Autumn's Homeschool Blog

Nearing the Beginning...

2010-08-03T14:56:00.005-04:00

It is almost that time of year again. We're nearing the start of another school year. I'm anxiously awaiting tax free school supply days and the smell of fresh notebooks and newly sharpened pencils. The kids...not so much.

We've taken last week and this week off and I'm debating starting next Monday. I like to be a little ahead so that way I have some free days to work with. Although the summer school work still didn't put us to where I wanted to be, the call of a new year is luring me in.

I have been working *somewhat* diligently these past couple of weeks to prepare and there are going to be quite a few changes to our daily school routines.

The first thing I did was to work on a year long lesson plan notebook. This was so awesome. I have to admit that this is the FIRST time I have ever made lesson plans. Before, I just kind of averaged out on a piece of notebook paper as to how much we should accomplish each day. Sometimes that worked and sometimes not. So to see my notebook filled with colorful pages (more for my benefit than for the kids) I really get excited to give it a go.

You can walk through the step by step, customizable process for this lesson planner here. I love it because (as you can see by the close up pics) it is a daily planner, so there's plenty of room--and I write very large so I need lots of space.

The second big change will be the use of the P.E.G.S. chore system. I just got that set up and we'll begin using it tomorrow as a test run. I thought that it would be good to go ahead and begin this before we start so that the kids aren't overwhelmed with so many new things in one day. Here's a picture of our peg system (with the character trails list next to it to remind the kids of the character traits they're to aim for). You can get these at: http://www.familytools.com/

the peg system is so awesome. there are nice sized tags that have pictures of each chore, and each child gets their own row. When they complete a chore they flip it over for the day. Also, the ABC's at the bottom are for attitude, behavior and character. they can earn green tags for good behavior and the not tags for bad. They seem most excited about working with this...and the fact that I said each green tag earns you a dime (not tags cancel out a green one and lose a dime).

And lastly, we're using a modified version of the workbox system. I have mentioned this before and we did a sort of modified before as well. However, this time we will be using the actual Velcro tabs to be able to move over whenever a subject is completed. And they'll have their work strip handy as they go. This is what that looks like set up and the link for info:
http://www.workboxsystem.com/index.html

I'll update more pics of it in use as we go along, but for now, time to sit back, finish up last minute preparations and get ready to jump on board the homeschool express. :)

Summer School....

2010-07-17T23:40:00.002-04:00

Yes...we're taking *gulp* summer school! Since we had missed a little extra time and there were some thing I don't feel happy moving on and "leaving behind" then I decided we needed to have summer school.

I originally had the idea that we could do our full curricula for the next school year, but quickly saw a few areas I wanted to work on and polish first. So the school work for next year has been shelved for a few more weeks and we're doing a very light but productive day.

First, we finished up our Liberty's Kids DVD series for history. I have to say that I enjoyed this cartoon series about the American revolution as much as the kids did. And now that we are finished, we'll be moving on to Story of the World which is a chronological approach to history that (hopefully) we'll be working on for the next 4 years before we move on to high school social studies classes. But enough about that since it will not begin until next month (I will try to refrain from talking about "next years" work in this post).

Our day now (having finished up history) consists of math, spelling, reading and writing. For math, I want the kids to work on memorizing their multiplication/division tables more so we're doing Timez Attack (an online computer game), flash cards, timed worksheets, games and songs. It doesn't quite feel like school if you're dancing around the living room singing "One times any number equals that same number..." lol! :)

For spelling, I thought we'd go back and just do a basic review of some spelling concepts. I especially thought this would be needed since the children both tend to spell phonetically still whenever they write. However, after going through a big huge list of words, turns out that they can spell most of what I've given them, they must just choose not to use this skill. Maybe I'll have to get a little tougher on my "grading" (oh who am I kidding, I don't give grades...you either learn it or you don't....if you don't then we'll go over it again). I guess I mean I'll have to be more stringent in making them correct and re-do their spelling errors themselves instead of me just pointing it out and spelling it for them.

Moving on from that, we're continuing our quiet reading this summer. I was really hoping that the kids would be to the point of WANTING to read for themselves for fun by now...but I know that takes time. Until then, quiet reading remains a part of our summer school (as well as regular school) schedule. This house is filled with so many books that one of these days, when they do chose to read for fun they will discover a vast treasure trove!

A big reading step we're taking this summer is assigned reading. So far, if it's not part of our curriculum (as in reading aloud Bible lessons, science chapters, etc) then we've only had quiet reading. I chose the Children's Illustrated Classics version of "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" as a good jumping point. So far they seem to be enjoying it and I'm aiming for one chapter per month.

Well, that is what we're doing right now. It seems like a lot, but just math, spelling, assigned and quiet reading. That's typically enough to be finished in just a few hours. Although my typical workday usually takes at least 6 hours whereas other hs'ers can do theirs in 4, lol...don't think we'll ever get to that point. Although most, I think, is due to the kids procrastinating with their work and taking so long to get it done.

We'll soon be taking a week or two off at the beginning of August to relax before plunging into 4th grade. :)

Our heartbreak and loss....

2010-07-12T09:34:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since my last post (not counting the time4learning post). I had refrained from posting about what was going on in our personal lives about this time last year until the present.

I think I delayed in posting it to my blog because I was thinking that if I don't write about it, it doesn't have to be true. However, it is time that I write and share what we've been going through.

It was almost a year ago that my husband was diagnosed with testicular cancer. It was at stage 4 and had spread into his back and abdomen as well. We went through a very aggressive line up of chemo following a successful surgery. My husband, Dwayne went through so very much in such a short amount of time. I won't go into all of the details here but cancer is definitely a life changing event.

On February 1st of this year he was told that the cancer was gone and that his chemo was over. He would only have one final scan to see that it was all gone. Two days later we lost my husband, on February 3rd, to a heart attack. I am thankful that my husband at least passed away peacefully in his sleep and didn't have to suffer. That is a small comfort.

As you can imagine, the last 5 months have been a roller coaster of emotions for our family. We've had deep dark depression. We've had lonesome sadness. We've had joy in feeling the Lord lift us up and support our needs. It still seems like only yesterday that I lost my best friend and my soul mate. When Dwayne and I met, it was love at first sight. God whispered to me that he was the one. :)

I still don't know how we'll get through life without him. It's been a big adjustment and parenting alone is definitely one of the hardest things I've ever had to do. I can feel Dwayne with me, and I can feel God's gentle assuring hand on my back as I attempt to carry on.

People continue to tell me that I'm an inspiration. I am not the inspiration, I am just doing what I have to do. I know God is with me and that is the biggest help of my day. I also know that I have to get up and take care of the kids and provide what they need. There have been many days when I would have preferred to lay on the couch where I continue to sleep at night even now, and not get up all day. And in all honestly there have been a couple of days when that did happen. I am not stronger than anyone else, I am just relying on God. Really, during a time that this that's all we can do.

I wish so much that more people had known Dwayne as I knew him. He was truly my best friend. A lot of people say their spouse is their best friend, but he honestly was. We spent 24/7 together. We shared all our secrets and had most of the same likes. Our personalities were similar and opposite in ways that complimented each other. I never had girl's night outs, because I didn't need them. My best friend was my husband and there was no other person on earth that I would have chose to hang out with.

I will post soon on what we've been up to homeschool wise but for now I wanted to share a little bit of our lives and the greatest loss we've ever experienced.

Time 4 Learning...

2010-02-24T23:02:00.002-05:00

We were given the opportunity to review Time4Learning (Time4Learning.com), an online curriculum program. The kids were instantly excited when I told them that we were going to put the workbooks away and do our school online.

I was afraid that the curriculum would be incomplete, but I was actually very surprised by the information that it covers. It also does it in such an exciting way that the kids are interested and enjoy the lessons. I had to contact customer service a few times, just for my own questions and was happy with how quickly they replied and remained in contact with me afterward to make sure that my questions or concerns were answered.

I love the way you can instantly go either forward or backward a grade in case you want to go back and review a concept from a grade earlier or perhaps you don't think a subject is challenging enough. However, I have found that the curriculum is as challenging as other hard copy curricula and not as bubble gum or watered down as a lot of online curricula tend to be.

Even after the novelty of doing schoolwork online has worn off, the kids are still enjoying Time4Learning and look forward to it in our school day. We only need to supplement it with our handwriting program and I have continued our previous Bible curricula. Along those lines, I would also recommend Time4Learning to anyone who wants a computer program but wants something more secular than Switched on Schoolhouse.

My only complaint about the program is that you can't make assignments. If I could change anything, that would be it. I would like for the ability to go in and assign certain lessons in each subject because right now, I have to guide them to where I want them to be in the next subject. Technically I do not have to do that, you just teach them to follow the arrows to the next lesson, but I have jumped around a little bit, so want to make sure they are where I want them to be next. However, the person I spoke with in customer service said that it is something they are working to create a solution for (from what I have read on the forum, I believe that the program can also be used in classroom settings and there is some sort of problem with that one point and the way the software itself is set up).

But with that being my own tiny complaint, my positive experience has far outweighed that. I am just so happy with how receptive my kids have been to this curriculum and how they enjoy it. Our fussing over school work days are gone for the most part (there's still our handwriting worksheets to complain over, lol!) I believe that we are going to continue using Time4Learning for a while.

Ooooooh Workbox!

2009-10-25T22:23:00.002-04:00

A friend of mine said she was thinking of doing the workbox method...I had no idea what she was talking about. So she pointed me to a few websites and I am hooked!
Here's an overview of the process:
http://www.workboxsystem.com/
You pretty much just set up a big box system where you put each subject in it's own container and they work through them 1-12 till the work for the day is completed. You also throw in a lot of fun activities. It supposed to help the students become more independent workers as well as providing a fun way to become more organized.

I really like this system. Obviously I wouldn't be able to implement the entire system right now. So I'm trying to think of ways that I could begin using it in small doses now. I'm thinking that I'll put the extra activities that we don't/can't do in a doctor's office into the hanging file folder crate I currently have (and don't use except to hold old papers now). I'll throw in some science activities related to what we're learning as well as possible history lessons and definitely fun art and music things.

I'll let you know as we get started and I will take pics to share!

Almost 5 months later....

2009-10-23T22:45:00.002-04:00

Wow, has it really been nearly 5 months since my last post? I used to update pretty regularly. I believe I had intended to take the summer off from my homeschool blog since not a lot was going on school wise during that time.

However, since then we had a severe family illness that has shook our world. I had the school year planned out and it was working fine. We had started the beginning of August just to get a little ahead of the school board this year.

We ended up being in doctors offices nearly all day every day. The typical school work that I had chose was not working. There was no way for us to do the school work by carrying all of these books around daily. And There was no way that we would be able to do school after we got home. So I scrapped a few things. The textbook English that I had just began this year, is put aside for now. Instead I replaced it with a simple $10 workbook for 3rd grade English. It's not a big curriculum name, but it works for now. Maybe in the future we'll work back to the textbook. I also decided to place VA History on hold for a year. I am definitely going to keep the text until next year. But for this year I got a workbook of U.S. History. It's not fancy(just $10 each), almost just stories with no actually busy work.

The kids aren't minding the new history but they weren't retaining it very well, so I'm adding a few coloring pages that relate to what we're reading. Science has stayed, but I am using the workbooks that came with the books and my goal is going to be to read a lesson sometime during the day and do the workbook sheet afterward.

I seriously debated scrapping Saxon because there is NO WAY that I could lug that big teacher's manual around! So what I am doing for now, is cutting out the morning meeting (way too many manipulatives needed that I can't take) and we use the workbook sheets. To learn what we should for that lesson, I just take notes on what is being taught for that lesson. It's working pretty well so far.

So after all of these changes, I take a day a week (was doing it daily but weekly makes it so much easier) and put all of our work together for the week, stapled into daily packets. It is working for now. All is smooth. I also take along a little stack of books so that when the packet is complete, they can work on quiet reading time (reading to themselves).

Well, that is the majority of the changes we've undergone so far. Oh and we joined a co-op. It's funny but I already feel like we belong there. The ladies have been so welcoming and helpful with everything. I wasn't sure if we'd be able to continue because we kept missing at first for appointments. But we're getting into the swing of things so far.

I just packed away a box full of work that we've already completed for the year today! This is honestly the best work we've done so far, even in the face of tragedy. And I also realized today that we are about 1/3 of the way through our school year. Very cool. I don't know how much progress we've actually made. I know that they're learning though. That's the main point isn't it.....whether in a doctors office, a school room or at home.... my children are getting an education and that's the most important thing.

My goals: IMPROVING READING SKILLS! This is the biggest thing. I can tell that they have improved some because sis was reading a book last week that she could not even attempt about this time a year ago. Well, she had attempted and got frustrated and gave up. But this is the year for reading! We will come out of this year with excellent reading skills!

Math- just make sure that they are on-par for where they should be with math. I think this is very do-able this year! We're already to lesson 40 out of 140. Progress!

Shock...and a change in our homeschool approach?

2009-06-03T20:27:00.002-04:00

Well, Of course we're TECHNICALLY on summer break. But like I mentioned before, we are spending about an hour per day doing math and reading and sometimes we're doing writing. My goal is that by the time August rolls around and school begins again that they will possibly be better readers and writers. Ultimately I'm working towards my goal of independent readers but that will come.

I am shocked that my husband just started talking about homeschool things. For 2 1/2 years now, he has listened to me ramble on with that glazed look in his eye. Every wife knows that look, its the one that says "I'm here, I'm listening but it's going out the other ear just as quickly". I don't get upset by it, its normal and I'm happy he lets me ramble on, regardless of his interest.

