Home Sweet School

Weekly Plan...Menu and More.

2012-01-30T06:51:00.000-08:00

I love Lora's idea of posting not just her weekly menu but her whole week's plan as well. Not only is there more accountability when it comes to the weekly report at the end of the week, but it will be fun to see how my plans match up with what I actually accomplish each week.

So here goes:

Monday-

~~Grocery shopping is an absolute must....or we may starve.~~
~~Full day of schoolwork~~ including working on getting the history pocket pages caught up and doing ~~all of the notebooking for the first chapter in botany~~.
~~Turn in time for payroll.~~

~~Submit weekly invoice.~~

~~Print all business-related paperwork for last week.~~
~~Finish my library book list.~~
~~Catch up weekend laundry.~~

Dinner: grilled chicken, corn on the cob, salad.

Tuesday-

~~Full day of schoolwork.~~
Storytime at the library and pick up available book from my list.
Finish my shopping list for February children's ministry curriculum for church.
Download March's curriculum and start editing.
Deep clean my bedroom and bath.
~~Make and deliver a meal to a friend who just had a BABY!~~
Dinner: enchiladas, refried beans, Spanish rice, and salad.

Wednesday-

Full day of schoolwork including a LOT of reading and researching on our history fair projects.
Clean out school closet.
File paperwork.

~~Prepare next week's meal plan and grocery list.~~
Dinner: pulled venison BBQ sandwiches (we're giving it a try!), baked tots, veggie tray.

Thursday-

Three R's only for schoolwork. Maybe sneak in some botany if we have time.
Tear down Jan theme in CM at church, decorate Feb theme, and prepare for Sunday services.
Dinner: vegetable beef soup and cornbread

Friday-

A little history fair project reading but no schoolwork.
Grocery and CM shopping.
Drop off and organize CM supplies on the way home.
Dinner: grilled boneless pork chops, steamed veggies, and salad.

Saturday-

Hang out with Daddy.
LifeGroup.
Dinner: at LifeGroup...to be decided later in the week.

Sunday-

Church
Lunch out with Daddy!

Somewhere in there I'd also like to get the garage ~~cleaned out~~ and re-organized but we'll see what day is the warmest before putting that on the to-do list. Also the boys absolutely need hair cuts this week so we'll shoot for that to be done on whichever day ends up being the shortest.

When we aren't with Bo for the week, my goal is to always get EVERYTHING that needs to be done for the week absolutely taken care of before Saturday so we can spend the whole weekend just hanging out with him. Since we've been with gone so much this month, I'm sure there are a few things I haven't realized yet that will need attention before the end of the week. All those *little* things tend to be neglected on weeks we're out of town.

Well that was fun! I can't wait to see how well I stick to the list. One of my 2012 goals is to become more organized....I hope this will make doing that a little easier and more fun.

Weekly update: botany special.

2012-01-29T12:54:00.000-08:00

Each week seems to be getting better and better! We had a great week and accomplished alot…even some FUN stuff!

Monday was spent running errands, going to my doctor’sappointment, cleaning house, doing laundry, and driving to our apartment ineastern AR. My ultrasound went verywell. Baby boy is perfectly healthy andgrowing right on track. I am SO relieved. I’ve never been so worried about a baby before. This pregnancy is justso different from the other four boys….makes me nervous. We spent Monday evening watching the movieCourageous. LOVE that movie!

A healthy baby boy all rolled up into a ball.

Drake is working on learning the alphabet. He has found anew love—coloring! I could never get theolder boys to color but he seems to be really enjoying it. I love having a coloring partner!

I planned on getting up early on Tuesday morning but someone{ahem…my oldest} turned off my alarm for me. We got a late start but managed toget a full day of schoolwork in AND do our grocery shopping. We {re}started our botany study, usingApologia’s Botany science book. Nathanis following along with us even though he is also working in Apologia GenScience. The younger books are so muchfun and we all learn so much from them. We tried started Botany several times over the last year but it justnever stuck. We’re taking a little bitdifferent approach this time and so far it’s working. We’re making up our own fun activities alongwith picking the ones that look the most fun from the book. On Tuesday we classified Legos and talkedabout how we would classify ourselves in our church {like the example in thebook}.

Gabriel is making HUGE strides in reading and math! We kind of hit a road block a couple of weeksago but we just took a little time off and worked on verbal math facts. He hit the road running this week!

I managed to get up early on Wednesday but the morningquickly went downhill. The puppies madea terrible mess in their crate overnight and both big dogs waited until Nathanbrought them back inside to do their business. It was a MESS. Nathan and I gotoff on the wrong foot and I ended up yelling at everyone. I decided to go back to bed for a fewminutes, called the hubs to vent, and then settled myself before going out andapologizing to the boys for my behavior. I thought maybe a fun activity would get us back on track so we madethese:

Since we talked bout taxonomy and did some verbalclassification on Tuesday, I thought it would be fun to have a visual oftaxonomy. I took the idea from a pin onPinterest that actually is for geography. The idea worked well for our littlescience project. The little two justscientifically classified themselves, and mostly I did Drake’s for him. Gabriel did a great job and even though hedidn’t completely understand, he did grasp the idea of classifying—“puttingthings in order” and “grouping things that are alike.” For a five year old, I think he didgreat and got in some good handwriting practice! I asked the older two boys toclassify themselves scientifically and socially {we make it up based on anexample in the book}.

Kingdom: Children

Phylym: school type (homeschool, public school, privateschool)

Class: grade

Order: age

Family: male or female

Genus: last name

Species: first name

So they filled in each category based on their personalinfo. That was fun! Then I asked them to pick any plant andclassify it {after all, we ARE studying Botany!}. Nathan picked the red rose and Kaleb pickedthe Venus fly trap. It was just theactivity to get us back on track and complete a full day of schoolwork! When I said “ok, time to do the rest of ourschoolwork,” Kaleb asked “that was work? I didn’t know. It was too muchfun to be work.” J Just what we needed for sure!

Kaleb is moving along in math. We’re working on carrying over in additionand borrowing in subtraction. We bothstill LOVE Math Mammoth. Grammar andphonics are also going well. Afterfinishing Ordinary Parents Guide, I’m trying to find something else for him.Until then, he is just reading on his own and outloud to me at least once aday.

We had another great day of school on Thursday. Nothing super special about the day other thanwe accomplished everything we had planned.

Nathan is finally getting back into an independentgroove. Most days he completes his workwith very little prodding from me. Maybehe’s starting to realize the free time he would have if he just buckles downand gets the work done. He is doing verywell in pre-algebra. I think he actuallylikes it!

We drove home Friday morning....and had quite the experience. This was the last trip home with the puppies as the three we aren't keeping have homes. This was the first time since they were born that they cried about 3/4 of the trip home. They also had four *accidents* each in the crate which was also a first. We lost my debit cards somewhere in a 100 mile stretch of interstate during one of the several stops we had to make. The trip home also involved vomit and car trouble. Ha! It was insanity at it's best in my car for sure! The trip took an extra hour and almost a half due to all the troubles. Thankfully we made it home in one piece with just enough time to leave again for the last co-op planning meeting and some birthday party planning. Nathan and I stayed up late baking and making the coconut cream pie cake pops for his birthday party on Saturday. It was a fun and relaxing way to end the day! Nathan did a fabulous job with the cake pops!

Nathan ended his birthweek with a great birthday party with many friends and family. He had a blast!

Since we'll be home this coming week, it's time to get more serious about our history fair projects and finish all the notebooking/vocab work from our week of botany. The Apologia book Who is Our God? hasn't arrived yet so I'm hoping to get that this week. I'm hoping we'll be able to add our geography study back in now and do some fun history crafts.

I hope everyone else has a fun and successful week of school!

Weekly Report: the week that flew by

2012-01-20T09:48:00.000-08:00

We didn't accomplish near as much as I had planned but at least we made some progress. I spent a LOT of work time at the computer....many little things that I had been putting off during our two weeks in eastern AR. Plus the usual weekly business reports/emails/printing/filing etc.

Monday was kind of a crazy day. Bo and I went into town for the BIG ultrasound for all the measurements and such. I've been looking forward to it for many reasons, mainly because I'm not growing as much as I did with the older four boys. Of course Bo says everything is fine and I AM growing, but I just need a little more reassurance. :) When we got there, we found out that our appointment was rescheduled for the following Monday. Disappointing...especially since I didn't get a call or email letting me know but we had a few errands to run, and Bo and I enjoyed having a little together time. So now THIS COMING Monday is the big day. :) The rest of my morning was spent getting some paperwork done, but we did get a little bit of schoolwork completed.

Math time! Yes my boys need hair cuts and yes I was busy folding laundry as they worked. ha!

We started a new chore system so the boys and I spent some time going over that and then I spent a LOT of time helping them adjust to the first day. It's a change we've needed for quite some time and so far it's been fairly successful. We're still working on making it a habit of course.

Tuesday and Wednesday kind of blurred together. I know we did well both days but man.....did they fly! I could have used a couple extra hours each day.

Feeding frenzy! Puppies were introduced to dog food this week. They 100% approve. :) We are just a week away from them being old enough for new homes. Kind of sad and happy at the same time. We would keep all of them if we could but I look forward to life returning to *normal*.

Part of my problem this week was that I stayed a day behind in my mind. Yesterday afternoon, after spending a lot of time on the computer getting some paperwork done, I reminded myself that I had a meeting in town...on Thursday...the next evening. I was a little more than shocked when the phone's calendar alarm went off and I saw that the meeting actually was about to start.......in 15 minutes.....because it was in face already Thursday, not Wednesday like I believed. I live 25 minutes away from the meeting place and I wasn't even dressed for it. I threw on some decent clothes and ran out of the door. I had to call my mom to come over and fix dinner for the boys since I hadn't even gotten that far.

The meeting was for spring co-op teacher planning. It was the most successful planning meeting I've been to since joining our homeschool group. We have so many awesome classes planned. Hopefully we'll fill in a few gaps within the next week and then the co-op committee will meet again at the end of the week to pull it all together. I LOVE co-op planning! I love being on the committee. I love seeing classes develop and I love seeing the finished product. I'm technically not teaching a class this semester since I'm due in May. I decided to just offer one or two hours of game time....something that my assistant can easily take over if I go into labor early.

Some mid-week love. Gabriel made this card for me. iLu = I love you. He and Drake did a lot of independent drawing and writing this week. SO happy to see Gabriel willing to work on writing!

Today is a slow day. We're taking it easy. I ordered Apologia's Who is God? book earlier this week and hope it will get here with today's mail. I can't wait to dig into that book! I'm excited about it! I think the boys will love it.

Nathan's 14th birthday is tomorrow!!! We'll celebrating tonight with a birthday dinner, just us and the grandparents who can make it. His party isn't until next Saturday. We like to celebrate a birthweek anyway. It's going to be a fun week!

We'll probably be in eastern AR again next week. Looking forward to a couple museum stops, some serious work on history fair projects, and hopefully a more settled week.

Weekly Update: See? We're getting back in the groove

2012-01-13T14:03:00.000-08:00

Ahhh....three whole weeks of consistant schoolwork. :) Feels good. We still aren't doing EVERYTHING in the planner EVERYDAY but it's a little harder when we're out of town. Instead of art/craft projects, we're exploring the little museums in the area. I'm thinking about adding a little Arkansas history on the days we spend out of town since there is so many historical places in the area we're staying. It seems natural to explore more about what it right in front of us.

This week's biggest lesson has been in the heart than in the books. Kaleb and Nathan saw (in the movie Remember the Titans) how painful segregation and discrimination can be. Kaleb's eyes were opened to something he never would have guessed even existed. Then, of course, we have seen quite a bit more of this as we visit historical sites and museums in our southern state. It literally brings him to tears to think about a person being treated so differently and poorly by others.an eye-opener for him to say the least. To see pictures of it and hear stories has been This just happen to coinside with our history lessons on the Romans and their treatment of Christians. He decided this week to do his history fair report on the Little Rock Nine. We're definitely fitting in a visit to that museum. As passionate as he has become about this issue, I can't wait to see his end result.

We've also fit in math, grammar, vocab, and such with all three older boys this week. For some reason, they are now working better and harder in our out-of-town apartment than our home. :) I'm not opposed since I'd much rather be where their daddy is anyway.

Add Legos...and suddenly everyone want to do math! :)

We spent a LOT of time playing with puppies. We only have two more weeks before these guys are ready for new homes. Thankfully one of them is going to the boys' Nana so we'll be able to play with him!

Nathan actually allowed a picture!! :)

We went to the St. Francis County Museum on Wednesday. The museum is housed in a beautiful old home that belonged to Dr. J.O. Rush who actually had his doctor's office inside the home during the 1920's.

The rooms in the 7000 square foot house were filled with the history of St. Francis County. It was a very neat visit.

Standing next to the old Forrest City radio station equipment.

Once again, we were reminded of the intense discrimination in our state. We saw pictures of the *black school* and *white school* as well as a whole hallway dedicated Scott Bond, an African-American slave turned landowner, farmer, and businessman. Although it was a rarity of that time, I was SO glad to have the boys see the story of this man!

Next time we come down we're heading to the Lower White River Museum and the Little Rock Nine museum.

Another great week! We're doing better and better as this new semester moves along. SO glad!

I'm thinking about getting Apologia Who is God? book one. Anyone use this? Any thoughts?

My new tickler file.

2012-01-11T06:49:00.000-08:00

Just typing that makes me giggle.....tickler file. :)

I had never heard of such a thing until I ran across Amy's blog which I am LOVING by the way....an AWESOME blog! As soon as I read her post about it, I knew this was exactly what I needed. I'm already finding myself a bit overwhelmed with the amount of paperwork a new business brings in. Between homeschooling, children's ministry, and now a business along with the everyday demands of family life....I need all of the organizing help I can get. I went THAT DAY and picked up the necessary supplies.

I totally agree with her suggestion to make it pretty and so I found the cutest file folders at Hobby Lobby. AND they match an expandable file holder I received as a gift a few months ago. Bonus!

Four packs of 12 gave me enough file folders for the 12 months, 31 days, 4 action files, and a few extra. I also picked up the pretty wicker basket and a couple smaller matching baskets for my desk, one for my pens, pencils, etc and another for my note cards. All 1/2 price! I LOVE Hobby Lobby sales!

My action files are:

File (I'm terrible about just setting down on my desk something that needs to be filed...and then losing it)
Copy (I always find things that I want/need to copy but don't always have time at that moment...these also end up missing)
Read (magazine articles, blog posts, letters, etc that I'd love to read during my spare time but always forget about)
WW paperwork (various children's ministry papers I would like to have in ONE place)

I'm excited about having a few extra file folders just in case I find I need another action file after getting started. I'm following the same approach as Amy with the months and days folders. I think this will totally help me stay organized.

I also love that my planner fits right behind the file folders. No more piling books on top of my planner and forgetting to check it. I will be reminded every morning when I check my file folder for the day. I have just enough room in the front to put my to-do list notebook (another new 2012 idea and my January new habit) as well but I haven't decided if that is the best place for it yet.

2012 is going to be my year for organization! Between my to-do list notebook and my new tickler system, I'm already more organized than I was in 2011. I look forward to implementing a couple more organizational ideas in the near future. Next up is a system for our children's ministry curriculum at church and another system for organizing school/art/craft supplies in the school closet.

Weekly Update: The First REAL One in a LONG Time.

2012-01-06T18:03:00.000-08:00

Well. Finally. A REAL week of school. Thank you God.

We did get some schoolwork done last week but we had several appointments and events that took up a lot of our time. We managed about two full days of schoolwork. Considering we had a four day week with Bo being off the day after Christmas, I'm happy with what we accomplished! I spent some time cleaning out the school closet but I still have some work to do in there. I'll probably have it completely organized and just the way I want it.......by the time we get the garage converted into a family/school room and then I'll get to move everything into a new space! :)

This week was SO much better. I think we are all ready to get back to a routine!

Bo was able to take Monday off due to New Years Day being on Sunday so we only had a four day week, and then one of those days we spent four hours on the road.

Bo works out of town....on the other side of the state....3 1/2 hours away. Since he went into business for himself last November, we decided to rent an apartment so the boys and I could hang out with him as much as possible. Every week free of local commitments is spent with him. We finally had a free week after all of the holiday celebrations and commitments so we followed him down on Monday evening.

Tuesday morning was spent grocery shopping for the apartment and getting a card at the local library. We were able to check out a few books that the boys enjoyed reading this week. The library is SUPER small but the ladies were all very nice and they have a weekly storytime/movie afternoon that we look forward to checking out. The rest of the day was spent on schoolwork. We decided to save our history reading for bedtime since we didn't have any bedtime storybooks with us. It worked out perfectly! I think this is the beginning of a new habit. We'll get our history reading in AND make more time during the day for history crafts and activities.

We spent all of Wednesday doing schoolwork. We were able to get in a couple extra lessons since we had to miss Monday. The little boys got bored FAST so I took them to the Dollar Tree to pick out some fun workbooks and coloring books. They were happy for the rest of the afternoon.

We drove home on Thursday. The plan was actually to come home Friday morning but we don't have Internet at the apartment yet and so, by Wednesday, all of the work (online and offline) that I needed to get done at home was constantly swimming around in my head. And to be honest, I was a little bored too with so little to do myself. We got home about mid-afternoon and managed to squeeze in some light schoolwork.

Today was another good day of schoolwork. I had a meeting this afternoon so we hit the books early and accomplished a lot before I had to leave. The rest of the day was spent grocery shopping for the following week and getting ready for the Hogs bowl game. We are looking forward to a simple weekend with Dad before he goes out of town again on Monday.

