Moving Blog

I am moving to a new blog "spot"......homeschoolblogger.com

My new blog address is
http://homeschoolblogger.com/stewarthomeschool/
So click on the link and follow the new blog.

Homeschooling Books

Here is a list of books/websites that I have read, and have found useful in our homeschool decisions.

The How and Why of Home Schooling by Ray E. Ballmann
Charlotte Mason Education by Catherine Levison
A Charlotte Mason Primer by Cindy Rushton
Notebooking! You Can be a Binder Queen! by Cindy Rushton
Homeschooling with a Meek and Quiet Spirit by Teri Maxwell
Managers of Their Chores by Teri Maxwell (This is a good system for younger children)

myjobchart.com is also a great tool to for chores and rewards and it is free.
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine
flylady.net is a great tool for us moms to get on track with all that housework,
and it's free.

The best book that I can recommend if you have already decided to homeschool is The Well Trained Mind by Susan Wise Bauer. This book is a whole curriculum from preschool through high school, and it is based on the classical approach. She also offers several other homeschool books that I have used: Story of the World, First Language Lessons, and Writing With ease.

Maybe this list can can help you.

Homeschool Curriculum Fairs

It's that time of year again. Here is a run down of Homeschool Expos, Fairs, and Conventions in the Southeast.

April 29- May 1    GHEA Curriculum Fair at Georgia International Convention Center (1 mile west of the Atlanta Airport on Camp Creek Parkway.  

Here is the link for vendors    http://www.ghea.org/pages/events/Exhibitors.html   

Here is the link for workshops    http://www.ghea.org/pages/events/Schedule.pdf    

Admission is $60 for the full conference $10 for each child and $30 plus $5 for each child to shop only.  I’ve never been to this one, but my group leader highly recommends it. This Fair would be great for new homeschoolers or people thinking about homeschooling.  On Thursday, April 29, from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m., they offer four FREE Homeschool Success workshops that introduce prospective or beginning homeschoolers to the wonderful world of home education. All four workshops are open to the public.

May 14-15    CHEF of Alabama at Sumatanga Camp and Conference Center.  

Here is the link for vendors     http://www.chefofalabama.org/convention/vendors.html   

On the same link for the vendors there is a link to download the workshop schedule.

May 14-15    MTHEA Curriculum Fair at Tennessee State Fairgrounds in Nashville
Here is the link for the vendors http://www.mthea.org/events/curriculum_fair.php

Here is the link for the workshops  http://www.mthea.org/mtheafiles/2010_fair-workshop-schedule.pdf

I think admission is $25.

May 28    Covenant Christian Academy’s Used Book Sale at The Rock Family Worship Center.

June 12    CSTHEA Homeschool Used Book Sale at Camp Jordan Arena in Chattanooga.  This is the best; it’s huge and very well priced.

July 23-24    CSTHEA Education Expo at Camp Jordan Arena in Chattanooga.  They don’t have their vendors posted, but it is well over 100 vendors. Lots of workshops.

July 30-31 Southeast Homeschool Expo at the Cobb Galleria Center, Marietta (Atlanta). 

Here is the link for their vendors http://www.southeasthomeschoolexpo.com/homeschool-expo/2010-exhibitors If I counted right there is 127 vendors.
Here is the link for their workshops http://www.southeasthomeschoolexpo.com/homeschool-expo/2009workshop-schedule
The cost for admission is $25 for husband and wife. I’m not sure about the admission to the others, but they all usually have one.

New Purpose

Up until a few months ago we were the only family at our church to homeschool. And in the past few months I have been getting more questions from church friends. So in addition to reviews, I am going to try to inform you on how to start homeschooling. So the next several posts will be answering these type of questions. I was going through several ideas last night, and today I got my new Old Schoolhouse Magazine in the mail. They have a great start up guide so I am just going to summarize it and add my own thoughts to it.

• Make sure you and your spouse are on the same page.  Moms definitely need the support of their husbands on those bad days. And there will be bad days. I would not recommend homeschooling unless you are in agreement.
• Research your state's homeschool laws. A good place to start is the Homeschool Legal Defense Association. Just a quick overview for us "Alabamians".....in this state you either have to be a certified teacher or under a cover school/church school. How this works is the church school acts as a private school and the parents are the teachers of their own children. This can work because church and private school teachers do not have to be certified.
• Research different homeschooling styles. There is no right way to homeschool; it's just whatever is right for your child. There are several different styles/methods, here are some:  Charlotte Mason,  Classical,  Delight Directed,  Eclectic,  The Principle Approach,  Traditional Textbooks,  Unit Studies, and  Unschooling. Okay I know that is a lot, but I would recommend looking each one up before you spend lots of money on curriculum. Of course the textbook approach is basically like public schools, except you get to pick the books. Some good choices are: Bob Jones University Press,  Abeka,  Alpha Omega, and  Rod & Staff. This is not a complete list; the options for homeschoolers are abundant.
• Find Support. This is usually covered in the cover school you choose, so you'll want to consider the support system when choosing a covering. Christian Home Education Fellowship of Alabama is a good place to start. It has a listing of cover schools in Alabama along with a lot of other helpful information.
• Gather Resources: Subscribe to magazine and find books and websites on homeschooling. You need to be well informed before you make the final decision to homeschool. 

