Yes, we have changed groups again but now we found one that will be not only great for me, but great for my kids. The last group we were associated with was just a little lax and I feel may have not been the best for me being it was my first year.  Our new group is based on education, education and more education. 

Sometime in March I came across a group of women that I really enjoy! Some of these women are previous school teachers who currently homeschool their children and also offer classes throughout the year.  This year Alex took a History class while Chance took a Science class. They really had a great time and learned a lot.  Alex’s class was very hands on .He made all sorts of crafts and got to eat all kinds of neat things from history.

One mother took pictures all year and then made an actual yearbook for the kids! This book was beautiful and exactly what you would get in a public school. They had an end of the year pool party where they all signed their yearbooks.  Its situations like this that make me laugh when people tell me how much my kids are missing from public school. The only things they are missing are exactly the things that I want them to miss!

Chance's Diarama for his Science class


Alex at the yearbook signing party

Even Aurora got in on the action. She made her own book and started collecting signatures... lol

Ever just look back and say “Oops, I sure messed that up” ? Well, it’s not a nice feeling especially when your children are concerned. Looking back at last year I know my children did very well but I also know where I messed up. Luckily, we have the summer and another great year ahead of us.

Alex is still seriously behind in Math. I know the benefits with HS is that the child can work at their own pace but as each day goes on, I see that he’s not really getting anywhere.  Or is he?  

When he started the year he had serious issues with counting money, telling time,  subtracting with regrouping , ect. We worked on a lot of this and now he’s doing better but he’s still not where he needs to be.  Where I feel like I messed up is with the curriculum I chose.  I had him doing Time for Learning and I really thought it was a good idea and really, it was just a waste of time.  I feel like he has better knowledge of how to do these things but still isn’t strong. It amazes me, he can tell you what binomial nomenclature is but he cant tell you what 46-38 is…. So to help fix this, Alex and I are working on his math through the summer 4 days a week.  I really hope that we can start next year with him doing 4^th grade math.

My second oops of the year was with the children’s writing. Luckily Alex doesnt have any problems with that but still, I think I could have done a better job.  I constantly have to remind myself to focus on how much they DID learn and not what they didn’t.

My third and final oops of the year was poor planning.  We started out great and then after Christmas I found myself winging it quite a bit. I had my planner but instead of planning what were going to do, I wrote down what we did.  To make sure this doesnt happen again I have been working on all of our plans for the year , including what day we will not have school.  I think this will help eliminate those “ lets see what fun idea I can come up with today”  feelings.

Just another situation where “Mistakes are Just Opportunities to Learn”




Alex having fun with fractions : )

I cannot believe that we took all 3 kids and we lived to tell about it! The kids were really well behaved and considering it was Alex and Auroras first time they did great! I know it wasn’t exactly what they were expecting it to be but they were wonderful. Chance was a HUGE help with keeping them under control while Marc and I shopped the curriculum.

I will be honest and say that I didn’t enjoy this year as much as last year. I wasn’t very happy with the lectures. When I read the line up , nothing really jumped out at me. I was really hoping for more talk on the Charlotte Mason method, notebooking, ect .  Also , Todd Wilson didn’t have any lectures going on however he did have a booth but I much rather of heard him give a presentation.   

My feelings of not fitting in were just as great as they were last year, that is until I met the sweetest couple from north Fl.   They saw me order a double, made a comment about me being with the convention so I pulled up a chair. Finally! My kind of people!  Christians that enjoy drinks by the pool! We enjoyed several drinks together and talked  about many things. She told me that she actually does her entire year of lesson plans during the summer and it takes her a few weeks. I thought about that a lot and Im happy to report that I have almost completed mine!

Another great thing that happened this year is I was standing at a booth and I heard someone call my name. I turn around and I was very happy to see it was Michelle Martin. She was an FYP colleague of mine several years back and she actually called me out of the blue a few months ago. She was asking about homeschooling and I told as much as I could and I recommend she attend the convention. Sure enough she came! : ) 

Just recently I found out that another FYP colleague of mine homeschools  and always attends the convention and just like Michelle and I, feels out of place. Next year should be a whole new experience for all of us, watch out homeschooling mamas! The FYP girls will be in town! You can easily spot us. Were fun, we attend happy hour , our children might be pierced and sporting purple hair and really, were just like you! We all want the same for our children so if you find yourself starring or wondering what we’re doing there, just know that not all homeschooling families may look the same but we all have the same agenda and know that homeschooling is the way to go! : )

After the convention we took the kids to Islands of Adventure and Universal Studios. We got a great deal, only $32 each  for both parks ! Its called the "Homeschool Days" discount. The theme parks usually have booths at the convention so just grab a flier and take it with you to get the deal.  This is the only way a trip to both parks for a family of 5 would have been affordable for us.

