It's Okay If We Get Lost! - Homeschool Blogger

Provinces I have visited

Sat, 8 Dec 2007 21:21:00 -0600

Our Schedule For This Year (so far anyway)

Thu, 25 Oct 2007 15:22:00 -0500

I was a little unsure about how school was going to go this year since, for the first time, I had 2 official homeschoolers! I couldn't imagine trying to fit it all in. But I am amazed at how well it is going so far. Laura has settled into the school routine fairly well. In the past I had let her "do school" only on her own initiative, so doing school according to my agenda threw her for a loop the first couple of weeks! I also wasn't sure if she would be into our history read alouds this year, as last year she never seemed the least bit interested. But surprisingly she is really into it and often begs me for more! Many times she even takes the book after we are finished reading aloud so that she can read it again on her own!

I think that one reason school is going so well this year as that I have arranged for rides for people to take Katie to Pre-School. Our next door neighbour takes Katie in the a.m. and her teacher brings her home (she just lives up the street). Since the teacher needs to stay to the end, Katie doesn't get home until after 12:00, so Jared, Laura and I get a three solid hours of uninterrupted school together 3 mornings a week. It's working out so well! It is so much better that getting everyone dressed and doing the pre-school run 6 times a week. It saves me about an hour of time a day! I usually end up doing the drive once or twice a week, but doing it that infrequently makes it a pleasure! A fun break! Why I didn't do this last year, I'll never know!

Anyway, here is our schedule for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday (the days that Katie is at pre-school) All times are approximate, I just stuck the times in so that it looks pretty!

8:30 - Circle time with all 3 and Picture Book Read Aloud

9:00 - I get Katie ready to go while J and L do Book Basket or other independent work.

9:10 - Either States or Piano notes memory work, then history (novel) read aloud

9:30 - I work one on one with Laura (math, phonics, language arts type stuff, Bible etc)

10:00 /10:15ish (whenever I finish with Laura) - same type of 1 X 1 work with Jared.

(While I am with Laura, Jared does independent work - Social Studies on Monday and Health and Science on the other days - then he takes a break. While I am with Jared, Laura gets a break. Hopefully I get a break or two sometime in there as well.)

11:00 - History and/or geography - this includes a variety of things: read alouds, websites, notebooking, activities, timeline etc.

12:00 - break/lunch/clean-up

2:00 - French with all 3 kids and general free-play and/or activities (hopefully educational!)

3:00 - Quiet time for Katie and "homework time" aka independent work for Jared and Laura

And that's our day!

Now, Wednesdays are a little different b/c Katie is home all day.

8:30 - Circle time, read aloud, memory work

9:00 - One on one work with Laura (Jared with Katie)

9:30 - One on one work with Jared (Laura with Katie

10:00 - Manners (these next subjects are with all 3 kids. I picked curriculum with Katie in mind too.

10:15 - All break together

10:30 - Fine Arts

11:00 - Art

11:30 - History/Geography (again, books, activities, etc)

12:00 - break for lunch

2:00 - read aloud or other (hopefully) educational work

3:00 - quiet and homework time

On Friday's Katie is also home, but we usually have out-of-home activites (ie, co-op 2 times a month) so we don't have a real schedule, just do general schoolwork or educational work (or not - depends on our moods!)

And that's my life right now!!!

A Katie Funny

Wed, 24 Oct 2007 20:52:00 -0500

Today Katie was trying to sing "I've got peace like a river" only she was singing it "I've got cheese like a river!"

What Kind of Mom Am I

Wed, 16 May 2007 08:34:00 -0500

Since I am sure that you are all wondering - this is what kind of Mom that I am...

The know-thyself mother (INFJ)
Sensitive and family-focused, the INFJ mother encourages the unique potential of each child. Her aim is to help her kids develop a sense of identity, and she seeks a free exchange of feelings and thoughts to that end. In fact, she may value the mothering experience as a catalyst to her own personal growth. She is conscientious and intense, as well. Probably no one takes child-raising more seriously than the INFJ. She approaches it as a profession requiring her best self.
Stay-sane tip: Make time for yourself, try to live in the moment, and take life a little less seriously. Instead of trying to make life what it "should be," enjoy it for what it is.

Now, may you all breathe easier and sleep better at night!

