A Great Start

Elementary and Middle school started August 26th and High School Started September 2nd. We have had a good start so far. Yesterday the weather was fantastic and we had school outside. Today was rainy and we had school in our pajamas. I love homeschooling! :)

Joshua loves Kindergarten! Because he is already doing some reading, it makes it so much easier to teach him. He can almost read most of the instructions on his page so I have to do very little at this point. We are still in the review stage so he is flying through the curriculum. I have always enjoyed teaching kindergarten the best.

Elementary is doing well. Jackson and Jeanna are showing more comfort in reading and finding information. Jeanna's comprehension has improved a great deal. I can tell she is understanding what she reads, but she is still struggling on being able to write what she knows.

James has gained a since of maturity that is showing in his work.

Jordan started one of those online public schools, but we are having to change to something else due to life changing.

Peace to all!

Trying to start back up...

We had our orientation today. It is always fun to get new school supplies, new schedules and take pictures.

This year something new for us is that Jordan will be attending an online public school. She was unhappy with the curriculum we had been using and we searched and researched and prayed and sighed LOL until we decided to try this. She got her desktop in the mail and we set it up only to find out that it is not wireless. Of course, our modem is at the complete opposite end of the house and on the upstairs floor. So we are going out to buy a wireless adapter tomorrow. Oh yeah and believe it or not, they mailed her books and supplies, but we have misplaced them in my effort to put them up so that they would not get damaged before school. Seriously, we cannot find them anywhere. bigger sigh.

James is excited to have a new computer as his little sister stepped on his Mini that he left on the floor?!?!?

Jackson and Jeanna are both excited to be back in the school room. We have not been in the schoolroom since December, 2013 when Monica got sick.

Joshua is in Kindergarten this year and his smile is so big I'm afraid his face will break. His new books and supplies came and he is simply giddy.

I found a new homeschool group on Facebook that has been so supportive, I actually comment and interact.

We were planning to start August 25th, but now we may have to wait a week due to still taking care of my dad's estate.

Peace!

***UPDATE***

15 minutes after hitting publish we found the school stuff in of all places, the school closet on the top shelf... in a safe place!

Spell the Word, Races!

It has been a crazy, busy week. Our home school group had it's annual Spelling bee on Friday and the kids were also involved with a local church's pine derby racing event. Both events were fun, but took weeks of planning, practicing, building and preparation. 

This year for the spelling bee, Jeanna finished 2nd place in her group. She messed up on the word "sleep" as she started spelling, lost her train of thought and restarted it without asking to restart it. Once the speller says the word, spells the word and then says it again, it is considered final. She was pleased with her effort and we of course are proud of her as this is the child that had so many delays, but look at her now. 

Jackson once again finished 1st place in his group and has quite the following among the other parents and spellers. He was all business like up there and was extremely pleased when he was the last one standing. 

James was 1st out in his group this year, but he is a trooper and never looses his smile. 

The pine derby races were a huge hit! The kids enjoyed designing, painting and building their cars. There were families from 3 churches involved and the camaraderie was fantastic. The neatest thing to see was how wonderful the 4 pastors were together... they were like old friends and really demonstrated a wonderful friendship and brotherhood that I think really set the tone for a beautiful event. There were 4 categories of races; K-2nd grade, 3-5th grade, 6-12th grade and then adults (with preschoolers)
Jordan won 1st place in design, Jeanna won 2nd place in speed, Jackson won 3rd place in speed and James won 3rd place in design and 1st place in speed. 

Oh... and I have to mention that Jordan is taking driver's ed at one of the local high schools. Interesting! She cracks me up talking about how the kids behave in school. She is so shocked! She has almost finished her classroom hours and starts her driving hours next week. My baby will be 16 yrs old in April.  How in the world..... 

The First Of Many Years

After my last post, I went back to look at our class photos.

Changing.....

I forgot to write the year on the chalk board this time. I don't think I can convince them into a do-over. 

Return of the Googly Eyes

Our 2013/2014 Student Body

They Know the Drill

I have an Ohio (or American) Sycamore tree in my yard that is 80+ feet tall. It is the same tree that my brother climbed 30 years ago. At that time, my brother etched his initials in the trunk. The great quest has always been to find those initials.

Today (Saturday) James was climbing the tree and I heard Jeanna say, "James, don't fall out of that tree 'cause Mommy does not want to have to take you to the E.R.!"

