Saturday, October 21, 2006 - Math :(
Well, I am not sure I'll get my second Math in this term. I'm only done with the first of 5 chapers, and next Sunday is the end of class. Have I mentioned I really don't care for Algebra? Hmm....
I've been up til about 3 for the last 3 days working on it, and Im just now catching on to polynomials....THIS is why I'm glad Doug;s teaching Branden Math..lol.
Well, nothing else really to post today, just wanted to put something on here.
Have a great weekend, all!
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Monday, October 16, 2006 - Saggy Soggy Day
Today's a rather wet and rainy day! It's one of the kinds of days when I usually get lazy and get the I-Don't-Wanna's. If you've seen Deanna's blog, you'll know how I feel today :) But I'm going to make my quick post for today, and get BUSY!
We are having our Gospel Meeting at church this week, and I'm really looking forward to an entire week of singing, encouragement, and studying God's word! Now I just have to really get motivated though, so I can get everything ready in time each night to get there!
School is going well, we got back on track I think :)
Well, the laundry is screaming my name (and if I don't get off here in a minute, the kids will be too, lol)
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Tuesday, October 10, 2006 - Rainy Day
It's a wonderfully rainy day today!
Branden and I are both doing schoolwork in our PJ's :) and Doug and Daniel are watching LeapFrog. This afternoon, after naptime, we are going to make Chubby Fall Crayons. For those of you who haven't had the experience, it's a great way to make use of all those broken crayon bits floating around the bottom of the crayon box!
Here's what to do:
You need:
Cupcake pan
Broken crayons
Vegetable oil
Toothpicks
Pre-Heat your oven to 275
Take all the paper bits off of the crayons
Put 1/4 tsp oil in each muffin pan cup (no liners needed :)
For each cup, you will place the equivalent of 4 crayons into the cup, broken into pieces of at most an inch each. Cups should be about 1/3 full.
Place pan in oven, but keep a close eye on it!!! About 5 minutes should work, depending on your oven
Take the pan out when the crayons are melted, and stir each one just a bit with a toothpick
Let the crayons cool completely, and then take them out and ENJOY COLORING!
I did take pictures at SuperMom & Me camp, but apparently my camera has gone haywire on me since then, because I can't even turn it on :( If I can get it working again, I'll get them on here.
Scouts again tonight. I have no idea what we're doing tonight, I'm just hoping Doug gets home in time to come. I guess between the weather change and that kind of thing, we've both been feeling kind of blah, but on top of that, somehow I pinched a nerve or something last night, so wrestling with the little ones alone at a Scout meeting doesn't sound like much fun.
Well, my friend Darlene got a bad report from her biopsy, I'll let you know as I find out more, but keep her and her family in your prayers!
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Friday, September 29, 2006 - Busy, Busy, Busy!
This weekend we are going to the Super-Mom and Me camp thing for Branden's Scouts, and I feel like I have a million things to do before we go...at 6a.m. tomorrow morning :) But I thought for the sake of keeping my blog going, I'd make a quick post. I'll take lots of pictures from tomorrow and try to get them on here.
School is going well for Branden, he's really getting along great with the Math and History, which is a big relief, we had a rough time with those last year!
School for me is also going well, I have a chapter test, a pre-test for the final, and then my final, and then I'll be done with this Maht class. If I finish those tonight, and I intend to do my best :), then I will have 4 weeks to get in the next Math class! Since they are work-at-your-own-pace classes, I am only limited by how quickly I can get through the work. I really feel like I've gotten a LOT out of the MATH032 class, and I'm glad I backed up to get that one in. Now I think I'll do fine in 092.
Keep my friend Darlene in your prayers! She's going Tuesday to get a biopsy done. Between that, and helping to care for her Mother-in-Law who is visiting and has pneumonia, she's really under a lot of stress! Just keep her in your prayers and I'll update as I find out more!
Off we go to visit Grandma and Papa....they got home late last night from a fishing trip, and the kids are in a hurry to get down there and get spoiled!
By the way, Deanna....I think I WILL change our day off to Wednesday after all! Then we can just enjoy the day!
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Wednesday, September 20, 2006 - How Quickly Time Goes By
Today I talked to an old friend of mine, Robin. I went to school with Robin in 5th grade, but I haven't talked to her in years. It was nice to catch up!
Well, we walked to the Library today for story time. It was nice, the little ones really enjoy it, and Branden gets to look around on his own for a while and get some books to bring home. So now, we're making up for the late start this morning. Wednesday's are always so rushed for me, I really need to think of a way to slow things down and just enjoy them!
