Merry Christmas

I want to wish all my followers and their families a 

MERRY CHRISTMAS!  

Remember this is a season for giving

 and sharing the love of our Lord Jesus. 

Also, have a wonderful safe New Year!

The "S" word.......SOCIALIZATION

With my parents in for Thanksgiving, and the Christmas holiday approaching, I took some time off from the blog.  With Christmas so close, I may be taking a few more weeks to get through that holiday.  With three boys, I don't have a lot of 'blog' time.

Something that was on my mind this week was socialization, yes, again.  I read another article about a Florida mother who was forced to place her children in the public school system in the middle of a custody battle.  Scary thing is, that the soon to be ex-husband wasn't fighting the homeschool arrangement.  When the social worker and the judge found out she was homeschooling, the judge reprimanded her about 'socialization' and ordered the children back into public school.  Yes, HSLDA did intervene. 

So once again, lets talk about the socialization.  But before I make a few points, I would like to say (again) I am NOT against public schooling.  I feel that everyone needs to decide and have the right to choose what kind of education their children receive.

According to Webster's dictionary, the word SOCIALIZE means:




I don't think that this definition describes what public school brings every child.  In fact, for some (or even most) quite the opposite!

So the question should be what KIND of socialization do you want for your children?  Do you want healthy, positive socializing?  Do you want negative, bullying, derogatory?  Well of course no one wants the second choice, but I have heard some (even Christian) parents say pretty much the same thing by telling me that they want to get their children ready for the 'real world'.  Really?  Well, high school (or any public school) is NOTHING like the real world!

So for me, I ask myself 'Can my boys have a nice conversation with adults and other children without my prompting or forcing'?  My answer is 'yes', so I think my job of 'socializing' (aka the "S" word) my children has been accomplished.  I can send my teen into the store to buy something.  I can tell my 10 year old to please hand out Christmas cards in a nursing home, I can ask my boys to ask an adult for assistance.......this is socializing.  This is the 'real world'.......NOT a public school.

Happy Thanksgiving

So many things to be thankful for.  God bless each and every one of your family's and I hope you all have a wonderful, safe and Happy Thanksgiving!

Is homeschooling right for me?

No one can tell you whether you are making the right decision to homeschool your children.  Every parent needs to make that decision for their own children and family.  Homeschooling isn't for everyone. 

Here are a few questions for you to answer if homeschooling is on your mind.

*  Do you have good communication skills with your children?  

*  Are you easy going and excited about homeschooling?

*  Are you raising your children in a Christian home with Christian values?


If you have answered 'yes' to any or all of these, homeschooling may be in your best interest.  

Good communication skills are a must.  In a classroom, a student is expected to do what they are assigned. If they are unclear of what the assignment consists of, they will fail.  So don't set your child up for failure, make sure they understand what is expected of them right from the start.  It will save your vocal chords (yelling) later on. ;) lol

Easy going and excitement is a must as well, for me anyway.  I have learned along the way to just 'relax'. Every child is different and every child has a different way of how they learn.  Some children (teens) listen to music while doing Algebra.  Some children need absolute silence while working.  Some need detailed instruction, and others just need a syllabus and they are ready to school themselves.  (It's true, I have one of each of these.)  So you must relax and don't set your expectations so high that they cannot be reached.  If your child needs 3 weeks to learn long division, then give them that.  Also, be excited.  Your children will 'catch your attitude'.  If you are not excited about teaching them, they won't be excited about learning.

A Christian home is very important to us.  I thank the Lord for my freedom to homeschool my children.  Our public schools are removing our Lord and Savior from their daily routine.  From discontinuing the 'Pledge of Allegence' as a daily routine to not even being able to mention God in our classroom.  Am I saying that Christian's shouldn't go to public schools?  No.  I am saying, prepare your child to go into the world and spread the gospel of Jesus Christ.  That is what we are to be teaching our children according to the Bible. They cannot do that in a public school setting very easily.  I attended public school and I learned about 'evolution vs. creation'.  Both. Now in schools we are expected not only to learn 'evolution' only, we are to be tolerant of same-sex marriage, abortion and bullying.  Can your child witness and spread the gospel in public schools?  Sure.  But while they are doing this, they will also be subjected to the negative 'worldly' views at such a young age that they may be deceived and drawn into these sinful natures.  Not to mention that your parental rights mean absolutely nothing in a government controlled school.  That is correct, your parental rights are void while they are there.  (If you don't believe me, look it up.  You are giving up your parental educational rights.)

