Our first GEOGRAPHY FAIR

One of the moms in our group suggested that we do a GEOGRAPHY FAIR. This will be our first one as a family and our group's first one too. I just sat my son down and told him what we were going to do and told him to pick out something he wanted to learn about and then share with our group. He flipped through a couple of map workbooks we had and scratched his chin and said he wanted to learn about GLOBAL WARMING and MISSISSIPPI. So it looks like we will be making a research trip to the library soon.


What is a geography fair? Well it's like a science fair or book fair where kids pick a subject and research the subject and do different things to present what they have learned. They can draw maps,take pictures,color pictures,make models of things related to their subject--whatever comes to the imagination! Here is a link that shows what one HSing family did for a geography fair-love their ideas!

Walking By The Way

The trouble with de-cluttering.........

Why do some HomeSchool people find it hard to get rid of study books even when they aren't going to use them or their kids have used them and outgrown them? I guess it's because that we see the value in books more than the average person. And I don't mean monetary value of books--the value in books is KNOWLEDGE and ENJOYMENT of reading. I love books! I homeschooled my nephew back in the 1990s and have some of the books and workbooks that he used. Yes,some are probably outdated and I could probably find better options online,but every time I go to part with them I think "Oh,I just can't get rid of this-I need this book!". They are history books,workbooks,and a spanish book that I used in 9th grade-I certainly can't part with that one! I have one of my 11-12th grade literature books too~! I love history and geography and literature~! In one highschool history class,the teacher said that I took such great and detailed notes in class that he used my notebook to help his other classes learn to take notes! In one geography class after reading the chapters assigned,we could do other things for extra credit-one thing was to pick out interesting details about whatever we were reading about--and me,LITTLE MISS PERFECT would come in with 100 topics for 100 extra credits. Yes,I made straight A's--except in math class. I worked in the library from like 8-12th grade. I hated the study-hall periods so instead I would got on the "library staff" and would go there instead of being in the loud,hot,smelly study-hall. (The library was air-conditioned!) One of the perks was that after all the duties were done each day (dusting the shelves,putting the returned books back on the shelves,checking out books) I could read whatever I wanted. I read books on every topic imaginable. Mostly non-fiction books but there were some fiction books I enjoyed too. I love to research things-I love to learn about things. And with that comes a love of books. I could go broke buying books--kid's books,curriculum for our studies, books,books,books! I've had some books stacked in a crate that I've been meaning to go through and pass on to others because we weren't going to used them with our studies or they didn't fit our study-style. Out of a stack of 20+ books I think I can part with maybe 4. So much for de-cluttering. I think I need another book case or two---or three........

Library Day

Today we went to the library. My son has been asking to go to the library so he could check out some joke books. Luckily,we beat the rain storms and made it back home safe and dry. He has already read 2 of the books he picked out. He's been slacking in the reading department lately,so I thought that we should get back into the habit of going to the library every two weeks. It's not that he can't read what I want him to,it's that he gets overwhelmed with longer books and quickly loses interest. I think that when our book club started reading the longer books,it kind of got him off track. Hopefully,by letting him pick out a few easy books to go along with the harder ones that I choose,I can get him back on track with reading. My plan is to go back to the shorter chapter books and let him build up to the longer books slowly at his own pace.

Welcome to our blog

I hope this attempt at blogging about our homeschool journey is more successful than my last attempt.