I didn't fall off the face of the earth, really!

This is going to be a super short post, but I just didn't want everyone thinking I had, once again, not followed through with keeping up with the blog.

In the past few weeks we have lost two members of our family.  My uncle, who was very dear to me, and my husband's grandfather.  The day after we lost his grandfather, my aunt suffered a catastrophic stroke.  It has been a really tough month around here.  I honestly don't know when I am going to get back to the blog, because right now I'm barely managing to get daily stuff that has to be done taken care of.  But I have not forgotten it, and when I can pull myself together, I plan to be back!

Thanks!  Take care and have a wonderful holiday. 

Our day, in a nutshell...

     UPDATED:  SEE END OF POST FOR AN UPDATE ON HISTORY CURRICULUM.

     Okay, this is actually what an ideal day looks like.  Ideal days very seldom happen around here, but this is what we shoot for.  We all have to have a goal, even if we fail miserably most times.  I would list precise starting times for each subject, but honestly, the idea of us actually starting and finishing when we plan is pretty laughable.  So I will just list them in the order we try to do them.

     After we get up, we have breakfast and do our Bible reading together.  The curriculum we use for Bible class on Sunday and Wednesday has daily Bible readings, so we follow that.  

     Next, we will usually move on to math.  The Tweebs use Abeka Arithmetic 1.  We like it okay, but it has a lot of repetition and busy work.  I'm thinking next year I will either move them to Saxon or Singapore.  Motormouth is using Saxon 6/5.  We aim for one lesson per day.  Motormouth will spend more time on math than the Tweebs.  Their attention span just isn't as long.

     Then I will move on to phonics and reading with the Tweebs, and two days a week, spelling.  I also use Abeka for those subjects.  Once again, next year we will be changing that.  While I am working with them, I have Motormouth do his Literature reading.  He has been working through the Mabinogion.  Once he finished that I will be changing it up a little, because we're going a little different route with history than originally planned.  

     Speaking of history, that's next.  A couple of days a week we work on history, and the other days science.  History and science are both subjects that all three kids work on together, just at different levels.  I had started working through A Child's History of the World with the Tweebs, and Famous Men of the Middle Ages with Motormouth, at the suggestion of The Latin-Centered Curriculum.  I like both books, but I'm going to use them at a different time.  After reading through The Well-Trained Mind, I decided on a little different approach.  If we work through a four year rotation of history, starting with the Ancients and ending with modern times, that means that this year, with the Tweebs in 1st grade, they will be starting the Ancients. Motormouth is in 5th grade, meaning it's time for him to study the Ancients again....just more in depth.  See why I like this plan?  I can teach the same era of history to all the kids, instead of trying to teach the Ancients to the Tweebs, and the Middle Ages to Motormouth.  Much easier to keep straight in my head.  Starting tomorrow, we will begin working through The Story of the World Volume 1: Ancient Times.  There is also map work included in SOTW, so that will take care of geography.  Also, Motormouth is participating in the National Geographic Bee, so he has a two hour prep class once a week for that.  

     On the alternate days that we don't have history, we will be doing science.  We've been working through Apologia's Exploring Creation Through Human Anatomy and Physiology.  We all love it, and it works great because Motormouth uses the Apologia notebooking journal, and I have the Tweebs doing narration and drawings of what they've learned in binders I put together for them.  Human anatomy is a great study to go along with the Ancients.  We are really pleased with Apologia, and will continue to use it next year.  

     Once all of that is completed, the Tweebs day is pretty much done.  I have been using Ambleside Online for art study, and I will some days have them color a copy of a painting while I finish working with Motormouth.  The last picture they worked on was Starry Night by Van Gogh.  They loved it, and it gave them some culture.  

     Now that the Tweebs have finished their day, I have time to complete the rest of Motormouth's subjects with him.  Composition, grammar and Latin require a little more participation by me than the other subjects.  

     For composition, grammar, spelling and language, we use Classical Writing.  We've started with the second half of Aesop.  Technically at his age we could have begun with Homer, but since this is all a little different than we're used to, I decided not to feel rushed.  I purchased the student workbook B that goes along with Aesop.  It makes my life easier to already have things planned out.  This is a subject we do every day.  

     We use Prima Latina for Latin.  Technically this is for a little younger student, but since this is our first experience with Latin, I decided to start from the beginning, regardless of the grade level.  We'll just work through it quickly and then move on to Latina Christiana 1.  Since we are trying to follow a Latin centered, classical style of schooling, Latin is also taught daily.  The Tweebs are still trying to get a solid grasp on phonics, so they will not be starting Latin until 3rd grade.  

      I also throw some memory work in there during the day sometime, to go along with Latin, Bible, history and science.  Every other week we have Art at a friend's house, and the other weeks we have PE with the same friends at our house.  Also, we have a nature class at my cousin's house every other Tuesday.

     Whew!  It makes me tired just typing all of this.  I am blessed to be able to teach my children at home though, so it's all worth it.

      Like I said in the beginning of my post, this is what we TRY to accomplish on a daily basis.  That doesn't mean it always works out that way.  That's the beauty of homeschooling....flexibility.

     Well, that's all for now...have a great day!

UPDATE ON HISTORY:  After really looking at Story of the World, Volume 1, I have decided to return it.  I didn't at all like how Bible events were written....too much poetic license.  Also, there were some minor discrepancies in some other parts that I just didn't want to mess with correcting.  I have enough going on in my day to have to be correcting tons of stuff in the curriculum I buy!  So, after MUCH research (my head hurts), I have decided to order Mystery of History, Volume 1.  We'll see how it goes.  After all the change we've done lately, we've got to get started with something, so I think we'll use it even if we hate it!  (Just kidding.) 

