject in high-school? English (funny side note - she hated English in grade school and had to take 4th grade English three times!) What is her dream job? Writing or  Acting What shoe size does she wear? Size 7½ What is her favorite book genre? Fiction What super power would she choose? Invisibility or Flying What is her favorite movie? Lord of the Rings How many musical instruments can she play?  

My oldest child is graduating high school this year.... where did the time go?!?!  My hubby had me listen to the following speech a few months ago and I keep going back to it....   While it may have been written 10 years ago, I think it is still great advise for today's Class of 2017! Ladies and gentlemen of the class of 2007, wear sunscreen. If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists. Whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience, I will dispense this advice now. Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth, oh, never mind. You will never understand the power and the beauty of your youth until they've faded.  But trust me, in twenty years you will look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now -  How much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked.  You are not as fat as y

"When it comes to education - there is no school like home!" We home school our kids....  In the past, we have used public school for kindergarten and have tried a couple christian schools, but in the end, it just works better for our family at this point in our life to home school.  Over the years, I have had experience using just about every curriculum out there.... Abeka , CLE, Pathway, ACE , Rod and Staff, and more, but I have found the best curriculum to be the one that is put together individually for each child. For the two youngest, we are currently using My Fathers World and love it! I'll try to do a post on that sometime! For high school, our oldest daughter is graduating this year with a Diploma from Penn Foster High School.  I graduated from Penn Foster back when it was a mail correspondence course and was known as ICS Newport Pacific High School/Harcourt High School. Some of the reasons that we love Penn Foster High School a

NIV Investigator's Holy Bible by: Zondervan 5 Stars If you're looking for an NIV bible that is easy to understand and keeps kids interested... this is the one to get !  Have you ever used a magnifying glass? It makes everything bigger and easier to see, right? Detectives and scientists magnify things to understand them better. Well that’s just what this Bible does—it’s a magnifying glass to help children understand the Word of God better. The Bible is a gift from God, but many of the things written in the Bible are hard for kids to understand. In fact, sometimes they’re downright mysterious to kids. Using kid-friendly language and a detective theme, the two color NIV Investigator’s Holy Bible explains the Bible text for kids ages 6–10.  Two central mystery-solving characters invite children to investigate the Bible using the following features: Evidence—Bible book introductions answer what kind of book it is, who wrote it, what happens, and the “

 I have three kids. There is a  9 year age difference between the oldest and youngest. Most of the kids books have been passed down over the years, and many  have been torn, colored in, or dog-eared, pages ripped, etc. Some of them were getting so rough, it was time to toss them, so I am trying to find my six year old, books to add to her collection. Here are two of the latest kids books I received to review. Same Kind of A Different Me –by Ron Hall & Denver Moore This book wasn’t near as good as I thought it would be. I liked that it had some depth to the wording, so it is better suited for grade school kids.  Although the story line was good, the illustrations were lacking and seemed more for toddlers. The story seemed to be missing a link, tying it all together.  I do love the  saying on the last page,  “Nobody can help everybody, but everybody can help somebody,” and I definitely want to instill that into my kids’ minds, but, overall, this book didn'

THE LORD'S PRAYER by: Rick Warren 3 Stars I loved the front cover of this book. I also like the fact that the author takes the time to explain what the Lords prayer means so that kids can understand it. I think too often people are to quick to disregard the KJV because they simply do not understand it. This book will encourage your kids to not only learn this portion of Scripture but to also apply it in all situations. My 6 yr. old was excited to add this book to her collection. This book is a great resource to add to your home school library. Disclosure of Material Connection: I received this book free from the publisher through BookLookBloggers, book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own.

The day this book came, I sat down with my 6 yr. old daughter Adilayia, to read this book together. She enjoyed it.  By replacing key words with graphics, the child can fill in the story by looking at the picture which represents the missing word.  I used to love these books when I was a kid!  Some of the short stories are:  Beginning, Flood, Abraham’s Family, Moses, the Promised Land, Ruth and Naomi, David, God’s People Made Slaves, Esther, and Jonah in the Old Testament and Jesus is Born, John the Baptist, Jesus’s Life, Jesus’s Death and Resurrection, the Holy Spirit Comes, Saul Becomes Paul, Peter, and the Best is Yet to Come. The cartoon like drawings are simple and fun-   but some of the people images v.s words were kind of confusing to explain to a 6 yr old. but overall,  I think this book is a great addition to our home school library for my son and daughter who are learning to read. To comply with regulations by the FTC, Book Look Bloggers has provided me wi

Me: A Compendium   by: Wee Society  4 Stars I thought this book looked cute and was planning on using it for my youngest (age 6). But since my two youngest are in the same grade and do the same work, I thought my cute, curly haired, 4 yr. old, niece might like it.....  And her Momma says she does!  The only down is that it may be a little more suitable for a 6-7 yr. old that can read and write! Me: A Compendium by Wee Society  is a cute, cleverly made, hardback, fill-in journal for kids. The pages are big and bold and colorful.  Kids are encouraged to let their imaginations run wild as they write or draw. The large, colorful pages allow for kids to explore who they are and who they want to be. I loved all the questions that they ask such as:  What's your favorite jokes? What's your favorite clothes?   If I were going to outer space, _____ is what I would pack.   What I wish was inside my refrigerator.   If I had a shop, it would be called _

Concealed beneath the rolling farmland and wooded countryside of Champaign County, Ohio, the caverns were formed thousands of years ago when an underground river cut through ancient limestone and created vast rooms and passageways that later filled with countless crystal stalactites, stalagmites and other amazing formations.  Today, these once-hidden caves are one of Ohio's top tourist attractions. The caverns remain a steady 54 degrees year-round, regardless of the surface temperature. The humidity is always above 90 percent, and the air inside the caverns is cleaner than the air above ground — filtered by the water that formed the caves and still drips today.  The caverns are the largest in the state, with over 2 miles of surveyed passageways ranging in depth from 30 feet to the deepest point of 103 feet. Special tours take you into the "historic" part of the cave — the portion first discovered and opened decades ago.        Ninety-five