Happy New Year !!

Entertaining Angels Stats

One year ago this month, Jordan had her first meeting with the pastor of our church to discuss starting a personal needs closet. He was very impressed and approved her idea and she had her first distribution in January 2011. Here we are one year later and to date we have served 51 families, 130 individuals. Jordan has purchased over $565 worth of toilet paper, soap, shampoo, toothpaste, toothbrushes, deodorant, feminine hygiene, combs, Vaseline, razors, laundry soap, etc with over $420 worth of donations from friends, both virtual and real-life. Thank you all!!!!

We have met so many wonderful people who have come for free needs.... many with stories of the struggles of providing for their family's basic needs. Every month I have had the privilege of hugging an individual that just happened to make a wrong turn down the street that the church was on or saw the kids on the sidewalk out front, waving their signs and waving to those that pass by and came in and started talking about struggles with behaviors they are facing. I always tell them how happy I am that God led them there that day.

Toilet paper, ya'll. Toilet paper has led to so many wonderful opportunities to share. And I am so proud of Jordan. She has such a wonderful heart for the homeless and those in need.

This last week we had 24 families that came for personal needs with 17 of them being first time families. As we were adding the new addresses to the data base, she was discussing ways to increase our goods to be able to provide for more people. You see, last week we had to close early and turn 2 families away because we ran out of goods. Broke.our.hearts! For this new year, we hope to be able to double our purchases so that we can serve everyone that comes to our door.

Merry Christmas

The Lamb Choir

During the Christmas program last night at church, the "rarely seen, but always favored" lamb choir sang 2 Christmas carols. It was cute and the kids loved doing it. They had dressed their lamb puppets in little choir robes. LOL! Sorry for the shaky video... my 3 year old was standing, swaying, and clapping on the pew in front of me so that he could see better and I was trying to film and hold him at the same time.

The Solution

Jeanna still cries most mornings as she does not want to go to PS. Today was the last day before winter break so Jordan went in to get her a few minutes early and found her in art class with a room full of 1st graders running WILD! When the kids saw Jordan, they came up and started tattle-telling on things Jeanna had done to them. Jordan said she told each child how sad that was and just listened. When my girls got to the car, Jordan told me what happened and I asked Jeanna how she felt about her friends telling on her? She said, "Sad." I asked what we could do to make everyone feel safer and she said, "Don't send me to that school no more!" ROFL!!!!

A girl with a plan.

We are getting ready for the spelling bee that our home school group is having in January. Each day the gang has been practicing, writing and quizzing each other. Even the baby is walking around chanting, "Spell the word slkgjshgovi?" We all laugh at his made up word.

We are very delayed in preparing and decorating for Christmas. We did find a family to adopt this year and we are excited as they are family that has very little and their Family Advocate says they would be very appreciative of any help. My kids have started their Dollar Store shopping list and we hope to get their shopping done within the next 3 days.

"Whose Teeth Are These???"

Fourteen years ago with my oldest was 6 years old and started loosing his teeth, I has so much fun being the tooth fairy. I would help him write notes and the "tooth fairy" would write cute little poems back to him with money, trinkets and candy. In the morning I would pretend to be all upset that the tooth fairy had given him candy saying she just was trying soften his teeth so she could have more of them. He thought had an ally in the tooth fairy.

When Jordan got her 1st loose tooth and we explained the tooth fairy to her a look of horror washed over her face and her eyes filled with tears. "Do I have to let the tooth fairy come into my room?"  "Ummmm, no." I told her and we decided to let her leave her teeth in a zip lock bag taped on the outside of her door. As the years went by and more and more different children came through my door, this became a great way to keep up with all the free-falling teeth. As the older kids got older, the younger children learned that Mommy was the tooth fairy and nowadays, my younger kids prefer to keep their teeth in a special locket or something.

Today I found a zip lock bag with 3 little tiny teeth in it and asked, "Whose teeth are these?" Jordan cracked up that I asked the question as if it was the most normal thing in the world to find a baggie of unclaimed teeth.

Yup... normal everyday happenings.

**UPDATE**

We think they are my foster daughter's teeth as they are not very old and my 7 year old has only lost 2 teeth so far. She has lost more than 3, but my have put others in a different bag. I may have to have people write names and dates from now on.

Funny

First Grade Dolch

We use a combination of Harcourt High Frequency, Readers Are Leaders and Dolch for learning to read around here. Jackson started on the pre-primer list during Pre-K and took right off with reading. He started the First grade list this year and has mastered it as of today, so I am letting him move on the the 2nd grade list. He is happy to be moving on. We are doing consonant blends in Language Arts and he can name the sound of them all, but struggles when they are not at the beginning of a word. Lots of practice on that this week.

Ask Him Anything!

I made chili on Sunday and had left overs for chili dogs tonight. I love lots of beans in my chili and I was told that there was lots of.... well shall I say, flatulence! So tonight when we were getting ready to make dinner and I said it would be chili dogs it brought up lots of discussion about last night "musical" adventures. When Jordan said the dinner prayer, she asked God to "help us not have so much gas!" which caused erupted laughter. I guess they know that they can ask Him anything.

Busy Bulletin Board

At one point I was trying to post our monthly bulletin board, but just got away from it. I usually do them in the evenings after the kids go to bed so that they wake up to a surprise. Jordan loved this month's board and took pictures immediately. It is a bit busy, but fun. The trim comes from ABCteach.com and the rest is just random clip art.

The Whole Chicken

I do not profess to be a great cook, but we certainly do okay. M*ijer had whole chickens for $4.99 and we bought a few to give away last Wednesday. It was such a fun thing to surprise people with the extra gift. Anyway, I had 1 for us too. Now... I have never prepared a whole chicken before, but thought it would be a nice experience for the kids to help with preparing it. Jordan helped with taking off the skin and I cut up onion, celery and an apple to sit in the bottom of the crock pot. When it came to opening the bag of innards I had expected the heart, liver and neck and told the children so. Imagine our surprise when we pulled the neck out and the head was still ATTACHED! The beak and hollow eye sockets were a shock. Jordan had named the chicken during cleaning and was saying how much she was ready to be a vegetarian so when she found the head, she started opening and closing the beak, used a chicken voice (and a strange voice it was, LOL!) and had the chicken plead with us all to become vegetarians and to not eat him. It was very funny.

