Weekly Wrap Up-13!

 This week we celebrated  Sweet Girl's(my oldest)13th birthday.  I can't believe she is 13!!  How time does fly!! I remember when we brought her home from the hospital I couldn't put her down.  Holding her in my arms felt so right.  I literally held her for the first two weeks of her life.  In every picture we have I am just gazing at this little baby girl with amazement.   I am so thankful God has leant her to me and made me her Mommy.    She brings such joy to our lives!! 

 

  My week has been busy with lesson planning.  We are about 1/3 through our school year.  I made some new timelines for the kids and notebooking pages.  The other timelines we were using worked but I wanted a timeline that had boxes.  The timelines I made have boxes with lines for writing and some empty boxes for drawing.  I will be putting them on my page at HSLaunch.com .  I also finished Silly Guy's Science notebooking pages for Christian Kids Explore Biology.   I worked on record keeping a bit but have some more to do.  I also started thinking of next year already.  I am trying to decide what to do with Sweet Girl for high school. 

This week we made(and ate)Pumpkin Oatmeal Cookies.  I used to have a good recipe but couldn't find it anywhere.  So I searched through some online recipes and  one at  http://www.pickycook.com/.  I will post the recipe in a later post:) 

Some of our school week highlights:
Well, much of this week we seemed to be in auto drive:(  I think it was the fact Thanksgiving is coming.  The kids (and I)are looking forward to having a break to recharge the old battery. 
Little Man learned the letter B.  One thing he did was made this baby.  I just think it is so cute. 

For Science we went back yard bird watching.  Silly Guy has started the bird unit in Christian Kids Explore Biology.  Can you believe we didn't see one bird!!  It was kind of a bummer.  Then later in the day they heard a bird twittering around in the juniper in front of the house. 

 Silly Guy also made a birdhouse to put in the back yard.  We realized during the bird watch we had to make our back yard more bird friendly.  In writing he wrote a friendly letter to his friend in Hawaii. He is really hoping to get a letter back in return.   
 

Silly Guy's birdhouse

We started reading aloud Mocassin Trail by: Eloise Jarvis McGraw this week.  It's about a boy who ran away from home when he was 11.  After a grizzly bear attack he was adopted by an Indian tribe.  After living with the tribe for 7 years(now 19), has been contacted by his family who needs him.  It's an interesting story so far. 
Silly Guy also has been reading Freedom Train:  The Story of Harriet Tubman(History).
In Math he continues to work on fractions. 
Sweet Girl worked on study guide question's and reading in Apologia.  She finished Streams to River, River to Sea which she said is a great book.  She continues to read Tom Sawyer in Lit.  Her writing assignment this week was to take Aunt Polly's soliloquy(in chapter 1)and then translate it into modern day language. This was fun and a little challenge. 
I bought a new devotional for the family, The One Year Bible for Kids.  Until now the kids have been working on their Bible assignments in Alpha Omega's Bible Lifepacs.  These are great, but in addition I wanted something we could study together.
In History we are still reading History of US book 4.
   
Art-The kids finished painting the Turkey bowls. 

This week I signed the kids up for the 4H Sking and Snowboarding Club.  They meet twice a month through March and go Lake Tahoe.  They are thrilled to join!! 
Friday morning my husband called to give us the upcoming weather report-snow. We made a Walmart trip to buy snow boots, salt, and a shovel.  By Sunday, we are supposed to get around 6-8 inches of snow.  Little Man was born in HI so he's never seen snow before.  He's so excited to see snow, make a snowman, and thow a snowball. 
So that was some of our highlights.  Hop on over to Weird Unsocialized Homeschoolers !

Traveling with Pets

Our move date is coming up fast.  It is a BIG move from Hawaii to Nevada.  There are so many things to schedule and co-ordinate:  pack dates, plane tickets, check outs, check ins, hotels, shipping two vehicles, finding housing, getting rid of things, etc. Just when I think I have it all figured out something changes. 
It is a bit stressful and exhausting.
We are also bringing our pooches along with us.  This seems to be adding to the stress. Finding a hotels that will take dogs, vet appointments for health certificates, flight regulations, etc.  I thought I would share a couple of websites I have found useful for traveling with pets. 
One is Petswelcome.com .  On this website you can find information about all types of travel with pets.  You can also find hotels all over the country that accept our furry friends.  It has great information!  Another is Petsonthego.com .  This website also includes a lot of useful information.  You can also download the Air Travel Consumer Report which has all of the incident/accident reports for each airline.

