Todd was WRONG!

OK, maybe not completely wrong, but.............


Today was not a good day.  


It started out OK.  Everyone did their morning chores and got ready for school. Little P even put his breakfast plate in the dishwasher without a fight!  No one argued when I said we needed to clean off the entertainment center before starting school.  Then we started school on time (well.... almost).  


And that's when things started downhill.  


Little P and Little Bits insisted on playing nerf guns in the livingroom, making quite the ruckus, while I was trying to read the history lesson.  But a raised voice (once or twice) and we made it through.


Then we started on Kindergarten.........And things got worse......Way worse.


Today's lesson was our first introduction to reading a simple story.  We were working our way through and she got stumped on a word.  No big deal.......sound it out.  But she wasn't getting it.  The kicker?  She had just read the word FOUR times in the previous sentences!  My mind just couldn't wrap it's self around the idea that you can struggle with a word you've already read 2 seconds before.


And I found myself getting frustrated.  Really frustrated.  And (I hate to admit it).....Angry.


I finally threw up my hands in defeat and stomped into the bedroom.


I texted my frustration to my husband (it's easier for him to text than call when he is at work) and he responded "right" with words of encouragement.........."You can do it."


And I got angrier........


Now, let me deviate from my story a little and back to Todd.  Todd Wilson is one of my favorite homeschool speakers.  He's funny and real and I can relate to him.  His concept of "be real" is great and something I think we homeschooling moms tend to ignore. 


Hubby and I heard him for the first time a few years ago when he came to our states' annual homeschool conference.  One of his concepts that really stuck with us then was the idea of "shutting the escape hatch".  In other words, committing to homeschool and taking public school off the table.  So, Hubby and I did just that.


For a while things seemed great.  But then I started feeling like I was clawing at that escape hatch, trying to reopen it on a regular basis.  After several blow-ups, I finally put my finger on the problem.  I explained it to Hubby this way:

"It's as if we were both in a room and closed the escape hatch and then I turned around to find you had snuck out of the room and locked me in by myself."

Ouch!  Well, after a long heart-to-heart and some reorganizing of our homeschool, things got much better.


But lately I've been feeling like I'm back to clawing at that escape hatch.  And today, things really came to a head.


One of the things Todd stresses to homeschool dads is to be encouraging, especially when your wife has a bad day.  My hubby has latched on to that and has always been very encouraging.


However, today I finally discovered something about myself....... Encouragement doesn't help!  Well, at least not on a bad day.  'Cause, don't get me wrong, I need encouragement just as much as the next homeschool mom.  But, when I throw up my hands in defeat and stomp out of the room, the last thing I want Hubby to say is "you can do it!".  'Cause what I hear is "you have to or I won't love you anymore".


OUCH!


What I need is for Hubby to give me "permission" to take the day off, to take a break.  I already feel guilty for walking away, but know I'm too frustrated to go back.  So when Hubby says "you can do it!" I feel like he is pushing me to go back.  


And I know I can't.


Thus, I feel like I have failed him and he won't love me anymore.  So my only solution is to accept failure and put my kids in public school.


Thankfully, all these realizations have helped and Hubby and I have had a heart-to-heart this evening.  He is more than happy to simply give me "permission" to take the day off when things aren't going well and I'm beyond frustrated. =)  


So, I'm laying all this out there just in case I'm not the only one who feels like this (Please tell me I'm not the only one?!?) and it may help someone else.  


And, Todd, if you ever read this, maybe just a little clarification from you that not all homeschool moms are made exactly the same?


Blessings,

First Week of School

Well, we did it. We finished our first official week of school {yeah!}. And without any serious meltdowns or temper-tantrums...........from the teacher anyway, lol.

I decided to go with My Father's World again. We enjoyed it last year and, while I debated on coming up with something on my own to save on money, in the end I decided (well, truthfully my husband decided) my sanity was more important! I'm just not very reliable when I try to come up with my own lessons. I tend to not do them rather than figure out how to. So MFW is a really good fit for us (read that ME, lol) as I don't have to do a lot of teacher prep or planning of my own. I can just open the manual and go!