Also looking forward to an even better school week coming up. CRAFTS, catching up some history and geography activity stuff, starting on history fair projects, routine, routine, routine, and a LOT of fun. SO excited to have my energy back! I'm taking advantage for as long as I can.

Happy New Year!

Best Christmas present EVER.

2012-01-01T14:35:00.000-08:00

The hubs got me a KINDLE for Christmas!!! I'm so excited!!! I've already found several books and apps that I LOVE. (Yes I totally have Angry Birds on my kindle!) I've read several books already since he gave it to me. Most of the books I have on my Kindle were FREE!!! I just entered FREE into the search engine in the Kindle bookstore and BAM...a whole list of freebies.

Here are a few of the books I've read so far (these were free but have since gone up in price):

Coming Home

Fools Rush In

The Year She Fell

Also a friend recommended a cool blog that post links to free Christian books....EVERY DAY! I checked it out for the first time today and wish I had taken a look yesterday as I missed out on a free devo I was already looking at getting. :)

You HAVE to let me know if you know of any other cool places to go for Kindle freebies AND what your fave books and apps are on your kindle!

2011-12-26T17:42:00.000-08:00

FINALLY! A new semester!

I cannot tell you how excited I am to put thisfall semester behind us and move forward with some real progress. This has been by far the WORST four months of homeschoolingever. Truly...it has not gone at all as planned. I stopped even opening my planner as it was nothing but a huge depressing disappointment to see how behind we are.

We never did get off to a great start. It just felt off and weird. Exhaustion started mid-September (and we quickly discovered why), my brain stopped working through October, we started a business in November, and then well....the holidays. Not to forget the fact that I was sick with a cold for the first three weeks of December AND my husband works out of town during the week. I'm too embarrassed to tell you how much work we did (or more correctly, didn't) accomplish in all that time.

Thankfully it isn't a huge deal since we can make our own schedule. I had actually been planning on carrying through summer 2012 to get caught up, and then just realized (yesterday) that there will be a teeny tiny bundle of new love in our home by then. And to be honest, I'm not great at multi-tasking during the first couple of months. ha!

That means we have roughly 3 1/2 months to be as productive as possible....starting tomorrow, after a doctor's visit and shopping. The boys' Christmas gift cards and cash are burning a hole in their pockets. I'm all for getting that out of the way before diving back in. BUT we will at least work our way through the three R's by tomorrow evening. Then it's a full-scale attack on those school books until Baby says it's time for a break.

Even though we're getting back to our FULL schedule, we're mostly going to concentrate on math and science for the littles. Nathan is my main concern as he will start 9th grade next fall so I definitely want him up to speed before then and phonics for Gabriel is another priority. I figure if we get a little behind on history or grammar with the younger two and since both of those are done orally, they can easily be caught up during quiet nursing times this summer. I'm actually looking forward to it. :)

I'm so excited about getting back to a REAL schedule. My energy is coming back and I definitely want to take advantage of that. I know it won't be long before exhaustion creeps back in.

So here's to a super productive, fun-filled, educational next few months!!!

A Fall Hike & other FUN activities!

2011-11-09T12:21:00.000-08:00

Right in the middle of a SUPER busy schedule, we had the opportunity to go on a hike at Devil's Den with our homeschool group. We went on an awesome 1 1/2 mile trek around the bat caves. Of course the caves were closed but we still had a great time.

My sweet hiking partner. :)

Gabriel came prepared with a bag full of bottled water.

One of the bat caves. The older children loved getting down by the opening of the caves and taking a peek inside. I, personally, was glad the caves were closed!

Nathan, Kaleb, Gabriel, and another teen checking out the names and pictures carved into this huge bench.

So proud of how well the boys did on their first hike! They had so much fun!

Every hiker needs a good walking stick!

Just the day before our hike, we went on another awesome field trip to a local police station. The police officers spent a lot of time on our tour. We met several officers, a couple detectives, a police dog, and the 911 operators. The children were also allowed to crawl through the back of a police car.

We also had the pleasure of touring a local veterinary clinic just a couple weeks ago. We learned how they take care of sick animals, even toured the surgical area, met some very sick/injured dogs in ICU, looked at those dogs' x-rays (One had a broken leg and another had been shot through the heart. Both were doing great after surgery.) and walked through the barn where they care for horses and cows.

Our latest field trip was last week to a local post office where they still hand-sort the mail. The children were fascinated by the back end of the post office boxes when someone would pick up their mail, smiling and talking to the people from the other side of the box. One lady cracked up a few of our kids by making faces through her box! The boys, girls, and then parents took turns weighing as groups on the biggest scale we had ever seen. In case you're wondering, the parent group outweighed the boys' and girls' groups (combined). The postmaster was amazing with the children, taking time to explain everything and answer all questions. One of the postal workers even entertained us a bit with a couple magic tricks!

I have pictures of these field trips too but there are other children in ALL of them. I have to remember to take a few of just my kids so I can share. :)

We have an awesome field trip planned for next week.....a tour of the most historically accurate replicas of the Nina and Pinta. Both will sail up the Arkansas river into a city near us on Thursday. I haven't even told the boys about it yet.....they will LOVE being able to board these ships and look around! I will definitely be sharing some pictures of this field trip!

Soccer season and co-op have ended for the fall so I'm hoping to have more time blog about our homeschool days. :)

SURPRISE!!!

2011-10-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

The last three weeks have been insane......in a sort of unbelievable and unexpected way.

Actually I guess it started four weeks ago when I was at the D6 conference from that Wednesday to Friday. We were up early every morning and in bed late every night so I attributed the exhaustion to just not getting enough sleep and the full days...and excitement about being there. I was starving the whole time....even though I ate HUGE meals. Of course I just assumed that was because I wasn't grazing all day like I usually do at home. The weirdest thing was that some of my favorite foods seem to make my sick. Hotel breakfast biscuit and gravy? Couldn't finish it. OJ? Thought I would throw it up after a couple sips. Pretty much anything in a creamy sauce? Ick.

After getting home and only being more (and more and more and more) exhausted, I assumed I was getting sick. I'm a germ catcher....and I had just spent three days in a hotel room, sitting in chairs many others had sat in, bumping into people in the crowded hallways at the convention center, using a public restroom 99% of the time I was in Dallas, and eating out every meal. Surely I was coming down with something.

It was a busy weekend with a lot of different activities...inside and out. Exhausting. I was a sweaty mess at church. I just didn't have enough energy to keep up, it seemed. But then again, I was getting sick.

By Tuesday, I had decided I couldn't be sick because I never felt any worse or developed any other symptoms. I also realized I was a week late but I was a week late the previous month too. I imagined losing 15 pounds and working out so much had thrown off my schedule. But it was weird because I hadn't done that much in September. Five weeks between two monthly cycles wasn't cool....especially since I'm a consistant 28-day kind of girl.

So do you know where I'm going with this? Yeah. Tuesday morning I took off to the local store to buy a pregnancy test, thinking that if I took this extreme-crazy-unnecessary trip to the store for a test I would surely start my period on the way. Sure enough, not even half way there I thought I had started. Laughed at myself and turned around toward home.

Only I hadn't.

I woke up the next morning in a cold sweat after a horrible, terrible, no-good, very bad nightmare.....which unfortunately happens to be another symptom for me.

I knew then. The only thing that threw me was the fact that I wasn't terribly sick. Some things make me queasy. I realized I would feel sick if I was hungry or ate too much. AND a big one.....if I'm upset, I get super sick.

I told Bo and he said "whatever." So I took another trip to the store. This time I made it all the way there and purchased what I still kind of thought would be a waste of money.

That thing showed positive before I ever even set it on the counter! I about had a heart attack. I sent a picture to Bo, a friend who knew, and one other person. I wasn't the only one shocked! :)

Since then I have taken a couple more tests. I just don't FEEL that pregnant. Besides being tired all the time, I'm hardly sick but I guess that's only because I know what I can and can't eat now. With all four boys, I was sick to the point of not being able to take good care of them. I could barely function. It was awful. This time I wake up starving with a queasy stomach. I eat and it goes away until I'm hungry again. I eat and.....that's the pattern. Sugary foods and saucy dishes makes me a little sick. That's about it so far.

This is a HUGE surprise. Totally unexpected. Bo is so excited and giddy. I'm getting there. I know this is a blessing. I know I will be excited and giddy. I love babies. I love my boys. I can totally see another child fitting right into our family. Right now I'm just so incredibly tired...and still a little shocked. Keeping up with four boys at home and all of their activities while the hubs is four hours away five days a week is exhausting all by itself. Add in first trimester fatigue, and I'm barely making it some days. I know it will get better once I get past this part.....it's only a few more weeks anyway.

We haven't told many people up until now. Mostly people we knew would be supportive and excited. Also there were several other family events that we didn't want to interrupt. I mailed out postcards to our parents this week so we will start telling other people now. Honestly after some negative reactions about my last pregnancy from family who thought we already had plenty of children, I'm having a hard time telling anyone.

I've forced myself to tell a few close friends and then started branching out this last weekend, telling people I knew I could trust to keep it a secret. We haven't told the boys yet, mostly because we didn't want them burdened with trying to keep it a secret. However in the last three weeks, all four of them have made some comment about how having another baby sibling would be cool. Drake even asked if he could be a big brother sometime, like his big brothers.

Yes, Drake. Yes you can. :)

By this weekend, though, almost everyone will know.....thanks to Facebook. :)

Once all the announcing is over, the fun can begin. Shopping, doctor appointments, and ultrasounds.

WE'RE HAVING A BABY!!!!!!

Menu Plan Monday

2011-10-12T10:51:00.000-07:00

Totally pulling from my Pinterest Yummy Recipe board this week! I am NOT a cook. I cannot stand to cook anything......usually. I like to stick to the easy peasy simple recipes that we already use and I love more than anything to just throw everything on the grill. However for some reason I am SO excited to try some new recipes next week with only one grill night. Eeeeek!

Monday-Beef Stroganoff and a salad.

Tuesday-Pizza Casserole and a veggie tray. This might make a good youth group meal. We'll see... :)

Wednesday-Chicken Enchilada Pasta with whole wheat pasta and a veggie tray. Giving it a try before making it for the youth group.

Thursday-Leftover night!!

Friday-Grilled Chicken Bruschetta, crusty garlic bread, and steamed broccoli.

Saturday-Life Group Night.....Spicy Chicken Tortilla Roll-ups and some regular pinwheels. If I have time, Pull-Apart Cinnamon Sugar Pumpkin Bread

Sunday-Roasted Lemon Garlic Herb Shrimp add chicken over brown rice and a veggie tray.

I would love to make a little time to give these a try too.
Calzones-for lunch and to freeze for later lunches.
Ham and cheese cresent rolls-for lunch.
these pumpkin muffins or this pumpkin cream cheese bread-snack/breakfast.

Hopefully I can add a few new recipes to our faves and I'll definitely need to add more recipes to my pinterest board! :)

Time to make a grocery list!

I don't got this.

2011-08-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

You know that phrase "I got this"? I've used it a time or thousand. Kind of a confidence booster to accomplish something and say "hey I got this...no problem!" Or to come up on a problem and know I can handle it so "yeah I got this." I say it a lot. I say "you got this" to my kiddos when they catch on to their math lessons or master a craft or work on their chores or any other time that seems appropriate. I probably say it to myself a dozen times or so a day. Like I said, I say it a lot.

So there was a time back in the spring when I knew something BIG and GREAT was going to happen. I didn't know what it was or how it would look....I had an idea of what I hoped it would be. I had actually almost convinced myself that I knew what it was and even I was excited about it. But in reality all I knew was that it involved our church and me....and God was totally leading me down this path. I knew it so much that I cleared my schedule for it. I cut back on the activities that I participated in because I knew I wouldn't have the time. I started delegating responsibilities to others instead of trying to do it all myself, and made myself a promise that I would NOT allow my outside-of-the-church commitments again grow to such a size that I couldn't manage it all AND put in the time and energy needed for this thing that was about to happen.

I remember the day I sat down at my desk and thought "ok, I think I'm ready." I opened my email account and there sat the email. As soon as I read it, I knew. This is what I've been waiting for. This is what God has been leading me to do. The email was actually a *hey church, meet our new nursery and preschool directors!* kind of email. There was only one sentence that stood out to me. There would be, sometime in the future, a new children's director for K-4. I immediately sent an email back, asking about that position.

And just like I knew it would, because I knew it wasn't me driving this bus, everything fell into place. I know it wasn't me driving the bus because I had planned to go in a different direction. I wanted SO BAD to go in a different direction. I had convinced myself that this BIG THING was something totally different. I was so ready to just get busy with it but when I realized it wasn't the thing I had in mind and when I realized what the real thing was, it made perfect sense.

I LOVE children. I adore children. I have known pretty much all of my life that my life's work is children. As soon as I was old enough, I started babysitting. I dreamed of having a ton of kids and working as a peds doctor. Then my dreams moved to being a teacher and I wanted that so bad but I was pushed into a different direction. Then as an adult I did the thing I loved....taught preschool. Then I worked with children who lived in abusive situations. Then I subbed at my child's school while working on my teaching degree. Then I felt the pull to homeschool...and fell in love. I thought finally I had arrived! I have found my purpose in life. My own children. All this time right under my own roof. And then I started feeling this sense of *that's not it*. Don't get me wrong...we were called to homeschool our children. We know that with every fiber of our being.

However, I knew there was something more. My purpose wasn't *just* my children. God doesn't give a person such a HUGE heart for kids and then only provide four. As our pastor is talking (as he often does) about people sitting on miracles just letting this HUGE blessing pass them by because they are too afraid or don't think God could possibly use them for a miracle or think maybe it's meant for someone more *qualified*, I'm wondering if I'm sitting on a miracle and don't know it. My husband and I actually talked about it for a long time and I thought I had it figured out, but I was going in the wrong direction.

So here I am. K-4 children's director. I got this, right? This is my thing. I know it's sent by God. I know this is where I'm suppose to be, what I've been called to do.

I got this.

Well as things progressed over the summer, I started doubting myelf...and God. Seriously. He put me here and I'm not feeling it. It just seemed like everything I tried to do, didn't. Everything I tried to change, wouldn't. There was so much stress and restlessness inside of me.

I even hinted to my husband that I didn't even want to go to this church anymore. Nothing I did added up right. Nothing came together the way I wanted it to. I wanted to just pull away from our commitments and friends and go back to that easy place where I didn't have this responsibility.

I knew we couldn't quit this church and for sure wouldn't but something had to change. I wanted this thing SO bad but it just would NOT work.

Seriously all of July was pretty bad in my head concerning myself and this ministry. *I'm not cut out for it. I can't do it. I don't have the time. I don't have the ability. I was wrong. I should not have shot so big. I should have settled for a smaller role....or stuck to no role. This isn't me.* Doubt consumed me. Pride kept me from talking about it.

I don't got this....at all...in the least.

And that was really hard to admit to myself because I'm a bit of a control freak. I had it so well planned in my head but nothing was going in that direction. It wasn't working. It was only causing stress and guilt and grief.

You know, it wasn't even anything big that was causing all the stress and guilt and grief. Just a bunch of tiny things that kept building and building until I just thought I had it all wrong. I did have it all wrong...just not in the sense that I believed at the time.

So then. I totally right now just giggled thinking about it.

So then came last Sunday. The first day our kinders moved upstairs with the rest of the crew. These little guys had been waiting for this day all summer long. This was their FIRST BIG day upstairs in the K-4 ministry.

Because let me tell you, it is COOL to be upstairs. We have a LOT going on that those kids LOVE. Our church puts in the extra effort to not only make these kids want to come back but to teach them and equip them to love and share Jesus. This ministry is awesome and is most definitely changing lives. I was the only dud, right?

So not only were the kinders coming up, extra responsibilities were heaped on me and we were short-handed.

Not only that but our church was flooded with new people this past Sunday. Between the kinders and new families, we had a lot of new faces upstairs.

Not only that but we had problem after problem. Nothing big. Just little *oh no's* with quick fixes...but it seemed like there were a lot of them and I was the fixer.

I kind of just went "I don't got this. God, you gotta get this."

And guess what. He did.

I was a sweaty, worn-out mess by the end of service. But I was smiling...on the outside AND inside. It worked! It happened! It didn't go as I planned but it did go as *planned*.

And then. :)

We got home and I jumped into the curriculum editing that I had been putting off all month....because I didn't have time, I didn't know what to do, I didn't want to do it...blah, blah, blah.

I jumped into it and said "you know what, I totally don't got this either. God, you gotta get it!"

In just a couple hours, it was done. I didn't have the problems I had before. It came together the way it needed to. It was DONE.

And then. :)

I went to church on Monday to prepare for next Sunday. It was just a matter of putting things in the right boxes and getting those boxes in the rooms. BUT there was also this looming issue that I had been putting off. I needed to prepare the slides for our large group...on a Mac which I had never used before...with a program I knew nothing about. I had played with it a couple times, but it never worked out that I actually have a chance to learn how to do it. It was a big stressful lump in my throat that I had just been swallowing down again and again.

I realized this past Sunday that it wasn't going to prepare itself and this definitely fell under my responsibilities.

So I said again "I don't got this but I know who does."

I can happily say that the Mac and it's indimidating program has been conquered. The kids will have fabulous slides to go along with the bible story. I even played around a little and made a memory verse slide from scratch.

I floated out of the church on a cloud. My whole day was bright and shiny because of that accomplishment. And I've thought about it all week long.

Yeah, I finally saw this weekend that I can't do this ministry on my own and that's the point. It isn't about me. Yes, I was called. Yes, this is my thing.

