Morning Meeting Board

Well, we have had an AWESOME summer (collage pics to come later this week!), it is time for me to slowly get back into "School Groove"!  I've had all our curriculum purchased since July and have the school room "together" enough so now it's just working on details, the fun stuff.....first up....

Our Morning Meeting Board!

I'm thinking we will do this downstairs after breakfast, do Bible, and then head upstairs to move on with the workboxes! Again, I'm "thinking", we will play it by ear and see how it goes!  Planning in pencil, ALWAYS!

I got the idea from the homeschool mama that has helped lead me, encourage me and pour into me over the past year!  Funny thing is I reconnected with her hubby (same highschool graduating class....thanks Facebook!) and saw communication with her and another friend of mine regarding crafting, etc., etc.....well come to find out she HOMESCHOOLED too! Just wish she was here and not Massachusetts! LOL  This lady ROCKS!  She crafts, she bakes, she educates, she's a Christ centered, loving, giving, VERY special soul that I'm honored to call a friend!  It's funny how you can connect with someone and instantly become friends, God works in such amazing ways like that!!  Go check out her blog here!

When I first ventured into the Homeschool world, I had the guidance and support of ONE friend, now I'm surrounded by homeschooling mamas!  Even our little town is FILLING UP with them!  How cool is that??!!  I'll be blogging more about my excitement, my fear, and a day in the life of course!  I just wanted to put some links here to help support and encourage other moms.  These things are time savers which equal LIFE SAVERS to me! LOL

Everything I printed I found from the links on Di's page here.

I printed the shapes from here.

The other supplies I used are:

* Laminator, They also sell them at Walgreens for same price!

* Laminating Pouches, best deal is 100 on Amazon but I ran out and picked up a 20 pack at Walgreens for $5.99 today. (was NOT waiting to order or I would never have finished the board today! LOL)

* Hole Punch

* Generic Command Hooks from Dollar Tree

* Velcro from Dollar General

* Calendar, dates, months all from Dollar Tree yesterday

* Tri Fold board, $2 at Walmart

* Metal rings, picked up 8 pack at Walmart yesterday for $2. Should have ordered them online but again, didn't want to wait. 

Hope this helps save some mom a little time! 

Homeschool Curriculum 2013-2014

WOW!!! This is my first FULL year to homeschool my 3 babies!! YES, THREE!!!!  Sofia will be playing around with some sensory activities, using Explode the Code Workbooks (per her request! LOL) and sitting in with us during our Read Alouds, possibly with some of our MFW stuff as well as working on freebies from Confessions of a Homeschooler's Blog too.  She wants to do EVERYTHING the other two are doing of course so I *had* to set her up in our school room too.

I have so much to blog about but in my attempt to minimize my computer time for the next month, I'm just going to quickly post what we decided to go with this coming year.  Hoping to get back into blogging more this fall for sure.

So.....let's start with Math, my personal favorite!

Adrianna:

This is an area she was really struggling with when we pulled her out of Public School, but we made some big leaps last spring.  She did not like Math U See so we are trying Teaching Textbooks 4 this Fall.  She liked the sample lessons so we are BOTH excited to start and THAT is huge for her. 

Christopher:

We started the spring with Horizons 1 but he did not like sitting still to do worksheets so we started Math U See Alpha and it was a HIT with him.  He loved using the blocks and math seems to come very easily for him. We will be moving on with Math U See Beta this Fall as well!

Adrianna:

While we liked Easy Grammar last year and I feel like we did fill in some gaps, we are going to go with Learning Language Arts Through Literature for 5th grade.  After lots of research and help from friends, I feel really good about this decision!  I will be supplementing with daily cursive practice, Daily 6 Trait Writing,Spelling and Vocabulary as well.  This is an area I have never really "loved" but she does and THAT excites me!

Christopher:

We tried First Language Lessons for The Well Trained Mind last Spring and it bored the heck out of me.  It isn't my style teaching or a good fit for Christopher's learning style either.  We are switching to Growing with Grammar this year. He is a GREAT reader and loves to do so, therefore our focus will be more on reading, reading, reading and less on actual "handwriting" for now since that is an area he HATES!!  We will work on fine motor skills in other fun ways this fall and re-evaluate in Spring.

