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Today I’m sharing with you my 10 tips for using sonlight curriculum???
We are thankful to Sonlight for graciously giving us one all-subject package and I’ve been sharing our journey throughout the 2017-2018 school year as a Sonlight Ambassador! 
Here are my 10 tips:
*be sure to watch the video where I’ll go into detail about each one!
- Ask for help!
- Make it Exciting!
- Plan it Out
- Don’t over think it
- Keep a Routine
- Don’t have to sit still
- Skip it!
- Choose the 4-day option
- Teach Responsibly
- Consider your Organization Style
Other things you may want to see over on Youtube:
My 3rd and 4th graders have their own subjects of: Language Arts, Vocabulary, Spelling, Handwriting and Math which can be found in these videos below…
3rd grade curriculum
4th grade curriculum
Sonlight Level D Group Subjects
To check out more info about sonlight you can click here!
*you can receive a $5 discount on your first order of $50 or more… use this referral code: RP20442646.
Things featured in the video:
Older version of student planners (new one with emojis coming soon)
Homeschool Playlist on Youtube
Have any questions, leave them in the comments?
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This post is about helping your student to independently be in-charge of their life, at least teaching them how anyways. So I created my own homeschool planner for them.
I thought about what subjects we will be covering, what would tie in with our morning basket, what their chores and other responsibilities are and even fun things. I looked all over the internet and pinterest for ideas. I began compiling different free printables to be added to their planners.
After doing all of that I began creating the weekly pages which make up the bulk if this planner.
For the months and first page I used student planners(Click here to find them) that were offered free one month, now they aren’t free but she does offer specials and freebies each month. You can search around on the web to get other monthly printables for free too.
So this is what I did:
- Once I got everything printed, I put it all in order. I did take a LONG time, especially making sure I printed on both sides of the paper as much as possible.
- Next I looked at my year at a glance page that I had marked the numbers of weeks of school we would be doing and then added it to their planners, that way I knew how many weeks were in each month. (we are doing 36 weeks)
- Then I made the front cover. I purchased a few scrapbook pages from hobby lobby and some chalkboard paper and chalk markers. Once the whole planner was made, I took the pages to OfficeMax where I had them put on a front and back and then had it bound.
- Lastly I added sticker tabs to the months. I only did the first semester.
My kids were SOOOO excited to see this and began using it. Not only does it make my life easier, they are beginning to take charge of their life and their schedule.
Feel free to use these homeschool planner pages I have created for your student and take advantage of the free printables i found below. Or even go find some that your student likes!
**Click link below for your FREE planner pages**
- Student Planner- Green or Student Planner-Pink (editable, made on a Mac so may not work on other computers
- Student Planner-Green PDF or Student Planner-Pink PDF
Free printables I used in this planner:
- first day of school questionnaire
- bible verse coloring pages
- Starwars pages
- Starwars reading log
- princess reading log
- owl coloring page
- blank faces drawing page
- Disney coloring pages
- Easter coloring pages
- a few from this site, including the year at a glance, coloring pages, bible knowledge, piano log and christmas story
- some pages for beginning/ending of school
- some pages from a calendar notebook
- some pages from this back to school fun pack
- *calendar pages that were offered free before, they may be offered again anytime!
I hope this helps you on your journey! Happy Homeschooling!
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]]>The post What’s in our Morning Basket? {Plus our read-alouds} appeared first on Day2Day Joys.
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The purpose of using a morning basket is to start your day off with truth, goodness and beauty. With the things that matter the most! Which are being together, reading and talking about Jesus, reading scripture, diving into rich literate and the art as well as having some laughs! 
So what is in our morning basket?
- A Wild Ride Through the Bible: Adventure Bible Handbook
- Scripture Memory System
- Gratitude Journals
- S.U.I.L.T. Music Appreciation
- Burst Training popsicle sticks- choose 3 a day, me too!
- 1-2+ chapters from our read -alouds
A great book to read for us homeschooling mamas, is Teaching from Rest. You MUST check it out if you haven’t read it!
Our read-aloud list:
- Sarah, Plain and Tall
- Charlotte’s Web
- Doctor Dolittle
- The Egypt Game
- Moses in Egypt
- The Midwife’s Apprentice
- Ramona Quimby, Age 8
And here’s a video recapping all of this:
Do you do a morning basket? What resources do you love?
