School is in Session

Technically, we started school in July of this year.  However, I didn't get "first day of school" photos until August so here is my school post for this year.  Disclaimer:  I did not receive any compensation for mentioning the following products.

Everyone is working on:

Mystery of History Volume 1-We have already done this volume but took a break last year for American History.  This year, we're back at it.

Exploring Creation with Botany-I'm not going to name names but there were a few groans about studying plants.  Needless to say, when we started breaking out our Nature's Workshop Plus Botany Lab Kit, the groans ceased.

Math Mammoth-While I still love Life of Fred, I've noticed that the kids seem to not have enough drill and thereby are falling behind on several math skills.  I was able to purchase Math Mammoth through the Homeschool Co-op at a great price.  So far, I like it and it seems to be helping the kids catch up to speed on all things mathematical.

I have very good intentions to add some dication in there as well...Good intentions.

Zoe:
She has a lot of good books to read this year and some she has already read.  We're focusing this whole semester on getting through The Lord of the Rings and subsequently watching the movies as a treat.  This book has provided a lot of great opportunities to discuss various themes throughout literature as well as looking at how our beliefs influence our actions and in Tolkien's case, his writing.

IEW Rockets, Radars and Robotics-Yes, there's some technical in this, but there is also a lot of fun creative writing.  Okay, I say it's fun creative writing but the kids just make faces.  And for even more added fun, I'm snagging essay contests as they come across my email.  They are jumping for joy.  Zoe and Ace are both doing this.

Spelling Power-We continue to trudge through this curriculum and we usually do it once or twice a week.

Winston Grammar-First Language Lessons did an amazing job setting a good foundation in grammar that following up after that has been hard.  Winston Grammar has worked out well in that it takes a different approach (labeling versus diagramming) to identifying parts of speech and after completing it and the Advanced, she will be completely done with grammar.

Ace:
His reading list is different than Zoe's but other than that, we are using the same curriculum as she but on a different level.

Liam:
He is learning cursive this year!  I know that it's not common to teach it but since so many fonts are in cursive nowadays, I find that teaching how to write it also helps to learn to read it.

Building Spelling Skills-Every super hero has a weakness and spelling is Liam's.  As a decent speller, it is  hard for me to accept but he is working hard at it and appears to be doing well on grade level.  This curriculum is a little slower paced and repetitive enough that I think it is helping in the spelling area.

First Language Lessons of the Well-Trained Mind-Liam is doing a great job with this curriculum this year.

Again, different reading list.

Josiah:

He has his own reading list as well and is continuing on the same curriculum as Liam but only at a grade level below him.


Ceili Rain:

My newest student is working in Abeka Phonics and Saxon Math K.  She has two sidekicks (Bryant and Malachi) who enjoy the lessons as well.

And now for the obligatory first day of school pics:

Project Fair 2014

This year's project and performance fair was quite different in that I was the coordinator.  And 38 weeks pregnant.  It was very busy but not too stressful as we had an amazing team working to bring it together. I made mistakes, sure, but if I continue next year I've definitely learned from it.

All of the kids (even Malachi) performed "Holy, Holy, Holy" with handbells.  I thought they did an amazing job.  But, since all seven performed, that meant Mark was up there nudging the littles when their note came up, and I was directing (on the floor...pretty impressive to say the least) and no video could be taken.  Perhaps some time later we can get a good video.  I would like to be a bit more diligent in practicing so that we could go places and minister to others with them.

Here's what the kids chose to do for their projects:

 Zoe had a Little House cookbok and since the Little House series is one of her favorites still, she chose to pick several recipes out of it to share.  She made hardtack, johnny cakes, apple turnovers and strawberry jam.  I didn't try the hardtack or johnny cakes but the turnovers and jam were delicious.

 Ace and Liam made a volcano!  Mark had fun with this one.  Ace researched Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii and Liam did research on Mount St. Helen's. Big props to Storm the Castle.  If you want to find any "crafts" boy related (think trebuchet, catapult, hidden blade...you know weapons crafts), this site is definitely the place to go.

