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WARNING!!!! THIS IS LONG..... Well I have been inspired by Our Journey...at Home to get some sort of schedule together. The problem is I have different schedules for the day depending on whats going on. We have gym and piano everyweek, homeschool meeting and art classes once a month, so I had to make a separate schedule for each of those days. Hopefully this will help me keep on track, doing what I am suppose to be doing. We shall see... School Schedule:
Home Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 school- finish up everything, read 2:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Piano Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 11:00 grab quick snack leave for piano lessons, 1:00 lunch and errands, visit the sick and elderly 4:00 pickup house, laundry, 4:30 independant school- computer, leap pad, mazes, etc... 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
HFC Meeting Days 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 gather everything needed for meeting, 8:45 leave for meeting 12:00 lunch and errands 1:30 school- 3:00 DD- quite time Mom- Bible- work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Art Days 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 school- 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 leave for art class 3:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime
Gym Days: 7:00 up, dressed, meds, make coffee, check emails 7:30 chores- start laundry, put dishes away, quick pick-up 8:00 breakfast, clean up, clear table, what’s for dinner? 8:30 clean out car, gather items for day: library books, etc... 9:00 leave for library 10:00 DD- gym Mom- Ladies Bible study if available, or walk in other gym 11:30 Errands and then home 12:00 PBS- Word World, Mom works on extra cleaning 12:30 lunch 1:00 school- finish up everything, read 2:30 DD- quite time Mom- Bible-work on projects- making cards, sewing, scrapbooking, etc... 4:30 quick pickup of house, help DD pickup room 5:30 dinner 6:00 clean up kitchen and dinning area, mop floor, make juice 7:30 DD bathtime 8:00 DD bedtime |
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......just can't wait to get on the road again. Yes, I am leaving for vacation again. This time it is only dd-6 and I. We are going to a christian homeschool camp with about 250 other people. We only know two families, but are looking forward to meeting lots of new folks. Every night there will be singing and two days will have bible classes. So I'll talk to ya all in two weeks. Donna |
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We didn't get as far as I would have liked. Life just seemed to be happening this week.
Got to do better this next week. Well be taking the following week and half off for camping. |
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......and saw the kids across the street getting onto the bus. We live in a small community, so this is all kids K-12th. Our alarm clocks don't go off till 7:30, my husband leaves for work about 8:45. Do you know what time these kids will get home? 4:20. Thats 9 hours away from home under the influence of others. 9hours. If they're in extra curriculum activities, more. I remember in hightschool leaving catcihing the bus about 6:30 and not getting home 3 nights a week till 6:30. Then I had homework because I would get motion sick on the bus, so I couldn't do it then. I am so glad that my babies (actually only have one left to school) are homeschooled.
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I'm getting ready to start another year with the local homeschool support group. I am the coordinator again this year, I have done it for the last 1 1/2 years, so this will be my last. Which is fine, because I would really like to start working with the kids again. Anyways.....I was wondering what kind of discussion questions have gone on in support groups that you have been apart of? I need some new and fresh ideas. Also, have you ever done any "get aquianted" activities during your first meeting of the year? if yes, could you share. We did one last year where we teamed up with someone we didn't know, found out enough about them and then introduced them to the rest of the group. Thanks |
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We got as far as Lesson 18 in MFW-1 this week. I really like this curriculum.
All in all, a very productive first week. I know that last week was suppose to be our first week, but sometimes things don't go as planned. |
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For those of you who know of the Estes Family, due to medical needs of there youngest child, they are having a big financial burden. Some fellow homeschoolers, on there own doing, are having a benefit for the Estes Family. Check out the below site. Not only will you be helping one of our fellow homeschoolers, but you will benefit also. So go check it out..... http://www.chirotoons.com/benefit/ |
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Some Moms and I from our homeschool group were trying to come up with something for our group to do this fall. We thought we would host a culture festival and invite homeschooler groups from surrounding areas. We would have passports for each child so that they would get a stamp from each country they visited. We are hoping also that we could get at least 5 countries to give some kind of demonstration. It could be a game that everyone could participate in, a song, a dance, any kind of tradition from that country. We would try to plan them thoughtout a two hour period. What do you think? any suggestions on what to add? Minimum of 10 countries- booths (no more than two families per booth)
2. display table
3. give away items
Stamp for passport and ink pad Will need several countries to give a performance about their country.