     

Overcoming anxiety...

     No, the title of my post does not mean that I have overcome my anxiety, so if you were hoping to find some wellspring of knowledge on how to do that, keep on movin'.  It does, however, mean that I am working on it. I'm hoping that, with the Lord's help, I can make some steady progress in this endeavor.

     Let's face it, guys.  Becoming a parent is SCARY.  Having these little human beings that you are responsible for molding into productive big human beings could make even the most level-headed of us a little cuckoo.   And as we all know, I am NOT the most level-headed of us, so there you go.  I'm going to be  totally open and honest about how anxiety affects my life, not because I just love the idea of everyone knowing what a nut I really, truly am, but because-just maybe-by sharing my fears, someone else will think, "Hey, I've felt that way, too....I'm not all alone in this!".  So you can see the whole big picture of crazy ol' me, let's back up a little, shall we?

     Once upon a time, there was this boy, and this girl.  They were in love, so they got married.  Fast forward 2 years down the road.  Boy and girl decide that their little duo isn't quite complete, and they want to make it a trio.  Girl gets pregnant, but alas, God decides that, for whatever reason, now is not quite the time for the boy and girl to become parents.  So they keep trying, and after 3 years of marriage, they bring a beautiful baby boy into the world.  Life is great....they love their little family of three.  The girl quits working, and gets to be a stay at home mommy to this super awesome little guy.  (THANK YOU Mr. Fantastic, for all the hard work you do so that this is possible.  Seriously guys, he's pretty fabulous.)  Things are rocking along pretty good, but this trio really wants to spread the love and add a fourth to the party.  So the little guy (if you haven't guessed it by now, that's Motormouth.) prays every night for God to bless his family with a brother and a sister.  No matter how much his parents correct that to "a brother OR a sister", he persists.

     Just when the boy and girl are beginning to think their plans to have another baby aren't really meshing with God's plan for their life, they find out that they're absolutely right about that hunch.  Oh, the girl gets pregnant again, alright.  When she goes in to make sure everything is a-ok with the little peanut, she finds out that GOD ANSWERS PRAYER.  And this includes the prayers of a certain 3 year old boy who prayed every night for a brother AND a sister.  Enter the Tweebs into the picture.

     So, just to make sure everyone is with me, here's a summary:
         1. Boy and Girl get married.
         2. 3 years later, baby #1 arrives.
         3. 3 1/2 years after THAT babies #2 and #3 arrive. (7 weeks early, it turned out.  Thanks to God's loving care for our children, everyone was healthy.  Well, healthy-ish.  They did have to stay in the hospital for a month, but you wouldn't know it looking at either one of them now!)
       
     So, here we are (I'm dispensing with referring to us as "boy and girl", because I think you've surely figured out that this is MY story by now.), with our little, teeny house (not that I'm hating on the little house...we had some great years there.  But one 9x10 bedroom for 3 kids is pretty tight, especially when two of them aren't sleeping through the night yet.) bursting at the seams.  So we decide to take the plunge and build a house.  We move in on my 26th birthday....the day before the Tweebs 1st birthday!  And two weeks before Motormouth's 5th birthday.  Which means we need to start thinking about school.  After much discussion and prayer, we decide that homeschooling is what is best for our family.

     Almost 8 years after the beginning of our story, this is the situation:  a new house, a 5 year old, TWO 1 year olds, and getting ready to start homeschooling Motormouth for kindergarten!  Wow!  Enter the anxiety. Well, scratch that....add some anxiety.  Obviously, when you have children, you worry some about their safety, and I doing this or that right.....that sort of thing.

     I, however, in all my obsessive-compulsive glory, started to worry about EVERYTHING.  I would worry about school, worry about the house (well, worry about how the house looked, because I hadn't worried about the housework....), worry about the kids' safety, my own safety, if the world was going to end.........okay, that last one was a bit of an exaggeration, but honestly, not by much.

     Fast forward to today.  I have a 5th grader and two 1st graders.  We survived our first year of homeschooling, but I was stressed.  That stress and anxiety has built up over the years.  Which brings me to my current situation.  I don't want to be anxious anymore.  I shouldn't be this anxious, because I need to have faith that God will see me through whatever comes my way.  I have these three amazing blessings that God has given me the privilege to call my own.  Whatever anxiety I have is mine....I need to own it.  I want to make it clear that I don't blame my kids for my anxiety.....just my grey hair.  ;)  Seriously though, they don't cause the anxiety, but I've figured out what does, and how I'm going to work on fixing it.    Here's my plan:

     1.  PRAY OFTEN.  This is something that, in the busy life I lead, I neglect far to much.  And I ask the Lord to forgive me for that.  I'm going to try to remember that in the hectic times, when I feel like I can't do it, I need to stop and ask God to carry me through, because He WILL.

     2.  GET ORGANIZED.  If you know me AT ALL, you know that organization and housework are the bane of my existence.  There you go, Mr. Fantastic, I said it!  Right out there for all the people on the Internet to see!  I think that if I would get myself organized, I would feel so much less anxiety, because my space would be calm and relaxed.  It will also help my children learn better, and it is my job to do whatever I can to make their experience positive.  Plus, they need this example from me, otherwise they will not be ordered in their own lives.

     3.  SEARCH THE SCRIPTURES.  One thing I fail to remember far too often is that any struggle or question I have in my life can be answered simply by opening up God's word.  Again, as with prayer, study has been neglected much in my life, and I ask the Lord's forgiveness for that, too.  Study and prayer are things my kids need to see me doing, because they learn by my example.  No matter what I manage to teach them in our schooling, if I fail in this area of teaching...the teaching of how to live a Christian life, then I have failed in everything, because this is the MOST important.

