Free online classes for homeschoolers to check out!

Here are some free classes your children can take online. I recently discovered these through friends. I can not personally recommend them yet because we do not have any experience with these classes, but I have heard good things and wanted to share with others. They are recommended from Christian friends. These are great websites to try out for those who are trying to save money or move frequently. No books or money needed. Bonus! If you try out any of these websites, let me know what you think. I would love to hear.

• http://education-portal.com/academy/course/us-history-i.html: Education Portal. Many classes are offered on this site. There are videos to watch, lessons to read, and quizzes to take after. At the end of the class, there is a practice CLEP for your children to take if they would like to possibly take the CLEP exam after and receive college credit. This might be a great way to earn college credit if the college your child plans to go to accepts the CLEP exams.
• http://allinonehighschool.com/full-curriculum/history/early-american-history/: Easy Peasy has all sorts of online curriculum for children of all ages. This link is for their highschool classes. You can type in Easy Peasy for the younger grades. It is all laid out for you each day with lessons, activities, quizzes, and tests. I found the Education Portal through this website. And, yes, this is Christian curriculum!! Here is some information on why she began this website. http://allinonehomeschool.com/about/
• http://virtualhomeschoolgroup.com/: Here's one we signed up for last year but did not actually use because of our busy schedule.  We signed up for the at your own pace Apologia General Science in the middle of the year. This is a great homeschool site with free online classes; however, you will need to buy the textbook that they are using. Most of these books can be found used.  If you are interested in the live classes, check it out soon because classes will be starting. I am excited to see what they are offering this year. Read about them below and check out their website.

  Welcome to VHSG

  "Thank you for considering VHSG for your home school classes. We are a home school online course co-op. Unlike an online school, we are an association of parents (and sometimes professional tutors) that have a passion area that we would like to teach but we are not interested in doing it for money. We just want to build and share something that we love and need a place to share it that doesn't cost a lot of money. VHSG is a project that runs on voluntary donations that provides training, tools, and that free online place for those that want to teach something and in turn a place for home school families to come and sign up for those free classes."

Our Curriculum/Classes for 2013-2014

Curriculum/Classes 2013-2014

Here's what we are planning to do this year. I included some activities as well. This is going to help me as I prepare my children's transcripts. All of the extra things are important to keep track of.  Of course, my plans may change as the year goes on. That's what I love about homeschooling. You don't have to do everything you planned or you may not like something you planned. I always love to look at what other homeschoolers are doing and get ideas from them. Hope you see something that might help you as you are deciding on curriculum. It's amazing how many choices we have now!  

I've mentioned this before, but I feel very strongly that you should not compare yourself or your children to other homeschoolers. No child or family is alike. No one learns alike or may have the same interest. It's okay if your child is taking math that is two years behind his grade or working 2 years ahead in Literature/Grammar. Each child is unique and as homeschoolers, we can work at the child's level, not what the school says is required of their age. As you will see below, I decided to use history that is said to be below where my son is and he will be doing math ahead of where he should be. I do what works for our children; not what others say they must be doing.

I would also love suggestions for a few things I am still considering: Typing for older kids, and my high school son might want to be an architect. I would love suggestions for curriculum, websites, or books he could use.

I buy the majority of my curriculum used from http://homeschoolclassifieds.com/, ebay.com, and from co-op sales. We get most of our books from the library and there are a few I buy new once a year. Check out my favorite websites for websites where I get free curriculum. I'm going to add some great new websites I found through friends recently.


My children are going into 7th & 8th grade next year. Here is a list of curriculum my children will be using for the 2013-2014 school year and classes they will be taking. I'm still  deciding on some subjects.


History/Geography/Literature/Bible for Posie: Sonlight Core E - Intro to American History:  A friend let us graciously borrow this curriculum. We've never used Sonlight so I am excited to try it out. I believe this will be our favorite subject this year. My daughter saw all the books and she looked like it was Christmas! She is thrilled about History this year for the first time in years!

History/Geography/BibleLiterature for Shrimp: I decided to use the Sonlight History with both of the children and I will just require more for my highschooler. I may ask him to do additional research and write essays.
Later or as we go, I might have him use this free website http://education-portal.com/academy/course/us-history-i.html to take a History class while earning college credit. It even has a practice CLEP test to take after. I'm not sure if we will do the CLEP test however, because we don't know where our son will go to college and I heard many colleges do not accept CLEP. There are more classes offered on this website. Check it out!

