Writing Mini - Office

I just discovered mini offices this week. I found out about them from lapbook Lessons.

basically, Mini offices are small dividers that you make for your child to use while they are doing their work. It provides privacy and information at the same time. You can create all kinds of Mini Offices...Math, Science, Writing. You just use file folders and glue them together to create your office. I only used two for mine, but you can use 3 or 4 if you have a lot of information you want to put in yours.

After a little looking at this site (they have lots of things to use to make all kinds of mini offices), I decided to make my dd a writing/grammar mini office. She does writing and grammar everyday, and there are lots to remember. I really think this is going to help her, and give her more privacy while sitting at the kitchen table doing her work.


We use Institute for excellence in writing, so I printed out some things that she needs to remember for her writing assinments, like "banned words" and "paragraph dress ups". I just went into word and printed some things up to put in our mini office. I also put some grammar reminders in there that I got off of the above mentioned site. We also use shirley grammar, so I added in the "Question Answer Flow" and a list of abbreviations for the parts of speech.

Here are some pictures of the finished mini office.










The front cover
















The entire mini office standing up













A close up of the left side





















A close up of the middle section



















A close up of the right side
















The directions said to cover with contact paper or to laminate. Instead of doing either, I used colored paper to tape all of my cutouts onto. Then I put the paper in a page protector and cut off the strip of holes down the side. next I taped the page protector onto the file folder. I figured this way, if I want take something out and put something new on there, I can just pull the paper out, and because I used tape, I can easily pull the cut out off that I don't want and add something new. It seems better than laminating, so that I don't have to create a new mini office just to change a few things. This way you can make unlimited changes and use the same mini office over and over again.

If you have any questions just email me at michelle@homeschoolnotebooking.com

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Thoughtful Thursdays September 25, 2008

Today's date is...September 25, 2008

This week my greatest challenges have been...keeping caught up on my housework

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...setting up our new math curriculum

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...reading "Squanto" and our dinosaur lapbook

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...grammar

My biggest accomplishments this week were...getting to bed earlier than I did last week, and finally getting my son signed up for football


The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...incorporating yoga into my mornings.

I feel I need the Lord to help me...stop complaining so much about messes in the house

I am most thankful this week for...the safety of my family who had to ride out hurricane "Ike" in Texas. Thank you Lord !

One word to sum up my week...Lovely


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Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...

My biggest accomplishments this week were...

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...

I feel I need the Lord to help me...

I am most thankful this week for...

One word to sum up my week...



Just copy this into your blog page and then fill it in. I ask that as you read others entries, you would pray for one another using the information that others put after "I feel I need the Lord to help me..."


if you are participating in this and have written your entry, please come back here and put a link to the exact page where your entry is located. Make sure it is the exact page your journal entry is on rather than your home page so that others can find your post easily. This way we can all share what we are going through together. I encourage you to invite others to join in with us! DO NOT put a link here if you haven't written a journal entry for this!! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Free From The Almighty Schedule

I have to admit that I fell into a trap. before we began our new year I started reading other blogs about school time scheduling. I was extremely busy over the summer with my notebooking website, and for some reason I started to think that a strict schedule during the day would allow things to run more smoothly and actually give us more time. I knew we had a lot more to do this year than last, and frankly I was worried how we would fit it all in. So, this schedule that I would create was to be the answer.

I literally spent a week preparing the schedule. I planed out exactly what time of the day each subject would be studied (the time it would begin and end) ; I added in a set lunch time; then I added in exact break times. Everything was so perfectly planned out.

Our first day back to school we started this new life on this perfect schedule. We got up on time, ate on time, did our subjects on time, and chores on time. It went just perfect. We continued this over the entire week, trying hard to stick to the timeline that I had established. Each day was a new start of trying to keep up with our time.

By the end of the week, something wasn't right. I started feeling like my schedule was my boss. If I allowed one time frame for work to run into the next, then my whole day ended up being behind. I actually started to measure my days success to how closely I was able to keep to this Almighty Schedule.

We kept this up for another week before I couldn't take it anymore. I broke down and cried.

Now, maybe for some of you this would seem really ridiculous. But for me, I was confronted with failure. The schedule I had created was the answer, so I thought, and I wasn't able to perform.

I actually had to take 3 days off of school the next week. My mind was clouded and my joy was gone. I had to hide my schedule away and look to God for the answer. I think I spent one whole day just crying to God.

