1st Week of {Non} Homeschooling plus How to Schedule Your Homeschool Days: Tips from Simple Homeschool.net

In my earlier post about "re-starting" our homeschool year with Kolbe Academy, I said I still had a lot of things to prepare for. I still do! We weren't able to do much this week as Tim wasn't feeling so well starting Monday. He even had to miss football training. We let him rest on Monday and Tuesday.

Thank God he's OK now. I was also feeling a bit tired (hence, lazy, haha!) and so we just ended up reading lots of books together, mostly from our selection of quality children's books from The Learning Basket! :) Tim already knows what Caldecott medal and honor books look like! :) Haha!

"The Caldecott Medal was named in honor of nineteenth-century English illustrator Randolph Caldecott. It is awarded annually by the Association for Library Service to Children, a division of the American Library Association, to the artist of the most distinguished American picture book for children." - http://tinyurl.com/aboutcaldecott
Image and info from The Learning Basket's Facebook page.

On Wednesday, we hardly had any "school," as I went to visit the Manila International Book Fair. I am still *drooling* just thinking about all the great books there! Sadly, my budget was limited, so I wasn't able to buy some of the books I wanted to. No worries though, God will provide in His own time, I am sure! :) After coming home from the Book Fair, we again read some of the books I got at the Fair! :)

Thursday and Friday, well, you all know I have to be at the office on those days! :) Teehee! ;) I usually just leave worksheets and activities for Tim to do, under his Ate Lyn's (our angel/helper) supervision. :P

To end, I'm sharing this link to Simple Homeschool, where one of the contributors shares "A Beginner's Guide to Scheduling the Homeschool." I'm sure most, if not all, of us will find this useful. :)

Happy homeschooling, everyone! :)

+ AMDG +

What Is Our Focus?

This homeschool week has been more of "home" and not "school" for the kids, much to my dismay and disappointment. Where has the week gone? It just flew by so quickly! Already, it's Saturday and I still haven't even planned what we're going to do for next week! :( AND we haven't done most of what I had planned for us to do this week either!

However, I am still thankful for the things God has allowed us to experience this week (including my birthday — by the way, I'm giving away a super inspiring book by Bo Sanchez as my "gift" to you all, you can join the giveaway here if you like!). 

I also thank God that I was able to attend the Manila International Book Fair with friends and fellow homeschool moms/book-lovers from The Learning Basket — I was able to get some great books and inspirational CDs for the kids AND something which we have always wanted to add to our homeschool (since Tim was three, I think!) but couldn't afford to before — a Logico Piccolo set and Fun Thinkers set from Grolier! (We have to pay for it in installments but still, I am quite happy about it! Especially when I see the kids having fun using them!) Thank You, Lord, for providing for our homeschool, as always! :)

Also, I thank God for using Karen of Simply Living for Him to remind me about what is essential in our homeschool — to focus on eternity and on making heaven the ultimate "goal" for our kids (and ourselves, too): 

"Are we focused on making our kids look good, which in turn makes us feel successful? Or are we focusing on their hearts? God knows our hearts and our children’s hearts, and no test score can override that. We must start with their hearts and ours. We must not be caught up in what others think is success. Our goals come from the Lord and what He has called us to do. We work for an audience of One."  

~excerpt from Karen's new ebook..."Called Home."

May you and I remember this always, especially during difficult days! + AMDG +

Equipping Catholic Families.com's Cathletics Craft Kit Giveaway! :)

I love browsing the Internet for useful Catholic sites, especially for our homeschooling, and stumbled upon EquippingCatholicFamilies.com a couple of times before. Eventually, I was able to "meet" Monica McConkey, the mom blogger behind the site, through the Catholic Bloggers Network. :) I am so blessed to be connected to such great and active Catholic moms! :)

Anyway, Monica is currently hosting a great giveaway in honor of going "Back to Catechism Class," since the school year has just started for most people in North America. This giveaway is open WORLDWIDE, and the winners will get to choose a Cathletics Craft Kit (in PDF Download) from the 10 kits available at the Arma Dei Shoppe. More details below:

TEN Craft Kits to Choose from!

FOUR WINNERS WILL BE SELECTED!

Catechism Catcher ~ Catechism Cube ~
Catholic Family Calendar ~

Catholic Lingo Bingo (English or Spanish) ~
Color Me Catholic ~

Journey with Jesus through the Sacraments ~
Journey with Jesus through Confirmation

Lace-Up Missal (English and Spanish) ~
Spiritual Bouquet

The Cathletics craft kits are a fun and interesting way to introduce kids to the basics of the Catholic faith. :) You can read some reviews of the kits here. Monica is allowing winners to print out the kits for their personal use, or even for a whole class to use! :) Awesome, right?

To join the giveaway, please use the Rafflecopter widget below. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway

"Re-starting" Our Homeschool Year with Kolbe Academy!

Two months ago, I said we'd be enrolling with Kolbe Academy Homeschool. Well, today's the day we officially start using the Kolbe curriculum guide for Kindergarten, although we'll still be referring to the original curriculum that we started with in June from time to time.

Having said that, I do think there is much wisdom to fellow homeschool mom and blogger Blessie's decision to focus on reading, writing and arithmetic for this year. I think we'll pretty much do the same, but include religion, too. :) For science, we'll most probably just focus on reading lots of science-themed books and interest-led experiments. :)

I know we should be covering Filipino too — still need to iron out plans for those! (Yes, I'm pretty laidback like that, haha!) I don't want to pressure myself too much, especially since we're expecting again! :) (Yes, I'm preggy with Baby no. 3! Another homeschooler in the making! :)

I told myself I would HAVE to be more organized now that we're enrolled but well... it's already September 8 (Mama Mary's birthday! Yes, we chose this day to "re-start" our year because we want to consecrate it to Our Blessed Mother) and I still have lots of "to-do's" for our homeschool. Hopefully, I can finish everything tomorrow. (Wish me luck and pray for us! haha!)

Anyway, we'll just officially start off the "new" school year with Kolbe by celebrating Mama Mary's birthday (pretty much like how we did last year) and going to Kindermusik class and maybe a short "opening ceremony" this evening. I'm still going to call our "school" The Kingdom-seekers Academy, even if we're under Kolbe! :)

To God be the glory! :)

Interesting Infographic on Homeschooling :)

I found this infographic through our Pinoy Homeschool e-group (pinoyhomeschool@yahoogroups.com) and found it worthy of sharing here. I just wish we had something like this to reflect the local setting here in the Philippines. :)

If you can't view the infographic properly (I think it comes out rather unreadable, and I don't know how to make the graphic look bigger — am kinda low-tech like that, haha!), you can download it here. :)