I am praying this transition will be not to stressful for Wally and Roxy.

Our furry loved ones...

Wally- Reading up on his breed history. 

Roxy- She always strikes a pose for the camera.  Such a beautiful girl!

Lately...

I haven't blogged in a while.  We finished our 2009/2010 school year the first week of June when the public school year ended.   Many of the kid's friends were off of school.  Since we'll be moving in a couple of months I felt it was important for them to soak up the time they have left with them.  Anyway, we took the first couple of weeks to relax a bit.  We went to the movies a few times, bowling, the pool, the mall, etc. Pretty much just chillin.  It has been great! 

In between chill time, I have been gearing up for our next school year.  I hit a couple of the used curriculum fairs. Which I am happy to say I made out.  I saved our homeschool budget about $500.00 by sorting and picking through many many tables and boxes.  It took quite a bit of organization and planning on my part but with that kind of savings I have to say it was well worth it.

I have decided to have the kids study American History this year.  Since both children would be studying the same thing I thought it would be best and probably more fun if we did it together.  We'll be using the Joy Hakim series A History of US  as our main text.  Adding in various literature selections, poetry, and music to co-ordinawith the study. Sweet girl will have three current event assignmets per week.  I am hoping she will post them on her blog but we'll have to see.  She doesn't like when I tell her what to post on her blog;). 
Science- Silly Guy Christian Kids Explore Biology , How Nature Works   and library books. 
Sweet Girl -Apologia's General Science.  I decided to go with General Science because after looking through the table of contents she covered a lot of Physical Science last year.  She is excited about Apologia. 
Math-  Both kiddos will be using Saxon (Silly guy- Saxon 6/5 and Sweet girl Saxon Algebra 1)
Bible-Both kiddos AOP Lifepac Bible
Language Arts- Silly guy-BJU English 5, Wordly Wise, and Spelling Power.
Sweet girl- Sonlight Core 100 writing, Spelling Power, Wordly Wise, , and
Easy Grammar 180 Daily Teaching Lessons
I plan on doing some nature studies once we reach our new home. We can't wait to explore!
Art- I am going to be pulling lessons/activities from various websites.  I am trying to stick to an "American" theme.  Deep Space Sparkle , Art for Homeschool, Artyfactory, Captain Watercolor, and Sketch Tuesday all have great ideas and lesson plans. 
So, needless to say we are most definitley eclectic homeschoolers. 

I have decided to start our school year next week since we will be moving in September.  I would love to take a couple more weeks off, but with moving the kids will be taking off quite a bit.  I want to get in a solid six weeks before getting on that big bird back to the mainland.  I am planning on having them continue Math, Language Arts, Literature, and possibly History while we are in transition.  Our household goods could take up to 45 days to get to our new home. 
Along with all of this planning comes organization.  But I will have to post about how I've been tackling that later(maybe tomorrow).  I just peeked at the clock and well I have to go to bed!!

Report Writing

The kiddos have had many writing assignments this year.  I think report writing is giving them  a great opportunity for learning.  They have to research, read about, and write about a topic they are currently studying.  I have enjoyed this curriculum for many reasons(Lifepac). One of them being, it offers many opportunities for research writing. 

Sweet girl has had 3+ research report assignments per week since the first day of school.  It has given her tons of practice and she is improving with every assignment.  I am requiring that they follow the MLA style for writing and works cited. 

Recently Silly guy has had quite a few research assignments himself.  Up until this point they have been here and there.  So, I am still having to help him through the process.  I think  taking notes part is what stumps him many times.  He wants to write about everything he reads.  Using an outline has helped him with note taking. 

However,  a problem I have been having with both children is proof reading.  Sometimes they will hand me work and I feel I am repeatedly telling them the same thing.  Does it have a title?  Does it have your name and date?  Did you spell/grammar check? Complete sentences?  Most of the time I will hear "yes" but then I will read their writing and things are missing or still mis-spelled. 
Out of my own frustration, I have come up with a check list for them.  I put it in their notebooks and one on the wall(just in case).   I am hoping this will help them to become better writers, more independent, and help keep me stay sane:)

Things on their check list:
Does it have a title?  Did you underline?
Did you indent paragraphs?
Did you check grammar( punctuation, capitalization, agreements, complete sentences)?
Is it neat? 
Is you name, date, and grade included in the heading?
Does every paragraph have a topic sentence and details to support it?
Do you have an introduction and conclusion?
Did you include quotes(if applicable)? 
Did you follow the directions of the assignment?
Is your works cited included?
I read my work aloud.

