What Are We Reading? - October 2020

Hey, y'all!  I know it has been a LONG time since my last post, but it was a nice, much needed break.  So, how are y'all?  How is your school year going so far?  We started our school year a little later than normal, but we are back in the swing of things, thankfully.

Well, here is what we are reading this month.  

My School Year Homeschool Record Keeping - Review

Planning and keeping track of your children's work should not be stressful.  Our family received an Annual Membership Plan from My School Year Homeschool Record Keeping in exchange for our honest review.  This has been great so far.  It's good for keeping up with your children's schedule, planning out your school year, creating a way for your children to go in and check to see what they currently need to turn into you, and even creating a high school transcript! I am sure you want to hear ALL about it.  Well, go grab your coffee, your pen, your notebook, and a cup of coffee. 

Homeschool Planner Picks

Can you believe it’s July already? I don’t know about you, but I get excited about July for one it’s my husband's birthday and for two I get a pullout, my new homeschooling planners!  Here are the two planners I will be using for the 2019-2020 school year.

What We Read in April

I missed posting what we read in March because we were so busy with the move, and now I don't even remember what all we read. Anyway, I do have what we read in April ready for you. I still can't believe we are already in April I mean where did the time go? Go grab your coffee or tea, pen, ad notebook and join me as I share with you what our family read in April.

Free Resource Friday

Free Resource Friday is back!  If this is your first time on my blog and you are not sure what Free Resource Friday is let me tell you all about it.  That is the day that I will be sharing free resources with you.  When I originally started doing this it was my intention to post a free resource every Friday, but let's be real life happens.  So now I will be sharing a free resource with you randomly on a Friday.  I hope to share at least 2 a month.  I am really excited about today's resource because, it not just one, but several free resources.

10th-Grade Semester Review - Expectation vs Reality

Good morning, I figured for my first official blog post I'll do a semester review. Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry I forgot to tell you guys who I am. My name is Kaela and I'm the oldest child of  Walter & Markie. I'll love to tell you more but I have an introductory blog post coming soon, so I'll save all that information for there. Okay back on topic now. We just got back to school all of two weeks ago, which meant the start of a new semester.  Yay!  I thought it'll be fun to tell you how my first semester went. However, instead of doing a typical "this is how my semester went"  I decided to do an expectation vs reality.  Here we go...

Printable Books of the Bible "Summary Sheets" - Review

Our family has been using Book-By-Book Bible Printables from Teach Sunday School to teach an overview of each book of the Bible.
Have you guys ever wanted an at-a-glance view of a specific book of the Bible?  Do you ever wonder who wrote a particular book in the Bible? I know my children, myself, and even my husband often wonder those things especially about those books we may overlook sometimes. Well if that's ever a problem for you or someone you know, you will love these printables!

How Can Children Learn About The Lord Through a Comic Book- Book Review

Bible is the one subject I try to get to each day.  I love incorporating games, good discussions, and anything to be sure my children are engaged.  We recently were offered the opportunity to review Book 1, Rescue Me! What Superheroes Can Teach Us About the Power of Faith in The Captain Sun Adventures series.  It is no secret that I love reading, and for the most part, my children do as well, but having a story/comic book/Bible devotion all in one is taking it to another level.  After, reading the first book in the series, I know that our family will be happy to add The Captain Sun Adventures entire series to our bookshelf. Continue reading to find out more about the story and what my children and I thought about it.

Kingdom Files (Barbour Publishing) Review

I have several posts about books and reading so you all already know how we feel about it.  It is just getting harder to find my definition of "kid-friendly" books.  Recently I heard about Barbour Publishing through the Homeschool School Review Crew.  They have a series called Kingdom Files and we had the opportunity to read and review two of the books from that series, Who Was Jonah? and Who Was Mary, Mother of Jesus?.  We finished one and we have started on the other and man I am impressed with the way they are written and how engaging they are.  Have you ever read a non-fiction story that opened the door to many different discussions throughout the story?  Well, that is exactly what happened as we read.