Josiah decided to showcase Fifi the Rabbit.  We have a book on rabbits and Josiah found a lot of useful information in it, however, he can't type and to write it all up would have taken quite a bit of time.  So, two days before the fair, I realized that doing a lapbook would work much better.  Professor Google to the rescue!  With lapbook located and clock ticking Josiah went to work.  He was very diligent and he loved showing off our rabbit.  It's a Lion's head rabbit that friends gave us when they realized their new yard was too small to accommodate her.

Photo Op

A home school day at the lake turned in to a photo op for my adorable little ones.  The older kids were too busy being "anti-social" to take pictures (playing games like four square and skipping rocks with friends kind of anti-social).

 If I keep smiling, she'll never know I just ate a leaf.

 Josiah is refusing to dress like it is fall. 

 Hands down, Malachi is Ceili Rain's favorite person right now.  Do ya'll remember Elmira from Looney Tunes?  Well, it's that kind of favorite.  Bless him, despite all she puts him through he still smiles and laughs at her.  I think he either forgets that she carried him by his toes all around the room or he's just letting off that nervous "don't come near me" laugh.

 I scored some cute rainboots for Bryant for $4.  He had to wear them.  They take up almost all fo his foot.  And make him look 10 billion times as cute as he is.  Especially when he has a stick for a sword.

 Oh, back to me...okay, time to ham it up!

The little kids with their little friends.  They explored, pretended and romped around until we finally had to tell them it was time to go.

It's All Greek to Me

Every year, our city has a Greek festival.  Since the kids are learning Koine Greek, I thought they would enjoy seeing a bit of the Greek culture (in America, but it's still Greek nonetheless).  I was right, they did enjoy it. The folk dancing was good but the baklava was better!  They didn't enjoy the soulouvakia or the gyro (Mark and I did though).  

We got a variety box of pastries.  Otherwise, we would have been trying to pick something out all night.  Baklava was the favorite.  I wish I could tell you the names of all the pastries but I really can't pronounce any of them (right now).

Now, that day, we were planning on leaving a bit early to go to the festival because they were offering tours of the Greek Orthodox church and since we had studied a bit about the Greek Orthodox church, I thought they would enjoy seeing one in person.  We got ready to leave and I noticed that Ginger (our dog) was not outside.  I called her.  The kids called her and we could not find her anywhere.  We concluded that she slipped out as I was loading up the van.  Thus commenced a two hour search for the dog.  I even posted on our neighborhood facebook pages that we were missing our dog and for people to be looking for her.  I had given up all hope as the kids and I trudged along walking trails and up the road (we were only walking for about 30 minutes.  We drove most of the time).  Mark made it home while we were walking and did another search of the house.  He found her.  Hiding in a corner of the girls' closet, snoozing.  Zoe and I both looked in there and never saw her. 

Depsite our afternoon adventure, we had a wonderful time at the festival.

My 15 minutes...

Where I talk about being organized and homeschooling...ha.ha.  Right now we're not so much organized...but that's a whole 'nother story that I will share very soon.

Anyway, head over to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine and see what I had to say!   Stephanie Green is a local journalist who I've had the privilege of being interviewed by on multiple occasions.  She's such a sweet persona and I do so love talking to her (yes, she did misspell my name, but then again, who doesn't?).  So, when she called and asked if she could interview me for the homeschooling magazine that almost all homeschooling geeks moms know about...well, I couldn't pass up a chance to chat with her.

Oh, and Ceili Rain is in there too.  And I still can't believe how much she's changed in less than a year!  By the way, those pictures were taken when Malachi was in utero...hence the big belly and all!

The Futur(ity)

We had the opportunity to attend The Futurity for the first time this year.  Usually, it falls on a day/week/month when we are traveling (I know...stand back in shock).  But, this year it didn't.  Wondering if it has to do with a little one who is baking away in my belly. 

