Our Favorite Things This Year

With only four weeks of school to go, I am reflecting on what we loved this school year.

New York City ~ What an amazing opportunity it was to take our kids to New York City this year! We were exposed to a whole new environment and had a fantastic time. Every week that goes by, there has been some mention of our trip or a wish expressed to go back some day. It truly was an amazing and educational few days. Our budget is tight, but I would really like to do one smashing trip a year during their high school years. Seeing the country and learning about new cultures has always been one of my top goals.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child ~ Like all of the other Harry Potter books, we absolutely loved this book. It being written in play form was an interesting twist. We can't wait to see the play some day (maybe on Broadway)!

Jigsaw Puzzles ~ We put together about a dozen jigsaw puzzles this year. We seem to be stuck at the 500 piece level. Puzzles will be part of Anne's logic course next year so we have already have a stack saved for then.


A Tree Grows in Brooklyn ~ I love this book. I think I love it a fair amount more than my kids. However, they enjoyed it, too. It fit perfectly with our trip to NYC and the Tenement Museum.

Watching Musicals ~ We watched six musicals this year as part of Anne's study of music. She liked Fame and West Side Story the best.

Poetry Teas ~ I only managed to pull off a couple poetry teas this year. I have received a few complaints about that. I hope to do better next year.


Art with Miss Laura ~ Dean has really enjoyed taking art with Miss Laura. He has made great strides in drawing this year. She has presented some exciting opportunities for him. He currently is working on a mural that will be posted on a wall on a main street downtown for three months!!


Bessie's Pillow ~ We loved this book. It is a real winner and tied in with our NYC trip!

Science Field Trips with our Friend, Rose ~ We didn't get to do nearly as many homeschool science field trips as I had hoped to do. However, we did have a great time on the ones we did. I hope to squeeze out two more before calling quits for the year.


Netflix Streaming ~ We enjoyed watching American Genius, Nature's Weirdest Events, The World's Worst Disasters, The Royals and so much more.

Performing in the Nutcracker ~ This is a major part of our lives each year, since my children love to perform. This was their sixth year in The Nutcracker and they were completely independent. They didn't need me at all. They are maturing into beautiful and gifted performers that are completely responsible.


CNN Student News ~ This continues to be my kids' favorite way to start school. I like that the program changed this year to depicting more in-depth discussions about topics. It reminds me of the Scholastic Weekly Readers we used to get in school.

Dance and Guitar lessons ~ Out-of-the-home classes are a major part of the kids' lives. Anne has managed more than 10 hours of dance classes a week this year. She would let anyone know that she doesn't feel pushed enough and could easily do more. In fact, we are adding another ballet class weekly which will bring her up to 12 hours of dance a week. Dean has managed well with his additional dance, art and guitar lessons. He is out of the home at lessons about 8 hours a week. He loves his guitar teacher and is a quick learner.

Swimming with Grandma ~ Grandma takes them to the YWCA pool several times a month. They really love the time in the water. We hope to make this a more regular part of next school year.

Math ~ I am not sure I can really claim that math is anyone's favorite ~ lol. But I do want to record what they liked the best this year of the multiple math programs we used. They liked Kumon Math Pre-Algebra, Khan Academy, living math and Math Mammoth.

Board Games ~ It is no secret that we love board games. Our favorites this year were Wizard Chess, Harry Potter Clue, Quelf, Quizmo, Stratego and Exploding Kittens.

The Wandering Swordsmen ~ Taking classes and playing boffing with the Wandering Swordsmen has been a highlight this year. Dean loves to go play with all of the other teens. He even had his birthday party there last month. For those who don’t know, boffing is a sport based on compassionate combat, using foam padded implements representing swords, shields, arrows, and other gear that is designed to safely come into realistic physical contact with the players. No one tries to hurt each other and it involves a lot of trust and honor. 

These have been some wonderful memories this school year.
Blessings, Dawn

Review ~ ArtAchieve

We were very pleased to receive Entire Level III of ArtAchieve. This is an exciting online art program that really brings different works of art to life and then teaches students in clear, step-by-step instructions on how to make their own art.


I must admit that my daughter (13) is not a huge fan of producing art. She enjoys learning about art and doing picture studies. However, when it comes to creating her own art, she lacks confidence and wants her art to be perfect, just like the masters. For this reason, she shies away from doing many art programs. ArtAchieve is different. She likes the explanations and very clean, step-by-step instructions. She still would prefer to skip art, but with this program she doesn't struggle against doing the assignment. 

Each lesson begins with a warm-up that helps the student get prepared to create. Then there is a short lesson on the piece of artwork and the history or cultural background of the artwork. My daughter especially likes that part of the lesson. Having the artwork tied into its culture is interesting to her. Next, the lesson goes through step-by-step instructions. Each lesson can be viewed in two ways ~ either through a video or a slide show. My daughter prefers the slide show, because it is less overwhelming and the pace is completely controlled by her. 

Each level presents a large variety of projects. There are 13 lessons in Level III. The lessons expose the student to different mediums and cultures. My daughter worked with pastels, watercolor and acrylic paints, as well as both colored and drawing pencils. There is even a project that works with aluminum foil, which my daughter did not choose to do. The lessons do not have to go in order. I also love that the projects are unique. I haven't seen the same lessons anywhere else on the Internet. 

