We visited the St. Louis Zoo this past week. I didn't realize how busy it was going to be on a weekday. Arg! We didn't spend much time at the park but we did see the sting ray exhibit. I recommend visiting this exhibit!!! It was $3 a person to enter and food was $1 for two pieces of food. (no requirement to purchase food). The sting rays were slippery! Here is a video of AJ learning how to feed the fish and attempting to feed them. Poor video quality but you get what you get :).
 

ECIHEN is one of the homeschool groups to which we belong.  It is once again time to register for the 2012-13 School year!  The cost is $15 per year.   ECIHEN 

taken from the website:
ECIHEN is a membership organization for safety and privacy reason. Membership is just $15 per school year.  This includes:

    * 17% discount when joining the Home School Legal Defense Association

    * The ability to read and add posts to forums on the ECIHEN website

    *  Participation in ECIHEN field trips, special events and workshops

    *  Access to the full calendar of ECIHEN and other Homeschool Events

    *  Exclusive weekly email

    *  Pictorial online members’ directory

    *  Fellowship and support with other home schooling families
...


It has been well worth the small fee.  The link for the site is below.  This is a new site and I really like it.  LOL!    Please pass this link along to anyone who may be interested.  Special Note to my Jasper Co. pals:  If you ever attend the field trips we can meet in greenup and carpool.
http://www.homeschool-life.com/il/ecihen/
 
I found a great blog!  I was surfing around on www.homeschoolconvention.com.  Via the Homeschool 101 section, I found The Homeschool Classroom.  They have a great article, "10 Tips for New Homeschooling Families". 

I hope everyone had a nice July 4th!  I am thankful to all the men and women that serve or have served our country.  You are greatly appreciated by the Blair Family!

 
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I would like the kids to become more independent with school work during the upcoming school year.  I think using their very own planner would be a fun way to encourage this behavior.  I've looked around for a student planner but none focus on what I would like them to.  So, I decided to make a kid-friendly version of my curriculum schedule.  I am super excited about them!  I photocopied the Week Overview of each unit from my teachers guide. (My Father's World -Exploring Countries and Cultures)  Each assignment/subject has a handy check mark box that will work perfectly and enable the kids to keep track of their daily accomplishments.  I can add in the English and Math assignments.  The kids picked out the paper!  It is a light card-stock weight.  The binders are 1inch- 3 ring binders.  Each country is separated by color.  I didn't have enough colors for every country so I rotated through the colors.  I plan to save these planners and store them with our records at the end of the year.