Time4Learning has created a great new resource for new homeschoolers, Welcome To Homeschooling A Guide for Families.  You can download the entire booklet for free from their website for FREE!  I love free stuff!  This guide is for people thinking about or new to homeschooling.  It is written by Time4Learning and some homeschooling moms that work with Time4Learning.

Here’s some of the things you can find in the booklet:

• Learn Your Reasons for Homeschooling
• Understand Your Child Academically
• Plan Your Year/Day
• Homeschooling Glossary
• And more…

This is a PDF download, and inside there are plenty of links to great websites and resources that are clickable.  This is definitely a good resource to have on hand.  although not as in depth as other books, it’s a good introduction.  Of course you’ll find plenty of advertising for Time4Learning within the booklet, but considering I find them to be a good curriculum, I’m ok with that.

Last time I wrote about a lesson that I was giving my boys on leadership and reports.  Well it turns out that they both did quite well.  Roger chose some interesting and unique names and the one we chose for him to do was on Joseph Campbell, a philosophy professor who influenced many great people.  Jackson chose mostly presidents, inventors and the like, and we asked him to do his report on Benjamin Franklin.  I was very pleased with both of their reports. (more…)

Sometimes they are just too much of a “public school”.   One of the reasons I liked the idea of using Odyssey Charter High School for Roger’s high school because of the interaction with other kids… as well as some interaction with teachers.  I also really didn’t feel like I had the time, being that I’m working on growing a small business in todays economy, to do my own curriculum.  I needed something that was ready made!  Well.. the down side to having something “ready made” and using a public charter school, is that it’s still a public school and all that that implies.

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Wright On Time Utah by Lisa M. Cottrell-Bentley

About The Book

Announcing the second book in a series about an RV living homeschooling family. Each month brings the Wright family to a new state with a new educational theme to explore and play with. They prove that learning can happen all the time, anywhere, and that being with family is fun! Meet Aidan Wright, age 7: Boisterous and joking all the time, this sporty boy knows how to have fun! Meet Nadia Wright, age 11: Curious and fiery, this intellectual girl can always find out answers to even the most difficult questions. Meet their parents, Harrison and Stephanie: Ready to take their kids on adventures of a lifetime. Meet Prince Pumpkin III, turtle extraordinaire: This 50 year old little guy is holding on tight, as the family RV and mysterious device take him on an adventure no turtle has ever gone on before. Explore a dinosaur dig with the Wrights as they roadschool in Utah. What will Aidan and Nadia discover about the mysterious device they found in Arizona? This series is Wright on Time. (more…)

I realize I”ve been a way from this blog for a while now.  I kept meaning to update people and write about our adventures in High school and Jr. High. but really my business has grown to the point where that’s taking up most of my time now.  However, things have been going really well for both of the boys in school.

Jack has been doing his work with Time4Learning, and is almost done with all of the 7th grade work and will be going onto 8th grade work shortly.  He may even be able to go on ahead into High School in the fall.  If he does, then he’ll more than likely start using Odyssey Charter with Roger because I really like the way things are done at that school.

Roger has been doing PE two days a week and going to campus one day a week.  This has been giving him a lot of independance and he’s been making friends and doing really well.  He’s even got a girlfriend now and they will be going to the Las Vegas Homeschool Prom next month.

So basically everything is going really well, if a little hectic because of the business.  I feel a little guilty because I haven’t been doing a whole lot “school” with the boys, but they’ve been doing their schoolwork on their own.  Maybe I don’t “feel” much like a homeschooler right now because I’m really not doing much.   But they are both doing really well and are very independent in their learning… which is more like the way things would be in College anyway.  Or at least that’s the way I feel.

Here are some great free resources for homeschoolers that I found throughout the internet.  Just click on the links and it will take you to the site for more information on the free resource.  I hope you enjoy!

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Did you watch it?  Did you watch it with your children?  I watched it with Steve, but haven’t watched it with my sons yet.  I”m planning on it though.  I realize there’s been a lot of controversy over this speech to our children, which has made me glad that I’m homeschooling and the choice is totally up to me and not the school district.  However, I do think it’s important for our children to see this speech.

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As any parent knows, our children’s safety is our highest priority.  That’s why when I ran accross this free Safety Kit from ADT, I had to tell everyone about it.  The kit comes with a guide on teaching your children how to be safe both in the real world and online, a cool fingerprint kit, a magnet, a reflective sticker for kids to wear in the dark, and games, too.  This is for any child that is 14 years old or younger, one kit per child.  It takes about 4 – 6 weeks to receive in the mail.  But I think it’ll be well worth the wait.

Yes, that’s right, I said High Schooler!  My Roger, my baby, my first born son, is now a High Schooler.  Where did all the time go?  It seems like just yesterday he was a little baby.   Wasn’t he just adorable as a baby!  This picture was taken about 14 years ago.  I can hardly believe this is the same child that’s downstairs starting his first day of high school.

Roger age 2

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Recently I was asked to try out and review these new products by Rand McNally called Boredom Breakers.  They are Rand McNally’s answer to how to keep kids entertained during a long (or short) road trip.  As you may have seen, Last month we took a trip up to Northern Nevada that took us about 4 hours one way to drive.  When I found out about this product to review we were planning on making that trip again in the near future.  However that trip was changed to taking a trip to Cheyenne, Wy.  This trip will be a 12 hour drive.  Even my teenagers, who have always been really great on long trips, will need something to do!  These Boredom Breakers will be a life saver…. for them more than me.

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