********************************************************************

One of the things I hear all the time is 'I would love to homeschool my kids, but I just don't have the patience."  Really?  That's absurd. I personally have dealt with the 'patience' issue my whole entire life.  It has always been a challenge for me.  Homeschooling has really helped me learn patience.  My children challenge me each and every day, but in a good way.  Some days I am learning right along with them.  Yep, I learn something new (or forgotten) everyday. I am into my 10'th year of homeschooling and I wouldn't have it any other way. 

Here are a few pointers if you decide to homeschool:

1.  Relax.  Your children will learn at their own pace. If you get frustrated, take a well deserved break (the kids too).  No one will learn from a stressful, frustrated teacher.  If you have to take a day off to get your 'groove back', then do it.  It's ok.  You are the teacher, you are the boss.

2.  You make your schedule according to your family's needs.  If you want to do Math one full day, Science another full day or maybe have a science week, that is ok.  If you want to follow a strict schedule, that is ok. If you want to do a 4 day a week school, that is ok.  If you want to school 3 months, take a month off, etc. that is ok.  Anything goes.  Do what works for you and your family! (But of course, follow the attendance laws if you have them.  The state of WV, where I am, doesn't have an attendance law.)

3.  Don't compare yourself to other homeschoolers.  Every homeschool family is different.  Their schedules, their teaching methods, their children......all different.  This also goes for your children.  Don't compare.  It's ok if your 3'rd grader is reading at a 1'st grade level, but doing 5'th grade math.  Let them learn at their own pace.  That is what it is all about.

4.  Find out what kind of learner your child is: visual, auditory or kinesthetic.  Then you can teach your child in that way.  For more info. about these styles, visit the HSLDA (HomeSchool Legal Defense Association) website -  http://www.hslda.org/earlyyears/LSChecklist.asp

5.  Look to God for advice.  He gave us our life instructions in his word: the BIBLE.  We can learn so much if we let him guide us.

6.  Also look to other experienced homeschool moms.  Find a local homeschool group in your area to plug into.  They have some great sounding advice for you.  :)  To find a homeschool group in your area, click here or google your area if you don't see a local group on that site.  (You can also contact me if you are in WV or FL.  I can plug you into a local group.)

7.  KNOW your state homeschooling laws!  To view your laws in your state, go to HSLDA's web site -  http://www.hslda.org/laws/


I hope this helped in your homeschooling decision making or give you some good solid homeschooling advice.  

HAPPY HOMESCHOOLING!

Are you aware what your children are reading at school?

This subject has come up several times this week for me.  So I wanted to share not only my experience, but my thoughts as well.

First of all, we (as a society) wonder how in the world these teens and children can do the things they do.  From petty theft, molestation to murder, we hear this in the news almost daily and it's sad.  So lets take a look at something I found interesting.  

Here is my story.

Last year, my son, a junior, came home with a folder from his English class. It contained a list of books they were planning on reading for that semester. The holy spirit really grabbed me and told me to search through that folder. I did. The list of books were NOT literature to me. One book in particular was "Thirteen Reasons Why" by: Jay Asher. I went to the library, brought it home and read this book in a few hours. I couldn't sleep! I was so upset, I was shaking, crying, ...... even sick. 


The book is about a girl who kills herself. But beforehand, she gives 13 reasons (each fellow students) why she kills herself (recorded on cassette tape) and has it sent to each child. The book is filled with stories of losing their virginity in a hot tub at keg parties, pornography, sexual bullying, 2 girls making out, peeping-Toms masturbating outside while watching these girls and of course the language was terrible. The book even goes to explain the 'how to' kill yourself!  I tell you, I was physically sick knowing that my 16 year old was about to read this book. Then to top it all off, the girl describes why she chose the suicidal method she did. For example, shooting herself would've been too messy. I was up ......  all.... night .... long.

