December 9, 2010

Well this morning started out pretty good.  Woke the boys up by being silly and it put them in a good mood.  This usually tends to make a easier morning. To even give the day a even better chance i took time to shower which is hard to do with 2 boys running wild in the house.  The apt. was still standing after I got out, which was fantastic. Then we went to my friend Jean's house and I cleaned, Jaedon did school work and Waylon played. They love her kittens.  Phineas (gray) and Ferb (black) are great.  Love to play, cuddle, and yet they take care of themselves for the most part.  Jaedon asks me periodically if we can get a cat. (kitten but they become cats).  I said no based mainly on the reasoning that it costs $300 for a pet deposit.  For some reason, the apt. complex demands it all at once for cats and monthly payments for dogs. I would consider a dog, if I could find a small one I liked.  I have met very few small dogs that are nice.  Well, one is more like it. If we ever get a dog, the guinea pigs and mice will have to go to a new home.  If you know of anyone who would be interested in guinea pigs let me know! (:D) Jaedon did 5 school lessons this morning (out of 11).  He is currently doing the other 6.  11 things does sound like a lot.  Here is the list: Bible, History, Science, Handwriting, Phonics, Language Arts, Spelling, Reading, Spanish, Maps & Geography, and Math.  Handwriting and Phonics once finished with current books will be dropped. That will take us down to 9. We have added Typing as an independent thing that he only does when we have time.  (He loves typing could be though he just loves being on a computer.) With all these subject though we can finish in 4-4.5 hours, if you take out lunch. The earlier we get started the better Jaedon is.  I prefer him to start around 9am and we finish around 1-1:30 which I think is pretty good.
Jaedon is doing Spelling right now and asked to do it.  It is nice when they have excitement about it!

December 8, 2010 Part 2

School was pretty good the rest of the day.  Blessed be the name of the Lord.

December 8, 2010 Part 1

Wednesday! woohoo! anyway.  Jaedon started 3rd grade math today! He did an assessment which was way to simple for him but I wanted him to have that review.  Spent all last night going through his lessons and marking which ones we would be doing and which we wouldn't.  If you know Saxon, you know that it is majorly review at the beginning of each book. I also got Jaedon started on 3rd grade spelling.  I was a little worried that it might be a bit too hard for him.  However, he surprised me and only missed 4 on a pretest (he had not seen the word list until after the test-so he had no clue what words i would say).  That made him very happy although he would have been happoer with a 100%.  He is currently doing Spanish which is one of his favorite subjects :D YAY for language!

Monday, December 6, 2010

I am so horrible at remembering to blog.   I am so sorry.  Well we started back to school last Wednesday.  We have a full regular day this Wednesday (12/8/10).  Just one thing to brag about for a moment.

Jaedon aced his Venus test after no school for 2.5 weeks! YAY!

Thursday, November 18, 2010

Well, today went well.  We went to a friend's house where I cleaned and the kids played. After that we went to homeschool gym. Jaedon had a great time!!! Then we went to the mall and bought tickets for Harry Potter Deathly Hallows Part 1.  WE ARE ALL SO EXCITED!!!! I love matinee :D

Wednesday, November 17, 2010

I need to keep up with this.  I get distracted very very easily.  I am sorry. We are taking a mini break this week. Besides Math, we aren't doing any other school this week. I know most people are taking thanksgiving week off, however, we needed a mini break badly and couldn't wait.

So next week, we will be doing school for 4 days and taking the day off for Thanksgiving.

We did manage after 4 days of work, to get the storage closet cleaned out, the living room rearranged, and the tree up. So we have been fairly busy this week!

Til next time, Adios....Auf wiedersehen.

Monday, October 25, 2010

Today is the beginning of a new week! I love have a fresh start with each new week.  School went more smoothly today that is has for the past week! I think Jaedon enjoyed Math more today since we got to play with coins.  He did such an awesome job! Adding in his head just like that. Also, he did his subtraction problem right the first time! He has been struggling with borrowing since we started it about 3 weeks ago.  For example, he would have this problem:  73-29 =   and he would switch it in his head to say: 79-23 and answer it: 56.  today he remembered to borrow! and got it right! I am so proud! He was pretty excited about that! Science tends to be the subject he favors.  He has an excellent memory.  Staying on task is still very hard for him and I dislike being a taskmaster.  Times call for it now.

