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!

switching gears is fun!

Found a new blank form to plan out Jacob's day!!  This is making it alot easier for him and teaching time managment too.  Yesterday, I had to be in Nashville all day so I made out his time planner for the first time and when I called to check on him he said, "I am behind schedule, mom"...for whatever reason that was music to my ears! LOL  But it keeps him accountable to get things done and its a challenge for him to finish early and have extra time for lunch or during breaks.

We are switching into Life Science now.  So far I have only received the teachers edition for his book.  So Jacob is working out of that for now.  I am hoping the student text comes in today or tomorrow.  Until then, I found some accompanying worksheets that work perfectly for the text that he can work on for the time being.  These are working awesome and Jacob LOVES science and so do I.

Our home school group is planning a dissection day later this month and tomorrow I am ordering the kit to do this.  In addition to doing a bull frog I am going to get him a large owl pellet to pick apart.  I remember doing this in a college biology class and it was no neat to see what the owl ate and put together the bones of a small bird or whatever it ate.  Very cool!  I found the book Owl Puke on paperbackswap.com so that will be coming in soon.  Love the name of the book!

As I am still writing this the mail came and so did his science book! Yea! Quickly took back my teacher's edition...haha not that the answers for the worksheets were there anyhow.

If we have time we are going to do an experiment with a white carnation.  It is pretty common but since Judge is big into plants and flowers I thought it would be perfect for him to explain this to the kids.

After finishing up science today he has 2 algebra lessons to complete and that is it.  Right now he just left with daddy to go to lunch...we always laugh that our school lunch is so much better than public school lunch.

Egypt is getting pretty long-winded...

Found a couple of shows to watch in continuing our journey through Ancient Egypt.  More surprisingly, I found it on the planet green channel.   Secrets of Egypt's Lost Queen  the other one was Scandals of the Ancient World.  These shows turned out to be a great way to back up what we have already learned for this subject. 1 algebra lesson down...that was it for today.  We had to take Emily to the dr. for an ear infection...

Stray homework and at the shelter...pieced together

I am working on lesson plans today and trying to get ahead a bit.  New books have been coming in and I am trying to piece things together.  I was excited about a literature book I found a goodwill.  Then I found the teacher's edition for only $3 online.  The TE came in and it doesn't match the student text.  Some things match but not all.  I found the correct edition on half.com for less than $2 and ordered it.  As we wait for this to come in I am finding similarities in the older edition I can use.
The story "Stray" by Cynthia Rylant for example.  I can use the helpful information in the TE to do this and in the student text there are comprehension questions.  Then I went digging online and found a self-test and worksheets that match this story.
The story will work particularly well for us as we just signed up last week to be volunteers for the local animal shelter!  Oh what fun we have had already!!  Lately we have had alot of snowdays up on our hill and haven't made it to the shelter.
Just another way to link our homeschooling work with life! I love it!
eta: in continuing to find more and more for this unit on Egypt...more worksheets!!

to scan or not to scan...

The social studies workbook came in today's mail. I found that the pages are perforated so I thought I should probably tear it out and maybe make a small binder with the pages. That way we can still use it next year with Emily and then the following years with the other children. So I tore the first 4 pages in the chapter we are starting in and scanned them on the printer and made copies for Jacob to write his answers.


And I think I want to reorganize his big binder. I think we may need to move to a Volume 2 for this semester. His binder is jam packed (neatly though). But I want to get some manila file folders and hole punch them and categorize his papers by subject. example: Egypt, Weather, Fractions, Equations...I think its kind of our way of doing a lapbook that I keep reading about. But instead of cutting and pasting pictures it is making more of a portfolio of his learning.

Tomorrow I will get the materials to do this...and we may take time to put this together.

Ancient Egypt hasn't changed much since 1999.

I am finding that Jacob really likes the textbooks rather than the way we have been homeschooling.

So I was at Goodwill the other day and found a social studies textbook. Thumbed through it and noticed that it had some of the same things we were studying this year. Don't know what grade level it is so I bought it...I mean for $2.99 I am not overspending. I get home and do a search and it is a 6th grade textbook. What luck I had!! Glad I decided to buy the book. Then I get online and I found a brand new workbook to accompany it on ebay for $3.87. This is on the way right now. So I was sharing with my mom about my great finds and she says "yes, but how old is the textbook?" I think it is 1999. But you know....Ancient Egypt really hasn't changed that much since 1999! Don't you agree?? LOL
I found the next book in the series for 7th grade too on my paperbackswap.com I really don't need teacher editions to these books either b/c if I can't figure the answer easier than him then I shouldn't be homeschooling. I don't have teacher editions for any of my books. I have some answer keys on my math curriculum.
Not only did I score on the social studies books, but I also was able to use my book credits to get science books for 6th and 7th grade (weather, tornadoes, planets haven't changed much over the years either...and I am not buying books from the 40s. Yes, I will let them know about Pluto, as if they don't already know about what happened to this planet's status) and I found literature books too.

Today when I was working on the lesson plans for this new social studies book I found an accompanying website to this textbook with plans already made for me!! Woohoo!!

Ancient Egypt

We are working on Ancient Egypt still this week. We started this about 1 1/2 weeks ago and are really enjoying this.
Jacob is working with dad on making a pyramid...they drew it out to scale and made a blueprint for it so far. Since he is just returning to his computer privileges I can put his assignments back into his emails. Much easier for me to copy/paste a video link for him to watch. Instead of typing printing all of the articles for him to read..now he can read it online.
These are the first 3 videos for today:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GaInDIv3-V8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyFtHnJw-xY
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWFpA_CjZGU

He is also being given another project to work on where he is a museum curator for Ancient Egypt
artifacts and exhibits. Instead of making it like a diorama though we are going to put it on a poster board or a science fair type of board.

http://www.zunal.com/webquest.php?w=26440


Tomorrow I think we are going to do this one tomorow: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFZS1U-w4EA And touch up on just some of the basics of Egypt and work on notecards based off of this video and put together a short paper on Egypt. This will cover his social studies, writing and language for the day all in one activity.

Later this week we will turn to the more modern side of Egypt...foods, cultures, religions, apparel, traditions, architecture...those type of things.

PaperBack Swap

Hey everyone, I wanted to let you know of a great program I have found.  Its called PaperBack swap!  I have gotten myself hooked reading the Beverly Lewis series of books...they are Amish Fiction.

Here is how it works:
I have books that I have read and were just collecting dust.  I wanted new books to read.  I took my old ones and input the ISBN numbers to my account.  The picture comes up to post the book.  When someone wants the book they send a request to you if its still available to send.  You accept.  Mail it.  They receive it...you get a book credit.  You use that book credit to request books from other people.  You don't have to pay for the book to be sent to you.  But you do have to pay shipping to send your book to the requesting person.  Media mail runs about 2 dollars.  Not too bad!
When you sign up you get 2 credits to get you started!  Sound good???  I am going to attempt to put the widget in my sidebar.