I'm Opting Out Of All Future Camping Trips Unless A Luxurious Cabin Is Included

For a week straight our 5 year old son has been asking us to go camping. Of course we didn't think our two boys were ready to venture too far from home. Our solution? Setting up a tent in the yard and calling it CAMPING.

We even had a fire complete with roasted hot dogs and S'Mores. See more photos here

We live in a rural area so camping in our yard is probably quite like camping in the woods or at a lake. At least that is what I tell myself. Because I'm not so sure I'm ready to venture into the wilderness either after this experience. Let's just say sleeping is not really an option when lying on the ground and listening to the pitter patter of nocturnal critters.

School Portraits Homeschooling Style

This week's theme in the Not Back To School Blog Hop for homeschoolers is "School Portraits". For now here are a few of my favorites from this year! I'll do some "official"(still, I'll do them with my camera) homeschooling portraits in September or October of the boys.

Future Brad Pitt Formerly known as Baby Picasso..He's 5 now so we had to get rid of the "baby name"



Artsy, Rambunctious, Outgoing, Clever

Mini Cousteau Formerly known as Future Bam...but his interests have changed


Quiet, Brainy, Silly, Good-Hearted

Today was our first day back so it's going to be hectic around here while we adjust to this new schedule.

I also wanted to let each of you know of a new kids sweepstakes hosted by our main site, Contest for Moms. You could win a really cool SHORTS Kids movie prize pack for your kiddos here.

Our Classroom

This week as part of the Not Back To School Blog Hop for homeschoolers, we are supposed to share our "classroom".

Right now our a little corner of our dining area is home to the books and supplies we use most often. We don't have desks anymore. I threw those out when we moved.

So where do we "do school"? We do our work outside on the deck or in the grass sometimes when the weather is just right, we sit in the floor, on the couch, or at our kitchen table.We even get to do school at the beach for three weeks in October which I must admit is pretty nice and I'd love to be able to school at the ocean year round.

Here's a peek into our little corner...it's not quite ready yet. I like to decorate with a Back To School theme in the small space we have. We also have some storage supplies by my office area and a cork board for hanging artwork on another wall in our living room as well as some supplies in our kitchen. Eventually I'll get some more book shelves, and maybe in a few years we will have our own little library/school but for now this works for us.



Did I mention books are pretty much hanging out everywhere in baskets and on tables?



Don't forget to enter AMR's 2009 Back To School Picks Giveaway to win a month's supply of Organic Clif Kids snacks. Anyone can enter!

Our Homeschooling Curriculum & Schedule For '09-10

In the past I haven't shared much about our homeschooling adventures simply because I haven't had the extra time. However, this year I'd love to give you a glimpse into our daily life of homeschooling especially since so many of you have asked what it's like to both homeschool and work from home. One thing is fore sure - there is never a dull moment once school time arrives! It is anything but ordinary ;)

Deciding on sharing this coincided perfectly with Darcy's Not Back To School Blog Hop. Yes, I'm actually participating in a blog hop. This is a first for me I think!

I will be homeschooling a 2nd grader (Mini Cousteau age 8) and a preschooler (Future Brad Pitt just turned 5) starting hopefully on August 17th. So far, in our 1 1/2 years of homeschooling we've taken an eclectic approach. I've taken pieces of child-directed, Charlotte Mason, Traditional, and Montessori styles of homeschooling and have made something of my own. I really want to create a learning environment that is relaxed, fun, and enriching! Basically we do what works for us and that can change at anytime. We've never bought a curriculum and don't plan on doing that anytime soon. For now, I've bought various workbooks, board games, card games, toys, arts & crafts supplies, tons of books that I know my boys will love to read, and a few used text books to be used for each of our core subjects required by our state (KY). Our total cost of everything has been less than $200 so far. I'm sure as we take field trips, go on our annual nearly month long beach vacation, and try out new crafts + activities this figure will go up but I wanted to include this so you could get an idea of how you can homeschool on a budget.

Mini Cousteau will be doing the following subjects for 2nd grade:

Spectrum Little Critter Language Arts Grade 2

Scott Foresman Spelling Grade 2

Journaling

Lots of relaxed reading and being read to

Social Studies Grade 3 - learning through living/holiday celebrations plus a textbook ( can't give you the name since I haven't purchased one yet)

School Zone Geography workbook Grade 3, puzzles, movies, and games

Spectrum Little Critter Math Grade 2

McGraw Hill Science Grade 3

Physical Education/Health

Computer Skills/Graphic Design/blogging/business

Arts & Crafts

As for Future Brad Pitt, his learning will be largely pretend play, unstructured learning, arts + crafts, lots of reading and some alphabet/phonics activities. My biggest goal with him is to teach him how to read this year.



We will most likely start at 9 am and finish up by 1 pm. As far as our schedule goes, I haven't decided on that 100% yet. Here is a tentative look at our schedule. Note: This all gets thrown out the window if something comes up or we are having a bad day.

6:30-9:00 wake up, have coffee, check email, work for a few hours, prepare for the day.
9:00-9:20 Breakfast
9:20-9:40 Calendar, Journaling
9:40-10:00 Social Studies
10:00-10:20 Math
10:20- 10:40 Spelling
10:40-11:00 Arts/Crafts/Games
11:00-11:20 lunch
11:20-12:10 Reading (Being read to while eating outside or on our couch plus reading quietly to oneself)
12:10- 12:35 Language Arts
12:35-1:00 Science
1:00-3:00pm is for make-up work, chores, physical education, play time, computer class, outside activities, etc. while I finish up my work for the day.

Rinse. Lather. Repeat. Join me next week in week #2 of the Blog Hop and you'll get to see our "school room".