My Favorite Stores For Curriculum

When I talk to new homeschoolers, a question that I often get asked is, "Where do you buy your curriculum and other supplies?"  I've happily answered this so many times, it's a shame these stores don't pay me some kind of commission.

Because I am associated with a charter school, they pay for all of my art materials and curriculum.  So if I'm ordering online, I just take a screen shot of my online shopping cart and then email that jpeg to my ES (Education Specialist).  Or if I select things in store, when I go to check out I tell the clerk that it is a school order.  They then ring everything up, put my cart on hold, and print out an invoice for me to give to my ES.  Then my ES orders those things for me and delivers them to me a few weeks later.

A Brighter Child

We get text books, workbooks, games, posters, fun science kits, basic math manipulatives, etc. here.

I never order from this store online.  They are most valuable for their physical location.  Their store clerks are homeschoolers themselves and very knowledgeable about the resources they carry.  They hold free "how to homeschool" classes occasionally and are always willing to give advice or insight on choosing products.  Once I was thinking of switching from my very reasonably priced math text that works just fine, to a more glamorous and expensive system that I had read about.  Thanks to the Brighter Child employee, I decided that "if it isn't broke, don't fix it," and stayed with the cheaper text.

They have a nice play area for the kids to stay occupied while I browse, and a sitting area with table where I can spread out and skim through books while I make decisions.

A Brighter Child also offers onsite classes for kids of all ages on several subjects.


Rainbow Resource

We get text books, workbooks, art supplies, fun science kits, etc here.

This is an online-only shop.  Their big draws are their huge selection (their yearly catalog is the size of a phone book!) and their cheap prices.  For everything the sell, they show the normal list price, and then the Rainbow Resource price.  It's always a good savings.  And if you order $50 worth at a time, the shipping is free!

I will often browse A Brighter Child so I can see the materials in person, and then in the end order it from Rainbow for the cheaper price.

One drawback is that their search function doesn't seem to always work.  So if I'm just browsing, I may not be able to find what I'm looking for.  But if I know what I want and search a specific title name, then it's fine.

Another tiny drawback (but that depends on your perspective) is that they also sell religious-based materials (such as Apologia Science, which is based on the Bible.)  Because of this, it seems to take the school a tiny bit longer to approve orders because they take extra care to make sure that they are only paying for secular curriculum.


Lakeshore Learning

We get mostly fun and hands-on stuff here.  Science resources, games, educational toys, art supplies, bonus math manipulatives (at Brighter Child, you can get colored counting bears, but at Lakeshore you can choose between colored counting planes, dinosaurs, bugs, animals, etc.)

Their online store and the physical location are equally awesome!  If I'm not careful, I could blow our whole budget on fun stuff from Lakeshore.  They also host free craft activities for kids on Saturdays.


Brainy Zoo Toys

Brainy Zoo is another fun place to shop for "extras."  The kids like to browse here because they have a lot of toys spread around the store for them to play with while mommy drools over craft kits, science kits, DaVinci models, and the like.


Office Depot

Thankfully, Office Depot online is also an approved vendor for our school.  This is where I get basic school supplies like printer ink, paper, pencils, dry erase markers, glue, etc.  I even buy cheap paper plates from Office Depot with our school funds.  Paper plates are invaluable to our school routine!  I summarized some of their uses in this previous post.


Alibris

This is a new resource to me.  A friend of mine who homeschools independently (not associated with a charter so therefore has to buy all school supplies on her own) told me about this one.  She finds all kinds of great deals on used textbooks in their online store.

Last school year I asked the school to approve them as a vendor.  And now I've submitted my first order to them.  I found a craft book on their site that I have not been able to find through any other approved vendors.  I will find out in a couple weeks if there was any hiccups in ordering with them through the school!


When I was a new homeschooler, I was excited but felt pretty lost and didn't know where to start.  I am so thankful to my friend Epsi who took me under her wing, drove me to Brighter Child, helped me select our first curriculum, and told me about other great resources.  And now I'm so glad I have this blog as a way to "pay it forward" and perhaps help others that are in the same position that I once was.

What's your favorite place for curriculum and school supplies?

Homeschooling Means...#8

...wondering if other 6 year olds say things like, "That mango flavored electrolyte water tasted magnificent!"


(This series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

Treasure Box (A Fun Way To Select Songs For Nursery)

For the past couple years we have had the kids select songs to sing in Nursery by letting them pick a laminated fish picture from a blue poster board.  They have loved it.

But now we have a different mix of kids and it has become clear that I need something that is easier to put up on a table out of the way when not being used. Also, some of the kids like to chew on the fish and pull off the velcro that is on the backs.  They were getting to be in bad shape.

