Why Homeschool Guest Post- Misty

I am so happy to have a wonderful "Why Homeschool?" guest post today from Misty. I hope her thoughts and words inspire some of you. Thanks, Misty!

To see past posts in the series or to learn about how to participate, click on the Guest Posts Tab above. 

Hi! I am Misty, and I blog at Mimi’s House. I have 3 beautiful children and have been homeschooling since January of 2009. The question Why Homeschool? comes up a lot I think. Anytime you are out and about with your kids on a school day people tend to ask what you are doing, why the kids aren't in school and why in the world would you want to spend all day with your children?

 My kids on the first day of school for the 2012-2013 school year!

For me homeschooling originally was not an option. I was going to be a teacher! I had plans on teaching since I was a small child. When I was with my cousins and friends we always played “school”. I always loved kids, and taught Sunday school at my church when I was a teen. I loved to teach!  When I had my first born Alyson the plan was to finish college and start my career. But after I had her, I could not fathom putting her in daycare. My parents refused to stop their lives to raise my child (at the time this infuriated me, now I am grateful!) so I stayed home for a while with her. When she was one I got a job working for a preschool program called Head Start. My schedule meant Alyson would not have to be in daycare because I worked opposite hours as my husband. Plus as a bonus, they would pay for me to finish school! I had found my dream job!

However, my plan did not work out like I wanted. I ended up pregnant with my middle Kristen when Alyson was only 18 months. With two kids I could not imagine working the way my husband and I had been doing. The opposite shifts and never seeing each other was taking its toll on our marriage. So, I quit my dream job at the end of the school year and started my own in home daycare. My plan was to still some day put them in school and start my “real” job…

About a year or so later I felt the Lord dealing with me to homeschool. An awesome family in my church did it! And it looked really appealing. However, I felt like I was not “equipped” to teach her everything she needed to know. After all, I didn't finish college!  So, off she went to preschool, which was an eye opening experience for me. She knew everything they were teaching her! She was so bored. Did she like school? Sure! She liked playing with her friends, but she did not understand why she wasn't home with me and the other kids. We were playing games, doing arts and crafts, having fun here, why couldn't she?  I began asking myself the same question.

Alyson during her first week at preschool

I pulled her out over Christmas break. My husband still wasn't sold on homeschooling, but the Lord had been dealing with him too. So, he said IF I could teach her to read, then I could homeschool. That was the deal.  Within a few weeks she was reading. Teaching your child to read is such an amazing accomplishment. There is something about seeing their eyes “light up” that makes you realize you are capable of doing this! My family thought I was nuts, some of my friends thought I was nuts, and sometimes I did too. But still that nagging in the back of my head telling me I am doing the right thing has kept me going!

There are so many reasons to homeschool. As I just shared the biggest reason I began homeschooling was that God told me too! But after a few years I have realized there are so many other awesome benefits. Homeschooling has allowed me to cater to my children’s learning abilities, we have the freedom to make our own school schedule, I am able to teach my children Biblical truths as we go about our day, I know what they are learning, and who they are with! I am getting ready to start our 5^th year of homeschooling. It has not always been easy and it was not part of my original plan, but I have come to the realization that God’s plan for our lives is always so much better than our own.

Our family Christmas 2012

Misty is a homeschool mom to 3 beautiful blessings. She and her husband just celebrated 10 years of marriage. She blogs at Mimi’s House on homemaking, homeschooling, marriage, parenting and anything else the Lord lays on her heart. 

60 Rainy Summer Day Activities! & Share It Saturday

Today is an extra special post for Share it Saturday. Sugar Aunts & I have complied 60 Screen-Free Rainy-Day Summer Activities to keep kids busy this summer. This is for those days that it is raining, or just too hot to go outside. This list of ideas is sure to keep your kids from telling you how bored they are!  These are all wonderful ideas shared on Share It Saturday from bloggers we love.  