Bible, Geography, Science, Art, and Music

I am THRILLED to say we are using My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures this Fall!  I was able to buy most of it used from a friend and filled in the gaps with the consumable stuff at half the price of what the Deluxe package would have cost me! YES!!!

I have researched and researched and researched and JUST. CAN'T. WAIT. to begin!  I have friends that are also starting this fall and friends that have completed it already so support is something I definitely have moving into this school year.  YIPPEE!!!!!!!!!!

We will also continue with Adrianna's piano lessons this fall. Christopher will begin learning the basics as well, just haven't narrowed that down yet, LOL.  That is my final "To Do" for the fall school year.  

Adrianna loves to cycle and is starting to run too after doing summer track so I will continue to nurture that with her.  Christopher will be starting Swim Team next month too, that boy needs to get all of his energy out!  

The academic stuff was Priority Number One for me to have completed by the end of July and I'm happy to say I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!  I just purchased a new magnetic, dry erase calendar and received my new Planner too.....

TA-DA!!!!!

Let's the planning begin!!!  We are off to our Summer Beach Trip on Thursday and then it's down to business!  When are we starting?  I'm not sure yet.....but it will be soon!

Menu Plan Monday

National Running Day

Between the Piriformis injury and stress overload, my running went down the drain!!  While I was at Adrianna's track practice today she asked me to run with her for her warm up.  I was winded. I felt SO out of shape. 5 year olds put me to shame.  BUT, as soon as she grabbed my hand I remembered I have always run for FUN.  I enjoy it, it relaxes me, it helps build my confidence.

I threw running out the window.

Tsk. Tsk.

I drove home after practice and replayed in my head all the words of encouragement I gave her for myself too...

"It takes time to build up your endurance."

"You just have to get back out there and try your best."

"If you need a break, TAKE it."

"You are strong, determined and CAPABLE."

I told her how proud I was of her that she kept pushing forward and didn't quit, even though I KNEW she did NOT want to do that last 400...it was HOT.... she said to me, "I didn't quit because Auditores don't quit!"

That's right my wise baby girl.....

WE DON'T QUIT.

I may NOT be at the top of my game, but I celebrated National Running Day running two miles *with* my girl and I feel GREAT!  Time to *officially* MOVE FORWARD!!!

Adrianna's First Track Practice

"Now that I am a great runner, I can ride at least 6 miles without being tired and Daddy can train me to swim, I can totally do a triathlon and even a marathon" 

- Adrianna 10yrs old (right after her first track practice today)

Hurdles!

Anna and Lulu

Little Rockstar Runners!

My baby girl has watched me running for the past few years and has always encouraged me, shown interest in an active lifestyle, but has been intimidated with it all, especially with having asthma.  I signed her up for Summer Track last year and after the first practice, we left with her crying because she was out of breath and thought she just couldn't "do it".  I didn't push her and set it aside.  Today, while my friend Martha was over, Adrianna went over to her (she is the fastest woman I know, a true *runner* goddess!) and asked if she could go with her and her daughter Lulu to their next practice which happened to be tonight.

These were some pics from her first practice. She came home PUMPED up and FULL of confidence and excitement in what she achieved tonight!  This meant SO much to me.  I am so so SO very proud of my girl!!    I can't wait to run with her!  Soon enough, she will only ask me to run with her on HER recovery days...LOL!

"Mom, I can't wait for Ms. Martha to pick me up. I am going to do great!"

First Used Curriculum Sale!

Earlier this month I was able to attend my first "Used Curriculum Sale" through my RRHome group.  When I pulled the kids out of PS in January, I was given lots of great advice from a friend on curriculum and sort of piece mealed the rest of the school year for Adrianna and Christopher together.  I learned so much about my children, their learning styles, their comfort levels, where they thrive and where they struggle over the past  5 months and could NOT wait to get started on next year's curriculum!!

Here was some of my loot for only less than $40 out of pocket!

