I Want Candy...

This week it’s seriously going to be just fun. This week share your favourite candies. I know from being on the HSBA Post team that Sprittibee and Dawn love gummy-bears, and maybe Bunny too. Have fun with this… and you’re welcome to post a photo of YOU eating your favourite candy. Haha!

God’s Word is also like sweetness to our souls. His sweet love, forgiveness, comfort, peace, and more is what makes our lives seem a little more bearable when things get rough. Whenever you eat your sweet piece of goodness remember that God loves you and will always be there when life seems sour.

Share a scripture for this week as well. One that lifts you up when you’re feeling discouraged.

This is not going to be a very long post for me. I really only have one favourite candy- chocolate. Pretty much anything chocolate. I'm very partial to Lindt Chocolate Truffles after my beloved brought them home one year for Christmas- from Costco at that! There was a whole bag, what's a girl to do? So, there's my favourite candy.



As for Scripture, one that stands out as speaking frequently to my heart in times of trial is Jeremiah 29:11 per God's Word Translation:

I know the plans that I have for you, declares the LORD. They are plans for peace and not disaster, plans to give you a future filled with hope.

Sometimes I need to realize that HIS plans may not be my own. However He knows me, and realizes my needs and how to teach me. I have strong faith in this. I also have faith that our's is a God of mercy and grace, of love and peace. When I think upon this Scripture I know that He has my best interests at heart and I need to sit back, be excited for what I will learn, and the journey He will take me on.

Need more candy suggestions? Or, sweetness through God's Word? Go to HSBA! I'm off to call my beloved so I can satisfy my candy craving.

HSBA: 10 Timely Facts

"This is our 10th Homeschool Memoirs so this week it’s going to be about 10 timely facts about you! Write 10 interesting, crazy, weird, fun facts about you!"

1. As a military child/wife, I have lived in 9 states and 2 countries.

2. I met my husband in Japan. We were both children of career Navy men.

3. My mom is of Chinese descent (from Taiwan), my father is Latino, and my favorite food is Thai (ssshhh, don't tell my mom).

4. I don't mind folding or washing laundry. I do not enjoy putting it away.

5. Before children, I was a social worker. I love working with adoption!

6. If I need to purchase something, I usually go to Ebay first.

7. Coffee is my breakfast. I'm trying to break that habit.

8. My newest hobby, along with digital scrapbooking and cardmaking is altered art. For an example, go here.

9. I thought I would be a work out of home mom, with my kids in daycare. When C was born, I knew right away God had other plans for me.

10. I look forward to getting older. God and getting older have brought me a security and confidence, I enjoy. Of course, that just means there's more to learn and explore!

For more Timely Facts, check out the HSBA link to the right.

HSBA: Study Spots

This week share your favourite spot to study with your kids. There are many places you can sit down to teach, learn, and work, but where do you prefer and why? You’re welcome to include a photo of your study spot! Looking forward to seeing everyone’s!

We primarily do our studying in our schoolroom. I wish I had a picture to share, but I'm not sure what I did with it. After schooling for a couple years without one, and seeing mass quantities of paperwork accumulating to no end in my dining room, I opted to create one.

Having our specialized room has made a significant difference in our homeschool environment. For one, I get to hang up all those cool posters you see at the school supply stores. For some reason, I have a need to do such things. So, we have a map of the world, a U.S. map, the Golden Rule, a calendar, and the Pledge of Allegiance.

The next reason is that both C and I are HIGHLY distractable. So, I figured confining ourselves to one room would help contain our need to wander off and stumble upon something else to do. C knows that when we're in the schoolroom, it's school time. No Legos are allowed in the schoolroom because that would defeat the whole antidistractability cause. I get his undivided attention in here, or we start over with the lesson. Seriously, he stands up, walks out the door, turns around, and comes back in ready to rumble.

Next, I have a room to put all the books, games, activities, etc., that accumulate when one is hs'ing. I had no idea there was so much stuff until it became a battle between the spaghetti and the Math U See books as to what was going to get dining room table time.

