Mother4Jesus

It's almost October and I didn't want to forget about the weekly planner for my homeschool moms!!  My children love the different planner pages monthly. It's just something I like to do to make the seasons more fun. I created 3 different ones this week. One is specifically for my ACE moms!! The other two are generic. One is blank and other has the days of the week, and you can fill in the subjects.  Click here to download I don't actually print out new ones each week. You can do that but these are colorful and take up quite a bit of printer ink. If you're like me, you like to save ink where you can.  I print these out and laminate them.  I use a sharpie to write in the daily work, and alcohol cleans this right off.  Sometimes I'll print out two different prints and laminate back to back. This also helps to make the most of your laminate supplies. If you'd like the matching notebook covers or planner dividers, Click on this ...

I couldn't help but sing that title. 😊 This is a video that I made. It goes over what ACE is,  (In the simplest form), How we use it, and how we use it with our Classical curriculum.  Ace can be used with any Other curriculum.  You can use all or part of it. It's a great core curriculum.  Here you have some ideas on how to add to it.  All About ACE **Quick Note** I use reusable goal cards. I laminate them and write on them with Sharpie, then wipe off with alcohol. Many can be found here on my blog  or onthe Facebook Group page for free in the files section,  ACE Homeschool Moms Lounge.  I'll be making more goal cards in different themes in the future. I'll post them here on my blog. Please click the link and subscribe to my blog. My documents are always free and I don't require that you subscribe but it makes it easier for you to get a notification for each new blog post. 

It's been dreary and rainy here in NC. Time to share something colorful!!!  I think this is my favorite attendance sheet and Goal Card ever!!! Mermaid!! it's so pretty!!!  My daughter is too old for this, but I thought someone else might enjoy it!!!  It's bold , it's bright... I love it!!  You can download this for free!!! No need to Join my blog, or even follow me. I would appreciate if you did follow me. You can also follow me on Instagram. #Mother4Jesus Print out the matching goal card and laminate them together for the year!!!  I print these out on cardstock. Laminate and fill in the dates with a sharpie. At the end of the year, make a copy and file away. Clean off with alcohol and reuse for the following year.  Your student will have a great time marking off her school days and her daily work.  Don't forget to celebrate your 100th Day!!! **Please do NOT share this file with anyone. Send them here to downloa...

I have two adult children that I homeschooled through high school.  Can we talk curriculum reviews??  In the 20+ years that i've been homeschooling, i've tried many, many curriculums. Different types, different styles, different prices, etc.  When I started homeschooling, I had many STRONG opinions. Which is really funny, considering I had very little experience.  That is the reason for this post.  With 20+ years of experience what i've learned is what i'm going to share.  Ready?  I don't know that much. Yup.. The older I get, the less I know.  Also,  There is NO bad curriculum.  I'm going to say that again.  THERE IS NO BAD CURRICULUM!!!  I've used, A lpha Omega lifepacs, switched on schoolhouse, Sonlight, My Father's World, Bob Jones, Abeka, Logic of English, Teaching Text Books, Math-u-see, Kahn Academy, Easy Peasy Online, Singapore Math, Apologia Science, Hooked on Phonics, Teach your chil...

A few years ago, I posted a review of ACE .  Since then we moved from NY to NC and a few people have asked for an updated review. Here it is...I'm still using ACE. We still love it!! It's a great curriculum for us!!  Sarah , also known as Flippin Princess is 10 now. She's in 5th grade. This year we decided to join a Classical Conversations Community. We used a Classical Curriculum with ACE, Claritas in the past, but wanted the community for David, my 7 y/o son.  David, also known as Daveman2011, is now in 2nd grade and doing all ACE and Classical conversations Foundations.  Sarah is doing Foundations and Essentials. ACE and our other classical curriculum, MORE than prepared her for Essentials. She is fitting right in, doing her diagramming and loving it!!  David is enjoying ALL of ACE 2nd grade and Foundations memory work. It's a lot but because ACE is so easy to implement, we've not had a problem  We also school year r...

February is the shortest month of the year but can feel like the longest for homeschoolers!! Spring fever sets in!! Looking forward to the fresh smell of the spring flowers!! I created this cute attendance and matching goal card set.  Print them out and laminate them together or slip them in a dry erase pocket to reuse.  Please do not share these files directly with friends. Send them here to my blog to download.  Many Blessings,  Laura Click Here to download Click Here to download

Do your children love insects? Mine do. They love every creepy, crawly thing you can imagine. My daughter use to enjoy catching bees!! yes!! Bees!!!  I'd find these large bumble bees under a cup. Why?? I have no idea. When I asked her, she would tell me , "To observe them.".  That's actually a great answer. Observation is one of the key ingredients to learning.  One thing that homeschoolers must do in almost every state is keep a record of attendance.  Why not enjoy it with some bugs??  I created these cute Bug Attendance sheets and matching Goal Cards!!!  Just click on the links under each picture to download.  Please do NOT share these files with anyone. Send them here to download their own. I do not require membership or an email!!!  To download, Click Here.  To download, Click Here . 

