My Favorite Homeschooling Item.

Today I'm going to link up with Dweeja and tell you about my fav homeschooling item(s).
But just one quick thing.
Last night Dan and I watched "The Bible", the History Channel miniseries that's airing every Sunday night, ending on Easter Sunday. We loved it. I just have one question though. How did Moses go from "Boy George Moses" to "Mickey Rourke Hikes The Appalachian Trail Moses" in just a few short scenes??


Yeah right.

 If someone can explain that to me, I'd appreciate it.
 Also, a fact about me: I am half Egyptian. No, I don't walk like it. No, my father did not build pyramids in our backyard. No, we never called our mother "mummy".
I have always loved being half Egyptian. I would have preferred a more Egyptian-sounding name though. Then I googled Egyptian names and changed my mind. For instance, "Heqet" is a name which means "mythical frog headed goddess". Um NO THANKS. I'm all set.
Now I'm gonna just say this. I was a little freaked out over the flagrant overuse of eyeliner by my male ancestors. I mean, I always knew they used it, but I just was not prepared. I was not prepared for how bad it really looked. How am I suppossed to take the Pharoah seriously when he looks like a fat drag queen? Seriously, gentlemen? I'm embarrassed.
Moving on to the homeschooling bit.
Right now I'm only officially homeschooling one of my children who is in 1st grade. Here is what I love about homeschooling so far: 1) teaching in my pajamas 2) I don't need to sell candy bars, easter candy, cookie dough, wrapping paper, flowers, gourmet bread, or tickets for meat, car, cruise, or Win A Date With Yo Principal raffles 3) no Chinese Auctions 4) no Bingo 5) We can eat snacks while we do school and the health department doesn't have to get involved 6) teaching in my pajamas. I know I said it before, but it bears repeating.
Ok, ok. I love homeschooling for lots of other reasons, but I was always selling something when my oldest son was in elementary school, and nobody likes feeling like the dang Avon Lady around their friends and family. Gurrrl I don't miss those moments at all.
Here are some of my fav homeschooling items so far.

1.My hole puncher. Maybe I'm way off here, but I feel that this hole puncher raised me to official Homeschooler Status when I bought it. The hole puncher is for you. When this thing came in the mail via my Amazon Prime, I felt so legit. And then I went punch-hole crazy, everyone. I started punching holes in all the paper in my house, even papers that had three holes in them already. Nothing was safe. ps if you ever get a gift bag from me, and it has three holes in it, I am deeply sorry.
On a serious note, this is great to have for all those pages you print off the internets.

2. Our homeschooling area. Kind of a silly thing to say since, honestly, any area in your home can be a "homeschooling area". Y'all homeschoolers know what I mean. I love that I can give math lessons while snuggled up on the couch with my kidlets, or that we can sit on my bed and read a book together and go through flash cards. So cool. I think that teaching and learning go alot smoother when you can relax a little.

The alphabet on the wall is from eeBoo and we love it! My kids regularly refer to it.

The table and chairs are a Craigslist find. I prayed and scoured and prayed and scoured CL to find this thing and got it for a steal from a daycare that was closing. My kids use this table every single day and I feel so lucky to have found it.

The house shelf was made by my father in law who has since passed away:( He made it for JP's nursery when I was pregnant with him. It's really heavy so my husband anchored it to the wall. This thing is great for organizing our homeschooling curriculum! Every shelf has a different subject and it makes it easier for us to see what needs to be done on any given day.

3. All About Reading Curriculum: I know other people have already reviewed this, so I won't go on a long tangent about it, but this is by far my best/favorite homeschooling purchase thus far. I know that like a million people love that Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy lessons book, but we tried that last year and it was not a good fit for us. I swear I gained like 10 lbs trying to do that book with my son.
All About Reading is a flipping breath of fresh air, and no one is giving me the benjamins to say that.  It's so great that my daughter Lucie has begun reading words simply by listening to her brother practicing his flash cards. A few days ago, she surprised me when she wrote this word down and sounded it out on her own. That was pretty cool. She is so ready to start reading.
JP is doing so wonderfully with this program. For awhile in the beginning, he was having some trouble with word blending. As a new homeschooler, I was feeling some anxiety about it. I live in the nanny state of NY so my panic is justifiable.When would we be able to "move forward"? I called the folks at AAR and they were so wonderful, just really encouraging me and assuring me that it was A)important and B) no big deal to stop teaching any new lessons and just focus on helping my son to understand the concept of word blending. It took a few weeks but let me tell you it was SO WORTH IT because he really got it down.
And finally , THIS GAME was  so super helpful for helping my son to understand the word blending concept!! Football players charging towards each other across a football field and slamming into one another? That's how you teach boys to read. We played it every day and it totally paid off. I definitely recommend it to anyone who has a child that is struggling in this area.
So that's it. Those are my favorite homeschooling items so far. Thank you, Dweeja, for the great idea and link up!!!:)