Geography for Shrimp: I was just asked to be a home-bound teacher for a sweet boy I tutor. They asked if I would teach him geography at home as well as be his reading tutor. After much prayer, I felt God may be wanting us to do this. So, I decided I will teach both my son and this boy World Geography. I'm going to add in many hands on to make it more interesting.

Math: Posie: Saxon Algebra 1/2
Shrimp: Saxon Geometry


Grammar, Vocabulary, Spelling, & Literature 8th grade: Abeka - http://www.abeka.com/: combine both children
We will be using spellingcity.com to study the Abeka words and vocab


Writing: IEW Levels B & C at co-op:
   http://www.excellenceinwriting.com/mhw-s
I will be teaching IEW level C to highschoolers, so Shrimp will be in my class

Clarinet (Year 2) : Shrimp at co-op

Language: Posie: Chinese (year 2) at co-op, Shrimp: free Spanish language course at home he won from winning Spelling Bee last year

Logic: Shrimp at co-op

Ridgewood Analogy books at home: Both children love doing these

Criminal Science: Posie at co-op (I was very surprised when she told me she wanted to take this.)

Science: Shrimp: Physical Science Abeka 9th, Posie: Science: Posie loves the Apologia books so she is doing the new Exploring Creation through Chemistry. She is so excited about this! I wish I would have been excited about chemistry at her age. She wanted this so bad that this is one of the few books I bought brand new this year since it just was released in Aug.

Typing: Not sure what we're using yet. Again, would love suggestions. We have only tried Typing Instructor so far. Need something new.

Architecture: I found a couple neat websites I would like to share: http://architectureatzero.com/tools/, http://www.archkidecture.org/
I also have him doing different activities for us since we are starting the foster process. He created a floor plan of our home with square footage and a fire escape route. My next project for him will include designing his dream home.

Co-op: At one of our favorite co-ops this year, I will be teaching: High School IEW Level C, 1st-3rd grade Books Alive class, and a Preschool class. This co-op meets every Friday where we have a bible/worship time and 3-4 classes after depending on how long you stay. We are part of several homeschool groups and we love each and every one of them. We go on different adventures with each and have wonderful friendships. We are so blessed to have them part of our lives. I would encourage those of you who are not part of one to seek out a local homeschool group.

 Geography Fair, Biography Fair, and Science Fair with co-op


Spelling Bee with co-op: Shrimp


Speech/Drama: Fall/Spring at co-op (this is our children's favorite)

Field trips/Community Service: I will be setting up many fun trips for one of our homeschool groups.

Summer Engineering for Shrimp: He has done this for 2 summers now. I would highly recommend this to any child interested in a science field ( PREP) It is a free 7 week program for children finishing 6th - 10th. He is learning algebra, problem solving, logic, engineering, architect class, & physics. It has been a great experience for him and helped to boost his confidence. In Texas, there are several TEXPREP programs. Check it out and see if you live near one.

Ballet for Posie: This is Posie's passion!


Youth group at church  

Dinner time:  Our family just started a new thing for dinner time. Each child researches and presents10 facts on a person or place to us at dinnertime. This has been fun and interesting to see what and who our children will choose. Later, we will change it to informing us on a news story they read that day. Some interesting topics: Hitler, The Dog Whisperer, creator of Mine Craft, cereal, & St. Basil's Cathedral.


Reading:
My children love to read and will be known to go through a book a day. They love all kinds of books. Both of my children have loved reading the classics, but they have also enjoyed mysteries, adventure, poetry, nonfiction, and book series.  I do not pick out books based on a certain level of reading. I try to pick out real living books for my children: high-quality literature with real-life experiences. But mostly they choose their own books.

Selecting children, having faith, and the waiting game

I wanted to write this post because we are currently in the waiting game again and I felt I left out some information in a previous post about selecting children to adopt. We have been selecting children and waiting since April. After praying for God's will, God showed us He does still want us to adopt, so we have been seeking children of all ages and groups. And, yes, we are still waiting!

One of the things not shared with us in the beginning was that a family can select as many children as they want. Now this is for the state of Texas. I'm not sure how it works in other states. We thought we could only ask for one child or one group at a time. No, you can choose as many as you are interested in at a time. Our sweet, patient worker sometimes submits for up to 5 a week for us.

