Positive Letters

Hello, I wanted to introduce you to one of our friend's, Hilary. We met her at an event last year and she was so very nice. She has a wonderful blog called Positive Letters, it's full of great stories and information. She reminds us that in life each and every event is an opportunity to learn something new and we can do it all year, every year, any day!

Take a look!

Christmas is coming, the geese are getting fat ...Christmas through the ages ....

We wish you all a Happy Christmas!

The Media Destroys Kids And The Parents Let It Happen!

What The Kids Are Watching!

    This is a continuation of my last post I felt I needed to address this as it does go with what I said before, thanks to the posters of my last post who reminded me of this issue!

You sit down grab the remote and you start flipping the channels, you just have to see what is on. After a few min of channel surfing you see sex of every sort, violence of every sort, foul language, and the like! I am not even just talking about programming said to be for adults only! and what is that these days  triple X ?

Apparently the media thinks if there isn't full nudity then it is children's programming!

Now when I say children I mean people up to the age of legal adulthood but really the things that I have seen from regular channel surfing in my opinion doesn't need to be viewed by human beings, period! Now I know I am conservative but for good reason, many kids are disrespectful to each other and their parents, they use foul language, dress inappropriately, and view sex and drugs as something cool to do for fun! Oral sex in school bathrooms as well as doing lines on the classroom desk, this is the norm for many kids!

I know this is not every kid and I hope not most kids but you can agree it is a big problem.

I see first hand when I am out with the kids the affect of this media programming. I have also seen it personally with my self as I have gone threw my life up to writing this post. I do not care to get into detail about my childhood but I will mention a few things.

Lets just say by the time I knew what sex was I was exposed to it over and over again from many different media sources, not good, it affected the choices I made and the way I viewed woman and men for that matter. I was friends with the kids who did drugs at school as well as doing lines in English class, many of my friends by Jr high were sexually active and the parents knew about much of it, Ok enough said.
 
Even cartoons which are designed for young children are not any better considering the ages they cater to, for example many of the popular cartoons for kids have words like stupid, shut up, idiot and moron. I have even heard Squidword from Spongebob say "would someone kill me". This is in many popular kids shows and not just Spongebob.

Now likewise there are also some great programming for kids like PBS kids and Disney channel is good only  in the morning and early afternoon hours. Later in the day you have the "teen shows" were you will see kissing, dating, back talk, as well as disobedience to adults and parents.

These shows which are said to be for kids are raising these kids and indoctrinating them with this bad behavior! If you the parent allow it to.

"Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not turn form it"
Prov 22:6

You can't blame school to much since the kids are watching the media at home! But obviously considering the things I mentioned that are going on in schools and the lack of supervision on the part of the schools as well as parents are to blame.

Parents in my opinion need to get rid of the cable, pay attention to what the kids are watching and control what they are exposed to! I am not saying shelter your children, only allow information to be fed to them in an age appropriate way and only when children are ready for certain information.

If kids are going to school the parents need to know what is going on and were! Parents need to be actively involved with school officials to guarantee the safest and most educational environment possible!

I know I am guilty of letting my kids watch some things I shouldn't, like Spongebob, I am also guilty of watching some of it myself, but I will also say that I have always been more conservative with it then many parents that I have encountered.

We had cable early on and we did enjoy cartoons and such, but I learned early on to use the parental controls but honestly that wasn't even enough. We got rid of the cable completely then we moved in with my brother in law who had cable in the house, once again I gave in a little but limited what we watched. Now thank God we have no cable and will never have it again!

I know that you already know this and I do not wish to insult your intelligence, I only want to remind you about the dangers of media viewing. We prefer to go to the library and get good books and educational movies provided to us for free from our local library, media viewing is just not necessary and in fact can be damaging to our true self!

Supervise your kids no matter how much of your time and money it requires, in fact cable can cost 30, 40 even 80-100 dollars for many families and you can use that money each month to attend a play and or visit a museum with your family! You can even go to the movies instead just choose what you see carefully.

Thanks for reading please comment if you have anything to add it is greatly appreciated!
To Your Families Health and Happiness!

Here is my last post if you haven't read it note the comments really add to it!

Free Pre School Sites

Awesome Site For Pre Schoolers, It Is Fun Learning With Games!

