|
Sweetness
I was reading the Usborne Time Traveler book Pharaohs and Pyramids to the children today and I had to get up to help my oldest son in another room. They just couldn't wait for me so I walked back in to see this and had to get a photo. They are both really enjoying learning about Ancient Egypt.
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Menu Planning Monday
The goal this week is less meat. It's not good for you and it's expensive. It may look like I'm still using quite a bit, but having any dinner that is meatless, is huge for us. Today we had small baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and melted cheese for lunch and it was so good!
Monday
Lunch- sandwiches, grilled or cold
Dinner- spaghetti, no meat in sauce
Tuesday
Lunch- leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner- beef roast, steamed carrots, potatoes, dinner rolls
Wednesday
Lunch- Leftovers
Dinner- Jasmine rice and pinto beans
Thursday
Lunch- Rice and beans or sandwiches
Dinner- Baked potato and steamed veggies
Friday
Lunch- Cheese quesadillas
Dinner- Large salad with grilled chicken, French bread
Saturday
Lunch- chicken and black bean wrap
Dinner- Sauteed veggies over Jasmine rice
Sunday
Lunch- Leftovers or sandwiches
Dinner- Spaghetti with meat sauce, salad
Fruit for snacks this week: Honeydew melon, red grapes, Gala apples
|
Expressed Opinions (0) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
McCain Rally Monday
Some friends of ours told us about the McCain rally in Jacksonville and invited us to go with them. I was so excited! We arrived at 6:15AM, the rally began at 8:00AM. We saw the Jacksonville Mayor, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist and former Gov. Jeb Bush! Very exciting. All the speeches were great and when McCain came out everyone was pumped! He gave a great speech and the older children really enjoyed going. Great educational experience and a fun time.
My little Republican
John McCain and his wife.
The kids after the rally.
|
Expressed Opinions (3) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Sumerian Clay Tablets
Last week we read about Sumer and Cuneiform in Story of the World Volume I. The children were very excited to make their own clay tablets like the Ancient Sumerians did.
We're going slow with Story of the World because the younger two are very much enjoying learning about Egypt, so I put several library books on hold and some came in today and we picked them up. We're going to spend another week on Ancient Egypt before we move on. There's just so much to learn and Sonlight 6 moves too fast!
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Our first day of school for 2008-2009
Look at these beautiful children hard at work! Ok, Caitlyn was sick so she is cutting out a paper model of an American Western Fort (never mind we're studying Ancient Egypt) but we'll call it handicrafts. She did do math, Bible, poetry and history/geography along with everyone else.
Brett went to a space birthday party over the weekend and I caught him doing his math with his jet pack on.
Everything went so well Monday and the children all enjoyed their day. Caitlyn especially seems interested in Egypt and even looked through extra books and did some extra work on her own. She is loving Story of the World. She likes doing the coloring page and map work and then putting them in her binder. Brett is also doing a great job with history but he's not as enthusiastic as his sister. Alexis and Zarek are listening to STOW as a review but not doing the activity sheets, instead they are assisting their younger siblings with their map work if they need it. Zarek and Alexis are both getting back into the swing of math, the last 2 days have been spent on corrections that had been neglected over the summer and finally today they are starting new chapters in their books. Alexis is finishing up her Saxon 76 and Zarek is still working on Algebra I.
I just put some more picture books set in Ancient Egypt on hold at our library and hope they come in soon. They're books I remember reading to Zarek and Alexis when they were about 7 and 8, which is when we last went through the Ancients. We're starting up our school year slowly, taking extra time this week to watch the Olympics, so we're not on schedule yet. By mid-September I'm hoping everyone will be doing every subject each day, until then we're enjoying this leisurely pace.
|
Expressed Opinions (4) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Tomorrow is the big day!
Yes, the first day of school for 2008-2009! I'm kinda unprepared, but we're jumping in anyway. We're going to start slow with just the basics and will add things in throughout the new few weeks. I have all our materials together that we'll need for the first few weeks for Bible and History.
