tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-38790610274237966962024-03-13T03:10:54.533-07:00Homeschooling1Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.comBlogger17125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-75627983374403459782012-01-24T13:09:00.001-08:002012-01-24T13:25:12.007-08:00Reorganizing... Again...Is it me or do you have to reorganize every other week? I knew the first year would be allot of trial and error (hoping it will be less in future years). What I didn't know is the reorganizing how we do our day and how I keep all the stuff organized would be such a feat!<br />
I started the year knowing we would move. In an effort to not have to reinvent the wheel when we moved I put everything on one shelf the same space I was sure we would have in the apartment. I was right, and so far that shelf has been it. I love it I have it mostly neat and organized (Joy has shelves too and I try not to be a fussbudget about those).<br />
I have slowly added things on the wall. Our Spelling board for All about Spelling is a magnetic dry erase with the letters of the alphabet. She then expressed a desire for a big calendar, so I dug mine out and it's up, with the calendar came 4 sentence strips with the date, day of week, yesterday, and tomorrow. We have also put all our memory work on the wall as a visual reminder of our work each week.<br />
This has all worked well for me, I am no longer on a quest to re-organize or make better the system which I now have, UNTIL my mom gave me a 10 drawer organizing cart! I have always adored these carts. I have wanted one since I was a teacher in a classroom. I have always been able to pass it up because I didn't have a NEED for this wonderful cute organizing thing. It has been one of those someday I will find a need for it and buy it items.<br />
Then came my birthday last week and the family dinner where I opened up my very own rainbow colored 10 drawer cart!! Wait dread and happiness wash over me as I am confronted with the reality that our current space is small. Will I be able to use it now? Will it fit anywhere? Do I need to take up the floorspace for this? How will I use it? <br />
The answer is still unclear. I have placed it in a reasonably unusable space that is next to where I sit for our schoolwork. I have filled most of the drawers with the next lessons materials in that subject. I hope this will eliminate the problem I have of getting up and down 100 times during each lesson to get one more thing from the shelf.<br />
I had the idea that possibly it could eliminate the large (kinda ugly) current homeschool shelf. Then I realized the cart doesn't fit binders (just one more inch). I still have hopes of a possibly smaller and closeable shelf in place of the giant one with the addition of my new cart. We will see. What I know now is that the shelf is staying and I will use it now. What I don't know is what I can or will do with the new found space on the larger homeschool shelf.<br />
How do you organize? How many times have you re-organized?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-90404518565476974172012-01-19T17:12:00.000-08:002012-01-19T17:12:20.278-08:00When The teacher doesn't feel good...It happens this week is the week my allergies have gone crazy! To possibly go TMI with some readers my nose is running like a fountain! It happens a couple times of year and if I don't have some kind of Decongestant it's a miserable time. I don't have any decongestant on hand this week and have been too lazy/cheap to go get some.<br />
So the teacher isn't feeling up to par this week so school has slacked. We completely skipped Monday (Public school had off and I got older the day before). Tuesday we had a full day I think we did enough to make me not feel so bad about not doing Monday. Wednesday we started off good with the calendar, but then I had my Weight Watchers meeting and we ended with doing a simple math sheet (addition problem practice) and reviewing Memory work at the dinner table. Today I felt bad for not having done too much this week and we completed Math, and a couple other things I think. Tomorrow we have CC which means we aren't home and do no work here.<br />
This was a light week, I didn't have it in me to fight her. It also made me think, when I taught public school I would have been at school this week, and unless we had some crazy lesson that required me to do somersaults, all would have gone on as normal.<br />
So why is home different? Because my bed is right there, and she is constantly asking to watch this or that on TV? Do I need to be more firm even when I am not feeling that great? She gets out of stuff when she isn't feeling well.<br />
Is this going to skew her view of when to take a sick day? I learned that you only take a sick day when you have a fever or are throwing up or some other tragedy has happened. I never missed school, my mom was a school nurse, I just took my meds and kept on keeping on. What will her view of when to take a day off be formed by?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-31001171109610497972012-01-14T18:18:00.000-08:002012-01-14T18:23:37.390-08:00Why I co-op....One of my requirements before taking on the homeschooling journey was to find a group that meets once a week to keep me on track. I found Classical Conversations or I should say God put me in the middle of Classical Conversation so that I could fall in love. That is another story. This is about a conversation that myself and two other mom's in our group had after co-op this week.<br />
