Here We Go!

Our new school year has begun!!

When the kids were in public school back in NC,

we opted for the year round schedule.

At first, I was honestly worried about

having them home
ALL SUMMER!!

What in the world would I do with them?

How would I keep them entertained?

Would they lose everything they had learned in school?

Then couple that with the potential of 

taking vacations "off season" 

when rates were cheaper and beaches were emptier...
They would only be home for 3 weeks
at a time...

We figured we would give the
year round thing a try.

The idea for the year round school is typically

9 weeks on

3 week off

They don't line up that neatly, but that is the basis.

When we decided to homeschool, 

we decided we liked the freedom of the year round schedule...

After muddling through our first few
months of homeschooling,
we are finally ready to
jump in!

The boys finished the math books and language books

we were using as our schooling to complete
Kindergarten and 2nd grade.

After hunting and searching, I finally decided to 

continue down the modified
MODG path we were on.

I am using the same materials for both boys
but on their grade level.

Abeka: 

Math, Language, Spelling, History, Science

Rod & Staff - Pathways:

Reading & Comp

Religion:

Seton

Geography:

Road Trip USA


I have been feverishly trying to figure out the best
way to handle their assignments
and trying to figure out some sort of schedule
just to make things go more smoothly in this house.

With the help of some new homeschooling friends,
over a couple week span,
I put all of the boys daily assignments in excel.
First, by subject,
then there is a "master schedule" that is
arranged by week and day.

Week 1 for R, looks like this:

(click on it to make it larger)


We have opted for a 4 day school week.
Basically - it is 5 days of worked put shoved into
 4 days...BUT - there is room for "catch up".

R gets these assignments on Monday morning.
It is HIS responsibility to get them done!
After breakfast, I park at the kitchen table.
The littles come and go as they please,
and the big boys get busy.

There is still a LOT to figure out,
but this week was a GREAT start!!

We managed to get all of the assignments
on R's list done.
Except for all of the history.
We are going to work on that though.

Our first "break" is scheduled for the
first week of July when Grammy comes
to visit.
We will use that week to "catch up"
and visit with Grammy!

Until then...
Here We Go!

Gingerbread Houses - Take 2

So the pre-made gingerbread house kit

didn't work out so well.

Due to the kind we chose this year - 

it would not fit together properly. 

Sounded and looked neat in the beginning

but implementation...not so great.

And that is ok with me, 

cause I think the boys got a little

carried away with the decorations!

So one of our new friends

invited us to her house for a 

Gingerbread House Decorating Drop-In.

She made them out of graham crackers.

I have seen and heard of the idea

but never in person 

and I have found a new

tradition for our family.

Gone are the days of one

big gingerbread house

in this household...

Hello individual ones!!

The kids had a great time

and they will eat off of them for a few days

and then it is GONE!

So it is their special snack for the next few days.

We also used it for today's writing

exercises. 

R is writing a story about his

gingerbread house.

J is drawing a picture about his.

Using lots of detail!

(R's masterpiece)

(J's masterpiece)

(A's well decorated attempt - with a little help from mom)

What else have we been up to??

We are still doing well in the homeschool

area and still "winging it".

BUT there is an end in sight!

I met my new best friend.

At least that is what I told her she was gonna become!

I am one that I really like to see items in person

before I bite the bullet and order on line.

(It is a whole lot harder to change my mind and return

stuff I buy on-line)

I have been struggling with which math style to use:

Saxon

Singapore

Abeka

etc...

On one of the local yahoo groups, she was getting rid of all 

of her singapore math books.  

I was so excited...

I wanted to go over and look through the books and

see if it would fit us.

I arrive at her house to learn she is pregnant with #8 

and has been homeschooling for 9 years 

(her oldest is in 8th grade).

I was so excited.  I told my husband 

I wouldn't be long when I went to visit and look through her

singapore math items.

Oh was I wrong!

I got home 3 hours later and 

had a PLAN!

I was beside myself with excitement!

I left there and had decided to do something

I would have NEVER decided to do on my own.

I spoke with my husband,

and he agreed.

So we settled on following the

"Mother of Divine Grace" 

curriculum.

It is a classical Catholic curriculum

that is VERY inexpensive

and they have it all organized out 

you purchase a syllabus 

and then the books individually

and follow the syllabus.

I can do this!

That is exactly what I have been looking for!