Munchkin doing her reading assignment.

I also decided to stick with pretty much everything else we were using, although, I did switch our writing program. MFW recommends Writing Strands (level 3 for Munchkins age), but it just really didn't work for us. Both she and I were ending up frustrated every time we worked on a lesson out of it. So, after a little research, I decided on Wordsmith Apprentice. So far we are really loving it. She loves the idea of being a reporter and the lessons are short enough to keep her interest, but challenging enough that she has to really think and apply herself.

I've also added in a few things. First is A Reason for Handwriting Transition. We've used this book (and the one before it) before, but it was rather hit and miss. I decided to more "formally" schedule it this year as I think her handwriting could use some help. Second is a workbook called "Comprehension Detective". I've felt like her reading comprehension hasn't been as good as I'd like considering she is reading above grade level. So I got this book to work on a couple times a week to try and improve that area. I also have a book of Multiplication Practice Tests (that comes with a CD as well) and Times Tales that I will add in as I see a need. Right now they are not scheduled, but I have them on the shelf ready to pull out if needed.

I started Peanut with MFW Kindergarten earlier this year. We've taken some time off here and there, so we are only finishing up lesson 12. So far we have been really enjoying it. I've been trying not to go too fast or push too hard because Peanut has needed more time to be "ready" for school. But I do think we are finally there {yeah!}. I'm hoping to be able to move into MFW 1st grade after the new year.

Peanut working on her Picture Cards

(notice the Ocean poster from week 9 in the background?)

Little P has been mostly tagging along with both Munchkin and Peanut. (All three of the kids participate in most of the group stuff in Creation to Greeks, although Munchkin is the only one I "require" to do the notebooking and other written assignments.) He knows most of the songs in the Kindergarten program and is starting to recognize some of the letters. But he's not ready to do more yet :o). He does frequently do his own version of the worksheets (both from K and CtoG) and has his own notebook to put his schoolwork in.

Little P working on a coloring worksheet.

Little Bits has thankfully been napping during school time. She has become somewhat of a handful, always wanting to be involved. However, her involvement usually entails taking all the pencils out of the supply tote, dumping the crayons out and throwing them around the room, or writing/coloring on my lesson plan! Occasionally she likes to take whatever worksheet one of her older siblings is working on, which prompts them to grab for it, usually resulting in said worksheet getting torn. I'm hoping that by the new year (when she'll turn 2) she may be ready for some more independent toddler activities and not be so focused on getting into whatever her siblings are doing. (Hey, I can dream right?!? LOL)

Peanut and Little P working on their individual worksheets.

This was supposed to be a post about our first week, but it seems to have turned into a post about our curriculum for the year! Mostly that happened because I don't have much to report on this week. It did go well, we got a lot accomplished. We studied Creation and started our timeline (picture of that coming soon!). We also did our version of a Sabbath meal. That was fun and the kids really enjoyed it. We may try to do it again sometime. They did have a science experiment, but daddy did that with them, so I can't really give an update on that!

So, that's our first week in a nutshell and where I see our year going. I hope to get a post up soon detailing some of the scheduling and organization that I have implemented this year, but I need to get pictures taken first :o) Hopefully I'll get to that in the next day or two. Until then...

Blessings,

A new schedule

A couple weeks ago, I saw THIS post with the idea of a visual schedule. I immediately loved it! I've tried a schedule several times, but every time I failed. I've mostly followed the MOTH system, but I always seemed to "fall off" the schedule and never figured out how to successfully get back on. However, I have noticed that Peanut does much better with a schedule. She needs to know we are doing this, then that, then food (she's all about the food, lol). So I've been trying to come up with a way to do a schedule that works for both of us. I'm hoping this idea will be a perfect fit. It's still a schedule, but easy to change on the fly if necessary.

