Hip Homeschool Hop

It's time for the Hip Homeschool Hop! Click here to check out lots of great homeschooling blogs for new ideas and inspiration.

Check out Homeschooling in Heels in PLAYGROUND Magazine

For those in the Central Florida area, check out the Homeschooling in Heels feature in the fall issue of PLAYGROUND Magazine. The kids and I had a lot of fun at the photo shoot, and the article has lots of homeschooling info, including a comprehensive list of local resources. Special thanks to PLAYGROUND for showing their readers what a cool option homeschooling can be!

Hip Homeschool Hop

Welcome to everyone stopping by from the Hip Homeschool Hop. Can't wait to check out some new homeschooling blogs this week! Be sure to stop by and visit Hip Homeschool Moms to get some great ideas from other homeschooling mamas.

Two More Days for Book Giveaway at Growing Healthy Sprouts

With all the time we spend as teachers and parents, it can be hard to find time for our important roles as nutritionists and healthy chefs. If you're needing a little inspiration in this department, check out our sister blog, Growing Healthy Sprouts.

Enter our June giveaway, and you could win a copy of Eat to Live, the book that inspired our family to adopt a nutrient-dense diet. We just passed the four year mark without a sick day, and we hope that teaching the kids about nutrition now will set them up for a lifetime of optimal health!

The Shoes Everyone is Talking About

We've had an influx of new readers over the past few days, so I wanted to welcome those stopping by for the first time and remind everyone to check us out on Facebook as well.

Right now, we're talking about this stunning pair of shoes, but I promise we chat about homeschool-related topics too!

Check out our new sister blog!!!

I know this doesn't make up for being MIA around here lately, but I've spent the past week getting our new blog up and running. Growing Healthy Sprouts will share meal plans, recipes and healthy eating tips from both a parent and child perspective. Here's what you can expect to see:

Meal Plan Monday - I'm a Sunday planner/shopper, so by Monday I'm usually somewhat organized and ready for the week. Each Monday, I'll be sharing our meal plan for breakfasts, lunches and dinners for the week, including links to recipes when possible.

Top Tips Tuesday - We all want our kids to eat healthy food but often struggle with making it happen. On Tuesdays, the Sprouts and I will share our top tips for making healthy living a habit from both a parent and child's perspective.

What's for Dinner Wednesday - I love trying new recipes - so much so that Jim often asks if we'll ever get to have anything we liked again. Each week, I'll share our favorite dinner recipe with Sprout ratings and results.

Food for Thought Thursday - Nutritional research is what made me realize how important our food choices are to current and future health. On Thursdays, I'll be sharing the latest articles and research on how nutrition affects our health.

Fun Food Fridays - Kid-friendly food and Sprout favorites are on the menu for Fridays - sometimes prepared by the Sprouts themselves! We'll share recipes and pictures for healthy food your kids will love.

Stay Active Saturdays - Nutrition is just one aspect of good health; keeping kids active is essential, too. On Saturdays, we'll be sharing some of the Sprouts' favorite activities and keeping you posted on activities for kids in the Orlando area.

Sweet on Sunday - As I've mentioned, my kids certainly aren't kale-loving creatures by nature. We foster good habits through a healthy plant-based diet, but they definitely love treats from time to time (or as often as I'll allow). Fortunately, I've found many healthier ways to indulge their sweet tooth - although you'll probably get plenty of traditional treats in here as well.

All recipes will be marked with "Sprout Ratings" where the kiddos give their feedback on each dish. And Noah (aka "Big Sprout") will be a regular contributor. Tonight, he cooked our entire dinner, photographed it and blogged about the recipe (can you say "cool language arts project???")

So stop on by when you have a chance . . . we'll be cooking up something healthy and delicious!

Happy New Year!

Wow, I am SUCH a lazy blogger. Has it really been over a month since my last post? December always goes by in a blur, and this year was no exception.

My "baby boy" turned seven at the beginning of the month, which of course, seems just impossible. We spent the day at EPCOT, then celebrated with his friends that weekend. And once all the celebrating was complete, it was almost time to jump into our "12 Days of Christmas" which we do leading up to Christmas since that's when all the fun activities are planned around town. This year, we saw the Nutcracker and a holiday show at the Rep, learned about Holidays Around the World at EPCOT and enjoyed the "snow" falling at Celebration. We baked Christmas cookies together, took a drive to see holiday lights and enjoyed holiday movies at home - all fun activities, but my favorite part, since Jim and my mom were able to join us for many of these, was just all being together.