They all examined the heart (which they have seen lots of times as I often fish with chicken hearts) and thought the liver was "nasty". I did not take pictures...the whole transferring of raw meat juices thing, but I plan to buy another whole chicken because it was delicious, tender and made a beautiful broth that I cannot wait to use.

A fun science class for all.

Starting Again

We are getting ready to start our first full week after a wonderful vacation. It was good to be back at church today, although I was uncomfortable with the comments made about going to Nassau.

1st grade opened his unit 4 Lifepacs today in order to get ready for tomorrow. He is always excited to get new booklets. I was using Spelling Connections for 1st grade, but switched to ABC Teach spelling units as I liked the activities that could be done throughout the week for practice. He seems to like the sheets too.

Our home-school group is having the annual Spelling Bee in February.  I think I am putting a hold on everyone's spelling program to focus on Spelling Bee words.

4th and 8th grade have several essay projects coming up in the next few weeks so I think I will make Fridays a project day for them. We have a very old set of encyclopedia's that I would love to replace. I still like them to use reference books for research instead of the internet. We have not had our consistent weekly library trips yet because we have been so busy. I need to get back on track with those as they have yet to fulfill any of their required reading list. So much to do...so little time. LOL!

We were surprised today with a very generouse donation today for our Personal Needs Closet. We are so excited for the opportunity.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

Edible

For my birthday, I received an Edible Arrangement. I was so thrilled and it is so neat. We are not as fond of the chocolate covered strawberries as I thought, but the rest was so fresh and beautiful.

Home School Lite

We made it home Sunday, early evening and the kids decided that they missed school enough that they wanted to get back into it. They set up school and got everything ready without me even telling them to. My foster child, Jeanna*, DID NOT WANT to go back to her public school and promised to cry Monday morning. I debated back and forth as to whether to send her or not for the 2 days before Thanksgiving Break and her teacher (who really does not like Jeanna all that much) had suggested that I just keep her home for those 2 days. But school attendance is an issue that I don't want to have problems with, so I sent her on Monday. Luckily the hot lunch for that day was a meal that she liked. It was the only reason she went. Ha Ha!

We are doing just review type work here in Rottie Land. 8th grade did a couple of hours on Monday as well as 1st grade. 4th grade ended up doing a bit more as it is just the nature of his gig. Today is my birthday so we will watch a movie together...my choice even though I will most likely fall asleep and only see the opening and closing credits as usual! LOL!

Our church added a Wednesday morning prayer meeting that I am excited about as I never get to go to the evening one (bedtime conflicts), so we will get to attend that tomorrow morning before Entertaining Angels. We have also decided to give out meals to any families that come for personal needs on Wednesday. We will be giving out a small chicken, a bag of potatoes and a can good. Just a small meal for hard times.

Thursday we look forward to our traditional grilled cheese and french fries Thanksgiving dinner.

To my Sister-girlfriend: You know I love ya! We are making arrangements.

*My foster daughter's blog name

A Great Finish

We did another night swim tonight in order to get the annual pictures of them jumping in and also another attempt to get the picture of them all doing handstands at the same time. The jumps were fun and entertaining! They just could not get the handstands this year, but it was hilarious trying! All in all... a fantastic trip.

soda overload...

I never buy pop in the States and usually only drink it while on vacation. I have to say.. I have had my fair share and then some. My poor kidneys have been assaulted. While I am not ready to go home yet, I am looking forward to my ice maker and my big 'ole water jug.

We are packing it up and getting ready to leave on Saturday. The boys say they miss the dog, but are not ready to go home yet. Both girls miss their beds and say they miss home and the dog.

We did not get our usual underwater handstand and night swim pictures this year even though we did both.  We may try one more time tomorrow.

Ownership

We have not done school yet this week (of course it is only Tuesday morning), but the kids have learned and experienced so much other stuff that I once again feel like it trumps worksheets.  The children have enjoyed a lot of "ladder ball" and surprisingly, Jeanna is very good at it.

I am having lots of feelings about posting highlights of our vacation, but really want to have the documentation. One of my favorite lines that the Judge says during the adoption process is that "...this child will now have all the rights and privileges of this family..."

It is my privilege to be able to share this life with my children, to see their faces of "first WOW's!!!" and hear them say, "Mommy look!" even if it is the millionth time they have done a flip in the water.

I own my feelings... I own my privilege.

Swimming



I heard: "un,  deux,  trois, GO!" about a million times during that week.  

We have had 4 great days in a row of swimming. First someone let the girls use their underwater camera for an afternoon and they took tons of underwater pictures.The next day ocean was FABULOUS and a whole crowd went body surfing. Jordan had a blast and it was pure entertainment for those of us who did not brave the waves. Last night on 11/11/11 there was a full moon. We had spent the night at a different resort for a few nights and they had a heated, salt water pool that was so warm that when Jackson stuck his foot in, he quickly pulled it back out... I thought he had gotten burned. We went for a night swim and it was wonderful. The moon was bright, the water was warm and we had the pool to ourselves. We had so much fun.

The Big Dipper

The evenings here are beautiful and the deck off the ocean is a wonderful place to spend time just before bedtime. We can see the stars so well as there are very few "city" lights. The 7 stars of the Big Dipper are very clear tonight and a neat experience for the kids.

Pictureless Post

It's weird not doing picture post this year while on vacation, but because my foster child is with us it is too hard to edit her out and really no fun to not be able to show her. She is really enjoying the beach and is slowly learning to swim.

