In Need of His Grace

September 10, 2009

Lesson Plans and Organization Help!! :)

So, I'm learning having a lesson plan the day before, is as helpful as meal planning. On the days I have the following meals pre-thought, the day goes smoothly. When i'm winging it, we usually end up eating rather late, mealtime is more stressful, and more likely to be something odd. Like egg sandwhiches with soy sauce noodles and corn. (blech)

I am finding that staying up 20 minutes later each night and prepping the following days school work is much the same. Yesterday was a rough day following a couple rough nights. I didn't have anything pre-planned, and yesterday we never did get any school done. I am thinking, as zonked as i was yesterday, if I'd only had a couple worksheets pulled out and a few books picked to read, we would have had a much better chance of getting something done despite the sleep deprivation and motivational exhaustion. When things are pre-planned, half the work is already done, so it isn't as overwhelming to get started. Just as with dinners. But I hate planning. I don't know why. It seems like an "extra" step, so I am terrible at doing it. That is, until this morning...

This morning I found something WONDERFUL in my email box! A link to check out Lesson Pathways, Building Pathways for Online Learning. I found a whole huge resource tool that I just have to pass on! you basically get to create your own homeschool curriculum based with online lesson plans for each subject, for each student, for each grade. I know. Doesn't sound that new compared to alot of stuff out there that offers the same, but this one is so VERY user friendly. It has everything I need divided into each subject and sorted by weekly unit studies. Each unit study is then broken into daily activities and lessons, games, crafts, printables, online books to read outloud...everything is RIGHT there! I have been amazed at how easy it is to simply pick a subject, read the brief summaries of what each grade for that subject covers so I can then assess which "pathway" to assign to my student. Once I select the right pathway, I then get to see the year broken by lessons for each week, click on the week and I see what is given for each day. so super simple! I am loving it! I get to upkeep my child's progress, and switch the lessons around to teach in what order I want. To be very bare bones honest with you, I really hadn't planned on teaching History to the kids until they were a year or two older, but this site has it so easily prepared that i may start it earlier than I had intended!

Check it out! http://www.lessonpathways.com/Home
They have a free 30 day trial that does NOT require a credit card to register for, so no worry of being "resubmitted" at the end of the 30 days without your consent. Payment options are $48.00 yearly, $24.00 for 6 months, or $4.95 each month. (I'll probably be signing up for the 6 month to start with) I find these costs very reasonable, but then again I am one of those types that REALLY needs help with planning and organization, so it very much worth the money to me.

Now! To just figure out how to store previously used materials for record keeping, and materials not used for future availability to the younger kids!! I am thinking see thru Tupperare bins are called for, but how to label? By year, by grade, by subject, by child? Hmmm.... What do you do?

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September 9, 2009

On the days you drag...

For two nights my sleep has gone something like this: in bed at midnight, awake at 1am for baby, woken 20 mins later for (child #3), sleep 1 hour later and woken by baby, sleep 90 mins to be woken by child #2, sleep 45 mins and woken by baby again....rinse and repeat until around 7am when the three LOUD olders announce thier presence to the block (which inevitably wakes the baby) and I wave the white flag and drag myself out of bed.
I am a night owl by nature. Mornings are never kind to me, but more so when the nights are just as rough. How do you, as seasoned homeschoolers, push thru the hard days? The days you drag through. The days that take every bit of energy, focus, and concentration just to remember your children's names and to remain patient at the myriad of balls they throw at you to juggle? Or when you are pregnant and your body (and mind) are using every available resource to grow the babe within, while the babes already-born get the leftovers?

It is noon now. I've just got everyone fed and the baby smelling of daisies again. We have played Mother May I, done a few household chores, and had a brief break-out dance session to the "Locomotion" (presumably when the diet Coke hit my system), oh and the fish have been fed. Otherwise, we are all, every one of us still in PJ's, no "proper" schooling has taken place in any form, and I am trying to motivate myself just to fix lunch!

On these days how do you push thru? How do you motivate? Do you skip the day and vow to make up the work later on? (Hey! Gotta love the flexibility that comes with hometeaching!) Do computer learning games? Send 'em outside and claim it a PT day? And how do you combat the "I could've done better...I wanted/imagined it better" guilt that follows?

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September 8, 2009

Just Today...just starting, learning to submit, and loving nature along the way.

Perhaps I will start using this site again as a simple notebook journal of our daily happenings. Nothing too exciting to most I am sure, but truly a simple way for me to keep records virtually, and record later on. And if anyone has any comments or advice, I am always welcome for learning new ways of teaching (and learning) things. ;)

We officially started school around 3 weeks ago. I am teaching a 1st and 2n grader, and an over eager 2 year old who is learning most by default. (And the 9 month old who just loves to eat crayons, and when the kids take those from her, she goes for their papers.)

In the past we have used Abeka for maths and phonics. I really just wanted to get a firm understanding of those basics for the first few years, and so that is what we have focused on. We've taken bunny trails on various arts, or sciences, or bible workbooks, but mostly those were the "core" subjects for the first years.