I must say, however, that our schoolroom is not my favorite spot to homeschool. It's cute, it works, but it's not my favorite. The very best place to homeschool is not even at home. It's out and about in no particular place at all. It could be a nature center, or a museum, a park, or the backyard. It's on the job training of sorts. The most unexpected lessons arise from these experiences. Yes, some of them are neat and orderly and coincide perfectly with what you're studying in Science. However, some of them have no place at all in our printed books.

To see other great homeschool blogs and to discover where other hs'ers like to teach, click on the HSBA graphic to the right (and down some).

HSBA: Much Ado About Snacks...

This week's meme at HSBA is all about snacks. What snacks do we enjoy around here? We are prone to eat a variety of things throughout the day. It seems the kids are perpetually hungry. We have foods in the house that are staples:
-cheese sticks
-popcorn
-bananas & other seasonal fruit
-cereal (it's not just for breakfast anymore)
-pretzels

My two kids are really different when it comes to food preferences. C is prone is everything and anything sweet. Given his tendencies to climbing walls, I tend to curb these cravings. When I was a young mom, I wondered if his cravings had to do with a sugar deficiency. Now, I know better. LOL. B would live off PB & J if given the opportunity. However, she's also big on eating fruits and veggies of all sorts.
I tend to gravitate toward cereal if I'm hungry. Every now and again we'll get rice chips or BBQ potato chips. I also went through a Ben and Jerry's stint this past summer. Mmmmmm.

For more ideas on snacks, check out the HSBA link to the right :)

HSBA: Summer Photo Essay

When I first read about this meme I thought, "Uh, oh, we didn't do much this summer." We didn't really take a vacation or go to an amusement park. Looking back over the past few months through these pictures, I saw we had a wonderful, laid back summer. We took in a lot of local parks and sights. We explored and learned. We took chances and did new things. It was a lot of fun.

1) The top left picture shows C in our first fishing trip of the year in one of our favorite spots in CO, Green Mountain Reservoir. It looks so sunny, but half an hour later we were hightailing it to the car as a storm broke out. :)

2) The long picture in the top center is Isabella with a ladybug. Directly underneath is the same evening with Cristian, too. At our local nursery, we purchased a mesh bag FULL of live ladybugs and released them in our garden. The children loved it, the aphids not so much.

3) The top right hand corner shows C at Tiny Town. All the little houses are replicas of houses that once existed in Downtown Denver. They are all meticulously decorated as post offices, nurseries, and stores. Some were even built so the children could climb inside!

4) Starting back at the left is Isabella at the Butterfly Pavilion holding Rosie the Tarantula. She's so brave! I'm not sure I would have held it, although I wouldn't tell her that!

5) To the right of that picture is Isabella playing puppets with her best friend, Morgan at Lookout Mountain Nature Center. Afterwards we took a nature hike and found LOTS of real insects!

6) To the upper right is a picture of Isabella at Belleview Park ready to take on the resident rooster. It's right smack in the middle of Englewood, which is pretty much Denver, but you would think you were somewhere else! There's a petting zoo, a train ride, and a great park that has a stream going through it full of crayfish.

7) Back to the bottom left is my dear husband. He has just brought in a smoked pork butt he had been tending to all day. All I can say is, "Wow!" That was really good eating!!! He's an EXCELLENT cook!

8) To the right of that picture is C drawing back his bow. I mentioned before he is in JOAD. He just started the beginning of this summer. He really enjoys his Saturday morning class. He goes with his daddy. I suspect there's a trip to McDonald's involved, but I pretend I don't know ;)

9) Isabella is at Morgan's Birthday Tea Party in this next picture. She and the other party members dressed in their fancy dresses and did all things glittery, feathery, and pink for Morgan's party. It was a good time.

10) Finally, is a sweet moment on my Aunt Juanita and Uncle Dave's farm. We just went this past month. It will stay in my mind for the relaxation, wonderful welcome we received, and how C didn't want to leave.