Girl Speak

We met a new family this year from Quebec, Canada. While the mother does speak a very small amount of English, the rest of the family only speaks French. They have 2 little girls who decided before they came to try to learn a few English phrases. Jordan has been in girl power mode and so happy to have someone to play with again this year. She is learning so many French words, but mostly they play, swim and giggle together. Little girls giggling together is an International language!

It Has Been Nice

We are having a nice time. Getting through security was the easiest yet! My foster child (whom we will now refer to as "Jeanna") had a bit of a panic thing when they told her to take her shoes and backpack off and then put them on the belt to disappear into the black hole. LOL! But Jordan was very sweet with her and showed her that her things came out on the other side.

The flight was awesome and the kids received tons of compliaments because of their great behavior. It was a pleasure to fly with them. The new airport in Nassau is.....ummm.... interestingly not completed, but customs was extremely easy.

As it is with every new child, it is fun to see Jeanna experience new things. She loves the beach and swimming.

Peace

We Are Out!

The Big HP is Up

My cord finally came so I have my big 17" screen back. My eyes are cheering because that 10" screen on the Mini was challenging.

Well, I made a Blurb book and it was interesting. I think it will be a nice gift to my kids.

We met the person that will be doing respite care for my 3 year old while we go on vacation.  While I am sure he will be fine, it is hard to think about leaving him for 3 weeks.

I am still waiting for the passport office to send back the original travel orders, but other than that I think we have everything in order. I still have to pack a few more things....mostly toiletry type things.

We will be ready to close down school by Wednesday. 8 th grade is caught up past vacation and 1st grade will be also as soon as he takes his end book test.

Record Keeping

No new cord yet...

10/18/11      math      self test 3      100%


10/19/11      bible      self test 3       94%



10/21/11      spelling level 1,unit 6    100%

                    LA        self test 3          95%

                    math      self test 4        100%

                    math       self test 5       100%
                  
                    His/G       self test 4         95%

They Came!!!

The little kid's passports came. Whew!!! I was worried. So I am officially packing for 5 and my foster daughter is happy to see her clothes being packed with ours instead of in a different suitcase like last year when she had to go to respite care. It was not a pleasant experience for anyone involved.

The dog is leaving tomorrow. 8th grade is very sad and worried that her "baby" won't make it back safely. He is going out of town with extended family. Last year we came back to a $430 vet bill for boarding. I could not do that again, so my Auntie offered to keep him.

School is wrapping up nicely. I don't think I mentioned it, but my lovelies were fooling around and knocked my laptop off of my desk, breaking the cord, so I have not been able to record grades or attendance for 2 days and have not been able to print out the vacation homework as it was downloaded to the big laptop which has all my school stuff on it. (I am blessed to have and be currently using my Mini) I did find a replacement cord on E-bay for under $8. I called HP to price a replacement and the guy told me $117. I burst out laughing on the phone and thanked him very much for his time. My new cord should be here tomorrow or Friday. Jordan was so cute as she offered me 1 dollar right away. She said, "Sorry, Mommy. I will help replace it, but all I have is this $1 right now." I told her that I would put it on her tab. LOL!

Peace!

Schedules, Homework and School on Vacation

Schedules

When I first started homeschooling, I used a very detailed schedule as my oldest (who was the only student for the first 2 years) really needed that type of setting. Over the years, while we still use a schedule, it's a more relaxed situation where the 2 older grades can do whatever class they want during whatever period they choose as long as they complete assignments on time. Since I actively teach 1st grade, he does not have that option. One of the helpful parts of the schedule is that I can stagger classes that people are more likely to have difficulty in, such as math, so that I am more available to help. So if science is your difficult class, then it is easier to have my full attention as it has been scheduled during everyone else's free reading or something like that.

This is an example of what our schedules look like:

This year we are using a binder system in which the kids keep their attendance calendar, school and homework schedules, supplies needed to do school in the car and on the run and whatever book they are reading at the time. It has been the best system ever as the binders are smaller than lugging around backpacks and if some particular classwork does not get done, they they can just stick it in their binder for homework.


The great homework debate.

My kids have homework. I use it as a time for them to work independently, we used it as school work if we have to run errands and we use it for vacation. I also believe, and this may sound morbid,  that if something happens to me, the single parent, my kids will most likely have to back to school, so they may as well know how to manage their time to include homework.

These are our homework schedules.

Vacation

Every year I have to decide how much schoolwork to take with us on vacation. This is especially important if we are going to be gone for 4 weeks or more. In order to take time off at Christmas, for spring break and to still get out for a summer break at the end of May, we just can't take off 3-4 weeks of school.  Eighth grade has been working super hard to complete assignments through December dates so that she does not have to take her laptop and only do "vacation school work". Fourth grade is ahead in one class, but he always ends up taking his laptop with him because if he gets behind, it is very overwhelming for him. First grade is ahead in all classes, so he will only have to do "vacation school work".

This year they will be doing a unit study on the Solar System and then their regular vacation assignment of interviewing someone from another county to learn more about other places around the world. We will take spelling and some math word problems and also reading. We have not decided on the family read for this year.

13 days.


No passport yet... ~sign~

ER & Dinner Conversation

OK...so last summer was the season of ER trips for the kids. This year seems to be mine. After we got home from ER, I was knocked out on the couch for 2 1/2 hours while the kids finished some school and piddled. They were so quiet and let me sleep.

Tonight's dinner conversation starter was: Invent 3 things; one for the household, some type of clothes and something for fun. Based on the answers for household inventions, I think people really don't like vacuuming or sweeping the floors because there were lots of ideas for self-cleaning floors.

We have great plane tickets for our vacation in that we have 1 stop, but don't have to get off of the plane to run to another gate (that in evidently ends up being about as far from the arrival gate as possible. LOL!) Still no passport for the little girl  ~nail biting nail biting~

Light school day tomorrow, but will have to do some make-up on Saturday.

