Share your Blog!

Do you have a homeschool blog? 

I wanna see! 

I love all things homeschooling, good reads, sharing, and making new friends.

 I would love to read about your homeschooling adventures and share your pages with my readers. 

Link up below. I look forward to meeting you

Thanks!

Free Writing Prompts for the Reluctant or Out of Ideas Writer

Wonderful free resources I have found to help your child write. 

Visit our Writing Prompts Pinterest Board

Follow Jennifer Silcott's board Homeschool - Writing Prompts on Pinterest.

Autumn Writing Prompts. Great resource to go along with an autumn study.

http://www.creativity-portal.com/howto/writing/fall.writing.prompts.html

Creative Writing Prompts ( This is a favorite of mine)

http://www.creativewritingprompts.com/#

Create and write about a character.

http://www.bgfl.org/bgfl/custom/resources_ftp/client_ftp/ks1/english/characters/index.htm

This resource allows students to develop an outline of a biography or autobiography. 

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/cube-30057.html

This resource is filled with a variety of writing prompts and teaching tools.

http://writingfix.com/index.htm

This resource has some simple prompts to help the writer get started.

http://www.homeschooling-ideas.com/journal-writing-prompts.html

Story Spinner. Just click on the spinner and it will give you a starting phrase, a setting, and four words that you must use in the story.

http://bonnieneubauer.com/storyspinner.shtml

Story Starters from Scholastic

http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/storystarters/storystarter1.htm

Change familiar fairy tales

http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/student-interactives/fractured-fairy-tales-30062.html

Daily writing prompts 

http://www.theteacherscorner.net/daily-writing-prompts/

FREE Digital TOS Homeschool Magazine - Fall Edition!

If you've never seen The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, this is your chance to read it for FREE!

Read It Online Today!

For a limited time only, The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, the most popular homeschooling magazine, is allowing everyone to receive a sneak peek of their Fall 2011 digital edition free.

Oh and if you haven't heard, They are going MONTHLY!





Check Out The The 2011-12 Schoolhouse Planners

The Homeschool Mother's Journal #1

In my life this week…

   My Sweet Girl G turned 7! Big milestone! Not actually sure why, but her turning 7 was  bittersweet. Maybe it's because it just seems like yesterday that I brought her home from the hospital . I have also had some time to work on my blog and have recently been updating it. This week really did seem to fly by. 

In our homeschool this week…

 We started a new unit study on Mexico. This week has been focused  on the location maps, flags, and culture crafts.  I have devoted a blog post to resources I have found. ---Mexico Unit Study

Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

 It's okay to take breaks, where breaks are needed. Often times my fear of not being able to complete a certain activity, book, or unit and trying to pushing through it has hampered my child's interest. 

I am inspired by…   


 I just recently learned that my mil would love to raise money to have a clean water well drilled in Africa.  

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…


Well we went to the grocery store, post office, dollar store, vet and our families homes...That could be a social studies lesson, right? lol :)

My favorite thing this week was…

  First I must say, I am not a baker. I usually buy birthday cakes. This year I gave my daughter the option of me making one or buying one. Well, of course, she wanted me to make her one. No problem right? Well my oven is broke and all I have is a toaster oven to use right now. I fretted over how I was going to tackle this. My Wonderful husband had a solution. He was going to make the cake with a 8x8 pan in the toaster oven. Not just a regular cake, but an ice cream cake! Mind you my husband doesn't bake either, as a matter of fact he hardly ever cooks. His specialty is grilled cheese sandwiches, lol. Well after he researched and gathered the supplies he began. I of course supervised and helped him measure things. We finished that cake together at 3 in the morning. Yep, a toaster oven isn't the choice of ovens to use, if you are in a hurry. :)  I had so much fun that evening helping him, we were a baking team. We were so proud of our lopsided ice cream cake. 

The Ice Cream Cake before it was decorated. 

Questions/thoughts I have…

Do you participate in Halloween? 

A photo to share…

My Memories Review & Giveaway!

Are you ready for a giveaway!

