Looking ahead

Not sure about how the week will go but all of the children have their workboxes completed for the week with a planning sheet.   I was able to complete all 4 of there planners in 3 hours this week instead of 16 hours last week...eek!  I printed a lot of subject packets from edhelper.com so that made it a bit easier too.  This should make for an easier week on them too.  I will have to get the whiteboard out for Jacob and Emily...we seriously need to go over proportions and cross multiplication.  They aren't grasping the concept as well as I thought.  My plan with Elizabeth is to be able to get down to her level and put some sentences together this week using her word cards.  Here is a long list of links that can help others too!  Lots of information and printables.

Things to do on a Saturday...

I have 4 workboxes from the week to grade and make plans for the following week.  I am hoping by me starting this on Saturday that means that I am getting better organized?  Please say it is so!

I have made a burp cloth and matching changing pad for a friend's baby already and now I want to make a small bag or pouch for her to put it all in to.  I also bought the travel wipe container to do the cute covering for.  I have all the materials to get that done.  I wonder if I should try and make a pouch for the stuff I made for her to go into her own diaper bag or make one of those cute bags with a few pockets  instead?
Here is a great tutorial on making the rag totes.  Here is a picture of the rag totes

I just sat down with my cup of coffee and just relaxing as the kids are playing and making lunch for themselves.  I believe there are a total of 7 kids in my house right now.  Judge just left for a local jobsite so he shouldn't be too long today.

I would also like to get the autumn centerpiece finished today, washed and dried. I am really excited about seeing this and how it will work.

A different kind of day today

Had bfast at ChikFilA then ran some errands while my 4 went with friend's 3 kids to her house while we did the errands.

I could live at Hobby Lobby...but I don't. Kind of reminds me of that movie about the walmart lady who gave birth in walmart.  Off track, anyhoo.. I could work at Hobby Lobby but it wouldn't help anything and I would be always buying stuff.

Had to make a couple of stops at Hobby Lobby and Wal-mart.

I didn't get much sleep last night so my day was really off from the beginning.  The kids and I get home around 1.  I let them know that they were to complete their Friday work and Jacob was going to take over helping Elizabeth finish her day's work since he finished his week yesterday.  All she had left to do was Geography and Math anyhow.   If you haven't checked out CurrClick yet....I get a lot of my school work from there.

 I HAD to lay down.  I was bummed to have to cancel going to Bunco tonight but knew if I went being overtired I would get sick.  I was able to sleep until 5 this afternoon and I feel much better and think I will probably start stitching on my autumn rag quilt this evening.  The squares are all sandwiched and ready to be sewn together.






Coffee is sounding really good right now too.
Check out other great homeschool blogs too! Virtuous Foundations Homeschool

Free Planner Printables

Found a lot of planners for free...if anyone is looking for some pretty ones I think these meet my expectations
http://go.tipjunkie.com/pr/6502/www.designfinch.com/2011/07/31/sunday-planning/

I thought I would add to this post of free planners:
http://creativemamma.com/free-printable-doodle-2012-write-in-calendar/

Free Book Sticker Labels:
http://creativemamma.com/free-printable-on-craftzine-com-blog/

Free Gift Tags:
http://creativemamma.com/free-kawaii-printable-on-craftzine-com/
Many already know about Donna Young's site but here is the link for the planners:
http://donnayoung.org/forms/planners/
Some plain ones and some you can use as refills to your planner binders:
http://www.printableplanners.net/
Household notebook planners and they have a printable for fabric inventory...going to snatch that myself!!
http://organizedhome.com/printable
Meal Planners
http://frugalliving.about.com/od/grocerysavings/tp/Free-Meal-Planners.htm
Planners and organizers...most free a few costs
http://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/gettingorganized/allplanners.php

Enjoy!

Bugs

Elizabeth start a unit study about "Bugs" today.  This is the curriculum we are using from CurrClick, we buy 2 chapters at a time.

Simple Schooling has a lot of great educational unit studies for students

How excited she is.  We learned about the scientific name of insects and the differences between insects and bugs.  And body parts too. This video backed up all the terms we learned about the bugs!!

She did some alphabetical order with the bugs, matching pictures with words and then a definition matching exercise.  We have two books that we are reading with our bug unit study called Bugs

New Year with More Kids-And free resources

Yes, I know I haven't kept up with the homeschool blog but my excuse is I took time off for the summer.  Even though the kids didn't have time off that whole time. HA!

We have been learning so much lately on what is working and what isn't.

Jacob skipped up to 8th grade for this year and were blessed with the Switched on Schoolhouse for 8th grade for his curriculum.  He did this program for about a month and it really didn't click with him well at all.  Back to the drawing board for him then.  Now he is doing ABeka Pre-Algebra and likes this better.  We also won the Monarch Algebra I course last spring.  The way things are going He will probably not start the Algebra I until after Christmas.

Jesse is using mainly ABeka and then he has Lifepacs for Math.

Emily is using ABeka for Math, Language Arts C.   The rest of the subjects we are just supplementing with unit studies.

Elizabeth has Mammoth Math that she is doing well working through.

