Goss Homeschool Academy

 One of my projects in the future is to put together a chart of folk songs that can be searched according to time and historical events. I love planning out our own studies for the year. My children have benefited from our singing schedule! In fact, we were out painting pottery the other day and they both started singing "Oh you can't scare me, I'm stickin' to the Union, I'm stickin' to the Union..." and I had to chuckle under my breath that these wonderful folk songs are taking a place in their memory and can be a source of joy for them during quiet tasks like painting! In my public domain rambles on Archive (dot) org, I stumbled across a reference for "American Almanac" which is a series of records made for children to listen each month of the year! I've embedded each video for you to enjoy! We may listen to some during handicraft time or other down time and enjoy the stories and songs! January   February   March April   May   June   July  ...

  In 2017 my husband, Nick Goss , began a fun journey of turning bedtime stories into a fantasy series for middle grade students (ages 8-12.) This series is called "The Traveler's League" and is a collection of 5 books that follow a group of children who use a magical timepiece to portal into different worlds. Nick and Christian would create characters and plots at bedtime and when I would gather with the children at the breakfast table the next morning, Christian couldn't wait to tell me what happened in the latest "chapter" of the story! I encouraged Nick to use his wordsmith talents to start writing down this story! The book The Timepiece was Nick's first novel and published a year after he began creating these stories and worlds with our children. It wasn't long before "Lady Inspiration" continued her work and more stories were born out of this idea. Braxo's Escape, Fire and Chaos , The Pirates of Scuggi , and The Black Fox fini...

  Our family enjoys a "December Term" each year. I've also heard homeschooler refer to this time as "Christmas School!" Basically, we hold off on our regular curriculum studies and spend a quiet and peaceful month at home with poetry, music, literature, and activities that bring us into a spirit of Christmas!  You can find a post about our first December Term in 2018 here! While looking through the website archive.org (my favorite public domain library!) I found adorable Christmas stories published by Dana Estes & Co. out of Boston in the early 1900s. I read each story in the collection and knew they would be perfect for our December Term so I spent the weekend writing lesson plans with links and ideas to make the most out of a cultural holiday experience! The age range for these stories is 6-12 years old. In Christmas in Austria , the children in the story include an 11 year old boy and a 9 year old girl! That's exactly the ages of my children in Decemb...

 I love blogging about a trip after we've come home and dirty clothes are put into the washing machine and I can scroll through photos taken that preserve happy memories! Our latest trip was to Camp Wonder Wander in Waynesboro, TN. This is the third overnight trip I've been able to plan for our crew - I just love Val and her vision for the property! Camp Wonder Wander This trip was planned for April but postponed due to COVID19. Our first trip to the camp was in March of 2019 for a mom and kid trip, November of 2019 was a mom get away, and then this month was another mom and kid trip! We talked about maybe having a family trip next time!     I first discovered the camp in October 2018 when Val sponsored a post on Facebook for a fall break creative farm day. She gave a tour of her farm, went on a hike with us, and then created a nature print with sun sensitive paper and plants that we found around the farm. We packed a picnic and enjoyed getting to know Val and...