Circling Through This Life

**Disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links. Thank you for your support!** Before I can make lesson plans or create assignment sheets I must know what we are actually studying. My two favorite planners for planning our courses is the Course of Study page from the TOS Schoolhouse Digital Planner . Did you know that if you purchase a membership to SchoolhouseTeachers.com you get access to all of the TOS Digital Planners ? I know I digress but tomorrow I’ll be talking more about the different planners available from The Old Schoolhouse . Yes, it’s a digital planner but what does that mean?  It means that it is a PDF. It is not software like Homeschool Tracker Plus or Homeschool Tracker Online. But the TOS Planners can be printed out or you can just type right into the planner. You can use the SAVE AS to create a planner for each of your children. When I first start to plan the courses I print out a copy for each of my students. This is like a scratch copy or rough draft. I ...

I am a planner.  I mean I like to have things planned out. I don’t have to be locked into the plans and the plans frequently change but I need to have structure. I need to have a frame or map to get me started.  As part of the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop I am doing a series of posts about planning.  What do I plan before we head Back to Homeschool: planning the calendar , planning our course of study , and using both paper and digital planners . When the girls were very small I didn’t stress too much about calendars. We have have always leaned more towards a year-round approach taking time off as needed. We would just start the next math book or the next level of whatever subject when we finished the first one. I did take the time to put in specific breaks such as federal holidays that Honeybear is off and scheduled breaks at Thanksgiving, Christmas and Easter.  Our first day of School would be in late August or early September and we would aim to be finished by Me...

My friend Karen from Tots and Me is celebrating her Blogiversary! She is offering fellow bloggers the opportunity to join with her in a Blogiversary Celebration Giveaway! What a neat idea and great timing with Back To School! Do you have a blog?  Do you homeschool?  Do you blog about homeshooling?  Maybe you would like to join in the celebration?     Back to School/5 Year Blogiversary Celebration Organized by Karen @ Tots and Me     There will be 1 Winner. Prize Package is valued at approximately $340 (there may still be some additions).   You can see the full list of prizes here .   Signups Close August 14th, 2014 Giveaway Dates: August 17th-31st Open to US residents   You will get a free Facebook link for participating. You must post the giveaway on August 17th and promote 3 times a week. You can opt to get your choice of second link (Twitter or Pinterest) for posting the announcement post on your blog.   Co-...

I’m participating in the Back to Homeschool Blog Hop next week. Join me each day as I write about planning and planners, sharing some of my favorite products and discussing 1st Day of School Traditions! Check out the products we’re giving away.  I’ve used many of these in my homeschool so feel free to post a question on my Facebook page , leave a question in the comments or just shoot me an email. I’d be happy to share my experience!   Several members of the Schoolhouse Review Crew have joined forces during our August Back to Homeschool Blog Hop to bring you these incredible giveaways, totaling more than $1300 in homeschool curriculum and PayPal cash!    Grand Prize Giveaway In the Grand Prize  Giveaway , someone will win $765 in curriculum , plus $150 in PayPal cash to help you finish up your homeschool shopping! You could win all of the following. Please click on the prize links to learn more about each product.  From Home School Adventure Co . -- ...

I know today is already seven days into August.  (Say what??!!!  August?  No. No. No. I do not want summer to end. We’ve had some hot days but not so hot that I wish them away!)  Ahem where was I? Oh yes seven days in to August but it’s not too late! For what?  To join in on this really neat decluttering challenge that my friend issued. Bethany is a minimalist already. This is is just one more great character quality that I admire about her.  She’s laid back, generous, has a great attitude when faced  with those bitter lemons of life, and on top of it all doesn’t allow things to take over her life. I could learn a lot from her.  Hey wait.  I’m supposed to the be the older woman. Oh well.  Anyway Bethany posted about the Minimalist Game on her blog, The Land of Curly Hair . I decided to join her. So What Is It? How Does It Work? So there is this blog called The Minimalists and they encourage people to play the Minimalist Game . I t...

It never really occurred to me to attempt teaching a humanities type of course to my girls. Art Appreciation? Yes.  Ancient History? Yes, we covered that.  Something about the culture of ancient peoples? Well, kind of.  But a full integrated humanities curriculum that ties together history, theology, philosophy, poetry, and art ? I wasn’t even aware that such a thing existed for high school, let alone home schooling high school! Roman Roads Media has a full year video course program that does just that: Old Western Culture: The Greeks . When I first saw Roman Roads Media listed as an upcoming vendor, I confess I wasn’t all that excited. I consider myself more of an eclectic home schooler and I shy away from a pure classical approach. The idea of spending a full year studying the Greeks did not appeal to me. When it came time to provide my interest level, I showed the website to Turtlegirl and she got excited. She loves history. She loves literature. She loves studying...

I’ve decided to combine the Random Five on Friday meme with the ABC Blogging meme.  I came up with Five Not So Random N Things. 1.  Nativity Fast ~  In the Western Church the four weeks before December 25 are known as Advent.  In the Eastern Church the 40 days before December 25 are called the Nativity Fast.  December 25th is The Feast of the Nativity of our Lord and Savior.  Yes, we all still refer to it as Christmas but I love that it is known as the Nativity. For me that helps keep a religious focus.  The fast is to prepare ourselves for the great feast.  2. St. N icholas ~ When thinking about Christmas it is hard to not think about Santa Claus. Santa means saint and Claus is short for Nicholas. Santa Claus but the American Legend of Santa Claus has very little resemblance to the very real man (whose life is shrouded in legend) who is known as St. Nicholas .  He was a Bishop of Myra.  His feast day is celebrated December 8th but h...