Howdy! Thanks for dropping by Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood! I just wanted to take a few moments to let you know the what, why, and how of this website since it can be overwhelming to pop over here without a little background information.
Simply stated, this blog started in 2010 as an effort to connect with my husband who worked on a drillship in Tanzania on a one-month-on/one-month-off rotation. (Find out more about our family here.) As I started posting about what we were doing, I realized that it had also become a way to chronicle our homeschooling journey. Over time, I started to post links and resources that could be used with Classical Conversations (which is a homeschool tutorial program we’ve used in the past) because it was a simple way to keep those links organized and readily available as a reference for our family. As we continued homeschooling, I started to post ideas and resources I had developed for our own family in case those resources would be helpful to someone else. It became a way for our family to minister to others – to help other moms and dads along this homeschooling journey. And that is why we have continued – because the thoughts and ideas I’ve posted here have occasionally helped another person, and helping others in their homeschooling journey is our mission and vision as a family.
This blog is a culmination of various activities, resources, ideas, and curriculum we have used over the course of over ten years of our homeschooling adventure. Over ten years. That’s a lot of stuff. Please know that we do not currently use all of what you will find on this blog. We’ve reviewed curriculum, we’ve used curriculum, we’ve read books, we’ve used links, we’ve created notebooks, we’ve used the printables I’ve made on this website, but not all at the same time. Keep this in mind as you sort through all of the ideas and resources posted here.
In the fall of 2015, our blog was transferred from a free blogger platform to a {not-free} wordpress platform. Because of this, there may be formatting errors in articles posted before October 2015. If you come across something that is askew, please notify us so we can bump it up in our “fix-it” queue. I haven’t been able to go back and fix all of our past posts because there are over 700. Needless to say, I’m still chipping away at them as time permits (while juggling my real life homeschool wife and mom responsibilities).
What you will find here
- Free Resources to use for homeschooling in general (notebooking pages, lapbooks, lesson ideas, art projects, etc.)
- Resources to use for classical education or Classical Conversations (planners, booklists, reading correlations, link lists, etc.)
- Curriculum reviews and giveaways
- Our Charlotte Mason-inspired Script-n-Scribe Resources for easily and seamlessly integrating beautiful things (such as poetry and picture study) into the homeschool day. (If you use Classical Conversations, Truth Traveler best corresponds with Cycle 1, Hymns in History best corresponds with Cycle 2, and Americana best corresponds with Cycle 3.)
- A Christ-focused, missions-focused, worship-focused course of study through our Mission: Great Commission Curriculum series. If you use Classical Conversations, Mission: World Wonders is an open-and-go program that corresponds with Cycle 1, Mission: Faith Forgers corresponds with Cycle 2, and Mission: Lasting Liberty corresponds with Cycle 3.
- Reality checks where I share what’s actually happening in our real, not-so-glamorous homeschooling days
- Chronicles of our 50-States-Before-They-Graduate adventures
- Encouragement for the homeschooling/parenting journey
- Random other stuff
If you are looking for something specific, it may already exist here. Just shoot me an email to find out! 🙂
Before you use this site
Please realize that the ideas and resources listed here are across several years, which means that we are not doing all of this at the same time. Each time we passed through a cycle of learning, we changed things up a bit based on our circumstances and the needs, passions, and dynamics of our family. The most important message I can communicate is to not compare yourself to others. (Comparison is the death of contentment.) You are enough. Seriously, God gives your children to you and says…
You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. (Deuteronomy 6: 5-7)
This parenting thing – it’s a lifelong journey. We’ll make mistakes. Ultimately, our children are in God’s hands, yet he has entrusted them to us as well. So… regardless of what anyone else is doing, you do what is best for your family. There’s no one right way to homeschool (or no one right way to implement a Charlotte Mason or classical Christian education) at home. You have to tailor your homeschool experience to fulfill God’s calling for your life and to meet the needs of your family, not someone else’s.