Well, Doug started taking Branden to Cub Scouts as of last night. Apparently he enjoyed it...he came home talking about both of us signing up to be leaders....
Okay, now that I've rambled on and on....I REALLY have to get off of here and get some things ready before church tonight.....you know...so I'm not RUSHED later :)
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Thursday, September 14, 2006 - No Title Today
Nothing much to write about today. We're having a rather slow start today...I didn't get up to go walking today, and that usually jumpstarts my energy to carry me through the rest of the day. So after sleeping until the late hour of 8:45 (sigh...I love sleeping in!), I got up, and Branden already fed the boys breakfast and got them settled down to watch a cartoon until I got up. He's such a sweet kid!
Branden's moving right along with schoolwork. We've finally got a good routine going. Bible first, LLATL, History, and Geography with me, then Math in the evening with Dad. Violin gets practiced in the evening as well, but it's really just been 2 or 3 times throuhout the day when he's got a few minutes he just picks it up and practices plucking the music from his book. He's figured out some of the notes on his own from the book as well. He tried to show me how to do the other notes, but I guess my long nails mess me up :)
Well, I took Branden to his first Scouts meeting last Tuesday. When I got home, Doug said he would take him from now on! This is a good thing on many levels :) For one, it's one less thing that I have to schedule in fpr me, and then of course, he gets to do something with Branden! I think Branden will love it! They are having a SuperMom and Me day at the end of the month, where the boys and their Mom spend a day together doing activities. That ought to be fun. We won't be spending the weekend like most of the kids, we'll be going on Saturday and then coming home Saturday night so we can go to church on Sunday.
Well, my Math class was changed, I think I mentioned that it was going to be in my last post. I'm so glad...what a relief! I've already gotten the first 3 weeks of work done, which puts me a week ahead, and just getting to where I need to learn and pay attention to the lessons. Much as I don't like Math, I'm looking forward to figuring out what has thus far totally elluded me.
Well, off to get some schoolwork and dishes done :)
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Monday, September 11, 2006 - Back in the swing of things
I think we're slowly getting into a routine with the schoolyear again.
We've decided to have a 4-day school week, Monday through Thursday.It will go like this (in theory :) for our "extra" activities:
Mondays - 8:30 - Walking at Mall
10am - String Orchestra
Tuesdays - 6pm - Cub Scouts
Wednesday - 10am - Story Time at Library
Thursday - 5:30 - Wildlife
Friday - 8:30 - Walking at Mall
NO SCHOOL
We started String Orchestra today, and Branden really seems excited about what he's learned so far. He can't wait til we can practice, but I really want to get schooolwork out of the way, and save Violin practice until tonight after dinner.
Tomorrow is the first night of Scouts...Branden is definitely excited about that one! The only thing I'm not enjoying about all these wonderful activities is the gas I use traveling back and forth every day :)
I have to get some time in for my schoolwork in the evenings after the kids go to bed. I ended up transferring into a lower level Math class, and I think that will work ou a lot better for me. I missed a lot of Math in high school, and I really need the review.
Well, off we go to get back to schoolwork!
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Saturday, September 2, 2006 - The First Week
Well, I spent the last 3 days with what I can only guess was the Flu. I'm doing a lot better now, but Doug (Sr.) was feeling bad yesterday...and Daniel woke up really sick, and had a fever off and on all day yesterday. He's acting okay, but the fever keeps coming back.
With everyone not feeling too great, we've gotten a very minimal amount of schoolwork done. So we've got to play catc-up this week. History and Geography are the only things we've stayed on track wih.
Well, Doug decided he would take over teaching Math this year, so he could be a little more involved with school, so that's nice for me! I'm awful at Math anyhow, and I don't want that to rub off on Branden!
Doug and Daniel love their school "games" (that's what they call the LeapFrog Phonics Desk) and their school work. Hopefully the enthusiasm wll last for a while :)
Branden's Violin and Violin book came in, and we're really excited about starting those! Between that and Wildlife, we've got a busy schedule, but we are truly blessed to be able to participate in things like this to add to our education!
Well, school is not the only thing I have to catch up on. Tomorrow is my last day to take my Final for Advanced PC Apps...so I HAVE to get that done tonight. I'm not looking forward to it...Access has turned out to be worse than even I thought :( But I will get through it! I have a 97.6 in my class right now, and the final is only 10% of my grade, so I'd have to do pretty badly to fail it.