We started cursive last week. today we started the letter Ee and he was none to happy about it.  Not because it was cursive but because his "Ee" didn't look like mine.  I made it a point over and over again that I have had 20 or so years to perfect my "Ee" and he has only started on it today.  I told him that it will take lots of practice and that one day he will have a beautiful "Ee" too. He felt better and am hoping he remembers that I don't want perfection, I just want him to put forth his best and give that to me.

Our school day started around 10am and will be ending at 4:30pm.  We had an hour break for lunch.  So it took us around 5.5 hours today which is considerably better than all of last week!

pure craziness on a daily basis.

Things have been insane the last month.  Well maybe getting more insane is the right way to put it. This past week has been extremely off kilter. Tuesday, after days upon days of frustration with how the boys treat DVD movies and PS2 games. I went through all of them and threw away all the horribly scratched unplayable ones.  Then I proceeded to pack the rest in a garbage bag and put them in the storage closet. They are banned from movies for a month. This is only way that I know how to teach them that they need to take care of their things.  The house has been pretty quiet without a constant movie or game on. truthfully, I am enjoying the less noise.

School has been a mark of frustration this week.  Jaedon is having a really bad attitude about it and it shows when he is doing his work.  He will take as long as he can to do a particular assignment.  He spent 2 hours yesterday doing Geography.  All he had to do was identify 10 states and write down the names.

We have started reading through Exodus at lunch time.  They both really enjoy it and are able to recall what i read.

Today, i let them have some play time for about an hour hoping to get some energy out.  we are starting school in 10 minutes. hoping and praying that the Lord will take control and take our school day.

Flow.

Well, there have been some changes made in what we are using for school.

WE are now using "Our American Heritage" (Abeka - 3rd grade) for history. He seems to like it so far but we are only 3 lessons in.  After each section we read, Jaedon will be drawing a picture about something he learned and the writing a couple of sentences about the picture. This helps him by making it more fun which learning should be. :D

I have cut off handwriting as it is incorporated into LLATL (learning language arts through literature--3rd grade) and he hated it anyway.  I am keeping it around for use at a later date.

I am no longer using Spectrum Math as it was boring to him and we have gon back to Saxon which was awesome! He is actually enjoying it more now. Yay!

Science i am extending each chapter to nearly a month. Review and projects/activities will take up time and he will retain most of it.

Waylon......

i am hoping to get Saxon Phonics K and Math K and begin working on these with him.  As both of these start with the very very basic. I am excited about it and think him learning a letter a week at co-op will be a great asset:)

Rocky Mount and beyond!

Well it has been the usual craziness in my home. Yesterday we had the first field trip of the year.  We went to the Rocky Mount Museum in Piney Flats. It was AWESOME!!!!! Would really like to go without my kids one day and really get to enjoy it all.  I believe that i was born in the wrong century.

Jaedon went to stenciling first. While Jaedon was doing that, Waylon and I walked around the site. It was so neat! Jaedon did candle making but got bored with that fairly quickly.  He was in hyperdrive and candle making and that do not mix.

Today we went to co-op which went great! Mummies and archaeology. Fantastic! The Lord has blessed me so much!

Tomorrow we are back to the usual and as usual, I must get everything together tonight!

Cheers:D

Getting straightened out.

It has been a crazy weekend.  mostly trying to get things done. Yesterday in between church services, My oldest and I cleaned and rearranged the downstairs. I put my youngest down for a nap around 2. he fell asleep at 5pm. Go figure. We had to leave at 530pm for church.

The house looks great right now and i have no idea how long this will last. but I hope for at least a couple of days.  Back to school today and hope and pray it goes well.

bad days....crazy mornings

It has been a rough day or so. It's all my fault.  I need to rekindle my devotional time and started last night. Keep my eyes on Him, the one who saved me.


This morning, like every morning, Waylon refuses to eat breakfast. How do you get a nearly 4 y/o to eat if they don't want to? I am clueless. Will be back later and write more.

