The Great Homeschool Experiment

Apr. 2, 2008

Where should we go?

We've made the decision to leave California. We're just never going to be able to buy a house here and even though our families are here, we have to move forward. So, where should we go?? We're thinking Texas, North Carolina, Kansas, Washington or Colorado. Any other suggestions? We need: A good job for hubby... he's in IT (he's a Unix/Linux DNS admin) A home that we can afford that: -is not too old -has at least 5 bedrooms -has at least 1/2 acre - no more than $350k It looks like DH will probably take a pay cut, but not as much as we thought, and the housing prices alone are so much lower, it makes sense to make a move. My question is, what about things like utilities and groceries? Can you tell me what you pay for things where you are? I'm in the SF Bay area and we pay: $2050 per month rent for our 4 bedroom, 2.5 bath, 2100SF home built in 1963 on about a 10k SF lot, to buy it would cost between $550-600k Groceries (these are grocery store prices, although I don't buy most of my stuff there) -Milk, 2 gallons for 5.35 -Eggs 4.89 for 36 -Pepsi 1.79 for a 2 liter -bread about $2 per loaf (of the cheap stuff) -bananas .89 per pound -OJ 2.50 for a frozen one that makes 1/2 gallon (Minute Maid) Gas I paid $3.55 yesterday, but it's up to 3.66 at stations near my house Utilities Our gas and electric is combined... Dec bill $435, Jan bill $350, Feb bill $165 (remember, it doesn't even snow here!) Water is about $30 per month Garbage is $33 per month How much cheaper is it where you are?

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Mar. 24, 2008

W, X, Y and Z

I see light at the end of the tunnel! We concentrated on the alphabet this year one letter per week, and I think we'll be done in 2 weeks! I can't wait. I'm a bit burned out and coupled with my natural tendency not to complete things, well I'm really having to push through. One thing that's helping is that I'm really excited about the unit study we're going to end the year with. I found a 5 senses K level unit study here: http://www.sedl.org/scimath/pasopartners/senses/ and a lapbook to go with it here: http://www.homeschoolhelperonline.com/lapbooks/five_senses.htm. What I'm most excited about is that things are actually DONE for me... lesson plans, activities, templates for the book. I couldn't be much happier about it.

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Feb. 27, 2008

Happy Birthday Luke!

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Feb. 16, 2008

4 year old funny

My oldest is sick. She threw up last night (all over her bed, yuck) and isn't feeling well today. She came into our room about midnight and I let her stay in bed with us for about an hour before I couldn't stand it anymore and tucked her back into her bed. She came back in at 3 and I let her in the bed again. I never went back to sleep because DH had to get up at 4 to leave for a motorcycle track day and I still had to pack up his cooler and make coffee. So I rolled out of bed at 3:45, got the boys off to the track and couldn't go back to sleep. I read random garbage on the computer until 5:30 and then went back up to bed with the sick child. The baby woke up at 6:15.

I'm tired

In any case, there's the background, here's the conversation we had a few minutes ago:
Mom: When the little ones go down for nap, you and Mommy can cuddle in Mom and Dad's bed.
Sickie: OK. Why?
Mom: because Mommy is really tired
Sickie: Oh, why?
Mom: because Mommy had to get up really early to take care of Daddy and because there was a little girl in my bed last night kicking me and fidgeting around keeping me awake.
Sickie: Oh... Well, that must have been the little girl in your tummy!

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Nov. 20, 2007

Update Updates

Well, it looks like there will be 4 little Powers' come next summer. I can not believe that I'm pregnant, but it's true! Too old, overweight, and the last 2 will only be 16 months apart, but God apparently thinks I can handle it. I'm not so sure and am a bit overwhelmed by the whole idea, but as always, it's not about me and my little plans. We've had 2 ultrasounds already and although I was measuring small at the first one, it looks like I just ovulated late because the second scan showed correct growth and a heartbeat. We're hoping for a boy, because that would just be soooo perfect, but I'll take anything I get. Schooling is going great. We're doing our first lap/flat book for Thanksgiving. I actually have all of the items for it completed and we're going to put it together today. I'm thinking of assembling a really big one to showcase a sampling of all the work she did this year, that way she can go back and look and everything will be in it's own compact and organized space... that just makes me smile! Also, I think that it will be a good refresher once I start Haley on pre-K work. I'm still working part time and will be until I go on maternity leave with this baby. Fortunately, I should actually get some disability benefits this time so that will help a bit financially. Time to put together a Turkey Day lap book!

