Netflix in the Homeschool

I have a Netflix account.  Right now you feel a common bond with me.

Or, you're praying that I get right  with God.

Either way, I have one.  I don't allow my children free access to it.  My husband or I choose what they see and when they see it.  They are not allowed on it without supervision.  So far, so good.

Why do I bring this up?  What does Netflix have to do with home-school?  In our life, quite a bit.

This year, we have found many documentaries and dramas that have supplemented what our children are learning in science, history, and language arts.  Is this a good idea?  I think so...being able to SEE what they are reading really helps to cement things in our students memories.  Think back to when you were in school.  We LOVED when a video/movie/film-strip (for us old-timers) were shown.  It was fun, out of the ordinary, and helped us learn.  I still remember the one I saw about Mount Saint Helens back in the late '80s (& have shown it to my kids)!

Some of our children are learning about ocean and land animals in their Apologia curriculum.  There are many documentaries that we have either ordered or watched instantly via Netflix.  Yes, some of them have evolution, but the kids are getting good at identifying the fallacies and appreciating God's creation.
     Coral Reef Adventures
     Dolphins: IMAX
     Wild African Cats: Wild Cats
     David Attenborough: Wildlife Adventures
     & many more

A couple of days ago, my son watched a documentary on Sitting Bull as he had just enjoyed and finished a biography about this "last indian" for his history assignment.  The children also enjoy "Liberty's Kids" and the show is basically right on concerning the founding of our country.
     The Best of the Real West: Sitting Bull
     Liberty's Kids

This week, my oldest son is reading a biography on Eric Liddell.  Wouldn't you know it?  Netflix has a documentary and it's on the way to our house.  (We're getting "Chariots of Fire" from the old-fashioned library.)
      Eric Liddell: Champion of Conviction
     A Man Called Peter (watched after reading excerpts of the book)

Netflix has provided several hours of schooling for our children this year.  It has more than paid for itself, in my opinion.  If you have an account, look at it as more than a means to entertainment, but another home-school resource.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - March 4, 2012

In my life this week...

I feel like a complainer as I feel like I've mentioned this a few times in the last seven days, but...I've been sick.  Got hit hard with a head cold last Sunday and am just getting over it now.  This sore throat is making me nervous.  Strep?  I hope not!

In our homeschool this week...

We persevered and all of my children were able to finish their assignments; even on Wednesday when I was in bed most of the day.  I am blessed that my children are older and do fairly well with independent learning.

Helpful homeschooling advice to share...

Encourage your children to do as much school on their own, especially if you have more than one or two children.  This way, you can be as involved as time permits, but their schooling does not solely rely on your daily involvement.  When you're sick in bed or have unavoidable appointments, school days are not lost.  Better to use free days for something fun and useful...for everyone!

Places we are going...

We did get to a special church meeting on Saturday night (I made sure to keep my distance from everyone).  My husband had caught the bug and we felt our kids needed to get to the service aimed towards young people.  Afterwards, there were a couple of games of Human Fooseball (a totally fun game)!  I was able to co-coach/organize the 8-14 yr age group....the group all of my children were involved in.  While that's not usually something I get involved with, I realized how much fun kids really are and I can't wait to spend some time with that bunch like that again!

My favorite thing this week was...

Starbucks coffee on Saturday morning.  I'm pretty sure if I had one earlier in the week, I would have healed much more quickly.

What's not working for us...

Apologia Physical Science.  My husband, who has a bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering & loves science, has taken over our son's science and says that this program gets too involved in things that don't even need to be dealt with at this age level.  We will plug away until the end of the year, however.  That's just how we roll.

Questions I have...

What science curriculum do you use for your high school students & why?

Things I'm working on...

This week, I'll be cleaning my desk and my son's room.  I hope.  If you don't hear from me next week, send out the search dogs...

I'm reading...

Too many things at once.  

I'm praying for...

A missionary family from our church who have been home the last 9 months and are returning to their field tomorrow.

A link to share:

I posted about this fantastic site this week.  I'm planning next year's curriculum around it.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com

Recently, I've become a huge fan of The Old Schoolhouse.  I used to get their print magazine & loved it.  Kind of like a homeschool convention you could snuggle up with while drinking a hot cup of coffee.
While I enjoyed their magazine, I am LOVING their new app that makes the magazine digitally available on the iPhone (also on Kindle Fire, iPad, and Android).  I can now take it with me wherever I go and enjoy reading an article here and there whenever I have a moment.  An added bonus is that I can annoy all my Twitter followers with links to the articles.

Have I mentioned I love Twitter?  Yeah, well, that's another post.

Anyway, since I've been able to carry the TOS magazine with me on my phone, I've been more interested in its website and e-mails.  Today, I found out a great resource that they are making available March 1, 2012.  Note the time:  that's only 1 hour and 12 minutes away.

SchoolhouseTeachers.com is being unveiled on Thursday.  It is an incredible resource of a variety of lessons and ideas created by dedicated and talented teachers.  I've already become a "Premium" member.  For less than $5.00/month (face it, two Starbucks coffees cost more than that!) I get all the past & present issues of TOS magazine, all the lessons for each month (Geography, Home Ec., Technology, Writing, Literature, and more), each Expo to Go (I've been dying to check those out), and more!