BUT what I failed to keep in mind is that I'm not the one who is actually doing this thing. God is doing this thing THROUGH me. He is doing His work THROUGH me. He is reaching these children THROUGH me.

This morning I realized something else. If I say "I got this" and do it on my own, it isn't God's work. It's mine. And my work is imperfect and selfish and not at all what I was called to do. I was not called to do this amazing thing and reach all these children. I was called so God could do this amazing thing and reach all these children.

It doesn't mean I get to sit back and relax. And it doesn't mean things won't go wrong again. I am imperfect. I will make mistakes. There will be times in this ministry when I fail. That is a guarantee.

But lessson learned!! When I hear the voice that says "I got this", I know this for sure this time around.....it isn't me talking.

Because I don't got this and thank God.

Another Pinterest Project COMPLETED!

2011-08-04T09:24:00.000-07:00

I LOVE LOVE LOVE Pinterest! I have found so many cool things that I want to recreate for my family, friends, and myself. I love being able to keep all those links organized on *boards*, just waiting for me to find a little free time.

I found a little of that free time two nights ago. Bo was out of town and the boys were all asleep. I was up just relaxing, watching a little TV, and pinning away on Pinterest when it hit me that I had all the supplies needed to complete this little easy-peasy project!!

The whole project took less than 30 minutes and look how CUTE they turned out!

I think I'm going to do a few more after a trip to Hobby Lobby. I think I need some paper with more reds and whites....there's an awful lot of green! Instead of using a hoop, I'd like to find or make a wire Christmas tree stand. Maybe I need to search for THAT on pinterest!

If you aren't on Pinterest and want to check it out, send me your email address and I'll send out an invite.

Arts/crafts, history, and geography WILL get done this year!

2011-07-25T19:20:00.000-07:00

Yes, that's right. We WILL do at least one craft a week, including the cool crafts in history and holiday/seasonal crafts, this year. We WILL stay on top of our history and geography programs this year. We WILL be prepared. We WILL have a fun year {or at least more fun than last year}. You know how I know? It's all right here...planned, printed, and ready to go....waiting on us.

All of the printables, book lists, and material lists needed for history and geography, all of the craft details, AND all of the paper materials needed for every craft in a nice, pretty weekly schedule. I LOVE it.

BUT. It doesn't stop there. I also have all of the other printables, book lists, and material lists for other subjects in their appropriate binder placed in the appropriate drawer of their workboxes. Everything printed and ready...waiting on us {instead of the other way around}.

Now I just have to get started gathering the materials. I have a storage tub just waiting to be filled with ziplock bags full of materials needed for each week's science experiments, crafts, history projects, and more.

My mid-school year self is really going to appreciate my summer self. I'm excited. Bring on the school year!!!

New workbox tags.

2011-07-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

So if you've been following me for very long, you know we use and love the workbox system. When we stick with the workboxes, we get things DONE!

In the past, I've just labeled each drawer and stuck the tags on, telling the boys to just do the next one. Well I decided to do things a little differently this year. I loved the strips and *books* that everyone uses but I really didn't want to use all that velcro. Of course velcro is one of my BFFs {right up there with my laminator, printer, computer, and 3-hole punch} but I just wanted something a little different.

Using the boys' individual school colors, I made up the cards, printed and laminated them. Then the fun part {for me anyway}...I cut them out and hole-punched each one.

Then Gabriel helped me put the cards on book rings, color coordinated of course.

I made chore cards and activity cards as well as the workbox number cards. I saved the template {just in case} and I'm SO glad I did because I realized I forgot a couple activities as I took pictures.

This is going to be Drake's workbox storage until he reaches Kindergarten. He'll just have a few fun activities to keep him happy.

The bigger boys' workboxes. I really need to add a few more but we're going to make this work for now.

This picture shows the magazine holders which contain different activities to reinforce what we're learning in all of the subject areas. There will be 3-5 different activities in each holder and they will be able to choose the one they want to do when that card comes up on their ring. Also the four file folder organizers {left center} have file folder games and fun workbooks. Same idea as the magazine holders, several different activities in each and they'll get to pick the one they want. This is my version of the centers found in a public school room. I also have a few more *centers* that need cards. The two small green and blue storage boxes next to the abacus on the top shelf are math games, and there are several more storage boxes with more educational games that need cards as well. {These are the ones I forgot until I took pictures.}

We still use our workbox grids. They now hang on the inside of the pantry doors. I can't BELIEVE we're going to use Gabriel's and Drake's this year. I knew we would one day when I made them but it seems a little surreal at this point. :)

As you can see, our new school space needs to be painted and I need to organize our home library this week too. Both are on my ever growing *before school starts* to-do list. I found a super awesome system that I plan on using with all of our books. I'll share when I finish. With school starting in less than two weeks, I'm back to work!

Look at what I made!

2011-07-07T18:23:00.000-07:00

When I need some serious inspiration, I only have to log into my Pinterest account and {WHAM!} I'm off and running with projects!

I'm kind of surprised with myself. Usually I see projects on different blogs and think "man, I'd like to make that for myself"....and that's as far as it goes. I lose the blog address or just never pull the materials together or completely forget all about the project.

Something about having those pictures all neatly *pinned* on my *boards* staring back at me that kicks me in gear. I LOVE it.

When I saw this address wreath, I knew I had to have my own. It was the week before 4th of July, and I knew my 4th decor would be packed away soon....including my door wreath. I went with green since my living room is green and it's my favorite color. I LOVE the bright lime color! I forgot to pick up the wooden numbers for my address but I still hung that thing on my door! I'll finish it up when we get back from our trip.

Not all of these crafts come from Pinterest. These I've had in the back of my head for a while and was inspired to get them done. These are for our school area. My original plan with the nut containers was just to scrub the stickers off and leave it clear. I love clear containers. BUT. It took me FOREVER to do just two and there was still a filmy residue left from the glue. THEN. My oldest son {bless his heart} threw them away...thinking they were garbage. Yeah so I went the easy route with the rest of my nut containers. I got the Gerber containers from a friend since I don't have a baby in the house anymore.

I wasn't sure what I would put in the three nut containers when I made them, but I quickly figured it out when I opened my art/craft storage. 1. pom storage....I have TONS that I got on clearance for 75% off and now they are all in one place. 2. crayons...perfect. 3. decorator scissors. And now I have several other ideas for them so I need to make MORE! The Gerber containers are for pencils and pens. I'll probably make a couple more for markers and paint brushes.
I have a few more things I'm finishing up and a couple more that I guess I failed to photograph, and I've also pulled together supplies for several holiday kid crafts. Each craft is in its own ziplock bag and in the appropriate weekly file in the arts/crafts container. No more skipping fun crafts because I don't have the necessary supplies or time to pull it all together! I think I'm most excited about that. After I finish more of these holiday crafts, I'll post a blog with pictures.

Now that I've actually completed a few of these projects, I just want to do MORE! :) Thankfully I've probably pinned more projects already than I'll ever have time to complete!

I'm linking up with:
The Shabby Creek Cottage

and

New chore charts.

2011-06-29T05:26:00.000-07:00

I guess this post should be called {I hope this} Works-for-Me Wednesday as we haven't actually put it into action yet. :) I have high hopes though.
I decided it is time for new chore charts. Our current system {which is unorganized and pretty painful} just isn't working.

I needed something easy, straightforward, and colorful. I found one that I absolutely love but it just wasn't going to work for us so I decided to make my own.

I'm starting out super simple with Gabriel and Drake, but Drake is actually my little cleaning side-kick. Gabriel, on the other hand, struggles to clean {but hey...sometimes I struggle to clean}. We'll add to theirs later. These lists don't include lawn care which is Nathan's and my job every week, the school area which will be a group effort at the end of our school day {or craft time}, and a few other things that will be my responsibility. Their charts will be laminated so they can check off the chores as they complete them.

Another thing I decided to make is a rainbow strip of to-do's for each room. These are the things that absolutely need to be done before they can mark the room off their list. No more "I thought I was done" or "oops, forgot to do that." Each page will be laminated, and the rainbow strips cut and taped to the inside a cabinet door in the appropriate rooms. The living room strip will be taped to the inside of the coat closet and the bedroom strips on the inside of the door. They can check off the lists as they go if needed, and erase when they're all done.

I'm going to implement some kind of reward system but I'm not sure how that looks yet. I know I want a weekly reward {allowance} and then a long-term goal to help form good cleaning habits.

Finally to simplify, I am going to put together cleaning buckets for all of the rooms with everything needed to clean that particular room in the bucket, including cleaning rags and gloves.

Hopefully this system will make chore time more pleasant for all of us.

I don't know why the pictures are so scattered and blurry. Oh well, you get the idea anyway! :)

Craft project planning for July.

2011-06-28T19:20:00.000-07:00

I {heart} Pinterest SO much right now! So many amazing crafting ideas...with links to the directions!

I started a board of all the things I want to make but so far there are a couple that I'm super excited about. I plan on getting started on these this weekend!

The first is just SUPER cute, and looks super easy to make.

I found these yarn creations on THIS blog which by the way is FULL of cool ideas for a rainbow birthday party if you're interested.

Aren't these the CUTEST?! I want to make a couple sets of these to hang from the ceiling in Worship Warehouse (our K-4 large group area at church). The theme is bright rainbow colors so these will fit in perfectly! I may make some smaller versions in Christmas colors tied with a pretty ribbon to hang from my tree later on too. Family Fun offers this easy peasy tutorial.

Another fun project I want to tackle is this CUTE address wreath. You'll have to scroll down a bit to see the address wreath pictures but I thought you'd want to see the other amazing wreaths she has made. I will definitely be making that Valentine wreath next year! I love the colors on this wreath but I think I'm going to go with something green to match the living room. This will be the perfect wreath to finish out the summer once I take down the July 4th thing on my front door right now.

I have a lot of school projects planned for July too but these are the two projects I'm most excited about. I'll post pictures as soon as I'm done!

It's on like Donkey Kong.

2011-06-28T07:47:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited for the month of July. Not only is it my birth month....therefore the best month of all the year, but its especially cool this year.

If you know us in *real life,* you might have noticed a change in my husband.....like a 50 pound change. Bo has transformed himself into a weight loss machine. I'm SO proud of his progress!! He looks amazing.

However he admitted to me yesterday that he's in a big of a dieting slump. It can't be easy to diet while traveling {he has a few out of town jobs that take him away for 3-4 days/week sometimes}. At least, it certainly wouldn't be easy for me.

I got to thinking and realized I need a {big} boost right now too. I've lost around 15 pounds. If I follow my normal pattern, I have about five more pounds to go before gaining back about 15. Then I'll lose around 20 and gain back 15.....my diet/exercise pattern. Consistanly losing but never really making good visual progess.

So what would be a good way to give us both a boost in the right direction AND add some fun and excitement?

Biggest Loser...couple style!!!

Bo and I are going head to head...pound for pound...in the month of July! Only four short weeks so we don't get bored and discouraged {we both have short attention spans}.

And yes, I said pound for pound.

And yes, I know men lose weight faster than women.

However Bo has hit a plateau and I haven't been running. I can drop weight FAST when I'm running consistantly, and Bo will have a bit of a struggle to break through his plateau....seems doable to me. I'm pretty confident that I can beat him!!!

And of course no competition would be complete without.....PRIZES! The winner of July Biggest Loser gets her {or in the unlikely event he wins....his} choice of reward. Bo competes in a local archery club and will soon compete on the state level so he decided he wants some kind of archery competition shirt. My choice of award? Two Cricut cartridges. I got a Cricut Expressions for my birthday {early, I know...but Bo and I almost always give gifts to each other early...it's our thing...just what we do} so you know I'm determined to WIN!! I want those cartridges!!!

So when he gets back into town this week, we'll do the first big weigh-in. Then......we begin!! There are some details that haven't been worked out yet like whether or not we will weigh weekly....and if we do, should we share with each other or keep it a secret until the end? I don't know, and Bo will say I'm overthinking it.

I'M SO EXCITED!!!! I'm getting my diet and exercise plan in order so I'm ready to go. I want SO bad to start RIGHT NOW but.....I don't want to lose ANY weight before the first weigh-in! ha!

I think Bo's traveling adds to the excitement because we won't be with each other every day. It'll be exciting to see each other's progress after a few days apart.

The best part? In the end...we both win, accomplishing our goals together.

I can't WAIT to get started!!!

Summer planning and printing PROGRESS!

2011-06-21T08:40:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited that I am getting EVERYTHING planned and printed for the new school year. Here's what I have so far:

Kaleb's Math

The first 8 weeks of GtG and several chapters in SOTW. Also I have printed lapbook/notebook materials for science section in GtG, as well as the Draw Write Now animal pages for each animal we'll study.

The Famous Artist curriculum (so excited about this!), an 8 week character study, and the first half of Gabriel's math.

I don't know why this is sideways. No matter what I did, it stayed this way. These are the poems from FLL1 that Kaleb will memorize this year.

Not pictured {because I just realized I forgot to take a picture} are some number handwriting pages that I plan to laminate for Gabriel.

I have so much more to print before I'm finished but I'm sure I'll get it all done. I'm taking the maths to be spiral-bound with a hard backing and a see-through hard cover. Everything else will go into a binder or the hanging files in the 2nd picture. I am almost finished with the book and materials lists. Super excited about that!

Hopefully all of this summer organizing will help make our school year run a lot smoother AND we'll actually get a lot more accomplished. No more dropping art/crafts and all the other fun extras just because I don't have time to find materials and print pages!!

Tomorrow....I'm finishing up Gabriel's math, and working on history and GtG.

Menu Plan Monday

2011-06-20T12:31:00.000-07:00

If you know me, you know that I desperately need a plan....for everything...in my life. Otherwise, I'll probably forget and whatever it is won't get done......or will get done but under great amounts of stress {and possible snarling and growling}. If left to my own devices, I'm a seriously and tragically disorganized person. Even sometimes when I get great plans in place, I forget about them. {Scary that I homeschool my boys, huh? No worries, they are thriving and learning....despite their crazy mama.}

I finally got a clue after a stressful year of non-planning that I really need to put some seriously energy into planning to plan, actual planning, and planning to use my plans. I have been working hard all month to get our whole school year planned and printed. I still have plenty of work to do, but as each subject gets planned and organized, my stress level just keeps getting lower and lower.

So does it make sense that my usual meal plan is to just fly by the seat of my pants? Something that I could make SO much easier and less stressful for myself {and the fam who have to live in my chaos} by just PLANNING OUR MEALS.

I've been watching a friend faithfully plan her meals each week and every time I say "ok, let's do this thing." But then the weekend gets away from me and I start the week in meal preparing chaos...again.

Well not anymore. Here we go...week one. Nothing fancy.....since I'm planning on the fly. ;)

Monday-{game night} Easy Peasy Good Old-Fashion Sloppy Joes, chips, and veggie tray.
Tuesday-Easy Italian Pasta Bake and a salad.
Wednesday-Pizza with Grandparents.
Thursday-Lime Chicken, steamed veggies, and brown rice.
Friday-Tacos/taco salad, beans, and rice.

Weekend-Since Kaleb's birthday party is Saturday afternoon, we'll probably just have simple sandwiches and chips for lunch, and Bo is in charge of Saturday dinner {I'm hoping he smokes a chicken!}. Lunch on Sundays is usually sandwiches or hamburgers, and dinner is with our Life Group.

Also sometime this week, I'm making most of these foods for lunches, snacks, and breakfasts. I'm making a double or triple of the pasta dish tomorrow....eat one, freeze one or two. Our whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes have been a HUGE hit so I'll probably make more of those next week.

Here's to an AWESOME week of PLANNED meals!!

My memory board!

2011-06-19T19:51:00.000-07:00

So this is what I started with: an old calendar board that we haven't used in forever, pretty fabric, pretty ribbon, stapler, scissors, and batting. Not pictured are the hammer and small nails I used just to make sure the fabric was secured well.

This is the poor empty space above my laptop on my desk. The dark brown sides are the shelves on either side. You can see how I've been displaying my favorite things.

After I stapled the batting and fabric on to the board, it was time for the ribbon. I'd show you the back but it's a mess! :)

Can you see the glitter? It's IN the fabric! I ran my hand across it several times but it never came off....I'm in LOVE!

The finished project! I LOVE LOVE LOVE my memory board!! I'm looking for cutie push pins in the same bright teal color as the fabric to secure the ribbon at the crosses. Even though I pulled as hard as I could on the ribbon, it is still a little loose.

I have a cutie little plague that matches to hang above the board.

YAY!!

She's Lucky.

2011-06-13T14:23:00.000-07:00

My husband found a little cutie pie near his shop this weekend. The poor thing had been attacked by another animal. She has two deep teeth *holes* in her back and one under her right back leg (you can kind of see the one under her leg in the picture). To make matters worse, she was a mama who obviously hadn't weaned her pups yet. Nathan and I took her up and down our dirt road to our neighbors' houses with no luck in finding her family. Bo and I went through the woods, looking and listening for any puppies, with no luck.

We decided we would just nurse her back to health and maybe her family would come looking for her. We also made a sign to put out by the road in case her family came looking for her. Kaleb has been especially concerned about her. His dog was killed by another animal (we think the same one...possibly a neighbor's very aggressive dog) just a couple of weeks ago. He was concerned she would die too.

While we already love her dearly, we still have hope that her family will come for her. She has puppies out there somewhere who might still need her.

