Christmas bucket list

There are so many fun Christmas activities I want to do so I came up with a Christmas Bucket list for this year. I know we will probably not get to do all the things I want but at least now I have something to keep me on task. Which is not easy as my mind goes 100 miles and hour and in every direction possible. So here it is:

Christmas 2012 Bucket List

1. Lego Advent- the boys love legos and look forward to building a new piece each day. They take turns each day.

2. Truth in the Tinsel


I am excited about this and looking forward to doing this with the kids. Owen and I went out last night to pick up the some supplies for the crafts and I hope to get them all organized by Friday. I plan on posting more on this once I get it all set up.

3. Why do we call it Christmas

I hope this explains to the kids the real reason behind Christmas.

4. Bass Pro Shops to visit Santa- We have been doing this for a few years, visiting the Myrtle Beach, SC store. They have Santa, crafts, and games to play, the kids enjoy it. We have learned to go during the week and earlier in the season to keep it pleasant for everyone involved.

5. Make a Gingerbread house.- we love doing this, It makes a fun project that everyone can help on.

6. Christmas cookies- We have lots of favorites, and like to try new recipes too!

7. Mikes Farm hayride to look at the Christmas lights.

8. Arlie Gardens holiday lights- we have never been but they are suppose to have a beautiful display along with trains up and I think the kids would love it.

9. Read a new Christmas story everynight. I collected all of our Christmas books then went to the library to check out some new ones to add to our night time stories.

10. Take time to enjoy quality time with our family.

I may think of some others to add to our bucket list, but I hope this will help me at least remember what I was trying to do this year.

So Thankful

Thanksgiving is in a few days, I love the Holidays! Even though we have no family near I go all out for the festivities. I enjoy cooking a complete Turkey dinner with all the fixings for my DH and kids. Now that Owen is getting older he likes to help me in the kitchen which is fun. This week we are only doing school for Monday and Tuesday then taking a much deserved break till next Monday. We are currently 76 days into our school year! Things have been going so well I am almost afraid to say it out loud! We just completed our second spelling book and also our MUS Beta (math). Much of what we have been doing is to make sure I am filling in the gaps the public school had left. Owen is getting more confident and less frustrated with things and this makes me so happy. Wyatt enjoys working on his worksheets, tracing, cutting and playing. We still have our challenging moments but we are able to work through them much quicker now and move on. I am so thankful for this opportunity to have my children close. I am enjoying seeing all three interact together and know that the bonds they are creating will be a great joy to them as they grow.

We celebrated Pixie's 2nd Birthday earlier this month, we had friends over and ate ladybug cupcakes and red velvet cake. It goes by so quickly, seems like just yesterday she was dependant on me for everything. Now she puts up her hand and runs by saying "I'll get it", or joins in on the crazy wrestling the boys get into from time to time. I watch her and Wyatt playing together and how she picks up things he does, the good and the bad.  Every morning she as I get her out of bed she says "go see brothers". They adore her and she adores them, and it is beautiful!  As life gets crazier I try to enjoy these moments and worry less about the other things. Drama is always developing somewhere, stress can easily creep into our lives, worries can come at any moment. However I have adopted the mentality if we are all OK, all will be fine. Life is short, time is limited and in the end family is the only important thing.

The important things

Someone recently told me they don't know how I do everything I do. We run a Landscaping business with 15 + employees, have 3 kids, two who we are now homeschooling. We also have 2 dogs, 1 cat, 30 + chickens, 2 guineas, a household to run, people to feed plus everything else you throw into the mix. I laughed and told them I don't think I do it very well. Truth be told, my house is rarely clean, I have a list of a million things that will have to wait another day or 20. The good thing is I am learning to be okay with this by focusing on the important things. Our kids of course come first, then things just get done in order of importance. Yes, I trip over toys everywhere but I have 3 children home 24/7. Yes, my kitchen table is multifunctional it serves as a place to eat, our school desk, and my office. I am far from perfect but I also know that the last thing I am going to regret is spending time with my family.

Owen reading to Pixie

 

My curly headed fred, he is such a joy!

 

Pixie

 

The past month we have been working hard. We have put the vocabulary curriculum on hold for the time being and trying to gently work on writing with Owen. His math is getting better, he still struggles on things but he is gaining confidence using the tools we provide for him. He finished the first level of spelling and we are 1/4 of the way thru the second one. This week is our last week of Brazil, and our 11th week of school! I am still working on connecting with other homeschoolers in the area. Once we find a group that actually meets I think it will be helpful. I was hoping to not have to go into Wilmington but it looks like they have groups that are pretty active.