Now we have a treasure box!

I found this brown index card box at a thrift store for 50 cents and used gold nail polish to make it look cool.

The song titles are written on these big plastic pennies.  I found these at the Dollar Store in packs of 10 (five brown, five silver.)

I wrote the song titles with ultra fine Sharpie.  But then I noticed that the sharpie wipes off too easily.  A little swipe of Mod Podge over the top of the sharpie took care of that problem!

The kids love to take turns picking out the treasure and finding out what song we get to do.
If there is a little asterisk next to the title, then that is to remind me that we have visual aides to go along with the song.  Some songs have actions or hand motions.  And then some songs like "I Love To See the Temple" have no motions or pictures.  So for those I'm teaching the kids how to conduct the music.  Often they will hold ribbons in their hands to do it.

I love Nursery!  Those children are so special and so recently from Heavenly Father!  Music really touches them and I love to share fun and inspiring songs with them.

Chicken-tastic

 I learned how to easily pre-cook, shred, and freeze chicken in bulk from A Slob Comes Clean.  So now I'm trying to find easy recipes that my family likes using my freezer full of chicken.

This turned out to be such a hit that the kids named this new recipe, "Chicken-tastic."  It's just a chicken salad sandwich, but I think their name is going to stick for us.  Tertius inhaled two of these sandwiches in a matter of minutes!

When I try something new like this, especially since it contains a vegetable they haven't been fans of in the past, I get them to help me make it.  They are much more likely to taste a meal (with minimal complaint) if they had a hand in preparing it.

What the Kids Can Do
1. add the mayo to the chicken
2. add the grapes (they used a ton!)
3. add the celery (they added a lot more than I thought they would!)
4. add salt and pepper (they didn't put very much so I don't know if it even made a difference, but it is fun to use the pepper grinder)
5. taste
6. stir
7. fill their own pita pockets

What I Did:
1. thaw the chicken
2. quarter the grapes
3. dice the celery
4. stir

Chicken-tastic (Chicken Salad Sandwich)

Stir together in a big bowl:
- precooked and shredded chicken
- mayonnaise
- grapes (quartered)
- celery (diced)
- salt and pepper

Stuff inside a whole wheat pita and enjoy!

"Mom, I can't read this."

Today in Sacrament Meeting at church, Quartus reclined against me, held the program up in front of him upside-down, and said, "Mom, I can't read this."  It was especially cute because of the way he emphasizes the ending consonants of words.

So many questions!  If it was right-side-up would he have said the same thing?  Did he really expect to be able to read it when he opened it up?  Is he going to be one of those crazy kids that teach themselves to read at age 3?  Is he always going to be this adorable?

How I Keep Laundry Under Control

When we were newlyweds, Hubby and I would do laundry once a week.  We would take our load or two to one of our parents' house and spend time with family while washing clothes.  Then we would come home and fold and put it away together before bed.  This was a very special time for us and really strengthened our marriage.  For some reason we ended up having some of our most intellectually stimulating conversations during these "laundry chats."  Sigh, those were fun times.

Then kids came, number of loads increased, and Hubby worked full time.  I would take the kids one day a week to visit Grandma while I washed and dried clothes.  Sometimes the pile of clean clothes would sit for a day or two before being put away.

Then more kids meant more laundry and more busy lives.  Eventually we stopped bumming laundry machines off our parents and instead used the apartment complex's laundry room a couple times a week like real grown-ups.  And again, the pile of clean laundry would sit until I found the time to fold and put it away.

Then we moved into our house, had a fourth kid, and got even more busy.  The weekly laundry pile became laundry mountain.  I was really good (with help from the kids and Hubby) about moving the dirty stuff from machine to machine.  But then after coming out of the drier, the clean clothes would get piled on the living room couch and just sit there.

The only times the couch was empty was if we had someone coming over so I would call for "all hands on deck" and then we would get it all put away (or lazily move the pile to my bed).  Inevitably, as soon as our guest left, another load would get pulled out of the drier and Laundry Mountain would start to build again.

I have now learned that the only way for me to keep clean laundry from piling up (and getting spilled, and stepped on, and dirty again) was to put it away AS SOON as it came out of the drier.

We're fortunate to have a laundry room between the kitchen and school room so it's a very convenient location to stand and work while still being aware of what the kids are doing.

So I just stand by the open drier and pull items out one at a time.  They are either folded and put in a pile on top of the washer...

...thrown into a bowl (I have one for socks and one for each child-they organize and put away their own clothes)...

...or hung up.

(I installed a cheap tension rod by the door to my garage so I have a place to keep empty hangers handy.)