HSBA: A Few of My Favorite... Resources

This week I want to invite you to share a few of your favourite things - er - sites. I know the list of favourite things could be never-ending, but I’ve made a list for you to do regarding your favourite homeschool things. Just copy this list and add your favourites underneath the appropriate category. BUT by all means you’re welcome to add your other favourite things on the post as well!

I just want to start off by saying that I'm totally new to a lot of blogging stuff, so some of these questions I really won't have any answers for (although, I'm checking out the wealth of info other HSBA bloggers have written~ you all are SO knowledgeable!). So please bear with me...

Magazines/Carnivals - in print or online I love The Old Schoolhouse. It has a lot of different perspectives. As far as printed magazines, I love Real Simple, and anything that can help me to get a meal on the table in less than 45 minutes. ;)

Freebie sites - any sites that offer freebies or often have giveaways This past summer was my first experience with a blog that had giveaways. I actually won something off one (and I have no luck in this department)! My best friend got me interested in Ethel Gloves and we discovered Katydid and Kid was giving away a pair. Since then, I like to go back to visit her blog as she has a lot of fun ideas and giveaways! :) As far as freebie sites... In the homeschool realm I love DLTK. We often visit MathUSee's drill page to freshen up on math facts, too. I love that Garden of Praise has pieces of art in one place, and lessons to go along! I hope to really start using this site more in the coming year. The Baldwin Project is great for classic stories online. I'm sure there are a whole lot more I'm going to find from this meme :)

I love digital scrapbooking. So some sites I love to go to and find freebies are: DigiScrapDepot and Ikea Goddess

Forums/book clubs I used to visit the Well Trained Mind, but it's been awhile since I've been there. There is a lot of support and great mamas (and papas) willing to lend their advice homeschooling and otherwise. When my munchkins were younger, I would visit Gentle Christian Mothers. I haven't really visited many forums as of late. Uh, Oh might be looking into that. ;)

As far as book clubs, we do participate in Paperback Swap and BookMooch.com (both links to the right

The Cutest Blog on the Block: Super cute FREE backgrounds and tutorials!!!
Simply Fabulous Blog Templates MORE cute blog templates. :)

Inspirational/encouraging/motivational -
Proverbs 31

Youth/kid - sites geared towards youth/kids or owned by them
Lego Shop
Noggin
PBS Kids

Memes Thus far, I do the ones for HSBA and Heart of the Matter. These usually keep me pretty busy. :)

Organizing/crafts - sites that you look to for organizing tips or crafts
Organizing:

Fly Lady Even if you don't subscribe to her Yahoo List, it's great to check out her detailed cleaning lists :)

Real Simple Everything's so pretty. My house might not ever look like that, but it's kind of nice to see people's houses that do. I'm pretty sure they don't have kids...

Homemaking/Homesteading

All Recipes It has this nifty recipe converter, so if a recipe you want serves 50 and you just need to feed 4, it will convert the measurements for you. I love it!

...that's about the extent...

Bible-focused - sites mainly about God’s Word

Bible Gateway

Homeschool Method - sites that offer a lot of info on a certain method

Charlote Mason:
Ambleside
Simply Charlotte Mason

Other Classical:
Classical Christian Homeschooling

Family blog - sites that give you a glimpse into another family’s life, run by a family

I have a few blogs I love to follow. Most are listed to the right. I really like mylifeinashoe's Xanga (link to the right). She is the mama of 12, and she homeschools!

Also, I enjoy Kysha's encouraging blog.

Businesses, particularly homebased One word Etsy I didn't send you there ;D

If you're like me and love any new resources that might help you in your hs'ing, or Christian, Blogging, Homemaking, or penchant for things handmade, click on the HSBA link to the right. :)

HSBA: Something New

This week I hope you’ll share something new you’re using, why you’ve decided to use it, and if you have used it how you like it. Make sure to include the publishing information and where you got it from so others can look into if they like.

