sharing our thoughts and experiences homeschooling an older brother and twin sisters http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:11:00 -0600 Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:11:00 -0600 A neat homeschooler stie offers: Child's Learning Style test so the kids and hubby and I had fun one day. There is also an adult test. Kids amazed me, one surprised me and it was lots of fun to do while keeping in mind things can change and there is no "good" or "bad" here. Going through grad school I realized just how visual I really am. If the house is really messy, I just can't study! Also, my dry text books that are only black and white text ended up being heavily highlighted in multiple colors. When learning was easy I did not have to work so hard, but parts of this degree have challenged me in tough ways, and those books were marked up! Taking the test showed my pie graph as mostly visual, next auditory and then very little kinesthetic. Hubby took the test and was shocked. Always thought of self as visual learner, and he does have a photographic memory. Yet he tested out hugely auditory! This made perfect sense to us as he will struggle to listen to us while music plays or when all kids talk at once he gets overwhelmed while I can sort their voices out.  Really neat to learn new things about our selves! Will post on kids next... http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/658704/ Mon, 16 Feb 2009 08:11:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/658704/ I'm about on track to post twice a year! Grad school has me much busier than I ever thought possible. Recently I officially turned down the doctorate program at my school. I believe the Lord had me take four classes at once so I might see the intensity the doc program would be (and for three years!). I can not do that when my kids are still home; my family's needs are more important than my scholastic desires. Every time i realize we have to buy new shoes because they suddenly out grew their current shoes I stop and appreciate the moments. When I am in so many classes I don't have as many opportunities to stop and enjoy the present. There are times in life when the Lord seems to ask me to juggle one too many balls, and watches to see which ball I will drop. In the past I have tried to continue to juggling act until too late, a ball drops, bounces away and I finally seek the Lord. Taking four classes since January has convicted me that the Lord gives me too many balls because He wants me to see His capable hands ready to help if I just ask. There have been times the past four months that I have been on my knees offering up my concerns telling Him it is just too much. I feel His peace, am ever so thankful, happily pass Him the ball to handle and relax. Then somehow, at some point in time I sense my anxiety building again. What happened? How did I take that ball back to juggle on my own? I wonder how those worries wiggle back into my brain when I so desperately want to be done with them. I have so much more to learn about and from the Master, daily I'm humbled by my futile attempts at juggling all there is to do. Currently we are on a count down to the end of my semester. B has started Jeannie Fulbright Science with Knowledge Box Central companion lapbook and is thriving. Lapbooking blends just the right flexibility of independent work with mommy helps for my 'quality time" child. Amazing how my ds's love language affects our homeschool experience daily! I am grateful to have that insight into him! O is changing meds for her epilepsy and is having a hard time. The new meds make her eyes "wobbily" and no, I don't know exactly what that means. She is working through her school work, though is struggling more with reading. Call to the doc tomorrow for the eye concern. K is holding her own during this busy time. Her requests to read books or play a game remind me to tend my little kinder-Garden. DH and I must say daily how amazed we are at their fast paced growth! I can not imagine  missing these days by sharing them with another school! K & O have their ballet recital this weekend and B is finishing up his Wolf electives in preparation for Crossover next month. K & O have three weeks left of MFW Kindergarten! Wow! B is still working through MFW Adventures, MUS Beta and more. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/521419/ Thu, 24 Apr 2008 02:23:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/521419/ This week has been such fun! No, I have not gotten any grad school work done for my own classes, but that is what weekends are for, right? LOL! This week we started Jr. Kinder at the house with two little girls joining my own two mornings a week, along with a toddler (younger sister to a student). It has been such fun. We made applesauce Tuesday and today the kids were wanting to cook again! I decided on days when I teach co-op in the afternoons will be non-cooking days, otherwise with only six kids in the kitchen it is every so much easier to cook compared to working with my usual group of 12 at preschools. I am really appreciating the opportunity to devote myself totally to my kids and my students and not multi-task myself into confusion and chaos.  B has discovered cursive and I find this hilarious that after our years of him hating writing, now he enjoys it! Who knew all I had to do was get him to read Eragon, him become engrossed in ancient languages, and then find cursive on his own in a reference chart....all of that leading to his perception that cursive is like writing and ancient language! I look back upon hours of frustration just wanting him to write out his own last name, and all I had to do was bring out cursive! He really wants to learn another language and since hubby wants the kids to know Latin I might be looking into that soon. Something is in the air right now that has people coughing and mucusy, not fun. I am still adjusting to the climate changes of living in this part of the US, understanding it is nearly impossible to predict when allergies will blow in. I am however, so grateful God has placed us here as grad school is phenomenal, each professor truly a gift of a person. I am also amazed at how refreshed I am by my classes and know that us homeschooling moms really do need to carve out time to cultivate our own hobbies or talents and I am really thankful my husband makes this possible for me to go to school. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/386544/ Thu, 6 Sep 2007 16:49:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/386544/ After having the whole summer off --much more time than I planned--we start up today. Last May found us leaving some lessons unfinished so we start up there. B will officially move up to third grade in January as that has been our usual time, so that encourages me to get moving on MFW Adventures program for 2nd. The girls will continue with MFW K and ETC and HWT. After being away from home for a month and then watching for Hurricane Dean, we got out of our "grove" in many ways. I started grad school classes last night so that catalyzed me into getting the children back to school as well rather than waiting for Sept. This fall will be both busier and more relaxed. As I am not teaching preschool as my church this year I feel many more options are available as to how to focus activities and time frames. Yes, grad school limits that some, but not the same way teaching at my church did. I will teach at our homeschool co-op, and travel once a month to a dear friend's house about two hours away to teach a Moppet class. Additionally we still have scouting, ballet and now Karate and guitar lessons in our usual weekly activities. I have loved seeing the kids play so well together this summer with more free time than they have had since last summer. Their collective imagination is something to wonder at, be entertained by and pray they always have such a close relationship. I no longer had to drag them to church so I could organize my classroom or be lost at home as I poured over other children's lesson plans. We are back to everything I do positively and clearly impacts my own kids. Selfish, very selfish, but at this season in life I am okay with it. Last night one instructor was very honest with us future counselors in saying we will see the darkness of humanity, abuse, assault, and destruction. Yet we also will be honored to see the human spirit over come and experience humor, courage and hope. So I am reminded that though many opportunities pull me away from home work-wise, that there are times to simply enjoy my family and this stage in life. All too soon I will be graduated and helping others and can not bear to think I might have regrets in how I handled my own children as I counsel others who have been hurt.  This is a year for the Lord to work within us and my family to relax in His care knowing that He will help us prioritize all our activities. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/378285/ Thu, 23 Aug 2007 09:19:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/378285/ I am amazed how quickly this new is passing! Truly, I feel somedays that I will blink and these days of raising children will be gone before I am ready. Other times, usually when the house is a mess and we have lots of commitments to keep, it seems we will all stay stuck in whatever current rut we are in. Currently we still have B wanting to stay up until midnight (or later!) reading. This has good points and bad....love that he reads so well and so much, but he and we need sleep! He will easily go through a Magic Tree House book (about 160 pages) in two hours and then go through three of those  a day! He began reading the book Eragon and I had to read chapters ahead of him since it is an adult dragon book and I did not know what it held in store.  He curiosity never ends and thus one day we abandoned our history plans since he wanted to know more about DNA. Who knows when he is supposed to get that (not in first grade I am betting) but I took out my old college Bio book and we spent the next hour going through the basics of DNA! Wow! Later that week we were at ballet and the attendance posters had some lines running across canceled classes. B looked at that and promptly told me it looked just like a DNA chain! And he was right!\ The girls are focusing upon HWT right now and will soon get back into MFW K. Miss O needs more work on lettering and finger grip while Miss K is just ready to go on and on with her letter writing! I am amazed how different they are and just love to see them at play. They will play princess and tea party for literally hours on end, sharing a dynamic so special to twins, feeding off of the other's joy and giving them joy in return. I am humbled, daily still, by having twins and the miracle of their relationship and it's effect upon our family. Miss K will "ready" stories to MIss O and it is wonderful to hear her imagination come out as she looks at the pictures and makes up words to go along with them. I am ever busy, adding grad school to an increasingly busy time. Teaching Tues and Thurs at the preschool still works out well, though I sometimes worry that I am not giving it my all the way first year teachers do. I get frustrated that so few of my kids at age 4 and even 5 know the alphabet and feel great pressure to fulfill their parents' expectations that they are fully ready for public school K by this May. Two days a week does not give me enough time, they learn Tues and Thurs and forget by Mon and so we seem to move two steps forward, one back. So not all bad, but how i wish I could impliment more homeschool  methods into our day. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/283863/ Sun, 11 Feb 2007 22:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/283863/ Today...well...later on today during respectable hours!....we start the MFW Adventures Second Grade program with B. I love American History so am very excited about what we will be learning this year. The girls are on week 5 of MFW K and all three are working through HWT.  I am relieved to see that B's handwriting is finally getting better in his HWT workbook, and now wait for him to write that nicely in his regular assignments.   We missed a week of school and work with O getting sick. Poor girl had a instestinal bug, sinus infection and viral throat infection at once! And the pediatrican told me that Epilepsy does not qualify a child for needing a flu shot. UGGG! She catches colds that most people easily fight off, and I don't know if it is because of her medication since Epilepsy itself is simply a brain circut issue, but she was not like this prior to her diagnosis. B will get a flu shot since he has asthma and the rest of us will look out for the clinics around town. I am always frustrated when the ped's office has fewer flu shots than the drug store! I am praying for health for all of us!   