For many homeschoolers, February is a dreaded month!  It's been a long school year and by this time, we're tired.  What a great time for some new goal cards!!  This fun print can be used any time of the year. I added in some hearts for fun.  You can always put the date in the hearts and your students name in the label box.  Just Print, laminate, or stick in a dry erase pocket and enjoy.  I use mine with sharpie markers and clean them off weekly with alcohol.  **Please do NOT Share the file with anyone. Send them here, to my blog to download.  I downloaded these graphics from Chantahlia Design. Please visit her site to create your own documents.  Click Here to Download!

The title of this blog post sounds VERY Serious!! It's not. 😁 One thing that's true, is that we want to teach our children to take control of their school work and chores. As a mom and teacher, this means that not only do I teach them HOW, I also give them the tools they need.  For moms using ACE or Accelerated Christian Education at home, the goal cards are great. I enjoy being able to reuse them by laminating them. I also LOVE to add a little color to life. I love seasonal goal cards.  One benefit of the goal cards is that the students can set their own daily work goals. While this doesn't seem important, it REALLY is. I can't tell you how my daughter's ability to organize her day and get her school work done has helped her. She's a gymnast and spends about 12 hours a week at the gym.  She goes 4 days a week for 3 hours. This doesn't include the exercising and drills she does at home. This keeps her very busy. The goal cards help her to hold ...

I haven't blogged in a long time. For those that don't know, we moved from NY to NC last February. I love NC. Homeschooling here is so much easier and the numbers are so high, we're actually in the majority !!  That brings me to my topic for this blog: Whether you homeschool or send your child to conventional/private schools, each choice has it's benefits and....problems. That includes homeschooling. There, I said it!! Out loud!! Homeschooling, while a great choice and I LOVE IT, has it's problems, or potential problems.  It's time that moms and fellow homeschoolers discuss these issues OPENLY. I certainly don't feel judged but i'm sure there are many that do. We can't help each other with these issues if we don't discuss them.  My issue that I'm going to tackle today is "Screen Time". So many moms confide that they let their children play video games and watch tv but do so secretly. Why?? Why all the secrecy??  ...

Yay!!! You're pregnant!! Now the choices come and along with that , the mommy guilt.  Here's what I have to say to that...... Natural birth? Medication?? Home birth??? Wine ??  **Go with your gut!! Formula?? Breast feeding?? Chocolate?? **Go with  your gut!!! To vaccinate, or NOT to vaccinate??  **Go with your gut!! Cloth diapers?? Disposables?? Naked??  **Go with your gut!! When to start solids?? Extended nursing???  **Go with your gut!!!! (See where I'm going with this?? )  Oh the list goes on... it gets better.  Co-Sleeping?? Crib?? Floor??  **Go with your gut!!! Gentle parenting?? Positive Parenting?? Figure it out as you go??  **Go with your gut!!! When to Potty train?? 2? 3? 24??   **Go with your gut!!! Binki?? No Binki??  **Go with  your gut!! Organic?? Non-Organic?? Dirt??   **Go with your gut!!  Preschool?? No Preschool?? Co...

There are so many "Chore Cleaning" Systems out there...how does one choose?? While I love everything that has to do with organizing, chore charts and systems have really eluded me. My children clean with me. We homeschool, they're with me all the time. We usually are working side-by-side. So chore charts aren't really needed. I only have 2 of my 4 at home with me, so those elaborate systems aren't necessary. Chore charts where you check off the work doesn't fit for us. Simply telling my 5 y/o , "Go clean your bedroom" doesn't work. Many times they don't know where to start or they're not really capable of listing in their own minds what to do first, next, etc. The Zone cleaning looked good but a bit too complicated. While I love the idea of itemizing what they had to do in each room/zone, the flip chart was annoying and the the days of the week on each card wasn't necessary. Again, we work side-by-side. What was I looking f...

There are so many "Chore Cleaning" Systems out there...how does one choose?? While I love everything that has to do with organizing, chore charts and systems have really eluded me. My children clean with me. We homeschool, they're with me all the time. We usually are working side-by-side. So chore charts aren't really needed. I only have 2 of my 4 at home with me, so those elaborate systems aren't necessary. Chore charts where you check off the work doesn't fit for us. Simply telling my 5 y/o , "Go clean your bedroom" doesn't work. Many times they don't know where to start or they're not really capable of listing in their own minds what to do first, next, etc. The Zone cleaning looked good but a bit too complicated. While I love the idea of itemizing what they had to do in each room/zone, the flip chart was annoying and the the days of the week on each card wasn't necessary. Again, we work side-by-side. What was I looking f...

Here we are again, another school year. Every year I feel more and more blessed to be able to homeschool my children. I don't have an over abundance of patience, I'm not "Super mom", I'm not even close to perfect. Some how the Lord uses all of my imperfections and theirs to make up our imperfect , but lovable home.  I look forward to our mornings together. I look forward to when David pretends not to know something but really does. He loves to see the look of shock on my face when I realize that he knew it. I love when Sarah reads something and says, "Hey ma! Did you know that..."  All of it brings joy to me. Watching them learn something new, watching them play about what they're learning. Watching them becoming more and more independent, asking more questions. It all fits together so perfectly. Even with the spilled milk, markers all over, beads I slip on and toy cars in every crevice , I love it.  This year we're using ACE ,...

