Magniflorious Homeschool Life

 Welcome to our blog! I thought for sure I'd be done blogging about homeschool when our youngest finished her senior year. I might've been wrong!  Note: Before we go any further, you need to know I was asked to write up a review (for pay) of my experience with the website/company I'm sharing with you today. But my comments reflect my actual experience. This is the first time I'm doing this. I make no guarantees. Let's Talk About Transcripts What it is:  a record of your student's courses over the course of their high school career. What it should include: the courses final grades for those courses (either letter or percent) credits earned for the courses GPA each quarter, as well as overall major test scores (if applicable), like ACT, SAT, etc. a grading scale Why your student needs one: Every institution for further education that I know of requires this record before they'll consider your student for enrollment. You Want Me to Send What From Where? Our you...

 For months, apparently, I forgot I posted here. To be fair, though, senior year was tough for our youngest in some ways which we hadn't really had to deal with while teaching the other two. Add to that my increasingly scattered mind, too many changes to keep track of, and going back to work at the sewing shop, and there was no way I was going to remember to post here. But we did manage to work through senior year successfully and our young woman is learning how to make her way in the adult realm.  We were supposed to go get her senior pictures in a little town just southwest of us, but we were never able to do it. I hate that life kept getting in the way.  She also requested a graduation tassel, and that hasn't happened yet, but I'm taking care of that today. She doesn't really ask for much.  I also still need to get her final report card, transcript and diploma printed out. Seriously, y'all, this year was a doozy if ever there was one!  We both so relieved to ...

 Hi, Homeschool Friends! It's been a while since I last posted and to be honest, things have been pretty peaceful around our house, though busy. I forgot to post in July because I was hyper-focused on my Camp Nano project. School even snuck up on me this year. ...So...how are things going with your homeschool crew? Here's what's been happening with ours... First Day of Senior Year was Yesterday!   So, yes, I'm working on putting together the new subject matter and trying to get a good schedule set up for Ro's senior year.  Science Ro's always been interested in rocks, so we're tackling an introduction to geology for science this year. When she told me she wanted to study geology, I thought for sure we'd have to do that through literature without a course curriculum but then this showed up in my web search. An Introduction to Geology (Free Textbook for College-Level Introductory Geology Courses) put out through Salt Lake Community College is a God-send, ...

Welcome back! Looks like I missed last month's post. I don't even know what happened. However, we've had to add kitten care to our usual busy schedule. So it could've been me just adjusting to the new norm.  Gardening Update I've got a few things to share with you today. First, our garden that was so beautifully green just a month ago is now not looking so great. It seems we had an entire colony of cowboy bugs ( click here to see what they look like , except the ones in our area are usually all black) move into the beautiful, green and yellow squash patch. I can't really blame them. It  was  the proverbial land of milk and honey, after all.  My sunflowers suffered a similar fate but from what, we aren't sure. We found some other kind of flying insect I didn't recognize. My dad, who's been gardening in this area for as long as I can remember, hasn't ever seen them before either. Their backs are black or a very dark brown. Their bellies, which we n...

 Welcome back! I'm so happy to be able to report our little seedlings, well some of them, have survived and are now planted in a small garden patch outside. Turks Turban Squash looks like it might survive and thrive, but we may have to replant cucumbers, nasturtium flowers, and sunflowers. Hopefully, today's predicted rain will encourage them to perk up. And we also hope to deter whatever animal tried to dig up my hard work yesterday. Y'all! I should've stretched before trying to work in the garden. XD More Curriculum Changes We started the year working on Chemistry with PACE workbooks. Those didn't work so well for Ro's learning perception. So we switched her to a workbook (The World of Chemistry) which allowed her to read sections and answer questions pertaining to shorter sections. There were fewer problems per lesson for her to solve. This made it less overwhelming for her.  To sum up: If the curriculum you chose for your student isn't working, don't...