This can be a hard time as you select a child based on one picture and a short description of that child. I don't know about you, but how can you know this is the child God wants you to have?

Well, I decided to give it all to God and I would urge you to do the same. And I mean completely trusting in Him and what He wants for your family. I realized the more and more we looked, we were still being very selective.

We initially only wanted children between the ages of 6-10 and no more than 2 children. Now, I am asking for all sorts of children, even sibling groups of 3, which my husband said no to. The only thing we realized is we don't believe He wants us to have a child older than our oldest son, who is now 13 and that we can't take in a severe child. Besides those 2 things, we are trusting God completely. Are you?

Every day I would look at the website and the broadcasts sent out to us and realize we were still being too selective. I started asking for several children a day asking God to shut the door on the ones He does not want us to have. Yes, my friends and family do think I'm crazy! But, I am not about to tell God what I believe He wants for our family.

This has given me an incredible peace as I realized He is doing exactly what I asked for. We have received a few phone calls and emails saying we are being considered for different children. Occasionally,  we hear that we were not selected for a child or children, but mostly we don't hear back at all. Thank you, Lord, for shutting those doors!

One day I received a phone call saying we are being considered for a group of 3. An hour later another group of 3. I'm not sure if God wants us to have one of these groups or if He is trying to show us something. Whatever it is, I am trusting Him to close the door if they are not the ones He wants for us.

We know we are currently in the top 3 for one of the sibling groups, but again, we have been waiting for over a month. We do know we are still being considered and there is a new selection date, so we are just waiting.

Do we see ourselves with 3 or want 3 children? No! But, do we really know what God wants us to have? Again, No! We just have to trust that He knows what is best for us and who needs us.

I have had friends and family who roll their eyes or make comments about how many I have submitted for. They think I'm being impatient or testing God. Or they'll make comments like I don't think God wants you to have older ones again or I don't think God wants you to have 3. All I can say to you is - Don't worry about what others say or think. I value my friends and families' opinions, but they are their opinions. How do they know what God wants for your family? Be careful when taking advice from others.

I urge you to prayerfully consider how you are handling the adoption selection process and just remember to be patient and trust in God. Let Him lead you.

Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight. Proverbs 3:5-6

Helpful advice after you are selected to adopt a child through CPS

This is a very exciting and emotional part of your adoption journey. It's the moment your family has all been waiting for. Here are a few things to think about as you begin your adoption journey. 

After you have been selected for a child or sibling group, your family is so excited to meet the child. You start to imagine the child in your family and in your home. You may even begin to set up their room.

• First piece of advice is to take the next steps slowly.

Before we met our child, I read the same thing. Take it slowly, but the next thing you know we were taking the child home for good after our first formal visit. We should have heeded advice and taken it more slowly.

• Read, re-read, discuss, ask questions, and pray about the information you receive

After being selected, you will receive all sorts of information about your child: Psych reports, family history, medical reports, etc. Please make sure you have received it all and the most current reports. Once you have it all, take your time to read it all, discuss with your spouse, and pray about it. Don't rush this process.

A large box was given to us an hour before meeting her. We read through it as quickly as possible and then decided it was too much to go through.

Also, if you question anything in the report, this is your opportunity to ask the worker questions. They want you to ask questions. They want you completely informed. Don't be afraid to ask too many questions or to ask to have more time.

• Set up as many visits as possible 

Next, you will either be given the opportunity to speak with the child on the phone or most likely, set up a first meeting date. If you are meeting the child, set up a short afternoon visit in their foster home and get to know them and their foster family.

Do not let the worker talk you into taking the child home after the first visit. Our child's team felt it was in her best interest to limit visits. They felt she didn't need to go back to her home because it was a RTC and they felt she would have more issues. As we look back on this, we realize it moved way too quickly and we should have set up more visits. Your family and your child needs time to process the changes that are occurring.

Go home and have a family meeting and pray. If you feel the first meeting went well, tell the worker you want to proceed and set up another visit.

Ask the foster parents what the child might be interested in doing before you make plans. We knew our child was interested in the outdoors and adventure, so we took her kayaking and she loved it.

Once your family has started having long weekend visits in your home, you may have a good feeling about this child or you may not feel this is the child for your family. Do not be afraid to back out at this point. It's better to know now before the child moves in with you. Pray and ask God to show you if this is the child for your family. Trust God and enjoy your new child!