Though I never intend to take a long break from schooling in December, we just seem to fill our days in other ways. And for a few weeks, I'm feeling like that's okay. This week, we'll be easing back into school mode. A major classroom overhaul is first on our list, and our schedule is lightly filled with activities. The kids will be working on their props and costumes for Odyssey, I'll teach one of the final co-op lessons in our money unit and Noah will be attending a Lego playdate with the new homeschool group we recently joined.

Next week, we'll dive back into curriculum with a few specific goals for January. Rather than spending my holiday planning our spring schedule, I decided to extend our first semester through the end of January and take this month to play February - May. Noah will be wrapping up a language arts project and our cars unit, and Ava will be doing some work on numbers, reading and writing (which she began showing interest in recently).

We'll also be wrapping up our money unit this month, which means the full lapbook and lesson plan will be available for download here soon. I'm pacing myself with new units and plan to spread out the two I'd previously planned for spring. As of right now, I'll be working on an Animals Around the World unit for the spring which will incorporate science and geography. Since we have our Disney passes again, I'm envisioning trips to both EPCOT and Animal Kingdom being a big part of this one. I'd also wanted to put together a unit on Great Inventors, but I'm learning to pace myself and think that I'll be saving this one for the fall.

Right now, we are gearing up for the Odyssey of the Mind tournament in February. Once that is done, our co-op group will be working on a play on the history of Florida for the remainder of the school year. We may also be doing a follow up to our money unit by letting the kids start and run their own business if there is enough interest among the group, and Noah is going to be part of a new Lego league.

Since June is also a busy month for us, we're planning to wrap up by the end of May. In July, we'll be doing some art intensives with the co-op group and a mini-unit on European geography/history at home. It looks as though August will be taking us to Germany for a bike show (my husband's business) with potential travel to Switzerland, Austria, France and possibly England before or after. I'm certainly keeping my fingers crossed that it all pans out because the kids are already talking nonstop about seeing the Eiffel Tower and taking the "underwater train" to London.

And on that note, I'm going to go enjoy the last few hours of "vacation", get to bed early and hope I wake up energized to start a whole new year!

Downloading Curriculum

Okay, so File Factory seems to be temperamental these days (and I've never found it to be user friendly to begin with) so I thought I'd post what I've found to be the quickest way to download files.

1. Click the link for the curriculum, and you'll be taken to File Factory. Scroll down to the bottom of the page, and click on this logo (you'll probably have to type in two security words):

2. It will take you back up to the top of the page and tell you that you have to wait 30 seconds (unless you want to pay for a premium account, of course).

3. After the 30 seconds, it will say "Your download link is now available at the bottom of the page."

4. Scroll to the bottom, and click on "Download with File Factory Basic".

5. From there, you should get the option to either open or save the file.

Seems like it should work, but if you ever have a problem downloading, just leave me a comment. I can always e-mail the files if File Factory is misbehaving.

It's Tuesday - Time for the Hip Homeschool Hop!

Time to check out some other great homeschooling blogs this morning as part of the Hip Homeschool Hop!

Be sure to stop by and visit Hip Homeschool Moms to get some great ideas from other homeschooling mamas.

It's Tuesday - Time for the Hip Homeschool Hop!

Time to check out some other great homeschooling blogs this morning as part of the Hip Homeschool Hop!

Be sure to stop by and visit Hip Homeschool Moms to get some great ideas from other homeschooling mamas.

It's Tuesday - Time for the Hip Homeschool Hop!

Time to check out some other great homeschooling blogs this morning as part of the Hip Homeschool Hop! Be sure to stop by and visit Hip Homeschool Moms to get some great ideas from other homeschooling mamas.

Hip Homeschool Moms

Welcoming some great homeschool mama's from the Hip Homeschool Hop today. If you haven't checked out Hip Homeschool Moms yet, visit their Facebook page to connect with and be inspired by other amazing homeschool moms!