We are getting ready for the festivities to being. Once Halloween comes, we have Pixie's 2nd birthday, Thanksgiving, Wyatt's 5th birthday, Christmas then New Years! Whew! It seems to go by in a flash too, but these are the important moments.

Weekend thoughts

My handsome boy! Pict. taken last week.

This week has been better than last, we have breezed through our work with little resistance. The difference? Well not the reason I would like, but Owen had a slight injury Sunday preventing him from writing. The boys were helping DH clean the truck out and he slipped getting off the back. Thankfully he did not hit his head, but his elbow did get a cut on his dominant hand. He is pretty much healed up, but nursing it and for this week I am just going with it. We have done everything orally and he has been very easy to work with. The more I work with him the more I wonder if we are not dealing with a learning disability with him. I am unsure if the issues with writing, math and reversing letters sometimes, maybe dyslexia or something along those lines. I am actively trying to research and am also meeting a group of homeschool Mom's Tuesday to talk with them about our struggles. It seems there is a name to everything you could have and it's very overwhelming.

All the kids have caught a cold, Wyatt and Pixie having the worst of it. We had to miss Church today and hope everyone is better by next week because Wyatt was so disappointed to not go. He is at such a fun age, he asks so many great questions while I am reading the bible stories to him. We started Before Five in a Row this week and read Jesse Bear what will you wear. I love this curriculum for the little ones. They have great ideas and activities to do with them and Wyatt loves having his own time.

After a difficult weekend with Owen I was happy that I received my order from I choose Virtues. I have been trying to decide if it was necessary and the further into homeschooling Owen the more I know it's necessary. I remember talking with other parents who have been homeschooled and homeschool their children at the convention. The consistent theme was discipleship and I didn't know what that meant. Now as we have been going to church and I have been reading the bible I understand what my goal is. I just need to find the right way to get there. Somewhere along the line I have stopped being the authority. Now in order to have things work we need to fix this. I got a really good book at the library:


So far it has been very informative and I feel like I have some idea of how we are going to proceed. I have to keep in mind that it is going to take time, and we need to work on one thing at a time. Using the We choose virtues program teaches one of twelve total virtues at a pace of one a week. I think the little ones will enjoy the catchy phrases and the characters. We will see how Owen responds to it. I am also tying in this book as a read aloud throughout the week.



We are also going to implement family responsibilites charts for the boys. We have them all pitch in on things routinely, but I know I am bad for not being consistant. I am hoping this way when they are both accountable for it there will be a difference. I don't know that I agree with allowances for family responsibilities, but I do want them to learn the value of money and hard work. I think we may try to have a list of jobs that they can do to earn money. Some ideas we have are washing vehicles, cleaning the chicken coops, mowing grass, picking up trash, etc. I need to make sure I find some that Wyatt can do also.

Once again it is Sunday and my school plan is all worked out and I am hopeful that we are on the right path with this. I just keep reminding myself of the bigger picture and praying for guidance on this.

Trying week

This week has not been the best. Owen and I are still struggling to find our groove. There are many times I feel totally inadequate and helpless in working with him. I always feared how homeschooling him would go because of our personalities. I guess it's because in many ways we are alike and that make us clash. There was a few times this week I had contemplated putting him in the car and taking him back to school. However this is so much more about the big picture, and the way I want to raise our children. I know a large part of this is about developing my children's character and it is very apparent this is where I need to start, I just wish I knew how. I have been praying a lot, hoping God will guide me in this.  Owen is such a wonderful kid, so sweet, smart and creative. I just wish I knew the best way to make him understand he is totally capable. I spend a good bit of our day arguing and trying to get him to just settle down and do his work. I get that the little ones are a distraction, but I am trying to find good activities to keep them occupied during the times I need to help him. Wednesday was awful, I spent most of the day in tears. Owen was angry, and while we are usually done by lunch time it took us until 3 to complete our work. I really wanted to just call it a day, but I worry if I do this he will push me continuously until we never accomplish anything. Thursday was much better, I spent the night reading parenting books and am actively trying to work on some issues. Today my DH decided to take Owen to work with him. I made up his binder with his work and sent him off with some relief. Wyatt and Pixie and I took the morning to shop for some craft supplies and then spent the rest of today crafting (more on this in a minute). When my DH called he said Owen did great, which I am glad, but I have to admit I was a little aggravated. I want this to work so badly, it hurt my feeling a bit.

