My School Room

Don't forget to click on pictures to enlarge.

Well, I have been promising some friends that I would post some pictures of my school room and I finally got around to it. Yes, that's right I have 8 bookshelves and they are all packed. Now you have to remember that I love books and I also have three children in all levels of school. So there, that's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

If you notice the basket on the floor it has some puzzles in baggies for us to use. Really those puzzles are just about ready to be given away. We will use them this year but that's it for them. Yes I have a ladder. I need one. Can you tell?
This is my table. I have lots of books on it right now. I am in the process of figuring out what books we will use and working on our schedule. If you notice on the floor under the table there are some dinosaur counters and a few odds and ends. Well, my baby loves to sit under there and play with them. I also have some stacks of things that are ready to be given away. The things in the black rolling carrier is full of things we no longer need. That is all going to be given away.

The stack on the floor is getting ready to be sold. I'll probably put them all on my blog next time. I've done some major cleaning and decluttering. It may not look like it but I have gotten rid of lots of paper. How is it that we homeschoolers accumulate so much paper? That blue lid tub is for someone that let me borrow her things a while back and I need to return them. I just need to find her.



Here is a close up view of my bookshelves. This one has the baskets that we will be using for all their books. At the moment they are packed with everything I would like to do between now and Monday I have to get it all in order and only have in there what they will be doing.








Here are the bookshelves from top to bottom. Top of all bookshelves have games that we will be using.

Do you see that stack of books on the floor? Gotta get rid of those too.



On the right corner you can see the books of the bible game I made with clothes pins last year. It also has the calendar on the other side. It's homemade. It's amazing what you can do with pvc pipe.









I made my own schedule pages because I just can not, I said can not, do Homeschool Tracker. I have to have things written down. So I'm in the process of working out our plans for geography only because I am looking forward to doing that.



So there you go. That is a glimpse of my school room and my many bookshelves. Many, many bookshelves. Next year I will be getting rid of my little babies readers. I'm so not looking forward to that. I can hear him now, "I'm to old for those books." *sigh*

Thanks for stopping by and taking a look.

Spelling Out the Answers

I did a post on All About Spelling a few posts back. In that post I talked about a great hands on spelling program. What is so hands on about it? Well, you use magnetic tiles at the beginning to show what letters go with what sounds. Then you start putting them together. When my boys see this coming out they look at it as a game. Which means it's one of their favorite subjects and that is a good thing.


From the previous post I was asked a few things. One of the things was at what age level would you start level 1? What I have to say about that is that this program is not level1=grade 1 or level 2=grade 2. I started my 6yr old on level 1 and I also started my 11yr old on level 1. You would always want to start at level 1 to make sure the kiddos know what sounds go with what letters.

Those older ones that start with level 1 will zip through the level faster than a 6yr old. What I like about this program is that you go as fast or as slow as you need to. If your child knows the information then do it and move on till you get to something that they need a little more time on. You will notice that each child may have something they missed and they need a little more time on it to get it and that is ok.

What I did was start with level 1 with both boys. I got one book and two extras student materials. My 11yr old will be going on to Level 2 this year and my little one is still on level 1 so I don't need the extra set of things for the little one.

Another thing is that this program is also good for those with dyslexia which my 11yr old has. I see improvement in his reading and spelling every day. It will never be what the others are but that is ok. He is getting better and will be the best he can be.

There will be 6 levels in this program and by the time we reach level 6 it will be a high school level. So for 6 books you get up to high school. The advantage to buying it one book or level at a time is the cost in my opinion. There are some programs out there for dyslexics that cost a ridiculously amount of money that you have to dish out at once. This way you pay as you go and if it doesn't work for you then you don't feel like you spent so much money for nothing.

I hope this review will answer questions about this program. We will continue using it this year.

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It's my February in July

Sunset at Sunrise to Sunset

Our sunset was amazing. This is as close as I get to nature lately. Since my pains have gotten worse it has been harder and harder to take walks much less go out on trails. I do what I can but for now I enjoy looking at nature blogs and enjoy what others do and where they go. One day....one day it will be all better.

What about Spelling? A hands on approach

Level 5 is ready. I've been waiting for this to come out not because I need it at this moment but because I will still get it even though I will not use it for at least a year or two.

Not only is it ready but it's on sale till Saturday, July 18. This is the time to get it if you are using this program.

Why do I like this program? Well, it's multi sensory, you use games and different hands on ways to learn. The lessons are written in an easy to understand way and it's all there for you to use, it's all written out for you. No having to figure out what to say or do to help teach spelling. We all know that a child can learn to read and really not know how to spell. You can see that when you have them write out a story. I find that this program works for us.

One other thing I like is the levels. Just because it says level one doesn't mean it's grade one. Everyone should start out with level one. It starts off with basics like making sure each student knows the phonetic sounds. If you child knows this then they will fly through that lesson. We have gone through some lessons fast and others we go slower. Like my younger one started out with level one and kept up a good pace in level one. My middle son with dyslexia went a bit faster at the beginning and kept going till there was a point where he slowed down. Each child is different. I like that I can use this program for my son just starting out in 1st grade and my son with dyslexia who will be in 6th grade.

There is even a site you can go to for help if you have questions. It's called Chatter Bee . At that site there is a group for each level. Even if you go to their website you can go and read up on the FAQ section and get lots of info you might need.

What about cost? Well, level 5 is 25% off right now so it's a great buy. I really don't see the price that bad considering it's all written out for you, you can use it for every child, it has hands on and fun games that captures my boys attention.

I highly recommend this program for spelling. It's the best investment I've made. My kiddos love it. It's the best hands on program we have ever used.

Our New Baby

Remember the post about some caterpillars eating my parsley?

Those of you that commented on the other post were right. It's a swallowtail. Black Swallowtail to be exact and even more precise it's a girl. We have a girl. She will finish drying out her wings tonight and tomorrow she will be on her way.

We have three more to go. By the way, my parsley is growing back.