Posted By Kathy

Yes, I'm still alive and terribly busy.  I have lots of things to post about, but no time to post.    I saw today, however, that the 2008 Homeschool Blog Awards are underway.  Nominations are only accepted until next Friday, October 24th.  The official voting will begin November 10th.  If you have a great homeschool blog you enjoy reading *hint, hint* *nudge, nudge*, it's time to hurry over here to nominate that special someone! 

Don't know what categories are offered?  Well, silly, just click here!

 

Posted By Homeschooling6

Following our new schedule gets me a little crabby sometimes, but that's because I did what I was not to do. At lunch time I had the kiddos make their own lunch (nothing wrong with that) but my reason was so I could check my email. By doing this I set us back and we didn't finish lunch within the hour.

 

During this hour I usually eat while making a simple lunch for the kids. One of the kiddos will set the table. We all sit down together say grace and while they eat I'll read to them. By 12:30 we are cleaning up and ready to hit the books at 1:00 p.m. again. Because I 'had' to go check my email and of course I can't make lunch and check my email. The reason why I had the kiddos make lunch and everyone was eating at different time. By the time Caleb was done making his sandwich Josh was done eating and Annette was barely making hers. I couldn't read because I didn't eat yet, so as you can see I goofed. I new I shouldn't have gave into the temptation of the computer .

 

I was in a hurry to eat, read and clean-up. I wasn't very meek & quiet about it . Tomorrow I'm not stopping by the computer until my scheduled time .

 

Josh & Annette are almost done with All About Spelling Level 1. We should finish this week. They were asking if the next level is going to be more challenging. I think it will be more for Josh than Annette. Level two introduced the long vowels and vowel teams. If it's not to difficult for the kiddos and they can move to a new lesson everyday we should finish it in two months or by the end of January. If we have to review lessons than it will take a bit longer. I would really like to finish by Jan. so we can start level 3.  If possible finish level four before our next school yr.

 

I'm really glad that I took the advice of an All About Spelling Representative because even though level 1 was easy there were some phonograms & rules that they didn't know.

 

Josh, told me that he prefers a spelling list. I would like him to complete the four levels of All About Spelling and hopefully by then that will improve his spelling. Then next year I will let him switch to Bob Jones Spelling. Not sure at what level yet but hopefully one that is close to his grade.

 

Caleb was reading a kids magazine the other day. I think it was called Turtles. This was a gift from an aunt of his. I was excited to see him reading something other than The Reading Lesson or his Abeka Reader. We have been working hard with getting him to a second grade reading level. He is half way there. He reads at a beginning first grade level, so he has improved a half of a grade since he was tested in the Summer. I pray that by the end of the year he will be reading at a high 2nd grade level.

 

Brent is improving also. He reads at a first grade level and we are working to keep him there . It's amazing how each child is so different with learning how to read. Joshua struggled with it for years and he is now almost caught up. Annette, took off in Kindergarten and has been a few grades above level ever since, Caleb struggles some but I think it was more that Phonics Pathway wasn't a good fit for him so it kind of slowed him down and Brent, seems to be catching on. Next I'll start working with Ethan.

 

I'm just thankful that we homeschool,

Linda<><

Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.

Posted By LaurieBeth

Saturday for our 15th Anniv. our friends Kort & Rebecca watched our kiddos while we spent the day window shopping,  going out to eat and (finally)  seeing the movie FIREPROOF.  ( www.fireproofthemovie.com ).  If you haven't gone to see this film I HIGHLY reccommend it !!!  I will warn you though...take some Kleenex !!!!!  It touches you in ways you won't believe.  I can cry at movies but this was CRYING...more like trying to keep from sobbing at times.  I cry over  things, but you add the message of Fireproof ...of turning your life over to Christ and leaning on him when there is nowhere else to go ...well I'm a blubbering fool !!!   Stop coming up with excuses and GO GO GO !!!!   There's limited time and I will watch your kidlets.  It will truly touch your marriage and encourage your path.  It is awesome for singles too...so I encourage all Christians to go.  You don't have to be married to appreciate this.  It's kind of like Facing the Giants (www.facingthegiants.com )...I was not a football fan but totally GOT that movie message too. 

 

I also have to give a plug for the message in the song  SlowFade  by Casting Crowns (which is in the movie Fireproof).  Please listen !!!!!!   Families Never Crumble In A Day.  Be aware...Satan is Crafty.  The spiritual warfare is being turned up a notch.  That's why we need movies like Fireproof.

