The HSBA Team is looking for new ways to bring the homeschooling community together in every area of homeschooling. Blogging is a wonderful way to document your daily happenings in both your homeschool and everyday life, though for a lot the two are joined. Each week here at HSBA we post, on a daily basis, about many topics with great information involving homeschooling. Now, we want to help you keep track of the different parts of your homeschool this year with Homeschool Memoirs 2008-09.

THE PURPOSE

This meme is to not only keep a “memoir” (posts) of your homeschool year, but to make a way for homeschoolers to get to know each other. Each week, on Wednesdays, we’ll post a new theme and you can participate by posting it on your site with your own homeschool memoirs. Once you’ve posted, come back and sign the linky. We hope you’ll be encouraged, informed, and connected with other homeschoolers and glean from the different ways they do their homeschool.

THEME

The first theme begins today, August 20th, 2008. This week, we want to hear about YOU. The author behind the words. The Momma behind all the homeschooling kiddos. Just write up something about you, your family, and your home. How long you’ve been homeschooling and why you decided to homeschool. It doesn’t have to be anything lengthy at all, but we’d love to hear it! You might include a family photo too!

Also, if you haven’t already done so, grab the Homeschool Memoirs icon code (located in sidebar) to place on your site and join us!

Each week we will include a Mr. Linky to sign so people can visit your theme and see your answers. Please make sure you always add your *theme* link.

EXAMPLE:

This:http://homeschoolblogawards.com/2008/08/homeschool-memoirs-2008-09.

Not this:http://homeschoolblogawards.com

If you don’t get your memoir up the day of that’s alright. You’re welcome to post them throughout the week. If you miss a few you can either “catch up” or just skip ahead. Whatever themes you’d like to record in your memoirs you’re welcome to do. After you’ve got your theme up go visit some of the other homeschoolers’ on the linky and leave them a comment!

We hope you will join us! We know this is going to be so much fun and a great way to keep the HSBA motto alive!

OUR MOTTO:

“Encouraging, informing, and connecting the Homeschooling community!”

If you have an idea for a theme that you’d like to see others thoughts and ideas on or if you’re a new homeschooler and you’re wondering how the “pros” do it, you’re welcome to email me and I will consider it for a theme of the week!

Be sure to sign up for our feedburner (sidebar) so you’re notified exactly when the new themes are posted - directly to your email. You’ll also be able to see what other great info is posted at the HSBA throughout the week! We hope you’ll consider HSBA your homeschool resource as well as a place for some fun and relaxation!

MY THEME:

I’m actually not a homeschool mother yet, but I’m looking forward to being one. Right now I’m going to be finishing up my last year of high school, though I really won’t be “done” with school because learning is an everyday thing. So for the record my name is Jocelyn (Jos-a-lyn) and I’m 17yo in a family of eight kids. I’ve been homeschooled all my life and coulnd’t imagine myself in a governement school. I wouldn’t have been allowed to bloom into the person God designed me to be if I had, not completely.

I live on a small hobby farm where I own (and continually feed enormous amounts of feed to) 12 beautiful Nubian goats. I’ve been raising goats for almost two years now, and we just had five littles one (included in the 12) over the weekend! What a surprise. We’ve had some trouble with having the goats like them getting out of their pen or kidded three weeks early, but it has been a learning experience and a blessing.

For the past few years blogging and writing has been a big part of my homeschool. I help run and write on several sites, like here at HSBA. Others are Growing In Grace Magazine, the The Homesteading Carnival, and Feelin Feminine. Blogging is a broad horizon for homeschooling because there are many subjects covered, like history, essays, grammar, writing, social ettiquette, journal, and business. I am working on getting my graphics/design website set up because I enjoy designing sites. Doing this has enabled me to work at my business skills because I’m dealing with people on a professional level and you have to know how to approach that or send a business email. I also run the ad-department at GGM and have to contact businesses. I started writing a novel when I was 14 and we’re still working on getting it edited and published. I’m praying that 2008 is the year I hope it will be published but it’s all in God’s hands. My personal blog is here, A Pondering Heart, where you can find all the recent happenings and ponders of my life.Though, I will be posting my themes here I’d love for you to drop me a note there!

Our NEW weekly meme is Homeschool Memoirs (Click the name to link over to the first themed post).

P.S. We left the linky up so you can see who all was previously interested in BCM. Hopefully you can help us to spread the word so that Homeschool Memoirs can continue to grow.

Those Interested in BCM Previously:

I just ordered my math curriculum for our oldest from Veritas Press (they’re super hard; it’s like torturing your kids. I love it). We have everything else, but I sure hope that arrives on time.