Opportunity to Serve

We were in school this morning when the dog started barking at our neighbor. He was tangled up in his lead and when Jordan went to get him, she noticed that our neighbor was raking leaves. There were a lot of leaves. Jordan felt bad for her as she is in her 70's and raking alone. Jordan stated that she wished that she could help her. Problem is...our neighbor is not very warm and fuzzy. In fact she is quite prickly and kind of cantankerous at time. She became widowed about 1 1/2 years ago. He husband was the sweetest and nicest man you could meet. If the kids kicked or hit a ball into their yard and she got to it first, it was gone for good. If he was in the yard, he would smile and throw it back over.

I convinced Jordan to go out and offer to help her and we were all surprised when she said, "Yes"  So the kids went over and raked for about an hour and did 6 or 7 bags of leaves. She was very curious about their schooling and they learned a lot about her. It was a good opportunity.

On the vacation note, I cannot find enough rash guards for everyone. I have search E bay for 2 weeks. They are just not easy to come by. Oh, and my foster kid still does not have her passport and I talked to the worker today who forgot to pick up the paperwork needed. ~nervously biting my nails~

Road Trip

Today we drove about an hour to take the preschooler to a specialist for a follow-up appointment. The kids took school with them and got all set up in the waiting room to do their work, we were called back pretty fast and the doctor came in right away. He was in the room for about 2 minutes, 20 seconds, said everything looked good and told us to have a great day. He left, we left and made it back to the waiting room before one of the kids could even get their paper dated and labeled. LOL!

So we took a drive down a long 2 lane highway through hundreds of walnut trees to a little town called Walnut Hills. Beautiful and quaint. We had packed a lunch so I looked for a small park. The children really enjoyed their lunch. It was a wonderful day.

I think the 3 year old is completely potty trained. He stayed dry on the road trip and has been staying dry through the night. Next week we meet the foster parent that will be doing respite care for him while we are gone. It will be hard to leave him. Poor little dude.

The cleaning of the fridge will happen this weekend. Yippee!

Yes He Is

About 2 weeks ago I received about 25 pounds of potatoes. We have had potatoes in every way imaginable, but the favorite has been baked in the crock pot. Tonight while I was peeling and preparing hot potatoes for the 3 yr old I was being very verbal about how hot they were and saying that the potatoes make you talk in the "hot potato language" i.e. "Yowza, Zowy, Humanama-Yipowy" Every one was laughing and copying. The preschooler started cracking up and said, "I'm funny!" which made us all fall on the floor laughing even more. He is a very funny little dude.

Having major passport issues as it relates to my foster child. Hope it gets worked out in time.

The Way It Is

This is not related to homeschooling.

We do not have central air, but instead use window units and I have one of those portable room air conditioners that needs to be vented out of a window for the living room. The venting system uses an adjustable track that fits into any size window and it has two holes that the intake and output hoses fit into. Those hoses have fittings that have never fit just right and every year it seems to take more and more duct tape to keep them in the track. This year I spared no duct tape and I wrapped those suckers but good. Jordan teased me all summer about the "ghetto hook up". Believe it or not, they still occasionally fell out!

Today, James and I took the track out of the window and proceeded to unwrap miles and miles of duct tape. One of the hose fittings came out easily. The other just WOULD.NOT.COME.OUT!!! Couldn't keep it in all summer...couldn't get it out this fall. Just the way it is I guess.

Morning Tears

My foster child who is in PS cries every morning as we are getting her ready for school. She gives different excuses everyday so it is hard to pinpoint if there is a specific reason, but we suspect it is related to her being the only one that leaves the home in the morning. Last week she had a 1/2 day of school and when she came home, we were just getting ready to break for lunch. After lunch, she went to her room, changed into 1 of our school uniforms and came to class with the biggest smile.

I am scheduled for IEP and teacher conference in a couple of weeks. Hope to figure some things out.

I am excited that she gets to go on vacation with us this year.

And the Verdict Is...

Gastritis! It seems that after having a running nose/sinus issues for three weeks that the amount of mucus in her stomach has caused gastritis. Of course she comes out of the doctors office and says with conviction, "I told you I was sick!" ROFL!! My daughter.

A FIRM Foundation

A FIRM Foundation

For the Record

Busy week coming up.

8 th grade Monday doctor appointment, Tuesday morning appointment, and Friday morning out-of-town dermatologist appointment for preschool. School hours will be short this week, but we are pretty much on target for all grades.

Yeah Friday!!!


that's all

Pilgrim's Progress

The gang is now reading Pilgrim's Progress and really seem to be enjoying it. The are studying it with their Sunday School teacher and have vocabulary words and essays that will be assigned.

This is one of our busy weeks: Dr. appointments, Entertaining Angels, a birthday party and church cleaning.

I have a sinus infection..again. 2nd time in 5 months. I have never had sinus problems so this is new and aggravating.

The Whole Gang is Back To School...

and that includes the dog.

School Supply Overload

I buy school supplies every year. We go through a lot of pencils, paper, glue and especially crayons as my kids love love to color, I don't like broken or worn down crayons and give out new packs as needed. I also buy lots of paper and folders 'cause I just can't pass up a 1 cent sale! So we had a good supply built up for the year.

Well, my church decided to have a "Back to School Bash" and asked members to donate school supplies. We packed a bag with a bit of everything and turned it in last week. We really did not intend to go to the bash as it was really a follow-up for the children that attended VBS. (We did not attend VBS this year) The ladies who did vbs really missed the kids and mentioned it often along with inviting them to the bash, so we decided to go. They had planned for 30 kids... there were 7...my 5 and 2 others. So.... we have a whole buncha school supplies. LOL! We got back most of what we donated and more. We plan to donate some of it to our personal needs closet next week.

On a side note, Jordan got a surprise of going out on a special date tonight with dinner and the musical "Annie" at one of the local theaters. I can't wait to hear what she thinks.