We are coming upon the end of the year and I cannot believe how fast it has gone.  I know there have been days when I wanted to pull my hair out but over the past several weeks I am so proud of the kids and myself.  They have learned so much that I know that this really has been the best decision ever.

Chance has finally learned how to spell!! Well at least I should say he has learned spelling rules and I can see the excitement on his face when he can figure out how to spell a word.  He has 25 spelling words a day and he is getting almost everyone correct ! We are using Sequential Spelling from www.spelling.org  What a great product!  I just purchased Volume 2 for next year.

Alex and Chance are both excelling with their marine biology, we just began the last chapter today.  They have thoroughly enjoyed the curriculum we are using ( apologia, swimming creatures on the 5^th day) and are actually let down that we are nearing the end.  They have both really amazed me at what they have retained, even Aurora has picked up quite a bit.  

I have been looking at curriculum for next year and I believe that I have decided on Real science 4 kids http://www.arn.org/realscience/realscience_morabout.html .  This will cover 12 weeks each of Chemistry, Biology and Physics.  They offer Pre Level 1, Level 1 and Level 2. The great thing is Aurora will be able to handle Pre level 1 and now all 3 kids will be on the same page so to speak.  

Alex has just begun multiplication, I know it’s a little late compared to the public school kids but he just wasn’t ready.  In fact, in the beginning of the year he could not tell time, count money and was still having problems with subtraction.  Alex has come very far this year compared to where he was.  I am very proud of him .

The huge Florida homeschool convention is just around the corner and I cannot wait!!!! If you are local and have never been you have got to check it  out! www.FPEA.com Looking back over the past several months I am so happy with our success.  I have learned where we need some extra attention ( history and geography) but all in all we have had a very successful year and I am very , very happy with my children.

A couple months ago Marc and I decided to let Aurora go to school next year just so she can experience it. Now that some time has passed I just cant see her going. I don’t want to sound like “ my child is so advanced” but  she really is! She has sat in with us almost everyday for class and she started picking up so much that I put her to work.  She is reading at a first grade level and doing 1^st and 2^nd grade math.  Chance has taught her money in his free time and Alex has worked with her with reading a clock. What is there for her to learn in Kindergarten?  She knows her phonics, she knows basic math, she can even classify animals. I think she would be bored out of her mind if she went. We have 2 little girls 2 houses down and she plays with them almost everyday so she is socially involved. I just really think that public school would be a hindrance.  My only fear is she will feel as if she has missed out on something. Do you agree? Yes or no? Please leave a comment , Id love to get some feedback on this.

I'm looking to get ahold of a jar of Vegemite for our World Day project on Australia  I have tried Ebay and the shipping costs are outrageous.

If anyone could send me in the right direction Id appreciate it! Thanks!

Any Questions?

LOL

Chance thought he would let his mouth run today and I deceided that my car really could use a washing.

 Aurora was bored today and while I was busy working on the computer I hear her dragging in a box from outside and then she was up in the cabinets. She sat down at the table and got to work. I never said anything I just kept watching her.  She was so proud of her  “ car” .

 Ok maybe she’s not Van Gogh, but she did act out  “ van –go” LOL . She even had a steering wheel and a spare tire in the back!

January!

So far so good!  This month is going very smoothly!  I had a lot of trouble with Alex last month so to fix that situation I have put some responsibility on his Dad and Step mom. He now does his grammar and math at his home on the computer.  Here is our new schedule:

Wake up-
Work with Aurora on her reading and Math
10 am – Go get Alex  ( Chance does his Math and Grammar while Im gone)
Get back home, Start Spelling, Science and History or Bible.
12 pm  Lunch

My homeschool day is done!!  YES!!!