She got that right!!!

Busy

We have been so busy that I have had little time to post or document anything.

High school started last week and Pre-kindergarten started back with review and learning a new schedule. He will start his curriculum tomorrow (9/16/13).

We switched from R*setta St*ne Spanish to SOS Spanish due to needing a program that could be used on more than 1 computer at a time. Jordan will take high school Spanish and then she wants to take a half year of French. I think she is taking a photography class as an elective, but I am not sure.

I advertised, interviewed and hired a young lady from our homeschool group to come assist once a week with 1 of my *Twinkies as she is struggling to keep up in a few classes and seems to need just a bit more support. She can do a large majority of her lessons on her own, but once she gets stuck it is hard for her to get back on track. Many times if I let her sit up at my desk, she is confident enough to pull it back together. The problem is that it leaves the other 4 with less easy access to my support. We will try for a month to see how it goes.... should be interesting.

I am very much enjoying this year! I love seeing my kids learn new things and find info that makes them say, "Mommy, did you know......?" with excitement in their voice.

Man Down!

So when you use a computer based homeschool curriculum there are bound to be technical difficulties that prevent some facet of school. This year it is my computer... the Big Mamma! The one with everyone's curriculum, grades, schedules, attendance and important links. Since Jordan has finished school I am able to use her laptop. I have a 17.5 inch screen and this little 13.5 screen seems so tiny to my old eyes. LOL!

Grades to be entered....

Jackson:

5/24/13
Spelling  - 96%
5/28/13
Science self test 5 - 93%
Science book test unit 6 - 91%
5/29/13
Bible self test 3 - 96%
Bible book test unit 8 - 95%
Language arts self test 2 - 98%

Jeanna:

5/24/13
Spelling - 100% Yeah!
5/28/13
Science book test unit 5 - 95%

**Entered**

And She's Done!

Jordan completed the 9th grade last week! She was so excited and I am happy she made it as it was rough for a time there. The program we use has a great deal of essays, reports and projects. Almost one for every unit of every class with the exception of Algebra. So with New Testament, World Geography, English I, and Integrated Physics and Chemistry classes, each with 10 or more units, there was a huge amount of writing  Writing is not her strong suit. There was a lot of it that was repetitive, so I took quite a few off of her to do list.

James is coming along in 4th grade and is nearing the finish line. He is excited to be shopping for next years curriculum. Funny kid. My old G8way laptop finally started dying (it's over 10 years old) and so we had to switch to my HP Mini...he loved the small notebook, but I could not get his Bible class to transfer to it. He had to use the G8way for Bible class. He was always so amazed at how big a difference the screen size was as he switched back and forth. The mini is very convenient for taking school outside to enjoy the weather. Next year I will have 4 kids on laptops....I think mini's are the way we are leaning. Time to get on E-b*y!

Jackson is doing well, but is a bit behind. He works steadily, 2nd grade is just a big switch from 1st grade and the work load is heavy. He is a meticulousness worker and likes stuff to be just right, so he sometimes gets hung up on things that may not really matter to the lesson's requirements. I loaded some 3rd grade onto 1 of the laptops so that he could start practicing doing SOS and he really enjoys that. Switching from workbooks to laptops is a big change.

Jeanna is making progress. It is a very slow trek for her as she gets "stuck" often and needs loads of coaching to get back. When she first came she was on a very strict sensory diet that we had kinda worked down, but I am seeing a need to get back to it a bit more. Her dysregulation comes quickly, with me sometimes missing her triggers. She likes school and when she is on task, she does very well.

Joshua has completed Pre-K. He really mastered many skills during the year. He will continue this summer with large and small gross motor skills. I still have not decided about next year, but I am leaning to another modified pre-k. I just am not ready for him to do the Kindergarten curriculum yet.

Next week is a school week...the following week is a week off.

Jeanna's Self Test

6 Week Progress Reports

The time is flying and yet sometimes it feels like we are standing still. Progress reports have gone out and most are very happy. 1 of my 2nd graders does not have enough grades yet, so we are waiting for that.

Jackson is doing well in most areas. Bible verse memorization seems to be more difficult for him this year. Spelling however is a strong area with him earning 100% on all of his spelling test thus far.

James is doing very well this year. History and Geography gives him a bit of trouble as it is so abstract to him, but he is doing better at keeping up this year.

