I got tagged <g>

1) ONE HOMESCHOOLING BOOK YOU HAVE ENJOYED;

One??  Are you serious?? Will the meme police come and get me if I can’t pick just one? ; ) 

I love The Successful Homeschool Family Handbook by Dr Raymond Moore. His 3-pronged approach (short concentrated academics, work at home, service to others) is sensible and balanced. He advocates delayed academics, which might seem out of place in a Montessori-inspired homeschool. However Montessori is all about spontaneous education vs imposed. And if you have all little ones it is important to hear this message that noone is going to miss the educational boat if you can only devote short spurts to academics in the lower grades and that home comes first in homeschooling.

On that note, my next pick is…

Real Learning by Elizabeth Foss. The book I would have written had I ever written a book lol!  The book that launched our friendship.  I am as grateful for that part as for the content.

and finally…

A Charlotte Mason Companion by Karen Andreola. A calming, encouraging, gentle read. (Ishould be hyperlinking but I need to get to the barn.  It’s all in the sidebars if you scroll down.)

2)ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULDN’T BE WITHOUT

Our library system!  It was a huge consideration in choosing a permanent home. We have one of the best systems in the country imo.  And the bookmobile…. God bless whomever thought of that! I order whatever strikes our fancy and it appears on Mondays.  Doesn’t get much better than that!

3)ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH YOU HAD NEVER BOUGHT

Well there are fewer and fewer of those since I don’t buy much anymore. I would have to say primarily daily lesson plans. I HAVE bought lots of those. Never actually finished them however. They weren’t a complete wash because they showed me some critical things – first, that there is little to no standardization among schools. What is taught, how it is taught, how much is assigned is all extremely subjective. Second, I learned great teaching tips over the years that were incorporated into our lessons.

4)ONE RESOURCE YOU ENJOYED LAST YEAR:

Home Educator’s Tutor Magazine (!) and our journals.  I regret we didn’t give as much time to either of them as I would have liked hence….

5)ONE RESOURCE YOU WILL BE USING NEXT YEAR:

See above <g>   We plan to notebook more extensively and to make better use of the HET resource. It includes music (with a CD each issue) art pullouts, nature study, lit, ancient world, bible study and more in one place. No denominational biases noticed.  As for notebooking, I have become convinced that nothing is more effective than writing and editing for mastering language. And I dont want to invest loads of time into stuff that will be thrown out. (ie workbks) We are also looking forward to the Signing Time videos.  They are a huge hit around here!

6)ONE RESOURCE YOU WOULD LIKE TO BUY:

a new piano!  Oh we need a new piano. Music practice figures heavily into our days. At least one child wishes to pursue it as a career. We need a new piano. Should I not be able to purchase said piano, next on the list is quality paints and paper. Odds seem weighted in favor of the latter don’t they?

; D

7) ONE RESOURCE YOU WISH EXISTED:

An extra hour or two each day! I find soooo many things in life fascinating and just can’t fit them all in a given day or week or month.

8)ONE HOMESCHOOLING CATALOGUE YOU ENJOYING READING:

hmmm.  I don’t read many anymore.  Keeps the overhead down. <g>  Rainbow Resources is my favorite one stop shop.  It’s like a phone bk with detailed descriptions of each product. Also like Timberdoodle and I do spend lots of hours over the Nienhuis catalog, though more for making materials than for buying them.

9)ONE HOMESCHOOLING WEBSITE YOU USE REGULARLY:

google!  Ok so it’s not a homeschool site per se.  But where would a frugal homeschooler be without google??  Daily use here! Never buy before you google your options.

10)TAG FIVE OTHER HOMESCHOOLERS:

Jen

Dani

Maura

can’t think nor link more…gotta get to the goats.  Have a good one all!