We're using quite a few new lessons this year. I have a habit of going on to HS forums and explore what everyone's using. They have been a good resource because I have heard of material I might not otherwise have seen. The flip side is, it makes me prone to wandering. So, now we have a great system and I've opted to stay away from the forums to prevent further wandering LOL. Anyhow, here are the newbies in our schoolroom:

1) My Father's World: Exploring Countries and Cultures. We've decided to use this program because it's Charlotte Mason inspired and it's very user friendly. We opted for ECC because I wanted to make sure ds is knowlegeable about world geography and cultures before we study the ancients. We really enjoy this program and hope to continue using MFW. The Hazell's have worked hard to include great projects to go along with the lessons and it's fun! www.mfwbooks.com

2) All About Spelling: Ds is still working on his reading, so I'm holding off a bit on the grammar part, but I wanted to start with spelling. This is a multisensory program that uses phonograms to teach the different sounds of the English language. The student then learns to spell with tiles on a magnetic board first, then on paper next. It also includes light grammar (e.g. Names start with capital letters). A friend ordered and enjoyed the program. I did some research and liked the feedback. We very much like this program as well. www.allaboutspelling.com

3) Blessed Heritage. I wrote about this a little bit a couple entries ago. I have yet to receive it (Belinda Bullard, the author, appears to live near the path of Ike), but I'm very excited to begin. It is an inclusive early American History curriculum representing all cultural aspects of the experience in the United States. It is the type of curriculum I've been waiting for. www.blessedheritage.com/

To check out new curriculum that other HS'ers are using, check out the Homeschool Blog Awards icon to the right :)

Our Routines

I am sure some of you are still getting into your homeschool routines. I know some people are very routine oriented while others may be more “day-by-day”, and it all depends on your family and what works best for your life-style.


I can't tell you how many times I've started writing a physical schedule with when each subject begins and ends, and when we would have breaks for snack and lunch. No matter how many times I've tried, it just hasn't worked. It's been a blessing to read the other posts and be supported by others who have the same issues. ;)

We rise around 8-8:30am. After getting up and finding my glasses LOL, I go upstairs and make coffee. Gotta have coffee. Then, I prepare breakfast for the kids. It's usually something quick on the weekdays. C knows that after breakfast, he has duties to do in a timely manner if he wants free time before class starts. He must feed the dog & cat & fish, make his bed, and brush his teeth. If it's trash day, or if someone is coming over for a play date, I assign other duties, too. While he's getting his duties done, I get dd dressed and her hair done (that folks, is a job all unto itself ;D). Afterwards, we begin class. I cover the three R's first, so I know they're done. Then we move on to Science, Geography, Art, Spelling, etc. A lot of times, I'll save readings for Science and Geography for read alounds before nap time. We eat lunch around 11am or 12pm. My kids have pretty set stomach timers. LOL. After lunch, there's usually a free moment or two for everyone to unwind before we get back to school. After school, we have some time out of doors, or the kids will watch a TV show. Then, it's nap time. It has to happen before 3 otherwise, it won't happen, which means another trip to Mr. Coffee. After nap is a snack and the kids will go outside until dinnertime while mommy does computer time or Bible study. It is my goal to move things around so God gets my time first thing in the morning. I really hope to do that in the next month.

If you'd like to check out other schedules, please click on the Homeschool Memoirs graphic to the right. I tried to make the above graphic link to HSBA, but I'm just not that talented ;D

Agendas and Plans

Our agenda and plans for the 2008-2009 school year have been written in cornmeal on a cookie sheet for the past two months. I say this because while I am more secure now than I've ever been in the short years I've homeschooled, anything is subject to change.

What we're using (If you'd like more information about these products, please take a gander at the sidebar and click on the curriculum you'd like to see. It should take you straight to the website :D):

Geography/Social Studies: After a hiatus, we are back to using My Father's World. I love the activities that keep the student's interest. I am eclectic at heart and would LOVE to wing it without a curriculum, but I can get distracted pretty easily. So, this is a good fit for my son and I.

