some learning games i like to play with my children are:

playful patterns by discovery toys 

old maid 

numbers go fish

geography puzzles 

matching games ( who doesn't? lol )

silly sentences card game 

make a word cards 

child's trivial pursuit 

junior blurt  

scrabble

junior loaded questions 

monday's school day was similar to other days we have.  some are more hit the books more than others.yesterday was NOT one of those days!  lol

first, devotions. we talked about listening to wise council and not being foolish. we used proverbs as our text.

parker did do math ( subtraction with the 100s and borrowing)  and language arts ( which word fits in the sentence best,complete sentence vs fragments,and making up sentences describing himself in his workbooks but for science we read out of his eyewitness book about mammels.  this has been his favorite one to read for a few weeks now!   did you know a mouse doesn't turn brown til it's 10 days old?

while he was doing this the girls watched sesame street  and ben trimmed our big palm tree. when that was over the littles rode bikes with sarah watching and ben got started on his schoolwork.  saxon math was just the beginning.  then we moved onto his new paces workbook for language arts, where we reviewed homonyms ( i admit, on a few even i had to stop and think for a minute! i never knew there were so many! lol ) and he did tons of spelling!!

then i read a berenstain bears book about housecleaning ( is there no end to the subjects these books discuss? ) and set the kids to cleaning!!!  ( remember we are moving , hopefully soon)

lunch was taquitos. ben read some science facts in his handy science information book. then we went to target to buy organic milk and to staples for sarah to spend her gift card. ( she bought pens and paper)

laundry and computer took up my evening while the littles slept and ben and sarah watched tv.

well let's see!  we are finally back on schedule after getting back from St Petersburg for Sarah's surgery!

today our devotions centered on Jesus' forgiveness of sins.  i think i did a good job cuz they listened and asked questions more than normal! :)  we read the story of mary magdalene wiping Jesus feet with her tears and hair and then went on to the parable of the sower.

after that parker and hannah worked in their workbooks . parker did math,spelling and grammar ( see, sees, saw and eat, eats, ate) while hannah praciced her numbers and did connect the dots.

then the 3 of us sat down to another game of silly sentences puzzle with rebekah joining in too ( it never hurts to start young!)

ben did math review in his saxon book. i have come to realize he needs to review OFTEN so that's what we are doing. 

ben and i are still reading one chapter a day about the missionary samuel morris. he's hooked!

ben also worked on spelling and composition. it went better today than last time! :) :)

we all did history together, reading from "amazing women in history".  what a fantastic book! you can pick and choose what you want to read rather than follow a formula .

after lunch- grilled cheese sandwiches- we all sat together and read a book about the orphan train . everyone was truly riveted!! :)  the name escapes me right now but i'll get it for you. it's based on a true story.

ben flipped thru some magazines and found recipes to try. he has lasagna and chocolate cake planned for sunday ( the only day his dad is here)

parker and the girls watched cyberchase while ben cleaned out the car.  they learned about estimating in math.  i love educational tv!)

now sarah is making cookies with the girls' help. parker is alternating doing sewing cards and watching clifford- not really educational but  not bad either. the baby finally fell asleep!! yay!!

today parker worked with his new game- silly sentences.  it's actually puzzle pieces and only when the sentence is done correctly does it fit.  it's fun and he learns too.  hannah and rebekah  got right in with us. :)

then they all worked on a different puzzle- this one is a huge floor puzzle of the rainforest animals.  we also have a poster like this and the kids love it a lot  .

parker also worked in his workbooks on handwriting and sentence structure.  he's only 5 but has started 2nd grade.  i think that's pretty ok! :)

math went well for both ben and parker!  yay!! i love it when that happens.

along with spelling ben also had another history lesson on hitler.  whew! i'm glad that dvd series is over .

parker got a science experiment book at the library the other day and has gone experiment happy  lol.  he does these ( with the girls) while ben works on his woodworking.

our moral lesson/devotion  for today was about sharing. believe it or not winnie the pooh has good books about that too,along with the bible of course!