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Sep. 4, 2007

The new year

We officially started homeschooling today, and it was a complete success! I've decided to plan my own curriculum for now. I'm using the AWANA program she attends at church for Bible. Each week we're going to work on a new letter, then we'll work on letter combinations and maybe by late spring or summer she'll be reading. Math is just a bit daunting, because she's so good at it. She's already doing some basic addition, but since she can't write, I think I need to find some number stickers to use as answers for her worksheets. We did everything I had planned for yesterday (forgot it was a holiday) and toda this morning in about 45 minutes, and she was begging for more. Haley looked at books while I worked with Rebekah and Luke played in his exersaucer. It could not have been better! I included Haley in the reading, of course and she'll do crafts with us. She is usually content to do some coloring or something while R and I are working together and I have some sheete to help her work on her colors as well. Yikes, OK, I have 20 minutes to get the house straightened up, change clothes and pop dinner in the oven because hubby and I have FAITH training and visitation tonight!

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Aug. 6, 2007

Entering the Battle!

The Battle for the Toy Box Contest! I entered the Battle for the Toy Box Contest on the HSB Company Porch. I hope to win over $100 worth of, Tales of Glory, Bible-based toys from one2believe!!

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Aug. 6, 2007

A Month and a half later...

It's funny how time just keeps moving even if I can't always keep up with it!
July was VBS month and it started with a bit of a nervous breakdown on my part. I just get so overwhelmed with everything I have to do and I didn't spend nearly enough time preparing for VBS and I was a complete basket case. Fortunately, I have a wonderful husband who lets me cry on his shoulder while he dispenses wonderful advise.
I started focusing on doing everything for God's glory, and boy did that change my attitude. VBS was great, much better than last year, and I had much fun.
My mom was out for VBS week and Rebekah's 4th birthday which was the following Saturday. She had her first real birthday party that she invited her friends to. We did it at a park and it was alot of fun. Instead of cake, I made cupcakes and let the kids ice and decorate them. We had a few games and prizes and boy,little girls get pretty excited when it comes opening presents! Rebekah did great though and even thanked everyone for each present.
Now it's August and we're getting ready to go to Southern California for 10 days. My best friend is getting married and we're going to do the Disneyland thing with the kids. We're both very excited to be going on a REAL vacation. We go down south a couple of times a year, but this time we're going to stay in hotels (even one of the Disney resorts) and really make it a vacation. So, I'm working on having that all taken care of. My hubby and I are not very well known for our advance planning skills and my goal is to have absolutely everything in place by Friday of this week so that I can get mostly packed by Tuesday.
The summer homeschool experiment has not turned out like I'd hoped, but I had some pretty unrealistic expectations I think. My mind holds a very ideal and perfect world. Nonetheless, I believe that we're moving forward with homeschooling, at least for the Pre-K year. Rebekah is working on writing numbers and letters and is doing a great job. She's using a wipe off placemat and dry erase pen set that I found at Target for $1.
I've been realizing lately however, that we aren't reading together nearly as much as we should be and I'm going to start focusing on that more over the next few weeks. One of my issues is that the library shows that we still have an outstanding book from the last batch we checked out and I'm sure it's not here. I'm avoiding dealing with the situation though and that's keeping us out of the library. Silly, I know.
Lots more to write, but all 3 kids are (kind of) asleep and I'm going to get some housework done!

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Jun. 25, 2007

Questions for Homeschoolers

I'm still struggling with the mechanics of the actual task of homeschooling. I understand the concept and I have alot of ideas in my head of teaching opportunities, but I'm really struggling with application. So, here are my questions... How detailed are your lesson plans? Do they get down to doing pages 5-7 of a workbook and reading 20 pages of a book and doing a specific craft or activity? How far in advance are your lessons planned? a week or two or do you have the whole year planned by the summer? How do you fit it in to your day? I understand that as the kids get older they will be helping to maintain the household, but until then, how can I do ALL of this? I'm having a really blah day. It's almost 4pm and I've really not done anything all day. I think I'm just tired of having to work so hard at everything and it's getting me down. I'm not a natural housekeeper or organizer and I'm much more laid back than high energy, so I really struggle some days with having fun with the kids and keeping up the house when all I reallywant to do is sit on the computer and write and make lists and read fun stuff. I'm good at that stuff!

