Jan. 4, 2008 - What we're learning..........

Just moments ago my darling little 4 year old said he's "teaching" our baby boy "language" how does he know this? My little PR comes up with some good ones I tell ya.  Not long ago he said he wants to grow up to be a giant so he can go to Heaven to see my Mom and Jesus and  take me threre so I wouldn't miss her anymore. Oh my little Paul Ryan how did you get to be so sweet? Sometimes he's too big for his briches and wise beyond his years!

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Dec. 30, 2007 - * WORDS WORDS WORDS EVERYWHERE WORDS*

Last night I was sitting on our bed folding clothes and I just asked Paul Ryan how to spell a few words and I was very surprised to see how many he could spell. I haven’t spent much time with vocabulary but when teaching him how to say words in helping his speech this year I have spelled out some for him or had him say the letters of a particular word.  Well it’s been a long time since we have done the word/picture cards but after him telling me how to spell so many words I got to thinking ….he can read certain things but I always assume it’s because he has just come to “recognize” that sign or word from seeing it. But maybe just maybe he’s learning to read? I asked him today to tell me the words, minus the pictures and well he can read he told me 27 and that’s just words that are in a flash card pack. He has been able to spell out his name for a month or so and is well on his way to spelling out his brother’s name too. He spelled Andrew like “Andw” pretty close I thought. I am really impressed with him and very proud! Every day is another stepping stone. What a glorious gift to see your children grow and learn. We are so blessed!

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Dec. 11, 2007 - "Are we going on the Alligator?"

Last Tuesday I decided I needed to pack up the kiddos and head to the mall for Baby Andrew to get his 3-month pictures done. I just can't get behind I haven't gotten the other kids their pictures done professionally since last Christmas. So I can't pass this time up it's important to me to get them done every 3 months at least this 1st year of his life. So walking the baby into the store in his stroller/car seat contraption and making the other 2 hold hands and walk across the parking lot while I try not to have a cardiac arrest for fear a car might come and hit one of them. They are the bolting type. Ry more clingy than PR but since tend to scream if a car gets to close I think they have gotten the picture that they might get hurt if a car comes because lately they have been doing a great job sticking REAL close while in parking lots.

So anyway the meaning of this whole entry.....We walk into the sears store and cut through the tool department to use the rest room. Dear sweet little over active PR asks "Mama are we going to use the alligator?" I think about what he has said then look up and WHAM! It hits me. Are we going to use the "ELEVATOR?” I had to chuckle to myself and write it down before I forget that cute little boy asking if we are going to use the alligator. I replied “Not today but maybe another day, we will use the alligator.”

I’m not sure why it’s so funny when kids say things differently than how you should say them but I seem to remember a few things PR used to say when learning new words.

1. Bop-Pop (we’re Midwesterners and call soda POP)
2. blanket- BoBo ? not real sure how that one came about
3. Milp-milk
4. Woodrow- Andrew (this is a newer one that he used this summer when we were throwing around names, we were thinking about naming the baby. We had mentioned Andrew and he thought and thought real hard so hard you could almost see the wheels turning in his head and it came out Woodrow and I about died laughing!) After that I think we had to name the baby Andrew.

Little Miss Ry hasn’t done to bad with her speech and miss pronouncing her words, but the one thing she does do that is so cute is that when she can’t say a certain word she makes an mmmmmm sound like she’s saying a real word. (if you can follow that) Like she’ll say Mama mmmmm, (for bear) Daddy mmmm, (for daddy bear) and she does it with out skipping a beat. She say it so naturally it’s cute to listen to see where she uses the mmmm. Tonight she made my day week and probably my whole year. We were sitting in the living room watching some Christmas movie and I let her stay up a little later than normal since she fell asleep when we went to look at Christmas lights. She looked at me ever so seriously, with her golden locks falling over her shoulders, her blue eyes glittering in the light from our Christmas tree and says” you’re my favorite Mama”. Aaaaawwwww melt my heart. What a little princess. I didn’t and  couldn’t stop to tell her I better be her favorite Mama since I am her ONLY Mama. It was a precious moment and I think she was being very sincere. She has been my shadow a lot lately. Usually she’s a total Daddy’s girl. But the past few weeks I’d have to say she a  Mama’s girl for sure.  