The next morning, I called the school and made an appt to see the principle that afternoon. I took the book with me and asked the principle if she has ever read this book.  She said no.  I then began to tell her what the book contained. Her response was, "Well, we can remove your son from the class if you want." I told her that NO CHILD should be reading this trash and other parents should know about it. Not to mention that with all the suicides happening with our kids this day and age, this is nuts to expose them to this book!  (2 weeks previous, there was a young man that took his life with a few other family members.) The principle told me she would take care of it and bring it to the attention of the 'overseeing English dept. head'.  She did, and the problem was taken care of. I did however call the president of the BOE and told her as well. She basically told me to 'hush' about it and it would be removed from the classroom asap. She explained how having this in the public could start people talking and of course we wouldn't want that.  (?)  

I never went public with this story, but I will tell you that if they hadn't stopped reading that book, I would've gone to the local newspapers!

I am still upset about it. To top it all off, I believe that the teacher of this class is bi-sexual. Which, that is his/her business.....outside the classroom. It doesn't matter to me if you are gay, straight or bi-sexual, that is something that he/she needs to take up with God. The sexual preference is no concern to me or my sons. But when you bring your propaganda to MY child's education.....momma bear is going to stop you in your tracks!

There were other books on that list I was not happy with. Such as "Catcher in the Rye" by: J.D. Salinger and "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time" by: Mark Haddon.  But these I could deal with.....unhappily.

I will not give the teacher's name, school name, or any other info. out about this.  I don't want to cause the school verbal harm.  There are several great teachers in the school, some friends.  The principle & BOE did take care of the problem.  

My point of telling this is that YOU need to know what your children are doing/learning in school.  Let's face it, these schools are ran by the government!  The same government that runs this country, is trillions of dollars in debt, and has legalized murder (abortion).  

I know I will offend some of you out there.  I don't mean to.  Like I said, my son is still attending.  Every parent has to make that choice (to choose their child's education) and that is how it should be.  Some parents cannot afford to homeschool or for other reasons are not able to.  I understand.  All I am saying is keep aware of what the government is teaching your children! (For record, I homeschool 2 of my 3 boys and if I could do it over, all 3 would be homeschooled.)


Discalimer:  All this information is my opinion.  Although my story is true, I wish to bring no harm to those who were involved. 

coupon code for AT HOME IN DOGWOOD MUDHOLE

I posted a review a week or so ago and I wanted to pass along this wonderful offer from the author, Mr. Sanders.  Here is the offer of free shipping (for up to 2 books, to US addresses only) by using the discount code TOSFREE at checkout.  ENJOY!

http://dogwoodmudhole.com/


I received the physical book: 

At Home In Dogwood Mudhole 

by: Franklin Sanders 

for review.

Price:
$22.95 paperback
$16.95 Kindle / ePub / pdf

Free shipping (for up to 2 books, to US addresses only) by using the discount code TOSFREE at checkout.

This is the first volume of three.



As you can see in the picture above it is worn - good sign that it's a good book.


What Is This? -

This is a paperback consisting of 379 pages.  There are some black and white photos inside.  This is a true story of a Sanders family who began building a self reliant homestead in fear of the terrible economical collapse of Y2K that was approaching.  The story is written, not really like a story, but several personal monthly letters that were written and published into Franklin Sanders'  'Moneychanger' newsletter.   

Franklin and Susan Sanders have seven children, five boys and two girls.  They are a hard working family who is determined to become more self sufficient in this high technical world.




They tell their story of how they moved several times to finally get to Dogwood Mudhole in Tennessee.  Franklin tells about how they have too much 'stuff' when they would move and he is wondering why they 'needed' all this stuff.  (Trust me when I say, he is not the only one - I can relate.)  He also tells about all the animals they raise successfully and some unsuccessfully.  From chickens, cows, horses, pigs, and of course man's best friend.....the K9.  He tells about the many dogs that this family has gone through.  When he told about the $30 dog that turned into the $1000 dog with socks, that was pretty good.




Franklin Sanders (shown above with one of his dogs) has written personal monthly letters to his 'Moneychanger' newsletter readers.  He has been devoting seventeen years to these also devoted newsletter readers. 





