a day in the life {November 26}

I love to read about other moms and their days.  I love day in the life posts.  Really.  I’m not sure why (I promise I’m not weird or anything.)  I guess it could be because I have gained ideas from other moms when reading those posts.  Or maybe it is that I find out that my life is pretty normal after all.  Plus I love to look back over the blog and see what we did at certain times and during certain seasons of our lives.  In light of that, I set out to document November 26,

{a day in our lives}…

6:40  Way later than I need to get up, I roll out of bed and head toward the kitchen.  I grab a drink and sit in the dark with my phone.  As I’m reading some of my reading plans on the YouVersion Bible, Littlest Man comes in and wants to sit with me.  I happily oblige. 

7:12  I run off to get a quick shower and tell David that I will get out before he needs to leave for work.  A quick shower, a quick hair-do and makeup, a good-bye kiss for my hubby, a load of clothes in the wash, beds made, breakfast, and ushering of kids to and fro as they complete bedroom chores, a quick stroll through the garden…sounds like a typical morning around here!

 time to cook up some greens, I do believe

8:30  Most Mondays start with me running behind and this Monday was no different.  I hand the kids some paper and tell them to write a few things that they would like to receive as Christmas gifts.  While they ponder, I run around and finish up morning chores.

9:00  The older kids are still working on their gift lists so I head to the kitchen with Littlest Man and make gingerbread play-dough (directions coming soon).

 

9:30  Littlest Man and Sunshine Girl play with the new play-dough.  The oldest child is sick and gives his best college try on finishing school work today but I send him back to bed when it becomes apparent that he feels awful.  The two older kids and I start work on Greek roots with a review and introduce the new root for the week.  They then begin independent work and I start reading & math with Sunshine Girl.   We play a new sight word game and end up with a few spectators along the way.

 

11:33  After a morning of bouncing from child to child and teaching as needed, it is time to make lunch.  The kids go outside and play a while after picking up some of their messes.  I check in on my oldest (this is probably about the 4th or 5th time) and get what he needs.  As lunch is being made, the kitchen is also being cleared of the morning dishes and supper is started in the crockpot.

 Who has time to clean when you’re busy learning?

12:00ish  Dave gets home and we all eat lunch.  I finish cleaning the kitchen, take care of laundry, and direct the older kids to get back to work on school work.  We all say good-bye to David as he heads back to work.

 A clean kitchen…ahhhh! 

1:00  As the little kids play with play-dough and paint, the older kids and I finish spelling, grammar, and science lessons.

 science experiment about photosynthesis and chlorophyll…

 

2:50  Just as I think that we are done with school for the day, my son tells me that he would like to read with me.  We read his book together (He is more motivated to attend to his book if he & I take turns reading…you do what you have to do.  Plus, I really enjoy the time with him and I’m modeling how to read with fluency & inflection.  A win/win in my book {smile}). 

After he finishes, he scoots out the door for a little free time and I tackle my to-do list.  Then we head out for swim team practice.  We return home and finish up dinner prep and more of that to-do list.  However, on the way home I suddenly realized that we needed beans for dinner.  I check our canned goods and we are out!  Yay for the frozen beans in the freezer.  Under the water they go in hopes that they will defrost in time.  (They did defrost in time.)

 

5:45  David is home!  We eat dinner and clean up.

Time? I lost track of time here.  David and some of the kids head out to buy a Christmas tree.  I hear the rain falling shortly after they left.  They come back soaking wet!  While they are gone, I start folding tons of laundry that has been washed since we returned from our Thanksgiving break trip but have been waiting to be folded. 

9:00ish  The laundry is done!  Finally, a little time to work on the new blog (coming soon) and write a post or two.

11:00ish  It’s now after 11 pm as I write this post.  This momma is tired!  It’s time to head to bed and get ready to start a day like this again on Tuesday!

Homeschool Mother’s Journal {September}

• In my life this week…

It’s been a quiet and still week.  I’ve been busy with life but not as hurried or frazzled because I’ve been learning to slow down. 

• In our homeschool this week…

Egyptians, hieroglyphics, pyramids, Abraham, Sodom & Gomorrah…We love My Father’s World!

 digging a hole to bury various items to see how they do/don’t decompose as we were studying how the Egyptians preserved the bodies of their dead

• Helpful homeschooling tips or advice to share…

If you have a membership to Netflix, they have some great shows on Egyptians and pyramids.  My kids have loved seeing what they are learning about on the TV. 

 our morning school schedule sticky note style…pink stands for computer, orange is independent work, green is teaching time with mom, and yellow is free/snack time (can click to enlarge…sorry for blurriness.) 

• Places we’re going and people we’re seeing…

The two older boys are preparing for a trip to my parents’ house for a weekend of Hunter’s Safety Course.  Our younger three are heading to David’s parents’ place for a weekend of Grandparent fun.  I will be eating lunch with one of my best friends and catching up with her (and also have a date with my husband planned)!  Super excited!

• Things I’m working on…

Learning to knit.  Next week:  touching up paint while the kids are away and maybe cleaning the closets

• I’m reading…

Breathe by Keri Wyatt Kent and nodding my head the entire time I read it.  I believe this book was written for me. 

 the homeschool table during break time…I always say that learning is messy!

• I’m cooking…

I had hit a menu planning rut.  And then a friend told me about emeals.  I signed up and am loving the ease of menu planning and the recipes!