Peanut Life Adventures: Create a summer bucket list

Tots and Me: Butterfly play theme

Sugar Aunts: Ice letter muffins

Howling At The Moon: Make a Clay Cat

Teach Beside Me: Fabric Hopscotch

Gummylump: Make a theater and Finger puppets

Peanut Life Adventures: Bake Cookies

Little Bins for Little Hands: Create a whale and water themed sensory bin

Bible Fun For Kids: Study Creation

The Measured Mom: Make a Mini-book

The Measured Mom: Explore printables with your emergent reader

Sugar Aunts: Make a rainbow sensory bin (three ideas)

Fantastic Fun and Learning: Create an edible small world zoo

Mama to 5 Blessings: Create a knight's castle

Fantastic Fun and Learning: Read a book and play activities along with the book's theme

Little Bins for Little Hands: Make a red, white, and blue sensory bin

Teach Beside Me: Summer Boredom Busters

Gift of Curiosity: Learn about ladybugs

Mama to 5 Blessings: Create and Organize a dress-up area

Life With Moore Babies: Make a solar oven in a shoe box 

Save it for a sunny day :) 

Preschool Powol Packets: Make a popsicle stick airplane

B-Inspired Mama: Play cleaning games with the kids

Teach Beside Me: Make a straw rocket

Weekly Kids Co-Op: Make toys

Gift of Curiosity: Learn about insect anatomy

Sugar Aunts: Make a real-toy "I Spy" game

Wildflower Ramblings: Create a sensory bin

Buggy and Buddy: Make a spirit wand

Frogs and Snails and Puppy Dog Tails: Make a Parrot handprint

Coffee With Us 3: Fine Motor Bean Craft

 No Doubt Learning: Strawberry Clip Math Activity

School Time Snippets: Start a math journal

Sorting Sprinkles: Play pirate activities

 Teach Beside Me: Make a roller coaster board game

Crafty Journal: Make a DIY foam flier

Sugar Aunts: Work on learning body parts through imagination play

Stir the Wonder: Paint with feathers

Buggy and Buddy: Create spin art

Toddling in the Fast Lane: Make a bird of paradise

Best Children's Games: Play with building blocks

Campfires and Cleats: Make balloon animals

Craftulate: Make a shape matching game

Fun-A-Day: Bring a book to life

Sugar Aunts: Use stickers to work on scissor skills

Domesticated Breakdown: Make a rock friend

Teach Beside Me: Create a rainbow collage

The Magnolia Barn: Make a ladybug craft

He Cares for You: Make a crayon resist project

Play Learn Love: Try fluff painting

Rubber Boots and Elf Shoes: Make a dinosaur sensory bin

Crafts and Art for Children: Make an earth-friendly craft

Sugar Bee Learning Make a cardboard car

Fluster Buster: Make banana ice cream

The Pinay Homeschooler: Learn about plants

Fun-A-Day: Make fizzy letters

Sugar Aunts: Create a DIY light box

Big Energy Little Learners: Paint the Rain

Moments A Day: Make a placemat to learn manners

Moms Have Questions Too: Match the font cut and paste activity

And Next Comes L: Create a greeting card collage

Now it's time for you to share even more wonderful ideas below!!  

K-Mart - March of Dimes Imbornto Contest

Think your child is the cutest ever? Now’s your chance to make them a star! Enter Kmart’s March of Dimes® IMBORNTO® Contest and your son or daughter could be featured in a Kmart circular ad! The winner will receive a trip to Chicago in August, complete with round-trip airfare for four, a hotel stay for three days and two nights and transportation to a photo shoot featuring them as the star of the show.

To enter, submit a recent photo of your child on Kmart’s Shop Your Way social shopping site, and fill in the blank for the following statement: “My child was born to _______.” Easy enough!  Entries will be judged on originality, sincerity and how it conveys their unique talent.  

And, what’s even better is that Kmart will donate $1 for every entry to March of Dimes to support the organization’s mission of improving the health of babies by preventing birth defects, premature birth and infant mortality. 