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Jun. 15, 2007

B week

I overprepared for our first week of homeschooling and in my typical fashion, I followed up that week with completely under-preparing this week. This was B week, and while we didn't do ANY kind of book work, we read alot, went on a walk and looked for things that start with the letter B and went to a Peter Pan play at the library. I know Peter Pan doesn't start with the letter B, but it was fun anyway! We also went to the Farmer's Market last night and I let Rebekah pay for everything we bought. I guess in my roundabout way we hit most of the basic school subjects. I was planning on baking bread, but it's incredibly hot! Couldn't imagine running the oven this week. I'm really falling down with Bible teaching though, so this week I want to really concentrate on that. I also got 2 new workbooks from CBD, one is just to practice writing and the other is similar to the one I'm using now with a variety of activities. Hopefully, I can get Haley started on some of the easier worksheets so she has something to do while I'm working with Rebekah. On an unrelated note... hubby and I were supposed to go golfing tomorrow but it looks like childcare is going to be a problem. *sigh*

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Jun. 11, 2007

Week One

Our first week was relatively successful. I think I planned way too much for my almost four year old! In the end, we did quite a bit of workbook work (which she loves), a few crafts, she got to help me cook breakfast on Saturday and she found alot of words that have the letter A in them. The highlight of last week though was Cowboy day. The rodeo was in town over the weekend and Thursday was family day, so I had the girls dressed up in their cowboy best, we made cowboy vests for them out of paper bags, brought their rocking horse downstairs and read a few cowboy books. The rodeo was definitely the highlight of the day, even though we missed most of it. This is B week and we're off to a slow start. I don't really have my plan for the entire week worked out yet, but I do think I'm going to cut to 3 days per week of formal school time. This will give us a full day for errands and a day just for fun. We're also going to see a Peter Pan play at the library on Wednesday, so that should be lots of fun.

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Jun. 4, 2007

And Away We go!

I’ve decided that I need to know if I CAN homeschool or not, so I’m going to spend the summer actually formally homeschooling Rebekah. I’m going to plan out my lesson plans for the week on Fridays and I think to make it easy on myself, I’m going to concentrate on a single letter per week, so next week will be A week. I found a great site that has activities for each day based on the letter of the week. Next week looks like this… Day 1 is Apple day. We’ll do an apple craft, she can help me cut apple slices, the Bible story will be the Garden of Eden Day 2: Arm day, Arm exercises, the hokey pokey, Sampson Bible story Day 3: Animal Day, Read Goodnight Gorilla book and do activity (if I can find it at the library), let her feed our animals, animal coloring pages, Noah Bible story Day 4: Ark Day: Noah’s ark craft, questions and review of Noah Bible story Day 5: ant day, ant hill craft, nature walk looking for ants, haven’t thought of a Bible story for this day yet. Along with this I’m adding in daily numbers, counting and math and some pre-writing activities. I’m also going to go through her Awana book and we’ll memorize a Bible verse each week… since she started late, she didn’t do the first few weeks anyway. I’ve been so haphazard in my approach so far, that I dont know how much good it is doing her. I’m random and not repetitive, so I don’t think it’s giving her any time to actually absorb to her potential. I’d like to do reading, writing and numbers activities daily and add PE, science, crafts and music each at least once per week. I’m going to include Haley on some of the easier stuff and I’m going to start really working with her on colors. I’m going to have Rebekah make a collage of each letter during the week and put it in a scrapbook for her and she’ll have her own ABC book when we’re done. If all goes well, we’ll finish our letter per week right around Christmas time, take a few weeks off and sart over again this time Haley will make her book and we’ll start right around her 3rd birthday.

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About Me

I'm homeschooling my Pre-K DD just to see if I can do it while maintaining the household and caring for my 3yo DD and 1yo DS. Oh, and I'm expecting another daughter in June. Come enjoy the madness with me, won't you?