I cross posted this morning a list of free resources for homeschoolers.  I was amazed with this new list!  Especially the CK12 website.

Public School is O-V-E-R!!!

Here is my lyric for this post:

School's out for summer

School's out forever

Just a quick snip-it!

Today I spent the morning at the school.  Cried to the school nurse about how much we will miss her!! Terribly, I'm afraid!  She has done so much for our family and our children.  Followed up with 2 award ceremonies for Jesse and Elizabeth.  They both did very well this year earning certificates, trophies, ribbons and medals!  The whole morning was very bittersweet.  

We are ready for our new chapter in life.  The simple life.  After an early dismissal we came home for a few minutes to pick up Jacob.  We headed to the library.  Emily, Jacob and Jesse picked out their own books while I chose Elizabeth's books according to what we are learning about this week(s).  

Elizabeth and I are doing a unit study on "Pioneering".  I am thinking of documenting everything that we do and to share the unit study with others.

We are reading the following books this week:

PIONEERS  Adventure in a New Land

A Pioneer ABC

Pioneer Church

Life on a Pioneer Homestead

House Calls  The true story of a Pioneer Doctor

Pioneer Farm Cooking

I want to follow up our Pioneering with reading the Little House on the Prairie books.  I have contemplated on buying the Primer book.  But it is SO expensive.  Here is a website with several lapbook ideas for the different books.  We will start with Little House in the Big Woods.  

She watched the first 10min of the very first Little House on the Prairie tv show tonight.  Will finish it tomorrow.

This Friday's Five

1.  I find that putting everybody else's needs before my own is really catching up to me.  As a mother, this is my nature to do this.  And I will continue to put my kids' needs before my own but I need to get creative and find more time or an outlet to be able to stop and take care of myself too.  I cried yesterday while watching one of Oprah's final shows.  It was a recap of a previous story she did about a 36 year old mom dying of breast cancer.  She spent the time she had left on this earth to record video and audio tapes of her talking to her daughter so that she would have her mom as she grew up.  The daughter was 6 years old when her mother passed away.  There is so much I want to see and do with my children as they grow up to be young men and women...but if I don't find that precious time to take care of my health needs then I am afraid I won't be here to enjoy life with my family.

2.  Friends.  I hope that everyone has friends that they can lean on.  My friends mean the world to me, especially one in particular.  I pray everyday that my children find and keep good friends like I have.

3.  I am really looking forward to continuing with our schooling throughout the summer.  I feel that this will give us a greater flexibility of our time throughout the year.  We can't plan for the unexpected but we can try and be prepared for when the time comes.

4.  It looks like Jacob will be registering as an 8th grader this year.  He will be starting his 8th grade curriculum next week.  We have acquired the switched on schoolhouse curriculum that he will be working on as well as 2 high school courses in US History and Algebra 1.  We will also be incorporating alot of book unit studies.

5.  Tomorrow is the Tour de Cure for the Middle Tennessee area.  Jesse and Elizabeth Anne are the official  youth ambassadors for this year's event.  We have our jerseys and clothing all set out and ready for our 4am departure to Murphreesboro.  Jesse and Judge are riding 100 miles this year and the kids and I will be riding at least 10 miles.  Depending on Elizabeth Anne's blood sugar...we will do more riding.  We are anticipating a really long day tomorrow...please pray for the boys' strength and endurance as they persevere through the long ride.  It is an amazing task for a 9 year old diabetic child to ride that far in one day!  Last August he completed his first metric century ride and did awesome!

I think I can...

So I took some time today to go through the books I purchased from the curriculum sale. I divided them into two categories.  One for teacher's manuals and one for the kids' books.  Do you "hide" the teacher books? Or is it ok to have the books near each other?  So I have those two stacks and then coordinating workbooks are standing up between the stacks.  Then I have some books stacked under the cabinet neatly too. I hope this works for us...would love to know what others do.

In the countdown...7,6,5

We have 4 1/2 days of public school left for the 3 youngest children.  The past 3 months have been really hard on me.  It seems that the diabetic problems have come on almost two-fold lately.  What could happen probably has already.  And the storms, oh my!  We have had our fair share of storms, tornadoes and flooding around our area.  Elizabeth Anne is terrified of storms and when I would pick her up from school her blood sugar was so high from the stress.
Storms will be spent watching the forecasts at home.  Tornadoes will be spent huddled together in our closet and not on a cold tile floor.  Flooding will be spent taking pictures...lol!  Honestly, that is what we did...we documented the floods of TN last year.

I am just so excited to get all of my kids back under one roof and then hopefully my worrying will subside.  It will be so much easier to take care of the 3 children's diabetes too.  I know the school nurse will miss us dearly...no, really!  She has become part of our family.  I told Elizabeth that at school the nurse is her second mommy.  Elizabeth says, "but she doesn't kiss us"...hahaha!  We have relied on our school nurse for many things.  It was so hard to give up that control of taking care of my babies and handing them over to her.  Now I kind of wish I could bring her home with me.  Last night I was begging for a night nurse to take over my shift with Elizabeth having issues with her pump and blood sugars.