The deadline for entries is Saturday, June 22, so hurry and get your entry in soon! All kids up to age 10 are eligible to enter. To view complete rules, click here. 

Shop Your Way is a free, members-only program and shopping community that offers rewards, personalized deals, product reviews and services like e-coupons and e-receipts for faster returns and exchanges – join at ShopYourWay.com. 

This is a Sponsored Post in behalf of K-Mart and March of Dimes.

Go Fish for Ancient Egypt (Birdcage Press Review)

Birdcage Press is a company I am so happy to have discovered. They have all kinds of award-winning educational games for kids ...and I am in love!  There are games about history, art, wildlife & nature, and air & space. Each game also comes with a little book to help kids learn about the facts in the games. 

 

Wenda O'Reilly, the founder has a PhD in Education. She began creating the games as a way to teach her own children in a fun way. She actually has her kids help edit the cards and books! This ensures that they are written in a kid-friendly way. They have won tons of awards for their games, and they are now being sold in major museums around the world.

We were given a set of Go Fish for Ancient Egypt cards to review. The 36 cards are sturdy, glossy, and very high quality.  They are full of amazing pictures about gods and goddesses, pharaohs, mummies, and more.  They come in a box that includes a 34-page teaching booklet to learn all about ancient Egypt.  They sell for $10.95 and are recommended for kids ages 7 and up.

  
The moment this game came in the mail, my kids dove right in. They were so excited to try it out and were not at all disappointed. They then proceeded to play it again and again, and again. They played it with me, with their Dad when he came home, with their cousins, with their friends, and anyone else who was willing to give it a try!  They loved it so much and are already begging my to get another set!  The hardest part is choosing which one- they all look amazing.

There are a few different ways to play the game- they have an older and younger version. The cards are divided into sets by topic: Gods, Goddesses, Symbols, Pharaohs, Mummies, Afterlife and Hieroglyphs. There are 6 cards in each set. You play like regular Go Fish, but have to collect all of the cards in the set. They are numbered and named, so kids that do not read well can do it by number. Each card also has a few facts on it telling what the picture is. 

I am so impressed with this company and with the high-quality games that they make. We truly loved this game, and may get more in the future for our kids. We will be playing this game for a long time in our home. It is a wonderful way to teach Egyptian history to my kids.  I always love good educational games, and this is a GREAT educational game.  Other Homeschool Crew members reviewed various games. Click on the image below to see more reviews on them.

Real Life Homeschooling

What I love about homeschooling is the ability to be flexible with learning. I learned early on that learning is more than sitting at a desk with a workbook and a pencil. I have always wanted learning to happen in various ways in our home. I like learning to be fun, interesting, and interactive. I want my kids to crave more, desire to search out answers and ideas.  Because of that, things are not always the traditional school-like atmosphere in our home. But, I love that! Let your kids learn with all of their senses. It is more enjoyable and also more memorable. Following, are lots of pictures and ideas of how to make learning more memorable and real.

Explore learning through nature. 

There is so much to learn from nature and animals. 

Grow a garden together, raise animals, hike, go to petting zoos, pick fruit, catch bugs, etc.  

Learn through projects and experiments.

Explore with clay, paint, magnets, fire (with supervision), bubbles, chemical reactions, sew, cook, etc.

Play a lot of learning games.

You can turn any kind of learning into something fun by adding a game aspect to it. 

Go on field trips.

museums, aquariums, fire stations, bakeries, zoos, aviaries, botanical gardens, etc. 

You don't have to spend a lot of money to go on field trips. Search for free local events in your area. There are often discounts available for homeschoolers/educators, too.

I am participating in the Real Life Homeschooling blog series hosted by Upside Down Homeschooling. Once a month more than 20 bloggers will bring you their idea of Real Life Homeschooling (moving beyond the desk). Check out some of their ideas, too!!  Also, come join the Real Life Homeschooling Facebook page where we all share our ideas!