This book really is for anyone who is interested in becoming self sufficient.  It gives you ideas on how to do things for yourself.  Raising animals for meat can seem like an semi-easy task, but the books tells some valuable tips that can make your animal raising less havoc.  Franklin seems to have learned how to run a self sufficient home with providing meat, and other foods for his family.  Yes, the Y2K is over with, but we never know what could be around the next corner in life, especially with the economy collapse and debt in this country.  There is nothing wrong with being prepared to provide for your own family in case of a disaster of any kind.  Even if disasters do not come in your lifetime, it is still good to help preserve this planet, eat better, etc.  There is something gratifying about providing for you and your family.  


What I Thought -


This book did hit home with me with some parts of it really interesting.  My husband and I have been trying to 'go green' for about 5 years now.  We plant a huge garden every year, hunt for our meat, use a wood burning stove as our only heat source, collect our rain water for laundry and showers, etc.  This hasn't been easy, but very gratifying for us.  
  
This book also had me rolling and literally laughing out loud a few times.  The way he describes his relationship with his animals and the daily challenges of dealing with them really cracked me up.  I am an animal lover but I too realize the some animals are raised for food and you cannot get attached to them.

One of my many favorite parts is the chicken stories. My husband and I raise chickens and we have been through our trials with them.  From stray dogs killing them (as well as our own) to fighting roosters and baby chicks hatching, we have had our stories as well.  I could really relate to his hardships and laughter with raising them.

There are a few things that I didn't like.  One was that it was hard to follow due to it wasn't written as a 'book / story' style so I felt it wasn't really in chronological order.  But if all fairness, the book contains the monthly letters written in the Moneychanger newsletter so I don't think it was meant to be told or written as a story.

The other thing I was a bit confused about was the whole IRS deal.  He told of how he spent time in jail for a problem with the IRS.  He claims that he did nothing wrong and will continue to do whatever it is he did.  That is the part that I am unclear about.  I am not very 'IRS smart' per say, so I didn't understand what it was that was going on here.  He did mention that the IRS was wrong and he shouldn't have been charged with anything.  I am however impressed a bit that he stood up for what he believed in.  It sounds like he was legally guilty, but on a moral issue, he was innocent.  Not sure if that makes sense or not.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, I just wanted to mention that.


I truly believe that being self sufficient is what God intended for us from the start of creation.  Honestly, the Lord has given us everything we need to survive right here naturally.  He has given us water (rain), heat (sun), coolness (shade), food (plants and animals), shelter (ability to build things), etc.  This may be getting a bit 'political' but it needs to be said that this country seems to think that it's the governments responsibility to take care of the people in this country and that is not true.  We need to be as self sufficient as possible in my opinion.   

As far as the rating of this book, I would give it a 3 star rating.  

Homeschoolopoly Game Review

 http://www.homeschoolopoly.com/

I had the wonderful opportunity of receiving Homeschoolopoly Game in return for my honest review on my blog.

Price:  $24.99 each or buy 3 for $49.99!  

These make great gifts!

Recommended for ages 8 and up.  
*Although homeschoolers tend to be advanced, so ages may vary. ;)

For 2-6 players.

This is what is included in the game set:

game board

2 dice

Stacks of Books pieces

Keys to Knowledge pieces

stack of "Mercy" cards

stack of "Grace" cards

deeds

play money

6 tokens  (boy, girl, world globe, rocking chair, bicycle, and a dog)

What Is This? -

This game is similar to the original Monopoly game which is how many years old?  Well, I remember playing the original game when I was a kid, which tells about how old I am, hee, hee.  But, this particular game is a little different.  It was created with homeschoolers in mind and has some pretty neat features. 


The "Mercy" cards & the "Grace" cards, that you may have to draw during the game, are pretty funny and realistic.  Here are a few below.












Here is a favorite from each of the stack.  I love the HSLDA 'get out of court free' (shown above).


We all know that the library is a huge part of homeschooling so this one (to the right) hits home!



The real estate / properties are all of homeschool curriculum that were hand picked by the creator.  Some are very popular like these below.




There are some that I have never heard of which is great.  Most homeschoolers are always up for new curriculum to try!