However if we don't find her family, we have all agreed to be her new family. She is a sweetheart, understandable shy and very lovable. She obviously was an inside dog and loves nothing more than cuddling up to Nathan or me. The little boys scare her a bit so she usually tries to hide from them. Hazel (our yorkie-poo was a little upset about having her in our home yesterday but seems to be ok with it now. I know she misses the dog we lost so I'm hoping she finds a friend in this new dog.

Her temporary name (and possibly permanent name) is Lucky.

Cool local curriculum finds!

2011-06-08T12:12:00.000-07:00

I love buying new curriculum books and supplies....so much so that I start looking forward to the next year's shopping as soon as I'm done with the current year's shopping.

I usually find all of our curriculum online, but this year has been a bit different. Two ladies in our area pulled together the first annual homeschool curriculum consignment sale. I didn't have much to sell and actually didn't even get my things ready in time for the sale, thanks to a head cold, but I wasn't looking forward to selling. I was looking forward to buying.

I had a mental list of items we need for the 2011-2012 school year, and then I had the mental list of items I want and items we would need in the future. I had decided I would only purchase wants and future needs if they were a steal. I researched online all of the items on my list to have an idea of prices.

I am SO excited with the deals I made!!

My greatest find which was actually several finds to make the set was the Saxon Math Algebra 1/2. I was a little overwhelmed with all the *stuff* included in the set. I was so thankful that a good friend helped me sort it all out, and I came away with everything Nathan needs for less than $30!!

I also found this Rod & Staff English 3 student/teacher set for $6!! My long term *plan* is to start the littles on R&S English after they each finish First Language Lessons 1/2.

This Wordly Wise workbook was only a buck fifty. I'm not sure if I'll use it for Kaleb this year or next but I do want to give it a try. As much as Nathan and I detest WW, I honestly think its a good program. If it doesn't work for Kaleb, I'm only out $1.50.

There was also a FREE table. YES! I found a devotional for Nathan, and Kaleb and Gabriel each found a little book they wanted. I don't know why this picture is turned sideways....it isn't in my photo album! This is the devotional for Nathan and the other book is a homeschool book that I picked up for about $2.

So I only found one need for the new school year but it was a HUGE need, and I think I scored a great deal! Now to scour the internet for the rest of our school needs!

Freezer Cooking-I'm in love {again}.

2011-06-06T12:41:00.000-07:00

Years ago {pre-littles} I did once a month cooking. I LOVED it. It was one crazy chaotic Saturday a month that actually started the night before with two crockpot chickens. I loved all the smells that filled my house. I loved cutting up all those veggies {and snacking on a few while cooking}. I loved seeing my freezer FULL of yummy meals. I especially loved having extra time in the evenings. I worked full-time job, Bo was traveling a lot, and Nathan went to daycare. I appreciated any extra time I got to spend with my guys.

After just a few months of all those wonderful pre-cooked meals, I found out I was pregnant with Kaleb. I was SICK! Not just regular morning sickness for me....I had all-day and all-night sickness. I thought I was dying. Not only did I stop OAM cooking, I stopped cooking all together. Nathan and I had a lot of take-out! I got out of the habit and just never got back into it. I tried a few times later on but it never stuck.

So last week I read this blog post about making whole wheat chocolate chip pancakes and thought "hey I can do that!" I already had all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips on hand. So this weekend I made sure to pick up a couple bags of chocolate chips (although I just used one bag) I also scored a MAJOR deal on some chicken breasts....I bought all that was available!

Then today I read this amazing blog post and immediately jumped up and ran to the kitchen.

The first thing I did was trim, quarter, and separate into NINE individual {meal-size} zip-lock bags all that chicken I bought this weekend. I didn't pre-cook it because I'm sure it will all go on the grill. {We make about 90% of our meals on the grill during the summer.} After adding some veggies and maybe some brown rice, the total cost per meal for our family of six is about $2.50!! An added bonus: there should be just enough leftovers for my husband's lunch!

Then I mixed up a quadruple batch of whole wheat chocolate chip pancake batter. This looked a little overwhelming but only took about an hour with my mom's griddle. I made about saucer plate size pancakes. Sometimes my littles will eat two each but other times they'll barely finish one so I put eight in each ziplock bag {2x4} for a total of TEN bags. One of those bags was consumed right off....they HAD to try them! So nine breakfast meals....teamed up with some fruit and milk comes to about 75 cents a meal!!

Eighteen meals for only $30!!

I didn't get a picture of the chicken. Nathan had already loaded it all into the deep freezer before I thought of my camera. This isn't even all of the pancakes. He had taken a couple to the freezer with the chicken.

Oh I have been totally bitten by the OAMC bug again!! Starting off small, but I'm looking forward to doing more and more each time. I'm already making a grocery list for next week!

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-06-03T08:11:00.000-07:00

This looks like fun. :)

In my life this week…

So far...two of my boys and I have colds. There have been many sleepless nights in our house this week. Hoping we will all be healthy by next week.

In our homeschool this week…

We were suppose to get back to finishing up our school year after our month-long break in May, but between last week's tornados and this week's illness, we're taking it easy for one more week.

Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

I am going to a used curriculum book consignment sale tomorrow! This is the first year for this particular sale and it sounds like the response has been great. Can't wait to find some treasures!

My favorite thing this week was…

My husband taking over the dinner duties. I have felt SO bad since Tuesday night, and he has come home from work to fix dinner since.

What’s ~~working~~/not working for us…

This cold. ha! And I'm out of black ink.

Things I’m working on…

Printing for next school year! I was doing great until I ran out of ink yesterday. Hope to pick up more tomorrow and keep on printing!

Books I’m reading…

Sun Stand Still by Patrick Furtick....reading with our Life Group. Breaking out my copy of The Well-Trained Mind today to get some ideas for next school year.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

Some garden happiness.

2011-2012 planning!

2011-06-03T07:42:00.000-07:00

I've been a huge blogging slacker. While waiting for life to slow down, I've realized that isn't going to happen and I just need to adjust MY speed. I miss blogging about our school life, and I think I'm going to start blogging about life here too instead of maintaining two blogs. Trying to simplify as much as possible. :)

After a busy spring with baseball and co-op, we decided to take a month-long break in May. We have just a couple things we need to finish up in June and then we'll jump into the new school year in July.

Last year I read somewhere about printing all of the needed materials and gathering all of the needed supplies during the summer for the whole school year. I decided then I would print every eight weeks or so instead of doing it all at once during the summer {because printing it all at once sounded overwhelming and time-consuming....surely I could find a *better* way. ha!}

We got off to a great start and had all of our materials right there just waiting for us. We stayed on track.....until we got to the end of the previously printed materials. By then, we were involved in two co-ops and, shortly after that, we moved. Then the holidays. Then unpacking and spring co-op planning. Then spring co-op. Pretty soon it was the end of the year and we didn't accomplish near what I had planned. We dropped all the extras just so we could do the basics and school wasn't too fun in our house. I was printing as needed which was a pain. It seemed we were always waiting on something to be printed before getting started. And don't even get me started on not having project materials when we needed them....talk about a pain!

Lesson learned. We want fun and convenience in our school year. Needless to say, I am now working on printing the entire year's materials and making lists of needed supplies. I'll collect those supplies as soon as the printing is done. At the very least, I'll have the lists of supplies. The printing is more important to me at this point.

So far I've printed this character study that I LOVE from Erica at Confessions of a Homeschooler. I'm SO excited to start this study! Also from Erica, I printed The World's Greatest Artists Study. Equally excited about this! We tried last year to implement some kind of famous artist study but it just never happened. I checked my library before I printed this study and happily found all of the books necessary. The cover of this study says Vol. 1 so I'm hoping she'll expand it later on......and I'm wishfully hoping she'll add some composers in somewhere too! :)

Then I printed Kaleb's Math Mammoth 2A....all 138 pages! I'm going to have it spiral bound this weekend. I still have 2B to print and then the rest of MM 1A and 1B for Gabriel. He and I will be working on writing the numbers properly before jumping into 1A but he did well when we tested it last month. His only problem is handwriting so I printed Erica's 1-20 handwriting practice pages to get him started. {Can you tell I love this homeschool mama's blog?}

I've also printed several chapters of the SOTW activity pages. This took a LOT of ink as I had to print 2-3 copies of each page depending on how many children I have doing the projects.

So I ran out of black ink yesterday....and I was on a roll! :)

My goal for this weekend:

finish printing SOTW
print MM the rest of 1A, 1B, and 2B
Galloping the Globe {which was dropped about mid-year}. I'm half-way finished with GtG since we never used the printables from Homeschool Creations.
plan and write materials lists for most of our crafts for the year. I hated that we dropped our arts and crafts after the move....Just not enough time to pull anything together.
make a list of everything else that needs to be printed.
organized our school closet and finish making new workbox labels.
also I want to make it to a used curriculum sale tomorrow morning. I have a list of needs for this school year and a list of wants {if the price is right}.

Think I can do it? :)

Week 3: Aug 23-27

2010-08-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Great week!! Monday was awful but the rest of the days made up for it! I took very few pictures though.

Our morning time has expanded to include sign language and Keys for Kids devotional time. Nathan starts out with us as we cover the two above and memory work. Then he gets started on his workboxes while the littles and I go over the calendar.

I made a calendar notebook for Kaleb this summer (should have made one for Gabriel too as it seems I will need to do that soon). We also use a calendar set that I purchased at Mardels. It covers the calendar, days of the weeks, seasons, weather etc. We also use a 100 chart to count our school days with a BIG 100th day celebration planned and a straw counting set that I also purchased at Mardels. All of that is mounted inside our morning board. You can see all of that and the rest of our school space *HERE*. Our memory work system is similar to the Charolotte Mason scripture memory approach but in a more Christie-friendly format. I canNOT find the link now to show you how fabulous this system is though. I will keep looking. However basically it is a notebook form of the CM approach. Instead of notecards, I used cardstock and put it all in a binder. Each piece that we are working on goes in its designated area. We include everthing we are memorizing including scripture, poems, songs, prayers, etc. I made a notebook for each child so that when it is full, they will have a complete set of all their own personal memory work. Soon our morning time will include some AO subject resources.

We love our workboxes still. Can't wait until we have more room for the little boys to have them. We complete SO much more work when we use this system!! It keeps the boys on track....as well as their slightly scatterbrained mom.

We added science this week. Week one and Nathan is LOVING Apologia Gen Science! Loves that there are two experiments a week. I had a *lightbulb moment* two weeks ago when trying to decide where to fit in the little boys' science. Between the two 8 week co-ops we are participating in this fall, there just isn't a lot of extra time. I realized finally that both Kaleb and Gabriel are ALREADY taking a science class...with me...during our Monday morning co-op (Anatomy) and Kaleb is also taking another anatomy class (called Blood and Guts) at our Friday afternoon co-op. Just to add a little {one day a week or two} extra, we are also doing the science suggestions in Galloping the Globe. Science is covered! Thank God! :)

And speaking of science, you can read more about what we did this week *HERE*.

We added First Language Lessons for Kaleb this week too. He wasn't sure about it and started grumbling before we ever got started. Lesson one is about.....5 minutes long. Once he realized how easy and quick it was, he changed his attitude. We haven't had trouble since.

The rest of our subjects went pretty smoothly. My biggest problem this week (same as last) was coming up with enough schoolwork for GABRIEL!! He just insists on doing as much as Kaleb. I spent a good part of Thursday printing and laminating some things for him that he can just pull down himself anytime he wants. I need to add a few more crafts projects to our week. I'm pulling out Saxon Math K too and maybe adding those things to our day will appease my eager pre-k student. If not, I know our co-op classes will! ....just two more weeks!!

Week 3 results:
Together we....
...completed lesson 19 in history.
...worked on fingerspelling and learning how to say "I love you" "mom" and "dad" in sign language.
Kaleb and Gabriel together completed....
....several books and worksheets (Evan Moor Beginning Geography) in GtG. You can read more *HERE*.
Nathan completed through....
...lesson 31 in math.
...lesson 67 in English.
...lesson 3 in Wordly Wise (yes the dreaded WW is BACK! We're approaching it a bit differently this year though).
...half of module 1 in science.
Also successfully took a spelling test on his WW vocab words.
Kaleb completed through...
...page 93 in ETC.
...lesson 3 in FLL.
...page 52 in MM 1A.
...lesson 125 in OPG.
He also memorized The Caterpillar by Christina Rosselli.
Still waiting on A Reason for Handwriting to arrive in the mail. Hopefully we will have that for next week. In the meantime, he has been working on writing the ABC/123's and copying some sentences from BOB books.

We are taking most of Friday off to get some much needed grocery shopping and errands done. I am leaving on a girls' weekend on Saturday!!!

The boys get next Monday off too since I won't be back until late Monday night. They will get to hang out with Dad and do guy things for THREE WHOLE DAYS! {Psst....they don't know it yet though!}

You can read about Gabriel's week *HERE* and Drake's week *HERE*.

See you next week!! :)

Found these flashcards at Apples4teacher.com.

Preschool Corner: Week 3 Gabriel (4 yrs)

2010-08-26T17:20:00.000-07:00

I really failed at taking many pictures! We had a great week though. We learned about butterflies, practiced some writing, played many games, and had a lot of fun.

We are learning ASL. We started this week with learning the alphabet and how to sign I love you, mom, and dad.

Gabriel is working on memorizing The Caterpillar by Christina Rosselli and the months of the year. He has memorized the days of the week!!

*HERE* is a post all about butterflies including pictures of our crafts and *HERE* is a post all about our week of Galloping the Globe.

You can read about Nathan and Kaleb's week *HERE* and Drake's week *HERE*.

See you next week! :)

Tot School: Week 3 Drake (39 months)

2010-08-26T17:18:00.000-07:00

Draker learned all about butterflies this week. You can read about that *HERE*. I have to admit....there wasn't much else! lol We read many books and he played with some of his activity bags, but I failed to get pictures of all that.

Drake's life cycle of a butterfly.

Drake's drawing of a butterfly with circles.

You can read Nathan and Kaleb's week *HERE* and Gabriel's week *HERE*.

Galloping the Globe!!! Week 1

2010-08-26T17:16:00.000-07:00

We started our GtG unit study this week! Kaleb, Gabriel, and I are super excited!! Kaleb has been wanting to do geography ever since last co-op when I taught a geography class that he didn't take. After seeing all the cool projects and yummy foods, he begged and begged to take geography! Little did he know I was already planning for GtG!! :)

This is week one of Map Skills.

Christopher Columbus/Kensky
A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus/Adler
Hernando de Soto/Larkin
Sir Francis Drake/Larkin
Miss Rumphius/Cooney
Evan Moor Beginning Geography

This week we.....

...read Maps and Mapping by Taylor and Maps and Globes (I forgot to write down the author's name). We talked about the difference between a map and a globe, and then the difference between maps (political, physical, etc).

...drew maps of the neighborhood and our bedrooms.

....started the Evan Moor Beginning Geography workbook.

...read Christopher Columbus/Kensky, A Picture Book of Christopher Columbus/Adler, Hernando de Soto/Larkin, and Sir Francis Drake/Larkin. Then we did some notebooking pages on the explorers. (I'll have to take pictures of those for next week!)

There is so much more I want to cover before we begin with our first continent. We may stretch this part out over three weeks instead of two.

Next week we will do more pages from Beginning Geography before moving on to landforms and bodies of water.

Butterflies!!! ...and Apologia Gen Science!

2010-08-26T15:04:00.000-07:00

This week's science project doubles as our stART project!! :)

{Nathan's science week is below.}

Kaleb and Gabriel have spent the last few days learning about butterflies. We read the following books:

A Butterfly Grows/ Swinburne
Let's Draw a Butterfly with Circles
Butterflies in the Garden
Butterfly and the Bog Beast (Magic School Bus)
The Usborne Complete First Book of Nature (butterfly and moth section)

We memorized The Caterpillar by Christina Bottelli in FLL.

We talked about a butterfly's life cycle and made this fun project. Our very own pasta butterfly life cycle! :)

We made these cute little crafts.

Kaleb's reaction: "I liked all of the projects and books, and I like making the caterpillars. I learned that when caterpillars turn into butterflies, they become insects. "

Gabriel's reaction: "My favorite part was making butterflies and making butterflies. An insect has six legs."

-----------------------------------------

Nathan started Apologia General Science this week. He has really enjoyed it so far. He has completed two of the three experiments from Module one.

The first experiment is Density in Nature-
"Objects or substances with atoms packed closer together are more dense than those with atoms packed more loosely."

The second is Atomic Motion-
"The hotter the water is the faster the atoms move which causes the dye to be distributed faster than in the cold water."

Mama's Mission: Sept 2010

2010-08-25T11:16:00.000-07:00

When I saw Mama Jenn's new Mama's Mission post, I knew I had to join! I have already been working on this in small ways since July so why not make it official and public to help hold me accountable?

{I promise not all mission post will be so long but I'd like to give a little background.}

My biggest decision this summer was to get my house completely organized. I have made much progress and learned that this isn't something that will happen overnight. I realize this is a long-term process. It wasn't going to happen in a month...or two. However, I am SO pleased with what I have accomplished. My husband notices, the boys notice, and I notice.

My first goal was to completely organized all of our school stuff.....books, workbooks, office supplies, art supplies, games, activity bags....everything. And I had very little space to do it. I managed to get it done and I can't believe how much easier our homeschool day goes just because of simple organization.

"Mom, where's my....?" questions get definite concrete answer instead of the usual "I don't know...let's look for it." A great achievement in our home!