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If you’ve read any of my homeschool posts, you know we take time to reevaluate each year. So this year we have made a decision to homeschool without doing the hybrid way we had been doing.
Lincoln is going to be in 3rd grade and Julia is going to be in 2nd grade. London, our 2 year old will be just playing, puzzling, playdoughing and other fun things like that. Coby, well, he’s just along for the ride. 
We plan on starting our day with a morning basket that I will discuss in another post.
So without further ado, here are our curriculum choices:
Language Arts
- Bob Jones University English (Julia 2, Lincoln 3) BJU emphasizes traditional grammar, such as parts of speech, sentence structure, and mechanics, and provides practice with essential reference skills. As well as the writing process. **review
- **if we do spelling, we’ll use Spelling city (use words from reading curriculum)
- All About Reading 2 & 3(Julia) interactive hands on approach to reading and becoming a fluent reader for life
- Christian Light Education Reading Level 3 or 4(Lincoln)reading and comprehension
Math
Penmanship
Bible
- Verities Press (check out their free trial)
History
- Story of the World v.1 and Activity guide
- multiple resource books
Geography
- Expedition Earth
- multiple resource books
Science
- Apologia Botany
- Nature’s Workshop Science kit for apologia botany
- multiple resource books
Others & Extra-Curriculuar
- Several STEM activities, games, math games, etc from timberdoodle.
- Critical Thinking workbook julia, lincoln
- typing instructor
- various things for art and maybe some online art
- interest-based research (project)
- Youtube videos for digging further into subjects
- karate
- gymnastics
- piano
- co-op classes
- etc.
…And here’s a video recapping all of this:
If you’re homeschooling, what resources are you using, any of the same ones we are using?
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]]>The post 5 Not Boring Documentaries & Books About Chemicals in Your Food, Clothes & Body appeared first on Day2Day Joys.
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I hate to admit it, but year’s ago, I thought “organic” was just a marketing ploy. I thought plastic bottles were all safe. I fed my family convenience foods that came in a box. I never gave any of it much thought. But over the years, I’ve learned that there are a lot of dangerous chemicals and additives, even in things you wouldn’t think would have any, and that avoiding them is hard! Searching the Internet can help, but a lot of the information is so overwhelming, it can be hard to know where to start.
I’m by no means an expert in living healthfully or organically, but these books and documentaries were really engaging and helped me learn how to make changes one small step at a time. Here are my top 5 books and documentaries that changed the way our family lives.
1. Fast Food Nation (Book)
I read this just after Super Size Me came out. It was the first time I had really thought about what was in fast food and what that could do to a person. This book starts out simply enough with the beginnings of modern fast food: the restaurants, how they started, how they created systems to make food quickly. Then it peels back that layer and starts going to the distributors, the factories and even the slaughterhouses. Hearing about the conditions, the additives and the lack of oversight will make you think about what you’re really eating at fast food places.
2. Food Inc (Documentary)
This engaging documentary will blow you away. A lot of the movie has to do with food laws: do you know if what you’re buying is genetically altered? What if the chicken in your dinner is cloned? Or from another country? You might be surprised to know all these dirty little secrets of food laws and the arguments both for and against each one.
3. Salt, Sugar, Fat (Book)
I borrowed this as an audiobook from my local library. Not only was it fabulous as an audiobook, but the content was life changing. The author talks about the history of cereal and how post-WWII, with women in the workplace, it rose to the breakfast food of choice by being convenient and choc-full of sugar (seriously, in the 70s they were open about it with Sugar Pops, Sugar Smacks and even Super Sugar Crisp). In the years since sugar became seen as a negative, some major companies have relied on false advertising about how students who ate certain frosted wheat cereal scored better in tests. These were false of course, and punished by the government, but those punishments were so small and so long after the offense that most people didn’t even know about them.
Salt, Sugar, Fat also talks about the soda industry as well as convenience foods like Lunchables. As a kid who grew up on Lunchables, I was horrified to find out the history of them and what goes into those delicious little squares of meat and cheese. This book also teaches you an important code word: cheesier. Whenever a company wants to sell more of a product, they make it cheesier. It ups the fat content which makes people crave it more. Once you hear examples of it though, you will not be able to stop seeing cheesier marketing everywhere you look.