I ordered our new poetry book today so that will be here Wednesday. Everyone will also do their math, reading and a writing or copywork assignment and that's all I plan on for this week.
I hope everything goes smoothly and we have a good first day! I'll post pictures and blog about our day tomorrow.
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Wordless Wednesday - Church sign in our town, I love it!
And the planning begins...
First of all, I went through my friends list and deleted any blogs that no one had written on in a year or more. I'm so sad to see so many blogs abandoned. :(
Last night I stayed up late waiting for Jody to come home from work, he had one of Alexis' prescriptions he had gotten at his pharmacy because the one by our home didn't have it in stock. As soon as he got home I had to give her the antibiotic so I decided while I was waiting up I may as well lug those huge Sonlight binders up on my bed and begin going through them. So...now I'm starting to panic. Why, you ask?
Zarek and Alexis are in for a lot of work this year! I'm overwhelmed just looking at it all. Alexis will have quite large increase in subjects and work load and Zarek...thank goodness he's pretty organized and on the ball because he has so much to do in a day. I'm hoping it just looks like a lot and when we actually start we'll get into a groove that will work and that we won't be doing school from 8AM to 8PM.
OK, who am I kidding, I'm still in bed at 8AM.
I did start to work on schedule last night, one I'm sure we won't stick to...but it's a nice thought. It goes something like this:
8:30-9:30AM Dress, make beds, have breakfast, personal care and be ready for school on time!
9:30-10:00AM Bible Reading, Prayer, Poetry (all four together)
10:00-11:00AM History (all four together)
11:00AM-12:00PM Zarek and Alexis, independent work (Bible, Readers, Vocab, Science) Caitlyn and Brett, math, phonics, language and hopefully Science which will be Botany
12:00-1:00PM Lunch Break
1:00-2:00PM Zarek and Alexis, independent work (math, logic, readers, typing, whatever needs to be done) Caitlyn and Brett, finish work if needed, then read aloud to me and I read to them
2:00-3:00PM Family read aloud, Historical Fiction from Sonlight
3:00-4:00PM Alexis and me 1 on 1: Language, Spelling, Literature discussion
4:00-5:00PM Zarek and me 1 on 1: Language, Spelling, Literature discussion
That's it! Whatever doesn't get done by 5PM will have to be done as homework starting at 7:30PM. Yeah, it's a long day and I'm hoping it will go faster, but we have so much we have to do together and so much they older 2 have to do on their own. We'll see... In any area we go more quickly they can move on to their independent work.
After 2 weeks of this I'll post and let you know how the schedule is working and what changes have been made. I'd love school to be done by 3PM, but the reality is none of us get up early and we'd need to start school by 8AM and I don't see that happening. We love being up at night together. That's why I love homeschooling...freedom to do what is best for us.
|
Expressed Opinions (4) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Beach Walk
We've been going to the beach a lot and Wednesday we woke up early to take a beach walk to see if we could discover some treasures before many people arrived. Well, I turned my alarm off when it sounded at 6AM and went back to sleep...consequently we didn't get to the beach until 9AM, which was still good in my opinion...but not early enough because we didn't find anything wonderful like we had been dreaming about. It was still a nice walk though.
Afterwards we took Alexis to her ortho appointment and then we went back to the beach to swim and play in the sand. Thursday we went to the pool, Friday we went swimming at a friend's house...and today Alexis has a very bad earache. I've been giving her something for pain and having her lay on a hot rice pack, but nothing is helping. I called Urgent Care and they closed at 5PM. So, tomorrow morning I plan on taking her. She is in a lot of pain, poor thing. These things always happen on the weekends, don't they?
I've pulled out my 2 big Sonlight binders for this year but I've yet to actually crack them open. I did set up our new school year on Homeschool Tracker Plus. We're starting August 18th. I'm so not ready. I wish summer could last forever.
|
Expressed Opinions (0) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Summer is slipping away from me.