At the end of our day we ended up at the playground with two other moms and their kids from our class. One mom was doing an informal survey to know if we would return to the group next year or not. I will and hope to become a tutor. This surveying friend is undecided, and the 3rd mom was most likely but not 100% sold.<br />
The conversation at this point turned to what CC was doing for us at this time. Is it worth the money (which by some standards is high and others low, depends on your perspective). I think it's great, and completely worth every penny. My daughter doesn't get it all, we don't have all the memory work done and although she says she wants to be a memory master I am unsure I want to push too hard for it. What I know is that this foundation that is being laid this year is practice for us. We will get this cycle 2 more times. The other 2 cycles we will only get twice. This year is practice for how to do the memory work and how to get schooling done in a week. Are we perfect NO WAY!! Do I try and learn from every experience so that we can tailor our next one to work out better, absolutely. I am as much a student in this process as is my daughter. I love to learn and CC challenges me and my daughter to go beyond what I already know.<br />
Mom #2 who is pretty sure, but not 100% (and also had the youngest of the 3 kids in CC). Does very little at home with the memory work except play the CD's. She likes that he knows more than she thinks he does, which he proves with the review work each week, but she isn't formally pushing any school at this point with her son. He's young and a boy that's enough he may actually get three chances at this cycle and the next one depending on what choices they make the next 6-7 years.<br />
Mom #3 who did the survey is completely undecided. She is not only undecided about CC, but about homeschooling her son in general. She likes the Christian Education and cost that homeschooling provides, but she and her son are both strong willed. That combination means that they argue allot. He has to be pushed to do anything. He has started reading over the Christmas break, which was a major struggle. He is learning, and like my daughter public school thinks he needs to wait til next year to start Kindergarten. We both encouraged her to keep going, I gave what pointers I could. We chatted and discussed the possibilities. I would be sad to see her go, she is a good mom with a great kid.<br />
This discussion is why I chose to co-op. Homeschooling can be lonely, but when the 3 of us got together we learned that we all have the same types of struggles. Some are more exaggerated than others in different areas, but they are essentially all the same. So getting together and talking about it was wonderful. We encouraged, lamented, and generally just felt good to share with others in our same situation. All of our kids in this youngest group of CC are the 1st child so we didn't get the vertran's opinion, but at this time that wasn't what we needed or wanted, we needed like moms with like situations to validate our own. Thanks friends for sharing I had a great time!<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-19285147404847815752012-01-12T11:03:00.000-08:002012-01-12T11:03:24.091-08:00A Day in the life...Since many of the blogs I follow are doing a day in the life of their homeschool situations I decided why not join in. So with the same disclaimer that their is no typical day in our classroom here is our "usual" day, or what I hope it to be.<br />
Morning wake up she watches tv and has breakfast. Then I eventually roll out of bed (I am not a morning person).<br />
When I am up we start with the Saxon Math Calendar for the day/Morning Routine. This is done in our PJ's.<br />
Next we stop school and do our real morning routine. For me this means brush my teeth, wash my face and put on make up, and get dressed. My daughter brushes her teeth, makes her bed, and gets dressed. <br />
When we are all put together we come back to the table and I ask math or spelling. She picks her choice and we do that curriculum. When finished we move on to the next I ask math (or spelling whatever she did not chose the first time) or reading. We complete that and continue through the day with all the curriculum represented I want for that day. We get through what we get through by noon and stop for lunch.<br />
Lunch is whatever we can find in the fridge/pantry or Daddy calls and we meet/pick him up and go out to eat.<br />
After lunch if we have curriculum I still want to do and she hasn't imploded on me we continue. If we are done we play/watch tv/do errands/clean house. I am also incorporating a visit to the YMCA so I can continue with my weight loss.<br />