So… before anything else, let me be the first to tell you, plan does not equal reality (especially in our home). It is not necessary to have a plan like someone else’s to be successful as a homeschooling parent. Although I offer many options for those who wish to use them, if you don’t want to incorporate anything else but scripture, reading, writing, and arithmetic into your homeschool days, that’s really okay! If you’d like to tailor any of our plans or ideas to fit your own family’s needs, you can take whatever parts you like for your family and ignore the rest. If you have questions, please contact us directly at halfahundredacrewood @gmail.com. [I really do appreciate questions because it helps me to clarify my thoughts and communicate better. And, most importantly, it helps me to help others, which is a rather large reason we have a website in the first place.]
Quite honestly, I’m just a mom who is doing my best to teach my children. I also play with my children and enjoy simply hanging out with them because… well, I love playing and hanging out with them. By God’s grace, my children learn and grow tremendously every year in spite of me. And I believe He will do the same for you, regardless of how you want to supplement or not to supplement your classical, Charlotte Mason, or fill-in-the-blank education. We all have passions, and if you enjoy doing crafts with your children, you should not feel guilty for doing so. If you don’t enjoy crafts and like to keep things simple so you can just play in the dirt all day with your children, you should not feel guilty for doing so. Homeschooling fits into all sorts of learning styles and interests. While we don’t want to neglect the teaching of foundational skills in memory/recitation/narration, reading, writing, and arithmetic, we also don’t want to let the curriculum master us or our homeschool. Be the master of the curriculum or program you are using. Tailor it to fit your needs and allow rest to fill your home with joy and a genuine love for learning.
For parents in Classical Conversations, if you are new to this blog, or new to classical education, or new to Classical Conversations, or new to homeschooling in general, before you dig in to this website, you may want to read/listen to Why we chose to homeschool with Classical Conversations (for a season), but please realize that we no longer participate in Classical Conversations. Much of what is in the above articles/interview was based on a certain season of our lives. But…
To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven: Ecclesiastes 3:1
And the season for us to participate in Classical Conversations has come to a close. Our family must follow God’s will for our lives which no longer includes this curriculum/program. Rest assured I don’t say this lightly. We arrived here through many tears and prayers. It has been a season of surrender for us.
He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Ecclesiastes 3:11
It’s easy to look ahead to the future and think you have it all under control. Little did I know that I had not actually figured out what God was doing in our lives “from beginning to end.” May God bless you and guide you along your homeschool journey, regardless of which curriculum, program, or method you choose to pursue. As homeschool parents on the journey with you, we are here to help however we can!
How to use this site
Some people use this site for printables, some use it for booklists, some use it for planning, some use it for travel ideas, some use it for… I’m not sure what. But one resource available are those link lists I’ve mentioned that coordinate with each cycle of Classical Conversations. While these link lists correspond to the Classical Conversations Foundations program, they are also helpful topical lists that may be used for any family, regardless of whether they participate in Classical Conversations.
If you decide you’d like to supplement memory work without spending extra money on lots of different curriculum, you can visit our Cycle 1 (Ancient World Empires, Biology, Earth Science) Resource Page, our Cycle 2 (Middle Ages to Modern World History, Ecology, Astonomy, and Physical Science) Resource Page, or our Cycle 3 (American History & Geography, Anatomy, Chemistry, and Origins) Resource Page. In those link lists (organized by week under each subject), you’ll find a variety of free resources: videos, online games, printables, activities, ideas, notebooking pages, and so on.
If your oldest child is a 4-year-old, please realize that this blog was started when our oldest son was 7. (There’s quite a big difference between a 4 and 7 year old.) While I have a few things for this age group (The Roller Coaster Writer, Our Favorite Reading Program, The Preschoolers Notebook or Picture Book Lists, for example), I would suggest keeping it simple: teach them letters and numbers, sing or chant memory work or poetry or hymns or other songs, read books s/he is interested in, go on field trips, and play, play, play. If you’re looking for a schedule, this is a suggested approach for children in kindergarten from A Well-Trained Mind. (It’s just one idea, though!)
If you have questions about anything, or if you have used this website and would like to provide suggestions for what I should include on this landing page, just let me know! I love connecting with others in this homeschooling journey!
Blessings from our family to yours!
Brandy