What are your favorite homeschooling tips, websites, books to read, etc.?

I'm just curious. It's a very rainy day and I'm taking some me time to blog today. So tell me what are you favorite things you use in your homeschooling routine? It could be anything from a smart idea that helped pull your homeschool together, your favorite curriculum, books you've read as a family, places you've visited. Some of my favorite things are Currclick . They have

Affordable curriculum, lapbooks, & homeschooling resources.

They also have a freebie every week. And I'm not talking about cheesy freebies. I'm talking about things like downloadable lapbooks. And if you sign up for their newsletter they will alert you of the freebie every week. I really like Sonlight for a complete curriculum. They believe in teaching through "Living Books". If you are like me though and can't afford to buy the whole thing I just piece mine together used. I also like a company called Beautiful Feet Books , they also offer a "Living Books" curriculum. Theirs is not a complete curric though, they are more the reading and history part. You have to add math science and such. A few other great resources are Latter-day Family Resources, and Tobin's Lab. LDFR has pretty much everything you need for HSing or it can just give you some good ideas. I take their books and look for them at the library or try and find them cheaper on Amazon.com, ebay, or local HS book sales. Tobins Lab is a great place to find

Hands-On Science Materials For Families

. Some great FREE resources are your local homeschool groups. And if you can't find any locally, you can always search yahoo groups for a HS group that tickles your fancy. Being able to get support and advice is invaluable when you are first starting out. In our local HS group we alert each other of field trip opportunities (usually free or inexpensive)and are try to help each other with any questions and/or concerns we may have. Its really nice to know there are others out there who have gone through the same things I am.
But my best piece of advice I can think of right now is...Things will not always be perfect, nor do I think they should be(there's no learning in perfect, we learn through mistakes), but that's okay! Figure out what works for you and your children. This may take months or even years,( I've talked to many veteran HS moms who, through the years, learned to keep an open mind when it comes to curriculum.) If it does work for your family find something that does. Don't buy anything pricey without getting it in your hands and really looking at it first. See if you can borrow it for a few days from a HS friend. Then if you still like it, pray about it. Again I try to get things used as much as possible. Any ways after you've gotten your routine down, RELAX and have fun with your kiddos. Learning is so much fun if you let it be.

Tips for new home school moms

I'm very new to this great adventure myself, but I have already made good and bad decisions. I thought maybe if I share my triumphs and mistakes, you'll be able to navigate more smoothly through this wonderful journey.

First of all I would say "RELAX"!!! You can do this!!! The statistics are greatly in your favor. I read somewhere that homeschooled kids are on average at least two grades ahead of there peers. So if you take it slow (which I strongly recommend) the first year don't sweat it. They will catch up, and probably pass kids their age, quickly!

Second (which was some of the best advice I received) if you are taking your children out of public school; they will need some time to de-stress. This may take a month, three months, or even a year. Just recongnize that this will be an adjustment for them and if you force them to "do school" before they are ready it will be very unproductive and cause alot of contention in your home.

So in the mean time I would suggest taking this time for getting to know your child again. What is he interested in? Go and do some of those things. Go for walks together, play board games together, do chores (yes I said chores) together. You'd be surprised how much closer a family can become when working together. Plus if you do them together they become more like a game then work. Ha Ha!

But most of all just have fun together. This is how children learn best anyways. There's something to learn in every situation. Don't fool yourself into believing that just because your kids aren't doing worksheets that they aren't learning. Children are ALWAYS learning. Shhh! You'll know when they are ready to start school. That's when they start asking questions again. This natural curiosity has probably just been in hibernation. The reawaking of their love of learning will be something beautiful to behold.

Trust yourself and your ability to teach your children! This is very important!!! Heavenly Father would not have blessed you with his precious little ones without also bestowing on you all the intuition and talents, though sometimes hidden, needed to nurture and teach them. So don't listen to those who don't understand the the sacred call you've been given to serve your children.

Also don't be tricked into thinking that HSing has to be just like public school. You know... sitting in a desk all day reading boring text books and completing mindless assignments. This is one of the quickest ways to see your child's love of learning go quickly back into hibernation. I know a lot of you live in states that have strict rules and regulations on what you can and cannot do. But that doesn't me that you can't think outside the box. Do what your state asks; but make sure you add lots of color to the bland palette they have provided. Your child deserves for you to learn how to stretch your imagination.

And oh yeah turn off the TV as much as possible!!! Or what ever electronic device that may be robbing precious time away from you and your family. This has been one of my biggest temptations. I thought I was cured of my tv addiction but then I started spending way too much time on the computer. My friend told me that's not being cured. Nope that is called cross addition. Oh well, and I thought I was doing so well. Any ways... I've seen first hand through my own children how these electronic devices have hurt their ability to soak up the simpler pleasures in life. Without the distraction of constantly moving images, it's very hard for them to concentrate. I pray that in time I am able to heal this unintentional harm that I've inflicted upon my children. But in order to over come a bad habit you have to replace it with a good one. I'm striving to replace the evil, lol, devices with good books and the healing power of nature. This is my biggest goal this year. I'm sure this will be a bumpy road and that I'll fall off the wagon many, many times but I hope I'm able to keep my eyes on the prize. Ok, how did this become about me? Focus, Haben! Well I hope it helps to know that I'm working on mastering these things too.

I also hope you will take courage when mistakes are made. None of us are perfect. And we aren't asked to be. Baby steps, one foot in front of the other. Don't worry we'll all get there. And really it's not the pace that matters, but the journey along the way. WOW that was an overload of cliques!!! Sorry bout that, I'll try to be more original next time. Still stuck inside the box, Haben