• My Favorites for 0-3 Yrs

  • Motherhood has a very humanizing effect. Everything gets reduced to essentials. Meryl Streep

    The great difficulty in education is to get experience out of ideas. George Santayana

    An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy. Spanish Proverb

    The historian is a prophet in reverse.Friedrich von Schlegel

    The object of education is to prepare the young to educate themselves throughout their lives. Robert Maynard Hutchins

    Education aims to give you a boost up the ladder of knowledge. Too often, it just gives you a cramp on one of its rungs. Martin H. Fischer

    Education is a better safeguard of liberty than a standing army. Edward Everett

    There are no seven wonders of the world in the eyes of a child. There are seven million. Walt Streightiff

    It is a thousand times better to have common sense without education than to have education without common sense. Robert G. Ingersoll

    Feelings of worth can flourish only in an atmosphere where individual differences are appreciated, mistakes are tolerated, communication is open, and rules are flexible -- the kind of atmosphere that is found in a nurturing family. Virginia Satir

    But, good gracious, you've got to educate him first. You can't expect a boy to be vicious till he's been to a good school. Saki (H. H. Munro)

    The important thing is not so much that every child should be taught, as that every child should be given the wish to learn. John Lubbock

    Education is not filling a bucket but lighting a fire. William B. Yeats

    Much education today is monumentally ineffective. All too often we are giving young people cut flowers when we should be teaching them to grow their own plants. John W. Gardner

    We all die. The goal isn’t to live forever, the goal is to create something that will.Chuck Palahniuk

    There's nothing that can help you understand your beliefs more than trying to explain them to an inquisitive child. Frank A. Clark

    Education would be much more effective if its purpose was to ensure that by the time they leave school every boy and girl should know how much they do not know, and be imbued with a lifelong desire to know it. William Haley

    My idea of education is to unsettle the minds of the young and inflame their intellects. Robert Maynard Hutchins

    One good mother is worth a hundred schoolmasters. George Herbert

    An educational system isn't worth a great deal if it teaches young people how to make a living but doesn't teach them how to make a life. Author Unknown

    For the unlearned, old age is winter; for the learned it is the season of harvest.The Talmud

    If you want children to keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders. Abigail Van Buren

    It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men. Frederick Douglass

    Knowledge which is acquired under compulsion obtains no hold on the mind.Plato

    The formative period for building character for eternity is in the nursery. The mother is queen of that realm and sways a scepter more potent than that of kings or priests. Author Unknown

    You cannot teach a man anything; you can only help him find it within himself. Galileo Galilei

    The mother's heart is the child's school-room. Henry Ward Beecher

    I try not to dance better than anyone else. I only try to dance better than myself.Mikhail Baryshnikov

    Too often we give children answers to remember rather than problems to solve. Roger Lewin

    Education is a progressive discovery of our ignorance. Will Durant

    [Education] consists mainly in what we have unlearned. Mark Twain

    To bring up a child in the way he should go, travel that way yourself once in a while. Josh Billings

    I have never let my schooling interfere with my education. Mark Twain

    I am not a teacher; only a fellow traveler of whom you asked the way. I pointed ahead--ahead of myself as well as of you. George Bernard Shaw

    The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows. Sydney J. Harris

    If you don’t have a plan for your life, someone else does.Anthony Robbins

    Dance like no one is watching. Sing like no one is listening. Love like you’ve never been hurt and live like it’s heaven on Earth.Mark Twain

    Only the curious will learn and only the resolute will overcome the obstacles to learning. The quest quotient has always excited me more than the intelligence quotient. Edmund S. Wilson

    The primary purpose of a liberal education is to make one's mind a pleasant place in which to spend one's time. Sydney J. Harris

    The object of teaching a child is to enable him to get along without a teacher. Elbert Hubbard

    Don't worry that children never listen to you; worry that they are always watching you. Robert Fulghum

    The world makes way for the man who knows where he is going.Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself. John Dewey

    It is little short of a miracle that modern methods of instruction have not already completely strangled the holy curiosity of inquiry... I believe that one could even deprive a healthy beast of prey of its voraciousness if one could force it with a whip to eat continuously whether it were hungry or not... Albert Einstein

    If the doors of perception were cleansed, every thing would appear to man as it is, infinite.William Blake

    Nothing is more terrible than ignorance in action.Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

    That best academy, a mother's knee. James Russell Lowell

    You send your child to the schoolmaster, but 'tis the schoolboys who educate him. Ralph Waldo Emerson

