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Willow + Spring: April 2016

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An Essay on Boys Adrift By My Son. John is fourteen years old, he has some friends but he doesn’t really care about talking to them or interacting with them, Collin chooses to hang out with his virtual friends on The Sims 4. Collin doesn’t play any instruments, instead he plays Guitar Hero. John doesn’t go outside much unless he has to. Instead he plays Rust. Collin doesn’t do a lot of work, but he does have a job in a mafia on Grand Theft Auto IV. After that he talks about video games, he plainly states...

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Willow + Spring: May 2016

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Closing Out the Year. The first, and most important part of this process is interviewing my children. I ask them several questions, and use their answers to help plan the coming year. An example of the questions that I ask;. What was your favorite thing we did this year? What was your least favorite thing we did? What did you most enjoy learning about? What did you not enjoy learning? What was your favorite book that you read? Some of our favorite resources this year;. Ie=UTF8&keywords=bi...

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Willow + Spring: Finding The Quiet

http://www.willowandspring.com/2016/09/finding-quiet.html

I had an opportunity to get away with my husband for a couple days. We get away a few times a year for a marriage conference, but the last time we were actually alone together for more than an evening, was a year ago, when we celebrated our 25th anniversary. So life at home is very full, and the first day alone in the hotel room felt pretty amazing. I worked on my computer for a full five hour stretch before taking a break. It was a whole new experience. Some of the things that I love doing with my kids;.

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Willow + Spring: March 2016

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Homeschooling; Evaluating What is Working. I took a month long break from blogging, while I had the wonderful This Girl Design. Create a new blog design for me. I am so excited about the cleaner design, and am excited about beginning to add some of my best conference sessions to the store, as well as developing several other resources for families. I have also been regularly contributing to the Wild and Free. And I do quite a bit of mini-blogging. On Instagram as well. Oh, and I still homeschool as well.

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Willow + Spring: Heavenly Homes are Full of Joy-Day 18

http://www.willowandspring.com/2014/10/heavenly-homes-are-full-of-joy.html

Heavenly Homes are Full of Joy-Day 18. Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasure for evermore." Psalm 16:11. I have to admit, joy is not the first emotion I feel right now. Yesterday morning, I awoke to the sound of my goat crying. Heading outside, I noticed that her mate was nowhere to be seen. I gathered my boys to go look for him and what they saw was the gruesome sight of my buck; legless, ripped apart and very much dead. However, deep...

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Willow + Spring: Reading Without Tears

http://www.willowandspring.com/2016/01/reading-without-tears.html

My youngest son is finally starting to read. He is one of my later readers, but with the older students doing well in school, it has been easy to feel relaxed about it. However, it is one of my goals for this season to get him reading fluently. Once a student is reading, they can move much more easily into independent learning, as well as being equipped to absorb tons of information naturally as they read. Some of these games I have referred to in other posts. But I made up a few new ones this week.

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Willow + Spring: June 2016

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A Study of Birds. For the last several years we have done most of our elementary science as part of a homeschool co-op. This is a perfect arrangement for me; I can enjoy nature study and reading about nature with my children in between our meetings, but then once or twice a month we meet with our co-op to go over the science experiments. This past year, we studied birds with the younger students, and it was a wonderful exploration of our feathered friends. Although we read many beautiful books this year,...

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Willow + Spring: Cultivating Joyful Homes

http://www.willowandspring.com/2016/10/cultivating-joyful-homes.html

Homeschooling can sadly be a joy killer. While spending our days with children should naturally bring tons of lightness and joy into our lives, it is easy for us to get preoccupied, worrying about doing enough, and then create an atmosphere of tension instead of fun. It doesn't have to be this way though. What do you remember from your school days? What lessons stick out to you? Here is another question. What do you want your children to remember from their first few years of school? Some math or counting.

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Willow + Spring: July 2016

http://www.willowandspring.com/2016_07_01_archive.html

Last year we were able to dabble in a study of Italy while we covered ancient history. It is one of those magical countries, that captures the imagination, and makes you want to visit, or at least revisit, a study of it. The Romans made such an impact on western culture, and the country still inspires. With innovators such as Carlo Petrini. Of The Slow Food movement, and Loris Malaguzzi who helped pioneer an educational movement called Reggio Emilia. And had one shipped to us. The Nonna Box was a very ha...