I think as homeschooling moms, some of us try to be perfect. We compare ourselves to other moms, and try to spot our weaknesses by looking at others strengths, and then assessing where we don't measure up. This is very natural, at least for many of us. The truth is that we are all different, and what is right for one mom may be the totally wrong thing for another mom. We have to stop comparing ourselves to each other. we shouldn't become fixed on what others are doing, but rather search for the answer to the question "What does the Lord want for me and my family." You see, we were all created differently, with a different purpose in mind for our lives. Looking up to other moms, and comparing ourselves to other moms, is a very different thing.

I realized that my schedule was causing confusion and chaos in my life, as well as the life of my husband and children. God is not the author of confusion. So, I had to let it go and ask the Lord what he wanted for my family. I poured out my heart to him.

Since my schedule days ended, I have implemented a new routine, and it goes something like this:


Wake up between 7 and 8:30 ( sometimes I go to bed a little late because I am working on my business and the little bit of extra sleep in the morning goes a long way.)

Eat breakfast and do our morning routine

Start our day with daily devotional and prayer

Then we do our bible study, phonics and spelling. I do not put a time limit on this. Some days require more time than others depending on what we are learning. I think it's important my kids learn the word of God and I don't want to rush it if God is teaching us something great!

We then take a break. About 15 minutes, some days it's longer if I get a phone call or a visitor, or if a catastrophe happens!

Then we resume and do American History. Our time varies greatly from day to day on this. some days we have lots of reading, and some days we will do an arts and craft for this. On these days we will just spend what ever time it takes to get our activity or assignment completed.

we alternate science and math. Math is done for about 20 minutes on M/W/TH. Sometimes we only do math 2 days of the week. We use Math on the level, which makes for easier, lighter math assignments.

On T/F we do science. Friday is our nature journal day and we actually spend the entire school day on friday doing science. In the mornings we still have prayer and grammar ( we use Shirley english and it has to be done 5 days a week to keep up with their pace. So far it's going okay, but if it ever interferes with our enjoyment of our Friday nature studies then we will cut back to 4 days). If we are doing a science lapbook or unit study then we will do our work for that in the morning, and then spend a few hours out in nature. Each Friday is different and we are flexible to do as we wish. Our easy Fridays has been a blessing to our homeschool!

After science we break again for about 30 minutes.

My 1st grader is finished with school at this point. My 3rd grader will then sit with me as we do grammar and writing. Sometimes she does her writing as homework later on in the evening if our day has lingered.

Now this is just a rough plan of our day. Somedays we don't get around to everything, well actually, there are quite a few days that we don't get around to everything. I plan for a lot and we just do what we can do while still remaining happy and sane, which varies from day to day.

Isn't that a least one reason that we started homeschooling in the first place? To be able to have freedom in our day? Now, I'm not talking about the kind of irresponsible freedom that allows us to put off our responsibilities and duties. I am talking about the kind of freedom that allows us to enjoy each day, each moment, with our beloved children. These days will be not last forever. Homeschooling is not just about doing everything; being the best at every thing. Homeschooling is about precious, quality family time with our kids that will carry them through their life.

I am so profoundly proud that I stay at home with my darlings. This time is a gift from the Lord and I trust that he will make sure my little ones learn all they need to learn, as long as I surrender to him and let him be our homeschool leader. he knows our children better than we do. He knows their strengths, weaknesses, and HE has a plan for their lives. If we give each day to him and do what we can do, we have to trust that he is leading and guiding us.

I encourage you to ask the Lord today to lead your homeschool and guide your family where you need to go.

So, I am happy to say that I am free from the Almighty schedule, but a slave to my Almighty Lord.

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We are studying American History using Adventures in My Father's World. We made totem poles today because we are learning about the North American Indians. We were even able to get good ol' dad to join in the fun!

We used a pre-made template (for the kids) and ideas from enchantedlearning.com


Here are the end results:





Mine



These were really fun to make. Each totem is supposed to tell a story about your family.














Juliet's





















Dad's




We all agreed that Dad's turned out to be the best.

















Evan's
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Thoughtful Thursdays September 18, 2008

Today's date is...September 18, 2008

This week my greatest challenges have been...getting to bed early. My goal is to be in bed by 11:30 pm, so far this week bedtime for me has been 1 am. This has to stop!!