Stress

Well today started out fairly well.  We got up around 9am (early for me, i prefer 10am) because Waylon woke up who then proceeded to wake up Jaedon. Once Jaedon is up, there is no going back to sleep.  We had a fairly uneventful morning. Jaedon got 100% on his Spelling Test which was great! 20 words and 2 sentences with correct capitalization and punctuation. Lunch turned into 2 hours because me being a great last minute person (always do best preparing at last minure, so it seems) and getting things together for co-op which starts tomorrow.  I am sooo nervous and am freaking out! 11 children having a teacher who is panicing and freaking out and AHHHHH! I am playing tug of war with the Lord over this.  I freak out and worry and give it to Him.  10 minutes later I take it back and worry some more and proceed to give it back to him.  Why would I ever take worry and stress back? Where is my noggin? Must be on vacation. I informed Jaedon today that since he was messing up the spelling on his name that his name is no longer Jaedon but Harry. I figure its easier to spell. :D I picked Albus but Jaedon said that was too silly.

It is now 530ish and we have no finished school yet.  I am in no hurry as we have little to do.  The new order we go in with our subjects has greatly improved our school day.

May you have a blessed day though a little crazy as any day that is not would be just plain dull.

Pool Madness

Well today began as a typical Sunday.  I got up and of course Waylon was running down the stairs after me.  Let me backtrack a moment. i woke up FREEZING! this morning. Apparently it is getting cold at night and with the fans blowing all the air in it was very cold. So on we go. I got Waylon fed and managed a shower. Then came the tricky part of getting Waylon dressed. Usually, Waylon hates whatever I pick out and screams and throws himself around the room.  The Lord blessed me today and there were no fits not even over the color of his shorts. a MIRACLE! Had a wonderful Sunday school lesson today and then got to be in the nursery. It was great. I love working in the baby room. I had this great idea since this is the 2nd to last day that the pool is open why not take the boys.
The water was COLD COLD COLD, however, we were fine once we got in.  To be fair to both boys, we then ventured to the kiddie pool where we all splashed and played.  Then Waylon bit Jaedon's finger, and you guessed it, it went downhill from there. I made Waylon get out of the pool and sit out where he proceeded to scream. If have never heard Waylon scream let me tell you it is a treat, nice and ear piercing. So I move us back to the big pool and sit Waylon on a bench until he decided he can apologize to brother. He screams some more. Jaedon refuses to get in the pool.  (keep in mind, that 30 seconds earlier, Jaedon started crying because he thought we were leaving) He says he is too cold, so we left with no arguments and Waylon was fine with that. We were at the pool 25 minutes MAX. Our shortest day at the pool.
I am hoping that we can get a nap in before dinner. Now to tear them away from Monty Python.

Cheerio,
Smee

Being sick and homschooling.

Well, yesterday was my oldest son's birthday, so we took the day off.  It was nice. The not so nice part is I am now sick for whatever reason.

So I am sitting here with a stuffed nose, headache, feeling weak and trying to get through school today.  I just want to sleep all day!  Those with children know that is not possible especially if you are a single parent.

Thanks to a friend, I have revamped how we do reading. As I have written before we are reading the Magic Tree House series. I break the chaoter up ad have him read a section at a time. Then I have him repeat to me what he just read.  The section can be anywhere from 1-4 sentences long.  This has greatly improved his comprehension of what he is reading.  I think it is great!

I am so thankful that the Lord has blessed with wonderful boys and wonderful friends!

Gearing up for co-op

Went to a friend's house this morning to get help with what I would be teaching.  I have never taught a class before so I am very nervous.  I still have about 2 more weeks. And so, Egypt here we come. Got a layout and several activities that I am planning on doing.  Thank you Jean for all the help!

Back to School.

We are back to school and have been for the last 2 weeks. It's been somewhat crazy!  We have had some great days like the day we made the solar system we painted and labeled and hung up.

I was having a lot of trouble with Jaedon and his Math.  We took a break off Saxon Math 2 and are working through Spectrum Math (although it covers not nearly as much as Saxon) for a Review or some problem areas that Jaedon was having. Such as 9+8 and the harder sums.  He does great as 2-3 digit addition but these he has struggled with periodically. 

In Language Arts, we are working our way through Spectrum Langauge Arts Grade 2, he will complete this book near November and we will start Learning Language Arts through Literature (LLATL) (3rd grade) which will cover everything from spelling, vocabulary, literature, and grammar. He does well at this although he hates writing all the sentences out, so I usually don't have him do that if it is not necessary.  

History, We are still going through "Of Light and Glory" and after every chapter, I pick a couple of key people and we get books from the library and read them. We will be reading about Cotton Mather and Roger  Williams this next month.

