I started homeschooling in 2001… the same month as 9/11. I’ve been doing it for what seems like forever. Next year will be my last year homeschooling my older set of kids! I have 4 kids – two who are seniors next year, and two who are just beginning this year. We’ll be doing 12th, 1st, and PreK next year! Yes, I’m crazy – but I wouldn’t have missed this beautiful journey (even with each and every difficulty and tear shed). I am so amazed at my children – at God’s ability to do such wonderful things in them – sometimes even in spite of me because I can’t take credit for anything other than just loving them deeply and doing what I thought He would want… truly, He is the greatest Teacher.
If you are wondering if you can teach your own kids, I would encourage you to pray about it. Surely you love them and know them more than anyone else aside from their Heavenly Father, and that makes you more qualified than anyone else to oversee a program that is tailored to their bent. It doesn’t mean you have to be the one teaching every subject. I farmed out a few that I had no interest in teaching (like Biology, Chemistry, and even higher math if you count the video programs we’ve used as “farming out”). The awesome thing about homeschooling is that there is no one-size-fits-all. You customize to the child. You follow their interests. You journey together and learn and bond and grow. Sometimes you hit walls together – but failures teach just as much as successes. It is good to learn that ditching something which doesn’t work is OK. [I know a lot of people in Congress who never learned that lesson!]
If you have a homeschool question and can’t find answers on my blog, I’m more than willing to help direct you or give you my two cents if you contact me. I don’t bite. I try to answer every comment and email I get – but sometimes it takes a little time. [I also have an email box that resembles a black hole, so if your note to me goes unanswered, please feel free to resend it – chances are, life absorbed me that day and your email was sent into a deep space & time continuum never to be found again.]
If you came here to gather homeschooling info, I have a ton of homeschool posts for you to browse. Below is a list of stuff from the first few years of my blog that are helpful for a homeschool mama.
Note: there aren’t any recent posts on here until I get a chance to pour over archives and add them. I went through 2005-2007 when I began creating this, so you’ll have to use the homeschool tag to pull up more recent posts (there are hundreds more recent than 2007, obviously, since I have been slowly blogging along these ten years and it’s now 2015). I got a little busy and spent much more time running the Homeschool Post than updating my own blog for a good 7 years… so I look forward to having more time to get my site in ship shape after my big kiddos graduate and begin their college and life adventures! Until then, I’m focusing my energy on them and grasping at those last few falling grains of sand – time with my teens, who are almost ready to fly the nest.
Want to follow us on our wild homeschool journey? Type your name in the “NEWSLETTER” box on my sidebar and you will get my posts via email (and every now and then, I may give you a freebie or perk for being a follower that you won’t see here on the blog). I’d love to have you along for the ride with me. It’s a lot less lonely when I know someone is listening to my ramblings in here.
You can find us on Instagram, too. And twitter. And Facebook. Leave me a note on Facebook, as I don’t automatically friend people there – it’s my personal page.
If some of these links aren’t clickable yet, be patient – I’ll eventually be back to update it! This is enough to get you started, for sure!
SprittiBee’s Homeschoolish Posts
Important Links
Home
Spritti-What? (About Me)
My Most Popular Homeschool Posts prior to 2007
Why I Homeschool
Revised Parent’s Prayer
KONOS Planning For Dummies
Sprittibee’s Homeschooling Series (All My Past Curriculum, Book Lists, Field Trip Lists, Enrichment Lists, And More)
Homeschool Planner Set-Up
Sunday School Lesson Plans
My Big Fat Homeschool Links List
Nature as a Teaching Tool
Homeschool Helps
Homeschooling In America Today (2005)
KONOS Planning For Dummies
Homeschooling – Starting Out
To Grade… or Not to Grade
Making Vocabulary Fun
Resolutions For A Homeschooling Mom
Order And The Organized Homeschooler
Lord, Teach Us To Parent
Sprittibee’s Homeschooling Series
29 School Year Resolutions
Elementary Grammar Curriculum Q & A
FREE Language, Grammar & Writing Curriculum & Standardized Tests
Fledgling Homeschool Co-Op
Low Tech Lesson Plans
Back To School Interview With Sprittibee
1st Day Of School Sample Schedule
Teaching Kids Time And Responsibility
Scary Story About Standardized Test Scores
Homeschool Planner Set-Up
Rainbow Days And Pots Of Gold (another scheduling idea)
Timeline Helps
Updated Konos Unit Planner And Upcoming School Plans
Scheduling And Screen Time (Star Chart Idea)
Homeschool Ice Days
Fired Up Homeschool Projects
Building A Mini Office For Your Student
Arlington TX Homeschool Book Fair/Homeschool Six Flags Day
Book Report Pdf Files
Minutes From Our First Co-Op Planning Meeting
Back To School Checklist
Planning Link: Free Charts & Blank Calendar Printables
How Do You Use Your Time?
