Writing

I have already started looking for curriculum for summer school. I think I want to focus only on writing this summer. I have looked at the "Lea.rn to Wr.ite the No.vel W*y", but I am not sure it will work for all levels. Any other good recommendations? I have a beginning reader, an emerging reader and a fluent reader. I think I want to work on story writing, maybe some character development and definitely sentence/paragraph structuring.

An Emergency Call to Service

We were in class today with plans to have a whole day of staying in and getting lots of school done. This month has been so full of appointments and outings, so today was going to be the one. We were working on Haiku poetry when a call came from our local food bank. 10 orders had come in all at once and the other volunteers were not coming in today. We live literally 100 feet from the church so we were there in under 20 minutes. It was crazy busy and the kids did a great job. They divided the work and really had fun serving.

About 6 months ago I reconnected with a friend who was pregnant and who mentioned that she wished I could provide childcare for her. I told her that we should think about it and left it at that. In the meantime, the 2 new foster children have come and my quiver is full (for me). She called 2 days ago to let me know that she had the baby and really wanted me to provide childcare. I had to tell her that I thought I was at my max. I hung up and felt so sad about it.

So today as I was at the food bank, in walks N (just  a kawinkydink) with the newborn and she hands him right to me. Oh he was beautiful and smelled just like a delicious newborn should and and and... I know it would be too much. But man oh man would I love to have him in my arms everyday. Of course, Jordan was whispering in my ear the whole time, "Mommy we could do it!", "I will help you.", "Oh Mommy, he is so sweet and precious!" I kept swatting her away like a bee buzzing in my ear. LOL!  When it was time to go, I put him back into his carseat with an, "I don't think I can." on my lips, but a "How can I work this out?" on my heart.

Anyway, A good busy day with very little school work completed.

Oh, but James did finish his Haiku:

the rain is splashing
wet drops fall from the gray sky
the ground is soggy

How about that!

Happy Birthday!

Today is James' 10th birthday! He is such a predictable, but easy to please kid. He is very much a child that thrives on routines. It is sometimes hard for him to stray, but at the same time, he can adapt to new situations as long as he has a "base" to go back to. He is very athletic and has been recently trying to teach the kindergartners how to do head and hand stands.

James waiting to whack the pinata on vacation at the big yellow house.

Happy Birthday Kid!

Entertaining Angels

We are needing to restock our personal needs closet again. This whole thing is so cool and Jordan really had fun packing the bags to be handed out. She loves shopping, so she will get to go into the store to restock. The toilet paper goes FAST!

Just FYI: When I made copies of our fliers, I went to the local FedEx Office and used my Teacher Discount Card which allows teachers, even home school teachers, to have a 15% discount in participating locations. You can apply online HERE.

Bowling Party

Had the annual Homeschool bowling party yesterday. The bowling alley was crazy chaotic as they had booked our group of 150 people along with 3 bus loads of 5th and 6th graders from one of the local public schools. They ran out of bowling shoes and most kids only had boots and socks so it was crazy and of course there were not enough light weight balls so you had these little kids trying to lug these 15 lb balls up to the lane. LOL! But it was loads of fun and entertaining. I laughed so hard as once again my youngest out scored the bigger kids. You know how the score board tells how fast your ball is going? Well, the average speed of other balls was between 7 and 9 mph. Jackson's average speed was 2.2 mph and he was hitting strikes and spares like a pro! They bowled 3 games with the final score being:

Jackson - 267
James - 254
Jordan - 262

7th grade was like, "I cannot keep letting my little brothers beat me in bowling!" Funny! There was lots of candy treats and the pizza at the bowling alley was good.

So Much Fun & The Ride Down

We had a great long weekend. The rental house was HUGE and beautiful! It was on a lake that was frozen over. There were fishing shanties on the lake and ever day snowmobilers would cut through the yard to the lake which made the boys so excited. There were so many rooms and beds with 2 kitchens, 2 laundry rooms and a wonderful view. I caught one sunrise (for just a few minutes) from the loft over the 3 story great room. We found a great oldies radio station that played jammin' music all weekend and my mother cooked like crazy! We did a really cute craft made of paper hearts of all sizes and colors. The treasure hunt was so fun and took them on a trek all over the house. There treasure was full of goodies, mini books, stickers and pencils. The pinata was so fun and luckily broke after every kid got a chance to swing at it. Candy and confetti scattered everywhere.

Now I must tell you about our trip down there.

First, the back story. There is a lady at my church who quite often blesses my family financially. This past Sunday was one such time.