Another Funny Drawing

I am not typically one of those parents that considers every scrap of paper that my child colors or draws on to be of the level of Picasso, but I do have to say that I find Jackson's drawings to be funny not only because of the character he draws, but more because of the truth behind the drawing.

The explanation says: "I am picking up James' shoes and putting them in his shoe box." 

The parts that are funny to me: James has a billion pairs of shoe, they are usually all over the floor and Jackson takes the time to match up, line up and arrange shoe boxes often. 

Class Photo

We were finally able to take our class picture. 

Today was my foster child's first day of PS. We miss her and forgot she was gone and fixed a fifth lunch. LOL!

The Mailman

She Really is Reading

I have a foster child that is 7 years old. She has been in Early On and other early intervention programs since she was about 18 months old. Last year she was in a special ed kindergarten that was an extremely small classroom with lots of professional support.

As a homeschooling mom I think there is always that wondering if you are doing enough, giving your kid the right tools or desire to "keep up". Having another kindergarten child in the home really helped me to see how our curriculum compared to the public school. It was also very helpful for both kids because it gave Jackson an opportunity to practice what he learned by teaching her and gave her exposure to more challenging concepts with him.

She ended the school year with the need to learn to read in order to be more successful in the next level of program. This summer, I used the same phonics/dolch reading program that I have used for all of my children with her.

We started school about 2 weeks before PS started and she had joined in with my first grader. Imagine her surprise when she was able to read! It was such a neat look on her face when she was reading in the same book as Jackson. I think her teacher will be surprised too.

We had an extra student today (CCK) who really enjoyed this "classroom" setting. He did very well and will return tomorrow.

First and Second Week Done

Jordan surprised the kids with green eggs (no ham) for breakfast this week. Not a pretty sight, but tasty.

4th grade has finished his 2nd whole week and his grades are right on track. He is very much "set-up" for success in that he cannot move onto the next lesson until he masters the one he is working on.  He is also working more at his own schedule this year. While he has a chart that tells when to do math, language arts, history, etc... he can do them as needed and does not have to change classes when the bell rings.

1st grade finished their first week and they were excited. I used this same curriculum 3 years ago and had forgotten all of the extra prep work that is needed. I will spend this weekend making all of the copies I will need so that next week can be a bit more smooth. In History & Geography we learned about Betsy Ross and colored flags.

First Grade's First Day

We started the first graders today and it was a pretty good day. I have changed our schedule and the way we do things and both did very well. I may have to start our day about 5 minutes earlier to allow for set up and devotions. We have moved our classroom back into the dining room so there is a bit more set up needed. I am not liking the change of rooms, but it is hopefully temporary. We are redoing the playroom (which stopped being a playroom years ago when the toys took over, needing it to be a storage room) and planning to make it our permanent classroom. I am excited that the 2nd bathroom remodel is complete and I LOVE the room so much that I found myself just sitting in there enjoying. All these years with only having 1 bathroom has trained everyone to hold it...we forget that it is down there. LOL! Field trip to the city market tomorrow.

Out of the Yard

My kids are outdoor kids to the extreme. Usually in the summer they are outside from sun-up to sun-down, but this summer has been so different. First we had the major heat waves that kept them in for weeks. Now we have  a mosquito problem that is the worst I have ever experienced. They go out and 5 minutes later they are all back in with welting bites wherever there was exposed skin. Oh well... I did save on sunblock this year. ~Smile~

Community Service & Manipulatives in the Home

It was a good week of community service. The kids filled 13 food orders today. Lots of people showed up without proper i.d. so many graceful decisions were made by the staff today, but it turned out well.

In reading other home school blogs I glean great ideas for different manipulatives that I have right in my home. Kim at His Hands His Feet Today mentioned using UNO cards for sorting. I love that kind of thing.

4 days until 1st grade start.

Entertaining Angels Update

We had so much fun with the Personal Needs Closet today. We serviced 9 families, 2 who were homeless. One lady was driving by, saw the kids standing out with their signs, turned around and came back. She told of her daughter down in Arkansas that had ran into financial troubles and became homeless. She had moved them up here with her and it has been a struggle. She said she was just talking to one of her grandsons that they were out of toilet paper in the house when she saw the kids with the signs. It was interesting because she got out of her car and said, "God sent you angels to me today because we really needed these personal needs." We do not have our name on any of our signs.

We will need to restock for next month.

Tomorrow the kids work the Food Bank. Looking forward to Thursday.

1 Day Down

We made it and James says that he had a good day. He kinda had a rough start. James is not a confident reader...capable, just not confident, so when he started his dolch readings, he had to have lots of restarts. But yippee!!! he finished all of his assignments for today! My first graders are chomping at the bit to get started. I had to keep shooing them away. 8th grade did a great job of getting the younger kids breakfast and dressed so that I could focus completely on James. I am happy he had a good start.

Fourth Grade Start Your Engines...Maybe

We are scheduled for James to start school tomorrow (8/15) and he is very excited. Today kinda got away from us time wise and a late bedtime might cost us a smooth start. I did finally make it to get school supplies and still need to get to St*ples to get their 1 cents folders.

Well...Praying for a peaceful and successful year for all.

"That'll Be 3 Cents Please"

Off*ce M*x has their lined paper on sale for 1 cents a pack (limit 3 per person). So each kid got three pennies and in they tromped to get our 15 packs of paper. We will go back again tomorrow and we should be set for the year.  I am in a slight software crises. I totally did not shop early to get our curriculum and am now in a race to get 8th grade's software. I was able to get 1st grade's stuff early for a really great price, but I keep getting outbid for 8th grade.

On a side note...we got our vacation confirmation e-mails today and my mom suggested looking at all the passports to make sure they are all set. Oh My Goodness!!! Jordan's passport expires next month!!!!  So we rushed to the post office and applied for a renewal. I am so glad we noticed that. We would have been so much in trouble at the airport.

This week: completing paperwork, updating portfolio files and getting joint subjects all together.  We are taking music, art, foreign language  and PE all together.

