An afternoon at the beach

        

The children were eager to go to the beach recently, so we packed the cooler, jumped in the car, and headed down.  We ended up going to a beach called 3 Tables on the North Shore.  It was a great way to end the day!  These moments help to remind me of just how precious life is. :)  

Why we chose to homeschool...

We decided to start homeschooling Mos Mos as soon as he ended his 2nd grade year in public school.  Summer was actually supposed to be a trial run for us, but to our surprise we love homeschooling.  So we decided to withdraw Mos from public school and start homeschooling him.  Homeschooling has become a wonderful new world for us.  

All of us are learning as we go along.  There are no instruction manuals for us to follow.  There are positives and negatives to our decision, but ultimately the positives outweigh the negatives ten-fold.  We are solid in our decision to homeschool and the smiles/hugs that we receive from Mos is the only reassurance we need.  The tears are gone and have been replaced by laughter.  Wouldn't that be enough for you too?

Mos & Lolli making leaf imprints

Our Homeschooling Curriculum & other misc. things we like to use...

Here are some of the things we use for our current curriculum and also some things we just really like.  I haven't finished this list yet, but I will update it very soon!

JUMP Math - A different approach to teaching Math.  We were skeptical at first when we first started using this method.  But to our surprise, Mos has really taken to this method and I can happily say that there are currently no tears or headaches to report thus far!  We paid about $15 for the 3rd grade level workbook on Amazon, which also included free shipping as a plus...Click here and try the free introductory unit.

Primary Language Lessons - Part 1 - Mos Mos has been enjoying our lessons so far with the Charlotte Mason approach lessons by Emily Serl... It is a little outdated since first being published in 1911, but the content in the short stories and poems should be fairly easy to follow.  Click here for an updated version of these lessons which were done by another homeschooling momma.  Thank you Cynthia!  She currently has a promotion going on till August 31, 2012 which includes the Primary Language Lessons Pt. 1 & 2 and also a full set of Aesop's Fables at a discounted price.  These are all .pdf files which can be printed at your leisure.    

Spelling City

Xtra Math

SuperCharged Science

Making Music Fun

Live Mocha - Foreign Language Site

Honolulu Academy of Arts - Art Classes

Kroc Center - Family Fun & Exercise

HSLDA - Homeschool Legal Advocates

Secular Homeschooling