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..... 

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.

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

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.

BBBBBoys With Multiple Bees

Last night the boys were on the back of the property watching James cut down some overgrown branches off of the fence when James hit a hive and boy oh boy did those bees swarm out. Jack got hit first with 3 stings. He came running and I was yelling for him to strip because I could see them on his backside. Then James starting yelling and running, followed by the baby (Joshua who will be 5 yrs old next week but will eternally be the baby :). I am yelling for Jordan to come help me and trying to get the bees and clothes off of the boys. The dog starts trying to help the boys as they are crying and ends of getting stung. I finally get them all in the house and into the tub where I start scrapping with a W*lm*rt gift card to remove stingers. Jordan starts dosing out the *B*nadryl and we start making ice packs. I was gonna load them all up to take to the E.R., but really most of the stings did not have stingers... I guess they were warning "taps". I ended having to call the after-hours vet as my modem died and I did not have "Dr. Google" to help me. LOL!

After a cool bath and loads of antihistamine, everyone slept well and woke up fine in the morning.

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.

PT

When Joshua first came to our home he was eligible for PT due to low muscle tone and his severe lack of balance. After about a year, he no longer received services, but still had some delays. I think because he had made such progress they kinda felt like we would do the rest. We did, but just coincidentally as life went on. This year as part of his pre-k program, I had incorporated some physical therapy in...just little fun bits. During winter testing, he was still showing some major delays in large motor skill related to balancing, so this last week we did some PT every day. I wish I would have taken a base video to show the difference. These videos are from March 6, 2013.

Update

So much going on that I have been to busy to document.

Entertaining Angels is going strong and getting bigger and bigger. In January we served 30 families and had 6 or 7 new families sign up. We had to come use a new system of distribution this last month as it was just us working. It actually seemed to work pretty good as we did not use "runners" but just laid everything out on the table. We still ran out of things fairly quickly. By 12:17 pm we were down to just a few bars of soap and a couple of toothbrushes. It had been like that for 3 months.... running out of things within the first 15 minutes. I am in talks right now the treasurer of the church to see what kind of budget we can work with. We now have 397 people that have been serviced by this ministry!

We have been working hard to finish units this last month. There are 10 units per course and we still have a few children in their 3rd or 4th unit in 1 or more classes. We are fast approaching our mid-year mark and trying to increase their speed a bit. Mostly I like them to go a a slow pace to be sure that they understand what they are doing, but I think they are capable of going a bit faster. We have just gotten into the habit of snail pacing. Time to shift gears a bit.

Speaking of mid-year...it is time for progress reports cards. I think grades are due by Thursday. So much to do.

Jordan was invited to her first homecoming prom! OH MY GOODNESS!!!!  The search for a dress was on with me looking for a vintage, Victorian style with a high neck, long sleeves and a non-clinging bodice  LOL! let's just say that they don't sell those kind of dresses in the mall. Jordan tends to be modest....mostly, but the choices of clothes on the market now days makes it difficult not to compromise in some areas. The prom is being held at one of the private schools in this town that have the strictest dress code (i.e. girls only wear dresses and skirts, boys ties, no tennis shoes for anyone...) We finally found a dress that is perfect for her and purchased it off the rack, no alterations needed!  Next was shoes, pantyhose, and undergarments. She found the shoes...adorable. The rest is still in the works. The dress has to be approved before she can attend. We are taking the dress over to the school today (Tuesday). One of the other mothers told me that they will be taking a picture of the dress because in the past some girls have gotten a dress approved and then shown up in a different dress. Ha! kids....

The Valentine bowling party is coming up. We have not decided if we are going to be able to make it.

Funny story: We had a long day of running errands, shopping and other business. My mom was with me and we were trying to decide what to do about dinner as it was late and we had not planned very well. Jordan mentioned wanting a shake and my mom whispered to me:

The Nana: "Let's let them have ice cream for dinner."
Me: "Oh yea let's just let them have stomach aches!"
The Nana: "They don't mind having stomachs aches. They want one!"
Kids from back seat: "We want a stomach ache!"
Joshua, "I want a stomach ache!"

And so...they did!

The Shepherd

In Pre-K I use Bible ABC Printables which uses a LOTW. Last week it was L and the story came from Luke 15. After hearing the story a couple of times, I asked him what the good shepherd does for the sheep and he said, "He gives them red grass and dry water." I corrected with "green grass and clean water" and he made the correction, but the very next time I asked, he went back to red grass and dry water.

I was his teacher last week as Jordan was not available, so when she ask him today what he had learned last week, he repeated, "He gives them red grass and dry water." I don't know why...but that is funny to us.

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....

What Happens Next?

This morning Pre-K was working on sequencing. In his workbook it showed pictures and then asked, "What  will happen next?" One of the pictures was eggs in a nest, the eggs cracking, beaks poking out and then baby birds. Jordan pointed to the eggs in the nest and then to the eggs cracking. She asked him, "What will happen next?" and he said, "You make toast!"

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!!!