If you are currently in this process, I would love to hear how your adoption journey is going or for you to offer any additional advice to others in the process of adopting.

First week with your adopted child

Your first week home with your new adopted child is going be filled with fun adventures and learning more about one another. It will be a time of adjustment for the whole family as the child learns new rules, new expectations, and as you see what you need to teach her/him. Our adopted daughter is a very quick learner and even though she does not appear to be listening, she is soaking up everything we tell her. Because of this, we explain everything to her. We realized she not only needs to hear the rules, but understand the why behind the rules. Once we explain, she seems to accept it and understand the rules better.


With all our girl has been through, we were eager to get her new things; things she may have never had or experienced. Who wouldn't want to spoil their new adopted child? But, we learned on day one that she had too many expectations. She expected a new bike, new roller blades, new clothes, cell phone, and the list goes on and on. Because of all her requests, we realized we would slowly get her things she needs, noth things she wants. We do not want her to expect things. So, if there is something she really wants, she will have to save her allowance to purchase those items. This has been a hard lesson. 


Here are some things we did this week that helped ease the transition:

Make her feel needed and part of the family. We have her doing chores and giving her responsibilities. When we were driving home with our new daughter, we asked her what chores she enjoys. She asked if she could take care of the animals completely. Given that our biological children have taken care of the animals their whole life, I knew this would not be a problem. So, most of her chores consists of feeding the animals, cleaning their enclosure or litter box, grooming, and taking our dog for walks. I included additional things like making her bed every morning and emptying the dishwasher. She looks at her chore chart every morning and begins crossing off what she completes. She is not allowed to watch tv or play games until she completes her morning chores. She seems to be very proud of her new responsibilities and that is the first thing she shared on the phone with her friends.


Teach your expectations and rules of the home right away, so they will know what to expect and know what is important to your family. I have two sheets: one that says Glorify God with Your Words and Actions and the other says Unacceptable Behavior. We went over each rule. Then, I explained what the consequences would be if she were to break those rules. But, most importantly, that we would never use restraints like she was used to getting in the home. Children do better when they know what to expect. When something has come up this last week, I remind her of the rule she is breaking.

Ask her what will help her during times of feeling angry and offer a few other suggestions as well. Read my previous post to see a couple examples.

Teach her to tell you how she feels, but at the same time being respectful to you and others as well.


Pre-teaching and practicing things over and over. Before I take her somewhere, we discuss how she should behave and ways to handle her emotions. You will learn so much the first week. Our daughter always leaves the back door open when she goes in and out. We had to practice opening and closing the door quickly. We have modeled and practiced manners at the dinner table, how and where to hang up wet towels, appropriate amounts of food and beverages. All things that our children already know, but things that she is not used to.


Have her decorate her room the first week to feel ownership and permanency. Before going to the store, I told her what I was willing to get and how much I would spend on each. Most foster children have not been given the opportunity to decorate their rooms. Our little girl is quick to ask for things, so we have to tell her in advance what we are willing to buy and spend. Any additional things will have to be purchased with her allowance or later as a gift. She loved this. When we got home, she instantly wanted to decorate her room. We bought her a frame and had her put a special picture in it from her old home.


We bought her a scrapbook so she can include people and events that were important to her and also so she could include her new life. This will be a fun project for us to do together in the weeks ahead.


We had a new family picture made the second day so we could replace the old one. We wanted her to feel that she is part of our family now and to show her we're not giving her back - ever. The picture was placed in the living room so she could see how important she is to us.


Try to touch and hug her often. We did nails, snuggled close during a movie and reading time, brushed her hair, rubbed lotion on her arms and legs, tickled, and had fun in the pool and ocean. Even though she is 12, being touched is very important. We all need regular, warm, and affectionate touch every day.


Make yourself available for talking often. I try to create opportunities where we are alone throughout the day or I put her in the front seat when we're driving somewhere, so we can talk. I ask her lots of questions, because she is not always quick to open up. Learn as much as you can about her.


Volunteer somewhere: We took her to help out at the Humane Society. This is very therapeutic for her. She loves animals and wants to help them. Animals love you no matter what and they will not disappoint you. Helping others can help children feel useful and important.


Get her own library card. This was huge for our girl. She loves to read and she loved getting her own card.