Just like any beginning "teacher" I need to build up some educational "go to items" when they get bored or when I GET BORED and need to sprinkle in some supplemental stuff, especially for the summer!  I scored quite a few things for Sofia (can't believe she'll be 4 next month!) too at the sale which was awesome.  I'm set on what I plan on using for the kids in the fall and am holding back on purchasing some of it until after I attend a couple more of these sales over the summer.

Here's my plan.....

History, Science, Bible:  

Both Kids:                                                             

My Father's World Exploring Countries and Cultures

My friend Heidi, and possibly my friend Jill are both doing this with their kids at the same time so this will be SUCH fun in the fall!!  A sweet friend of mine did it last year and is selling me hers when she is through with it in the next few weeks! CAN. NOT. WAIT!!!  I just have to buy a few of the students sheets, passports, flag books, etc. but will end up paying half the cost of the Deluxe Package when all is said and done....SCORE!!!

Math:

Adrianna:                                                             

Teaching Textbooks

We tried Math U See but she just didn't connect with it. She said the guy creeped her out on the video....ohhhhkayyyyyy.  She took the placement test and did some sample lessons which she seemed to like and kept wanting more so YEP, it's what we are going with for next year!

Christopher:                                                         

Math U See Beta

He started in January with Horizons, which is the same workbook style that they use in public school and he just seemed to not be able to "focus" on it.  I don't think it was "hands on" enough so we went with Math U See Primer and he LOVED it!  That said, we are obviously going to the next level.  I think with him not having as much PS influence he was more of a "clean slate" to start with this type of math which focuses more on "mastery" of each level before moving up.  I will most likely use if for Sofia as well.  I'm a fan!

Language Arts:

Adrianna:                                                              


Easy Grammar:  She LOVED it and while I am NOT a Grammar Geek, I think she just might be! She whipped through the book, continuing to ask for more, which was a HUGE shock for me.  I am excited for her since she doesn't like to read, I didn't think any LA would be her thing. Happy to say I was wrong.

Soaring with Spelling: I used some online K12 lists this year and they worked fine but I'm ready for something a little more structured and challenging.  This girl is a GREAT speller!! She makes me so proud!

Daily 6 Trait Writing:  Thumbed through one of these and am going to try it this year!  I have the Geography book we used a bit this year and I liked it! We'll see!

Christopher:                                                          

Growing with Grammar and Soaring with Spelling: We tried First Language Lessons for the Well Trained Mind this year and it was too monotonous and slow for him and I both.  Neither of us were fans of it.  My friend Amy uses this and I LOVED the way it was laid out so we are giving it a go!

Handwriting Without Tears:  Suprise! Christopher HATES to write, LOL.  That sweet boy can't sit still for a minute and the stress of handwriting was weighing both of us down so I threw it out the window and finally let him do everything orally with me or typed on the computer.  We are working more on Geoboards, cutting and other fine motor skill work until next fall.  I heard GREAT things about this program and purchased it used for CHEAP so I don't have anything to lose! LOL


We will add back in our Composer Studies and Artist Studies as they line up with our MFW curriculum. too.

And I *think*...drumroll.........LATIN will be introduced this year!!!  I'm trying to find the *right* one at the *right* price!

Adrianna will continue with Piano lessons (she is a ROCKSTAR little pianist) and Christopher will also be joining her in the fall.

I haven't ironed out all the details and have learned one thing that my friend Amanda taught me.....when planning, use PENCIL.  The thing I am most proud of is how slow I've taken everything, started small and am building up as to what best fits our family, knowing and accepting it can all change just like that.  Oh and yes, I'm okay with that! HA!!!  This has been such a beautiful experience to walk through with my children, even the hard days, those days that break me down humble me, and show them how to reconcile, forgive, and move on.

I wish I did this sooner.

Best. Decision. I've. Made. To. Date.


~Gina

FIZZ????

One of my weaknesses in the mid afternoon in the warmer weather is my craving for something with FIZZ!!  Diet Coke is and always has been my "FIZZ" of choice, yep, sure has!  BUT I came across this today and am planning on picking up a case of small mason jars to stock the fridge with a 12 pack of these instead!

Thank you Nest of Posies for the inspiration!!! CAN. NOT. WAIT. to start playing with some FLAVOR!