today we did a moral training camp so to speak! we went over the family rules , tweaked them a bit and added/deleted as we saw fit.  we discussed respect a lot too . this took up some of the morning so schoolwork was light.  i feel their eternal lives are at stake so that's more important.

our morning devotions centered on obedience and how if you obey you get more rewards .not in a materialistic sense i mean tho!

then the littles and i read a book about how our attitudes affect others and we discussed ways we could "do better" in our lives.

ben helped around the house a lot since we are getting ready to sell so i suspended school for him for the day, other than history class. he watched a video about hitler.

parker did  a lot of language arts today in his walmart workbook. spelling and sentence structure mainly.

not much today but a busy day nonetheless!

by the way- the woodworking surprise from ben was a new staircase bannister! :)

science- ben and park watched a nature conservancy video about wildlife and how it survives.  a bit too much for park at times :(

math- ben did more review in saxon 87and park worked on subtraction with borrowing in his workbook from Christ centered bookstore.

english- ben did 2 lessons on various medical terms from his vocab enrichment workbook and park worked in his walmart workbook.

handwriting- ben copied verses from corinthians

parker played a spelling game on the "in between the lions " website after watching the show.  he also did spelling in his workbook.

ben did spelling from a list i culled for him.

history- we discussed martin luther king jr. and read a little about him.

reading- more in our samuel morris book which led to a discussion on the HOLY SPIRIT.

ben did a woodworking project this evening. he won't tell me what it is- it's a surprise! :) while the littles rode bikes.

 lunch was pizza,dinner was chili and now the day is done!

boy the above statement sure is true!  we have been so disorganized !  we aren't getting much done i'm sorry to say!

ben and parker have  done some math but not nearly enough and i hate the feeling that we are wasting time. :(

ben and i are doing great on our reading about samuel morris the missionary. he is really getting into it tho he doesn't want to admit it-- BOYS!!  lol

it seems park and i are doing more science than anything.  reading thru our eyewitness books and such.  the girls like to join in too :).

ben did do some handwriting and some compostion work but i wasn't thrilled with either.  school is tough for benjamin and i know sometimes i come down on him too hard, especially if it's a subject i excelled at in school. praise GOD i "caught" myself before i said anything mean!

sarah is doing great!  she's baking cookies! getting dressed and going for walks!  watching tons of dvds. speaking of, i plan to watch a documentery about c.s. lewis tonite so i better get going!

right back to it!  lol  with my kids i need to keep a schedule or else chaos reigns.  we took monday off cuz i needed to get meds, make phone calls and deal with medicaid- i'd appreciate prayers with this, they are refusing some claims!

anyway- parker worked in his grammar workbook , just a little, and then did review in his math workbook.  just to get us back into the groove.  hannah worked on her numbers and letters during this time and rebekah learned about farm animals in a book from aunt missy. 

then the girls practiced with scissors ( oh my!) and cut "things we like " from their brother's CLUBHOUSE magazine.

ben did math review ( decimals) and a lesson from his ROD AND STAFF science book.  for further science we ( park, ben and i) read a magazine from PETA( we r vegetarians and have started getting their materials- quite shocking!)

for social studies we chose geography . i have a great book made up of fact after fact and we read about oceans which led to a discussion on planets and countries.  a great lesson for all! :)

for bible we studied psalm 57 and what means to have GOD as our refuge.

art class was simply drawing and coloring.

we also watched a sesame steet tape with english and spanish lessons.  the kids didn't like it tho.

that was our school day!

we are home after only a few days!  isn't that great?!  sarah was fast tracked cuz she did so well.  all her tubes were pulled by the day after her surgery- some the nite before!.  the morning after her operation i went to see she was sitting up in a chair eating and watching tv!!  she started walking and went so fast they told her to slow down  lol.

the dr says he's amazed at how fast she recovered and she isn't in any pain. :)  that's right- no pain meds needed!!  UNBELIEVABLE!!

the dr said she is a text book perfect recovery.

thank you thank you thank you for your prayers!

tomorrow we leave early in the am so we can drive up to st pete for our dd's open heart surgery.  she was born with a hole in her heart and now she has a valve problem due to a recent bout with bacterial pneumonia.   they will put patches on both holes unless they think she needs a new valve . i pray not!!