 Yep. It's time for another blog post. And even though I knew it was coming, I'm late posting it anyway. Will I ever be on time? *sigh*  via GIPHY Our Crazy Year So Far My hope was to have this prepped, ready to go by yesterday evening. Here's the rundown of what's been happening in our family since the turn of the new year.  First week of January - husband gets laid off from most lucrative job he's ever had Within days - oldest daughter is in her first major wreck (as a passenger and while far enough away from home we couldn't actually get there to be with her...thankfully, she and her friends were ok after some time had passed) The next week - hitherto unplanned trip to visit with family who are close to where oldest daughter is staying so we can pick her up when she's ready to come home the next week - pick up oldest daughter and head home the following day First week of February - husband surrenders to the ministry The very next morning - we learn husban...

 Welcome back to the blog! I've been contemplating how useful (or rather how not-so-useful) my latest posts have been. Since it seems I've been running out of things to share and no one else in our family is really on board with this, I am either going to drop my posts back to once a month and have this go out more like a newsletter, or just drop it entirely. More on that... New Year, New Challenges Everyone, or most people, make resolutions they seek to carry out over the course of the coming year. I don't usually do that because my goals are always the same: feed my relationship with my Lord, glorify Him with my life in all ways, help those around me who have a need.  This year, our family is starting out with a challenge. John is part of a group study called Soul-con which encourages men to be who they were created to be in the Lord, mind-body-soul. There is a program for women that purports itself as the same sort of thing. However, the study the men participate in goes...

 Welcome back! How has your holiday season been going? Our Christmas day felt rushed for some reason. But Christmas Adam and Christmas Eve sure did drag by. Anytime we end up opening gifts on Christmas Eve, it messes with my perception. Shucks! Any change in such a long-time routine would probably throw anyone for a loop. Look at the mess caused in 2020... Anyway...on to happier things! Keeping it short this week... we just want to wish you a Happy New Year! May 2022 be better than 2020 and 2021! 2021 Wins Ro discovered she enjoys Geometry Ro is picking up guitar riffs and pounding away at them Shi has been able to get the help she needed...finally We celebrated our son and daughter-in-law buying their first home My parents celebrated 50 years of marriage this year I managed to complete a whole novel -- beginning to end -- during the month of November, which I hadn't ever done before John got a new job which suits him much better We all made some new, awesome friends We survived an...

Welcome back! I know it's been a couple of weeks since my last post. We've been rushing around trying to get so many things ready for the holidays.  Sometimes, I do feel like the above picture, like I'm too overwhelmed to be bothered by the crash and burn. Can you relate? Merry Christmas From our family to yours, we wish you a very merry Christmas!

 Can y'all believe another December is knocking at the door? I can't. Some days feel like they drag on and on. But come the fall/winter holiday season and the days fly by faster than you can blink! I'm almost ready for Christmas, though, and much further ahead than I was last year. I'm actually excited and looking forward to Christmas this year. Last year, I was just functioning and struggling to adjust to annoying life changes. I think we all were to some extent.  via GIPHY (I love Godzilla. And while this guy survives no matter how he lands, I sometimes struggle. What about y'all? Godzilla fans? Strugglers? 😅) I'm not going to keep you a long time today. We started Geometry today and Ro is enjoying it, as I kind of expected. For some reason, if you struggle in Algebra in our family, Geometry tends to be your friends. I don't know how that makes any kind of sense, but it is what it is. 😄 A Breath of Hope And now for a breath of hope from the Bible...  Th...

 November is the month we celebrate Thanksgiving in the US, a time to remember everything we're thankful for. In our family, that means gathering for a family meal, spending time going around the table to mention one thing we're thankful for, and enjoying a veritable feast compared to other days of the year. We also spend time singing together, gathered around the piano and accompanied by one or more guitars and/or other instruments. We usually sing hymns since they work so well for singing harmony.   via GIPHY Thanksgiving Meals At Our House We've gotten away from turkey for the most part when it comes to the main dish. We prefer beef roast or ham, so this year, we're doing both of those, as well as roasting some chicken.  Also new for this year, our youngest is going to fix up a corn casserole. One of her friends at work is sharing her recipe for that. The dish will be tricky for me and one other person at our table, but we're going to see what we can do to make ...