And since I know everyone knows what the Futurity is, I won't bore you with details.  Okay, I'm kidding.  We really had no clue what we were going to until we actually went.  It was a field trip of sorts and an extremely nice gentleman met with all of us to explain what we were actually going to see.  So, here's the lowdown that you can just skip if you already know what it is.

The Futurity is a week long cutting horse competition held every year in our town (okay, it's a city).  Cutting horses are trained to cut away a cow from a herd so that he/she can be treated, branded, or just looked over.  They were used primarily out west (which explains why I never heard of it.  I believe my granddaddy, daddy, and uncles just used a barricade of sorts to brand the cows...yes, my granddaddy was a cattle farmer and my uncle still is).  Anyway, while the cowboys were out on the "range" so to speak (I feel myself turning more country as I type), they got bored watching cows eat grass and whatnot.  So, they started competing to see who had the best cutting horse.  This naturally grew in to a big competition with big prizes.

Now, this is a horse competition.  So, what happens is, the cowboy or cowgirl rides in, picks out a cow from the herd and gets her singled out from the rest.  Then the cowboy or cowgirl relaxes her reins and the horse takes over.  And that's the amazing part, to see these majestic animals do what they are trained to do with little to no involvement from the rider.  It was also fun watching some of the riders because, well, some of them were big ol' boys!    Each horse gets about 2 minutes to cut away a cow.  And all of us totally loved it.  Mark swapped his regular off day to go with us and that was such a blessing!

Of course, our resident animal lover was beside himself!  Horses and cows everywhere.  He was saying "Horsie, Cow, Moooo!" almost the entire time. 

The John Deere tractors on display were a nice treat too.

 This is for my niece J, it was really neat to see several girls/women who were riding horses competing.  Their horses scored very well too!

 Still loving it!

*And since this was a field trip, most of these pictures were taken by the kids.  In all, they took over 100 including some of someone's shirt.  I pricked some of the best to share though.

A Day in the Life, Homeschooling 2011-2012

It seems that every minute of every day we are reworking our schedule but the big overhaul comes when we start our new curriculum.  So, here's how I homeschool all of this bunch AND maintain a resemblence of  sanity.

Breakfast time:  Before I got pregnant my goal was to have breakfast on the table at 7:30.  Now, we're blessed if it gets there by 8.  And no one is complaining.  The first rule of the day is GET DRESSED.  That was taking up the biggest chunk of our morning.  Getting dressed after breakfast would consist of me telling, disciplining, telling, discipling, yelling, and finally they would be ready for the day.  Now, every one is dressed and ready to go when we sit down at the table.  Which turns out to be a good thing because at breakfast is when we start school.  After I finish eating we crack open the books and they are free to continue eating or to sit still in their seats and listen and comment when necessary. 

At breakfast we do Bible, journaling (we have one family journal and everyone contributes what goes in), History, Science, calendar, and poetry (for Liam but everyone listens).

After breakfast we do quick chores including brushing teeth, putting away laundry, emptying the dishwasher, sweeping and mopping, dressing toddlers and brushing their teeth (those are my chores).

Morning time:  Zoe and Ace work on their schoolwork.  They each have a checklist that they run through each day and then we go over their work as needed.  I work with Josiah, Ceili Rain, and Liam through their school work.

Lunch:  After I finish eating lunch we read, I select one fiction book and one non-fiction book.  Right now we are enjoying The White Knights by W.E. Cule and The Adventure of Missionary Heroism by John C. Lambert.

Afternoons are reserved for playtime outside, rest time, and finishing up any work that had not been completed in the morning.  As the months go on, I'm hoping to work with Zoe on teaching her how to sew and learning stitchery (her choice, not mine).  The boys listen to our daily Bible reading in the afternoons and Zoe will read her Bible first thing in the afternoon. 

