Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Making Connections: Keepers Club

 
Hiking trips acquainted us with our beautiful local terrain, and our use of newly acquired skills.
 

Making connections with other like-minded families was an important part of homeschooling for our family of four boys. When we first moved to a new state when our oldest was 11 and the youngest was 2, we felt out of place and it took awhile to feel comfortable around others. Fortunately, we joined forces with a local homeschool group which helped a lot, but we still had to make efforts to meet others, and get to know families on an individual basis. It's worth the effort to shake away the shyness, smile, and invite others into your lives.

Although we did this Keepers of the Faith program within our own family when the boys were younger, just a few years ago we used this excellent program while meeting every two weeks with a number of families we knew from our local homeschool group. We called ourselves the Keepers Club. This is a Christian based program that taught our children many practical skills not normally learned in an academic setting. It was a fabulous, fun year of learning all sorts of things! There were delightful hands-on activities, creative crafts, and interwoven field trips, and interesting things to learn and people to meet. 

Who can catch the most crawdads at the lake?

Within the program our children worked toward completing requirements for a specific study as outlined in the purchased program books (Contenders for the Faith for boys and Keepers at Home for girls), but our club combined the whole family together and we selected topics of interest to all. The category selection is huge—from home skills and caring for animals, to creative arts, hobbies, recreation, and academics too. We always customized and added to the standard requirements. The children earned colorful insignia pins (badges) that could be used in a variety of ways. For this particular group we also offered an alternative—a certificate of completion.



Badges Earned that Year:
Hiking
Knots
Birds
First Aid
Scrapbooking

Many of you take part in a co-op and I've heard marvelous things about some of them. Then I've heard some not so marvelous things. Attempts to set up a large co-op in my community failed, but attempts to combine a limited number of families on a small scale like this worked great! I do think of it like a small co-op where every family participates and adds to the whole.

I shared my love of scrapbooking and several creative paper designs.


Hamming it up after a lesson in first aid bandaging techniques.


Making bird masks added to our bird study.

The Certificate of Completion was an alternative to the insignia pins.


Part of our first aid study included an awesome field trip 
with the Air-Evac Life Team and helicopter.


Here's how you do it! Practicing CPR.


J.J. and Ben stop for a rest on a hike.


J.J. shares his road runner drawing.

The kids loved learning about fire safety and enjoyed a trip to the police station.


It's a boy thing—being handcuffed!

Take time to find out what interests your family, and team up with some homeschooling friends to enjoy a fabulous year!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Today's Contest Winners are . . .

Congratulations! 
 Deanna and Rachell

* Deanna is the winner of the International Geography Quest project pack on CD, and Rachell is the winner of the North America project pack on CD.

*(Deanna, I need you to contact me: katheemarie77 at yahoo dot com)


 A big thank you to all who entered and please visit again!

Happy Homeschooling,
KathyMarie

Tuesday, August 7, 2012

Looking Back: Top 10 Homeschool Projects

Today I am linking up with Many Little Blessings
for Top Ten {Tuesday}

Now that I have graduated the last of four sons, I'm looking back and missing many of those wonderful moments-days-weeks where we enjoyed a close bond while learning about life together with special projects and activities. Off the top of my head, I'm randomly pulling out memories to store and share right here: 

Top 10 homeschool projects to focus on while you forget about everything else!

And that's kind of how it was with most of these particular projects. We allowed creativity to lead us, and rolled a number of subject areas into one. (Most often math was left out, but we did happen to do some math related projects too, though none made it into this particular list). I'll provide you with a short commentary here, but look to the future for lengthier posts on some of these:

1. In-house mailboxes - They were made out of cereal and oatmeal boxes, decorated and placed in various places in our house. All four boys had one as well as Mom and Dad, and we wrote notes and shared surprises with one other. It was an encouraging lark for a season of our lives when the guys were smaller.

2. Real book and story making - While reading a book (biographies are great), jot down notes on the important aspects after the reading of each chapter, then rewrite the story in your own words. On several occasions the boys also wrote stories of their own and made real handmade hardbound books. (Creating Books with Children was one of the resources we used.)

3. Published our own newsletter: The Homeschool Gazette lasted for six years. You can read about it in another post here. Wonderful experience all the way around!

4. Anonymous quote-card writing ministry - Most often we sent cards to friends or folks we wanted to encourage at church. The boys would discover a favorite quote or Scripture they liked and write it in their best hand writing and send it out in the mail. It was fun!

A homeschooling friend practices the Heimlich Maneuver 
as part of our first-aid study

5. Keeper's Club was the name of our homeschool group based on the Keepers of the Faith clubs. We actually participated with just our own family years before we joined forces with families from our local homeschool group. I think it was the best homeschool year we had. We customized studies from: knots, birds, first aid, hiking, and scrapbooking! It was a WOW year!

6. Science Fair projects were few and far between but I wouldn't trade those experiences for anything. We'd take off school entirely for a month and just work on projects! Highly recommended!