Then as soon as the drier is empty, all that laundry HAS TO BE PUT AWAY!  If the kids only have one or two items in their bowls, then those can be stacked, put out of the way, and worried about later when they're more full.  But piles on the washer MUST be put away immediately or else I won't be able to start the next load.  And those shirts and dresses hanging on the doorjamb by the kitchen will fall down if they're left unattended too long.

Putting laundry away is not as daunting a task if it's done a little (one load) at a time.

This totally works for me!  I'm often still behind with big piles of dirty laundry waiting to be cleaned, but those are hidden away in hampers in bedrooms so I don't feel too bad about that.

At this point I want to give a plug for this awesome blog I found.  This woman inspires me!  

A Slob Comes Clean

This is a description of how she tackles laundry.

What are some laundry tricks that work for you?

How To Help Your Child Write a Talk For Primary

Since I grew up in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, that means I grew up giving "talks" (short sermons) occasionally in Primary as a 3-11 year old child and then in Sacrament Meeting from 12 to present.  Therefore my dad always teased that my siblings and I had better get an "A" when we took public speaking classes in college!  We should have had an advantage over our classmates and would be a disappointment if we didn't do well. 

Though, it was hard to get used to ending a speech without using the phrase, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  

My friend Ally (blogger at Millennial Mormon Mom) asked me to share pointers on how exactly one would go about helping their child write a talk.  So I decided to sit my kids down and have them prep mock-talks.  Not sure if they'll get a chance to use these, but it's good to practice, right?  

Before I get to that, though, it's important to understand my reasoning behind why I do it the way I do.  I am so passionate about this!

It is so good for children even as young as 3 or 4 to start having these experiences at Church.  We are a Church lead by lay-ministry.  Everyone has opportunity to teach and preach at some point.  

We like to say in the Church that when you are given a talk assignment from the Bishopric, it's not because you're the expert on the topic and therefore the Ward could really learn a lot from you.  Rather, you're given that topic because Heavenly Father knows you need to learn something about it.

It's the same in Primary with the kids.  The children sitting in the room aren't going to learn a stinking thing from the talk given!  There's too much distraction and it's super hard for them to focus on and internalize what another child is mumbling into the microphone.  Giving a talk is for the benefit of the child giving the talk.

Giving a talk in Primary gives the child a chance to practice public speaking, practice writing a talk, and test their knowledge and testimony of a subject.  

In my experience, most parents tend to forget that.  They think that writing Primary talks has to be harder or have a more awesome outcome than it has to be! 

It's common to see parents write the talks for their kid, or have them read a story from the Friend Magazine.  So they're missing potential benefit.  Also, the talks usually end up way too long!  As a former Primary President, trust me when I say, "Short and to the point is always better!"

So my kids have always written their own (with my guidance) and they are always so proud of themselves!  Sure, it can take a little more preparation than just having my kid choose and read a scripture story summary from the back of a Gospel Art Kit picture.  But I feel it is so worth it!

Now on to the nitty-gritty!

When Primus (age 9) has an assignment, she writes it all on her own now. We treat it like any other writing assignment.  She has her prompt and has to write at least 5 sentences: a topic sentence, a conclusion sentence, and three or more body sentences about the topic.  Her conclusion sentence should be her testimony.  "I believe that..."  And then every talk is always ended with, "In the name of Jesus Christ, Amen."  As she gets better at it, I'll encourage her to use more scripture references, personal experiences, and scripture stories.

With Tertius and Secundus, though, I still help them.  But their talks are mostly their own words.  I just ask leading questions to get them thinking and then I write down their best answers.  

Tertius is 5 and gave his first talk just a couple weeks ago.  He can't read yet, so I sent him to Primary with the talk we prepared and practiced at home.  Then Secundus stood next to him at the microphone and whispered a sentence at a time into his ear for him to repeat.  It was awesome.

In the following videos, I help Secundus (age 7) with the topic,  "I Can Follow Jesus Christ's Example."  She is a smarty-pants and likes to show off her knowledge of the Gospel.  I've been told by her Primary teachers in the past that she would be in heaven if they would let her teach the lesson each week by herself.  So this was a piece of cake for my confident girl.

**video removed**

In the next video, I work with Tertius (age 5) on the topic, "Jesus Christ Is the Son of God, and He Is a God of Miracles."  His talk ended up a little long.  Before giving it in Primary, I would probably edit out the part about us all being Children of God.

**video removed**


As you can see, his knowledge of the gospel is less expansive.  He would proudly answer "Jesus is the Lord," and, "Make good choices," to every question if I let him.  When write talks with him, it actually ends up being a discussion where I teach him a concept and then ask him to repeat it back to me.


