I know you guys have noticed my absence lately, and I'm sorry! I've got some terrific, no great.... no stupendous news!
Were moving! I know I don't share this part with you all, but our current house is small... extremely small. As in, we can barely turn around and breathe in it small :) But we were recently able to find, and were accepted to rent a HUGE house, in the area that we (my husband and I) grew up in. It's a 3 bedroom, 2 bath, with a laundry room that is so big it's going to double as our new school room.
Were literally over the moon about this news. But it's this news that has also kept me away. It took a lot for me to be driving around town in search of a new home, viewing homes, turning in applications, and meeting owners. Now we pack!
We have 2 weeks to move from our current home, but were trying for only 1 week. I'm surprised at how much "stuff" we've accumulated over the last 6 years in living here. Our new house doesn't have a garage, or storage space, so we need to sort and get rid of a lot of clutter in our current garage. Then there's the daunting task of filling a house that size with furniture, when we have no where near that amount lol. Oh well, like the little train that could... "I think I can, I think I can!" We'll buy our furniture a little at a time, and maybe a yard sale will help give us a boost :)
Until we officially move into the new house, were on break from school. Hopefully it'll only last a week though. I have pictures ready and waiting of our progressive phonics books and system ready for the posting, just need to find the time. I'll be back up and running soon!
Thursday, March 31, 2011
Saturday, March 19, 2011
The Homeschool Mother's Journal
I saw this on another blog and thought it would be fun to participate (click the picture to join in), so here goes!
In my life this week...
I've been struggling with some personal and family issues that are hitting me hard. At times they make it hard to concentrate on the things I need to focus on, but still I truck on. Sometimes I let them get the best of me, and I start to think/feel negatively, but I'm lucky to have a great husband, children, and friends who remind me that everything is going to be okay.
My health is also starting to act up again, and I think it's time for another visit to the Dr.'s.
In our homeschool this week...
We've been pacing ourselves to get through our work. We don't want to finish too soon for a couple of reasons. The first being that we have state requirements to meet, in which my children need to attend 175 days of school, which we won't finish until mid June (if we continue to take weekends off). The second being that I haven't yet purchased all of our books for the next school year, and I only want to give the kids a weeks break for summer before starting back up.
Places we're going and people we're seeing...
The only places we've went this week is to gymnastics, and ballet. We did run a few errands, to pay for a capoeira class (for the boys) that will start in May, and to the dance store to buy new tap shoes. We have some field trips planned for this coming week, so that we can send our flat travelers home with some awesome pictures.
My favorite thing this week was...
Reading together. These are the little things that I took for granted when my kids went to public school. The book choices weren't ours, there was no enjoyment, and it was forced. Things are so much more enjoyable, exciting, and we actually look forward to it now.
What's working/not working for us...
Language Arts. My Babe just keeps questioning things that our Abeka books say, and it's no longer a fit for us. I want him to be more concerned with what the concepts are, and instead he's worried about what he's correcting. We are now leaning towards a more secular learning approach, which I think will be a better fit for our family. But I still wouldn't mind tossing some religious learning in (on the kids terms).
Homeschool questions/thoughts I have...
I still wonder how other families who are homeschooling multiple children juggle the financial aspect of it all. I know most are one income families (like us), but it takes us a while to purchase all of our books for the year. I've been laminating and/or putting sheets in page protectors, and having the children do their work using dry erase markers, so that I can re-use materials for the other children. My husband is concerned about me using this method, because we don't have samples of all of the work the boys do. Everything they do on paper I save, and I take a lot of pictures, but not of everything. Any suggestions on this would be amazing!
A photo, video, link, or quote to share...
I can't wait to see what everyone else is up to!
Rats!!!
Rats of Nimh that is :) Seeing as how my children are kinesthetic and visual learners, and they needed to learn how to compare and contrast things to write papers; I thought it would be fun to start with movies. We started at the beginning of the month by watching the original version of Witch Mountain, then the newer version, and talking about the differences. I wrote down the differences on our white board, as the kids noted them. I used a simple Venn diagram to show the differences, and similarities.
Next we moved onto one of my childhood favorites: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
This time were reading a book first, before we watch the movie, so our compare and contrast will be more thought provoking. To make sure their paying attention, (but because I'm sneaky about it) I've been having them paint/draw/sketch their favorite part of the chapters that we read each day. It's working out great!
My Bunny is painting the rosebush that the rats live in.
Orion is painting the rat carrying a black cord to the rosebush.
Raymond is painting the rats carrying the cord to the rosebush.
Were halfway through the book now, and I have the movie "The secret of Nimh" (it's based on the book) ready to be sent out next week from netflix. The kids have been so captivated by this, and have been literally begging to read 3-4 chapters per day, so I've already lined up another book and movie after this one. I think I might keep this going using as many of my favorite childhood books as I can remember.
Our big science project that we've been working on lately, well.... hasn't really been much of a project.