 

That's all.  Go see it.  It's an order.

Blessings,

Laurie

Posted By Jen

     I have been away preparing for, standing up in, and recovering from my baby sister's wedding!  It was a lot of fun!  My Grandmother made the trip all the way from Alabama to join us.  Boy, was she tired when it was all over!  Being responsible for her made me remember to rest and eat, too. 

      This picture is my brother and me dancing.  I don't know that we've ever danced before!

      I hope to get more pictures posted soon!!

I

Posted By Homeschooling6

Last week we pretty much followed our schedule for most of the days. As long as we got through our school day I was happy. Thursday I had an eye appt. so we did the best we could with finishing our school day.

 

Today we were off to a good start. We started school at 9:00 a.m. with tutoring time with Annette. We went over her math, reading, social studies & science. We completed her writing & grammar assignment. Once the hour was up it was Joshua's tutoring time. I was able to go over grammar and had started going over math when their grandpa stopped by for a visit and, well, after that our schedule went out the window.

 

My dad works night shifts and is only able to see the kiddos once or twice a week. Since he didn't come over Sunday evening I pretty much new he might show up on Monday.  I have to figure out how to schedule this in. He stopped by at 10:00 a.m. and left at 2:30 a.m. I don't have the heart to tell him not to come by. We are the only family he has here in Texas. When we moved out from CA my dad moved out six months later because he missed the kiddos. My kiddos are a big part of his life. So what I think I might do is make Monday sort of like a light Friday. Not sure how I'm going to do that since Monday is the first day of the week and not the last.

 

I like having a light Friday because it gives us time to catch up if we didn't finish everything for that week. I'll have to pray about it and see what we could do.

 

Something that I wanted to share about when I first made a MOTH schedule. At the time I had  5 children Ethan was a newborn, Brent was 1.3, Caleb was 2.4, Annette was 3.4 and Josh my oldest was 4.8yr. old. As I look back having a newborn, 1, 2, 3 & and an almost five year old makes it hard to stay on task. No wonder I was scared of my schedule. They were all toddlers except for Joshua!

Instead of making a schedule like Managers of Their Homes suggested (their kids were more spaced out) I should have done more of a block schedule with a block for Bible time, cutting & pasting, letter time etc. as a group. An idea for those of you with a lot of toddlers  and an older school child; is too make a schedule for the older one(s) but not the younger ones.

 

Now that my youngest child is 4yrs. old it's much easier to make a schedule and run with it because of their ages. My children are currently 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 & 10 yrs. old and as you can see that is a lot different from 0, 1, 2, 3 & 4 yrs. old. (Lance wasn't born yet)  

 

Our weekend was really fun. The reason why we had a two day slumber party was because my Sweets left on Friday for a Men's Retreat. Although we missed him a lot it was a nice time to do things we normally wouldn't do. Like me sleeping in the living room with the children, us staying up past midnight and watching a movie late at night.

 

My husband had a nice time sleeping in a cabin on the top bunk. They had a really good speaker "Steve Farrar'. My Sweets and I really enjoy listening to Steve preach. In fact Steve Farrar preaches regularly at our church every Wednesday night during the Men's Bible Study. My Dear Hubby doesn't get to attend because he volunteers every Wed. night for AWANA. He is torn between the two. I would really like for one year to have my Sweets attend the Men's Bible Study.

 

One nice thing that the church does is every year my Sweets gets almost the whole years worth of the Men's Bible Study on cd for free. This helps a lot but like my Dear Hubby  says, "It's not the same as seeing him preach." Same thing with our pastor Church Swindoll. To see Pastor Chuck preach is so different from hearing him on the radio or cd. When you see him you see the passion he has for God's Word. You see how humble he is and the love he has for the lost. He is an amazing man.

 

Well, this post is a little bit about everything today.

 

In Him,

Linda<><

Please excuse any mispelling, I don't have time to check today.

Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.

Posted By Martyomenko

Wednesday: Mashed potatoes, tomatoes, sausage
Thursday: Potato soup, homemade biscuits
Friday: Bean and Cheese burritoes, homemade salsa
Saturday: Long day...we had ramen soup, apples, pumpkin bread and peanut butter
Sunday: Roasted chicken, mashed potatoes, buttercup squash, steamed vegetables
Monday: Fajitas, salsa, spanish rice
Tuesday: Broccoli, cauliflower, chicken, potato chowder- bread

Posted By MOM flipped is WOW in Homeschooling

Posted By momof2blessings

I realize that this is a Mothering on Mondays post, but I will be unable to access my computer Sunday or Monday, so this had to be posted early.   Join Amy to participate.
One of my favorite mothering moments is the look of horror on my daughter's face whenever someone says, "This is your daughter, isn't it?  She looks just like you!"  Feel free to let us know if you think we look alike.
This week I decided to post some comparison pictures.  Here's me when I was six. (Notice the "cool" seventies attire.)