4. The Human Experiment (Documentary)
I came across this a few weeks back as a recommendation on Netflix. It deals mainly with the chemicals in our everyday lives that are altering our health. It gives the example of BPA which we all know now was in our baby’s bottles just a few years back. Before that, there was data that showed that babies were being born with BPA in their bloodstreams, but the information was slow to get to the consumer. This movie also talks about chemicals you might not know about like the flame-resistant coating on children’s sleepwear, or the chemicals allowed in baby shampoo in the US that are outlawed in Japan. You start realizing that there are harmful chemicals in pretty much everything around you, the government knows it, but there are purposeful actions to keep you from knowing about it.
5. The Flavorists (60 Minutes, 2011)
This one has a sort of honorary spot on the list because it’s not so much a documentary as a 15-minute news story. In 2011, 60 Minutes was given a behind-the-scenes look at how flavors are created. It starts innocently enough with these scientists figuring out how to create fruity flavors in drinks, but then it moves on to how these flavorists make their products. All the flavors are chemicals. While natural flavoring may come from natural sources, they don’t necessarily come from anything you’d be interested in eating on purpose: like beavers. Then they talk to Dr. Kessler, the former head of the FDA about how packaged foods are full of additives that make the foods addictive and fattening. Can you guess what those additives are? Salt, sugar & fat…again. It’s a brief film, but will definitely change the way you look at the foods you find in the grocery store.
I admit that I’m not the best at knowing all the healthiest foods and in our family, we still do buy several things that are not healthy for us. However, knowing what to look for and the red flags has changed our habits tremendously. When we can easily find and organic option, we do. If we have the ability to make something ourselves instead of from a package or a restaurant, we make it. And when we are buying those packaged foods, we’re comparing the labels and looking for red flags and keywords. While we don’t make healthy choices 100% of the time, we’re doing it more and more and that’s better than where we started.
What have you watched or read that changed the way you look at chemicals in our lives?
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Written by KT @ One Organic Mama, Contributing Writer
Are you back in the groove of school yet? Whether you homeschool or school outside the home I think it is important to keep in touch with the hearts of your school aged children! With dinner going and cleaning to do – especially if you have more than one child in school! I find that having a healthy snack (think fresh cut fruit, veggies, and nuts) and a notebook for each child, helps me to keep my afternoon routine in check!
Here is what we do:
For each child in school (or anyone who wants to be involved even by scribbling!) we have a composition book. When they walk in the door from school they go and wash up and come back to the kitchen table (where I am typically preparing dinner in some form). On the table is a snack and a notebook for each child with a pencil ready to go!
I (during the day) write down some questions or thoughts for each child. They eat their snack and respond. I find that this does a few things:
- it calms everyone down a bit
- lets me hear about things I might not get if I am verbally asking the questions
- gives children an opportunity to share concerns with you
- lets my children practice reading and writing to reinforce important skills
- allows us to write notes back and forth to each other – which I find kiddos LOVE!!
Some possible topics:
- favorite part of the day
- what did you do during special?
- what kind things did you do for others today?
- is there anything about school you want to share with me?
What’s your after school routine? What questions might you ask your school aged child?
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Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer
Today is the first day of our new school year.
Today the books are out again, all fresh and crisp. Everyone is excited, and everything is new – for now.
But within a few weeks – maybe even days – the newness wears off and my children will wonder how they got duped by those pretty, crisp-covered books again. Sound familiar?
After 20 years of homeschooling, we still sometimes struggle. But along the way, I’ve learned a few ways to help minimize the struggle and keep ourselves from losing the joy of homeschooling.
1. Be Organized
Long before the first day begins, I’ve made plans. Beginning with curriculum choices and stocking up on school supplies, I also clean out our school cabinet and work areas. Some years lots of changes need to take place. Other years, just some tweaking is all that is required.
Next, I create a schedule for the year. Looking at what needs to be accomplished by each child during the year, I break those goals down into monthly, then weekly bites.
2. Clear Expectations
Just because I know where we are going, doesn’t mean that the children necessarily do. In an effort to help them own their work, I let them know what the plan is for the year.
The older boys appreciate knowing exactly what they need to accomplish for the year and can more easily plan their study hours around outside activities.
