Colorful Workbox Tags {Freebie}

Hey Everyone!!

This year i'm really trying hard to stay organized in our homeschool. Our first year of homeschooling i used the workbox system, that was created by Sue Patrick and is well known throughout the homeschooling community. It really does works great!! Then last year, we moved around from place to place so much i didn't have much space for our homeschool stuff, it was pretty much a nightmare. I'm excited for this school year because i now have an awesome school room and i'm able to use the workbox system again. Yay! :)

Anyways, i decided to make some tags for our workboxes, here is what they look like.

And here is how i'm using them in our homeschool...

I've made it into an easy to download PDF file, it's over 20 pages and come in all different colors. There are also some blank ones for you to write in your own subjects! You can download them for your own personal use, HERE, or in my TpT Store.

Enjoy!! :)

Homeschooling In {Montana}

Hi Everyone!

Today i'm continuing with my "Homeschooling In..." Series. I've already talked about Idaho, Alaska, Oregon, and Washington; so today i'm going to talk about my current state of Montana.

Here are some things you should know about homeschooling in Montana.

1. All children are required to be educated once they are 7 years old and up until the age of 16. Anything before 7 years old or after 16 years old is not required.

2. Grades 1-3 are required to do 720 hours per year, and grades 4-12 are required to do 1,080 hours per year.

3. You are not required to test them.

4. You have to send in a yearly intent to homeschool letter to your county superintendent.

5. Must keep attendance records and immunization records, which have to be available for inspection from the county superintendent upon request.

6. You can use any curriculum you like.

Here are some great resources for homeschooling in Montana:

1. http://www.mtche.org/  – Montana Coalition of Home Educators

2. http://www.hslda.org/hs/state/MT/ – HSLDA

3. http://www.home-school.com/groups/MT.html  – Montana Homeschool Groups

Once you have decided to homeschool your child and you have looked into all the laws/rules, what comes next is picking out what curriculum you are going to use.

Best place to start with that is by checking out what curriculum other homeschoolers are using (and loving). In other words Google search “homeschooling blogs” and start reading what all the other homeschooling families out there use. You can also check out my homeschool curriculum picks.

Another place you could go is HomeSchoolReviews, they offer reviews on all the curriculum out there and those reviews are written by other homeschoolers.

Keep in mind, when picking out curriculum, your child’s learning style!

After you have the curriculum all picked out, all that’s left to do is start planning your school year.

A lot of homeschoolers like to keep with the same school year outline as our public schools, (start at the end of August and go until the end of May), but you can do whatever you would like. We just recently decided to school year round and take more breaks throughout the year. It’s really up to you to decide what will work best for your family.

Now all that’s left to do is dive right on into it. The first year is going to be full of bumps. You’ll make some mistakes, you’ll have some rough days/weeks, but *hopefully* you will learn from your mistakes and in the end it will all be worth it.

Good luck with the journey ahead of you!!

2015-2016 Homeschool Curriculum Picks & Interviews

Hi Everyone!!

It's been nice taking a break from blogging for awhile, i was really starting to feel overwhelmed by keeping up with everything. Now i'm ready to get back at it, and seeing since we started back up with schooling 2 weeks ago, what better what to start back up then with sharing that with you all, as i do every year.

Here are our 2015-2016 Homeschool Curriculum Picks:

Jelly Bean (Pre-K):

Letter of the week from Confessions of a Homeschooler AND God's Little Explorers from Motherhood on a dime, she will also get involved with any of our other activities we have going on.

Boogie Man (2nd Grade):

Math- Math-U-See ,Beta level

English - BJU, English 2

Spelling - Spelling You See, Jack and Jill level

Handwriting - Handwriting Without Tears, grade 2

Vocab - Wordly Wise 3000, book 2

History - Abeka Book Our America and The Story of the World vol. 1

Science - Abeka Book Enjoying God's World and Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy 

Art - Draw Write Now, book 1 and Home Art Studio DVD, grade 1 and 2

Spanish - Rosetta Stone, Whistlefritz DVDs, and other.

Super Guy (5th Grade):

Math- Math-U-See, Epsilon level

English - BJU, English 5

Spelling- Spelling You See, Americana level

Handwriting- Handwriting Without Tears, grade 5 both Print and Cursive

Vocab- Wordly Wise 3000, book 5

History - Abeka Book grade 5 and The Story of the World vol. 1

Science- Abeka Book grade 5 and Apologia Exploring Creation with Astronomy 

Art- Draw Write Now, book 1 and Home Art Studio DVD, grade 4 and 5

Spanish - Rosetta Stone, Whistlefritz DVDs, and other.

And here are our beginning of the school year interviews:

Super Guy

My name is Super Guy

I am 10 years old.

The yummiest food to eat is Mommy's Homemade Mac-n-cheese

My favorite show to watch is Science Shows

The best thing about school is learning lots

The worst thing about school is Chapter Checkups

The coolest person on Earth is Mommy

I am really super good at Reading

My favorite color is Lavender 

The best place in the world to be is in our homeschool room

When I grow up I want to go to the Moon

I really really do not like to eat tomatoes

My best friend is Boogie Man and Jelly Bean

When I was little I used to sleep in daddy's arms on the couch

3 words that tell about me funny, smart, cool

This year I hope to learn hieroglyphics

Boogie Man

My name is Boogie Man

I am 7 years old.

The yummiest food to eat is Rice

My favorite show to watch is kid shows

The best thing about school is Everything

The worst thing about school is Nothing

The coolest person on Earth is Mommy

I am really super good at drawing and building

My favorite color is Red

The best place in the world to be is with Mommy

When I grow up I want to build houses

I really really do not like to eat raisins

My best friend is Jelly Bean

When I was little I used to cry a lot

3 words that tell about me handsome, smart, funny

This year I hope to learn Spanish

Jelly Bean

My name is Jelly Bean

I am 4 years old.

The yummiest food to eat is Rice

My favorite show to watch is Sheriff Callie's Wild West

The best thing about school is finishing

The worst thing about school is getting a time out

The coolest person on Earth is Mommy

I am really super good at building

My favorite color is Pink

The best place in the world to be is Mars

When I grow up I want to paint

I really really do not like to eat vegetables

My best friend is Samantha

When I was little I used to crawl

3 words that tell about me silly, happy, cute

This year I hope to learn Spanish

Our first 2 weeks have gotten off to a great start, hopefully this is a sign that this year is going to be awesome! :)