Here are some other great features of this game.  If you remember, the original game has hotels and houses to place on the 'property' after they are purchased.  Well, instead of the hotels, there are "Keys to Knowledge".





Instead of the houses, there are "Stacks of Books".

The concept of the game is pretty similar to the original as far as the playing rules.


What I Thought -

This game is awesome!  My son wanted to play this game EVERY DAY!  





Some days he was the banker, which is so great for tweaking his math skills.  I am so glad that we found a game that is fun and educational.  I think that the 'Mercy' & 'Grace' cards are hilarious!  

This game is full of great colorful design with Christian (or neutral) curriculum companies.  I really liked that too.

So if you are looking for a family game to play on family night, I highly recommend this game!  

Changes are you know other homeschoolers and/or have families in mind that love to play games.  Christmas is coming up quick and this game would make an excellent Christmas gift; not to mention a great price!


Disclaimer:
All the opinions are mine from my personal experiences.  I was not paid in any way other than receiving the product to review.

COUPON for 1 yr subscription!

Home Educating Magazine is offering a 1 Year Subscription for just $19.95 !!!(that's less than $3.33 an issue)   Click on the icon below and enter in coupon code: NOVEMBER 

The best job ever!

These are my perks of my wonderful job:

*  I can pray and praise the Lord during work

*  I get to sleep in

*  I get to choose my own hours

*  I get to play games with my children daily



*  I get to plan out each and every day involving my children



 

*  I get to stay up late and not have to worry about being tired in the morning

*  I definitely save money on work clothes

*  I can work in my PJ's if desired

*  I don't have to buy my lunch

*  I do not own an alarm clock

*  I spend time with my children every day



 
*  I don't have to leave the house unless I'd like too

*  I don't have to do my hair and make-up daily

*  My pay is 100% invested in my children


 

I love my job as a homeschooling mother!

Franklin Sanders from At Home in Dogwood Mudhole TOS Review

http://dogwoodmudhole.com/


I received the physical book: 

At Home In Dogwood Mudhole 

by: Franklin Sanders 

for review.

Price:
$22.95 paperback
$16.95 Kindle / ePub / pdf

This is the first volume of three.



As you can see in the picture above it is worn - good sign that it's a good book.


What Is This? -

This is a paperback consisting of 379 pages.  There are some black and white photos inside.  This is a true story of a Sanders family who began building a self reliant homestead in fear of the terrible economical collapse of Y2K that was approaching.  The story is written, not really like a story, but several personal monthly letters that were written and published into Franklin Sanders'  'Moneychanger' newsletter.   

Franklin and Susan Sanders have seven children, five boys and two girls.  They are a hard working family who is determined to become more self sufficient in this high technical world.




They tell their story of how they moved several times to finally get to Dogwood Mudhole in Tennessee.  Franklin tells about how they have too much 'stuff' when they would move and he is wondering why they 'needed' all this stuff.  (Trust me when I say, he is not the only one - I can relate.)  He also tells about all the animals they raise successfully and some unsuccessfully.  From chickens, cows, horses, pigs, and of course man's best friend.....the K9.  He tells about the many dogs that this family has gone through.  When he told about the $30 dog that turned into the $1000 dog with socks, that was pretty good.




Franklin Sanders (shown above with one of his dogs) has written personal monthly letters to his 'Moneychanger' newsletter readers.  He has been devoting seventeen years to these also devoted newsletter readers. 





This book really is for anyone who is interested in becoming self sufficient.  It gives you ideas on how to do things for yourself.  Raising animals for meat can seem like an semi-easy task, but the books tells some valuable tips that can make your animal raising less havoc.  Franklin seems to have learned how to run a self sufficient home with providing meat, and other foods for his family.  Yes, the Y2K is over with, but we never know what could be around the next corner in life, especially with the economy collapse and debt in this country.  There is nothing wrong with being prepared to provide for your own family in case of a disaster of any kind.  Even if disasters do not come in your lifetime, it is still good to help preserve this planet, eat better, etc.  There is something gratifying about providing for you and your family.  