The younger children get weekly goal lists that help them stay on track with their independent work, and to know what is coming up in the subjects we study together. They can see a clear path and have an understanding of what it will take for them to finish for the week.
3. Rewards
Through the years we have sometimes used rewards. At other times, we haven’t. Our children known that schoolwork is simply a part of their lives, and we don’t give prizes for getting it done. However, there have been times that we found it helpful for them and for us to positively encourage them along.
When we have a particularly trying subject, hit a difficult time in personal motivation with one child or another, or even have family events that compromise our normal school schedule, we have used incentives to help make the work more rewarding.
Let’s face it. If you’re 7 years old, it’s hard to see the long-term benefit of learning math facts day after day, especially when the going gets tough.
Since our younger children struggled last year with getting their independent work finished without lots of pushing, this year we’re giving them the opportunity to earn a point each week when it’s finished early. Work finished on time is expected, but finishing before it’s expected will be rewarded.
Following the idea our library uses each summer during the summer reading program (which my children just completed and thrived in this point-earning system), the children will be able to save up earned points and cash them in for special activities that they enjoy.
4. Shake Things Up
I’m a routine/schedule/stay-on-track kind of mom, but realize that although routine provides stability, know that it can also produce boredom – especially in children who are wired differently.
Having a solid routine in place works well for most days, but I’ve found that when I throw in a change of pace every now and then, they’re better energized for the more typical days.
Packing up the books and spending a day at the park, enjoying a field trip without the books, taking a day to watch DVD’s on our current science or history topics, or just taking a day off on that first crisp morning after a scorching summer to take a hike or bike ride can all be ways to recharge the batteries by getting out of the routine for a day.
5. Margin
If there’s one thing that I continually struggle with – even after so many years of homeschooling – its margin.
There’s so many wonderful things to do, so many exciting things to study, so much to learn. It’s way too easy to over schedule, over plan, and overdo.
Learning to shorten my personal to-do list each day is also spilling over into the school to-do list. There simply isn’t enough time to do everything and when I try to cram it all in, we lose margin. When the unexpected happens – and it will – the whole cart gets upturned.
The answer is to under schedule. If we can accomplish 5 days of science each week, I’ll only plan for 3. If we get the extra 2 days in, that’s great. If we don’t, that’s okay and we aren’t falling behind.
Leaving room for the unplanned and for just having breathing room is essential for making it through the year without hitting the February slump and getting burned out or feeling like we didn’t quite make it.
If your homeschool runs anything like ours, the first week can be pretty exhausting. Even after all of these years, and relatively short summer breaks, I still marvel at how much change is generated when we get back to school.
But with a few tactics in place, it can be a rewarding week that is just the first step toward a productive and enjoyable year. And when we look back at all that we will have accomplished next spring, I’ll be armed with knowledge to make the next years even better.
What are your tips for a successful homeschool year?
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Coconut oil is a natural and healthy oil that has been utilized all the way throughout history by different cultures. People utilize it for a variety of completely different uses such as cooking and/or preparing wholesome dishes, beautifying and enhancing the complexion, and to attain health benefits.
You’ve probably have heard a lot about it since it has become mainstream on health websites, blogs and you might have even seen it on pinterest, sharing its advantages.
When you go to the beauty aisle of your favorite store, it’s almost undeniable that you’re going to notice that a lot of brands have used this oil into their products, but I think buying the real the deal is the best way to go if you want to get all the benefits to the max.
Coconut oil is one of the cheapest oils on the market which is great for all of us on budget and donβt want to chance spending a lot of money on something that you might want to try out first- which once you do you’ll wonder why you never tried it to begin with.
This helpful oil has so many things to offer but there are 5 benefits specifically that I want to share with you today.
Top 5 Health Benefits of Coconut Oil that Can Transform Your Health for the Better:
- Coconut oil has an excellent kind of saturated fat which can help raise your good HDL cholesterol.
- It can also give you a significant dose of antioxidants. Antioxidants are well-known for blocking free radicals, which basically means that they are able to help your pores and skin look more youthful and healthier.
- You can boost your immune system with coconut oil because it contains caprylic acid and antimicrobial lipids, which have antibacterial and antifungal property. Basically that means coconut oil can support in preventing sickness and rid the body of harmful bacteria in our insides and outsides.