So to follow, my mission for the month of September two-fold:

keep our school organized. The hardest part of being organized is just simply staying organized. This is my biggest goal for Sept. Make it a habit for not only myself but my boys and husband (who seems to be a natural when it comes to this stuff). The biggest part to this is simply putting things back where they belong, instead of throwing it on the bar, table, or bookcase to be put away later.

continue organizing the house. Next on my list is the kitchen. I need to not only re-organize everything, but also purge and deep clean. I'm going to take it in sections since our schedule in Sept is so busy. I don't want to overwhelm myself. First I'm tackling the pots and pans cabinets. Then the foodstuff cabinets (which you can imagine with four kids is most of used cabinet space in the kitchen). Next will be the baking, spices, and dry condiments cabinet. On to the dishes, bowls, glasses, etc cabinets. And last will be the top of the refrigerator amd under the sink. That is five different sections and if I combine the last two, I have one mini-mission a week for September! Actually I already started today.....there are a lot of extras, doubles, unused items sitting on my curb right now for give-away. I love that in this neighborhood, free stuff doesn't last long. I'm sure everything will be gone by the evening.

So that's my Mama Mission of the Month!! Wish me luck!! :) Click on the button above to read about more missions for the month of September.

Our school room space

2010-08-24T08:42:00.000-07:00

I am SO excited that before this school year is over we will have a room completely dedicated to school! We are going to start building our new house *hopefully* next month. We are really looking forward to having lots of storage for our school supplies and a nice quiet place to learn.

In the meantime, we are using the dining area as school space. It isn't a big space and we still have to use the table for meals so I spent a good part of July getting every bit of school stuff organized and in its very own place.

My totally awesome bookcase find from last year's yard saling has made my life SO much easier.....even though I still need to finish painting it. It's actually more organized than this now too. My current goal is to make sure whatever comes into my house has its own space......or it doesn't get to stay! This sits between the back wall and our dining table.

Still the best thing in our homeschool.....workboxes. I changed from the hanging file folder boxes to this storage over the summer. I like this set up a lot better. The 12 inch length allows all those notebooks to lie flat and not crease. Each of the older two boys have 9 drawers which is all we can fit under the bar in front of the table. When we get the new school room, they will have 12 each and I will start adding a few for the younger boys.

Our workbox grids. The blue and red are Nathan's and Kaleb's grids. I decided not to use Gabriel's and Drake's yet since we don't have room for their workboxes. Instead I printed up a simple daily chart for them. Each day has four spaces for activities. Basically the idea is to just make sure I do at least four educational activities with each little one every day. They do more than this on any given day because they like to participate with the older boys but I needed this kind of OCD organization mostly to pacify myself.

This is the front of our morning board. I made a new one for this year. Their grids and schedules fit perfectly on the outside. This is mounted on the wall between the back wall window and our big closed storage.

The inside of our morning board.

The top of our closed storage. All of the calendar stuff is in that green storage box, puzzles, fingerpaints, LF dvds....mostly stuff I don't want the littles to reach! :) I usually use the front for showcasing art projects. You can see part of our morning board to the right.

I finally organized the inside.....and look at that room to spare!!! {no worries...I'm sure I'll have that filled up in no time!} Top two shelves are for art and office supplies that we are currently using. Bottom has a box of books for future use (deals I find on curricula).

This is above the washer and dryer (the w&d closet is in the dining area as well). Photo boxes hold extra supplies. I scored about 30 bottles of glue one day at Office Depot for NINE CENTS each! Stamp set above that. The file boxes used to be our workboxes. Now I keep all kind of paperwork for school (mostly pre-school) in them....one has ABC/123 stuff; another has holiday activities, ideas and more; and honestly I can't remember what is in the other two. lol I really need to organize them better. This is actually all above the dryer. To the left, above the dryer are a TON of board games.

I realized as I started this post that I didn't take a full picture of the area. That would probably helped a lot in seeing where everything is. Oh well....the next time I post homeschool room pics, you'll get every single little detail. {and hopefully that will be BEFORE Christmas....lol}

Go to Mama to 3 Blessings blog to see more classrooms!

Week 2: A lot of little fun things for the past few weeks.

2010-08-20T18:14:00.000-07:00

All things fun over the past few weeks called week 2!

We have been taking it slowly and one day at a time. Sometimes getting in a full school day and other times just a little here and there. We kept up with the three R's this past week and now I'm looking forward to adding science, art, Spanish, morning circle, and the rest to our schedule in the next few weeks. Next week we will add science, art, and morning circle. Spanish will be added once co-op starts and the rest (mostly AO extras) as time goes on.

The last few weeks have been filled with one more VBS, a Justin Bieber concert, play dates, pool parties, and just a lot of end-of-the-summer fun!! We have been SO busy but have had so much fun. I haven't taken many pictures of our adventures. Most were very mommy hands-on (like swimming) so the camera stayed at home. It's been great but we are all ready to settle down to a regular daily schedule.

We focused on getting those three R's done every day this week and we did great! We took off Thursday to attend our homeschool group's Not Back To School pool party....fun! Nathan and Kaleb are working hard and doing great. Gabriel and Drake want to do *school work* more and more. Thank goodness I took the time this summer to organize all of their preschool activity bags and other little games. They have been having fun with their own schoolwork. Gabriel surprised me this week by tracing {very well} numbers 1-15 and the letter Aa. He did a GREAT job! We definitely will keep working on that since he shows a HUGE interest and is doing so well!

Week 2 is all about the pictures so.........Enjoy!

{You can read about Gabriel's Preschool Corner week *HERE* and Drake's Tot School week *HERE*.}

This is a special pencil!! Besides being Star Wars, Daddy used this pencil when he was in school. It was put in a box of art supplies that we found in Grandma's attic a few weeks ago. So Kaleb used a pencil for schoolwork that his daddy used for schoolwork too!

Justin Bieber concert with friends!

See you next week! :)

Preschool Corner: Week 2 Gabriel (4 yrs)

2010-08-20T18:07:00.000-07:00

Gabriel is BEGGING me for more and more *real* schoolwork so here we go:

He shocked me with how well he can write....for the first time! He even held the pencil correctly! He would pinch it and say "like this mom?"

We played some fun educational games. Some with Kaleb and some with Drake.

We talked about math and then he wrote his numbers and traced shapes.

He did this puzzle mostly by himself.

Kaleb and Gabriel both working on a little math

We had a NOT back to school party with our homeschool group on Thursday. We had a picninc in the park, the boys rode the train with Daddy, and then we all went swimming for a couple hours!

He is having so much fun!

Can't wait until we start morning time next week!

You can read more about Nathan and Kaleb's week *HERE* and Drake's tot school week *HERE*.

Tot School: Week 2 Drake (29 months)

2010-08-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

My Draker boy LOVES these simple little activities! He has played with them every day since I made them!

I brought out this color matching game and he had a blast! He doesn't know all of the colors yet (actually he only really knows pink....and I"m not sure why) but we had fun! He picked one up, showed me, I told him the color and then he matched the clothespin with the paper plate!

He had to do a little pre-writing practice with his big brother, Gabriel! :)

We played with the lacing beads some this week too!

Thursday was spent at the park for a NOT back to school pool party with our homeschool group! We had a picnic and then walked over to the pool area for a couple hours of waterfun!

He really enjoyed this week!

You can read about Nathan and Kaleb's week *HERE* and Gabriel's week *HERE*.

A break....already? After ONE week?

2010-08-10T20:18:00.000-07:00

We've only had one week of school and here we are taking a little break. Why? Back-to-school busy-ness!! The boys have been invited to several back-to-school events, and neighborhood public school friends are trying to get in the last few days of *free play time*. We've had several birthday parties, family visits, church activities and playdates in the past few weeks too. Since we have the flexibility in our homeschool, why not take this time off? I'll be kind of glad when public school starts again and we can comfortably settle into our routine.

We are doing a few things though, and ll of that will be lumped into a *week 2* post soon!

Muffin Tin Monday

2010-08-04T11:40:00.000-07:00

I have a really fun muffin tin meal planned that ties in with our geography......but we have been SO busy lately!! It's like the last two weeks just exploded with activities!

We missed this past MTM because I simply forgot. This week's is very simple but the boys LOVED it! Kaleb declared today "the best day ever"........he has a lot of those!! :)

In the tins:
PB&J star sandwiches...you would have thought I hung those stars in the sky! :)
califlower
dipping ranch
string cheese cut in circles
green grapes

Week 1: July 19-23

2010-07-26T11:42:00.000-07:00

Starting a new school year!! Nathan is in 7th grade, Kaleb is in 1st, Gabriel is a preschooler, and Drake is starting tot school! :)

We're starting off the new year slowly with just math, English for Nathan (Kaleb will start FLL a little bit later), phonics, GtG and history. We'll add the rest in a few weeks after our Not-Back-To-School day (which will be the first day of public school in our area.

We participated in our first Muffin Tin Monday this week. Very fun!! We look forward to many, many more MTMs! You can read about it *HERE*.

We went to a local library for a magic show with some cousins. It was a lot of fun!! The kids loved it.....well except Drake. There were parts that scared him a little and he kept asking me to "doe side" (go outside). I noticed most of the kids his age (2) were a little afraid at times.....like when the octopus was attacking the magician and the bird was spraying us with water! :) Nathan and his 12 yr old cousin went straight to the computers when we got there (because they are just "TOO old for a magic show!!!"), but I noticed about half way through the hour that both of them were standing to the side, watching the show! Kaleb was the only one brave enough to get his picture taken with the magician!

We had some out of state cousins come for a visit on Friday so part of Wednesday and Thursday were spent cleaning and organizing the house a bit.

Nathan had an all day basketball clinic on Friday. The littles and I dropped him off before doing the weekly grocery shopping. We picked Nathan up in time to rush to grandma's for dinner with the cousins. Then we brought a couple home with us to spend the night. It was definitely a FUN night!! :)

Nathan:
Saxon Math 76 He is working through tests this week to see where he is in the book. This week he did tests 1-3
I can now see how LITTLE Nathan accomplished this week. He will do much better in week 2!

Kaleb:
OPG lesson 108-110
ETC pages 58-64
GTG I truly had planned on starting this week but with all of the other activities, we kept pushing this aside until the week was finally over. Next week for sure!! The boys are really looking forward to it!

Gabriel:
Read all about Gabriel's first week of preschool *HERE*.

Drake:
You can read about Draker's Tot School *HERE*.

Tot School: Week 1-Drake (28 months)

2010-07-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

One of my goals for the new school year is to work more with Drake. He enjoys tot school so I need to make more time for him.

Here are some of the things we have done this week:

Monday-
We had our first MTM lunch!! It was a HUGE hit with the boys! You can read more about it *HERE*.

Drake and Gabriel had fun playing with the lacing beads.

Daddy surprised us with a mid-morning visit and some cousins came by for a short visit. One of the cousins left her hat....Drake has been taking care of it for her! :)

We read a few books and all of a sudden--it was dinner time!!

Tuesday-
FUN and SCARY day all in one! We went with some cousins to a local library for a magician show!! It was fun but parts of it were just a little scary..........like when the octopus attacked the magician and then a bird squirted water at us. Drake kept asking to "doe side" (go outside...and away from the scary octopus and bird). He did like many other parts of the show though!

Came home for lunch and then a quick nap!

Had a little unsupervised cutting practice (wish I had gotten a picture of that!!) with lef
t-over cutting sheets and Gabriel's scissors that he forgot to put away.

Wednesday & Thursday-
....are blurs. We were getting ready for out of town family coming for a visit. I'm sure we did SOMETHING educational and fun but I can't remember what it was!!

Friday-
We spent the day in town doing some shopping after dropping Nathan off at a basketball day camp and then came home in time for naps before heading back to town to pick up Nathan. Then we went to Grandma's house to play with cousins. Brought a couple home with us to spend the night. FUN day!!

We will do better during week 2!! I have more things actually PLANNED for him. :)

Preschool Corner: Week 1 Gabriel (4 yrs old)

2010-07-26T11:26:00.000-07:00

My plan for Gabriel is to work on becoming familiar with the whole alphabet and letter sounds. He knows most of the letters, but we'll spend probably the first semester reviewing those letters he knows and learning the rest. After that, we'll start ETC primers. We will also work on some fun preschool math and other preschool activities. He has been requesting more *school* work so I'm giving it to him! :)

This is what we did this week:

Monday-We had our very FIRST MTM lunch! You can read more about it *HERE*

Gabriel asked to get out the lacing beads. He and Drake played with those for a long while.

Daddy came home for a little bit and played with the boys before lunch. Then some cousins came to play. We had some book time and then all of a sudden, it was dinner time!

Tuesday-
We went to a local library to see a magician show with some cousins. It was a lot of fun!! All of the kids enjoyed it!

We came home for lunch and then during Drake's nap time, Gabriel had....

......some activity time. This is his FAVORITE activity. He calls it number ferris wheel! He knows his numbers though so I need to get out the ABC wheel! I found the number wheel at Homeschool Share in the workboxables section.

.......little cutting practice.....

.....and some coloring time.

Wednesday & Thursday-

I'm not sure what happened but I'm pretty sure the only thing we did these two days was clean house. We had some out of town family coming for a visit and I was trying to get everything organized for the new week.

Friday-
Nathan had an all day basketball clinic so we used that time to grocery shop and get naps in before heading to Grandma's house for cousin fun!! Then we brought back two cousins to spend the night with us. A FUN day!!

Muffin Tin Monday!

2010-07-25T19:47:00.000-07:00

Ok so you KNOW a left-over lunch is way more fun in a muffin tin, right?? I thought so too. We had a FUN lunch with our leftovers for sure! I love how excited the boys are to see their very own muffin tin lunch. I am having SO much fun creating these little meals for them too! Click on the MTM logo to see more muffing tin meals!!

In our muffin tins:

left-over spaghetti, left-over half cheeseburger, carrots in ranch, fresh pineapple, and a smoothie.

God=Love

2010-07-21T08:25:00.000-07:00

Our worship leader opened my eyes to something that I think is just amazing. I have thought about it all week.

1John 4:8 says God is love. The word *is* means the same as = so God=Love. With that in mind, read 1Cor 13 (one of my favorite passages that was read at my wedding almost 10 years ago).

Replace LOVE with GOD.

Love

¹If I speak in the tongues^[a] of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. ²If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. ³If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames,^[b] but have not love, I gain nothing. ⁴Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. ⁵It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. ⁶Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. ⁷It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.
⁸Love never fails. But where there are prophecies, they will cease; where there are tongues, they will be stilled; where there is knowledge, it will pass away. ⁹For we know in part and we prophesy in part, ¹⁰but when perfection comes, the imperfect disappears. ¹¹When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. ¹²Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
¹³And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Muffin Tin Monday

2010-07-19T09:48:00.000-07:00

Our first MTM!!! :)

In the tins: chicken nuggets, ketchup/bbq sauce, cheese stars/cutout, carrots/ranch, watermelon, strawberry/banana kabobs with blueberry stoppers.

Their muffin tins were the same except for their little fruit kabobs. Each had one with their names and one with a favorite. Thanks to my swap partner again because this was SO fun!!

The boys LOVED it!! They asked if every lunch could be a muffin tin meal! :)

My job for Sunday family dinner with the inlaws was to bring the fruit salad. To make it a little fun for the kids, I added some fruit kabobs to the bowl using some picks from my swap partner. They LOVED it!! :)

Apologia General Science & the littles.

2010-07-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

Nathan will be using Apologia's General Science in the new school year. I really think he will enjoy it. He likes science so this general introduction will be great for him.....and I love that it's Apologia!!

Before I get started on my plan for my younger boys, I just have to share this link! I love the printables here! Using most of them in Nathan's science notebook.

I've been wondering about what kind of science to do with the younger boys. I would like to hold off another year or two before getting back to Apologia's elementary series. Kaleb enjoyed Apologia Astronomy, but I've heard the others may be a bit more involved than the Astronomy book. We never got started on Botany this summer so we decided to save it for later.

After reading through the General Science book, I decided to just tailor the little boys' science around Nathan's studies.....very simply with library books, online resources, and experiments geared toward their age level. So when Nathan studies simple machines, his younger brothers will also study simple machines. This gives them a great general overview of science as well. To help Nathan's understanding of general science, I have decided to have him read some of the library books to his brothers and help them complete their own simpler versions of his module experiments after he has completed his own.

Since they are so young and we are also doing Galloping the Globe (which also involves a little science--studying animals from different parts of the world), my plan is to only have one science day a week. Odd weeks will be general science weeks and even weeks will be GtG science weeks. This will also free up some time for me to work more with Nathan on his science.

Below is my library book and online resource list for the littles. I haven't previewed these yet though. These are just the books I found from my local library that relate to each module. We'll just use internet resources for the modules with a small or no book list.

General Science Resources
Discovery Education
The Science Spot: Kids Zone
Homeschool Share Lapbooks

Mrs. Riley Bought Five Aardvarks..../Cleary

Module 1 : A Brief History of Science

Module 2 : Scientific Inquiry

Module 3: How to Analyze and Interpret Experiments

Module 4: Science, Applied Science, and Technology

Forces and Simple Machines/Richards
Levers/Oxlade
Wedges and Ramps/Oxlade
Wheels/Oxlade
Machines and How They Work/Weiss
Science Experiments with Simple Machines/Nankivell/Aston
Sensational Science Projects with Simple Machines/Garner
Experiment -simple machines

Module 5: The History of Life: Archaeology, Geology, and Paleontology

Archaeologists Dig for Clues/Duke
Archaeology/McIntosh

Module 6: Foundations of Geology

Magic School Bus: Inside the Earth
Rocks, Fossils, and Arrowheads/Ever
Hands-On Projects About Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils/West
The Changing Earth/Olien

Module 7: The Fossil Record

If You Are a Hunter of Fossils/Baylo
Rocks, Fossils, and Arrowheads/Ever
Hands-On Projects About Rocks, Minerals, and Fossils/West
Fossils of the World/Pellant

Module 8: Uniformitarianism and Catastrophism

Module 9: What is Life?