Right now for writing they are working on an “ Old Testament Tribune” Project that I got from www.homeschoolinthewoods.com I love that stuff!  Its part of the “ Old Testament Activity Pack”. They have been working on that all year.. Actually we better kick it up a notch if we are ever going to finish it. .  

Our History seems to be going down the cracks too so I have replaced it ( for the time being ) with Current Events and Debate. I got a subscription to “ Current Events” weekly reader series and the kids have really liked that so far. Im currently searching for another History program to get us back on track. The last one was good they just got a little bored with how bible based it was. I will admit I am getting bored too. ( I hate to say that though.. )  They just aren’t really into it like they were in the beginning of the year . I was teaching a lesson about Troy and they were completely lost so I got the movie from Netflix.  They loved it! Its amazing how they can learn so much better when they can actually SEE the violence….

Now our Science has been a blast!  We are doing so well with it that we will have the book finished before the end of the school year! That actually makes me a little sad though… I just love our science!

We just finished up Crustaceans and for cool hands on activity I took the kids out for lobster! I gave them a real hands on project by identifying the anatomy. They also got to try lobster for the first time; Alex was the only one that liked it so he ended up eating 2! I swear that kid will eat anything!

December was a really great month! Alex was slightly out of hand but we have since remedied that situation – See update in January….

We were studying  fish so I thought it would be a good idea to start with dissections!  I got everything we needed from www.homesciencetools.com  Aurora really impressed me , she was so eager to jump right in and get to cutting and identifying things. I went online and I printed out some guides and worksheets which helped a lot. This is the one we used: http://staff.tuhsd.k12.az.us/gfoster/standard/perchdissection.htm

That went so well that we moved on to do a shark a week or so later. Well, Chance and I went on to do a shark. Alex  wasn’t listening to me during the fish dissection and ended up stabbing himself in the hand. For that we watched some online videos which really helped a lot.  http://www.amnh.org/learn/pd/sharks_rays/rfl_dissection/  We would watch the segment and then do it on our shark.

TIP- Wear gloves for this one! The shark oil is really strong and it is nearly impossible to get the smell off your fingers!

Also in December the kids had a really great time at the homeschoolers meeting.

Aurora sat on Santas lap for the first time on Christmas Eve..

And last but not least... Chance made a really cute video that cracks me up everytime I see it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uinZkma-j4Q

Be sure you have your volume turned up!

November-

Ok, in October I took just Chance and Aurora to Disney leaving Alex at home so I decided to take him in November so he wouldn’t be left out. He was such an angel! We had such a great time! He is such a different kid when he is just with you one on one. He was so good that I took him to Universal Studios as well!

Also in November I took Chance and Alex to "Wanna do City" http://www.wannadocity.com/  This place is a homeschoolers dream!   It’s an indoor theme park for kids ages 5-12 .where they can  get to act out different professions. I really thought that Chance would be to old for it and some he was, but over all he had a really great time. Alex's favorite part was dressing up like a firefighter and getting on the fire truck, riding through the town and putting out a " fire" . We bought passes so they can go back over and over. it was pricey but well worth it. Aurora didn’t go but I will take her back next time.

After that we went shopping at the Sawgrass Mills Mall. Sometimes I just cant believe what I can get my kids to do....

I know , I know, its pictures like this that give homeschoolers a bad name... LOL  " Unsocialized" ? Not my kids! LOL

At our bimonthly homeschoolers meeting I was finally able to get a few nice shots of 3 of them together.


And yes as you may have noticed in these pics, Chance cut all his hair off.  I cried... alot.

Wow, did I get behind!! Here is a little catch up to fill you all in.

October- We let Aurora stay in school and have her 5th birthday party and then we finally pulled her out. We really didn’t have a choice, we just couldn’t afford it any longer. Now that I had 3 kids home my blog became abandoned : (  Marc and I went to Aruba the day after we took Aurora out of school so my mom had the first experience of homeschooling my 3 kids before I did! ( Ha Ha )  Nothing very excited happened that I can really remember but I Aurora and I did make a doll together.

oh yes, I do remember..

On Halloween I took the kids to Disney World, while I was gone we were robbed! They got my video camera with my trip to Aruba still in it, my laptop with Chances math cd in it,  our PS2 and Marc's Mp3 player. We called the police and when they came I had him teach the kids a lesson fingerprinting. I had a pic somewhere but I can’t find it now...