Now, this post will also show that I am not a very good blogger, lol. I failed to take pictures of each step, so only have pictures of the final project. I'll do my best to walk you through how I did it, though =)

First, I created a document in word with all the items we would need on our schedule. I added a clip art that "matched" the item to make it easier on my non-readers. I then printed them on regular paper, 5 per page. I cut them out and glued them on a slightly larger piece of scrapbook paper.

I then glued it on some foam board. Finally, I added a strip of magnetic tape on the back.

My Hubby then took the cabinet doors off our old BBQ and mounted them on the wall for me. Wala! Ultra cool visual schedule.

Close up of the top panel.

Close up of the bottom panel.

Wanna know what the best part is? I used materials I had on had, so it only cost me $3.99 for the magnetic tape! We haven't "officially" started using it yet (I only got it finished last night, lol), but I'm really excited to start. I really think it will help us stay in a routine.

Blessings,

Where has the time gone?

Wow, I've been seriously slacking with updating my blog! Where have the last few weeks gone? I feel like I've simply been in "survival" mode. Just get the basics done. Ever been there?

I'm horribly behind in menu planning. I didn't even make a menu last week (or go shopping!) Somehow we made it all the way to Saturday without eating out or take out! Definitely have to go shopping this week, though. We are seriously out of staples.

We have been busy, though. It's the end of the school year. So there is that push to get everything done before the weather gets too nice and you don't want to do school anymore =) Munchkin had to test this year. It was the first time for both of us. She did really well, though, I'm proud of her. A little weak in math, but we knew that going in. Now it's time to re-evaluate curriculum and determine what to do for next year. I think we'll probably stick with MFW, but I may switch a few other things around. We'll see.

Peanut has been doing really well in school as well. She finally seemed ready for "formal" schooling around January, so we started her in MFW K. She's taken to it like a duck to water =) Little P has also been working with us some. It won't be long before he's ready for something more formal as well. Little Bits has truly become a "toddler terror", lol. She does her best to disrupt school as much as she can. Thankfully she naps most mornings, so we can get something accomplished!

We also made it up to my parents "cabin" for our annually Memorial Day trip. It was cold, it actually snowed on us! But the kids had fun (as always) even if I was a little whiny =).

We just celebrated Munchkin's 10th birthday. I can't believe she is getting so big, she's going to be a 5th grader next year! {Yikes!} She's definitely turning into a little lady. Makes me feel old {sigh}.

Blessings,

P.S. What's a blog post without pictures, lol? All the pictures in this post were taken last weekend at a marsh that's near the "cabin".

Boulders and other ramblings...

I'm way behind in the blog world right now. Not only have I not posted anything in a few weeks, I haven't read any posts either.

I also haven't been taking pictures {gasp!}.

We've gotten a little bit of school done, but not much. Overall, I feel like the last few weeks have just been a big blur. My husband has been working out of town and that's been very hard on me. I don't do well with my hubby being gone. I tend to get depressed.

It also doesn't help that last Tuesday I woke up at some horrible early hour of the morning in excruciating pain. I finally called my mom around 4 and had her take me to the emergency room. My dad came and sat with the older three kids and we took the baby with us. The diagnosis? Kidney stones. They sent me for a CT scan to verify. The scan came back that it wasn't kidney stones, but a kidney BOULDER! The scan showed it to be approximately 8mm (you can pass stones that are 6mm or less). Then after much confusion and many phone calls (and lots of pain pills!) I was scheduled for a procedure to have it taken out. That happened on Friday. I wont go into all the gory details of said procedure, but I will say that they have to leave a stint in for 5-7 days afterward. So, while the boulder is gone, I've still been having some discomfort due to the stint.

Thankfully hubby was home over the weekend, so I got to take it easy. He was very sweet and took care of me :o) He even went grocery shopping for me for the week!

But, alas, he has left again already. And, unless it rains, he wont be home again till Friday evening. I miss him already :-(

I need to get back into a routine, but that may need to wait till I can get this stint out (which I just found out isn't going to happen till Friday, ugg!). I was already planning on taking a short break from ECC to do some other things. We went to the Evergreen Air and Space Museum recently and my kids loved it! So we are going to do a short unit study (and lapbook) on Amelia Earhart. Then I'm going to do my best to put together another short unit study/lapbook on Hawaii.

