The life and adventures of a homeschooling mom and her three precious homeschooled sons. http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/ en-us Homeschool Blogger Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:07:00 -0500 Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:07:00 -0500 We went on a really nice little field trip on Tuesday.  It was organized by one of the moms in one of my homeschool support groups.  We went to Trailside Nature Center to learn about amphibians.  I brought all three of my children on this trip, which proved to be a big challenge.    First we looked at a little slide show about amphibians. Challenge # 1.  My youngest, 21 month old Paulie, was not all that interested in the slide show.  He did not want to sit quietly on my lap either.  So, of course I had to bring him outside, all the while worrying about whether or not my 4 & 5 year olds were going to behave themselves now that they were unsupervised.  But they were perfect little angels (big relief!).    After the slide show we hiked down to the pond with our nets to try and find some amphibians. Here is challenge # 2.  Paulie wants to walk around on his own of course, and of course I have to follow directly behind him for fear he will either go into the pond or off into the woods.  At the same time I'm having to keep an eye on James and Ryan who at this point are wading out into the pond with their nets.  This scenario is sheer torture for a nervous mom like myself.  After finding many cool little creatures (frogs, snails, baby dragonflies and damselflies, frog eggs) we hiked over to a stream in search of more amphibians.    Challenge # 3:  Paulie wants to walk the trail by himself.  I know I don't have to tell you how slow a 21 month old trying to walk a rocky, bumpy, nature trail can be.  So now we are far behind the group and my other two are no longer in my line of vision.  Again, sheer torture for an overly nervous mom.    We finally get to the stream.  A nice, shallow stream, this was going to be so much more relaxing. Or so I thought.  Challenge # 4.  Since all the kids were in the stream, of course Paulie wanted to go in too.  Me, wanting him to have fun too, held his hand and let him walk in the stream.  But of course he did not want to hold my hand and struggled with me the whole time.  Then it was time to go and of course he did not want to go.  He wanted to stay in the water.  Now comes my sweet little Paulie's first real temper tantrum.  So as we are making the long trek back, I'm carrying a sqirming screaming not quite yet two year old under one arm.  He was so upset, I was so upset.  When we finally got back to the nature center he was his happy self again and I was exhausted.  I got them all into the car and changed them out of their wet clothes and shoes.  My older boys had a ball and learned a ton but I was so glad it was over!    So goes so many of our outings.  It can be a challenge doing things for the older ones when you have a younger one.  But I just try to suck it up and deal with it.  Because if I didn't go places because it would be challenging or difficult, we'd never leave the house.  And we'd miss out on some really good opportunities.  I'm all for staying home.  That is where I'd always rather be.  But when these opportunities come up I am glad I don't follow my initial gut feeling and pass them up, because they always wind up being good for the boys and I always magange to survive, even if its just barely.     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/125357/ Thu, 27 Apr 2006 18:07:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/125357/ I have to give a great big thank you to mom26kidz (Thanks Donna!) for introducing me to a great new resource.  I had read about Time4Learning.com on Donna's blog and went to check it out.  I really liked what I saw and signed up my 6 year old son James.    Right now I "do school" with my 6 year old kindergartner, James and my 4 year old pre-schooler, Ryan.  They have very different personalities and learning styles.  When we first started to officially homeschool this past fall, James was very unenthusiastic. I had blogged about this back in September, how he found the school work boring and really did not embrace the change in his schedule.  He thankfully did get over those negative feelings and eventually liked doing his lessons, though he did find some things tedious.  He is not really a workbook type of kid.  He enjoys a lot of our phonics curriculum (Phonics Museum) and a lot of our math (Math-U-See), but when it comes time for the worksheets, he gets tired of it pretty quickly.  My son Ryan, on the other hand, would sit and do workbook pages all day long if he could.  James is very proficient on the computer and enjoys doing things on the computer, so when I heard about Time4Learning I had to go check it out immediately.   It turns out to be the perfect addition to our homeschool.  He has lessons in language arts, math and science that he does on the computer.  He alternates, working on one subject each day.  So one day he'll do language arts on the computer and we'll do his Math-U-See lesson and any other work I have planned for the day (reading, bible, storytime, etc.).  Then the next day when he does math on the computer, we'll do his Phonics Museum lesson.  I really am impressed with the content of the lessons as well.  At first I wasn't sure if it would be any more than a semi-educational game.  But I filled out a short questionnaire about his current skill level and they designed his lessons around that.  