So now having it in black and white they know what is expected with every research assignment, right??? ;)

Winter Break

Our winter break is coming to an end. We enjoyed most of our time getting ready for and celebrating Christmas. We also enjoyed some family time since my husband took a few days leave.
I took some time to get caught up on record keeping; averaging grades, assessing progress, and reviewing curriculum to checkout what we have coming up and start making my library list.
I also set up a scrap booking station in the corner of my bedroom. I realized I hadn't scrap booked in about two years. The main reason being everything was neatly in containers in my closet. So, I pulled everything out and it is available when ever I have a free moment. It looks pretty messy but believe it or not I know just where everything is. When I pulled out my sticker album, I was very surprised and excited.

Not only did I pull everything out, I couldn't wait to get started. I ordered pictures(from 2007) and got busy right away. I forgot how much I enjoyed this hobby. Here are a couple of the pages I worked on. My goal right now is to finish Little Man's baby album.

I even found time to make a curtain for the bathroom. I made this out of an old shower curtain we were no longer using.

We took the kids to Putt Putt golf on one of my husband's off days. They had a good time!!

Little man decided he had enough of golf and was enjoying the Reggae music. He was drumming away on this garden light. Notice the booty shaking-he he...It was adorable.

Organizing School Supplies

I found this idea on a website sometime last year and I finally put it together. These shoe organizers work great for keeping school supplies readily available and organized. As I was putting it together I realized I have way to much glue, about 5 rulers, and 8 pairs of scissors-yikes. I realized this will be a great way to keep track of what I actually need. Being see through you can easily see what is needed.
I also labeled every pocket so things will be put away where they belong-Yay!

Mom's Notebook-Record Keeping

Mom’s Notebook-Record keeping

What you will need: a 3 ringed binder, dividers, a 3 holed pocket folder/child and the following print outs from http://www.donnayoung.com/ .

1. Attendance Record-I keep my kids a r in their binder-they track their own attendance daily.
2. Class Schedule-I don’t do well w/ schedules. However, I think it is a good idea to make one up just as a guideline on how you want your school day to run. I don’t put specific times to keep us from feeling like we are getting behind.
3. A Course of Study- At d y.com you can print off your own typeable course of study.
4. Grade Sheet-If you keep grades dy has some wonderful resources for tracking them. She has an Excel program that will calculate everything for you. You can also use homeschool tracker for this. For me it is easier to do everything on paper. If I use the computer that is just one more thing I have to make time for. My oldest child records her own grades on the sheet after I have graded it.
5. Reading List- This helps me to keep track of the books read. We use edhelper’s lit unit along w/ reading in our curriculum. So, lots of books. Keeping a list helps w/ the end of the year evaluation. My children track their own reading list.
6. Field Trip Log- I keep the ftl to track out field trips. It also helps me to keep a homeschool budget. It helps with writing an end of the year evaluation too.
7. Extra curricular activities log- I use this form the same as the field trip log.
8. Important Websites- I keep this on my desk to jot down important websites. When it is full it goes into the Mom Notebook. I started doing this because last yr my computer crashed and I lost all of my favorites. Yikes!
9. Mom's Notes- I take Fridays to journal how our week went. Goals achieved, things we need to work on, etc.
A. Inside the Mom notebook are all of these forms separated by dividers(easy to find). I also keep a divider for extra printouts-planning sheets etc. a scope & sequence of our curriculum, a 3 holed/pocket folder per child, and their NOI’s.
B. The 3 holed pocket folder: This holds all of their completed writing assignments.
C. A divider for Math test.

And there you have it the Mom notebook.
Now, at the end of the year I clean it out(leaving dividers) and put everything into an accordion file along w/ test scores and end of the year evaluation.

Mission Organization Part 1 The Boys Room

Yes, that is right. I did it! I went into their room box in one hand and trash bag in the other. I started under the beds and worked my way to the closet.

When I opened the closet door I just had to stand there for a moment.
I just don't understand....the bins are on the shelves.......EMPTY!!
All of the toys are on the closet floor, of course.
It made my job a lot easier.....everything went into the trash bag.
After about an hour of cleaning my boys room, and I am talking top to bottom-inside and outside of everything.
My husband said,"Oh that is the color of the carpet." LOL.

Into my room tomorrow. ......