What I Thought -


This book did hit home with me with some parts of it really interesting.  My husband and I have been trying to 'go green' for about 5 years now.  We plant a huge garden every year, hunt for our meat, use a wood burning stove as our only heat source, collect our rain water for laundry and showers, etc.  This hasn't been easy, but very gratifying for us.  
  
This book also had me rolling and literally laughing out loud a few times.  The way he describes his relationship with his animals and the daily challenges of dealing with them really cracked me up.  I am an animal lover but I too realize the some animals are raised for food and you cannot get attached to them.

One of my many favorite parts is the chicken stories. My husband and I raise chickens and we have been through our trials with them.  From stray dogs killing them (as well as our own) to fighting roosters and baby chicks hatching, we have had our stories as well.  I could really relate to his hardships and laughter with raising them.

There are a few things that I didn't like.  One was that it was hard to follow due to it wasn't written as a 'book / story' style so I felt it wasn't really in chronological order.  But if all fairness, the book contains the monthly letters written in the Moneychanger newsletter so I don't think it was meant to be told or written as a story.

The other thing I was a bit confused about was the whole IRS deal.  He told of how he spent time in jail for a problem with the IRS.  He claims that he did nothing wrong and will continue to do whatever it is he did.  That is the part that I am unclear about.  I am not very 'IRS smart' per say, so I didn't understand what it was that was going on here.  He did mention that the IRS was wrong and he shouldn't have been charged with anything.  I am however impressed a bit that he stood up for what he believed in.  It sounds like he was legally guilty, but on a moral issue, he was innocent.  Not sure if that makes sense or not.  Hmmmm.  Anyway, I just wanted to mention that.


I truly believe that being self sufficient is what God intended for us from the start of creation.  Honestly, the Lord has given us everything we need to survive right here naturally.  He has given us water (rain), heat (sun), coolness (shade), food (plants and animals), shelter (ability to build things), etc.  This may be getting a bit 'political' but it needs to be said that this country seems to think that it's the governments responsibility to take care of the people in this country and that is not true.  We need to be as self sufficient as possible in my opinion.   

As far as the rating of this book, I would give it a 3 star rating.  

Apologia's Exploring Creation with Chemistry & Physics TOS Review

 

http://Apologia.com

I was sent the following three products for review from Apologia Educational Ministries:

 Exploring Creation with Chemistry and Physics Textbook
Price:  $39.00

 Notebooking Journal 
Price:  $24.00

Junior Notebooking Journal 
Price:  $24.00

This homeschool science curriculum is recommended for grades K - 6'th. 


About the Textbook -

This is the newest science textbook and journal from Apologia.  First, I want to tell you about the textbook.  It is a very nice, hard cover book containing 280 colorful pages.

This book uses the Charlotte Mason style of teaching.  It explains the concepts with detailed examples within each lesson.  Throughout each and every lesson, there are several "Try This!" sections.  (Lesson one has 10 of these sections.)  They are experiments/activities for the student(s) to do.  The are clearly marked in light blue boxes and explain everything needed for that experiment.  

The "Try This!" sections physically show what the lesson is teaching your child(ren).  For example, the picture below we have learned about atoms, elements, molecules, and compounds.  It teaches us that 2 'nice' atoms mixed together could make a huge reaction.  When those atoms are by themselves, they are 'nice', quiet atoms.  

Here is an example of our favorite "Try This!" so far.

In this experiment, we needed the following list of things (which again, are basic household products we already had).

Safety goggles 
small empty soda (or water) bottle
1 tbs. yeast
4 tbs. warm water
1/2 cup of dishwashing liquid
food coloring (my son chose blue)
a cup
a stirring spoon
a deep-sided dish
hydrogen peroxide
safety gloves (which we didn't use for this one)

We stirred the yeast and warm water in a cup and set aside.  We then poured the dishwashing liquid in the bottle.  My son put about 5 drops of blue food coloring in the bottle.  Then he put on his safety glasses and poured the yeast/water mixure in and wow!  It overflowed really fast!

Then of course he played in the bubbles -

These experiments require things that you pretty much have in your household already.  You also, do not have to do each and every one.  

Every one of these "Try This!" that he completed, I had him fill out a 'Scientific Data Sheet'.  I got this sheet from one of Apologia's other wonderful science books.  They give permission to copy it and reuse it in your home.  This is what the sheet looks like.

