Getting Ready for your 1st Year of Homeschooling?

Maybe you have been planning to homeschool for some time or perhaps you have just decided this past week that you are determined to give it a try. In either scenario, you want this to be the best year ever, right? And you are ready to get off to a great start! That's wonderful.

Would you like a few tips on how to get a great start in homeschooling? I have 10 steps that will give you a quick start in homeschooling - in fact, you'll be ready to begin in 48 hours.

1. Since it is summer, you do not need to notify your child's teacher that he won't be coming back to school tomorrow or the day after, BUT you still do need to notify the school district administration in writing that you will be homeschooling your child. At least this is the case in most states. To find out what your state's requirements are, visit the HSLDA website (Home School Legal Defense Association) and click on your state to read up on its laws concerning homechooling - http://www.hslda.org/laws/default.asp. Since homeschooling is legal in all 50 states, it only makes sense to comply with your state's regulations.

2. Choose a subject of special interest for your child. This could be just about anything, but here are a few suggestions... horses, transportation, navigation, energy, magnetism, inventions, architecture, weaponry, colonial living, pioneer days, insects, flowers, watercolor painting, etc. Once you have chosen a subject of interest, head for your local library and check out books on this topic. You may even find some on your own bookshelves. Try to find books that are both fiction and nonfiction. These books are going to form the core of your delight directed study. A delight directed study means that you will center all or most of your studies around this main topic. For example, if the subject is flowers, flower petals can be counted, sorted and multiplied during math time; the anatomy of a flower can be studied (and dissected) for science; a poem about flowers can be copied for handwriting; types of flowers can be the spelling words; and a particularly beautiful flower can be drawn and painted during art time. And, of course, those books will be read and devoured all through the day and even as bedtime books before lights out.

3. You do not need a handwriting/writing curriculum in order to get started with school. At least, not right away. Use a sentence from one of the books that you are reading (from point #2 above) and write it down in your neatest handwriting at the top of a piece of lined paper. Have your young child copy it from your writing. If your child is very young (say kindergarten), you will want to start with just letters, not full words or sentences yet. If your child is older (say 4th grade and up), you may want to skip right past the copywork stage described above and use dictation instead. In place of writing the sentence at the top of the page, instead dictate the sentence slowly and clearly to your child for her to write down from your reading of it. The older the child, the more lengthy the dictation can be (not more than a paragraph though).

Would you like to know the remaining 7 steps to a quick and great start in homeschooling? You will have to visit our new website - www.HomeschoolingABCs.com - to get the rest. It will be live on August 5th. Stay tuned!

Terri

Prayer answered in the time it took to write last post!

Wow, God is amazingly good and compassionate! In the time it took to write the last post (which was written from the laptop), the other computer unfroze and I was able to save the class materials that I have been working on so diligently. Thank you, Lord! He does care about the little things - the things that can turn our day upside down.

All glory to God,
Terri

Remember to back-up your computer regularly

I have been so busy working on the class materials for our beginning homeschoolers' class that I have failed to back-up our main computer these last 2-3 weeks. That's not good because this morning this particular computer that I work on has completely frozen up. That means that all those classes that I have written and prepared for could be gone. Yikes!

Basically, I am on my knees praying today that we haven't lost all of our work from the last few weeks. That is a devastating thought. But God is good and He has a plan. I just need to make myself available to His plan, rather than my own.

On a positive note, I am compiling names for our drawing (see post from July 14th). If your name is drawn, I will notify you on August 8th. Several people have their names entered multiple times. That's exciting! If you would like to enter our drawing for an iPod Nano or one of two $150 Knowledge Quest gift certificates, see details in the post on July 14th. You could be a winner of 1 of 3 great prizes.

Have a great day! My computer guy is on the way, so hopefully my day will improve soon.

