Favorite things we are using for our 2017-2018 Homeschool Year

It's that time of year... Back to School! My little family and I really loved our time off this summer and had lots of fun. BUT I gotta say, I love back to school. Setting up our classroom, picking out what curriculum and projects we'll be doing is something I have a lot of fun planning!

I'm only on year 2 of homeschooling so I have a lot to learn still but I have found youtube channels, fellowship with other homeschool Mom's, podcasts, pinterest, etc SO helpful as I figure out what works best for us. So, I thought it would be helpful (hopefully) for someone else if I shared some of what we are using this year!

Most of what I will be showing is what I'm using with my 1st Grader. I will write another blog in the future about what we use for Pre K. 

Quick Tour of the Classroom! 

This room is very multi-purpose. It's our classroom, our office, I workout in here and in the winter we use the wood burning fireplace in here to warm up the cabin.

*The Adverbs, Verbs, Coutning and ABC posters are all from the Dollar Tree. Changeable weather/calendar and camping themed wall decorations from amazon. Table and Chairs from Walmat)

*Map of the U.S. from Target $5 bin, Globe, plastic bins are from Dollar Tree. Cubbies we bought from amazon last year and already had the furniture and white board.

*I found a free template for these labels for the cubbies online and typed in what I wanted each to be. Printed and laminated them. Practice clock is from amazon, wooden puzzles we've slowly collected from various stores. Carskey and Lil' both have their own cubby with their pencil box, bible and school workbooks they are using for the year. They take out what they need and put it back at the end of the school day.

*We hang art projects on the clips throughout the year, filing system has a folder for each of them labeled Mon-Fri. Each Sunday I put what work they are doing in each folder for the week and each day that we complete we put to the back of the folder so I can see where we are at. 

*My school planner where I keep our course of study, and fill out our curriculum plan for each week. I made each kid a "daily learning notebook" that I had gotten the idea from one of my favorite youtubers A Place to Nest that you can view her version HERE. For my first grader it has his name, address, phone number practice, days of the week/months puzzles, daily calendar, and other activities. For my Preschooler it has her name practice, day of the week wheel, puzzles, and alphabet/number tracing practice. Everything is in a clear plastic insert so they can use dry eraser, erase and begin again the next day.

* Our theme this year is adventure/outdoors so I found a cute little graphic online I printed up, colored and laminated on our class sign. The kids each had one too that they colored and put on the cover of their daily learning notebooks.

Favorite Curriculum/Other Items we are using this year!

* Our main curriculum we are using this year is the Horizons 1st Grade. It comes with Phonics/Reading, Math, Spelling/Vocabulary, Health and Penmanship. Carskey was an early reader and I wanted to find something that would challenge him a bit more in that aspect. After a LOT of research on different types of curriculum this was the one I felt was the right fit for us this year. It also has wonderful penmanship curriculum which is something Carskey could use a slower pace on/patience which was perfect. You can view the curriculum HERE.

*I found these on amazon and thought they were so FUN! My 1st grader is a BIG Minecraft fan and who wouldn't want to do Math or Color in Minecraft form? LOL These are unofficial and were a really good price on Amazon!

*More Math and Science we are using this year. Carskey got the microscop and weather science kit for his birthday and they will both fit in perfect for our school year. Rock crystal kits from dollar tree. Money Counting activity, food group sorting boxes from Oriental Trading, Flash cards are a 1st grade pack by playskool I got on amazon, math cubes from amazon and time puzzle from dollar bin at Target.

* A few of our Geography/Phonics goodies for the year! Word Tiles from amazon, Crinkle world map from Target $5 bin. We have fun with that one. We crinkle it up and toss it  back and forth and find contents and oceans on it. Puzzles from dollar bin at Target. Contractions peanuts puzzle and common/proper noun grammar buckets are from Oriental Trading Co. I just found that magnetic U.S.A puzzle at a specialty toy store in Julian this past weekend while camping. I was really excited about that!

Closer look at my recent Oriental Trading Co haul. I got all of this for under $30!

*Our Outdoor/Explore bin is slowly growing! We like to go on nature walks and are starting a nature journal as part of school time this year. They also keep their garden gloves and some of their tools in there for when they help me outside.

*This is one of my all time favorite Dollar Tree finds. I love getting school supplies there. After watching one of my favorite homeschool youtubers last year share about this dry erase foam dice, I've been on the hunt ever since. A few weeks ago I FOUND IT at my local Dollar Tree (insert cheers here). 

Today we used it for the first time practicing ordinal vs. cardinal numbers and the kids loved it. Carson got his practice in and Lily had fun rolling the dice and shouting out the answer after Carson would.

Some of the Online/Printable Resources we are using:

From TeachersPayTeachers.com (Links attached)

Social Studies Interactive Notebook K-2  👧🏼

Nature Journal

5 Senses Poster Set - free

Science Interactive Journal - Weather and Water Unit - free

Geography Interactive Notebook 1st Grade - free

Local Communities People and Enivorment Notebook - free

Other:

ABCMouse.com

AdventureBible.com - free

(we use this for games and a free yearly reading plan for the Bible my 1st grader has.)

Kids of Intergrity - free

TypingClub.com - free

Confessions of a Homeschooler – some free

(curriculum, schedules, advise. So much amazing content.)

Public Library -  

I utilize our public Library A LOT. I order specific books from the library online weeks in advance for upcoming units so I don’t have to buy as many books. Also the public library will allow you to open up a homeschooling library card separate from your regular one. The homeschool card lets you check the books out for double the time as the regular card.