I haven't done anything that I had planned, haven't read any of the books I need to read. We've been going to the beach a lot, taking nature walks and doing nature studies. Which is all good, but I need to get busy. The problem is I have no desire to do so. Our oldest will be 14 on Wednesday! We're going to play putt-putt, have a picnic and then go to the beach with a few other families. Then I'm going to take him to see a movie of his choice, just he and I, maybe Daddy too if he's off from work when we go. We're not going to do a party this year. He's getting a very nice tennis racquet for his presents. His coach has gotten him one at cost, so it will only be about $100 for us, so that is his gift. He just broke his at practice last week, but he needed a new one anyway. He was in a tennis tournament at the end of June and he won in his age division. Alexis got the wires on her braces last week and was in pain for a couple of days, but now she's fine. The little ones have been playing with Legos a lot when we are home. Today I had everyone do a little bit of school work and we're having a "no screen" day so I better get off from here myself! I'm reading aloud Swallows and Amazons to them, which I don't think they're really enjoying, although it is a nice, old fashioned story. We're also finishing up Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which I've been rereading to them forever...it's time to move on. I've read all the Harry's aloud to Zarek when he was younger, then reread them all aloud to Alexis and him, now I'm rereading them all for the 3rd time to Cait and Brett. They're great books though and I enjoy reading them again and again.
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Is it summer yet?
We've taken this last week off and we're taking this next week off as well. I thought it would be nice to have two weeks off before the public school kids are out for the summer. The week after Alexis is in drama camp and I plan on taking the other 3 to the beach while she's there for some beach combing. I ordered a book called Florida's Living Beaches to get ready for it. So, that may be a 3rd week off. We may do some school in the afternoon though. What basically needs to be done is math, Zarek and Alexis need to finish their Latin curriculum, and each have a vocabulary book to finish. Caitlyn and Brett have a Language book to finish as well as practice reading. I think we'll do 2-3 weeks off, then 2-3 weeks on this summer, which of course can change if it gets to be too much. I do want the children to have a good break, but there's no sense in getting bored either. With gas prices the way they are we're going to try to keep our running around to a minimum and try to stay home at least 3 days out of the week. When the summer sun really hits here, we won't want to be outside unless we're at a beach or pool, so may as well get some school done.
I'm sure the children will feel differently than I do.
Another book I've just ordered is Christian Unschooling, I'm not and never could be an unschooler, but I think the book might encourage me to have faith that my children will learn all they need to learn. I visited a Charlotte Mason blog today and it was one book she recommended highly that I didn't yet own, so I hopped right on Amazon and ordered. I am again so thankful that I was given the gift of Amazon Prime by my great friends...you know who you are! You just don't know how much you blessed me by giving that to me!!
OK, I'm off to switch laundry.
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Current Read Alouds
These are the books I’m reading aloud to Caitlyn and Brett. Alexis is listening in to Understood Betsy as well, as that is a favorite of hers.
Today as we were reading about spiders in the Nature Reader I was amazed at how excited Brett was to tell me all he knew about spiders. He stopped me frequently to tell me what he knew. I think that was one of the first times I’ve seen him show a real interest in something “school” related.
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Menu Planning Monday
It's almost summer time!
This weekend it is supposed to get into the 90's!!!
Wow. And we'll be too busy to go swimming. Brett is having his birthday party Saturday, he turned 8 last week. We're having about 20 people over, including 7 or 8 of his friends. It's a Star Wars party and everyone is looking forward to light saber battling, including one of Zarek's friends who is 16...hey, you're never too old for light sabers.
Last week we went swimming with friends and my sister in law and her two little ones, we've also been to the dentist 4 times so far and will be going again tomorrow. The girls had cleanings and then went back for sealants, now it's the boys turn for cleanings and we'll probably have to go back for sealants on them too. We went to the ortho for Alexis and she's getting her braces on June 2nd.
Tomorrow we have the dentist, art class, tennis lessons and Zarek has Civil Air Patrol. Friday we're having Field Day at a park with our homeschool group, there's already 60 kids signed up so it should be a big deal, afterwards we may be going to Zarek's friends house to swim. I also have to get the house clean that night and in the morning on Sat.