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...Cleaning out my fridge

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...American History. We are reading some great living books about the Indians and English people of Jamestown.

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...Math

My biggest accomplishments this week were...having a relaxed attitude and getting our school work done early every day this week.

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...praying more with my kids one on one as opposed to just in the morning during bible time

I feel I need the Lord to help me...manage my time better during the day so there isn't so much for me to do in the evenings and at night.

I am most thankful this week for... a brand new juicer and Fresh squeezed orange pineapple juice

One word to sum up my week...happy!


______________________________________________________________________

If you would like to participate in this just put the image above on your blog with a link that redirects back to this page. Use the setup below each time you post.


Today's date is...

This week my greatest challenges have been...

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...

My biggest accomplishments this week were...

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...

I feel I need the Lord to help me...

I am most thankful this week for...

One word to sum up my week...



Just copy this into your blog page and then fill it in. I ask that as you read others entries, you would pray for one another using the information that others put after "I feel I need the Lord to help me..."


if you are participating in this and have written your entry, please come back here and put a link to the exact page where your entry is located. Make sure it is the exact page your journal entry is on rather than your home page so that others can find your post easily. This way we can all share what we are going through together. I encourage you to invite others to join in with us! DO NOT put a link here if you haven't written a journal entry for this!! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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All about Evan

This is our Evan, or Biggun, as we like to call him.




Evan is 7 years old and is first grade.







Evan LOVES to watch and play football. His favorite team is the Florida Gators.

He plays flag football with our YMCA and dad is the coach. He just finished his first season and is starting his second next week!





Evan's favorite subject is math. He also loves exploring nature and writing in his nature journal.

Here is a poem he wrote about spiders:

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The Little Things

Dear Lord,

while sitting here today I can think of so many things that are wrong in my life. I am so disappointed with myself this week, and I am disappointed in others to. But I believe that somehow all of this is working together for my good, and I know that you're very close to me through it all.

Today I am thankful to you dear Lord for the little things in my life, even though some of these little things annoy me sometimes!

Thank you for the scrambling feet of little kittens, 4 of them, tearing up my house and knocking down things on my dresser. I know one day I will look back on this time and recall it with smiles and laughter.

Thank you for a mornings that I don't get up on time, instead I get to snuggle up with my husband a few hours longer than I should.

Thank you for healthy children, who try and make breakfast for themselves, and succeed in both cooking and tearing down my kitchen.

Thank you Lord for my messy floors, they remind me that this home is mine, clean or not.

Thank you for tears and restlessness, they draw me closer to you and reveal to me how dependent on you I really am. They tear down my walls of pride and make all of my intentions become transparent.

Thank you for all of the broken things I have, physical and spiritual, mental and emotional, because they all point to you, my unwavering foundation.

Thank you for all of the rain, I now have more frogs in my yard than I ever imagined possible. Since frogs are my favorite animal, I take this as a loving gesture from you.

Thank you for all the messes my husband makes, it reminds me that there once was a time when he didn't work from home and just how lucky we really are.

Thank you today for all the little things I have, beautiful and ugly, because you are in control of them all.

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Our Children Belong To God

I was reading someone's blog today and saw this. It touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. To me, this is a reminder that our children truly belong to the Lord, and it is our responsibility to allow the Lord's will for our children to be fulfilled in their lives, instead of what we desire for them.

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.”

And he said:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

– Kahlil Gibran, “Children”

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Thoughtful Thursdays September 11, 2008

Today's date is... September 11,2008

This week my greatest challenges have been...getting school started on time

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...starting our science labook on Rocks and minerals. I haven't even ordered it yet!

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...nothing. we had a hectic week with doctor appointments and didn't get much done at all this week.

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...refreshing up on math

My biggest accomplishments this week were... getting my mind to slow down and remember that I am doing this all for the Lord.

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...getting school started on time.

I feel I need the Lord to help me...get back to the basics with school and forget about a perfect schedule

I am most thankful this week for...God's patience with me


One word to sum up my week... soul searching (oops, that's two!)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you would like to participate in this just put the image above on your blog with a link that redirects back to this page. Use the setup below each time you post.


Today's date is...

This week my greatest challenges have been...

Things I wanted to do this week but didn't get around to doing...

Our favorite thing we did in school this week was...