However, now he's been reading my homeschool magazines. He'll bring up things like unschooling or question me about Saxon and its difficulty. He now....*gasp and giddy giggle* says that he wants to teach them a class. I've handed over science. It's not that I don't like science, in fact I love it...but it would be nice to have him help out with a class or two, and I figure he'd enjoy science the most.

He also said took over math class today when I was on the phone and was teaching them multiplication. After that, he decided that he'd handle math too. Oh I'm ecstatic! I don't like math anyway, but he's a wiz at it. I'm sure that there are things that he'd be able to teach them, concepts that helped him grasp it, that I just wouldn't even think of!

So coming this August when school starts back, he will be handling science and math and possibly computer. Although I think I'm going to hold off of the computer class until after they learn typing. (I started it this past fall but with our getting behind I dropped it after about a month or two).

I'm so excited! I am looking forward to fall now! yay! Bring on the new school year!

Yay!....writing! Finally!

2009-05-24T23:12:00.001-04:00

I am happy to report that Zack (to the best of my memory) wrote his first big paragraph today on his own. It was not school related at all. Nothing I had even requested. He just wrote a note to daddy about playing video games. But hey, can't complain, at least he WROTE a note that wasn't just a pictogram like his birthday wish list was. ;)
That, my dears is progress. Slow and steady wins the race!

New Directions....

2009-05-17T12:48:00.002-04:00

My life is kind of taking on a few interesting changes right now. I will not go into details until they are revealed a little more to me first. But the road is very interesting. things are looking up which is good.

I've stopped freaking out so much about school right now. I'm just having the kids do some math and reading and maybe some writing right now. I do want to work on the reading part a lot more over the summer and I'll continue with it daily I believe. We'll probably also work on some math until the end of June at least. We'll see how it goes. But I'm not stressing out about it though.

On a side note, Sierra has really gotten into writing now. Her spelling is way off of course, but she'll just write us notes for the fun of it. Her grammar is typically very good, the sentences are very well put together. Zack of course still hates writing. He just has no use of it yet. For his upcoming birthday he wrote me a list of things he wanted. This list consisted of drawings. For example, a drawing of a game, a plus sign and a drawing of Indiana Jones, another plus sign, and the word legos. He'll get there soon, I'm sure.

I am just in such a happy place right now. Things are so good, which is a drastic change and I think God has plans for us soon! :)

John Henry field trip....

2009-05-11T10:31:00.013-04:00

We went on a very impromptu field trip this past monday...May 4th. To move to something lighthearted and simpler for the duration of the year, I had decided to study some American Legends and Tall Tales...

We had studied a few different ones such as Johnny Appleseed (which is based on the man John Chapman who not only planted apples but preached as well); Paul Bunyan (which apparently isn't based on one specific man that they can trace back, but many different legends); Casey Jones, and John Henry.

John Henry was an actual "Steel Driving Man" and it turns out that the Big Bend Tunnel in Talcott, WV was the location of his infamous challenge. I found out that it was only 2 1/2 hours from here so of course...FIELD TRIP!

We had to get lost first...because no good journey excludes this point. Here is the road that we weren't supposed to be under. It was the tiniest little road with a beautiful river next to it!

*See how tiny that road was....it was the wrong road of course!*

Then we stopped to check out a lake. It was so pretty and the view was amazing. I noticed the sign said "Army corps of Engineers" to which I said 'what, did the army make the lake?'.....

*this bridge had so many pot holes, we were afraid of falling through! I was afraid to tread....Dwayne was afraid he'd lose his tread....on his tires..I know, I'm no comedian*

*This is only half of the view of the lake, it was huge!*

...Only to discover that it was a dam, so yes, they had made the lake, lol. There were people fishing from the small overlook next to the bottom. I think this was probably the kids' favorite spot.

**You can tell we are homeschoolers...the comment "Look at that tire!" led to a discussion about water currents and forces etc**

**The poor tire...doomed to float in that same spot forever....or until someone moves it**

More driving and getting lost in a town (don't trust google maps, lol) before we got on the right road again. We almost missed it, it was only a small little spot on the side of the road. There stood the large (supposedly life size) statue of John Henry.

There was also a red caboose that was closed and a marker as well as a ball that we suppose had a purpose of some sort, and another marker that was missing it's plaque. I would love to find out what those meant.

*The red caboose*

**Isn't this the coolest statue ever!**

**Of course Zack has to pose...If I say smile he has a cheesy grin...if I say 'no seriously' then he looks mad or sad, lol

**The plaque at the foot of the statue**

**This is standing just at the foot looking up, it is a massive statue. **

**The landmarker**

**The large round rock...I have no clue what it is or supposed to be...maybe part of the rock from the tunnel...I'm just guessing here. I think I'll contact the town of Talcott and see what I can find out**

**Another mystery....what did this plaque used to say?**

There wasn't a spot at the bottom to look at the actual tunnel but signs did say that the John Henry landmark would be moving soon, however they looked as old as the location itself. I was really dissapointed with how the landmark seems to have been let go. You would think that being this tiny (20 minutes away from the interstate) town's only real attraction that it would have been better taken care of.

When we got home I did some reading and found out that the holes all of the statue are actually bullet holes, that it was once doused in white paint and that for some time they had to keep it behind a large fence for protection. It is really quite sad.

I would love to rally people together to fix up this landmark and make it portray the glory that the legend of John Henry himself portrays....overcoming adversity, perserverance and determination. I just have no idea who you'd get in touch with. I just have an idea that if the African American community would see the state of their greatest fold hero that perhaps they'd want to do something about it. I personally would love to do something about it!

But overall, the field trip was a blast and I loved being able to stand in the footsteps of one of America's greatest legends of all times! Is that thunder I hear??? No, must be John Henry striking that hammer! :D

New personal goals...

2009-05-01T13:11:00.002-04:00

I mentioned yesterday that I was working on writing out the school goals for next year, and even for this summer.

I also have decided to put my own goals in place as well. Consider it like a new year's resolution but in spring. Maybe it's May day resolution. :) I want to vastly improve my list of books read. I had received a list of books that asked how many you had read and my list was not very impressive. That set me to thinking about all of these great "classic" books out there that I haven't read and I would like to.
I started this on Monday, I think with "Pride and Prejudice". To be honest, it's not really my cup of tea writing style wise, but it's definitely not unpleasant.

I also started a goal to read the Bible in a year. A friend has sent me a cool book mark type thing that lists each verse and has a check mark spot to keep track of where you are and what you've read already. It starts on January 1st but I thought I'd go ahead and give it a go now, so today, May 1st was my first day.

I just thought that if I share these things that maybe it'll give me a place to keep track of what I've done and keep me motivated. :)

Spring is here!

2009-05-01T00:10:00.003-04:00

I am really loving this weather! I don't know what it is about spring that gives you a sense of waking up.
I've decided that we need to work on finishing up our math, and we definitely need to work on our reading and writing. The math, just because we are so far behind. I do not mind if we do not complete the book, but we have fallen so far behind that I'm afraid they'll end up missing some key concepts.

As far as reading and writing....well, reading is the fundamentals of any education, it is so important that I really want to focus on improving their reading skills. I would ideally like for the new school year to start out hopefully with them being independent readers. If not, that is fine, but I think it may be possible in 3-4 months. :)

The writing is just something I want to work on improving. I'm not focusing on it but we're working out of a workbook that I got before. It's filling in blanks, rearranging sentences, etc.

I've also got into writing the outline for next year's school plan. I don't set out to write each and every school work thing...this is just an idea of areas I want to improve as well as the classes we'll cover and which curriculum I'll be using. Once I get the idea of what then I'll move onto when. That's my biggest problem, before I always ended up trying to do a full lesson in every subject every day...which ended up resulting in 6 hours of class time. I just need to work on my schedule.

But all is looking good. I'm not stressing now that testing is behind us. I'm looking to the future with hopes that next year will have less interruptions. :)

school outside...

2009-04-18T21:57:00.002-04:00

I almost forgot this....I'll try to keep it short.
Yesterday, I decided to enjoy the beautiful weather by having some school outside on the back porch. It was half sunny and half shade and after lunch time.
Do you know that I heard nothing but complaining. Sis didn't mind but Zack hated it. He kept saying "can we just go in and finish and then come out and play", which we ended up doing.

I thought it was so funny. Most kids (myself included when I was a kid) would have given anything to go outside to do school work but not mine. Lol! They'd rather just finish up at the comfort of the kitchen table, then go outside.

Spring...

2009-04-18T21:45:00.002-04:00

Oh, how I love spring. It is a season that can give me a lift no matter how I am feeling. All you have to do is step outside, let that warm sun fall across your face and take in all the beautiful smells and colors of the blossoms.

This morning we went to our town's farmer's market. It was the first time we had been and I think I was expecting it to be bigger, but I am not complaining. I enjoyed it none-the-less. There was live music and we bought a loaf of bread from another homeschool family who owns a local store. It was pumpernickel and of course I had to sample it as soon as we got home!

We got a dozen fresh brown country eggs and a bunch of starters (cabbage, lettuce). We also got a bag of fresh mustard greens (dinner tomorrow). It was more artsy than I expected, I was thinking more fresh veg but maybe it'll pick up as the season warms.

We then ran around buying bunches of gardening supplies and then came back to plant. I have to say that I LOVE GARDENING! The kids love gardening....well, sis did until she sat in the ant hill. She jumped up yelling and screaming and slapping at herself. She was covered in tiny black ants. They apparently were biting or pinching her. (oh and we're covered in black potting soil...so as I was slapping ants off of her, she and I were covering her in black dirt, lol).

After that trauma, she declared that she hated gardening and stayed inside. I had to make her come back outside and we avoided the ants. I explained that they just thought she was going to ruin their house. She was apologizing to them. :) She ended up helping me finish up the planting and doesn't hate gardening anymore.
This was far less traumatic than her sweat-bee incident last year! She probably doesn't remember that though.

But today, we planted peas and potatoes and set out our onion, cabbage and lettuce starters. I also got some marigolds because they supposed to be natural deterrents to insects.

In a few weeks it'll be time to set out the rest of the stuff. :D I know this is off topic but it is one of the few things (other than the kids) that makes me happy these days. I just love spring...(please, no 'but your name is Autumn' jokes, lol).

Hanging in there for the end of the year....

2009-04-17T22:40:00.005-04:00

There is just so much going on here. I just can't even get into what all I have to do on top of the things I'm going through. The passing of the tests was a huge relief. I can only wonder how well they would have done if this year hadn't been as messed up as it was. That's life I guess.

I'm just trying to ride out the rest of the year for now. We're going light and easy for science....fun experiments, science videos...etc. We have tried the rock candy experiments twice. It wasn't a complete success the first time but it was still good enough to prove the point of the experiment, but still very liquidy. We tried it again and it looks like it's going to turn out the same.

For History, we're just watching video's about Tall Tales and Legends. It's a really cool series on the Netflix instant watch from the 80's maybe....full of stars. I'm thinking of switching History next year. I am thinking of doing the Va History that I got and just forget about Story of the world for now (I love the chronological order, but I hate how they're missing the general basics for now).

I am seriously considering ditching Saxon math. I LOVE LOVE LOVE Saxon, but it is so daunting....it is the one thing of our homeschool day that makes me cringe! I love what is taught but it's just so huge of an undertaking each day. 30 minutes for morning meeting and then 1 hour for the lesson which includes teaching, timed facts and worksheet review.

If I switch, it would be to something we could do a little quicker. It is just a big decision for me. I love how thorough Saxon is but my gosh...it takes too much time!
We'll see, I'll have to think about it...and I have plenty of time.

I just want to make school as easy as possible. It might end up that our life experience right now is too great to overcome and be able to do homeschool at the same time, but right now...I'm really hoping not. I think we can climb the mountain while maintaining our school preference.

But to end on a much more positive note....Sierra now "teaches" me. She has a tone that she uses and goes right into instructional mode whenever she tells you about anything she's showing you. It's really funny. :D

YAY! We passed!

2009-04-09T13:17:00.003-04:00

I haven't posted in a few weeks. We took our achievement tests week before last and then a few other things came up so we ended up taking spring break last week. But we got our test results back today.

I am so tickled. Even with the obstacles that we've faced this year and the setback from having the problems in January (having to stay at Papaws because of our heat/water issues) and then moving last month....

THEY PASSED!

Before I list results....The results are based on what the average students rank. Our goal to be able to pass is to get a 4 stanine or higher.
stanine 1,2,3 = below average
stanine 4,5,6 = average
stanine 7,8,9 = above average

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Zachary's test was for end of 2nd grade:

Vocabulary 65 percentile 6 stanine
comprehension 26 percentile 4 stanine
Language Mechanics 61 percentile 6 stanine
Language Expression 86 percentile 7 stanine
Math Computation 36 percentile 4 Stanine
Concept&Application 84 percentile 7 stanine

Reading total: 41 percentile 5 stanine
Language total: 81 percentile 7 stanine
Mathematics Total: 56 percentile 5 stanine

((I want to remind you that the 4 and 5 scores look low, BUT that is what the AVERAGE child taking this test in 2nd grade scores, so it is a good score!))

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Sierra took the end of 1st grade test (even though she TECHNICALLY is registered as K with the school and even though we switched to 2nd grade curriculum to be with Zack about half way through....but we won't have to submit her tests until next year).

Anyhow...I'm rambling....for an end of 1st grade test:
Sierra

Vocabulary 91 percentile 8 stanine
comprehension 60 percentile 6 stanine
Language Expression 63 percentile 6 stanine
Math Computation 44 percentile 5 Stanine
Concept&Application 98 percentile 9 stanine

Reading total: 79 percentile 7 stanine
Mathematics Total: 83 percentile 7 stanine

YAY! THEY PASSED, I CAN RELAX!!!!!!