Are you still there? That was a big post! Sorry about that! I hope you found this helpful. If you have any questions or just want to say come find me on my facebook page and send me a message! 

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DIY Simple Home Remedy Recipes

Natural Home Remedy Recipes:

For your Garden:

DIY Natural Garden Bug Spray Recipe

For your Home:

Stress Away Bath Scrub Recipe

More is on it's way!!!

In the mean time you can reach out to me here if you're eager for more info!

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DIY Recipe: Stress Away Epsom Salt Scrub

Oh how I love a new fun scrub to use! Not only do they smell amazing and are all natural. I love that I know what ingredients are going in to it, that it's eco friendly going back into the ground here at our homestead AND it relaxes me. 

Win win right?

Even better is when it's SO easy to make!

Ingredients:

2 Cups Coconut Oil

1 Cup Epsom Salt

20-30 drops of Essential Oil blend called "Stress Away" 

(20 -30 drops based on your preference)

*Mix it it all together in a large bowl and then store it in glass mason jars. I got these in the dollar section at Target. Love them! 

Tip: Once you've used up all the scrub just wash and re use the jars! 

Saves money and is re purposing :)

So why do I love Stress Away essential oil blend so much? Let me count the ways!

Long story short, I have anxiety while driving and was diagnosed with PTSD a year ago after an accident. I put stress away on behind my ears EVERY TIME I get in a car whether I'm driving or not and it has helped me so much. 

Also just as a Mama who homeschools and spends 90% of her time on our homestead with animals, lots of chores and responsibilities I really do love my small window I get each day to relax and take a "time out." So having things like this on hand (the espom salt scrub) is something that I enjoy having. 

Speaking of homestead with animals, we've had an influx in babies these past 2 weeks! All 4 of our female goats had TWINS within 8 days of each other. Yep you read that right.

Want to see some of the cuteness?

(Brand New, jut born a few minute prior to this picture)

My daughter snuggling one of the new goats. She told me she wishes they always stay this small.

I hear you Lily girl... I hear you. I sometimes wish you could stay this small too.

Oh you know, just a baby goat, in a diaper, on my lap, in my house. :swoons:

Meet Petra (the one Carson is holding), and Muffin (the one Lily is holding). Both are now officially animals of R&M Ranch. They will learn to take care of them and will be there new pets. Carson will be starting 4H in the fall and he's so excited!

So to sum it up, using an all natural scrub like this reduces my anxiety, helps heal my sore muscles from my workouts and life on a ranch, and it makes me smell good instead of .. well like a goat LOL.

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Our First Snow.

When we moved to our new homestead in the middle of April we started talking about our first snow. What would it be like? Will we get a lot of snow? These are questions of this born and raised sunny San Diego family, who moved up to the mountains where there are seasons. 

And when it was crazy hot this summer, we'd often bring up what we wondered winter would be like and the excitement of snow. 

A few days before Christmas weekend the weather report said we would be getting snow! What? A white Christmas? The kids had been praying for our first snow and I was getting my hopes high for it.  Poor Lily woke up super sick the day before Christmas Eve. High fever, horrible cough, bad aches and you could just tell our very busy high spirited toddler was not feeling well. It lasted for about 5 days (through Christmas) but thankfully she is better now with just a lingering cough.

It was 4:30 am on Christmas eve morning and my husband woke me up, "Jenny, it's snowing outside!" I jumped out of bed, and he shined the flash light out on the porch...

SNOW!!

I went up stairs and gently whispered to Carson, "Buddy, it's snowing outside. Come see!" He sleepily got up, came down stairs and looked out the window.

His eyes opened up wide "WHOA MOM IT'S SNOWING!" he said with a big smile on his face. 

I can still see the look of wonder on their sweet little faces. It's something I hope to remember all my life. 

Yep I went out there in my jammies to snap chat. Because, why not? haha

Poor Lily girl was super sick with a fever bad cough and all that not so fun stuff that  comes with it. But we couldn't tell her she couldn't experience her first snow! So we let her go out with us for about 10 minutes and bundled her up like Ralphie's brother in the Christmas Story.

I wish I was better at expressing in words how amazing it was. But it was such an awesome experience. 

Our first white Christmas. 

The entire ranch and mountains were covered in snow. 

It was so quiet. I've heard people say snow makes everything seem so still, so quiet. It's true. It was like being in the middle of a snow globe!

It also happened to be our dogs Bear and Lilo's first snow too.. One was happier than the other. Can you guess which one liked it and which one didn't? (warning, this may be tough one to answer)

Bear?

Or Lilo?

You most likely guessed it right... and let me tell you she LOVED it. She would have stayed out there all day if we had let her.

Carson taking a break from throwing snow balls at Grandma and Grandpa.

My snow angels.

Carson's favorite part was throwing snow balls at us.

This is the first year ever I didn't send out Christmas cards. I wanted too, but it just didn't happen. If I would send one now, this would be the pictures I'd use. No make up, bundled up, sick, sleep deprived but oh so very happy. Christmas eve on our Ranch with our first snow. 

Thank you Jesus!

This first year on our homestead has been harder than I imaged it would be.  We're stronger for it though and have bonded as a family more than ever. Waking up to a white Christmas eve, a warm fire, a sparkle in my kids eyes as they looked out in wonder and getting to take it all in with my best friend/hubby with a cup of coffee in hand. Priceless. We are so humbled and thankful for our Savior  who had this plan for us all along. God is good!

Merry belated Christmas and Happy New Year, friends! Thank you for reading this, and for all our family and friends that have encouraged us and supported us on this journey. I plan to update more frequently  on here about our homestead, how it's growing and more about our home school journey as well. 

Have a blessed day,

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