Spring is in the Air.....

The weather is beautiful here in Alabama, but all of this pollen is about to drive me crazy. I think I have been sick for over a month. Maybe I need to move to some tropical island with white sand beaches were pollen does not exist. In my dreams right.


So I have decided not to do the homeschool product reviews. I already have enough on my plate, and Molly will be doing ninth grade math and science next year. I did not feel like I needed to add one more thing with deadlines to my list. I might review some of my favorites, but it will be just for fun and not on a deadline.


Molly has done a lot better the past two weeks. I don't know much that has changed, expect that I watch her a lot more and remind her to stay on task more.


One last thing....Molly and I are starting weight watchers together, so I'll probably track our progress here. We are also going to try to do the 5K challenge on June 6th.


Hope everyone has a good week.

It's Monday Already

I can't believe it is already Monday; where did the weekend go?
I am sitting/laying on the couch playing on the computer when I need to be up cleaning my house. I just don't know how some moms do it. Clean, schoolwork, clean, dinner, clean.....I guess I am just having a typical Monday, and I don't want to do anything. Oh, and did I mention all the laundry. UGH!!!


Anyways, we had a pretty good weekend minus one temper tantrum, and I am not telling who threw it.  


Here are a few pictures. I guess Molly thinks she is to old to get her picture taken with the Easter Bunny, and I totally spaced on taking thier pictures when they were all dressed up. UGH!!!

My Beautiful Baylee

My grown-up Molly

The girls and their Papaw

Our beautiful niece

Our beautiful niece

Our beautiful niece

All of Mamaw's precious babies

All of Mamaw's crazy babies

Baylee and the Easter Bunny

Tommy and the Easter Bunny

I'm not to sure about blogging about my life; I think it is pretty typical. Maybe I will get better at it and have longer and more eloquent posts.

Help Lord, I'm Getting Ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler

I received Help Lord, I'm getting ready to Start Homeschooling My High Schooler from The Old SchoolHouse Store to review.  I have a 7th grader who will be doing 9th grade math and science next year so this book came at the perfect time.

The TOS offers a variety of home school books and e-books at affordable prices. This book is only $12.45, and it is an e-book.  Yay!!!

This e-book is a collaboration of moms' experiences, trials, and tribulations home schooling high schoolers.  And WOW!!! It was all very encouraging to read.  The obstacles these families had to go through, and their children are still very successful, despite being homeschooled (ha ha).

I could write a paragraph about each moms' experience. There are several things  I read that I want to include in our homeschool. One story by Donna moved me so much that I was in tears. I guess Mary's story probably helped me the most because I could relate to her son taking FOREVER to do his work even though he was really smart. I have a daughter like this.

After reading this e-book I definitely feel like I am capable of homeschooling my children through high school. Just like Deborah Wuehler stated at the end of the book, "You don't have to be a supermom to homeschool through high school."

Here we go!!!

Okay for some reason I signed up to review home school products for a magazine, like I have extra time. LOL!!! One of the things we have to have is a blog, so here is mine. I thought I needed to give some background information about our family and homeschooling before I start reviewing products.

I homeschooled our oldest daughter when she was in kindergarten, first, and some of second grade. She went to public school for second, third, and fourth grade. Our youngest went to public school for pre-k, kindergarten, and first grade.  This is our second year homeschooling this go around. They went back to public school while my husband finish his college degree and I worked.

Last year we used Sonlight, Teaching Textbook, Math-U-See, Rod & Staff Grammar, Wordly Wise, and Apologia Science.
This year we are using Tapestry of Grace for history, literature, geography, church history, writing, and fine arts. We use Saxon for math, Rod & Staff grammar and First Language Lesson Level 3, Wordly Wise, and Bob Jones Science.

Maybe this will help when you read my reviews or read about our journey of home schooling.

New Start

Okay, I started a blog a while ago, and now I can't even remember the name. So I'm going to start a new one and try to update it more often.

I am a home school mom of two wonderful girls. The oldest is in 7th grade, and my baby is in 3rd.

I use textbooks for science, math, and grammar and the classical approach for history and literature. I love the idea of the girls reading a full story for history and literature, but it is a lot of work, and sometimes I get discouraged.