DNA is Here to Stay/Balkwill

Module 10: Classifying Life

Classification of Life/Stewart
Experiment -plant

Module 11: The Human Body: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made

The Skeletal System/Olien
The Muscular System/Olien
My Bones and Muscles/Rau
Skin, Muscles, Bones/Parker
The Skeleton Inside You/Balestrino
My Skin/Rau
Your Skin and Mine/Showers
Your Body Battles a Skinned Knee/Cobb
Experiment -fingerprints

Module 12: Energy and Life

Module 13: The Human Digestive System

Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
Digestive System/Olien
I Know Where My Food Goes/Maynard
What Happens to a Hamburger?/Showers

Module 14: The Human Respiratory and Circulatory Systems

Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
What's Inside Me? My lungs/Rau
My Lungs/Furgang
Sniffles, Sneezes, Hiccups, and Coughs/Durant
Respiratory System/Olien
My Heart/Furgang
What's Inside Me? My Heart/Rau
Circulatory System/Olien

Module 15: The Human Lymphatic, Endocrine, and Urinary Systems

The Endocrine System/Olien

Module 16: The Human Nervous System

Magic School Bus: Inside the Human Body
Brain Surgery for Beginners..../Parker
My Brain/Rau
Nervous System/Olien

Flat Stanley!!!

2010-07-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

The boys and I signed up for a Flat Stanley adventure on the WTM forum boards last month. We received our mailing list this week so I had the boys sit down to color their own Flat Stanley to be mailed. We included a little bio of each boy and some info about our state. We dropped the package into the mail this afternoon so our Flat Stanleys are now headed to their first destination....California!

To simplify things, we will receive pictures and information via email from each family as our Flat Stanleys travel the USA and even abroad. As we receive emails, we will print the pictures and info, and make a Flat Stanley scrapbook!!

We've talked a little about where we'll take the other families' FS for pictures as we receive them. We have some fun local places to take each family. Besides those, some places the boys suggested were our library, the swimming hole (those paper Flat Stanleys will be screaming "YIKES"!), our Tuesday pizza lunch place, co-op classes (later this fall), sports practice, and the park.

I don't think the little boys quite understand the concept yet and my oldest is just a tad bored by it. (but he's at that age where a LOT *bores* him. I think he'll enjoy it as well once we start receiving emails and pictures.) *I* am very excited about this project and can't wait for our first email and package!! :)

{Btw......I failed miserably with photos!! I just plain forgot to take pictures of the boys' Flat Stanleys before mailing off the package. We'll include them in our scrapbook when we get them back at the end!!}

Muffin Tin Monday Swap!!!

2010-07-14T14:27:00.000-07:00

Last month the boys and I signed up for the Muffin Tin Monday Swap. We had fun picking out some things for my swap partner, Arwen, and got it all mailed off this past Saturday. I decided that I'm not sure which is more fun.....waiting for the package from my partner or waiting for her to receive our package!

On Monday we received a package from my partner. Now we were asked to give a wish list and since we are new to MTMs, I suggested maybe a *starter package* of some sort. I was BLOWN AWAY by the contents.

*A muffin tin each for my four boys

*cookie cutters

*Dino sandwich cutter

*mini and regular size cupcake holders

*little pirate swords

*party picks

*chopsticks (this got a huge "YES" from my oldest!!)

*heart shaped sauce holders

*little hors d'oeuvre forks

*CUTE HANDMADE Lego muffin "coasters" (I think she called them something else but I can't remember!! lol) to decorate the bottom of muffin tins!

*TONS of HANDMADE food picks personalized with my children's favorites: sports, Go Diego Go, cars, LEGOS.

*a ziplock bento box for my oldest

*BONUS basketball craft for each boy!

*and BONUS craft ribbon for ME!

Below are a couple close up pics of the handmade items. The last one is a little blurry. My camera battery was running low.

I canNOT wait for the next MTM......our first!!!

Thank you SO much, Arwen!!!

easy peasy lemon squeezy bird feeder.

2010-06-01T13:28:00.000-07:00

I made this bird feeder earlier today. I have three more bottles so the boys can make their own and either hang in the yard or gift to someone.

2 liter bottle

bird seed

string or yarn

stick

Cut two good sized holes in the bottle (I made rectangles and then rounded the tops just for fun). Poke two holes for the stick right below the big holes. Add the string to the neck and tie to a tree limb. Add bird seed. Sit back and watch!

We put ours up this morning and already had one new visitor. Gabriel, in his excitement, scared off the poor bird though!

If the squirrels start getting into it, I'll poke a hole in the middle of a plastic plate (from the dollar store) and string onto the top of the bottle.

A little nature study...in our front yard.

2010-06-01T08:04:00.000-07:00

We live in a small town that is {apparently} full of critters to enjoy. This weekend I thought I'd take some pictures of a few little guys who love our front yard. The idea is to get my boys interested in nature study without forcing it on them. If I show an interest, they will begin to show an interest.

Don't get me wrong...the boys LOVE the great outdoors. They go on hikes in the woods with Daddy, love playing outside, and explore well enough on their own. I would like for them to show an interest in learning more about the outdoors I guess.

Just taking the few pictures I did this weekend sparked an interest in a pair of robins that are repairing a nest in a tree in our front yard. We can watch them from our front window in the living room.

Here are a few of the pictures I took this weekend. From top to bottom: this silly squirrel spent most of the morning playing and fighting with another squirrel before taking off across the power lines. That bird in the top of the tree is a Mockingbird. The next bird is a Blue Jay...one of my favorites. They are mean but very pretty. That robin is one of the two who are working on the nest in our front yard. The next picture shows the other robin carrying some *supplies* back to the nest. Then the nest itself. I can't wait to see if we'll have baby robins one day this summer!

Closing out the 2009-2010 school year! And the new line-up...

2010-05-17T11:03:00.000-07:00

We like schooling year around with a lot of nice breaks in the mix. When we complete a level, we just move to the next. Sometimes we'll take a small break from the subject, sometimes not. Just depends on how things are going. Nathan finished up his math last month and asked to take off the month of May from math. After such a challenging year for him and some major successes, I thought he deserved just that and he is enjoying his time off.

We're pretty much in the middle of everything else but science. Between co-op and sports, we just never could get it started. We WILL get started next week!! (that's the plan anyway)

So our official school year will end this Thursday with Kaleb's kindergarten graduation. He is SO excited!! Our homeschool group usually has one every year and this year I am heading it up. There are only three prek'ners and k'ners participating so we're making it easy and fun. A trip to the park, pictures with a graduation cap and balloons, homemade personalized cookie cakes, and lots of playtime!

Then I will officially have a 7th grader, 1st grader, preschooler, and toddler. :)

We're going to concentrate this summer on getting finished with SOTW 1, getting started with Apologia Botany, math, and reading.

The 2010-2011 curriculum line-up looks like this:

Nathan-
Saxon 76 and 87/supp with some MM 5 and 6
R&S English 5 and 6
(still considering Lightening Lit)
(still working on a writing program to supplement R&S English...maybe Writing Strands?)
Vocab notebook from literature, history, and science
French (independently)
Apologia General Science (SO looking forward to this!)
Apologia Botany (finish up with the littles)
Dig Deep and then I'm not sure where we'll go from there.

Kaleb-
MM 1 and 2
OPGTR
A Reason for Handwriting
FLL
ETC
Apologia Botany
Galloping the Globe (which will cover most of his art and science after Botany)

Gabriel-
OPGTR (very slowly....)
ETC primers
LeapFrog videos and games
Apologia Botany (when he wants to participate)
Galloping the Globe

Together-
SOTW 2
Keys for Kids
AO composer study, artist study, nature study, hymns, folksongs, etc.
The Learnables Spanish
Thinking seriously about doing 1+1+1=1's Raising Rock Stars bible study with the younger three. If not, I'll have to find something else for them.

Is that all? I think so.

I'm most excited about Nathan's science, Spanish, and Galloping the Globe!! I am working hard at putting together books lists for each of the boys and getting the year all planned. The best piece of advice I read (on a blog but I forget where....) on preparing for the next school year was to do all of the copying, organizing, and planning for the whole year during the summer. Get it all done so there is no last minute scrambling and searching...or much anyway. I already got a head start!! Every weekend I do a little more so that come July and our first day of the new school year, we'll be all ready to go! I've also been working on getting our school room re-organized to make it work better for us. Labeling, labeling, labeling everything!!

Our workboxes made it through the year with us although we went from file folders to these. We will definitely be keeping them! The fact is......we get SO much more work done when we are using our tweaked workbox system!! Gabriel will soon have his own set of workboxes and I might even get some for Drake to keep his little tot tray activities better organized.

YAY!! Our 2nd year of homeschooling is coming to an end. Very excited to get our 3rd year planned and ready!

I'll get back to blogging one of these days.

2010-05-12T11:53:00.000-07:00

Until then here is a glimpse at our spring.

Week 34: April 19-23

2010-04-23T13:25:00.000-07:00

Not a lot of time so this is going to be short and to the point.

Good week! We accomplished a decent amount and had some fun in between.

Nathan
....has just a few lessons left to finish up Saxon Math 65. Then he'll get a month off before diving into 76.
....didn't get back to R&S English this week. Next week!
....is STILL liking guitar lessons. This is good since he easily becomes bored with hobbies. I'm hoping this one sticks. I may just help it stick to be sure. ;)

Kaleb
....is rocking through OPG. Loving all those vowel combinations! Hit lesson 94 yesterday.
....is moving fast through these first lessons in MM. He's doing about two pages a day right now.

We didn't get to Apologia, but we have been observing our plants.
History is non-existent in our home right now. Next week!

We saw the coolest thing today. The UP Steam locomotive No. 844 is making its last trip before retiring. We got to see it pass through our little town this afternoon. We were about 10 feet from the tracks. It was loud and moving a lot faster than planned (late for a ceremony). The boys LOVED it!

Week 31-33: Computer meltdown.

2010-04-19T09:28:00.000-07:00

I haven't been blogging because a nasty virus attacked my laptop at the end of last month. I couldn't even get it to turn on!! Our desktop is a super slow ancient dinosaur and doesn't do well with blogs. My stepson who is finishing his degree in computer programming offered to fix my laptop for me and now it is as good as new!! :)

The last few weeks have been pretty busy. Co-op classes are still fabulous, and baseball practice x2 is in full swing. I have to admit, not near enough schoolwork was accomplished so we are hitting it hard for the next couple of weeks. I have tried and tried to start the Apologia Botany study with no luck. I just can't seem to fit it in! We got away from our workboxes again, and of course that is the root of our problem. I can't believe how well the workboxes *work* for us! .....when we stick to them.

I did make one BIG change for Kaleb. I purchased the whole set of Math Mammoth through the Homeschool Buyers Co-op last month. We have officially ditched Saxon's younger years. Still love Saxon 54 and above, but SO glad to be rid of K-3. Kaleb is breezing through MM 1 right now, and we are working on memorizing math facts and skip counting. He loves MM just as much if not more than Saxon and I really like it a lot better too. I know a lot of people like to supplement MM with Saxon, Singapore, and others, but I think we'll just stick with the one program for now. My plan is to introduce Saxon 54 in the 3rd grade so until then we will just supplement with fun math games and living books.

OPG and ETC are going well as usual. He is working through ETC 2 1/2 right now and will finish it soon. We have spent some extra time with the vowel pairs in OPG just to make sure he has them down. We finished through Lesson 91 this past week.

Nathan is finally finishing up Math 65. It has gone a lot slower than I thought, but he is doing SO well. We agreed to take the month of May off from math and start in June with Math 76. MM Fractions is still going well and I hope to have it finished by the end of the summer. Then I think we'll use MM 5 & 6 as a review alongside Saxon. I'm thinking about getting Life of Fred after that. I think he would love some FUN math!!

We are slowly creeping through the ancients. We aren't doing as well as we should here. I've moved to a two day a week schedule and it is working better, especially with co-op being on Friday. I plan to have the same two day schedule with Botany when we get back into it.

Nathan has been taking some time off from R&S English. We're getting back to it this week though.

Gabriel has been working on counting to 20. He skips 13 and 17 every time!! :) He's getting there though. We are {finally} getting back to ABC I Believe this week. He has also been enjoying his preschool activity bags. I really need to make some more for him! I would love to find another swap to join.

Drake amazed his daddy this weekend by counting to 5 and saying a good part of the alphabet. I love how spongy little kids are!!! :)

I think that is about it. We have spent an insane amount of time outdoors. Charlotte Mason would be proud! The weather has been so nice lately. I have several pictures to share!! I will catch up on those at the end of this week when I have a little more time.

Happy Spring!!!

Home Grown Hearts Giveaway!!

2010-03-26T18:50:00.000-07:00

See these???

Want to win them??

(me too!!)

Go HERE to enter!!

Week 30: March 22-26

2010-03-26T15:53:00.000-07:00

I have to say, not a whole lot going on here. I took care of my mom last week as she was sick and needed help. Then on Saturday we took a quick overnight trip to Tulsa, OK to visit the Tulsa Aquarium and Bass Pro Shop. Monday was a day of recuperation from the week before and our little trip. We went to the zoo with friends on Tuesday. Our little man turned TWO YEARS OLD on Wednesday. We had a nice family dinner with the grandparents. His party is this Sunday afternoon. I spent the majority of Thursday doing some spring cleaning. I'm not finished but got a good start! Co-op today was great as usual.

I have pictures from our trip and zoo day to post, but I gave the SD card to my friend on accident. :) I'll add those to the birthday pictures next week.

I have been reading and reading about AO's art and music appreciation. I plan to add both to our homeschool starting with this year's 3rd term. Also I would like to add hymns and folksongs the list. We will definitely start art and music though.

I have been suffering from seasonal allergies and have yet to find something (anything!!!) to help....Thus the very short and boring weekly report.

Happy weekend to you all!!

Taking the AO plunge.

2010-03-25T13:12:00.000-07:00

In our homeschool, I have yet found the time, energy, or organized resources to put together a solid art/music study for my boys. I looked through Ambleside Online last year and was SO overwhelmed with everything on that website that I immediately decided against it. However after looking through just the resources link, I have now decided to do art appreciation and music appreciation. I am considering the Shakespeare schedule although I think we would start with a previous year, as well as hymns, folksongs, and poets. Ok I guess I'm considering all of the subject resources! :)

I was just given this link to help with the music appreciation.

Anyone use the subject resources from Ambleside? Any thoughts or suggestions? Links to homeschool blogs with AO experience?

Preschool Accountability

2010-03-22T12:57:00.000-07:00

It seems like most days my poor little boys spend most of their time doing their own thing. I try to get at least 3 or 4 crafts in a week, plus a few preschool activity games. Still I'm not using even a fourth of what I have available for them. There are so many cool things I want to do with my little boys but without some strict organization (like the workbox system), I have very poor follow-through.

I set up these up for the older two boys' workboxes a while back. I like them much better than the hanging file folder system (I've converted those folders and storage tubs into my own organized system, all of our ABC activities, seasonal activities, and misc stuff). I didn't get any of those storage drawers for the littles though. I didn't think I'd need them. Well guess what.....I need the same accountability for my little ones that I need for my older boys (duh...) only on a much simpler level. I have one set (one unit of three drawers) for Gabriel and will get one set for Drake this week. Gabriel's drawers are simply labeled phonics, math, and art/craft. I plan on putting at least five activities in each drawer for the week (four during co-op), probably more phonics activities as we can easily do two or three things a day (puzzles, flashcards, games, coloring pages, etc). Kaleb will of course do the same art or craft as Gabriel so that saves having to use one of his drawers for art/crafts. Drake's labels will be books, shapes and colors, and fine motor skills. The these drawers will actually be for both Drake and Gabriel. His drawers will have at least five days' worth of activities and we'll just pull one a day, except for the books drawer. I'll fill that one daily with several books that we will read throughout the day. In all Gabriel will have six scheduled activities a day, Drake will have three, and Kaleb will have one extra (Gabriel's art/craft drawer) than the six he already has.

As we empty the drawers through the week, I plan on putting the reusable materials in a separate storage tub so I know we work our way through all of our materials. Its the only way I know to take advantage of the many resources I've acquired over the years. After we've used all of our resources, we'll just start over. I may keep favorites out to use more than once a week. We'll follow the same workbox system as the older boys do with the number grid.

With the same system as the older boys, I'm sure I can keep the little boys on track with their own *schoolwork*. Now maybe I'll be more consistent with Tot School and Preschool Corner blog updates too!! :)

Week 27-29: Mar 1-19

2010-03-19T19:00:00.000-07:00

I'm loving these last few weeks! I'm going to sound like a broken record, but Nathan is doing SO well in math and Kaleb is doing SO well in phonics! Great weeks!! All three have been short weeks, though.

We started co-op on the first Friday of the month. It has been pretty fun so far!! The boys actually missed last Friday due to a short stomach bug. Daddy watched them while I taught my class and then we snuggled on the couch for the rest of the day.

Kaleb participated in our homeschool group's history fair this month. It was a lot of fun for him. He didn't place, but still learned a lot about his topic and the history fair process. He is already planning for the science fair in the fall.

This week was crazy. My mom got sick and had to come stay with us for three days. The boys were crazy with her watching from the couch. She, being used to the peace and quiet at her house, didn't get much rest. She did, however, get many hugs, I love you's, and watch this Nana's.

