Break Week #1

This week is our first break week and I can say its going to be lazy around my house today!! Its raining and the kids are being little couch potatoes!! Thats alright because they never get to be :)

We have no plans for this week however I am thinking about taking them to the Science Center Friday. We shall see. I also have a hair appt today! LOL honestly lazy week!

Have a great week friends!

Weekly Wrap Up 24 ~ Break!!

This is our last week for 2!!! We earn this 2 week break - That's for sure! After 8 weeks we love our 2 week break! The kids have worked really hard this 8 weeks and I am very proud of what they have completed!

This is our first "year round" year and also the first year using Workboxes and Man Oh Man can I tell a huge difference in our school!!

Completed: MUS & AAS Level 1 & 2.

Together:
The only thing I wasn't happy about was our President/Landmark Mini Study, I wanted to do more so this may be something we do for a few days until I get it finished during our break...((shhh dont tell the kids))

Kyle
He completed many things last week so the only thing left for him on our "needed" subjects was his math, he has done wonderful with MUS this year and I am so very proud of everything he is mastering with this program. The mastery approach really is needed for him. He took a little longer this week to put the finishing touches on his Ancient Egypt LB he didn't really want to put it together last week so I told him since it was complete he could wait. Looks good I think! He is wanting to learn more ASL so I am on a search to find a local class since CurrClick had to cancel the online one. He done really well with his cursive this week, When we start back school I will start including some copywork for him.

Lexi
She is a little sad for her break, the child would do school all year every day - yes even Saturday and Sunday. I actually have a small folder that I keep for her filled with little worksheets of all topics because she will grab some daily! Ex specially threw our break I make sure I have anything that she needed re-enforced on because sure enough she will grab her folder and do a few sheets everyday threw our break! I love her attitude! She is so pleasant. She loves to learn and she loves to read. She is still having a small problem with her money and so we will review that when our break is over. She finished AAS Level 2!! WOOHOO she done wonderful last week and this week with AAS, which it comes natural to her, she is just naturally a great speller and I think it comes from all the reading she does. She didn't finish MUS but it won't be long, after all there is no rush at all. I go at her pace not her at mine :)

Zac
Still learning all the sounds to the ABC, AAR comes out  next week so I can't wait to get him that because he really enjoys the sample lessons!! So do I. Zac completed his MUS Primer Friday! He really has nice handwriting but when I ask him to write certain things he is still having problems with that so that is something that is going to be top priority when school starts back! He has to get those in his head!! He enjoys pleasing me and I try to make sure he understands he is all the time but I think he knows I need this done better, so we are going to work on it more! He is doing great with time. We will review this when school starts back too!


~ BREAK ~
Plans for our break?? NOPE!!!!!!!!
I have a trip planned to the Zoo and that's all. Its takes us 2.5 hours to get there and the kids are so excited!! We enjoy going every year and this years trip is a little sooner than other years.
We plan on visiting with my grandparents in Marion, we don't normally get a lot of time to do this so we try to on our breaks.

Homeschool Funnies!

Wordless Wednesday Week 24

Taco Soup

Taco Soup

I wanted to share this recipe because so many people have said they didn't know what it was. I didn't know about it until this last year, my mom's friend made some and my mother raved about it!! So this is how I make mine!

Ingredients:

1 1/2 lbs extra lean ground beef
1 med Onion, chopped
1 – 17oz can diced tomatoes with juice(sometimes I add more sauce)
1 – 14oz cans kidney beans
1 -  Can of Black Beans
1 – Can of  Corn (or canned w/juice)
1 package Taco Seasoning(i sometimes add 2)
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 cup chicken broth
1 pack of Ranch Dry Seasoning(I sometimes add 2)

•Optional Garnish: shredded cheddar cheese, sour cream, sliced green onion, Fritos.

Directions: In large stockpot, brown ground beef, onion. Drain grease, add tomatoes & all but garnish. Simmer for at least 30 minutes. Serve in individual bowls and garnish as desired!

** This is just a neat twist on Chilli!!

Make your own Taco Seasoning!
•1 T chili powder
•1/4 t garlic powder
•1/4 t onion powder
•1/4 t crushed red pepper flakes
•1/4 t oregano
•1/2 t paprika
•1 1/2 t cumin
•1 t salt
•1 t black pepper

Week 24 ~ Last Week Before Break!

This week will consist of getting everything done before our 2 week break! So buckle up and hold on! LOL. The kids and I are looking forward to our hard earned break!