This year I felt very strongly God's desire that I become more persistent with basing alot of this year's curic on Science. A friend highly recommended Apologia which I hadn't heard of before, and also handed down Abeka's 1st grade "Discovering God's World." The Apologia book is on Botony, and does seem bit advanced for 1-2 graders, but still I feel God persisting, "Trust me. Don't put it aside. Use it this year. Trust me. Challenge them."

So, that is what I am doing. I started with the Abeka first grade book, but they have already swept thru more than halfway of the book and only 3 weeks into the year. Perhaps, God actually is right. (As He usually is) Perhaps they are "ahead" on science and I haven't realized it before. Never the less, Apologia kind of intimidated me until this week. I spent the first two weeks this year working on reviewing the girls on their maths, telling time, counting money...etc, and brushing up on some easy readers...and finally this week as we finished the sections on telling time when I began praying about what to do next, God again pushed me over to the Apologia. Sometimes I am embarrassed it takes me so long to submit.

So, today we opened to the page we left off before and began reading more about classes and plants. I had a vague thought to open to Genesis Chapter 1 and also read the Creation Story so it would be fresh in their mind's, this awesome Creator we have, when we went on our first Nature Walk this afternoon. The beginning of reading had my 1st grader saying "this is booooring..." but by the end they were both thoroughly enthralled and enjoying it. Their ideas of how god scattered the stars were so precious! I wish I'd had it on tape.

Afterwards we gathered small memo pads, a few pens, a little box, and all 4 kiddos (with baby strapped in a sling on my chest) tramped outside to find their "specimens." We came home not too long later having chased 4 butterflies, avoided 3 grasshoppers, saw 2 baby grasshoppers, collected half a dozen leaves and a few wildflowers, and caught (but then released) a very beautiful light blue butterfly. We pressed the flowers and leaves in a baggie and squished them under books, then collected our sketches and drawings, wrote dates and time and descriptions. Later I will have a notebook for each child to keep a running log of such findings and sketches...etc. But for now, this will have to do. They were quite pleased with themselves. I can't wait to see what God has in mind for tomorrow. :)

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September 7, 2009

Cheetah, Kita, and Rocket. The Addition of Class Pets to our new School Year.

Today we added 3 new additions to our household for the school year. Not foreign exchange students, but in the form of "class pets." Despite our children's near constant plea for pets in our house we've always refrained, as frankly, our house is full as it is! But there was just something about my soon-to-be 2nd grader that I just couldn't refrain any longer. It's a much ado for a simple 20 Liter Tetra tank with just a plant and 3 Fancy Tail Guppies, but to our children (and the poor fish) it's been a whole new world. The kids barely slept last night when we only had water in the tank, so I leave you to imagine the excitement when we actually brought fish home today!

Of these Fancy Tails there is Julia's black-spotted yellow Guppy she named "Cheetah," Megan named her half white and black fish "Kita," and Joey is calling his silver bodied guppy, with a bright red and orange tail "Rocket." As guppies are easily bred and have anywhere from 4-60 babies at a time, we decided to go for an all male gang, but that didn't discourage Megan to still pick a feminine sounding name.

If all goes well and the fish survive the first week acclimating to a new tank, we will probably return to the store in Landstuhl and buy a couple bottom feeders, another fresh water plant, and a school of tetra's. But for now, I am so very pleased. I knew I wanted to focus more of this homeschool year on science specifically for our "Little Scientist" Madison, but I didn't realize we'd go as far as adding "class pets" to the curriculum list. But I must say, it has won my heart over. There is nothing like studying God's kingdom up close, and I have a feeling we have a lot of good lessons awaiting us. :)

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June 16, 2009

Starting again...

I apologize to all my homeschoolblogger friends. I have been the worst blogger!! It seems at the beginning of school I get excited and have lots of exciting plans to blog about...then the year begins, the burn out creeps in, and I don't write if I'm not excited.

I have been terrible. I promise to get better. (of course, in the last year alone we've moved twice from one country to another, and had yet another baby...she is #4 in 6 years time.) so things have been a bit busy as well. Last year was just very challenging all around. I began using this site as places to store important blogs, but not as an everyday blog. I promise to get better. ;)

So, all this to say, I hope to come back. I am not sure what i will blog about, or if it will be of any use or interest to anyone else reading. But my children are getting older, so school is slowly involving more, which gives me more questions to ask...and my youngers gang up on me, which leaves me with more questions about family logistics and juggling! perhaps i will find someone who can relate, perhaps advise, and help with ideas.

so this is my intro to reentering the homeschoolblogging world. And i do hope to be better. I don't know if I can blog everyday, but certainly no more year long gaps. I promise. ;)

Kristy mommy to two gals moving into 2ndish grade this year, with a 2 year old and an infant learning by default.

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About Me

I'm new at this, learning as I teach, teaching as I learn. I am mommy to 4 kiddos: Julia age 7, Megan age 6, Joey age 2, and Charlotte age 10 months. Our homeschool style is Eclectic at best, but gives stability to a family living overseas. I am always open to new ideas and ways to do things and enjoy the encouragement of others doing the same. Boring intro I know, but covers the basics me thinks. ;) Oh, and the picture above? It was from one of our very first homeschooling days in 2005. We let our two eldest kiddos (then 2 and 3 years old) fingerpaint with shaving cream on the dining table. It was lots of fun, and it left a super shiny table and a nice aloe scent to boot! ;)