     4.  SIMPLIFY.  I started working on this a few weeks ago, with our big curriculum change.  While we are still working out a few kinks, all in all I think this is going really well.  I'll post about our schedule on a different day, when I'm not posting a super ramble like today.

     5.  SLOW DOWN.  I'm going to slow down, and enjoy every second of every day with my children, because I really do feel that, no matter how many stressful or even downright BAD days we have, I have THE best job in the world.  I get to hang out all day long with the coolest kids on the planet.  How much better does it get?  One of these days I will look back and see that the time has gone by so fast.  I do not want to live with regrets and "what ifs".  Home educating gives us such a fantastic opportunity to really have quality time getting to know our kids, and to enjoy them.  I don't want to take that for granted any more.




     So, by now you're either extremely bored, or running for the hills.  I am going to call it a night.  Please though, if you would, take a minute and say a prayer for me, and for all the other moms and dads that are in this season of their lives, whether they are choosing to home educate or not, because it's a big, important job to raise our kids, and we could all use a little help now and then.  I will leave you with two last thoughts.....

 ^{"Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.  And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus."  Philippians 4:6-7}

 "Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord,
    the fruit of the womb a reward..."  Psalm 127:3

So it begins...

     It's done.  Our Sonlight is all packed up and ready to be shipped back.  EEK!  While it's incredibly scary, it's also SO exciting!  It's kind of freeing to break out of that box and pick and choose exactly what I think is going to work for each of my kids as individuals, as opposed to trying to shove all of them all into the same box, whether it fits or not.  

     We've only been doing the "classical" (which is in quotes because, a. I am planning on making our school and curriculum our own, and don't feel the need to label it any one thing in particular, and b. I am leaning toward a more classical education, but it's safe to say that, two days in, I'm probably not doing it all right.) schooling for two days now, but I have a good feeling about it.  I haven't felt as rushed about getting certain amounts of things done each day...I've concentrated much more on the kids really enjoying and understanding the things we have been learning.  

     Instead of rushing through a bit of the science lesson today so we could "check that off" and move to the next thing on the list, we spent a good hour on a couple of pages of our Human Anatomy and Physiology text, discussing the skeletal system, looking at pictures, and getting up and pointing out our different bones and what they're called.  

     While we ate breakfast we read the story of Rumpelstiltskin.  Then we meandered over to the Tweebs history lesson in A Child's History of the World.  (They really enjoyed today's lesson about the Israelites going from Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan again, because we have been studying in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy and Joshua in Bible class, so they knew their stuff!)

     While Motormouth finished up his science notebooking assignment, the Tweebs did their reading and some phonics/language worksheets with me.  Then while the Tweebs got cleaned up for the day, Motormouth did his reading in Favorite Medieval Tales.  

     The kids spent the afternoon at my cousin's house for their nature class that meets there every other week.  While I cleaned my kitchen (oh my goodness, part of my sanity is restored.), they learned about the healing properties of calendula, went on a nature walk, found and played with a rough green snake, and the Tweebs found some lovely poison ivy that they proceeded to rub all over their hands while they looked at my cousin and said, "Look at these soft leaves...wanna feel how soft they are??"  To which she replied, "What is our rule?"  ...."Don't pick something up unless you know what it is...."  "So what is that you are holding?"  "A leaf........oh no!  It has thumbs!"  So they may get a chance to test out their new calendula oil that they have been making for the past six weeks.  

     While we were eating dinner and getting ready for boy scouts, Motormouth and I worked on history.  The book we're using for him at the moment is Famous Men of the Middle Ages.  We're still in the introduction, so today's lesson was about Valhalla, the Valkyries, the Frost Giants, Heimdall and the forming of the world.  While we are Christian, and don't believe in mythology, I still find it absolutely fascinating.  Right now what we are studying is Germanic mythology, but we will also at some point be covering the Romans and Greeks.  We read our lesson together and worked on our memory work for history, and the Tweebs worked on Art.  We talked about Vincent Van Gogh and they each colored a coloring page based on Starry Night.  Before the boys went off to scouts and Thing 1 and I went to my sister's for a Partylite party, Motormouth finished up some math.  (Saxon 6/5, if you were wondering.)  

     So, that's what our day looked like today.  Like I said, it's a work in progress, and there are some tweaks I'm going to have to make to our schedule.  (Such as, in our Latin-centered education, today there was the GLARING omission of Latin class.  And I didn't realize that until I started  typing this paragraph.  Well, crap.)  There is always tomorrow....I know it's going to take a few days to get into the swing of things. Hopefully by next week I'll have us on track.  :)  

     I'm exhausted, and really should go to bed, but instead I'm going to sign off of here and watch Once Upon a Time.  Sleep is for the weak.  

     

Just breathe....

     Okay, so I'm really going out on a limb here.  I'm taking the plunge and sending back our Sonlight curriculum.

     I love Sonlight.  The years using it have been great to us.  I used it for Motormouth for 2nd-4th grade.  We used it during those first years where I was terrified to not have something in front of me that I could just open and go, and it would tell me what to do.  We have a terrific home library as a result of the cores we have purchased.  We will still use it some in the years to come with the Tweebs.

     Now I'm a little more comfortable in my own skin though, and know the learning styles of my kids well enough to feel more confident in my ability to put together my own set of stuff for us to use.  The Sonlight instructor's guide that used to help me so much has become stressful, because, with my tendency to over worry about "checking all the boxes", when I don't complete every activity in a given week all I can think about the next week is what we are "behind" on.  In reality, it is definitely not necessary to complete every activity....there are tons of things there to complete.  I've begun letting the IG rule me instead of letting it guide me.  Some people can just pull what they want from it, and leave the rest.  I am not one of those people...if it's there, I feel like I MUST do it.  Another problem is that the Language Arts curriculum is not my favorite, and Motormouth really doesn't like it.  Unfortunately, the history, reading and LA are all a part of the core, so I'm spending money (a LOT of it), and not everything I'm buying is useful to me.  I do however, love their reading suggestions, and their history books.  I'm very much for the living book approach to education.  So, for now at least, I am going to say see you later to Sonlight.  That doesn't mean I'll never go back, but we need a change of pace.  I may still pick and choose things from them to purchase at different times...we'll just see.