And that's how we do it.  It sounds simple when I type it out but if you were to come to my house you may find a two year old looking for someone to play with, a five year old who is hanging upside down reading, a seven year old who is looking for an excuse to stop working, an eight year old who is tolerating the distractions and doing her best to finish her work, and a four year old who is playing with trains.  Oh, the one year old is still taking naps in the morning and when he's not doing that he's usually running around the house with a ball.  Trust me, there is order even if my house doesn't look like it.  I think.

This is How We Do It...Homeschool 2011-2012

Yep, another year is upon us.  Actually, it's already started.  To keep sanity and limbs from being lost, we continued on with school in June and July.  Now, lest you think I'm a homeschool nazi, we did not do that much school.  If you'll remember June was the month of strep which carried over into July and crossed over into pregnancy blahs and friends visiting.  So, all total, we may have had school for possibly twenty days total.  So, don't judge people.  It was for my own sanity's sake.

Anyway here's what we're up to this year:

Bible
All Ages:  After reading A Love that Multiplies by Jim Bob and Michelle Duggar, and listening to my children yell and scream at each other, I decided that memorizing Matthew 18 would be a great place to start our Bible time.  We are through to verse 23.  As we memorize, we are also discussing what it means.

After we finish Matthew 18 we'll start into a more structured Bible time from Lamp & Quill.  I'm looking forward to this curriculum as it is written for all ages from Bryant all the way through to me.  We should gain a lot out of it.  Of course, this does not and will not replace our family worship time during the evenings.  This is a little extra that we'll be doing along with that and our daily Bible reading (we're reading/listening through the Bible chronologically)

Language Arts
Pre-K/K:  I rebelled this year.  We've stepped back from Abeka and are now trying Institute for Excellence in Writing's Primary Arts of Language (PAL).  Can I just say I love it?!  We started this month and the first month is very teacher intensive.  Knowing this, I was glad we waited until the others were set on their routines.  We're almost through with the most teacher intensive part and we should be heading towards more learning independence.  Liam is the primary student for this with Josiah and Ceili Rain playing the games and listening in at times.  This is right up Liam's learning alley because it moves quickly from one activity to another.  So, it holds his attention and he's starting to read at a slow pace.  This PAL program includes both reading and writing and will include spelling later in the year.

2nd Grade:  Primary Language Lessons by Emma Serle-I used this last year and enjoyed the easy pace of it for Zoe.  So, it's nice and easy going for Ace who doesn't seem to want to go too fast.

3rd Grade:  Easy Grammar: Grade 3-Zoe seems to be picking up on this and she's getting her daily dose of grammar without her head exploding diagramming sentences.

2nd & 3rd Grade (Writing):  Institute for Excellence (IEW) in Student Writing Intensive Level A (SWI).  Last year we used Writing Strands and having never taught writing, well, it didn't go so well.  Zoe and I survived, barely.  We got the Teaching Writing Structure and Style (TWSS) and the SWI.  The TWSS really is a teacher prep course and I have to say, I am prepared!  We've been doing this through the summer and it is going so much better!  Zoe is getting it and so is Ace.  Ace will go through the first two units while Zoe will complete the whole level (this was per the conversation I had with the IEW people at the convention).  I can see her brain starting to work and realize that she can enjoy writing!  One of the best things about IEW is that if you purchase your material from them and are not fully satisfied at any time you can return it! They also have a great yahoo group which offers super support.  And, if you're not sure where to start your child, request a catalog and there is a grade graph showing where to start what and when.

2nd & 3rd Grade Spelling:  Spelling Power-We used this last year and given Zoe's test results last year, we'll continue with it.  It's simple and takes about five minutes a day and includes everything I need from grades 2 through 12th grade.

Math
PreK:  Saxon Math K-Josiah will start this.  We are waiting to start until we get a good routine going for our PAL program.  Once that is set, I'll start it.  I'm in no rush although Josiah's doing a great job with his critical thinking skills.

K:  Saxon Math 1-Liam started some of this during the summer but when we started up PAL, I decided to put it on hold until it gets more student independent.  At five, Liam can't really take a full day of mommy's attention focused completely on him.  I can totally understand.

