Still Kickin' It!

Well, what started out as a plan for wintering "down south" has turned into a longer trip. I am really surprised that not only did I like it here, But fell in love with the small town and neighborhood. I especially love our new church family. We went home for Easter and it was clear that while we missed individuals, the church family here feels more like home. Soooooo... what to do, what to do?

Anyway, spring break is over. We have to finish up our study on the Constitution and will move on to studying the cycle of life.

1 yr ago today, my dad died. Missing him.....

Touching Base....

I have been so busy, that I barely have time to blog. We are progressing well. Over the years my homeschool style has changed and I am less focused on just completing lessons and have learned to just enjoy this season. the kids are enjoying State History this year as we are doing HUGE lapbooks using the sample from Knowledge Box Central. We are also learning to play the trumpet in music class using YouTube videos.

We've had some great road trips that have including driving to KY to visit my brother and look for property. We also went to a marathon that spanned the US and Canada. We had a chance to stay in the Renaissance Center in Detroit, MI and the kids loved the view from the high towers.

On the home front, we have been raking leaves... and raking leaves... and raking leaves! So far we have done over 50 bags. This is a 1st for us as we are usually in Nassau for the month of November and hire someone to do it for us. This year the kids and I did not travel and so we are enjoying the outdoors, kind of.

Finally, we are doing a read-aloud together called, Frindle, by Andrew Clements. It's pretty funny.

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..... 

Bodies of Water

In science today I asked Jackson to name bodies of water. He answered, "Oceans, lakes, rivers....toilets, pools." Boys!

Finally

We are back from vacation and I am finally able to blog again. I did not take my laptop this year, but used my K*ndal F*re HD. Google Chrome would not allow me to sign in as I was in a "foreign location". The only way to confirm that it was indeed me was to apply a secret code that they would give me over the phone... my home phone! Hmmmm. So, I have missed you all and was not able to do my days of thankfulness, but I am so thankful. This years vacation was by far the best family vacation ever!!

My mom, dad and brother went along with me and all 5 children this year. This was Joshua's first plane trip and family vacation and it was quite an adventure. Nassau was beautiful and although it rained more than it ever has in 20 years, it was still a wonderful and relaxing time.

Had to block out 2 ladies that were not very modestly dressed, but they were very sweet and fell in love with my children. 

School time

Homeschool is where the home is :)

Joshua watching the commercial fishing boats and cruise ships. 

A wonderful 4 weeks with family and friends.

Art

 Last weeks art project was using shipping paper and colorful fall leaves to celebrate the fall season. They went for a walk around the block to get lots of varieties and then glued them onto the picture of a tree. 












This week we went to get pumpkins and gourds. We used mini pumpkins, yarn and puff paint to make these cute little heads. We had school outside today, so it was a nice outside project.  

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

TXT W/ SKOOL

I was doing some grading on Jordan's laptop last night and many of the answers that I had to send back were open ended questions where she had to type out a whole answers. The reason for sending them back... she did not use real words. I ask her what was going on and she explained that since she texts so much with her friends that when she gets to typing in school, she slips into text talk.

Hmmm. Talk about wordless Wednesday. LOL!

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.

First Week = Success!

We had a very pleasant first week. A good start to what I hope to be a great year. We are still reviewing last years skills, but we did start a new music theory class as the plan is to learn the piano and recorder this year. They are all very excited.

Next week, Pre-K and 10th grade start (although she may be doing school on the fly as my dear friend may need some help. She is a brand new homeschooler this year!)

We don't have any big plans for the weekend, but we are looking forward to the 3 days.

Happy Weekend, All!

First Day 2013/2014

We had a great first day of school. We had a late start, but it's all good because we had some organizing to do which was nice way to start. This year we are doing "self grading" for the day and it was interesting what grade everyone gave to themselves. I am working on school i.d.'s and still don't have a student body picture as Jordan and Joshua don't start until after Labor Day.

Hope you had a good start for those that started.

Orientation & First Day

I am back up and running. Orientation cards will go out today in the "fake mail" :) We have Entertaining Angels tomorrow and then will have orientation on Thursday. My new laptop does not have some of the same programs that my old one did, so I will have to use something else for school i.d's and class schedules. I just this minute won a bid for 3rd grades curriculum! Yipee! The kids say they are excited and ready... in fact, last night Jackson and Jeanna got their school uniforms out and ready with socks and undies. LOL! 

First day of school for elementary minus pre-k is Monday, August 26th with High School and Pre-k starting after Labor Day.  

Traveling Teen and First Day Delay

Jordan came back from camp stating that she actually had a fantastic time! I guess after the initial homesickness things turned around. They went to a Christian Concert and she got a signed T-shirt and c.d. from the artist.

We decided to do a short road trip just for fun and drove 2 1/2 hours south. I had booked a suite at a H*liday Inn with a H*lidome and the kids were excited to swim and relax. The bonus surprise was that my brother was going to meet us there and introduce us to his new puppy, a beautiful Alaskan Husky with the most crystal blue eyes. Also, if you remember The Kidnapping, you know that Jordan had been surprised with trips with her uncle in the past. Well this was another planned "kidnapping" and she was again surprised. He took her out for a very nice dinner and then they had a great weekend with shopping, playing video games and then to Kings Island for the day. She had a BLAST! She is staying to go to the marathon this weekend in Cincinnati and will return on Sunday.

As seems to be the case...technology issues will delay school. My laptop has been dying for 6 months and I kept doing small repairs to try to keep it running, but now the processor died so it was cheaper to buy a new laptop. Due to my eyesight, I had to have a machine built to accommodate my vision needs so it will not be ready until this coming Friday. I will have about a few days to finalize schedules and we will start middle of next week. The kids say that they are ready. I am too.

Peace!

Back In Business

I got my computer back and It was a pretty cheap fix. I still need a new battery, but I can wait for that. My Regular school week this week. Also starting to shop pretty seriously for next year's curriculum.

Have a good week all.

Peace!

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.

The Walk

Jackson is studying the use of the 5 senses in his Science class and he had to write a short essay on what he sees on his way to school. Some of the things they suggested that he could look for were clouds, planes, squirrels and nature. Well, seeing that his walk to school usually consist of walking through the kitchen to the basement steps, there was no chance that he would see any of the suggestions. So this morning the kids decided to really walk to school. They were cracking up at the route that they would take. They walked out of the front door, down the walkway for about 3 1/2 meters, west about 4 meters on the sidewalk, north up the driveway for about 9 meters, to the side door..........



which was still locked!


Ha Ha!!!

But he did see a large truck, squirrels and the sky.