Here's a picture of my daughter when she was six.

Here's a picture of me at seventeen with my cool eighties hair.

and my daughter at fifteen.

Also, my sweet blogging friend, Speaking From the Heart blessed me with the "Faithful Servant" award. I enjoy her friendship and her blog so much.  This is the description:

Many of you have touched my heart and life in ways that have changed me eternally! I thank you for being a faithful servant and being obedient to the upward calling every time you share a piece of His heart living out in you! I pray that you will share this award with others who have touched your heart by sowing seeds of love into your life! They will know we are His by how we love one another! Let us sow seeds of love throughout the blogging world and touch the hearts of those who come to read what we all share! To HIM be all the glory forever and ever! AMEN!

I did try to think of five people to bless with this award. However, I kept thinking of more and more of my online friends who bless me with encouragement and understanding.  I appreciate you all more than you can ever know. 

I also received the "Super Commenter" award from my wonderful friend, Kim.  I really appreciate the comments I receive on my blog too.

I am giving this award to all my wonderful friends who take the time to stop by my blog and bless me with comments.

Posted By Homeschooling6

We are up late tonight because we are having a Slumber Party! It's been fun. Joshua made dinner tonight. It was yummy. He made homemade pizza all by himself! They were individual pizzas. I over ate because they were so good.

 

Then Annette and I each made a cake. We made a basic Yellow Cake. I replaced the sugar with honey and Annette made it as is. This is for Joshua's science experiment. He is going to write about how the cakes are different tomorrow.

 

Once the cakes were done we cleaned the kitchen and living room. The kids brought down their blankets & pillows. When they were done I made Hot Chocolate (courtesy of Swiss Miss) and I cut the cake into eight equal parts. We did a fraction problem with the cake. It was fun. Then we gobbled our piece all up. I read Autumn With the Moody's.

 

We washed Winn-Dixie ( think that was the name) it was a happy-sad movie with a good ending. Now I'm blogging and the kids are drawing, sewing and talking. I am going to sleep on the couch tonight. The kids are really happy about that. Guess we are sleeping in tomorrow.

 

Here is a photo of our fraction cake before we cut it and ate it all up.

 

 

Here are the experiment cakes. I was suppose to cook them exactly alike but I need to buy another 9 inch pan. I am going to ask my Dear Hubby if he can get buy me a set for my birthday or CHRISTmas.

 

 

Here are two pieces of cake from the same recipe. The nice fluffy one is the Yellow Cake made to a 'T' the other one Joshua replaced the butter with Organic Omega something or other with Flaxseed but he also accidentally put Baking Soda instead of Baking Powder . You could smell the Baking Soda. What a sweet aroma.

 

 

I wish I would have taken pictures of his Pizza's they were sooooooooooo gooood and they looked nice. It was a simple recipe of warm water, yeast & flour.

 

I need to get back to my Slumber Party =)

 

Email me at Homeschooling6[At]hotmail[Dot]com.

Posted By momofmany

Well it looks like Shereen and family are busy getting settled in so I don't think there will be a post to her blog but here is a little of what I have been doing.

I finished Septembers socks for the KAL. Was wondering if I would get them done. Life has just been rolling right along for this family.

Here is the pattern and yarn for October's KAL.

 I hope I can get to these. I have been busy with SOTS III and I am just starting Hint 7, Hint 9 just came out today. I have sold some of my diapers at the park during home school pe classes and I have been asked about making mama pads for a couple of people too.  Some one contacted me about getting some to send to Ecuador. So no pictures yet but in my "Free time" I have been busy sewwing. I should have pictures in a few days.

Oh I started knitting some mittens using Purityseekers pattern. I got it from her last year and didn't make any. This one is for my DS1. It is actually done and its match is about this far along. I will make another pair in this color for DS2 and I have pink for DD's 3 and 4. I had made DD's 1 and 2 wrist warmers the other year and they still fit so no need to make any new ones unless they want a different color. Maybe I will make myself a pair. DH go his for Christmas last year.

Well that's it for now. I need to find some time to blog to share what we are doing in school and such.