Why Hawaii, you may ask? Well, that's the exciting part in all of this. Hubby's family is taking us to Hawaii in October!!! The kids are beside themselves with excitement (and in all honesty, so am I!). So, being the homeschool mom that I am, we are going to study up on Hawaii before we go :o)


Well, I think that's pretty much my last few days in a nutshell. Hopefully I will find my energy and motivation here soon. I need to get out of my PJ's, I've been in them for three days! I would appreciate any prayers you could send my way!

Blessings,

Our plan for this school year

If you've been following my blog at all, you probably know that last years plan got blown out of the water. Being pregnant, having baby and adjusting to new baby, did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. Consequently we missed A LOT of school. And I struggled with feeling overwhelmed ever since. You can read more about it HERE and HERE.

However, I now have a plan for this year! We will be starting school on August 9th (yes, one week from today) and we will be 17, YES 17, weeks AHEAD. No more feeling guilty about being behind! No more feeling like we can't do something spontaneous because we can't miss anymore school! It's a very freeing feeling.

So, without further ado, here is what the plan is for this year:

Cast of Characters:

Munchkin - 9yo - 3rd/4th grade
Peanut - 5yo - Preschool/Kindergarten
Little P - 2.5yo - Preschool
Little Bit - Baby/toddler

Our Spine:

We will continue to work our way through MFW ECC this year. We finished through week 17, so we will start school on week 18. I haven't fully decided what we will do if we finish ECC before the year is over. We may move right on to Creation to Greeks. Or we may do another unit study to finish out the year and start C2G at the beginning of next year. I'll make that decision if/when we get there.

With ECC we will all do Bible, Geography, Music/Art, Book Basket, Science & Read Aloud (these last two with dad) together.

For the other subjects:

Munchkin:

Language Arts - We will be doing the copywork & Vocab from ECC and will add Writing Strands 3 this year.

Spelling - We recently started Sequential Spelling 1, so we will continue to use that.

English - We will continue to use Language Lesson's for the Very Young (Queen Homeschool). If we finish, we will move into the next book.

Math - We will continue with MUS Beta. If we finish we will move on to MUS Gamma.

Reading - We hadn't been doing anything for this because she is such a good reader, but I started to wonder if she was really comprehending what she was reading. So we started back on the Pathways readers (we used them in 1st grade) at level 5. We will continue for this year.

Foreign Language - Will still have not decided on a foreign language. I've been considering Latin, using either Latin Christiana or Prima Latina. However, right now I just want to focus on the basics and get into a routine. Maybe sometime in January, I'll reconsider adding a foreign language.

Peanut:

She shows some signs of being ready for school, but she still has a very short attention span. My goal is to work with her using a combination of MFW Preschool and Kindergarten. She also really wants to learn to read, so I will try some lessons from Teach Your Child To Read In 100 Easy Lessons. I also want to do some lapbooking with her because she definitely appears to be a kinesthetic learner.

Little P:

He has moved somewhat beyond the "just keeping him occupied" stage. Plus, after listening to David Hazel's (author of MFW) lecture on Preschoolers, I no longer think that is a stage. However, I don't think he is completely ready for official "sit down" schooling. I will most likely be including him in what I do with Peanut and in everything he's willing to sit through with ECC. I will probably also throw in a few workbooks from the Dollar Store for the days he wants "to do school". (And, yes, even my children, who have never set foot in a public school classroom, think "doing school" is a worksheet! {sigh})

Little Bit:

OK, this one will most likely just be occupied {grin}. I'm hoping for the most part she'll just nap through most of our school time. But she has been difficult about getting on a schedule, so that may not happen. I may find myself assigning one kid to play with her while I work with another one. So I guess we'll just see how this goes as the year progresses.

So that's my plan in a nutshell. To see more curriculum plans and reviews, head over to the "Not Back-To-School" blog hop on Heart of the Matter. And stay tuned for next weeks edition, "School Rooms".