2nd & 3rd Grade:  Teaching Textbooks 3-This came after a bit of a struggle last year.  Zoe was ready to move a faster pace than Ace.  Ace needed more reinforcement of some concepts but could move on, although more slowly than Zoe, onto others.  They had started out on the same math because I learned a year too late that Saxon Math is usually set at a grade below what it's actually teaching.  So, much research was involved and we felt that Teaching Textbooks would be the way to go.  It gives Zoe that independent and quick learning that she needs and allows Ace to practice and re-practice, if necessary, concepts he can't quite get.  It also gives me a break from having to instruct daily math (at which I'm not very good at) lessons for older kids.  All the lessons are included on the software.  They get about 30 minutes a day on math and at the end of the day, I review how they did.  If they didn't do too well, I can erase the lesson record and they are required to do it again.  There have been zero tears of the math lessons although the fact reviews have brought a bit of tears.  With this being our third month, Zoe is on her third of four Cds, which means she is more than halfway through with the lessons.   When she finishes, she'll start in the Life of Fred series.  She's super excited about this as we've already done quite a bit of research on it!  She'll pick back up with Teaching Textbooks when we start the next school year (can't have her get too ahead of her peers now can we???)

History
All grades:  Mystery of History Volume II-I've scaled down my expectation on history and we are still loving this curriculum.  Zoe and Ace are continuing to work on Memory Cards with it and we are including a geography lesson (that is included in the back of each week's lessons) with it.  It's awesome and we're now studying my favorite part of history...the Middle Ages.

Science
All grades:  Apologia Science, Zoology 1, Flying Creatures of the Fifth Day-This has been a great text so far.  Included with several of the Apologia Science books are journals.  We are using the journals this year and it's been great to have everything we need right there.  Incidentally, if you are using Apologia Science the best place to get lab kits (with all the stuff you'd spent a week collecting at various stores) is Homeschool Science Tools.  It's also the cheapest.

Other stuff
Zoe is taking dance.  Ace is doing something else, but we're not sure what.  They are all doing gymnastics (it's a homeschool gymnastics that meets twice a month).  Zoe and Ace are both still doing piano although Ace's may change after this winter.  We've got handbells and art and other fun things to do in case they finish the above and are board.  We also are planning on expanding our missions work around our area.  The older kids are getting older and we're all learning that we need to show Christ's love to those around us.  I'm looking forward to opportunities to do that!

I will also say that almost everything we are purchasing now or have purchased in the past is non-consummable, or is in ebook form so we have the rights to print off as much as we need for the time we use it.  A lot of what we purchased this year was a bit expensive but taking into account we'll not need to purchase as the next child goes through it, well, it gets cheaper as we go (and the more kids we have).  And that's one of our minor goals!

So, stay tuned for tomorrow, when I'll let you know how we do all this during a day.  Well, at least how we're supposed to do all this in a day.

Presenting...

Zoe was part of our local homeschool speech and debate club this year.  She's too young to do debate, but they offered classes in public speaking, apologetics, and community platform for children her age.

Community platform presented opportunities for the children to effectively share the love of Christ in our community.  Around Christmas, she helped present a Christmas program and she was Curly Sue and Violet from Charlie Brown.  I, personally, thought she did a great job.  She loves being on stage and performing comes easily to her (no stage fright whatsoever, of course, she's very outgoing).  This Spring, their last performance was in the public schools doing various books.  I was a coach for this and as such, I pulled from my favorite children's books...Southern folk tales.

So, Zoe got to participate too.  She chose to do Brer Rabbit and Three Foots.  Both are deep southern pieces and she learned a lot about speaking dialect and how that should be portrayed to an audience (so they can understand you).  She, again, did a wonderful job!  We're so proud of her!

Such a serious group.  They ranged in age from 17 all the way down to 6!

But, at the end of the day, they are all just a bunch of goofy kids!