Hello I just wanted to share with you about this great site for pre schoolers called kneebouncers. This is the kind of thing pre schoolers love and they will learn so much, we checked it out and I was happy to see it was very easy for my pre schooler this site has one key controls so all the pre schooler has to do is hit one key and they can easy play on this site, without using the mouse!

Also check out starfall for pre schooler needs, star fall also educates elementary grads as well.
Star Fall is a phonics learning site and they make it super easy for kids to learn how to read!

Happy Thanksgiving Week!

Please comment tell us what you think about the sites!

Mike Huckabee, Chuck Norris & Michael Farris: The Government Wants To Raise Your Children

Chuck Norris On Obama Care Dirty Secrets!

You can read the article by Chuck Norris reffered to in the video titled:

Dirty secret No. 1 in Obamacare

Other articles by Chuck at World Net Daily

Home Schooling Requirements

Home School Law

It is important to satisfy the home school laws in your state and meet the home school requirements. Learn home school laws and requirements in your state, testing and record keeping requirements.

Read my other posts about home school laws laws home school

About.com: Homeschooling

CHESS

Do you play chess?

I never did until my son at three wanted to play. So we learned how and by the time he was four he really had the hang of it, he still needed practice of course so we played when we felt like it. I was surprised he learnt it so fast! I always thought it was hard to learn but to my surprise it is a very easy game.

I would like to get him into a chess club for his age, but I have not found one in the area yet.

The Christmas before last we got him a really cool chess set, I wanted to share it with you I think it is really cool!





I like chess for kids because it teaches so many important lessons like, critical thinking, thinking ahead, making decisions and consequence. Knowing what to do when to do it as well as learning from the opponents move knowing how their actions will affect you.

All of these lessons can be applied in the game of chess as well as in real life!
We need to play more for sure, have you ever considered chess as fun tool for life lessons?

Do you play chess with your kids too?

It is never to late to learn and from my experience it is easy and I feel most kids at four and five can easily learn the game with just a few lessons..

Thanks for reading I wish you all well and the best of success!

From Joanne

Home School Resource

Hello I hope all is well!

I found this great site for charts, I just printed out the student roster.
I have been having some trouble staying on top of our school work and staying organized so we are doing something a little different.

Teacher Vision lesson plans, printables and more.

You get three free items to print out then you have to get the membership.

I hope to get a paid membership this site looks like a great resource for teachers and home educators.

Thanks!

from Joanne

Character Building

There are two ways to live your life, One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everthing is a miracle.

Albert Einstein (1879-1955)

Stop And See The Miracles Everyday

We work on character building as a part of our home education, I get a binder with the character building curriculum to cover ca standard for character building so I am posting this to talk about that a little and tell you about how I hopefully am building good character and values in my kids. We all got to do our best because when they are grown up we no longer have a vote, and that scares me! We have to do our best at raising them so we can be confident that they will make good choices as adults most of the time!

Character Building Lesson

Don't just stop to smell the roses, stop to see the miracles around you!

My kids and I go for walks, less often then we should, But when we do we like to find miracles, I told my son we should call them miracle walks instead of nature walks anyway we look at flowers, bugs, people, plants and animals and we say there is a miracle and we talk about how everywhere we look we can see miracles. I want my kids to grow up thinking that way and taking the time to stop and see the miracles, take the time to appreciate Gods miracles and all that he has given us. I feel it is so important, we must all make it a point to do this and if you do already great do it more!

On our walk we seen beautiful flowers, plants bugs we even saw a worm in the water, and we were just in our neighborhood taking a walk so you can do this anywhere. If you go to the store make it a point to say look at all of the miracles that are here and start by pointing out with your kids all of the miracles you see!

I can't help but feel like to many people don't even take not even a little time to see the miracles that are all around them. In our society it is legal to kill 3-4,000 of the most precious of Gods miracles daily and many stay silent and do nothing while others are strait out condoning it and people actually put up with it, STAND UP!

With Out Life We Have Nothing!
Remember Life In All That You Do!

Like I teach my kids God is life and anything that has life in it also has God in it!

"What you do unto the least of you, you do unto me"!

I am definitely going to do this more, I hope you can to!