The boys are loving their co-op classes! Nathan did drop the horses class. It turns out most of the students were girls and about half his age. The whole class was a little young for him so he will spend his last co-op hour practicing the guitar. He has really taken to it. He was playing a pretty little something today and I asked the name of the song. He said he was just playing. I was a little blown away. After co-op, I will definitely have to find somewhere for him to continue lessons or maybe he'll be far enough along to teach himself. Kaleb loves his classes, especially the worms class. Gabriel is enjoying the animals class. They learn about a different animal each week. Of course the play-doh class and building blocks class are big hits as well.

School work at home continues along at a decent pace. This week was a little off, but we did get a good amount of work completely. I have slacked in my organization and it is beginning to show. Honestly I haven't even kept track of what has been done. We have been literally just *doing the next thing*. I'm going to get back on track for next week. We get more accomplished and I feel more relaxed when everything is planned.

Kind of some crazy smiles, huh? Happy Friday! Enjoy your weekend!!

Wormy Week 1

2010-03-19T18:41:00.000-07:00

One of Kaleb's co-op classes is all about worms. When I signed him up for the class, I was thinking how COOL it would be. It is cool.....for the boys. Its just kind of gross for me (you know, the one who has to remember to check on the little guys, cut up their food, make sure their newspaper stays moist, and dig around in the newspaper, dirt, food, and---I'm more than aware of the---poo). Gotta love those worms!! Oh and the teacher told us that if we keep them in the house with us, they will grow faster and most likely have BABIES before the end of co-op. YAY! not.... (ok, that is a little exciting, but I'm having worm-filled nightmares already)

I just decided to pretend to be the cool mom who loves nothing more than digging around in a plastic shoe box storage full of.......fun.

We are doing a photo journal because we don't want to miss one tiny detail. We're actually starting on day two because I forgot about taking pictures on day one.

Anyway without further ado, please meet our new small friends, The Worms:

Day two-

Day four-

Can you tell the growth from day two and four? That is pretty neat!!

We had a small food problem. We're apparently overfeeding. There was some mold in the box today so I'm going to clean it out tomorrow and put in less food. The crushed eggs is supposed to help with that though. I may need to do some googling to find out more info.

Despite the fact that I think worms are icky, I think it will be a fun project!

Library book sale score.

2010-03-19T16:37:00.000-07:00

For a small donation, all of these books became ours! Perfect for my new little reader and future readers. There were a few more but I kind of felt obligated to let someone else have a few. If they are still there next Tuesday, we'll snag those too!!

Incidentally, I like AR Book Finder for determining reading levels. Do you have a similar website you like?

(a couple real posts coming soon......I hope!)

Kaleb's first history fair.

2010-03-15T19:01:00.000-07:00

Kaleb participated in his first history fair with our homeschool group. He had such a great time!! His topic was King Tut. We read books, did several internet readings, and watched some videos. He dictated to me what he wanted on his board and then I typed it all up for him. He picked out some pictures online that I printed and then we worked together to assemble his board. The highlight for him was making the death mask. He had so much fun and it was super easy to make. I linked the instructions for the mask below the pictures. We added the beard by taping on an empty paper towel roll to the back of the face.

King Tut mask

YAY! A fun blog hop!!

2010-03-04T07:12:00.000-08:00

Going to spend some afternoon free time blog hoppin'!

Week 26: Feb 22-26

2010-02-26T13:56:00.000-08:00

We really needed this to be another great week since co-op starts next week, and soon we'll be back into golf and baseball.

*sigh* Once again there are no pics. I have several to share but can't upload them right now. One of these days I'm going to have a HUGE picture update!! :)

Unfortunately we did not get off to a good start on Monday. It seemed the whole day was against all of us. Drake went to bed on Sunday with a fever, and woke up lethargic and stuffy. A truck at Daddy's work backed into his truck. Everything we tried to get started failed in one way or another. *Just another manic Monday.*

We had lunch with an old friend on Tuesday at a favorite pizza place, and then we went to a fun play place with our homeschool group. Its like a gigantic McD's playland!! So fun!! It was our first time to go there, and the boys LOVED it! Nathan is over the age limit so he hung out with the teens and had a good time. Since we had two fun activities planned for the day, the boys agreed the night before to wake up earlier than usual to get school work completed. Both older boys completed everything but science and history!!

Wednesday was our only full day home this week. We caught up on science and history since we skipped both on Monday and Tuesday. The whole day went smoothly. I love days like that!! It was pretty nice outside, even though a bit colder than I like, so the boys played in the yard for most of the afternoon.

Nathan had a doctors appointment Thursday mid-morning. Again I woke the boys up earlier than usual so they could get an early start. I was determined to make the most of this last *free* week!! :) We took schoolwork in our backpacks to the doctor's office for the *long* wait. It actually wasn't too bad of a wait. Nathan finished his math and Kaleb got in a phonics lesson and one book.

We took most of the day off on Friday. I stayed up late last night and didn't feel well this morning. Nathan is going to his Nana's house for the night and Kaleb is going to his grandma's house. The two littles, Daddy, and I are hanging out tonight!! My husband got me a spa day package for Valentines Day so tomorrow is my appointment!! I am SO excited!! lol A little pampering/quiet/relaxing time for mom!

Nathan.......
.....did lessons 102-106 and a test in Saxon math.
.....did not have great success with English this week. He completed lessons 66 and 67. We really need the time to sit together to cover each lesson and we just didn't have that much this week.
.....is reading The Bronze Bow and the second book in the Percy Jackson series.
.....didn't do any Wordly Wise this week. I'm ready to put it away. I've already started pulling vocab words from history and science. I think I'll have him start his own dictionary next week with those words. That may be more fun and he will probably get more out of that than WW.

Kaleb........
....completed lesson 82 in OPG. I need to print some worksheets or find a game for the soft sounds of c and g. Those kind of threw him for a loop. He needs a bit more practice.
.....started The Cat in the Hat. I am having trouble finding books for him to read that aren't full of sight words. I only teach very, very few sight words. Most can be taught phonetically and that is how I prefer him to learn.
.....got in more writing practice this week. It is NOT a favorite activity for him. Actually I was shocked to find out he hates something about school!! He did do a LOT of writing though. I had him write OPG words and then numbers from math. I also brought out an ABC dry erase board for practice. I tried to change it up a bit and I probably overdid it. This is why I need a writing curriculum for him. :) Either I have him write too much or not near enough.
....did several Saxon math lessons. He asked me on Wednesday if I could make math a little bit harder for him. Seriously. He doesn't want to do more, but he does want more of a challenge. I'm thinking of bringing out Saxon 2 and seeing how he does. I just hate to miss something important in Saxon 1. He is working on memorizing the math facts, already has doubles and ones down. Maybe I can just work more with him on his math facts. My other thought is to add fun workbook or something. I have a fun subtraction workbook. Maybe one on time and money? He does pretty well with time already though and does ok with coin money. Who knows....I know I don't have a clue. I AM going to print off some MM worksheets for him and see if he feels a bit more challenged.
...is working hard still on his history fair project. We read a few books on King Tut this week. He dictated his narrations and thoughts to me and I'll get those typed up for his board this weekend. We printed off a bunch of pictures and just need to add some captions to those. He is SO excited about history fair!! I am too!! Just over a week away!!

Both.........
......completed lesson 13 in Apologia Astronomy!! Just one more lesson to go!! We'll finish that up next week and start Botany the following week. I think I am going to follow the suggested two days a week schedule in the notebook journal. We have been doing science (and history) every day, but I think I'd like to cut that down. That would put us finishing it up around the end of August/beginning of September which would be perfect. Nathan could then start Apologia Gen Science and the little would start GtG (not sure how much science is in it yet though). Kaleb also asked to do unit studies on dinosaurs and the human body. I think following Nathan's science schedule will make planning a bit easier.
.....completed Ch 17 in SOTW. We didn't do any of the activities in the AG because of all the other activities we did, but both boys enjoyed the chapter.

Have a good weekend everyone!!

Week 25: Feb 15-19

2010-02-18T11:45:00.000-08:00

Same song, different week. Life is good and work is getting done!!

We have flown through this week and accomplished a lot. The highlights of the week are tomorrow when we go to a postponed Valentine skating party with a bunch of local homeschoolers and Saturday when we go to the World of Pharaohs exhibition in Little Rock, Arkansas. FUN! I'll have to share those pictures next week.

Kaleb....
.....is still doing great in OPG. He completed through lesson 77. We are doing a lot of extra review of previous words, and he is doing very well. I have him pick a few each day from the word ring to write. However I think I'm going to add the current lesson's words to the list too. He needs more writing practice.

.....finished up ETC 2 and began ETC 2 1/2. I heard from other parents about the fun extra activities in the 1/2 books so I thought we would check it out. He doesn't need the extra review, but he is flying so fast through the books and LOVES doing them so I don't think it will hurt.

....continues to fly through Saxon 1. We are doing a few extra fun math things on the side still. He enjoys Saxon but it is not challenging at all.

Nathan....
....continues to do well in Saxon math. He finished up lesson 101. I am SO glad that he is doing so well!!
....working through MM Fractions and doing well there also.
....has come to a point in English that is pretty easy--pronouns. He finished through lesson 55 plus lessons 61-64. We do English four days a week. However two of those days we do two lessons a day. One lesson in the current chapter and one in the next chapter. He asked to do this so he can finish early and as long as he is doing so well, I'll continue to let him. He also likes to have some variety in his lessons so doing weeks of one part of speech is kind of boring (for me too). When he comes to a writing assignment, he only does that lesson since writing isn't so easy for him.
....trudging along in WW. We are dropping WW next year. I'm tempted to just drop now. We'll see. I can easily pull vocab words from history and science. Plus when we get into the Famous Men series, there are vocab words listed for each chapter.

Both....
....are excited to finish Astronomy. We should already be finished but we've taken some time off here and there, especially during those snow days when we put off astronomy for nature. However we are just a couple of weeks away. I have pictures of the boys' Saturn, Neptune, and Uranus drawings, but I'll have to upload them next week with Pluto.
....love SOTW much better than MOH. Go figure. LOVE the AG and all those suggestions, ideas, and student pages.

Gabriel and Drake.....
.....have been playing and playing and playing. I have had a hard time getting back to the letter of the week stuff. We have been singing songs and playing games though. Gabriel already knows the alphabet and most of the sounds. He can sound out words, and even spell a few cvc words, thanks to Teacher Kaleb. Because of that, I'm thinking of scrapping the letter of the week. We can spend our time doing other fun activities and just work on letter sounds and the few letters that he doesn't recognize right off. I don't know. Still thinking. Any ideas?

We all are very excited about tomorrow's valentine skating party and the trip to Little Rock on Saturday! We have some valentine boxes to make tonight!! Fun weekend ahead!!

Week 22-24: Jan 25-Feb 12

2010-02-12T08:29:00.000-08:00

We have spent the last three weeks working hard, and I haven't taken many pictures.

The boys have been working hard. Nathan and Kaleb both are doing very well in math. MM was the perfect addition to Nathan's math program. He has been so much better with Saxon since we added MM. Those two math programs really compliment each other! Kaleb has been flying through Saxon 1. I am thinking about adding MM 1 for him just because he is going so fast through Saxon. I want to make sure he is retaining. He has the majority of addition facts memorized already. Seriously, he is blowing me away with his math ability!

We are finishing up Apologia Astronomy and have Botany waiting on us. I bought the Botany Notebooking Journal to go with the book. I don't like Apologia's free notebooking printables. They are too plain. Nathan needs a little bit of guidance to his notebooking/lapbooking. For Astronomy, I printed the free lapbook pieces from a yahoo group, but there isn't a free Botany lapbook. After looking at the samples on the Apologia's website, I just decided to go with the journal. I can't wait to see it! We are all really excited to get started with Botany, and what perfect timing!! Spring is just around the corner.

R&S English is still just as boring as always, but still working so well for us! I see all these posts on forum boards about fun, exciting, easy English programs, but I just can't take R&S away! It is working so well. I don't think Nathan will ever develop my love of grammar, but at least I know he will understand it. My only complaint is that I don't think there is enough diagramming instruction. I think I may just get a diagramming book for over the summer to cement what he has learned already before moving on.

OPGTR is amazing as always. Kaleb is doing so well. We are covering long vowel sounds so this is pretty easy for him since he has the LeapFrog videos. When the lessons are short, we do two a day. It is just about time to pull our my own kindergarten reading books for him to read. I have been patiently waiting until he make it through long vowel sounds before getting them out. I LOVE having these old books for my boys. I can still actually remember reading them myself.

Kaleb moved into ETC 2 a while back and is about finished with it. I decided to get the 1/2 books for him. He does so well with ETC, and I heard that the 1/2 books weren't just about having extra practice but had some fun activities that the whole books don't. We'll see how it goes.

I have spent quite a bit of time collecting materials and planning for my spring co-op class and next school year. I am so excited about the class and next year's schedule!! It seems every year we homeschool gets better and better.

For our spring co-op that starts on the first Friday of March, I am teaching a K-2 geography class. I hadn't planned on teaching a class since I'm also co-director, but we were in need of another K-2 class. I've had a lot of fun planning it and can't wait for co-op to start!! I looked and looked for a program that would fit the class requirements. I love Galloping the Globe, and purchased it for my homeschool next school year. However I don't think it will work with my class. After a bit more searching, I decided to make my own curriculum for the class and it is working out wonderfully. I am making the children's books and my teacher's manual myself, and they are looking great! I can't wait to have it all printed!!

I also have next school year just about planned. We are keeping everything except WW, R&S Spelling, MEP and MOH. Nathan and I are both bored out of our minds with WW. I am currently looking for a new vocab program. I may just skip it this year since I'm supplementing our history with the Famous Men series. I noticed last night that each chapter includes a vocab list! R&S Spelling wasn't getting done. Plus I plan to use vocab words as spelling. We dropped MEP earlier this school year and added Math Mammoth. We just recently dropped MOH in favor of using SOTW as our main history spine now. I added SOTW AG's and will add GtG and foreign language for next year. As per Nathan's request, we are going to add an art/drawing class. Also I would love to {finally} add the CM composer/artist schedule to our homeschool. I tried earlier this school year but gave up due to our out of the home schedule. This time around I would like to get it established before that busy fall/sports season.

I know I'm forgetting something, but this is long enough for now. If you've hung with me this far, please take a look at our snowy pictures below. We don't usually get snow like this around here so we have had a fun couple of weeks! I have to say though I am ready for Spring and warmer weather. There is a reason I live in the south....I'm a hot weather fan!

love tree

2010-02-03T17:32:00.000-08:00

I saw this super fun and easy-peasy Valentines Craft on teach mama. So cute!!

I thought our special people deserved to be held by a very special vase so I used a vase that Bo and I received as a wedding gift almost 10 years ago. I stuck a piece of construction paper inside to give it a little color.

The boys LOVED this craft!! They had a blast making it! I told them when it was all finished that not only are these people our most loved, but they (my boys) are most loved by these people. Kaleb said "wow! A bunch of people love me!" :)

Preschool Corner: letter Ii

2010-01-22T13:56:00.000-08:00

Gabriel-3 yrs, 8 mos.

Kaleb, my k'ner also joins us on some of the fun activities.....because they are just that fun!!

I LOVE that these great Letter Ii ideas fit in so perfectly with our ABC I Believe lessons--both on INCHWORMS!!!

Memory verse for the week: "...for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there none like me." Isaiah 46:9b.

A HUGE thank you so very much to the ladies who made/designed/found all of the printables and activities on these blogs/websites:
Confessions of a Homeschooler
Homeschool Creations
Danielle's Place

Look at these CUTE printables!!

We are finally getting back into the swing of our letter of the week study!! I spent some time looking for some fun and creative activities. I love, love, love the two blogs listed above! Those ladies make my life so much easier! :) ABC I Believe lessons from Danielle's place are awesome as well.

I did great taking pics.....on the first day. lol I kind of slacked after that.

Gabriel had fun with the inchworm puzzle.

He LOVED the cut and paste activity.

We worked on numbers. Doing some fun games and then working on 11-20.

Played games.

Read books.

I remembered this preschool activity bag that fits right in with our talks about measurement during this INCHworm week.

Decorated his letter Ii page with his brother.

Practiced letter writing.

Letter Ii book.

We played with the number puzzle. Don't you love how he's all curled up, almost upside down while working on his numbers? :)

Made some fun crafts!!

Great week if I do say so myself!!!

If you would like to see what my older boys did this week, their weekly report is *HERE*.

Week 21: Jan 18-22 ...and a BIRTHDAY!!!!

2010-01-22T13:45:00.000-08:00

Nathan turned 12 years old yesterday!!!!! YAY!!! We are celebrating with a Chuck E Cheese party next Saturday with his cousin, Justin, who is 11 days younger than Nathan.

We jumped right back into our regular schedule on Monday. So good to be on track again! Nathan wasn't as happy as I since he was a little behind. I had to really stay on him to keep him working. Between the holidays and then two weeks of sickness in the house, I imagined it would take a bit of re-adjusting. Kaleb had a few problems getting motivated too, but we all managed and accomplished quite a bit.

I am working more and more with Gabriel who will turn four in May. He is such a SPONGE!!! I love it!! We had a lot of fun this week. I posted about his great week with the letter Ii. Kaleb is featured on that post since he likes to do some of the fun crafts and projects that Gabriel does. Baby Drake even made the blog this week on Gabriel's post as well!!

Pictures!! You'll notice that I started out with a bang on taking pictures.....the first day. :) Forgot to pick up the camera much after that.