Change of Plans

A couple of weeks ago,  we had what I would describe as one of the hardest weeks of childrendom.  Every day was a struggle to get going and get things done.  Everyone was yelling and fighting and disobeying.  It was just hard.

So, by the time the weekend came, I was super happy!  And by the time the next Monday came, God started putting a plan into action.

Here's our new plan schedule and it works! 

Up and breakfast. We generally try and eat around 7:30 but that may not always be the case and if we eat later, it's okay.  We try to finish up all our breakfast activities by 8:30 or 8:45 so we can get a few chores done before school work.

While everyone is eating breakfast, I read.  We have a fiction book we read (generally from Lamplighter Publishing or with some character trait we want to teach) and now, we're reading Making Brothers and Sisters Best Friends by the Mallys.  Of course, with all that reading, I generally am reading while they are finishing eating, so I print out 21 Rules of This House for them to color while I read.  Honestly, I learn better and listen better if my hands are busy.  And I imagine that's true for my children as well.

After breakfast we do morning chores.  These vary from kid to kid and day to day but always include getting dressed and brushing teeth (very important). 

And then it's school time.  Zoe, Ace and Liam go to the bonus room to work on schoolwork.  I have toys out in the living room (just in view) for Josiah to play with.  Bryant goes down for a nap and Ceili Rain likes to hang out in the bonus room attacking everyone's papers and then settling in to play with a school toy I get out for her.

We break at 11 for outside play or, if it's raining, inside free time.

Lunch is at 12 with me reading some more.  This time it's History and Science and then it's time to sit and read with mom.  This is one of those things I love to do but sometimes it just slides.  And all my children love it too!  Even Zoe.  It's listener's choice.  That means they can pick out any book they want!  And they love reading.  And mom does those silly crazy voices and it makes it even more interesting.

After reading a few books, we practice our handbells (I'll have to post a video soon) and listen to our Spanish.  And then it's time to watch Adventures in Odyssey on JellyTelly and then it's rest time and mommy can get some things done.  The boys now have iPod access in their room and will listen to our daily Bible reading and more Adventures in Odyssey or an audiobook or classical music.  Everyone gets to stirring about 3 and then we have free time or finishing up school time, snack time, and getting dinner ready for when daddy gets home.

And Mark gets to come home to a happy house.  And I don't feel like my heads going to explode in gray hairs or that I need to be sent to a looney bin.  Ahhh peace!

My First Lapbook

A long time ago, I came across a website called Lapbook Lessons.  It was so long ago, I can't remember where I found the link.  Anyway, they had a cute free lapbook for big brothers and I decided to try out our first lapbook on Liam (and Josiah...but that meant I did most of his book).  It was a success.

For those that don't know, lapbooks or folder books or whatever you have to call them because someone copyrighted lapbooks, are books put together using file folders.  We made a double one which meant we used two folders.  We included all sorts of pockets, wheels, and other different forms of information regarding what it means to have a new baby in the house.  Liam loved it.  He also enjoys showing everyone the information.

So, for now, I do believe we'll be continuing with lapbooks...although they are a bit time consuming, so they won't be a constant part of our homeschool days!

Uggghhhh and Homeschooling in the New Year

I spent time, gathered and posted two different things for yesterday...all done on Tuesday.   And somehow they disappeared!  I'm so frustrated.  It was pictures of the kids with grandparents for Christmas.  So, look for those posts tomorrow.  However, since we're starting back to school on Monday, I decided to update what we'll be doing for the second part of the year!

Zoe:  Character Quality Language Arts Level Pre-A, Green Series.  This is a language arts series that has no frills but is straightforward in teaching grammar, writing, dictation, reviewing phonics, comprehension, reading, etc.  It's going to be a tough couple of months as adjust from Abeka phonics and reading and spelling to this...however, I think it's going to be the challenge Zoe's been lacking.  At the end of this month, for example, she'll be writing her first book report!  Not only is it great in teaching language arts, it's also chock-ful of character traits in relationship to the Bible.  Yippee!  That's more than a two-fer to me!