Screeech....Changing Lanes Again

We made changes to the start dates to stagger each grade a bit more. Orientation is still on for tomorrow even though our new school shirts won't be here for 2 more weeks. I kinda went shirt shopping crazy because the Mart of Wals had such a great sale on school polos with free to home shipping and then I ordered the new shirts with our school emblem as the other shirts are over 3 years old.

Old school emblem

New school emblem on navy polos

Fourth Grade still starts Monday, August 15th. James is excited.

First Grade will now start Monday, August 22nd. Jackson says he is happy and is very excited to get to his new Lifepacs. My foster daughter will start with him on the same date as Public School does not start until September 6th. She does not state how she feels about going back to school, but if I were to let him start and not her, she would cry and say she wants to come to school too, so I take that as a sign that she likes to be a part of things.

Eighth Grade will start Wednesday, September 7th. Jordan has been offered an invitation to take part in a small class offering group piano lessons, but I am not sure if she will be able to take it as our November vacation would cause he to miss so many classes. She is not looking forward to school, but is kinda excited about her new math curriculum (we are changing to Life of Fred.)

Pre-School. I am back to having a pre-schooler. My foster son will be 3 yrs old next week and he is already learning so much that we have decided to let him join in slowly. When Jackson first came home, I thought it would be good to start him at a preschool level to give him a chance to bond and mature. Jordan basically taught him and has offered to teach this level again. We use the Brightly Beaming Letter of the Week and I think my 3 year old will enjoy many of the activities. Anyway, he will start September 15th.

 

Fiber Optic Yuck!

Jordan came out after being in bed for an hour to tell me that her ear hurt and that she felt like she had a bug in there. I got out my optical scope and sure enough..there was some unidentifiable something in there. She tends to be kinda waxy in the ears anyway, but this did look different. I tried some warm water, but nothing came out and she said that it hurt very much, so my Mom came over and took her to E.R. We await to see what they find. I have always teased her about growing potatoes and corn in those ears. LOL! It seems she may actually have something to harvest.

**UPDATE**

Jordan's ear was impacted with wax. Her ear wax was a dark red/maroon colored wax that the doctor noted as being "normal in color".  I have looked in those ears for years and have never seen anything that color, but I guess I'll take the Dr's word on this one. She was given a solution to soften the wax and something for pain. When she came home her ear was bright red from all the digging. She was not happy, but will live. Nothing living or past living was found (even tho' she thinks she still feels something in there). It of course did not help that she came home, got ready for bed again and found a spider on her wall. It was a long night. ~Smile~

Not So Abnormal

We went to the Y last night with invited friends and had a blast. We stayed until almost 8pm and changed into pajamas like always so that we can come home, have a snack and go to bed. As we were coming out of the family locker room, there was a man coming around the corner that looked at us, crinkled his forehead and just stared. We stopped at the rock climbing wall, sat and waited for our friends. He cam back around the hall and asked me, "Are you babysitting?" I told him, "No, these are my children." He just stood, mouth opened and looked at each child. ~Sigh...here we go~

Man: Really?
Me: Yes, these are my children.
Man: How? Adoption?
Me: Yes! Isn't it wonderful. I saw the look on your face in the hall...you were wondering.
Man: Yeah, like what is that big black woman doing with all of those white kids
Me: (not sure whether to laugh at his honesty or to take my earrings off and kick his....well never mind) Yes, I have adopted my children.
Man: How many did you have before you adopted these?
Me: (I now know I am talking to someone who is just a couple sandwiches short of a picnic) I have 6 children altogether.
Man: Are they attached to you? You know you could've just had some kids even though there is no guarantee they will be attached you. I just think it's abnormal for you to have them.
Me: Are you saying we are abnormal?
Man: Yes! I think it's abnormal.
Me: We are not abnormal! That word sounds quite negative.
Man: You are abnormal. We could take a survey.
Me: (Major eye roll) Well, We are not abnormal!
Man: (Mumbles as he walks away) Yeah ya are....

Jordan is stunned and angry calling the man rude and racist. Yup... that about describes it. My friend came out of the locker room, we recounted the conversation and she was ready to find him to...ummm... well probably not to encourage him LOL!

I don't mind teachable moments, but man oh man...

Fade to Black

Summer school did not go as planned, but that is alright and a part of this path. We were doing pretty well until I got very sick and you know... when mama gets sick, not much gets done. (at least that's how it is for me as a single parent) So we kinda faded out to our end of summer break.

It turns out I did not really like the Summer Skills books that I picked as bridge books for the summer. They did not flow very well and jumped from review stuff to not yet learned stuff and then back to review. I usually use Summer Bridge books but wanted to try something new this year. Next summer I guess we will go back to what we know.

Dates are set for school:

Orientation - August 8th

Early Start for 4th grade -  August 15th.  (He needs the extra time as he struggles to keep up during the year)

First Day - September 7th

Splash Pad & Amber Alerts

This morning I was watching the news and thought I saw an amber alert for a child that was a foster child in my home last year. ~Sigh~

We finally made it to the splash pad at a local county park. Fun! Of course I did not have my camera. We went pretty early in the morning and there were 2 large daycare type groups with younger children (about 30  3 - 5 yrs old).  One of the teachers stood at the edge and started looking around the play area with a very worried look on her face. Another teacher came up to her and they tried to figure out the last time they had seen "him". Rut-Roh! I was having an internal dialog hoping they would contact security to shut the park down. Every minute that they spent looking around, counting and re-counting kids made me wish they would say something out loud because if the little guy was missing, the more time that passed the farther away he could get. After about 12 minutes they found him. Whew! The look of relief on their faces... and of course he did not know he was lost.

Cold Showers

It is HOT! I'm not complaining because I prefer this to snow and ice. We have been staying in for the last 2 days but have to go out tomorrow for library events and Entertaining Angels. Last night, the kids got to take a cold shower outside with the hose, body wash and all. I am sure the neighbors greatly appreciated our chants of, "Do you duty and wash your booty*!" LOL!  5 kids showered and ready for bed in record time. There is nothing like a cold shower to make you hurry to get into pajamas without dilly dallying around.