I recently won a giveaway for My Memories Suite Software in September from Angela over at Confessions of a Non-Domestic Housewife. Thanks, Angela.

I was contacted recently about doing a review and giveaway. I definitely wanted to do the review and giveaway. I'm happy to have the opportunity to giveaway amazing digital scrapbooking software.  Since winning the software I have made several picture pages. It is so easy and fun to use. In minutes you can design your masterpiece.  I even updated my blog with the software. 

Yep, I made these with My Memories Suite. Aren't they cute! :)

I haven't made one with new fall pictures. These pictures are from last year. It took me less than 10 min. to put this together. I love it. I can't wait to make many more soon.

Learn more about My Memories by watching this video:

 

Buy It!

A special for all of my readers. Save $10 when you purchase the My Memories Software! Simply add this code to your order (where it says promo code, in your shopping cart): STMMMS41712. You also get a $10 credit for shopping in the My Memories store when you use this code. That is a $20 value!

 Win It!

Giveaway Rules:

*Please leave your email in each comment, so you may be contacted if the winner. Winner will be picked by Random.org on November 5th and contacted via email. Winner will have 48 hours to reply before another winner is picked*

Leave a separate reply for each Entry.

Mandatory entry: 

Visit the My Memories website and then come back here and let me know which kit is your favorite. *1 entry

Extra entries:

 Leave a separate comment for each 

 Become a follower of my blog    *1 entry

Become a follower of My Memories Blog- http://blog.mymemories.com/ *1 entry

Like on Facebook- http://www.facebook.com/mymemoriessuite *1 entry 

Follow on Twitter- http://twitter.com/#!/mymemoriessuite  *1 entry
Like Home Grown Hearts Academy on Facebook (click like on sidebar) *1 entry

Tweet about this giveaway *1 entry

Blog about this giveaway and leave blog post link *1 entry

Good Luck to All, you'll love this program!

 

Unit Study - Mexico

Mexico Unit Study 

This month we are doing a unit study on Mexico! I have put together a list of resources.

Follow Jennifer Silcott's board Mexico Unit on Pinterest.




Mexico Unit Study Resources & Printables

http://joyfulandsuccessfulhomeschooling.com/homeschooling/pdfs/lp_mexico_us.pdf

http://homeschoolcreations.blogspot.com/2010/09/off-we-go-to-mexico-unit-study-lesson.html

http://www.abcteach.com/directory/basics/social_studies/places/north_america/mexico/

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/mexico/

http://www.timeforkids.com/destination/mexico

http://ancientweb.org/explore/country/Mexico http://www.pocanticohills.org/mexico/mexico.htm http://www.atozkidsstuff.com/mexico.html

Printable Maps of Mexico http://www.enchantedlearning.com/northamerica/mexico/outlinemap/ http://www.abcteach.com/free/m/map_mexico_unlabeled.pdf

Printable Flag of Mexico http://www.abcteach.com/free/f/flag_mexico.pdf http://www.enchantedlearning.com/school/Mexico/Flagprintout.shtml

  Learn about the capital of mexico - Mexico City http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico_City

Mexican Independence Day

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/history/mexico/independence/

Cinco de Mayo

http://www.teach-nology.com/teachers/lesson_plans/holidays/cincodemayo/

http://www.mexonline.com/cinco-de-mayo.htm

http://www.apples4theteacher.com/holidays/cinco-de-mayo/

http://www.kiddyhouse.com/Holidays/Cinco/

Other Resources

Culture of Mexico Word Search Game

Paper Dolls Printable:

http://www.education.com/slideshow/exploring-cultures-paper-dolls-world/paper-dolls-world-latin-I/ Free Mexico Clip Art

Top Ten Tuesday!

1. Read Bible Daily

2.  Make Grocery List - Menu Planning

3. Stress Less

4.  Make a Pet Food Canister from an Old Holiday Tin

5.  Start New Unit Study

6. Fall Pictures!

7. Organize Junk Drawer

8.  Make a Thankful Tree w/ Girls

9. Drink More Water!

10. Exercise

My first Award - The Versatile Blogger Award

I have been nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award by Chestnut Grove Academy. Thank you so much Jen, for thinking about me. 