     I'm not going to buy curriculum from a box this time.  I'm going to piece together something to work for us, following a classical approach.  I'm using some suggestions from the book I'm reading, The Latin-Centered Curriculum, but as I use it, I'm going to continue using what works, and pitch what doesn't.

     We're starting Monday with our new history study, Famous Men of the Middle Ages.  Our first lesson talks about Odin, Thor and Loki.

Think I can get away with using Chris Hemsworth as a lesson in mythology?  

     Wish me luck as we dive in to our new adventure!  

Once Upon A Time....

     Once upon a time......I'm beginning tonight's post this way for two reasons.

     A.  Once Upon A Time.....how did I NOT know about this show?!?!?  We're only a few episodes in on Netflix (what would we do without Netflix?), and tell me something.  How is it possible to despise the evil queen/mayor as much as I already do?  WHAT a HAG!  I'm sitting here yelling at the t.v., she makes me SO angry.  The kids love it, too.  We were dying for Mr. Fantastic to get home tonight so we could watch another episode.

     2.  In our quasi-move to classical education, I'm beginning to read fairy tales to the Tweebs for our literature section of school.  But not the watered down, break into a musical number every five seconds, Disney kind of fairy tales.  I'm talking the real deal,  Evil Queen eats the heart that the Huntsman brings her (which, at the time, she believes is the heart of Snow White!), Woodcutter slices the wolf's stomach open to find Red Riding Hood inside kind of fairy tale.  Some pretty wild stuff, that's for sure.

     We are finishing up our unit on China this week.  Tonight was a lot of fun....we made eggrolls, crab rangoon and orange chicken.  Motormouth finished up his project on an endangered species native to China-the Giant Panda.  I'll post pictures as soon as I get a chance.

     I wish I had something funny to leave you with tonight, but alas, I'm exhausted and nothing is coming to me.  I need to start keeping a list of the funny stuff, I guess.

     Until next time......

To classically educate or not....that is the question.

     Okay, so I had said in my last post that I would be talking about some changes in our homeschool.  Recently, Motormouth looked at me and said, "Mom, I want to learn to speak Latin."  Any of you who know my oldest child will not be surprised by this.  So of course, I say yes.......because I speak Latin, right? NOT. A. WORD.  But hey, why not add it to the million other things that we do everyday?  That thought (about the million things we try to squeeze in every day) brought me to another thought.  (I know...two thoughts in this head in a short period of time....unheard of!)  WHY do we try to fit in a million different things?  It seems to me that, anymore, MORE is better.  So we try to do a bunch of different things just sort of mediocre, as opposed to some things very well.  Hmmm.....which brings me to my next thought.....

     "Multum non multa".-Pliny the Younger.  Not many things (multa), but much (multum).  Multum non multa is described very well by Andrew A. Campbell in his book The Latin-Centered Curriculum.  Mr. Campbell states, "Formal education should not merely introduce us to many things---the multa, which can by necessity lead only to superficial knowledge---but should encourage us to drink deeply at the springs of our culture." (The Latin-Centered Curriculum, Andrew A. Campbell, pg. 49, para. 3)   I want my children to grow up with a love for what is good and true and beautiful, and to become knowledgeable and virtuous men and women.  I want them to know about the amazing people of our past, and not just the past that began when our ancestors came to the New World.  I want them to read great works of literature, and understand them.

     I've had a few people say to me, "Don't teach your kids Latin, it's a dead language.  Teach them something useful."  If you can master Latin, the English language will be easy.  So much of our language is based in Latin and Greek, that if we learn those two languages, our grammar and vocabulary will come naturally as a result.  I mean, take it from Gus Portokalos:

You cannot argue with this logic.  By the way, put some Windex on it.

     So, I'm going to research.  I'm going to pray.  I'm going to try my very best to do what is best for my kids.  Sometimes I feel like I'm experimenting on them, but hey, I'm a mom, it's my prerogative, right?  

    This is what I think our school day will look like when I'm done:

       Daily: Classical languages, math and composition

       A few times a week:  Literature, Religion, History, Geography and Science (Logic and Philosophy will be introduced in 7th and 11th grades, respectively.)

     The one difference in our schedule from the above schedule is that we will have Bible study daily, not just a few times a week.  Other than that though, I'm going to try to stick to this. 

      I'm in the process of deciding what to use for our composition.  Motormouth loves Sonlight curriculum, which we will still use parts of.  Sonlight seems to kind of go along with classical education, to a point.  It's very literature based, so in the book lists for Sonlight are some of the books suggested by Mr. Campbell in his book.  One interesting note is that The Hobbit is in Motormouth's reading list for this year, but Mr. Campbell doesn't list it until 8th grade.  Seeing as he's super excited to read it, I think I'll have him read it for enjoyment now, and then take a more in depth look at it again in 8th grade.  

     So I guess what I'm going to finally do after all these years, is quit being a slave to curriculum, and make it OURS.  I'm going to take a deep breath, quit worrying about what public schools are teaching, and when-and just teach my kids.  It's as simple as that.  

     If you read this, and have experience with classical education, please, feel free to leave some comments with advice for me!  If you read this and don't have experience with classical education, please, feel free to leave some advice for me!  Wish us luck!

