Tomorrow...

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

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!

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?

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!

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.

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:

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!

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!

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....

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.