Together:
Bible Verse - K - Keep your tongue from evil and your lips from speaking lies. Psalm 34:13
New Read Aloud - Huckleberry Finn
President/Landmark Unit Study
George Washington Mini Book Study
Draw Write Now - Book 6
Friends coming over Tuesday to finish up Backyard Birds LB

Kyle
MUS - 30 - 30T(last lesson)
AAS - Nothing Finished Last Week
Reading Books on Egypt still
Mad Libs
Cursive Practice
Writing to Pen Pal.
Still learning some more ASL and practice what already knows!

Lexi
MUS 27 - 27T
AAS - 24 & 25
Review of sounds and sight words.
Reading Daily
Writing Practice.
Doing some copy work this week - Pledge.
Writing to Pen Pal.

Zac
AAS - Step 1 Lev 1
MUS - Finishing 29E & F - 30(finish this week)
Writing - Working only on lowercase review.
Copy Work - Pledge
Writing/Drawing to Pen Pal.
AAR - Starting back at step 1 on sample because he loved it so! Hurry up AAR release the new material already!

Menu Feb 20 - 26

This is our Menu for the week! Hope you enjoy! What are you having this week??

Chicken Enchiladas
Taco Soup
Hamburger Sliders
Breakfast(omelets was requested)
Taco Salad
Chicken Alfredo
Boyscout Dinner

Weekly Wrap Up 23

This has been a great week much that was planned got completed! That makes me happy!! No huge plans this weekend just doing whatever the wind blows our way I guess! I am glad basketball is over!! LOL my weekends are back to being MINE!! Next week is our last week of school for 2 weeks. I love this new year round schedule we started this year!

Together
Sensory Bin/Fun Tub was a hit. We will do this monthly I think with a theme for the whole month.
Play Doh station was a hit as well! ((Duh on that mom!))
We finished our Space Study. This was alot of info to learn and I am thinking my little ones really loved this topic!

FINALLY --- Finished Mr Popper's Penguins!!!!!! Yes I know this took WAY to long but hey we had fun with it!
Drawing - We done none this week - Just got so busy with other things we didn't do none :(

Kyle
This week Kyle done great on everything. He completed AAS level 2, which he was thrilled about! He is one lesson from finishing up MUS as well. Finished up his Ancient Egypt lapbook from HSS. This was something he enjoyed! We had talked about some of it in MOH so it wasn't all new to him. Overall this week was a really great week for Kyle. He also learned his Sign Language ABC's and numbers to 20. He is however upset that the class I paid for threw Currclick got canceled!!!! Very upset indeed! He has been learning sign language threw his therapy he was having however this is the first week since he was dismissed and he was a little sad but we did something special that day just for him.

Alexis
She really done great this week on writing! She always struggles with this but she is really improving on her neatness. She still has 4 lessons to finish up on MUS. She is also looking very forward to our break after next week because she gets to go to her Granny Jewells house!! We completed Officer Buckle & Gloria LB this week and the kids learned a lot about safety. Everyday things that they can really apply! She is doing good with telling time but needs some more work on money.

Zac
He has been doing wonderful on everything this week. We have had lots of fun learning about rhymes and playing little games for this. He is still doing great with numbers. However I feel that we are going to have to work on his handwriting for them. Next week will be more relaxed than normal and I feel that we will have good time to work on writing ability. He can do it and he recognizes the numbers but when I ask him to write a certain number he has to pause for longer than I like. He is loving the intro level lesson to AAR. Can't wait for that to be released soon! Zac is needing a little more work on telling time, he gets the hands confused. He also finished his Officer Gloria & Buckle LB this week. I got tickled at him while Lexi was climbing on the counter to get a bowl down out of the cabinet... He yelled at her and said that is not safe remember officer buckle! LOL hey you never really know if they actually listen!!!!! But I think they do!!!!

Officer Buckle & Gloria Pics!

Last but not least.... Our Bird Study we are doing with our great friends on Tuesday!

 

Lexi said she was an "egg-head" get it!!!!!! LOL

Aren't the bird masks just so cute!!

Sneak Peek!!! All About Reading

I have talked already once about the All About Reading Program and also gave you a link to download the freebie(sneak) of this if you missed it here is the info once again!

Zac is my smallest child. We have used All About Spelling from this publisher for almost 2 years with my older 2 children and I can say we LOVE IT... All About Spelling has helped my children come to love spelling and really understand HOW to spell! The rules and the why's!! I appreciate that!

So I hear that they are coming out with All About Reading and I am so happy!! Just in time to teach Zac how to read! So I download the freebie and we started using it last week and WOW he loves it, he begs to use it!! I am so happy and relieved that he enjoys this!

Here is a sneak peek to the program that I am waiting soooooo patiently on!!!

Doesn't it look F A N T A S T I C !!!!!!!!!!!!!

