Winding down May 13, 2009

So, the school year is winding down, but we are still in full swing.  In fact, we’ll be working over the summer, but only on fun stuff like art and science.  We will be finishing up all the language arts and such very soon!  Hooray for that!  The boys are happy about it, too.  Gavin is trucking along in his 1st grade math very well.  He catches on to it so fast, it’s crazy!  And, Logan finished his 2nd grade math yesterday!  For someone who has had trouble with math, I’m so excited that he finished early!  Both of the boys are doing really well, and picking up in areas that they have been lagging in or having trouble with.  Still battling Gavin with the phonics, but we’ve decided that instead of formal phonics lessons, we’re going to just have him read and read and read.  He’s not too happy about reading because he doesn’t like it.  However, I’m going to be sneaky and have him just randomly read things throughout the day.  Hopefully, we’ll get him proficient soon. 

So, we are winding down a bit, especially with this nice weather outside, but that’s alright.  We’re also getting a bunch done, too. 

Oh, what a week… March 9, 2009

And, yes, it’s only Monday. 

Sometimes Mondays just go a bit haywire, don’t they?  For whatever reason, it was like pulling teeth today to get the kids to do anything.  They’ve been pretty grumpy since we left Grandma’s in Utah.  I think all the traveling in the car was just more than they could take, and it’s still effecting them.  But, what are ya gonna do?  I tried to distract them with other activities today, but it pretty much backfired on me.  Oh, well.  At least I tried.  It wasn’t all bad, though.  Logan tested out of another math chapter.  Easy-cheesy.  It’s soooo good to see him have some confidence with math again!  Hooray!!  We also went and picked up a punching bag off Craigslist.  I really felt like the kids, especially the boys, needed a healthy place to let out anger and frustrations, so a punching bag seemed like a good idea.  I almost fell out of my seat when I priced them out at stores.  Thankfully, I was able to locate just what I was looking for on Craigslist for a fraction of the price!  Hooray for that! 

Well, hopefully tomorrow will be more productive than today.  Maybe I’ll start the day with something silly, to get the kids in a better mood.  I’ll let you know.

Where, oh where, has the time gone???? March 3, 2009

So, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything.  Life has just gotten away from me.  I feel like I might one day eventually slow down, but hey, what’s the hurry? 

Well, we’ve been trucking along with school.  After my dad passed away, it took a bit to get back into the groove of things, but we are getting there…again.  So, since it’s been so long, I thought I’d just give some quick updates, then make a goal to say I’m going to post much more often.  Really, I want to. 

Gavin:  Well, Gavin is getting really into things well again.  A little over a month ago, he finished kindergarten math!  That’s right, completely finished!  He just has a math brain, at least right now anyway.  He was so excited, and frankly, so was I.  He can move on to first grade math anytime, but we are waiting until he catches up on phonics a bit more.  Speaking of phonics, he’s pretty jazzed to do phonics now, not just because it means that he will be getting first grade math, but because he’s reading.  It’s still really hard for him, as he has to sound out the letters most of the time, but he does get the words.  He’s getting more and more all the time, though, and he likes it.  We are also making a ton of progress in language arts.  Since phonics and language arts have been his hard areas, it’s great to see him progressing and wanting to. 

Logan:  Logan is doing really well, too.  He’s also getting caught up on language arts, which is good.  He doesn’t like doing it, but we get through it.  He asked me today why he had to do some of the language arts, but I told him that it really is good to know.  It’s hard to understand that when you are in the midst of really disliking what you are doing.  But, he does it and remembers most of it.  He’s really come a long way with language arts and I’m really pleased with all the progress he’s made.  His other big triumph has been with math.  Wow, what a difference a semester makes!  We’ve switched from doing arithmetic to doing geometry.  He went from struggling and taking a few days for one assignment, to doing a whole unit in one day- by testing out of it.  He’s just got a good brain for the geometry stuff.  He likes it too!  It’s so nice to see him happy and not discouraged about math!  He’s been doing well with all his other stuff, too. 

So, while we’ve been really busy and things have been a bit hectic, we’ve been getting quite a bit done, too.  All-in-all, I think things are going well, and I love doing it!   

And, I really will try to do better with my posts.