Ace: Will continue with K5 Phonics with Abeka although I'm struggling to make it more challenging.  He'll finish it up early this year because of how much he's taken off!  I can't wait to see it.

Liam:  Is continuing with gross and fine motor skill building along with cognitive skills.  He's also going to start K4 Phonics with Abeka again.  We tried it in August and he wasn't quite ready.  So, we'll try again and see how it goes.  He really is ready to start writing and we'll probably work on that "informally" as well.

As for the rest of the subjects for Zoe and Ace:

Math:  Saxon Math 1...Zoe's already figuring out multiplication facts but we still need to work on basic math such as the addition and subtraction of single and double digits.  As well as the $$ part of math...so, we'll continue while she continues thinking about multiplication and we help her figure that out.  She'll fly through the times tables when we get there.

History/Geography:  We'll spend January covering Georgia history with a neat packet I got at the homeschool conference last year.  Then, because I noticed the kids had no clue how to locate, say, their HOME state, on a map, we are starting Geography.  This is where their group Christmas present will get a workout...a SmartGlobe from Oregon Scientific.  We'll be using Beginning Geography workbooks from Evan Moor for this study!

Science:  Continuing with the most awesome Answers in Genesis God's Design for Life.

We're adding two new things this year.

Music:  My mom gave us a child's 8 note set of handbells and so, the kids will be learning very simple music theory and music with those...they are thrilled with the gift and can't wait to learn it.

Spanish:  We have recently befriended a new minister and his family that has come to our area.  They will be starting a Spanish speaking church plant which is much needed...there are few, if any, Protestant Spanish speaking churches in our area...and they are much needed. Their family is precious and they share much of the same values and beliefs we have (as far as family and the church goes)...Mark has remarked that he'd love to attend their church if we could only understand what he was saying!!!  Don't freak out church friends...their services are in the afternoons and I'm not saying we're really going to change churches :)  However, we've offered to help them but our services are pretty limited because of the language barrier...so, if we can overcome that, we'd be a much better help and we'd all be able to particpate in this ministry not just Mark and I.  And so, we are using Teach Them Spanish! to get started and probably something a little more intense once the kids (and us) pick up on it!

Looks pretty packed but it's not too much.  Our music and Spanish will only be once a week so that should make it a little easier for us.  I'm looking forward to all the challenges that the rest of this school year will bring.  We'll finish up with school the first part of June, pending any interruptions or family events.

A Homeschool Christmas Party

We were able to celebrate Christmas this year with a bunch of our homeschool friends.  I think the kids had a great time and I had less stress since Mark was there to help out!

They made gingerbread houses (okay, graham cracker houses)...

Christmas tree ornaments...

Christmas trees with tons of icing...I believe Ace was contemplating licking the spoon.

And glass ball ornaments (in which I was the only one who broke one).

They also listened to stories while the moms (and dad) cleaned up.

And this is where you keep the baby while you clean up.

The kids also got to watch a Christmas play and sing carols...but those are in video form so look for the next post.

The Character Academy

We did start school on Monday, but I just never got around to first day pictures! Wonder why?? So, here's a picture from Zoe's Science experiment. Our unit is on the Tower of Babel/building, etc. So, w gathered some samples of soil around our neighborhood. She glued some of them to paper to show how they're different. Then we looked at how each type of soil compacted when you added water to it. Zoe enjoyed getting her fingers dirty! She didn't like the way the red clay felt though.

Done

After a rocky start to the day, including a quick trip for milk for breakfast, we started school.

It went pretty well, except we forgot something for Ace's so he did start his preschool curric., Interlock like we wanted...he'll start it tomorrow, though.

Only a few tears from Zoe and Ace. Zoe on not getting the map of her room drawn to scale and perfectly. Ace because he whined while working on letters and couldn't have a sticker.