Please feel free to share and comment!  
As always, even though I feel strongly about the benefit of doing things my way, you can disagree with me.  And that's ok.  We can still respect one another.  Ultimately, you do what's best for your family, and I'll do what's best for mine.  I firmly believe in that more than anything!

Feeling Crazy

I found this old, unfinished journal entry from December 2014.  I enjoy reading these little moments-in-time.  It's always a good reminder to me that "This Too Shall Pass!"


I'm feeling a little...off...this year.

I broke me ankle near the fourth of July and it seems like I just can't get my head or house straight since then.  Because I was laid up with limited mobility for so long (the amount of time I spent in a splint and then a boot was ridiculous and a story for another day perhaps) the backyard in particular got totally out of control.  Normally, Hubby is in charge of mowing the grass and I keep the covered patio tidy.  Well, Hubby isn't a fan of yard work and tends to procrastinate it anyway.  The summer heat doesn't help, either.  The kids just weren't being encouraged to go play outside, which means less motivation to keep the grass trimmed.  And since the kids weren't playing outside, I procrastinated organizing and sweeping the patio even after I was more mobile.  Then it reached a point where we were reasonably sure that we had black widows in the backyard.  We get sprayed for them regularly, but we've had a problem with them in the past so if I don't keep the hiding places cleaned out, I start to worry about spiders making themselves at home.  So at that point, the kids were actually forbidden from going in the backyard, which means it just got worse.

Poor Secundus has a summer birthday, very close to my accident, so that birthday party just didn't happen.  I finally got off my butt and got to work making her a cake and pinata and planned a party at the beginning of October (!) at a park for family. And with the holidays and important events to think about, I feel like I'm still 3 months behind.

I finally got the backyard under control but not in time to do a fall Tent Town, we put a lot of time and love into helping with an early November wedding, we didn't harvest our pomegranates soon enough and lost a lot of them, I'm planning an anniversary party for the beginning of the year, I'm staying really busy with making chocolate dipped pretzels to earn Christmas cash, I totally spaced on Hubby's graduation coming up this weekend, the girls recently had tech week and performances for their theater class, and I just wish I could cancel school until February.

Now here we are, with Christmas only 10 days away and we still don't have our tree up.  It doesn't feel like Christmas yet but we're running out of time!  I feel like I'm on a train that I just need to stop!

To make matters worse, when I get stressed out like this, I fall back into my old co-dependent type habits and thought patterns.

Homeschooling Means...#7

...feeling pride when my 9 year old hears a DVD say, "Romulus and Remus went on to found Rome," and replies, "Well, Romulus at least.  Cause Remus was dead.  Romulus killed him."

(This new series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

Bridging Ceremony

At the aforementioned end-of-year party with our homeschool group, they did a "bridging ceremony."  Each kid walked across a bridge to the waiting parents one at a time to represent moving from one grade to another.  When they got to the end, they stopped and received a certificate and waited as a few sentences about their accomplishments was read.

Here is what was read about each of my kiddos

Primus, 3^rd grade

Primus strives to always be truthful, responsible, kind, and fair. She is very helpful and when there is a chore to be done, we can count on her to be the first to complete it with no whining. Her favorite thing to learn this year was how to write in cursive. In gymnastics, she has been working all year on learning how to cartwheel and we are very proud of the progress she made. She loves to learn about fractions and was excited to see how easy it is to add and subtract them.

Secundus, 1^st grade

Secundus is a good friend, independent, confident, and a natural leader. She's very smart and often impresses us with how fast she can learn and analyze new concepts. Something she was excited about learning this year was about money. She practiced her new skills at Christmas time when she did a fundraiser to pay for her ballet recital and helped mommy at a craft fair. We were especially proud of her when she was chosen to play “small Alice” in a production of Alice in Wonderland Jr.

Tertius, preschool 

Tertius is our energetic, stereotypical boy and a joy in our lives. Though he is wiggly, Mommy was very proud that he was able to sit and complete several workbooks this year. He's also good at puzzles. He started learning to read and is making quick progress. His favorite song at his music class is the introduction song when we go around the room and say hi to every child by name.

So Proud of My Little Boy! Learning to Read!

Tertius is learning to read and I am just blown away at how well he's doing!

He's five and will start Kindergarten officially in the fall.  Right now we are on lesson 32 out of 100 in our curriculum (Distar).  If he keeps going at the pace he's going now, he could be starting his Kinder year as a reader!

