Yep! That sale that I posted about last week? It's now live! You have just 6 more days to take advantage of it... so don't wait too long! (Ends Monday, July 28, at 11:59 EST)

You may be wondering by now - so what's this really all about?? Here's the quick run-down:

This sale is a huge grouping of digital products - from curriculum to books for mom! That bonus that I mentioned at in the title? Well, that's a "bundle of bonuses" that's over $500 worth of products... yours free with any purchase!

You have choices in this sale:

You can buy the pre-assembled bundles, as they've been created according to age group (or the bundle for mom...). You can see below that there's a good selection of them! The "new deal" part of the title? If you buy 2 pre-assembled bundles, you get one free! Here's a handy little chart on pricing for those:

Want to pick and choose a bit more? You can choose that, too! This sale is quite different, and the biggest part is the "Build Your Own" feature! You can choose products priced $19.99 and under... and piece together as you like! That new deal for the pre-assembled bundles? It applies to the "Build Your Own" bundles, too!! 

There's also a handful of premium products to choose from, which can be purchased separately and still at great discounts!

What are you waiting for? It's at least worth a browse around!! =) 

TEASER: I'm currently in the process of trying one of the Tot/PreK products out... review to come in a couple of days!!! =)

What are your favorites?

We survived! We made it!!! Yes, we are back at lessons, and we made it through the first day without too much drama. And we got through it all before 3 pm!

Now, getting to our first day of school was much more of an adventure. You see, if you've been following the blog, you've likely seen my recent post about counting down the days until today. I've been working hard on trying to have a schoolroom/office/craft room this year, instead of doing lessons at the breakfast table and storing everything in the laundry room. That was only going to get harder as more little ones were added to the routine! Thankfully, with our house's generous bedroom sizes, the largest of the extra rooms (then a nursery) will accommodate all of that! So, chaos went into effect, and file cabinets were emptied (we're having to change from 2 cabinet sizes to 1 combined cabinet... still in the works), closets were rearranged, the munchkins got new, larger shelves with storage boxes atop in order to move books around in the house and have more storage space, more got dumped into the previous study... and so it went, figuring out what could stay or what could go furniture-wise, and rearranging as we could to prepare for moving the bigger stuff.

Then a couple of weeks ago, I was finally ready. The loveseat was removed from the nursery, and the Principal's desk went in. Next went one bookshelf into the new combined room, after I had dismantled the crib and put it aside. Then I had to attack the previous study big-time and rid it of all of those mountains of STUFF (I'll spare you pictures - it was scary). Thankfully, I found a way to get rid of the massive bulk of it, filled up the last two of the storage boxes atop the munchkins' shelves, and somewhat sorted what was left. I need filing cabinets quite badly right now. =) 

Eventually, the two bookshelves that were to go in the new combined room were both in place! The second was able to join the first once I had cleared out the majority of the old study. This was all by about mid-week LAST WEEK. Have you noticed anything missing in all this? Oh, that's right. We still didn't have desks for the munchkins, and I was supposed to start TWO on lessons today! 

Not that I'm a procrastinator or anything.... but Friday brought the purchase of lumber and the subsequent cutting to size. I was quite proud to say that by the end of the day, the two cabinets and two extra shelves were done, and all on my own, too! I'm rather shocked the Principal just let me loose with the power tools. Again. ;) 

The weekend went rather haywire after that, so Monday was the day to deck them out and get ready for Tuesday! Thank goodness I had completed the first 6 weeks of lesson plans last week! 

The Principal jumped in on his day off, and we got to work. Desktops: check. Legs: check. Everything sanded... ACHOO!... check. =)

Finally, full assembly ready... and, after a failed attempt at my original idea, we settled on the Principal's idea, and everything was installed in the cabinets! We had DESKS!!!!!!! There seemed only one thing I'd forgotten. Oh, that's right. I didn't get anything to back them with. Yep. I'm brilliant like that. (Forgive the absence of legs on Monkey's desk at this moment - apparently I forgot to take a picture once they were put on and before the backs were on! (Monkey had to make a cameo appearance here.)

Principal to the rescue, though! Once everything was ready for backing, he took off for the store and backings while I finished sanding the corners smooth and hoping to ensure no splinters for little fingers. 

A short while later, the desks were hauled into their positions, anchored to the wall, and Principal went to personalizing the spaces while I loaded them up with the supplies! Munchkins were just about to burst from excitement over finally having their own spaces!! Poor Scoot will just have to wait a little while for hers. The rest of the room just isn't ready yet!!! 

No, the shelves did not remain that bare. There is more now loaded. That was just the initial influx of books for today. The shelf underneath Dude's desktop now stores his previous years' work. Monkey's work from last year is in the top shelf area. When her desk moves up, her old work will move down! Yes, they have school supplies. Here they are in this picture: 

I'm using cups to hold pencils, markers, colored pencils, and dry erase markers. I found neat little crayon holders at Walmart for their crayons, and their scissors, glue sticks, and pencil sharpeners are just having to sit out for now. The dry erase boards were actually bought for our trip we recently took, in the event I needed more entertainment for munchkins on a long drive. They were never used, and now they've been turned over to school usage!