Homeschooling By Grade (All these links also on my Homeschool Series Post)
PK-K Learning Enrichment Ideas (& Up…)
PK-K Favorite KONOS Memories
PK-K First Homeschool Year Curriculum
PK-K Computer Games
PK-K Book List
PK-K Field Trips
Educational Computer Game List For Kids
Computer Game List For Kids (for fun – not educational)
K-1st Homeschool Year Field Trips
K-1st Homeschool Year Curriculum
K-1st Homeschool Year Book List
K-1st Favorite KONOS Memories
K-1st Learning Enrichment Ideas
1st-2nd Grade Learning Enrichment
1st-2nd Grade Field Trips
1st-2nd Grade Homeschool Curriculum
1st-2nd Grade Book List
1st-2nd Grade Favorite KONOS Memories
2nd-3rd Grade Book List
2nd-3rd Grade Homeschool Curriculum
2nd-3rd Grade Field Trips
3rd-4th Grade Learning Enrichment Ideas
2nd-3rd Grade Favorite KONOS Memories
3rd-4th Grade Book List
3rd-4th Grade Homeschool Curriculum
3rd-4th Grade Field Trips
3rd-4th Grade Learning Enrichment (post coming up soon)
3rd-4th Grade Favorite KONOS Memories (post coming up soon)
4th-5th Grade coming soon!
Field Trip Foto Friday & Other Field Trip Links
Historic Naval Ship Field Trip Link
Texas Scarecrow Festival – Chapel Hill, TX
Brazos Bend State Park
Houston Zoo (and another few photos of our trip to the zoo)
Virtual Field Trips
Glenrose, TX – Dinosaur Tracks
Armand Bayou Nature Center
Magic Time Machine
Explore UT
Largest Steam Train
Houston Ship Channel
A.D. Players Theater
Bolivar Lighthouse
Blue Bell Creamery
Texas State Railroad
Houston Studio Glass – Glass Blowing
Galveston Beach
Dog Breeder
Honey Bee Farm
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
Wild-Connections Butterfly Farm
Austin Bats
Pumpkin Patch
The Park
Sweet Berry Farm & Texas Corn Maze
Crowe’s Nest Farm
Snow Day!
Arkansas Spring Nature Hike … and the Rest of the Nature Hike Photos
Homeschool Unit Studies
KONOS Planning For Dummies
A More In-Depth Look at My Unit Study Planning
Columbus Day Unit Study Links
KONOS Military Fun
KONOS Rock Unit Fun
Sprittibee’s Homeschooling Series
KONOS Kings And Queens Unit Fun
‘Walk-Through-The-Year’ In Two Weeks (Seasons Unit Lesson Plans)
Season Unit Links
2006-7 KONOS Schedule
KONOS Indian Unit Fun
Sailing The Atlantic With Columbus
Lamby Links
Bee, Sheep, And Stuff To Eat
Fleece Navidad
Presidents Day Links
Solar System Unit Fun
Friction, Action And Reaction Unit Fun
Season Unit Lesson Plans
Attentiveness: Ears, Sound, Music & Five Senses Links!
KONOS Eyes And Seeing Vocabulary
Lesson Plans For Eyes/Seeing, Other Senses
Government-President-Election Unit Fun
Remembering The Indian Unit
Frontiersmen And Indians Lesson Plans
American Immigration – Lessons For All
Art, Crafts And Fun Projects
Elementary Art Lesson Plans
Sprittibee’s Rock Painting Project
Seasons Unit Photos At Flickr
Season Unit Links
Finally Finished The Llamas (Sortof)!