God bless,
Terri

Class for Beginning Homeschool Parents

Are you new to homeschooling? Do you have friends that are just starting out? We are excited to be offering a "class" on the how-to's of homeschooling. This is really going to be helpful step-by-step information for the beginning homeschool family.

And to top it off, we have some top-notch companies that are working with us that want to give portions of their curriculum to our class attendees. We are receiving hundreds of dollars in curriculum to give away to each and every class participant. Yay!

This is really going to be a wonderful opportunity for those just starting out in this homeschooling adventure or perhaps have a year or less under their belt. Pass the word around to your friends and neighbors. This is a class that any new homeschool parent will not want to miss. Class starts around August 1st!

Stay posted right here as details are to follow!

Terri

Oh my, I'm so excited!

You all are amazing! And so fast too! Now, let me just clarify that I did not tell any of you WHAT to write in your reviews, but I am tickled pink by what you DID write! I am steadily adding names to my hat and cannot wait for the drawing on August 8th. I appreciate each one of you so much that I am already thinking about what else I can give that will bless all of you, above and beyond the 3 big winners. I'll be chewing on that for a little bit...

IF you are wondering what I am talking about, just scroll down to the previous post. We are holding a drawing for an iPod Nano and 2 $150 gift certificates. Find out how your name can be added to our virtual hat!

By the way, it appears that CBD reviews are not posted immediately, so keep that in mind. Your name is entered into the drawing whenever you let me know that your review has been written. And I am entering your name whether you comment here on the blog or send me an email. Either way of communication is fine with me. And several of you are getting your names entered multiple times. Fantastic!

God bless you all,
Terri

You can be the winner of an iPod Nano - Find out how!

We are holding a drawing for an iPod Nano and 2 Knowledge Quest gift certificates valued at $150 and you could be one of the winners. Let me tell you how you can have your name entered into our drawing.

Many people who purchase Knowledge Quest products let their friends know about them and often even post a review about them on their blogs. There are many of these reviews all over the internet. However, the pages for our books that are listed on Amazon.com and CBD.com are sadly lacking reviews. There are a small handful of reviews posted there and I am thankful to those readers who have taken the time to post their review, BUT it would be really great if there were more.

This is what I am proposing to do. I would love to give away an iPod Nano and 2 Knowledge Quest gift certificates for $150 to 3 individuals whose names are going to be drawn "out of a hat" so to speak. And to get your name in the hat, all you have to do is post a review of one or more of our books that you have previously purchased and then comment here with a link to your review. That's it. I can't tell you what to write in your review, but I do ask that it be honest and that it be for a book that you have taken the time to read or look through carefully. Please do not post a review about a book that you haven't read or have only glanced at on a book store shelf.

That's it. Post those reviews and then leave your comments here. Don't forget to include the link to your review. And you can review more than one book if you wish. Your name will be entered for EACH review that you post.

Post your reviews by July 31st and we'll hold the drawing on Friday, August 8th. Here are the links to our books on Amazon and CBD:

Amazon.com

A Child's Geography: Explore His Earth –
http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Geography-Explore-His-Earth/dp/1932786325/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216074990&sr=8-1

A Child's Geography: Explore the Holy Land –
http://www.amazon.com/Childs-Geography-Explore-Holy-Land/dp/1932786333/ref=pd_bbs_sr_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216074990&sr=8-2

Star-Spangled State Book –
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Spangled-State-Book-Joel-King/dp/1932786260/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216075449&sr=1-1

Star-Spangled Workbook –
http://www.amazon.com/Star-Spangled-Workbook-Joel-F-King/dp/1932786279/ref=pd_sim_b_4

Blackline Maps of World History (hardcover book) –
http://www.amazon.com/Blackline-World-History-Terri-Johnson/dp/1932786252/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216075590&sr=1-1

Wonders of Old Timeline Book –
http://www.amazon.com/Wonders-Old-Blank-Timeline-History/dp/1932786104/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216075759&sr=1-1