This Scientific Data sheet above is from another experiment.  Here is a picture below of that particular experiment.  My son just read about density in this lesson.

At the end of each lesson, there is a 'What do you remember section.  This is a few questions that you can ask your child(ren) to make sure they grasped and understood what was taught in the lesson.  (The answers are in the back of the book for your convenience.)  Then it has an experiment / project for your child to do.  It will list all the things needed as well as step by step instructions on how to do it.  This experiment / project is a 'bigger' version of the 'Try This!' sections.



About the Notebooking Journal & the Jr. Notebooking Journal -

The notebooking journals (both) are spiral notebooks containing over 237 + pages.  Located in the back of each book are the activity cut-out pages.  These go along with the notebooking journal assignments throughout the spiral notebook.  These activities go along with the lesson within the hardcover textbook.  Some of the activities are crossword puzzles, full color mini books, copywork, etc.  

I want to make note that we received BOTH the Notebooking Journal and the Jr. Notebooking Journal.  We only used the Jr. Notebooking Journal though.  I found that they were very similar so we only did the work in the one.  The Jr. Notebooking Journal had some coloring pages that the other journal did not.  The Notebooking Journal had some questions and answer instead of the coloring pages as seen below.

Another small difference in the Notebooking Journals were that the crossword puzzle was a bit more extensive than the other (Jr.) as seen below.  (The Jr. Journal is on the left.)

Because we only used the one notebook, some lucky homeschooling relative may receive the unused one as a Christmas gift..... wink. :)  The only reason why we chose the Jr. Notebooking Journal instead of the other, honestly, was because it arrived first.  I would say that the Jr. Notebooking Journal would normally be for the younger grades and the other for higher elementary grades.  But like I mentioned, they are very similar in my opinion.

Inside the Notebooking Journals there is a Daily Schedule. 




You do not have to follow this schedule, it is just a guideline to keep you on track throughout the schoolyear.  If you follow this schedule, you'll be doing this science program 2 days per week for 28 weeks.

Here is one of the projects my son did.  He had to create a 'flap' type book.  He wrote the definitions of each word under the flap.  Then he glued it in the proper place in the journal.

What We Thought -

My 10 year old son used this several times per week.  We have always loved Apologia!  It is so homeschool friendly and fun.  You can choose to do one full day a week of science or several days per week.  The experiments are very exciting and fun.  Apologia always stresses the importance of safety.  That is why they always recommend safety goggles and gloves on so many of their projects.  It is a good habit to get into.  I have three boys (the other 2 are older) and we have always used Apologia for several reasons and one being that we love the hands on experience in the learning process.  My boys learn so much when they are actually doing a hands-on activity on what they are learning about.  My older son is using the Apologia's Marine Biology text right now and he loves it!

Apologia offers K - 6, Junior and Senior high science curriculum. They even have Bible curriculum.  Click HERE to view all the worldview (Biblical) books offered.  It is so important to our family that the curriculum we choose is a true, Christian, and BIBLICAL perspective and this is another reason why we just LOVE Apologia!  

For a full list of what is offered click HERE.  

I also want to mention a few things.  These Notebooking Journals are all optional.  You do not need these in order to do the hardcovered textbook.  You can create your own notebook or omit it all together.  It basically reinforces all the concepts that are taught in the text. 

Another thing to mention is that I am a firm believer in creative homeschooling.  Eventhough this is geared for K-6'th grade, you can easily teach it to junior and senior high school.  I think adding a report and a few essays on famous scientists or something else, would make it ideal.  That is just my opinion, but I thought it was worth mentioning.

So we give this product an A+!  We have never found an Apologia product that we didn't like!  They offer other great science textbooks with  journals as well.   Obviously we HIGHLY recommend this to all homeschool families or private school classrooms! 

Thank you Apologia for making my boys LOVE science!

Heather's story......a true Mesothelioma survivor.

Heather asked to pass this information on about her journey and experience being diagnosed with Mesothelioma.  

Heather, this brave wife and mother, is one of the few survivors.  

This is her story. (Click on the picture below.)

Thank you Heather for sharing your story! God Bless!

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