• I’m grateful for…

Our little Louisiana cottage home.  It’s small and needs some work but it’s home. 

• A photo, video, link, or quote to share…

My new meal planning help:

How about y’all?  How was your week? 
To visit other Homeschool Mother’s Journals, be sure to visit this link:
iHomeschool Network

In our preschool {Week 1}

I was not planning to start school with our Littlest Man this past week so that I could focus on establishing a school routine for the older four kids first.  However, Littlest Man begged me to do his school too.  The problem with that was that I didn’t have a plan.  So I figured that I’d just start at the beginning and wing it.

 a is for apple

As we started to work, I was surprised to find out that he all ready knows many of his letter names.  Why was this a surprise?  Perhaps it was that he rarely ever wanted to sit down for any type of letter learning lesson last year.  He has been involved in some lessons or at least sitting in the vicinity of his big sister’s lessons these last three years so I guess he learned what he knows from that.  Just one of the perks of homeschooling, I guess. {smile}

 making apple prints

The other thing I learned about our Littlest Man is that he does not want his schoolwork to look like schoolwork.  I pulled out Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons just to see what he could do with it.  He ran away the second he saw the book…literally!  I think I can pick up on that child cue pretty easily!  (And no offense meant to 100 Easy Lessons.  It is a good book and works for many.  It has even worked for us on some of my older children.)

 counting bears and counting coins…then lining the bears up and bowling them over {smile}

So I’m still without a plan for our K4 year!  I know we’ll do letter sounds and learning easy words.  I will do some of the fun activities from this plan because Littlest Man’s lessons are going to need to be fun and lively to hold his attention.  Maybe I’ll pull out the My Father’s World Kindergarten plans that I used with his big sister.  And books…many, many books because he loves them.  For the past week and a half, all of his lessons have been pretty much whatever I can quickly pull together.  And guess what…he’s still learning…he even learned one of his big sister’s sight words (just by sitting in the vicinity of her lesson!)

 fishing for letters and numbers from the Preschool Activities Bags

It truly doesn’t have to be elaborate to teach our littles.  We simply can give them our time, read good books to them, count with them, talk to them about everything, do things with them, and spend time outdoors with them.  This year, I’m going to strive to let learning be as natural as possible while having fun with a craft or two thrown in {smile}.   And I guess that is my plan for our K4 year!

 Littlest Man’s favorites:  legos, cars, and airplanes

Some of the books we read this week:

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Our curriculum choices {2012 – 2013}

  The homeschool area prepped and ready for day 3 of learning!

Today was our second day of our eighth year of homeschooling!  Whew!

One of my most favorite things as a homeschool mom is choosing curriculum.  I love curriculum.  I read curriculum catalogs like most people read their favorite magazines.  Is that weird?  {smile}

However much that I love curriculum and researching it {and trying it out}, I told myself that it was important to remember this one thing this year:

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!

Sometimes a certain someone in our family has a tendency to want to try that new shiny curriculum with all the bells and whistles. {ahem, I won’t call any names…}

But this year, I decided to keep my blinders on while researching and choose what has worked for our family and/or an individual child over the years.  There are a few new choices but overall our curriculum choices are what has shown us results over the years. 

That one decision has given me quite a peace about our curriculum choices and has also made curriculum shopping a bit easier. 

So with no further delay, our 2012 - 2013 curriculum for our five children:

Shared subjects (for the 7th and 4th graders, with 1st grader listening in during lessons)

• My Father’s World – Creation to the Greeks (Bible, Vocabulary, History, Science, Art, Music)

First Grade

• Abeka Letters and Sounds
• Horizons Math
• Memoria Press Literature Guides and various books
• First Language Lessons
• The Complete Writer: Writing with Ease (to start later in the year)
• All About Spelling (will start later in the year)
• Living Books for History and Science
• Draw, Write, Now (fun handwriting practice)
• PE – gymnastics

Fourth Grade

• Memoria Press Literature Guides and various books
• Horizons Math
• First Language Lessons
• IEW for writing (after midterm)
• All About Spelling
• Draw, Write, Now
• MFW (see shared subjects)
• PE – gymnastics

 

Seventh Grade

• Memoria Press Literature Guides and various books
• Horizons Math
• First Language Lessons (Grammar review then to Easy Grammar)
• IEW for writing (starting after midterm)
• Spelling Workout
• MFW (see shared subjects)
• PE – swim team

Ninth Grade

• Ancient Literature and Other Classics
• Vocabulary from Classical Roots
• Ancient History from various sources
• Saxon Algebra 1
• Easy Grammar Plus
• IEW for writing (starting after midterm)
• Switched on Schoolhouse Science – Integrated Physics and Chemistry
• PE – swim team

K4 Preschool

I gathered links for our littlest man’s preschool year in an earlier post.  However, after working with him these past few days and realizing that he knows most of his letter names, I’m having to rethink this year.  I’m sure that there will be a post or two about that soon.  {smile}

That’s our plan for the new school year.  We are using many tried and true favorites.  So far the choices seem to fit us well.  Of course, we are only two days into this year…who knows how we’ll feel a few months down the road!

Be on the lookout for some reading booklists of our literature choices as well as the science/social studies plans and booklists for our first grader. 

Thanks for visiting and see y’all soon!

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