While I can't take credit for the bookshelf/desk idea, I did have to make my own design for these. A good friend sent me a picture of bookshelves made into desks. I looked. And looked. And looked. I could NOT find desks of the right height AND width AND number of shelves in order to successfully convert them to what I wanted. So, I looked around some more, ran across a blog post of Ikea shelf hacks, and took my own spin to that to create the bookshelves I was looking for! I'm quite happy with how they turned out! =)

In the end, today the munchkins got to do lessons in their own space, with their new school supplies, and I do believe this year should flow much better than last year with more organization and less fighting over combined table space. =)

I heard about this a month or so ago - these gals putting this together sure have been working hard!!! So, I signed up for the affiliate program, mostly to catch what the scoop was and decide if I'd like to promote it to my friends and those that read my blog... and I think it's a great deal coming!! It will only last a week, and that week still is 10 days out, but you can look around and get an idea before then of what's going on, and decide on how much you need to earmark for new homeschool materials. ;)

You can read more details below. The gals that put this together can explain better than I can, but the quick overview is that there are pre-packaged, leveled bundles that you can get a great deal on, or you can buy products individually at sale prices... or... and here's where this sale is different... you can pick and choose items in a level and build your very own custom bundle! So, browse around, get an idea, and be sure to make it back in time for the sale starting on the 21st! =)

The final days of our summer have come! Yes, you read that right - we're about to begin school once again. July 15th we start our lessons. Why so early? Well, for one, I've been moving to more of a year-round schedule to fit our lifestyle and cycles a bit better. To add to that need, we have a little one due at the end of October, so there will be a couple of months off in the fall! Really, around here, the fall is the better time for getting out and playing than July and August anyway, so it's a win-win situation! =)

We have been doing some reviewing, courtesy of 3 Dinosaurs and Royal Baloo's Buildup to Summer series they've put out. I hope it helps to smoothly kick off the new year, without much need of review. Dude and Monkey have enjoyed the different themes quite a bit!

So what have we been doing these past few weeks in preparation? Well, unlike usual, it's actually only been this week that I've been laying out lesson plans. I think part of that is more familiarity with the programs we are using - I'm definitely not so anxious as to how to tackle this year with Dude!!! However, I have done a couple of spreadsheets this year, as opposed to fully by hand writing out how I will divide up the lessons for grammar and reading. 

If you've checked out the third grade page, you'll know we're going with First Language Lessons from Peace Hill Press mixed with Primary Language Lessons for grammar. They are not necessary to use together, however, I do like to have daily grammar lessons, and the change in style seems to help keep interest up! I decided that, since this year has its own workbook for First Language Lessons, I would use a folder, possibly switching to a 3 ring binder, to keep the worksheets in. Because I'll be tearing them out of the workbook and mixing in another book's lessons, I had to change up the recommended schedule for completing the lessons. I opted for choice "C" given in the teacher's manual, mixing the optional lessons in throughout the year, to complete the entire book.
Want to take a peek? Here's the first half of our year:

For reading, I laid out a very similar spreadsheet. We are continuing the Pathways series. Dude says he can't wait to start his new reading program!
I had actually wavered on continuing a reading program. He has become so fluent, that I was thinking that reading time and discussion alongside his writing and grammar would fulfill his needs. I may be right in that context, but given his excitement over his new program, I think I'm glad we continued this series. And it certainly won't hurt to get some extra reinforcement in there! =)

Here's another peek at our scheduling in this set:
(the page numbers are the workbook pages we'll be covering that day)

So far, those are the only two with schedules written down. We'll also be continuing in Latina Christiana I, alongside Famous Men of Rome, which we started at the end of second grade. That pattern for teaching has already been established, so I"ll get out last year's planner and continue on from where we left off.

Math is always harder to plan out long-term. I never know which chapters Dude will fly through that I thought may present a challenge, or which chapters he may have a harder time with that I thought he'd catch on to with no problem! So, we'll be somewhat playing it by ear with that one. I'll have a rough outline for at least the first few weeks. This is the only subject I'm somewhat anxious about this year - we jump in with both feet to learn multiplication! I know that Math-U-See has provided a wonderful foundation for him, and that he really does know the basics and, without knowing it, he's already been doing some simple multiplication. However, the mental shift into really teaching it has me a good bit nervous. I'll let you know how it goes!! =)

Dude picked his Bible curriculum this year. It's the first one that he's picked. He says he likes the others that I've chosen! This year, he liked the looks of Memoria Press' Christian Studies I, and I think he made a good choice! He likes to study more in-depth than just the surface of Bible stories, and this should fulfill that desire, complete with maps, which he loves!