we have no place to stay as of yet :(  due to no money so please pray about both situations ( of course SHE is more important)

so i'll be back in a week or so.

today's scripture reading was in isaiah.  after a discussion on the verses we started school.  since math is a real struggle for ben i periodically have him do review and that's what he did today. no books, just quiz time!  oh how he loved it!  lol 

while he enjoyed himself with this parker and started science .we read about fish today. he thinks the transparent ones are funny! i used a world wildlife foundation magazine to study from.

hannah worked on math and letters in her workbook a little.  she didn't do much but i never push her- she's only 4!!!

parker was doing an art project while she did this and she joined him and rebekah when we were done.  today they colored kites and tied the strings on ( with help from big sissy that is! :) )

by now ben was ready for more work. he worked on grammar. didn't do all that well i'm sorry to say but i could see where he was trying. he was just getting some concepts confused with each other. 

parker worked on handwriting  during that time. he has a book on  george washington and he did copywork from there.

when ben was done with grammar he did his handwriting , from proverbs again.

a break for lunch- pb&j  today.  apples for dessert.

bike riding was how the children occupied their time while i was on the phone with sarah's heart dr.  she is having surgery next week and i needed to make sure of a few things.  she is having 2 patches put on holes she has on her valve and ventricle.  please pray for us!  also pray becuz we have no place to stay while we are there and there's no promise that the ronald macdonald house will have room for us! :(  i admit- i'm a little worried!   peace Lord, peace.

more medieviel castles for ben then he worked on a bike  he is fixing for his new bike business.  he made $10 last week.

"in between the lions" and "reading rainbow" for the littles while i made more phone calls concerning insurance for the surgery.

then parker and hannah took turns (  sort of ) on the computer.  parker went to www.starfall.com  and hannah went to barney at www.pbskids.org  .  parker is learning about compound words .

all the littles helped sarah make cookies. since we can't find the correct measuring cups they really got a lesson in fractions! lol

then we visited with the neighbors and came in to start dinner- tuna casserole.

i realize parker needed more bookwork today but phone calls took up so much of my time! oh well- that's the beauty of homeschooling. there's always tomorrow! :)

welcome!  let me intoduce you to our children.

sarah is 19 ( she's my mother's helper now that she's graduated )

ben is 12, parker is 5, hannah is 4, rebekah is 2 and jamison just turned 6 months.

i thought i'd use this blog to chronicle what we do each day in school so here goes.!

since i'm writing this early in the day i'll write what we did yesterday

today we started out reading scripture. we are in psalms.  then we got down to business with schoolwork. ben started a new saxon math book- 87- so he did review in the 1st lesson. while he was doing that i was reading to parker and hannah  for science-  rainbows  was the themeof the book.

then park drew trees from his eyewitness book "tree" and we talked about how some stay green all year long while others don't.  hannah and bekah were doing their art projects during this time and then parker joined them- glue, beads, crayons and paper made up today's craft.

then we (mom, hannah and parker) made rock candy!  mmmm!!!

ben was drawing his cartoon during this time.  he has one that he has been doing for years- it's called madcat.

after lunch- ramen noodles with mixed vegies and cheese sauce, never the little msg filled foil pouches! - i read to ben about the missionary  samuel morris.  we are in the first chapter.  the littles all watched a vegie tale movie about loving their neighbor. it falls into line with the book i read afterward to them called "adam raccoon and billy garumph."

after reading both parker and ben did their spelling.

ben did handwriting- he's working his way thru proverbs for this- and parker and hannah and rebekah watched "in between the lions".  afterward parker practiced his handwriting using the words he learned from the show.

then parker drew a picture of shadrack,meshach, and abendigo ( spelling is wrong i'm sure) after we read the story in his child's bible.  all during this time  ben read about medievil times and castles.  (he has a series of architectural  templates picked out on his list of wants. )

parker then picked out nouns and verbs from his workbook. hannah worked on writing her alphabet and starting subtraction in her workbook.  ben started building a bridge across the stream that runs behind our house.

then all the kids went bike riding with their neighborhood friends. :)