Staying cool!


*Booty in our home usually refers to the the whole body, not necessarily just the derriere parts.

Bowling and Drawings

We used more of our Kids Bowl Free coupons this week and had so much fun. The girl finally beat her brothers score's. They are both fierce bowlers. She actually got the score printed at the end of the game so she could have proof. LOL!

Here are the 1st 4 animals that we learned:

Can you name them all?

Rained Out & Slurpee Overload!!

We were scheduled to go to the outdoor splash pad at one of the local county parks today, but we got a big 'ole thunderstorm that changed our plans. So instead, we drove around to all the 7 dash e.le.ven.s and got free sl. ur. pees! So Fun!  Wednesday we well go see a juggling show at the library. 

3 kids did about  15 minutes of school (woo hoo) and I am evaluating a new client tonight (woo hoo)

Summer School

The troop is outside for class today. Notice the dog upside down scratching his back in the grass behind the teeter totter.

Summer school is going well. We do 2 classes together and then they break for their skills. For devotions we are reading Hind's Feet on High Places  (thank Christie for the recommendations) and they really like the story and groan when I come to a stopping place. We are also doing Draw Write Now, Book 1 (thanks Christine for the idea)  which is so funny  because we have had some very interesting farm animals drawn so far.

For individual skills the 1st graders and the 4th grader are doing Summer Skills Daily Activity Workbook and 8th grade is doing Life of Fred - Fractions . She loves it and I think it might be closer to her learning style than what we ususally learn.

Gobble Gobble

I wish I could show you the baby 'cause he looked so cute trying to bite that big ole leg. The boys could not even wait to get their sides on their trays.

Turkey Legs and Full Names

Every year for the Fourth of July, I get the smoked, giant turkey legs to take with us to watch the county fireworks. Last year, I missed the chance to get them because the owner of the best smoked Turkey legs in town closed his store early due to a lack of business. We were so bummed. This year I called at what I thought would be "early" enough time and the store was already closed for the day. AAARRRGGGG! One of the owners was there in the store and agreed to give me legs that were cooked, but not hot. They would need to be warmed up. She told me to meet her at the back of the store in 20 minutes. It sounded very clandestined, but those legs are so worth it for this once a year treat. I was able to get our turkey legs and she gave me some extra sauce on the side. Yum!

While in the car I was quizzing the kids on their vital information: full names, address, phone number, birth date. When I asked my 6 yr old foster daughter her info, she stated her full name as, "first name, our last name, and our homeschool name".  It was very funny... I guess we should work on that this summer.

Summer School Delay

We were originally going to start summer school on the 20th and then I changed it to the 27th because of our vacation. But now, we have family coming in from Georgia and Ohio so we will push it back until Wednesday, the 29th. 

All of our butterflies are gone. All eight that we placed into the habitat hatched and all flew away. My kids almost learned a very hard lesson when the last one was turned loose and a bird swooped in and came within inches of snapping it right up as soon as James let it go. I was thinking, "Oh great, the cycle of life from start to the very end!" We will definitely order more caterpillars to do this again.

I am in need of one more school chair...one of ours was damaged and I am hoping to replace it. One of the local charted schools is closing for good and I heard they are selling everything. I will try to contact them this week.

4 More Ladies

Four more Painted Ladies hatched, but only 2 would fly away. The other 2 are still in the habitat. I think their wings needed a little more time to dry. The look of wonder on the kid's faces and in their eyes was priceless!! One crawled  up James' arm and would not fly away.

We are still camping, but came in to take care of the butterflies and get the mail.

1 Painted Lady Gone

One of our caterpillar cocoons hatched and was ready to leave today. It was so neat! Jordan was like, "we made a butterfly!" LOL! There are 7 more cocoons hanging.

Our respite kid left today! Whew!!! She really acted out today as she knew she was leaving. So sad because she really could have had a better time if she would have just let go of the rude and negative behaviors. I it was good for my kids to see again the importance of being kind to those around you.

We went to the Pow Wow today! It was beautiful! I cried during the opening ceremony as I do every year. It was so hot that we could not stay for too long. I had bananas and water for the kids and 2 of them still got sun sick. Jordan took a great video of one of the dances. As soon as I figure out how to crop the video, I will try to post it.

Vacation in Change

We were suppose to do a road trip along one of the Great Lakes and camp as we made stops along the way. In May I was asked to do a respite that turned out longer than anyone anticipated and so we had to change our trip to stay at a local campground so that we could transport the young lady to school. She has never gone camping so it has been a big adventure for her. We also got a great site right on the lake! I saw a huge fish jump right out this morning. The kids all got new fishing rods, so we are looking forward to some fishing this weekend. The 3 little kids have to wear life vest while running around because we are just that close to the water.

*********************

Of our 10 caterpillars, 8 made chrysalis that we were able to transfer to the butterfly habitat. Two don't look so good, so I predict that only six will make it...if that many.

She's Certified!

7th   oh I guess that's 8th grade now! took a babysitting course this Saturday that gave her first aid skills as well as allowed her to earn certification in infant and child CPR!  I am so proud of her and was so excited as I waited for her to come out from class. It was a 6 hour training. She also learned information on age-appropriate discipline, redirection and important tips for keeping children safe and entertained. She said she was one of the few girls that already had experience in diaper changing and that when some of the girls opened the diaper on their anatomically correct dolls that they "kinda freaked out" when some of the dolls turned out to be baby boys! LOL! 

While she was in class, the little kids and I went to a real working drive-in restaurant where you pull up to the speakers with the menus on them, order and the waitress brings your food to the car. No roller skates though! The sandwiches that we ordered were so big, that I ended up cutting 1 of them into 4's for the kids. Good thing I only ordered 3 sandwiches which I was going to split between the 6 of us. We ended up bringing home enough to have another meal. We also went to a really neat park that was wheelchair accessible so it had some really neat toys, ramps and platform swings that was anew experience for my kids.