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Dec. 11, 2007 - 2nd Entry for the 12 Blogs of Christmas contest

2nd Entry for the

The 12 Blogs of Christmas

12 of your favorite homeschool bloggers have reviewed some of the best HomeschoolEStore curriculum available, have interviewed our inspired and talented publishers, and have challenged YOU to great contests and loads of fun! 12 winners will receive a $50 gift certificate to HomeshcoolEStore.com! No purchase necessary to participate. Contestants may enter only 2 of the 12 contests. HomeschoolEStore employees and their families as well as HomeschoolEStore publishers, employees and families may not participate. Click on any one of these 12 participating blogs below to find out how you can win! www.Homeschoolblogger.com/01charger www.Homeschoolblogger.com/ReviewsbyHeidi www.homeschoolblogger.com/eclecticeducation lifeonwindyridge.blogspot.com www.homesteadblogger.com/TexasRose triviumacademy.blogspot.com tnmomwith3kids.wordpress.com www.homesteadblogger.com/simplefolk homeschoolblogger.com/mysmokymtnhomeschool www.homeschoolblogger.com/ClassicalEducation4Me janne.cc/blog www.homeschoolblogger.com/Ruth

I'm entering here

http://homeschoolblogger.com/MySmokyMtnHomeschool/440272/?#c872933

Christmas Card 2007 All 3 looking at me that's nearly a miracle!

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Dec. 11, 2007 - 12 Blogs of Christmas Contest

I found this contest at: http://tnmomwith3kids.wordpress.com/

How to Play:

• Copy the questions and answer them on your blog.
• Post a link back here on your blog.
• Leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog.

One of my kids will choose a winner by a random drawing from a bowl. Be sure to leave a comment here and I’ll add your name in after I read your entry!

With all that said, Here we go…… I figured with my contest, we can all get to know each other a little better. At least on the homeschooling front.

1.     How many children do you have / homeschool?  3 but only Homeschool one (2 little ones under feet)

2.   How long have you been homeschooling? 2 months

3.   Have they always been homeschooled, or did they ever go to public/private school? Home schooled

4.  Do you plan on homeschooling until graduation? yes

5.   Do you belong to a co-op? no

6.  Do you school all year long, or use some other schedule? I think we will school all year, learing is a never ending journey. Why stop for the summer. We have breaks but even then you will still learn.

7.    Do you use textbooks only, or do you like to supplement with other materials? We have text books but also use computer, outdoors any any other eara that will allow us to learn something.

8.   Are field trips included in your school plans, or are they just family time? Since our children are very small it’s almost mandatory that Daddy go with us on any adventures. But we do visit the park and walmart w/out Daddy and Heaven knows that’s always an adventure.

9.  Do you and your kids do crafty stuff together for school time? Oh yes crafty stuff is our favorite time. The children 4yr old and 2yr old and I are working on a Nativity lap book plus other Christmas crafts in preprations for the celebration of the birth of Christ.

10.  Would you consider everyday household life stuff ‘home ec’? Well it depends what it is, I believe it’s important for the children to learn responsilitities, and that with out “Team Mikulcik” our home isn’t the way we like it. It takes everyone to keep stuff tidy and neat. When they are older they will be taught to sew, fix minor repairs etc.

11.Do you have any advice for new homeschoolers? Have a sence of humor stuff doesn’t always go the way you think it sould

   12. Do you have advice for homeschoolers with little ones under foot? It will get easier, I hope.

ok there are my answers what do you think?

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Nov. 29, 2007 - oh me oh my

It’s Nov. 29^th already where oh where does the time go? Some days I feel like I’m in some sort of time warp and we don’t move anywhere. Then now today I look and it’s the end of Nov. I said that already didn’t I? Well our homeschooling is slow going we continue to g over the ABC’s Paul Ryan is putting words together, spelling out small 3 letter words. He still doesn’t seem to want to try to write, in the sense to practice so we know what letter he’s writing. He scribbles lines to his dad in a form of a “letter”. Yesterday afternoon I typed out what Paul Ryan was pretending to write to his Dad and this is what I got:

I thought he was doing pretty well since he wasn’t only asking for gifts for himself he was also asking for the whole family. The reason he was asking was because Daddy told him he had to work his 2^nd job so he could buy him presents. So the 1^st thing the kids asked yesterday morning was what Daddy was going to get them.

Not sure why he thinks we all want animals maybe he and Sis do but Mommy and Andrew do not! Especially a mouse and moose.