Our least favorite thing we did in school this week was...

My biggest accomplishments this week were...

The biggest thing I need to work on doing better is...

I feel I need the Lord to help me...

I am most thankful this week for...

One word to sum up my week...



Just copy this into your blog page and then fill it in. I ask that as you read others entries, you would pray for one another using the information that others put after "I feel I need the Lord to help me..."


if you are participating in this and have written your entry, please come back here and put a link to the exact page where your entry is located. Make sure it is the exact page your journal entry is on rather than your home page so that others can find your post easily. This way we can all share what we are going through together. I encourage you to invite others to join in with us! DO NOT put a link here if you haven't written a journal entry for this!! Please leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

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Advertise Here

Do you have a website that helps homeschool families? Do you offer products or resources for homeschoolers or work from home moms?

If you feel that your site might be of interest to our readers and you would like to put your advertisement here on my blog Please send an email to: michelle@homeschoolnotebooking.com

In the email please leave a link to your website and what size link you choose from the list below.

We will only accept relevant ads that pertain to homeschooling or work from home. Each ad will be approved on the basis of quality and relevance. The prices are as follows:

Text link ads:

text link ads may be up to two lines

• $15 for 1 month
  
• $35 for 3 months
  
• $50 for 6 months

Banner ads are priced on a monthly basis:

• $25 125x125
  
• $35 200x50
  
• $45 185x200
  
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Our Children Belong To God

I was reading someone's blog today and saw this. It touched my heart and I wanted to share it with you. To me, this is a reminder that our children truly belong to the Lord, and it is our responsibility to allow the Lord's will for our children to be fulfilled in their lives, instead of what we desire for them.

And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, “Speak to us of Children.”

And he said:

Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.

You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.

You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit,
not even in your dreams.

You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.

You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.

The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite,
and He bends you with His might
that His arrows may go swift and far.

Let your bending in the archer’s hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies,
so He loves also the bow that is stable.

– Kahlil Gibran, “Children”

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Why Are You Homeschooling?

Thanks to everyone who responded to this discussion. I have enjoyed reading all of your reasons for beginning to homeschool. I wanted to add mine in as well.

My parents divorced when I was 5. I didn't see my father again until I was 12. My mom got a job working nights and my grandmother pretty much raised me. My mom worked nights and slept all day, so there wasn't much time left for me. I always knew I missed out on having a real family life, which was something that I always longed for. Once I had my own children, I knew that I wanted to give them the family life that I didn't get to have. I didn't know that I wanted to homeschool until my oldest child was about 4. I knew the time was getting closer and closer for her to start school. It was at that time that I really felt the Lord tugging on my heart to keep my daughter at home with me and her younger brother. I discussed this with my family and most of them laughed at the idea of me being able to actually teach my kids because I wasn't a "teacher." Despite their negativity, I pressed forward with what I believed the Lord was calling me to do. I knew nothing about homeschooling at the time. I was scared, had a lot of doubts that I wouldn't be able to teach my kids at home, and felt like I was going against all the advice of my friends and family. But deep inside, I just KNEW that I had to homeschool. I felt it that strongly. The main reasons behind my interest in homeschooling in the very beginning were a lot of the same reasons as many of you had:

I wanted to be with my kids instead of them being gone all day away from me

I wanted all of us to be able to spend time studying the bible as a family

I wanted them to have memories of learning together as opposed to going to school and being separated all day

I wanted to have flexibility in our schedule because their father's work schedule was always changing

When I first started I just knew that I had to jump in and see where it would lead us. We are now on our fourth year, and God has been so gracious to allow me the opportunity to be home with them everyday. I am so grateful that I followed the Lord's leading instead of listening to what others were telling me to do.

I keep on doing it because, you see, the Lord is the only one who truly knows our children. He knows their strengths and weaknesses better than anyone. Each day is a new opportunity for us to allow God to speak to us through our studies, reading, conversations...we just give the day to him and let his spirit lead our family and our homeschool. I know that our home is the best place for our children to learn about God, life, and yes, even math.

Academics for me, really didn't play a role in my decision, although I had heard that homeschooled children were usually way ahead of public school kids. Family was the main reason for my decision to keep my children at home.

I continue homeschooling because I feel it is my calling as a wife and a mother.