What Really Happened in Ancient Times –
http://www.amazon.com/What-Really-Happened-Ancient-Times/dp/193278621X/ref=pd_bxgy_b_img_b

What Really Happened During the Middle Ages –
http://www.amazon.com/Really-Happened-During-Middle-Happened/dp/1932786228/ref=pd_bbs_2?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216075832&sr=1-2

What Really Happened in Colonial Times –
http://www.amazon.com/What-Really-Happened-Colonial-Times/dp/1932786236/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1216076085&sr=1-1


Christian Book Distributors

A Child's Geography: Explore His Earth - http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786323&netp_id=524019&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

A Child's Geography: Explore the Holy Land –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=86337&netp_id=524026&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

Star-Spangled State Book –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786260&netp_id=478884&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

Star-Spangled Workbook –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786279&netp_id=478885&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

Blackline Maps of World History (hardcover book) –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786163&event=CF

Blackline Maps of World History CD-ROM –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786074&netp_id=376826&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

The Shaping of a Nation (Blackline Maps of American History) softcover book –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786082&netp_id=376827&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

The Shaping of a Nation (Blackline Maps of American History) CD-ROM –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786090&netp_id=376828&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

Wonders of Old Timeline Book –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786104&event=CF

Wonders of Old CD-ROM –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786155&event=CF

What Really Happened During the Middle Ages –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786111&netp_id=421912&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

What Really Happened in Colonial Times –
http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/product?item_no=786231&netp_id=514903&event=ESRCN&item_code=WW&view=details

A unit study about Canada

This was a fun one to put together - a unit study about our dear neighbor Canada. I hope that you enjoy it. It is amazing how little we Americans know about Canada. It really is rather shameful. But now you do not have to be ashamed any longer! Read the article in The Old Schoolhouse magazine and then have fun with the unit study.

Here's the link:

www.knowledgequestmaps.com/canadaunit.htm

God bless,
Terri

My new school planner is amazing!

I received my new school planner this week from The Old Schoolhouse. It is called the The Schoolhouse Planner (not too surprising!) and it is loaded with helpful planning information. It is digital and interactive. I can type in my own personal information and then print it myself. Great idea, isn't it? Here is some of what is included in the planner and why I am so excited about it:

Calendars in various forms yearly, monthly, weekly, and daily
Lists of holidays and places to record special days in your family
Planners for your homeschool in various styles to meet your individual needs
Pages for both long-term and short-term homeschooling goals
Curriculum planning forms
Evaluation forms and test score recording sheets
A through-the-Bible in a (school) year schedule
Forms for recording Bible memory and other memory work
Logs for recording books read, movies and documentaries viewed, etc.
A field trip planning form and recording log
A sample science lab sheet and nature study sheets
A place to record extracurricular activities
Outside classes, co-op, and support group information and recording sheets
Household planning forms
Daily, weekly, and monthly household schedule charts
Grocery, menu-planning, and food logs
Various budget and financial planning forms
Garden planning sheets
An appliance and electronics inventory sheet
Vacation planning ideas
Address and telephone records

There are also...
12 homeschool must-know items, one for each month of the year
12 essays from curriculum authors in the homeschool community
24 easy main-dish recipes from some top homeschoolers around the nation
2-page monthly calendar with BIG blocks with lots of room for writing in details each day

I feel fortunate enough to be one of the 12 authors that contributed to this planner, but that is certainly not why I like it. It is because it is so very usable! I will print extra pages of the ones that I will use the most and not print the pages that I won't use at all (not too many of those!).

You can check it out here. I think that you will like it as much as I do.

Terri

Third time is a charm, right?

Well, I am setting up my third blog in hopes that I might actually keep it going this time. I would like to communicate timely Knowledge Quest news and share a little bit about the personalities and goings-on behind the scenes. We would like for you to know us a little more than a website can convey and a newsletter has room to share.

Please use this forum to communicate with us and share your great ideas.

God bless,
Terri Johnson