So, what do you do when you get nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award?

Thank the person who nominated you for the award by linking back to him or her. 

Nominate 15 other deserving bloggers

Share 7 random things about yourself

7  Random Things About Me

1.  I love to sing, I'm not good at singing. I still sing anyways :)

2. I got my first job at 16 working at Sonic Drive-In. I loved that job.

3. When I was younger I always said I wanted to have 10 children. :)

4. I love, love, love Chinese food.  I am the only one in my household that does.

5. I am a middle child. I have 2 older siblings and 2 younger siblings.

6.  My husband is my high school sweetheart. In February we will have been married for 10 years.

7.  When I was younger I was very athletic. I played basketball in middle school and high school. I took gymnastics for 4 years. I was also in track. 

I Nominate 

(no Particular order)

1. The Sloan Homeschool

2. Daze of Adventure

3. Petra School

4. The Army Chap's Wife

5. The Creek Family

6. Hey, it's Jade!

7. Kids*Stuff *World

8.  Magnolia Lane

9. Good Samaritan Academy

10. Home With Purpose

11. MrsMamaHen

12. Greek Roots in American Soil 

13. To the Moon and back

14. Training 6 hearts for Him

15. Rockabye Butterfly

Just the two of us!

I'm spending some time today with my little dd. My oldest is with her grandma, and my other dd went to work with her daddy. It's so nice to have some one on one time with her. I really love how much we connect when it's just us two. :)  She is such a talker and I have answered a thousand questions, but I don't mind ;)  I really enjoy these learning moments.  She is watching the little mermaid right now, Oh how she loves that movie!


I'm going to start planning for next week, since I have not started yet. *sigh*  I really wish I planned a month in advance, but I never seem to be able to.   Happy Saturday to all!

Repurposed Can Goods Cardboard.....Really!

I just have to share! 

 I was feeling crafty this evening. I looked around the house for things to repurpose and found some cardboard. The kind of cardboard you find can goods on in the grocery store. I thought they would look good covered in fabric. Problem was, I had no extra fabric. I did however have an old plastic table cloth. So here is what I created. 

I ended taking it down from that place, because I liked what I had there previously. I am however going to hang them in my bedroom.   So easy and they actually look really good!    

Top Ten Tuesday!

1. Read Bible Daily

2. Smile & Laugh More!

3. Organize Laundry Room

4.Make Crock Pot Hawaiian BBQ Chicken

5.Clean Baseboards 

6. Wrap Shoe Box Tops in Fabric

7. Decorate Folders for Girls School Work

8.Go through and File the Girls School Work

9. Paint Stones to make a Tic Tac Toe Game

10. Get More Sleep!

Vocabulary and Spelling City Review

We've been using this vocab and spelling program for the past couple of weeks and it has been of tremendous help. The girls especially like the games. It's great that they have 
made the games fun and educational.

Our Premium Membership offers more games, flash cards, student progress, test results and record tracking. I think that the site is very organized and navigation around the site is easy. They have made spelling fun and record keeping easy for me! Thank you Vocabulary Spelling City!  I would recommend http://www.spellingcity.com/ to everyone! 

 My Rating:

        

 

link back to upcoming review blog post:
http://homegrownheartsacademy.blogspot.com/2011/09/upcoming-review-vocabularyspellingcityc.html

Shaving Cream Painting!

Hello Readers!

I found the cutest (why didn't I think of that) idea on Pinterest. Shaving Cream colored with food coloring! Would be perfect for bath time. I haven't done it for bath time, but instead let them do paintings on paper. I thought they turned out super cute and they had a blast! 

Here is the blog, that Pinterest directed me to. 

http://meetthedubiens.blogspot.com/2011/03/rainbow-shaving-cream-bath-paint.html

 Shaving Cream Colored with Food Coloring

Such a sweetie!

My smiley little girls! Love it!