Indoor Amusement

We surprised our boys last weekend with tickets to the Indoor Amusement Park at the I-X Center here in Cleveland. My husband had scored the tickets for free, but the regular price of around $20 each isn’t too bad considering all of the rides you can ride for that. We’ve taken the kids to many fairs over the years, but always end up spending a small fortune on those stupid tickets or bracelets you always have to buy to ride the rides.

Anyway.

On Sunday afternoon we told the boys we had a surprise for them, then piled into the van and headed for the I-X Center. Even though we showed them pictures on the website, they still weren’t exactly sure what to expect. Especially since the last time we’d been to the I-X Center it was full of Legos.   Obviously, we had to make it clear that that would NOT be the case this time. Continue reading

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Spontaneous Homeschool Project

I don’t know about you, but we’ve been outside savoring the beautiful weather here all week. We’ve been enjoying daily walks/bike rides and spending time out in the backyard after dinner. This means I’ve neglected housework and other indoor projects, of course, but can you blame me? And it’s not like the mountain of laundry is really going anywhere. I’m confident it will still be there when the cold and rain return and we’re forced indoors.

I wanted to mention a spontaneous project that my oldest (he’s ten) spent last weekend working on. Partly because I just want to brag about him and partly because there are probably some of you out there with kids who will find it interesting.  Every Friday we go to a gym class in the morning and by the time we get home, have lunch, feed the baby, etc… we’re all pretty worn out for the week. It’s always a gamble as to whether or not any actual school work gets done in the afternoon on these days – sometimes yes, sometimes no.

Well, last Friday my son went down into the basement full of legos, as usual, and surfaced a while later declaring that he was going to make a lego movie. He recently got an iPod Touch for his tenth birthday and wanted to use the time-lapse app to make a stop motion video using legos. Sounded like a great idea to me! Assuming he didn’t need me to help, of course.

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Teaching Textbooks – The Math Program That Saved My Sanity

Obviously my sanity is still in question on a daily basis – I am a homeschooling mom, after all. And sometimes nothing drives me more crazy than the neverending curriculum choices. So when I finally found a math program that didn’t make everyone want to tear their hair out, I rejoiced (cue the “Hallelujah Chorus”). I know many of you also struggle with the various choices for math curriculum available, which is why I thought I’d share our experience with Teaching Textbooks.

My oldest was maybe a quarter of the way into his third grade math book (Seton Math 3) when he hit a brick wall. It wasn’t really that sudden, actually – he had been growing increasingly frustrated with doing his math work for a couple months or so. And it wasn’t long before “I hate math” turned into “I hate school” and every day involved much wailing and gnashing of teeth (he can be a bit dramatic at times). Of course I knew that deep down he didn’t really HATE math and he didn’t really HATE school – it was just that the math program we were using wasn’t working for us and we needed to find a better fit. Continue reading

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Filed under Curriculum

AppSmitten or Help Finding the Best Apps

I have something very cool to share with you today.  I think it’s something you’ll find really useful.  At least I hope you will.

In this age of smartphones, tablets and e-readers, you’ve probably thought about how you can integrate this technology into your homeschooling lifestyle. One obvious and popular way is through the use of apps. There really is an app for pretty much everything at this point and new ones being created all the time.  But how do you sort through them all and figure out which apps would be a good fit for your needs and your device? Continue reading

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