I know we're not "normal" but...

I'm wondering when everyone does their curriculum shopping? We don't use formal curriculum per say. In fact the majority of our workbooks are purchased from the local dollar store that has a very nice selection of educational items available. I think that I already have everything that we will be needing for quite some time but I still sat down and wrote an article about what you should take into consideration whenever you are choosing curriculum. I think that if I had enough money to purchase curriculum, I'd be in over my head and thus overwhelmed by it all. So, I'm thankful that the system we're currently using works.

ALSO...

I'm in search of some good advice and FREE materials here ladies... I have a goal for this summer: I want to teach my daughter to read. I've tried 100 Easy Lessons and it doesn't work for us because she knows what all the letters sound like and I can't seem to find any reasonably priced "Hooked On Phonics" packages, which is what I used whenever I was learning to read. I have the "Bob" books and a bunch of worksheets from the aforementioned workbooks. Do you have anything else that you think would be useful for us. I've heard of Starfall BUT I don't like having my daughter on my work computer so I bought her a VTech Nitro Notebook which has a TON of educational stuff on it. So I need "physical" materials like worksheets and anything else that you could suggest. If anyone knows of a lapbook we could do that would be AWESOME too as she loves those but hates file folder games (don't ask me why as I've never been able to figure it out LOL)

Thanks!

Math: Do you dread it or love it?

My daughter and I seem to share the same dislike of math. I find this unfortunate because she is SO smart. I know that she is able to grasp these concepts but just isn't enjoying it. This is something that I also know: when she enjoys something she'll learn it and want to learn more about it. I guess this shouldn't surprise me though. After all, isn't that the heart of unschooling? Spending time doing those things that you enjoy and learning more about those things that interest you. Anyhow, since I want my daughter to enjoy math I did some reading, thinking and writing. Here is what I found:

The importance of math manipulatives (I really would like to purchase Math U See)
Understanding how math works (This is a book that I've read about and now I want to purchase LOL)
Using rewards & competition (Since I only have 1 child I searched diligently for a way to have her compete with herself. I hope this helps others who are only homeschooling 1 child.)

Summer is here for us

I'd wanted to homeschool year around but I've been so burnt out that after I'm done with my work for the day I just want to lay around and do nothing. I fell asleep at 8PM last night. Today all I've done is clean the house, do laundry, go to the bank and do a little clothes shopping. I made ham and eggs with fresh bread for lunch and now I just want to be done for the day. I do need to work on my Shaklee business and see if I can't get something going to get some products moving but otherwise I don't want to do anything. It's so hot out today (almost 90) and humid too. I think that has a big part of why I'm feeling this way. I've still been getting my daughter to watch educational stuff on TV and play educational games on the computer but I really need to start doing the index cards again as that's what I really wanted to focus on this summer. I've finally been able to get on a 4 day work schedule so I'm only working online 24 hours a week. The rest of the time I'm on and off doing advertising. I also have been able to get laundry and house cleaning done on Fridays so that Saturdays is farmers market and R&R, which is what I do almost all day on Sunday too. It's going to be hard getting up at 6:30AM for church though. I miss going at night but do like this new church better. I just know that once I get on a schedule it's going to get all messed up again bc my dd is going to 4 weeks of different campst this summer. Anyhow, that's my life so I'll stop babbling now...

Just a little fun!

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