    Education is too important to be left solely to educators. Francis Keppel

    Mother love is the fuel that enables a normal human being to do the impossible. Marion C. Garretty

  • My Favorites for Ages 3-6

  • My Favorites for Ages 6-9

  • My Favorites For Ages 9-12

  • My Favorites for Ages 12-14

  • My Homeschool Library

  • I’ve Gotten Awesome Family Deals Here

February 21, 2012

Goodreads: An Excellent Resource to Inspire Youth to Read

By Karina Palmer

I was inspired a few weeks ago to get a Goodreads account for my son, Alex, who recently turned 12.

It’s turning out to be a wonderful resource for our homeschooling adventures.

He doesn’t have email, he doesn’t Facebook. In fact, the only time he uses the computer is for schooling purposes.

Goodreads is no different. The benefits of it have been:

  1. He’s able to document every book he reads, and he’ll hopefully have that forever.
  2. He can rate each book (fun!) including all the books I’ve read to him as a child.
  3. He can type summaries about his books (and he naturally wants to do only his best work because his “friends” on Goodreads will see his writing).
  4. He is practicing his typing (my kids are never allowed to type unless their fingers are on the home row).
  5. Goodreads offers suggestions for other books based on the ratings you have given so far, so we go to the library with lists of options.
  6. He is so inspired by seeing all the fun books available, and he can’t wait to read them.
  7. He can connect with “friends” on Goodreads to see what they’re reading, what they’ve rated, and to discuss books.

Alex is currently looking for other youth who have a Goodreads account to be “friends” with. Please message me if you know of someone.

What internet resources for homeschooling youth have made you happy?

Karina Palmer grew up in California public school, became a court reporter and owned her own agency for ten years, then became a homeschooling mother. Her children range from age twelve to age two. She’s been homeschooling for seven years. She and her husband Stephen raise their children in Round Rock, Texas. Be sure to check out her thought-provoking blog called Palmer Journeys.

January 23, 2012

Should We Trust Books With Young Children?

I used to freak out every time one of our books got ripped or a page got torn by my kids. I freaked out a lot.

Finally I realized that it was inevitable, and instead of keeping books away from my kids (or watching them every second) I would just resign myself to doing repairs every so often. I’ve decided that it is the price I’m willing to pay to instill in my children a love of books at an early age.

Here’s the pile of books I repaired the other night.

After being used by 7 kids, some of our books are getting a bit thrashed, or shall I say well loved? This is my second copy of this one.

I’ve read to many of my kids from birth, but especially at 6 months and up. At this age, they love board books by Sandra Boynton and Dr. Seuss. Of course they put the books in their mouths, but I just remind gently that we don’t do that. I try to just keep board books in the nursery for the first year or so.

I’ve purchased most our books second hand or at yard sales. Every couple months I get out my heavy duty tape.

I take all the books, covers and pages out of the bucket on my office shelf and I start taping.

I just can’t throw books away if they’re still salvageable. These are stories I loved growing up.

This one needed a bit more than tape. All the pages were coming out, so I had to resort to the stapler.

It brings me joy to see my children sitting for periods of time, absorbed in reading or looking at good books. And it doesn’t take long to read a few stories to the kids every night. The more I read to them, the more it solidifies their love of reading.

What a great reward!

How do you manage books around your young children?

December 29, 2011

What We Learned This Christmas

This is just a fun post to tell you about the things we learned this Christmas and some things we will be doing differently next year.

Gingerbread Nativity

I saw an idea on Pinterest that I loved. It was to make a gingerbread nativity. I always balk at making gingerbread, because it takes so long and doesn’t turn out well most the time for me. I don’t use white sugar, so this may be why. I also don’t like to buy the unhealthy kits, because my kids always end up eating half of it before it gets discarded.

So when Bountiful Baskets offered gingerbread house kits without preservatives and hydrogenated fat, I immediately ordered some. We got creative and made this.

Read more…

November 23, 2011

Fostering Gratitude

A couple months ago, when the kids were complaining about some trivial things, my husband, Mike got out a huge piece of paper and announced we were going to make a gratitude list. We sat around as a family and thought of over a hundred things for which we are grateful. Then we posted it on the wall for awhile.

We’ve found that we need to remind our children often of all we have, especially when they start using a more demanding tone and expecting to get things they want without working for them. We adults can fall into this trap as well, so it’s good for us all to remind each other that we have so many blessings.