Good night.

And it begins.

     THAT being the stupid cold/flu season.  Mr. Fantastic and Thing 2 are both sick today.  Not fun.  It's only October 9th!!!  Are we kidding here?!?!  It's like there is a sign on my front door, or on my family member's heads that say "PLEASE!!  Germs, we would just LOVE for you to come camp out here in our bodies!"  I hope that this yuck, whatever it is, stays confined to the two of them. 

     Okay, enough of that....movin' on.  I don't think I like the look of my blog.  So I'm going to change it...again.  Also, I'm going to try to figure out how to make a button.  A friend of mine suggested it, and it's a great idea.  Now just to actually implement it.  :) 

     I'm going to talk about some changes I'm making to our school and curriculum, but I'm going to save that for a separate post, after I've made the above changes, because the boring-ness of my blog is distracting me from anything else.  So.....I'll be back soon....

I hate trying to think of titles. That is my title.

     Seriously, I really think the worst part of this whole blogging business is having to think up some title to go along with my post.  I may boycott it.  Who knows?

     So, where was I last time?  Oh yes, saying that I was going to try to do this weekly.  Well, TRY is the operative word there, so...there you go.

     Last week we went to the rodeo y'all!  I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the rodeo.  Especially the bull riding.  It's my favorite part.  We didn't make it to the pro rodeo this year, but the one we saw was still pretty good.  The school field trips are to the youth rodeo portion of the American Royal.  We chose to go on the day they had the high school kids, hoping it would be more like the "real" rodeo.  ;)  We also went to the World of Agriculture, which was alright, but the rodeo was definitely our favorite part.  Some of the World of Ag stuff was just not as fun for our age of kids.  The oldest kids in our group are 12...they don't care to see a presentation on veterinary college quite yet.  It was a fun day though.

     We also had art with our homeschool group, and we made tie dye t-shirts to wear when we do group outings.  So much fun!  The kids love their shirts.  This Friday is PE, and I'm the teacher, so we'll see if I survive that!

     One thing that has particularly stressed me in the past week and a half is the number of things we have going outside our home.

      Every Monday through November 12, Motormouth has a prep class for the Geo Bee.  It's 30 minutes away from home, and it's two hours long, from 9:30am-11:30am.  So, IF we go straight there and straight back with absolutely no chatting with the teacher, etc., we have a minimum of 3 hours outside the house.  I don't drive back home while he's in class because it just takes too much fuel in my gas hog of a SUV.  My mom is also taking him to the class sometimes, which does help with me being able to accomplish more of the Tweebs schooling while Motormouth is at class, but he still has a lot to do when he gets home.  That gets crazy.

     Let's move on to Tuesday.  Every other Tuesday the kids have a 3 hour nature class at my cousin's house, which is about 20 minutes away.  Every Tuesday evening the boys have scouts.  One Tuesday a month, Thing 1 and I have scouts.  One Tuesday a month I have a service unit meeting for scouts.

     Wednesday is usually allergy shots, schoolwork and Bible class in the evening (where I teach Motormouth's Bible class).

     Thursday, THANKFULLY, is usually free.  I say usually....there are random doctor's appointments thrown in there.

     Friday is Art/PE day.  Every other week it's here, and the other weeks, it's at my friend's home, 30 minutes away.  It usually takes a couple of hours.

     Oh, and sometime Monday-Friday we have to find time for schooling and cleaning.  Unfortunately, this all led to a near nervous breakdown yesterday.  The house was is a disaster, we were behind on our school schedule, and there was never a moment of quiet in my head.  My friends, I thought I was going to lose it.  It was one of those nights where, before bed, you're kissing your kids goodnight, and also apologizing for turning into this:

Momma needs a time out.

     But, this too shall pass.  I will look back and wonder where all the time went, and how my kids turned into adults in a matter of minutes.  I breathe.....I pray.....and I ask God to help me remember how blessed I am, even when I'm feeling like I can't get through the next minute.

     I know that this wasn't a particularly funny post.  You know, I have quite a few close friends who tell me often how funny they think I am.  Then when I go to type a post, I think "wow, I am full of wit and I'm really going to show everyone!".  Then you get the above post.  Ugh.  I've decided it's one of two things.  Either I'm not a good writer, OR (and this is probably a lot of the reason) there are some things I can get away with telling my best friends that I don't particularly want embedded on the internets from here to eternity.  I tend to say things that really should probably never leave my brain.  Like when one of my children asks me a question that is ridiculous, or does something equally as ridiculous as the question, my response is usually "Are you on crack?".  In my defense, my kids ask some crazy questions.  

     So, as I wrap up my post for the day, let me leave you with some insight into Thing 1's brain:

        "I wish that you could take the seeds on top of the bun at Burger King, plant them, and grow cheeseburger trees."  Don't we all, sweetie.  Don't we all.

No, I didn't fall off of the face of the earth.....

     Wow.  It's been a LONG time since I've posted.  I think we've all figured out by now that my attention span is roughly that of a 3 year old.  I'm really going to try to stick with it this time....at least a post a week or something.  That said, it may be March before you hear from me again....who knows?  At least I keep ya guessing.  I do love this new little feature that shows your stats though.  I honestly thought my page was NEVER looked at.  But I've had 1,842 views!  Woo hoo!  Maybe I will write more often!

     So, what has been happening in our crazy house since May?  Let's see....
         
          1. Motormouth attended his very first year of Bible camp and LOVED EVERY MINUTE!  It was hard for this momma....between you and I....I cried for a good half hour after we left camp.  He had never been away from us like that before!  He was gone from Sunday afternoon through Friday afternoon.  It was such a wonderful experience for him.  He made so many new friends.  Most importantly, he learned more about our great and awesome God.  He even led a cabin devo!  I was so happy to hear that, and he loved doing it.  He's going to be a great Christian man someday.  :)  He also attended Webelos camp with his dad.
        