As you can see our schedule is very laid back and I let her choose many parts of the day. I do have set goals each day, like I usually want to at least finish math, spelling and memory work each day. Additionally I would like to get some other curriculum thrown in, but I don't have a set one for each day it's as I think we need it and she can handle it. Since we just came back to school this week it's a slow start getting back up to being able to do as much as I would like in a day, but we are building that skill up again and will soon be chugging along. Part of my problem is I don't get up early, and somedays we don't really start til 11 with the real school work. My next goal is going to be getting up earlier so we can start our morning Routine at 8:30 or 9:00 at the latest. That should help with the not having enough day for all our work!<br />
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What does your day look like? What do you need to improve upon?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-75030350801432589302012-01-10T19:53:00.000-08:002012-01-12T11:03:42.573-08:00Homeschooling vs lifeWe are officially back in school. The problem with homeschooling for me is life sometimes seems to get in the way. The bonus is I can make appointments and schedule things at convenient times. The problem is I tend to schedule things at easy to get appointment times not fully thinking through the rest of my schedule for when I schedule the appointment. Everything I do is flexible, I just need to learn when to let it be flexible and when to baton down and make schooling the important scheduled event.<br />
We now have 3 things on our schedule which are priorities. First is our Classical Conversations meeting on Fridays, that is a no miss situation. Second is now her Gymnastics class on Monday mornings. Third is my Weight Watchers meeting on Wednesday mornings. I do have a little flexibility in the meeting, but I like the Wednesday morning leader, and at the least that is my weigh in time even if I can't make the meeting at that time.<br />
That means that two of our four days of HOME schooling we have outside appointments. Monday I think we will aim to get as much done before the class and not stress past that. Wednesdays, because the timing of my meeting is earlier morning I am working on how to manage. Before Christmas we would go to the meeting and have a light or half day of school. I don't want to do this since Monday is tending towards a light day. Yes, it's Kindergarten and I don't think it's necessary to have formal school every day every week, but I would like to average more than 2 classes a week. So how do you do it? What's your schedule like? For those of you whose kids go to school how do you balance school activities with outside activities?<br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-48505823343567229622012-01-06T07:16:00.000-08:002012-01-06T07:33:24.408-08:00GoalsI read allot of homeschooling blogs. I love them, and some of the advice given is mid year (now) re-evaluate your curriculum and see how it is working towards your ultimate homeschool goals. As I read this (multiple times in multiple blogs) I thought not about my curriculum but, what is my ultimate homeschool goal?<br />Let's start with the reasons I homeschool:<br /><ul><li>To give my daughter the education I never had.</li><li>To allow my daughter to start school when she is ready and not wait for the state mandated start time.<br /></li><li>To give my daughter individual attention and support and never feel left out in a big classroom, where she is afraid to ask a question.<br /></li><li>To have an education that includes the Bible and not just as another subject, but as part of history, science, etc...</li><li>To give my daughter the desire to always learn<br /></li></ul>So next step is a goal. This is where I am having difficulty. I don't want a negative statement in the goal, To keep our daughter away from the pitfalls of public or private education. I don't want to sound too pretentious either, To give our daughter a well rounded education of excellence.<br />How do I balance these things? Should I even care? I want to keep my daughter from what I experienced and what my husband experienced in our schooling days. I also want her to be smarter than I can imagine. Why should I hide these things in our goal?<br /><br /><span style="font-weight: bold;">Schooling Goal: To educate our daughter in a way that will increase her knowledge and love of learning beyond her school years. </span><br /><br />Does that say everything, probably not. Will it be tweaked over the years possibly. Most likely I will forget about it for now. It's part of me and who I am and why I am doing this. Did I need to write it down, no, but it was a good exercise for me. Now why do you choose homeschool, public school or private school? What is your educational goal for your child(ren)?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-31300108038839121132012-01-05T15:43:00.000-08:002012-01-05T15:55:15.799-08:00Time off?This is our first year homeschooling. We started out a little slower and later than I expected because of a death in the family. When we did get started we had some tweaking to do on our schedule and when I think we got it... We moved which meant a week (or two) off. Starting back wasn't as easy as I wanted it to be. Thanksgiving gave us another break, although I managed to make it only 2 or 3 days. Then Christmas came and I here we are in the new year still not really started.