Field trip...and I'm STILL stuffed, 4 hours later!

2009-03-18T16:30:00.002-04:00

We took a field trip today to a culinary school. It was mentioned that we would be eating, but I had no idea how much! The table was elaborately set and we enjoyed a wonderful four course menu! **Special thanks to Tammy for putting it all together!!!**

We started out with a wonderful beef barley soup. It was so good I could have made that the main course. :) The kids loved it as well. Then we moved on to a salad with a berry vinaigrette. the kids weren't as wild about that one but I thought it was perfect. They are just typical kids who are hooked on ranch even though my fridge is loaded with more diverse flavors for salad dressing than you can imagine.

During all of this we got to practice our proper etiquette and learning which utensil went to which exact course and what to do with that napkin. I did realize that I am a bit lax on our table manners but I'd like to add maybe a 'fancy' dinner night to get them used to the "extreme etiquette".

Back to the meal....after our salads we were served this wonderful entree. I believe it was called a Seafood Newberg in a pasty shell. It was served with vegetables and a rice pilaf. Oh my goodness, this dish was absolutely delicious! The little shrimp and seafood was so fresh and the sauce was perfect and the pastry shell was light and fluffy. Oh, my mouth waters thinking about it!

He said these students had only started cooking today. Really? No way! You could not tell! That ENTIRE meal was only $5! Oh and I forgot the kids favorite part...dessert! We had a parfait of homemade sugar cookies crumbled into puddings and different layers and it was perfect. Other than the dessert I asked the kids what their favorite dish was (because obviously they would say dessert if I asked, lol). Zack said his favorite was the entree and Sierra said she enjoyed the soup best.

After our dinner, we were taken on a tour. There was a kitchen set up in the corner where Chef Richard has his own television show that is broadcast to a bunch of different states. Then we went through the kitchen. The kids were amazed at how large everything was in comparison to a regular kitchen. We then went downstairs and saw the classrooms and the library as well as the bar (they have bartending classes). Back upstairs was the smaller room in front where they serve lunch and dinner through the week and then we saw the kids favorite part.....and mine as well..hehe:

The baking kitchen! I have to admit, I would chose baking over cooking. :D But this kitchen was filled with all types of mixers and a huge deep mixing bowl as well as cake pans of every imaginable size! It was so cool! And we got to see the beginning of a contest piece that is for one of those large competitions that they have nationwide. I wont go into details, but I love the idea of sculpting with edible materials! If I had the time and start up money, I'd definitely get into making those fancy fondant cakes. :D
It makes me want to go out now and buy some! Maybe I'll take the 'for fun' class of cake decorating! OOOOh......I'm getting side tracked. :)

The main reason for going on this field trip is that my kids, and especially my son have started showing a real interest in cooking. I've started trying to let them help with a majority of the cooking (with my direct supervision). My only problem is I'm still so wary of giving them REAL knives yet....*gasp*....are you kidding! I mean, my son will loose a finger! I just know it!

I know that I was cooking and using knives by his age....but....(hides all of the knives) it'll be okay...just another year? lol. I know, I need to let go. I just need to teach proper knife handling....can we say home ec class next week? *cringe* Maybe....

$5 dinner anyone?

2009-03-16T08:02:00.004-04:00

I was so tickled to find a bag of green beans marked down to .89 cents. And right beside of it, a package of corn marked down to .99! They both looked great, why were they on discount? I couldn't tell, but I bought them anyway along with a $3 and something pork roast.

I was right, the veggies were both in excellent condition and cooked up perfectly! I think you can't beat a large, delicious, homecooked meal like this....FOR $5!!

OMGosh!

2009-03-16T07:57:00.002-04:00

I was going to post this pic of my daughter....It was her first lost tooth just within a couple of weeks. She just lost the other one so now both bottoms are gone.
Yes her adult teeth had already started to come in.

But what am I OMGoshing? LOOK HOW DARK HER HAIR IS????? MY BABY IS BLONDE! HOW IS HER HAIR TURNING THIS DARK? I bet she's turning brunette. There's nothing wrong with being brunette, I just expected her to stay blonde. I stayed blonde until 17 and my son is still very blonde.

Maybe it's just because of it being winter and her not being able to be outside as much to lighten it? I don't know...it's just shocking. :)

Time is running out!

2009-03-16T07:47:00.002-04:00

It hit me the other day that there is only THREE MONTHS LEFT in this school year (well, maybe 4 if I make up all the time that we ended up missing!). We are so far behind and then on top of that we need to take our end of year testing soon. Can I start pulling my hair out now?

I am going to aim to take the test at the beginning/middle of May, which should leave us 10 more weeks of instruction time.....which means 10 more weeks to make sure that we understand every math concept that is going to be on the test. I hate that. That is one of the problems of public school, I feel. They have to teach to the test instead of to the interest of the child.

Oh well, I guess let this be a lesson to always make time to teach, regardless of whether severe weather drives us from our home (broken heater/frozen water) or we are laying in bed sick or whether we are in the process of moving.

I guess we should have had school while sitting on the floor surrounded by boxes (oh wait, the boxes are still there, lol) before we do anything else. I need to learn to prioritize and make school a non-negotiable each day regardless of what extremes come our way!

We are already going to be without a spring break so hopefully we'll be able to make up some time then. And hopefully we'll be able to make the grade so to speak on our testing.

Am I rambling? I got 5 hours of sleep. With the time change and moving and all of that, I have been going to sleep at 2am or later and we've all been waking up at 10 am! AGAIN! didn't I just fix that problem??????

Well, this week I am working on getting us back on schedule. Speaking of which, it's nearly 8am, I let the kids sleep later than I intended so I'm off to wake them up. Double math lessons everyone? :D

The Weirdest thing....

2009-03-12T10:05:00.002-04:00

I noticed something really odd the other day. I've not done the FIAR this past week because I have to go to the library.
So doing the EXACT same curriculum as we had done before we moved, it took us around 2 1/2 or 3 hours. Now, we are doing math together instead of adding an extra 45 minutes for separate math but that shouldn't equal that much of a change in schedule! Before we were doing around 6 hours per day.

I don't know what it is....if we're getting through it easier or more efficiently due to a change of location or what. It's just baffling. But hey, I am not complaining.

When I pick FIAR back up this coming week then it will fit in perfectly. That's with our added math, spelling and grammar. So it should put us at four hours or less.

I am happy and definitely not complaining!

As for the moving...I have been making trips to get the last of our stuff whenever I have time. I took a week off from school a few weeks ago, then with Zack getting sick, I didn't go. This week hasn't been promising either. It's killing me....I believe that the stuff that is left behind is reproducing in secret. I also picture a villain tossing stuff back into our old place and cackling "I'll get her! hahaha!"

I just never realized how much I had packed into that place! It was such a tiny place so whenever I got anything I would pack it under here, behind this, on top of that....and I didn't think of it until now! Can I just leave it there and forget about it????? I am very close to just going in with trash bags and pretending that I'm on one of those supermarket sweep shows. Time how quickly I can toss stuff into a bag/ tie it off/ toss it outside/ run it to the trash! Sounds like a plan to me! hehe!

I'm ticked a little and update on my son....not related to each other.

2009-03-04T18:03:00.004-05:00

Okay, first, my son had two extractions today and he is doing really good. He is already wanting to run around. I'm just trying to keep him relaxed for the rest of the evening so his bleeding can stop. He will have to have a spacer to keep his teeth from spreading apart until those come in.

Moving on....the reason I am miffed. I got a letter from our new school board saying that they can't approve my request until they get my diploma. I told them that the county we came from has it on file and that I would be happy to get them a copy. I told them this when I sent in the intent....and the counties aren't even states apart...they even touch!

I just got ticked by the way it was worded. I mean, the lil ole school district is not approving anything. I just have to let them know. It just angers me that they had to be so rude about their wording. I hope that this is not a hint of things to come in dealing with them.

I liked our previous school board. The only time in 2 years that I heard from them was a friendly reminder that my son was old enough for testing last year. I am kind of paranoid that this new one is going to get a little big for their britches so to speak. I just have to try to stay upbeat about it though and not have a pessimistic view on things.

Anyway, I'm happy my son is better. I am taking care of the diploma thing. I am ALMOST done with moving...ug! It's aggravating! If it's not one thing it's another!
Oh, and another note....I just realized that we only have 3 more months of school left! yikes! What?! No way, we've fallen so far behind for the year! I am already going to have to add another month! School straight through June just to catch up! I am thinking of having to do double math's each day to catch us up.
yikes! that stinks!

**NOTE ADDED***
Well, the pain meds wore off and him running around has made it hurt worse. He's back to square one pain wise, but at least it will only be for the night probably. I hope, bless his heart.

Update....

2009-03-03T19:15:00.004-05:00

Well, after finding out that the MUMPS have similar symptoms...you can imagine I was freaking out! What if it's mumps, antibiotics does nothing to mumps...he'll have to be quarantined! Wait....what exactly does mumps do? We had the vaccinations. But what if it's like how some people get a flu shot but still end up getting the flu. All of these crazy thoughts were running around in my mind.

Well, yesterday we took him in to the dentist. They x-rays, poked and prodded to confirm that it was indeed AN ABSCESS ~NOT MUMPS ("See why it's important to brush your teeth better!"~I found out in the commotion of moving that he had just been brushing his front teeth and not even trying to brush the back!). They gave a stronger antibiotic and an appointment for tomorrow. But the tooth will probably have to be completely extracted instead of simply repaired.

Overnight the antibiotics have shrunk that swelling down incredibly! He looks like himself again. Well, almost. I can still see a bit of swelling, but it looks normal. And you can still feel the knot under his skin, although much smaller now. He's also no longer in pain (unless you poke it, as sis found out). God is great! And....(heaving a sigh of relief) it's not mumps or any other crazy thing!

Speaking of my baby....

2009-02-27T17:32:00.004-05:00

Here is an example of how I know the new healthier food diet that we're eating is working. The before (Gray shirt with Santa) is just from mid December of 2008. The other is from the end of Jan 2009. He really looks like he's slimming down a lot. I think it's both the food and the wii fit that we're doing for school. Yay! :D

My Baby is sick....

2009-02-27T07:22:00.003-05:00

It's funny that no matter how old they get, you always call them your baby. I still refer to my son as my baby. But now, he is sick. Its so sad.

He woke up Wed. night a few times complaining of his jaw hurting.
Yesterday he didn't mention the pain much so I made a dentist appt.
just to get it checked out (although it wont be until around the 20th
of March).

We had a lot of moving errands to run yesterday but when we got home,
I noticed his jaw was swelling rather quickly. In the time I noticed
and the time I couldn't get a hold of his dentist, it was golf ball
sized. We took him to the er and they said it was an abscess. (We
didn't even know of any bad teeth on that side, they all look fine).

Well, with antibiotics and pain meds we went home but he's been up
every few hours (even with the pain meds) and it's now the size of a
baseball. Please keep him in your prayers that it will heal and not
get any worse and that his pain will subside.

I'm worried to death. You know something is wrong when it swells up like that. (I'm a mom/ he's my baby even now at 7, you know how that is) but I know God will take care of him. So please pray for him.

He's getting some rest with Daddy right now, so I hope his body is fighting that infection. I'll keep you posted.

FIAR- The Story About Ping...

2009-02-22T17:34:00.002-05:00

Oh, I am loving Five in a Row curriculum. I was able to do it this week in the midst of packing/unpacking, moving, etc. The kids seem to like it too and they were showing off China and the Yangtze River to Papaw just now.
I was not able to do Friday because of more packing stuff, so I am trying to decide if I'll try to continue it on Monday and do the Science, and I still have the Recipe day as well as the Bible Character one. So I don't know if I'll continue for another day or two or just move on to the second book already.

We employed our Encyclopedia set for the first real time since I got them. We looked up China and browsed through the pictures. We colored a Chinese flag and answered questions on the Yangtze River. I had intended to use them in a lapbook about the book with some duck facts but didn't get to that either.

I guess if I had a perfect week I may do like I did this week but Thursday we would do the Recipe and maybe the Bible study then. Or we may row for 1 1/2 weeks instead and have the 6th day for the remainder of the science lessons (I would like to cover them all, they look interesting) and day 7 for Character lesson (or vise versa). I will give both a try and see how it goes.

I do think I want to definitely add the spelling and grammar to it though. If I was daring, I would search through the book and select the words to learn to spell from it. But I think I'll play it safe with the books that I already have for now.

I am just really excited with the Five in a Row curriculum so far. :)

Moving....finally!...YAY!

2009-02-18T23:58:00.004-05:00

We just now got internet back after a week! You know I was having withdrawal symptoms. :) We moved on the 13th and I am so excited. We've been wanting to move for a year now. It just never came together of a place that was big enough and in our price range and took our dog. But it has finally come...and I have a homeschool room! It's part of the large open kitchen, dining room section and it is definitely large enough for everything!
I'll post pics as soon as I upload them. I'm still really busy running back and forth packing and sorting through the final things from our previous home.
The kids are just loving this place and think it's the coolest place ever.
We've even started school already here. It worked out perfectly because we got our Five in a Row and started it this week here. It was almost like an entirely new routine. I liked it. It only took us 2 1/2 hours for school today BUT that is going really easy. We've not done our regular math (which will add 1 hour) but only worksheets for practice facts. So that's 2 1/2 hours for FIAR and math worksheets and writing our new addy/phone number. And reading out loud. I would probably add spelling to it also which is around 5-10 minutes and grammar (15 minutes). So with everything...it might take us 4 hours now? Is that right...did I really just save 2 hours? We'll have to see....I can't wait until all of this moving is behind us and I can get us settled into a routine. :)

My 2 cents...Octuplets mom...

