HMJ

In our homeschool this week…we survived the first 2 weeks of school!  The hardest part is still anything involving writing.  Becca's doing fantastic, though, much better than I expected!  We're finishing the Wizard of Oz, and are looking forward to family movie night for their first showing of it!

I am inspired by…Anyone who homeschools more than 2...this is exhausting!

My favorite thing this week was…quiet time with my kids.  I've been doing individual quiet time with each one of them once a week, and we've had a good time.  I feel like we're really building great relationships.

Things I’m working on…keeping the house tidy (not clean, but picked up)  


How do you get the kids to do chores without them wrecking it or making more of a mess?

Sneaky boys

How in the world did he fit in here??

Day in the Life..

We aren't a very traditional homeschooling family.  My husband works 2nd shift and our days revolve around his schedule.

I stumble out of bed whenever the baby wakes up...usually around 8.  The other kids would sleep in if the baby did, til about 9 or so.  If they wake up before the baby, they know where the poptarts are and my oldest knows how to work the DVR.  They are allowed 2 shows...usually they pick Magic School Bus or Word World.

I'm not going to win any mother of the year awards for my breakfast skills, and I'm ok with that =)  We're not morning people.

Our mornings are best characterized as tag team parenting right now.  Nicholas is an explorer and he is into everything right now.  I try to get as much housework done as I can while my husband is home to look after the baby.  I also have to make our big meal of the day and have it done before 12:30.  During dinner, I read from our Bible lesson (nice to have a captive audience).

After dinner, my husband goes to work, and the big kids go to quiet time.  This has evolved from when they were little from naps to playing independently to now playing together and giving ME quiet time.   On Wednesdays, Becca gets to have 30 minutes of "Quiet Time with mom" and on Thursdays, Nathan gets to have time with me.  They get to pick activities to do with me that are non-TV or computer related.  We've played games, done puzzles, read books....whatever.  The other big kid can't interrupt (though the baby doesn't always cooperate).  They think this is the best thing in the world, and it has changed their behaviors drastically.  

When/if the baby goes down for a nap, we start school.

We do workboxes...I was so proud of myself...I spent an incredible amount of time making cute little numbers for the workboxes and the baby has taken them all off and destroyed them.  Oh well.  One child does a book on cassette or CD while the other works with me and then they switch.  They do math, phonics, and reading every day.  We do science, grammar, computer, creative writing, etc. each once a week.

People always ask me how long it takes to do school...and at first, I didn't really know how to answer that, since we spread our learning throughout the day.  So now I answer....it takes us about an hour to do the workbook stuff depending on our day and the cooperation level.  Sometimes it takes an hour (and lots of bribes) for my oldest to write the 7 words that are in Explode the Code.  Drives.me.insane.

Then, we play...lately outside or swimming.  Last year, getting done with school = playing wii, so it will probably be like that again once it gets cold outside.  I did make some cute little cards on the cricut that say BIKES and SWIMMING so I can add that to the box.

We do a devotional before bedtime and our read aloud sometime during the day, depending on what else is going on.  The kids go to bed somewhere between 9 and 10, and I usually stay up til 12 or 1 just to have some time to myself.

On Mondays, I have Mommy Moments, and the kids go to their classes.
On Wednesdays, they will have AWANAs in the fall.
On Fridays, Daddy doesn't work, so sometimes we don't have school.
And sometimes we have school on Saturdays or Sundays because we're bored.

So that's our day...I wonder if there are any other 2nd shift families out there!  I love the flexibility of homeschooling!

HMJ

In our homeschool this week…We did 4 days of school this week!  Math, phonics, reading, and some extras!  

My favorite thing this week was…Starting the Wizard of Oz with the kids.  I know they're going to be scared to death of the movie, but it will be neat to watch it with them...(especially after seeing Wicked)


What’s working/not working for us…My inventor boy is driving me mad!! He comes up with such neat ideas, but the ideas mostly make a giant mess, hurt someone, or destroy something.  AHHH the joys of having boys.


I’m reading… nothing special.  I've started a few books, but couldn't get into them, which is so unlike me.  Usually I can get into anything.  


I’m cooking…homemade pizzas...everybody got to have his own, and the baby loved the pizza =)

8 months today!

