Smooth Sailing Today

Today is moving along pretty well. Some days I can't say that, but today is not one of them. The girls got up late, but by 10 they were working hard on their school folders. By lunch time, I was able to check off 90% of this weeks assignments on their memo sheets!!

Just a bit ago, I gave the girls a gentle prompting. They were laying around, waiting on their friend's arrival home from school, watching the preschool shows. "You know, you girls are doing awesome this week on your school work. Did you realize that all you have left this week is your Science? I have the booklets all ready for you."

My oldest leaps up, excitement in her voice as she proclaims her love for the new system of school work. She loves that she can SEE a weeks worth of work, and be able to complete it at her own pace (eh, well, yea, I'm pushing~ quietly). She quickly realized that after my telling them they were a week behind yesterday, that today, they can be caught up, and by Friday, they can be ahead. Ok, I'm not sure that last one was realized too, since she seems to think she lives on Easy Street.

My mind has lept that far ahead, though. I can see the next folder already in my mind's eye. I've already made the extra pages for the next 2 spelling lessons. I've already printed out the next history chapter and all of it's activities, as well as the next chapter in the social studies book. I've even gotten the next science booklets printed out and put together, and the lap book activities that they love so much. I spent every spare minute today, getting a teacher's guide and Lap Book for our next reading and comprehension book, Little House on the Prairie.

In 2 weeks, when the teacher comes, we could be farther ahead then we've gotten in a while. Tomorrow, I am going to reward their diligence so far this week with a trip to the gym. Instead of sending them up to work on their folders while the littles are in the daycare room, I will let them swim with me and spend some time with me. They will really like that, and then they can log the swim time in the PE Log too.  ;-) I'm all about multi-tasking.

This is the cover of the lapbook.

This is inside the front cover.

This is inside the back cover. We glued on the next folder today, so once it has some items in it, I'll share more pictures. :)

February already?

We are chugging right along, learning new things, applying ourselves in new ways, and working hard to balance it all with love and cheerfulness. We've changed up our schedule and routine lately, and are now doing things in block study sessions. We've added Co-op classes once a week last semester, and have started up the spring semester. The kids LOVE the classes and new friends they've made, and are stepping up to the challenge that all of this is giving them. They also have a PE class with PE is 2 Fit, a local business that caters to homeschool families. The other new thing in the works is a local stable is finishing setting up as a vendor with our charter school. This means that 2 of my big girls will be learning horsemanship, and they are very excited.

Block studies has benefited us greatly. We now set up packets for the subjects (for example: math) with enough work to move them through a week's worth of assignments (1-2 chapters with tests). They have a folder of work printed out and waiting them, and a memo page detailing 1 week's complete assignments stapled to the inside, that they are to take with them when we go to the Gym. They pull it out and work on everything they can with out my help, and on the days that we are home and working together, I can help them with things they need a lesson on.

Something I've been working with on all of the age levels is Lap Books. These things are time consuming, yet the kids love them! The camera battery is charging, so I will post some of our lap book creations with you at a later time. I've got to go scan some more stuff in for next week. God Bless you in all you are doing :)

Working with new software

You know, it can be a minor headache to keep track of curriculum and assignments and attendance in the whirlwinds of life. I've been struggling with this battle for years. I had been working with a program called HomeSchool Tracker, and it's pretty nifty, but it's taken me several years to work out the kinks. Then I got a PC, and realized I had tons of data to somehow get from one machine to the next... Oie Vie!!

So my friend suggested that I try www.homeschoolskedtracker.com instead. So Sunday, I sat down, and worked diligently at setting it all up, for all 4 children. I also spent all day putting in the first weeks worth of assignments.

So Monday and Tuesday, my girls sat down and paced through each assignment, happy to SEE their work getting marked off as complete. While they were basking in the glow of productivity, I was confused. How on EARTH am I supposed to give them grades on their assignments???

So today I looked through the help articles and FAQ for the website. I had done pretty good over all, but missed ONE little change on each assignment... It seems a "regular" assignment is not graded. I had to go through and edit each assignment for each child, and mark them "Workbook", "Field work", "Test", ect. AHHHHH

So I spent several hours today fixing all the assignments, (completed and not), and then another hour or so tracking down the finished pages, grading them, and entering the grades.

WOOOHOOOO!!! I am making progress. They are feeling accountable for their work, motivated by the grades, and working hard.

Let's just hope I get all the glitches figured out and solved before we get too much further in the month, going back 2-3 weeks to fix something will cause a temporary break from sanity! LOL

The new school year has begun.

Things are always a little hectic around here, and with the new school year starting, it adds into the daily chaos. We use Spectrum for a lot of our main work books, but have added in a few new things this year. We were recently at a cirriculumn swap, and I found some great things to help boost our learning.

One thing we're trying out is Drive Thru History of America http://www.warnerpress.org/Product/NP00781VA/Drive.20_Thru.20_History.3A_.20_America.20_School.20_Pack.20_-.20_kit.aspx . Another is Collections for Young Scholars volumes 4 and 5 for literature.

Anyways, we've started up lessons again 2 weeks ago, and just this weekend, my big girls have moved up to a level one gymnastics class. Gymnastics is going very well, and all the kids have gained muscle weight and are already learning new skills. If they can keep their grades up, and get their chores done well regularly, they have an oppertunity to clean a barn in exchange for horseback lessons.... it's a matter of them wanting it bad enough to prove they will work hard for it.