At first I wasn't sure if it would be challenging enough for him, but it really does blend the right amount of review and challenging material.  He gets a lot of practice with skills he has recently acquired, as well as working on new concepts. And any time I feel the lessons aren't at the right level, I can let them know and they'll adjust it accordingly.  Even though this is web based, they have a number to call where you get immediate assistance.  And the person who can help you is actually the person who answers the telephone.  No automated menus to go through.    What I also like about it, is he can do it independently.  So I can work with my younger son while James does his lesson on the computer.  I used to bounce back and forth between the two, whereas now my younger son has more of my focus.    The computer is right near our table so I see and hear what James is doing.  But another great thing is afterwards I can sign on and get reports of how much time he spent doing the lessons, exactly what he did and any quizzes he took.  It is really a nice supplement to what we were already doing.  He no longer has to wait for me to be ready to start his work and he is always very eager to do it.   And I know that even if we're having a not so good day, and the lessons get pushed aside for whatever reason, he'll always at least log on the computer to spend 30 minutes on his lessons.  It takes away some of the guilt when we have one of those days.    So, as you can see, I am very excited about this.  I know this type of learning isn't for every family or every child, but in our situation, it really is a great asset.  So thank you again, Donna!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/122806/ Sun, 23 Apr 2006 12:29:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/122806/ My youngest son is 21 months old and how fast that time has gone.  But even though it is wonderful having a small little baby and part of me misses that stage, I must say the age he is at right now is just the best.  He is so cute and so funny that I think I literally laugh all day long.  From his mannerisms to the things he says, he really is totally hysterical.  Now, I am aware that as his mother I am obligated to think everything he does and says is funny and cute but I really think I am being totally objective in my assessment.  If I had even half the ability of so many of my blogging friends I would post some pictures and/or video of my three precious boys, but considering that in order to post the one and only picture on my blog I had to shrink it down to practically nothing, I don't think that will be happening any time soon.  So for now my friends, you'll just have to take my word on this one.      http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/122531/ Sat, 22 Apr 2006 16:53:00 -0500 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/122531/ I've finally learned my lesson about blogging.   I typed up this nice long blog today, hit add new entry and got "This page cannot be displayed".  I tried to get back to the add new entry screen, hoping what I had written would magically still be there, but of course it was not.  So from now on, I'll be typing my blogs into Word and pasting them.    I don't have time now to re-write my whole blog.  I have to take my 4 year old to the doctor.  I think he has pink eye.  Argh!  We've been sick since the weekend and just when I thought everyone was over it all......bam!  Something else to deal with!  And I'm sure it will make its way around to everyone in the house, me being the first victim.  I've gotten pink eye everytime one of my kids has had it.  Can't say my kids don't like to share .   Have a great day! Donna   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/104278/ Wed, 22 Mar 2006 10:26:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/104278/ Saturday night is game night at our house.  I must admit that I am not always as consistent with this as I would like to be.  We often skip a week or two if I am feeling overwhelmed with other household chores (or lack of sleep), but I always feel so much better when I just ignore those things and we actually sit down together and just have fun.    We always play at least three games.  We each pick a game (my two oldest sons and myself) and we play all three.  The reason I pick a game is so that we don't wind up playing the same two games every week.  You know how kids get when they hook on a favorite.  This is also why I am part of the movie night rotation as well.  Movie night is on Friday.  My middle son always picks one of the same two movies whenever it is his turn, so my having a turn to pick at least spaces it out more.  But back to games.....tonight we played Candyland, Sorry and Hi Ho Cherry-O.     Game night can be a wonderfully pleasant experience, that is if my older son wins every game.  However, I insist on playing by the rules (he is famous for trying to pull the sneaky do-overs, though when I call him on it he always fesses up) and when he doesn't win, he is quite the sore loser, which makes for an unpleasant time for everyone.  This is probably my fault, since before his brother was old enough to play and it was just the two of us, I used to let him win.  But once my other son was old enough to play, I no longer let him win.  We played strictly by the rules, as we should.  So its no surprise that my middle son never gets upset if he doesn't win.  He is used to winning sometimes and losing sometimes. Tonight my middle son won Candyland and Sorry and I won Hi Ho Cherry-O.   This made for one unhappy 5 year old, though I must say he has gotten much better at controlling his emotions.  