My baby is 8 months old today!!  He's such an amazing boy, almost always happy and very loving.

What do you do when you have such cuteness?  You teach him tricks....

He's definitely the most interactive of all our kids.  He's still a mama's boy though, always reaching out for me and giggling whenever he sees me.  He's also everywhere...crawling, pulling up, furniture cruising, putting everything into his mouth, climbing the stairs.

These 8 months have FLOWN by!

Student photos

It's Student Photo week...so here's their first day of school photos....

Build me a river....

I found this neat idea on I Can Teach My Child....make a river with a large piece of foil.  The kids thought this was a blast and choruses of "Best Mommy Ever" rang throughout the land. 

Nicholas thought the rocks (and sticks and grass) were yummy.  

 Becca joined in the fun too.  

Daddy has spent the weekend putting a roof on a house for the South Side Mission, so I've been on my own this weekend.  Today I took the kids to Wildlife Prairie State Park.  Kids were free today, so it was a perfect day.  Nicholas fell asleep in the crib for most of it.  Here's a neat picture of the cougar...

At the end, I took them over to the big slide.  Someone had a bunch of wax paper and the kids were flying down the slide.  Becca tried it once and didn't like it, but Nathan thought it was AWESOME.

HMJ--8-11-11

In my life this week…playdates, swimming, and finally some beautiful weather.   And I've been waking up everyday to the HOTM conference!

In our homeschool this week…the kids begged for school, so we started.  It went ok,  but I wasn't completely ready, and we've been busy with playdates, so we haven't done a whole bunch of stuff yet.

My favorite thing this week was…I took my kids to the town pool today and they both went off the diving board by themselves, and down the water slides.  The look on the lifeguard's face was priceless as Becca stood on the board.  I'm pretty sure she was giving me the evil eye for letting my 4 year old up there, and she thought she'd have to jump in and get her...but of course, Becca can swim perfecty =)  I didn't even get in the pool....so nice to have big kids.  

Questions/thoughts I have…How do I get my son to do his phonics??  It's only 7 words to write/day...why does it always have to be torture?

Things I’m working on…spending some intentional one on one time with each of my kids.  That time has drastically improved their behavior.

A photo, video, link, or quote to share…still proud of this!

School Room take 2

Welcome to our "school"...or at least where we PLAN on have school this year.  I planned on having school downstairs last year, but we ended up having school all over the house....on the couch in the living room, the dining room table, and outside on the porch.  This year we have a wild man to contend with:

 Anyway....we had a family trip to IKEA last week, and scored new workboxes!  Then I spent entirely too much time on my cricut making the numbers.  On top of the workboxes, are 2 bins of readers...ones to be read, and ones already conquered for Quiet Reading Time.

I worked to baby proof this room so that Nicholas could have free reign.  I have to block off the stairs, though because he is great at trying to escape.  We have a wall of mirrors, and the kids like to use it for a dry-erase board.

I found this calendar at the dollar spot at Target =)

The only thing I have left to buy is bookshelves.  I.CAN.NOT.STOP.BUYING.BOOKS.  Especially at garage sales.

Hopefully we'll have some school here this year.  I've been working on it for several days...and now my kids are begging for the first day of school!  I don't know though...I've spent so much time messing with my cricut organizing, that the rest of the house is a disaster.  I'm glad they're getting excited for school.  I can't wait to check out all the other school rooms (and nurse my bookshelf envy)

HMJ--8-6-11

In my life this week…I won a ticket to Heart of the Matter's Homeschooling Conference!!!!  So super excited!

In our homeschool this week… I have to admit, I wasn't getting as excited about starting the 1st grade (and another year of K) here as I was last year.  But the Not Back To School Hop and a trip to IKEA has motivated me!  I can't wait to start digging in and getting into a new routine.  We've taken a hiatus on summer school, and I'm trying to pump the kids up about starting school on a daily basis again.  I keep giving them previews of what we're going to do, and when they beg to do it now, I tell them...no, it's for the first day of school.  Mean mommy =)

My favorite thing this week was…A family trip to IKEA!

I’m reading…I read Sarah's Key this week.  OK, I couldn't put it down and read it all in 24 hours.  Such an amazing story.

I’m cooking…no more ground turkey for awhile...I think we all had the salmonella.  I can't even describe how much that stomach pain was.