This week I have been researching things to keep the kids entertained. I found tons of info online about busy bags, boxes, etc. So today Wyatt and Pixie and I went to AC Moore, and Dollar Tree to pick up some supplies to make some. Today we made some felt projects and I think they turned out awesome! I found a link on pinterest Here to make a felt pizza complete with little recipe cards. This is our finished project:

 

Since I have a wealth of craft material to use to make these kind of things it was pretty easy. It was fun finding what metal dies to use to make some of the shapes. Wyatt had fun making my request and can't wait to show his sister it when she wakes up. I also made some felt ice cream cones, and cupcakes, but I am still working on some of the embellishments. I am hoping some of these things keep them entertained so I can work with Owen. My other motive with these projects is for Pixie and church. Since she refuses to stay in grow zone at church and now doesn't want to sit in the service I need to find somehow to keep her quiet. Last week the coffee shop was filled up, so we sat in the lobby.  She started getting crazy and running around the sofa until she fell right into the wall. She was fine, but my bag of tricks was limited and it was not the best day there. We are not sure how to proceed with her, as we want to continue to go especially for the boys.

It's real now

Today I formally withdrew Owen from school. I had filed all the necessary paperwork on July 2nd and had attempted to withdraw him right away at the school. Since it is summer they operate on a skeleton crew and when I went there no one quite knew what to do.  I got busy, and just put it off, but school officially starts Monday so I had to get it done. In the back of my mind I felt somewhat safe thinking that if we can't do this he can just start school like normal. It's not what I wanted but it was there in my mind. I had my whole speech worked out in my head, justifying our decision. Not that I needed to I was just expecting some kind of questioning of our choice. I almost felt let down that I got nothing!

 It has been challenging working with Owen, I never understood the unschooling terms until I started working with him. Now I absolutely see why it is necessary and why I need to be more patient with him. When he was younger he was so confident and eager to learn. Somewhere that has been lost and I need to help him find it again.  I know this is the right path I just have to trust in God that he will help me with him.

The next few weeks we are studying North America, right now we are working with the state. It's been so long since I studied geography it has been interesting for me too. We are moving along with our math in MUS and Life of Fred. I have noticed Owen getting much quicker with his adding and subtracting which is great to see. We added in some grammar, using Easy Grammar, which Owen swears is not easy! We are also doing vocabulary working with compound words last week and prefixes and suffixes this week. AAS is going well, It is funny I dislike this so far, but Owen really seems to enjoy it. It is super easy right now, but the skills he is learning now will carry through the levels. He is getting super quick with alphabetizing, which took him forever before.

Wyatt and Pixie have enjoyed playing with these Lauri Tall-Stacker Uppercase.


These are great, Wyatt loves picking out letters and learning how to spell his name. Pixie enjoys putting the pegs in the letters. I will probably get the lowercase letters next since they are so durable and the kids enjoy them.

Wyatt and I also had some quiet time today to play a new game Richard Scary Busytown. We don't have much time with just us and I was surprised how good he did. He learned the directions very quickly and was even reminding me when I was not doing it right. He amazes me how smart he is and how quick he is to pick things up. We played twice and he can't wait to play again tomorrow when Pixie takes a nap. Well tomorrow is another day, hoping for some sunshine as it's been very wet here recently.

Week in review

As I type this all the kiddo's are still asleep. The dishwasher is running and I am sipping my coffee. It is peaceful! In a matter of minutes all sorts of noise and chaos will ensue and that is a guarantee. Lately I am struggling with finding my balance and I am sure that is not uncommon. My life is a little chaotic without throwing homeschool into the mix. My DH and I run a landscape business, which at first sounded like a wonderful idea! Almost 12 years into it I can say it consumes most of our lives. We are so blessed to have work, and have work so hard to be successful. Both he and I struggle with finding a way to balance work and still have a normal at home life. We both have to do lists a mile long, the only way I can keep sane is the kids come first. Everything else has to take a back seat for now.