<br />My husband had the week before Christmas off so I was prepared not to do much that week, but had hopes of getting a little accomplished. A few math practice sheets were made, and I was ready to do 10 spelling review words a day. Monday we did it yeah us. Tuesday I had somewhere to go and asked my hubby to do it I think it got done. Wednesday we had fun all day. Thursday I thought about it, and Friday was Friday so since we already had 2 days off what would that hurt.<br />Christmas came, we celebrated big as always, Christmas went. My husband went back to work on Wednesday after Christmas. We played.<br />New Years came, I slept. Wednesday this week I set up our "big" calendar (one on the wall). We even managed to do calendar on Wednesday morning then we went to the zoo.<br />Today we had appointments at 10 and 1 so nothing has happened. Tomorrow is Friday why start on Friday? Next week maybe? We don't start back to our CC group until the 13th. My goal is to start on Monday, can you hold me accountable?Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-87550573315593872182012-01-04T12:36:00.000-08:002012-01-04T12:43:38.418-08:00Not good...I did mention I am not good at keeping this up. I think about it occasionally I even write some amazing posts in my head, but in reality it isn't happening. So here goes another try.... I am attempting yet again to be a blogger! No it's not a New Year's resolution I am doing if so I probably would not have made it this far. It's just me trying to be a better me. So here it is again....<br />The New Year means a new start to allot of people. I am not one of those people I start over daily, weekly or monthly depending on what it is I am attempting. Some things (like blogging) don't get very high on the to do list and therefore fall off the radar until I am jolted into remembering oh I had a blog and start again. Cleaning is also high on this list of to dos that don't. What is the solution? Honestly I don't know. The answer for me may actually be different than the answer for you. I know in the past having a list that beeped at me was extremely helpful, so that is my current quest. A to do/Calendar that beeps at me on my Kindle Fire and computer. It would be nice if it also had a little hologram that popped up in the middle of my living room to also remind me. Nothing fancy just like the ones R2D2 would project fuzzy is okay.<br />Do you have any suggestions on a great to do list and or calendar that will beep at me? I like Google Calendar, but I don't want to have to go online to get it on the fire. Help me if you can!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-80509312732898627472011-10-20T20:22:00.000-07:002011-10-20T20:42:26.368-07:00Have I mentioned I am not great at blogging. I have attempted this before and like many things that aren't pulling on my shirt to get fed or telling me every 5 minutes they are bored it falls by the wayside and I forget then I am embarrassed to start again. Just like in High school when we went to baseball games I was too embarrassed to ask how to read the scoreboard. Is it me or are baseball scoreboards kinda crazy? I mean really just tell me how many times the little men have run around the bases and made it home without being tagged out. That's a whole other post my lack of sports knowledge.<br />This post is well, I am unsure what this post is. It's a I am not done with this blog yet post. It's an update that I am still alive and homeschooling. It's a don't give up on me yet blog.<br />This is what has been happening. My daughter and I are happily trucking along and keeping up with our Classical Conversations memory work. She reads 2-3 books/stories a day either from the All about Reading curriculum, our Bob books or a book I had from when I taught school. We also have finally gotten through the whole alphabet uppercase in our Handwriting without Tears and will finish the numbers soon, then it's on to new learning of the lowercase letters. We also are moving along with our Saxon Math I think my goal is to finish with the first book before Christmas and when that is done it will signal our Christmas break. That is unless we are unable to do that, but I am being optimistic. I think we have 30 lessons left in first workbook. We average 4 lessons a week and we have nine weeks. That should give us enough time, but who knows with our move looming over us. We are also moving forward with our All About Spelling. I think we have finally hit something that we might stick around and work on for awhile. We are working on c/k at the beginning of the word and makes the /k/ sound. Did you know c says /s/ when in front of e, i, or y? Gold star if you did! I didn't I even have to think about it when I see/hear words that begin with the /k/ sound. I did tell you I am homeschooling my daughter so I can learn right? Well it's definitely in the top 10 of reasons.<br />Did I mention our move is now looming? We picked out our apartment on Monday and signed the papers to get approved, then they had problems approving us, something about my birthday being in 1986? I don't know, but they looked up Rob and we now have a red carpet because they saw a paycheck stub. We are going to be saving money while living in the apartment to buy our house Dave Ramsey style. I would love to pay cash, but we are aiming for 10% down and a 15 year mortgage. Then when we are done with baby step 2-3 we can work on that house pay down and be done with the mortgage about the time Joy goes to college. Sounds like a plan to me!