Crazy House!

One of the things the kids are learning how to do is create and edit videos!

It doesn't come as a surprise that they'd want to learn how -- it's what their daddy does for a living, anyway!

Here's their first video "production," made in iMovie. The tirade of giggles it sends out is quite amazing.

Welcome to the Party!

Hello, friends!
Thanks for dropping by Electric City Academy!

I'm so excited to be a part of 5 Minutes for Mom's Ultimate Blog Party 2012!

Here at Electric City Academy, I chronicle our adventures in homeschooling.

We've been homeschooling our two children (ages 5 and 7) for 3 years. This is the first year I'm blogging publicly about our experiences!

I love to share about history tidbits, science experiments, writing practice ideas, and much more.

And for those of you who are interested, I'm also going to begin posting thematic theme units for Pre-K. I have everything we used, every idea I gathered, just tucked away -- why not share it!? That is one of my projects for the coming summer.

I'm also going to try my hand at writing my own literature-based mini-curriculum for my children to do this summer. I began to get discouraged after not finding exactly what I was looking for at a reasonable price -- so I'm hoping to compile our own. We'll see how it goes!


I feel called to and absolutely love what I do, and I hope you'll join us for the journey. A big part of homeschooling is community -- and this blog helps me stretch our boundaries a little bit further!

Thanks for stopping by!
Hope to see you again soon!

Heart of the Matter Conference -- Starts Thursday!

If you've never been a part of the Heart of the Matter Conference, you can join in this Thursday through Saturday, April 12th-14th!

Heart of the Matter's conference is totally online -- no need to travel anywhere further than your computer desk or laptop!

With speakers such as Amy Bayliss, Karen DeBeus, and Maggie Hogan, it's sure to be a fantastic time of encouragement and learning. We can all be better homeschooling families -- and the HOTM Conference can be a very vital part of that process!

Click here to register (for only $9.95).

Hope to "see" you there!

Hope all of you had a very special, meaningful, and happy Easter!

We're relaxed and rejuvenated after our spring break last week -- ready to head towards the last few weeks of the school year!

Calvary Garden {in progress}

When I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew we had to make a "Calvary Garden" for Easter this year!

We spent a little time this afternoon patting down the soil, spreading the rocks, scattering the grass seed, and assembling the three crosses.

What a tangible dining room centerpiece to remind the children of what this season is truly about!

Hope to see it sprouting soon!

(Here is our favorite tutorial of this inspiring craft!)

Know much about sod house living?

We've been studying about settlers in the Old West in our Hideaways in History curriculum.

Though learning about gunslingers and cowboys is certainly exciting, life in the big West wasn't always so exciting for everyone. There were plain, ordinary families just like ours who sought to start a new life there.

Many lived in simple houses made of sod. We were intrigued as we measured how big one would actually be -- and imagined the earthy, musty smell one would have inside it.

Our curriculum pointed us to this website where several fun activities teach more about sod house living. There's a fun interactive game to see if you're smart enough to know where and how to build....and a detective activity to gain clues from old photos of sod house families.

I don't know who enjoyed this lesson more -- me or the kids!

Another way to sneak in writing practice!

Ever since I saw this idea on Pinterest, I knew it would work for our family. I also began to realize we had done this very thing before years ago -- but back then, our little ones couldn't yet read or write -- they could only draw pictures. I knew that their new skills could really make this idea blossom, and I was right.

So we decorated paper envelope "mailboxes" once again and taped them to our doors. (Yes, my husband and me, too!)

Nearly every night the kids tuck plain paper under their arms and snag a pencil on the way to bed. Baring down on a book, they write letters and fictional stories to each other, then tiptoe out to tuck the notes into each other's mailboxes.

They send their mom and dad notes, too, sometimes...and we leave love notes for them, too.

Not only is it a family building idea, it's another neat (and fun) way to sneak in creative writing, penmanship, and spelling practice!