From Bones To The Barnyard – Crafted Llamas
My Love Of Art: Favorite Paintings
Past Projects: Dinosaur Shadow Box
Strange Comments About The Dino-Boxes
Remembering 9/11 In Art
Potato Volcanoes Project
Vincent Van Gogh’s Fall Into Madness
Autumn Tree Craft
Russian Matryoshka Doll Ornaments
Yummy Cookies And “Can Do!”
Painting My Kitchen
Easter Eggs And An All-Seasons Tree
Green-Haired Easter-People
Making A Lighthouse
Thrifty Notebook Art Assignment
Uncle Joe’s Car Art
Instant Pop Art
See my KONOS unit study posts above for more crafts/photos of
projects…
Homeschool Inspiration
Ode To Homeschool Mothers…
Homeschooling – Starting Out
Resolutions For A Homeschooling Mom
Lord, Teach Us To Parent
When Life Gets In The Way
U.S. Public Schoolers Oblivious To The World
4 Alarm Fire Burn-Out
Reduce Stress This School Year
Back To School Interview With Sprittibee
A-Z Of Why To Homeschool
29 School Year Resolutions
Scary Story About Standardized Test Scores
Even Kids Need Purpose
Learning Outside The Box
Comparing Arkansas Test Scores
Geography And Spices
Holiday Encouragement For Homeschool Moms
Rainbow Days And Pots Of Gold
Encouragement For Homeschooling
Alternative To The Ever Leftward PTA
Publik Skool Socialization
Being A Good Steward Of Time
Christian Exodus From Public Schools?
Five Habits Of Highly Effective Homeschoolers
Homeschool Evangelism
Homeschool: Did You Make The Right Choice?
Field Trip… To The Abortion Clinic?
“You Are Not Your Own” By Oswald Chambers (My Utmost For His Highest)
Must-Read Essay About Socialization
Top 10 Things I Wish I Had Known About Homeschooling
Sprittibee’s 2007 New Years Resolutions
Arkansas Homeschool Testing Update
Encouragement for the WANNA-BE Super-Mom, Super-Homeschooler and Super-Blogger
Faith And Character
Baptism
Revised Parent’s Prayer
Parents Prayer Verses
Wisdom From The Back Of My Yearbook
Bless Your Feet: Part 1
Bless Your Feet: Part 2
Bless Your Feet: Part 3
Bless Your Feet: Part 4
Popcorn Cats On The Rabbit Trail
From Trash To Treasure: My Testimony
Recipe For Disaster
Unanswered Prayers
Where Jesus Lived
Counting My Blessings
Christ Centered Marriage
The Hard Topic Of Abortion
Lord, Teach Us To Parent
I’m Just Not Cool Any More
Under Attack
God’s Smoke Alarms
Cultivating Love At Home: The Flowers Of Affection
Even Kids Need Purpose
Autumn Reflections
The Hour They First Believed
God’s Whisper
The Birds And The Bees: Talking With Your Kids About Sex
Compassion Sunday
Small Victory For The Secret Magazine Police
Sprittibee Answers Some Comments (Regarding Faith)
Home Management
Endless Loads Of Laundry
Poetry and Quotes
Top – Sprittibee
Coming Dawn – Sprittibee
If I Had My Child To Raise Over Again – Dianne Loomans
Something Told The Wild Geese – Rachel Field
Fog – Carl Sandburg
The Tree Outside My Window – Sprittibee
Wednesday Thoughts (quote/scripture)
Favorite Homeschool Quote
Science And Nature
Icons Of Evolution (Book Review)
Nature as a Teaching Tool (all my nature links)
KONOS Rock Unit Fun
Tracking Hurricane Rita
Season Unit Links
Past Projects: Dinosaur Shadow Box
Why I Believe In 6-Day Creation – Part 2
Potato Volcanoes Project
Creation Speaks For Its Creator
*Ode To The Snowflake Creator*
The Birds And The Bees: Talking With Your Kids About Sex
Fly In Your Face Physics
Gone Fishin’, Be Back Later…
Another Reason I Homeschool
Evilution
Ice With Issues
Evolution And Emissions Debate
I’d Rather Be Dissecting A Cow’s Eye
KONOS Eyes And Seeing Vocabulary
Just How Did We Get Here?