Here we are at Disney unsuspecting of what is going on at home. As you can see we were pirates and the tea cups were fun LOL

For the past 2 weeks have done a unit study on all different kinds of mummies as well as ancient Egypt. Today we wrapped up the unit with 2 really great activities!  We visited the local museum and we were able to see a real mummy and real ancient Egyptian artifacts! When we came home the kids made Egyptian costumes, made an Egyptian music video and then mummified Aurora!

Here are just a few pics and here are some links to our videos on Youtube : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TNN00As3aD4
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HVOoEZePyVw&feature=related

I was planning on building a website to host all of our pictures but its not coming along so well....

Here is just some stuff in the mean time. Hope you all enjoy!

The kids at the museum with a real mummy!

She can now tell you if an animal is a bird, mammal, amphibian, Reptile, crustation, mollusk , Insect or arachnid.  She also knows which animals are viviparous  or ovoviparous. We also just started on Carnivores and herbivores. 

In school shes learning about the letter E and vowels. Whoo de doo ! LOL   ( I did  get a list of schools in our area for Pre K and unfortunately not one school is teaching at her level but on the bright side I registered for a free service we have for a discount on Pre K. Now we only have to pay $559 a month for her school/babysitting)

Once upon a time a UFO appeared in the sky. It zapped the Atlantic Ocean which made a huge wave and it crashed into New York City. It covered the whole city of Queens. A big volcano blew! It was terrible I say!

Suddenly, it stopped.  Then I heard a huge roar. I was so scared I looked down because I thought I had peed my pants! In the air I heard a huge boom! A plane had blown up! Yearrrrrrrrrrrummmm booom! Fire raged through the sky!

Everyone kept starring and then suddenly a dragon appeared before me . I was frightened and I ran as fast as lightning! I ran to a phone booth and called Chance. Chance said “ What? “ I said “ I need your Lamborghini” He said, “ All right, sit tight, I’ll be there in two shakes of a rabbit’s tail.  Chance got there and said Come on! I said “ Chance, I can explain”  “Just shut up and get in” Chance replies.  We left and never saw that dragon again!

I knew that an Egyptian unity study was going to be a bad idea. For one, I hate unit studies. We only ended up doing this on accident. ( See earlier blog) It seems ever since we have started this nothing can go right!

Yesterday was the first day we were to begin our unit and I woke up to a very warm house. It wasn’t until later I realized that my central AC was broken! I gathered the kids and we went to the library. We just decided that we would do class there since it was cooler.  We read about Egypt, we did some map work, we discussed in great length about how mummies were made, came home, had a writing assignment, watched an National Geographic special on mummies and the kids made old looking maps. I thought all was good except for the AC .

We were dying in the heat so I sent the kids outside where it was cooler . Chance fell off his skateboard and hurt his butt. Aurora was running and twisted her ankle. Marc was an hour late coming home because some crazed gunman had i95 shut down. We sit down to dinner an hour late in the dark ( the lights made it too hot). Marc asks Chance what he learned today and he couldn’t not remember e single thing I taught him that day!!! I was so let down!

Both kids are hobbling around and later that night chance and Marc were rough housing and it got extremely out of hand  which led to a huge argument and Chance really hurt. To top it off, every email I sent was returned because there was something wrong with my system. In the end it was a pretty crappy day.

A typical homeschool day begins when I wake up. I do my morning chores. My mother and I drop my sister off at school and we go get my brother. When I get home, I do my Math. After Im done with that, we do Science or History. I like Science because we study marine animals. I like History because it’s interesting and fun. After Science or History, we do a fun hands on activity outside.  Also, we do a writing lesson or go on an educational fieldtrip, watch a movie or go to the library. Then we have free time and after free time we take my brother home.  Once my brother is home, I read 2 chapters in my book and Im done with school for the day.  Usually I do my afternoon chores which takes me about 30 minutes. After my chores I ride my bike for a while. When Im done I go on the computer then I will set the table and eat dinner. After dinner I watch some tv , take a shower, brush my teeth, feed my fish, clean my room and go to bed.  =D

We made some old looking maps, Alex was very proud of his

We stained them with tea

We took a trip to the museum and leanrend about fossils and dinosaurs

Aurora is also being homeschooled now too but only part time. She is still attending her private school. I do not know for how much longer though. Shes just to smart for her own good! LOL