To see other mom's responses to this question go here. You need to a member of the Homeschool Lounge to see this discussion. If you're not a member just sign up, it fast and it's FREE1

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Our Precious Monarch Butterfly

We bought a milkweed plant last spring and it had 5 Monarch Butterflies on it. We followed this little guy (or gal...we can't tell which) from caterpillar stage all the way until adult.


It ate and ate, and then ate some more! For two weeks all it did was eat.






And then one day it crawled onto our fence and started to spin a tiny little dot of silk. It attached one end to the silk and then hung itself upside down.

Within hours this is what it looked like. This is it's chrysalis.

The chrysalis has a beautiful gold ring around the top of it.











After two more weeks the chrysalis became completely transparent. This is just hours before the butterfly emerged. You can see the orange color of it's wings.








It had been 14 days exactly, and I knew it's time was getting close. We had begun to look at it almost every hour because we wanted desperately to see this Monarch that we loved say "hello" to the world.







We checked on it once and all was the same. Then about an hour later, I was hanging clothes out on the line, and I looked over and there he was, out of his chrysalis just sitting on what remained of the chrysalis shell.









We sat and watch him for almost 3 hours. We didn't know it would take this long for his wings to dry. We just there, eyes glued to him, camera ready, so that we could capture what we knew was a once in a life time experience. We wanted to see him take his first flight. We wanted to make sure a predator didn't get him before he could fly.

I kept taking video of him as he was drying his wings. He would open and close them over and over. Then he crawled up the fence and stopped and dried them some more.

I kept taking video, thinking every moment would be the moment he would fly away.



Find more videos like this on The Homeschool Lounge


Finally, when we thought he would never fly, I turned on my camera and started filming. All of a sudden he flew right past my son, and then up into our tree. We lost him for a little while and then found him again. We knew it was him because he kept sitting on a tree branch drying his wings again. We watched him all afternoon.


Find more videos like this on The Homeschool Lounge


God is so good to let us have such a memorable and loving experience.

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Mazzy's Page

This is our Mazzy.





She was the most wonderful dog that anyone could have. She bravely protected our family, and loved all of us unconditionally. We got her when she was only 6 weeks old, and brought unspeakable joy into our lives. She was our baby and our friend. We once had three dogs and now we have two. Our home will never quite be the same without her.

Mazzy was almost 5 years old when she died, on December 1, 2007.


We will never forget this wonderful girl.

We love you maz!

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Dog's Page

This is our Krissy.






Krissy is our 2 1/2 year old german Shephard. She was a stray that we found wondering around my mom's neighborhood. She was only a small pup then. She is very protective and likes to kill possoms and squirrels in our front yard. I know that's horrible, but we can't stop her!









This is our Clifford.





Clifford is our 4 year old red dog. We think he is a mix of Irish Setter and Lab. He was also a stray that wondered into our yard one day and decided he didn't want to leave. After checking around the neighborhood, we found out that he had been abandoned by his owner who had left him in a fenced yard with no food of water while he went to work out of town for a month. When the owner got back he agreed to let us have Clifford.

My kid's named him Clifford because he is Red like "Clifford the Big Red Dog."

He is as sweet as pie, and has never met a stranger he didn't like.

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All About Juliet

This is our Juliet, or Sissy, as we call her.



Juliet is 8 years old and is in third grade.









Juliet LOVES horses with all of her heart.
She wants to be a "horse doctor" when she grows up, and she has said this since she was only 3.








Juliet has written a collection of short stories called "Sara's Adventures." Juliet also likes to write her own poetry and songs.


Here is one of her poems:


A Pony

Wish I had a pony,
Who was plump instead of bony;
Who was black and white,
And ran like lightning.

When her hooves hit the ground,
It makes a sound like thunder.

Wish I had a pony,
Who's nose was as soft as a pillow;
Who had a name like Selo or Melo.

Wish I had a pony,
Who's eyes were the color of daises;
Wish I had a pony,
Who was as wild as an eagle.

Wish I had a pony,
Who was playful instead of lazy.

When I ride her it would fell like
I was flying and soaring through the breezes.

Wish I had a pony,
who loved me and I loved her.

Wish it didn't take so long
for wishes to come true.








This is just a portion of Juliet's stuffed animal collection. These are the ones that are being kept in the garage because there just isn't enough room for all of them in our house. She periodically switches out the animals that she keeps on her bed and exchanges them for some of the ones in the garage.

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