Library Days

WOW!! We had to have 2 field trips to the local Library this week! Someone is reading MUCH better then she thought!!

On Tuesday we finally got to plan a day of it. We stopped at 2 libraries, and at the second one, we applied for library cards. Then I taught the girls how to check out books. Each girl picked out 3 books to bring home, and checked them out "all by myself!!" After we had carefully selected our 3 books, and put them carefully back in the van, we drove over to the park. Kids were running about and playing in the sand, while parents either drifted along behind or watched from their own picnic blankets on the lawn. The kids played for hours, and I think feeding the squirrel grapes was the cutest part of the adventure... Well, that and watching Jacob and Kayleigh as they swung high in the air for the first time this season~ all fears melted away!

We got home, my house went silent...

for about 2 hours...

until every last book was devoured. "MOM!! I finished all my books! When are we going back? Can we go back tomorrow??!?" We'll see...

Wednesday, we did school work and chores. The garden has sprouts in the corn section, the sweet peas are all climbing like crazy, and the carrots need to be thinned. 28 Tomato plants are hoping for some cages too. Cleaned the pet habitats, and the toy shelves too. The children swapped books in desperation Wednesday night :-D

So Thursday, we did school work and chores, and found that the library is open later (yea!!) so as a reward for their hard work, we took our {non-overdue} books back and dropped them into the book drop. One child heads off to the main section to find Moby Dick {was dismayed and intimidated by it}, while the others wander over to the children's section to find good books. The girls create a pile on the table for me to look over, and the baby and I stroll over to the books that I know my oldest would find less daunting, but harder then what she tends to gravitate towards.

I can't believe we checked out 25 books and 3 materials!!!! It filled the entire backpack!!! I'm already aware that we'll need to plan another Library Day for Tuesday, this batch is 75% read too!

Today {Friday} I allowed to be a lazier day, until it was time to go turn in the application for the Special Needs Scholarship :-) We met Teacher Tim, and he allowed the kids to tumble and play and climb the rope while we talked, and he cleaned. It looks like he expects us to be accepted, and says the girls should start next week!! He thinks we'll make a day of it, with the little ones playing in Free Play, the Pre-K class, then break for lunch and have the big girls attend level 1 class in the afternoon :)

Thank goodness that this school week is over, because I have one kiddo sick again, and I am praying she doesn't pass it around again!!

We're getting excited!!

I just got done filling out the first of 3 applications sitting on my desk. It was one that has been on our minds for YEARS, but until recently, we had no clue of how we would afford to do it. Our girls want to do Gymnastics for their chosen sport.

To some, this is nothing new. Kids love to throw their bodies around and learn to do cool tricks. For my girls, this is monumental! We have a genetic skin condition, that causes the skin to blister and tear very easily. Something like a day in Gymnastics could be the ruination of all our hard efforts to keep them healed up and wound free.

One local Gym has a program for Special Needs kids, though. It is paid for through a Grant, offering a scholarship to special needs children to use Gymnastics to build muscle tone, balance, coordination and self confidence. WOOOHOOO!! They will adapt the lessons to my children's needs, and they will get the thrills of tumbling that I could only imagine as a child!!

I'll let you know how that goes as we get closer to knowing more :)

Today, we're going on a field trip. We need to locate 2 libraries, apply for library cards, (pray there is no lingering fines) and look into these Homeschool Kits that one of our Librarians put together for the local Homeschoolers :-D One Library has a park around it, so perhaps a picnic lunch is in order too?? Oh, why not? I better get packing! *poof*

TLC Academy is Proud to Present: Infant Education!!

In the wee hours of the morning, odd commercials pop up. They go on and on for upto 60 minutes at a time, alwyas trying to get you to buy their new latest and greatest item. This is nothing new, I had become mostly immune to them years before. One infomercial (and now 2) has stood out over the last few years, promising amazing results and showing such adoreable and tiny babies READING words and books like nobodies business.

Yes, I am talking about Your Baby Can Read! This program stuck in our minds because it boasts that for only 15 dollars, we could try their program and get our little ones on the road to become good readers too. We made the call. It's actually 228 dollars after taxes and shipping. For a complete cirriculum, that's a decent price. We paid a little extra to get it in 3 days.

So we have it here, and the children have been following it now for a week, loosely. Last night, I was sitting at the computer talking to a friend via Yahoo... my newly 3 year old climbed up in my lap, and wanted to talk too. I typed out a word and asked her to tell me what it was. She was wrong, and I wrote out the one she guessed, so she can see the differance. Then I typed out the next word.

nose

"Nose!" and she points to her nose.


eyes

"Eyes" and points to her closed eyes.

I start doing the excited "Good Job" dance. She got 3 words right last night. Then we introduced another, because she wanted to see what that one looked like too. I bet I need to write Level 1's 22 words out somewhere, so I remember to work all 22 and not just the 10 on the slide cards.

My 13 month old is also watching and doing the program. He is following directions, and focused on the DVD, and engaged in the activities, so I know that he's learning too.

DH says it's already the best 200 dollars he's ever spent~ Just on the way the first day had gone (which was AWESOME).