Anyway he’s getting pretty good at knowing how to spell his name and he is also learning my phone number, he knows there are 2 ones and the last four are 7205. I have him add in the 1^st 1 because you can’t call anyone without putting that on there anyway.  I’ve had only a cell phone for so long now I don’t remember if you have to add the area code everywhere except the town you live in or what. We still have our Cali cells so we are really messed up, phone wise that is. But he’s getting it.

I’ve also been getting stuff around for Christmas lap book and activities to do throughout the month. I want them to know there is more to Christmas then just GETTING gifts. I think we are going to do the 3 gift limit this year. I have 2 for each of the older kiddos, and I think their 3^rd gift will be P.J.’s.  I just don’t know what to get the baby.

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Oct. 30, 2007 - ~Here we are again~

  So it’s been awhile since I’ve had time to just sit and write. Well not long after the last entry Paul Ryan woke up and said he had a dream about school, I don’t remember exactally what he had said but dear oh Daddy thought maybe I was doing “to much school”  so I’ve not been doing very much. I don’t push Paul Ryan I’m very relaxed in reguards to teaching him, I think. He is pretty bright and very inquisitive he wants to learn things. If I go a day with out doing some type of learning he brings stuff up on his own. Most of the lessons on math that go along with our writing lessons he already knows. 1,2,& 3 he learnt a long time ago. He reads the counting chart up to 100. So we move on and count higher and we do simple math 1+1, 2+2 to 10-1 and things like 10 monkey’s fell off the bed and mama said no more jumping on the bed kinda music. And we have done fun math with counting and subtracting candy corns, today we did a train math lesson where we counted all the Thomas trains, separated them in groups of which ones had 4 wheel, 6 wheels. And 8 wheels  and up. Then for Rylie we used color groups. We played for awhile and now we’re all taking a break.

 With the whole clan waking up @ 6am I think we’re going to either put nap time back into our routine or go to bed earlier. I have finally gotten 8pm as their bedtime. It used to be 9 and they would sleep till 9 or after in the morning but usually when it’s the weekend or Daddy gets them all wound up they tend to stay up till 9 or after on a few occasions. So with Daddy getting a part time job in the evening, it will help them stay on schedule better and getting up earlier will allow them to see Daddy in the morning. This could be a good thing. WHERE’S THE CAFFINEEN? 

 Yesterday the kids got up around 7 and Miss Ry put herself down for a nap, it was rather cute I was in the other room, feeding buddy Bud Andrew and it was quiet all the sudden and I was like where is Rylie. I go check and there she is sound asleep on the floor in a pile of toys she dumped out. She put herself down for a nap again today I’m really beginning to like getting up earlier.

 Since we are ALL getting up early I’ll have to rearrange my quiet time for devotions. I love early mornings, watching the sun come up. The cool fall mornings finally!  I didn’t think it was ever going to cool off here in NC. This is our 1^st fall here and I would have to say for the most part it’s like Michigan falls.

 The colors are changing nicely

the wind blows ever so gently

leaves are falling, rustling, swirling

the warm sun is shinning,

 God graciously shows himself in all that is around.

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Oct. 15, 2007 - ~oh yes more unschooling Monday~

I just put  up our map of the united states, when we lived in CA it hung in the kids very large bed room. Now it adorns the dinning room wall. Yea I love school themed home decor. Anyway PR loves puzzels and so for hus birthday i found a $1 states puzzle we wore it out so now that one is history and i found a magnatised one on cleance at wally world. PR is and has been learning a vast array of them as we have family spread all over and have just moved for the 2nd time in his young life.

So as I'm taping the large map to the wall he says theres Texas, Michigan, North Carolina, California, and ooonata. I'n thinking HUH???? oh yes Utah! LOL  just another dull monment unschooling!

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Oct. 15, 2007 - ~Just another unschooling Monday~

Today is our unschooling Monday so we're not going by any kind of schedual or routine. 

Wake up was around 7:30am for the older 2, it was 12am, 2am, 4am, 5am and 7am for Baby Boy. No rest for the weary.  We did some cuddle time, got around had breakfast. Watched a little noggin for our pre-school nogginheads. Around noon it had warmed up enough to go PLAY! So we pack up a sack lunch and toys and what ever we feel is important to take to the playground. After about 20 mintues of rounding up the gang, we head out.

