New School Year, New ABCmouse: ABC Mouse Upgrades!

Published on August 18, 2018September 16, 2025 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

**This post does contain affiliate links at no extra cost to you.

A few days ago I posted about why I (temporarily) quit homeschooling my kiddos. Things have been more than a little crazy here and we are still working on getting the house, and our lives, back in order. Progress has been slow but steady and I look forward to getting back into the whole ‘school routine’ shortly.

2025-2026 Homeschool Curriculum: Montessori Integration

One of the many programs that we use in our school routine, and almost every day in between, is ABC Mouse. I’m sure that you’ve seen numerous commercials on TV about the program and while I once thought that this was only something that ‘rich’ people could afford I was wrong.

The price is actually quite affordable and often times you can find special deals like the one you can get when you click this referral link below. They also send out deals via email for previous/current customers.

CLICK HERE FOR A SPECIAL DEAL ON ABC MOUSE!

Benefits Are Priceless

I couldn’t see the benefits that the program had to offer because I was looking for something FREE. Yes, there are plenty of FREE programs but nothing quite compares to ABC Mouse and my kids love it. My special needs children need a lot of extra attention and sometimes they just ‘don’t get it’ when I try to explain things. When they use ABC Mouse it helps to fill in those gaps of misunderstandings and often they bring me their tablets to show me something that they’ve mastered and the look on their face is PRICELESS.

Homeschool Resources

Continue reading “New School Year, New ABCmouse: ABC Mouse Upgrades!” →

Need Science Lesson Help? Grab Your Free Mystery Science Trial Today!

Published on August 17, 2018September 20, 2019 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog2 Comments

**This post does contain affiliate links at no extra cost to you!

Free science resource, sign up quickly!

Last year I found this new science resource for homeschoolers, Mystery Science, and we’ve been hooked! They’re offering a free limited trial to 1,580 people this week.

My kids and I have loved using this program and with fun lessons like ‘Could A Volcano Pop Up In Your Backyard?’ and ‘Why Do Frogs Say Ribbit?’ they are always excited for Science Lessons. The lessons are so easy to use and they have so many printables and assessments for you to use as well. These come in so handy when Mommy Brain kicks in and I just can’t get my thoughts together enough to decide what’s for dinner much less plan a science lesson!

You should sign up quickly, they have less than 1,400 free spots remaining (the full membership costs $69 per year).

Click here for your FREE TRIAL!

If you have already used a FREE TRIAL and would like to enroll with a homeschool membership they have a special sale going on through August 31st!

Back-to-School Sale happening NOW!

I am excited to announce that Mystery Science 2018-19 Homeschool Memberships will go on sale from August 15th through August 31st, 2018.

Save $20 on your Homeschool Membership!

What does a Homeschool Membership include?

Unlock all Mysteries in every unit through June 30th, 2019.
Access new Mysteries released throughout the year.
Access to the ‘Mystery Doug’ mini-lessons archive.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Make Your Home a Chemical Free Zone Today!

Why I Quit Homeschooling My Kids

Published on August 15, 2018August 14, 2026 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog1 Comment

**This post may contain affiliate links to certain products we use in our home.

It’s true! I’ve quit homeschooling my kids… at least temporarily. We’ve had a busy hectic schedule here and everyone is off routine which means total CHAOS here. We originally planned to start back this past Monday, and we did, but things just didn’t ‘feel’ right. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve been so stressed with everything going but I am just not in the right mindset at the moment.

Missing Materials

I didn’t have time to plan like I had wanted so Monday and Tuesday felt so ‘rushed’ and ‘chaotic’ that I was ready to cry several times. We had planned a ‘First Day of School’ video but that didn’t turn out well either as partway through the video I realized we were missing some important pieces to our ‘Morning Table Time’. Sigh… it wasn’t pretty as I went digging through drawers and folders to find everything and then trying to find a place to put it back up was another matter.

I do have most of the first few weeks planned out on our Homeschool Manager app but I still had a few blocks that I wanted to ‘fill in’ with some fun activities. If I couldn’t find something I wanted to use I had planned on making a couple of things. Well, with my trip to PA that hasn’t happened. I just really haven’t felt like doing much of anything since we got back and it has really shown this week.

Continue reading →

Homeschool Manager Giveaway

Published on August 11, 2018August 14, 2026 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place Blog3 Comments

If you read my post ‘Homeschool Organization. Simple. Flexible.‘ then you can only guess how excited I am to be announcing this giveaway! If you haven’t read that post I encourage you to go check it out ASAP.

Click Here to Enter To Win One Year of Homeschool Manager for Free!

The only requirements are that you need to signup for Homeschool Managers Free 30 day – No Card Required – Trial and comment below to let me know that you have done so. Also please be sure to enter your information in the Rafflecopter form in the link above or the one below!

Click Here to Enter To Win One Year of Homeschool Manager for Free!

Deadline to Enter is 8/18/18 @ 12:00am!

Good Luck!

Be sure to share this awesome giveaway with your friends and on your social media also keep an eye out for another giveaway coming soon on one of our Facebook pages.

You’re Invited To Join Our New Tribe!

Published on August 9, 2018August 9, 2018 by Susie @ Pollywog's Place BlogLeave a comment

Cover Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

**This post may contain affiliate links which help to support our blog and our family.

Hey y’all! I am excited to announce that we’ve just created our very own Tribe on Tailwinds. What is a Tribe? Well, it is a new Pinterest tool that allows people like you and me to meet others with similar interests. We can use this tool to share our experiences and grow our blogs/businesses.

‘Tribes is Free for anyone to get started, even if they aren’t using Tailwind already!’

I’m so excited to start our Kirby’s Kids Homeschool Tribe and would like other homeschoolers to join us as we help each other on this journey. I know I don’t have a lot of homeschool support close to me and I am always looking for ideas and solutions to problems we encounter. If I am looking for these things I know others are too and I just wanted to make a place where everyone is welcome to post ideas, tricks, and tips to that they have found which may help others.

As a member you can share up to 3 posts per day with the request that you will repin/reshare 3 posts (or more) from other members. Feel free to share anything related to homeschool, parenting, or anything else that might help a busy mom keep it all together. I look forward to seeing all the great tips and advice as well as watching each member help another to grow and learn on our journey.