Blessings,

It's almost time...

...for back to school. Or as we homeschoolers like to say "NOT back to school!" {grin}

Everywhere you turn you see "back-to-school" specials and sales. I have to admit, it makes me giddy! I LOVE shopping for school supplies! It was my favorite part of back-to-school when I was a kid. And now as a homeschooling mom, it's even more exciting. I just love looking at all those supplies and imagining all the possibilities! And the deals aren't bad either. I mean, lets face it, when else can you get spiral notebooks for 10 cents? Or, heck, even a FREE backpack?

Of course all these sales mean something else as well. It's time for the "Not back-to-school blog hop"! This year it will be hosted at Heart of the Matter. Here is the schedule for this year:

• Monday, Aug 2 – Friday, Aug 6: Curriculum Week
• Monday, Aug 9 – Friday, Aug 13: School Room Week
• Monday, Aug 16 – Friday, Aug 20: Student Photo Week
• Monday, Aug 23 – Friday, Aug 27: Day-in-the-Life Week

I'm looking forward to participating and giving a little "peak" into our school life. Hope to see some of you there as well! =) For more information (and to participate) visit Heart of the Matter.

Blessings,

Homeschool update

I haven't posted any school updates here for quite a while.

The reason?

I haven't really had any updates {sigh}. This last year has felt really LONG, but at the same time, we only managed to finish 17 weeks of school.

Why, you ask?

Well, mostly because this last pregnancy, delivery and recovery were all really hard on me. I get HUGE when I'm pregnant and that makes me whine {*insert sheepish grin here*}. And the delivery and recovery were really hard this time. I can't explain why, but it took a lot out of me. Plus, I've basically been an emotional basket case since about 4 or 5 months pregnant (just ask my poor husband). I feel like I'm coming out of it now, but..........I still have my bad days.

So, even though I did not intend for it to happen (and tried not to let it happen), school kinda got put on the back burner. I tried to school all through December, but there are just too many things happening that month and, without intending to, we took most of the month off. Then baby came in January and we (intentionally) took that month off. I tried to get back into things in February, but that didn't work. Then March. Then April. Then May. I think your starting to get the picture {grin}. Don't get me wrong, it's not that we didn't to any school. It was just hit or miss. No structure. No consistency. I just got further and further behind. I tried to assure myself that it was OK, I'd just school through the summer and get caught up.

Then, I hit the brick wall of burnout..............at full speed.

I know what you are thinking, "how do you burnout when you're not really doing anything in the first place?"

Well, the best answer I can give is, it's a weight thing. No, no, no. Not how much weight I have (or haven't) lost, more of a weight-of-the-world-on-your-shoulders type thing. The more days I took off, the guiltier I felt. And the more overwhelmed I became.

• We are so far behind, how will we ever catch up?
• I'm not doing enough, my kids are hopelessly behind.
• We wont get to have fun this summer because we have to catch up on school.
• I'm not cut out for this, I'm ruining my kids, I should just put them in school.

These are some of the things that went through my mind on a daily basis. I was ready to throw in the towel.

Then we went to the OCEAN conference. I was very inspired by David Hazell's lecture, "Help, my homeschool is chaos!". I came home encouraged and ready to take it all on again. I was stuck on one of the things David had said. He had explained how they started their school year early, in July. That way they were ahead from the get go, so it was "OK" when they had a day that didn't happen. I sounded like a great idea! It was exactly the type of thing I needed to implement! But then I remembered how far behind we were and I got discouraged. All those statements from above started running through my mind again. After all, I was already soooo far behind, how on earth could I get caught up, much less, get ahead?

Once again I was right back to feeling overwhelmed. Feeling like I was ruining my kids. Ready to throw in the towel.

My husband (bless him!) was desperate to encourage me. But I was convinced he couldn't understand how I felt so his attempts at encouragement just added more weight to my shoulders. Now I felt like I was letting him down as well. What I really needed (but didn't realize it at the time) was for him to give me "permission" to take a break and re-evaluate. He did eventually suggest that (that's why I now know that's what I needed {grin}) and I felt like some of the weight was lifted.