I also wanted to show some wonderful pics of my Zachary  having such a good time with our freebie to get us started!

 You can see the page in front of him! He loves Ziggy!! The puppet that Zac is playing with is not from AAR but it is one that I had and it has fit perfectly!!

Zac on a different day loving his Ziggy lesson!

This has already helped him learn to rhyme and helped improve his ability to hear sounds! He didn't know what a rhyme or syllable was before last week but he does now!! Thanks so much AAR!!

This program will release some time this month! I will be one of the first customers!!!

Stop Think Plan

It's time once again to re-evaluate our plans. Next week is week 24(or 30 however you would like to figure) for our homeschool, we are loving our new schedule this year. 8 weeks of school and 2 week break all year long. This is fantastic I wish we would of started this a few years ago!

So every 8 weeks I go threw and pick out certain topics for Unit Studies and Lapbooks that I want to try to cover. Last 8 weeks was the first time that I had separated the kids, there was a few bumps but nothing that couldn't be worked out. Kyle had requested to do studies without Lexi and Zac. He wanted to learn different things. I have to admit I was already feeling this but after he requested I couldn't say no. This worked pretty good this 8 weeks. I learned that he is super slow at anything computer related without me. He's just not comfy on it at this time, I know it will come. However he got aggravated with himself, so with that said we will be staying away from anything that needed a computer to help him.

That meant that Lexi and Zac was together. At first I thought I could be Super Woman and do 3 unit studies/lapbooks at a time - meaning each child on a different study.......... NO..... lol my dreams went crash and burn, right away!! So again nothing I couldn't handle. So we added Lexi and Zac together and I just combine what I had planned. Ofcouse I have many left over that will go into this next 8 weeks because I over planned the last time.

This 8 weeks I have finally narrowed my Unit that we always do together down to one thing. I normally choose 3 topics to cover during our 8 week period together. Because we don't do a "science" curriculum its normally related to something in that area. So this 8 weeks I am doing a huge study on Geology and incorporating mini studies on Earthquakes, Volcano's and Tsunami's. So instead of my normal bounce around we will stay on a "mother" topic so to say and branch off a little on the others!

Kyle will learn about the following this 8 weeks:
Detectives LB/US
Where the Buffalo Begin LB/US
Pirates LB/US
That's all I have planned right now, I have several others in the thinking stage!

Zac & Lexi will learn about the following this 8 weeks:
Aesop's Fables LB/NB
Johnny Appleseed LB
Months of the Year LB
Growing Veg Soup LB
Caps for Sale LB
Stone Soup LB
The Grouchy Ladybug LB

I am not finished with this plan yet, that's what I am working on for the next week or so. Thinking about interests that my kids have and items I already have that I could let them use. I like to plan ahead and print all needed supplies before I need them just so I know I am prepared and I can go as I am needed!

However in my life and with homeschooling I have found out that my time frame is not the one that matters. This 8 weeks Kyle showed me this several times. I was at first very upset that my plans wasn't being meet then I had to take a step back and ask myself... Why aren't they being meet? The reason was because I was trying to honor what my son asked, Let him work alone. I felt like if I stepped in it would hurt his progress and make him feel badly of himself, so I stepped aside, never did he know that the study which should of took him only a week to finish actually took him 3 weeks!! He didn't care of the time it was supposed to take, he cared that he read 7 books during the process and watched 3 really awesome movies and really dug deep into the subject!! Like I had NOT PLANNED. He really enjoyed his Lewis & Clark study, he could tell you almost anything about them at this point and I am so glad that I got taught a lesson in the process too! Mother's don't put to much pressure on YOUR plans for God and YOUR CHILDREN will lead you in the right plan!!!!!!

Wordless Wednesday Week 23

Happy Blog Hop Wednesday!

  

Remember When???

Do you remember when you decided you would homeschool?

I remember our first day the year Kyle was 6. I hadn't prepared myself for this decision at all!! Most people know to prepare but that wasn't the case with us. Young and dumb is honestly how I would classify myself at that point! I was a young mother that was trying and clueless!

I sent Kyle to school after a long battle with myself and crying almost daily. He went to public school in Kindergarten for 3 weeks. He loved pre-school at the local Baptist church so I just knew kinder wouldn't be any different. The first week was so hard on me. I cried every day when I left him(not in front of him - normally when I drove home with a infant and toddler in my back seat). He really enjoyed the first week, but things changed. He would beg momma can I stay home today? When I would go to drop him off that second week he would cry and the teacher or assistant would have to drag him off me... Remember I had a car seat infant and a toddler with me and he would cling for dear life... I couldn't understand -- What had changed, he was great the first week so why all of a sudden did he change.