<br />So if you are still reading congratulations. If not well why write to you since you are no longer reading. So in conclusion I stink at blog writing, but I am trying; I am still loving teaching myself, I mean my daughter in homeschool and the move is looming. Thank you and goodnight.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-75949113265935909572011-09-22T20:38:00.000-07:002011-09-22T20:57:01.961-07:00My job!I just read a post from a sweet young lady who teaches me a thing or two every now and then. You can read Julia's latest wisdom <a href="http://www.mystoryandsong.com/2011/09/keepers-at-home-part-1.html">here</a>. She made me think. I NEVER refer to myself as a homemaker. Why is that? Honestly it's because I see myself more as a stay at home mom, than a homemaker. I stay home because of my daughter not because of my husband. Why is that? Shouldn't it also benefit him? He is making the money so that I can stay home. Why is it that if we didn't have our daughter I would still be a full time teacher in a school. God made me to be his helpmate and his partner first and a mother second. Shouldn't I adjust my job duties to reflect that?<br />Let me ramble here for a moment. I am one of those people who can't keep a plant alive. It doesn't ask for food, it's never underfoot and honestly if it doesn't look like it wants water I usually forget to give it any. The same thing can apply to my duties as a home maker. The laundry and dishes are things I can't ignore at least not very long. If I ignore laundry I run out of clothes. If I ignore the kitchen and the dishes we can't eat at home (which is sometimes the reason we don't). The bathroom, dusting, vacuuming and other cleaning things can be ignored because nothing happens if I don't do them. They do continue to get dirtier and eventually I notice and it gets done, but not really until it cries out at me. So I am not great at these things.<br />This is also true of my daughter vs. my husband. She (sometimes literally) cries out at me to get things done for her or with her. No she isn't asking to do her math, spelling and memory work, but that's all in my realm of want to with her. I want to homeschool her so to prove to myself (and others) that I am not a failure in that area I am eager to keep her learning in those areas. The fact that our school week has yet to have a full 4 days plus the one co-op day is another matter entirely.<br />Conclusion if it begs to be done I do it. If it doesn't I fail. What do you do to motivate yourself to do those things that don't beg to be done? How do you keep up with being a homemaker and a stay at home mom? Any suggestions on how to help me are welcome!<br />I want to be better! For God, for my Husband, for my daughter, and for me.Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-66089921089672330972011-09-21T13:01:00.000-07:002011-09-21T13:07:51.069-07:00Contest! http://www.blogger.com/img/blank.gifI don't know about you but I like a good contest. I have a friend who is an amazing photographer (see Joy's 5 year photos!). <a href="http://reflectionsbyrosieblog.com/?p=110">Reflection by Rosie</a> is her business name and can be found <a href="http://reflectionsbyrosieblog.com/?p=110">here</a> or <a href="http://www.facebook.com/reflectionsbyrosiephotography">here on facebook</a>. She is partnering with <a href="http://www.facebook.com/pages/Two-Little-Bugs-Boutique/162811020395989">Two Little Bugs Boutique</a> (first I have heard of them but looks like good stuff) for a free photo shoot in an outfit. You can choose to purchase the outfit or not, and you will get a discount from both businesses for future business. Anyway go ahead over to <a href="http://reflectionsbyrosieblog.com/?p=110">Reflection by Rosie</a>'s blog and sign yourself up, or not better chance I will win if you don't! :)<br />(Must be local to Houston/NASA area or willing to come down here).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-42845543127111279832011-09-20T21:36:00.000-07:002011-09-20T21:50:50.166-07:00Slow to post...Sorry, not really good at sitting at the computer and writing. In my head I wrote 4-5 different posts in the time that I have written nothing here. Unfortunately I am not great at remembering great ideas for more than 20 minutes so those posts are gone. What I can say is this....<br />My daughter is now 5. In Texas that means she would have to wait another 337 days give or take a few for the actual school start date to start school. In our homeschooling life this means she is reading fluently Bob book set 3. She is also working on the basics of addition in Math. In spelling we are flying through our spelling curriculum and finishing up the lessons on the short vowels next comes hopefully something that will slow us down I wasn't planning on buying the second spelling curriculum til at least after Christmas! We just re-started on handwriting with the Handwriting without tears Kindergarten book.<br />If that isn't enough I think we have settled on a November 15th date for the exchange of possession of the house!! That means I have a little more time to get things organized or go insane whichever way you see that.<br />This past weekend was the big celebration of the birthday. We got a huge bounce house with princesses on it and a slide in it. We ordered pizza and I made cupcakes for the celebration. The best friend got pink eye and was unable to attend, but otherwise the party was perfect! She had a great time we played some classic games princessed up a little.