Products

You asked, so here you go.
People ask me all the time. . .
How do you know what to teach?
How do you find the right books to teach from?
How do you know if you are doing enough?
What products can't you live with out?
Etc. etc. etc.

So I have posted several posts with my favorite products.
Enjoy.

Now if someone were to ask, What one book couldn't you teach without? (please don't ask me to only have one book though please!!!) I would have to say this one:

*Soap Box Moment*
There are so many reasons why we homeschool our kids and the reason I am about to post isn't a reason we do homeschool, but it is something we get to include as a great portion of our homeschool. Now think back, when you were in school, especially elementary school, did you know that what you were learning was going to make you an adult. That the end result was you as an adult? An adult with knowledge, right? Well then, isn't it important to teach our kids how to be adults? Let's face it. Values are slipping in our society. (Okay, that just about took me a different tangent, but I caught myself)

*Be Still My Heart*
Ron Clark's The Essential 55, is one amazing book. His story is amazing. His insight to children, society and how they go together is a gift to all educators, parents and teachers alike.
His 55 rules, some silly - but most dastardly important, such as Responding to adults with respect or the value of completing assignments and turning them in on time, are all important life skills. Skills that if learned as a child will make better adults.
Of course I want my kiddos to be successful - but am I or the world hindering that by not teaching them life skills now? I don't want that.
I can't live without this book - when I lost it for a couple weeks, I just about bought two so that I could have one on hand just in case I lost it again.

As I post about products you will find
*Be Still My Heart* which denotes a product that I love
And *Soap Box Moments* for my pet peeves and tangents

History

For the Love of History


*Be Still My Heart*
I don't even know how to put into words our family's thoughts on "The Story of the World." We love it. Love it. We really like it a lot. We all, parents included, love history. Susan Wise Bauer has done a wonderful job and telling the story (History) of the world in story form. Easy to listen to, easy to read, easy to remember. We listen to the audio books in the car. She has broken the history down into four parts to tell her story. The first part, book one, Ancient Times, we covered last year. I bought the second book this school year - but we listened to it all over the summer! I try and listen/read the book four times through to make sure the stories sink in, but my kids are already asking for the third one.

*Soap Box Moment*
I try and introduce American Heroes every chance that I get. I feel like they are important to our history, but I also look around at the heroes of today and question if they are who I want my kids looking up to. Who is it that our media gives the most attention to? Athletes that make millions of dollars? (okay, that's a pet peeve can you tell?) So I nonchalantly place books like these in front of my kids, leave them laying around in the car or bathroom or where ever and low-and-behold they read them, they like them, they remember them.

My random fact child, loves information in short spurts.
Fandex Field Guides makes a whole selection of these "fans" of information. Detailed enough that I feel like he's learning. Not so in depth that he gets bored with them. Great-have-around-the-house-trick-them-into-learning books.

Reading

For the Love of Reading


These are the books that I used to help Liam learn to read last year. Each set has 10 smaller books inside that build on reading patterns and sounds. Each set has a parent/teacher book that comes with it to instruct on the principles of each book and stickers to give out once they pass off the book.

*Be Still My Heart*
I took this picture very carefully, as you can't see the hundreds, yes hundreds, of tabs that I have on the right margin of the book. I can't say enough good about this book. One important note, the first oh, ten times that I picked it up, it did not appeal to me at ALL! And then one magical day I read it and whattyaknow I was in love. Esme has superb ideas to capture children's interest in reading. She lists lists and lists of books by theme and category. She tells us why some books are good and why others are better. I use this book every week.

Use this book. If you are teaching anyone to read. Use it. We are using it to help my reluctant reader gain some confidence in his skills as a reader and really wish that someone would have handed it to me when he was four!

*Be Still My Heart*
Where would I be as a Homeschool parent or even as a Mother without Jim Thelease? I own three editions of this book. Three! And if he publishes a new one, I will get that one too! His thoughts on reading and our culture - everything from Oprah to Harry Potter are just the beginning of the goodness this book can bring to any parent or teacher looking to inspire a child with literature. He also gives hundreds of books that make great read alouds for every age, grade, gender and reading preference. Everyone that I loan this book to end up buying one for themselves. Take my word for it... you need one.