          2.  We took a family trip to Pasadena, TX for the lectures at Southside Church of Christ.  It was absolutely fabulous seeing all our friends there, and the lessons preached were great.  We drove to Galveston to visit a friend there, and the kids had a great time playing at the beach.  We also visited NASA...the kids loved that!  I will have to upload my pictures soon.  I think their favorite thing we did was the Kemah boardwalk....it was a nice, relaxed day.  We were sad to leave our friends when it was time to go.  But we already have plans to go next year!

          3.  Thing 1 and I went on our first Girl Scout campout.  It was a really fun day....super hot though!  By the end of the day, when it was bedtime, she realized she wouldn't have a night light....uh oh.  So, we ended up coming home and sleeping here, but it was still a great experience.  6 years old is kind of young for an overnight, and with her horrible allergies, she probably would have woken up with her eyes swollen shut.

    
      Thing 2 was very sad that he wasn't able to attend any campouts this summer, because he wasn't old enough for scouts yet.  Having a twin sister is kind of hard when Girl Scouts start a year younger than Cub Scouts.  It will be different next summer though, because he is now a Tiger cub!  He's loving it, and his daddy is his den leader, so that makes him happy. 

     We're on our third week of school now, and so far everything is going smoothly.  We are using Sonlight curriculum again....Core F.  It's the Eastern Hemisphere, and so far, so good.  Motormouth has loved studying about China.  The Tweebs are using Abeka this year, because we have it from when Motormouth was their age.  They'll start Sonlight next year.  They always do our read alouds with us though, and history and science.  So we just kind of mix it all together. 

     One big change for us this year was switching from Sonlight science to Apologia.  Motormouth loves Sonlight, but he was just wanting a change of pace in science; something more hands on.  Apologia has been a perfect fit for us so far!  We're using Exploring Creation with Human Anatomy and Physiology.  The Tweebs are also doing that along with their older brother.  They're all notebooking, which has been really cool addtion to what we've been doing.  Having all the different types of activites within one lesson has really helped them to retain what they've learned.  The Tweebs can even tell you the parts of a cell and what they do! 

     Motormouth is studying for the National Geographic Bee.  He's really excited for the experience, and will learn SO much. 

     Well, tomorrow we are going to the American Royal rodeo with our homeschool group, so I had better wrap this up.  I'll try to be back soon with some funny stories, and to update what's going on in our little family. 

Goodnight! 

My review of Time 4 Learning

About a month ago, I agreed to give a candid review of Time 4 Learning in exchange for a month free trial.  That trial ends tomorrow, so I thought I would go ahead and give my review! 

First of all, just as a reminder, the Tweebs are in Kindergarten, and Motormouth is in 4th grade.  So those are the grade levels we used.  I'll start with Kindergarten, and then move on to the 4th grade stuff.

The Tweebs were really excited to try this out, and in the beginning they thought it was really fun.  I like the way it's set up, to where the parent chooses how long the child has to spend on a lesson before they're allowed to access the "playground" part of the site.  So they actually have to do their lessons before they can do anything else.  You can also go in at any time and choose to change the grade level.  This is something I REALLY wish I would have done with the Tweebs from the beginning.  Alas, I didn't get it done until yesterday.  :(  The Tweebs are pretty much right on level for their age....not behind, but not really ahead either.  So I was afraid to move them to the 1st grade lessons.  I really wish I had, and I'll tell you why.  When you go into a lesson (in Kindergarten you have the choice of Language Arts, Math and Science) it explains the instructions.  Then it shows an example of how you choose your answer and submit it.  It talks fairly slow, to make sure they don't miss anything.  Which I like, for the first question, so they can really understand it.  The thing I didn't like, and they didn't either (especially Thing 2, who has attention and focus problems, so he is very impatient) was that every time you go to the next page, it repeats the instructions AGAIN, very slowly.  If your kids are like mine, where they are pretty proficient in video game and computer use, they don't need the instructions over and over, and just want the voice to be quiet so they can choose their answer and move to the next page!  I was afraid to skip to the 1st grade though, thinking they would miss something.  I wish I had, because the 1st grade lessons are more on par with what they are learning.  Thing 2 did a little of it this morning, and he liked it much better, as it had the short vowel words and such, where the Kindergarten, unless I'm just missing something, didn't get to that.  The math they enjoyed a little more, because it was things like patterns, matching and such, but once again, the slowness of it because of repeated instructions really annoyed them.  They also enjoyed the science, and would have liked it better if it was faster paced.  So, overall, my advice would be to really check out the different grade levels, and don't just assume that if your child is a certain grade, that is the level they need to use.  They will get much more out of it if they aren't getting frustrated.

Motormouth used the 4th grade lessons.  He LOVED it.  I liked the way it was laid out....on each concept it would have a few pages of lesson, and then move up a little to the next step.  After a few of those steps, there would be a quiz.  You can do math, science, social studies, language arts, and language arts extensions.  The extensions are things like grammar and spelling.  That is what I had him use the majority of the time, because that is the area he needs the most work in, so it's what I needed to supplement.  He also used the science, just for some added fun.  I really liked that the spelling lessons included alphabetizing.  He HATES alphabetizing, but he really, really needs to work on it, so this momma loved it! 

Overall, I really did like Time 4 Learning, and would recommend it.  I may use it next year when we start up school again.  I just would advise you to really check out the activities for your child's grade level to make sure that they're what you're needing.

Have a great day!