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Monday, August 28, 2006 - Hooked-On-Phonics....works for me :)
We got it! And I am so excited, we started using the Hooked-On-Phonics flash cards, LeapPad, and Leap Phonics desk as soon as we got home! And the kids LOVE IT! They didn't want to stop playing with the letters and taking turns guessing which letter went where. It's great! I see children who love to read in my future :)
Branden's is still on it's way, some of it had to be ordered, but we're enthusiastically awaiting it! I did order all his Violin equiptment, however. I saved so much money getting the instrument and acessories on eBay and Amazon! I love those places!
Well, til tomorrow...AFTER some serious one on one with GOD AFTER getting the house cleaned up a little so the DirecTV people can come out...AFTER school (10-11:30) AFTER getting Doug's lunch made when he comes home on break (12-1)...AFTER DirecTV is set up (between 1-5)...AFTER my "school coach" from DeVry calls for our weekly conference call to monitor my progress and encourage me (4pm)...AFTER dinner (5pm)...AFTER Homeschool 101 (7pm)...AND FINALLY...AFTER the kids go to bed (8:30pm-9pm).
Why do we do that to ourselves...cram our day so full we can't even be flexible!
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Thursday, August 24, 2006 - I Just Love It When a Plan Comes Together...
Well........I FINALLY got our school books ordered!
Branden's: Saxon Math (65 for the momen, but his placement test results may cause me to purchase the next book up soon), Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology, Learning Language Arts Through Literature, A History of US, Trail Guides to US Geography, Violin
Doug: Hooked-On-Phonics, LeapFrog Phonics Desk, BOB Books, and Little Hands to Heaven
Daniel: LeapFrog Letters, and Little Hands to Heaven
Now that I've gotten THAT out of the way! I can't wait to get it all in. I am really looking forward to all the things we'll be using this year, and all the learning my kids will do!
It's probably a good thing that I won't get all of it for a week or two though, I'm taking classes at DeVry Online (Health Information Management), and I've got a huge prject due this week. They want me to "create" my own database...can you believe that? lol. Still, the requirements for the project make it a little tough on me, and Access is NOT my strong point! But I'm trying to be a good example to my kids, and get it done early and do my best on it!
Well...I've been walking about 2 miles with Darlene up at the mall lately...we've been going around 8:30a.m. It hasn't done a thing to help me fit in my jeans again...but I'll keep going for now. I'm on the closest thing to a diet I've ever been on. I've cut out almost all "candy" and ice cream, and soda (sniff sniff), and it's just plain miserable, but I'm sticking with it! Surely there has to be results EVENTUALLY! I'm not picky, I just want to lose a few inches in my stomach that I've had since Daniel was born.
Well, I'm really struggling to be positive lately. Doug has been working a lot, and so I've been dealing with the kids pretty much alone all week, and I've not done as well as Deanna....I have yelled at them several times! Maybe I need to spend more time over there, and her good habits will rub off on me! I'll tell you what though, this really makes me appreciate my husband more when he's not working so much (although I truly do appreciate him anyways!). I've really got to get it together, and get myself under better control. I don't want me kids to grow up with memories of a cranky Mom!
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Monday, August 21, 2006 - The Tentative Plan :)
Okay, well, I've FINALLY decided what we're going to get for school this week. All I have left to do is order it all :)
Branden's books:
Math: Saxon Math (65?)
Science: Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology
English: LLATL: Learning Language Arts Through Literature (Purple Book)
Histroy: A History of US
Doug and Daniel:
Hooked on Phonics
BOB Books
Still looking for Math stuff :)
Well, at least I feel better about knowing what I'm going to get now...this is always the hardest part for me!
Until the books come in, we've been reviewing last years work, and reading a lot!
Until next time...
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Saturday, August 19, 2006 - Slowly Getting Things Together
Well, we haven't "officially" started yet, but we're getting there. I started with Doug and Daniel yesterday (weird to start on a Friday, but oh well :) They are both learning letters and sounds, and numbers. Doug will be starting Hooked-On-Phonics when we get our things in, and Daniel will be working alongside him as much as he can. If nothing else, he'll pick things up from watching Doug.
Branden, on the other hand, is still waiting on his things. Unfortunately, we waited until the last minute again (anyone else do that? lol, it's a mess), and we're still struggling to decide on what to do for History and English. We've chosen Apologia's Exploring Creation with Zoology and Wildlife classes with 4-H for Science, Saxon Math, Violin lessons/String Orchestra with Diana Dow for Music, and we'll be doing soccer, skating, and bowling this year. Busy busy!
Our school days are going to be rather different this year, since I've got 3 instead of 1 this time around. So I think I will be working with Doug and Daniel in the morning while Branden does his independant work, and then work with Branden in the afternoon. At least..that's the tentative plan :)
Well, I"ll wait to post more until we actually HAVE the school material, and let you know what we end up with!
