Homeschool Mother's Journal Second Week

 
In My Life This Week: We are settling in to our routine this week. It always takes me a bit to adjust to the school thing again because it really does take up a lot of time. Anything that requires more forthought on my part takes some getting used to. The bonus is that I feel like I have really been on top of it more this year. It could be the fact that my newborn is not so new any more. Sleep really is an amazing thing. But, like any other routine it will need tweaking as we go along especially since miss cutie patootie is trying desperately to learn the crawling thing. There will be some readjusting when that happens for sure! For now I have focused on having lessons prepared, fun things to go along with our lessons, and cleaning the messes we make a long the way so we don't have so much to do once school is over.
 
In Our Homeschool This week: We stuck with the letter A for the second week because Brylee never got what letter we learned. Every day daddy would come home and ask her what letter she learned and she would say "B" or make the sound for S. Don't know what her obsession is with those two letters. Well at the end of the two weeks it is still iffy if she will say the right letter. I have decided to move on to the next letter. At the end of the alphabet we will start over again. She's only three and she will get it eventually. I have seen success in other areas though. For one her attention span is better. But, she finally knows almost all of her colors. I have to keep reminding myself that Bodie was a early and fast learner and she is right on schedule for her age. Physically she can do more sooner than Bodie did because she wants to keep up with him, but letters and colors and such  has not gone as fast I think in part because I did not have the one on one time with her.
Bodie has really picked up where he left off. He reads super well, devouring chapter books and sadly for his mother getting wayyyy to many ideas reading the Calvin and Hobbes book he got for his birthday. He hates to be wrong. We were doing some math on the board this week. I thought to make it fun we would race. We were working on the number between problems. He would have 28 _ 29 and only have the number between to write. I would have to write the whole problem on board and the answer. A couple of times I got my answer written down first and the tears would start. Mean old mom for not letting him win every time. It really is hard not to laugh when he gets so dramatic. Losing (as he sees it) is not something he is very graceful at. 
 
Places we went or people we meet: This week we jumped right back in full mode. Bodie had his three hour PE class and then we had our monthly enrichment club meeting too. Bodie and Brylee got up and recited the Elephant poem they learned this week. Brylee never said a word while she was up there. She was content to let her brother do that part, but I was proud of her for getting up in front to all those people. This year our group has really grown and it looks like it's gonna be a fun year. We had the Burnet Fire dept come to give us a fire safety demonstration. I think they all enjoyed that.
 
Favorite Thing This Week: When Bodie has his PE class I run errands and do "girl stuff." When I told Brylee I needed to go get some new "girl things" she promptly informed me that when her panties got bigger she would let me wear them. I'll remind her of this one day!
 
What Works, What Doesn't: This year I got Abeka phonics and language. I really like it so far. I also got their math too because last year we had a lot of tears with Horizons math. So far Abeka math is way easier, maybe too easy... so I am just adding some extra stuff in. I think it will pick up some further in the year. In retrospect I think Horizons was good, just last year it required more concentrating ability than he was capable of at that time. This year I am already seeing an improvement in that area.
 
Homeschool Questions: What are some of your favorite ways to burn energy when it is too hot to go outside?
 

Photo To Share:



I really like these puzzles from Melissa and Doug!



Mr. Perfection concentrating!



Our First Week Of School 2011

http://adventuresofmyfamilyof8.blogspot.com/

So this week is the first day of school for us, second year of homeschool. Bodie is six and is doing first grade and Brylee is three and in preschool.

Brylee is very excited to be doing school like big brother and so far it is going well. 

These are a few pictures of our set up. I don't have an extra room to use so our dining room doubles as the school room. I have worked hard to get it functional and organized and this year I feel much closer to my goal.

Here I have our blocks, puzzles, stack a doos, manipulatives, books, folders....





More storage space: the orange for Bodie, blue for Brylee, one for crafts, and one for teacher stuff.

Getting organized is a big part of my battle:












I have tried to focus on being prepared every day, having things printed and ready to go ahead of time. I  am really stressing this week on little things like putting your boxes back after you are finished and putting finished work in their files. Also, I have them help clean up when we are finished. These things are small but bad habits lead to a big mess. The last two days I have managed to serve meals on a clean dining room table! Last year that never happened.



Our board that has the letter of the week we are working on and our work charts.





I decided for Brylee we would spend a week on each letter of the alphabet. I am picking different things for her to do every day that involve the letter A. Bodie knows his letters and sounds really well but I have him name things that start with A just so he can join in too.

she loved this one!

Ok we also have to have a little time for fun learning too! A few things they like to do.....



He loves making designs with these!



Stack A Doos

I feel like this year is going to be sooo much easier because Brylee has reached an age where I can combine some things and her attention span is much better.

Of course Brooke will be crawling soon and that is certain to throw a few kinks in my plans. Oh well roll with the punches.

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Makin Money From The Scraps

 I've written about our journey to financial peace a few times and this is just one more step in our journey. We have really been taking a look at everything we have that we can get rid of. One benefit is a cleaner place, but if we can make a little cash too that is a good thing.



It doesn't even look that big does it?

 Glenn found a place that takes metal scraps that is actually close and so we began our morning going through his piles and piles and piles of horseshoes.



We even enlisted little helpers



And so we all jumped in to make it go faster because the more we dug the bigger the pile seemed to get.



This pile is still not all that impressive!

















It really didn't take us longer than an hour to get to the bottom of all those shoes, but by then we didn't think the truck was going to hold much more weight.