Then I jokingly made the comment to hubby "Maybe I'll just say we're doing ECC* for next year, then we are 17 weeks ahead!"

He latched on to that and told me it was a great idea and he thought that's what I should do. As I pondered it further, I decided it was a pretty good idea. MFW doesn't do grade levels, so it really didn't matter what grade I used it for. I could just as easily use it for 4th grade as for 3rd grade. It really was just a matter of changing my thinking and choosing to consider myself ahead for next year instead of behind for this year.

So, now that I've had some "official" time off and I've changed my thinking, I'm ready to go again! I've been drooling over back-to-school ads (I get a high from shopping for school supplies! I know, I'm weird, but I've accepted that!) and we've decided our "official" back-to-school start day will be August 9th. And the best part is.............

...I'm excitedly looking forward to it!

Blessings,

*Note: For those of you who don't know, we are using My Father's World (MFW) curriculum. It's a unit study type approach that you cycle through every five years. Exploring Countries and Cultures (ECC) is the first year of that cycle. For more info, visit their website.

School Update 10-02-09

As many of you know, we gotten off to a slow start with school this year. We have gotten some done even though it has taken 4 or 5 weeks (I lost track somewhere along the way!) to do two weeks worth of work! Anyway, here is an update of some of the activities we have done.

This was a activity to show how it is difficult to portray a map of the earth on a flat piece of paper because the earth is round. I drew a map of the world (it's a sad drawing, I know!) on an orange and then very carefully peeled it in one piece (or as best I could) and showed what happens when you try to lay it flat. We then had a tasty snack!

We also did a back yard habitat study, where we looked at a small square in the yard and recorded what we observed.

Here is Munchkin recording what she can see from a standing position.

And here she is doing some closer observations.

Here is Peanut doing her recordings. She claimed to not have a big enough piece of paper!

She really got into using the magnifying glass to look at things!

This is a project we did just the other day. It was a hands-around-the-world doll chain. We cut out a doll chain and then the girls colored the dolls to look like children from different places around the world. I didn't take a picture of Peanuts because, well, she decided to cut the heads off of all of hers! When I asked her why, she said "Because I wanted circles." I guess I should be thankful she can identify a circle!

So far this week has go pretty well. Hubby did have to take over science this morning, Munchkin and I seem to have difficulties with that subject. But, other than that, it has gone well. I'm looking forward to adding LA, math and spelling in next week. I also need to come up with some stuff for Peanut to do. So I guess I'll be doing some planning this weekend :o)

I hope you all have a great weekend!

Blessings,

Glennda

School Room and Organization

OK, so I don't really have a school room. Like a lot of homeschoolers, we have school in the living room and sometimes the dining room. But, thanks to my wonderful hubby, last weekend we did some major re-arranging and now have a designated school area in the living room. Here are couple pictures:


We just scored the bigger of the two desk at a garage sale this weekend! Although, now Little P thinks he needs one of his own, so I guess I'm on the hunt for another one (sigh)! The drawer thing next to the table holds our math manipulatives, unifex (sp?) cubes and pattern blocks. The tote on top holds all of Munchkins school supplies. Everything in this box is for school use only. This has eliminated the "hunt" for pencils, paper, workbooks, etc. at the beginning of school.