Are you Ready for the Upcoming Homeschool Year?

When a new school year is approaching for us homeschool moms our minds tend to go at 100 miles per hour.  We have so many awesome ideas for the new year, so many things to get done, so many plans, and in the mist of all that comes a little bit of stress, sometimes.  I think it's because we feel like we need to be like the "have it all together homeschool moms" on Pinterest, Instagram, and other social media accounts.  You know the ones that have the perfect homeschool room, spotless house, they even have their homeschool year all planned out before they finish the current year?!  I always wondered how in the world they did it!  I mean and still be able to keep up with the house, spend time with their husband, spend time with the kids, spend time with friends, etc.  I still have no idea but I do know I am NOT that mom and my children are not those children! You know what else I know?  I know that we all have the same amount of hours in a day and what we decide to do with them is up to us.  I like to spend my hours stress-free and for me trying to perfect everything is stressful.  Who has time for stress?  I know I don't!  If I go into my new school year stressed out we will have a stressful school year.  As a mom, the same way we set the tone for our home also applies to how we set the tone for our children's education.  The kids know when there is something wrong with mama.  I know you don't want to add any extra stress to you or your children, right?   After all, school is supposed to be fun not stressful!!  This post is apart of Andrea's, from All The Homeschool Things, Ready, Set, Homeschool blog party.  That is where you can find the rest of my post and trust me you don't want to miss this.  So head on over to Ready, Set, Homeschool blog and see what I have left you there.  You can find the full article here.

In case you were wondering what the Ready, Set Homeschool blog party is, it is where you will find 15 days of tips and hacks to prepare you for the upcoming school year.  So what are you waiting on, why are you still here?  Hurry and head on over and don't forget to enter the giveaway!!

God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn - Book Review

It is the beginning of the new homeschool year for most homeschooling families or this is the time when they do all their planning and purchasing of their new curriculum.  We homeschool year round with occasional breaks here and there, however, this is the time that I start buying curriculum, planning, and making changes to our homeschool.  In the midst of all of that, we sometimes forget to stop and ask God what He wants for our homeschool.  I have come to realize over the past 5 years that I have been homeschooling that when I try to do it my way it never works!  So I learned early on to pray and seek God help daily.  I don't see that a lot in the homeschool community though.  Most moms, myself included sometimes, are frantic about if we are doing enough, are our children getting it, what will people think of our kids if they are not on a certain level, etc.  This is why I was happy to read and review God Schooling: How God Intended Children to Learn written by Julie Polanco.  I needed the encouragement before planning out our school year so it was timely. 

No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope - Book Review

I have been a parent for 15 almost 16 years and I can still remember when I was pregnant with my first child all the warnings I got about the baby keeping you up at night, or the "terrible twos" and even the sassiness of girls, and roughness of boys.  I made it through those stages with flying colors all 4 of our children were great babies and toddlers.  I remember thinking "wheew" we made it.  However, what everyone forgot to warn me about were the tween and teen stages, so my husband and I walked right into them unprepared. You know what? Come to think of it maybe they did, but we just ignored it because we made it through the other stages clear of disaster.  As parents of 4 children, we pretty much thought we had this parenting thing down to a science.  I mean love them, discipline them, feed them, teach and train them, provide for them, nurture them, and most importantly share the Word of God with.  We thought it would only get easier the older they get. LOL  If I can be honest for a second, well I'm always honest, but it seem like the right thing to say in this sentence, ok back to what I was saying the tween years of 10-14 has been the most challenging for us in our home for both the child and us so I am glad I had some help from Great Waters Press with their newest title No Longer Little: Parenting Tweens with Grace and Hope.  I received this book in exchange for my honest review and I will start by saying it is amazing!!

