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.