Here's my girls enjoying our new neighborhood.

:) My astronomy-obsessed hubby named all of our girls with celestial names. Mira is the specific star Omicron Ceti in the constellation of the sea monster (or whale depending on your interpretation) BUT lately in astronomy circles we've been hearing it pronounced My-ra. We're obviously keeping her with the Meer-a she's already been dubbed, but I wonder if one way is more accurate than the other. Stella's name, of course, means star, and never gets mixed up. Lyra was named after the Lyre constellation. We pronounce her name "Lie-ruh" in keeping with the constellation-- but honestly when my husband first suggested the name I kept saying "Lyr-ah" because my brain tied it to the word lyrical too. I didn't want a Meer-a and Lyr-ah though. LOL! In any event, both Mira and Lyra often get their names mispronounced but now--- after meeting so many My-ras and Lyr-ahs I can understand it. In any case they're all pretty beautiful and unique names in their own right. :)

It suppose it possible it's from DWN. I just remember originally getting it from someone's blog and for some reason I assumed it was one they had made. If anyone knows for sure I'd love to get confirmation though so I can direct folks to the source.

We discuss map distortion when we come across it. Now that my girls are drawing their own maps they are pretty keen on seeking them out elsewhere--- maps in museums or on office walls. We point out the similarities and differences as we come across them our day to day routines. And at this point I don't have a final version of my daughter's map. We will go through the continents all in "blob" form and then start over again but focus on the details. I'm imagining it taking us a few quite a few years. At this point I am unsure if, after blobbing all the continents, we'll go back and just focus on the shape of each continent in order ago or take a longer time and actually focus on countries, mountains, rivers, lakes etc. Right now I am leaning towards a quicker "blob" round, followed by another round just focusing on making the shapes more realistic, and THEN an additional round where we focus on the continent's features. If you want an idea on how to present the blobs I would refer to either the Draw,Write,Now 7 book or something like Mapping the World By Heart.

Still hoping someone on here will recognize the map I used briefly in my video and be able to lead me to the original source. I'm kicking myself for not saving it somewhere. I love how it had the great circles and NOT all the longitude and latitude lines.

Yes, I'm using plain old regular sized computer paper. I toyed with the idea of larger paper since some people swear by that by honestly 8X11 is just more common to stumble upon so that's what we used.

We just finished the Pre-Reading program (I posted an end-of-year recap here) and my 4 year old was so excited to start AAR1 that we didn't even wait for the new school year. So yeah- you can say we enjoy it here!

Awhile back I was researching ideas on getting started 'blobbing' a la Leigh Bortins' The Core. I've been doing it for a little while with my 4 and 6 year old and hope to continue it through high school. It really is a fun part of our day now as family members race each other to complete their map first. We haven't gotten very far into the project yet but I am already seeing results with my kids' comprehension in geography (and learning myself!!) When I was originally researching it I kept thinking that someone should film their kids doing it so you could see it being done. Since we've been doing it for a little while I went ahead and created a comprehensive tutorial with short video clips of my 6 year old working up to blobbing. I hope it proves helpful to some of you out there :) http://www.teachingstars.com/2013/06/29/beware-of-the-blob-a-video-guide-to-getting-started-with-geography-blobs/

I also found reading homeschool blogs written by moms in the trenches very informative (and reassuring). There are such a ridiculous amount of resources available that I liked to read about a family with similar ages/learning styles and see what worked for them. It was always a great jumping off point.

When my daughter follows rabbit holes, sometimes we end up with books I'm not sure about or have never heard from. I utilize this website where folks can review and rate books AND movies. It hasn't steered me wrong yet. Common Sense Media

What do you need? How about more time. :) Seriously- go ahead and plan it out but THEN add extra time for the subjects your kids enjoy. My daughter spent FOREVER in Ancient Egypt. We just kept branching out and supplementing with more books and activities that I could find on top of the regular ones from the activity guide. She couldn't get enough of it. There are tons of great suggestions on Pinterest boards too. In any event-- have fun with it and don't sweat too much if you take longer than anticipated with it!!

See if either of these work for you.... http://dc415.4shared.com/img/gDmKKdrU/0.8247921667901824/SOTW_Vol_1Ancient_TimesTime_Li.pdf SOTW Cards I would check myself for you but my internet is soooooooo slow right now. Hopefully one of these links that I had were the working link.

Another happy customer here. I generally use it to get all the fun extras and supplements.

I did a clothesline timeline based off Angela's one on Satori Smiles. BUt a friend has started making her own timeline books that I took some pictures of here and I am thinking that I may do that for our second swing through of the cycles.

We LOVE our C-rods. Seriously. I'm a big fan and here's why. But I also like our set of Base 10 flats. I got my second hand from a friend who works in a private school. I don't know the maker of them but they are all blue in color and feel very well made. A couple weeks ago I saw a set from Florida K-12 on sale at a used-curriculum sale that had never been opened. Since they were only asking $3 and I'm a bit of a math manipulative hoarder anyway, I decided I had to have them. I was a bit dispapointed in the quality of them compared to my others. These are very thin-feeling and well-- cheapy plastic. I doubt it would affect my teaching in a negative way though-- just look and feel-wise I really like the others better. I'm almost willing to bet those original ones were Learning Resource. I have a few of their other products and LOVE them. Well made, durable, nice. Just a personal preference but I DO NOT like the interlocking ones in either c-rods or Base 10.

I got 90-second video on mine today. Sunsets and lightning storms at our new home.

Let me know if I can help you out. Feel free to email me or comment on any of my posts. I love helping new homeschoolers because it was very recently I too was treading through the maze of resources, curricula, materials , etc and feeling a bit overwhelmed.

I preparing to gather our materials for the upcoming school year and I realized that in order to get fully organized I need to honestly and truthfully look at the materials we have used this past year and see what really works for us and not just something I would like to work. In that vane I started a little summer series where I recap and share my experiences with certain curricula. I'd love to hear some of your thoughts on your hits and/or misses. If you have a blog post or plan on writing one anytime soon, feel free to link-up here. I'd love to hear from some fellow hivers.

My husband had these black UnderArmor shirt that he loved. Somehow a sticker got on it on its way to the laundry machine without being seen. It went through the dryer unnoticed as well. Now, the sticker has left this residue that I can't seem to get out. Any suggestions? Is it a lost cause?

p.s.. I also posted some pics of our home renovations here.... :)

Not so wordless today. Before and After the Tropical Storm

We're playing. I'm taking a small break from moving and hoping to take the girls to the park today.

Okay- we're right smack in the middle of a move and I'm searching for suggestions for a way to fit two computer desks into an office. Anyone care to share pics of their office? I'm trying to figure out a way to make enough of a space for myself and my husband while still leaving room for our 4 bookshelves lined up on one wall......

Thank you ladies!

Yet another vote for Leap Frog. My girls love those. I tie in those and try to match up some fun free games from Starfall.com