Sunday, September 16, 2007

Hives and Homeschoolin'

Well we made it through our first official week of homeschooling. The kids are waking us up at 6:45 when we over sleep ready to go! I never ever in a million years thought that homeschooling could be this fun, much less doable. You see I was always one of the ones that just said I could NEVER EVER to it cause I couldn't do the higher level teaching, have enough patience, or discipline. I was sooooo wrong! The curriculum that I am using (a hodge podge of things) is just amazing! It has been so wonderful to add a family bible study into our schedule, and now we can learn about anything and everything that interest us when it comes to science, history, and art. I was telling Kim what I did for science the first day and she told me I should blog about it, so here goes along with our schedule...

7:00 Family Bible Study (we are doing Matthew right now through BSF)
7:45 Breakfast
8:15 Dress/chores
9:00 Calendar/Weather
9:30 Boys do Math while Julia does Language
10:30 Boys do Language while Julia does Math
11:30 Science/History M,W,F and Art/Music T/Th
12:30 Lunch...if I can get them to stop long enough!
1:30 Finish any school work/chores if needed
FREE TIME

Okay so this is my big plan, but these crazy kids of mine have gone of the deep end and usually don't want to quit! I never would have thought that would happen!

So for Science we are doing a couple of weeks on weather. I bought this neat weather cube station at Lakeshore teacher store that allows the kids to measure wind, rain, temp, barometric pressure, etc... It's been really neat! I also asked them on the first day to write down a question in their science folders that they had about weather. Wow their little brains come up with so many questions it was hard to narrow it down to one, but they did. I had 6-8 books checked out from our city library about weather and then told them to go and research to find the answers. They each ended up writing a couple of pages on all the info they found and then shared with each other. So simple, but man did they really do alot of self teaching and self motivation on this!

Now for the hives part of the week! I have a plantar's wart on my foot and was prescribed a medication that I am obviously allergic to cause I woke up Friday morning itching like crazy and covered in hives! Needless to say after taking Benadryl I was out for the count, but we were able to get our school lessons in by the afternoon! I'm so blessed to have these three precious children who have amazed me and surprised me by their enthusiasm and love for our new homeschooling adventure!

Monday, September 10, 2007

Homeschooling Preview Week

Well we got started last week with homeschooling, and I can say this...WOW it is going to be so much fun, and so much work all at the same time! I know that with public school there are advantages and disadvantages, and it will be the same with homeschooling. I think hopefully though the advantages will far outweigh the disadvantages. While some things I am still just trying to get used to...like BEING WITH MY KIDS TWENTY-FOUR SEVEN!!! I love love love truly love being with my kids, but after a while we can all get a little ready for some alone time. One great thing we did this summer to get ready for all this togetherness is move each child into their own rooms...sooo that has really helped!

The first week was a preview week to give me a chance to see what each child retained from last year, what they were feeling about this new adventure, and prepare the room and all our supplies to make sure we were ready to get started with the real thing September 10th. One of the things I had each child do was write in their journals. They were to write about their goals for this school year...personal, spiritual, and educational goals. They were to write about their hopes for this new venture. They also were to write about ideas they had about field trips and fun trips that they would like to take. Marvin and I were so blessed by what each of them wrote I thought I would share a part of each of their writings with y'all...

Jeffrey 12 years old/7th
My goals this year are to get better in the habit of reading the bible. I would also like to get better at Math. I will get better at playing guitar also. I am trying to save money for a guitar and other stuff like tithing. Reading the bible will help me in my walk with God this year. Math is a thing that every one needs to know, because in the future it will help you in your job and with every day things like bills. I hope this year that homeschooling will help me be confident, and act better. I will enjoy being with my brother, sister, and mother all of my school days. I hope by being in their class I will learn more about their feelings and also helping them in school. (This is just a taste of the two pages that he wrote!)

Jacob 10 years old/5th

As you know, this year we're starting to home school. I'm going to have lots of fun...and set goals. Get comfortable because this is going to take a while. One of my spiritual goals is to actually pray sincerely to God. The reason? Sometimes, if I'm really tired at night, or in a bad mood, I just say the same thing EVERY NIGHT. "Dear God, Help us have a great night's sleep tonight and a good day tomorrow. In Jesus name, Amen." I mean you gotta admit it is getting kind of old. Okay, next thing, educational goals I have a couple so uh, listen up. The 1st thing is grades. They can make a big difference in school. I'm gonna try to improve my grades because last year wasn't a bunch of sugar and spice. The 2nd thing is paying attention. Sometimes I just look around, other times I day dream. Now to personal goals. The big and only thing in this category is the bass guitar. I want one so badly! (What a ham he is in his writing...I love it!)

Julia 8 yr. old/3rd

I want to learn how to cook. I want to learn how to cook ravioli, spaghetti, and pancakes. I will try to do my best on that. Next, I would like to exercise more often. Like do sit ups and other stuff. I am also ready to be on a schedule for dance, violin lessons, and school! First I think that I want to go on more field trips like to Six Flags, or Sharkarosa, that would be fun. Second, I would like to read the bible more, and learn about Peter, and Esther! Third, I would like to learn lots of history. I would like to find out about all the first ladies and Presidents. I would like to learn about the president's children and their names are. I love to learn about history and want to learn more about it! (I love that Julia wants to learn how to be a momma, and now we will have time!)

I can not begin to tell y'all how blessed and just so thankful I am by reading their first journal entries. The change I already see in each child is a gift from God and I can't wait to see how this year transpires for each of them and for us as a family!