2009-02-09T00:40:00.002-05:00

Okay, I know no one asked...but here it is anyway.
I just do not agree with the Octuplets mom choosing to have so many babies. It was just dangerous and uncalled for. Now, some people might think I'm just against someone having that many children. Let me set the record straight....I love the Duggars (parents of 18 children). What is the difference?
I think that if you can afford that many children on your own and if God provides that many naturally then that is fine. I do not see anything wrong with the Duggars having that many children naturally. I also see nothing wrong with a couple having multiple births with fertility treatment (although I do think that they try to implant only 3 babies so that multiples will not happen as much.
Now, having said all of that why would I be so opposed to this woman having 8 children? She's single living with her mom (what?) AND (the biggest point here) she already had 6 other children! I just do not think that it was a good decision. I just hope that God helps her to raise them and that she'll be able to provide all of them the love that they all need (as all kids do).

Interesting Music (off topic)

2009-02-09T00:24:00.005-05:00

I wanted to post this for a couple of reasons. One, obviously is just to share and two, so that I could remember the names for future use. :)
I caught the very end of the Grammy's this year and decided to search through some pics to see what I might have missed. I discovered three women that I had never heard of before and so off I headed to youtube. I love these three women's styles. They are each unique and different. The first is Adele, I kind of like how she sounds like Bjiorke (Know I didn't spell that right) mixed with Fiona Apple. It's interesting.
The second was a woman named Chrisette Michele. She reminds me of an old cafe singer or something from the Harlem Renaissance. I love the style there. And finally is Duffy. Now, of the three I would rank her third. She looks and sounds like a singer from the 50's (which is my favorite decade). She seems to be a cleaned up and blonde version of Amy Winehouse (who I do not like).
I know this is totally off the topic of homeschooling but I love finding new music and I like this shift that popular music seems to be taking towards these modest/ stylized singers.
I probably have the oddest taste in music, especially considering that I love everything. I can go from this music to pop to rock to rap. It's definitely interesting I'm sure. :)
Also, Go plus sized ladies! It's always nice to see plus sized ladies becoming more popular. We're making a come back, slowly but surely.

I LOVE THIS TIME OF YEAR!

2009-02-06T11:25:00.002-05:00

Okay, I am sick as a dog, but I have to say that this is one of my favorite times of year! Why? Because I buy next years school now. I just purchased for the upcoming year and I'm so excited. We are sticking with Saxon math. I really like it. I had purchased next years spelling before so we were already set with that.

I found a place that sells cheap textbooks and I LOVE TEXTBOOKS so I purchased an art and music one (yes, I know, I don't need a text for these but hey, they were $7 and $10, so I couldn't pass it up). I got an English textbook also. I don't know exactly how Five in a Row (FIAR) is going to go for us, (probably really well) but I think I'd supplement with an english text anyway in addition to math.

I also bought a science text that is pretty much the following grade to this one. And the place I buy from had a 3-5th grade VA History text! Could NOT pass on that one! Even if we don't use it this year coming up, we'll need it soon.

I don't know if I'm going to buy the next year of Story of the World. I'm still undecided on that one. I'm going to finish out the rest of this year and see. I love the chronological approach. FIAR also covers history so I might just go with that. I'll have to see.

But I LOVE BUYING CURRICULUM! I have to admit that I'm very quick to buy something new...then find something else to catch my eye and buy it, etc etc. I need to stop that! But I am sticking with some that are working really well.

Funny Discovery...

2009-02-04T12:09:00.003-05:00

I am in a bad winter rut right now. We had some personal things come up which we had to take a few days. Things finally start getting settled down a little and then we get sick. But thankfully the public schools are having snow days (which I typically use as 'make up' days for what we've missed before) but we're taking them off. I just hope everything settles down soon or we'll be schooling through summer! haha!

Anyway, in the midst of this rut I have been re-evaluating our curriculum. I'm trying to find a quicker way to do everything. I'm trying to see what we can get rid of, what we can do differently, etc. I even ordered new curriculum. I'll have to see how Five in a Row works for us (although I am so anxiously awaiting it's arrival!). I even ordered 2nd grade workbooks for Sis, she's now going to be on the same math as her brother. It will save a lot of time. I think it'll work for us because from teaching both each day I've noticed that they are both so durn similar. The work from grade 1 to grade 2 isn't that much more. I think she'll be able to pick it up fairly easy.

Well, onto my funny discovery....

I was looking through websites of 2nd and 3rd grade classroom schedules and just taking a look at how/when they handle all of the subject, what type of subjects they do, etc.

I came across a few different forums of teachers saying that they were still trying to fit this in or can't find time for this....It was so cool. It reminded me of all of my previous schedule posts. It was just a weight off my shoulders to hear teachers saying the same thing. :) So even though I feel awful and want to stay in bed all day (thank goodness for laptops on the couch, lol), I feel somewhat happier.

Celebrities and Presidents...

2009-01-25T06:10:00.002-05:00

I was sitting here this morning looking through celebrity pictures at the Inauguration and many of the Inaugural Balls. I really have a weakness for celebrity photos, I don't know why, but I could spend hours clicking through things like this. Hmm, maybe I should work on that. A few funny things struck me though.

1) Did this many celebrities show up to any of the Inaugural happenings for either of Bush's parties? I am very curious now and will have to do some research, which will inevitably leave me clicking through many more celebrity photos....or just the 3 Republican celebrities alive....not sure which it will be yet. Which brings me to my second point...

2) Why are a VAST MAJORITY of Celebrities Democrats? It's odd isn't it. It doesn't even represent the mix of America...it's like if Americans were split 1/2 and 1/2 (as it appears we are very very close to) then the celebrity vote would be 95% Democrat and 5% Republican. Doesn't that seem strange to you?

But you know a majority of celebrities do live in big cities which I have a working theory about smog and polluted city water and air affecting citizen's brains and causing irrational thought and in exchange....the Democratic party....rofl..okay, my Mom will kill me for that one. :) I'm kidding. But moving along..

3) Why do celebrities feel a huge need to tell us what their political affiliation is...it's not a big deal. The moment I start looking for political advice from an actor, a singer, a rapper, a model...is the day I need to not be allowed to vote anymore! The only positive thing I can even get out of it is that MAYBE they can get the younger generation to start voting, which is very important. At least do your part.

You cannot complain about anything political if you do not do your part to fix it.

But now I'm rambling. I just was curious of those things. I know it's not a new thing because, while I wasn't around then, I have seen footage of musicians protesting wars of the past and throwing their political advice into their songs.
(which would start me on the reason I hate System of a Down....well, the 2nd reason, the first is that I just don't like the guys singing style; But I used to like the "Grandma wont you put on a little makeup" song; before he started getting all political) If I want to hear politics I will turn to reliable sources, not my rock or pop music, thank you very much!

I think I'm finished now...did I mention this is a 6a.m. ramble? :)

Pedi-Paw.....SUCH SCAMMERS!

2009-01-24T09:22:00.001-05:00

A few months ago I bought the Pedi Paw from television. It was the cheaper of the two versions (or the Peti-cure) but thought I'd give it a shot. Before I actually got the package in the mail I got a phone call from the company. I answered thinking it might be a problem with my order, maybe it was back ordered, etc....

They wanted to sign me up in some jewelry of the month club...what? No thank you! The woman totally pitched me like a telemarketer. No thank you, just send my pedi paw.

I got my product and I love it, haven't had any problems. My only problem is that my dog's front paws are ticklish so she won't let me hold them long to work....and she's a 70lb dog, so it takes a while to file them down. But overall, no problems or complaints regarding the product.

About a week or two ago I got a check in the mail from Pedi Paw. It was for $8, I thought that maybe somehow they were giving discounts to customers for replacement bands, or maybe they had just overcharged me (yes wishful thinking, lol). But I am no dummy (most of the time....or some of the time anyway) so I inspected the check and found fine print stating that "Cashing this check means that you are enrolling in" some sort of safety program.

WHAT? This is total shenanigans! I have seen these checks from complete rip off companies before but DID NOT think that I would see it come from the Pedi Paw!!! What in the world are they doing? Are they not making enough money off of this product that they have to scam people (as I'm sure there are many people who do not read the fine print and cash this thing, then have to get into the lengthy process of trying to cancel the program BEFORE it racks up money)!

I've bought items from t.v. before without problems. I am the magic bullets biggest fan. No it doesn't do everything like it says (turned my peppers into soup....not neatly chopped like they show) But that is my only complaint. Having it for 5 years now, it's still going strong. It stopped on me for a minute the other day after grinding through frozen strawberries and ice chunks, I almost cried thinking it was dead, but yesterday it started right back up.

Now I'm rambling, but my point is that they never did any of this junk! I would not mind if a company tried to up sell me (do you want to throw in some extra bands for $2? How about this replacement battery set for $8).

My final thought...I wish I would have spent more money and went with the peti-cure. It looks like a sturdier product and I read reviews from people saying that it worked better on bigger dogs. And I bet they wouldn't try to send me phony checks!

New Curriculum!

2009-01-22T22:37:00.005-05:00

Okay, someone recommended some new curriculum to me after hearing that we spend over 6 hours per day. I checked out the Five In A Row (FIAR) homepage and was impressed. I had glanced at it before but for some reason it wasn't what I was looking for at the time. But I like the way it is related to books (you know, I am very fond of literature!) and it's learning based on classic books. So I bought it just now and can't wait to get it in and give it a try.

I was a little afraid that the library wouldn't have the books that go along with it, but I did a quick search on a few titles and they did, so that will not be a road block.

Maybe it will have good effects on the kids too, put a little bit more enjoyment into school. :) If it works out, I will sell our other curriculum or put it back for later (since a lot of what we use isn't really grade specific).

I'll keep you posted on how it goes....I wish they had speedy shipping! :D

ps....about our day: we had p.e. group and chess club today. It still baffles me that the kids can just jump in like they've known these people their whole lives. I am so shy and such a complete opposite of that. That's why so many people have told me later they thought I was stuck up, but I was really just too shy to talk. I try to make myself talk a little more now. :) But I love these groups! There are so many nice homeschool families! It's our 2 year anniversary and I'm so happy to have FINALLY met people who do what we do. It's good to finally feel connected to a community.

Inauguration day...

2009-01-20T17:00:00.003-05:00

We had a snow day today, but I counted it as a make up day for us. We spent time doing different school things but only lightly.

Instead, we have watched the Inaugural info all day. I have to say that watching all of the former presidents from my lifetime (with the exception of our dear Reagan) together at one place was so exciting.

My favorite part was when Obama kind of messed up his swearing in. He didn't really mess it up, but he paused because he forgot what he was supposed to repeat. I enjoyed it not because it was a mistake but because it was probably the first glimpse of humility of Obama for me. It was the first time I could look at him and see that he was in fact just like the rest of us. He was nervous and I liked seeing that.

I pointed out the history of the day to the kids. I hope that when they are old with their own grandkids they can say "yeah, I watched the Inauguration of the first African American president".

Now, lets all sit back and just see what happens. I'm totally willing to give Obama a chance and keep my fingers crossed as well!

**Added note**
I read a report just now that said that Obama was pausing so that the man giving the Oath could word it properly, but that isn't he look that I saw on his face. It was more the look of a man saying "what exactly was it again" because he didn't want to mess it up. Also because he jumped in on the name part before he had finished...and especially because Obama repeated it exactly as he had said.

I stick by my initial feelings. I saw a man who was nervous, just as any man would be, to be doing something so important in front of so many people. It still touched me.

Diet change update...

2009-01-19T12:19:00.002-05:00

I don't like the word diet because it makes people think of those crazy schemes that people (and yes, myself included) go on to try to quickly drop pounds but never end up working.

When I refer to diet, I mean the way that we eat. So when I'm speaking about changing our diet, I am talking about changing actual eating habits in our family.

We're changing to whole wheat bread products and so far that's going over very well. We even made our first ww homemade bread. It turned out perfectly, yay. :) And it was so much fun to make it!

Our first week of dietary change was to fix our breakfasts. It's really been pretty fun and it's tackled a problem i had before of trying to make breakfast more diverse (I hate hearing "I want a pop tart" or "I want cereal" each morning) and I wanted to move towards more hot and homemade breakfasts.... Very good so far!

This week we're working on changing lunch. I'll tell you later how that goes. I think they will probably be the two easiest changes to the diet.

It's funny but just changing to eating breakfast is making me want to eat less. My hubby and I had a bad habit of eating a big thing after dinner, either a huge dessert or another huge helping of dinner or a different thing that would equal dinner portions. I think it was because our body was thinking of dinner as lunch since it was it's 2nd meal and wanted a 3rd meal. But I'm wanting less after dinner. :) I'm feeling fuller.

On vacation....okay, not really but almost!

2009-01-19T11:44:00.002-05:00

Do you know how long it's been since I went on vacation? Okay, neither do I but I'm sure it's been a while. With my own college work, it made it impossible because I was always doing some work even on "off" times. With my own school being on hold for a while, I have some free time on my hands. I've been using that free time to get back to what I love...home type stuff such as baking bread with the kids. They are such good little chefs. :)

We've been on 'vacation' since Wednesday of last week. It's not really been a vacation but very close. A combination of an iffy heater and temps that were in the single digits led us to stay at my Father in Law's house this past week since he's been out of town. It's been heaven. It's like being in one of those cabin rentals. The only difference is that it's full of papaw's stuff already and we're within short walking distance to get something from our house that we may have forgotten.