As you can see, wall space is also at a premium in our house. Plus, it's an old house and the walls are lath and plaster, which means attempting to hang anything usually results in large holes in the wall. So, since I didn't have space to hang our map (or the desire to put large holes in the wall, lol) I put it on the table. A year or so ago, I purchased a few yards of clear vinyl on sale at JoAnns (I think between the sales and coupon I got it for $6) which I then put over the map. It makes for great dinner conversation, especially when you have company :o) Here is a picture (sorry it's a little dark!):

In the opposite corner from the desks is my "homeschool cabinet". This is were I keep all of my supplies and teachers manuals and anything I don't want the kids to have constant access to. The top cupboard has my books and such. And the bottom cupboard holds my supplies (extra pencils, pens, glue, scissors, etc.) and bins with my preschool educational activities. Here are a couple pictures of that:




Some friends were discussing how to organize all the "extras" recently. This is how I do it. I've picked up several shoebox sized plastic bins over the years (The Dollar Store!) and have a bin for each item (crayons, colored pencils, markers, glue, etc.) They are all in a cupboard under the built in buffet in the dining room. I also have a similar setup in the cupboard on the other side with games and puzzles. Here is a picture:


This is another benefit of our rearranging. We moved my sewing stuff down to the office in the basement and then brought the recliner and table/lamp to where my sewing stuff was. Our house has some interesting "nooks and crannies" due to a remodel that the previous owners did. They turned one of the bedrooms into a hallway in order to add a master suite on to the house. So this is kinda in the hallway, but it's a large hallway, lol. I love it cause it gives me a place for my morning bible study. Here is a picture:


So there you have a little peak into my home :o) I hope you enjoyed it.

Blessings,

Glennda

Command Center

I've posted this before, but since it is time for school to be starting again, I thought I would revisit it :o). And, Organizing Junkie is doing a Command Center round-up this week that I want to participate in :o). For more ideas on command centers, visit her site.

Earlier in the year I was feeling like my house was in chaos and feeling overwhelmed at getting it under control. The idea of someone dropping by unannounced terrified me, lol. I thought about making another schedule (MOTH), but that just made me cringe, it's so easy to fall off and not get back on. I contemplated using a schedule that had blocks of time (morning block, afternoon block, etc.) but even that seemed to restrictive. I had made a home-keeping notebook, but I rarely used it (I decided I simply didn't want to take the time and energy to open it, lol ). So I started searching for new home-keeping "tools". One of the things I came up with is the idea of a Command Center. Basically, I took my notebook and put it on the wall. Now everything is right there, visible, and I have no excuse for not remembering.

Here are a couple of pictures:

Now I'll explain the different elements :o)

The white board - I used a wet-erase marker to create different sections on the board. I have a place for the date, what's for dinner, scripture I'm working on, appointments, priorities, to-do list, things to buy and notes.

The calendar - This is where I can keep track of what's going on. The pink sticky notes are my meal planning, I write the meal on the sticky and put it on the day I want. Using stickies makes it easy to switch days if necessary.

Cork Boards - These are there to put up things like reminders and invitations.

Little wood shelf - This holds my supplies; pens, pencils, eraser, sticky notes, etc.

Wire hanging file - I made "pockets" out of scrapbooking paper for this. Both to make it more functional (things can't slip out) and pretty. I have important fliers and such in the bottom pocket. And I put the papers I did use from my notebook into report covers and those are in the top pockets.

Basket on top of wine rack - This is a place to put papers and things that my hubby needs to take to his office in the basement (as you can see, he's a little behind :o))

Big blue tub - This is the "mommy basket". As I'm tidying up, things my children have chosen not to put away go into this tub. They then have until bedtime to remove and put away anything they find in there. After bed time, I remove the items and take them to the basement for a week. At the end of the week the items are placed back in the tub and they once again have till bedtime to put them away. If they still do not get put away, then I figure they really don't need/want them and they go away :o)

Overall, I tried to make the space functional and pretty. Thus the reason for the cute signs and the flower arrangement. I didn't want it to look like an eyesore, 'cause then I wouldn't use it. It is still a work in progress and I will probably tweak a few things as I determine what works and what doesn't, especially now that we are starting a new school year. Anyway, that's what i have so far :o)

Blessings,

Glennda

Blog Hop - Curriculum

Life With My 3 Boybarians is hosting a blog hop this month on "not back to school". This weeks topic is curriculum. And since I haven't gotten around to posting about this year yet, I figured I'd participate :o)

Munchkin will be a 3rd grader (yikes!) this year. Our spine will be My Fathers World and we will be using Exploring Countries and Cultures which is the first year in their 5 year cycle.