You are a Miracle!

Thanks for reading!

Get To Know Your Community Social Studies Project

        The other day my kids and I went to the store and like always my son picks up one of the free pamphlets provided by the store and I let him take it, when we got home we sat down to do some school work, after we did that we read the pamphlet and actually learned a lot about the grocery store we got it from.

So my home schooling social studies idea is this when you go to the store pick up a free store pamphlet and read it cover to cover when you get home and you and your children will learn something about the stores you shop at and possibly more about the owners of the stores, then have the child do a project relevant to what you learned in the pamphlet drawl a picture right a short story etc get creative with it. This is a great social studies project

The one we read was all about how the store we go to recycles and uses recycled goods as well as how there store brand is a very healthy brand with no artificial stuff in it etc..

What a great opportunity to teach kids about recycling and why it is important to buy recycled goods, then you can do a recycling project in your home etc..

More Social Studies Project K-2 grades..

Chinese New Year Paper Lantern project, grade K

Free Math Curriculum

   For Math we are using the Houghton Mifflin curriculum, the workbook is great and it is full of color and clear images the kids love.

This curriculum is very easy to use and we have the first grade one for the coming up school year.

The kindergarten one we did touched on everything a child need to learn in K and then we supplemented the learning with math blocks, counting cubes, pattern blocks etc you can get these at any school store and the kids love to use them.

And don't forget your kitchen is a great place for math aids. Baking is a great way to teach fractions using measuring cups and spoons and dry beans are always helpful for counting out math problems.

For pre school children teach more and less using cups of juice or water etc just get creative and you will see that math is all around us and every opportunity is a time for learning.

The post below has the link for the HM site were you can learn more about the curriculum choices they have.

Also check the FREE Printable Worksheet site for some great math worksheets.

I also love to go to The Dollar Tree store they have great workbooks and I have gotten many math workbooks there.

Check your local dollar store, Wall Mart, Target stores these are great places for workbooks and cheaper than a school store.

Latin Curriculum Home Schooling

Latin Curriculum resources that I have found.


I will be updating this post as I find new resources to tell you, for those who want to get some language curriculum.


The Latin is not so tough workbooks and more a full on Language curriculum for your home schoolers!

I am getting this one as soon as possible The Latin is not so tough Starter Kit the second starter kit, this one is made for the early learner it has the first 3 workbooks plus answer keys and flash cards and more!

This curriculum looks great and I can't wait to get it, I will be searching the net for revues and see what others think but for now it looks like just what I am looking for!

Greek n Stuff

Talk Now Language Course

For a Christian based Latin Course it was recommended to me the Prima Latina.

Getting Started Home Schooling

Getting Started Home Schooling

Getting Started is easier than you may think, I will go threw some steps this week in this blog that you can take when you are ready to get started. Home Schooling Works all you really need is some information, confidence and believe you are doing the right thing and never look back!

1: What are the home school laws in your state? Find out the laws read about them and find out what home school options you have available to you were you live.

Ask questions get to know other home schooling families, at the park, church, home school organizations, Internet and other sources.

Get the Facts Make up your mind if this is something you want to do for sure then just do it, Believe YOU CAN and you are half way there!

Other posts with the same topics:

Home School Options, and home school law

The info I provide is meant to be a guide for you, you still need to do your own research so you can make informed choices for your family.

Thanks For Reading!

My top 10 reasons to home school

Are you homeschooling or want to be maybe you are on the fence about it. 

My top 10 reasons to home school

1. I get to be with my kids all day and watch them grow!

2. I get to be the one who teaches my kids, I get to see there face light up first hand when they have accomplished some new skill!

3. We get to use the world around us as our classroom and my kids get a real life education.

4. My kids will have supervised socialization and we get to meet new people together.

5. My children and I get to choose what we learn and how we learn it!

6. On average by the 8Th grade home schooled kids are 4 years ahead academically then kids in public schools.

7. Homeschooling provides an environment that is focused family.

8. Education is a part of our life, instead of our life being a part of education.

9. We get to travel on days when other kids are in school that means shorter lines at the museums and amusement parks.

10. It just makes good sense!

What is the best advice you can give to someone who is starting out homeschooling or thinking about homeschooling?