He used to get mad and then refuse to play any other games.  Tonight he was upset and made a temporary vow not to play anymore but then pretty much got over it rather quickly (I should say quickly compared to how he usually reacts). I did add a quick game of Go Fish afterwards because I knew he'd win that (he always does). I don't know if that is right or wrong, but I couldn't help wanting to cheer him up.    Is there anyone else out there that has had to deal with this problem?  And if so, any advice?  Or even if you haven't had this problem in your family, perhaps you still have some advice for me. (But try not to be too harsh!)   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/98632/ Sat, 11 Mar 2006 21:57:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/98632/ It is 3 am and unfortunately I am awake.  The baby woke up (yet again) and it took me forever to get him to relax.  Once he was finally quiet I had to run out of there because seeing me will cause him to cry for me to pick him back up.  So I am stuck downstairs, dead tired I might add, until he falls back asleep (which I hope is VERY soon).  I really should be counting my blessings that he has settled down at all, but I have to be up early!  Okay, enough of my whining.    It is pretty chilly down here.  Outside snow blankets the ground.  So this time of the year makes listening to our crickets very very strange.  We have 3 tarantulas (2 itty bitty ones that we had gotten from a breeder and one adult one my husband got from a pet store).  So we also have crickets.  My husband knows I hate the ones who chirp (the ones we buy at petsmart do not chirp) so he made sure he went and bought them anyway.  I don't like the chirping ones for two reasons.      #1--they are a constant reminder that there a little creatures in this house whose sole purpose here is to be eaten.  That bothers me.  I'm one of those freaky animal people.  I'm a vegetarian.  I don't even kill bugs.  Should a bug, no matter what kind, makes its way into our house I catch it and bring it outside.  Even if it is a fly and it takes me 20 minutes to catch him.  I know, I am weird.  The only bugs I don't mind killing are fleas, well, because you really don't have any other choice.  Oh, and mosquitoes, since I am a hyperchondriac and don't want to get West Nile Virus after all the hoopla they've been pushing the past 6 or so years.  More than enough to make me paranoid.  Every summer I have this internal struggle over whether its worse for my kids to wear mosquito repellent or risk getting bit by a virus carrying mosquito.  I know, I'm getting weirder by the minute.  But I digress.     #2-it is just plain weird to be hearing mosquitoes in the dead of winter.  It really plays a trick on your senses!  I'm freezing, yet I have the strange urge to go outside and catch lightening bugs.  I'm torn between drinking hot chocolate or lemonade.  It being 3 am makes the whole thing all the more disorienting.    Its time for me to creep upstairs to check on little Paulie, without getting caught if he is still awake.  Wish me luck! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/84487/ Wed, 15 Feb 2006 02:02:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/84487/ Finally some real snow around here!  I don't know if the rest of the metropolitan area is as enthusiastic about it as I am, but for me its been a long time coming.  Between yesterday and today we've gotten almost two feet of snow.  I grew up in upstate New York and very snowy winters were the norm for me.  I have so many great memories revolving around cold snowy winters:  ice skating on the lake, sledding down the mountains  (which seemed huge to me back then), playing in snow so deep my boots would get stuck.   The past few years here we haven't had too much snow, certainly no really good storms so I was very excited this morning watching my boys have the time of their lives.  What made it even better was that it happened on the weekend.  I didn't have to worry about my husband traveling to work.  He was out bright and early with the boys shoveling and playing, then he took them sledding.  They wouldn't have had nearly as much fun had it been a weekday with their Dad at work.  I can only take them out when the baby is sleeping and we have to stay right in front of the house.  And I never last as long as my husband does.  I don't have much of anything in the line of snow gear.  My lack of snow pants, snow boots and waterproof gloves are really a problem when it comes to any substantial amount of snow.  I've never invested in them because we don't get snow like this often.  This was the second largest snowstorm in history for our area.  But it turned out to be a wonderful day.  My oldest son said it was the best day he ever had, and then proceeded to say he'd had a lot of best days lately.  That made me really happy.  Like all moms, I wish my children a lifetime of best days.  Or at least enough to overshadow the bad ones.  I hope the same for all of you!   God Bless! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/83065/ Sun, 12 Feb 2006 15:28:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/83065/ I am so excited, I can't even begin to tell you!  My 5 year old son James is a reader!    We started doing phonics when he was 4, using Frontline Phonics.  But he never got into that.  He wasn't into the phonics songs and coloring pages.  So this year, when he began Kindergarten, we switched to Phonics Museum, which he really likes.  Along with that I started teaching phonograms on my own.  We started with -at words.  For quite a while he was able to sound out all the letters in the words but he was having a hard time blending them all together.  