It's a beautiful day, soft breeze, warm sun shining down on us. How can people not know there is a God? Whom else could make such beauty?

So Miss Ry Bread wants to "sing" (swing) she loves to wiz through the air as if she were meant to be a bird. She lets out sreaks of laughter, giggles now fill the quietness of our playground.  PR runs for the sand but then decides he wants to check out his lunch he packed so he heads over to the picnic table under the slide. It's the only place tht has any shade so I go sit under there with him and park the stroller there too. Then all of the sudden PR sees some huge rocks for me to paint santa clauses on. He carries over 2 large rocks then decides he's on a rock hunting expidition. "It's about science" he declares!

When we set out to visit the play ground I didn't know we were going to LEARN about rocks. Now we have a collection to research. I have several i'm wanting to paint on. Big heavy ones I don't know how my little 4 year old lifted.

We come home finished our lunch and now it's quiet time with no tv or noise except that of my 2 year old talking to her "animals" and well a crying 6 week old.

TTFN

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Oct. 9, 2007 - ~All in a day's work....~

Things have been going well Paul Ryan asks to do school work through out the day and will do constant work for at least an hour with out getting to board. LOL I try to have things fun and also so Little sister can join in as well. today we studied letters "capitals" and "lowercase". I did notice he gets a little nervous when I ask what letter makes this sound .....I just tried to reassure him it's ok if it's not right we are just starting and he we had never looked at thee cards before. 

Another thing I need to incorporate is scriptures into his lessons and I'm not real sure what kind are appropriate for him to learn and memorize. For now i'm just using the sheets he brings home from church.

Oh yea I declared Monday's the unschooling day, I have to much to catch up on from the weekend so we do what we feel like doing reading stories in between loads of laundry or after cleaning this bathroom or that one. This also gives the kids an opportunity to help do extra chores and get praise and rewards for helping out. (not that they don't normally get praise or rewards but I give a little extra hugging or more high fives and such, stickers piece of candy etc....)

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Oct. 5, 2007 - ~Things are going well so Far~

Well we actually started our 1st year of school! YEA!!! Paul Ryan is a very eager learner and asks to do more even when it's not "time" for school. Although we are constantly teaching and learning he doesn't really want to stop the 1:1 attention that is coming along with his schooling. He doesn't mind interruptions from a curious 2 year old or the screaming of a very hungry newborn. 

For this 1st year we are using "A Beka" books K-4 curriculum. So far he's going great just wizzing by. Writing I feel is going to be a tough one for us. I know they will not start out perfecting it or anything but he's got the idea to start from right to left. Oh boy! Numbers he's also doing great counting up too 100, we're working on the calendar and learning the days of week, months and weather and seasons all together. (found a great calendar @ A.C. Moore)

Off subject we (the 3 monkey's and I) ventured out to the mall to pick up some baby pictures today and well can you say we'll be sticking close to home unless Daddy is with us. A Darling Daughter of a mere 2 1/2 cannot be trusted among the pretty Christmas decorations or anything else that may be breakable. She didn't break anything BUT she didn't want to leave, so she was well practically hog tied and carried out of there. Oh how I could use a double stroller with tight straps! I say this all in good fun. She's a doll in all but God love her she does try my patients. My sweet innocent beautiful Daughter has hit the "TERRIBLE TWO'S". So I think I'll save our trips to story time for Saturdays when I can take the older 2 or maybe just Paul Ryan. Or they could take turns???

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Sep. 21, 2007 - ~Where to Begin~

It's a rainy drizzly day out, I know I should be dragging the books out and having Paul Ryan practice his writing, but can you say "unmotivated"? In EVERY sense of the word.

Since the "new bundle of joy" arrived I've been so sleep deprived I'm not sure which way is which. I've lost all sense of direction, motivation, don't know whether I'm coming or going, which way is up or down. If I sit for to long I'll fall asleep, and with other small children whom need CONSTANT attention that's not a good thing to do. So I try to keep moving and you know your home can only be soooooo clean. My patience are wearing very thin. So now I need to think of stuff t keep the kiddos occupied that they can do somewhat with little or no 1:1 from me since most of my day is spent holding a crying baby. He only wants to sleep in my arms and I know it's only a stage I went through this with the other 2 kiddos. But If I lay him down to "cry" the other 2 kids think they need to take care of him and so we're having issues with that.

Oh Lord please help me not to go crazy.

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