We have had good and bad moments this week. The littles still prove to be the most challenging and love to drive Owen crazy while he is suppose to be working. The other challenge is keeping him on task. Which I have to laugh every time I say it now. All last year we received notes that "Owen will not stay on task". It annoyed me to no end because I had no idea what to do about it. Now with two little crazy kids vying for his attention I find myself constantly saying "Owen your not staying on task" Ugh, I so didn't want to hear myself saying that!

This week we continued working through our curriculum, still trying to decide about the spelling program. I want to go ahead and switch to something more challenging but know that even if it seems remedial it will help in the end. I think I am just board with it, Owen seems fine working through it. We were surprised by Wyatt this week, while working with compound words, he was able to help Owen quite a bit thinking of new examples. Monday I did a project with Wyatt making a toy train my Mom sent him. I was so impressed by his concentration and attention to the details. He did a great job, I spent most of my time cleaning paint off of Pixie.

One major accomplishments this week, I think Wyatt is pretty much potty trained : )! We have been trying unsuccessfully for years, only to decide to lay back on him and follow his lead. We have joked that Pixie was going to get there before Wyatt as she is very interested in the whole potty thing. If I don't see her she is usually sitting on top of the potty fully clothed saying "pee, pee". She screams bloody murder when I remove her. As tiny as she is I have no idea how she has not fallen in yet. Wyatt spent a few days with my mother in law who helped tremendously, I am so grateful for that. We are so proud of Wyatt, and I acknowledge that these battles will probably continue as he grows because he has always been in his own time. God has a plan for him I am sure!

We survived!

Our first week has gone fairly well. I realize I need to pray for more patience as three kids competing for my attention can get a little crazy! This week we introduced My Father's world (MFW), Math-u-see (MUS) and All about spelling (AAS). As the weeks go on I plan on incorporating writing, and a new vocabulary curriculum that looked promising, called Foundations by dynamic literacy. Owen is also continuing on with his life of fred math books also. We started the series earlier this summer and he really loves these. He is now on the third book and I love that he is enjoying reading as well as working with math. Since a good bit of this series is review for him I am also having him do MUS.

I was impressed that he by Friday he was able to tell me his bible verse by memory. He has enjoyed reviewing maps and locating new places on them. Most of the work right now has been oral, but the bit of writing has been met with a resistance. I don't know if that is a boy thing or it's just him. I have chosen to not push the issue right now and see what I can get him to do.

The hardest thing for me right now is trying to figure out where he is at with his math and spelling. Both programs I chose to step back a level or start from the beginning to make sure he has a good foundation. The math seems very easy for him, so we are moving fairly quickly trying to get to where he will be challenged. The spelling seems to remedial for him but I can already see why it works very well for kids. I think it will take us a little while to get a good feeling for what we should be focused on.

Pixie has been very interested in what we are doing. She loves the phonograms CD and my little parrot sounds just like the guy on the program. She also love the MUS DVD, and as soon as he comes on she pushes her stool over to sit next to Owen and watch. Wyatt isn't near as interested in that stuff as he is in pestering Owen while he is trying to work. This weekend I need to start making some busy boxes and activities to keep him and Pixie occupied.  The best thing is hearing Owen tell other people how much he likes it so far.  I am sure this will not always be the case, but it's nice to hear right now!

2012-2013 Curriculum (4th Grade)

I had no idea of all the choices there were out there until I went to the convention in May. The minute I stepped foot into the vendor fair, I knew I was in trouble! I am a collector, I like stuff, and there was so much stuff there! I had done quite a bit of research prior to going, but all the booths just seemed to be calling me saying " you need me".  I waited to make my big purchases until the last day, after I had asked anyone I could what they recommended. I put so much pressure on myself wanted to make the right choice first off. I finally decided to enjoy the process and just do the best I could to find something we would enjoy. Since this is our first year and also having pulled our oldest out of Public School I want it to be fun. There is so much deschooling I will need to do with him. My main goal is to foster a love for learning and it was important to find things that would help with that.

I struggled between Sonlight and My Father's world, ECC, and ultimately picked MFW. I love sonlights rich literature base, but with I knew I didn't have a strong reader. As much as I would have liked to teach that curriculum I decided MFW was a better fit for us right now.  I wanted a curriculum that was bible based and helped guide me through the process. We are excited to begin Exploring Countries and Cultures. Last night as I was getting ready for this week, both my DH and I were amazed at how much we are going to learn. It is exciting!