The sounds just weren't translating into words for him.  My then 3 year old son Ryan picked this up easier than James did, and if you read my blog a couple of months ago, I was worried that Ryan would read before James.  But eventually it did click for him and he could read the -at words and we moved on to -an words.  Then one day I got tired of waiting for the point in the curriculum where it said to read the books.  So far we were just reviewing letter sounds, most of which he already knew but I have this problem with skipping pages (I know, I need to do something about that). So I got out  a reader and sat down with him to see what he could do.  And lo and behold, he did GREAT!  He read most of the book with only minimal help from me.    It was the most exciting moment of my life!   Well, maybe not THE most exciting but it is definitely up there.  My biggest fear upon embarking on our homeschooling journey was teaching reading.  It seemed to me to be the most difficult thing  you could teach a child.  I felt if I could just teach him to read, then I could teach him anything.  And the amazing part is, we didn't even need those expensive phonics curriculums.  All we needed really was a white board with dry erase markers and actual books.  We still work on the phonics curriculum to reinforce all the letter sounds and to teach other phonics rules, but the biggest part of our reading curriculum is just sitting down and having him read to me everyday.  He is still slow, so meaning does get lost on him sometimes, but he is progressing so nicely and I am just so excited for him.  Moments like this are why I wanted to homeschool.  I can't imagine missing out on this big milestone.  I feel so privileged to have been able to help him on this journey and to have witnessed it firsthand.    So, one down two to go!  Ryan is progressing nicely and will probably be reading by the end of this school year.  And little Paulie (19 months old) is off to a great start.  He can recognize his own name!  He LOVES to color.  So much so that in one weekend he managed to color our front door twice as well as our tabletop.  Neither of my other two were this artistically inclined so I wasn't prepared for this!  He even holds the crayon/marker/pen the proper way, without me ever showing him how.  Hopefully he keeps this habit :)  But anyway, whenever he was at our whiteboard easel coloring, I would come over and write out his name, spelling it as I went, and then saying Paul after I was done.  I really never expected him to actually learn it, I was just exposing him to it.  Then the other day we were at my parents' house and he was coloring with his brand new color wonder markers (can you guess why I bought those?) and I was doodling along with him.  I wrote out his name without saying a word, I was just kind of doing it absentmindedly and when I finished, he looked at it and said "Paul".  I was totally shocked.  Just goes to show that they are listening, even when you don't think they are!   http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/78329/ Fri, 3 Feb 2006 21:16:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/78329/ I really need to get my blogging act together.  I tend to let too much time pass before I sit myself down to blog.  I don't have one of those blogs with loads of great, inspiring words of wisdom and thus don't feel obligated to blog that often! But I would like to blog more often, however mundane our daily lives may be.  It does feel good to get all of my thoughts out of my head and into the blogosphere.   I am feeling really good this week, having started out the new year full force.  I really wasn't happy with our "attendance" thus far this year.  We are generally pretty structured homeschoolers (at least in my brain I am) but for most of our first term we behaved as unschoolers.  We did school when we could, but most of the time very little structured learning took place. This being our first year homeschooling, we really needed to ease into it and the relaxed pace allowed me to let go of many of my fears, anxieties and unrealistic expectations.  At the time I didn't think it was benefitting us at all.  Every day I would beat myself up about not sticking to my plan (and wasting all those hours of planning) but looking back it couldn't be more obvious that my boys were learning all the time, in spite of my lack of discipline and focus.  And I can feel the de-stressing effect it has had on me.  Now I'm feeling good and ready to return to our original homeschool plan which I am happy to say  we have stuck to every day this week.  (Now I know its only been 4 days, but a real accomplishment for us nonetheless).   I've also been more focused and disciplined with establishing a routine for all the other parts of our day.  I have established a morning routine, which includes my prayer time, computer time, pet care and housework.  I've set realistic bedtimes for my two older boys so that they wake up at a more reasonable hour, so that we may begin school at a predetermined hour.  I've been planning our meals so we have no more of the rush to figure out what we are going to eat every night.  I have a bedtime routine so that I don't wake up in the morning with the previous days tasks staring me in the face. I haven't stuck to the schedule completely.  My 1 1/2 year old still wakes up at night so sometimes I don't get up as early as I need to to get it all done (on these days I forgo my exercise, such a sacrifice! lol!) So I have yet to have a full day of completely sticking to my schedule.  