Valentine's Day Poem written by My Dad

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 14:04:00 -0600

Katherine Ann - named "Katie Katrina"

Sees the world like a moto-arena;

Careens here and there

With unbounded flare;

But we love her - so sweet in demeana

Laura Allison - we think "Laura Lovely",

It's a name that will fit her so aptly.

She curls her aunts' hair

And dances with flare,

Abd to grandparents reads so devoutly.

Jared Robert - we'll call "Jared Jobber,"

Does duties not needing a prodder.

Like mother, he's thorough;

Like sisters, he's aglow;

But with football, he's addicted like father.

Gifford Neale- we'll name "Gifford Condor,"

Who flies o'er this planet to wander

On his Multibase chase!

But home is first base -

So we won't call him Giff the Absconder

Rebecca Lynn - what could we name her?

The one whom we claim as our daughter?

No name is concise,

Only titles suffice:

"Noble Wife," "Earnest Teacher" and "Mother".

Quite the clan, mother, father, we say,

When it all tumbles out in the fray.

So we send our regards

With these poems and cards,

And our prayers for your Valentine's Day.

Catching up on blogging

Thu, 22 Feb 2007 14:37:00 -0600

Yes, another 6 weeks or so have gone by since I last blogged. I'm not sure how I'm supposed to get caught up, but I'll give it a try!

School is continuing to go great! We are into the Revolutionary War time period and have slowed down to milk it for all it's worth. We spent this whole week just reading and learning about Paul Revere and the battles at Concord and Lexington. The library has so many books and videos etc relating to this general time period. I'm so happy that Jared just loves this stuff! The themes that we have studied for the past few weeks (following the slavery theme) have been:

Joliette and Marquette and Oglethorpe (and Georgia)

The French and Indian War (South Carolina)

Benjamin Franklin (North Carolina)

Daniel Boone

EArly life of GW, Prob's with England, Taxes, Boston Massacre

Boston Tea-Party and the Intollerable Acts

Patrick Henry, Continental Congress, Paul Revere, MinuteMen, The Battles of Concord and Lexington

We've taken a break for a few weeks from doing our weekely state studies just there as been a lot on so we decided to take things a bit lighter for a few week (ie, the flu going through the family, field trips, Valentine's Day, co-op, and of course, my birthday!) But we are planning to get back into the states again next week - if all goes according to plan, that is!

"On tap" for next week is Bunker Hill, the Continental Armay, more GW, and the D of Independence, and I think Connecticut.

Here's a cute Katie saying - She had been dressing up and was wearing a shirt and a ballerina skirt. She left and then came back wearing a pair of pants under her ballerina skirt. She twirls aound in it, wanting to show me. I must have said that it looked nice or something and she asks "But is it stunning?"

Jared has been enjoying Upwards basketball. His last game is this SAturday. It is a really good program. And exciting. At the beginning they "hide" all the kids in a storage room, turn off all the lights, blast the music and announce their names over the loudspeaker and they come running out into the spotlight amidst cheering and flashlights! Quite the experience for him!

Laura has a new little friend from pre-school that she has really connected with. Her name is Emma and she just lives around the corner from us. She gets along well with all 3 kids and they all like playing with her.

Time to go snack-up the kids.

Oh, yes, one more thing - we survived Giff's trip to Europe, barely though, I'm already dreading the next time.

First week back to school

Sat, 6 Jan 2007 20:30:00 -0600

We spent this past week sort-of trying to get back into a routine after having about 3 weeks off. We are getting back into it gradually, not yet back into doing school full-time. Of course, that made Jared happy! (more time to play with his Christmas presents!). And it made me happy because I have had more time to clean and organize. I'm not sure what I have gotten into but I have been in an organizing frenzy all week! I think it started with taking down all the Christmas decorations on Monday, and it just went on from there!!! Of course, I still had some unpacking to do, so that was part of the job as well.

So slavery was our topic for this week - we didn't have any activities to do, just read a few books. I gave Jared his first assigned reading - a book that I said that he had to read (normally I just have a pile of books in the book basket and let him choose which ones to read). It was a pretty serious chapter book that is 135 pages long. It's from the Trailblazer series "Escape from the Slave Traders - David Livingstone". He wasn't too keen on getting started (since he had just borrowed a bunch of Box Car Children books from the library), but once he got going he really got into it. He finished it in 2 days and then told me about it.

I spent last night (Giff had to go into work from 9-11 to solve some crisis) creating my lesson plans for the rest of the month so I am good and ready to get back into school full time on Monday.

A couple of non-school related notes...