<br />First was what's in the bag? We have a set of pink paisley t-shirt sheets that came in a great little baggie that my daughter (like many other non toys) has attached herself to. So I decided that is the perfect bag to play this game with. The best part is it has a drawstring and since it's t-shirt material they didn't stick their hand (and eyes) in the bag I just held it by the drawstring and let them guess. Boys were a little clueless except for the one with a younger sister, he knew what was going on!<br />Next was a classic Hot Tiara! You know the game where you pass around a tiara and sing "Hot Tiara Hot tiara who has the hot tiara if you have the hot tiara you are out." The boys who were clueless on the previous game had this one down! What boy wants to hold onto a tiara that long anyway?<br />Last was not that great at least not for an unprepared 5 year old. We attempted Princess, May I. She wasn't sure on what instructions to give and they weren't great at taking small steps it was all large steps! Oh well we can try again next year?<br /><br />All in all the birthday was a success we have another Precious Moment to add to our 5 year collection and we have another Mickey picture to add to our 5 year collection. Now to see what else this year will hold!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-31189780806204947792011-09-04T19:19:00.000-07:002011-09-04T19:35:32.982-07:00Moving!As promised from my first post <a href="http://homeschooling1.blogspot.com/2011/08/kindergarten-has-started.html">here</a> I wanted to let you in on our moving situation. The company my husband has worked for since 1995 was sold (not suddenly we knew they were looking for a buyer and had endured a 10% paycut for over a year). They were promised the whole time before the sale they would find a buyer who would keep the people who had already endured seeing over half the company laid off. Well I guess after over a year and a half of looking promises like that are minor in comparison to actually getting the company sold. So everyone was laid off. A few were hired back as consultants but eventually everyone has lost their jobs with the company.
<br />My husband job hunted for 3.5 months and was blessed with his amazing, wonderful new job. The only problem the new job is an hour away. That's an hour straight driving no traffic. Did I mention we live in the 4th largest city in America and no traffic would be an amazing thing. So for 10+ hours a week my husband gets to be alone in his car, in traffic with a million other people. My daughter and I get to be at home waiting for him. The man who was home for 3.5 months, and before that worked 15 minutes away. We had lunch with him almost every day, we had dinner at what my friend inform me is old people time 5:30pm. We got to see him in the morning and wave goodbye as he headed off to work. Now I might turn over as he unlocks the door to the garage and leaves. My daughter complains for the whole hour of driving across town if we are going to see him or do other things over there. Dinner that's at 6:30pm at the earliest. Life is turned upside down.
<br />So we are moving. We called a realtor put the house on the market and kept the place cleaner than it's been in the 5 years we have lived here. People came one every 2 weeks to look. Then nothing for 2-3 weeks so we dropped the price. People came again, we got an offer for about the same as we owe on our house. We won't pay closing costs out of pocket just can't happen. So one Sunday I turned around in church and asked a couple I know might possibly be interested if they were interested. They were!! We are selling the house to people we know!! They are leasing for a year or so to build up the deposit needed for purchase, but as far as I am concerned it's done! We will move by November 1st.
<br />Now to find an apartment cheap enough to pay off debt and truly <a href="http://www.daveramsey.com/home/">Dave Ramsey</a> our life, but not scare us so we can't go out at night.
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-26969991586203824402011-09-01T16:10:00.000-07:002011-09-01T16:37:39.893-07:00PatienceI follow some blogs (okay allot of blogs) and the majority of them have multiple kids, homeschool, are Christian or are just funny. Some of my favorites are the 4 Moms, 35 kids posts. As it says their are 4 moms, and they each have large families. You could say I am jealous as I love kids, but I think also what applies to the multitude applies to me. Jesus did the sermon on the mount in front of many, but more importantly it applied to each one. He also was pretty good at the one on one relationships (as <a href="http://www.jonacuff.com/stuffchristianslike/2011/09/sclq-dinner/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+stuffchristianslikeblog+%28Stuff+Christians+Like+-+Jon+Acuff%29">Jon Acuff</a> pointed out in his blog today). Anyway where I was going with this is the 4 Moms today talked about patience, something it seems that they all can struggle with at times. Having more kids does not make you more patient! I can even say having only one kid does not make you more patient! First I will let you read their thoughts on patience...