One of the best ways to do this is through service. We’ve taken our kids to South America to help them understand what they have and the value of serving those less fortunate. But you don’t have to go to a third world country to accomplish this. Experience in service can be just as powerful when it’s close to home. I try to keep my eyes open for opportunities to help people and involve my children.

Here’s a video of my boys singing a beautiful song about sharing, that almost made me cry when I heard them sing it at their school. And below you can see the items we put on our list of 100 blessings.

Read more…

November 7, 2011

Leadership Education Family Builder Program (Discount)

Are you ready to significantly improve the education of your family?

I attended one of Diann’s seminars 7 years ago when we were home-school newbies and loved it! She had so many great ideas and information. She helped me organize our family work system and other learning systems in our home. Read more…

October 27, 2011

Do We Want Our Kids To Love Learning Or Hate It?

I got an email from a mom with a 6 year-old son who was hating school by the end of his first week.

It made me ponder, if you wanted to make a kid hate learning, how would you do it? Read more…

September 16, 2011

Don’t Overreact! The Power of Calm

By: Nicholeen Peck

I was baking bread one day when I heard a commotion coming from downstairs. The children then came to tell me what was happening because they didn’t know where their friend was and had grown concerned. I  discovered that one of our darling little friends had broken a toy.

Read more…

August 17, 2011

Online Education Options For Middle And High Schoolers

Online options and tuition-free opportunities for middle and high school age kids are exploding! Our (almost) 13 and 15 year-olds are thrilled to be getting their own net books (for free!) and doing some or most of their core schooling online. This is made possible for us through 2 different schools, Hi-Tech High and Williamsburg Academy.

Read more…

July 10, 2011

Real Control! -Help For Parents

By Nicholeen Peck

A man I really admire named Jeffrey Holland said, “…the only real control in life is self control.”

I couldn’t agree more.  You can control the settings on your computer, and control the television choices that come into your home.  You can control all the things on your Family Standard and you can control what your family eats for dinner, but you can’t control another person.  No matter how hard you try and how much power you try to look like you have, the only person you can control is yourself.

Read more…

June 27, 2011

The Dreaded Bad Attitude Problem

By: Nicholeen Peck

As I go around the country teaching parenting seminars and trying to help parents make healthy changes in their family relationships, I notice there are two things which get asked the most.

1.  What do you do for bad attitude problems?

2.  How do you stop tantrums?

Here is a video I made about stopping tantrums.

Read more…

May 14, 2011

Yes or No? ~Parent Choices

by: Nicholeen Peck

Is it easier to tell children yes or no when they ask a question?

The answer to this question could depend on what kind of person you are.

Read more…

April 29, 2011

Teaching Self Government by Nicholeen

Parenting is by far the hardest sport there is. Yes, it’s a sport. You run after them, play 52 thing pick up night and day, invent games, have to use ‘mind over matter’ philosophy, set goals, not get discouraged, train every day, rise early, have patience, and try again and again to get it right. If that is not just like training for any other Olympic sport, I don’t know what is.

 

 

Read more…

March 25, 2011

What Our “Homeschool” Looks Like

When I first considered homeschooling, I had a hard time imagining what it would actually look and be like. Here’s what ours is like right now.

We start each day out with a prayer and scripture reading. Sometimes with mom, sometimes with dad, and sometimes we all take turns.

Read more…

February 20, 2011

Stepping Up When Mom’s Down

Posted in English,Home Educating        

A nasty virus has been going around our community and made it into our home. It passed from child to child, starting with a fever and fatigue, and ending with a pale face and cough. I got a sore throat, but no fever, so I thought I was doing fairly well.

Then a few days later, I experienced severe muscle pain in legs and hips, and a splitting headache. For a few days my emotions and energy levels were up and down. One minute I was feeling good and doing things, the next, I was crying or crashing in bed. It didn’t help that Mike was working a long string of nights.

Mike & Ian snoozing

Read more…

January 4, 2011

Memorization For Inspiration

My cousin, Lisa, emailed me asking for a poem. This is what she said,

“You are such an inspiring mom to me.  I am looking for a little inspiration one more time! This year, I am trying to choose a poem that my whole family can memorize and use to inspire them to continue to reach onward and upward!  I have several that are too long for my littles. Last year we chose the trite but VERY effective poem “Stick To The Task.”

Read more…

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