We've been trying to grow crystals, emeralds to be exact, and it's just not working lol. I think I might have mixed it wrong, or maybe our water wasn't hot enough? Ugh, it's quite fustrating, especially when you have 3 children journaling the event and every time we check on it, it looks the same. I'm ready to toss in the towel, and label this one our first science fail :( I bought a backup project to start, but sadly when I went to gather our supplies, a cat who shall remain nameless *ahem* Ninja *ahem* had broken 2 of the clay pots I bought to plant flower seeds. I'll make a trip to the store next week and pick up some more to start then.
On a different note, the books I ordered for History next year (June for us) arrived, and the kids can't wait to get started. Orion poured through all of the books, and begged to start early. That made me so happy, because usually it's quite difficult to get him so interested in history... I think I made the right choice :) I'm still missing the story of the world activity guide though, so we'll wait till June to get started, since I buy our books a little at a time.
Other than that, we've been trucking on as normal around here. I'll be back in a few days to share a post about progressive phonics. I've been using the alphabetti series with Bunny for 3 weeks now, and she can read a few words, and sound things out on her own now. Orion is using the intermediate series, and I'm surprised at how well he's able to retain the sounds. He's doing so much better using these books than hooked on phonics, it must be the repetition and all the activities. But more on that later!
Next we moved onto one of my childhood favorites: Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of Nimh
This time were reading a book first, before we watch the movie, so our compare and contrast will be more thought provoking. To make sure their paying attention, (but because I'm sneaky about it) I've been having them paint/draw/sketch their favorite part of the chapters that we read each day. It's working out great!
Were halfway through the book now, and I have the movie "The secret of Nimh" (it's based on the book) ready to be sent out next week from netflix. The kids have been so captivated by this, and have been literally begging to read 3-4 chapters per day, so I've already lined up another book and movie after this one. I think I might keep this going using as many of my favorite childhood books as I can remember.
Our big science project that we've been working on lately, well.... hasn't really been much of a project.
Other than that, we've been trucking on as normal around here. I'll be back in a few days to share a post about progressive phonics. I've been using the alphabetti series with Bunny for 3 weeks now, and she can read a few words, and sound things out on her own now. Orion is using the intermediate series, and I'm surprised at how well he's able to retain the sounds. He's doing so much better using these books than hooked on phonics, it must be the repetition and all the activities. But more on that later!
Friday, March 4, 2011
Flat Stanleys/travelers
I have to admit, that I've neglected geography this year. I don't know why I thought my kids were too young for young it, but after seeing all the fun things going on with geography over at confessions of a homeschooler, I know I'm wrong. And when I found out about a new facebook group just for swapping flat travelers and state boxes, I thought it would be the best way to teach my kids geography in fun creative way (and on the cheap). Were planning on working on the United States first, and then expanding to the rest of the world once were done.
The travelers go out once a month, for a week or two at a time (that's between you and your host family), and you must host as many travelers as you send out. What a great way to learn about America! I think my 3 year old is a bit too young to participate, so she won't be sending out her own traveler, but rather participating in our activities as a group. So we'll be sending out 2 per month, which means we can spend 2 weeks on each state were learning about. I know it's going to take a bit to get through all 50 states, but I'd rather go a bit more in depth. I plan on using random worksheets I find for free around the web, to make sure we keep costs down, but I will buy books, and check them out if we need them :)
Here's an up close of the travelers my boys made. They wanted to make some that looked like mega man, so we did our best! I laminated them, and then gave them real felt capes that are loose (so they can fly on their adventures).
Here are the travelers with their paperwork. I sent each traveler with a record sheet, where each host family can record the date of arrival/departure, host names, and location. They also went off with a set of journal questions for their host families to fill out about their state. If anyone wants these forms, let me know and I'll put them in my printables section :) I didn't send the folders, because of the weight (don't want host families paying too much). When the forms come back, we'll go over them, and they'll get put into our folder in order that the states became a part of the United States. The record sheet won't be placed into the folder until it's full, but the other forms will be printed per state.
One of our travelers being tucked into his envelope with his paperwork, we'll miss you little guy!
The travelers go out once a month, for a week or two at a time (that's between you and your host family), and you must host as many travelers as you send out. What a great way to learn about America! I think my 3 year old is a bit too young to participate, so she won't be sending out her own traveler, but rather participating in our activities as a group. So we'll be sending out 2 per month, which means we can spend 2 weeks on each state were learning about. I know it's going to take a bit to get through all 50 states, but I'd rather go a bit more in depth. I plan on using random worksheets I find for free around the web, to make sure we keep costs down, but I will buy books, and check them out if we need them :)
Thursday, March 3, 2011
Quick Update
I just wanted to do a quick update in pictures, showing what we've been doing. We hope you enjoy!
Eating lunch/ car schooling in between gymnastics and ballet. But only when it's really cold outside lol, otherwise it's a picnic lunch :)
Putting chopsticks in our hair at restaurants, while we wait patiently for lunch to arrive.
Making flat travelers to learn all about the geography of the U.S.
Making a lego maze/labyrinth for the lego quest .