I had planned on blogging a list of topics that ACE Covers for Social Studies and Science for 3rd grade. The problem is that I kept going back to my Usborne collection. Every topic we went over , I could find in their Internet Linked encyclopedias. I love those books!!! Over the summer the kids and I started another "Classical" type curriculum called "Claritas Press Academy". For our memory work, we were learning about the Great Pyramids of Giza near the Nile Delta. I cracked open my Usborne World History and with a few clicks of the mouse, we were taking a virtual tour of an ACTUAL pyramid in Egypt. You should of seen the look of excitement on my 5 y/o's face. Do you know how hard it is to get a 5 y.o interested in history?? It's HARD!!! This did it. He was really enjoying learning about the Pyramids. Thank you USBORNE!!! I quickly realized that I didn't need a list of sites, I had my Usborne Internet linked encyclopedias. I made a video for a frien...

it's that time of year again. All us homeschoolers are getting ready and prepped for the new year. Some of  us, like myself, start early. We will be starting on Aug. 1st this year. Sarah is going into the 3rd grade and David into the 1st grade. He's suppose to be going into Kindergarten but having an older sister means that he was exposed to more phonics than he needed. So 1st grade it is!! This year Sarah and David are both using Accelerated Christian Education. ACE. They love it. I love it. So it's a win-win. We are also using a new curriculum called Claritas Press Academy. I'm using it through www.CrossSeven.Org This is like Classical Conversations only more affordable. We started this over the summer and the kids were both having a great time with it. They both really like the Latin. Imagine my 5 y/o doing addition with Latin numbers?? Well, he was. Here is a quick video of what and how we're using it. Enjoy!! Our School 

These are starting to get fun!! I love looking up different things to add. Science: The sun, moon and stars Tides and the Moon The moon All about Stars Galileo Hubble Space Telescope There are so many youtube video's, I couldn't possibly list them all. I'll edit this list as I go. Social Studies: Continent Song   **I'm partial to this little gal** North/South/East/West Longitude and Latitude  Longitude & Latitude song Another great resource that I love are the Usborne Internet Linked Encyclopedias. These are great , year after year. You can find most of the topics in one of their books. I am not an Usborne Rep, and I do not receive any compensation for my endorsement. If you have a local rep, I highly recommend starting a library of them. If you don't, here is a great mom that I use. She's helpful and quickly answers your questions. You can also find her on Facebook. Here is her link:  Jennifer Mason There are so many topics that you ...

I know that many homeschoolers are told, "It's not school at home...it's homeschooling". For my children that doesn't work. They LOVE school at home and was made aware of that when my daughter fell in love with A.C.E, Accelerated Christian Education. I can't complain because she loves school, her reading has improved and her math is great. Not to mention it's one of the easiest curriculums to implement at home. When it's right...it's right!! The other day my daughter ( 2nd grade, 7 y/o) said to me, "Mom, You know those offices that Ace gets to use at his school? Can I have one?" I looked at my child and said, "uuummmmmm Yes!!!!"  "Hold on a minute".. My mind was racing with crafty goodness!!! I had a trifold science board down in the basement and my brain was whirling with ideas. *I know where my daughter gets her annoying love of crafting from. *  I cut the board in half. One for her and one for her brother. The...

Some of the topics covered in pace #1026 For Science Plants and seeds. Parts of a plant, crops. Pollination and seeds. Many of these topics you can dig deeper into. Here are some of the cute things I've found. Science: Parts of a Plant: https://youtu.be/ql6OL7_qFgU https://www.rhs.org.uk/education-learning/gardening-children-schools/family-activities/fascinating-Facts https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tkFPyue5X3Q http://www.mbgnet.net/bioplants/grow.html Polination: https://youtu.be/V5yya4elRLw http://www.arkive.org/honey-bee/apis-mellifera/video-00.html http://www.arkive.org/common-dandelion/taraxacum-officinale-agg/video-09.html Social Studies: Natural Resources: https://youtu.be/071lUxclTBw https://youtu.be/zCheAcpFkL8 All about the Hoover Dam There are so many youtube video's on Dam's that if you'd like to watch some with your children, just go to youtube and type in "All about dams"...The video's are ENDLESS!!! There is one...

It seems that there are many topics covered in both Science and Social Studies. Both of these subjects are a favorite of my daughters. I don't want her getting bored and I LOVE the idea of going deeper in certain areas that interest her. I want to keep a running list of links that i'll be using to go deeper. These will be for fun and not all of them will be used. I just LOVE the idea of having them available. I thought others might too. Now i'm pulling out *some* of the topics I think we're going to want to dig deeper in. There are other topics that I may add and there are some YOU may find more interesting. This is NOT a complete listing. Lets get started. Science Pace # 1025 The starts with Creation (Of course). We've done Creation many times. It seems like every curriculum likes to start with Creation. That said, ACE takes it slightly further with talking about scientific principles in Creation. Here are some links to go with some of those topics. I lo...