Praise as much as possible. No one likes to be disciplined all the time. Who doesn't like to hear positive things they have done. I try to make an effort to praise her for things she does well all throughout the day. She always smiles real big and seems proud of herself when I say something positive.


Let them call friends or write to share their excitement. We purchased cute little note cards and put them in a desk in her room. We also gave her an address book and stamps so she can write to her friends. But, mostly she has enjoyed calling up her friends to share her adventures and new pets.

Most important, show her love through it all. Even through the bad times. Shower your new child with love and let them know how happy you are that they are part of your family. Deep down, they desperately want to connect!

Our first visit

My hubby and I went to our new daughter's home city last Thursday to have our meeting. The meeting went very well and we learned so much about our new girl. We were set up to take her out on her first visit with just the two of us the next day and then take her home with us the following day for a first home visit. Once we all started discussing visits and trips, everyone attending felt that it would be better if we just kept her. So, they quickly planned a farewell party Saturday and we packed her up and took her home - for good. We told her she will never see that place again - unless she wants to visit friends. Her worker comes out next week to make it official! We still can't believe it went so well. Everything we had hoped for happened. She gets to stay with us permanently, go on a big trip with us, and even be homeschooled during the 6 month trial period. God is so good!

We had several questions for the people who have worked with her. What are her triggers, what makes her escalate, etc. They shared with us a few things, but the most valuable thing we were taught was how they asked her these questions. They asked her what makes her angry? And what can she do to keep herself from getting out of control in her new home. She told them that she could go pet the animals, because animals calm her down. (Obviously, she thought we were getting chosen) I would have never thought of that. We can all get carried away asking others how to help these children when all we need to do is just ask the children. Later, when we were in the car with her, we came up with additional things she can do to calm down and signals for me to let me know she is getting upset. We came up with: using words, taking a breather outside, jumping in the pool, going for a walk, punching a real punching bag, etc.
Friday was the day she was officially told that we were chosen. Shortly after we showed up to take her out for the day. She was beaming and telling everyone we are her new mommy and daddy. Even though she was extremely excited, we could tell she was nervous as well. She quickly started asking us for all sorts of things. She asked if we would paint her room bright pink, take out the carpet and give her hard wood floors, and she even asked for a new pet. We realized we were going to have to let her know what she would be able to have and what she would definitely not get. We were definitely going to have to start setting boundaries.


Shortly after, we took her out to eat. We learned so much about her during that time: What she likes to eat, manners, patience, etc. Next we took her to a nature center to see animals, which she loves. Then we took her kayaking. She was very excited about this, but also nervous the boat might tip over. We kept it afloat and she had a fun time. Swimming in the lake followed before we took her back to the home for the evening. The day was a perfect day filled with lots of quality time getting to know one another. It was hard having to take her back, but we also knew she needed this closure before moving on to her new life.

We our bringing our girl home next week!

Next week is our big presentation meeting with our little girl's workers and people who help take care of her. 24 hours later my hubby and I will be having our first official visit with her and then we will be bringing her home with us the following day!! We're not sure yet how long the visit will be, but we know she is coming home with us next week. It's all becoming very real!

There are so many thoughts and questions we have as we plan this next week's visit. We wish we could call and ask her, but she still can not know until 24 hours after the meeting. What would she like to do on her first visit with us? How long should the first visit be? Will she be staying the night with us at the hotel? Would she be comfortable with that? How will she feel not having Shrimp and Posie with us? Will she be scared driving home with us and entering our home for the first time? Even though she is so outgoing and she wants our family to adopt her, we imagine this is still going to be a very scary thing for her.

The wonderful part is that she does want our family and expects us to be chosen, so it will not be too much of a surprise. She is also eager to leave her current home, because it is not a family home life. She has lived in her current group home for 3 years now. She has not had the normal foster home experience since she was much younger. Even though we have heard the home is one of the nicer ones and I'm sure she has caring workers, she is still not used to having parents or a family atmosphere. I believe this will make the transition much easier than most adoptions because she already knows us and wants us, and she wants to get away from the home. However, it may be a difficult adjustment because she is coming from a much different home life.

We continue to pray that God will give her peace and love as she transitions into her new life. I know He will continue to give us all the love she will need from us and that He will slowly open her heart to our love. It will be an amazing journey!