This is what the MFW website says about ECC: "Take a trip around the world and explore diverse countries while learning geography and being challenged by true stories of missionaries." There are also several other families in our homeschool group who will be using this program so we will get to do activies with them. We are very excited about this year!

MFW covers Bible, History, Geography, Science, Art and Music. So for the other subjects:

Language Arts: We will be continuing with Queen Homeschool's Language Lessons for the Very Young Volume 1.

Spelling: We will be switching to Spell to Read and Write. I still have to do some planning for this, so I'm not 100% sure how I'm going to incorporate it.

Math: We will be continuing with Math U See going into the Beta program.

We still don't have a foreign language yet, but I've been meaning to look into Latina Christiana. If anyone uses/has used this, I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Peanut is still a preschooler :o) She really wants to learn to read, but I'm not sure she's really ready for anything formal. I have the MFW preschool package, so we'll be using that. I'll probably throw in some tot books and maybe a unit or two from Before Five in a Row. And I will probably spend some time working on reading with her and see how that goes. Other than that, nothing real formal with her this year!

Little P is at the difficult toddler stage, lol. With him, I will mostly be focusing on keeping him occupied so I can work with his sisters. I'm not 100% sure how I will accomplish this, but I'm working on it. I will probably set aside a few toys that are for "school time only" and I'll probably get him is own set of color crayons and paper so he has his own "supplies". I'm also going to look into making one of those "indoor sandboxes" that I've seen various places on the internet. If anyone has idea's they'd like to share on how to keep an active toddler boy happy during school time, I'm all ears (or eyes as the case may be, lol).

I also am hoping to have our routine firmly in place before the new baby makes his or her arival in January. I have a longer than normal recovery period, so I'm hoping if we are already going smoothly, then things can continue without too much stress on me :o) Otherwise, we may need to school over the summer!

Blessings,

Glennda

It's That Time of Year.......

It's that time of year again, when we all start thinking about CURRICULUM!

This is when we look back over the last year and try to decide what worked, what didn't and what needs to be tweaked. We start looking at catalogs and browsing online. We hold curriculum shares and start looking forward to conventions. We pester everyone we know, asking what they use(d) and why. What they liked and didn't like. We are plagued with the idea that there might be something better, that somewhere out there is a treasure trove of curricula, yet undiscovered, that would be perfect.

Now, let me tell you a little secret.......................there is no perfect curriculum.

Sure, there are veteran homeschool mom's out there who seem to have found it. They've used the same thing for all ten children and it seems to have worked beautifully. But even they have peaked over the fence once or twice. Or wondered, "Is this really the best math program for little Johnny?". But they have discovered that sometimes there is value in simply sticking with what you know.

Then you have the mom's on the other side. The ones who could probably open their own curriculum store. They buy a new program every year and for every child! But you know what? Their children turn out beautifully also. They have discovered that there is value in change and spontaneity.

I've come to believe that it doesn't matter what books or curriculum you use. Or which method you follow. Or whether you stick with the same thing or change it up every year. All you really need is love, prayer and a willingness to teach.

God gave you children that are perfect for you. He has a plan for each one of them. And you're just part of that plan. If you think of it that way, you really can't mess up! It doesn't matter if you stick with the same thing. Or change it up every year. Or are somewhere in between. Your children will get the education God intended them to have because they got the mother He intended them to have.

So relax and have fun :o) Browse your catalogs and the internet. Ask questions and go to the convention. But don't be afraid to stick with what you're using, especially if it's working.

Blessings,

Glennda

Chicka, Chicka Boom, Boom Tot Book

Peanut didn't want to be left out of the lapbooking, but since her attention span is so short we decided to try a Tot book this time. We chose Chicka, Chicka, Boom, Boom because it's one of their favorite books. Here it is:

This was a lot of fun. It was quick and easy, which held her attention to the end. She has also had fun playing with the flash cards. I think it is helping to encourage her to learn her letters! WooHoo!!!