Later that week I got a few phone calls from the school. I got very upset when I was told he got in trouble talkin in the bathroom with another little boy... I was even more confused as to why I needed to be phoned for that. So not only was my kinder suppose to go to a class of little ones he didn't know and 2 adults that he was all of a sudden suppose to listen to but NOW he couldn't talk either. Hummm.... So the second phone call came 2 days later when I was asked about his food at lunch. I had a meeting with the principal and lunch leader before Kyle was even enrolled because of his PKU. I had to have medical notes and everything on file for this... So the call came about at lunch he wouldn't throw his food away in the trash and it was because I had told him not too... Which was true because in order to count his intake for the day I needed to know what and how much of what he ate. This made the teacher very mad??? Then after I went and got Kyle that day he said the teacher got angry at him and he asked me why? I said son I am not understanding why your asking me, He said Mom I sat down near her at lunch and prayed and she told me to stop that do it at home not school. I said OMG no she didn't.................... Breathe..............................

So needless to say that started my search in to homeschooling. I had one week to prepare, with no internet at that time!! The next week I pulled him out of school and really wanted to be mean to the teacher but I just kept my mouth shut and took him home.

Most people can't say they have that kind of story to homeschool, most momma's knew for years or months before they would start. I didn't however. I hurried and pulled books from walmart until I could get something in the mail. I had no clue about homeschooling, I knew NOTHING!! A friend of my wonderful aunt homeschooled and I was able to phone her but her children was a lot older than my kinder, however with out internet I went with what she had used, Lifepac's by AOP... I enjoyed this and he did learn from the books... Looking back I wish I would of been more together, I wish I knew what I do now then! Wouldn't it be so much better!! Man I can think of all the fun we would of had, don't get me wrong we had fun together and still do but at that little age I wish I would of had the outlook I have now... Textbooks aren't a must!! At that time of being "young and dumb and can I throw in narrow minded" I didn't know any other approaches other than how I had it in school!! If only I could go back and start with what I know now!! Man oh man -- I can dream for a minute!

It's been 6 years now! Homeschooling is a life! I am so glad that God laid all this out in front of me so that I would start homeschooling my sweet babies! I am a homeschool mother of 3. Since the 6 years ago when I started I have learned so much I could write a book! Maybe in another post I will write about all my findings!!


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Blog Hop Tuesday

   

Week 23

I am going to start back writing about our week every Monday. Its to hard for me to do all of it on Friday, and its WAYYYY long! So this is week 23 for our homeschool year! We have one more week next week and it will be time for our 2 week break! Over the weekend I painted Kyle's room yellow. Its his favorite color and I surprised him when he came back home from a over night stay at granny's!! He loved it and he was soooooo shocked!! Tuesday is Gymnastics for Lexi. Kyle was released from therapy early for doing so wonderful and testing out of a delay! He and the therapist was so sad last week. She really enjoyed Kyle and he enjoyed his time with her as well. So this Wednesday I am going to try to continue doing something with just Kyle to help him stay on track!

So homeschooling:
We added 2 new stations this week. A sensory bin(calling it our fun tub) and a play doh station. This will always have a theme and this week it is Valentine's!

Together
Space Unit Study(finishing this week)
Reading (im a slacker) Still Mr Poppers Penguins! We have took extra time to draw and make pic!
Bible Verse - I - I am the way the truth and life. John 14:6
Draw Write Now - Book 6

Kyle
AAS level 2 -- Complete!! He will finish this today actually!!
MUS 28 & T -- We will complete this next week as well!!
Ancient Egypt Unit will be complete by Friday(hopefully)
Writing
Story Writing Daily
Mad Libs
Working on his sign language.

Alexis
AAS Level 2 -- Step 21, 22 & 23(if no trouble)
MUS 26 & T
LB Officer Buckle & Gloria(finish this week)
Writing
Story Writing Daily
Working On Sentences and Punctuation.
Working on telling time and counting money.

Zac
AAS Level 1 -- Step 1
AAR(sample) He loves this!! I mean threw and threw a love for this!! He begs for us to do it over and over!! This is a total winner!!!!!!!
MUS 28
Working on number recognition up to 100.
Working on writing skills.
Working on ABC's.
Finishing LB Officer Buckle & Gloria.

This Tuesday our friends will join us again and Gina will be finishing her Bird study with the kids! I am so glad we are doing this together. The kids really seem to love it!

This week well Monday(today) is Valentines Day. That included waffle's shaped as hearts, our valentine baskets and some misc Valentine history and learning! Share some love today!!

I'm sure I have probably left something out but it will not be the first or last time! LOL

Happy Valentine's Day Friends!