For math I had thought I would pick Teaching Textbooks, but I fell in love with MUS. Owen has been struggling with math this past year. I am not very strong in math so I was concerned about teaching it well enough to help him. Teaching textbooks looked perfect because it was self paced through a computer program. After sitting and working with it at the vendor fair, I realized he would need more help than that.  I had quite a few people recommend MUS so I sat through a demonstration and loved the hands on approach. I think it will be just what Owen needs to help him make sense of everything he is learning.  We are going to start with Beta and see how he does. I am hoping taking a step back and getting a better foundation for adding and subtracting will help him later on.



Spelling has always been difficult for Owen. I think it is because he never really learned phonics. He was taught in school to read with sight worlds. We are going to start with All About Spelling Level 1. I am hoping learning the phonograms for each letter will give him a better understanding on how to spell. I think we will be able to move fairly quickly through the early levels. I am excited for him to gain confidence in his spelling since he has always struggled.





In a month or so I hope to add in some writing using The Institute for Excellence in Writing. He is a very reluctant writer and right now it takes a lot of effort to get him to write anything. I want to take it slow with him and not overwhelm him. The concept behind this program seems very promising and will helpfully teach him the tools to be a good writer one day.



We are also using A reason for Handwriting level C. I am still deciding on a grammar/English curriculum. I am embarred to say I have 3 I have purchased, but am still debating which we will use. I picked Shurley English first and while I like some of it I am not sure Owen will do well with it. I also found a used set of Language lessons through literature. I love this idea of reading a few books through the year and working with them. I just need to get him to want to read. Then I picked up Easy Grammar and this one seems more like what I could do with him right now.

For my two little one's Wyatt (4) and Pixie (21 months) will be my biggest challenge. At least keeping the entertained while For the I am going to use Before Five in a row. They both love stories, so I think this will be fun and help them both feel included. I have been collecting learning toys and games to use with the littles while I will be working with Owen.  Prior to attending the homeschool conference I wanted to do a full Pre-K curriculum for Wyatt. After listening to a few different speakers I changed my mind. They explained a lot about how children's brains develop and it made me realize how important it is to let kids be kids. Let them play, learn fine and gross motor skills, pretend, etc. There is plenty of time to learn to read and to write.

This week we start school, I pray that I can have patience with all three of my children. I just want to do a good job and make it fun. I know it is going to be a process of trial and error to find our groove, I just need to keep reminding myself!

Changes

Deciding to Homeschool had been a difficult decision. Even before we had children both DH and I were interested in Homescholing our kids. Then as Owen our first born grew I began to doubt my ability to teach him. We are both very stubborn and even the simple things would end in frustration for both of us. After some discussion we decided to try public school for him. We were pleased with the school he attended for K-2nd, it was small, where everyone knew you. DH would walk Owen into school everyday and his teachers would just call me on the phone to tell me funny things he said or did. The teachers were nurturing and school was fun. Then we moved on to the next school for 3rd-5th, and things changed drastically. Notes were sent home constantly regarding being "off task", and a few other incidence that warranted some concern. It was quickly learned that any concepts not grasped were just left to us to work on and he was just shuffled on. In math this is difficult, if you can't multiply, you can't divide and you certainly can't do fractions. It didn't take long for frustration to set in. He has somehow managed to keep his grades good, partly due to the fact that he does turn in all his assignment and partly due to the curve I believe.  However I know he is getting lost, and he is at the point that learning is not fun when you get left behind. DH and I started talking about Homeschooling again.

Last week I attended the NCHE Conference, and it was a very emotional, overwhelming experience. It was also so inspiring, and confidence building, seeing the children that are products of homeschooling. My vision for my children is to be lifelong learners, independent thinkers, confident adult, that are good people. When I look toward the future I do not see this happening being in the public school system. I know there are many who have come out of this that succeed, I graduated from public school after a few years of a private elementary school. However things are changing at an alarming rate and I am not willing to risk my children to what I see happening.

I have been researching, learning and preparing and as soon as everything is official we will begin school at "the little grey schoolhouse"!  I believe it will be an ever-changing process, and I will have to be very adaptable to things. I am a planner, rule follower, and a bit of a control freak so this is a big deal for me. I am excited to start and look forward to seeing my children thrive under a new way of learning for them. I look forward to documenting the fun and not so fun things so that I can learn from them as we begin this journey.