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The Graduation Picnic went well. I got up at 6am so that I could make the sloppy joes and rice crispies. I was going to make then the day before, but realized I didn't have much room left in the fridg. We got to the park about 10 am, another family had already got there to clean the shelter because it wasn't very clean. So we helped set up and decorated. I was alittle bummed that the other two families didn't bother to show up till just before it started, glad some of us were on the ball. We had way too much food prepared, but that was fine, don't have to cook for the next day or two. I only got half of dd-18 scrapbook done, that's what happens when your a procratinator. We got about 30 pages done, no writing though. I still have enough pictures to do about 20 more, just need to take another weekend and work on it. But I had a variety of ages done all the way up thru now. I now need to finish announcement for all those who live far away (procratination again, hope I'm spelling this right), about 40 more. Need to do those first. Then we need to get thank you's done, and then I can work on the scrapbook again. It never ends. Everyone was so generous, these kids got alot of cards with alot of money in them. She cleared over $400 and we still have another 40 announcements to send out. She is putting all but $60 in the savings, she wanted to have a little spending money. I thought that sounded ok. I'm so tired, but the week is just starting and will be a long one..... |
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We have not been on a regular schedule of school for the last several weeks. I've just been too busy with finishing up with homeschool groups, and getting things ready for dd-18 graduation party. Luckly, dd-6 is not officially considered as starting school til this fall legally. So we have just been taking advantage of opportunities. Earliar this week we went out to eat, and you know how the kids usually get a placemat with activities to do. They always have wordfinds with big words to find, not great for a 6 year old. But what we did was find our own words or just a blend of letters. Sometimes they made sense and sometimes not. As long as she blended them correctly she got to circle them. Of course she only knows her short vowels right now. Today she saw a hummingbird and wanted to look it up in our nature books to find things out about it. So we spent about 20 minutes finding it in several books, then we went out side looking for nest of different birds in the woods. She even found a small white egg shell. Then daddy came home and she took him on the tour while I made lunch. I think I will need to pack some of these books when we go camping this weekend.....we may have to look something up and do some unschooling. |
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Today was our last meeting with our small homeschool support group for the year. Each month we get together and the kids do a presentation, discuss a book they have read prior to coming, and then we do an activity. This year the kids did presentations of presidents, so for our activitiy, some of the moms made a game up that they saw on Survivor. They had twelve questions about the presidents in twelve different areas of the yard. With each question were two containers, one with the correct answer holding colored rocks, one with the wrong answer. If they pick the correct answer they would take their assigned colored rock to the starting point and put the rock on their pile. If they answered wrong, they had to still go back to the starting point and then go back and open the correct container to get their rock. Who ever got all twelve first was the winner. It was a lot of fun. We also had a potluck lunch and potluck icecream sundae bar. Yummm. I was thinking this would be a great idea with questions from the Bible. |