For school the kids did computer game work instead. It's still school work but it's a lighter version. This week though we're getting back to our books. Today we are 'snowed out'. School has been officially canceled so I am thinking about doing a light day; just math, reading and computer games to consider it a 'make up day' for the ones that we've got to catch up on.

I'm just really enjoying this little 'vacation' because we've got room to spread out and it's been somewhat relaxing. :)

Best week EVER!

2009-01-13T12:58:00.002-05:00

Well, It finally happened, I have officially had the best week ever since we started homeschooling nearly 2 years ago.

Our schedule went almost perfectly for Monday through Wednesday. I threw out some things to try to clear the schedule a bit. Then Thursday was perfect. P.E. group was back and the kids fell right in just like they were old friends. Afterwards we went to our first Chess Club meeting. All went pretty good there (except my son was so hungry he was more focused on the popcorn than the games, lol...to remedy this, I believe I'll start giving him a snack between the p.e. and chess times). The kids loved it though. The people were wonderful and the kids have asked to play chess ever since we've been back.

To finish up my wonderful week we had a wonderful Friday. It had school as usual, a little late, but not bad. to finish it up though, we made homemade bread and ham soup. It was so wonderful and everyone loved the bread. It just ended so nicely. A perfect week ended by a nice home ec lesson. :)

We've started yesterday with our Change One diet, fixing our breakfasts and I went ahead and made a switch to wheat bread. No complaints so far. :) Everyone is enjoying everything. I like the subtlety of the Change One diet, since we're only changing breakfasts this week, its much easier to follow.

I am just so excited. It's only 1 and we're on lunch break (about to end) and we've only got quiet reading time and history left. So we should be completely finished by 2 at the latest. We also made up a chore list and yesterday we drew cards until we each had equal amounts. Then we completed the chores. It took all evening just because I had to stop my chore to show my son how to do this while my daughter waited to learn how to do that....once they get the hang of what they're supposed to be doing, it'll go easier.

Delegation and Snow!

2009-01-08T08:21:00.002-05:00

It started snowing last night and we woke up to a light covering all over. We might have an inch. Funny though, our school district didn't call off school or even put up a 2 hour delay. What I do on snow days is use them as make up days for those we've taken off. So I am somewhat disappointed that the school district didn't take this one! grrr. lol

I keep forgetting about delegation. I struggle to finish my housework on time. Duh, the kids are 7 and 5, I think they can help and THEY ENJOY IT! Why do I keep forgetting this point!?!? Last night I was trying to rush to get dinner done. I was doing this and doing that and my son says "What can I do mommy" I was about to say the usual "I've got it honey" but instead, I had him wash up, put him at the table and he cut my cooked chicken into bite size pieces.

The kids are able to do so much more and at this age, they want to and it would be a good time to get used to doing it.

When we move, and I plant the spring garden (crossing fingers), I will have to remember this too. The last few years I didn't let them help as much as they were small and not careful and would step all over what we just planted. I was also afraid that they'd "weed" out the veggies instead of the actual weeds. But this year I think they are going to be able to do much more.

I got an idea about a chore chart where instead of having a set designation of who does what, we'll draw out cards telling us which chore to do. If I do this one, I'll post pics after it's completed.

Birdhouses...

2009-01-08T00:17:00.004-05:00

We painted birdhouses on Monday. I wonder if I need to spray it with sealant because while I would like to keep them as decorations, the kids are now determined to feed actual birds outside....there has even been talk of catching a bird and keeping it in the house. I had to explain how you can have domesticated birds in actual cages as pets, not wild birds. (I'll post the pictures of the birdhouses soon)

This first week back has really been good. We're getting started at a good time in the morning and we seem to be close to our normal schedule. So I'm happy. School work is wonderful. I added a new writing program, for creative writing. I was worried about adding it. It is a foreign concept to them so far but I'm sure they will get it soon. If not, I'll put it on hold until next Fall.

Time wise we're doing good as well. I streamlined out classes. Things that I had hopes to use before, I got rid of. The Weekly readers are great but I don't have time for it in our schedule. The Click n Kids reading program is really good also. The kids don't like it anymore. I was surprised by this. I figured it is because it's a phonics program and they have been through a similar phonics program before. That's the only thing I can figure.

Oh...a break through! My son is READING on his own....I got the book "5 little monkeys jumping on the bed" from the library and he loves it. He has chosen to read it to his sister for quiet reading time. Then today, had to tell them to quiet down and found him sitting there reading to her, apparently with much enthusiasm! Yay! :)

But that's all for tonight. Pics coming soon, I promise! :P

First day back

2009-01-06T07:13:00.002-05:00

Yesterday we started back for our 2nd half of the year. It was actually pretty cool. There was a renewed spirit there that made the day fresh and new again. It was great. The feelings of being run down from before the Christmas holiday seems to be gone.

At the end of our day the kids painted bird houses for art class. They had gotten them for Christmas and had been asking each day "Can we paint them now?" I'll post some pics of them soon. I think they are cool, almost abstractish. Let's hope today's class work goes as good as yesterdays.

Tomorrow...

2009-01-04T08:58:00.003-05:00

Well, technically I missed yesterday but anyway...

Tomorrow school is starting back. I spent about 4 hours or more yesterday straightening and organizing our hs corner here in the kitchen. I really have NO EXTRA ROOM for it so I kind of count that corner of the kitchen as my hs section.

If anyone were to see it, they'd probably think it was just a messed up heap of numerous books, textbooks, teachers manuals, library books. There are huge tubs of crayons and markers and play doh forms. There is the large tote of math manipulatives. It may look like a mess but I know exactly where it all is. My kitchen walls no longer have pretty paintings and sconces but lots of papers (poems we're memorizing, reading awards, number chart, etc.) and a huge dry erase board.

I am hoping when we move that we will at least have an extra space like a dining room that we can convert into our school room. Or at least a little nook that I can put all of this stuff next to where we'll do the work. That would be really nice.

Oh and I need bookshelves....many many bookshelves! I have on now and there's a built in one in the kids room but OBVIOUSLY that wont be coming with us. So I'm thinking about 3-4 more bookshelves. If we get that extra space that I mention in the dining room or a bedroom then I would like to either line the walls with the bookshelves or in a corner, place them back to back like they would in a library.

OOOOOH, and I can't wait to place those 2 huge maps on the wall in our new place! Now....just to find this new place!

But I digress....school starts tomorrow and I'm excited to be starting back, sis seems like she is also....but my son in typical boy fashion says no, lol.

Now, I'm off to take a look at our schedule.

Day 2....Goodbye Tree

2009-01-03T00:32:00.002-05:00

We finally put our tree and Christmas decorations away today. It was also the first day I went without a patch. I have been smoke free for nearly 2 full months now (the 6th).

I'm trying to give thought about the kid's schedule. That seems to be a big topic of mine. I am always trying to find a way to stream line it. I think it's more difficult since last year we only worked for 4 hours total. But this year we have so much more that we're doing, including a spelling program, handwriting, cursive, etc.

But not to make an entire post on that again (I think I've fussed about schedules many times before).... Last night I had an epiphany. I always focus so hard on one thing or another for a very short amount of time (like a month or so) then change interests. Like I love the idea of being a self-sufficient farmer....but I've tried some things and know what works for me and what doesn't. I have delved full time hard core into my writing, but I burn out too fast or shift my focus to another area.

In this I have found 2 things....the first is that I do not need to force myself into a group or classification....I love to homestead, but do not think I'd ever give up buying clothes, etc. I love my nail and hair done, but don't think I'd ever go crazy with the fashion stuff. I love making things from scratch but don't know if I'd ever go 100% to homemade.

Well, I am rambling, but the point, is I can be myself and don't have to fit 100% into any specific group or category.

The second thing is that I need to figure out how to use my ever shifting interest for my business. I would hate to start up my business soon and it end up being another thing I soon move away from. I am just wondering how God intends for me to use it. What good would a short but intense focus time be to a writer? I'm still thinking on that one.

Day 1 of the month blog...and New fitness plan!

2009-01-02T00:04:00.002-05:00

It's officially the first of 2009 (well, 5 minutes past, making it the second...but I almost forgot). I thought I'd keep my first post short and simple.

I am so excited about our new fitness plan. Nana got the kids a wii fit and we love it! It has daily goal trackers and it has yoga and strength training as well as aerobics and balance exercises. I thought it would go great as an indoor/daily plan for school. The kids were getting kind of sick of the same ole tape that we'd been doing.

I typically would let them play outside, but December has been both cold and very wet so it's been way too muddy to play outside much. The fit will be great for those ultra cold days or rainy days. I figure that we'll do it every day and then after school if/when the weather is good we'll go outside also.

I'm also looking forward to it, and have my own weight loss goals and daily work outs on it. It's so cool (even if it did weigh me and make the mii I had created overweight! hey!).

Has it been a month?

2008-12-27T16:59:00.002-05:00

OMGosh, has it really been a month since I last posted? I had grand plans of sharing Christmas projects, and recipes, etc. Oh well, I'm sure you know how busy it gets in December...I'm honestly still trying to remember where December went!

I'm thinking of trying to do the 3o posts for 30 days where you try to post at least once a day (I think it happened in November, but I was too busy with my own school then). So I am thinking of doing it on my own now (not starting right at this moment.)

I have a lot I want to talk about but right now, I am in the middle of dinner, so it will have to wait until later! :)

Happy Thanksgiving!

2008-11-26T21:52:00.002-05:00

We did a lazy day today but it was a make up for our sick days of the past few weeks.
We colored pictures of Turkeys and Cornucopias. We watched the It's America, Charlie Brown video, then read a bit about Thanksgiving and did some cool pages with themed word searches and vocabulary. All in all a fun day, but very lazy. :)

My son scared me yesterday saying he wanted to go to public school. Turns out it was just about kids. So he said if we went to the p.e. group each week instead (which we hadn't been to in a month or more) that he would be happy. I asked for at least a chance with that until after Christmas break, then we'd discuss public school again. He awoke this morning declaring that he doesn't want public school, lol. :D

My daughter, when given the option last night, instantly said "homeschool!" That's a relief...so moving on...
She made a decision today. She gets so angry at her brother for saying the word that she's trying to read aloud (they have a majority of subjects together, except for reading aloud, reading lessons and math~~although I think she could have handled 2nd grade math, lol). So she decided she wants to do 2 read aloud lessons each day to improve her reading skills. :) That's on top of the online click n read lesson we do each day. She is so dedicated to learning, she just laps it up!

Election...a little late.

2008-11-13T09:44:00.006-05:00

Yeah, I know it's been over a week since the election. But I wanted to post some pics on here.

On Monday, the 3rd we took a field trip to see John McCain. We went to the rally and had a really good time. It was unseasonably warm that day but the kids enjoyed it.

They expected to see McCain a little bit closer, maybe actually talk to him? I think this because my son told me the night before "Scrub off my tattoo mommy, I don't want McCain to see it!" (temporary tattoo from the day before).

(We were behind the stage :( so this is the best shot I got.)

The next day we went to the poles and split up. Sis got to go with Daddy and my son with me. We showed them step by step what we were doing. Then that night we colored in states as they were called. My son was upset that Obama had won and thought he'd have to immediately start public school again. I believe he had overheard or misunderstood things that we had said before about Obama being anti-homeschool (or more pro-public school and teacher certification...same thing).
Anyway, we explained and he is fine now. ;)

(This pic ~above~wasn't taken by me but by another local hs'er, I don't want to take undue credit...mine were blurry :P)

Halloween update:

2008-11-02T21:32:00.007-05:00

The past week has been so busy, with this coming week promising to be even busier.
I wanted to share pics of our pumpkins, as well as pics of the happy little trick-or-treaters.
Igor, the pumpkin on the bottom was a very large pumpkin that no one wanted. If you notice his skin, it is covered with bumps and lines. There was a sign that said he needed a good home (a $20 pumpkin, marked down to $5). My husband instantly had plans to turn this big boy into Igor. Where he naturally laid on his side, we decided to work with that and make the nose the stem. The bumps and lines look like boils.

For school on Halloween we had a fun filled day. We wrote in journals about trick-or-treating and what they were going to be. Then we listened to the monster mash and other Halloween songs. After that we watched the Great Pumpkin. Then I read about the tradition of Halloween and customs, followed by a fictional story. We then worked on a craft that my son's penpal had sent to him (pictured).

Happy Halloween!

2008-10-08T07:28:00.008-04:00

One of our big Halloween crafts that we're doing this month is our Haunted Gingerbread House! We got it at Walmart for $8 (it's Wilson brand so you can probably get it at craft/art stores as well). It was already assembled which was really cool because we had problems last year with our Christmas Gingerbread house and keeping the roof on!
It was a goopy/messy bunch of fun! And for some reason, whenever anyone got the black icing, their mouths soon turned black as well....hmmmm...wonder why? :)

As you can tell, my son has always been interested in getting things decorated as soon as possible...the quicker to eat it my dear! haha.

His technique was to simply cover his two sides entirely with icing. It works! :)

My daughter on the other hand has that little artist thing kick in and spends so much time going over ever minuscule/minute detail. Do you see how ever candy of her door is placed just so. :)

Here is the finished Haunted House, they were very tickled with it and had so much fun doing it. Isn't that the most important thing! :)

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!

PenPals Are Great!