Saturday Jody took the day off so he could take the kids to our nephew's 3rd birthday party, while Zarek will stay home with me helping me get ready for Brett's party. Sunday will definitely be a day of rest.
Next week we're going to a theme park in GA, it's homeschool day there and we get to get in half price! Yay!! We couldn't pass that up, so we'll be missing art class, tennis lessons and Civil Air Patrol to go...which is a bummer, but the kids will have a lot of fun...there's a water park there too and we couldn't turn THAT down.
Zarek has 2 more weeks of his Sonlight Core 5 after this week. He's ready for a break. He'll keep doing his Algebra I over the summer though, but as he says that's "no big deal"
I know some other children who will also be keeping up with math during the summer too...
May 30th will be our last day. I'm really looking forward to it. Our summer will be swimming at my brother-in-law's pool, going to the beach and playing with friends. And lots of reading. I can't wait!
|
Expressed Opinions (0) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
My summer reading list
High School Form+U+La by Barb Shelton
Piecing Together the High School Puzzle by Joanne Mastronicola
Homeschooling High School by Jeanne Gowen Dennis
The Well Trained Mind by Jessie Wise and Susan Wise Bauer (reread)
High School @ Home: You Can Do It! by Diana Johnson
(do we see a theme here?)
Homeschooling at the Speed of Life by Marilyn Rockett
Losing It, and Gaining My Life Back One Pound at a Time by Valerie Bertinelli
Before Green Gables by Budge Wilson
The following are prereads for Sonlight Core 200 so I can discuss with my son.
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson
A Parcel of Patterns by Walsh
Twelfth Night by Shakespeare
The Shining Company by Satcliff
The Screwtape Letters by C. S. Lewis
Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare
Robinson Crusoe by Defoe
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Stevenson
Going Solo by Roald Dahl
What Hearts by Brooks
Till We Have Faces by C. S. Lewis
A Christmas Carol by Dickens
Check out my book blog at Fond of Books
|
Expressed Opinions (0) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Menu Planning Monday
A Visit to the Heart Doctor
Yesterday Jody and I woke up early to take Caitlyn to her new cardiologist. She was nervous and so was I, wondering if the doctor would be good, would the facility be nice and the nurses and techs friendly and kind? Well, we were all very happy, her new doctor was wonderful and took a lot of time to talk to us, even about finding a good pediatrician for the children since we still haven’t found one we’re happy with. The sonogram tech was very gentle and nice. In CT Caitlyn always said getting the sonogram of her heart hurt because they’d push down too hard on her chest and that was the main thing she was nervous about. She was pleased to find out there was a TV in the ceiling she could watch and she got to pick a DVD. These take about 20-25 minutes so after about 10 I asked her if it hurt and she said not a bit. Afterwards she told me it didn’t hurt at all. I was very happy this lady was so gentle. All in all it was a great experience, her heart is doing wonderful, the two reasons she may still have to have surgery weren’t showing any signs of becoming problems and the doctor said she would be a great candidate for a catheter closing of her hole, so even if it did need to be closed that she wouldn’t have to be opened up. All around great news.
Across the street from the cardio center was a Peterbrooke Chocolatier so we went over there, watched the production line for a bit, tried some samples and bought some chocolates for the children. They are VERY expensive, so we just bought a bit, but while we were picking out what we wanted, one of the workers gave Caitlyn a Nutter Butter dipped in thick chocolate. She loves Nutter Butters!
Then we swung by the library, picked up some holds, put gas in my van and then we went out to lunch at Panda Express where Caitlyn has been wanting to eat. Um, we won’t be eating there again, the food was terrible. Jody ate his and almost all of ours too. Then we stopped at Publix on the way home and did some grocery shopping and met a fellow Kraft employee of Jody’s that I talk to on the phone, but hadn’t met yet. Finally, we got home, put the groceries away and Jody had to run to work. The day was cold and windy, the kids rode bikes for about 15 minutes and then wanted to come in. I read to them most of the afternoon and we had a light dinner of sandwiches.