For reading, he is reading through the Magic Tree House series along with select research guides.  There are some research guides such as the Dinosaurs that we are not doing, due to the evolutionary theories/ideas that are throughout the whole book. We are currently reading "Knights and Castles" the research guide that is a follow-up to "The Knight before Dawn". he really enjoys these books.

Spanish, we have progressed through the book.  However, once we finish the book, we will start the book back over for more reenforcement. I love Language and hope to pass this on to him. We did do some German, however, I can't find anything geared for children and we have put that on hold.

Science, which is one of Jaedon's favorite subjects, we are studying astronomy.  He loves it! We are using Apologia "Exploring Creation through Astronomy". There are projects every chapter and he makes a notebook of drawings and other things while we travel through this book. For this book, I have to make my own tests and questions which I like.  He is doing very well so far.  On his first test, he missed some vocabulary and that was it.  Made a 97% with extra credit. 

We are still working on phonics.  I use Saxon Phonics 2, which I love their curriculum for this subject. constant review on a daily basis and then introduction of new learning.  he reads very well! Jaedon does struggle with reading comprehension.  As in he has a hard time aswering any questions after reading a paragraph on his phonics work. I don't know if this is due to his lack of understanding, lack of interest, or he just doesn't feel like putting forth the effort. We just keep plugging away. 

We are also working through Maps and Geography.  This is Jaedon's second favorite subject.  He finds it very interesting and like learning this. 

We are working on A Reason For Handwriting, which he doesn't like too well.  We are taking a break from that and writing a letter to grandma which he is happy about.

I have been struggling with finding a good devotional or Bible curriculum.  So, I started reading to them from Genesis.  With Awana starting up, we will also be working in Scripture memorization.

Sounds insane? right? Our days varies from 2-6 hours.  And that 90% of the time depends on Jaedon's attitude. Hopefully after getting into a set routine, things we ease up. 

The Lord is teaching me to relax and not be in such a rush. All my life, I have been in a hurry afraid of missing out on something. When the whole time, I miss the little things and create more chaos than I need. being a perfectionist, I tend to expect my kids to be perfect. which they aren't.  yet by being a perfectionist, I am teaching my kids that they have to be perfect. Being perfect is completely unattainable. There is only one person I know that was ever perfect and that was Jesus and he is the Son of God.  Learning to relax and being unfocused on time, I let my kids see that they don't need to be perfect for me to love them just as my heavenly Father Loves me and I am no where near perfection. Spending time outside, instead of cooped up in the apt. has helped tremendously. It has also brought about a change in the boys' behavior.  As a parent, we want our children to grow up knowing that we love them for who they are and want them to have the best and be the best they can be.  Showing them that true happiness is not found in things or people but in our Lord and Savior.

i will admit that I struggle daily fearful of screwing up as a parent. Having never had a stable home growing up, I find it difficult to know what to do and learn through experiences.

**DISCOVERY.....now that they are a little bit older, Jaedon and Waylon love to be read to.  Jaedon loves to read (which I think is fantastic). Right now, I am reading through the Harry Potter series with them.  (I have read all 7 and it will take a very long time).  We read one chapter a night unless it is late.

May3rd

Can't believe it is already MAY! Wow this year is flying by.  Back to school today.  Jaedon wasn't very excited yet it is going smoothly for the most part. halfway through what we need to do, and its a little after 1pm. Takinga much needed break.  Waylon insisted on helping me with dishes, which was fine, until I needed to rinse the dishes and he refused to move so I could do that.  He screamed and through a huge fit as per usual. Jaedon redid his handwriting 4 times and the fourth time it looked beautiful! If one can say so about writing. Got dinner in the crockpot, beef stroganoff.  I am hoping it turns out good. Some crockpot meals have been disappointments.

crayons

Well, we are enjoying a weej of no bookwork. Cleaning all morning and doing laundry has filled most of the day.    One exciting this we did was make "new" crayons. A lot of crayon got melted from being in the hot car.  We tore all the paper off the crayons and broke them up and then put them in the oven.  When they were completely melted, I set them outside to cool.  Now they have 12 round crayons! Bringing out the Paint later today! Should make for a good mess!

Catch up! :)

Well, sorry for the lapse in postings! Its been fairly busy and eventful somewhat the last 5 days. Friday, we went to a friends house with another homeschool mom and we looked at the caterpillars that were now a cocoon and had a science lesson from that. Then the kids play a math game.  The game goes as follows (need 1 deck of cards minus king, queen, and jack & a bag of dimes and pennies): The first child picks up a card what ever number is on that card he gets to choose that many pennies or dimes. You have 6 turns.  The goal is to reach 1.00$ without going over.  If you go over you lose. Then we did a reading lesson. 