- Coconut oil can help us absorb essential minerals that the body needs in order to be well. The components and fat that are found in coconut oil can also help our body absorb magnesium and calcium, which are extremely necessary for the health of our bones.
- For people who suffer with their blood sugar levels, coconut oil is an incredible option to try because it helps regulate blood sugar levels by improving blood glucose and the secretion of insulin.
In order to start benefiting from these five benefits, use coconut oil as your every day moisturizer and in your cooking as much as possible. Your dishes will without a doubt will be tastier and your skin, it will feel amazing. The next your at the store, make sure you put some coconut oil in your cart!
What kind do we use? We usually buy Carrington Farms Organic Coconut Oil from Costco or Spectrum Naturals Organic Coconut Oil at our local grocer or online.
Do you use coconut oil? Do you mainly use it for skincare or cooking?
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Written by Kari @ Living Strong, Health & Wellness , Contributing Writer
We’re in a battle right now. Many of you might not understand what I mean, but each day we wake up, we are faced with decisions that will ultimately affect our health – now and for years to come. A battle we face everyday is our food and nutrition.
Eating healthy isn’t as simple as it used to be; going to our garden, picking apples off a tree or collecting eggs from our backyard chickens. With all the changes that have taken place in just the last 100 years, how can we be sure that what we are feeding our family is safe, truly healthy and real?
What can we do to ensure we are providing our family nutrition that is going to benefit them and not harm them? How can we avoid falling prey to the habit of convenience and poor food choices? We need to rise up as health warriors and fight for our health. There is an onslaught of information regarding health and nutrition right now and honestly, it’s overwhelming and confusing.
Here are some easy tips for winning this battle:
- if your food has a label, read it closely
- eat living foods; avoid dead and fake food products
- drink clean water; filtered water, reverse osmosis
- prepare meals at home more often
- eat organic produce to lessen toxic chemical exposure
- choose organic, grass-fed and pasture-raised meats and dairy products
- choose natural sweeteners in lieu of artificial ones
- if it came from the ground, grew on a bush or tree or has a mom, it’s typically safe to eat
- if it was made in a plant, don’t eat it or at least eat much less of these
- stay away from GMO foods (genetically modified organisms)
- don’t eat conventional meats (beef, chicken, pork) from CAFO’s (concentrated animal feeding operations)
- cut out/eliminate prepackaged and processed foods
- cut out ‘white’ foods that have been refined and overly processed such as white sugar, white flour, white rice
- stay away from foods containing MSG
- eliminate soda, energy drinks, pasteurized fruit juice
- eliminate soy from your diet, soy and soy byproducts are in everything
- don’t participate in diet trends; they are never long lasting and usually cause internal damage and leave you unhealthy
- plan your meals in advance and keep a shopping list on hand
- do grocery shopping each week to avoid buying bulk and unnecessary items
- plan meals so they work with your daily schedule and make enough for leftovers
- make your child’s lunch for school
These are small yet powerful and beneficial steps for us to be proactive in our physical health. Yes, there may be a war going on, but we can stand up strong and be on the offensive when it comes to the choices we make.
Our lives literally depend on how we fight this battle and I choose to be victorious!
What can you do to be a health warrior in your home and to inspire those you have influence over?
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Written by Karen @ To Work With My Hands, Contributing Writer
Are you one of the many people looking for ways to improve your diet this year?
We all tend to realize after the food overload throughout the last few weeks of the year that we need to realign our diets. The new year is a perfect time to make those “resolutions”.
But, instead of making resolutions that are often not realized, why not set reasonable, workable goals instead? Making positive changes in our diets is really not that hard when we have a plan with small steps and measurable results.
I’m not here to tell you anything new or amazing. Just basic, common-sense goals that we can implement all year long and make progress toward a better diet.
Nobody needs to be told why we need to eat better. I doubt anyone hasn’t heard of the “Standard America Diet” dilemma which, unfortunately, isn’t limited to the United States. It’s the how that we often get tripped up by.
Today, I’m sharing with you 7 Simple Ways to Improve Your Diet that will put us on the road to healthier habits.
1. Drink plenty of fresh water every day.
Water makes up a significant portion of our bodies, by both weight and volume, so it makes sense that a hydrated body is a healthier body.
Although every body is different, the standard recommendation of 8 glasses of water each day is a great target to shoot for. More is required when you exercise, are sick, or are pregnant or nursing. As your body gets accustomed to being well hydrated, it will be easier for you to determine when you need extra water.