I'm Mobile!

I found an Android app for Blogger on my phone!!  So now if I find myself away from the computer I can still blog!  We can go together on field trips, dinners, shopping outings...hahaha, just kidding!

My Friday Five

Its new...lets just go with it.

1.  Went to my first curriculum sale today.  Wasn't what I expected but it exceeded exactly what I needed.  Thank you God!  Hey God? Can you send someone to figure out where to put everything and make it aesthetically pleasing to the eye?

2. There is only 6 1/2 more days of public school left for 3 children.  As school is winding down our family's excitement is stepping up considerably!

3.  We haven't done any schoolwork all week.  I feel so blessed to have this flexibility in order to be able to take care of other household needs, sick kids, diabetes stuff...We will pick up again this next week and try and wrap up a few projects and get ready for the other kids to be home permanently.

4.  Our PE class this summer will consist of swimming, swimming and more swimming.  Natural Vitamin D!!!

5.  I need to find a new way to keep records for our homeschooling.  I am sure I will figure something out but it is weighing heavily in my thoughts lately.  I don't want to miss anything.  I did make a Word document with a four square table.  Labled each square with a child's name and the curriculums listed of which will be studying for the next year.

Friday Five wasn't so hard!!  I say this today, we will see what next Friday is like! LOL  Have a Blessed Weekend!

Curriculum Sale Day!

I have never in my life been to a curriculum sale.  I knew I would need some materials for all the kids this year.  But I really went in thinking I would be in and out within 20 minutes.  I really had no idea what to expect.  Didn't take cash, just the checkbook.  I really didn't spend much at all.  Stayed in lower two digits too! But I walked out with 3 boxes and 1 big tote full of books!  This was in combination with two separate trips that I made this morning to the sale.  When I shop I will get a few things but really I am taking inventory of everything that is there.  I leave for awhile and think about it.  Then will go back if there is something that is heavy on my mind.  

I ended up with a lot of A Beka books.  A curriculum I hadn't really thought much about really.  But I was able to find full sets on the cheap!  I now have Emily's year filled, Elizabeth's year still needs a math curriculum, Jesse's year is complete and Jacob still needs some things.  I am thinking of going with Alpha Omega lifepac's for Algebra I for Jacob.  Wanting to stay with A Beka for Elizabeth's math.



In thinking of what individual things we are going to do.  I know that I want to do Unit Studies with Elizabeth Anne this year.  I found a Butterfly Unit Study on CurrClick...downloaded it free to the computer.  When we are ready to start, just print and go!  Tonight on a fellow homeschooling blog,
Teachable Scotts Tots Homeschool , I saw her talking about the Butterfly Habitat Garden.  I think this would be perfect to enhance our Butterfly study!!  I love it when things come together so nicely!!

Moving right along...

As the end of the "school year" approaches I am finding myself getting more excited for all the children to be home.  Funny how your prospective changes...a few years ago I was the mom who couldn't wait for summer to end to get the kids back to school and out of the house...then dreaded for May when I had to figure out what to do with them all summer.  God works wonders on the outlook you have on your children.  Only He could give me His wonderful, perfect children to take care of while here on earth.  They are my children but they were His first.
And while I know that teachers are in their own mission field.  Some obviously called to the schools as their talents far surpass any standards set before them.  Bless them all!
I have been spending some time worrying and standing firm in knowing that the upcoming year will work out well for everyone here.  We did get a nice table donated to us for our school table in the "classroom".
All of Jacob's books are neatly placed on an antique oak table along with extra books and curriculum I have picked up along the way.
Last week I had expressed to people how I just don't feel qualified enough to teach my children a bible class (curriculum).  In church, I watched all 4 struggle to find the book of Acts during the sermon. And it popped in my head.  I will teach them the books of the Bible!! That can't be too hard!  Then yesterday I found a FREE bible curriculum that I shared with other homeschool families.  This curriculum is nice because it can keep the attention of all 4 kids through the old Testament and the new Testament.  There are puzzles, coloring pages and writing activities to cover each day's lesson.  I think I CAN do this afterall!
Then after more digging around I found a message board with alot of links and resources.  One in particular gave a HUGE list of links with free resources and organized beautifully!
I am thinking about making the purchase of the Well Planned Day Lesson Book...if anyone has any thoughts (good or bad) I would love to hear!

They are all coming home next year!

We have made the decision as of last week to bring all of the children home for their schooling.  This has been a big step for us.  It has been weighing on my heart all year after bringing Jacob home.
Jacob will be moving in to 8th grade after this summer.  He has progressed so much this year and much of his curriculum has been 6th-7th grade work.  This summer we will be focusing on Pre-Algebra and writing for the majority.

We added Latin in for Jacob and Emily over Spring Break, this has worked out very well!   I printed out the word lists and we came up with words to match the meanings with the roots.  I am thinking about ordering our Latin curriculum through Seton  still window shopping.

I found a Shurley Language Set on ebay and put a bid on the full curriculum and WON!!!  I paid $2 + shipping.  2 BUCKS! I was pretty excited!

More curriculum decisions and ideas coming soon!