Finishing a 550 piece puzzle.
Taking a field trip to the natural science and history museum.
Playing at the park.
Going to football banquets, and earning a trophy :)
We've hit a wall
I know it's almost been a month since my last posting, but boy have we been super busy! I know, I know, that's no excuse.... honestly, it's lack of motivation all around. I feel like we've been hitting walls left and right, and loosing momentum, so we took a week off, while I brainstormed what the causes could be.
The first issue we were facing was the testing with the neurologist for dyslexia for Orion. I received a call from our insurance, stating that the neurologist was out of network. That means we would have a huge deductible to pay, and 50% of the services rendered. That's just not in our budget right now, so I've been having to call every child neurologist in our network. It's a slow process, because I call when I have time, and not every neurologist offers the testing. Orion also went for his yearly physical with his pediatrician, and is now officially diagnosed with ADHD, so that makes both boys. He's doing well with his weekly psychiatry visits, and we recently started including his siblings (family therapy) to help with his negative feelings/self esteem issues. Hopefully soon he'll have a better outlook on things, because I hate seeing my 7 year old so down about life :(
The next issue is boredom. Lately Raymond has been really bored with his schoolwork, and I think it's because it's become repetitive for him. We use math mammoth for math, and the concepts are getting harder, but it's boring to him since he's already mastered multiplication and division. He's just doing harder/longer problems, but he gets it. The same thing for his reading material (magic tree house/ diary of a wimpy kid), and language arts (Abeka). My thinking is that I can skip ahead a few chapters/lessons, and see if that helps; or skip him ahead a few months into 5th grade (since were year rounders). For now, I'm skipping a few lessons/chapters, finding more advanced reading material, and hoping that helps. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
The last issue is that some of our curriculum just doesn't fit anymore. We bought Abeka for science and history, and it was fine in the beginning of the year, not so much now. Orion's books were more pictures, than substance, and we flew through them because of that. Raymond's books were more in depth, but more about God (which is fine), but I want them to learn more about history and science in a history and science book. I think I just chose the wrong curriculum for us. So I set these books aside. Now were happy, because were just doing our thing with history and science, based on the kids interests, and making reports/projects/lap books out of them (pics and posts on them to come soon).
This part isn't an issue, but more of a "hey this is why we've been so super busy" section. We signed Olivia up for gymnastics and ballet again, and she just started back up. That's been keeping us on the go, running from class to class, and in April the boys start Capoeira, so even more running around! We also joined a facebook homeschool swapping group, where we get to exchange flat stanleys, and state boxes. We plan on using those to learn about U.S. geography, so look for posts about that soon. Were loving all the new friends were making though, and hope that with all these new changes, life will start settling into a bit of a schedule for us.
The first issue we were facing was the testing with the neurologist for dyslexia for Orion. I received a call from our insurance, stating that the neurologist was out of network. That means we would have a huge deductible to pay, and 50% of the services rendered. That's just not in our budget right now, so I've been having to call every child neurologist in our network. It's a slow process, because I call when I have time, and not every neurologist offers the testing. Orion also went for his yearly physical with his pediatrician, and is now officially diagnosed with ADHD, so that makes both boys. He's doing well with his weekly psychiatry visits, and we recently started including his siblings (family therapy) to help with his negative feelings/self esteem issues. Hopefully soon he'll have a better outlook on things, because I hate seeing my 7 year old so down about life :(
The next issue is boredom. Lately Raymond has been really bored with his schoolwork, and I think it's because it's become repetitive for him. We use math mammoth for math, and the concepts are getting harder, but it's boring to him since he's already mastered multiplication and division. He's just doing harder/longer problems, but he gets it. The same thing for his reading material (magic tree house/ diary of a wimpy kid), and language arts (Abeka). My thinking is that I can skip ahead a few chapters/lessons, and see if that helps; or skip him ahead a few months into 5th grade (since were year rounders). For now, I'm skipping a few lessons/chapters, finding more advanced reading material, and hoping that helps. If anyone has any suggestions, I'd love to hear them!
The last issue is that some of our curriculum just doesn't fit anymore. We bought Abeka for science and history, and it was fine in the beginning of the year, not so much now. Orion's books were more pictures, than substance, and we flew through them because of that. Raymond's books were more in depth, but more about God (which is fine), but I want them to learn more about history and science in a history and science book. I think I just chose the wrong curriculum for us. So I set these books aside. Now were happy, because were just doing our thing with history and science, based on the kids interests, and making reports/projects/lap books out of them (pics and posts on them to come soon).
This part isn't an issue, but more of a "hey this is why we've been so super busy" section. We signed Olivia up for gymnastics and ballet again, and she just started back up. That's been keeping us on the go, running from class to class, and in April the boys start Capoeira, so even more running around! We also joined a facebook homeschool swapping group, where we get to exchange flat stanleys, and state boxes. We plan on using those to learn about U.S. geography, so look for posts about that soon. Were loving all the new friends were making though, and hope that with all these new changes, life will start settling into a bit of a schedule for us.
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