Free Lapbook Templates & Curriculum

Okay, so I said I was done on here for the night . . . but I also said that I can never leave well enough alone, and that always seems to win out. In playing around with the new Independence Day / 4th of July lapbook file, I thought it would be good to post some instructions for working with File Factory. As of right now, this is the easiest way to make the PDFs available for download, but a better method will be coming as part of the "extreme makeover".

Start by selecting a link under Curriculum to Share for the file you'd like to download. This will take you to File Factory, a third-party site that stores these files for me. From there, scroll all the way down to the bottom of the page, and click the button that says "Download Now". It will ask you a million which ways if you'd like to upgrade to a premium account, but you don't need to do this. The basic download is free, but they do make you wait a whole 30 seconds for it. :)

Okay, that's it. Going to bed now - I wish! Headed for more coffee and back on the computer to work. I have less than 90 minutes if I'm going to make my "in bed by midnight" deadline!

The Start of Things to Come

Wow, who knew the first anniversary of my blog had already come and gone? Certainly, not me. In case you hadn't noticed, I've been absent for the past few months. A total overhaul of our homeschool schedule (will blog about it - promise!) was quickly followed by vacation (will blog about it - promise!), a trip to the homeschool convention (will blog about it - promise!) and - coming this weekend - a move to a new home (will be so OVER it by then that I definitely won't blog about it!)

It's been frustrating to have so many ideas and so little time (work has also picked up during this busy time, of course). So I at least have to put the idea out there that the blog is headed for - to put it in Homeschooling in Heels speak - an extreme makeover. More details coming soon . . . or I may keep them a secret until the big reveal. We'll see.

Vote for Us in the Orbbies - And Maybe Win a Free Handbag, Too

Homeschooling in Heels is up for Orbbies awards in three categories: Family, Personal and Out of this World. The contest is hosted by the Orlando Sentinel, and the winners get free advertising on their website!

If you'd like to help us out, you can vote once a day through November 20th - once in each category and once for overall best local blog.

As an added incentive, sign up to follow the blog after you've voted for us and you'll be entered into a drawing to win a free J Lynn handbag (all existing followers will be eligible as well). Yes, I know a handbag seems like a random giveaway for a homeschooling blog, but the back story on that is floating around on the blog somewhere! Drawing will be held on November 20th.

And the winner is . . .

Thanks to everyone who signed up to follow my blog in the month of June; it's great to feel like I'm not talking entirely to myself anymore. Congrats to Sarah Baca, the winner of our drawing for a J Lynn handbag. Sarah will be receiving the black Go Anywhere bag - minus the cute baby, of course!

Last Day to Enter Drawing for a Free J Lynn Handbag!

Okay, I promise this is the last shameless plug to get you to follow my blog . . . but only because this is the LAST day of the month. Sign up to follow my blog by the end of June (yes, today!) and you will be entered in the drawing for a free J Lynn handbag. I'll be announcing the winner on Wednesday, July 1st!

And if you're wondering how on Earth purses are coming into play, check out my first Blog-keeping post on this giveaway for a very brief glimpse at my very brief stint as a handbag designer!

Be a Follower

Yes, you're really seeing handbags on my blog. You know how I feel about shoes, so is it really that much of a stretch?

Now what you may not have seen coming is a little subtle bribery. Now that my blog is "official" with the cute new look and all, I am actually going to tell people about it. And eventually, it would be nice to think I wasn't writing it entirely for my own benefit. So, sign up to follow my blog by the end of June, and you'll be entered in a drawing to win a J Lynn handbag.

Still not seeing the connection? Well in between the horseback riding and the bellydancing, somewhere right before "becoming a mom", I had a business with my mom designing and manufacturing a line of handbags. Did I mention that this was RIGHT before I became a mom? So take the fact that "design and development" is way more my cup of tea than "sales and marketing", add in a brand new baby boy and you can probably see how I still have a few handbags on my hands. And one of them just might be coming your way!

I'm Feeling Kinda Fancy

Yes, I'm really excited to have a beautiful new header for my blog. It's right up there with getting pictures . . . feels just like Christmas. My friend Kareen, who I worked with at the Magic years ago, designed it for me and managed to capture exactly what I was looking for (without me having a clue how to describe it).

As you can see, she is extremely talented, so give her a call if you need any design work done!