<br /><a href="http://raisingolives.com/2011/09/keeping-your-patience/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+RaisingOlives+%28Raising+Olives%29">Raising Olives</a> has my favorite line of all the blogs today - “I’ve asked you to pick up your room three times already.” which means that I’ve already allowed three instances of disobedience. Wow! isn't that the truth it's not their fault I told them 3 times it's mine where was my follow through the first 3 times?
<br /><a href="http://www.smockityfrocks.com/2011/09/the-4-moms-keep-our-patience-in-the-midst-of-chaos.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+smockityfrocks%2Fkjrc+%28Smockity+Frocks%29">Smockity Frocks</a> talks about the chaos, and while my one doesn't create much chaos (it's usually my own making!) Smockity reminds me that it's for God's Glory. " If I keep my eyes on eternity, I remember that my goal, to glorify God, is more important than an entire gallon of spilled milk."
<br /><a href="http://inashoe.com/2011/09/4-moms-practice-patience-in-the-midst-of-chaos/">Life in a Shoe</a> First of all this blog always makes me smile! She redefines patience from the secular view to a Godly view. Taking it one day, one moment at a time is the way it should be! God didn't dish us a years worth of patience and expect us to patiently use it one bite at a time He dishes as needed!
<br /><a href="http://heartkeepercommonroom.blogspot.com/2011/09/four-moms-keeping-your-patience-in.html">The Common Room</a> I have to admit I don't read this blog as often because it doesn't come in a full feed on my Google Blogger reader thing. I did pop over there today cause I am loving this topic, and without fail she has some good things to say also. It's the honesty that she (at least that is what I surmised) is the crazy one 5 minutes after she is supposed to have left the drive way that makes me smile. That and prayer is the answer. Isn't it the answer to everything?
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<br />Now for my two cents. Am I patient. NO! Where is it I fail, it actually comes from only having one. Shouldn't she be perfect? I pour hours into her each day and then she wants me to play dogs or baby or some other pointless game. I just spent hours with you can't I just do this one pointless thing that makes ME happy? Wait no I want to spend time with her, I need to be patient and eventually we will learn to love the same games and will enjoy playing together. I should be glad in the moment. The moments are fleeting. I should have the patience to spend the time with her when she wants me. Their may be a day she no longer does. So here is my prayer God give me the patience to play the games my daughter wants to play and let me not always have to be in charge.
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-57272793555005505082011-08-30T06:13:00.001-07:002011-08-30T06:33:40.386-07:00Benefits!As most homeschoolers know their are many benefits of homeschooling. Today I am focusing on one of them. Schedule, it's flexible! I had the intention this year of starting in Early August and adding a curriculum each week or every other week until we had them all incorporated into our days. We did start our math on August 5th and were consistent for three weekdays. Then we got a call that one of Rob's Aunt's passed away suddenly. She was the one I called during my first miscarriage. She was the one that we talked to about Rob's Mom's cancer. She was the one we talked to about the family drama was it important or silly? She was gone in an instant. We didn't even have to talk about it, we knew we were going to the funeral. I started to pack the math and then decided not to, most likely we would not have time and we had started early. It worked perfectly for us to stop and pick it up again on Monday the 22nd when we had been home over a week. We were able to take a week plus off part for travel and part for travel recuperation. Yeah for no stress!
<br />The second level of flexibility is in the day to day. The day we called our first day of school was August 22nd. Since the public schools were starting we decided to go ahead and start that day also. Joy and I put the schedule up Math, Recess and Cleaning floors/dusting were our morning activities. Then I got the call, the one I always dread, someone would like to view your home in about 2 hours time. Okay, one little tweak to the schedule dusting and floors moved up math moved back and recess is definitely going to be at the park! Done a little mad woman and grumpy child cleaning and we never missed a beat!