Today we’ve done lots of school, besides the basics we read about Saudi Arabia, did work on our huge wall map and did some more catching up with our Travel Diaries and also did our Saudi pages. We’ll be learning about a few more Middle East countries and then having our Middle Eastern dinner, instead of doing a dinner for each M. E. country. Easier on me. I told them we were going to have lamb with our meal and the girls are disgusted. To eat a sweet little lamb?? Hopefully when the time comes they will try it at least.
That’s it for today, everyone is playing outside with friends/riding bikes with friends. I’ve almost caught up on the laundry and tomorrow we have a very busy day. Tennis, art class, park day, tennis again, then Zarek has CAP. We’ll hardly be home, so I’m glad we were home all day today to get work done and get the house in some kind of order.
|
Expressed Opinions (2) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Menu Planning Monday
Menu Planning Monday...yep I'm a day late
Monday
Chinese Stir fry with Jasmine rice
Tuesday
Our Brazil dinner for school, Brazillian beans and rice, Brazillian Coconut Pudding for dessert
Wednesday
Pasta with Texas toast, salad
Thursday
fried pork chops, egg noodles and green beans
Friday
Pizza! Yay, mom doesn't have to cook!
Saturday
Breakfast for dinner, bacon, eggs and toast
Sunday
Burritos or quesadillas
|
Expressed Opinions (1) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
Brazil...and other things
Tomorrow we will begin our study on Brazil. Along with reading books and making pages for our Travel Diary we’ll have our cultural dinner. This is the dinner and dessert we’ve planned.
BRAZILIAN BEANS AND RICE
1 lb. pinto or black beans
1 chopped onion
1 chopped green pepper
1 lb. browned sausage
1 (6 oz.) can tomato paste
Garlic powder to taste
Cooked rice
Soak beans overnight (or use two large jars of the canned, cooked beans). Drain the beans after they have been soaked. Cover with water, add onion, green pepper, salt, pepper, garlic. Cook until beans are soft. Add water if necessary. When beans are cooked make sure there is enough water to just cover them. Add the tomato paste and sausage. Cook an additional 15-20 minutes until the meat is cooked. If the beans are too watery, crush some to thicken. Serve over cooked rice. Top with molho sauce.
BRAZILIAN COCONUT PUDDING
1 can sweetened condensed milk
Coconut milk to fill the milk can
Milk in the quantity to fill two of the condensed milk cans
3 tbsp. of corn starch
Cook all ingredients together over medium heat stirring constantly until it begins to boil and thickens. Pour into a form and chill until firm. Brazilians often serve with stewed prunes along with the juice. Delicious!
Tomorrow we’re going grocery shopping and we’ll pick up all the ingredients we need.
We have quite a bit of catching up to do on our Travel Diaries so that is going to be priority tomorrow.
Zarek is finishing up his study of the Middle East. I’ve read Shadow Spinner and am now reading Seven Daughters and Seven Sons aloud. Both books are really good.
Zarek was going to start Algebra I this fall when he starts 9th grade, but as his determination to go to the Air Force Academy is getting stronger, he’s decided to start Algebra I now and finish it before fall so he can begin his freshman year doing Algebra II. We’re learning more and more about the requirements for USAFA and he’s reading all the books he can get his hands on about it. I’ve just ordered him a new one, as he’s already exhausted all of the libraries in our area on the topic. Now tonight he’s told me he wants to read all he can about airplanes. Thursday evening he should be going to his first Civil Air Patrol meeting, unless Jody’s schedule doesn’t permit it. His dad has committed to taking him each week and is letting his job know he needs to be out early for Thursdays. I hope Zarek enjoys CAP and that there is a good leader at this unit. If not, we have another one nearby we can try out.
OK, off to bed for me.
|
Expressed Opinions (3) • Leave Your Opinion • Share This With a Friend!
|
|