Free Resource Friday - Education.com

Hey, Y'all! 
Are you staying cool?  
This has been one hot week for us peeps here in Texas!  I'm just trying to keep from frying, so indoors it has been for my family.  It is even too hot to go to the water park!  Anyways, enough about this heat I am back with another free resource for you. 
This week's Free Resource Friday is brought to you by Education.com
Education.com is a website for teachers and parents that provides resources, tools, and learning material that can help improve the education of children. They provide learning resources in over 20 countries and six continents.

Free Resource Friday - Classiacal Music for Kids

Hello, Y'all!!   I hope you are having a fantastic day!  I know it's around that time to start preparing for the upcoming school year so I would like to share a free resource with you each Friday.  Contrary to what everyone believes homeschooling does not have to cost you an arm and a leg.  There are a ton of free resources out there.

T is for Tree: A Bible ABC book for toddlers - A Book Review

First of all is it really almost June already?!?  This year is almost halfway over.  Where did the time go?  I hope you are getting your summer book list ready.  Still gathering suggestions for your list?  Well, that's great because today I want to introduce you to a sweet Christian children's book titled, T is for Tree: A Bible ABC from Reformed Free Publishing Association.  I was sent this book in exchange for my honest review.   My niece has enjoyed listening to me read it to her as she looks at the pictures but even more so she has enjoyed talking over and trying to read it her self.  LOL

Kid Friendly Email Account - A Review

Although we don't allow our children to freely roam the internet there are a few things we would still like them to learn.  Things like how to send/receive emails and proper email etiquette.  In learning that we don't them to be exposed to inappropriate spam mail or have to worry about who they are sending and receiving emails from.  Kids Email helps alleviate a ton of the worrying.  Which is why we were happy to review a one-year subscription to their Kids Email Safe Email for Kids.  This has been a great way for them to continue practicing their keyboarding skills, writing skills, and spelling.  They really enjoyed being able to keep in contact with their grandparents and the grandparents enjoyed it just as much.

Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App Review

The most important part of our homeschool is Bible study.  As a Christian, it is a must that our children know and have a personal relationship with the Lord.  Although, all of my children have learned to read the KJV of the Bible my youngest son and my niece still enjoy bible stories with fun colorful pictures.   Planet 316 and WorthyKids/Ideals provided us with just that and more with their Planet 316 Story Bible and the companion Planet 316 Story Bible App.  They have brought bible bed time stories to life with their augmented reality in our home.  We were thrilled to be able to review this and share it with you all.

Creation Illustrated Review

Unit Studies are a great way to dig deeper and learn more about a specific topic while still using all subjects.  So basically a unit study combines all your tradition subjects around a particular topic.  They can be as short or long as you want them to be.  I did some research on them when I first started homeschooling and always wanted to try one, but never made the time to create my own.  You have to really plan that out!  Then I heard about Creation Illustrated!  What!  The Unit Study was already put together for me?  Awesome!  Creation Illustrated sent us two of their unit studies as well as gave us access to those magazines that go with those unit studies for us to review.  I was excited to check out this popular method of homeschooling our family focused on Pine Tress Unit Study.

Carole P. Roman books and collections - Review

You all know how I feel about reading to my children and how important I feel it is for you to read to your children.  I mean it's so beneficial and it gives you a free cuddling pass when you are tired of house chores and want an excuse to sit down.  The review crew was given the opportunity to review some books from Carole P. Roman books and collections.  Children's books like those written by Carole P. Roman can be such a fun way to explore history, culture, or even practice reading.  We were blessed to receive three books to add to our forever, growing home library.

What we read in February in our Homeschool

I can't believe the month of February is already gone!  The days seem to be going by a lot faster lately.  The kids and I did not do as much reading this month.  Life got hectic and we just had a lot going on.  We did get some reading in though and we even listened to an audiobook, which we absolutely loved!  Even though we did not read as much as I would have liked to this month we could still meet our reading goal for the year.  Well, I will meet my goal, I didn't set one for the kids I just want them to read and enjoy it.  As promised I will be sharing with you all what books we are reading each month. So, here is what we read in February.