For some reason, Laura has developed this sudden desire to have her ears pierced. I don't know what started it, but a few days ago she started asking about it and asking when she could get her ears pierced. I told her whenever she wanted and she first thought that she would do it when she was 8, and then it changed to 18 and then it changed to 6. On Thursday she suddenly decides that she wanted to get them pierced in 9 days, then today she said that she wants them done tomorrow. She is all gung ho about this which totally surprised me. She knows it hurts and she wants Giff and I to hold her hands while she gets it done. I'm not sure if we will be able to swing it by tomorrow, but maybe next weekend. i don't even know where you go to get ears pierced these days. I'll have to ask around.

There was something that I was going to say about Katie, but now I can't remember what it is - guess we'll have to wait for another time.

Homeschooling Purchases for Next Year

Tue, 2 Jan 2007 20:58:00 -0600

Here's my list of what I am planning to purchase at the homeschooling convention for next year...

Math-U-See - Gamma for Jared (teacher and student kits) and Alpha for Laura (student kit only)
Winter Promise: American Story 2 (for Jared and Laura)
Winter Promise: 3rd Grade Language Arts Kit (for Jared)
ACE Science - 3rd Grade (for Jared)
The Easy French (for all 3) - Jr. or regular version???
Discoveries in Music/Melody Lane (for all 3)
Calculadder 2 and 3 (for Jared)
Singapore Math - Level ??? (for Jared)

And I'm sure a lot of misc items that I "discover" at the convention! That's the fun part!

It's 2007!

Mon, 1 Jan 2007 21:40:00 -0600

It's January 1st today.

And no, it's not my New Year's Resolution to blog daily or anything (I've been so busy I haven't even had time to think about any New Year's Resolutions!) it just happens to be January 1st! I can't promise that I will be making this a regular habit or anything, but you never know!

I think that the only reason I am actually finding some time to update my blog is b/c I stayed up to midnight last night so I didn't think that I would be able to fall asleep at my regular time (which is about 10:30 in case you are interested!). Everyone else is in bed, the house is quiet, so here I am adding a couple of updates.

My parents are here. They leave tomorrow which also happens to be my Dad's birthday - oops, I just remembered I forgot to wrap his presents, I'll have to do that in the a.m.. They have been here for the past few days to celebrate a belated Christmas with us. We've had a lot of fun just hanging out, playing games etc. And unfortunately, watching Michigan lose the Rose Bowl on our "temporary" big screen.

Before they arrived we spent almost a week in Michigan with all of the rellies. We had such a great time together. I love how the kids interact with each other - it's great to have family! Again this year we took our Nativity Play "on the road" on Christmas Day. This time to a brand new nursing home in town. The kids loved dressing up and the older ones had speaking parts (verses) that they had memmorized.

I can feel myself getting tired, I think that I will be able to fall asleep now, but first one quick Katie story...

We were in a McDonalds restaurant on the way home from Michigan. I had just told Katie not to touch the toilet seat...

Katie: "Is that because it has germs"

Me: "yes"

Katie: "Well, who put the germs there?"

Me: "I don't know."

Katie: "I know, was it bad guys???

She said it in such an innocent but serious way and it just cracked me up - along with the lady who was standing outside the stall waiting for us! She's a goofy girl!

Go Blue???

Sat, 18 Nov 2006 20:47:00 -0600

Well, today has been a sad day for the 2 Michigan fans in the house. For the 3rd year in a row they have lost to their rivals, the Ohio State Buckeyes. It looks like Giff will once again be forced to wear the Buckeye shirt to work on Monday. It's really tough when there are only 2 Michigan fans at work and the rest of them are Buckeye fans.

This past Friday he fully intended to abuse his position at work and play the Michigan fight song over the PA system all day long and stroll around the plant in his Michigan sweatshirt (just to get a rise out of all the guys). But he ended up with a few "fires" to put out at work and he didn't get the chance. Maybe that's a good thing because that he is less likely to get razed at work on Monday.

It was interesting watching the game today b/c Giff invited a co-worker over to watch the game with us. So, it was interesting to have a Buckeye fan in the house during the game! I just felt bad for him, because he probably didn't feel as comfortable celebrating when he was the lone Buckeye fan in the house - his son actually likes Michigan, and his wife didn't really care.

Even though I'm not a huge football fan, it was still a pretty exciting game. Michigan had a few good chances in the 2nd half, but just couldn't pull it off. So close!