2. Consume whole grains.
One of the easiest ways to ditch so much processed food is to make it yourself, and one of the first places I started was with whole grains.
There’s an amazing variety of grains to nourish our bodies with, and the benefits are numerous. The most important is the nutritional advantage that is lost when grains are refined and stripped of most of their nutrients. Consuming whole grains supplies the missing vitamins and minerals that the processed versions have lost.
3. Include natural probiotics in your diet.
While our intestinal tracts already contain beneficial bacteria, at times the population can be compromised, such as when there’s an illness or the use of antibiotics. And during the winter months when there seems to be a an increase in both, it’s even more important to ensure that you’re maintaining a healthy level of beneficial bacteria in your system.
Natural probiotics are a delicious and easy way to boost your population and keep it at a healthy level. Excellent sources include yogurt and kefir, and if you’re culturing them yourself, you can avoid additives that your body doesn’t need.
*Note: You can make kefir at home with this starter here, be sure to follow these instructions.
4. Eat plenty of fresh fruit.
Honestly, this one is easy for me. I have loved fruit for as long as I can remember, and my children have learned the habit too. There’s such a wide variety of fresh fruit to choose from that there is no reason to get bored with just a few choices.
And, by eating a variety, you’re giving your body a wide range of naturally occurring vitamins and minerals that aren’t available in processed foods. Enjoying fruit in season is a great way to get the best fruit has to offer, and is easier on your food budget.
5. Eat plenty of fresh vegetables.
Eating fresh vegetables is just as important as eating fresh fruit. So many of the vitamins and minerals that our bodies need to operate well are contained in fresh food.
I’m not a raw-foods only advocate, but I do try to include a reasonable amount of raw foods in our daily diets. Offering some grape tomatoes, baby carrots, celery sticks, or cucumbers alongside our lunch menu, or for snacks, is an easy way to get fresh veggies in our tummies, and a side salad with dinner gives us even more fresh vegetables in our diet.
As with fruit, there’s such a large variety of vegetables to choose from that there’s no reason to tire of the same old things.
6. Don’t forget to add legumes to your diet.
I’ll admit that this is one I struggle with. While I love the taste of dried beans, peas, and lentils, I sometimes just forget about them until I get a hummus craving.
Since our family is not vegetarian, we get plenty of opportunities to consume protein from meat, but in addition to protein, legumes also contribute healthy carbohydrates and varying amounts of good fat to our diets.
Once again, God has blessed us with such a wide variety of legumes to enjoy, with their varying colors, shapes, and sizes, that there’s no need to get caught in a rut with them either. Try pinterest for great, healthy ideas!!
7. Season your food with fresh herbs.
I’m not one to season foods heavily, but bland is not very appealing to many people beyond toddlerhood, and I’ve even had a few toddlers who didn’t appreciate their food bland either.
Growing your own herbs is so rewarding and there’s nothing as fresh as stepping out of your kitchen to collect herbs right from your garden to toss into the pot. Even if you can’t grow your own, the availability of fresh herbs is getting wider – even in winter.
Fresh herbs add not only amazing flavor, but numerous nutrients that our bodies thrive on. There’s a lot of vitamins and minerals packed in those little leaves, and only your imagination can limit the uses in your diet.
I hope you see that eating healthier doesn’t have to be overwhelming. Taking the time to take baby steps and allow them to become habitual – and enjoyable – is the key to long-term success. I encourage you to take your time, and enjoy the journey.
Disclaimer: I am not a healthcare professional, nor do I encourage any particular popular diet. I’m talking about a common-sense approach to eating the foods that God has created and provided us with.
I’m also aware that many people have food allergies or health conditions that preclude them form consuming many grains or sources of natural probiotics. It’s not my intention to attack their needs. I’m simply outlining a reasonable plan for people who have no problems consuming most foods. If you have allergies or health concerns that prohibit you from following along, just do what you can and feel the freedom to skip the rest.
I hope you’ll join me in taking baby steps to improving our diets this year. This week, we’ll jump right in with the first one: water. Be sure to visit my Facebook page and follow along for goals, tips, encouragement, and to share your successes.
Do you have anything to add to the list? What do you consider is important to a healthy diet?
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