A very happy 12 year old!! He asked and asked for a laptop. Just a couple of weeks ago, a friend was getting rid of his daughter's old one since she got a brand new one for Christmas. I think a nice, well-loved, gently-used laptop is perfect for the 12 year old!!

Just because he is SO cute.

Kaleb practicing matching numbers with words.

Jupiter

More on Gabriel and a bit on Kaleb can be found *HERE*.

Paper towel/toilet paper Inchworm.

2010-01-20T13:12:00.000-08:00

This is a really cute craft idea I found on Homeschool Creations blog. She has great instructions on creating the little guy. We decided to sponge paint ours instead of using crayons.

Kaleb and Gabriel LOVED making it!

Gabriel's inchworm.

Kaleb's inchworm:

Gabriel decided the two inchworms needed a hug...........from each other!!!

For more Kiddos Create activities, go to Mama Jenn blog *HERE*.

Progressive Phonics

2010-01-19T13:23:00.000-08:00

I ran across this website months ago. I registered, but never went any further than looking. I don't know how many times I have gone back to the website, thinking I should be utilizing it somehow. I mean, after all....FREE phonics lessons!! Surely I could find a way to use it!!!!

Today I was searching the www looking for some free printables on Th digraphs because Kaleb is having some trouble with the voiced and unvoiced difference. Then we added in THR and NGTH...and the child actually GROWLED at me!!! Time for a lapbook or file folder game......or Progressive Phonics. (Ok, well I still plan on finding a lapbook or file folder game, but during my search I remembered PP.)

I printed the books (for fresh stories...he isn't thrilled with repeating the same few stories in Ordinary Parents Guide to Reading) and the handwriting pages. During the printing I remembered that one of my two incredibly cool sils gave me a TON of phonics materials that they are finished with over Christmas break. There were a couple more Th digraph books in the box too!!

You'll notice if you download the books that there are two book pages on each paper. I folded the paper in half and used a glue stick to keep it together. Then I hold-pumched each folded sheet (not at the crease, but at the glued ends) and used book rings. I actually have book 1 and 2 of the intermediate series on this set of rings and I plan on putting the rest of the books in this series with this set so they are all together. I also printed the handwriting pages and a couple of the activities pages, but I will just 3-hole punch those and put them in his handwriting notebook.

I do recommend gluing the top, side, bottom, and crease to keep the page together. I had to go back through some when I realized just gluing the sides together wouldn't work. I also recommend using a glue stick instead of school glue so you don't get those wrinkles.

I skipped the beginner series since Kaleb is past that already, but I do plan on going back and making those books to have for Gabriel and Drake.

Kaleb is VERY excited to have all these new books to read! I am excited to {finally} be using PP. I can't stand not having a reason to use a freebie!!

I don't know how well this program would work independently. I have seen it listed solo in other homeschool moms siggy lines on forum boards though so it might be great! I love OPGTR, ETC, and BOB books too much to give those up though. I think it will be a terrific addition to our current phonics plan!!

(btw....just have to share because it excites me to no end all day, every day. Kaleb is such a READER!! ....and his MAMA is the one teaching him!!! I just think that is SO very cool! He finally agrees that he is a reader too!! YAY me!! YAY him!!)

Preschool Corner: letter Hh

2010-01-15T11:09:00.000-08:00

Gabriel--3 years, 8 months.

Our memory verse is Psalms 91:4a--He shall cover thee with his feathers, and under his wings shalt thou trust.

We read the corresponding story from ABC I Believe at Danielle's Place. We talked about how God is like a mother hen who stretches her wings out to keep her chicks out of the cold, rain, and wind. They trust her to keep them safe and warm. We snuggled with blankets and talked about how God's love is like a soft blanket wrapped around us all snuggly and warm.

Gabriel and Kaleb made this really cute hen and chick craft from ABC I Believe as well. I put them on construction paper so I can add their bible verse.

He and Kaleb cut, glued, and decorated their letter pages with hand prints.

We made haystacks.....with pretzel sticks (because that is what we had on hand).

We had a fun time with some of our preschool activity bags.

We played a few games. Operation is his all-time favorite right now with the Cars Fishing Game running a close 2nd.

I found this cool printable on Homeschool Creations blog Tuesday night. I printed, laminated, and cut the cards apart. Then Gabriel and I sat down to play a couple games. First I just had him identify the numbers in order and out of order. Of course in order he just counted to twenty. He gets 15-19 confused, but did fairly well. He made it to 11 out of order. We'll work on 12-20 now. I asked him then to put the numbers 1-10 in order. No problems there!

I asked him to match the numbers 1-10 to the dot cards. He did amazing!! He would look at the number and then make an educated guess on the dot cards based on how small or large the number was, most times picking the right card first! I've never seen him do that before.

We played with the LeapFrog Fridge Phonics letter game. Gabriel and Drake LOVE game!!

Gabriel has shown an interest in writing letters so I let him give it a try on the dry erase board.

We read books, books, and more books.

We tried this ABC matching game that I bought from Scholastic....and he LOVED it (so did my toddler!)

Gabriel played with his Color Wonder light paint set and made a beautiful picture. I thought I had a picture, but I can't find it now.

We played with color a bit and you can see the pictures and link *HERE*.

A fun week!! If you would like to see what my older boys are up to, their post is up too!

Week 20: Jan 11-15

2010-01-15T11:03:00.000-08:00

....and the illness continues. Daddy stayed home from work for three days per doctors orders for pneumonia. He went back to work today but is only working part of the day. I worry about him because he has a history of pneumonia and asthma. The doctor told him on Monday that he would have ended up in the hospital, had he not gone to see her that day.

It was weird having him home. Usually he is only off work on the weekends and so we don't do any schoolwork those two days. It was hard to get moving every day this week because it felt like a weekend!

We were suppose to go to a bowling party with our homeschool group, but Drake had a bit of fever and Gabriel and I were still coughing. I did not want to pass on those horrible germs we've been dealing with these past two weeks!! The boys were upset but Daddy promised to take us all bowling as soon as he is feeling better!

I sat down and mapped out our next semester. Nathan should finish Math 65 in early April and start Math 76 after our April 19-23 spring break. I was hoping he would be further along by now but we took some extra time to review those pesky fractions. Still he is doing very well right now, conquering decimals. He is on track to finish R&S English by the second week of May, and we'll take a nice break before moving on. We will finish up Apologia Astronomy in just a few short weeks. We are going to take a small break to learn about airplanes per Kaleb's request. Then we will pick back up with Apologia Botany. We are behind in MOH but should still finish by June. Kaleb has moved into ETC book 2 and will finish it in May. OPGTR will be an on-going subject through the summer and possibly fall. He should finish up Math 1 by June and be ready to move into Math 2 in July.

That's the plan anyway....and we all know how quickly plans change! :) I feel better having the plan though and hopefully we can stick to it or at least as close as possible.

I spent the weekend getting our astronomy and MOH notebooks updated. The boys spent this week (instead of the *planned* last week) working on lapbooking/notebooking pages in the notebooks. I LOVE the astronomy notebook!! I just have to share some pictures!

I thought I would share a few pictures of our Apologia notebook pages.

I love the lapbook mini-books. Nathan does NOT like lapbooking. However, I have yet to find something that keeps his attention and helps him remember so well. Those little mini-books do the job while worksheets do not. Instead of making a lapbook for each chapter, I just put the each chapter's mini-books on a sheets of construction paper cut down to fit in our notebook. These lapbook mini-books came from the Notebooking2Learn yahoo group.

The book I have open is a vocab book. I love these!! There is one for each chapter.

I also keep their drawings in the notebook. How fun will it be to look at these when they are older? Here are a few of my faves.

We do narration everyday and add that to our notebooks. As well as the quizzes and any other related materials.

I have taken pictures of our experiments and non-paper craft activities, and plan to print them to add to the notebooks as well.

I found chapter quizzes on the Apologia yahoo group.

I also found these cute printables in the Apologia yahoo group files.

I saw this fun little color experiment on Susana's blog. Super easy and my boys LOVED it!

Kaleb enjoyed this week's ABC I Believe lesson. You can read about it and see pictures *HERE* on Gabriel's preschool post.

Here are a few random pictures of Nathan and Kaleb this week.

Both did well on their schoolwork even though Daddy was a HUGE distraction. We have a little catch-up to do next week, but it won't be a problem. Besides Daddy being sick and missing the bowling party, we had a really good week!!

Gabriel's preschool post is here if you would like to read it!!

Week 19: Jan 4-8

2010-01-10T15:46:00.000-08:00

I had a plan....*had* being the operative word.

Last week I looked over our materials to see where we ware with everything and where my master schedule says we should be. I had everything mapped out for this next week, and planned on spending Sunday evening printing off the copies I need for the week, cleaning up the school room, and getting our work-file-boxes ready for the week.

Then Saturday night I started feeling sick, and Gabriel had a terrible cough that kept the two of us up most of the night. By Sunday morning, my throat was sore, my head and body ached, and I had a fever. I was SICK! I spent the day either in bed or on the couch....horizontal all day. Nothing was checked off my to-do-look-at-me-all-organized-and-ready-for-the-week list.

Gabriel, thankfully, is feeling great now. Kaleb has a little cough but seems to feel just fine. Drake and Nathan are feeling fine. Drake is the one who picked up this little bug last week. Daddy feels a little achy but so far no other symptoms.

I felt a little better by Monday but had NO energy. We trudged through the day. Nathan completed the majority of his work. Kaleb and I managed a reading and math lesson. I worked sporadically on the school room. I put a chicken in the crock pot. In between all of that and loads of laundry, I spent my day on the couch....horizontal. My wonderful, caring, considerate husband finished dinner by making chicken and dumplings.

By day two--lost my voice and gained a fever back.

Day three--a little better but couldn't talk to anyone....thus no school. Nathan did what he could on his own and I had Kaleb read some BOB books for me, easy ones that I knew I wouldn't need to correct.

Day four--much better and I could talk a little. Took the boys to meet Daddy for lunch. It was 18* with 25-30 mph winds. Our outing didn't last long.

Day five--flat on my back again. I think the outing the day before and all the housecleaning I did wore me out.

So much for our super awesome start to the second semester of school. :)

The daddy started getting sick Saturday and by Sunday, he was flat on his back. Hopefully he will feel much better by Monday since he is needed back at work.

I have a really bad cough still but feel much, much better. I have managed to get all the printing, cutting, and pasting done in preparation for this week. We have a lot lapbooking to do in history and science along with a bowling playdate. I have many fun things for Gabriel and Drake planned as well. I look forward to a fun and educational time with the boys!!

Nathan did complete 6 math lessons and take a test! He was a bit behind on our schedule so he worked extra hard to get caught up. Since we didn't do history or science all week and only a couple English lessons before I lost my voice, he had some extra time and put it to good use. He also completed a week in WW and R&S spelling. We organized his work filebox since that was a bit of a mess. We reorganized his notebooks too. We talked a bit about having a little more respect for his school things so they stay neat and orderly. Hopefully that will help.

Kaleb did some fun math worksheets from a workbook I found in the $ bin at Target. He read a few BOB books and worked in his ETC. He is in book 2 now and thinks he is such the big boy!! His daddy helped him review some words from OPG from the word ring.

Week 16-18: Dec 14-Jan 1

2010-01-02T14:10:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you all!! Again, it's been almost a month since I've blogged. With the holiday season behind us, I hopefully will have more time to blog at least weekly again.

Our break was a short one. We only took Dec 23-25 and Jan 1st off from school. It was hard getting back in a groove after our long November break. I wasn't so ready to go through that again. We didn't accomplish much in science and history though. After the three R's, we baked and baked and baked. Then I cooked and cooked and cooked. We did a few more Christmas crafts.

Out of state family made it in on Dec 22. We put the books away by lunch and spent the next few days enjoying family time. We had an awesome Christmas. Kaleb declared it the BEST Christmas EVER. Daddy had FOUR days off in a row so the boys were super excited to have all that Daddy time. We even had a WHITE Christmas! I think we got about 2-3 inches of snow on Christmas Eve night. FUN!

The boys received a TON of cool board games. We have been playing a couple every night since Christmas.

Back to school on Dec 28th with just the three R's again before another little break yesterday. Bo and I went out with some friends for New Year's Eve. My mom stayed with the boys. Nathan was up when we got home. The other three boys and their nana were sleeping! Nathan said he woke up Kaleb for the ball drop because Kaleb really wanted to see it. He was back asleep in less than five minutes afterward....and doesn't even remember Nathan waking him! He was a little upset when he woke up in the morning and realized he didn't remember.

We're having a lazy holiday weekend. The Razorbacks are playing in a bowl game this evening. We will be watching that and Nathan is having a cousin stay overnight.

I have been getting everything organized for next week. We will be back to our regular school schedule. This week in history and science will be spent on getting all of our activities caught up. Then my goal for the rest of the school year is to NOT get behind with the activities again! We shall see.... :) The rest of the subjectsWe dropped the ABC I Believe curriculum in early fall when the activities got to be too much. We're just now picking it back up. If we work hard and stay on track with it, Gabriel will be ready to start ETC A after our summer break. I had planned on him starting ETC in May after his 4th birthday, but this will work out too. Kaleb is doing SO well with reading! We LOVE OPG!! He enjoys reading BOB books over and over again too. He finally is calling himself a *real* reader! lol Nathan is doing well in math! He is getting into decimals. So far he says decimals are a *piece of cake*. I hope that holds out for him. He is still doing Math Mammoth Fractions 1 (blue series). I really think it is helping him get a better grasp on fractions, and gives him a good review. I will probably be getting more from MM. Very inexpensive, colorful, and fun review.

Below are a few of our Christmas scrapbook pages. I have two pages left to do and then December will be DONE! I plan on spending January getting 2009 pages wrapped up and printed. (my plan anyway...)

I hope you all had a great holiday season!

Week 14-15: Nov 30-Dec 11

2009-12-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been over a month since I last blogged! Just a few days after my last post, everything spun out of control when my baby boy BROKE my nose!! We took the whole week off from everything because of the headache and pain in my face that I thought would never leave. It all went downhill from there. We struggled to just get the basics done, and then all of a sudden it was the week of Thanksgiving. That whole week was spent cooking and baking.

Finally we are back on track.....I think.

Here are a few of our activities from the past couple of weeks.

A visit to a local Christmas tree farm where we were allowed to roam the fields and then learned how to make beautiful wreaths.
Christmas caroling through a historic downtown city.
baking, baking, baking Christmas cookies.
crafting, crafting, crafting.
beautiful Advent paper chain with fun activities on each link for each day.

And in the middle of all the fun, we are managing to get quite a bit of school work completed. We may even recover from our unexpected break before Christmas! Regardless, we will only be taking Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, and the weekend off from school work. Breaks just don't work well for us. We need to stay on track and keep moving along. Since we are getting in plenty of crafting and baking fun, as well as many fun Christmas books, I don't think the boys will mind.

We will spend next week getting caught up on all of our history and science activities/drawings. It seems we are always getting behind with those.

Below are some pictures of our activities. Enjoy!

Home Sweet School

Weekly Plan...Menu and More.

Weekly update: botany special.

Weekly Report: the week that flew by

Weekly Update: See? We're getting back in the groove

My new tickler file.

Weekly Update: The First REAL One in a LONG Time.

Best Christmas present EVER.

A Fall Hike & other FUN activities!

SURPRISE!!!

Menu Plan Monday

I don't got this.

Another Pinterest Project COMPLETED!

Arts/crafts, history, and geography WILL get done this year!

New workbox tags.

Look at what I made!

New chore charts.

Craft project planning for July.

It's on like Donkey Kong.

Summer planning and printing PROGRESS!

Menu Plan Monday

My memory board!

She's Lucky.

Cool local curriculum finds!

Freezer Cooking-I'm in love {again}.

The Homeschool Mother's Journal

2011-2012 planning!

Week 3: Aug 23-27

Preschool Corner: Week 3 Gabriel (4 yrs)

Tot School: Week 3 Drake (39 months)

Galloping the Globe!!! Week 1

Butterflies!!! ...and Apologia Gen Science!

Mama's Mission: Sept 2010

Our *school room space*

Week 2: A lot of little fun things for the past few weeks.

Preschool Corner: Week 2 Gabriel (4 yrs)

Tot School: Week 2 Drake (29 months)

A break....already? After ONE week?

Muffin Tin Monday

Week 1: July 19-23

Tot School: Week 1-Drake (28 months)

Preschool Corner: Week 1 Gabriel (4 yrs old)

Muffin Tin Monday!

God=Love

Love

Muffin Tin Monday

Apologia General Science & the littles.

Flat Stanley!!!

Muffin Tin Monday Swap!!!

easy peasy lemon squeezy bird feeder.

A little nature study...in our front yard.

Closing out the 2009-2010 school year! And the new line-up...

I'll get back to blogging one of these days.

Week 34: April 19-23

Week 31-33: Computer meltdown.

Home Grown Hearts Giveaway!!

Week 30: March 22-26

Taking the AO plunge.

Preschool Accountability

Week 27-29: Mar 1-19

Wormy Week 1

Library book sale score.

Kaleb's first history fair.

YAY! A fun blog hop!!

Week 26: Feb 22-26

Week 25: Feb 15-19

Week 22-24: Jan 25-Feb 12

love tree

Preschool Corner: letter Ii

Week 21: Jan 18-22 ...and a BIRTHDAY!!!!

Paper towel/toilet paper Inchworm.

Progressive Phonics

Preschool Corner: letter Hh

Week 20: Jan 11-15

Week 19: Jan 4-8

Week 16-18: Dec 14-Jan 1

Week 14-15: Nov 30-Dec 11

Our school room space