Where Does the Time Go? September 29, 2008

Wow!  It’s been a long time since I posted.  We’ve just been really busy!  Life as a homeschooler, I’ve discovered, is much more crazy than I thought it would be.  Now, granted, a lot of that is just getting used to not being on the school district schedule, and finding our own routine.  That has been a lot harder than I thought it would be.  I think I had pictured this wonderful thing where both the boys would sit down at the table at 9am and we would begin school and have our little school day with little to no interruptions, with the boys paying close attention and doing all that I ask of them without a problem, while the little ones play with their educational toys, and have it all done by lunch-time. (Oh, is that Beethoven playing in the background?)  Hello!  Real world!  It’s great to dream, but then reality sets in.  Some days it’s tough as nails to get one or both of them to cooperate.  Other days they are excited about our lessons.  Then, there are those days where I throw my hands up and wonder what the heck I’m doing!  But, all-in-all, things are getting better.  We all have to adjust to this new lifestyle, and it just takes time.  I think we’re getting there, though.  We are having many more good days than bad.  I love being able to teach them good things.  I love being able to tie what we are learning in school to the scriptures, the prophets, and the Gospel.  I love that they have both been able to test out of math that is too easy for them.  I love that we can spend as long as we need to on things that are difficult, while breezing through some of the easier stuff.  I love that I get to spend that time with my kiddos! 

We are going through Nevada Virtual Academy (K12), and that is working out well for us.  I love having the curriculum and lessons already set up, but still having SO much freedom with them.  For example, they had Constitution Day lessons available, and of course I wanted to do those.  So, we went through their lessons about James Madison and the Constitution, which I have to say were surprisingly well done, and then I talked to them about what it says in the scriptures about the Constitution, and my feelings about the Constitution, and how it was really authored by the Lord.  I got to talk to them about patriotism and how blessed we are to live in the United States.  I love being able to do that.  And that is just one example.  We’ve done that with other subjects and lessons, too.  It’s great to have that ability and to be able to make our values part of their education!  One will never find that with public school! 

I’m going to try to post more often, and hopefully as we get into the grove of things better, I’ll be able to.

Quick Update August 11, 2008

It’s been a while since I have posted on here.  I think it is just a crazy time of year.  Most people I talk to feel that way lately.  Anyway, just wanted to post a quick update on what is happening in the homeschool realm. 

A couple weeks ago I took the kids on a field trip to one of our police substations.  That was pretty interesting.  The kids’ favorite part was getting to see and sit in the police car.  My oldest even got to talk over the loudspeaker.  They really enjoyed it. 

Now, we are focusing our efforts on the Olympics.  We are keeping track and graphing the medal count for six different countries.  We are going to be learning more about China, the Ancient Olympics, and all kinds of Olympic trivia.  In a couple weeks we will cap it all off with our own little Kid Olympics.  It should be a ton of fun.

On Thursday, I got the official approval from the school district, so that’s good.

I have also edited and updated their educational plans. 

education-plan-kindergarten     education-plan-2nd-grade

Decompression and Schooling Types June 1, 2008

I’ve been doing a lot of reading about homeschooling, and have been giving a lot of thought to the idea of decompression time for the kids.  I read somewhere that for every year a child has been in public school, they need a month of time off to readjust.  I think there is a lot of truth to this.  I know, just watching Logan now, he’s getting really burned out.  I think if I were to try to go right into homeschooling, it would really cause problems.  But, by giving him time to adjust to the new schedule, and really it’s a new lifestyle, he’ll be so much more ready to go when it’s time. 

Also, I read in The First Year Of Homeschooling Your Child by Linda Dobson, about the different types of homeschooling.  I found this very interesting.  I could see some that definitely do not fit me, like unschooling.  But, two of the styles really hit right on what I want to do:  school at home, and unit studies.  I thought it was intersting how she nailed down these styles so well.  Lots of good info in reading these.  It also gave me comfort to know that there is a large chunk of people out there doing what I want to do, in a similar way to how I want to.  

Progress and Rewards May 15, 2008

Well, I’m doing much better now.  I think I’m over my Yikes moment, for now.  I’m sure there will be more in the future.  As I’ve read, I’ve come to discover that homeschooling takes some getting used to and some trial and error.  I have every confidence that we will be able to make things work out well.  I’ve started already, with some small things with the kids, and so far so good.  We’ve also got our classroom all ready.  That was a lot of work, but it was actually really fun to do.  The kids helped a bit with it too, as well as Grandma.  I’ll have some pictures of it up in a day or two.  And, a special thank you goes out to my friend Erin, who discovered two amazing books that outline and detail grade by grade curriculum and expectations.  Hooray!

Also, this week I’ve discovered the rewards of telling people that you are a homeschool teacher.  First I went to Learning Is Fun.  When the sweet lady asked me if I was on their mailing list, I replied that I wasn’t, but should be since I was going to be homeschooling four kiddos.  So, when I told them that, they not only put me on their list, but also gave me some teacher magazines, but also some of the coupons teachers get to hand out to their students to get a prize at Learning Is Fun.  Then, when I took our calendar over to OfficeMax to get laminated, I was asked if I was a teacher, and I told them I was a homeschool teacher.  Then, they gave me their teacher discount and reward card.  So, that’s pretty cool.  These stores are now on my newly created list of homeschool friendly businesses.