Time 4 Learning Disclosure

I've been invited to try Time4Learning for one month in exchange for a candid review. My opinion will be entirely my own, so be sure to come back and read about my experience. Time4Learning can be used as a homeschool curriculum, for afterschool enrichment and for summer skill sharpening. Find out how to write your own curriculum review for Time4Learning.

My INFORMAL Abeka 5 year old Kindergarten review

     Okay, let me stress to you that this in an INFORMAL review.  I'm getting nothing from Abeka by doing this, it's purely for informational purposes so that maybe some mom who is where I was 5 years ago, desperately trying to figure out what is going to work for her child, might get some insight.  I will give what I think are the pros and cons of this curriculum, but just as a disclaimer: your child and my children may be very different.  What works for me and my family may not work for you and your family, and vice versa.  So, here we go.....

     First of all, here is a link directly to the Abeka page that shows the different books I used for 5 year old kindergarten.  I used Abeka's K5 Manuscript kit for Motormouth and am currently using it for the Tweebs.  I used the child and parent K5 manuscript kit, Social Studies K, Readiness Skills K, and Art Projects K for Motormouth.  I only used the child and parent K5 Manuscript kit and the Social Studies K with the Tweebs.

      Abeka K5 Letters and Sounds has worked well for all three of my kids.  It's pretty straightforward, and has lots of colorful workbook pages, which my kids like.  They think plain old black and white pages are boring.  Sometimes the pictures can be a little distracting, especially for Thing 2, but he's distracted by a speck of dust floating past his face, so I wouldn't base your opinion on that!  Like I said, they take a very straightforward approach to phonics.  You start the year by learning each individual letter and letter sound (you learn the short vowels and consonants first, then they bring in the long vowels) with worksheets and flashcards.  Your standard "A says a as in Apple" stuff.  They learn a clue word and sentence for each letter, which my kids liked.  I know that some children have a hard time understanding that vowels have "long" and "short" sounds, considering you don't usually use those terms to describe a sound.  If you think that will be a problem for your child, I would suggest checking out Scaredy Cat Reading System.  I have not personally used it, but a close friend, who had previously tried teaching her kids to read with Abeka, said it worked much better for her kids.  I have three very different types of learners, and Abeka has worked well for all three when it came to teaching basic phonics.  But that doesn't mean it works for everyone.  After you learn basic letter sounds, you will then build on that to make sound blends, short vowel words, and then will progress to bigger words with more than one vowel.  We're at the end of our kindergarten year with the Tweebs, and they are learning the different "special sounds" that words make.  (Example: O says it's long sound when it's the only vowel at the end of a short word)  About halfway (or somewhere there abouts) through the year, your child will start reading practice.  If you purchase the kit, you get all the readers to go along with the curriculum.  The kids really enjoy them, because they have their own little "books" (they're pretty much just a few papers stapled together) that they can put their name on.  For added fun and a sense of accomplishment, I would stick a sticker on the front next to their name once they completed a book.  By the end of the year they will be reading simple books, recognizing and writing all their letters, and will know the proper way to write a sentence (capital letters, all sentences have a period, question mark, etc.).  I think that about covers it.  I kind of over simplifed what they learn, but I'm not going to list every rule they learn for reading, etc. here.  Feel free to comment with any questions if I left something important out that you would like to know!  All in all, I really don't have any complaints about Abeka's K5 Phonics/Reading program.  It's worked great for our family.

     Numbers Skills K is the K5 math with Abeka.  There is a Numbers Skills K workbook, and a Numbers writing tablet to practice writing numbers.  Like the Letters and Sounds book, it is colorful and fun to look at.  They start off learning to recognize patterns, alike/different, counting, and writing each number from 1-10.  Once they've gotten 1-10, you move on to the other "number families"...the teen family, twenty family, thirty family, and so on.  By the end of the year they will have learned how to recognize, count and write numbers 1-100, how to tell time by the hour, half hour and quarter hour, colors, shapes, basic addition and subtraction, and the basics of money (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters..).  I think that about covers it.  We liked how it taught adding and subtracting by showing pictures of objects to count.  We also added in our own manipulatives, because who doesn't like playing with blocks??  Overall, I'm pretty satisfied with their kindergarten math curriculum.  Thing 2 HATES the numbers writing, along with the handwriting, because he gets bored.  But that's nothing wrong with the curriculum.  He just doesn't have a long attention span, and doesn't focus well.  But he still has to learn how to write, so we just try to break it down into short sessions so that he doesn't get too frustrated.

Oh!  One thing I forgot to mention about the phonics and math.  There are sporadic "tests" throughout the books that are just reviews of what they've been learning.  I don't stress too much about those.  They take them, but I try to praise them no matter what the grade is, because I don't want to foster a sense of competition and being disappointed in one's self, especially at that young of an age.  In our state, the compulsory attendance age is 7-16.  So when they are 5 and 6 years old, I don't track "grades" persay.  I just watch to see what they miss on those periodic assesments so that we know what we're still needing some work on.  There are also reading tests that you can keep track of.  I did those with Motormouth, because he took to reading right off the bat, and has a very high reading level.  He liked to get a grade, because he thought it was fun to show off his "report card" to his dad.  With the Tweebs I have not done graded reading tests.  They're learning to read at a different pace than their brother, which is just fine.  All kids are different.  I've found with them though, that if they feel pressured by "testing" them on their reading, it just causes unneccessary stress, and actually causes them to trip up more.  I want to foster a lifetime love of reading and learning, and if they are constantly feeling like they're not good enough, they will want to give up.  So I just give lots of positive reinforcement, and we practice, practice, practice!  Just make sure that you check out whatever the homeschool laws are in your particular state though, because every state is different.  Some require much more record keeping, and some are even more lax about it than Missouri.  If you don't know the homeschool laws for your state, visit http://www.hslda.org/ for homeschool laws and other great info. 