I really like ArtAchieve. A student can work with this program completely independently as long as the materials for each lesson are provided by the parent. The majority of the materials required would be found in a homeschool classroom. I love that a bit of history and culture are provided throughout each lesson. This program fits very nicely into our little homeschool, because the lessons can stand on their own and fit into whatever we are currently learning. If we are studying Russia, I can send my daughter off to learn how to draw the Russian Matryoshka.  If we are talking about Canada Geese and why our homeschool is called Geesecrossing Homeschool, I can send her to do the lesson on Canada Geese. 

I love it when I can tie several different resources together to make a full and rich experience for my kids. This program is a wonderful asset to my home. I also feel that each level can be picked based on the projects you want to do with your child. They do not get that much harder from level to level, so a middle school student could start in any level.  To see what other crew members on the homeschool review crew have to say, click on the banner below. We review different levels.  Blessings, Dawn

A Solid Week ~ Finding Our Way Through

It is hard to believe that April is nearly gone! My youngest son turns 15 this weekend! This past year has been tough for him. I pray that 15 proves a more positive year for him. I do see little glimmers of his depression lifting ~ just a bit. It is hard work every day, but worth the effort to see an occasional smile.

This week only had one really rough day emotionally for our son and our family. That is an improvement over most weeks. One thing that is helping is encouraging exercise. This is kind of a funny statement, considering how much dance my kids do. However, it seems my son needs to do even more -- and preferably outdoors. We spent one sunny day at the arboretum, and I got a few fantastic shots of the kids leaping.

Another day found us walking the newest section of the greenway our city is building along the river.

As always, encouraging sibling love and compassion is at the front of my thoughts. Even if the world outside is hard to take, your family is always, always there for you. One way our family has always connected is with board games. They bring lots of laughter into our home. We added Quelf, Harry Potter Scene It, and Exploding Kittens to our collection of board games this week. I love lucky finds at consignment shops!

We continue to strive to pull farther back from social media and online gaming. Both, have caused a fair amount of sadness to our home. We decided to let the kids keep Instagram, but it is very heavily monitored by us. We have returned to some old school computer games that require a CD 😉 and one online game that is heavily monitored and designed for parents to enforce safety for their kids. Some of these restrictions have been tough on our son, but they have resulted with him feeling somewhat more comfortable and secure.

It is no secret that this has been a rough year in our little homeschool. I am not saying that it hasn't been filled with quality, but it has also been filled with trials, changes, regrouping, changes again and just plain burnout at times. As I look back over the year, I am pleased with our accomplishments and all that we learned. The kids continue to grow and stretch. If anything, one of the main frustrations has been the kids complaining that they already know much of what we studied this year. I didn't intend for it to be a review year, but in some subjects it turned out to be just that. I do feel like they are solid in what they do know and are ready to move forward next year. Even Anne is finally grasping all things about fractions. We have come back to fractions time and time again over the last two years in every educational way imaginable, and fractions are finally starting to consistently click. We are relying heavily on videos as we enter our last five weeks of school. One common thread that has been a great success this year are educational videos. We have watched some excellent movies and documentaries. We discovered Ted-Ed. We love the short lectures with discussion and questions. 

Blessings, Dawn

Thinking About Next Year

I am thinking a great deal about what we will be doing next year. I would really like to spend less than $300 next year on books and materials, so that my homeschool budget can be spent on out of the home classes and field trips. Thanks to being on the review crew and being a pack rat (of books), we are already in pretty good shape. Below is the list of what I already have.

Dean 9th/10th Grade

English I (9th), mostly a writing course ~ Finish Cover Story, grammar workbooks,  Linguistic Development through Poetry (will be halfway done with this course by the end of this school year).

English II (10th) Literature English and American ~ Progeny Press Unit Study of Great Expectations, Literature through Movies, see Shakespeare plays offered in our area, two other great works to be determined...

Career and Technology (10th) ~ Succeeding in the World of Work textbook and field trips.

Community Service (10th) ~ Volunteering at the regional nature center, food bank, Humane Society, as well as doing special projects for the Red Cross and Meals on Wheels (150 hours).

Math I (9th) ~ Real world math (algebra and geometry) with Math Mammoth, Hands-on Math Projects with Real-Life Applications,Grades 6-12, other hands-on resources and occasional drill worksheets.

Earth Science (9th) ~ We are using lots of Internet and library resources in addition to lots of field trips. (We will be done with this course by next November.)

Biology (10th) ~ Still need to determine curriculum. This is where a chunk of money will be spent because we will dissect several specimens.

U.S. History I (9th) The Story of the Thirteen Colonies & The Great Republic Memoria Press American History through Spanish American War, lots of field trips (will be 1/3 complete by the end of this school year).

P.E. and Health (9th) ~ Swimming, physical therapy at home, dance classes, as well as a 6 to 10 week health course (to be determined).

Taught by Others ...

String Instruments (9th) ~ Ukulele, guitar and electric guitar (will be halfway done by the end of this school year).