So what else is going on in the homeschool world that may be of use to you? Here we go:

First, let’s talk planners. I’m a list person. I have lists of my lists. I have lists all over the house. I have lists on the floor of my van. I have lists in my purse. I never actually do anything on the lists, but it feels better to have them.

Anyway, this year I have to get much more organized with my homeschooling because my husband isn’t taking one day a week like he used to. I used to have one day to get my columns written, any articles that were due, and prepare any talks I was giving for women’s conferences. Now that free time is down the drain. So I have to be really careful with homeschooling so that I schedule in time during the day.

I’m going to try a schedule where I spend an hour and a half with the three kids, teaching them history for half an hour, and then spending twenty minutes with each child on math and other stuff, and then they work independently for an hour and a half while I work independently. Mind you, they’re older. They’re 11, 13, and 13 (we have my nephew in the mix). Then I’ll come back for another big chunk, do some marking with each child and some more teaching, and then spend another hour and a half by myself.

I need to have it work like clockwork. And we all know how easy that is to do at home when the phone is ringing and you don’t know what you’re going to make for lunch and the kids are squabbling. No problem.

So I have a current fixation with homeschool planners. Here are some:

Some amazing homeschool planners that are free are here. I found the downloading a little challenging–read her troubleshooting at the bottom of the page and save it to your hard drive first. But they are great little planners!

Donna Young also has some amazing resources here. She has planners, lesson planners, unit study planners, grading helps (including Excel spreadsheets which do all the work for you), and more! I can’t tell you how great these are. Or did I just do that?

If you want a plethora of links (isn’t plethora a great word?) for back to school tips, try this site at About.com. All the links will keep you busy for an age!

The Homeschool Classroom lets us in on their Back to School Kit. Looks fun!

If you’re new to homeschooling and have some questions, answers are out there! Read this hilarious intro to homeschooling, with those age old questions, “will I have to wear Birkenstocks?”, and “will I have to raise goats and chickens?”

Here’s a satirical look at “Ten Reasons Not to Homeschool”.

And that’s all for today! Hope that helps!

Scenario: Jack goes quail hunting before school, pulls into school parking lot with shotgun in gun rack.

1957 - Vice Principal comes over, looks at Jack’s shotgun, goes to his car and gets his shotgun to show Jack.
2007 - School goes into lock down, FBI called, Jack hauled off to jail and never sees his truck or gun again. Counselors called in for traumatized students and teachers.

Scenario: Johnny and Mark get into a fistfight after school.

1957 - Crowd gathers. Mark wins. Johnny and Mark shake hands and end up buddies.
2007 - Police called, SWAT team arrives, arrests Johnny and Mark. Charge them with assault, both expelled even though Johnny started it.

Scenario: Jeffrey won’t be still in class, disrupts other students.

1957 - Jeffrey sent to office and given a good paddling by the Principal. Returns to class, sits still and does not disrupt class again.
2007 - Jeffrey given huge doses of Ritalin. Becomes a zombie. Tested for ADD. School gets extra money from state because Jeffrey has a disability.

Scenario: Billy breaks a window in his neighbor’s car and his Dad gives him a whipping with his belt.

1957 - Billy is more careful next time, grows up normal, goes to college, and becomes a successful businessman.
2007 - Billy’s dad is arrested for child abuse. Billy removed to foster care and joins a gang. State psychologist tells Billy’s sister that she remembers being abused herself and their dad goes to prison. Billy’s mom has affair with psychologist.

Scenario: Mark gets a headache and takes some aspirin to school.

1957 - Mark shares aspirin with Principal out on the smoking dock.
2007 - Police called, Mark expelled from school for drug violations. Car searched for drugs and weapons.

Scenario: Pedro fails high school English.

1957 - Pedro goes to summer sch ool, passes English, goes to college, gets a great job.
2007 - Pedro’s cause is taken up by state. Newspaper articles appear nationally explaining that teaching English as a requirement for graduation is racist. ACLU files class action lawsuit against state school system and Pedro’s English teacher. English banned from core curriculum. Pedro given diploma anyway but ends up mowing lawns for a living because he cannot speak English, he cannot support his family and goes on welfare.

Scenario: Johnny takes apart leftover firecrackers from 4th of July, puts them in a model airplane paint bottle, blows up a red ant bed.

1957 - Ants die.
2007 - BATF, Homeland Security, FBI called. Johnny charged with domestic terrorism, FBI investigates parents, siblings removed from home, computers confiscated, Johnny’s Dad goes on a terror watch list and is never allowed to fly again.