7.  A goals list is a handy thing to have. Make a creative list of all the things you would like to do someday (goals), and then start doing them, crossing off one at a time. You can write a supplementary list of goals to work on immediately and then list how you will go
about meeting those goals. Included are short and long term goals.

One of J.J.'s lovely bird photos in his collection

8. Do a nature-study project. I think most families already do this to some degree—it just comes naturally. Keep a nature journal including photos and drawings and/or start a blog. The year we studied birds with the Keeper's Club, my son spent the winter and spring photographing birds and making a photo/journal. But, there were really a lot of different projects with nature study that went on over the years.

9. Make your own Monopoly Board Game! The boys had the best time making this and coming up with the names and card sayings. You can read about the Monopoly Make-over here.


10. Memorizing Psalm 91.We did it—we memorized the whole (KJV) thing! Mom too. Making time for memorization and studying God's Word is the best project around. I know a family that memorizes whole books of the Bible. Go for it.


He that dwelleth in the secret place of the most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, He is my refuge and my fortress: 
my God; in him will I trust.

Sunday, August 5, 2012

Our Contest Winner for God & Christian Artists is . . .

Ambre, you are our winner!  

My thanks to all of you who visited and participated in the Curriculum Clean-OUT here at Living & Learning @ Home!

Ambre, I hope you and your family enjoy the book.

Happy Homeschooling,
KathyMarie

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Curriculum Clean-OUT: 2 ITHOAC Geography Unit Pack CDs

This contest in now closed.

Congratulations to our winners:
Deanna and Rachell

Homeschool Book Give-away! You could win!

In the Hands of a Child . . . 
International Geography Quest on CD and North America on CD


There's a Curriculum Clean-OUT going on over at Homeschool Creations and I'm offering these two wonderful products in addition to the God & Christian Artists book that could be yours. 
Do you love the idea of notebooking? Or lapbooking? Unit studies have been one of our favorite ways to learn over the years and while we kind of missed the lapbooking craze when it first came out, we've been avid scrap-bookers and book-makers never-the-less. These hands-on, creative unit packs really make learning fun. So, let me suggest that you give these a try and others from . . .
In the Hands of a Child . . .

International Geography Quest on CD:
Learn about the science of Geography in a unique and interesting hands-on way! This CD is jam-packed with information and activities! Includes a 12-day Planning Guide, Related Reading List, 22 Hands-On Activities, 19-page Research Guide, and Answer Key PLUS- Use the 21 additional Hands-On Activities to complete a study on any country.



North America on CD:
With this thematic unit study  pack you will teach your kids (3rd grade and up) about the continent of North America. This pack includes a 14-day Planning Guide, Related Reading List, 23 Hands-On Activities, a 24-page Research Guide, and Answer Key about North American people, geography, climate, economy, wildlife, countries, and more! 

We'll choose two winners—one for each of the unit pack CDs mentioned above.

To enter: Please leave a comment below telling me where in the world you'd love to take your kids on a field trip, or tell me about the best field trip you've ever been on! You'll get a bonus entry if you decide to follow my blog by becoming a member. You don't have to, just let me know that you did. We'll pick a winner at random on Wednesday afternoon 3PM, August 8th. Please make sure in your comment that I have a way to contact you if you win. (Ships free media mail to mainland U.S.)

You'll want to go to their blog to find the other fabulous giveaways posted. It won't cost you a nickel if you win!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Curriculum Clean-OUT: Win God & Christian Artists

This contest is now closed.

Congratulations to our winner: Ambre

Homeschool Book Give-away!

Anyone who knows me, also knows how much I have loved being a homeschooling Mom to my (now graduated) four sons. I learned along side them and learned from them. What a great blessing learning at home is!

At this stage, I have a lot of books and curriculum that need to find a  new home. I reluctantly sold a few larger items on Ebay (my beloved books, my steady friends!) and set lower prices to move some books at a local used book sale. Then I saw this neat blog hop Curriculum Clean-OUT going on over at Homeschool Creations and thought I'd join in. When you get done here head over to check out the other giveaways posted. There are some interesting items and it won't cost a nickel if you win!

Have you decided what to use for art this year? Let me suggest . . .
 
God & Christian Artists
How Great Thou Art Series by Barry Stebbing

 Win this book!

What a neat art exploration/art history book! This text provides a 69-lesson, one-year art course. Drawing and color theory are covered while exploring artistic periods and artists—Rembrandt, Fra Angelico, Millet, and others—who have used their talents to glorify God. Ages 8 to 13. 102 reproducible pages, spiralbound softcover.

To enter: please leave a comment below telling me what you love most about art, or a funny incident that happened in your homeschool! You'll get a bonus entry if you decide to join my blog by becoming a member. You don't have to, just let me know that you did. We'll pick a winner at random on Sunday, August 5th. Please make sure in your comment that I have a way to contact you if you win. (Ships free media mail to mainland U.S.)

Enjoy these great homeschooling years with your family—they end too quickly.
—KathyMarie