I had been thinking all week that I should write a post sharing some of the sites we love to use for school. My friend Jennee beat me to it, so be sure to check out her list. 
My list is mostly blogs that give me lots of ideas and keep me motivated:
The Crafty Crow … SO MUCH inspiration for arts and crafts!
Impress Your Kids… lots of Bible related activities.
Simple Homeschool… A fun variety of all things related to homeschooling.
Hear of the Matter {online}… recently discovered this one and love it!
Simply Charlotte Mason… though I don't strictly follow her methods, I think she had a lot of wonderful ideas.
Freely Educate… the best resource ever!
and, via Freely Educate, our favorite learning site these days…Dance Mat Typing.
My kids of course love PBS kids and Starfall. We are also using some of the resources on the Signing Time site for our study of sign language this year.
To be honest, it's a real stretch for me to let my kids spend much time on the computer. We've already once had the unfortunate experience of coming across images that should not be there for anyone to view, but especially not for children, all while doing an innocent search for some history information. I've talked to friends who have also had similar upsetting experiences.
Needless to say I am hesitant to let my kids spend any time ALONE on the internet, and there's of course a limited amount of time during the day when we are not busy with other school work and I feel able to supervise them.
But Miss A is really enjoying learning to type, and I'm not too old-fashioned to admit that this is an essential skill to be learned.
How do you handle computer/internet time with your kids?
Jolyn —
September 3, 2010 @ 5:40 pm
I loved both your list and your friend, Jennee's
I am really wanting to home school my kids, but choosing curriculum and working on lesson plans, especially on a very limited budget, seems quite daunting. It's great to see what you are doing- hopefully we'll get brave and join you gals soon!!
As far as computer time with the kids, they are allowed time based on general attitude and helpfullness throughout the week. Computer time is a wonderful motivator for my children. They are allowed to play Club Penguin or Poptropica and the boys have facebook accounts so they can play Collapse, FarmTown, and email their grandparents. They are not allowed to search the net or get on youtube without my permission. Our computer is in our front room, right by our TV, so I can always see what they are up to. I also check our history regularly and have a list of any and all passwords. I'm excited to see how everyone else handles this as well
Ashley —
September 3, 2010 @ 8:17 pm
Thanks for the input Jolyn! My kids love the computer, and I do think it has so many great things to offer….it’s just filtering through all the junk that bugs me.
My advice on homeschooling: if you WANT to do it, that is the biggest part. Because no matter how well you plan and prepare, things will NOT always go smoothly, and knowing you CHOSE it makes all the difference