This summer I'm motivating the girls to do chores, practice German, and drill math facts by rewarding them with media time and popsicles.  Tertius can get the rewards by doing chores or a lesson of Distar with me.  Some days he has asked to do 2 lessons in one day.

At the beginning of this last school year I was convinced that I would start with him.  But he wasn't ready to sit and focus with me.  Also, at the time I wasn't ready to give him the consistent one-on-one time needed each day to really make the lessons stick.  So we did a handful of lessons (maybe up to 15?) and then stopped.  When we started again a several months later, we went back to the beginning.  And then we got lazy and fell out of habit again.  But now we're going strong.  He and I are both a lot more motivated and encouraged to keep going now that we see him making progress.

Now he's doing so well with it!  He's able to stay focused and he's making quick progress. If he doesn't care about something, then good luck getting him to do it!  On the other hand, once he has his mind set on something, there's no way you can stop him!

I am so proud of him.  It's exciting to watch my little ones learn such an important basic skill.  Sometimes motherhood and homeschooling can be so rewarding!

For days when I feel like a goldfish trying to fight a dragon...

Sometimes I look around at the world, our political climate, decaying morals, and controversial topics in the news, and I get discouraged, disgusted, and frustrated by it all.  I really feel overwhelmed and dragged down.  I want the world to be a better, safer place for my children.

But how can I possibly make a difference?

There aren't enough hours in the day!

I don't have the time, energy, means, or influence to make a dent.

It feels like fighting an uphill battle, and that's exhausting.

Like David fighting Goliath, or rather, like a goldfish fighting a dragon.  Impossible.

It's times like these that I have to stop, pray, and remind myself that I don't have to save the world.  Sometimes all I can do at this stage of my life is focus on being a good mother.  I can't change the world, but I can affect the lives of these innocent children that the Lord has placed in my care.


I can teach my children that they are children of God.

I can teach them to be responsible and respectful.

I can teach them the Gospel and the joy that it can bring.

I can teach them about Christ and the peace that the Atonement can bring.

I can teach them to give service and be examples for good.

I can teach them the value of having high morals and standards.

I can teach them to stay close to the Savior and follow His prophet.

I can teach them that when they feel discouraged or have temptations, questions, or trials, that they should turn to their Heavenly Father in prayer and read His words in the scriptures.

I don't have to fight Goliath. I just have to equip my children to fight the metaphorical goliaths that they will encounter in this tumultuous world.  And Heavenly Father will help me to do that, so I don't have to be so scared.

Transportation-Themed Graham Cracker Treats

 On a whim I decided to have the kids make these fun treats for snack at Grandma Cindy's house.   This day Grandma was babysitting two other boys so it was nice to share this project with them, too.  They really enjoyed it, as predicted.  And it was good practice for the kids in spreading with a knife.  That's so hard to do!

The little brown one is a traffic light on one quarter graham cracker, with chocolate frosting and M&Ms.

The yellow one is a school bus.  Full size graham cracker, yellow frosting, Oreos for wheels, M&Ms for headlight and tail light, Cinnamon Toast Crunch for windows.

Finally, that pink monstrosity was originally going to be a fire truck.  (You can use pretzel sticks to make a ladder and M&Ms for sirens.)  But I forgot to grab my can of red frosting, and using red food coloring in white frosting only gives you pink.  I even tried to add some chocolate frosting to darken it but that only made it look fushia.  Oh well, it's a pink car I guess.  The kids didn't mind.

So proud of the finished product!  

Quartus was just given one of his sibling's left over frosting plate with a knife, a handful of M&Ms, and a few graham cracker pieces.  That kept him busy and happy for quite a while.

Homeschooling Means...#6

...developing inside jokes with my kids based on Alexander the Great naming several cities after himself.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PrU2ryEN2l0

"You could call it...Skinnymandria!"


(This new series is meant to be mostly lighthearted and fun.  Some may be serious, but most will be silly, braggy, or of the keepin'-it-real variety.  Not every homeschool is the same.  And some of these things could be said by public school parents.  This is just to highlight MY experience with MY homeschool and MY children.  Enjoy these little insights into our life and feel free to share your own "Homeschooling means..." in the comments!)

Symbols of Christmas Ornament

My family is continuing a Christmas tradition from my childhood.  Every Christmas we take a plate of treats to our neighbors.

When I was a kid, some years we would only give a plate of cookies.  And some years we were more organized and ambitious and would include a Nativity DVD, ornament, Candy Cane symbolism explanation, quote, etc.

Last Christmas I picked up tiny little bells, ornaments, and present decorations at a Stuff Swap.  So I was able to put together the following ornament.  I made 5 for our neighbors and one to keep on our own tree.  I'm really proud of how it turned out.