Scenario: Johnny falls while running during recess and scrapes his knee. He is found crying by his teacher, Mary. Mary hugs him to comfort him.

1957 - In a short time, Johnny feels better and goes on playing.
2007 - Mary is accused of being a sexual predator and loses her job. She faces 3 years in State Prison. Johnny undergoes 5 years of therapy.

So the over all memo for Monday, and any day of your children’s lives, is keep them home where they belong!

Don’t forget to check out the carnival page where we’ve taken time out of our busy lives to bring you the hotest carnivals and coolest contests (not to mention the FREEBIES!) to enter! Don’t forget to grab the icon and put it on your site for instant access! The code is located on the sidebar!

And, if you signed up for the Blogger Class Mates 2008-2009 please make sure you sign up for feedburner (also on sidebar) to know exactly when the assignments are posted! If you haven’t enrolled yet do it today! Second assignment will be posted on Wednesday!

Have a great week!

One afternoon at the She Speaks conference the writers and speakers were in sessions, but those of us who were “just bloggers” had some free time. We did what any self-respecting bunch of bloggers would have done: pulled together some tables; whipped out the laptops; and started chatting, surfing, and catching up with our online activities. (You can read my conference story, including why I didn’t have a laptop with me, here.)

One thing was immediately apparent: everyone wanted to check their Twitter account. Someone described it as “like you are back in high school, keeping up with what all your friends are doing.” I made a mental note-to-self: “look into Twitter.”

Life was busy when I returned from the conference and looking into Twitter was placed on the back burner. I don’t remember the exact date I joined, but I’ve been on Twitter for about a month now, more or less. I totally get it now.

Here’s how it works and a few tips I’ve learned in that brief amount of time (feel free to share your own in comments):

• Be brief: you must say whatever you have to say in 140 characters or less.
• Find the Twitter account of another blogger you know and see who they follow and who follows them. That will help you find and follow other people you know who are on Twitter.
• Click “follow” under someone’s name and avatar in order to follow their updates.
• When someone follows you, you will be informed by email from Twitter. Check the accounts of new followers which will also contain a link to their blog. If you are at all uncomfortable with them, click “block” and you can prohibit them from following your updates. I have done this on more than one occasion. When I found out that “p*rn website” was following me, I didn’t even need to check it out; I just clicked “block.”
• My friend Robin has given me this tip: if someone is following more than 1000 blogs, you probably should block them.
• There are three ways to send messages: Type in the “What are you doing?” box; reply to a particular person which other people who follow you can see; send a DM, or direct message, which is seen only by the recipient.
• Twitter is a great way to advertise giveaways or promote a post of your own or someone else’s. If all you do is promote your own posts, however, it gets a little tacky. I’m not saying don’t do it, just don’t let that be all that you do.
• Twitter promotes a great sense of community.
• Companies and organizations who maintain Twitter accounts do keyword searches and may locate you based on messages you have sent. I have received notifications that I was being followed by NAPP (I’m a member) and by accounts associated with Blackberry (I use one). I tweeted about a problem with Firefox this week and received a reply from the Firefox account.
• Twitter lingo: “tweet” - your 140-character or less message; “tweeps” - your twitter buddies
• There are various ways to access and utilize your twitter account: through your web browser; by texting (which is activated first through your Twitter account settings and then through your phone); Twhirl; Twitterberry; Twitterfox. Those are the ones I have used, but there are others. I primarily use Twhirl on my computer and Twitterberry on my phone.

Most of the ladies here at the HSBA use Twitter.

Additional reading:

Twitterpated

Twitter Prowess

Stop by my blog to win a copy of The Schoolhouse Planner!

↑ Grab this Headline Animator

~ Charles W. Slemming in He Restoreth My Soul

Heavenly Father, may we delve ever deeper into Your word and Your love. Immerse us, consume us, and overflow our lives with more of You.

And the winner is . . .

#18 - Karen at Lil Momma’s Haven!

Congratulations, Karen!

Can you feel it? On Saturday I could feel the change in the weather. You know that autumn change. It’s coming and it feels great! I love that the stores are full of educational supplies once again. I love that feeling and the thought of warm baked apple pies and being able to light candles in the morning again.(Because it’s much too hot to light them now!) With this change of seasons I’m beginning to see more educational blog entries among our community and I am enjoying each and every one of them. Of course you know that California homeschoolers are safe, with the help of all your prayers and our government leaders.

Miss Amanda has a book giveaway going on at The Daily Planet.

