Mystery of History memory cards

We are continuing using Mystery of History year 1. We just began the classical period. I love note booking pages but printing them out weekly just was not getting done since the baby was born. So to make life easier for mom I decided to start the memory cards the author recommends . I write the title, dates, and hard to spell names etc. on the board for them.

I purchased this spiral set of note cards.

Instead of making the memory cards at once we do them at the end of every lesson.

The title of the lesson and date we put on the front of the card that is blank.

They write important information on the back. I let them choose what is important but I do read over it to make sure it is accurate. I have found they often get the information wrong so this allows them to organize their thoughts and make sure they understood how things happened in the history lesson. Spelling I try to work on too but as you can see here he misspelled uncle so I will have him go and correct that.

I really like using the memory cards. They will be easy to review and I don't have to prepare for the lesson printing out note booking pages or mini books. They are in timeline order. I also like the fact that they are not intimidating with tons of space to fill out like a complete page. This also allows them to boil down the important information. I will let you know how it goes as we use them for the rest of volume 1of MOH.

Magnetic Bookmarks !

My sister purchased my daughter magnetic bookmarks and a book for a get well present since she is a bookworm. She also bought the old fashion ones I grew up with a little tassel that she likes and uses. She wasn't using the magnetic ones so she gave them to me for the school books. It's little things like this that Make me happy.They are cute, small, and make finding my lessons easier. You can purchase them on Amazon or make them yourself by glueing magnets to a small piece of card stock.

Here is a picture of the magnetic side.it folds over the page to mark your page.

As you can see they are small and not real thick. They can easily be moved.

I am using them in their reading books, history, science, and our read aloud.

It's the little things that make my day easier :) I like these little modern day book marks over the old fashion bookmarks my daughter likes. Isn't that funny different generations liking the others bookmarks. 

Mystery of History and Biblioplan

One of the things I enjoy about MOH and Biblioplan is how they complement each other. My high school students follow the Biblioplan guide and as you can see below the MOH is scheduled in the reading as optional extra reading which my students read along with their Biblioplan. This guide can also helps me with my elementary / Jr. high students who do the opposite. Mystery of History as the main curriculum and Biblioplan as added extra fun facts to learn.

Here is an example. We finished studying Hezekiah, Sennacherib, Mannasseh, and the powers of Mesopotamia in weeks 16-17.

So today I used the Biblioplan guide to study more about what we covered in MOH. Biblioplan textbook is like a Christ centered Encyclopedia with interesting facts and pictures so it's a good review and study more on what we have been learning. I love the way she includes the Bible verses that go with what we are studying. For example the verses in the Bible that refer to Hezekiah and Sennacherib that are in Bible. I am reading the 3 recommended of lessons of MOH then the 4rth day reviewing and digging in deeper with the Biblioplan then doing maps. Well I need to get better at getting the maps in!

 We are also reading through as a read aloud " The God King" by Joanne Williamson that is an awesome book on King Hezekiah, the Assyrians, and even Ancient Egypt. This was a recommended read aloud from Biblioplan as you can see in the schedule above. I love the fascinating facts of History from Biblioplan as we read through MOH with the younger students.

  The older students like doing BIblioplan indepentantly.

This year using both together is working well for us. I am excited to give TruthQuest a try next year. If it doesn't work out I will be back to MOH for my younger students. The high school kids will continue to do Biblioplan. I really do enjoy the way Mystery of History and Biblioplan work  well together. 

Next years Wisdom Booklets are here!

Our Wisdom Booklet are here for next year. We are finishing WB 36 this week and we will be starting our new WIsdom Booklets next week. This is my favorite part of the school day. We always talk about life since the Wisdom Booklets always relate and help us see how God's word applies to our lives. I can't imagine homeschooling with out them.

Angelo holding baby Caleb as we read the WB together.

Flower dissection... Botany

Since it spring and the flowers are blooming today we did our flower dissecting project from Exploring Creation with Botany. 

New DIY bookshelves ! My homeschool mom's book nook.

My book shelves were falling apart. They were the cheap ones from Biglots. Since we are remodeling he decided to build me new ones out if 2" by 10" boards. I love them they are strong . We used Minwax weathered oak for the stain. My last bookshelves we white and showed all the dust from our wood burner so I am hoping this color will camouflage the dust a little since in the winter we always have dust from the wood burner. It also matches my brick wall color.We used high gloss polyurathane to make it easy to wipe off.

This is my homeschool mom book nook. I placed all the curriculum and read outloud books next to were I will be sitting for easy reach. Since I have the couch against the bookshelf to add space in the livingroom I placed books I will not be using on the bottom shelf.

Here is a birds eye view of the two book shelves he made me. I love decorating with books!!!

Joe graduates! Class of 2015

Today we met with the evaluator and it is official Joe graduated high school ! I am so proud of him as he seeks to  walk with the Lord. The men of our church have come along side of him and have been great mentors that Christ is using in his life. Monday he starts working in a machine shop being apprenticed by a man of God from our church. We are so blessed to have men that are Godly examples in my son's lives. Today marks a new chapter in Joe's life. I pray the Lord leads and walks with him all the days of his life. A wonderful day for this homeschool mom.

 Joe enjoys serving the Lord with his church family.....

 Joe Bible quizzed for 5 years including his senior year.....

 He wants to glorify God through music....

His own road with his Savior has begun..... Enjoy every moment of it Joe !!!