{You CAN} Teach Your Child Thursdays: Helpful online websites

If you're sitting at home considering jumping into homeschooling your children, but you really don't think you have what it takes........

let me put your mind at ease!

You DO!!

Granted.....it does take work, and preparation, and a smidgey of organization....

but if you can think......

you can do this.

Plus.....there are just tons and tons and tons of resources available to homeschooling families now!

For instance, take what's available online for FREE!!

Recently, I came across these two great websites that I'm totally getting my kids into:

I've heard a lot of great things about this website.

You can either use the free applications available or pay a premium price for a year's membership of perks.

I'm still navigating my way around this one, but don't take just my word for it:

Spelling City product review

Spelling City Review #2

I've got my children all signed up for this one as well.

I like how the progress reports are emailed to the parents so you can keep track of how 

the children are doing with this.

Here's what some others have to say about this one:

Pioneer Woman Homeschooling

XtraMath Revisited

With all the wonderful FREE resources available to homeschoolers today, it's a no brainer to take advantage of this and inject something fresh and fun into your child's daily routine!!

{You CAN} Teach Your Child Thursdays: Money management for kids!

One goal that I had for our family this year was to get in place a concrete plan for teaching our children about using money wisely.
You would think that since we've been parents for 14 1/2 years now, this would have been set up long ago.
Not so.
The tsunami of life has been pretty overwhelming lately, and...well....we just hadn't made it a priority.
Not that it wasn't on my to do list.
I just hadn't come upon the best and most affordable way to do this for all 6 children.

Here are some of the ideas I had been looking at:

Click on any of the pictures above to get more information about each one.

What I liked about each of these tools is that there are compartments for the three major areas I want my children to think about when it comes to money management:

1.  Giving {tithing}

2.  Saving

3. Spending

I read this book several years ago, and loved the tips she shared on how to split up the use of your money.

Her suggestion was to use the "10-10-80 plan."

10% tithe

10% save

80% spend

It's such an easy little formula.

Take off 10% for tithe right off the top.

Stash 10% for savings.

Live off the other 80%.

This is particularly great for couples who are fortunate and smart enough to start out in their marriage with no debt.  If you find yourselves drowning in debt and using your credit card regularly to buy the bare essentials, then I really recommend you read this book!!

Dave Ramsey has a really unique and doable plan for getting out of debt.  I won't say it's easy because you have to learn to be committed to a plan and disciplined to stick with it.  I daresay the reason so many of us are in debt is because of a lack of discipline and plain gluttony, so it's hard to learn new habits and face the truth about your finances!!

But it's revolutionary when you follow his recommendations.

This book has taught us HOW we can live within one income without toting debt and credit cards and financial pressures.

It hasn't made us "rich" because we are trying hard to live within our means even when unexpected things happen......i.e. the tsunami of life!

Anyway, these resources have helped shaped my ideas of what and how I wanted to teach my children about learning to earn money, and then what the Bible says about how we should use it.

But then I was back to wondering HOW I was going to do this in a practical, visual, hands-on way that would be fun for our children.

I loved the ideas pictured above, but just couldn't afford 6 of each.

So I thought and thought, and then learned about Pinterest!

I found this idea right away, and remembered when we had made our own set similar to this with paper oatmeal containers, and smaller pringles cans.

Source: busykidshappymom.blogspot.com via Kristen on Pinterest

But I only needed to make 2 back then.

SIX of those puppies sitting around takes up more room than I have.

Source: blog.bitsofeverything.com via Mindi on Pinterest

Source: goodgravydesigns.blogspot.com via Ruth on Pinterest

Again, these are ALL lovely ideas, but that many jars {6 X 3= 18 !!}

sitting around is way too impractical in my tiny house.

So I went back to the drawing board and thought some more about it.....and here's what I came up with!

For my older girls {who are 14 and almost 12}, we made these envelopes to fit in their wallets.

The envelope system is wonderful, and I use these myself as well!!

For the tutorial on how we made these, click here!!

It has been pure JOY watching how excited my youngest ones are when on Sunday morning they get to open their little jar and take their money to church for Jesus!!  They are so careful not to lose it, and are really learning that that money is not meant for them to spend on themselves, but for giving.  This has been one of our best tools yet!!

{You CAN} Teach Your Child Thursdays!

After homeschooling for a number of years now, I've finally started to see a pattern emerge.
In August/September, schoolwork is new, and fun, and exciting.

By December, we're all into a pretty good routine, but definitely ready for a nice long winter break.
After the holidays are over and we slide back into our routines, sometimes we're dealing with major cabin fever because of the wintry weather, and often are dealing with sickness.

By end of January/February, we start to feel like our routines are cumbersome, and the children get uncooperative and lose interest.
It's hard to want to stay with everything when the end of our school year seems so far away, yet we still have so much to do!!
I recently found an article that was really practical and helpful in combating those difficult stages of the year:

10 Ways to Make Your Homeschooling Days Easier

I completely agree that you need to be prepared and organized.

I also am a huge fan of the workbox system. 

We use it in our homeschooling, and it has revolutionized our home!!

I also agree that making quiet time for yourself is a must!!

I get up earlier now than I ever did before because it's the only time I can have quiet time to focus

on the Lord and His Word for more than 5 minute spurts!!

It gets my day started much gentler and more grounded, and reminds me right from the start that God is bigger than anything I may face that day!!

I am also a huge fan of an organized way to make your grocery lists and meal plans so you don't have to be away from the home any more than absolutely necessary!

I would love to go grocery shopping twice a month, but we lack the storage space for all we need.

So, for the moment, I shop once a week!

But that's it.

No running to the store everyday.

But you have to know in advance what you are preparing for meals this weekend and next week so you have everything on hand.

Making a menu for all 3 meals a week in advance {at least} is super helpful, and cuts down on the amount of time you need to be spending in the kitchen as well!!

Just a few simple tips for simplifying our homes that are schools as well!!