New Site Sets out to Debunk Darwin
Our Bug Collection
Great Leopard Moth
Green Lynx Spider
Picturesque Praying Mantis
Butterfly Farm Field Trip
Eyed Elater Click Beetle (among other photos)
Wicked Waspy Thing (Texas Tarantula Hawk) – 2 posts total
Chigger In My Refrigerator (No Photo – Only Humor)
Spider Speak
Green-Back Barbed Dung Bug
Nana’s Back Yard
Dragon Fly On Kaden’s Nose
Humor
Landinvitations Of The Seller
Real Life Countdown To Moving Day
Environmental Homeschooling, Gas And God’s Feet
The Chigger In My Refrigerator
Finally Finished The Llamas (Sortof)!
You Know You’re A KONOS Mom When…
Gingerbread Disasters And Other Sad Stories
Modern Day Parody Of Serfdom
Is It Because She’s Blonde?
On the Tenth Day of Christmas…
Do I Have To Be Large???
Rita Freeway Trauma
Lord Of The Rings And Fertilization Lessons For A Ten Year Old
She’s Crazee Like Mee
Admissions Of An 8 Year Old
Standardized Testing Humor
Bad, Mad, Sad, Had. What A Day Mom Had.
A Badger, A Mushroom, And A Burger?
Music Store Cats
Attack Of The Scary Carpet Cleaning Monster
Fun Links, Memes, Carnivals & Quizzes
Link-A-Palooza
My Homeschool Lunch (I did a bunch of these and will probably start this back up after the seniors are done)
Wild West Carnival Of Homeschooling
Autumn Blessings Carnival Of Homeschooling
Carnival Of Homeschooling Bee Edition
Agreeable Grammar Article
The Learning Meme (and a 2007 blog desk shot)
Homeschool Link Explosion
Carnival of Homeschooling: Yearbook Edition
Homeschool Resource: Rose Publishing
Sunday School Lesson Plans
Homeschool Meme
Five Habits Of Highly Effective Homeschoolers
Back To School Checklist
Getting Things Done – List Linky
Carnival of Homeschooling: Homeschool Memories Edition
What Career Are You Throwing Away To Homeschool?
12 Days Of Christmas/Photo Meme (1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
See My Unit Study Posts Above For More Specialized Links…
Holidays
What The 4th Of July Means To Me
Tips For The Day And Holiday Bustle (Columbus Day/Thanksgiving/Etc.)
Holiday Encouragement For Homeschool Moms
Christmas Meme
Bad Nativities
Gifts and Glitter: A Sprittibee Christmas Post
The Gift Of Your Presence
Becoming All Things to All Men This Christmas
Valentines Day Graphics
Happy Valentines
Passover And Easter Fun
Easter Eggs, Passover and Pysanka Sleeves
Happy Father’s Day
Remembering Others on Independence Day
What Thanksgiving Means To Me
Gobble Gobble
Autumn Leaves
Merry Texas Christmas
Happy Birthday Honey
Freedom’s Heartbeat (4th of July)
Autumn Tree Craft
Plan Now: Make the Most of the Holidays
Looking For Holiday Crafts?.. Look Above In Arts & Craft Section!
Few Favorite Photo Posts
Spring Break In Arkansas
Boo Hoo… Break Is Over
Gone Fishin’, Be Back Later…
Mikie
The True Story Of A Reluctant Cowgirl (yeah, I took that shot!)
My Western Birthday Invitations
Two Texas Troublemakers
Arkansas Spring Nature Hike Photos … and the Rest of the Nature Hike Photos
Other Homeschool Memories
Thank You From New Orleans HPD
A Letter To Anne Rice – By Morgan, Age 7
Mug Shots And Memories From Our First Day Of School
Back To School Party
Another thing I’ll be working on adding to this page is a list of my favorite homeschool blogs for you to read. Right now, off hand, I would definitely check out the Homeschool Post to look at the blogs that win their annual Homeschool Blog Awards as a start if you don’t know any other homeschool bloggers online. I ran that site from 2006 through 2013 or so. It has changed hands a few times, but they are still running an online awards every year as far as I know. They post a lot of great links and there are quite a few homeschool moms who are writing there as authors and guest authors. I highly suggest checking in at HSLDA and THSC for updates about homeschooling and getting homeschool magazines and going to homeschool conferences. A great way to find more out about homeschooling is also to join a local homeschool email group. Ask a local homeschooler you know about what lists they are on, do a Google keyword search, or visit a local librarian to find out more.
Happy homeschooling, and may you ENJOY your journey and LOVE on your kids. Love makes the world go round.