It ended up being a full load and we still have a bunch of pipe and other pieces of metal to haul off. For now though, it was a good start. 

I don't even know that we will get that much money for the pile, we probably won't. It is just smarter if you have to haul it off any way to get a little bit of change while we are at it.

My Little Monkeys

 

How can you resist such a face?



And that hair?



This summer is going so fast. School is going to be starting up so soon and I am trying to get myself back in school mode. It will be here before I know it. In the mean time I am enjoying summer and some of the sweet moments I catch!

Brooklyn is growing so much. It is hard for me to believe that she is already six months old. She is figuring out what food is and she likes to eat!

Bodie has really matured over the summer. I have seen some changes for the better in him. He has relaxed and settled down a lot and I have

really been able to enjoy him! He is such a funny boy and cracks me up sometimes.



And my great warrior!













My other monkey!

Thank God Bodie has settled down for the moment because Brylee has amped it up! She has really worked me over time and keeping up with her right now is a full time job. She is like a whirlwind. Beautiful, but up close she can be down right ugly at times.


They are all blessings in my life and I wouldn't trade a thing. It will be a joy to watch them continue to grow and see all the changes they go through on their journey.

Weekly Wrap Up

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Sweat drips, flies buzz, time seems to stand still. The chicken egg I accidentally dropped on the sidewalk is literally cooking in the sun. Here in Florence texas it is not unusual to have hot summers. Triple digit days are common for mid summer, except we have already had a month of triple digit weather. With no rain in sight, we have no relief in view for a while.

So what do you do with yourself, your sanity, and your kid's energy when it is 104 outside still at seven o clock at night?

Splash pads, waterparks, pools, or sprinkler parks are the way to go. Thankfully people around here got smart and started adding water features to a lot of the local parks. Most of the sprinkler parks are free or at least low cost so we can afford to go. In fact there is a new one that we are going to try to hit this week. It costs a dollar to get in.

 It is not realistic for us to get out every day. We live too far outside of town to make it affordable for one thing. Also, I have a three year old and a six month old that really have to stick to nap schedules. We might be able to skip nap time one day, but the next day would be impossible without naps.

On the days we are stuck here and it is too hot to play outside we have to get more creative. Here are a few ideas: We play ball in the hall with brooms. Of course we have certain rules applied so we don't kill anyone or break anything, but it is pretty fun! Sometimes we play basketball with socks and a small trashcan. (or you can play fold and throw in laundry basket and get two things done at once) Bubbles in the bath tub. I am out of bubbles and need to get more. This is a great time filler. You only need a few things for the times when the fighting starts or they start to get restless. In our house there are naptimes (or rest time for those that don't nap any more) plus meals and snacks and maybe a movie in the heat of the day.

I am finding if I have a few fun things to do that are different then we can make it through the rest of the day. If you have one day a week where you go to a sprinkler park or a bounce house, and one day you run and do shopping, then you only have a few days where you need to come up with extra projects. Don't forget you can enlist your kids help with your daily chores too and most of the time they enjoy it.

A few more fun ideas for days you can't get outside: make indoor tents, have a tea party and let them help you make cookies for the party, hide and seek indoors, and even make up a treasure hunt. You can google and find more great ideas. The trick is to have your list of options available ( I now have a list on Cozi, which is a free app for Iphones ) so when the summer time blues hit you can whip out your list and come up with something fun!

mommys struggles and snuggles: Summer Time Squabbles

mommys struggles and snuggles: Summer Time Squabbles: "Summer time arrives and regardless of whether you homeschool or not you are ready for a change. Those who don't homeschool look forward to h..."

Summer Time Squabbles

Summer time arrives and regardless of whether you homeschool or not you are ready for a change. Those who don't homeschool look forward to having some time to spend with their kids.  Those who do homeschool are looking forward to some time away from their kids.

So summer starts off  with a bang! There are camps, VBS, swimming lessons, trips to the grandparents, and maybe even vacation. Suddenly the whirlwind  of activity slows down a bit and we are left with half the summer trying to figure out what to do.

 Then summertime squabbles begin and you find yourself wishing they were back in school. I realized the other day the big difference in summertime and school. We are still at home either way, but school time is much more structured. I don't know why it takes me so long to realize that me getting a break should not mean no schedule. No schedule equals chaos and more fighting. Once you have more than one child it gets harder and harder to let the day just happen. When I let the day "happen" it is not pretty.

So, I am pulling myself up by the bootstraps and reeling them in again.

Today every time I had fighting I gave them a job to do. The funny thing is I never had whining about the jobs I handed out. They were happy to have something to besides making their own fun. Bonus for me: no fighting and getting more things accomplished around the house.

I have moved through my day with purpose. After we got some things around here finished we went to the Florence pool.(who knew they had a pool) The kids had a great time and they were tired when they finished.

I know that if I keep them busy I have much better days, but I have a tendency to wait until I am having problems to try to come up with things,and I am not good with spur of the moment plans. One of my favorite blogs Preschoolersandpeace says with young kids you must have a battle plan. This is so true because otherwise they make you the battle and at the end of the day you feel like you've been in battle.

So write out your battle plan.......your list of things that you can use to entertain your kids. Keep it handy, write as many ideas as you can. When the battles around your house begins you don't have to think, you have your ideas all on paper. Better yet look at your list at the beginning of the day and steer your kids through the day that way. I promise it will be so much better, less whining, claims of being bored, and less fighting. Now if I can just remember that summer is a time to relax, but routines can still help with that I'll have more days like today and less wild frontier days!