     The thing that all three of my kids would list as their least favorite subject?  Writing.  Oh how they despise writing.  I chose Writing with Phonics Manuscript.  Abeka does give you the choice to start kindergarten with cursive, but I wanted my kids to learn how to print first.  I know that, as an adult, I tend to print more often than not, so I want to make sure they know how to form their letters properly in print first.  We moved on to cursive in second grade.  But do whatever feels right for your family.  Abeka's writing curriculum corresponds with what the kids are learning in the Phonics curriculum.  The letter they're learning the sound of at the time is also the letter they're learning to write.  The Writing with Phonics book is colorful just like all the other Abeka workbooks.  I don't have a ton to say about the writing, to be totally honest, but that's not saying it's a bad curriculum.  I actually have used Handwriting without Tears in 2nd grade for my oldest, and didn't care for it as much.  The way that Abeka teaches how to form your letters is the way I want my kids to learn it.  Some of the HWOT letters were formed differently, which then tripped up my oldest when it all changed in 2nd grade.  But that's for another review.  I guess what all this rambling means is that, between the two handwriting curriculums I've used with my kids, I prefer Abeka's.  Either way, all three of my kids pretty much despise writing and think it's totally boring and repetitive.  So, once again, I just try to keep the increments of time small when we work on it, so that there is as little frustration as possible. 

     In all of Abeka kindergarten's "core" subjects, they take a spiraling approach.  They take what you've already learned, review it, and then add a little more to the lesson to build on it.  Especially for kindergarten, I really like that about it.  It got frustrating for my oldest in first grade, which I will address in my review on Abeka 1st grade curriculum.  He has always caught on to things rather quick though, so too much repetitiveness annoys him.  It has worked very well for my younger two. 

     I've also used the Art Projects K and the Social Studies K.  They are both nicely put together just like the rest of Abeka's workbooks, I just really didn't use them that much.  It was all stuff that I could put together on my own without purchasing a workbook.  All of the art projects could pretty much be done with crayons, scissors and glue.  That's not bad, I just didn't want to spend the money a second time to get something I could do pretty easy.  But if you are someone who is short on time or creativity, and would rather just have it there to tear out and do, then you might really like it.  The Social Studies K focuses a lot on community and community helpers.....teaching the kids about their neighborhood, policemen, firemen, librarians, etc.  Once again, not a bad book, but it's just stuff I really can handle pretty easy with some free printables online. 

     So, you might be wondering.....do I not have ANYTHING I didn't like about Abeka?  The one thing that I don't just love is that Abeka seems to be Christian school curriculum that can also be used for homeschooling.  Which means, sometimes, (more so in the 1st grade than the K curriculum) there is "busy work" for the kids, so that the teacher can be working with other students while it's being completed.  Considering I only have 3 children at home with me, and one of them is basically self taught, I don't need the busy work.  But, if we get to something that seems to be repetitive just for the sake of giving the teacher time with other students, and I don't feel that we need it, we just skip over it.  But it definitely wouldn't keep me from recommending Abeka kindergarten curriculum to anyone looking.

     That is my ridiculously rambling review of Abeka K5 curriculum.  Hopefully in future reviews I will be able to sum things up a little better, and not write an entire encycopedia on why or why not I would recommend something!  Overall, Abeka K5 has really worked for our family, and the kids have done well with it and liked it.  Once again, if there are questions you have that I left unanswered, I would be more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability if you leave a comment below. 

Until next time! 

Trying some new things....curriculum reviews, book reviews, etc.

Okay, I'm making a concious effort to blog more!  I figured a good way to "feel accountable" was to start posting some reviews on books/curriculums I've tried with my kids. 

My first post, which I hope to get done today, will be on the Abeka curriculum we've used.  I used Abeka for K-1 with Motormouth, and used it this year for K with the Tweebs.  I'm kind of up in the air about using it for 1st with the Tweebs.  More on that in my Abeka review.

I will also be posting a series of reviews on the curriculum I've used with Motormouth for 2-4th grades.  We began using Sonlight in 2nd grade, and have used it every since.

I will *hopefully* be posting a review of www.time4learning.com.  I'm kind of "shopping around" to see if I'm going to stick with Abeka for the Tweebs in 1st grade, or switch to something else.  So I applied to get a month of a subscription on the Time 4 Learning website to try out with the Tweebs, and then I will post a review of what I think.  Thing 2 is a very visual learner, and gets bored very easily, so I thought it might be worth a shot to try online curriculum. 

Since we have been using Sonlight, we read A LOT of books.  Most of which are very good.  I'll probably review the books we've read this year first, since they're fresh in my mind.  But there are also a few real standouts from previous years, that Motormouth still talks about. 

So, that said, look for my informal review of Abeka's Kindergarten and 1st grade curriculum later today.  I hope maybe I can give some good info for anyone looking into curriculum for the next school year!

See you soon. 

Trying to get back into the swing of things, and a new look

Okay, first things first....bear with me on how the blog looks right now.  I'm not so good at this template designer thing, and am having trouble getting "the look" just right.  So if you have trouble reading the font the color it is right now, I promise, it will change! 

Second, I really, really am going to try to stick with this blog thing again.  I must have some mild adult ADHD or something, because I have some serious issues staying on task.  I tend to switch subjects mid-sentence.  Ugh....try teaching a couple of kindergartners how to read when you tend to be like that.  Especially when one of said kindergartners has the same attention span you do.....roughly 4 seconds.  But, I guess the only way to get better at it is to keep trying, right??? 

So, here we go again.  Assuming that there are actually people out there, waiting with bated breath to hear what ramblings come out of my chaotic and frequently unstable mind....