Only 179 more days to go :) Like we don't do any teaching during the other days.

Ace really was excited about phonics. I'm wondering if I should have started him on two lessons a day like I did Zoe. He pretty much knows all of his letter sounds. I think for maturity sake, we'll just stick with how we're going.

Now it's on to getting ready for our home visit from our social worker today!

Answers In Genesis

Ken Ham is Coming, Ken Ham is Comming!!!

We're having a conference starting today at our church from Answers in Genesis! Can you tell I'm excited? Mark stayed home this morning so I could take Zoe to the school conference in the am and then we'll be going tonight and tomorrow.

Now, for a potty update. Liam has no clue when he goes so I'm just letting him sit on it when he wants to and he goes, etc.

Everyone is sleeping better. Josiah is still waking up at 4 am on the dot and won't go back to sleep until he snacks (not even ten minutes today) but he sleeps until 6:30 or 7.

I think that's all the updates. I'll post more later. Gotta go start some bread.

Meet the Newest Character

Meet Freddie the Fish (Beta, that is)!

See, you all thought I was pregnant again...hehehe...get your math straight. My kids are 17 to 19 months apart, so it's when they're 8 to 10 months old that I get pregnant. I still got another month.

This week we are studying fish. We took a trip to a local fish store to learn about the different kind of fish and being the insane woman I am, got a Beta fish. We figured if we could keep this one alive, then we'll look at getting some "real" fish in a "real" aquarium. Looks like Liam's lovin' it to death! Poor fishy.

Anyway, he seems really bored but when I went to check on him tonight he seemed to perk up when I looked at him. Can't believe I was talking to a fish. I've lost my mind!

And another thing, why do they keep poisonous fish in an OPEN tank toddler level! Eeek! Luckily, Liam had already stuck his hand in an open tank on the other side so I had a firm grip on it and I also yelled at Zoe and Ace to stay away.

Field Trip!!!

My kids have no concept of what this means and I pondered whether I had lost my mind this morning as we set out to a local art museum for Toddler Thursdays. Then I remembered that I have no brain to speak of...so I was good :)

Anyway, after getting lost and ending up at the city history museum, we made it to the art museum and headed over to hear the end of the talk about color (which Zoe and Ace already know but I thought they'd have fun. Then we went to do our art activity. It turned out better than I expected.

Zoe, Ace, and Liam all made bubble art. Zoe called her's "Bubbles of Art." Ace called his something that was incoherent (he makes up his own language sometimes).

So here's what ya do:
Take some dishwashing soap and drop some food coloring in it. Have the child (or you if you child doesn't know how to blow yet) blow bubbles then place a piece of paper/cardstock on top of the bubbles. It makes really cool designs.

We only saw one child suck instead of blow and taste some yummy soap. Liam was very good at letting me blow for him and when I wasn't paying attention he'd call out "bow, bow peas" Just a couple of spills on our part and we were good.

After the art activity, I took them around the museum. It had a lot of wonderful, beautiful paintings that Zoe and I enjoyed looking at and Ace kept wanting to touch. Liam was firmly strapped into the stroller (I may have lost my mind but I know what's smarts!) and Josiah was napping in the stroller. Ace about gave the security guys a heart attack but they left us alone for the most part and Ace enjoyed holding my hand most of the way through. As we were walking around, Zoe said she wanted to be an artist when she grew up. Surprise, surprise!! I can't wait to see her face when she sees what "Santa" is bringing.

After the art museum we decided to head over and see what our city history museum held. To be honest, I can't tell you about the history of our city, but I can tell you they had a cool train engine locomotive and car and a streetcar and a really great little play area that held the three olders attention while I breastfed Josiah.

So, that's been our day and I'm hoping the kids get a nice long nap so they can play with daddy while I go out with MOPS.

Sweet Voices

Check out these short audio clips from Zoe & Ace. This was part of their schoolwork last Friday when I "subbed" for Abbie.

Zoe

Ace

Enjoy!!

Mark