We have a listing for homeschool carnivals now and you’ll see the most recent and upcoming carnivals that you won’t want to miss.

Sprittibee has some good news to share and I’m sure her little bees will be thrilled to learn about how life is a natural process in their science class this year. ;O)

Spunky shares 7 Secrets to a Highly Successful year!

Miss Jocelyn let a cat out of the bag about her plans for this year hidden in this article.

Jamin’ shares a link to a free 2008 Olympic Lapbook project.

Here’s a list of things one family is doing in their educational shopping this year Under The Monkey Bars.

Laura is showing us all about her homeschool shopping trip at The Heavenly Homemakers.

I know I have a few things left to pick up, but I’m happy I found paper on sale for 50cents a pack at Walmart. In about another week those prices will go up as parents rush to get their supplies last minute. What do you have on your list? Share your link with us, maybe we forgot something and you’ll be our reminder. ;o)

A few commonly forgotten items:

A compass

A projector

Graph paper

Erasable pens

Pencil sharpener

Staples

Paper clips

Manilla Folders for lapbooking

Glue

Your renewal of TOS magazine!

And don’t forget your free e-mail subscription of The Homeschool Blog Awards! :O)

So I am really behind in the times. I don’t know if other moms of large families go through the disconnection issues I had a few years ago with so many ages of children, but when I looked into lapbooking a few years ago, I couldn’t figure out how to make a simple unit study lapbook work for a 6 year-old and a senior in high school. I really wanted to give it a try, since we are using the Heart of Wisdom Approach, and I researched and looked at videos, but frankly, my type-a, non-artsy, oldest daughter just was not interested. I didn’t realize at the time that she just didn’t have to be. It was ok to work on a lapbook with everyone else. I also was missing a few elements of simplicity and importance in the whole lapbooking experience.

In the past few months, I have been reviewing some really awesome lapbooks from Knowledge Box Central, as well as Project Packs from In the Hands of a Child. I mentioned them in the my Simple Woman’s Memo Monday. Seeing them all put together and the instructions have really inspired me.

I have been so thrilled to find these awesome sites for free lapbooking resources and videos.

The online community Lapbook Lessons offers you a community of other lapbooking moms and their ideas. It is run by Valerie. She is a Christian Stay at Home Wife and Mother to two little ones. Her children are 5 and 2. Here is more about her: “We are exploring homeschooling as an option for our family, so far we’re liking what we see, and we hope to at least keep the children home for the early years. We started using lapbooks as a way to learn some fun Preschool, and Kindergarten skills, and I found them so helpful that I decided to start this site to help others get started using them. I hope that this site will be useful for you as you go about your homeschooling, and if you have any questions or feedback you can email me personally at Valerie@lapbooklessons.com.” She also runs the Little Blots of Faith site.

You must be a member of the community to view the pages, but membership is simple and so very worth it, because you will have access to videos, plans, free lapbooks as well as the community itself. I seriously cannot tell you enough how useful and helpful the photos of completed lapbooks and step-by-step how-to’s there are on the site!

Another great site for FREE lapbooking resources is Homeschool Share. They have a boat load of Lapbooking Links and Free Lapbooks. I think the majority of them are for younger children, except there is sure to be a larger variety through their awesome links!

SchoolinRHome put a really super-sized lapbook for preschoolers and grade school age children on youtube. It is Preschool Flower Lapbook. She packed so many activities into it, and it is very pretty the way she decorated it.

Caroline Hampton has a video to make a Pretty Petal - Tulip Head - mini-book

RING DESCRIPTION: This ring is for blogs which (at least occasionally) feature lapbooks and/or minibooks used in homeschooling. These blogs have any of the following: pictures of completed lapbooks and minibooks; link lists and bibliographies for research related to lapbooks; ideas, templates, and how-tos for minibooks.

Lapbooking_made_simple Yahoo Group

We are a homeschooling couple who have made Lapbooking our passion and business. We own Knowledge Box Central, at www.knowledgeboxcentral.com. We specialize in lapbooks, copywork notebooks, notebooking pages, activity books, and more!
We wanted to start this forum to learn more about the needs of homeschoolers, allow them to share their ideas, and to share our products and expertise with tme. Our main objective is to prove our motto: “Lapbooking is not a craft! It’s an ADVENTURE!”
Feel free to jump in and ask questions. Look at the lapbook pictures and add yours! No advertising, please, including links including affiliate codes. Also, please note that this is a group OWNED by Knowledge Box Central. We do not allow advertisement or open discussion of other products that would be considered “competitive” with our products. We are here to offer support and informaton, as it relates to Knowledge Box Central products. You can check us out at: www.knowledgeboxcentral.com

Lapbooking 101 Yahoo Group

Lapbooking is one way to present information using folders. We would love this group to enthuse and guide you in creating LAPBOOKS, flapbooks, shutter folders, lap packs, presentation folders. A variation on projects, unit studies and scrapbooking for children. Can be used with pre-school, primary and older children - in schools or with home educating (homeschooling).

