family time
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Time to Read (24 hours of it)
What’s a 24 hour read a thon? It’s exactly what it sounds like. 24 hours of reading, for fun and relaxation and retreat. In years past our family celebrated Valentine’s Day by having a candlelit dinner at our local Chick-Fil-A. When the tradition fizzled we scoured for something unique to replace it. We stumbled upon the 24 hour read a thon and are just about to start our 2nd round. Here’s how we do it. On Friday night, at 9 pm, all electronic distractions are shut off. Armed with amazing snacks and lots of coffee, we collect our new bookventures and dive in. Mom has her huge pile of prospective…
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Restructuring the Ruins
You didn’t see it coming. Life crept up behind you and hijacked your homeschool plans. You have no choice… the curriculum, the routine, the hard-won easy flow of the day… SPLAT! It’s gone and you have to start from scratch. After you’ve prayed what do you do next? First, comfort your children. Even if the change is the very thing your kids have been routing for all semester, the pressure that comes with the rubble is not. Don’t convince yourself you’re the only one affected. Your children feel the stress and if it’s not handled gently they can fling it back at you. It doesn’t matter whether or not the…
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Family Game Time
Christmas is coming. That means gifts and for our family that means GAMES!!! We love family game time. During Christmas break, you can find us playing video games, board games, and card games. The kids will often set up a card table and get a game board ready for when Dad gets home. We love love love games. Here’s a few of our favorites: The teenage boy likes: Killer Bunnies, Catan, and Machi Koro. Each game involves strategy mixed with game time whimsy. Each also has an element of dumb luck within its structure. Killer Bunnies: you can collect nearly all the magic carrots and still lose because you didn’t…
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Holiday Game School
Does Christmas break have you worried about brain drain and video game stupor of your homeschool students? How can one homeschool and break at the same time? Let me introduce you to Game-Schooling. Christmas break offers solace for students. This midyear recharge comes at a much needed time. The first semester is wrapped up, for better or worse, and the second is yet to peek around the corner. However, for students in higher grades, the break often is accompanied by homework and projects. With groans and grunts and remembrances of past years and the freedom, December used to offer students and parent/teachers often plug away and ignore the needling necessity of rest.…
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Family Service
As a Christian Homeschooler my goal, for my children, has never been intellectual greatness. Sure, there are times I get wrapped up in the right now and push my kiddos harder than I should. There are days I get too focused on checking off boxes, mastering Latin, being the best debater or writer, and keeping up with the other schoolers. It makes me look and feel good when people mention how smart my kids are and how much they know. This mama can morph into a pride-fueled puffer fish, in an instant. But she can also jab and poke at her students like no one else. However, it doesn’t take…
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Our Classically Mason Day
Let me say first off if you haven’t yet read the post Classically Charlotte Mason you may be a bit lost. Second, I’ll add, we don’t have a true schedule. What follows is our routine. Subjects shift in order from day to day and their instruction times flex as needed. The schedule below is using our Jr. High curriculum. This is just our basic every ordinary homeschool day. I hope it encourages you to make your family homeschool your own. Bible and Reasoning We try to do this in the evenings as a family and so it doesn’t’ feel like actual “school work” even though it is. It takes about 15 minutes…
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Classically Charlotte Mason
Our family homeschools. For the last few years, we’ve also belonged to a community of homeschoolers who educate using a classical approach. We love our community. We love the conversations. We love our curriculum. What we don’t love, so much, is the unrelenting workload. Teachers, aka Parents, are encouraged to scale back the lesson plans to meet the needs of their individual children. We’ve done that with great success. Even though some of our community’s celebration seems solely focused on perfection, our family makes a deliberate choice to hone in on progress. This is no easy task when everyone (at least it feels like everyone) but your family goes home with a…
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Family Read-A-Thon
What’s a Read-a-Thon? Sick and tired of television and Kindle addiction? I was! My family seemed sewn to their magic boxes of flashing lights. I, also, succumbed to the siren call of the screen. The comfort of the couch, the ease of switching off and tuning in to a storyline or game that always ends with a pleasant theme song and usually a burst of laughter. I get drained. Vampire style. But shutting down to turn on the TV was leaving me and my family hollow and a bit harried. We snapped and snarled at minor interruptions. Glares of angst and bitterness were hurled at a hug needing child or parent. …
