S.O.A.P. for Kids

Are you familiar with the acronym SOAP?

It stands for:

Scripture

Observation

Application

Prayer

I learned it a few years back from Good Morning Girls.....I love their Bible studies! 

This is a 4 step process:

1.You would write out the scripture that you are studying. 

2. Make a few observations about it - what stands out to you.

3. Note ways you can apply this to your life.

4. Pray!

After using this method through one of their Bible studies, it has become my preferred method of studying the Bible.  It's so simple and practical!  I really wish I had learned about it sooner!

So, why not bless my children with this great Bible study method early in life?!

I created a sheet to help them.  I made a box for each step - Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.  But I didn't include lines for writing.  I wanted them to have the freedom to draw, if they so choose. 

First Day of School Posters - Free Download

Our first day of school is approaching rather quickly!  And the days are finding me tying up loose ends, finishing off projects and planning, and getting everything in order. 

Today I made some cute "back to school" posters for my kiddos.  I plan to take pictures of each of them on our first day of the new school year, holding a poster which proclaims their new grade level that they are proud to be entering.

Homeschool T-Shirt Giveaway

It's Back to School Time!!! 

 

And I am pulling together the last of my preparations for the coming school year - including some "Back to School" shopping!  And this year it's going to include some new homeschool t-shirts for my family from Great Products! 

 

I've run across ads for this company several times and have been very interested in ordering something fun for my kiddos.  Well, now is my chance with the amazing deal that Great Products has going right now!  Click the link below to check out their creative array of homeschool t-shirts. 

 

 

 

They have t-shirts for homeschool kiddos, as well as moms and dads!  And at this price you can have the whole family sporting some cute or funny homeschool t-shirts!

 

And even better.......

Great Products is offering a FREE homeschool t-shirt to one of my readers!

This giveaway will be open for one week - our last week before my clan starts "Back to School"! 

And the winner will be announced on our first day of school - Tuesday, September 3!

Just enter the Rafflecopter giveaway below to be entered to win:

one FREE homeschool t-shirt of your choice from Great Products!

  



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Household Helps

For me summer time means planning and prepping for the next school year.  I feel very confident that the more planning I can get done now the more we'll be able to accomplish during the school year.  Without the dreaded...."oh, we can't do that yet, I don't have it ready!"  So, August has found me working diligently, every chance I get, to prepare for our coming school year.

Summer Time = Planning Time Series: Part 4

Binders

For me summer time means planning and prepping for the next school year.  I feel very confident that the more planning I can get done now the more we'll be able to accomplish during the school year.  Without the dreaded...."oh, we can't do that yet, I don't have it ready!"  So, August has found me working diligently, every chance I get, to prepare for our coming school year.

Summer Time = Planning Time Series: Part 3

My Calendar and My Planner

For me summer time means planning and prepping for the next school year.  I feel very confident that the more planning I can get done now the more we'll be able to accomplish during the school year.  Without the dreaded...."oh, we can't do that yet, I don't have it ready!"  So, August has found me working diligently, every chance I get, to prepare for our coming school year.

Summer Time = Planning Time Series: Part 2

 

I love that homeschooling offers us the flexibility to set up our schedule to suit our needs.  And while I enjoy a bit of a break during the beautiful days of summer, I tend to not follow the local school calendar.  We prefer to trade our snow days for beach days in the spring.  And we like to celebrate our family birthdays with a break from school.  I just really love being the one to dictate which days we will school and which days we will break. 

 

This year I am working in more periodic breaks to help avoid some of the burnout we tend to experience mid to end of the school year.  I toyed with the idea of "6 weeks on 1 week off" that some homeschoolers follow.  But it just didn't line up with the days I wanted off.  So, with calculator in hand, I played around with some numbers.  And I came up with a monthly approach. 

 

Curriculum Line-Up

For me summer time means planning and prepping for the next school year.  I feel very confident that the more planning I can get done now the more we'll be able to accomplish during the school year.  Without the dreaded...."oh, we can't do that yet, I don't have it ready!"  So, August has found me working diligently, every chance I get, to prepare for our coming school year.

Summer Time = Planning Time Series: Part 1

Since we have long winters here, we want to soak up as much of summer as we can.  So, we plan to start school right after Labor Day.  That leaves me with about  3 weeks to pull everything together. 

My curriculum is chosen.  I even ventured out and wrote some myself this time!  My orders have arrived like Christmas presents in the summer!  And now, I am organizing and prepping the curriculum to be ready for our school year. 

For me, this is one of the most important parts of preparing for homeschooling.  By diving into the curriculum and knowing how I want to approach each subject, I can establish our routine with confidence.  Each year brings certain changes to how we go about things.  I made some different curriculum choices this year, which will adjust our former routine a bit.  Plus, this year we add another "official" homeschooler to our class.  We will now have a 5th grader, 3rd grader, and Kindergartner (and a 1 year old to keep things lively!).