Notebooking2Learn Yahoo Group

The files you will find here are all notebooking and lapbooking templates that I have created to use in our studies. It is my prayer that you will find them to be a blessing to your children as well. I will add more as I am able. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you find a mistake. Sometimes I look at these things so long that I miss the obvious. If you have any questions on how to use a template or notebooking page that you find here, please let me know. As time allows, I will take requests to make templates and/or notebooking pages for a subject you may be working on. Blessings, Jessica

Lapbooking7up

“Lapbooking is the creative and interactive laying out in a folder - of information on a chosen topic or from a unit study. Popular with homeschoolers. This group will provide a forum for lapbooking for grade or year 7 - approx 12 years old and over. “High School” Lapbooks. International group.”

Robin Sampson also does Scrapbooking to Learn. She has created a Scrapbooking to Learn Community for moms who use this approach also. View my page on Scrapbooking to Learn

Needless to say, I am not nearly as confused as I was a couple of years ago! This year, we are going to do lapbooks for the Doorposts studies we have: Plants Grown Up and Polished Cornerstones. We are also going to be using Heart of Wisdom’s Biblical Holidays too in a lapbook.

I know many moms I already know are homeschooling with really awesome lapbooks, so, if you are, please leave links to your lapbooking category or videos and pictures! We would love to see them!

Don’t forget about all of the great carnivals there are for us homeschool moms. Carnivals are a great way to find the links you need for new ideas, keep posted on homeschool news or just think about something in a different way. Join Sprittibee for this week’s Homeschool Carnival.

Click on the Hottest Carnivals icon to find the recent carnivals, contests, and giveaways!! Be sure to enter to win the Schoolhouse Planner and the latest book in the Lamb Among the Stars Series.

Speaking of giveaways!! Melanie has also offered everyone a FREE LAPBOOK for you to download:

Free Presidential Elections Lap Book Folder

BLESSINGS!!!

The Schoolhouse Planner starts out with full-page 2008 and 2009 calendars for the broad overview of your year. Then it moves into the individual monthly calendar pages. Instead of sticking to “just the facts, ma’am,” each month includes helpful tips (teaching writing, chore training, unit studies, and more), useful reference information (7 Wonders of the Ancient and Modern World, famous composers, important US documents from the National Archives, to name a few), a resource list (links for products at The Schoolhouse Store that correspond to each month), and recipes (Amish breakfast casserole, chalupas, easy chicken casserole, anyone?). Much of this will be of great value long after the school year ends.

The second section contains all the Homeschool Forms you might need, and then some. The beauty of this planner is that you can easily print the specific forms you need, based upon the number of children you have and your homeschool. Because of the number of forms available, I might not print the entire Forms section. Instead, I would print the list of forms, so I know what’s available and then print just those that I want, as I need them.

Here’s just a taste of available forms:
Planning sheets – annual, curriculum, twelve-year, weekly, field trips, and more
Record keeping – grades, report cards, high school hours, books read, science lab, nature journal, and much more
Other information – extracurricular, website and vendor list, co-ops, support groups, etc.

Following this is the Household Forms section. There are forms for housekeeping, chores (varying ages of children), menu planning, contact and phone number information, financial and budget records, Bible reading plans, and even garden plans. As with the previous section, there’s much more in addition to these.

Each Forms section also includes some basic instructions for each. I came across useful some ideas here that I hadn’t thought of, which will help me in my own school planning.

With The Schoolhouse Planner, a binder, and your printer, you’ll be set for organizing and planning everything in life. I’m excited to put this planner into use and I will definitely recommend this to other homeschool families!

The creators of The Schoolhouse Planner have generously offered to give away one copy of this fantastic planner! Simply leave a comment here, and be sure to include an email address or contact information if your name isn’t a link (if you win and we can’t contact you, we’ll have to draw another entrant).

Want another chance to win? Post about the review on your blog and link back to this post. Feel free to grab a copy of the image to include in your post. Leave us another comment, complete with link, letting us know your post is up.

This giveaway is open until Tuesday, August 12, 2008 at 10:00 p.m. (Mountain Standard Time). The winner will be announced here Wednesday morning.