Writing with Ease definitely fulfills on the Ease part for this mama! The lessons come pre-planned out for a 36 week school year, 4 days a week. So, no worries there - it's all ready by the time I get it! =)

This year in science we dive into Zoology I: Flying Creatures from Apologia. Dude just wants to get to the bats! It is pretty easy to lay out those lessons, so I'm not worried about that. Maybe tonight I"ll sit down and at least get the first few weeks lined up! =)

I have already begun to line up history. At least, I have chosen what chapters I will teach each week. Story of the World, Volume 3 holds exciting things for Dude - he already loves the Revolutionary War, and, being a Texan, the Alamo. Both are covered by the end of this year!!!! I foresee many battle scenes reenacted before the year is out. =)

Music will now be taught through piano lessons. So, no real curriculum or lining up of lessons there, although I already do have blocked out a bit of each school day to make sure practice happens!

That all covered the teaching, but if you've been reading the blog, you'll know that I've been preparing for the big move of switching the study with the nursery. The nursery was located in the biggest extra room of the house, and now it's time to make use of that room, and add in some desks for the munchkins, making it not only our study/office, but a schoolroom as well!

So far, progress has been delayed with preparations for and a trip to Florida to attend a very close friend's wedding. Now that we are back and settled, I've begun to tackle the major move. We'll see if we're in our schoolroom by next Tuesday to begin our school year! What's been done, you ask? Well, for starters, there is a loveseat located in the nursery. Odd, I know, but it's where I lie down with a nursing baby in the middle of the night, or just cuddle with a little one as needed. I'm quite attached to that little loveseat! So, it had to go into the big-kid room for the time being, to give space for the other moving around that is going to happen! 

Once that was out and situated in the kids' room, complete with moving Scoot out of the portacrib and onto a little cot I had bought for the trip at Wal-mart, the Principal was ready to get in on the action, and his desk went into place the very same day! That all occurred on Monday. 

Tuesday brought the crib being taken apart for the first time in 7 years. It's just too wide to fit through the door assembled! 

I also unloaded, moved, anchored, and reloaded one set of bookshelves. That was quite a process while also attending to 3 little ones! Today (Wednesday) hopefully brings the start to building the bookshelves that will serve double-duty as desks. A big thank-you to my friend for sending me the idea! I'll post pictures as I go so that you can see what I'm talking about.




What about you? Are you about to start schooling again? Are you still carrying over from last year? Or are you just enjoying the summer and will hold off until fall for lessons? Do you have any major changes you're making for this school year?

Is anyone else going on a curriculum-buying binge, or is it just me? I guess it's just that time of the year, with all of the sales going on!

I had actually bought almost all of Dude's third grade curriculum between Thanksgiving and the first part of the new year. Only reading and math had been left, in hopes of getting a sale from Math-U-See (apparently their only deal is free shipping at a convention...) and needing to make a trip to the northwest side of town to the homeschool store to get his reading curriculum for the coming year. He was quite excited when I bought that just yesterday!

Today I found a great deal on Dude's instruction pack, used, for his next level (Gamma) in Math-U-See. That helped on the cost a good bit! =)

If you don't follow them on Facebook or through their blog, I would recommend checking out the online curriculum sale that Hip Homeschool Moms has going on right now - so many great finds!!

One new addition to the next year's schooling lineup was a surprise find at a local homeschool used book sale - Five in a Row by Jane C. Lambert. I have been looking at this for quite some time, as it was highly recommended to me by more than one person. However, I had not had a chance to actually look through the book, so I was quite hesitant to spend the money on a new book ($35 through Rainbow Resource). However, $18 was doable, and I was able to glance through the book before purchasing. I very much like the idea of focusing on one book in a week, looking at it through different "lenses" (art, social studies, language arts, etc.) each day. Great concept! As I was going through the book and looking at the suggestions. I liked it more and more. I have now purchased 18 of the 19 titles in Volume 1. I already had the last one. =) 

My plan is to use this for Monkey's kindergarten year. Our main learning focus will be on the alphabet, as well as continuing with numbers, as originally planned. However, this will add a great extra dimension to her learning, with a good number of books to learn from! I'm quite excited over this new addition, and already mulling over the purchase of Volume 2, as the first will only get us about halfway through the year. We'll see how things are going once we start with it and take stock closer to halfway through the book. =)

Meanwhile, what are you all up to in planning for the next year? Have you bought everything, or are you still looking around, weighing your options? Have you changed direction from last year and decided to go off on a different course? I would be interested to know what everyone else is planning! =)

It seems the logical place to start is to introduce myself and my family, as that is who this entire section of the website is based upon! We'll go in order of age:

So, there you have our family in a nutshell! We have anything but a quiet, serene household, and I love it. We're bustling and moving all day, and outside as much as we can be, enjoying God's creation. You'll see through the pages of the homeschooling section just what we've been into each year and learning, and I'll try to keep you updated on what we're currently loving and doing!