<br />The third aspect of the scheduling is the actual daily schedule. We have this schedule for our school days:
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<br /><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj8JmQPIOIk/TlzkoJI3AbI/AAAAAAAAA_A/YGn5tE3niDk/s1600/357.JPG"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 240px; height: 320px;" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Mj8JmQPIOIk/TlzkoJI3AbI/AAAAAAAAA_A/YGn5tE3niDk/s320/357.JPG" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5646639411114738098" border="0" /></a>
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<br />My daughter and I meet each morning to go over the schedule and decide in what order our day shall happen. The green are the every day items. The yellow are the someday items (the ones on rings indicate something from that ring happens daily but the actual activity varies). The pink are the fun extras. No two days are alike, and she gets to choose which she wants to do when. The problem we ran into the last 2 days was afternoon I don't wannas. So today I put the important you have to items in the morning. That and we have a meeting this afternoon that I am unsure of the length of so I am avoiding accidentally not having time for an important subject.
<br />That is flexibility at it's best... we decide which days we homeschool, we decide which hours we homeschool and we decide which order we homeschool. It's a great plan for those without a plan!
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-41166548086638573172011-08-27T10:25:00.000-07:002011-08-27T10:29:12.123-07:00Future Tense to Present Tense...This week marked a milestone. I am not sure when it changed (although technically it was Monday at 8am), but I changed from future tense I will be homeschooling Joy to the present tense I am homeschooling Joy. It struck me Friday as Joy and I were apartment shopping (I will tell you more of our home situation later) I was about to say we are going to homeschool and had to change that to we are homeschooling. It's really happening. Really? It's happening? Wow when did that happen? It's always an interesting moment when you go from the planning and preparing to the doing stage. Then a week later you realize hey I am on the next step! Now to enjoy it and not look towards the next step until it's time.
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3879061027423796696.post-27849579620106029852011-08-25T20:46:00.001-07:002011-08-25T21:07:16.757-07:00Kindergarten has started!Hi! I am a homeschool mom of one child. My daughter is currently 4.9 years old and we started kindergarten this week! I have no other children and although I would welcome more it looks like our life will be complete with our one.
<br />So why homeschool if I only have one kid? Why not? Should only families of 2, 3, 5, 19 kids homeschool? No I have the right also and this is what we think is best for our child.
<br />How did we come to this decision? A few things added up to wanting to homeschool. First her birthday is 19 days after the cut off for getting into the state schools and most private schools follow that same cut off. Second I found a group/program I fell in love with and can't imagine my child learning any other way or with any other curriculum. Some might say I am a control freak (which I will admit I am a little). I can't see anyone else being able to teach my child better than me. So here we are homeschooling one.
<br />Our choices for curriculum this year are simple! The group/program I fell in love with is Classical Conversations (CC). So we will take from what we do with them for our History and Science and Latin. I decided to go with the CC recommended Math which is Saxon Math, and so far so good. I did get the recommendation that if my daughter already knows her numbers and can count to skip the K curriculum and go ahead with 1st grade. I am so glad for this because 5 days into the curriculum and my daughter knows more than they expected her to so it's real fun and easy for her. Next I wanted a phonics program, and I stumbled upon All About Spelling. No it's not really a total phonics reading curriculum, but they do go through phonics to teach the spelling. They also have books for the kids to read and I believe are coming out with an All About Reading curriculum. I am also doing Handwriting Without Tears with her. I was fortunate enough for someone else to pay for me to attend a HWT workshop and so I have allot of the materials and we use that for our handwriting. That rounds out our official curriculum choices. In addition to those we are reading each day from her Bob book sets, and I will continue to find readers at her level.
<br />We had a daily schedule from 8am-7pm with each hour having an activity. Few if any of the activities take a full hour so it's not as crazy as it sounds. We start the day looking at the schedule and deciding what we will do and when we will do it. Some things like Math, Spelling, Reading, and when we start CC our Memory Work are the no choice do every day things. We then have chores and an elective which we pick from each day. Last she has some fun choices to add to the blank spots.
<br />I actually had the intention of starting about 3 weeks ago (and we did with our Math) and adding something to our schedule each week. Two kinks happened, first I didn't order my All About Spelling in time to get it for our 2nd week. Then one of my husband's Aunt's died suddenly and we drove 12 hours to be with family. When we returned I took a week off doing other stuff that wasn't done while we were out of town. Then the public schools were starting and so I got in gear and decided to start also this past Monday. We used our regular schedule on Monday and Tuesday then Wednesday we took the day off so I could teach the teachers at her former school about Handwriting Without Tears. Thursday (today) we were back on our schedule. Tomorrow we have our CC Orientation. So first week of school was only 3 days. I love it!!
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15483200730419836991noreply@blogger.com1