Reasonably priced

AND

it has all of the lesson plans done for me!

I am sure I will tweak and add and subtract things.

The best part about all of this is

"I" decide!!

So we are gonna start off attempting to follow it 

and add a few things in here and there.

I am very eagerly awaiting the arrival of our new goodies!!

This is mainly for, my oldest, R.

And somewhat for my second son, J.

J will also use parts from Confessions of a Homeschooler

and A, my 3 year old, will do her PreK curriculum.  

A already knows most of her alphabet and the sounds they make

but she is not ready to move on to other more advanced stuff yet.

I don't want to push her too hard.

So she will get to do lots of fun stuff with the PreK stuff.

I am excited to get it.

But we probably won't get REALLY into it for another

few weeks.

It is amazing how much time it takes to get this stuff ready!

But its ok - it is a great feeling working on it 

and seeing the results.

I acquired a bookshelf, lamination machine and paper cutter over the holidays.

The bookshelf houses our books - imagine that.  And looks better than it ever has!

(our paperbacks organized by reading level)

The lamination machine and paper cutter are already being used

and have helped me develop our HCIA -

Household Central Intelligence Area.

I will add to it as we go.

But for now,

It is helping J learn about the calendar and days of the week

and we will move on to months of the year.

And I am attempting to keep up with a weekly 

schedule too.

So the kids will see what is coming up in our week.

Mom and dad too.

Scouts, sports practices, special events

(like gingerbread house drop in).

And special snacks,

I am also going to do a little more baking with the kids.

So special snacks will include,

homemade soft pretzels

more granola bars (but with real oats, not quick cook!)

There will be a few more posts coming up about some of the other 

excitement over the holiday "break".

Soccer Mom - I am!

6:30a - awoken by the pitter patter of little feet in my room telling me she had to pee

7:00a - everyone is up and getting ready for the day

7:15a - breakfast

7:50a - headed to morning carpool

8:00a - home to work

9am - man comes by to see the house (says he is sending his wife later)

9:15a - back to work

11:30a - lunch for the babies

12:30 - my daughter puts herself down for a nap

(I am still working)

2:00p - go through ad and coupons and make grocery list

2:30p - man calls and asks if his wife can come to see the house

(can't do it now - leaving for carpool in 15 min ask if we can do it at 4:30)

2:45p - get daughter up from bed and throw her and the baby in the car for 

afternoon carpool

3:00p - sitting in carpool line and realize I have my coupons but forgot my list

call man and tell him I can meet daughter and wife at 3:30 since I have to go home

3:20 - call neighbor and ask if she can come over while I show the people the house

3:30 - arrive home, neighbor gets there just as people are arriving

4:00 - people leave, load 4 kids back into the car to go to the grocery store

5:00p - return home with groceries I don't usually buy because I had a coupon

start dinner and start unpacking groceries - while taking a phone call

5:25p - start shoving food down kids throats because we have to leave for soccer in 15 min!!

5:59p - walking out the door for a 6:00pm soccer practice

6:05p - drop oldest off at practice, stay for a few minutes

6:25p - load back up, take second son to his practice 7 min away

stay for a few minutes

6:45p - load back up, go get gas on the way to get oldest from his practice

7:00p - sitting in car waiting on practice to be over so I can race back to get second son

7:10p - still sitting and waiting while coach auctions off "jerseys" to a bunch of 7 year olds!!!

7:18p - arrive back at second son's practice just in time for him to get his jersey

daughter and oldest son take off for the playground

second son soon follows

7:45p - 5 min warning 

8:00p - get text from daddy asking where we are so he can Skype 

we had JUST pulled in the driveway

8:05p - kids take turns eating a cereal snack and talking to daddy on Skype

mommy finishes putting groceries away and unloading dishwasher

8:19 - send oldest up for shower

8:21 - oldest back down from shower...really???

8:23 - go up and assist second son with shower

8:27 - back down stairs and oldest starts his nightly reading...about Hammerhead Sharks tonight

8:28 - daughter eats a banana - argh - why doesn't she eat during the day!

8:35p - put daughter in bed

8:45p - send boys to bed

9:15p - feed baby one last time

9:25p - finally get last little person in the bed

9:35p - sink full of dirty dishes UGH!

Yes, I am officially a soccer mom.  Isn't this enough for one mom for one day???