2008-10-07T13:55:00.004-04:00

The kids are working on writing to their penpals today. They are so tickled with them and it makes them both so happy when they get letters in the mail.
To do this and make it easier for them this is our process: We read the letter we've received. Then they tell me what they want to say back. I write it in letter form for them (hopefully we'll bypass this step soon, especially as the year goes on and with practice). Then they copy it over for themselves and the rough draft I wrote for them goes in the notebook of saved work. That'll be great for the future also, they'll have the full conversations to look back on.

October is here....

2008-10-07T07:38:00.002-04:00

Well October is here...well about a week ago. It officially feels like fall. Those apples we picked are STILL sitting in my kitchen floor. We have done a lot with them. We dehydrated a bit (didn't want to do a lot until I was sure they liked them that way). And we have made apple pie, apple dessert, cooked apples, etc. The kids have had an active part in making the recipes so they have loved that. They also love showing off their creations to family members.

We have a surprise thing for Halloween that we're doing this evening but I can't write about it yet, they want it to be a surprise. It's a little early but it was cheap at Walmart and I couldn't pass that up. I'll try to take pics and post them soon.

I have to say that of all the time we have homeschooled, so far this year is my favorite. The kids are just doing so good with all of the work. My son has FINALLY stopped fighting me over work! He typically gets it done on time. Our math program (Saxon) is working out wonderfully.

We are even successfully doing journals this year. I had introduced them to my son back in K and 1st with no luck at all. We would do a few weeks then stop because he hated it, would take hours and fought the whole way through.

My rules for journaling are simple. Just draw a pic and write a story about it. It can be about anything you want. I also don't correct for errors in spelling or grammar. This is just to get them writing freely using their thought process to think of sentences and sound out words. I did print out a few different "dictionary" type pages to have at their disposal while writing. That seems to help.

My daughter though is a perfectionist, she is very adamant about getting it right. She wants me to spell her words for her. I don't typically because I want her to think of them. That's the entire reason I printed the dictionary pages, so that they can look up words if they want to, though they don't have to!

But overall, school is going picture perfect this year! We also have penpals now and the kids are loving that! We also joined our first p.e. group! Yay! I might talk more about that later in the week after our next visit.

Apple Picking...

2008-09-17T07:30:00.002-04:00

Hey there everyone. Monday and Tuesday were such good days of school. Everything went fine and I had the epiphany that there's no way we're going to be able to ONLY do 4 hours of school like last year. With Zack's math program taking an hour along with the other things I feel are important to learn, it isn't going to happen. I like the Saxon math, it's very intensive but it's what I feel he needs in order to do math and he doesn't complain. So far the only thing he doesn't like are the timed facts sheets (where he has 1 minute to answer as many of his facts problems as possible) but he's even getting used to that. :)
I'm okay with this realization though, I just had to understand that there was nothing I could cut out, or would want to. The work that they're doing is just going to take longer. So if we start at 8 (including lunch break) we'll be done around 2 and then have 1 hour for p.e. (which is play time outside OR a kids exercise video).
But anyway, onto the good stuff. We included in our school work a home ec moment of making Chili since it was chilly...I know I'm full of cheesy jokes. We picked apples yesterday after our school work was done. We had so much that we ran out of buckets and pots to put them in. The kids loved it and did so good in helping. Now today we get to do the fun stuff of figuring out what to do will allllll of these apples!

Our First Field Trip....The Fair!

2008-09-05T18:02:00.005-04:00

Today we went to the fair. It was so fun. I had read ahead of time of the schedule so I could plan what I wanted to be sure to hit.

Of course, the first stop was the exhibits with canned goods, and cakes and crafts and art. And the livestock place "Old McDonald's farm."

Then we stopped by the Reading Roost that one of the local libraries had set up. The librarian loved the kids instantly. She was raving about homeschool, said she even used to be a science teacher with the ps but hs'ers had such higher scores on testing. She read them three books (and was dressed as mother goose). I asked how many visitors she had had today because we were the only ones there and kids were passing us by and she said 0! We were the first! I hope she got more before the end of the day!!!!! I was so proud of my kids though because she first asked them 'do you all want to hear a book' and they enthusiastically said 'yeah!' (which, if you've read the post about my ds you would understand why that was shocking!).

Anyway...moving on, we had lunch then checked out the Remnant Yuchi Nation Native American Tribe and their stuff, it was so cool! The kids were really into that and (big surprise) no other kids were.
But ds loved the dart gun, he thought that was the coolest thing ever!
Then we moved to the rides, they had a good time overall. I enjoyed it myself!

I'm also including a pic of a really really cool entomology display that someone had submitted, it isn't ours but thought it was so cool we might start working on something like this in the future!

Additional note on the schedule....

2008-09-02T18:39:00.002-04:00

I've still not got it right! I was thinking that it wouldn't take as long for math but it's averaging an hour per child now so that throws off the schedule terribly and we can't keep going much after lunch because 1) the kids are usually tired and ready to head outside and let out that energy and 2) I need to utilize that time to work on my own school work.
We've been running to 1 or 1:30 (before the hour p.e. outside) and occasionally to 2:30. I've been having some problems starting at 8 on the dot, but I am determined that it is possible and we WILL accomplish this small goal!
I spent a while last week trying to work out a new schedule and it looked good on paper, it always does, but putting it into the works today didn't work out. We didn't start until 9, then we just had a hard time starting, and a lot of interruptions. Well, at 1:30, I called it a day even though we hadn't done math. We'll hit it harder tomorrow. I am determined that I can get all of this done from 8am to 12 or 12:30. It has to be possible.
I am also working on a 4 day schedule with a 5th day for extras. My problem is that when I worked it up I didn't move much from the week to friday, instead I ADDED EXTRA STUFF! No, no! quit while you're ahead! :) I'll post the new schedule when it's perfected, if that ever happens! :P

Up to my elbows again!

2008-09-02T18:29:00.002-04:00

Well, my school is back in full swing. I just completed the first week and already I'm tired. :)
But I'll get it done. I'm trying to work on my time management better and scheduling things right.

The kids school is going good, we're into week three with them. Zack is actually getting his work done without much fussing, day dreaming or complaining! I wonder if it's because she school year is new, he's finally mature enough to embrace what needs to be done and when, or....the threat of no games if we have problems.

My school work is still mostly packed, but I was able to get to a lot of it without unpacking boxes. Some things are still packed away and I REFUSE to open them until we've moved! ;) There are only a few subjects that we're completely improvising with.
History is one of those. We typically do Story of the World, but it's packed, so we were using a social studies book about communities and maps. Now we're moving to our Weekly Reader study on the election. It should carry us through till the actual election in November.

My new system of reading a little in a 2nd grade science text then working on lapbooking is going great! We are learning about how plants grow and change. For a science project we are growing green bean seeds. I'll post the pics soon and detail it more but the kids are loving it!

New School Year...New Look!

2008-08-18T19:55:00.002-04:00

Well, that day has finally crept up on us. The day when summer comes to an end and it's time to break open the school books. As a child and even now it is always hard to do that when the weather outside is so perfect and sunny still!
I thought with the age of a new school year, it would be nice to change things up a bit and give the blog a new look. Give me your opinion...do you like it, hate it? :)
Well, our first official day was wonderful. We only had a few problems...(for those who don't know I had packed up all of our school supplies and books) such as the frantic hunt for pencils first thing this morning! There was the typical delay with handwriting with my son but I think it will get better there. All in all, we got all things completed that I had scheduled and with some of our curriculum still packed away, we made due very well!
The main thing I fudged on was art, I just had it as part of our English which has an enrichment exercise to do an illustration for the Caterpillar poem we're memorizing.
Here is our schedule. I don't adhere to it strictly but I do try to keep close so that we are sure to get all subjects included.

8am- morning prayer and pledge of allegiance

8:05am-meeting book (Comes with our new Saxon math curriculum...includes calendar and weather recording work)

8:20am- daily studies (address/phone/shoes/character)

8:30am-DS math (DD handwriting)--we use saxon math now and a handwriting workbook from walmart but that is packed away so I'm printing things off to work on)

9:00am- DD math (DS handwriting)

9:30am- english/ grammar--First Language lessons for the Well Trained Mind

9:45am- english/spelling--Spelling Workout

10:00am- snack break/choral reading

10:15am-DS reading (DD look@books)

10:30am- DD reading (DS look@books)

10:45am- weekly reader

11:00am- history--previously Story of the World but while packed away I'm using both an elem. history book for 1st or 2nd grade in addition to the weekly reader election series.

11:25 am- science--We're using a elem. science book for 2nd grade and we are going to use it as a basis for doing lapbook work. We also have the supplemental science packet that comes with weekly readers.

11:50am- Bible lesson-- Our Disciple land workbooks are packed away so for now we're going to work on memorizing Bible book names, there are two wonderful youtube videos that have old and new Testaments in seperate videos.

12:00pm- lunch break

12:15pm- m/tu=art w/th=music - this is going to be a mix...monday will be art crafts, tuesday will be an art appreciation. Wed. will be music fun time and thurs. will be music appreciation. (We will have more or less time for this each day depending on the rest of the schedule as well as the weather, etc)
The art appreciation I have no guide for yet, I may just make it up as I go along or go through my own college art book from before and have them look at pics that corelate to what time period we're studying in history and attempt to duplicate the styles. I'm not sure yet!
For Music appreciation I found a wonderful set of DVD's from Netflix called the 'Young People's Concert' and we're borrowing them to watch for it. It's an old black and white series but very in depth.

12:30pm- exercise tape---possible...I'm debating this one. I might include it or not. If I do, we have some cool videos like Dancing with the stars and kids karate type videos. I might use this as a backup for rainy days, but I'm undecided yet.

1:00pm- p.e. outside (if weather perm)

CAT5 Scores....

2008-07-25T08:32:00.003-04:00

Here is the break down of this scores... The first I'll list is the general subject scores. I'll list the stanine that he scored in as well as his grade equivalent....
(Stanine is the 'standard nine' which is a listing of 9 groups compared to the average). This was the 1st grade test.

Reading vocabulary- 5th stanine- 2.2 grade equivalent
reading comprehension-5th-2.4 ge
total reading- 5th-2.3
language mechanics- 5th-2.4
language expression- 5th-2.2
total language-5th-2.3
math computation-4th-2.0
math concepts and app.-5th-2.3
total mathematics-5th-2.2
total battery-5th-2.3
word analysis-5th-n/a
science-6th-2.5
social studies-5th-2.2

Let me just say that science shouldn't come as a shock because my husband and I are SCIENCE JUNKIES! We spend a lot of t.v. watching time watching science channels. ;) Also, it's funny that he scored so high in social studies because we don't use the regular history that jumps around...we do classic history that follows history in it's actual time line (that means that we started with the cavemen, then on to ancients...etc...not that then jumping to Washington and U.S. History.)

If I haven't bored you enough already...here is the full break down of the scores and what grade he made on each. I'll put an asterisk next to those it says he has mastered (not mastered is 0-50; partially mastered is 51-75; mastered is 76-100):

Reading Vocabulary:
word meaning- 76 *
words in context-85*

Reading Comprehension:
listening and understanding-50 (the lowest score)
link picture, print-99*
recall information-99*
construct meaning-99*

Language Mechanics:
Sentence, phrase, clause- 83*
writing conventions-74

Language Expressions:
usage-79*
sentence formation-94*

Math Computation:
add whole numbers-92*
subtract whole numbers-62 not all items attempted- (he ran out of time)

Math Concepts and Application:
numeration-81*
data interpretation-81*
measurement-77*
geometry-92*

Word Analysis:
single conson/word-97*
cons. blends, digraphs-99*
sight words-98*
short vowels-74
long vowels-60

Science:
life science-90*
physical science-84*
earth and space science-85*
science process-70

Social Studies:
geographical concepts-90*
economic dimensions-89*
historical perspectives-85*
government, citizenship-97*
sociological patterns-96*

Answer to a question...

2008-07-25T08:26:00.001-04:00

I had a comment posted on one of my posts and replied but I thought I would post it here on the main page. This is the end of the comment and my reply....

~~~...I want my own children to get a good education and be prepared for life's challenges and college. I've read some of your comments and I'm interested to know about the curriculum you use and how well you think it prepares students for the future.

July 24, 2008 9:03 PM

~~~Hello there,
The local Christian school here was a consideration for a moment but we thought the same as you. I am sure there are those that push the students and challenge them but our local one doesn't. My husband even knows first hand because he attended it once upon a time. And I remember from my high school experience that students who went there said it was 'so much easier' than public school.
Now, last year I admit that I tried to make things easier for my son. I even switched curriculum mid-year because he didn't like it. We were using Abeka for English and it was great. I loved it and it seemed fairly challenging but he didn't like it. So I changed to Switched-on Schoolhouse (SOS) by Alpha Omega publishing. It's a computer program and of course he liked it better but it was 3rd grade (that's what level they start at) so it was a little bit more advanced for him.
I decided to do the Classic curriculum style for my daughter and the more I thought about it, the more I realized that I shouldn't just give my son 'the easy way out' because he wants it. So this year they are BOTH going to be doing Classic English. For this I bought the book (you can probably find it at your library) called the well trained mind which gives you a detailed explanation and guidance for the classical program. There is also a book for English called "First Language Lessons for the Well trained Mind". It goes k-2 and we're using that this coming year. I want a challenging program that will give them a good thorough basis for education.
For math I switched too late because Math-U-See wasn't for us. A lot of people love it but I don't like that it only focuses on one thing for a long time. We were working on addition for so long without even getting into subtraction and he had FORGOTTEN how to subtract just from last year. I didn't like that personally so this year we're going to give Saxon math a try, it's one of the best math programs.
I believe that if you challenge your kids, they will often be able to match your challenges. Sometimes it'll be too much but you (as the parent) know your child better than anything and know how to adjust for them.
I am hoping that as the children get older that by high school they will be able to dual enroll in some college courses to get the feel of it and help be more prepared for full time college work.
Plus, a side-note...homeschooling does provide real life experience. You can add a class of teaching your children how to balance a check book, work the family budget, manage a household, etc. This provides a foundation for learning how to deal with real life. I'm saving that for a few years down the road when they're more stable in their math skills.
They also learn how to manage their schedule by getting their household chores done, their school work (which students do become more independent with as they age) their hobbies and extra curricular classes, etc. It teaches them to realize that if they don't get those things done that it leaves less time for play time. Just like in real life 'work before play'.
I hope I answered your questions. If not, or you have more, feel free to post. :)

HE PASSED!