I've already looked into the classes being offered this month.  Amazing!  I hope to have my kids learn about Google Earth with the Technology lessons...I've already spent the last 45 minutes discovering things on that which I never knew existed.  Seriously, with all the extras on that, one could spend an entire school day learning history, science, geography, etc!!  The Home Ec looks absolutely fantastic and I love the idea of having new writing assignment ideas each week/month when I come up empty.

I seriously think this website will help me a lot in making up my curriculum for next year.  I hope they'll be continuing throughout the summer for those days when my kids just need something to put their minds to!

Check it out & let me know what you think!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - Feb. 19, 2012

In my life this week...

     My husband went to Louisville, KY for the National Farm Machinery Show.  He left on the morning of Valentine's Day & returned on Friday.  Being a farmer, it is not often that we are without him for days at a time.  But, now that the children are older, I didn't feel like the weight of the world was on my shoulders and we actually had a good time.  Texting back and forth with my husband made the distance seem less, as well.  

   

In our homeschool this week....

We took a bit of an unscheduled Winter Break due to my husband taking this trip.  We did school on Monday and Wednesday with our bi-weekly homeschool co-op on Friday.  We needed a break, so the kids enjoyed the more relaxed week....as did I!

Places we are going & people we are seeing...

     To fill up our time without Daddy, we had some fun things planned.  Valentine's Day is my absolutely favorite holiday, so we had our second-annual Valentine's Party with about 40 friends.  You can read more about that here.  On Thursday, we headed to the local science museum and just had a great time enjoying the different exhibits and hands-on activities.  Not having a schedule to worry about made for a nice few days.

     On Saturday, we all headed out to my mom's small-town and had a wonderful down-home breakfast in their local cafe.  

     Truly a week of fun & family.

My favorite thing this week was...

My husband returning home.

Questions I have...

Did you all do anything for Valentine's Day this year?  Also, how do you single homeschool moms do it day after day?  God's grace is sufficient...but what is your best tip for keeping on track and not exhausted?  

Things I'm working on...

Some e-mails concerning our Homeschool Fair.

I'm reading...

I'm kind of in between books right now.  Just can't seem to get into any at this time.

I'm cooking...

Let's see...while my husband was gone, we had pizza (ordered out) on Tuesday, French toast on Wednesday night (we often do breakfast for dinner on Wed), and Arby's on Thursday.  My hubby came home and I did make him a nice ham dinner on Friday and we had lasagna while friends came over on Saturday night.  What's for dinner tomorrow?  Suggestions welcome.

I'm praying for...

All to go well with doctor appointments we have this week.  Struggling friends.

A photo to share:

My hubby took this picture of me, my mom, and our girls after breakfast on Saturday.

You Know What I Love?

I love seeing some of my children helping their younger siblings with their school work - voluntarily!  No, it doesn't happen every day, but it has begun to happen more frequently as of late.

I'm pretty sure my position as head-teacher is secure, but it sure is nice to have some help from time to time!

Math Argument

I've mentioned before that my children are doing Mathletics this year.  Along with the on-line activities and games, I also print out their worksheets for each grade level.  One of the best aspects of this curriculum is the different ways they have of getting students to view problem solving.  They include many real-life applications and fun games for the younger ones.

This week, Seth is reviewing counting.  Yes, a bit below his level, but, sometimes it's nice to do something a bit easy.  Anyway, one of the activities was to pick a number from a given list and count up to the next 100.  We chose the number 922.  The spin was to do it with a partner each person alternating numbers (i.e., he'd say 922, I'd say 923, he'd say 924, etc.) and say them as if you were arguing.  This was a ton of fun!  Mike got the camera out about half-way through our argument.

Just another day of homeschooling!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal - Feb. 6, 2012

In my life this week:
I did little else besides school & get ready for our first day of our second semester of our homeschool co-op (HOPE).

In our homeschool this week:
My husband took over much of our son's science, for which I am very grateful.  I get so frustrated with the fact that I haven't improved much in that subject area since I was in 9th grade.  Desiring to be better at Science & Math is just not enough to make it so.
My 2 older daughters wrote short stories for Language Arts and I was very pleased with their final copies.
My middle children have come far in working independently this year and I am very happy with them.
My youngest daughter finished her First Grade Science & History...already.  Took her a total of about 4 weeks.  Very reminiscent of her 2 oldest sisters.

Helpful homeschooling advice to share:
If you can find a homeschool co-op to join that is like-minded...join! It breaks up the monotony and helps with areas you may be weaker in.

My favorite thing this week:
My husband telling me he liked my hair.  If you know him...this is a rare thing.  Made me smile.

Things I'm working on:
Last week, it was HOPE.  This week....Homeschool Fair.

I'm reading:
Still on The Lamplighter.  Didn't have a lot of time to read.

I'm praying for:
My friend to receive good news in her test results concerning her breast cancer.

A video to share:
Just being goofy with my 2 youngest one day.  (NOTE:  I have no idea why Zane was trying to pull his tongue out.  I swear, it is NOT a threat I use!!)