We are in the second rainiest month of the year and B's t-ball game got rained out today. It comes down so hard and fast and then ends just as quickly here. It seems so strange! The kids have complained about cold temps when the weather got down to 70 degrees for two days and I told them I would not let them get thin Texas skin! I would NOT turn on the heater in the car! LOL! I can not believe it! I actually told them: "We are from Nevada, we can handle snow, this is not a big deal!" and since it is still humid here I ended up with the A/C on in the car anyways! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/220677/ Mon, 16 Oct 2006 00:35:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/220677/ Life has been busy for us. Who knew that me teaching 2 days a week would add so much more complexity to our entire week? I enjoy teaching, however, and the girls enjoy their preschool experience. B is trying hard to be a helper in my class, though he often gets revved up with the other boys and their wild play and must be calmed down again.   The rainy weather we had a for a few days was a wonderful change from the heat. Still have the humidity, but at least during the rain the bugs are not out so badly.   B started Cub Scouts as a Tiger and Paul is the Cub Master for our local group. I agreed to be assistant den leader for B's pack and was able to then say no to being a den leader. We have so much going on, and I have such a hard time saying no! Funny how people who hardly know me can pick up on that so easily. So I am sure I will enjoy assisting and appreciate not having to handle a den on my own. Paul is looking forward to learning more about Scouts as he was not one as a boy.   B also started up another season of T-ball. We are only on week 2 of practice, but he is hitting the ball much better than last season. Still need to work on catching and paying attention, but that comes with time and experience...right?   The girls started ballet last night. They did beautifully! Both girls simply love ballet, along with any characters (like Angelina Ballerina or Barbie and the 12 Dancing Princesses) that do ballet. Both girls are a bit rusty since they have not done this since Reno, but both were able to easily follow directions and move their bodies accordingly. Too cute to watch! They were thrilled! After counting down the days to this first meeting, they were so excited that O made up her own ballet song to sing to us all in the car as we drove there! I am grateful for the opportunity this offers them.   We miss everyone very much and I took time today to update our blog here with lots of pictures so you can see what we have been up to the past two months. God's blessings! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201571/ Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:50:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201571/ Up to museum again, this time for a day of learning about Native Americans. The beating of the huge drum was incredible...it seemed to take over and comand our pulse to match it's rthyms! The ceremonial dances were lovely, loud and shared a variety of sounds as shells and beads upon the dancers regalia (clothing) made a music of their own.     We were priviledged to have Native Americans willing to spend some time with us explaining much and consenting to a photo. We greatly appreicate their time and patience with us as we sought to better understand their culture.   B will learn more about Indians during 2nd grade history and I look forward to reminding him of the Pow Wow and all that we saw and heard. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201565/ Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:45:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201565/ It is always such a curious stress I experience when planning for the school year. I trust the Lord to guide all our decisions, yet I still check out all the new curriculum's I hear about "just in case"! This year I am relieved to say that I decided to stay with My Father's World, and in this box came the girls' extra student packets for K and B's 2nd grade curriculum. This is such a neat company and I am thrilled to stay with them!   K was so excited to see a ballet book and began looking through it immediately! I look forward to experiencing all the great things this year's study on American History will offer and hope the girls get as much out of it as possible since this program will have them skip 2nd grade Adventures and  instead they pick up with B's year once they are in 2nd grade so the whole family is studying the same themes. Since on my dad's side we have a relative who signed the Declaration of Independence I want my kids to understand as much as possible about the importance of that document, what the men who signed it were up against and potentially lost (land, business, even life) once the ink was dry and King George notified. I am so grateful to live in a land that allows such freedoms. While we daily are reminded about war, terror, and more, I want my children to know that this country was founded on basic Christian principles and we must continue that tradition. I see so many around us with T-shirts that say, "It's all about me" or "I want it so I can have it" and I am sad to see all the joy left out of life when one focuses upon self. We all have unique talents and skills along with the capacity to work hard and help others. I want my children to always rememeber that our country was founded by men and women whose values were so strong they were willing to do anything to make the nation a better place for their children. They were not so caught up in themselves but able to see beyond their own lifespans to the legacy they left behind. I wonder what my own legacy will be and even farther down the road, what will be my children's legacy?       http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201559/ Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201559/ Preschool puts on special days each year for each parent. This was the day for the girls to share with their daddy: http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201547/ Wed, 13 Sep 2006 12:27:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/JoyfulMommy/201547/