2008-07-25T07:53:00.002-04:00

We got the CAT5 results and my son passed! He made in and above the 4th stanine in everything. He made between a 2.0 and a 2.5 grade level equivalent in all of his subjects. His lowest was math and that was what he tested at 2.0 in. I figured that much so I am just so happy!
I may post his exact scores soon, I'm not sure yet. But wanted to let everyone know.
:D

Last day of school pics...

2008-07-14T09:34:00.004-04:00

I know it's a bit late, a month and a half so but I found these and wanted to post. For our last day of school we did this cute little cat keychain project. I found them at Walmart for $2 for a kit that makes 4. The kids loved it though we did have some problems getting the parts to stay together at one time so we had to glue one part then wait an hour then glue the next and so on. They loved it though.

Going Green...

2008-06-30T22:35:00.002-04:00

Okay, so after seeing Wall-e this past weekend, I get it. I finally get it. I have been interested in recycling for a long time but I have had many road blocks...from not living in a recycling area to the people not picking it up as they were supposed to.
Anyhow, for whatever reason I haven't before, I have finally figured out the WHY of going green. I think I had held onto a misconception that going green was for hippy treehuggers (no offense of course, lol).
Anyway....I am researching it today and will start to put everything into motion to try to do our part for the world and teach the kids. It'll be a fun part of school too, I'm sure. The kids are always into fun new things like this. They loved our new 'swirly' lightbulbs. :)
My only complaint is that I keep hearing about walking or riding a bike to save on gas and emissions. They do not seem to take into account those of us who live too dang far away from town to ride a bike! If I were to ride a bike to the store then I might be back TOMORROW! :) It makes me feel bad. There isn't even a public transit thing way out here so that doesn't help. It makes me feel bad in a way but there's nothing I can do about it. Maybe I should start riding a horse....okay, maybe not. I'm afraid of heights! lol!
But anyway....we're going green. I'll keep you posted on how it's going. Wish us luck!

A Dinosaur Named Sue!

2008-06-28T10:04:00.003-04:00

Before the end of our school year, we got to do the coolest thing! We got to go to a museum and see the complete dinosaur skeleton of the t-rex named Sue. It was so awesome! That was the first time I think I had ever seen a dinosaur skeleton, let alone a massive t-rex. You see them in movies (computer generated of course) but you have no idea how large those things actually were until you are standing right beside of it, looking up at the thing. It was so amazing. Here are some pics that I took of her.
Homeschooling means getting to take the coolest field trips! Learn things hands on! Become part of the learning! :)

Hands on Science...

2008-06-28T09:56:00.003-04:00

It has been a while since I posted on here. I have been trying to get caught up on things with the kids in summer break. On top of that I have been working on getting my writing career up and started.
I thought I would post a few pics I had taken towards the end of this school year.
We discovered a turtle and decided to check it out. What better way to learn about something (at least the things that don't bite or sting) than hands on. The kids loved it of course and my son wanted to keep it but I had to explain that he wasn't a pet, he was wild and wouldn't survive inside. After a little while of talking to him and examining him we released him back into the wild. Hands on science is so cool!

Official last day of School!

2008-05-28T16:30:00.002-04:00

Well our school year has finally ended. This year seemed like it flew by.
We finished up our day with rapping up our kindergarten and 1st grade memory books. I got these from homeschooling.about.com, just search for memory books. They're really cute and you just print them off and I put them in a little folder. They fill out info about their favorites and things they did this school year. It's great because years from now we'll always have it to look back at. :)
We are also finishing up with a fuzzy craft thing where you make cats out of pompoms. They are getting frustrated because they are falling apart as they're trying to construct them. I decided it would be best if we do them in sections until the glue dries and holds them together better. I think I spent $1 at Walmart on these and they make 4 so the kids were tickled to be able to do them.
For the summer I'm only going to focus on reading. We will be reading books daily and the magazines that they have gotten recently (Highlights, Zootles, and Boys life). I'm hoping to really sharpen their reading skills. We might also work on a few things like easy lapbooks on rainy days. We won't do anything difficult like our regular science lapbooking. These will be mostly laid back like character traits, maybe Bible themes, I was thinking of doing one on address and phone number. We will see. I want them to have time off but would like to throw a little something simple in there occasionally.
My son wrapped up his CAT test and we sent it off last week. We get the results back in 8 weeks so I'm still going to be a little nervous until I get it back. I think he did pretty good but where it's a percentile thing instead of just how much he missed, I won't know for sure until we receive the grades.
For now we're ready to relax. We had a difficult year and now it's time to enjoy the weather, maybe even fit some gardening in too. They are begging me to start the garden this year (we usually do a large veggie garden) so we might get to it tomorrow. :)
I love summer, but my own school is starting back next week. Hopefully one class will be much easier on me. ;D

Classical Education...

2008-05-15T07:30:00.003-04:00

Recently I have been giving a lot of thought to the classical education curriculum. For those who aren't really familiar with it here is a quick rundown. The classical system uses ancient Latin techniques in three stages, the first is the memorization stage where the kids retain as much fact and knowledge as possible. The second stage sets them into the motion of critical thinking. Learning how to put all of the knowledge they have retained together into logical form and the third is the rhetoric phase. This phase is where the kids are able to argue and discuss things logically and with confidence.
I love the notion of this learning style but with a sigh last year decided it wouldn't work for my son. It's a lot of work and right now he just hates work. I recently picked up the book "The Well Trained Mind" and I am considering doing this with my daughter. She loves learning and begs for work on a daily basis. On weekends she often says "Aww Man...I hate two days off!" I'm reading the book to get familiar with it this summer and hope to begin her in the fall with it.
I'm going to keep with out 'Story of the World' for history which has a classical base anyway and the lapbooking for science. I also got them both Saxon math for the fall. The main thing I want to go classical on is her literature/english/grammer.
I may incorporate small parts of this into the other subjects as well. For example I am thinking that fact memorization for math. Maybe following the outline for the science we learn. I definitely want them to learn Latin soon and more languages beyond that (studies have shown that kids languages easier in their early years).
With all of this said, however, I keep getting this nagging sensation that I am doing a disservice to my son. Doesn't he deserve to learn this in depth and strong education like she does? I mean the curriculum I chose for him is good, but if I'm doing it for her shouldn't I do it for him as well.
I know he would hate it and would complain every step of the way. So that is my conundrum. Should I teach him the classical way or not? I will still have to think about this during the summer.

A Wonderful Mother's Day

2008-05-14T10:26:00.002-04:00

Mother's Day has come and gone again this year. I have to say that I had a wonderful one. The morning was filled with my kids giving me many many cards that they had made themselves and compiled to surprise me with.
The afternoon was the interesting part. We had a power outage. It ended up to be wonderful. Because it was so cold we lit lanterns and acted like we were 'camping out'. I, of course took the opportunity to give a lesson about how people used to live before power and what they would do. We spent the evening and early part of the night watching 'shows' that my children took turns putting on for us. These were hilarious comedy routines and stories acted out. They were adorable. Me and dh even got in the act by putting on our own routines with jokes and stories. Our power came back on by 9pm but we were having so much fun that we kept the lights and the t.v. off and pretended like we were still camping. We even all slept on the couch as if we were camping somewhere different. It was such a blast and probably the best mother's day ever! I loved it more than any present or any dinner destination that could have been given to me!

Coming to the end...

2008-05-06T12:02:00.002-04:00

We're moving into the home stretch. This is the last 3 weeks of school and with that come the wrapping up of the year's work. We've settled into doing testing review for now and maybe a few other things such as light lapbooking. I saw a great one on youtube that had a house with fold outs and a family tree. I was thinking of making that one and having them work on their address/phone number as well as family tree and family pics. Maybe even a little page about the family for writing practice.
Yesterday we attended our end of year library party. It was wonderful. The weather was so cooperative as we had a little pizza party and playing at the park. The kids also got a cool certificate as well as stickers and a tattoo (which one has gotten lost somehow....leaving one remaining tattoo to fight over...crossing fingers that it's in the car!!).
I also discovered a test that I can administer myself which is great news since I've had such trouble lining up a tester lately. Only problem is that I had to order it now so we can complete it in time and get our results back in time enough to send to our school board.
One final note....I got the last of next years curriculum in the mail yesterday! whoohoo, that always tickles me to know that we're ready to go when August hits. Some things like my son's english and our history that we didn't start until midyear around January will still carry over. But I'm about ready to pack up our things for this year and put it away!
I typically don't actually pack them up but hopefully we'll be moving soon so that'll be one thing less to worry about while packing/moving everything. I just hope I label it all clear enough that I'm not searching the entire house for it later. :)
This year is wrapping up nicely.
....another side note...I am thinking about changing this to a general site about my everyday life. With it I would be able to include more things such as my gardening exploits as well as my crafting and my own school work. Just a thought for now...might look more into that in a few weeks when everything settles down. This is my last week of the college spring semester and we have only 3 more weeks of school left. I'll actually have some time on my hands...don't know what I'll do with it!!!

Another day :) ...info on lapbooks.

2008-04-21T22:28:00.005-04:00

Well, another beginning to the week. Things are going pretty good. My son is doing good with the test practice booklets that I bought so I am feeling a little more relieved and just a little bit less worried.
I have started writing for ehow.com. For anyone who is interested I posted a how-to article on easy lapbooks and there are pictures there. I am going to include the cover pics of a couple here but if you want to check them out go to www.ehow.com and put AutumnLeavz in the search bar and it will bring back my articles. You should be able to find the lapbook one with pics and there are also some other various topics as well. I appreciate anyone checking them out. :)
Another side note...two more weeks of college left this semester! I'm so relieved but I also have an algebra final coming up so nervous about that. At least I just have to pass it and it doesn't go against my gpa at all.
I signed up for my summer and fall classes today. For the summer, just biology I. And for the fall, for now I'm going to just sign up for algebra 2 and english 2. :)

Curriculum problems...

2008-04-15T20:12:00.003-04:00

Often, new homeschoolers face the same problem, purchasing the wrong curriculum. Sometimes it is hard to realize it and we want to hold onto whatever we thought was a good choice. Sometimes we don't find out until it is too late. In our case I made a bad math choice and didn't even realize it until I started to give my son a practice test for his end of year evaluation.
I found out then that he really was off base entirely. We were almost completely unprepared for the test and now we are having to spend this next two months 'teaching to the test'. I really hate that, I hate having to put so much emphasis on one subject instead of it being just another fun daily exercise. I am sure that the math choice I made would have been good if we didn't have to take a final test this year. However, since we do it just isn't going to work for us. Next year I'm switching to Saxon. I have heard a lot of great reviews about it. This time I did more research and think I'm making the right choice.
If this has happened to you, don't worry, it's easily fixable. The first step is to just step away from the curriculum. You have to admit that you have a curriculum problem. Sell it on ebay or another selling site and start over. Research, go to sites that offer curriculum reviews and make sure it is what you are looking for.
One final problem with curriculum I will mention is getting something that you love...even though it will not suit your children. I personally LOVE the idea of the classical curriculum. I would love to go through the stages of the trivium and teach the kids Latin and build on a true classical base. However, I know my kids (especially my son) would hate it! He just is not receptive to things like that. He's more hands on or computer oriented and so I go that direction. If your kids will not enjoy it or do well with it, then it will be a complete waste of time.
As my dreams of classically educated children slip away I will tearfully wave it goodbye and hold on to two small aspects of it....Chronological history and possibly Latin. :)

I love spring!

2008-04-09T08:16:00.002-04:00

The weather is finally starting to warm up and I love it. The kids love it too because after work they get to go outside and play all day. Yesterday was one of those beautiful day and we just had to get outside and enjoy it. We went out and eventually ended up at our library group. The kids are loving this group and I am happy because I want them to be around kids regularly. Hopefully we can add some activities too and get regular things going soon. No remarks from anyone there this time around so that is always a good thing.
However because we spent all day out yesterday evening I have so much to do today...my to do list is overwhelming. And I still have preparing for the test on my mind. I bought a couple of different test prep and test practice books that should get here tomorrow. I just hope it helps. I am hoping that I will be freaking out over nothing. That he will do just fine on this test but until it is complete and out of our hands I am going to do whatever possible to prepare.

Much better!