Visual Art I (9th) ~ Art classes with Grandma and Miss Laura (may complete this course yet this year. If so, so he will go onto Visual Arts II for 10th grade).

Anne 8th/9th 

Anne will be doing two or three courses toward her 9th grade credits, even though she will be an 8th grader.

Biology (9th) ~ Same as brother's curriculum, to be determined.

English I (9th) ~ Same as brother's curriculum (will do lots of extra reading).

P.E. (8th) ~ Swimming and her technical dance classes.

Performing Arts and Music (8th) ~ Dance classes that are for performances, all rehearsals and performances, piano lessons.

Math (8th) ~ Math Mammoth and hands-on math projects.

History (8th) ~ Two research papers and presentation on historical topic of her choosing, lots of biographies and field trips.

Home Economics (8th) ~ Sewing, personal finance and household budgeting, cooking, gardening and other life skills.

Logic (8th) ~ Fallacy Detective, jigsaw puzzles 500+, Orbiting with Logic, Unlocking Analogies Middle School, Red Herring Mysteries Level 2.

Blessings, Dawn

Spring Break

This week was a combination of field trips and a working vacation for me. I really had loads to do. I wish I could say the "to do list" was complete, but it isn't nearly done. I did get lots accomplished, but I was just terribly behind in paperwork, "business" phone calls, filing medical papers and all the little pieces of life that get brushed aside when there are more pressing things to do. It takes a great deal of time and energy to run a special needs family. I have already decided to take Monday off to get a bit more done. Thank goodness for the flexibility of homeschooling.

We also had lots of fun this week. We went to two movies ~ Beauty and the Beast and The Zookeeper's Wife. They were both excellent, but The Zookeeper's wife is a hard movie to get through. I suggest consulting Common Sense Media before going to determine if your children are ready for it. I am glad my kids saw it, but there were lots of difficult parts to experience.

We also went on a history tour of Biltmore Industries and learned about this very small, but famous fabric company that was in operation from 1901 to the 1980s.

We also investigated an antique car museum.

The kids enjoyed having a snack at the Grove Park Inn. Dean selected a "dangerously sour candy" and then had a hard time keeping a straight face while trying to eat the pieces. lol

Our really big adventure this week was to visit Gatlinburg. This was our first time since the wildfire at the end of last November that took 14 lives and destroyed more than 2,000 structures. 

We also went to the Ripley's Believe or Not, played miniature golf and went through the Ripley's Marvelous Mirror Maze. We very much enjoyed everything. Well, I did think the Mirror Maze was a bit scary...lol! Looking at the pictures below amazes me. When did my kids get so big and grown up?! They are all taller than my husband now!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Easter.

Blessings, Dawn

The Week Before Spring Break

This week was filled with great learning. I love the weeks that are filled to the brim with great quality stuff. Dean takes art classes with another homeschool mom two times a week. They are working on mural designs and looking for a public space that they would be allowed to paint a mural. They came up with a few possibilities this week.

Time for a bit of silliness while on their quest.

In science this week, we went on a field trip to a mining and gem store. The kids got a huge tub of dirt laced with semi precious gems to sift through. They had a great time and came up with some great finds. Later in the week we identified the gems. The kids have garnets, several types of calcite, quartz, rose quartz, agate, sodalite, and lots of jasper. We are looking into getting a rock tumbler, so we can polish our gems and make jewelry.

In history this week, we finished our unit study on The Tree in the Trail, which was about the Sante Fe Trail. We wrapped up the unit by making honeycomb candles. We are excited about moving on to learning about Native American Indians. 

We finished the week off with our eldest child's birthday. Tim wanted events more than gifts, so we headed out to lunch and then to Fun Depot (an amusement center). We went on a 4D dinosaur adventure ride, played laser tag, played miniature golf and drove go-karts. It was an all-around exciting day. It amazes me that he is 27 and that I have been a mother in charge of a special needs family for that many years~ WOW!

Besides all the fun, we did lots of seat work and DVD watching. We also had one and a half days of trials and tribulations with the bureaucracy. But I am too tired to repeat all that. I'd rather just repeat the positive this time. We have lots of great plans for our "field trip spring break". It should be a ton of fun and a nice break from the grind of dance and school. 

Blessings, Dawn

Our Week in Numbers

I wasn't kidding when I said this week would be a blur. It was one of those weeks that flew by. Here is a quick post of our week in numbers.

• 132 ~ miles driven in the car
•     8 ~ sweet teas purchased out on the road (drank by multiple people)
•     3 ~ full meals eaten out this week for the family ~ yikes!
•   18 ~ hours spent at the dance studio
•     2 ~ absolutely incredible performances that my kids danced in
•     5 ~ hours spent in medical offices, Cognitive Therapy for Dean, Fetal Alcohol Clinic for            Goldilocks
•    4 ~ trips to Walmart ~ one of my least favorite stores
•      1 ~ glorious hour spent outside enjoying cherry blossoms
•    90 ~ ninety dollars made at our yard sale

We also got some good school work done around the edges of life.

Here are some photos of their performance ~ 

Blessings, Dawn