Twice a year, in the Spring and Fall, Colonial Williamsburg sets aside several weeks that are designated as ‘homeschool experiences’. They offer special prices for homeschool families that include all of the exhibits and also special ‘hand-on’ opportunities. This year’s fall homeschool days will be from September 11-26, 2010. We’re especially excited since we’ll be studying Early American History this year!!!

Advance tickets are available for some GREAT prices compared to their general ticket prices {the one-day tickets are normally $39/adult and almost $20/student for the same thing!}:

~ $7.50/one-day adult ticket or $10.50/two-day ticket

~ $5.50/one-day student ticket or $8.50/two-day ticket

You can view ticket information on the Colonial Williamsburg website and download the Fall Home Educator Order Form. Don’t forget to print off the Home Educator Flyer too!  Here’s a little more info about the fall homeschool days:

“In the fall, the experience focuses on government, politics, and the Revolution. Families are encouraged to participate in the Revolutionary City® programs as well as the other diverse offerings in the Historic Area. In addition, homeschoolers have the opportunity to participate in exclusive meetings with a Person of the Past.”

Other upcoming dates to mark on your calendars:

Spring 2011 Homeschooler Experience ~ February 26–March 5, 2011
Fall 2011 Homeschooler Experience ~ September 10–25, 2011

Just a picture…which means no talking. HA! Have you read my blog? :) I’ll keep it brief…on rainy days, super-hot days, or just plain any day…we LOVE using our Wii. Kaleb is fond of the Wii Outdoor Challange mat {and truthfully, Mommy gets winded doing the trampoline game…}.

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

This week’s topic at The Homeschool Village has to do with self evaluation and here’s the question ~ “If you were to "grade" yourself on homeschooling this past year … what "grade" would you have earned? What if your children were grading you?

Honestly? There are more times than not that this would be an ‘ouch’ moment for me. Yes, we accomplish the bulk of what I plan for us to do, but not all of the time that we’re working is … well, spent appropriately.

THAT is something that I need to change and set some big ol’ limits for myself on. I have a tendency to get sidetracked and if the laptop is sitting nearby, I can quickly get sucked in and not doing things that I should be…as in spending time teaching my kids.

If I had to grade myself, I would have to say an A for effort but more likely a B/C on follow-through and attention span. {grins}

What would my kids say? Well, they are at their first week-long overnight camp this week and truthfully I MISS THEM!!! Which is most likely making me realize how much more attention I need to pay to them, how much less irritated I need to be with them throughout the day ~ and what I REALLY need to be focusing on.

Ok…that’s all. I’m done.

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic!

This week’s topic at The Homeschool Village is sharing our children’s favorite recipes. I’m generally a little hesitant to have the kids help with cooking because our kitchen space is relatively small and with 5 of us in the kitchen…it starts getting crazy ~ fast!

Our kids DO like to help out whenever possible and I’ve been trying to let the girls help out more often, but really it all comes down to having fun with them. Over at the Totally Tots blog I started writing a post in January called Little Books for Little Cooks. We focus on a book and then make something edible to go along with the story. Sometimes there is actual cooking involved, but there is always eating involved!

Here are a few of our favorites from Little Books for Little Cooks {all have been kid tested in our home and happily eaten}:

Peanut Butter Honey Bee Balls

Mini Flower Quiches

Strawberry Mice

Cupid’s Hearts

Snowmen on a Stick

Other than edible items, we do have fun making playdough together. I have a recipe for Pumpkin Spice playdough that will leave your house smelling yummy for days and a Koolaid playdough recipe that is not only yummy smelling, it’s pretty to look at!

Do you have a favorite cookbook that you like to use with your kids? Any secret tips to share? I’m eyeing the Curious Chef knife set to use with our kiddos, since our real knives are just WAY too sharp for even me! Do any of you have them and can you recommend them?

Don’t forget to visit Homeschool Village and see what other moms are sharing about this topic! The weekly meme posts on Thursday {I’m early this week} but you still have time to pull together your own post for tomorrow to link up!!

The Homeschool Village is hosting another question/answer time today and the question is:

“How are you instilling a love for country during your homeschool time?”

Just in time for the 4th of July…

While we generally don’t do a lot of extra stuff during our homeschool time unless it’s a special occasion {i.e. during election time we studied about the presidents}, we have been talking more in general about our country with our children and I am so excited to start learning about early American history with them this year.

Before I put together our new calendar board I had a picture of our president up on the wall to pray for him every day. When I rearranged I took it down…and really need to print off another copy to put back up. Part of it was laziness on my part…and part irritation at specific leadership, which truthfully isn’t setting a good example to my kids about praying for our leadership, is it?

During our day we talk about things as they come up ~ our soldiers that serve to protect us and fight for the freedom that we have; respecting our leadership/government ~ even if we don’t agree with what they are doing; appreciating the freedoms that our country DOES allow us ~ and that other countries don’t allow.

There are many other things that we can do {that we don’t} to instill patriotism in our children. Will you leave a comment to share what you do with your family? I’ll be visiting the other ladies linking up to the Homeschool Village blog {go visit the new blog!!} to see what they do ~ but if you aren’t participating, leave a comment here too and share! :)

I’ve been giving my laminator a HUGE workout this week and am working my way well through a 50-pack of laminating pouches. Sad, but true.

Can’t wait to share how we’re doing our workbox cards this year, though!

I have such a love for my laminator {if you don’t believe me, I wrote a lovely post titled “If a Girl Buys a Laminator..”}.

But I digress.

Amazon is offering an amazing $20 rebate on the Scotch Laminator that I use!! You have to buy a 50-pack refill along with it {but you’ll need them since you’ll be laminating everything in sight!!!}.

The laminator is $31.49 {pre-rebate} and the refill packs are $10.30. After the $20 rebate, you’re only paying $21.79 ~ which is a WAY better deal that what you can even buy it for in the store! If you’ve been trying to decide about buying one, now is definitely the time to do it. Since the rebate is mail-in, you’ll also get FREE shipping!! :)

Here’s the nitty-gritty details per Amazon:

Through July 31, 2010, get $20 back on the purchase of a Scotch thermal laminator and a 50-pack of thermal laminating pouches via mail-in rebate. View rebate form. Applies only to products sold by Amazon.com; does not apply to items sold by other merchants on the Amazon.com website. Not valid with any other mail-in rebate offers.

And don’t think I haven’t thought about buying a back-up. I could even try dual-laminating…Amazon prices have a tendency to go up and down, so I can’t guarantee this great price ~ if it’s low, buy it then!!

Thanks to Carisa for the heads up on this great deal! :)