2008-04-04T10:30:00.003-04:00

Yesterday went so much smoother than the previous days of the week. They both did their work so good and we had more time for fun 'goofy' things to do. We still had a little trouble with handwriting. They want to goof off and not do the work instead of just getting it done. I like the book we're using but I think I'm going to scale it back as well. It has sentences to copy such as "Brave Bobby buys a baseball bat." and they have to copy it 4 or 5 times. I believe I'll grant immunity, so to speak, by having them write it perfect one time and correct the errors.
We'll see how that goes this week.
I'm so anxious about the IOWA test coming up next month. With the wrong math curriculum choice on my behalf we are so far behind in this subject. I think that was part of why I was pushing him to do so much. I have a test practice booklet that we've been working through in preparation. He likes these because they are much shorter bursts of work than regular work, but the math is really knocking me down. There is so much that he should know that I'm going to have to teach him in 1 months time. It's so overwhelming and I'm afraid he'll do poorly in math because of this. It's so important for him to do good on this test because 1) he has to score at a certain level to be allowed to continue to homeschool (VA state laws) and not be put on probation next year and 2) If his test scores aren't showing results, Daddy might decide that homeschooling isn't working and put them back in school. This sounds bad but you have to understand that Daddy just wants what is best for the kids.
I think after this first year of testing I'll probably be able to calm down more about it but until then I'm a nervous wreck!

A bad day...

2008-04-03T08:21:00.002-04:00

We all have good days and bad days, it's just part of life. Yesterday was one of those bad days for me. We fought over school work until I just had to stop for the day. I was too frustrated to continue. I have figured out that my son just doesn't want to do any work period, homeschool, public school...no where. He just doesn't want to do it! It's very aggravating because I feel like I'm constantly fussing and telling him 'do your work', 'finish your work'.
I don't think I want too much, just get your work done. Do it in a timely fashion and put in an effort.
Homeschooling isn't always the easy road because it would definitely be easier just to send him to school but I know it's not what is best for him, academically or socially. I've made some new rules, no television on at all (including t.v., games or movies) until 5 oclock in the evening. I hope this will help somewhat. I tried doing a checklist, complete the work in the specific time and you'll get a check for that subject. Get all of your checks for the day and you'll get to play your games. It worked for about a week, but I don't think it's working now. I also stream lined our curriculum, cutting math way back to around 30 minutes and english to much shorter, etc. This has cut back some of the fussing because whenever we go for longer it is just worse because their attention fades as we go on.
I saw on youtube a homeschooling mother made a goal board with sports themes and when they did a chore they got to move their 'soccer ball' (or whatever theme they were using at the time) with that on it to the goal. That might work for chores and subjects. I don't know.
I told them that they have thursday and friday to prove to me that they want to homeschool. I explained that if I was hungry I would have to make something to eat or I wouldn't be able to eat...just like they want to school at home, if they want to, then they have to do good work at home or else they won't be able to school at home.
I just hope today is a better day because this week is really getting me down!
Cross your fingers, say a prayer for us!

New library group...

2008-04-02T07:34:00.002-04:00

Yesterday we attended our first library group. With the trouble I have had in finding a homeschool support group that fits our needs, I decided that at least the library group would be interaction. I was so proud of the kids, they both behaved so good and interacted so well. In fact they behaved better than the public school kids (it's an after school group with both homeschool and public school children).
There was one child that could not behave at all and was a year older than my son. For an entire hour I watched him running around, disrupting the class, etc. What is so funny is that after this his grandmother said to me "So they are homeschooled?" I said "yeah." and she said "Well, it's good for them to be around other kids isn't it." I was baffled at this comment. Here my kids both behaved better than her grandchild and the other public school child and if the teacher hadn't introduced them as homeschooled then no one would have even known. Yet, she still felt a need to say something like that. I was just floored with amusement and a sort of shock.
Aside from this everything went great and the kids loved it so we'll probably continue and they actually wanted to look at the books that they picked out related to the dog book they had read. That was surprising because my son usually considers reading time (time to sit quietly and look at the books that we've checked out) as torture! lol. But hopefully this will be a step in the other direction.

Monday!

2008-03-31T09:07:00.002-04:00

Mondays are usually hard because the kids are coming back from two days off and for some reason my son finds it hard to get back in the rhythm of doing work. I am almost dreading today because we are coming off of Spring break! Hopefully today will go smooth.
We celebrated a birthday this weekend and my daughter is now 5. She is so tickled to 'finally be 5!'

My favorite site...

2008-03-27T08:18:00.002-04:00

My favorite website has got to be the homeschooling.about.com site. I am a frequent visitor to their discussion board and they have so many great printable exercises as well as ideas. They also have links to laws for every state and a run down of curriculum and methods...anything that you can think of homeschool they have! Plus the printables cover so many topics, such as every holiday, science materials, math, reading, etc.
It sounds like I'm doing a commercial, lol. But I just wanted to share my favorite resource.
The kids are enjoying spring break and I'm TRYING to get ahead in my own school work..but can't seem to do so. It seems as if I'm struggling just to stay a float in it. The main reason is because the kids have emphasized their dislike of me always having to be working on my school. So it's not that I'm unable to do that much work, it's that I shouldn't. I loaded my plate so full this semester that I'm not having a lot of free time just to be with them, it's mostly related to their own school. Next semester (after summer) I'm only going to take 3 courses and see how that goes.

But how do you teach a child how to read?

2008-03-26T10:03:00.003-04:00

I admit, when I first started last year, the thought of teaching my children to read was terrifying. I had no clue where to start or what to do. However, I soon found out that it's not as hard as it looks. There are many wonderful websites out there that give you pages you can start with. However, my favorite is a book called "Teach your kid how to read in 100 easy lessons". This book is wonderful. It teaches phonetically and gives you 100 lessons that only last around 15 minutes a day. You curl up on the couch or wherever you and your child is comfortable and read this book. It is broken down into parts that you read aloud (instructional) and things that the child is to read. It really works and it is sooooo easy that you just have to love it! And the wonderful thing is that you can get this book for around $20! Gotta love that! ;D I even recommend this book for those who aren't planning on homeschooling but just want to give their kid an advantage before going into school, if there child is showing an interest....you can't force learning! That just leads to frustration.

Spring Break...

2008-03-26T09:32:00.002-04:00

I didn't even know that this was spring break week.
I had previously decided to count spring break as the week before last that my son was sick and missed 4 days of school. However, I got to thinking about it and decided that wouldn't really be fair. So instead, they're going to have spring break this week but because we missed those 4 days, I'm going to give them a very small and quick lesson each day. Probably math and reading. I chose those two subjects because we are behind in math (see my previous post) and it never hurts to throw in a reading lesson with those who are learning how to read.
I look back at a year ago and think about how much he has advanced in his reading. Back then, when we first pulled him from public school, he could read simple sentences such as 'The dog is big'. Now he is reading much more advanced things. He's not quite to independent reader yet (where he can sit and read a story on his own to himself) but that doesn't look to be too far off.
My daughter even amazes me. She first started learning basic sounds last year around the same time and now can read those simple sentences easily.
I have some fun field trips planned for the remainder of the year too. Last year when we started, We went to the library more often and were doing field trips at least once a month. But this new schedule that I have us on combined with my own school didn't leave much time for field trips.
I think I'll go back to that previous schedule and try to work more field trips in. Plus for the library, I'm going to sign them up for the weekly reader club.
I have a lot of 'socialization' options that I am considering but think that it's too late in the year for a lot of them and that if I tried them all at once that we would quickly become overloaded. Instead, I'm going to add a couple to this last 2 months and add one at a time to next years schedule.
Well, enough for now...hope you're enjoying my blog. I have to start their work shortly as well as TRY to get caught up in my own...word to the wise, if you're taking your own college classes while homeschooling, start small and don't overdo it. 5 classes for me=overdoing it!

A Perfect Day!

2008-03-24T18:55:00.002-04:00

I am just so happy. I have a goal to finish our school work by at least 12. If everyone works good and does as they should we should be able to finish by lunch but often it doesn't work out that way. Today was a perfect day. I had recently dropped a math program that I didn't like. I decided to wait to start him on a new program until next year since it is so late in the school year.
The reason I decided to drop this program is that it separated everything out into two parts of the year...one large part for addition and a slightly smaller part for subtraction. With so many delays that we have had this year he hadn't even gotten to the subtraction and I was worried that he wouldn't be able to do it for his end of year test. On top of that I wasn't too happy with the fact that things like measurements, fractions, money, etc were not even mentioned. Time was mentioned in one small additional lesson.
I just felt very dissatisfied and decided to scrap it entirely. That's the good thing about homeschool, you aren't tied to one curriculum. If something doesn't work for you, you can get rid of it until you find what does.
Anyway, after scrapping it I decided to use workbooks from walmart instead. I think next year we'll give Saxon math a try.
But I had been giving him too many of these worksheets daily to try to make up for what he had missed. This had backfired and he was spending way too long and not enjoying it at all. I scaled this back to 1 front and back page (or two if it is very easy and quick) and this is helping tremendously.
Everything went smoothly, the kids both did their work wonderfully and I am just happy to have finally been able to reach our goal. We finish their work at 11:30 this morning.
In case anyone wonders why I'm already homeschooling my daughter who is going to be 5 next year....I started last year! The reason I started is because I pulled her out of a preschool program because her personality had changed so drastically for the worse. But when she saw that her brother was doing work, of course she HAD to do it too. She does really good with it and actually BEGS to do it.
My day is wonderful. ;)

Questions?...

2008-03-24T12:09:00.002-04:00

I welcome anyone who has a question about a particular topic in homeschooling, where to find something, how to do something, or just how we do something . Just post a comment and I will answer it to the best of my abilities.
Homeschool is almost like a a mentor/master relationship. When a homeschooler is first starting out it helps to find someone established to ask questions and get help whenever needed. Then down the road as that person becomes established and familiar with things, they become the one to help the next family who is just starting out. It really is wonderful if you think about it.
But, feel free to post any questions....

Science Lapbooks...

2008-03-21T22:34:00.003-04:00

I have fallen in love with lapbooking (which is a trademarked name). Lapbooking is where you discover a subject, often in science but can be any subject (I have seen alphabet ones as well as state ones). You study that subject until you get a deeper understanding of it. For example, we just finished a body systems lapbook. In this we did various different activities about the systems (you can get complete lapbook layouts from places like HandsofaChild.com or you can put them together yourself with information and free lesson plans online). Once the kids have completed the activities and various print out pages on the subject, then you assemble your book. It is really simple, starting with a file folder...
1) open it up, 2) fold the opened edges in until they meet in the middle (looks like a window shutter now) and 3) if you want you can go beyond this and tape/glue another piece as a fold down flap. 4) you simply attach with glue or tape the work outs and things like that, maybe a vocabulary list, pictures you have found on the subject, whatever. You let them have fun and put it all together. These books are great for learning but also become great for portfolios as well as keepsakes to have down the road. Also, whenever they want, they can pull them back out and refresh their memory on that subject.
Just Google 'lapbook' and you can see wonderful examples, plus I would like to take pics of ours to share with you all in the future.
What I was going to say though is that lapbooking is amazing. Because your kids are learning through this hands on process it seems to stick for them better. My son saw something the other day and said 'Look mom, this is like our mouth and our esophagus' (and he's only 6). It amazed me that he had remembered this because he usually is so busy, as all boys are, that I'm not really sure if he's paying attention sometimes. :)

Life lessons...

2008-03-21T12:04:00.002-04:00

Life hands us some of our most wonderful lessons. Not life lessons in the sense of wright or wrong, but life lessons in that we learn just by living. Cool new things cross our path every day that the children can learn from and it's wonderful.
Today for example, I heard an odd bird sound coming from right outside of my window. I peeked out to find an odd bird that I hadn't seen before. My son grabbed his binoculars and we watched as our dog tried to chase the three weird birds around our yard...apparently they weren't flight birds or would have flown away quickly.
After watching them around the yard we decided--at my son's request--to use his birding book to look up what type of bird it was. We discovered that these birds were guinea fowls. They typically are domesticated now although some were wild. My son drew the conclusion that they must have escaped someone's farm nearby. But what a wonderful break from our daily schedule to learn about something new and something they probably will remember for a long time as well. :)
For homeschooling mothers you quickly learn to keep your eyes open for these interesting opportunities to learn, even if they are something as small as a new bug crawling across the porch or the new look to the tree in front indicating that spring is on it's way.
Often, I end up learning something new as well.

My opinion....go ahead and start HATING me now!

2008-03-21T09:52:00.001-04:00

I am just going to state my opinion now, so you can hate me if you want to. :)
Everyone has opinions, you don't have to like mine or agree with it but I want to share.
What's wrong with society today?
I have two reason that society is going downhill. The first is that people have stopped teaching their children about God. If there is no one higher to have to account to, then what does it matter, right? No, there is and kids don't have that fear and love of God anymore. When I was a child I knew that even if I didn't get caught by my parents that God still saw me regardless. I think that helped a lot of people my age to not get into MORE trouble or the degree of trouble they are getting into these days.
My second reason...Where have the moms gone? Children are left to themselves without the loving mother waiting at home or just being there for them. Mothers now a day are too busy with their careers that they aren't home as often and when they are they are so tired and rushed that they don't have the ability to spend quality time with their children.
I don't have anything against mothers who HAVE to work such as single mothers, I give them credit. However those who can stay at home but choose not to because they are buying into the feminist movement that says they have to go out and work a full day just to be equal to a man.
I have tried the juggling career thing and have walked away. I have decided it's best for me to be where I am supposed to, taking care of my family.
I DO put in a full day of work (more than many men ever will), and I do consider myself equal to my husband and men in general. Just because I am home does not make me any less of a citizen or any less important to society. Many women say they "have to" work, I don't agree with this. People can easily survive on 1 income if they budget properly and don't spend quite so frivolously. And if it's to help pay the mortgage then try a smaller home that fits your needs. It's very possible but only for those wanting to do so. That's another concern with those wanting to homeschool who live currently on 2 incomes, they are afraid of losing that second income and I just have to say that if you want to do it enough, it's completely possible AND comfortable to do so!
I think that stay-at-home mothers are the backbone of our society and without it, we are falling apart. Again, just my humble opinion. :)