But just striving to do so has had a tremendous impact on how our household runs.  I am not a scheduled type person by nature.  I usually schedule great things in my head, and make wonderful to do lists.  But my nature is to wake up whenever I'm no longer sleepy, stay in my pajamas for as long as I feel like it, get to my housework after I've played around on the computer and played and hung out with the kids (In other words, I'm lazy :)-)  As you can imagine, this doesn't make for a smoothly run home and in the long run makes me anxious and stressed, rather than relaxed and rested.  Having and sticking to a schedule really does me, and my family, a world of good and has honestly transformed our lives.   Now if I could only tackle the clutter, life would be perfect! http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/64285/ Thu, 5 Jan 2006 19:55:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/64285/ We've had a really great week of homeschooling this past week.  All was going smoothly.  We took yesterday off and I didn't even feel guilty about it.  The boys all have colds so I let them sleep as late as they needed to.  I had a lot of things to get done for our homeschool group and around the house.  My oldest son had Taekwondo in the afternoon.  So instead of cramming homeschooling in between all that stuff, I decided to give us the day off.  I quickly learned that trying to get it all in when it is obviously not possible to do so just stresses everyone out, most of all me.  So I figured today we'd get an early start and get everything done.    But of course there is a problem.  My neighbors next door moved out a few months ago.  The person they sold the house to is not living there.  He is renovating the house and then selling it.  He is here today power washing the house.  I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with the sound a power washer makes, but it is LOUD.  It sounds just like a jack hammer.  Needless to say, the atmosphere is not conducive to learning.  So so much for my plans for a productive day.    And since I'm on the topic of obstacles, I thought I'd discuss the biggest obstacle I'm facing right now.  It is a self made obastacle but I am having difficulty figuring out just how to deal with it.  I've been quite overwhelmed lately with too many outside of the home obligations, mainly the children's extra curricular activities.  When you pair those up with errands, doctor appointments, dental appointments, haircuts, etc. I feel that I am not home as much as I need to be.  I am a firm believer that in order to homeschool, you need to be home.  I am not an unschooler, though I envy their lifestyle.  I wish I could be that relaxed but I know I never will be.  I've come a long way in easing up on my rigidity, but I don't think I'll ever ease up enough to call us unschoolers.      Here is a list of the activities we currently participate in:   1. Library story hour--a six week program that runs twice a year 2. Soccer--a 7 week program that runs three times a year 3. Bowling--weekly, all year long 4. Taekwondo--a 10 week program that runs three times a year 5. Gymnastics--weekly, all year long   This does not include the occasional field trip either.  There are some months where we will only be doing 1 or 2 things, but then others where we wind up doing everything.    I've been trying to think of what to do away with.  I decided gymnastics will be the first to go.  My oldest son already stopped going due to a conflict with his teacher.  My 4 year old will not mind if I take him out, since his older brother doesn't go anymore.  Plus this is the most expensive, time consuming activity we are engaged in.  So that leaves me with the first 4 things.  Library story hour is the one thing that is fun for my youngest son (16 months) and we have to go to the library anyway, so we're keeping that.  Soccer is a lot of fun because we get together with our homeschool group and all the kids hang out and play together during (for those not doing soccer) and afterwards.  So this is something my kids really enjoy.  Bowling is something new, that I put together. I belong to a co-op and every member has to participate in some way, so I put together a homeschool bowling league.  I know, I did it too myself and deserve no pity.  But I think this will be a great indoor winter activity that will run when soccer is out.  Taekwondo is my oldest son's absolute favorite, so that is definitely not out.    So I think I've gotten us down to the bare minimum.  Or maybe I'm just rationalizing.  I did turn down a lot of things. Tuesdays our group gets together at a community center for various activities.  Tuesdays and Wednesdays they go ice skating.  There was a neat t-ball league on Saturdays that I turned down.  I don't go to the play dates for the various groups I belong to. I have said no to many field trips.  I'm trying to say no to the good and even some of the great things so that I can say yes to the best things.    My challenge now is to find a way to make all this work.  To balance these activities with our lessons and try to fit in the housework, errands, etc.  Unfortunately it is usually my house that suffers the most when we have a crazy week. Perhaps I will find a balance or perhaps I will be forced to drop something else.  Or perhaps I will just go crazy in the whole process.    Anyone who has had similar experiences or can offer any advice,  I welcome and would greatly appreciate your comments!     http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/43258/ Fri, 11 Nov 2005 09:24:00 -0600 http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/mommyx3/43258/