Math: This is our second year using MathUSee. We're currently in Beta. It has been reaffirmed in the past couple months that this is just right for us. I love the way that things are presented in a visual manner and the concepts are explained. I've learned quite a bit, myself. LOL.

Spelling: We are using another multisensory method for spelling. We are in Level One of All About Spelling. C asked me this morning if we could do spelling first! The student learns to spell using phonograms. Too, instead of writing the words, the student works with letter tiles. This takes much of the struggle out of the subject in itself, as C is a reluctant writer. We really like it.

Penmanship: C's handwriting last year was atrocious. It left so much to be desired. I really think I rushed him through penmanship in first grade. So, we opted to go to Handwriting Without Tears, another multisensory approach. The way the formation of the letters is explained (i.e. with lower case "e" the student hits the ball and runs the bases to form the letter) is novel and fun. It reflects in his handwriting.

Science: We did not get to finishing our Noeo Science from last year, so we're continuing to use it this year. I'm also learning the importance of children being outdoors and exploring and learning by being surrounded by nature. So, we are continuing with Biology I. We like the colorful books and experiments Noeo provides.

Bible: The most important. We are using both My Father's World's guide to teach Bible as well as Bible Study Guide for all ages. Very basic things like teaching your child to look up a chapter and verse would have escaped me, really. For some reason I sould not think to sit down and teach it. MFW teaches this. As for Bible Study Guide, it's interactive and interesting. Also, the child learns about Biblical Character and how it relates to the Bible Reading. This is another of our favorites this year.

A Bible verse that continues to pop up this year is 1 Corinthians 2:9

“No eye has seen, no ear has heard,
and no mind has imagined
what God has prepared
for those who love him.”[a]

I am blessed because we are a military family. Sometime in the next year we will leave Colorado and the homeschooling support group and friends that we've grown so close to in the past 2.5 years. I am reassured that God has great plans for us wherever He sends us. Too, this verse is a blessing because eight years ago prior to having my son, it would have been difficult to see myself in the shoes I'm in now. I figured I would be out in the career world while my son was in public school. My mind would have never imagined that God had this in store for me and my family. We are amazingly blessed to be homeschooling and sharing this time with our children. Everyday He shows me the bounties of reward from being obedient to Him by homeschooling. Thank you, Lord.

Homeschool Memoirs 2008-2009

I was browsing the My Father's World Blogroll. For those of you who use MFW & would love the comaraderie and support of those using your curriculum, check out the link to the right with the MFW logo. It's a great group of women who are supportive and friendly. Anyhow, I came across Amy's blog. She's also using MFW ECC. She mentioned something about HSBA, and I thought I would check them out. I have just become more deeply acquainted with an online community of homeschoolers and it has been such a wonderful experience. I hope to "meet" more people and see how their hs'ing lives unfold. So, I thought I would join the wonderful Mama's at HSBA. Their first assignment is "All About You".

My name is Christina Quinata, although I am usually called by "Tina". :) I currently live in Westminster, Colorado. My husband is a member of the United States Army (hooo-ah!) :D, so we anticipate a move in the next year or so. I am a blessed mommy to two incredible munchkins, Cristian (7) and Isabella (4). We have homeschooled since C was in PreK-4. He's an active, curious child who has a hard time sitting still (as most boys do). He was having a hard time in his classroom, and about the same time God was definitely putting it on my heart to homeschool. At that time, I knew very little about it. I had not met anyone who homeschooled, except on the WWW. I knew, however, that this was God clearly telling Ron and I that we should take this path less taken for our son. We have been doing it ever since and I absolutely LOVE it. I think I've seen myself go from being an unsure, unsettled, frazzled mommy to one being more confident in the road God has paved for us. I'm still very much a work in progress. We will be homeschooling our daughter as well. This has met with some resistance from my family, but I think they are in a place now where they understand that this is best for US. So, we're going into C's third year and we're using the curricula to the left. It's great to find the right fit for him!!! I love seeing how far he's come and what he's learned academically. I look forward to doing the same with Isabella. :)