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Well the last two weeks have been extreamly busy getting ready for the musical play performances with our local homeschool group. I was in charge of the costumes and I also helped out with background and prop. Basically everything got set aside: housework, school, cooking... The play was a great success. I believe I counted 43(ages 4-16) cast plus 3 who helped with sets. We performed at the library thursday afternoon for their no tv program. Not counting out kids and parents, there was about 90 people who came to watch. The library also paid our group to do this, a great help toward the expense of props and costumes. On Friday night we performed for our family and friends. I would say there was close to 125-135 there. The kids did and awsome job. We were all so proud of them. But we are all so glad its over. It kindof consumes your life the last couple weeks, trying to get everything together. My daughter used our camara to record the play, so we didn't get any snapshots. I really wanted to show you what everything looked liked. |
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What about socialization? (from another angle) Two women meet at a playground, where their children are swinging and playing ball. The women are sitting on a bench watching. Eventually, they begin to talk. W1: Hi. My name is Maggie. My kids are the three in red shirts -- helps me keep track of them. W2: (Smiles) I'm Terri. Mine are in the pink and yellow shirts. Do you come here a lot? W1: Usually two or three times a week, after we go to the library. W2: Wow. Where do you find the time? W1: We home school, so we do it during the day most of the time. W2: Some of my neighbours home school, but I send my kids to public school. W1: How do you do it? W2: It's not easy. I go to all the PTO meetings and work with the kids every day after school and stay real involved. W1: But what about socialization? Aren't you worried about them being cooped up all day with kids their own ages, never getting the opportunity for natural relationships? W2: Well, yes. But I work hard to balance that. They have some friends who're home schooled, and we visit their grandparents almost every month. W1: Sounds like you're a very dedicated mom. But don't you worry about all the opportunities they're missing out on? I mean they're so isolated from real life -- how will they know what the world is like -- what people do to make a living -- how to get along with all different kinds of people? W2: Oh, we discussed that at PTO, and we started a fund to bring real people into the classrooms. Last month, we had a policeman and a doctor come in to talk to every class. And next month, we're having a woman from Japan and a man from Kenya come to speak. W1: Oh, we met a man from Japan in the grocery store the other week, and he got to talking about his childhood in Tokyo. My kids were absolutely fascinated. We invited him to dinner and got to meet his wife and their three children. W2: That's nice. Hmm. Maybe we should plan some Japanese food for the lunchroom on Multicultural Day. W1: Maybe your Japanese guest could eat with the children. W2: Oh, no. She's on a very tight schedule. She has two other schools to visit that day. It's a system-wide thing we're doing. W1: Oh, I'm sorry. Well, maybe you'll meet someone interesting in the grocery store sometime and you'll end up having them over for dinner. W2: I don't think so. I never talk to people in the store -- certainly not people who might not even speak my language. What if that Japanese man hadn't spoken English? W1: To tell you the truth, I never had time to think about it. Before I even saw him, my six-year-old had asked him what he was going to do with all the oranges he was buying. W2: Your child talks to strangers? W1: I was right there with him. He knows that as long as he's with me, he can talk to anyone he wishes. W2: But you're developing dangerous habits in him. My children never talk to strangers. W1: Not even when they're with you? W2: They're never with me, except at home after school. So you see why it's so important for them to understand that talking to strangers is a big no-no. W1: Yes, I do. But if they were with you, they could get to meet interesting people and still be safe. They'd get a taste of the real world, in real settings. They'd also get a real feel for how to tell when a situation is dangerous or suspicious. W2: They'll get that in the third and fifth grades in their health courses. W1: Well, I can tell you're a very caring mom. Let me give you my number--if you ever want to talk, give me call. It was good to meet you. --Author unknown |
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What Type of Homeschooler Are You?