Jordan is having a wonderful year so far, earning a 4.0 GPA for the first marking period. She enjoys New Testament Survey and Science.

Pre-K is coming along nicely. He is very eager to read and has almost mastered his high frequency words list.

Wednesday is Entertaining Angels. We now have approx. 274 people on our list and are now purchasing between 300 and 400 items each month. It is an amazing and wonderful experience. certainly bigger than we ever imagined.

Moving along....

New School Room

I have been talking about this for 2 years now and this summer we were finally able to get our school room. We really like it and especially like that we don't have to break down school in the evenings and weekends so that we can eat at the table or have our living room back. Also with the school room being downstairs we actually "leave" school in the evenings which is very much needed.

Custom Monogram!

Pre-K Bible lesson

homework drawers

Joshua is already very good at puzzles

Second and fourth grade busy at work

Working on stacking.

The student with perfect attendance

Pre-K's circle time calendar.

The new and improved play/recess room.

Adoption Party Success!!

We had a wonderful party! It kinda turned into a backyard camping party as we had the pop-up and RV open, I put up the screen house with the picnic table inside. We had about a dozen camp chairs set up under the awning and a great big 'ole fire in the pit. We hired a hot dog vendor who works downtown on the corner to bring his cart and set it up in the driveway. It was a HIT!

There were about 13 kids running around, we had great music and fantastic fellowship.

I am so pleased and blesses with the building of my family.

Looking Back & Looking Forward

James has been in school for 2 weeks now and has done well. He is anxious to start doing homework full time, which I know sounds odd, but he really likes doing homework.  He has had 2 projects so far; (1) a report on state flowers and (2) a letter to a friend explaining why Peter left his job to follow Jesus. I like SOS a lot, but the projects can get to be much. There are usually 2 per unit, per class. With 5 classes of 10 units each it works out to 100 projects or essays for the year. Too much. I usually only keep the ones that reinforce the lesson and any that sound "fun" to the kids, like in science.

Jeanna finished her first half week last week. She reviewed letter sounds, long and short vowels and phonics. I taught her to count to 200 and we talked about 1's, 10's and 100 places. I will spend 1 more week on that kind of review to catch her up to the 2nd grade curriculum that we use. She is eager to learn, but needs lots of repetition and brain gym breaks.

This week, Jackson starts on Tuesday and Joshua starts on Wednesday.  They are both very excited.

Great news!! We finally finished our new school room! It is Beautiful and we are all so happy. I will take pictures to post later this week. We got the whole basement repainted and the floors had the tile removed and masonry paint applied. This weekend we went down just to sit in the room and grin. LOL!

No school on Monday due to an appointment.

Have a great week.

It's Official!!!

I now have 5 students!!! Our adoption has been finalized.

Jeanna was funny. When I told her that it was final, she said, "Whew! I've been waiting for those papers to be signed!"

We did not have a court appointment as Jeanna was afraid to go before the judge, this is our 5th and 6th adoption and my brother and father were not able to get away, so we just had the judge sign and the agency let us know.

And so...now I am Jordan, James, Jackson, Jeanna and Joshua.

We are having an adoption party in a couple of weeks. This is the picture we used for our announcement.

Yay!!!

Orientation

We had orientation Moday and it was crazy. My printer would not "listen" to my computer. Microsoft Office was "not responding" and well...it was nutso, but it was us and everyone was excited to see their new books, schedules and even their homework schedules. My student body has grown so much. Of course, the dog had to be included as he tends to have perfect attendance!

2 In A Pack

Jackson and Jeanna are 3 months apart so I call them, "My Twinkies" and tell them I get 2 sweet things in a pack. They giggle and will sometimes say, "Come on Twinkie!"

Well, today my girl twinkie turned 8 years old! She had requested a birthday party at McD's (sigh) and I gave her a surprise party there today. I don't usually do big birthday things as I really like small family gatherings, but she is one of those kids that rarely (almost never) ask for anything and I am trying to encourage her to let me know what she needs so... It was still low-key: just my kids and 1 lady from church and her 4 kids. Jack and Jeanna are glad to be the same age together again.

We are still waiting on adoption date information, but our worker did tell Jeanna that she would not have to go back to public school. Jeanna ask everyday when her "Lifep*cs" will be here. She is too excited to have her own materials and is excited to have her own desk and drawers at MHS.




To Jeanna,

Happy Birthday, Kid!