Okay, so on Thursday we packed the car, I went to get gas and got on the highway. As soon at we got on the highway, my battery light came on. Now, my car is 11 years old and has always had a bad sensor that occasionaly causes some of the warning lights on the dashboard to come on in kinda of a weird way. Like, I had a headlight out and the seat belt light flashed until I got the lamp replaced. Things like that, so when the battery light came on and just flashed, I did not give it too much thought. Then it came on and stayed on and I started praying to make it at least to our destination 'cause I did not want to be on the side of the road with 5 kids in freezing weather. I told the kids to pray that "Helen" (Yes, yes... I have named my car) would get us to the rental house. We had to leave an Interstate Highway to get on a Route which was a little 2 lane thing.

As we are driving I am just silently praying as first the clock light goes out, then the digital odometer light went out which made me nervous as now I can't track where I am on my map. We got to the exit and the intersection of the street we were going to be on and I lost all electrical power: the spedometer dropped and the running lights went out. My mom spotted an auto shop, the traffic light turned green and I coasted right up to the garage door. TThe engine was still running. The mechanic came out and I explained what happened. He grabbed a battery tester and when he clamped it on, the battery read completely dead! He looked at me his mouth opened: "How is this engine still running?!" I knew we had prayed it into town.

This shop could not fix it so he charged the battery enough for me make it the next 7 miles to the house. I found another auto shop, called AAA and had it towed to the mechanic. It was my alternator. The amount of the repair; The amount I had in my pocket!

The guy fixed the car in just a couple of hours.

I just had to tell you guys!

Mini Vacation in a Big Yellow House

We are leaving in the morning for a long weekend vacation.  So excited as my 6 year old foster daughter was not able to go on our last family vacation and I had promised that she would be going on our next one. She is happy as she has watched me pack suitcases with her clothes in the same suitcase with ours (When she went to respite last time her things were packed in a separate suitcase.) This home sleeps 16 people and has 4 bathrooms!!! Ya'll hear that!!! 4 BATHROOMS!!!  I may never leave a bathroom. (here at home it's me, 5 kids and 1 bathroom)

I have a scavenger hunt planned and a craft. I also have plans to make a pinata if there is not already a sugar overload (Nana?!?!) There may also be some sledding if the temp gets above at least 20 degrees, but that is not looking promising.

Fun, fun!

Purpose and An Award

I started this blog 3 years ago to replace our monthly newsletter that we use to produce. It was quite the production with articles and events. The computer program we used would not communicate with my printer so I would have to convert it and email it and then open it with another program and then print it. It was a lot of work. I learned about personal blogs and decided to use blogging as a way to share information with our 12 followers. They did not make the switch with us... they wanted the hard copy newsletter. Blogging became so much easier than the newsletter and consumed way less time. I then changed my goal of sharing information to one of documenting our homeschooling experience.

We were sad to lose the 12 or so followers, but what I found in the world of blogging could only be described as truly amazing! Other mammas and families that shared many of our beliefs, experiences, tragedies and triumphs. I have "met" some of the most inspirational women in the world, from all over the world. Women I would never have met in my walk of life, may never meet in real life ... but women that have made a difference in this mammas' life that words cannot express.

Tonight I received the "Stylish Blogger" award from Christie over at Our Family Blog. She is the mother of 7, 3 of which are her beautiful daughters that are funny, witty and smart. Thank you Christie! You inspire and encouraged me daily to be a better mamma and a more Christ-like daughter of The King.

Upon receiving this award, I am supposed to:



1) Thank, and link back to the person who awarded it.


2) Share 7 things about myself.


3) Award 10 great bloggers.


4) Contact these bloggers and tell them about the award.


7 things about me:

one ~ I love listening to music... all kinds!

two ~ I currently have 2 foster children in the home which puts me at 5 kids in the home

three ~ I like the taste of sharp cheddar cheese with carrots.

four ~ I am a homebody and with the exception of vacations, could stay at home for weeks at a time if allowed.

five ~ I started my undergrad degree thinking that I wanted to be a teacher, but after doing a stint of student teaching decided that before teaching the children, I wanted to reach families.

six ~ I worked for15 years in crises intervention and family therapy services before coming home to be of service to my own family.

seven ~ I started homeschooling out of necessity, but now I know that it is all I ever wanted to do...teach children.


Now... 10 7 bloggers that I would like to pass this on to:

Kysha

P

Mom #1

Lisa

Annie (although I see that she already received this award)

LA

Diana

It's Groundhog Day!... Again

I love that movie!


Yesterday was a fun day. We did not have a snow day like the rest of the world, but we kept it kinda light and had some fun. I rented a huge house for next week and we are planning a vacation with family friends, so we will have a break then.

We talked about Punxsutawney Phil and counted how many more weeks until spring. When 7th grade realized that spring is 6 weeks away regardless of Phil, she was like, "Awwww, I liked that story and you ruined it!" I apologized for killing the groundhog and the Easter bunny too. LOL! She laughed!

We did this activity together which I got from Enchanted Learning.

Last summer we were gifted this:

 I have to say, it reminded me of my childhood and everyone liked it much better than microwaved popcorn.