 Abraham Lincoln You have a Bible and a library card what more could you possibly need? You prefer the Charlotte Mason Method of reading living books for everything: historical fiction, biographies, real histories, nature guides, etc. No soon-to-be-outdated textbooks for you. Visit my blog: http://www.GuiltFreeHomeschooling.blogspot.com Take this quiz! Yep, this is how I started out with homeschooling. Then went toward textbooks during highschool. |
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We really didn't get much done at home. In fact very little. Like I said before, we finished MFW-K, and we were able to get 2 lessons done this week. Hoping hubby will work some with her tomorrow morning while I go do some shopping. I will have to be better at scheduling next week. We had a lot of outside activities this week. On Monday we went to hs gym. A husband/wife team has set up gym days once a week for the group. On one side of the gym are the teen, on the other side are gradeschool. On Wednesday we went and had a play date with another family who joined our group this year. Her 7yo is having a difficult time understanding what it means to be a host. I guess she just doesn't want to entertain other children. So her mom and I thought that maybe spending time together everyother week, that maybe we could teach her. Some kids do it natrually, and some need to be guided. Thursday was play rehearsals. While dd is doing that, I'm in another room putting together costume stuff. Today was our monthly meeting. I had scheduled the Children Librarian Director to come and talk about their website, and how it can use it as a tool in our teaching. Our librarian is such a supporter of our group. She invited us to perform our play at the library during "no t.v. week". And get this, they are paying us $100 to do it, so we are excited about that. We did it a couple years ago, but I don't remember them paying the group. |
Posted in Homeschool
Well we are finishing MFW-K. We have one more lesson to do. Almost makes you want to skip it, but I won't. I'm hoping maybe doing it over the weekend. I want to start MFW-1st on Monday. She is doing really well with her reading. Starting to blend 2 constanants without much help. She loves it when I write two letters on the board, have her blend them and then add more letters to make a word. So I'm getting excited to get her started on more challenging work. But I also don't want to push, I would rather have her really confidant than to push her too hard and get discouraged. But at any rate, this is exciting for me to have her reading. My older two kids started school in ps, so I didn't get to experience this light go off for them.  |
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A couple weeks ago we went to a maple syrup farm runned by a family of 17 sibblings. Most are off and married, but each year the families get together and gather sap, make syrup. When the season is done, they divide the syrup between them. Our homeschool group went out to their farm for a tour and to collect sap, and then they had ice cream. They use a metal water tough to store the sap in till they cook it down. One of the men asked the kids if they had ever seen one before. DD#2 told them, "Of course, thats what you get baptized in!" Where we worship, they use one of these for baptisms. Today we got together for Spring Crafts. Each parent was head of a craft. We made welcome signs, bookmarks, planted grass in pots, mobiles, fancy pens. Then we went to a retired residential home that one of the grandmas live in and spent some time talking to and handing out a gift to. Most of our kids have never done this, very good experience for them. We explained how to start conversations, and listening. I think we need to do more of this. |
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Well I recieved our state swap from Georgia. Thank You Tammy. Her family sent lots of brochures for the state and area they live in. We also got a couple keychains, DD#2 grabed those, some cute souvenir trays, grits, and some Peach-O's gummi candy (Georgia peach This was fun, I hope we do it again soon. |
). Now I can start planning next years vacation. Posted in Homeschool
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This year for our homeschool musical play we are doing "Of Mice and Mozart". We did this play back in spring of 2001 when my older daughter was 12. Now my younger, 6, will be in it. It's about Mozart and little mice sing and narrate the story. As far as I know, I wil be incharge of costumes. Won't be that difficult, since I helped some last time. We have a different director now, the previous one has retired from homeschooling, so it might have a different twist. We usually practice every week for 2 hours for the next two months. DD#2 is so excited, she is going to be one of the mice. I can't wait. |
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Copied this from a group I'm in:
Re: [TOSHSN_Leadership_Group] Do you ever get discouraged? Please read this...
Timely question ~ Our support group meeting last night was on the topic "Avoiding Burnout". One of the things shared was a list of suggestions : - Set realistic expections for how much work to accomplish in a day or week or year, for how clean the house will be, for how fast your child will learn,etc - Establish right priorities set goals for your particular season of life, and choose activities that will help you reach those goals, not take time away from those goals -Recognize the difference between "urgent" and "important" a ringing telephone may be urgent, but reading to your child is important; look for ways to control the urgent -Fill your heart with good things spend time daily in God's Word, listen to uplifting music, keep flowers on the table, - Learn to Laugh "A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones" Proverbs 17:22 -Give thanks for the many blessings in your life! - Expand your "zone of tolerance" if you are a perfectionist, learn to smile and accept a few more mistakes, a few more dust bunnies, a few things left undone - Take care of yourself! eat well, exercise, get enough rest ~ "you cannot draw water from a dry well!" - Balance the pressures give yourself a change of pace, cultivate a hobby or interest It is not as important "where you are" as "the direction you are moving in"! I'm going to use this as our next topic at a parents homeschool support meeting. If you were to add anything, what would it be? |