After we left, we got ready and left for Papaw's house.  I have been dreading it because going to Papaws is always a nightmare. (Waylon's papaw).  He hit on me for 2 days! And kept touching my hair.  On top of him being my sons papaw he is about 74 years of age. Then he tried to get me to go out his 60+ year old friend Junior.  The boys, on the other hand, had a wonderful time.  They played out side the whole time. I was so greatful to come back home.

This week at church is missions week.  WHAT A BLESSING! Vamce Pittman spoke in both the morning and evening services. I put my "yes" on the table and already have a passport appt. in the morning. SO EXCITED! i want to be ready for the Lord to use me wherever.  I feel that he is leading me to something permanent.  Hopeing to do my first mission trip this year. Being filled with the peace of the Lord is the most wonderful and exhilirating experience. Where ever HE leads, there I will follow. 

Today, we went on a Homeschool field trip to see the Davy Crockett museum.  We also got to see the house and spot where he was born.  Jaedon and Waylon had fun.  

At church, they had Kid Impact where they played games and learned about missionaries. I was in room with Missionaries Tak and Lana Oue who work in Japan.  Praying the Lord continues to touch their ministry. 

More to write later!

Grouchiness

Today is grouchy day, which came in the form of Waylon. He took about an hour nap which was great.  However when he woke up, it was like Oscar the Grouch came to visit. Imagine giving a spelling test to one child while at the same time, your younger is screaming and crying and telling you "NO!" to everything. Fortunately about 20 minutes after he got up I was able to satisfy him with some diet root beer. Root beer is my new best friend. Jaedon does very well on his spelling and got a 100% today; that gives him 2 days of no spelling work. We did not work out today as my body is in too much pain and is physically exhausted.
Jaedon is learning about Daniel.  He thinks it is so great that his middle name is the same as one of Daniels friends Azariah (Abed-nego).
Reubens for lunch today! So good! had to make a trip to the grocery store because i forgot the sauerkraut.

4/19

Monday.
Started out fairly well. We started out with reading Daniel 2 and went from there. Then I got a brilliant idea to clean out the fish tank. This quickly escalated into rearranging and deep cleaning. So what should have taken maybe 30 minutes took the whole day. Also, 2 of our fish jumped out of the "holding" bowl while i was cleaning their tank.  One died and the other I caught in time.  With a long break for lunch and helping me move, we eventaully finished around 4pm. Then off the Petsmart to replace our fish.  We ended up with 2 African dwarf frogs and one silver tetra (only bought one so my single tetra would have a friend).  They are currently nameless.

School Area in photos!

Schedule Week of 4/19-4/23

Here is the tentative schedule.  It is always subject to change as you can tell I already made changes.  I have the schedule made til 5/7, one which I will make another months schedule.

Introduction

HEY! Just wanted to say a little about me. I am a Christian and a single parent to 2 boys ages 3 and 6. My oldest attended preschool and Kindergarten in a public school. By the middle of his kindergarten year, I was feeling unsatisfied with his progress and also that I had no idea what they were even doing in class. Even after volunteering for 2-3 months, I still felt completely out of the loop. I had thought about homeschooling a lot, even before he started kindergarten. I thought how can I homeschool and be a single parent. I had been applying for jobs and not a single one called back. And I knew that I would not be able to afford childcare. I talked to a friend who homeschools and started praying. This was April 2009. In May, we had his IEP (Individual Education Plan) meeting. They had tested him and that he was right where he needed to be and was even testint as a 1st grade level in math. He had been getting in trouble because he has a very short attention span. I mentioned I was thinking about homeschooling. And they tried to persuade me out of it and told me all these things that I "had" to do first. Right there I felt the Lord telling me and confirming my desire to homeschool was in His will. We registered with Family Christian Academy and my church helped me to purchase books.

We started school on August 3, 2009. We had a very rough start; crying, yelling, complete frustration. After 2 months we got into a routine. He has progressed so well and reads so good. We finished 1st grade math and science by december and finished his phonics last month. all his work is at a 2nd grade level or above. We are also learning German and Spanish. He loves language. he has grown and learned so much this past year. The LORD has truly blessed me with this gift.