I am still doing respite care. So many thoughts on that....

Had fun swimming this evening, even though the pool was really full. It was kinda funny because there were 3 young couples with really young children that met up at the Y and they were being so silly and goofy...they were worse than the kids. They kept getting in trouble by the lifeguards for horsing around, running and throwing balls at each other.

While we are officially on beginning summer break, we still have to get up and out daily as our respite kid is still in school, but we hope to leave for a now shortened vacation at the end of the week.

Kindergarten Graduation: PS Style

We went to my foster child's Kindergarten graduation yesterday and it was typically cute with the little cap and gowns, the really funny little songs and the wild clapping for awards such as "knows all my colors", "can count to 100" and "most helpful milk passer outer" (or something to that affect! LOL!) My kiddos were really proud because their foster sister had gotten awards for skills that were a direct result of their help. Every morning and every afternoon, Jackson would stand at the number chart with her and count to 100, count by 10's and blast off counting with her (10, 9, 8, etc...). Every afternoon and evening, James would read to her, sometimes clocking 160 minutes per month on her chart. Every week, Jordan would do her homework with her, making copies of the homework so she could master the skill and then Jordan would find other activities that matched the skill she was learning.

Tomorrow is the last day of public school, but we don't get to sleep in yet as I am doing respite for a child that is attending a charter school, so we still have to get up in the mornings to get her to school. She is a very interesting young lady. We had green eggs and ham for dinner yesterday in her honor because she was reading the book, but did not believe that there could really be green eggs and ham. The color turned out perfectly and I read the story to them as they ate breakfast for dinner (a favorite around here).

On another note: our caterpillars arrived yesterday and have already started growing, some doubled in size in just the 24 hours that we have had them.

Working Our Way Up From the Basement

Another rare tornado warning again tonight that had us sitting in our basement. I took a simple card game down with us, but just like last time... I ended up doing a little laundry, straightening the back room and sorting seasonal clothes. Poor kids! They are probably always going to associate tornado's with working in the basement.

We were only needing to be down there for a 1/2 hour or so. It actually took me longer to get them down there, put the batteries in the radio and flashlights (the lights were flickering, but never actually went out) and find a working station on my old 1971 transistor radio.

Year End Celebration & Graduation

Today we had our year end celebration and the pictures turned out so cute. Their eyes sparkled so much and they were proud of their accomplishments. Every year they dress up and I give a very cheesy graduation speech that mimics the speech given at my graduation for my Masters program.

Congratulations go to Jordan for the completion of the 7th grade, "B" Honor Roll and the award for messiest desk.

Congratulation go to James for the completion of 3rd grade, "A" Honor Roll and the award for "I didn't do it!" (James is the kid who will have powdered sugar on his face, hands and shirt, but will act as if he has no clue what a powdered donut is nor has he ever seen one in his life! )

Congratulations go to Jackson for completing Kindergarten and a Reading Achievement award.

  

Summer school starts June 22. The 3 younger kids will be using summer skill workbooks and Jordan will be using Life of Fred. We all will be writing short stories using character development and setting worksheets from edHelper.com.

7th Grade is Done!!

Jordan is done with school for the year! Yipee!!!

Kindergarten only has math left!!! Yipee!!!

3rd grade may finish before June 1st! Yipee!! (but much effort was used to type this one)

Summer curriculum is mostly all here...waiting for 2 more books.

Yipee!!!

Happy Mother's Day!

Nicknames

Most of my kids don't have nicknames. The girl is the exception, but that is a whole other story. I grew up with cousins whose nicknames were used so much that by the time they went to kindergarten, they had to be convinced that they actually had legal names given by their mothers.

I think because I gave all of my kids new names that there was no way I was gonna use a nickname while trying to teach a new family name, but what happens is that the youngest kid in the house says a very cute version of a big kids name and we all laugh and like it and then start calling said kid by the baby-speak name.

When Jordan was a baby, she called Jeffrey "Buffrey", Jackson called Jordan "Jo-ee" and now the baby calls Jackson, "Da-sha". While it won't last for long, I gotta say that "Dasha" is my "fav-wit"

We See the Light...

... and we don't think it is a rushing train.

I think we are going to be done with school somewhere around the 20th of May. I am so excited because Momma needs a vacation more than any of these little people. I updated progress reports today and had to laugh at the differences in attendance. They do all go to the same school don't they? LOL!



Sad News

I admit... I am on facebook, but not so much for the social networking as much as for farmville and cityville. I like the games. I do. For the last few weeks, 1 of my neighbors has not been farming or gifting. His crops had withered and when I messaged or inboxed him, I got no response. I noticed on his wall that others were trying to contact him.

Today is his birthday and when I went to wish him well, someone else had said, "Happy Birthday up there in Heaven T!"

GASP!!!

I sent a message to his cousin and found out that he had suddenly died in his sleep 4 weeks ago today. I have never met him. I only knew him through facebook games, but he was the nicest guy who answered questions whenever I needed, sent gifts constantly and had tons of tons of friends.

With all that is going on in the world....

Rest In Peace, T

Happy Birthday, Jackson!

Today is Jackson's 7th birthday! He has been counting down all month. Jackson is a pretty intense little dude with all the classic signs of being the "class clown". He struggles with APD, but works very hard in school, impressing me everyday with his reading abilities. He loves cars, sunglasses and baseball caps.

Happy Birthday, Kid!!

Happy Easter

I know this is coming at the end of the day, but we had a great weekend away.

Here are pics from today...

The owner of the lake house that we rented had plastic eggs hidden when we got there and she had these wooden mask that the children could color. Such a nice surprise and the kids loved the egg hunt. The weather was beautiful for the weekend and we enjoyed the outdoors.